Boy... it's been a while, huh? How is everyone doing? For me...

Not good.

Not good at all.

Well, the training was alright, and I learnt a bunch of things for both my current job and potential future employment in another industry. That was awesome.

Then things started going downhill.

Started with a case of writer's block when trying to sort this chapter out, not fun in any circumstance, then my job got insanely hectic and I've been exhausted every time I got home. Then, I had to get a procedure done on my foot for an ingrown toenail, and I still need to get two more done on separate dates.

And the cherry on top?

My last dog was put down due to old age.

Fuck... that was not a good four weeks, and I've been completely out of it ever since. I had no ideas, motivation or desire to write. I just crawled into my bed, cried and felt sorry for myself. But anyway, I'm back, hopefully to my regular weekly releases, but for now, onto the story.

NiebieskiLis: Hope you had a great Christmas and Holidays man.

N3bul0us: No, far too early for that. It hasn't even been a year yet since his Rank Up to Level 2.

BrimazKing: Hope your Christmas was great man. Akihide and Kiddy Party have a great relationship, as they do a lot of good together by saving lives for Orario, so I don't believe there would be much tension, if any at all. I know for a fact Kiddy Party will still be a thing in 9 years time when Bell arrives in Orario, so if there is some beef later down the line, it will be resolved. Now for romance, I have a few ideas I'm thinking of, but I have to admit, Alfia was not one of them. It would be a strange relationship between Akihide and Bell, but I don't know if Alfia as a romantic interest is one I want to explore, but I will keep an open mind

Akihide looked down at the practice sword in his hand, before returning his gaze to Alfia, a wooden sword in her own hand. "Are you sure about this, teacher?" he asked nervously, gulping as the level 7 woman swung her sword a few times to practice.

"Are you doubting me, Akihide?" asked Alfia with a dangerous look in her eyes.

"Well... I mean..." muttered Akihide, before the boy looked down in shame. "I can't even walk and use Concurrent Chanting, let alone fight..." he said, looking down in shame. "Months of training, and I've gotten nowhere..."

Alfia sighed. "Training is new to me as well, but we will get through this together." she said, before bringing the sword over her shoulder for a clumsy swing. "Just think about it like this, you haven't had the proper motivation to do better. Now you have to do better or get beaten over the head by the stick." she said with a sadistic smile, one so bad that Ryuu, Airmid and Ardee all flinched from behind her.

"O-okay..." muttered Akihide, getting into his starting stance before sighing, controlling his emotions, before looking at his teacher. "By ember's-"

She gave him no more time and rushed him, causing the young boy to freak out and try to dodge, only to lose the spell he was trying to perform. "Wrong!" shouted Alfia, before the stick came down faster than he could react, bumping him on the noggin, and forcing him to collapse to the ground.

The last things he heard before he went unconscious were "Oops... I overdid it again..."

About three months ago, Akihide was resting in the medical tent of the Loki Familia camp on Floor 18. He had been unconscious for two whole weeks after the Blood Minotaur incident, when the rest of the Familia had returned from Floor 50 after defeating Balor and gathering all the necessary materials, and extras. When the group returned to Floor 18 for a rest, they were quick to notice how stiff everyone was when Riveria asked about how Akihide was behaving.

The poor woman had the scare of her life when she learnt what had happened, and rushed to the boy's side, who was peacefully resting in the medical tent. The Vice Captain of the Familia refused to leave his side that night, and had set up her own sleeping bag next to him. Oh, how some of the elves had protested that decision, two of them even standing watch outside the tent to ensure nothing 'untoward' happened, which only pissed Riveria off, demanding to know if the two thought so low of her that she'd do such a thing to a boy she saw as a son, which seemed to put the two in their place.

So, Riveria stayed for the night, and when morning came, and Akihide was still not awake, the group decided to simply have Gareth carry the boy on his back. Gareth obliged, and the Loki Familia made their way up to the surface.

On Floor 6 was when Akihide began to stir and wake up, opening his eyes to the sight of Gareth's shoulder and the backs of Finn and Noin. "Welcome back to the land of the living!" exclaimed Gareth, so loud Akihide had to cover his ears, only enticing Gareth to laugh at the poor boy. "Heard you had a lot of excitement on Floor 15!"

"Not my fault..." muttered the still tired Akihide. "Tell mama... not my fault..."

"We know." assured Finn, patting the boy's head. "We know you had no choice. No punishment for that incident." said the Captain.

Akihide nodded, before resting his head on Gareth's shoulder once more. "Missed you guys..." he muttered again, in the same tired voice.

"We missed you too, brat. Just like little Ais. I'm sure she'll be happy to see all of us again!" exclaimed Gareth, noticing the groan coming from the boy and laughing heartfully at it.

Eventually, the group managed to make their way back from the Dungeon, Loki awaiting them all with a smirk and a bottle of wine, causing Riveria to yell at her in public, as the rest of the Familia made their way home. Akihide followed behind Finn and Gareth, as they delivered Alise and Kaguya home, with the promise of bringing them along more often. The two hugged Akihide goodbye before making their way inside.

Then it was to all the Familia they had taken requests from, Hephaestus, Goibniu and Dian Cecht. With all their deliveries done, it was finally time to head home and update their Falna. Akihide had volunteered to go last so he could rest for a little longer, but was soon enough called into Loki's room to undergo his update.

"I heard a certain someone got into a bit of trouble in the Dungeon~" sang the goddess, smirking at Akihide. "How was it? Being with the rest of the Familia, I mean."

"Great!" responded Akihide, smiling at his goddess. "Everyone's so kind, and I had a lot of fun with them all!"

"That's great!" responded Loki, as she allowed her blood to drop onto Akihide's exposed back, as the Falna began updating. "Going into the Dungeon with the rest of the Familia will be a good thing for you. You'll make a bunch of friends in the house, get to go in whenever they go as well, in all hone-" she began, before cutting herself off to look over the Falna of the boy, before memories began flooding into her.

"OH THAT SLUTTY BITCH!" she yelled, looking down at the status of HER follower, once more seemingly blessed by Freya. She sighed, before grabbing some paper on the desk next to her and handing Akihide his status. "Congratulations on your second magic."

Status:-
Level: 2
Strength: 0(I)→ 197(H)
Endurance: 0(I)→ 193(H)
Dexterity: 0(I)→ 202(G)
Agility: 0(I)→ 232(G)
Magic: 0(I)→ 105(H)
Magic: Kaizen no Mon
Tsudzurao-ō no Sējifaia
Skills: Mico Grandus
Reiður Styrkur Tamamo
Development Abilities: Hunter (I)

"'Sage Fire of the Nine Tailed King'..." muttered Loki. "Another one I've never heard of before." she thought aloud, before looking back at his stats. 'And these stats! Holy shit they're top-class! Gaining Excilia as a level 2 for accomplishing level 3 feats is ridiculously profitable!' she thought to herself, screaming in her head about how lucky she got by getting him to join her Familia instead of Freya's.

Also, that bitch was overstepping her bounds again. She needed to be dealt with, sooner rather than later.

Loki coughed, before handing the paper to Akihide. "Sounds like it's an offensive spell this time." she said, as she got another bit of paper and a quill, writing something down. "This is your new incantation. Don't say it indoors, grab Riveria and practice outside for now." she said, handing the piece of paper over to the boy. "Go on, I want a detailed report later on what this magic can do." she said, sending Akihide away.

It was when Akihide was halfway down the stairs that the entire Twilight Manor rocked under Loki's horrendous scream about 'Slutty Eyed Goddesses' and 'Cock Wrenching Pedo Goddesses'. Everyone in the Familia knew to just let her vent, and went around their day-to-day lives whilst Loki drowned herself in booze.

This, of course, was great that Akihide had gotten a second magic, and an offensive spell to boot. With his already existing magic, he was becoming the ultimate supporter, and this new magic only added to that, since it allowed him to fight at long range now as well. However, with his skills with a sword and knives, as well as his Falna skills, he was also a suitable member for the vanguard. The ultimate combination of the two under Loki Familia, a battle mage. However, to properly use that title, there was one key skill that he, and the rest of Kiddy Party, had to learn.

Concurrent chanting.

The ability to simultaneously move around and fight as a vanguard, whilst also casting spells. To be able to properly become a member of both positions, and not waste the potential of one to fill the other by either not moving or not casting, a battlemage needed to be able to use Concurrent Chanting. And so, Kiddy Party found themselves behind the abandoned church that Alfia called home, training under the woman to be able to properly utilise Concurrent Chanting.

Surprisingly, however, most training of concurrent chanting did not leave an 8 year old level 2 boy on the floor after being bonked on the head from one of the strongest people in the world. But Alfia was unsure how to train the boy, as she never had any formal training herself. As the Demon of Talent, Alfia just sort of picked up Concurrent Chanting after three tries, to which the Empress had express her displeasure through a means taught to her by the old pervert Zeus, which was calling 'HAX' at the top of her lungs every time Alfia did it, which caused Hera to laugh profusely at the unfortunate women who had no idea what they were saying.

Needless to say, with no information on what to go on, Alfia was far from a perfect teacher, yet she tried her best, pointing out obvious mistakes, such as losing focus whilst moving, not moving enough, not moving correctly or having sloppy movements. She was very good at pointing out the flaws of the children, but not all that great at suggesting how to change them so they weren't being pulled down by these flaws, seeing as she never had to deal with them. Being the Demon of Talent was great when you were the one learning, but it seemed to be one of the biggest detriments to teaching.

Alfia, said teacher, looked down at her student, who had been moved to one of the chairs with a cushion under his head and a rather noticeable bump peaking out from his hairline. She looked at the other three members of Kiddy Party, and smiled. "So, who wants to go next?" she asked, as the three girls looked between themselves and chose their order.

And that was that there was no order, as they all turned tail and bolted out of the church as fast as their legs would carry them.

Alfia sighed as she sat down on the chair next to Akihide, looking down at the boy and smiling, before the smile turned to a frown of melancholy and deep thought.

"I wonder how Bell is doing with the old perv..." she thought aloud, allowing her mind to wonder back to the good old days with Meteria and her boy, conveniently not imagining the disgusting eyes of the boy her sister birthed.

Akihide was learning under Riveria three days later, who had taken one look at the massive bump on his head and went full mother hen mode, deciding it would be a good idea to take over Akihide's training with magic whilst allowing Gareth the 'honour' of taking care of Ais in the Dungeon and watching over her training sessions.

Now, whilst Alfia was more a kinaesthetic teacher, teaching her student through practice and moving around, Riveria took on a more traditional approach to teaching concurrent chanting, which was to completely understand the theoretical mechanics of using concurrent chanting, before practicing.

Riveria sat next to Akihide, as he went over a theory notebook on how concurrent chanting worked, explaining all the little mechanics that fit into place that made moving whilst chanting possible. "Now, what you need to understand Akihide is that whilst Concurrent Chanting is, in essence, the same no matter what magic you use, there are some methods that make it easier, depending on the type and elemental attribute of magic. All we have to do is practice some of these and hope that we find one that works. After that, Concurrent Chanting should come much easier."

And so, they began. Akihide trained day and night in order to accomplish Concurrent Chanting, working with books, practicing, listening to those who could use it for inspiration on how to do it himself, but it all was for naught. No matter what he tried, it seemed impossible for him to learn Concurrent Chanting. No matter who taught him, the Incarnation of Talent, the strongest mage alive, or anyone with experience, Akihide simply couldn't do it.

And so, in the blink of an eye, half a year passed from when he levelled up, there was no progress to show for it. Akihide began feeling depressed at his lack of ability to perform Concurrent Chanting.

Riveria sighed on that day, as she rubbed his head. "How about we put a pin in Concurrent Chanting for a while. You are still just a child after all, so it's a little hard for you right now. But we can come back to it another time. There's no rush." she said, consoling the boy, who simply huffed, before agreeing. With over four months of effort, he had nothing to show for it. It was time for him to stop wasting his time on learning Concurrent Chanting, and rather focus more on properly using his magic in live combat situations, whether that be in the Dungeon or protecting Orario from Evilus.

And so, Akihide began performing more and more in the Dungeon, whether he was on an expedition with his Familia, or in Kiddy Party over their days in the Dungeon, learning how to cast his magic efficiently and not jeopardise the party. It was better to put his learning towards something effective.

But that didn't mean he didn't feel somewhat depressed by the thought of not being able to accomplish Concurrent Chanting. It just made him feel like he was giving up, rather than setting it aside and coming back to it later.

And that sucked the most.

Akihide sighed as he looked over at the collection of adventurers meeting outside Babel to head into the Dungeon. The rest of his party was running completely late, it was more than 15 minutes since they were meant to meet up, so he had been waiting at the entrance to Babel for a good 25 minutes already.

He sighed, wondering if it was worth waiting around, as maybe something came up with all of them and they couldn't tell him due to time restraints. Airmid was an important potion-maker for Dian Cecht now, Ardee was a member of Orario's police force, and Ryuu was one of the city's protectors. Something might have happened to stop them from coming.

Akihide sighed, and stood up. He could at least check on their Familia homes and see where they were. He went to turn around, but was suddenly stopped by a voice. "Excuse me, Mister Adventurer, are you in the market for a Supporter?"

Akihide turned around and faced a girl smaller than him, which said a lot since he was only 8. Dressed in an filthy, almost white cloak, she carried a massive backpack behind her, wearing a small smile on her face, eyes filled with hope. Akihide looked at the girl, thinking she was vaguely familiar, and smiled. "I'm waiting for my party right now, but we don't have a supporter. If you don't mind waiting around, I'll chat with them about it. We could definitely use one." said the boy, reaching out his hand. "Akihide Okami, level 2 adventurer of the Loki Familia."

The girl smiled brightly, and shook it. "Liliruca Arde, Soma Familia Supporter."

Yeah, nice and short chapter to get back into everything, I hope you all enjoyed it, but for now, onto the omake.

Tales of the Nine Tailed King: Part 3 - The Wise Guy in the Shrine

The wind was breezy, carrying the long grass with it's gust, the whistling sounds relaxing to the ears as many in the village relaxed, having finished their days of work and were taking the afternoon off. It was a quiet and peaceful time, where worries and troubles simply melted away with the breeze, flying off to nowhere.

"YAHOOOOOOOO!"

Apart from one...

A collective sigh over their loss of relaxation, the villagers turned their attention to the children running through the long grass, one standing out amongst the others. The long, flowing white hair of the eldest of them, a boy bought to their village by fate itself, stood amongst the sea of brown and black hair the village was used to. At 14 years old, the boy had grown considerably, especially after he began to earnestly train with the city militia. He had developed muscles, and had even helped in taking down a trio of goblins a year ago who got far too close to the village. He was truly beloved by the village, proud of all he had accomplished ever since he arrived.

Tamamo no Mae, the name gifted to him by his mother. The meaning of 'Jewel Maiden', which he was glad wasn't known to the people of the village who didn't understand his language from the Far East, was gifted as a way of honouring his grandmother, who had gifted his mother with a beautiful diamond before her death, after learning of her daughter's pregnancy. Even if the meaning was embarrassing, he wore the name with pride. He took pleasure in hearing the villagers call out the sacred name his mother had given him at birth. Apparently, she had been so sure she was pregnant with a girl she hadn't even considered a male name, not that he minded either way.

It was a precious keepsake of his mother, he wouldn't change it for anything.

On this particular afternoon, running through the field with children ranging from 12 to 7 years old, they went further than they ever had before, and soon found themselves at the forest just west of their village, a forbidden place filled with dangerous and powerful monsters. The eldest, aside from Tamamo, looked back at the group. "We should go back... it's not safe..." he said, getting a nod from everyone, as they all turned to leave.

'Come hither~'

Tamamo stopped dead in his tracks after hearing that mysterious voice, and looked back at the forest, noticing a bright light somewhere inside it, and ran to it. The other kids called out to him, but Akihide ignored them all, running through the forest to find what he was after, without even knowing what it was himself.

He ran through the woods, jumping over roots and racing between the trees, the voice calling out louder and louder, the light becoming brighter. He kept going, kept reaching for it, kept trying to get it.

Then he tripped.

Over a tree root he went, tumbling down to the ground.

"OW!" he cried out, rubbing his head, as he looked around, only to stop dead in his tracks at what he saw ahead, a small shrine, made of stone, like a hut, with a bright blue glow coming from the centre. "What's that?" he asked, walking over and touching it, like the inquisitive child that he was.

That moment, would forever change his fate.

In a flash of light, Tamamo was forced off his feet by a pushing force, sending him down to the ground. He looked up in wonder, as a small speck of blue light began to fly around.

"FREEDOM!" cried out the light, freaking Tamamo out. "SUCK ON THAT, OTTARL! I GOT OUT AFTER ALL! FUCK YOU! HAHAHAHAHA!"

Tamamo looked on in shock as the light turned to him. "And my releaser... a small child..." it muttered, as it zipped close to him. "Hm... not bad... got a little growing to do, but I can make this work..."

"You have freed me, and for that, I shall grant you three wishes." said the light, looking on as the boy's face erupted in excitement, before he burst out laughing. "HAHAHA! Got ya there! Got ya real good, huh?!"

Tamamo looked on at the light with a glare, only enticing it to laugh harder.

"Okay, okay, fine! I'll tell you who I really am." said the light, backing up slightly. "I am Fenrir! Great Spirit of Loki, presiding over Trickery and Illusions! Bow to me, and I shall grant you the blessing of Loki!"

Tamamo looked at the light, before standing up and turning away. "Pass."

"HUH?! OI! NO EXCHANGES OR REFUNDS, YOU'RE STUCK WITH ME!" cried out Fenrir, as he rushed the boy. "I'LL BECOME YOUR SPEAR! ACCEPT ME!"

"NO WAY! GET LOST!" demanded Tamamo, but it was all for naught, as the spirit collided with him, and in a flash of light, a weapon appeared before him. A naginata, with a wolf's head at the bottom of the blade that ran down the start of the shaft, a beautiful silvery coloured weapon.

Tamamo could still hear the spirit laughing, as he collapsed to his knees in shock.

'What in the living fuck just happened?!'

Hope you guys enjoyed, this is Striker777, over and out.