A Vulpine Spanner in the Works

by Ten-Tailed-God

Believing that Momonga was the only Player remaining in YGGDRASIL at closing is an impossibility. What would happen if another Player, one not influenced by a guild of monsters arrived in the New World? Not all heroes are human, and not all monsters are skeletons. Sometimes, what one needs to change the world isn't great strength but instead trickery.

34. Chapter 31

A Vulpine Spanner in the Works

Chapter 31: There Was Once a Village…

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[Nero]

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Water dripped off me in a trail as Yamato and I made our way across the stone bridge together. It was one of a few of these bridges spanning the lake, all of which led to the centerpiece of the area. A golden palace in front of a massive tree of stone and vegetation.

Honestly, when I was told the scale of the tree, it had been hard to picture. But now? I could feel the full weight of the divinely-conjured tree that was almost the height of the Azerlisia Mountains if not slightly larger. It filled me with a mixture of awe and dread.

If Inari's daughter, Kashia, could conjure something like this, then what might happen if she decided to take on the might of an entire nation? It was something that was better left as a hypothetical since such an event could only lead to a one-sided slaughter.

But even through that dread creeping within me, I also felt a measure of hope. Maybe I could convince Kashia to try and save what's left of my village along with my family, if there even was anything left. It's this little sliver of hope for Grandpa and Oletta that let me continue on.

Pulling my attention away from the giant tree, I noted the braziers lining the bridge that were filled with the blue fire I could conjure that Yamato told me was named [Foxfire]. It was a little entrancing to watch the blue flames dance in the bowls of the braziers since the fire almost seemed 'alive' in a sense.

Eventually though, I took my gaze off the flames looked further along the bridge where a few foxes with multiple tails ran about. Interestingly enough, a lot of the ones I saw lacked the same number of tails that Yamato had. The highest I counted was five on a fox with blue fur.

"Yamato, why do you kitsune have differing amounts of tails? Does it mean anything?" I asked.

"For my race, tails are earned through three different methods. We earn a tail after a century of living, reaching a new level of power which expresses itself through the growth of a tail, or through accomplishing great feats." When Yamato said this, I couldn't help the examining gaze I gave the gray fox.

"How…old are you?" I cautiously asked.

"I have lived for 361 years. Three of my tails have been earned with my age, while the rest were from reaching new levels of power." Yamato answered with a stoic glance to me.

"What would be the highest number of tails that you could get? I remember that Inari had ten tails, so that should be it, right?"

Yamato shook his head in disagreement, "No, the highest number of tails that kitsune can earn are nine. Attaining anything higher can only be accomplished by Lady Inari and her children. Even then, doing so requires attaining full godhood, something which only Princess Kashia has been the closest to succeeding."

"If that's the case, then how many kitsune have gotten nine tails?"

"67. Of that number, only 22 are still among the living." Yamato finished ominously. That was a bit worrying.

I couldn't help but ask, "Why are only 22 still among the living? From what I've seen so far from just you with only seven tails, it seems like it would be extremely hard for anything to kill more of your race if they had a larger number of tails than that."

This earned me a sigh from Yamato, "Back home in YGGDRASIL, there are beings greater and more terrible than you could imagine. Wars between the realms are constant as the inhabitants of the realms vie for more territory. Not even gods are exempt from such desires.

As such, many kitsune lay down their lives in defense of the Realm of Foxes. Of which, a few casualties involved kitsune with nine tails. Thankfully, incursions into Lady Inari's realm have lessened because of alliances made between Lady Inari, Lady Freyja, and Lord Loki due to their ties to Princess Kashia."

Those new names made me cock my head in confusion, "Who are Freyja and Loki? And what ties do they have with Kashia to make them ally with Inari?" To be honest, all this talk of politics really confused me.

Maybe it had to do with my peasant upbringing, but wars, alliances, and all that stuff seemed like a lot of clutter. I get that wars happened because people wanted land and power, but anything further than that became a confusing mess. Why couldn't things just be as simple as pointing out a bad guy and then swinging a sword at it?

"Lady Freyja is the goddess of fertility, beauty, war, gold, and future-sight who helps to rule the realm of Vanaheim. Lord Loki is the god of mischief and trickery who resides within the realm of Jotunheim. Both deities have taken Princess Kashia as their disciple. As such, they have taken it upon themselves to aid her or her family if possible."

"That's kinda amazing. So, how many gods are there besides those three? I mean, we have the Four Great Gods along with the minor gods under them, but that's about it from what I know." I asked, wondering why it was only now that other gods were coming to this land?

"More than you can imagine." Surprisingly, Yamato then chuckled, "Nero, none of the gods your people worship are real." That announcement made my jaw drop, "The gods your people worship could be imagined as little more than oceans of power that your people pray to. There is no mind or soul to it, just a great emptiness."

I quickly tried to interject, "What about the priests, clerics, and paladins? How could any of them use their magic if the gods weren't real?"

"They simply take buckets of power from that mindless source with sheer belief. It's not because their gods thought them faithful enough to be awarded power. If your gods were true deities, they would have manifested long ago and be walking among you." Then, Yamato's tail lightly smacked me upside the head, making me hiss in pain as I rubbed the hurt area.

"What was that for?" I demanded with a glare.

"It is unbecoming for a paladin of Lady Inari to even care about other gods when you have specifically been blessed by her. Besides, unlike the rest of those worshippers, you have actually met our Lady." Yamato stated with a dry look. Sadly, I couldn't even argue against his point.

"I guess so." I said in admittance.

"You know so." Yamato corrected, and just as it seemed that he was about to say more, we were interrupted when the blue kitsune with five tails that I saw earlier appeared before us.

"It seems that you've finally come back from your excursion." The blue kitsune said with a playful female voice. Then, her blue-eyed gaze took notice of me, "And it seems that you came back with a human tagalong."

"Hello…Karin." Yamato said in an even drier tone than before. I couldn't tell if it was because the two had history with one another or if it's because of how outgoing that Karin seemed which heavily chafed against Yamato's personality.

"Come on, Yammy! Don't be like that." She taunted before she asked me, "I hope that Mr. Personality over here didn't spend the entire time walking with you acting like a nearly mute companion?"

Glancing over to my annoyed teacher, I decided that I cared more about my life than speaking my opinion, "I'd rather not answer that."

"That bad, huh?" She said in sympathy, "Well, let me inform ya that most kitsune are not as dour and serious as Yammy here. For instance, I-" As Karin said this, her form became covered in soft white glow before it faded away to reveal a woman with short and spiky blue hair, a pair of blue-furred fox ears, and five similarly colored tails waving behind her, "-am a lot more fun to hang around with."

Examining Karin, she wore a strange style of clothing that was quite similar to Inari's except for the blue coloring compared to her white along with being a lot more…revealing. It was quite easy to tell that she was…developed with how open the front of her robe was. It just seemed to hang off the sides of her arm and chest, revealing all of the skin of her tanned shoulders and the top of her chest.

Honestly, it was either a miracle or magic that her robe didn't slip down and make her a walking act of public indecency. Hilariously, she didn't seem as…big as Inari who didn't flaunt her looks.

Additionally, the weird robe-dress she wore ended at her lower thigh while further down, her feet were covered in wooden sandals on strange tiny stilts with the one at the heel rising further than the front.

Focusing my eyes back to her beautiful face, she gave me a knowing grin and winked one of her blue slitted eyes at me. I couldn't help but blush in embarrassment, making the tailed woman laugh. "While I appreciate your complimentary looks, you're a little young for my tastes. Give it a decade or two and then we might be able to get somewhere."

I found myself choking on my own spit as I started coughing into my hand. This only elicited further laughter from Karin who gave me a playful pat on the shoulder.

"Just messing with ya, kid! As for introductions, if ya were listening to Grumpy earlier, my name's Karin. I'm one of the caretakers of the Fox Palace of Princess Kashia along with glorified arborist of the Tree of the Gods. What might your name be?" Karin said while holding out her hand which I took note had a wicked set of sharp claws on each finger.

After my coughing finally died down, I shook her hand with mine and spoke, "Nero. My name's Nero."

"Pleasure to meet ya, Nero!" As she shook my hand, her eyes glanced to the marking on the skin of said hand. This was followed by her eyebrows raising in surprise, "Lady Inari chose ya to be her paladin? That is quite a surprise."

"Yeah, it was something I didn't expect as well. But here I am." I said with a shrug of my shoulders as we broke the handshake.

"Tends to be how life plays out in general." Karin remarked, "So, kid, any reason why ya look like you've been living in the jungle for a few years?"

"I was forced to run into the forest after my village was attacked by demons." I answered as my mood instantly lowered upon thinking of the events that occurred. While Yamato already knew this and showed no change in expression, Karin was the exact opposite.

Her eyes widened as her smile fell, "Would ya be able to tell me what kind of demons attacked your home?"

It surprised me how quickly her emotions seemed to change from playful to absolutely serious. "I couldn't really put a name to them. I answered honestly."

"How about trying to describe them? Can ya do that, Nero?"

"There were a lot of different creatures." As I said this, my mind flashed back to that day when the multitude of demons killed and tortured my family, friends, and neighbors. But then, I perfectly recalled the horrid bastards with stingers that kept stabbing Oletta and laughing. That just filled me with rage as my fingers squeezed against the hilt of my sword.

I wanted to hack them all to pieces!

But I tried to bury this anger a bit in order to answer Karin's question. "The demons I can recall vividly as they tortured my little sister, Oletta, were these short creatures that looked like red-skinned infants with red eyes. They had bat-like wings, short horns, and thin tails with barbed stingers on the end. They used them to repeatedly stab Oletta and inject some kind of venom into her that paralyzed her. Little fuckers were laughing as they did so." I growled out.

"From your description, those creatures could only be imps. Exactly how long ago did this happen?" Karin asked as her tails seemed to just freeze in place.

"Nine days ago." I answered which seemed to pale her tanned skin.

That was when Yamato decided to speak up, "What do the type of creatures and time have to do with anything, Karin. What do you know that I do not?"

"While ya'll were out roaming the woods, two days after Nero's village was attacked, two imps and a doppelgänger tried to kidnap and replace the Princess' eldest daughter." Yamato froze when Karin said this as his fur slightly bristled, "The fact that these creatures, which appeared in two places so soon after one another while not being native to the region leads me to believe-"

"-that they are being commanded by the same entity." Yamato said while finishing Karin's thought. "The fact that they appeared in two different countries means that this intelligence that commands them is confident enough in attempting to spread its reach across multiple countries."

Hearing Yamato say this was an uncomfortable thought. Just what kind of entity would try to kidnap the daughter of a demigoddess along with torturing or capturing the people of my village?

"We have to inform the Princess of this immediately." The moment Karin said this, Yamato's tail picked me up by my waist before depositing me upon his back.

Yamato quickly said, "We have to move quickly. Hold on." A second later and both Yamato and Karin were taking off across the bridge as everything became a blur. Another second and the three of us were at the steps to the palace. Karin pushed the doors open with her tails and we entered into a large throne room that held a tall jewel-encrusted throne elevated off the ground.

Oddly enough, the throne was completely empty, with the nine curved spikes on the throne looking like a hand grasping at the air. But while the throne was empty, the foot of the stairs leading up to said throne was abuzz with activity of kitsune that talked to a red-furred kitsune that had four tails.

It seemed like they would receive orders from the fox before running off in different directions to complete the tasks they were given. That changed upon the arrival of Karin, Yamato, and myself as we drew near to the red kitsune.

"Greetings, Karin, Yamato, and our new guest. Is there something wrong?" A soothing female voice spoke from the red fox.

"Tsuki, we need ya to send out a [Message] to Princess Kashia." The red fox I now knew as Tsuki seemed to quickly glance at me when Kashia's name was said. I couldn't understand why, but it soon changed when she focused back on Karin, "We might have information on a possible connection with whoever it was that attempted to kidnap her daughter." Karin quickly replied, making Tsuki freeze before she gave a nod.

For a few moments, we watched her stand there, seemingly doing nothing, until she finally spoke once more, "I have informed the Princess. She shall be here momentarily." Tsuki answered. It was momentary indeed as a gold flash appeared next to the red kitsune and quickly died down to reveal a gorgeous blonde woman standing there.

The first thing to note about her was the pair of long golden-furred fox ears on top of her head along with nine matching tails flowing behind her. Her eyes were a glowing gold, but unlike Karin's and Inari's, hers had rounded pupils unlike the slits they had.

Another difference between her and them was her clothing style of an oddly cut and revealing black dress edged in gold alongside matching gloves and boots. But even with the differences in clothing, it was easy to tell that this woman was Inari's daughter due to how much they resembled one another. This was definitely Kashia Blanc, Inari's daughter.

One side-thought I had as my eyes glanced between Karin, Kashia, along with the mental image of Inari was how ridiculously attractive they were. I mean, Karin might not be as 'developed' as the other two women were, but it was still a lot more than humans typically were. Does the humanoid form of every kitsune look like it came from a fairy tale or were those three just the exception?

By Inari, did that mean that Yamato was also able to outclass me in looks along with being able to kick my ass without effort? This kinda makes me feel a little self-conscious.

"I came as soon as I could. What is it that you found out about Tuare's failed kidnappers? And also, who's the kid?" She asked while glancing at me in curiosity.

Yamato was the one to actually answer this time, "This is Nero, your Highness, who I have taken as my student under your mother's orders. He is the reason as to why we discovered this new information."

As soon as Yamato mentioned Inari, Kashia's expression became one of shock while her golden eyes widened and she fixed her attention solely on me.

"M-Mom wanted you to be taught? Why?" She asked in confusion with a hint of desperation in her voice. Whereas before, she seemed to be this imposing and untouchable demigoddess, now Kashia appeared, in a silly way, so much more human.

Sucking up the courage, I decided to answer the demigoddess, "Inari came to me in my dreams when I was at my lowest point after my village was destroyed. She wanted to help me, so Inari made me her paladin." Saying this, I showed Kashia the mark on the back of my right hand.

"I wanted to get stronger so that I could prevent the tragedy that struck my village while also potentially saving any of the survivors that are still left." I finished.

"What happened to your village?" Kashia asked.

"Demons attacked it and either killed or captured anyone they found. I was lucky enough to get away…" I answered bitterly. Kashia was silent as she examined me and I couldn't tell what she might be thinking through those golden eyes of hers.

"Nero, would it be alright if I read your mind to get a better picture of everything?" Kashia asked gently which slightly surprised me. But after mulling it over in my mind, I thought it would be best to let her. It would be easier to not have to explain everything that happened and reopen those still raw wounds that were my memories.

Giving Kashia a nod, I said, "Go ahead." The demigoddess walked over to me and put a finger to my forehead. For a moment, I felt this strange foreign presence in my mind that, while not painful, felt slightly odd and uncomfortable.

Soon after that, the presence retreated and Kashia took her finger off my forehead. When I looked up to meet her gaze, I saw tears falling from her eyes as her arms quickly pulled me into a hug that I was completely unprepared for. I wasn't sure about what to do as my arms hung at my sides. But after a few moments, I decided to slowly return the gesture.

"I'm so sorry for what happened to you, Nero." Kashia said softly in sympathy, "But I'm also so thankful that I was able to see and hear my mom again after so long through your memories. Thank you, Nero."

"Y-You're welcome." I answered awkwardly. Eventually though, we separated and I saw Kashia's once round pupils slowly stretch into slits.

"We're going to take your village back today. Save those that we can and avenge those that we can't." As those words left her lips, I felt all my hope completely restored. I might be able to see Oletta and Grandpa again! Please, just let them be alive.

"Tsuki, gather as many kitsune as we can afford to remove from this place and have them gather in front of the palace. I want us ready to move out in 10 minutes!" Kashia ordered.

Tsuki quickly bowed, "As you wish, your Highness." Then, the red kitsune took off running, joined by a green and brown-furred pair of kitsune with three tails. Following this rush of activity, the blonde demigoddess cast a spell that cause some weird portal, like a window, to appear in front of her.

Within this window, I saw my village like we were a bird in the sky. The window then moved closer to the village and I saw that it had new walls of wood and stone surrounding it, something which our village never had due to the time, effort, and cost it would take to build and maintain those walls.

What didn't make sense was what I saw at the front gates of the village. There were two human guards who stood blocking the entrance, yet within the village proper, I could see demons and monsters coming in and out of a few buildings that looked way too small to hold the number of creatures entering and leaving them.

"The people at the front gate are likely disguised demons or doppelgängers." Kashia said, answering my unspoken question. "It's pretty suspicious with how many demons are fitting into a few of those houses. I wonder…"

Kashia trailed off in thought as the window shifted its vision to be within a house. That was when we all got a good view of a tunnel that had been dug down in the center of the house which trailed to some area underground.

The walls of this tunnel were lit with torches embedded into the earth and stone that had been carved out. From here, the window went to the bottom of this tunnel where I saw with horror what happened to some of my friends and neighbors.

Some were being horrifically tortured as demons, some of which were imps, were in the process of having their flesh skinned, leaving them as screaming naked figures of bleeding muscle who were then taken by other demons and healed of their missing flesh. Then, they'd be sent back to the skinning demons once more to have more of their flesh harvested.

I could see the growing piles of human skin that more demons would haul away to be processed for gods knows what. We were witnessing horrific suffering that worked at peak efficiency.

Cruel and sadistically peak efficiency.

I felt my right hand curl into a fist that trembled in rage as I saw my friend Caius crying and screaming as he went through the process. And this was just a small amount of the villagers. While I did see new faces among the tortured crowd, many faces I might've expected were all missing, especially Oletta and Grandpa.

While some villagers had likely died, that didn't explain what happened to the others. So, where was everyone else?

" Fucking monsters." Kashia growled out as her eyes glowed with rage while her teeth slowly elongated into sharp fangs. Gone was any form of kindness in the demigoddess, and in its place was fury. " None of them are going to live for another day on this world, I won't permit it!"

As Kashia said this, I saw that her anger was shared with the other kitsune around her. Even Yamato, normally completely stoic, showed emotion as his fur bristled in rage.

Kashia managed to control her anger for a moment as she looked at me while the conjured window faded away, " Nero, you'll have to wait here while we head to the village and kill these sick fucks."

I was shocked as she said this. She wanted me to just sit back and do nothing?! "No, you can't do that. I need to be there." I stated.

Kashia just shook her head to me in reply, " It's too dangerous, and from what I saw of your memories, you're inexperienced in fighting. If something were to happen, you wouldn't be able to defend yourself."

Shaking my head, I argued back, "This is my home! I have to try and see this through to the end!"

" You have done admirably so far. It's time for you to take a rest and let someone else take care of this." She said in an effort to placate me, but I tried to hold firm against her.

"I can't rest! Not until I've got Oletta and Grandpa back!" This time, I shouted back against her. Just when Kashia looked like she was about to say something, Yamato, surprisingly, spoke up.

"I will keep watch over him, Princess Kashia. He is my charge. No harm will come to him under my watch if he is brought along." My heart was pounding as Yamato stood up for me against the daughter of his goddess. Looking from the gray kitsune to Kashia, I saw her think for a moment before she seemed to relent with a sigh.

" You better be right about that. Otherwise, it's your ass. Got it?" Kashia demanded to Yamato who gave a solemn nod.

"I understand. Thank you, your Highness." Yamato responded in gratitude. With a nod, Kashia then looked back to me.

" Ground rule of tagging along is that you follow and obey everything that your guardian says. If he tells you to jump, the only words coming from your mouth will be 'how high?' Got it?" I felt relieved to hear this since it meant that I wasn't being left behind.

"So, do what I've already been doing with Yamato. Got it." I replied with a barely hidden smirk. Kashia's eyes narrowed in amusement at my answer.

" Cheeky." Kashia remarked before her expression hardened once more, " Let's head off to meet everyone outside. I'm impatient enough as it is at the moment."

Saying this, the blonde demigoddess began marching towards the front courtyard of the palace while her boots ominously clicked against the floor as her ponytail swayed behind her and her tails aggressively snaked around air. They looked like they were trying to strangle or crush some imaginary enemy, and I had absolutely no sympathy or mercy for the monsters she planned to take this aggression out on.

"Thanks for helping me out, Yamato." I said gratefully to the gray kitsune.

"I consider the extermination ahead to be a learning experience for you. There, you will see how battles of a higher level are fought." The stoic kitsune answered before adding, "But…you are welcome, Nero."

"Don't worry, kid. Aside from Yamato, I'll also make sure to watch your back during this fight." Karin said with a pat to my back.

"Karin, I already am watching him. Why must you involve yourself when your presence isn't actually needed?" Yamato asked with annoyance.

"Because it gets under your fur, Grumpy." Two of Karin's blue tails poked Yamato in the side as she said this, eliciting an annoyed grunt from the fox.

"Do not get in our way." Yamato warned, as he followed after Kashia. Karin and I looked at each other after this.

"See what I mean? He barely does anything to try and prove the nickname I gave him is wrong." Karin remarked, "But we shouldn't tarry any longer, else we're liable to get left behind."

I gave the blue kitsune a nod and we both hurried to catch up to Yamato who walked next to Kashia as they descended for the top of the steps that led down to the courtyard. I thought that it would be a few minutes before the kitsune were all gathered together after Kashia's order.

Color me surprised when a veritable army of kitsune packed the courtyard below with any excess spilling out onto the bridge as well. It looked like there were hundreds at this point. How was it even possible for an army like this to exist by the borders of two nations and not be noticed?

"How are there this many kitsune already assembled? It's only been a few minutes?" I asked my internal thought aloud.

"Well, kid, that's because we all love the Princess like we do her mother." Karin explained while gazing at said demigoddess with a look of adoration. "If she calls for our help, then we'll bust our asses to aid her." As I watched Kashia reach the bottom of the stairs, I saw how reverent the kitsune acted around her, bowing or making way for her to walk through the crowd.

Then, Karin gave a conspiratorial glance and smirk before leaning down to me and whispering, "But between you and me, quite a few of the Princess' handmaidens really like her if you know what I mean. I've heard and smelled enough to know whose name they like to shout on their lonely nights."

It was very easy to insinuate exactly what the blue kitsune meant by that statement. I gave Karin a slightly disgusted look at the amount of information that she just gave me. I definitely didn't need to know that.

"And are you also of that part of that group?" I asked.

"Nah," Karin replied, "I'm not as interested in the Princess as her handmaidens are. Don't get me wrong, the Princess is sexy as hell and could possibly convince me to take a tumble with her if asked, but I have different type that I'm interested in." And there she goes, giving me too much information again.

"Right…" I said as we descended the stairs and soon arrived next to Yamato.

" Attention, everyone!" Any noise among the crowd of kitsune immediately silenced itself as Kashia spoke, " In a few moments, I'll be creating a [Gate] that opens out to the forest just outside of the village we'll be assaulting! Upon arrival, begin to stealthily encircle the village until I give the signal. Once that occurs, charge the village, kill all the monsters within besides a few to question, and save the humans!"

And as one, every kitsune shouted, "Yes, Princess Kashia!" Even Karin and Yamato joined the crowd's shout. Then, a large black portal appeared next to Kashia and every kitsune besides Karin and Yamato charged into it.

While that happened, the three of us made our way over to the demigoddess who gave me a glance before snapping her fingers. A second later, and I found myself wearing actual clothing instead of a pair of torn-up trousers.

It looked quite valuable with a fine dark red shirt under chainmail that was covered by a coat of blue leather armor. This was shared with the trousers and boots I wore which were black with blue armored leather at strategic positions. And conveniently, there was a scabbard hanging from my waist that I was able to put my sword into.

" Can't let you enter into a battle half-naked." Kashia explained. " Now, let's follow along, shall we?" When Kashia said this, she entered the portal and Karin, Yamato, and I followed after her.

Upon stepping through, I got a sudden case of vertigo as we exited into a wooded area, one I was extremely familiar with considering that I ran through it nine days prior. But after a moment to reorient myself, I looked around to see kitsune quickly scattering off into different directions ahead of us.

Further past the trees, I could see the walled village ahead that hid the horrific acts within. Glancing over to Kashia, I saw her raise a hand in the air, pointing at the village, followed by a blue runic circle that let off a pulse of power. This was soon repeated as another spell went off with a pulse of power

"What was that?" I asked.

" A pair of spells to prevent any of these little bastards from trying to teleport away or warn their friends." The demigoddess replied as she walked forwards and we followed. My heart was pounding as we drew closer to the edge of the forest and my thoughts went back to that day when I ran.

This time, I wasn't running. I came back and brought help. I was going to see you soon, Oletta and Grandpa, and I was going to hug you both and apologize for leaving you.

Please, just hold on a little bit longer.

As my mind was wracked with thoughts and worries, I felt a hand on my left shoulder and looked to see Karin's hand. "Ya okay, kid?"

"Just…worried." I admitted.

"Well, ya shouldn't, kid. All of us will go in, kill the bad guys, and save your friends and family. Just stick with Yammy and I, and it'll be smooth sailing from here." Karin said confidently with a wide grin. That managed to cheer me up a bit and I smiled back.

"Cease your useless worrying, Nero. A warrior remains focused on the battle at hand and tunes out such things." Yamato stated, his gaze focused ahead on the village.

"Translating Yammy speak, he's trying to tell ya that things will be fine." Karin explained, and Yamato didn't seem to react to the verbal jab. That made me smile even wider.

"Thanks, you two."

"No problem, Nero." Karin replied warmly.

Soon after, we followed Kashia out into the open and watched as she raised her hand in the air and conjured a blue spell circle. What came out was unexpected as I heard a roar of flames as a giant blast of blue fire shot high into the air. This was next followed by a mass chorus of howling as the army of kitsune charged upon the village as one.

It was eerily horrifying to think of what this would look like for a village of humans if an army of foxes charged them at once instead of the village of monsters it was now?

At the front gate, I saw the two guards start shifting their shape as what looked like bladed claws grew from their hands, yet that did little to stop the grouping of foxes that quickly piled onto them at once, tearing them apart with claws, teeth, and tails until the monsters were nothing but chunks of flesh on the ground.

I felt Yamato wrap his tail around my waist before picking me up and depositing me upon his back. Then, we took off towards the village in a charge as Karin and Kashia followed. Well, Karin followed up by running, which I found impressive considering the weird sandals that she wore.

Kashia on the other hand just seemed to be behind us for one moment, then she seemed to just blink into existence near the front gate of the village the next moment before entering inside. Already, as we drew closer, I could hear the screams and roars of inhuman creatures coming from within the village while more and more kitsune piled inside either by jumping the walls or running through the open gate.

When we arrived at the gates and went inside, I could see the bloodbath that occurred as the bodies of numerous demons and monsters were torn apart by the tide of foxes. In a way, these kitsune reminded me of what I've seen ants do to other insects.

A few ants would bite down on the limbs of another insect, then slowly rip the trapped bug apart by its limbs as more ants would start biting chunks out of the immobilized prey. The only difference with this was that it was a group of foxes doing the same to a demon.

A surviving demon, one that looked like an imp if only the size of a small child and with purple skin, even tried charging us until Yamato's tails skewered it before throwing the body into the side of a ruined house.

The three of us moved past all the demons being butchered and followed Kashia up ahead as she went into one of the houses and we quickly followed after while avoiding any of the demons that put up slightly more fight than their brethren before being taken down.

Upon entering the house which had once belonged to the toymaker Sarrah, we all saw the tunnel going down into the earth along with Kashia's form that traveled downwards. In a few moments, the three of us quickly arrived at the bottom of the tunnel which opened up into the room that we saw in that magical window from earlier.

It was so much worse being down here and seeing it with my own eyes than through a spell. The sickening coppery smell of blood and death permeated the room. Crude prison cells had been built into the walls with metal bars facing out to what had once been consistent and endless torture. Thankfully, the former prisoners were being led out of these cells by some of the kitsune in the room.

And there were so many kitsune were in this room, either ripping apart the demons in the area or continuing to aid any one of the many different traumatized people. All the while, I saw Kashia moving from person to person and talking to each one before casting spells upon them.

Some of these spells would heal those that they were cast upon, restoring missing limbs, missing skin, and whatever else that I couldn't see. Other spells didn't seem to perform any visible healing, but whoever they were cast upon seemed to lose that expression of traumatized horror. Of these people in line for Kashia to heal, one of these people was my friend Caius.

I quickly hopped off of Yamato and ran over to my friend who I noticed now had many visible streaks of white going through his once fully dark hair. I almost slid over to him as I got to my knees. "Caius!" I said, causing one of my two best friends to slowly look over to me.

"N-Nero?" Caius asked cautiously as his hands reached out and grabbed my shoulders, almost as if trying to confirm that I was real.

"Yeah, Cai. It's me. I'm right here." When I answered this, Caius' face twisted into one of grief as he started crying.

"Th-Those monsters a-ate my p-parents! The-They ate Ar-Argust in f-front of us! I-I thought they a-ate you as well!" I pulled my friend into an embrace as he sobbed into my shoulder while tears streamed down my face at hearing of how my other best friend had died before help could come.

"They killed my mom as well. Grandpa had me leave him and Oletta and run away into the woods. B-But I came back with help. I just wish that I had been faster."

Caius held back his sobbing with effort before he said, "I saw y-your grandpa and sister here on th-the first day. Then, the demons to-took them away. W-We don't know wh-where they take you, but y-you don't come back wh-when you a-are!"

He then shakily pointed down to an ominous torch-lit hallway that went off of this skinning room. Even now, I could see a few kitsune examining the piles of skin with visible disgust that I shared. The pile was high and it made me wonder how many times everyone in here had gone through the skinning process? But looking down that hallway, my heart beat fast in my chest as I could barely imagine what further nightmarish tortures that my family may have gone through.

"Don't worry, Cai. You're gonna be safe. I brought a…goddess named Kashia to save everyone, so she and her foxes are gonna take care of all of you." Even though Kashia's a demigoddess, I felt that it was better to just call her a goddess so that my friend would feel safer. Additionally, Inari said that she was a fledgling goddess, so Kashia would likely lose the 'demi' status soon if she hadn't already.

"R-Really?" He asked with both hope amazement as he slowly began gazing at the blonde demigoddess continuing to work.

"Really, Cai." I answered him while resting my hands on his shoulders. "Will you be okay if I leave you be for now? I have to find Oletta and Grandpa."

Caius was hesitant at first before he nodded his head. "G-Go find yo-your family. I'll be okay, Neer." He said with as brave a front as he could put up with his nickname for me. Giving a reassuring squeeze to his shoulders, I stood up and turned to Yamato and Karin.

"Let's hurry." I said while wiping my eyes. The two kitsune were silent as they gave me nods and we hurried out of the room and down the hallway that Caius pointed out to us. When we arrived to this new room, I found it to be a lot different than the 'skinning room'. More horrifying as bloodcurdling screams echoed from the cells containing prisoners that looked so much worse than the 'skinning room' prior.

This room consisted of a long and wide hallway that had cells on both sides which spanned the length of the hallway. Approaching one of these cells, I saw a piece of parchment clipped against a wooden board which was plastered to the dividing wall next to the cell door. It was written in some foreign language that I couldn't understand. But that was absolutely minor compared to what I saw inside of the cell.

Within was the barely recognizable form of Old Henryk that had been horrifically altered. He looked like some horrific amalgam of human and insect as multiple deformities seemed to have just torn out of his skin. His face had a bulbous left eye that seemed ready to pop out of his head that seemed to be filled with multiple copies of his once human brown eye.

The right side of his jaw had broken off from the rest of his mouth and face as a large mandible covered in green chitin that sporadically twitched. The rest of his mouth didn't seem much better as his skin stretched, almost to the point of tearing, in an effort to try and cover the deformity. Further down his body were patches of chitin tearing out from flesh.

His left arm split at the elbow into a human hand and an insectoid leg, and that was a cleaner mutation compared to what happened to his right arm. It seemed divided in half, but still connected together at his shoulder and wrist as a human arm and insectoid limb. This mutation had forcibly ripped his arm apart, causing his flesh to fester and bleed a thick and soupy green liquid which oozed to the floor.

From his back, a twisted flap of flesh grew into a facsimile of a wing that also bled more of that green liquid. A bulbous green insect thorax mutated the bottom of his waist and forced the hip of his right leg to be moved further down the deformity by foot, while his other leg remained the same, but had now become fully insectoid.

Even now, I could see slow growths of more chitinous plates slowly trying to poke their way out of his skin, making it bleed as it happened.

Grotesquely, I watched all of Old Henryk's many eyes shift to look in my direction as the human half of his mouth choked out words while the mandible curled and uncurled. " N er o, i s t h a t y o u?" Old Henryk asked with a voice that warbled between human and inhuman tones and needed visible effort for the mutated man to even speak.

"It is, Old Henryk. Don't worry, we're gonna get you out of this cell and fix you!"

" Ho w d o y o u f i x t hi s? T i r ed. Wa n t t o d i e." It was hard to watch the cranky old man that had chased me and my friends over the years look so defeated and broken. I could just tell that every moment he lived like this was just agony for him.

"There's a goddess here who has magic. She's going to fix you after she's fixed everyone else. Just hold out a little bit longer. Please." I begged the man whose many eyes searched mine for a few moments until Old Henryk finally relented with a nod, the act of speaking now being too much effort for him.

Yet, if this is what happened to Old Henryk, what happened to my family?

Moving away from Old Henryk's cell, Yamato spoke to me in a low voice, " [Curse of the Insect]. Meant to debilitate a target by changing them into an insect. But I have never seen it applied like this before." By the gods, what kind of sick being would create a spell or curse like this?

At the next cell, I found the town's smith, Odric, except he looked completely feral. His body seemed to gain constant tumorous growths that grew across his body. At the same time, his arms looked more like bulbous clubs of flesh and bone that his fingers grew out from at disgusting angles. When he saw me, whatever rage that he had been directing towards the stone wall of his cell was now focused all upon me.

Odric charged the bars of his cell with a primal roar and began punching the metal gate, uncaring of his clublike arms being damaged and broken as his only thought in mind was to see me bashed apart under his blows. I watched as his limbs crunched and his bones starting poking out from his arms at different angles, but that did nothing to slow his attacks as the flesh and bones of his arms was grown over by more flesh and bones to replace them.

It all grew imperfectly as the broken fingers were pushed aside so that more fingers could grow in their place.

I backed away from the cell while looking at the once kindly man in sorrow. He didn't deserve something like this happening to him. Knowing that he probably wouldn't be able to understand or communicate with me in his cursed state of mind, I stepped away from his cell and moved onto the next where I saw a twisted and amalgamated creature of multiple limbs, two heads, and a horrid fusion of torsos. Like Odric before, this thing was constantly growing flesh and tumors, but unlike him, its flesh sloughed off its body as it rotted.

Before I could say anything, both of the creature's heads looked up at me together, and something about their constantly shifting and rotting features seemed familiar.

" Nero/ Big Brother, is/ is that/ that you/ you?"

I froze on the spot as I looked at the creature in horror as it spoke with the voices of Oletta and Grandpa. My heart was thumping as I gazed upon this twisted and wretched form that I was able to start picking out the recognizable features from. Oletta's blue eyes and platinum-blonde hair which grew and fell off in clumps from the smaller head grafted to the creature's shoulder. Grandpa's bronze eyes and mouth, both twisted into a mixture of agony and relief.

The amalgamated form stood on four legs; two larger legs that were slightly crouched in the front, while two shorter legs supported it from the back. G-Grandpa's right shoulder was raised up as O-Ol-Oletta's smaller shoulder joined it. Yet Grandpa's was the only arm that came from that shoulder. Instead, Oletta's arm stuck out from the side of their joined ribcages, hanging like a vestigial limb.

Their left shoulders didn't share this merging, and Oletta's and Grandpa's arms remained mostly separate whenever their rotting flesh didn't get caught onto new growth that merged the arms together once more.

Then Oletta's ear fell off her head and onto the ground. That was when I emptied my stomach contents onto the floor.

" Big Brother, you came/ back. You/ you got/ got away/ away. Why/ why did/ did you come back/ back?" Their voices asked together, sometimes one voice overpowering the other. I was crying as I ran to the cell bars as the amalgamated form of Grandpa and Oletta hobbled over.

"I-I-I came ba-back to res-rescue you. I should've be-been here s-sooner!" I sobbed out.

" You ran because I told you to, Nero/ Big Brother." Grandpa's voice said primarily as both his and Oletta's arms stuck through the cell bars and cupped my face. " They did things/ things to/ to us/ us. It really hurts / hurts. I don't want to/ to hurt/ live anymore/ anymore."

"We-We-We ca-can f-fix you! You'll b-be be-better and then-then it will a-all be n-normal again!" I choked out to them as I reached through the bars to hold them, regardless of the everchanging flesh I felt.

" We/ We are/ are happy/ happy that/ that we/ we got/ got to/ to see/ see you/ you again/ again." They said before both of their heads began heaving out blood and flesh while their hands on my face slipped away. I watched in horror as their amalgamated body began convulsing against the cell bars as they fell against it.

"No! NO! NO! What's happening?!" I shouted as I watched my family continue dying in front of me, unable to do anything to help them. Just like Mom.

Yamato wrapped his tails against the cell door and ripped it off its hinges. Then I ran inside and slid to my knees as I cradled their body in my arms. "Their bodies were joined together in a monstrous manner. Likely by allowing their [Curse of Growth] to merge the pair after being surgically cut open and held together until their bodies fused. It was likely that their torturers were using constant applications of healing magic to keep them alive. Since they are all dead…"

As Yamato trailed off, I quickly picked up on what he meant. "Please, get Kashia or someone else who knows healing magic to help them! I don't want to lose any more of my family!" As I said this, I watched their eyes rolling around in their sockets as this seizure continued making them convulse and spit out blood.

After what felt like agonizing minutes or hours watching Oletta and Grandpa dying, I felt a presence by my side and a hand on my shoulder. Looking away from them, I found my gaze met by Kashia's slitted golden. "Please," I begged, "help them!"

She looked down at the pair and then back to me. "As they are currently, I'm not going to heal them." I looked at her in disbelief as I felt completely betrayed by her.

"WHY?!"

"Because I fear that if I did heal them, it would continue with them remaining fused like they are. I'm going to let them die." NO! NO! N- "Once dead, I'll separate them apart and resurrect them since it will less likely result in possible issues."

My heartrate plummeted in relief as she said this. They were going to be saved. Oletta and Grandpa would be fixed. But I was soon taken out of that thought when their seizure increased in severity.

"There has to be something that can stop this! They're in so much pain, but they don't even seem close to dying…"

"I'd reckon that their moment of dying is going to be prolonged for a while due to the constant regeneration." Kashia remarked as both of them began screaming in agony together. Her golden eyes then flitted behind me, "Karin, why don't you take Nero aside for a bit."

That was when I felt a pair of hands lift me up and begin pulling me away from Grandpa and Oletta's screaming form. "What are you doing? Let me go!" I shouted as I was pulled to the edge of the cell. I tried to fight Karin's grip, but she was just too strong to pull away from.

Suddenly, I was turned around to meet Karin's sympathetic blue eyes before she pulled me into an embrace and held me head in place facing the wall. "You don't want to watch this, kid. Just close your eyes." She said gently into my ear.

I wanted to fight her on this, but I knew the effort would be completely futile. So, I squeezed my eyes shut and listened to my family continue screaming together.

Thump! Thump!

The screaming was suddenly cut off, and the cell we all stood in was left completely silent until it wasn't.

Squelch! Rip! Crack! Rip!

I heard those horrific sounds continue on and I couldn't even imagine what must be happening right now to Grandpa and Oletta. I found myself wrapping my arms around Karin and squeezing as each noise brought more thoughts of their twisted form being mutilated. Of them being permanently gone, just like Mom.

"It's going to be okay, Nero. Just focus on my voice, alright? Y'all've done well getting this far to rescue your family, so just endure for a little longer and you'll be able to see them again very soon." Karin said to soothe me.

I tried to follow her advice and concentrate on her words instead of the nightmarish sounds behind me. It was hard, but I tried my best.

Mercifully, the noise finally ended and bright light seeped through my closed eyelids until it faded. That was when Karin's grip on my finally loosened. "Ya can open your eyes now." Karin whispered to me.

As my eyes slowly opened, my ears were filled with a beautiful sound I thought I might not hear again. "Big brother!"

I broke away from Karin's embrace and turned to see Oletta and Grandpa sitting on the floor, now thankfully separated from one another and completely healed as neither of them were afflicted by that constant growth and rot of their bodies. Both were also clothed in simple white shirts and trousers.

Rushing over, I pulled Oletta into a tight hug and whispered a string of repeated apologies to her, "I'm sorry, Oletta. I left you like a coward when I should've been there to protect you. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry-"

"You came back, big brother." Oletta interrupted. "You came with help and saved us from so much pain. Thank you." I felt her arms wrap around and hold me as I felt blessed that she didn't hate me.

Then, I felt another pair of arms wrap around Oletta and me, which made me look to see Grandpa smiling at me with tears in his eyes. "You did nothing wrong, Nero. If there's anyone that should be apologizing, it should be me for making you run. I'm sorry for doing that to you."

"It doesn't matter, Grandpa. We're together again." I said with a joyous smile. Then, I felt a hand rubbing my head. When I looked to where it came from, I saw the bringer of my miracle.

Kashia had a simple smile on her face that not even the bits of blood-splatter on her cheek or forehead managed to detract from. Even her eyes, once a molten gold, had taken on the color of a setting sun. "You're a good kid, Nero. You might disagree; but because of you, so many innocent men, women, and children won't have to suffer any longer. Take a rest and enjoy the time with your family. You've earned it."

With that, Kashia stood up and began walking away. That was when I noticed that a few of her tails were just painted in blood. I did my best to ignore it and focus back on what I currently had.

Grandpa and Oletta were finally safe…

---

[Some Time Later]

---

[Kashia]

---

It had taken a long while to work my way through all the victims trapped within this village turned torture chamber. And going through them and their memories, I found that a good group of them were not even from this village. They were from a city miles away in the Baharuth Empire called Faelwuld.

Some were in high positions within the city guard, established merchants, wealthy landowners. It was spread out among so many different positions within the city, but all of them had the similarity of being in a position of power. In addition to them, quite a few of their family members had also been brought here over the course of multiple days.

At first, they were all tortured for information pertaining to the city and nation. But after they had given everything they had, the sick monsters continued to put them through unneeded agony before sending them to either the skinning room or the testing cells. And by God, those testing cells were sick and horrific.

Each cell contained people afflicted by different curses that went through the gamut of altering their bodies, their minds, or even both. Nero's family, for instance, was forcibly fused to one another with their ever growing and rotting bodies healing into each other after being mutilated. An innocent little girl and a kindly old man were subjected to a fate worse than death and had been forcibly kept alive to experiment upon.

Like I had told Nero, I didn't want to find out what might happen if my healing considered their conjoined form as the default, so I had to temporarily put them out of their misery before ripping their bodies and limbs apart from one another and separating the pieces into two separate piles. I fucking hated doing that since it felt so horrible to have to break those innocent people into pieces to fix them.

It was a good thing I had Karin not allow him to watch. He didn't need those images in his head when he'd already seen and been through enough. I was extremely appreciative of how Karin comforted Nero and tried to keep his attention away from the horrid work I had to do.

Internally, I was screaming and crying as my tails cut, ripped, and broke them. Externally, I tried to maintain my composure and act like I had everything under control, especially for Nero's sake considering how close to snapping he was. After everything he'd gone through, Nero didn't need the person he was looking at for a miracle to break down.

Once I had finished with the disgusting work, I cast [True Resurrection] on the pair and gained some measure of peace as they came back restored as they should've been. After that, I watched with relief and satisfaction as Nero, Oletta, and Urzra reunited as a family once more. Seeing that one happy moment in the face of all the horrid shit I saw helped to lessen that strain on my mind.

Really, by the end of today, I just wanted to curl up with Lukrut and have someone to talk to about everything. Between living back on Earth, and from what I had seen before in the New World, this was so much worse.

This was absolute horrific cruelty of the worst kind. They harvested the flesh of the people I freed in a way as to cause them the greatest amount of pain. These monsters chopped off their limbs for food. And none of these victims were able to die since they'd just be healed of all their injuries before being sent back through the torturous process all over again.

And this was just those that had to suffer this repeated skinning. There were also the people who had been experimented upon in the next room of this hellhole. Each one had been inflicted with a multitude of curses for unknown reasons, but it was obvious to see that the experimentation was made as agonizing as possible. I was thankful that quite a few of these people were easily fixed by dispelling their curses.

Others, like Nero's family, took more drastic methods to fix since even with their curses dispelled, it didn't undo the alterations that they had gone through. I…I had to see it like fixing a computer. It was just like turning it off and on again to fix a major issue… It worked…

That's all that mattered.

I despised the evils wrought here from the essence of my being because they managed to industrialize torture in a way that I never thought possible. And after finishing most of the work needed to fix everyone here, I made a promise to myself.

Whoever or whatever had organized and commanded these monsters to do this was going to die. I would fucking butcher them like they did to the people here.

All of this led to where I was now, standing within a cell that had once contained a young girl named Iarah who had been placed under the [Curse of Frostbite] which continually assaulted her with cold damage that was only prevented from killing her by the healing she received from her torturers. That, or they would throw an enchanted hunk of metal that was as hot as an open fire into her cell which would keep her warm…

If she kept her body in physical contact against it.

She had burns of both heat and cold spread across her body, while her limbs had turned black from frostbite. At least she didn't need to suffer from that any longer. Now, the only person in this cell aside from me was a fat demon in a heavily bloodied surgical uniform, most of it from his own wounds. A beaked black mask of unknown leather covered his face like a plague doctor's. All four of his limbs had been chewed or torn off, followed by a painful cauterization.

Before, he had been a torturer who seemed to be one of the people in charge of the activities here. Now, he was at my mercy.

Funny enough, the moment I walked into the cell, the fat little fuck tried to squirm away from me, almost like he knew exactly who I was. " Why are you trying to move away from me? Are you so afraid of me after everything you've done?" I asked while taking the time to walk towards the demon at a torturously slow pace.

"You defeated my master's creator. Why wouldn't I know you? I just don't understand why you are here, stopping the happiness that I'm spreading to others?" I could feel my eye twitching as the fat demon said this. I don't know what he meant by his master's creator being defeated by me, but I could get what he meant by happiness.

" Happiness?" I asked in an effort to confirm.

"Yes, happiness! Giving happiness is my purpose and goal! If I remove an arm from one person, then those without arms would be made so much happier knowing that they still had theirs. In turn, if I remove another person's leg, then the person without an arm would be made happy as well. Can't you understand, Kashia Blanc?"

My breathing sped up as I launched a tail out and wrapped it around the fat fuck's neck before pulling him towards me. Happiness? HAPPINESS?! I wasn't going to listen to him talk any longer, I'd just rip what I needed from his head and end him afterwards.

Putting my hand against his head, I dug through his mind for everything I wanted. For once, I found some slight resistance to my mental intrusion, but it was barely a hinderance as I continued my investigation until I reached what I was after. The one who ordered this was a demon called Demiurge. And…

No. No. No! No! NO! NO! NO!

" AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I found myself screaming in absolute fury, horror, betrayal, and so many other emotions as my tails slammed the fat demon into the ground before they started stabbing him over and over. At a certain point, the former creature, whose name didn't even deserve to pass through my lips, was nothing more than paste on the ground as my tails continued stabbing over and over into the ground. I didn't stop as I took out all my immediate emotional rage into that one area for what felt like minutes.

By the time I was finished, I was heavily breathing and the fat fuck's pasted body was draining into the massive hole that I had made. Then, I cast [Message].

" MOMONGA! MEET ME AT THE LAKE! NOW!" Following my screaming, I immediately teleported to the lake that we had once had fun fishing at. Looking out at the lake, my mind was a whirlwind of emotion. The demon Demiurge; the monster who ordered all of this?

Was part of Nazarick. He was one of Momonga's. He was fucking Momonga's, and from what the fat fuck's thoughts told me, they were all under the belief that Momonga ordered this. That he ordered all of these people BUTCHERED AND TORTURED!

Then I smelt the stench of death and I had to do everything I could to not turn around to the fucking skeleton and start screaming.

"Kashia! What's wrong? And why are you covered in blood?" Momonga asked worriedly from behind me.

" Momonga, where is Demiurge right now?" I responded in a growl.

"What does Demiurge have to do with anything? What happened? Why are you even interested in him?" The lich asked as he walked closer to me.

" Momonga. Where. The. Fuck. Is. Demiurge. Right. Now?" I asked once more, finding it harder and harder to keep my tone level.

"He should currently be in Nazarick at the moment. I had just talked to him a few moments ago." The lich answered.

" Remember a little while back when I asked if you were keeping track of where your people were going and what they were doing? You told me that it was all under your control and that things were fine."

"Yes, I remember this. I've still been receiving reports that my subordinates have been maintaining a low profile and avoiding conflicts with any of the land's natives unless no other option was available." He said cautiously. "Did something happen?"

" Oh, your subordinates have maintained a 'low profile'. So low, in fact, that no one noticed when a village in the Baharuth Empire was assaulted by demons. The inhabitants of this village were then put through numerous horrific tortures and experimentations, all of which I got a real good fucking look at. And all of this was ordered by a sadistic bastard named Demiurge, who was under the belief that it was ordered by you. But that should be impossible, as I know that my friend wouldn't order something like this. "

I finally turned to look at Momonga, now appearing before me as a lich in his black and purple hooded robes. My eyes meeting the glowing red dots in his skull's eye-sockets. " So, like I asked before, where the fuck is Demiurge?" I asked.

"Kashia, what would you do if you knew of where he currently was?" Momonga asked slowly.

" I'd go meet him. Have a nice chat with him as I ripped him apart and vaporized what still remained after I was done. You know, a nice chat. " I explained while walking over to the skeleton and stopping a foot away from him, maintaining my gaze the entire time.

Momonga put his skeletal hands on my shoulders, "Kashia, I know that you're angry right now-"

" Angry?" I interrupted. " Angry is something that we're far past at this point. Angry is how I feel when dealing with the Eight Fingers. Angry is unable to even slightly describe an iota of what I'm feeling right now."

"And it's why you need to take a moment to calm down and cool your head." Momonga reasoned.

" I'll cool my head when I have Demiurge's impaled on my tail."

"I can't allow that." My eyes narrowed at this.

" And why can't you allow it? Why can't I kill an evil and monstrous demon like him? Why can't I make sure that he'll never touch another innocent soul again? Why, Momonga?!" My tails repeatedly smacked the earth behind me with thunderous booms as I used them as an outlet for my wrath.

"Because Demiurge is the creation of one of my friends! Ulbert painstakingly crafted Demiurge as he is, and I can't allow one of the few remnants of my friends to be destroyed! I see him, along every other NPC within Nazarick, as my friends' children and I can't lose them!" Momonga shouted back, his form being outlined in green from his curse.

" You see them as children? Then why aren't you acting as the responsible adult and keeping your children in line?! Some parents have issues with their child becoming a criminal. You have the issue of your child creating an industrial scale method of horrific suffering!" I demanded while poking Momonga in his ribcage to put emphasis into this.

"It's difficult for me to want to change aspects about them when it could lead to them either breaking or becoming utterly different than the vision my friends had for them." He said back, making me growl.

" THIS ISN'T A GAME, MOMONGA!" I shouted in frustration, " This is a real world, with real consequences! Every act of suffering, every death inflicted by your NPCs is happening to real people who have lives beyond just yours and mine! In our prior talks, you agreed that our original world was a hellhole, that this world seemed so much better and could be made better."

I spread out my arms and tails to show off all the blood still on my body and coating the fur of my tails. " This isn't better. This is fucking worse! At least back home, the people in charge made things shittier because they were greedy. Here, your people are making things worse out of pure malice and sadism, all the while, you do nothing because you're either too chicken-shit or too apathetic to care!"

Gesturing to him and myself, I added, " We are too strong for almost all the people of this world. Everything we do has consequences, and the people of this world can do nothing but roll over and take whatever both of us decide to do. We must be better because we are too powerful to treat things like a game! We both know what happens when people with too much power and too little care of their actions are left to run amok on a world! Do you get it, Suzuki? "

Momonga seemed surprised when I used his actual name and took the moment to look away from me, either in thought or shame. "I understand where it is that we stand in this world's hierarchy of power. But this isn't easy for me either, Kashia! You have the easy ability to care about what happens to these people, but I don't. I can't care! At most, I can feel a basic understanding of their situations, otherwise I can't muster a single feeling without monumental effort on my part!" His skeletal hands shook my shoulder for emphasis.

"The strongest and most constant emotional response I can feel is the minute amounts of care and nostalgia I get from seeing my friends' NPCs!" A steady wave of green outlined his body as he spoke, "Outside of Nazarick, the only other person I can gain some feeling of emotion with is you! That's it! Every day, it's a struggle to feel anything but apathy!

Losing a single one of my NPCs is the equivalent of killing off another one of the small, numbed emotions that I still have! Each day, I can feel myself losing more and more of what connected me to Satoru Suzuki! Whenever I look into a mirror; I can't tell if I'm looking at Suzuki, Momonga, or Ainz Ooal Gown. Do you have any idea how much it rips at my mind to know exactly what I've lost but be unable to replicate it because I know it would be an inferior copy?"

My rage stalled for a moment as I heard the desperation in my friend's voice. We had talked about our issues with one another, but he had never told me exactly how much it affected him like he did just now. We were both a pair of regular people who had been thrust into a fantastical situation we never would have dreamed of happening. I cared about my friend…but I was lost on what to do.

" Momo, what exactly would you have me do? Demiurge has fucked up so badly that there is no fixing it with an apology followed by a promise to not do it again. I don't want to hurt you, but my innate sense of justice along with my instinctual mind are both demanding that he dies. If you were in my position right now, after seeing all the hell I just did, what would you do? "

Momonga's imposing frame seemed to slightly buckle as his shoulders dipped. For a very simple moment, the undead lich seemed extremely human. "If I was as emotional as you are, I'd probably kill him. But I'm not. I'm a greedy man who wants to hold onto everything he cares about.

So please, I'm begging you, let me deal with him on my own terms and make certain that something like this never happens again. Don't put me into a position where I have to make the choice between you or him. I can't afford to lose anyone close to me." I heard his warning through the plea he gave me. I understood exactly what he meant.

It was easy enough to understand what a sentimental person like Momonga would decide. If it came to a decision between anyone of his NPCs or me, he'd choose the NPC. He might agonize over the decision, but he'd choose the people he was closest to. Neither of us wanted this fight as we both knew how terrible it would become.

I would break his things and he'd break mine. The problem is that my things were a lot more fragile than his. And once he broke all of my things, there would be absolutely nothing holding me back from focusing all of my wrath on Nazarick and him. I have no idea who might survive the conflict, but I know that both of us would come out as losers in the end.

Even with the extreme anger still boiling inside me, I tempered it with the knowledge that I had to protect my daughters, my mate, my friends, and anyone else I had taken under my wing. I hated that I cared too much to allow anything to happen to my loved ones, even when I was baying for blood.

" Fuck you. Fuck you for being my friend and making me care about you!" I said in frustration as I thumped his ribcage with my fist. I hated him for preventing me from enacting the proper justice that should be getting dealt to the twisted fuck that is Demiurge.

"I'm sorry…" Momonga said regretfully.

" No, you're not. Not really." I replied before giving him a hardened glare, " But I will tell you now, if I so much as see a hair of his head, I will end him. I might not hunt him, but that won't stop me from acting the moment I see him. And that is only one of my demands. "

Momonga was quiet for a moment, before he sighed and nodded, "That is…understandable, even if I don't particularly enjoy hearing it. But what are your other demands?"

" You are personally going to do an actual audit on your people yourself instead of assuming that what they say is actually what's happening. Because, as we both have found out, that clearly isn't the fucking case, especially because I also know that your people are doing some heinous shit in the Baharuth Empire city called Faelwuld which needs to be ended. And all of that leads into another concern involving my daughters."

This time, the skeleton actually became shocked, "Daughters?! What do you mean by daughters?! We haven't even been here a month for you to-"

" I have whole-heartedly adopted Ninya and Tuare as my daughters, and they, in turn, see me as their mother. That leads to the issue days prior where a pair of imps and a doppelgänger tried to kidnap my daughter, Tuare, and replace her. You are going to bust your ass and find out if it's your people who were behind it and shut it down. Immediately.

Or else, I, as a protective parent, will do everything in my power to shut it down personally. And I will not play around when my family is involved. Do we understand each other? "

"Clearly." Momonga answered, "I will handle it. If I find out about any such plots, then I'll make certain that they are ended. But I'll need you to promise to me that you will not fly off the handle if I do discover any plots." This caused me to cock my head at Momonga in confusion.

" Fly off the handle?"

"Kashia, you are extremely emotional, almost unstably so. While you have people that you want to keep safe, I have those that I want to protect as well, and you going on a killing spree when hearing it goes against this. Can you agree to my request?"

I wanted to say no. To tell Momonga that if anything was turned up, then I'd fully invest myself in utterly annihilating whatever threatened my family…

But I had to hold myself back. Momonga was trying his best to extend to me an olive branch of truce and I'd be an absolute fool to decline it even if my instincts screamed otherwise. I didn't want a fight because I knew how it would likely play out.

…And I didn't want to lose my friend. Momonga was likely the only person in this world who could understand me. He was my one tie I currently had to my old life, and I him. I gave him an anchor to his former humanity, just like he allowed me to remember how mortal I once was.

I could feel my fangs receding as I found my voice once more, " I really don't want to, but because you are my friend, I'm willing to trust you to handle this. Just be aware, I only give second chances once."

Momonga gave me a firm nod. "I'll make sure not to waste it." He finally let go of my shoulders and turned before walking away until he suddenly stopped and looked out to the lake. "I enjoyed fishing here. Hopefully, we can do it again, Pandora's Fox." That remark took me off-guard as he said it.

Then, I gave Momo a soft smile as I realized that, with how socially-awkward the man is, this was his attempt to maintain the bridge between us. "I hope so as well, King Arthuritis." Then, I watched as he teleported away, leaving me alone once more.

Making my way over to the small lake, I began cleaning the blood and gore from my tails. At the same time, I cleaned my face and clothes off. Luckily, the material making up my clothes wasn't stainable as any blood just slid off the silk and only needed a splash of water to wash away any of the harder-to-remove bits of dried blood and viscera.

Even so, it took a while since the blood and gore really tried sticking into my tails' fur. All the while, I contemplated my next course of action.

All those people I rescued saw my true form and had already been told that I was a goddess since a few of the people I was healing asked who I was. In response, I just said that I was the Fox Princess which gave me a degree of separation from my divine persona. My only hope is that none of them would discover my actual name so that I could still retain my adventurer persona. Luckily, since they all came from the Baharuth, I'd likely barely, if ever, interact with them as Kashia Blanc.

They'd just know that the goddess called the Fox Princess saved them and that would be the end of it.

What became a hassle was getting all the people from Faelwuld back home. There were over 92 people who had been taken from that city, and about half of them were nobles, wealthy merchants, or family to both. And from what I learned from a few of them, they had found themselves replaced with copies of themselves.

This left me with the issue of how I brought them home since, if Momo didn't end whatever it is that was happening there soon, then I'd need to cull the fakes and make sure that it was safe for them to return home. That opened up another can of worms on how I should return them all back?

Do I just drop them off at their homes individually or just send all of them back home together in one go with the [Gate] spell? I should also send a contingent of kitsune with them as a precautionary protective measure in addition to the multiple squads I already planned to drop into Faelwuld to both scout and take care of any lingering monsters or demons still within the city.

It was going to be a logistics nightmare to say the least. But I guess it would be a good idea to drop off the civilians in a public manner since that was likely to increase my worship. I felt a little dirty thinking of the quote that I heard many corporate pricks use before on Earth.

'Never let a good tragedy go to waste.'

But that would have to take place after it was safe for all the civilians I rescued to go back home. This was also all in addition to learning that mom was beginning to establish herself in this world, what with mom making Nero her paladin. I'd need to figure out what to do to help him, beyond what Yamato and mom were doing already. There was a lot that I had to do right now.

Shit, I was going to be busy tonight.

---

[Demiurge]

---

It was worrying when Lord Ainz had left the throne room in the middle of a report that Albedo had been giving. I had just finished giving my report of my endeavors with acquiring new sources of scroll-making materials from the 'farm animals' that had been acquired. I had even jested with my Lord that both the animals and the chimera I had been creating squealed louder than any swine, and tasted better as well.

While the hides the normal animals had harvested were only capable of creating lower quality scrolls of the 2nd Tier, the first generation of chimeras that were the cursed animals had been capable of creating scrolls of the 3rd Tier. I believe that it likely has something to do with the impact that the curses had on their flesh, making their skin more attuned with magic.

This was something that required more research, especially if I could breed these traits with other, stronger, creatures. Though, I did have to wonder if the cursed traits of the chimeras might be possible to pass down through their progeny? I think I would like to see what such a possibility might look like if I were to use my favorite chimera?

That chimera did have a female half to it, so the potential for breeding was possible if the rotting curse didn't kill any of its growing spawn leaving such an experiment a wasted failure.

I guess that one could say that I have a special attachment to it considering that it was my first chimera that I had created. I even named it Spot due to the rotted holes of flesh that it generated at times. It made such a wonderful harmonized chorus.

Another thought filled my mind on if it were possible to create a self-fertilizing chimera made from a male and female animal grafted together in a specific manner? That would certainly prevent any form of mating rejection, especially if I did so with members of a different species grafted to the original 'sheep' that I had.

Sadly, while there had been many breakthroughs with both the chimeras and scroll production, the same could exactly be said about Lord Ainz's curse. Oh, there had been multiple discoveries on curses that have been made, but it didn't lead any closer to a method on how to break my Lord's specific debilitation.

And as I had given my report on everything of note, Albedo had been giving Lord Ainz a report on the workings of Nazarick and current activities of interest. It was when Albedo made a remark of a great tree to the north of us in the Great Forest of Tob that Lord Ainz said he had to leave and to wait for his return.

I wasn't even able to assign him a squad of bodyguards before he left. Albedo and I had been floored and greatly concerned by this, but we made sure to follow our Lord's orders. After all, it might be a method of Lord Ainz to test our loyalty which is all according to his masterful plan.

Yet, while I was able to remain calm with the method behind our Lord's plan, Albedo wasn't as collected. She looked nervous and worried. Sadly, that is the only time I can actually get a slight read on what might be going through her mind. If it involved her love for Lord Ainz, then I could partially guess where her mind was at, but not what she might be planning.

Like Lord Ainz, she was impossible to get a read on and that made it difficult to plan around her if the need arises.

Even though Albedo is highly competent as Nazarick's Overseer and an intellectual peer to myself, I find that she is too ruled by her emotions where Lord Ainz is concerned. It can lead to her making mistakes that could hurt our Lord in the long run.

"What could have Lord Ainz's immediate attention? Why did my Love not even take one of us along for protection?" Albedo asked.

"I am unsure as to what might have happened. It's why my current theory is that he could possibly be testing our loyalty for his grand plan. That or-" I said before Albedo interrupted.

"He could be trying to protect us. Additionally, it could be something that my Love feels only he should be the one to deal with it." Albedo reasoned. My gazed glanced at the staff of Ainz Ooal Gown that our Lord had left behind. For him to leave it and not even both trying to change his items, it must be something he feels putting effort into would be a waste.

"We may only learn of what our Lord may be thinking when he finally returns. Until then, all we can do is wait." I kept to myself the other reason for Lord Ainz's swift departure where he didn't even wait to bring protection with himself.

There was a threat that he had discovered and didn't have time to wait for.

So, there the pair of us stood together, waiting for Lord Ainz's return. Thankfully, our obedience was rewarded as Lord Ainz arrived before us. I was relieved that he returned, and a small, niggling doubt in the back of my mind was thankful that he didn't abandon us like the other Supreme Beings.

I saw his crimson gaze turn to me before Lord Ainz finally spoke, "Demiurge." I gave him a bow in response.

"Yes, my Lord?"

"I just came back from a heated conversation with Kashia Blanc over your actions." Lord Ainz answered, making me slightly confused along with mentally processing what this meant.

Kashia Blanc, from what my spies have gathered, is a woman who has great love for lesser species like humans. That was in addition to the emotionally volatile nature of hers. If Lord Ainz was forced to speak with her, then that could only mean she discovered the Baharuth outpost and reacted strongly to the work being done there.

But could that just be it? The area chosen was extremely far from E-Rantel and would've required her to go out of her way to find. Unless, that was because she had already been searching for it in the first place. That also meant that Kashia was both aware of Nazarick's goals to acquire harvested materials and our research into Lord Ainz's condition.

And, in prior history about her from my creator, she took out an entire guild by starving them of supplies and power. Additionally, she likely ruined the research on Lord Ainz's condition because she actually had a cure to it and didn't wish for us to discover one because she wanted or needed something that only Lord Ainz and Nazarick could supply. Something with which she could trade a cure to Lord Ainz's condition for.

With that in mind, was her attack on the outpost a warning or a declaration of war? I hated that I couldn't predict her actions or intentions. But that didn't mean that she couldn't be led to an end result. She still had those humans that she cared about.

"And what occurred?" Albedo asked with worry. "Why did she dare to argue with you, Lord Ainz?"

"She discovered that a village in the Baharuth Empire had been converted into a place where humans were being tortured and experimented upon. In addition to this, she learned that the city of Faelwuld was also going through, in her words, 'some heinous shit'. Both events had been orchestrated by you, Demiurge." As Lord Ainz said this, I fell to a knee and bowed my head. Obviously, he was upset at my failure in hiding the activities of Nazarick.

I couldn't help but feel an immense amount of shame at how I had failed Lord Ainz like this.

"Yes, my Lord. I give you my deepest apologies at being discovered-"

"THAT IS NOT WHY I'M UPSET!" Lord Ainz interrupted, completely silencing me. With his angered state, I was likely to be punished or killed. Both endings being completely deserved for how I disappointed him.

"Demiurge, I had to desperately beg for Kashia to not try to hunt you down and kill you. And even then, while she won't hunt you, she has promised that she will destroy you if you come into her line of sight!" He explained, making me realize the severity of the situation. I even heard Albedo's gasp of shock, breaking whatever calm façade she had presented.

Lord Ainz had to relinquish his pride in order to belay the kitsune's anger.

To do such a thing would be the same as relinquishing the pride of all of Nazarick. Never have I been more appreciative of my Lord as I was now. And that feeling was completely tarnished by the knowledge of what Lord Ainz had to do to protect me. Even if I hadn't betrayed Nazarick intentionally, I still betrayed it by embarrassing Lord Ainz.

"My Lord, if it is your wish, please punish or kill me for disgracing the name of Ainz Ooal Gown." I said, absolutely accepting of my fate.

"Demiurge…" Lord Ainz said with some surprising hesitancy, "I'm not going to punish or kill you."

"L-Lord Ainz, why wouldn't you enforce harsh punishment on Demiurge for causing you to beg to the kitsune?" Albedo asked immediately, a question that I shared with her. Lord Ainz walked to his throne and sat down. Following this, he rested his skull into his hand. He seemed to be in deep thought for a few slow moments.

Then, he pulled his skull from his hand and looked at Albedo and I. "I couldn't kill any of you unless presented no other choice, such as what happened with Shalltear. You are all the precious remnants of my friends that were entrusted to me as their final gifts. Each of you was lovingly crafted with great care, imperfections included. While others might see monsters, I see all of you as perfect, because that was how you were all made.

But while that is how I see you, even I am not blind to the way others would see you or what you are all inclined to."

"Oh, Lord Ainz. Your heart is truly generous and great to love us regardless of our imperfections." Albedo said, making sure to glance my way as she finished. I had no urge to argue on that.

"If that's the case, Lord Ainz, then what is it that you plan to do with either Kashia Blanc or myself?" I slowly requested.

"I'll need you to recall all forces that are in the Baharuth Empire that aren't basic scouts with orders to avoid killing the Empire's inhabitants." When Lord Ainz said this, I understood what it was that the Supreme Being truly wanted with that order.

He realized that conquering the Baharuth Empire was unfeasible at the current moment due to how close it was to Kashia Blanc. What he'd likely want is for us to turn our gazes to further countries, away from Kashia's attention, and grow Nazarick's powerbase before returning back to the Baharuth and Re-Estize.

"Of course, my Lord." I answered obediently.

"Next, I need to know if there are any plots originating from Nazarick to kidnap either of Kashia's daughters?"

"Yes, my Lord." Albedo immediately replied, "While the first attempt failed against the elder Veyron sister, our agents have been biding their time to snatch the younger sister." Lord Ainz made an uncharacteristic groan before sighing.

"End all of those attempts immediately. Any attempts to do such would both fail and gain us an immediate enemy. Do you understand, Albedo?" This made the succubus freeze in place before she slowly nodded.

"Yes, my Lord." She replied.

And there, I understood what Lord Ainz meant. Of course, sending such simple agents to kidnap the Veyron sister, now a confirmed daughter of Kashia Blanc, would fail. They were too weak for such a task. No, it needed a more powerful touch. One such as the might of the combined Pleiades. Albedo and I would need to discuss this later on.

"Finally, I require detailed reports of all of Nazarick's activities. Up to, and including, those involving humans or sapient inhabitants of this world. Starting with you, Demiurge…"

Standing up once more and walking closer to Lord Ainz, I nodded, "What do you require of me?"

"Let's go over everything that occurred in this village in the Baharuth. Starting with the reasoning for doing so, the methods enacted, and any other information that you might believe could be superfluous. I want to hear it all." With Lord Ainz's insistence of details, I figured out that he likely was trying to piece together how Kashia could have discovered the outpost.

I was only too happy to oblige.

"As you wish, my Lord." I said with a small measure of pride, "To begin; there was once a village…"