I didn't give him breathing room. The two blades left my hands in a flash, spinning through the air. He dodged sideways, smirking-until the ground exploded beneath him. A warhammer slammed down where he had been a heartbeat earlier. He rolled aside, just barely avoiding the crushing blow.
As he steadied himself, two more daggers whistled through the air toward him. His sword came up, deflecting them with practiced ease. When he looked up, I was already standing with another scythe resting casually on my shoulder.
"Tsk. You really are like Stacy," he muttered.
"Haha. Mother taught me well," I answered with a grin.
From the sidelines, Mom's delighted voice rang out. "What!?" Her grin stretched so wide it almost split her face. I'd never seen her look so proud.
Dean and I both chuckled, understanding perfectly why she was so ecstatic.
"Let's continue," Dean said, charging again.
This time, I shifted my scythe into a katana. Steel met iron as his greatsword clashed against my blade. The impact rang out across the arena, sparking cheers from the crowd.
"Staying like that?" Dean asked, testing the weight of the clash.
"You wanted to see how good I was, right?" I shot back, pushing off and slashing again. Our blades collided, ringing again and again as we exchanged rapid blows.
After a flurry of strikes, Dean leapt back, his eyes glinting. "You're excellent. For a thirteen-year-old."
"Thanks," I said lightly, rubbing my cheek.
His stance shifted. "Okay. I'm going to do something now. I hope you can block it."
I nodded, tightening my grip. He lifted his greatsword and began infusing it with mana. Flames licked across the blade-but they weren't normal flames. They burned heavier and hotter. Lava. The air shimmered with oppressive heat.
My stance shifted instantly, preparing for defense. Flash Step remained my trump card if things went bad.
Dean vanished in a blur, reappearing right in front of me. His sword descended like a fiery mountain. I braced, my katana intercepting the strike. The impact jolted my arms, but I held. What I couldn't hold off was the heat. My hoodie and scarf caught fire instantly, flames devouring fabric.
"Aah, shit!" I hissed, Flash stepping back. In one swift motion, I tore off the burning clothes and flung them aside. My bandaged chest was exposed, the special wrappings thankfully untouched by flame. My skin, marked and cursed, drew gasps from the crowd.
Someone whistled. "Whistle. Holy crap, she's one hot and scary babe!"
"Yeah, look at those muscles! That six-pack's unreal," a girl shouted breathlessly.
"Un, by her body alone she looks stronger than half of us. And those curses... damn, even they make her look intimidating," another soldier muttered.
I blinked, dumbfounded. "...You're not bothered by me being cursed?"
"Huh? "No," one man called back casually. "There are so many cursed people in Black Ops; it's normal. Curses aren't that bad unless they affect others. And yours don't look like the kind that hurt anyone else." He shrugged.
I dropped my stance, staring at them in disbelief. "That just made me more confused."
"Haha, you're new here. You'll get used to it," the girl added, laughing.
Dean smiled faintly at me. I shook my head and exhaled before using Flash Step again to reengage.
Appearing in front of him, I slashed sideways. He ducked low, sweeping at my legs. I leapt over, rolling as I landed. His sword whistled down from behind, but I spun, blocking it at my back. Our eyes met briefly-his narrowed, mine smirking.
Then his gaze flicked down. His expression shifted. "Shit."
My tail had coiled tightly around his leg.
With a sharp jerk, I flung him across the arena.
Boom! The impact shook the ground, a plume of smoke rising.
I stepped forward slowly, scythe in hand, ready to help him up.
"Clap! That's enough!" Granny's sharp voice rang out as she clapped her hands together. The signal cut through the tension, halting the match.
I relaxed, lowering my weapon. But before I could move toward the smoke, Mom's laughter pierced the air.
"HAHAHA! You were just outplayed!?" Her voice rang with unrestrained delight.
As the smoke cleared, she was revealed standing on top of Dean, pointing down at him and cackling.
"Woah, the new miss isn't bad."
"Yeah, she's powerful," voices called out from the stands, admiration buzzing through the crowd.
Chapter 31: Bonding
After laughing at Dean for a while, Mom finally peeled herself off of him and ran over to me. Her grin was still plastered across her face, cheeks pink from how hard she'd been cackling.
"Well done, Kitsuna!" she said, her voice high with pride. She threw her arms around me in a tight hug. Because she was shorter than me now, her head pressed right into my chest. She froze. Her brow twitched. Slowly, her eyes tilted upward.
The realization hit her.
Her head turned slightly, cheek brushing against me. I could practically see the gears grinding in her skull as her eyes narrowed in suspicion.
Seeing her look up at me, I smiled down innocently-then let a wicked grin stretch across my face. My voice dipped low, taunting.
"Keke... yes. I have bigger ones than you now. Keke."
"NO!!??" Her shout tore through the field, echoing over the arena. Her hands dropped, her shoulders slumped, and her entire posture screamed despair.
I basked in it, laughing evilly as her soul seemed to crumble before my eyes. "Hahaha, the sight of your despair is delicious!"
The patter of footsteps drew my attention. Looking over, I saw Granny approaching with her usual composed stride, Amari trailing behind her.
"You were watching?" I asked, arching a brow at Amari.
"Jip," she said brightly, giving me a little thumbs up. "Well done catching him off guard at the end."
I scratched my cheek. "Yeah, but let's be real-if he'd used everything he had, I'd have been dead long before that." My tone was blunt and matter-of-fact.
"That may be true," Amari admitted, "but look at how you handled yourself. I can tell you could easily kill a high private if they didn't know about your ice magic. And if they did know?" She shrugged. "Even a mid-private wouldn't stand a chance. All you really need to work on is long range."
Granny, who had circled me like a predator, inspected me with sharp eyes. She walked around me once, her gaze dissecting every movement. "Tell me, kiddo. You have sword domain, don't you?"
I stiffened slightly, then nodded slowly. "How did you know?"
Instead of answering, she turned the question back on me. "Do you even know what Sword Domain is?"
I huffed. "Yeah. If something comes within a certain radius, your senses pick it up immediately-even if it's right behind you. But it's useless for me. My senses were already that good three years ago."
Granny's eyes narrowed. Her voice dropped, almost a growl. "Stacy. What have you taught her these last three years, except combat?"
Mom, still sulking on the ground after losing the breast-size war, looked up lazily at her mother's glare. "Nothing. All the other knowledge she has, she got from reading books." Her tone was flat, almost bored.
Granny's glare sharpened like a dagger.
I frowned, feeling like the tension wasn't entirely my fault. "Was I wrong about Sword Domain?"
Dean, dusting himself off as he joined us, answered instead. "No. You weren't wrong. That's what the skill does. But that's not the important part." He stepped closer, his tone growing heavier. "Having Sword Domain means you're already creating your own fighting style. The earlier you have it, the stronger you'll be in the future-with weapons and with yourself."
Granny's expression softened into something proud. "Yes. Most people take ten years of grueling combat training before they even begin shaping their style. For you to reach that point this young, after only three years..." She smiled. "That makes you a prodigy."
I scoffed inwardly. Prodigy, my ass. It's only because of my curse.
I shrugged outwardly. "Ooh, cool. Anyway, can we get some food? I'm hungry again." My eyes lit up expectantly as I rubbed my stomach.
The others looked at me-and seeing that I wasn't the least bit fazed by their talk of prodigy or destiny-they smiled.
"Yeah, I suppose," Granny said, amused. "We can continue our conversation afterward."
"Yosh!" I cheered. "I'll see everyone back at the dining hall."
I started walking, deliberately slowing my pace when I noticed Amari falling in step with me.
A New Sister
"Hey, sis?" Amari said softly.
I turned, blinking. "Sis?" The word sounded strange and alien to my ears.
She hesitated. "I can't call you that?"
"No, you can." My lips curled into a small smile. "I never had siblings. It just... feels weird."
'I like her,' I thought as we walked side by side. 'She doesn't give up easily-like Yua-sensei. I like people like that. I appreciate the kind of people who stick with you through everything. But... I wonder if she'll still call me that once she knows what I've done.' My eyes flicked forward again.
"I wanted to know about your ice magic," Amari said. Then her cheeks tinted red. "On second thought-before you answer, please put on a shirt. Everyone is staring at you."
I laughed. "Aah, is my sister uncomfortable with me showing off my abs?" I teased. Glancing around, I caught several maids sneaking looks, their faces flushed bright pink. "Well, too bad. I don't have any clothes that fit right now. Sorry. Nothing I can do about being half-naked."
"How do you not have anything?" Amari frowned. "You have dimensional storage-I saw you use it this morning!" She jabbed a finger at me accusingly.
"My look now and my look yesterday are like night and day. Entirely different sizes." I spread my arms in demonstration.
"Ooh, I see." She accepted it with a sigh, then brightened. "Okay, then. Answer my question."
"I can make spells with my ice," I said. "But that would be a waste. Because my eyes are more like an extension of my senses."
Her brow furrowed. "Huh?"
"What I mean," I explained, "is I can put snowflakes on a person and track their exact location within two hundred meters. And I can improve that distance with practice."
Amari's eyes lit up. "That's almost the same as my lava magic-just shorter range!"
"Ooh, then we can work together on that."
"That'd be great." Amari nodded eagerly. "Granny helps me sometimes, but she's so busy."
I grinned. "We can see it as bonding time, if you like."
Her smile mirrored mine. "That sounds fun. We could rope Rachel in too-she's a mage as well." Then her head tilted. "I'm surprised you're cursed. But... it fits you. The way the flames and lightning dance around your marks, it makes you look cooler."
"Yeah," I admitted. "I had two before, but they changed. We'll probably talk about them later today. Honestly, I'm more surprised no one here sees curses like a plague."
"Our household doesn't," Amari said simply. "But others might. The Black Ops team, in particular, is trained to read curses. To tell whether one is dangerous to others or only to the bearer."
"Huh?"
She pointed at my torso. "Like yours. At a glance, I can tell it's tied to pain. But it only affects you."
"Explain."
The pain is caused by the fire element present in it. And I know it only affects you because it behaves like a tattoo. Stationary, personal, internal."
"I see." I nodded slowly. "There wasn't any information about that in the library."
"That mansion library always gets destroyed in wartime," she said with a shrug. "We don't store important books there."
"But aren't we only in a cold war right now?"
"Yes," she said, voice dropping, "but the Federation is making other moves."
I blinked. "Have you... seen war before?"
Her lips pressed thin. "No. Our parents hide it from me. Said I should enjoy my youth. Not like them-first battle at ten years old."
"But didn't you see last night's carnage?" My voice carried a hint of worry.
She laughed awkwardly. "No. It was cleaned up by the time I arrived."
I sighed. "I don't know how it looked last night... but I don't want my new sister to see me as a monster."
Her reply was immediate. "That's too late. I already see you as one."
I stopped, staring at her in shock. "Eh?"
She smirked mischievously. "I mean, come on. You look like a humanoid boogeyman."
My jaw dropped in betrayal. She only grinned wider. "But... I don't think you'll ever hurt us. I trust you."
"That's... a bit naive," I muttered as we walked into the dining hall. The broken door still hung loosely on its hinges.
Crash!
Plates shattered on the ground. I looked over. Rebecca stood frozen, staring at me with wide eyes-and drool sliding down her chin.
"You're married, for fuck's sake! Stop staring and drooling!" I shouted, pointing at her furiously.
"Gulp... "I'm sorry," Rebecca mumbled, wiping her chin. But her eyes kept drifting back to my abs.
I narrowed my eyes. "LILY! GET IN HERE!"
Seconds later, Lily strode in, looking annoyed. "Kitsuna, what do you-WOAH." Her eyes widened as she froze mid-step. "So that's what you look like under your baggy clothes..."
I jabbed a thumb at her wife. "Can you please get your wife under control?"
Lily followed my gesture. Rebecca was... drooling again. Lily's expression darkened like a storm cloud. She walked over slowly, dangerously.
"Babe," she said in a deceptively sweet tone. "What are you thinking about?"
"N-Nothing!" Rebecca squeaked. Then, grasping for a lifeline, she asked, "D-do you think you could get a six-pack like Kitsuna's?"
"You!?" Lily roared, smacking her over the head.
"OW!" Rebecca yelped, crumpling to the floor.
"Hmph! That's what you get for fantasizing about another woman's body." Lily huffed and stalked away, leaving her wife groaning on the ground.
Amari, unfazed, asked curiously, "They're married?"
"Yeah," I said casually, settling into the same seat I'd used that morning. "It happened a couple of years ago."
"Ooh. Then she deserved that," Amari replied, sitting across from me.
We fell into small talk, the atmosphere lightening with idle chatter until the rest of the family arrived.
"Why isn't the door fixed yet?" Mom asked, staring at the broken entrance.
"We're upgrading the mansion with new technology, so we took down the repair spell," Amari explained.
That made me perk up. "That reminds me-you talked about a jet before. Is it the same as jets on Earth?"
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Chapter 32: Updated
"Yes, in a way, it is the same thing, but more sci-fi jets than the normal jets we had on Earth," Amari explained. Her voice carried a hint of excitement, like she was proud of the kingdom's advancements.
