Toofy Ch. 23

If she wasn't in such a bad state, she would have refused to let Meerakeilian accompany her. The dragon really should be controlling her people. They had moved beyond trying to conquer, and were now doing what dragons did best. Feasting on a city of innocent people, whilst the lords sat safely and debated among themselves about who to blame.

The neko bristled at their inaction.

---

Taking a moment to grieve would be taking a lifetime. Sai had never felt the profound loss that he was now currently feeling. Not just the death of a village, but the death of a people. How do you... Deal with that? Cope with that?

He didn't have a moment to take.

Before the soldiers at the end of the road had even finished preparing their defences, a dragon had swooped out of the sky, stomped them flat, and moved on. The air above the smoke was filled with them, these violent and incredibly powerful people.

Sai could remember fighting dragonkind, when the empire had taken the Golden Mountain. He hadn't been there when Irrlichdan had fallen, but he had been there in the fight. He remembered the effort of having to reinforce himself against every single strike.

The risk of being torn apart had always been there, always been real. Now... Now his wife had brought that same destruction home to the city that Sai had claimed as his own. The innocent people of this place were now faced with the same nightmares he had.

It was only lucky that Kaden's rampage against the nekos had already made the streets clear, when this siege began. Sai couldn't say that he approved of the way that Toofy was handling things. He had hoped when she first made it clear what she wanted that it would be a peaceful path.

Yet... There were people like Tammy standing in her way. This violence, as much as his wife embraced it, Sai knew that she wasn't the root cause of it. She was take responsibility for it. She would proudly declare the actions as her own.

Because whatever mistakes may come, she was the one who had started to walk this path. She already saw herself as empress. The sins of her subordinates were her sins. Their victories, her victories. She would take the good with the bad.

"Waitin' be here." Tammy touched his arm, nodding towards the guards to the road to the palace. The kitsune rolled her neck and walked forward towards them with a sway of her hips and a smirk on her face.

One of the guards approached her, drawing a weapon. He swayed for a moment, and then Sai's eyes widened as the fox jumped up and somehow down the man's throat. There was a rolling of skin, as if she was now wearing him like a suit.

The guard turned around smoothly, walking back to the other, before pushing the blade through their throat. The weapon yanked out smoothly to the side, dropping the surprised guard to the ground with a very bloody motion.

The man waved to Sai to hurry up.

He swallowed and moved towards the kitsune wearing her human suit. He couldn't see that she was in there. Simply couldn't tell at all. No wonder Kaden had been afraid of the kitsune, when he saw this body jumping act first-hand.

The man rolled his eyes at Sai, "Don't be judgin' o' me."

"Just reconsidering just how frightened of you that I should be." Sai said lightly, "You are quite the assassin, and have exactly no qualms about ending anybody, do you?"

"I said, don't be judgin' o' me." The man scoffed. It was quite disturbing to hear Tammy's unique speech patterns coming out of someone else's mouth with someone else's voice. Even the eyes were the man's. There wasn't even a sense of magic.

As they stepped through the gates, another guard approached them holding up a hand, "Hey Gil. Things are a bit locked down, apparently the emperor is having a tantrum. No visitors."

There was a flash of gold light streaking out of one guard, blowing out their stomach in a red spray. The gold light shot down the throat of the other and he shook his head.

The first dropped to the ground, dead, and the second put their hands behind their head and stretched. "Eugh. Dis bas'ard could do wit' a shit. He's damn near pissin'. Can we hurry up 'n findin' 'nother?"

Sai swallowed nervously.

The man shrugged and turned, walking with a swaying of his hips as they moved into the outer court of the palace. There were other guards around, but most of them were paying them no mind. There seemed to be a clustering of them by the main hall. Probably the ministers meeting about dragons burning down the city. Or undead swarming over the walls.

The lord followed the possessed guard cautiously, eyes moving around as he walked with confidence. Towards his doom, and the hardest fight of his entire life, bar none.

He had sparred with Kaden several times over the years.

He could remember the man insisting that Sai pick up a real blade against him, whilst Kaden defended himself with a wooden practice sword. Even with the thunderstep he had never come even close to laying a scratch on him, and yet had been beaten black and blue for his efforts.

Everything was being bet on the goddess most known for her trickery and unpredictable nature. If she was his patron, granting him a portion of her power, what exactly would she be giving to him? Would it suddenly be withdrawn at the last moment? Or would Sai even notice that she had given him anything at all?

He breathed in sharply as he spotted a familiar cat from across the way. "Tammy."

"I be seein' her." The guard replied, before his chest exploded outwards as a gold streak shot across the space. Reforming into the kitsune as she arrived to distract Toofy. Whoever fought Kaden had to die.

Sai took a deep breath, and reached for his magic.

It didn't feel any different as he took a hold of it, and used his more limited thunderstep. Bursting his body across and into the building with a hurl of sound, tearing through the paper wall to land with a tumble at Kaden's feet.

Sai rose upwards, swinging.

The sword in his hands lodged in the air like it was in stone. The emperor's green eyes looked down at him tiredly and Kaden turned back to what he was doing.

The man held up a hair, "Happy you're here for this. I had this stolen, the last time we three had the opportunity to enjoy each other's company. Do you remember it, Slag? The nervous boy who was learning to kill, recently tainted by demonic energy. The foreign princess, so sick of all of our ways. Myself, tired of... Everything. The three of us, drinking by the fire."

He looked at the blonde strands and winced, "Astadia."

"Taking my army was clever of you. Or the cat." Kaden said angrily, "But, do you really think it was going to be that easy, Slag? I've been dabbling in necromancy since before you could walk. Astadia was a friend of mine, a lover as well, before her assassination. Her soul... Belongs to me."

As he said it, the strands of her vanished, burning a bright blue light before they were gone.

Sai focused himself, reshaping the magic within himself into a harder reinforcement, a more complex one. Instead of trying to force the sword through the barrier, he punched it. As he did, he saw the flick of an orange tail out of the corner of his eye.

The barrier remained intact.

Kaden looked at him tiredly, "Even your salamander won't be breaking through that, Slag. Give up. I'm ready for you."

As the emperor declared those words, Sai saw a black scorpion walking up the man's shoulder. The tail lifted, and suddenly the stinger stabbed into the side of his neck.

Sai slammed forward in that instant and landed his knee into Kaden's crotch. War is not a time for honour, or for gentlemanly behaviour. Anyone can die, at any time. He would take any advantage that he could.

The emperor slapped at the scorpion, wincing as he tossed it aside, "Well. That hurt. Not your knee, that was pathetic. You shouldn't have given up Menes' magic to the cat."

"I didn't." Sai replied firmly. "We haven't been stealing the power or consolidating it. That is what you would do, Kaden."

The man glared at him, "Is that so, Slag?"

"We've been destroying it."

The confidence of the emperor vanished, and Sai felt warm arms wrap around him from behind. Soft hands taking his in hers as the goddess puppetted him, blocking the sudden punches as Kaden went on the offensive. Breaking Sai's arms with every single strike, but that didn't matter when it was Mischief using him to block.

She stepped in behind him, twisting her ankles around his as she moved his knee up to block a kick that shattered his kneecap. She flicked his leg around with enough speed to break through the barrier in the air, sending out a concussive boom the ripped apart the paper walls behind Kaden, who easily blocked the body shot with his elbow.

Sai was nothing but a broken ragdoll now. Held together with magic, hope, and the invisible woman manipulating his body. Once Mischief let go of him, he would be crumpling into a pile, defeated.

Mischief ducked and weaved him, holding him like a pugilist. His hand shot forward, twisting at the wrist and extending at the elbow, every bone between shattered into pieces. Sai felt his knuckles torn apart as they struck Kaden's face, yet he was rewarded by seeing the man's head actually jerk backwards at the blow.

---

Trician grabbed the wrist of the elf as they landed in front of her, hissing and drawing back her ears. Showing off her teeth as she glared at the blonde-haired woman.

"Shit, calm down!" The elf said quickly, "Sai sent me. Gods above."

She let go of her and shoved her half a step backwards, her other hand tightening the grip she had on Orli's hand. "Sent you to do what?"

"This." The elf said and held up a small green sphere. "He needs it destroyed said someone called Orli could do it, and that I just needed to follow the magic."

Trician snatched it, "Oh fuck. Another piece. If we don't break this... The cat can't kill the emperor."

"I can do it." The girl beside her said, voice wavering. "I can do it, Trician. I have to. It's just... To do it..."

"Aw fuck." She cursed and winced, "Astadia! Get the fuck over here, bitch!"

"Fuck yourself, bitch!" She screamed back, spinning and storming over, surrounded by her honour guard of undead. "If you haven't noticed, sister, this is a warzone! What the hell are you distracting me, for?"

Orli swallowed nervously, "I need to focus on something else. It's going to take all my effort. But if I don't, then Toofy dies."

Astadia growled and rolled her eyes, "Gods damn it! Eugh... Fine. I'll protect you two. Morons. Draug! Pile up!"

All four of them were immediately surrounded by screaming, writhing, undead animals. The beasts layering themselves up and into a pile that blocked out the sunlight, surrounding them.

Orli took the piece, and a soft blue light appeared from her staff. She knelt down, dragging Trician with her, and closed her eyes. The human took several deep breaths, the light from her staff wavering with each, and then her eyes shot open.

The other elf crouched down low, eyeing the wall around them. "Eh... She's got those under control, right?"

"They live because I live. They go back to sleep, when I go back to sleep." Astadia scoffed, "The only ones who can pinch my draug, idiot, is the gods. Don't you know your own fucking histories? Only an elf of royal blood can control them, and there's only three of those. Me, my bitch sister, and my other bitch sister who is all the way back at Golden Mountain."

"I was raised in the temple." The elf muttered under her breath, "Never even been to the fucking Mountain."

"Shut. Up." Trician snapped, eyeing them, "Both of you. This... Takes effort that you can't imagine."

Orli grunted painfully, "Slipping... I need... I need..."

Trician took control of their bond, passing the matrix of the spell back over to herself. She saw it, and understood it instantly. Saw that Orli was attempting to map the entirety of the core of magic in front of them, so that she could channel magic into it without bonding with it.

The easiest option would be to bind it to some poor soul, and then murder them. But Orli never did anything easy, and she never did anything to bring harm. She was sweetness personified, and Trician wasn't going to take that from her in their last few moments.

She plucked at the strings of the spell, seeing the web clearly. Whatever she had seen before had permanently altered how she saw all magic, understood all magic. She knew that it needed a harmony, something to help it gently rise to a crescendo by itself.

She twisted threads together, laying and overlaying onto the spell until it was singing just from the stresses of the strings sitting still. She felt the diamonds embedded in her arm beginning to light up, one by one. Drifting up from her hands towards the few in her face, as she gazed into the abyss of all things.

All things future, all things past, they belonged to this moment.

"Do you hear the song? The voices of the world." Trician whispered as she began to truly cast, "The future falls in silence, tomorrow grieves for today. Lost in the shadows, vanishes the mortal heart. Hear our hope, hear our cry, rise up and deliver us. Save us, your useless servants."

"I'm real fucking busy right now." The goddess' voice snapped in her ear. "Do it yourself."

Orli squeezed her hand, "A taste of death, a taste of violence, the future is lost in war. I am lost to you, but may be found. Fulfil your promise. Come to me. Save me, one last time."

Trician's heart moved into her throat as solid hands landed on either of their shoulders as Orli's ex-boyfriend leaned over them. He looked down at the sphere and gave an irritated sigh, "Really? No. I'm not on Mischief's side, Orl. I do want you back, but I'd rather you die fighting against me, than I betray myself. I am not one of the betrayer gods. Not this time."

"Mischief. War." Orli rolled her jaw, suddenly looking angry, "The gods won't help... So fuck them! Fuck 'em all!"

She launched to her feet and lifted the staff over her head, "You hear me!? I stand against you! Break the heavens, kill the gods! You didn't save my family, you didn't save my home, and you won't save us now! Fuck all of you!"

The glowing staff in her hand began to crack as Trician felt the woman channelling way too much magic through it. A storm of magic that if it rebounded... Well, Kaden might be the only survivor within a day's travel.

The bone creaked loudly, and Trician felt as if a thousand visions were all springing into clarity at once. A thousand, thousand futures all coalescing into a single fixed point. A single future, a mere breath of a moment away.

She didn't even have the time to change it.

The staff exploded, every fragment drifting along the course that Trician had already seen. Drifting courses through the air, propelled by the magic, the rebound.

Trician felt each piece pushing through her skin, driving into flesh and muscle, but she was listening to the thrum of the music. Hearing the twang as all of that magic began to fluctuate, turning around before it would spread out and kill them all.

She reached into it, somehow, as if time had slower to a crawl. Feeling as if she were playing a harp. Touching the magic and taking control of it... Before driving it into the sphere.

Trician fell to her hands and knees, coughing and spitting up black blood with a sickening splatter. Orli hit the ground on her side, knocked backwards by the explosion of the staff with a loud groan. The newcomer had managed to hold up their arms in time, and were only showing scratches. Astadia hadn't bother to block it. Not like she could bleed.

The green sphere in Orli's hand crumbled.

The undead princess sighed heavily, "Well. You never fail to entertain, I guess. Back to killing folks."

She didn't turn around, however. Instead she gave a little gasp and her eyes seemed to take on a different sheen, as if they were trying to cry, but couldn't quite do it.

Trician groaned, wanting to collapse, "What is it, this time?"

"Run." Astadia whispered, sounding more depressed, more upset, than the first time she and Trician had argued as kids. The first time that Trician had screamed at her that she hated her.

Her eyes widened and she fumbled as she tried to stand, "You have got to be shitting me."

"Run!" Astadia wailed as she lifted up a hand and pointed at her sister.

Trician looked up at the undead surrounding them.

"Fuck me."

Orli cringed, "Oh."

---

The salamander jerked and shook her head as a light slammed into her face like a physical weight. She puffed black smoke and then headbutted it angrily.

A woman appeared, stumbling backwards and holding her own forehead, "Da fuck? How ya be doin' o' dat?"

She pulled back her lip, revealing a mouthful of razor-sharp teeth and let out a ground shaking growl. She didn't recognise the smell, not quite, but she knew what this woman was.

It was a kitsune.

Toofy's ears went flat, her shoulders up, and she let out a loud hiss as her red eyes fixed onto them. To be expected, really. There wasn't a single kitsune and neko who had ever got along in the history of the world. It just didn't happen.

"Dat was fuckin' o' me." The fox shook her head again, looking at Meerakeilian strangely, and then turned and smirked at Toofy, "Oi. Kitty. Ya da dumb little bitch dat Sai was messin' wit, right?"

Meerakeilian's claws went around the back of the kitsune's neck, but before they could close, the creature had vanished. Reappearing behind Toofy and rubbing their face into the neko's cheek, and letting out a keening purr.

Toofy snarled and tried to slap at her, but the creature did the same disappearing trick. This time reappearing sitting on Meerakeilian's shoulders, hands beating out a drumbeat on her thick skull. "Ya. S'got ta bein' ya. I messed around wit' ya Arina too. Just so ya know. Been wonderin' where ya succubus gots ta. That'd be real fun. At least dat one be knowin' how ta fuck. Ya man is fun 'n all, but he ain't much for da knowin'."

"I was going to try and ignore you." Toofy snapped, looking at the kitsune, "You are obviously trying to get in my way. Probably Sai being a hero, right? But... You don't get to insult my master, fox. I'm going to kill you."

The kitsune appeared with a giggle behind her, patting Toofy on the head, "S'gotsa be catchin' o' me, firstly."

Tendrils of shadow started rising up off Toofy's body. Like smoke above a bushfire. Signalling to every creature with an ounce of self-preservation to run like hell because what was coming would have no mercy. There would be no reasoning with it. Some things... Somethings even dragons knew to run from.

The kitsune giggled and ran a hand along Toofy's tail, "Mmm... Ma be seein' why Sai be fuckin' o' ya. Nice 'n flexible, ain't ya? Not like da orc he been bedding. Dough, ya not need be worryin' o' her. Khild done gone and killed 'erself."

"We should not be taken likely." Toofy spoke hollowly, her voice echoing.

Meerakeilian found herself dropping to the ground and curling into a protective ball. Spilling with smoke into the air as every single one of her senses screamed that it was too late to try and run.

"I'm mated ta Sai." The kitsune continued fearlessly, "Did ya know dat 'bout ma kind? We don't be fuckin' o' anyone else once we done be fuck'd. He spilled his seed right inside my pussy. Filled ma right on up."

The salamander knew that the fox was intentionally trying to antagonise Toofy. Her Devourer knew it as well. But in what world would any woman be able to deal with that kind of provocation? In what world could anyone do nothing when hearing something like that?

Toofy screamed out her anger, and then it choked off with an odd sound like the neko had thrown up and then swallowed it in surprise. Meerakeilian cracked open a little and peered out.