Chapter 92 The Mother

A sharply dressed man who appeared to be in his late 30s with a pretty young woman on his arm led the group of new arrivals. Just behind him were five men in suits surrounding the Kitsune. The Kitsune now had heavy looking silver shackles on her wrists, ankles, and chains connecting her wrist shackles to a thicker chain attached to her collar held tightly by the man in front pulling her chains taunt forcing the much shorter Kitsune to stumble forward only kept upright by her tails providing counterbalance. Despite the discomfort such a position should cause, the Kitsune had a vacant expression, as if she doesn’t feel a thing. Meanwhile, at the back of the group are the two slaver trainers with the woman supporting the man who looked beaten.

“Who claims to be the mate of my new pet!?” the sharply dressed man proclaimed, yanking on the chain in his hand to emphasize his point. The yank sent the Kitsune forward face first, caught by a guard on her right just before she crashed to the ground.

Instantly Meira recognized the head of the new arrivals, seethed with a voice full of hatred. “I should have known you would buy her. I regret not ending your family line all those years ago.”

The man chuckled as he, too, recognized the elf. “Oh, the Elf assassin herself, I don’t understand why they let someone as dangerous as you free after all the good men and women you slaughtered.”

A saddened scream interrupted their standoff. Everyone turned toward the source to find Evernya on the floor, seizing up, screaming her lungs out. Elizabeth dropped to her knees by her patient’s seizing body to run scans, only to shake her head in confusion.

A frown formed on Michael’s face, prompting him to approach the girl. He casted a soul check spell to give him a general idea of the current state of the girl’s soul. The moment the spell completed, Michael’s eyes widened as he blasted backward several meters.

Forced to one knee from the shock of the backlash, Michael exclaimed, “How does a girl this young have a soul so powerful! That’s not a soul any normal person should have!”

As a professional, Michael’s shock quickly dissipated as he snuck the same spell on the Kitsune, causing his shock to return. Michael stood up shakily, then gave his report to the occupants of the room. “Multiple issues are causing Miss Evernya’s current condition. First, despite having the strongest soul I’ve ever witnessed, it’s only loosely connected to her body, leaving her vulnerable to soul-based attacks. The Kitsune’s Soul is the opposite, as it’s damaged almost beyond repair. Currently, the Kitsune is trying to use Miss Evernya’s soul to repair itself through the bond, but in doing so, it’s weakening the already fragile connection to Miss Evernya’s body. If this keeps up, both will die with Evernya’s soul separating from her body and the Kitsune’s soul being overwhelmed by Evernya’s soul.”

“Can you save them?” Meira begged, teary-eyed, kneeling on the floor holding her seizing and foaming kitten in her arms.

With a helpless expression, Michael answered, “I don’t know. I’ve never heard of a situation like this. Normally you would soul bind them, allowing their souls to support each other freely, but they are different races, and with the damage to the Kitsune’s soul, I don’t know if a soul binding will work.”

Desperate for a solution, Meira asked, “Do you know why the Kitsune’s soul is so damaged? Is there any way we can boost the Kitsune’s soul or stabilize Evernya’s, improving their chances?”

After a second thought, Michael responded while looking at the enslaved Kitsune with pity. “I have a good idea, and it isn’t pretty. From what I’ve researched, Kitsune are unique among shifter kind as they are half Fox Spirit and half foxkin. Their tails are their Fox Spirit half, giving them the ability to use fire and illusions. A Kitsune can gain a tail in a dangerous situation, giving them a higher chance of survival. This is essentially a forced power-up, but it comes with drawbacks. Each forced power up lowers a Kitsune’s life span by half. Normally, a Kitsune is ageless, but after just one power-up, their lifespan drops to 500 years. If a Kitsune were to have multiple power-ups in a short period, the damage to their soul would be astronomical. From the damage I see on here, I’m guessing she had at least three power-ups in a short span of time, likely from the slave training forced upon her. Even if these two didn’t meet, I would estimate the Kitsune has at most a few months left.”

“I spent 600 million on a useless, dying animal!?” the man raged, turning his attention to the two slave trainers hiding in the room’s corner. “I demand a refund!”

“We don’t do refunds as all slave purchases are final.” The woman stupidly replied.

In a flash, a beam of light shot through her head, killing her on the spot. Showing no reaction to killing the woman, the enraged man turned toward the male slave trainer, asking, “Do you still refuse to give me a refund?”

Before the slave trainer could respond, Evernya’s screams abruptly silenced as her body stilled. A moment later, an overwhelming surge of mana radiated off her body as she opened her eyes and floated upward. She scanned the room, finding everyone collapsed unconscious from her overwhelmingly potent mana.

With a sheepish expression, Evernya commented as if two voices were speaking at once, “Whoops.”

She pulled the mana back to more tolerable levels before mentally prodding everyone awake. While she waited for everyone to revive, she plopped down on a chair.

A few minutes later, everyone was awake with their attention drawn to the literal star of mana. While relaxing on the recliner, the woman casually said, “Okay, now that everyone is awake, I’ll start. Sorry about that, by the way, I’m not used to dealing with such fragile beings.”

The first one to find their voice is the sharply dressed man as he stupidly questions, “W-who are you? You seem different from the young animal from before.”

The woman’s casual demeanor shifted to rage in an instant, lashing out her almost solid mana aura toward the group. “How dare you call my daughter an animal! You are lucky just to be in her presence, you lowly human! Now kneel before Evernya Draorxia of the ancient lines of Draxia and Draor!”

Against their will, the group surrounding the Kitsune dropped to their knees and kowtowed. The woman nodded in satisfaction, ordering, “That’s better now stay there while I save my daughter and her mate.” As if under a spell, the entire group froze with their foreheads touching the floor.

The woman turned her attention to the naked silver-clad Kitsune next. With a flick of her wrist, all the silver restraints, including the collar, harmlessly fell off the Kitsune and Evernya’s body.

Finished with the silver removal, the woman levitated the Kitsune toward her for a closer look. Once placed in front of The Kitsune stares at her with a blank face void of any thought. “How dare they do this to such a beautiful young lady! They stripped you down to nothing!” The woman exclaimed upon examining the state of the poor girl.

She pressed her hand to the Kitsune’s mana core and closed her eyes to get to work. First, the brand on her back disappeared, soon followed by the black bands on her wrists and ankles, leaving the one around her neck. Next, the Kitsune’s hair color changed to pure white color, followed by her eyes shifting to a ruby red color, causing the non-kowtowed occupants of the room to gasp in surprise.

Ignoring her spectators, the woman started unraveling the dozens of layers of magical conditioning placed on the Kitsune’s mana core. With each layer removed, the Kitsune’s expression became more lifelike. Finally, twenty minutes later, the last layer dissipated, freeing the girl from her enslavement. A grateful expression flashed on her face before her eyes rolled back as she passed out in the woman’s arms.

With the magical enslavement gone, the woman focused on the mental conditioning, using telepathy to dive into the unconscious Kitsune’s mind. With a frown marring her face when she found she had limited options in removing the extensive mental conditioning without a total mind wipe. After putting a temporary mental block on most of the Kitsune’s slave training, she removed her magic, levitating her to the couch to rest.

“There we go. She has a long way to go to recover, but at least she is free.” The woman announced before turning her head curiously toward the door.

A moment later, the door blasted inward, making way for a group of thirty people. Leading the charge is the group of mage’s council members, followed by two dozen guards. The new arrivals split into two groups, one half trying to get the kowtowing group out of the way while the other while surrounds Evernya’s group sitting on the couches and recliners.

“I was wondering when some government officials would show up.” The woman commented.

“Who are you, and what is your business here?” A graying mages Council member demanded.

“Who I am does not matter to you. As for what am I doing here, well let’s just say I am just visiting.”

“Boss, something is wrong with Mr. Sunfire’s party. They are unresponsive.” A thirty-something female guard reported.

“Oh yeah, I forgot about them. Give me a second, I’ll fix them,” the woman casually replied, as if the surrounding group meant nothing to her.

She stood up from her seat and lazily stretched her arms above her head before she glided her way toward the kowtowing group commanding, “Stand up!”

In unison, the kowtowing group stood, all facing the woman. “You and you kill yourself. I do not condone slaving bastards like you.” The woman ordered, while pointing at the remaining slave trainer and the sharply dressed man after delving into their minds to find out their past acts.

Without hesitation, the sharply dressed man shot a beam of light at his head while the slaver trainer enchanted his own heart to stop.

“Stop unsealed telepath, or we will use force!” The graying mage’s council member ordered.

The woman glared at the man. Annoyed, she commented, “Can’t you see I am busy? Wait your turn.” As if put on pause, the council member froze.

“Okay, now, where was I? Oh yeah!” The woman mumbled to herself before turning to the remains of the kowtowing group, commanding, “None of you will remember anything that has happened for the last two hours. You will feel an urge to never own or capture a slave ever again. If you ever see an enslaved person, you will do everything you can to free them. Now leave the building and walk down the street for fifteen minutes before stopping!”

In an orderly manner, the group walked out of the broken-down door. When the last one stepped out of the doorway, she telekinetically placed the door back into the doorway. She then turned back to the mage’s council group and said, “Now was waiting so hard? Oh? One of you does not belong. How interesting. I don’t care that you are faking it as long as you don’t cause trouble.”

Now freed from her influence, the mages council group immediately surrounded the woman. “Surrender unsealed Psion or we will use force!” The graying mage’s council member ordered.

“Sorry, no can do. I have things to do before I leave,” the woman rejected with a slight smile.

“Attack formation 4!” the graying mage’s council member ordered.

In a rapid but organized fashion, the group rearranged their formation with mages with complementing elements or specialists near one another.

“Attack!” Ordered

All at once all, they attacked the woman with a rainbow of elements and spells, causing the area surrounding Evernya to light up like a Christmas tree and shake. After a minute of bombardment, they ceased their attacks, allowing light to fade. To their shock, the light faded to reveal floating unharmed above the crater.

“Did you really think that would work?” The woman questioned with a look, practically screaming, ‘are you dumb?’

Suddenly, her magic faltered, causing her to drop a meter before recovering a moment later.

The woman glanced at the culprit with curiosity, stating, “Interesting, a null all the way out here? Though you are on the weak side.”

Quickly losing interest, the woman returned to the task at hand, announcing with a gleeful expression, “Now it’s my turn!”

She simultaneously telekinetically lifted the entire mages council group and flung them into the walls, holding struggling humans in place. A split-second later, force blades followed, stopping millimeters from all their throats.

While pinching her sensitive nose against the several unfortunate accidents, the woman said, “Do you understand now? You are no match for me. I could kill all of you at once hundreds of different ways or just have you kill yourself.”

Now terrified, the graying Mage’s council member shouted, “What do you want!?”

The woman glanced at the human with a bored expression stating, “Nothing from you people. If you hadn’t barged your way in, I would have already left. Anyway, I would love to play some more with you people, but I have things to take care of, so I must send you away now. Also, forget everything from the last hour and if the null tries to tell you what happened, you will immediately forget again. Now for you null, don’t dare make trouble for my daughter if you know what’s good for you. It would be so much easier to kill all of you, but that would cause trouble for my daughter and her allies. Now, bye-bye.”

The woman opened a portal leading outside of the building and threw the entire group through it before closing it back up. Next, she made the three bodies disappear and sealed up the crater as if it was never there.

After everything was to her satisfaction, she turned back to the Evernya friendly group, wincing from the bombardment of thoughts, but quickly and efficiently answered the unasked questions. “Yes, I am Evernya’s biological mother. No, I am not permanently taking her over, just until both her and her mate stabilize. No, Evernya is not aware of this. The last thing she should remember is right before I took over. No, I will not tell you my true name. I doubt there is any record of me anymore anyway. Evernya will find out my name herself in time. Yes, I am what you people call an old one, and no, I won’t tell you what happened to us. No, this is nowhere near my full power. My daughter’s body could not handle that. No, I won’t hurt any of you. I have already checked, and none of you mean any harm to my daughter or her mate. No, I won’t erase your memories unless you want me to, but you may tell no one else. Anything else?”

After a moment of stunned silence, she continued, “Okay, after I finish this next part, I will leave. I am counting on you people and her future allies to prepare my daughter and her mate, allowing them to live the life of their choosing. Anyway, last chance for questions.”

Overwhelmed, the group failed to process any questions before she got to work. First, she levitated the Kitsune to the floor, carefully spreading her tails out to avoid any discomfort before lying down next to her as she closed her eyes to focus. She touched Evernya’s black band with one hand and the Kitsune’s with the other hand.

The group watched in stunned silence as astronomical amounts of mana flowed between Evernya’s body and the Kitsune. Meira and Michael especially wide-eyed, frozen in shock as they recognize the telltale signs of enchanting and soul magic, but on a scale beyond their imagination.

Ten minutes later, Evernya’s mother opened her eyes as she spoke in a tired voice, “I stabilized both of their souls until they complete the last step of the soul binding themselves when they wake up. Fortunately, their souls are incredibly compatible, allowing me to overcome their incompatible bodies with some tweaking. As a bonus, I added a few gifts I think they will find helpful without tipping them over the edge, causing the System to penalize them. Okay, my time is up, goodbye for now.” A moment after finishing her summary, her eyes dimmed before closing.

A second later, the powerful mana pressure disappeared, signaling her departure.