Thanks for taking the time to read this chapter, I've tons of excuses for why it wasn't out sooner and I truly will dispense them on request, but for now all that's important is that there will be a few more updates in the next two weeks. Enjoy.

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Maia stepped lightly, using shundo once more, though not as far as before. She traveled through a hole torn in the space of the mountain range. Even though she only took a single step, her destination was greatly different from her place of origin.

The sun’s loving rays flickered gently through her midnight black hair as it whipped by the warm spring breeze flowing through the city. She loved the feeling of the wind as it tickled her ears, but at the moment she had no time to indulge in the sheer enjoyment of the moment. “That man” had contacted her after so many years, which could still only be counted as a minor annoyance since she was at least still on the “Bit Na” Continent, or rather, in the case she was on the “Ou Doo” continent as she had been a decade ago she’d have ignored him completely. “He” had the nerve to command her. Among the people who call the city of “Agnibrand” home the woman was well known as an adventurer.

She was young, looking no older than twenty years old, but could easily be regarded as one of the city’s most powerful adventurers holding the title “Misty Fox.” Yet those things could only account for half of her popularity, the rest was naturally due to her inhuman beauty. Her hair was a lustrous raven black curtain that draped elegantly past her slim shoulders. Her almond shaped eyes housed a luxurious purple gaze so seductive even gods would swoon were they to be passed over.

“Since when have I stooped so low as to be at the beck and call of a brat like Daman?” She grumbled incessantly to no one. “Were it not for my promise I would have turned and fled in any direction away from him.” As much as she hated being told what to do, she wasn’t one to break promises.

She was a person who could only be bound by duty, and restricted by vows. A woman free as the wind and as strong as lightning. To be powerful is to be restricted, when one has power they must hold an equal amount of responsibility, yet by the nature of her person such shackles are worthless, inconsequential things. She had long since chosen to be both strong and free. Her selfishness becoming far more than any man, woman, or god could rival or staunch.

A wicked smile blossomed across her rose colored lips. While it was true that that arrogant fox, Daman, had requested for her to return, she was of no obligation to do so immediately.

Having now solved her earlier complication, she strolled into a familiar building with a self-satisfied swagger. The guild hall was a building the size of a mansion, the reason given to anyone who cared enough to ask was that “it needed to have enough space to allow large numbers of adventurers to stay in the case it’s needed,” but she knew the real reason for its size was a show of wealth. Since the city of Agnibrand is the largest city on the “Ou Doo” continent, the guild officials saw it as a necessary expense to cementing their position.

The building was filled to the brim with endless torrents of chaotic chatter to the point where taking even a handful of steps into the building caused a mild headache due to her keen hearing.

Today she had a purpose for coming, and as such she ignored the clamor of the first floor’s dining hall and moved on towards the second floor where the “mission board” is located.

She glances over mission board for a moment picking a random paper with the word “Subjugation” written on it in bold letters and brings it to the counter.

“Ms. Misty Fox, It’s wonderful to see you again,” the clerk looked at the paper, a hint of surprise flashed across her face as she eyes the mission’s rank.

“Are you sure you want to accept this mission?” The clerk probed “Misty Fox” who in turn responded with a curt smile.

“Please confirm that the mission you are about to take is the rank 4-star Subjugation of a Hundred Headed Hydra that has taken residence in the Gekkou Mountain Range by giving me your guild card so that I can enter the mission data.” The fox complied easily, not wasting the time to as she was naturally very used to the process.

The clerk accepts the small black card, scanning it with her eyes for a moment before chanting a short hymn, mana drew towards his body forming a ring around him. Once he had finished forming the words the energy flew towards her card at the speed of light, branding the information to her card.

After accepting the mission, she leaves the quiet solace of the second floor and bounds towards the exit on the first floor only to be called out by an old friend.

“Hey Mohini, why don’t you sit down with us and have a drink.”

She smiled elegantly at him before chuckling, “you’re about a year too late, my name isn’t Mohini anymore, it’s Maia.” She corrected, obviously amused at his bewildered expression.

“I figured you’d wait another two years before changing your name again,” he responded sourly.

“As if, before she changed her name to Mohini for two years she was Yuki,” one adventurer chimed in. “Before that she was Priscille for a week,” another adventurer remarked while laughing. Causing the whole first floor to buzz with excitement, giving Maia the perfect chance to slip away.

Maia once again frowned discontentedly, it had been five years since she originally took the mission to kill the hundred headed hydra, a mission that took her a grand total of three weeks to complete, the majority of which was just travel time. Since then she’d decided to leave Agnibrand, and explore the continent once more. She’d enjoyed the travelling, for Maia living off the land was as simple as breathing so travel through the forests and mountains was comfortable for her, even if there was a constant nagging in the back of her head whenever she thought of leaving the continent. It had been long enough that the message from Daman had faded from her memory and yet her subconscious self-denial to let her break her promise to him by leaving the continent.

She had enjoyed her time immensely, after all her true home was all the roads of the world, both those paved and unpaved, and yet now she frowned. Only one thing could have brought about this reaction. She received another message, unlike the carefully and skillfully penned parchment which had found its way to her previously, this message was dreadfully short, to the point where Maia nearly had a mind to write back requesting more content even knowing it would do no more than inconvenience herself. This new message had contained only four words and a short signature.

“Please Help my Son.”

-Umi

After reading this letter she could not be said to be annoyed, she recognized Umi, and knew that even writing this letter must have been enormously difficult for her to the point where it may have even aggravated her curse. The most Maia could do was frown in displeasure, after all, she was not a cruel person, if someone she knew truly needed her help then she felt that she had no choice but to lend a hand.

There was one problem though, she was far away from the sacred mountain where Daman and Umi were located. If she moved at the speed of a normal human it would take her another five years to get to the Gekkou mountain range which could only be considered as the halfway point. For any human it would take at least a decade to get the sacred mountain. Yet Maia was different, she was unique.

Distance in regards to people is a matter of perception, what is a short distance or a long distance is molded by a person’s experiences. If one were to travel a mile every day to a stream to get water eventually the idea of that distance becomes nothing, as the trip is mandatory. Yet for a person such as a town’s scribe, the prospect of travelling a mile away would far supersede their idea of a short distance.

Maia scanned her surrounding for a moment, taking note that no one was near her she gathered Prana in a ring around her body. That zone became her Astral Haven, the home of her soul’s most intimate creation. It was the chest in which she sealed her tails.

The ring of prana shone with a multicolored light enveloping her entire body then suddenly dimming into nothingness. All that was left was a complete Maia, atop her head were two fennec-like ears behind her was a glamorous black tail.

Maia’s strength did not lie in her talent for arcane arts, but from her profound mastery of the movement skill “Shundo.” The technique created by her predecessor, the Teumessian Fox, a legendary nine-tailed fox. When used by an ordinary practitioner “Shundo” is a technique that can instantly move the user several meters forward in any direction whilst on a stable surface, yet when used by Maia not only can it be used in freefall, but “shundo” can be used to move hundreds of Kilometers in the blink of an eye. The distance only increases whilst in her true form, becoming tens of thousands of kilometers in the blink of an eye.

Maia thought for a moment. Under normal circumstances she would give up on the idea of going back, especially considering her history with that place, yet now she couldn’t abandon that place, there was someone who needed her. She shook her head to dispel any thoughts of quitting.

After having revealed her spirit beast traits her connection to the world’s prana became exponentially more powerful. Thrusting as much prana as she could handle into her legs, Maia looked forward. A simple action, she simply stepped forward, yet the space that surrounding her ruptured, tearing and trembling before stitching itself back together, and yet she was gone. The beautiful fox was now fifteen thousand kilometers forward, in the cusp of the Gekkou Mountain range. Within the span of time it takes for a fly to flap its wings she had reached a location that would have taken any human at least half a decade to travel to.

She loved to travel, to take in the unique sights and sounds of the world, marking every step into her memory and reveling in the pure bliss of exploration. As such she hated using shundo, it robbed her of one of life’s simple pleasures. Yet at this moment she had no time to complain, she’d already made her decision, excluding that sly fox she at least had to give face to Umi.

Once again she gathered the prana around her body, unlike before however the concentration of prana on the mountain range was so pure that when collected by Maia, it condensed into a thick mist that radiated an oppressive golden light.

Around her was a world of frost and snow, a familiar mountain, and a feeling of nostalgia that her circumstances allowed her to ignore. With her true form revealed many of her senses were sharpened, including her sense of hearing which was picking up the sounds of conflict a small ways away. As she rushed over she noticed that a short distance from the ruckus six fox clansmen stood observing.

“Should I even ask what that is?” Maia flicked her eyes toward the youth who couldn’t possibly be older than ten years old. Obviously displeased with the sight of these particular foxes.

“It’s our first examination, if a certain somebody hadn’t delayed her return we could have given the boy more time, but that is neither here nor there.” One of the men responded, on his face a polite expression that couldn’t mask the callousness of his words. His silver hair covered his eyes, but Maia knew what expression they were hiding, and even if she hadn’t she didn’t plan to spend any time trying to pry their meaning from him.

“You can’t honestly have been so remiss of time that you would force a child who has yet to even reach maturity fight a demon beast.” It was apparent to anyone that she was agitated, she had been pestered by this man to return, and while it could be said to be her own fault for waiting so long it would be a fool’s game to attempt to make her admit that wrongdoing. To her, the fault lies more with the fact that once she finally chose to return the boy who was under her charge was undergoing a life or death conflict with a beast that he was in no shape to defeat.

Any attack he threw its way was repelled by the bear’s tough hide, and while his agility was admittedly well honed for someone his age, a single mistake on his part would leave him vulnerable to the demon bear’s tyrannical strength.

“The child is admirable no?” Another white-haired fox spoke, and despite her youthful appearance a hint of arrogance stemming from several millennia of experience was apparent.

Maia frowned, as it seemed every single person the she wasn’t in the mood to see all appeared in her presence at once. It was an absolutely abysmal situation.

“I wouldn’t call a child fighting a demon beast admirable, I suppose you’re too senile to even understand that much.” Maia’s tail ruffled angrily.

“In every generation there are those regaled as heroes, but to those whose vision extends beyond what can directly be seen, it becomes apparent that heroes are fools. It is not that they would smirk upon adversity but rather that adversity had long since become their comrade. It is not due to their talent that they are powerful but because they have chosen to exercise that talent by putting themselves into taxing situations, but I would not expect a kit such as thyself to understand.” The old fox Shiki expressed almost smugly, it would be hard to tell if she enjoyed the chance to speak with someone so freely or just entertained with the fact someone from the younger generation has the gall to lecture her.

“Dear sister, there is no need to dismay. If the child dies here then that is simply all he was worth, regardless we still have a replacement, and in your case that girl may be more compatible with you.” If Rune had seen the man speaking he’d have recognized him to be the elder who had originally proposed training him after he had been born into this world.

“Don’t you ‘dear sister’ me,” Maia nearly raged at the sly fox, “How would Umi feel knowing that her only child died because of your recklessness. Daman, you can’t truly believe that I would let my own brother kill a child for the sake of a shitty village like this.” Maia stepped forward intending to intervene in Rune’s ordeal but was cut off by the five elders.

It was at that moment that a golden radiance erupted on the battleground. All seven foxes looked over, an astounding portrait of shocked expressions was painted at that moment.