“All aboard the Kitsune Express!” I joked as I transformed into my Kyuubi Form.
But I am skipping too much. Let me roll back time a bit.
It was the first time I tried this transformation and it surprised me. Instead of shapeshifting, activating the Perk made a big-ass torii gate appear in front of me. I felt its existence as it resonated with my very soul. My hoshi-no-tama (star ball) appeared in my hand too. I knew that I would walk through this gate as a person and exit the other side as a Kyuubi.
Both women admired the gate. “I’ve never seen anything like this. What is it?” Jocelin gawked. “The architecture of this gate… Is rather unique,” Mirina remarked.
“I think it’s meant for me and me alone to cross and will vanish once I go.”
The torii meant the threshold between the mundane and divine. If that was true, what was a Kyuubi? I could sense no Divinity from either gate or ball in my hand. If so, the change wasn’t external. The gate wasn’t separating space, it was separating my own state of being.
it is impossible to use stealth or hide any of your tails or your Kitsunebi fires, The Perk description said.
I clutched the orb in my hand. It was a star ball but it wasn’t orange or had any stars floating inside it. Nor it had other sisters that could summon a dragon. No. My hoshi-no-tama was rather peculiar because no matter the angle one looked at it, it would always display a perfect yin-yang symbol. You could walk a circle around it and it would appear the same. No rotation, no parallax. It was unnerving and uncanny. People were used to seeing an object rotate, not follow it. If it weren’t for the light and shadow and reflections on the ball, it would appear to be completely flat to sight.
My experiments with what was basically a fragment of my soul weren’t unnoticed by the two women.
“That ball is even weirder,” Jocelin commented. “It feels like two fish are forever staring at me.”
“I heard of paintings whose eyes follow you as you walk past. This is much like it,” Mirina added.
I used the hand with the ball to point at the torii, “This gate and ball are part of the kitsune mythology back in my original world. Many things brought by the System are.” Actually many others too but not all. For example, the part where Unicorns were lecherous bastards who would fuck any female on sight. Maybe I should work harder to make Snowdrop's ancestral proud. Lolz. Nope.
I couldn't risk becoming a deity of sex and be forced to compete with Zacheia. And it wasn’t the worst that could happen. People’s beliefs, especially the followers of a deity had a profound impact on the Divine. Bundeus came to fight me at his weakest after I thrashed his church throughout the continents and destroyed his belief in himself. He was seen as a foolish deity and died like a fool. I would be wise to not go down the same path.
“I’m crossing the gate. Don’t be surprised if you see a big fox,” I said and walked under the torii. The change was instantaneous. On one side Haru walked, on the other side the Kyuubi stood, bigger than the torii. I had dark red-orange fur that became white at my paws, the end of my tails, and the tip of my ears. My form was six meters tall from paw to shoulder and about ten to twelve meters of body length plus three meters of neck. The tails were fifteen meters long but could stretch to reach sixty meters if I wanted.
The twenty tails (and three stumps) seemed to be on fire, starting almost imperceptible at the base but becoming roaring tongues at the tip. It didn’t obfuscate or tarnish the pristine white tips. Above each tail tip stood a fire matching the color and texture of the tail. That was the kitsunebi, the foxfire. The hoshi-no-tama hovered over the tip of the centermost tail. To claim the divine prize, a contender would need to fight past me and brave the magical inferno roaring behind me.
I flexed my shoulder blades and brought my wings out. They extended forty-two meters on each side. The unicorn horn was two meters long.
“Please don’t be afraid,” I told the two tiny women. It had little effect.
The fantasy inhabitants had several things ingrained in their minds their whole lives. One of them was the rules of survival against the unknown. If it looks dangerous, it is dangerous, period. Do not approach. If it looks like it can bite your head off, GTFO. If it is the size of a large house and on fire, run away. In fact, they were still standing and gawking and the cowing and shivering was muted, so I took it as a win.
I begged Pandora to come out with her calming aura. Under her soothing effect, I noticed the Perk left much out of the description. For example, the 4x damage applied to any damage, not only physical damage as in usual size benefits. With the 25% bonus detailed later, my magic was five times as powerful. More bugs.
My Energy regeneration doubled, to three-quarters of a million per minute. I reached a billion HP, regenerating more than twenty million per second. It was the most powerful form I’ve ever been. And I could improve on it. But not now. Now, I only could say one thing. “POWER OVERWHELMING!”
I didn’t. It was not time for the Archon’s catchphrase as two frightened girls were still staring at my gargantuan form. At least I wasn’t burning the ground around me. I willed to transform back and the torii gate appeared again. It seemed to be impossible to walk inside the gate, smaller than me but just willing it to happen caused the kyuubi to disappear on the threshold and Haru to walk out of it on the other side. The hoshi-no-tama was back in my hand and I safely stored it back inside my chest. The orb went through my shirt and flesh harmlessly.
“Whoa. That was wild!” I cheerfully exclaimed. “What did you think?”
They exchanged some glances, then walked a step back. Distracted with my new form, I’d missed the social cues of the incoming prank.
“I thought the dragon you transformed into was terrifying,” Mirina whispered. “But that was something else.”
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“I thought my threads would burn,” Jocelin confessed. “I might have frayed a bit.”
“I need fresh clothes,” Mirina added. “I think I sweated too much.”
I flopped my ears and my tails fanned low on the ground. The torii vanished behind me. My wish was to {Shadow Warp} to some alley in the city below us and cry a little. I just turned invisible and intangible. Mirina frowned and Jocelin pinched the bridge of her nose.
“She bought it,” Jocelin ruefully remarked.
“Haru, we were joking!” Mirina spoke to the spot I was before I vanished.
That’s why I made an illusion of my Kyuubi from behind them, then turned up the heat.
** Whaawh! **
A jaw as deep as I was tall (in my normal form) snapped inches from their heads. Jocelin jumped and threw a Force barrier in front of the giant snout, while Mirina fired a spray of small ice shards that could both cause damage and distract as they caught the light and sparkled.
The Kyuubi pawed the Force barrier as I dispelled it with my {Hymn} at the same time, adding the shards of the broken spell to the illusion. It cried and chased after the two women who were now running away to seek shelter in the palace. Too bad. Another illusion of the doors opening and a pack of mini-Kyuubii rushed out, barking, snarling, and drooling.
Mirina did complain to be sweaty from the heat, didn’t she?
Let’s add zombie Kyuubii bursting from the ground too, why not?
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A couple of minutes and dozens of jump-scares later, the two were sitting on the courtyard, back-to-back. I stood next to them, the only signs of our little “training session” a few upturned chunks of grass I was in the process of fixing with Plant magic.
“Remind me to never again play a prank on a deity,” Mirina begged to her partner in crime.
Jocelin whimpered a few giggles. “Now I need a bath,” she complained after regaining control of her stomach.
“The pond is right there, want a lift?” I cackled just a bit.
“You overdid it, Haru,” Mirina replied. “And no, I prefer warm water.”
“It was a good training session,” I retorted. “How many Proficiency points did you get?”
Jocelin scanned her notifications, her eyes glazing off in that characteristic way, “I hate you. I can pick a [Mobility] Ability.”
“Off to Mirina’s dad former Roman bath we go. We need to get ready to fly to Rerin.”
I scooped them from the ground with my tails and took them to the bath on a bridal carry.
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Carrying passengers on my back was super easy, barely an inconvenience. I just used {Absolute Clinging} on the fur touching their pants and back. As I approached Rerin, I saw some alarmed defenders preparing to shoot me. I let them. Spells and arrows rained on me but they needed a DPS of two hundred million just to beat my regeneration and {Titan Skin} before I even counted the type-specific defenses. I did surround my two squishy passenger-lovers with a barrier.
I landed on the courtyard, where the Royal knights prepared to charge me. I just stared at the person that seemed to be their commander. The knight seemed to be in his fifties and he met my gaze.
“Hold your Ground!” He shouted. “What do you want, beast?”
He probably couldn’t see the two people on my back due to my folded wings shielding them. I marked Mirina and Jocelin as part of my {Diplomatic Entourage}. I activated my {Royal Aura}. With my current Attributes, it had a three hundred meter range and sapped seventy-five Attribute points. Most of my would-be assailants dropped unconscious or paralyzed. The commander seemed unaffected but he noticed the aura.
“Men, stand down!” He shouted and then gave me a flourished salute. “Forgive my ignorance, my lady. Who should I announce?”
I turned off my {Royal Aura} and replaced it with my {Eldritch Presence}. The knight-commander fell on his knees before he could find his balance and walk away. The other combatants around me kept a wary stance, not willing to be the first ones to attack but also not abandoning their duty.
The [King] appeared on a balcony overlooking the courtyard. He came alone. “Are you the guardian deity of Windemere?” He asked out loud.
I relayed our conversation to Mirina and Jocelin as it happened.
> Contested Charisma Test failed.
Annoyed, the King voiced his outburst out loud to the whole palace, “We built a grand cathedral in your honor, Matriarch! I enacted laws granting fair treatment to your Kin! Why do you seek--”
> Cosmos Within
>
> Eldritch Aura
The combo worked like a glove. Since he wasn't speaking to me, he had to shut his trap to pay attention only to me. I could parade elephants behind him and he wouldn't notice.
I could hear his teeth grinding against each other. I activated {Divine Negotiator} and bombed him with every social trait I had.
I flicked a tail and touched his crown, sticking the fur to it and pulling it out of his head. I also used {Dimensional Pilferer} to see if he had anything juicy on his storage ring but it was all money. Kings loved to keep their money closer nowadays. Time to keep true to my kingly alias.
I left the fuming bald king on his balcony and took to the skies. Then I flew back to Windemere. Or at least, an illusion of me did. I threw an invisibility spell over the three of us and shifted back to my normal form inside the illusion, before sneaking back to Rerin. It was time to go shopping with the King’s money and break the local economy.