The light in the arena was particularly stark against Foxtail having now emerged from the darkness, the shimmering rainbow glass around her disappearing behind her like a guardian angel. The faint sparks of fire in the pit of her stomach were now properly fed and raging, her heart surprisingly calm with the amount of power surging through her body. She looked at her arms to see she was now adorned with gloves that ran up to her shoulders, their pattern embroidered with tiny grasping hands, the sensation ticklish and warm to the skin. Held tightly in her hand was a weapon unlike anything she’d ever seen before, a slender blade like Foreigners needle with small thorns protruding outward, little barbs that belied a deadly effectiveness in ripping apart sinews when pulled out.
She heard the squelching of meat shift on the side of the Fox, Maribelle’s face emerging like a malignant tumor, face squashed with anger.
“What is this FILTH! You’re so bright! I can’t even see you anymore with all of that unbridled,” Maribelle took a pause, expanding her eye to get a wider look at Foxtail, “an unbridled courage… whatever it may be, I will take pleasure in bringing you back down to my level. We are one and the same and I refuse to believe that this is anything more than a second wind, a last gasp for redemption.” Maribelle receded into Fox, the creature howling loudly, silencing the arena.
Foxtail took a step forward and readied her blade.
“You misunderstand the situation Maribelle. I’ve been given a strength that already lingered within me, the ability to move forward. If you want to wallow in your own inadequacies, don’t drag me into it.” She took a deep breath and took another step forward. The Fox watched warily, all of its bulbous eyes staring at her with a newfound apprehension. The creature of her nightmares had terrorized children, stragglers with little ability to fight for themselves. Whether a fabrication pulled from her mind or a manifestation echoing the monster in the Outskirts, Foxtail knew the creature was not accustomed to direct engagement the way they were combatting now. Now she could fight back.
“MiiiiiiiiiNNNNAAAAA!” Fox hissed before shooting out its tongue like a whip, the air cracking at the speed. Foxtail watched her little echoes float in the air and felt her gloves tug her in a direction away from the danger. She felt elegant as she moved closer to the monster, a dance taking place between her and her echoes as they led her along a path of safety. The monster kept lashing with its tongue with a pointed ferocity and yet it continually failed to meet its mark. “GRAGH!” The creature whooped out in frustration. It tucked its legs back and pounced forward, stretching its jaws to cover a wide area with its rows of jagged teeth. Foxtail took a deep breath and instructed her echoes to form a circle away from danger. She tugged at the feeling and felt herself transpose from where she was to where she wanted to be. There was a disorientation to her body and mind but she shook her head and capitalized on the confusion that the Fox experienced over shutting its jaws against prey that had disappeared from its grasp.
“This is for Kwan!” Foxtail reeled her arm back and stabbed into the creature, the blade sliding through the tough hide like butter. The Fox yelped and recoiled, the barbs on her blade lacerating its sinews on removal, leaving behind a slender hole that gushed blood. She could see that her echoes lingered on the wound, their tiny hands clawing at the gash for what she assumed to be a sort of phantom pain for the Fox, considering its thrashing about in the arena. While distracted, she ran towards the monster again, rolling under the creature as it swung its tongue in a wide arc. “This is for Yeona!” Foxtail ducked and pierced the soft underbelly of the Fox. She twisted her arm in a screw motion to let the thorns on her weapon dig into the flesh before violently ripping it out, taking joy in the two additional wounds on its abdomen.
“Stop!” Fox gurgled out the command with its garbled wetness and slammed its paw to Foxtails ribcage. Her body flew a couple of feet away, limbs rolling on the hard ground. She lifted herself up and recognized the hot wet pain of broken bones and bleeding. Her strength was in offense and evasive maneuvers then, although she was certain that had she taken an attack like that without her armor, she would have properly died. Foxtail took a look at her surroundings once more and saw the Fox madly bucking and thrashing in place, eyes glazed over in red. She could see her echoes exacerbating the wounds she had delivered, widening the damage on the monster’s body. “MINA! LOOK AT ME!” Fox cried out, the writhing muscles splitting apart to form smaller tendrils, slashing at the ground and air with reckless abandon. It was infuriated with her.
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Take heed, Mina… We are limited in numbers, your legion. Legion. There are only so many of us… Be careful… The wraith from before whispered into her ear and Foxtail grasped at what her statement was meant to show her.
Unlike before where her echoes had a mind of their own, she was exerting greater dominion over them, meaning they still lingered performing commands she had divvied out. The circle of echoes that allowed her to transpose herself still lingered, and with each additional wound on the monster, it meant less echoes to come to her aid and warn her of oncoming danger. She was being forced to lead.
Foxtail smirked, “I guess this is a kind of weight leaders carry.” She recalled her echoes from the Fox’s wounds and amassed them around her, the size of her predictive avoidance ability becoming finer and more accurate with each member that joined her on the singular task. It didn’t matter if the Fox had one long tongue or several tendrils lashing around violently; she pressed forward in the face of danger with single-minded determination pushing her onward. Despite holding her side with one arm and feeling the blood pool in her fingers, she moved forward.“This one is for William.” She exhaled. Her arm darted back and forth in a stabbing motion, catching the lolling tongue of the Fox in three different places, rendering it impotent.
Fox reeled its tongue into its mouth and attempted to chew into Foxtail but she transposed herself out of the way.
“Blegh.” Foxtail puked stomach bile and blood from her mouth, the disorientation more pointed that the room began to spin. She shook her head from this delirium refusing to stop, wiping her mouth with her sleeve. “It’s time I put you behind me, little Fox.” She took a deep breath, as deep of one as she could take, and dashed forward, The Fox widened its mouth, splitting muscles apart to cover a wider area, about two lengths of its body in width, for its own final attack. Foxtail recalled her echoes and situated them just above the Fox.
“Myyyyyy Grouuuuundd…” Fox made a guttural groan. Foxtail pushed and pushed until she was merely a hair from its influence, watching its muscles spring forth with raw primal force, before stepping into the ground and above the creature with blade thrusted downward.
“This is for Mina.” Foxtail cried out her old name before landing on the small of the creature’s back, her blade plunging deep into the creature’s spine. She didn’t let up, taking her blade and stabbing into the monster again and again and again, ripping more and more holes into the monster so as to leave it looking like a pin cushion. Fox staggered forward and she rolled off her back. “Echoes. Swarm.” She lifted herself from her kneeling stance and watched the mass of echoes tear into the open wounds of the monster, her monster. The creature’s lively eyes were fading away, her protectors eagerly digging into the flesh of her opponent. Fox flopped and flailed, watching its aggressor make measured steps towards the source of this manifestation, Maribelle still kneeling on the ground with her head split open.
“Wait!” Foxtail turned to see a malformed Maribelle stretch itself from the carnage around it, reaching out with pleading hands. “Wait, Foxtail, you know that there’s a kinship between us! I can feel it! Why can’t you?”
“Maribelle.” Foxtail wheezed. She could feel herself fading. “We are alike because we both are at rock bottom. It’s what you do when you’re there that makes the difference.” She took another deep breath, having difficulty keeping that winded feeling away, and placed the end of her blade to Maribelle’s heart.
“But we can still be friends! I can change! I promise I can be different!” Maribelle cried out in a panic.
“If you can’t even keep your promises to the friends that linger in your heart, what makes you think I’ll be moved by your empty words now.” A silence fell upon both of them, eyes locking with one another in an intimate moment. “You’ve made your choices. You’ve relinquished what little sympathy I had left for you when you dug into my past and used it against me. Goodbye, Maribelle.” Foxtail plunged her weapon into Maribelle’s chest, a confluence of rainbow colors flying out of the wound as the body slowly crystallized. “I hope you can find the courage to move forward in your next life.” She reeled her weapon back and allowed the rest of the crystalline structure to form around the body of her opponent. Foxtail watched this rainbow glass encase itself around Maribelle before shattering into dust, leaving behind a distinct echo with black tears streaking across its eye sockets and a slight crack in the center of its head.
“Welcome to your family.” Foxtail smiled weakly before closing her eyes, allowing her body to fall on the ground.