The White Wolf and her Companions suddenly found themselves in a nest of Foxes. Their yipping and yapping grated on their ears, but their raised lips revealed sharp fangs that showed they could bite back, so none of the Companions had the arrogance to underestimate their opponents. The Companions may be more united, stronger, and well-equipped, but the Foxes were known to be vicious, and they outnumbered the Companions greatly, evening out the odds in a potential battle.
The White Wolf was the largest among the Companions, and being favored by the Exalted Guardian, she was seen as a venerated elder, though her true authority was still below the Great Primate duo of father and daughter, but in this situation, they gathered around the White Wolf and waited for their orders from the Great Primates.
"To honor the Fox Guardian, we have to win against her kin!" Great Father announced, his voice booming through the skulls of the Companions, setting their minds on the goal.
"To show our gratitude for their Protection, we have to put up a good fight!" Great Daughter declared, her love for the Guardians inspiring their spirits and lighting the flame of rivalry in their hearts.
The Wolf unfurled their silvery flag and raised it high, displaying the black horns of Might, then she walked to the front of the line and looked around. The Great Primates had given the order, and now, they looked to the Wolf to see it through, to anchor the troops and guide them down the path that led to victory; the Companions waited for the Wolf to accept the orders, to say the words, and to pour oil onto the flames; and the Foxes waited, their sadistic grins and mischievous laughter like a constant rain that might douse the flames of passion.
But dragon fire could never be snuffed out by a mere drizzle.
The Wolf breathed in deeply, gathering air and courage, then she boldly roared, "For glory! For honor! FOR THE ROYAL GUARDIANS!" And her voice marked the start of the Battle.
"URAAA!" The Companions roared back, raising their weapons in furor.
Then she charged, and they all followed her to war.
The armies were divided into two lanes: Hockey, and Football. The former requires speed and reflexes, while the latter requires coordination and precision. Two very different paths for the soldiers to take, and each competitor went through both, but in general, they each only survived in one of the two lanes.
There was no time for slow, methodical fighting, this was a meat grinder to separate the weak from the strong.
No armor, no healing, no support. One after the other, soldiers fell on both sides, their bodies becoming the ground for new warriors to tread upon, the number of felled comrades continuously growing.
The spirits of the dead would live on and cheer for their comrades, giving them their blessings to absorb their energy and power as they lacked the skill to fully utilize it themselves.
Even though the White Wolf was seen as an elder, she still hadn't reached the apex of her potential, which led her to fail in the Football Battle, but the Great Father shined in her place and took up the mantle to guide the Companions in that lane.
The Great Daughter followed them both, supporting them and patiently waiting for the moment that either of them fell so she could take to the front and continue their endless advance.
The Foxes were gradually thinning, falling one after the other. Their organization waxed and waned like the moons, but it gradually grew stronger as the survivors realized the true power of their enemy and rallied under the gray and orange banner of the Misty Foxes.
With each bout, the White Wolf felt her enemies getting stronger, faster, and smarter. They changed from mischievous, cheeky foxes into dark, cold predators that kept their rage just underneath their skin.
The numbers of the Foxes dwindled so far that the Companions started meeting the elites, and each battle was an ordeal on its own.
"Just one more victory, just one more Fox to defeat," the White Wolf murmured to herself, trying to summon every last bit of grit she had.
When her tired body started to break under the strain, she looked back and witnessed the encouraging smile of the Great Daughter, giving the Wolf her second wind to fight on.
"One more victory…"
But then she finally knew that she'd met her match when she saw the Grinning Fox.
Young, strong, and unreadable, the Grinning Fox used his mask to hide his emotions, and his narrow eyes made it difficult to see where he was looking, allowing him to become utterly unpredictable.
His strikes were so swift that the puck blurred as it darted towards the Wolf's side. They went from side-to-side on the table, but they had such perfect accuracy that they were always threatening to enter the goal, forcing the Wolf to desperately defend herself.
She wasn't in control of the fight anymore. She was forced fully onto the defensive, struggling to survive against his onslaught.
"Left, right, left, defend!" She coached herself, trying to predict the paths of the insanely fast attacks.
"Right, left, right, left, defend!"
"Right, left, right, defend!"
"DEFEND!"
The White Wolf couldn't even see the puck any more, just reacting on instinct alone, and the spirits of the dead cheered with every exchange, like the beat of a song with a familiar rhythm, which made her brain briefly pause.
"GOAL!" The referee announced.
"I can't pause!" She frustratingly shouted at herself and continued defending.
"Left, right, left…"
A rhythm.
"Right, left, right…"
She knew this rhythm.
"Left, right, left…"
And a predictable rhythm has always been a warrior's weakness.
"Left, right, left… ATTACK!"
The puck darted towards the Ginning Fox's side and bounced off the left side of the table once, then slipped into the goal.
"GOAL!" The referee announced.
"URAAA!" The spirits roared.
The Grinning Fox paused, his frozen grin suddenly seeming far colder than before as his narrowed eyes analyzed the White Wolf.
Suddenly, he struck the puck, and the Wolf scrambled to ready her defenses, then the rhythmic exchanges started again.
"Right, left, right, left… ATTACK!" The White Wolf repeated her arrhythmic strike, but the Grinning Fox casually defended and resumed the rhythm.
"Everything has a rhythm," he coldly taunted, his grin unchanged, and the White Wolf sweated cold.
Her strategy failed a second time, and they continued their endless exchanges.
Eventually, her arms became tired, her vision blurred, and her reactions slowed.
"GOAL!" The referee rang the second bell of her death sentence.
There was only a minute left, and she didn't have enough time to even the score, let alone win against the Grinning Fox, so he only had to hold on for a little longer, and she'd be finished.
"Father, Daughter, give me the strength to surpass my limits!" She pleaded with all her heart, but her gaze was drawn somewhere else.
The Fox, the Dragonkin, the Succubus, the Angel, the Dwarf, the Dragon, the Elf, the Little Griffin, and the Exalted. All of the Guardians were looking at her, not with disappointment, but with pride. They were proud that she had gotten so far, and they gave her their permission to rest.
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"This is the end…" She tiredly thought to herself and sighed, the last centimetri of the wick of her candle about to be snuffed out. "But I won't die whimpering! I'LL GO OUT IN A BLAZE OF GLORY!"
The Great Father is crushing his opposition, so she shall pave a path through the bodies of their enemies for the Great Daughter! She was determined to become another corpse which the Daughter would step upon to reach even higher, to reach Victory!
But there was no time to strategize, she had to give it her all, now!
"Everything I have… in one strike…" She mumbled, then stared at the Grinning Fox, her eyes burning with the flames of Might, hardened by the determination of Okross, and armed with the Will of the Exalted.
The Grinning Fox's mask cracked, and he growled reflexively in the face of his fearsome foe, "You overestimate yourself!"
"My body for the Exalted," she surrendered her body and mind to the Guardian, and he answered. The Exalted Eye opened up within the Wolf's mind, and her voice turned emotionless as she achieved her Limit Break. "The Will of the Exalted is absolute, and I'm his chosen vessel," she calmly stated.
"DELUSIONS!" The Grinning Fox barked.
Her muscles thickly bulged as she activated [Muscle Explosion]. "Iai Strike…"
The puck disappeared, only to be seen again within the Grinning Fox's goal.
"GOAL AAND TIIIIIIIME!"
"URAAAAAAAA!"
Both the Grinning Fox and the White Wolf fell in this Battle.
Before I even noticed it, the Town Hunters and the Lordsguard had started competing against each other. It's fortunate that the Sworn Hunters and the Verners didn't participate because this would be right up their alley.
It's impressive how seriously some of the participants took the tournament, but it also filled me with pride to see Klein and Anton having their moment of glory. To be honest, Hukarere eliminating Solent allowed Klein to rise unimpeded since he was the one with the most frightening skill of them all.
I also haven't prepared a third game yet, so if they had tied, they'd have demanded a tiebreaker, and that'd be a real pain to come up with, but since the Lordsguard won 2-0, the Town Hunters gracefully accepted their loss.
Lina, Aoi, the golems, and I get together and quickly come up with a small, elven-looking crown of steel with details in gold and silver. The former for Klein and Anton, and the latter for the Town Hunters who got second place, while the rest of the competitors get bronze tokens for participation.
Alissa personally awards the crowns in a medal ceremony, and the drunk men and women congratulate them all with ear-shattering roars.
Goureuse got second place in table football, but the second place in air hockey is a new archer ace they have, so Alissa doesn't know his name.
After that, the party shifts towards the traditional singing, dancing, and drinking for this sort of gathering, so I return to my table and relax with Lina.
As midnight comes around, the party reaches its epilogue, and everyone gets together for a few final songs.
Traditional werefox songs are more tribal, and they love to make dancing circles. Dozens and dozens of people jumping and stomping in sync, echoing out an entrancing beat as they run in formation around the center of the dance floor, chanting a hypnotizing song that any drunk can follow. For once, they try to make as much noise as they can.
Then Hana comes back from dancing and sits beside me, her small, almost-lingerie red dress sticking to her skin. Even her mane-like red hair has lost some volume since it absorbed moisture from the hot, humid air of the dance floor.
"When did you learn how to spice up parties?" She teasingly asks and hugs my neck, then leans on me. Her perfume has mixed with the smell of her sweat, mildly arousing me as I imagine us both fucking like barbarians in the wild. My lap-loli doesn't exactly feel the same way about it, though.
I rest my head against hers and look down her impressive cleavage, observing every little drop of sweat as they run along the contours of her massive tits. "I know how to have fun if it's related to games, and Yunia helped me learn how to give speeches when we were in Legado," I proudly answer. I'm still a nerd at heart, and I haven't just suddenly become a social butterfly.
"Today is your win. I'm sure that everyone is content with how the tournament went," Ciel kindly states as she pats my thick tail.
"Hm…" Lina hums in agreement as we watch Alissa and Allura dancing in the circle.
When the clock strikes midnight, Ofilia comes to get us so that she can guide us to where we need to be. We need to meet up with the 24th Division now and spend the night with them because they'll be leaving the moment they've found the bandit's encampment that they've been looking for.
Alissa gives her goodbyes to the 25th, and Ciel gives hers to Fleur and Calum, then the healers start casting [Purify Body] and [Refresh] on all of us. I force Roxanne to drink plenty of water before the spells are cast on her, and we manage to prevent her from getting a hangover.
"Be safe, all of you," Léonne blesses us, then gives a kiss to Jacques', Allura's, and Alissa's foreheads. The first one is pretty comical as the huge red man needs to bend over so that the short woman can reach him. They're just like Anton and Krysta.
Then a Space mage opens a [Gate] to where the 24th is, and we cross through it, with Jacques and Allura joining us.
We appear in a small, forested valley where the Division is making camp. The thick mist doesn't allow us to see anything other than just the first tent nearby, the faint light of a few lamps shrouded in mist, a few Manaflies flapping about, and the four werefoxes that were waiting to receive us.
The first one I notice is a bald, short man with a rather mean look to him. His stern expression and complete lack of any hair or fur makes him look like an ugly Sphinx cat. He must be Darcy, the Captain.
Beside him is a tall and rather buff gray fox staring at us with a perfectly neutral look. That's Nenvieu, Alissa's childhood friend and Montague's little brother. He's got some classically handsome features mixed with a few prettyboy ones that would easily qualify him to star in a vampire movie as the werewolf secondary love interest.
And the last two werefoxes are mere bodyguards wearing pristine metal armor.
I have to hold back the dragon from starting a literal dick-measuring contest since Alissa really wants us to get along.
Her eyes meet Nen's, and her heart tightens, then they share a slow nod. Then, Nen gives her not-kimono a quick scan, her cleavage being very hard to miss, but neither he nor Darcy do the same with the rest of the girls.
For once, I'm actually annoyed that I can feel Alissa's emotions, so I choke the dragon even harder to make him stop annoying me with his jealousy.
When Jacques crosses through the [Gate], the werefoxes kneel in respect to him.
"Chief Jacques, it's an honor to have you and Dame Allura aid us in this mission," Darcy announces, his strong voice showing a lot of confidence and high "Charisma."
"You may rise," Jacques replies in the same tone, and they stand up again. "Think nothing of it. This is merely a decision made on a whim."
Darcy smiles like an imp, and I wonder how he got to such a high "Charisma," to begin with. "We still benefit from it."
Jacques grunts with a nod, then introduces us.
"It's good to see you again, Nen," Alissa softly greets him, and his composure breaks immediately.
His gray skin makes his blush very visible as he stutters, "Y-yes. It's been a-a while, Alissa."
She grins like a cheeky fox and teases, "You didn't change."
"Neither did you," he softly replies.
Then Allura chimes in, pouting cutely, "Only because Gurrier allowed you to meet with Lis. The last time I saw her, she was still flat!"
Nen's eyes are instantly drawn to her cleavage. "She has… hm… yes…" He tries to find the right words but quits as soon as he starts.
"Please, I don't want to suffer through witnessing this embarrassment," Darcy whines as he rolls his eyes.
Nen clears his throat and recomposes himself.
Jacques can't stop himself from smiling, his lordly aura completely gone as he gently suggests, "We're all tired, so let's get to sleep early. You'll have plenty of time tomorrow to catch up."
Alissa nods slowly while the werefoxes salute, but Nen's is visibly stiff.
"Let me show you where to put your tents," Darcy politely offers.
I pull out the portable house that Almaria had grown for us. It looks like a simple bark box from the outside, but we can camouflage it a bit with bushes and change its shape and color to look more like a boulder. There's no need to do it right now since we're surrounded by werefoxes, so we just leave it as the default look.
The interior is quite nice since it's bigger on the inside, but it's just one big room partitioned with curtains, so it feels a bit too "open" to me. I didn't ask for any decorations, but Almaria's perfectionism forced her to add a bit of our heraldry and some other aesthetically pleasing elven patterns all over the inside, so it really does look like high-class accomodations.
Our bed needs to be wide enough to fit all of the harem plus a few concubines, so it takes up the most space, though there's still plenty of room for a nice dining table, a sofa, an acceptable kitchenette, a bathing corner, and two sound-proofed rooms for the toilets.
Before the Lordsguard, Klein, and Anton begin to organize the shifts for the night watch, I ask Hukarere if she'd like to come sleep with us tonight.
"The Spirit mage just recently recast [Solidify] on me, so I won't disappear in the middle of the night this time," she happily reports, then glues herself to me, and I bury my face in between her pale breasts.
"I think it'll be fine to let you go to sleep while hugging me, but one of the girls will be hugging your back, too," I warn her, my voice muffled by her elastic pillows.
"That's fine," she readily accepts.
"Me, me! I claim her fluffy back!" Roxanne immediately shouts out. Hukarere's fluffy, furry back makes for an amazing body pillow, but I warn Roxanne to not grope her too much.
Then I give Hukarere some warm milk to help her sleep.
The gentle female hands appear again, but this time, they slap the back of my head and angrily point ahead, directing my attention to a familiar pair of brown eyes.
I stare at them curiously, but I still don't understand what's going on, then the female hands hug me from behind and caress my head again.
I feel like kissing these hands and sucking on the long, delicate fingers of this beautiful woman, but I just can't get a grip on her.
Today is the 17th, Fis, day of Nature. Yunia says that the dryads occasionally appear in the Eia plantations on this day, but Cereleia still hasn't re-established contact with us, so I don't think I'll be able to meet with her again today.
Hukarere wakes me up this morning, and the other girls stare at her annoyedly since she was too rough and woke me up before they could each get their fill.
My dream made me a bit horny, so I happily give them all a long spurt of my milk.
Yunia increased her [Two-Handed Sword Use] and [Dodge] by 1 (now 2+18 and 10). Her sparring with Jacques has proved to be very instructive for her.
"What's wrong?" Alissa gently asks me as I get dressed, her hot breath tickling the back of my neck.
I turn around and kiss her nose, then I smile softly and reply, "I'm just trying to remember this weird dream that I had, but I'm already starting to forget it."
She blinks blankly, and I drown in her orange eyes for a moment, but she can't find any words or ways to really help me, so she just kisses my nose back, and we start setting out breakfast.
Since our room is large enough, we invite the Verners, Anton, Darcy, and Nen to join us.
Hukarere declines my invitation and looks almost like an abandoned puppy for a second. "I think I should return to the Lordsguard or else Sandoro will twist my ears in the after-action report," she confesses, and I let her head out to rejoin them.
The moment that Nen walks in, the awkwardness sets in, and I grin like an imp.