I was only six when my world was shattered. I still recall the night with the clarity of a half-remembered nightmare—the frantic dash through the forest, the choking stench of decay, and the horrifying sight of a man whose skin was gray and eyes were nothing but empty voids. He charged at me with a violent fury I'd never seen before, forcing me to scramble through a gnarled tree root, desperate to escape. All I could think of was my mother; her gentle presence, her loving embrace. I vowed then, with every trembling heartbeat, that I'd never again wander north—where the air reeked of rot and horrors lurked in the shadows.

That night, everything I knew was torn apart. I had spent my early days scampering through the woods with my mother and my sisters, my heart full of playful mischief and innocent curiosity. My mother had always warned me, "Never wander north, little one," her amber eyes piercing as she spoke. I hadn't understood back then. But when the monsters came—ghastly beings with loose, gray skin and vacant eyes that mimicked the villagers—I learned the cost of disobedience. I raced to my mother as the creatures struck with brutal speed. I watched, frozen, as their claws tore mercilessly through her throat and my sisters fell one by one. I lay there, small paws trembling, whispering silently, "Why? What did we do?"

And then, amidst the carnage, a voice, soft as rustling leaves yet as cold as winter frost, slithered into my mind: "Become my claws, little fox. Avenge them. Protect what remains." I didn't understand it fully, but the coppery taste of blood and the overwhelming grief pushed me past fear. I bared my fangs and, with a broken whisper, answered, "Yes."

In that agonizing instant, something fierce and irreversible ignited within me. My whimper died in my throat as a burning heat surged through my paws. I felt my familiar russet fur erupt into a blinding white, as brilliant and cold as moonlight on fresh snow. I sensed a stirring at my back—a strange, new power—as nine dark, sinuous shadows replaced the single tail I once knew. When I tried to scream, fire burst from my mouth—a searing, uncontainable defiance. On that tragic night, the little fox who had been Autumn Sakilera was no more. In her place was reborn a Kitsune of vengeance, a creature with nine tails destined to exact retribution.

Ten years have passed since that fateful night, and now at sixteen, I roam a very different world. The wild innocence of childhood has given way to a hardened purpose and a cunning edge honed by pain and survival.

"You've got this, Saki. In and out," I whispered, my breath fogging in the chill air. The alley ahead was all Drestor—dirt turned to mud in the rain, walls of weatherworn timber, and the distant hum of a watermill grinding flour for the town's bakeries. Not a city, just an overgrown village playing dress-up with a few brass-edged guildhalls and clockwork streetlamps that never worked right. Still, it had what I needed: shadows, secrets, and men stupid enough to think they controlled both.

The voice in my skull slithered, "Skip the theatrics. Crack his mind open and take what you need."

I clenched my fists. "Not how I work."

A man leaned against a sagging tavern door ahead, his bowler hat tipped low. His coat was cheap velvet, but the dagger at his belt gleamed—real steel. Perfect.

"Heard you know people," I said, letting my charm skill bleed into the words like poison in wine. "The kind who don't mind... mischief. For the right cause." I gave a kitsune's wink—my tail twitched unseen behind my dress—but to him it was just a smile, all teeth and promise.

He squinted, wary. "Mischief? You some guild spy?"

Resisting. Damn. I sharpened the charm, feeling my eyes flare hotter. "Let's say I need fighters. Loyal ones."

His cheek twitched. "Fighters? You mean thugs."

"Yes—I mean patriots," I lied, layering the charm thicker. My temples throbbed.

His pupils dilated into a puppet's glassy stare. Gotcha.

"Patriots... yeah," he mumbled in a syrupy voice. "But gold up front, or—"

I laughed, light as wind chimes. "Gold? Oh, a clever man like you knows some causes are priceless." I spun, letting my dress swirl—no pockets, no hidden purses—and locked my emerald gaze on him. My vision blurred at the edges, a metallic tang rising in my throat. Too long. Hurry.

He gripped his dagger, knuckles white. "Y-you're not right..."

Shit. I pushed harder, my tail lashing invisibly. "You'll help me," I murmured, the charm a vise. "Because you're better than this place."

The dagger clattered to the dirt. "...Better," he echoed.

"Yes, better," I intoned as I sighed in relief. I felt my headache recede and my eyes stop burning.

The man seemed to think hard for a moment as I watched him. "I got some fellas for ya," he said, looking down at me. The distance in his eyes vanished as a smile crossed his lips. It looked unnatural to me, but I didn't care. He would give me what I wanted now.

"Okay, where can I meet them?" I asked, my tone no longer sweet or inviting—just neutral, with barely hidden frustration. I knew the charm had settled; I didn't need to push anymore.

The man stared at me. After a long moment, I snapped my fingers in front of his face. "Wake up, big and dumb—where do I meet them!" He continued to stare for another moment, and I was about to facepalm when he finally spoke. "Outside the gates, near the southern forest, around midday."

I nodded before responding, "Good, then go fetch them." I paused, looking at him for a moment. "And fix that trashy haircut!" He nodded sadly, and I turned without a care and walked away. The voice inside whispered, "You should have just erased him—erased it all."

I scowled and ignored the voice. Its lies and deceit made me angry. I made my way to the adventurers guild and entered through the double doors. The place was packed with adventurers of all kinds. Some of them actually helpful.

I ignored the men as they looked at me, and the women who gave me jealous glances. Pathetic, all of them. Instead I made my way to the clerk at the desk, a young woman with brown eyes, like dirt. Some would say like honey or bark. But I wasn't feeling very generous. At least, internally I wasn't.

"Hello, How are you? I love your eyes!" I said with a charismatic smile. I left the charm off for now. If I needed it I would use it, but for now most people were stupid and easily swayed without it and I didn't want a headache. I also didn't want to be attacked by every adventurer here if I was caught.

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The lady looked up at me with a bored expression and I could already tell she was going to be a pain. "What do you want? If you need a job, there are postings on the board. If you're an adventurer you can just check your badge. Unless you are here to turn in a bounty or pay the adventuring license fee, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

Inwardly I resisted the urge to scream at the woman. Vaporize her, it would be so easy. Vaporize them all.

My smile widened a notch instead as I leaned closer and said, "Ah, yes, about the Adventurer badge. I er... lost mine."

The bored and annoyed looking woman sighed and stated simply, "Adventuring badges are soul-bound. If you have lost your badge, simply will it to return and it will appear in your hand." Her monotonous bored tone made me want to strangle her.

"Yes, well, the thing is, I kind of... lost my soul?" I said hopefully. The lady looked at me for a long second before sighing. "You have 30 seconds to vacate the premises before I put a bounty on your head," she said in the same bored tone as earlier.

I considered for a moment actually vaporizing this woman. Then the caravan came back and instead I turned and walked out of the building. I weaved an illusion around myself to make myself far more calm than I was. The illusion was layered over me and made it look like I was casually walking with a smile on my face out the door. While my real expression was thunderous and enraged.

That witch would pay dearly for this! As soon as I was strong enough I would...

Erase them all!

NO! I screamed internally at the voice. I hated it so much. It was a reminder of my childishness. Of what my innocence and naivety had cost me. It flowed through me, manipulated me. At one point, it had even controlled me. Never again, I would sooner die than ever let it out.

I made my way to the outskirts of town to the south. I made myself invisible by masking myself with an illusion of my surroundings. It was not as difficult as it sounded, I just made it look like there was nothing where I was.

At first I thought this would look suspicious, but I learned that people simply think it's their imagination and ignore it. Was it foolish naivety or just willful ignorance? It didn't really matter to me. So long as they didn't get in my way.

I made my way to a farmstead and passed the house going towards the barn, climbing up the side carefully, I jumped in through the window to the second story. Crawling over to a haystack, I collapsed on it and closed my eyes. My illusion fading as my form began to shift.

After a few moments, I lay in the hay as a mini version of my true form. A small albino fox with nine tails. I actively suppressed the nine tails down to one before closing my eyes and resting. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day after all.

The next day I met up with the men my... er... contact had hired for me. The men looked strong and capable. As expected of thugs the first thing they noticed was my body. But I had them right where I wanted them.

Until that girl showed up playing hero. I tried to stop her, but by the time I had recovered enough to say something she had already killed three of the six men and I was too utterly stunned to speak. She took them out in quick order, treating the entire affair as if it was a casual day!

Then she actually had the audacity to come up and introduce herself as if she hadn't just shattered my plans into tiny fragments.

I looked down at the cat girl's hand in stunned silence. I was at a loss for words—all that effort wasted! Who even was this girl? Where had she come from? Why was she so strong? She was barely taller than me at around 5'2", with waist-long, silky-smooth royal purple hair and piercing blue eyes. Her skin was fair—clearly from one of the water tribes. But what stood out most was her insane skill and strange way of speaking.

After a moment an idea began to form in my head. After all, this girl was clearly stronger than those men—they wouldn't have survived the trip, been even worse as bodyguards. I also couldn't be sure they wouldn't have tried something once we were alone in the forest. A lot of people assumed charm was mind control. It was not! Charm just made the person far more... amenable to your suggestions. If it was mind control I would not have to dress in such a provocative manner, nor would I be required to be pleasant with such... thugs.

No, this was a blessing in disguise and quite possibly a free meal ticket.

I looked gratefully at the nekojin and put on my most innocent face, activating my kitsune charm as I began to speak. "Hello, Tama, was it? I am ever so grateful for your timely rescue. I'm not sure what those..." I paused to feign a shiver before continuing, "thugs would have done to me!"

It wasn't entirely false either, I couldn't guarantee they wouldn't have attempted to use me like they suggested earlier. What I left out was how easy it would have been to kill them. I usually had backup plans. Sadly, my collars were useless now.

I stared at her, waiting for the charm to take effect. However, Tama seemed utterly unaffected by my skill. Inwardly frowning, I pushed the charm to its limits, feeling my headache begin to grow and my stamina begin to drop like a rock.

After a moment, Tama looked at me, puzzled. "Are you constipated? Tama thinks you look constipated. When Tama feels constipated, her sensei would always tell her to have some special juice from the forest berries!"

I had no words. My charm had failed entirely, and this girl continued prattling on as if we'd been friends our whole life. Slowly, I shifted my plan. Clearly, this girl was insane—but she could still maybe be of use.

Yes. A new idea formed, and I held up a hand to stop Tama's continuous prattling—something about a boar breaking into a chicken coop? "Yes, this is all very fascinating, I'm certain!" I said, trying to feign interest in what I could only describe as pure idiocy to my ears. Like, why would you wrestle a boar into a cage?!

"I was wondering if you could help me with a dangerous quest. You are certainly a capable adventurer, right?"

Tama stared at me for a long moment before asking in a curious tone, "What's an adventurer?"

I felt my brain cells dying. Today was not my day.

I gave up my charm. I had put it all into one good push, and all that had come of it was a painful headache, burning eyes, and quite possibly the worst insult I had ever received. I looked constipated—just... what?!

I felt the heat in my eyes begin to recede; however, the headache still lingered. It was not from the charm, though. "And that's why Tama is here to deliver this very important package to her sensei's best friend. Who is not jiggle!" Tama chirped in a singsong voice, as though she were in a choir.

A bright, cheery smile never left her lips, and she bounced up and down on the heels of her feet as if she couldn't sit still.

I sighed as I considered my course of action. Attacking was a last resort normally, and for this girl it was a death wish incarnate. My head would be rolling on the floor before I had time to say, "It was an accident!"

Clearly, the charm had zero effect—no surprise there. Sometimes people are just immune or extremely resistant. Though usually those people were very smart or clever, she didn't appear overly intelligent.

She was extremely perceptive however, deceptively so. Her childish act hid a terrifying level of power and skill. She seemed to have no problems with outright murder, and she had spotted what was happening from far away.

Overall, I felt like I was being tricked somehow. Nobody was both this stupid and this powerfully skilled.

Finally, a new plan formed. Clearly, this Tama girl had a few screws loose, but she seemed harmless enough—as long as I didn't attack her.

All I had to do was get her an adventurer's badge, then sign her up for my quest. I might even be able to get her to do it for free. If not... I looked around at the corpses I would be looting in a second. It wasn't as if I didn't have money anymore.

I smiled at Tama with an almost too-wide grin, carefully flicking my tail in a metronome pattern to match her catlike one. I also perked my ears up to appear more interested and forced my eyes to dilate slightly.

"Say, Tama, I was wondering if you would want to go on an adventure with me—a super top-secret quest!" I said in an excited little girl voice.

"Are you making fun of me?" Tama snapped instantly, glaring. For a split second, I felt my life flash before my eyes, as if her gaze alone could finish me like it had those men. After a moment, I recovered and changed tactics.

"No! Of course not! I was just excited, is all," I said quickly, dropping the voice and reverting to a neutral tone with a touch of innocence.

Tama narrowed her eyes for a moment before her tail—previously still—began to swish back an