Now that I knew their weakness I no longer felt that I would have to flee at their charge.
A smile on my face, I dashed towards them, although with how fast they were going I did not go at my fastest speed, I wanted to make sure that I made it to them when they had reached the middle from where I was to them. This would preserve my strength but also allow me to keep that initial momentum built from my dash.
My claws were devoid of fox fire, I would have to remedy that. With a flex of my will, fox fire appeared in both my hands. The claws that hid in my fingers were extended, the fox fire in my hands coating them.
BOOOM
The sound of their feet impacting the ground echoed in my ear persistently. Their footfalls synchronized made it so that I could hear nothing but them. The sounds of the forest were silent in comparison to the horde of bugs barreling toward me.
It was in moments that we collided, the first few reaching me, I could hear them screeching, their mouths spitting out some sort of liquid that I dodged, I had no idea what it could do, so caution overtook me.
The first few in front of me were dispatched as quickly as I could. I jumped on top of their head, piercing their carapace with my claws, coated in foxfire, then moved to the next. It was in moments that I had pierced the armor of the five that had reached me.
BANG
BANG
BANG
BANG
BANG
Behind me their shells exploded in a cacophony of fire and noise. However that didn't deter the rest of them, it seemed that it actually encouraged them. Their charge that had stalled at the sight of me reaching them resumed with more vigor, the ones in the front exposing their chests as they charged recklessly.
It was weird that they allowed me access to their chest but I would not look a gift horse in the face.
With as much speed as I could muster without prematurely tiring myself out I dashed toward the ones with their chests bared.
PIERCE
With a movement of my hand the bug was pierced, my body moving to retreat. However that wasn't what happened, instead of being able to retreat safely the bug had fell, blocking my retreat.
'I see' I thought to myself, It seemed like their plan was to blow me up instead of actually attacking me.
Unfortunately that wouldn't work for them, with a flex of my will the aether around me obeyed and I was teleported to outside the bugs explosion.
BOOM
Behind me the one that had tried to take me with it had exploded, dead.
I was more cautious for the rest of them making sure to weave above them and then slash at their carapace.
…
I dodged out of the way of a claw threatening to skewer me, though it only took one hit to kill them with how explosive their blood was, there still was hundreds of them and dodging and weaving between the deadly claws that threatened to skewer me was not easy.
Luckily I had experience in being outnumbered. My previous evolution had me fighting thousands at once. I was no stranger to being outnumbered, the only problem was that those worms were not able to kill me in one hit and I was able to conjure weapons that would kill them en masse. That was not the case for these bugs, yes I could kill them in one hit but to kill them by the hundreds would take greater control of my foxfire.
To be honest the other kitsunes would have had an easier time killing these, their control over foxfire allowed some of them to summon firestorms while others focused on smaller manipulations, every one of them would have been more lethal to these bugs than I could ever hope to be.
That didn't mean that I didn't try, the evolutionary plane made it much easier to develop skills and I could already feel the progress in my fox flames. It took much less effort to summon them and the potency of their properties was much higher.
This little bit of practice had trumped all of the effort that I had put forth into my fox fires throughout my life.
It was an intoxicating feeling, to know that I would be able to advance at things that I had thought myself helpless at. I couldn't help but smile, through all the bloodshed that was happening around me, through all the oil like blood that fell on me as their bodies continually exploded around me, I couldn't help but smile.
…
Sat atop a tree I looked around me, at the vast forest, at how large the trees were, at the progress that I had gained during that one fight. It felt like it had trumped all of the previous evolutions that I had gone through.
Although I couldn't see it, I could feel it. The illusionary eighth tail, the road to a nine tailed kitsune was open to me. Although it was only my eighth it was a momentous accomplishment. I was one step closer and I could feel the once cloudy road to the legendary nine tailed kitsune opening to me.
Although we Kitsunes could grow tails with age, those tails, not gained through strength and accomplishment, were not as powerful as tails gained through strife. There were plenty of nine tailed kitsunes, those that had ascended the ninth tier but none of them had earned it. They were as strong as an eighth tailed kitsune who had gained one of their tails from combat.
For me I had gained every tail in strife, from pushing myself to the limit. I had been told that I would need to age to gain any more, to go past the fifth tail but here I am. The eighth tail forming behind me.
A smile on my face, I broke my melancholic mood and thought of who had allowed this, My lord. My Darwin.
From the moment that he had first evolved me and allowed me to gain my first unique skill, I knew that this was truly my Lord.
At first I had expected to keep a professional distance from him emotionally, but the opportunities he had given me, the physical comfort, those had broken down my walls.
A blooming feeling echoed in my heart. I could no longer deny it, I was in love.
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