The reaper sighed, "If these contracts were breakable though willing means, I'd have broken it myself already, meddling with the life of a child before they were even born is horrendous. But I am unable to break a contract, or even refuse one that is made by offering one's soul to serve my kind. If could have refused, I would have. But I am also bound to carry out the contract to the best of my ability." The reaper opened its cloak some to show the iron collar around its own neck. "It is the nature of death. And my Lord Hades is the Greek name given to the god of the DEAD. Lord THANATOS is the name the Greeks gave to DEATH who holds dominion over me, they are related concepts, but they are not the same. And beware bringing down your family to solve problem My Lady Circe, that opens a door for others to step in as well... you're lucky that even Lord Ares wouldn't care for the total annihilation Fukushus' puppet masters desire and have no desire to meddle on their behalf."
-
Cole had made a fatal mistake. He had turned his back on his enemy. Akira snarled, and dropped his sword. Akira fell on all hours, his body shifting in a moment to a non-humanoid shape, and getting bigger. The five tails stretched and snaked, and wrapped around Coal, obscuring him from view.
He struggled, but then wondered why he was struggling, everything was fine. He was beautiful. He was endless.
When the tails separated, there was an adorable anthro-fox-boy statue in his place. In fact, Claudia suddenly felt her memories of Cole feeling fuzzy, wondering if the kitsune was trying to make her think the statue he just spat out was important to her or something. If Mika had been there, she'd have admitted Akira only did this to enemies he respected.
She didn't have time to think as a blue fireballs were unleashed from each of the kitsune tails for a total of five. Claudia for her part wondered if the kitsune was being stupid, the fireball was legendary among magic users for being powerful and a classic... and for being the last mistake of many magic users who tried to use them in an enclosed space without calculating the backwash. But the four legged kitsune turned into a mass of shadows and lay against the wall.
Claudia brought up a wall of flames that absorbed them, but her eyebrows were scorched.
"Father was right, I've spent too long playing Samurai, me and my light-headed cousins. And Yomi spent far too long playing queen... Dying on the battlefield, a spear shoved into my hands and told to die for my lord, when she found me...
"I've neglected my magic for far too long. Thank you for waking me up to that reality. I have no desire to harm Mika's other half. I look forward to when you join the family and become one of us. Though for you to last two hundred years for Mika to become a woman by kitsune standards, maybe it's best you upgrade sooner than later."
"But you're fine harming innocent children?!"
"The threat alone has gotten you to split in half your forces that actually have time to make it through our spell-minefield and reach Fukushu didn't it?"
Akira's shadow split into five parts, and went in five different directions, then a flaming blue tail tip emerged from each shadow, and blasted fireballs from five different directions. Claudia up a fire break wall around herself again, burning the carpet and walls, but saving herself.
The four shadows on the walls, floor, and ceiling recombined. "Your clan has a talent for winning any direct battle. But I've seen terrors Fukushu has contacted with. Fighting a direct battle is not the way to win against them. You must learn to fight indirectly. As Sun Tzu himself said... Consider this your first lesson my future in-law. I only hope you and Mika forgive me later."
The fifth shadow that hadn't joined with the others, but Claudia had been too focused on the four to realize... reached up out of the floor, and pulled Claudia inside, and spat out a pretty fox girl statue. The two lovely statues side by side. Claudia wondering how she could forget her brother, they'd been carved at the same time after all. And they were Mika's prized treasures.
The Voids saw the two fox statues, and Akira emerged, still in his true form. He said, "Statues, just statues."
The Void then ignored the two statues, not seeking any harm upon them, keeping them safely out of the battle.