The Beast of Storms

Her first real one hundred year job… how hard could it be? Elyx seemed to whip them out in less than a month or two, so would a better label for the difficulty of the tasks be ‘One Month Job’? Or maybe, her husband was simply lucky. It was said that not everyone returned from those jobs alive, and one had to be a minimum of S rank to even dare. Izayuki had been informed by the job paper that one or two others were to join her for this task. A beast of storms, though she had come to slightly underestimate most creatures of fables. They were legendary to weaker mages or mortals without magic, though when it came to wizards of her caliber, they were simply strong beings on par with great magicians.

In most cases, that was.
The Bakedanuki flew to the island in the form of albatross, finding the strong and large water bird better for flying great distances than her preferred travel form of a pink jay. Her pet refused to fly alongside her in the shape of a bird, however, and took the shape of a small silver band around the albatross’ left leg. Before long, the two would land on the beach, having already taken notice of the armored being who had reached the island before them. The scent and sight was a familiar one, and plunged Izayuki into a moment of nostalgia. Aiyana had saved her life, and was a pleasure to see again. For the first time, she would go on a job with the vixen, like her husband had on many occasions before her.

~~~

It had been at least thirty hours since Izayuki had seen the light of day, or even the world at all. Her body lied comatose, knocked unconscious after her ordeal. After her long slumber, the canine slowly began to open her blurry pink eyes, while she heard a voice murmuring softly, having yet to process it. She finally came to after hearing her name mentioned in the sentence of a feminine voice. As her senses returned, she recognized the comforting cushion of pillows and blankets upon a bed. Her sense of smell came back, and she took in the sweet whiffs of fruit, nuts, and dried meat, as well as the scent of fox nearby.

Slowly turning her aching head, the silver-furred raccoon dog gazed up at the dark-haired vixen, in a humanoid form, yet with prominent canine ears and fluffy tails- nine of them. Was this Aiyana, the woman whom Elyx had described to her, as one who had helped him in battle while out on his strenuous jobs? Her appearance fit the description her husband had given her. The tiny tanuki attempted to push herself up to her paws, hoping the padding of the bed would help, only to find the strength in her legs leave her, making her fall back onto the pillow again. Where was this place?

The last thing she remembered was a chilly and nasty dungeon, though not one she could see. Only the cold ground and the stony, deathly smell told her what it was, confirmed by a stranger who just so happened upon her. It was that stranger who had done something, and thus her memories of old began to charge her mind and emotions, leading her to transform into a beast. That was it… she had destroyed the House of Lost Souls, had cursed the land, and killed many Onymoji and possibly innocent yokai. A foul deed, and yet here she was, surrounded by food and comfort and a tender voice.

Was she in heaven?

Perhaps Wizard Saint had its benefits, and she would not end up burning in hell for her sins, past and present. Still, everything felt far too real, and the pain from before had decreased significantly, but remained nevertheless, as her head still throbbed and the memories of terror rang in her mind. She tried to open her mouth to speak to the vixen who had supposedly saved her life and brought her here, only to find her body still too weak to even muster words correctly. Instead, the only sound to issue from her mouth was a low whimper in reply to the one who had spoken so tenderly.

Fortunately, she felt no desperation to return to her guild again, or to Elyx. He had hidden himself from her, leaving her with nothing but a key, which had greatly confused the tanuki. On that topic… where was all her equipment, that had been scattered upon her reverting from monster to raccoon dog? Pink eyes glanced around hesitantly, scanning the room in search of her prized possessions-- most of them in the humble form of necklaces, amulets, rings, keys, a toothpick, paper fan, and a perfect-condition leaf. Did this lovely fox gather up the objects, or leave them? If left behind, she would unfortunately be forced to make her way back to the land she had cursed to retrieve them, while quietly hoping they had not been stolen or hidden.

In silence, the tanuki rearranged herself to a more comfortable position after her soft, tiny fall. She was pathetic in the eyes of this person, though for the first time, she did not mind that for now. The Bakedanuki was simply too tired and weak to care.

~~~

“Hello, Aiyana~” the Wizard Saint said cheerily, transforming into her semi-human form again, with only her prominent fluffy ears and tail left to prove her Bakedanuki identity. Seika transformed into a silver band to be worn as a bracelet on the tanuki girl’s wrist, having no desire to present herself just yet.

Her sense of smell was the first thing to begin strengthening after the immense stress. Though she could not speak, the scent of food and a clean room was comforting. Definitely heaven.
Though finally, she could smell her own scent in the room coming from a shelf; likely her equipment pieces. For that, the silver raccoon dog felt much relief, happy that she would not have to return to that wretched and now cursed place to find them. Hopefully all of her trinkets were present; if not, it would be a good while before she dare venture back to the now demolished house of lost souls.

For now, the soothing voice of Aiyana helped the tanuki to relax further. The last thing Izayuki intended to do was nip at the fox woman who apparently had saved her. Her mind was clear enough to put two and two together. Besides, she had little energy to apply any force in a nip. She accepted the calming hand stroking her fur, and adjusted her head to avoid the lady reaching her ears, a sensitive area she refused to have touched. If they were, she would attempt a light scratch with her claws or a gentle warning bite, though it was highly unlikely she would have the energy to completely follow through with such a deed.

Despite her remaining exhaustion and lack of any sort of energy, Izayuki could not bring herself to sleep any longer. Her mind was racing to recollect what had happened, even though a part of her did not want to recall the horrid tragedy that had befallen more than a day ago. Though how long had she been asleep? She could scarcely tell.
In silence, the silver-furred tanuki rested quietly, eyes half closed while Aiyana’s stroking of her fur continued to calm her. She wanted to speak, and to question, though could just barely form words in her current state. The word she would dare to speak had to be picked carefully, among the many things she wanted to say.

“Thank you,” she murmured in a hushed, subdued, and slightly hoarse voice. The words were sincere, though breathed out in a quiet whisper, her body simply unable to project her tone any further.

~~~

Seeing the fox woman under circumstances that had to do with higher ranking jobs was not any misfortune, in Izayuki’s eyes. The job would be difficult, though there was no doubt in the impulsive tanuki’s mind that they could not get it done. Ever since the incident that had taken place in the House of Lost Souls, she had noticed a significant increase in her own power. However, if it had not been for Aiyana, she likely would have not survived to notice the growth in her magic that had taken place. Technically, she owed the fox her life, for coming to her aid and delivering her from the cursed land, even though her summon with the key had been so weakly performed.

“Really? That’s too bad~” she said in a casual tone, after nodding in response to the first greeting. It was a shame to hear that their other partner had left them, who likely was a far more impulsive individual than the Bakedanuki. Aiyana offered to make plans, though the guildmaster of Black Rose truly preferred improvising. The art of planning was not foreign to her, just not as fun, in this case. Despite having flown over the sea, she was energized and ready to get going, thus in no mood to stand around and strategize. “Let’s save the day on a whim, shall we? Planning to fight a storm seems boring as hell; we can improvise once we meet it,” Izayuki answered, a playful smile on her face.

It took a good amount of strength to pet a small, soft animal continuously. However, it seemed that Aiyana had strength and a rhythm that would never cease, and the strokes continued to calm the once battered and bruised and traumatized eastern raccoon dog. Even if her sensitive and typically off-limits ears had been touched a few times, the Bakedanuki had no strength to resist or move or request that they be avoided. Instead, she quietly accepted that this was some sort of heaven as she dozed off into sleep once again, still too weak to talk or take any kind of action, even if it was moving herself or shifting her weight.

~~~

Izayuki chortled at the words of Aiyana, an amusing start to a potentially dangerous endeavor. If the Storm King was anything like Zeus, the god slayer had it covered. If they were anything else, however, there could possibly be a problem. Would a storm find darkness-infused ice and frostfire a challenge, or something easy to overcome? Fortunately for the fox and the tanuki, they would have other tricks up their sleeve. At the very least, Izayuki knew that she would, and based on her husband’s past talk, Aiyana would as well. “I sure hope it’s not something too blubbery or gross. I wouldn’t mind if it were fluffy, though~” Izayuki replied with a lighthearted giggle. If the beast were to be fluffy, they might not even need to fight it. They could pet it and entice it to not hit the principality of Veronica with gentle hands alone. “Let’s fly, shall we?”

Knowing they would have to travel again, Izayuki chose the fun way of moving from one place to another. Teleportation was an option, but for the tanuki, the majority of her movement abilities and spells had the range of a short distance, and using too many at once would only be annoying. As a result of not wanting to take the easy way out, the Bakedanuki picked the next best option. Leaping into the air, the ayakashi gracefully shapeshifted back into the form of a pink-feathered jay, which was a shape used as her preferred form of travel. She had approached the island in the shape of an albatross, but only because the waters over the sea would prove powerful, and tire out her wings without the extra natural strength of the water bird. Now that they were over land, Izayuki could travel around in the quick and loud form of a jay bird, which was closely related to crows, magpies, and ravens.

Izayuki could not remember when she first started using the dazzling colored bird for her travel form. She fondly recalled using it to attend a training spar at one point with another Black Rose member. She had been a new member to the guild, while the one to train her was none other than an Ace. The young Bakedanuki at the time had arrived to the sparring location in the form of a pink jay and had eagerly landed on the head of the Ace of Leaves, wishing to playfully surprise him. In response, however, she had startled their companion, a fiery, feisty human-formed phoenix. As soon as the pink jay landed on the head of the ace, the phoenix launched fire at her. Luckily, the fire had been swiftly dodged, but left the poor ace to take the full brunt of the flamed attack. Nevertheless, it had been a fun scene and a joyful day. Despite losing a hair ribbon the ace in a fury of wind magic, which the ace would later be expected to replace, the spar had ended in a draw. At least on her side, she had learned from it. Hopefully, the ace had done the same. Unfortunately, the memory was far behind her and reliving it did not make much difference in her mood or the present.

Assumably, Aiyana would be flying alongside the pink corvid in an avian form as they sought out their target-- the entire reason they were there on Crescent Island. The rumors certainly were something to behold. The title was enough to shake fear into anyone who was not confident in their abilities. Izayuki did expect something of a challenge-- she knew better than to underestimate any sort of opponent, regardless of their reputation. This one was said to be docile and relatively peaceful, but when it came down to it, who was to judge? The observer, or the one actually dealing with the monster?

Before the flying yokai could think too much about their quarry anymore or engage Aiyana in further conversation, a powerful wind pounded against her once-strong wings from the higher skies. In a twirl of violent wings much stronger than her own body, the pink jay was tossed back down to the ground of the island, miserably flapping to no avail. The wind tore at her tail feathers, which made ruddering and staying in the air impossible, and her wings were useless against the vigorous torrent of wind.

Within seconds, the bird would be close to landing on the ground. Before she could hit it, the mononoke transformed her shape once again, finding herself a small silver-furred tanuki that the nine tailed fox would recognize. After all, Aiyana had discovered her in this form and had saved her from certain death in the cursed lands, specifically, the lands that she had cursed. Izayuki knew that she was much stronger in her true form, and was not about to let gravity break her hollow bird bones and leave her favorite form of travel rather useless and out of service for a good while.

The Storm King was coming.

Skies overhead swirled with furious dark clouds, which drew close to an ominous shape in the distance that only moved closer to the island. Every drop of sunlight had left the skies as far as keen eyes could see, as clouds and eerie mists coated the once fresh and open space around the beautiful, crescent shaped island. The flapping of wings could be heard, slow and methodical, but powerful and daunting the closer the monster flew. Per beat of its mighty wings, thunder rolled itself through the waves of sound in the atmosphere, before it would finally crash on the sensitive ears of the fox and the tanuki.

Crimson eyes opened slowly, with the tiny obake dazed from her long tumble down from the skies and back to earth. The world spun for a few seconds, and her vision blurred as she tried to stand up on the damp earth. The air had grown slightly colder, and this time, it was not from her glacial magic. Standing on all four paws, the silver-furred raccoon dog gazed up at the skies, her vision sharpening once more and no longer blurry. As she did so, raindrops began to fall, with a light misty sprinkle at first, followed by a few slow raindrops here and there.

After a few more seconds, the small drizzle would evolve to a full downpour, with the clouds bursting open to release their cold and wet contents. Once again, it would be hard to see more than a few good meters in front of one. However, one thing was very apparent-- there was the figure of an enormous beast drawing closer and closer to the island, gaining speed as he drew atmospheric pressure to himself. The monster had the form of a dragon, though judging from the scent and magical presence, it was anything but a mythical reptile. Its body was made of black clouds, constantly being charged with negative and positive static electricity. Periodically, the electricity would jump, with a negative charge jumping to meet and embrace a positive charge from the earth below, with a step leader as the guide. Often times, what the fierce lightning would meet was a tree or narrow, tall rock. At other times, the charge jumped to meet another cloud. If neither would make a suitable match for the charge, it would head straight to the solid ground in one long and dazzling suicide jump-- true cloud to ground lightning.

The beast itself seemed rather unaware of the charges within its body. After all, they were only natural. It as familiar to the beast as one’s own skin or hands or hair would be to them. The one who had written and delivered the mission to the guilds was right in the fact that it seemed relatively peaceful, but due to its nature, only brought destruction with the torrential rain, hurricane level speed, deafening thunder, massive hail storms, deluging floods, and deadly lightning. The creature likely meant no harm, but its very existence sought to harm the innocent landscape it flew over.

On the edges of its wings, wall clouds would circulate in a dizzying downdraft, only for the end result to bring a tornado to the ground as its final product. The tornado was like the finger of god itself, for anything it was torn across would meet ruin and certain death. The spiraling winds were like a shredder, grinding anything and everything in its paths. With two of them ripping through the land, the principality of Veronica would meet certain demise, even without the floods and lightning. The cyclones would start over the ocean as waterspouts, drinking up the salty ocean water before reaching land, where fish, sharks, and various objects and beings of the sea would be dropped.

Upon seeing the Storm King, Izayuki finally had an idea of what they were up against. Peaceful or not, the very presence of this monster was something to strike fear into anyone. Its existence would only bring ruin to all who called earthland their home. It would need to be stopped, and if possible, destroyed before it could unleash its wrath on anyone else. Fortunately, Crescent Island was mostly abandoned, desolate of civilization. It was vacant of all except for the natural wildlife, the flora and fauna that knew nothing other than their peaceful little island. If they could, they would have to stop the Storm King from ruining the quiet, tranquil, and tiny scrap of earth.

Changing her form again to at least be more nimble, and less clumsy, the Bakedanuki assumed her mostly human form, and leaped up from the pit of land she had fallen into up onto a mound of boulders, which was the preferred higher ground. She gazed up with narrowed eyes at the giant figure, fighting for vision through the blinding rain and brilliant flashes of lightning.

“Well, it’s not a giant blubbery whale. Come on, Aiyana, let’s--” her words were cut off as the draconic figured king would part its jaws and release a deafening roar, which sounded like an explosion of thunder. Many had heard lightning strike at close range, and had been figuratively blown away by the booming noise of the thunder to quickly follow. However, the vehement bellow of the Storm King was a sound that few had ever heard, or would ever hear. It was louder than any type of thunder or close range explosion one could hear, almost to the point of being literally deafening.

After enough exposure, Izayuki had outgrown her astraphobia. Her fear of thunder made fighting during a storm, or fighting a lightning or thunder mage, extremely hard. Her sensitive ears did not warrant her to fair well in such circumstances, and for a while, the small tanuki actively avoided training or meeting enemies which used such magic, refused jobs where one would fight mages that used sound or thunder or loud lightning, and would ultimately hide and cry during a thunderstorm at home. Eventually, she had outgrown the fear and instead grew desensitized to the loud noises, to the point where she even dared to accept the one hundred year job of taking on the Storm King. However, with one mighty roar, time would be seemingly reversed, and Izayuki would quickly fall back into her astraphobia once more.

Crouching down, the Bakedanuki would force her hands over her silver-furred tanuki ears, and a low canine whimper would rise from the back of her throat. She had accepted the job because she had gotten over her fear, but never before did she realize there could be such an evil sound of this caliber. Her eyes partially teary and her heart racing, the Bakedanuki wrapped her silver tail around herself, praying to whatever benevolent deities were out there that somehow this was all just a good dream turned to a nightmare. That none of this was reality-- there was no monster the H rank would have to fight and possibly kill. For the moment, she had forgotten that Aiyana was with her, and instead caved into her own fears and weaknesses as the roar of the Storm King concluded, only to be followed by another, which issued a small cry from the scared and quivering tanuki.

If only benevolent deities existed.

Over the loud roaring of the Storm King, Izayuki contemplated the sudden reversal of her progress regarding the astraphobia. So quickly the monster brought her to her knees, without even touching or attacking her. Though it was peaceful in general, it still was on the course for destroying a city in its way, which was why the mages had been hired to either redirect its course or kill it off.

At the rate it was going however, progress was far from present. Though she covered her silver-furred ears with her hands, the sound vibrated through the air, shaking her whole body and penetrating her attempt at muffling the noise. Even though she had grown used to normal thunder, the roar of the king was something else entirely, and as it continued its proud bellows, Izayuki was left unable to move.

It was then that a gentle hand would be placed on the Bakedanuki’s head, and a telepathic voice would enter her mind. Telepathy typically only was something Izayuki associated with negative things. The spirits of her second magic, Wonderland, would only torment the young ayakashi with their voices, attempting to induce madness and take control of her mind. However, Aiyana’s voice was not sinister or cruel like their’s often were. Instead, the voice was gentle and merciful, a soothing distraction from the vociferous, roaring thunder.

Izayuki mentally listened, and considered her words. It was tempting to recoil and hide in some way or fashion, and allow Aiyana to finish their job. However, such a thing was unthinkable for the Bakedanuki to accept. Even if Aiyana would assist in hiding her shame, and would keep the secret, it seemed wrong and unfair to leave a partner to the dangerous combat to come. One Hundred Year jobs ideally required more than one mage to see a successful outcome. While she had no doubt in Aiyana’s skills and talents, she did not want to leave a friend to possibly getting beaten and battered more than she had to. Meanwhile, the stroking of her ears unfortunately did put the Bakedanuki more on edge, as she flinched away slightly. It was not that she was rejecting the fox’s kindness-- she simply did not have much tolerance for her ears being touched, unless it was unable to be helped.

While Izayuki accepted the kind telepathic words, there was only one small problem. While she had a large repertoire of shapes and forms, as did most shapeshifting raccoon dogs, she had little direct control over the traits of the forms. Though all her senses were much more keen in her true form, all of her shapes shared in keen tanuki, and slayer, senses. No form, even a species with bad hearing, would really change that for the Bakedanuki. However, she was determined to not leave her partner to fight the monster alone. Instead of shapeshifting, the ayakashi would attempt something else. She was skilled in perception manipulation-- the use of illusions to trick and deceive. Upon using them normally, she was aware of what she had manipulated or created to fool the senses, but was not directly affected by her own ability.

What if she could be influenced by her own illusions though? It was worth a try, if it meant continuing in this job. Focusing her ability on herself, instead of the surrounding atmosphere, Izayuki attempted to generate the sound of silence-- the perception that all was still and quiet, not threatening. Slowly but surely, her attempt was working, as the air seemed to grow much more peaceful and calm, at least for herself. How long could she keep this up? Only time would tell. "T-thank you, Aiyana,” she warmly and gratefully attempted to telepathically project back, slowly beginning to stand again. “I used an illusion on myself to perceive and feel the noise as if there is none. I don’t know how long I can keep it up, so let’s finish this beast off quickly.”

The ayakashi turned towards the direction the Storm King was flying in. She adjusted her illusions to ensure that she could not even physically feel the vibrations of his thunderous roars. This took energy, but hopefully the two could wipe their hands of this job before too much time had passed. How much ice and cold energy would it take to simply freeze this beast? He was primarily water moisture, turbulent winds and temperatures, and electricity, after all.

Taking a few steps in front of Aiyana, Izayuki would gaze directly at the approaching beast of storms’ face. Taking a large inhale of magic and frosty energy, the Glacier God Slayer would attempt to use one of her trademark attacks, recognizable across all types of slayers. “Glacier God’s Bellow!”
Out of her mouth she would launch a whirlwind of frosty energy and ice, spouting towards the beast at devastating speeds. The radius of the blast would reach up to three hundred meters, and would continue on for four hundred meters, hopefully meeting the storm king squarely in the face. If her attack was successful, it would slow him down a little, hopefully enough to give them an advantage and stop his advance towards the principality of Veronica.

The Bakedanuki nodded in response to Aiyana’s telepathy, even though she personally knew that she would force herself beyond comfort if she could help it, even if the illusion fizzled out. The nine tailed fox went out in front of Izayuki, suddenly sprouting wings and flying towards the monstrous storm. At first, the slayer was worried for the vixen, her first thought being that her partner would get caught in the god bellow. However, her fears were quickly relieved when she recalled Aiyana’s own element-- frostfire. The other slayer consumed a portion of Izayuki’s spell, and continued moving on to attack the beast.

Meanwhile, part of the glacier god slayer’s attack would hit the king of storms. Normally, such an attack with her strength would have been devastating, but to the gargantuan storm, it did not faze him. It slowed a portion of his body, making the clouds almost appear to delay in keeping up with the beat by a few split seconds. Before Izayuki could continue to produce another attack, Aiyana’s voice sounded in her mind once again. It struck the Bakedanuki as curious, the fact that the fox was against killing, but was making an exception for the storm.

The tanuki herself was quite accustomed to killing. Of course, she did not do so in cold blood or with the intent to murder. Typically, she gave someone plenty of warning, and allowed them to make the decision as to if they would continue attacking or not. If they did, she would not hesitate to kill them, not so much intentionally, but simply by not holding back on her attacks nor pulling her punches. She attempted to make most kills quickly, out of basic canine instinct. Slice a vital artery or vein with a claw, slice off something mandatory, the list for fast killing went on. But how would one kill a storm quickly? Freezing it was certainly possible, but would her powers and Aiyana’s powers really be able to freeze something this huge?

Had her mentor of old been able to kill something of this caliber? The yokai so easily assumed that the glacier goddess was omnipotent and invincible in her craft, capable of bringing the greatest of those alive to their knees via her terrible frost. However, as the tanuki looked back on those memories, she did indeed begin to question. Where did she currently stand in power when it came to Yukionna? The yokai had given up her quest for revenge a while ago, but the goddess herself seemed to no longer be targeting the slayer. The deity of ice was as silent as the snow she created, and that fact alone did bring questions to Izayuki’s mind. She could not help but wonder what had happened to her harsh teacher and horrible adoptive mother.

However, such things could not be mused on for too long with the Storm King before her. If this beast was a god, it would make her job a lot easier. It had the shape of a draconic beast, but was it really vulnerable to the dragon slayer magic of the celestial spirit? Izayuki was dubious. Regardless of its strengths and weaknesses, she would try her best to bring it down. “Alright,” she agreed, before mustering even more magical energy.

Taking flight without wings, as per a general mythical mononoke ability, she would attempt to draw closer to the cloudy beast, while still deceiving herself with the audible illusion. “Tōyōmichi,” she murmured the name of her spell, finding the fact that talking while unable to hear herself was odd, uncomfortable, and quite unnerving overall. It felt weird, but Izayuki had no doubt that the spell would be cast just as she planned. As soon as her unheard words left her mouth, snow began to fall from the heavens above. It covered four hundred meters in radius, thus eight hundred meters in diameter, surely covering a lot of the beast. As the soft and gentle snow fell, it would begin to lull all within its perimeter to sleep. All the hiding critters on the island below, and all the creatures swimming beneath the surface of the sea, would be falling into a calm and peaceful sleep. ‘Winter Wonderland’ was a spell of H rank power-- the strongest one in her arsenal. For this fight, it was go big or go home.

Izayuki doubted that Aiyana would so easily be put to sleep. Surely she would eat the majority of the snowflakes that fell towards her, and with the high rank power in them, grow in strength for the time being. The peaceful winterscape would begin to show its deadlier, true colors, though. It would begin to drain and absorb the life from those around it, just as the cold would drain and absorb heat from anything it could. It would do this to the Storm King, and Izayuki could only pray to whatever benevolent beings were out there, or even Yukionna, as this had to do with the magic of the glaciers, that it would be successful. She wanted the Storm King to sleep, to die, or to, at the very least, slow down, stop, and smell the roses.

Izayuki watched contently as Aiyana would devour the snow from her Winter Wonderland spell. The magic of the H rank slayer spell surely would supplement her partner in combat, and give her a boost in power. Before the tanuki’s eyes, the nine tailed fox suddenly would transform into an enormous dragon in order to fight off the storm king. The slayer could only suspect that her job partner had eaten enough frost to push into slayer force. Izayuki herself had never experienced the sudden surge of power, but was well aware of its existence and her own potential in reaching it.

The draconic Aiyana breathed a sudden beam of frostfire towards the gargantuan beast of storms, and just like that, it was all over. The dragon-shaped cloud of a monster, the storm king, would freeze over and stop in its flight. Suddenly, with closing eyes, it would begin to fall down towards the ocean, possibly from whence it once came. Storms evolved from water evaporating from the ocean and reaching the atmosphere, after all. The only difference with the storm king was that it was a sentient weather phenomenon.

Flying closer to the frostfire dragon, the Bakedanuki watched with wide eyes as the giant beast tumbled into the sea. After watching the dramatic fall and the somewhat destructive aftermath to follow, Izayuki took note of the nine tailed fox’s telepathic words. With a big sigh of relief, the ayakashi lowered her audible illusions on herself, welcoming the sounds of nature once again, such as the wild ocean and the coastal gales. They had completed their task, a job that had been left incomplete for over a hundred years until now. Indeed it was time to celebrate, but the Bakedanuki herself had doubts. Was it really true that anyone else who had opposed this beast either failed or never returned? She could not deny that the storm king was powerful, as his mighty roars had even incapacitated the tanuki, but did it really only take a celestial spirit in dragon force and a god slayer’s strongest spell to take down? Izayuki had overestimated the difficulty that would be involved, and had underestimated the level of noise.

“Good job, Aiyana,” the tanuki girl complimented, not certain of what else there was to say. The nine tailed fox had certainly carried them on the mission, and had power that was definitely not to be scoffed at by anyone. Even if the Bakedanuki had wimped out from fighting the loud monster, she now realized that the celestial spirit would have had it all under control, and would have easily been able to take on the king of thunderstorms. “I’m not sure what the clients even want when it comes to a report, or if they’re even still around. It’s been a hundred years since this job was posted, after all,” she continued. They could write up something to submit, or try and track down the clients to talk face to face, but if they were not in a nursing home or some place where they keep old mages, they had likely already passed away.

That would leave only one option-- the Magic Council themselves had likely assumed the role of handling the job affairs if the clients were no longer around, but it was a legitimate request and issue that needed to be handled. The idea of asking for payment from the Magic Council was sickening to the stubborn tanuki, who had grown to loathe them more and more, but she wanted her share of the reward, at least in order to stash away jewels for her guild.

Izayuki nodded happily in agreement and response to the fox woman, with her large silver tail wiggling behind her in glee. She was glad that the loud and painful ordeal was over, and that they were now able to get paid, be regarded as local heroes, and continue on their merry way.
“I’m in no hurry to talk to the Magic Council,” the Bakedanuki replied, her expression and tone changing slightly to one of mild disdain as she mentioned the organization that governed the world of magic. She was no fan of the Magic Council, and even plotted to see them taken down once and for all, both as a personal goal, and one set for her guild.

Her face lighting up again, the yokai continued in a perky manner. “With that, I’m in no hurry to let them know, so I’m good with ‘hanging out’,” Izayuki said, the latter two words feeling very foreign in her mouth. The young ayakashi rarely ever ‘hang out’ with just anyone, and would only engage in conversation and quality time with guildmates at Silver Moon Inn. Once in a while, she would talk to Kite in Saber Tooth, but rarely had many friends to just relax around. Fortunately, Aiyana seemed quite nice, and her late husband had always spoken good things about her. It would not hurt to get to know her ally and new friend a little better. “What do you have in mind~?”

A silver ear perked in interest when Aiyana mentioned not liking the Magic Council. Like Izayuki, the fox was in a legal guild, and was even an ace of it. Not only that, but she was a Wizard Saint. For a while, the Bakedanuki had always assumed that she was the only legal guild high position and Wizard Saint that disliked their magical patron organization. Apparently not, given Aiyana’s words. “What do you mean by that?” she asked, silver tail twitching in curiosity. How great it would be to know that someone thought along the same lines as her that was not from her guild. However, she would not hold her breath. For all she knew, Aiyana could just have a mild disdain for them, and not a deep loathing akin to the Bakedanuki’s.

Izayuki’s expression brightened at the offer of a celebratory drink and dinner. While she herself did not drink, as the smell and taste of alcohol was revolting, a nice iced tea would do the trick for refreshment. “I like that idea,” the Bakedanuki said, hands folding behind her back in a comfortable manner. “Where do you propose we go?”

That naturally knocked Silver Moon Inn off the list of options since everyone knew their guild master to some degree, and Aiyana was a rather famous face. The tanuki girl rarely treated herself to fine dining, but was eager to accept the offer. It was much better to eat with someone, and not alone. While she partially felt guilty for Aiyana offering to pay for it, the youthful mage accepted the gift regardless. She would make it up to Aiyana for her past and present kindness somehow.

The Bakedanuki listened to the fox intently. There was a look of mild shock on her face that betrayed bigger shock within the young tanuki girl. Was the Magic Council really so cruel as to stoop to what she could only describe as a form of racism. Aiyana was very much a person like them and like Izayuki. She had emotions and feelings and memories too, even if she was from another realm and could be summoned with magic. Izayuki personally had been fond of Pharaoh’s Call, which at the time was an ally of both Black Rose and her husband’s guild, Golden Phoenix. The three guilds formed an alliance, but their relationship was cut short with the destruction of the independent morally-good guild.

“I’m sorry,” Izayuki said, silver-furred ears drooping slightly. It was a sad story indeed, and resonated with truth. “It would not surprise me if it were the Magic Council. They’re cruel and corrupt,” she said, venom lacing her last sentence. Word of them never was positive. They had attacked a peaceful kingdom and used legal guilds as pawns to do so, and now she learned that they denied the celestial spirit a position as master of a legal guild. They were a spiteful organization, quick to release judgement on any party, and bring them to a swift end if they disapproved. And who would question their decisions? Too few. The Bakedanuki’s bushy silver tail brushed one of Aiyana’s drooping tails in sympathy. She could only imagine how hard it had been. Black Rose was her family, and losing them would be unthinkable. Izayuki did not mind her verbal attitude towards the Magic Council. She preferred honesty when possible, and had no qualms against speaking poorly about a poor organization. If anyone disagreed, well, she would know where they stood in their beliefs.

Her expression brightened once more when Aiyana went on to describe the place she had in mind for food. The young ayakashi had not eaten fish in a long while. Back in the day, she had learned to swim and would catch her own. In the society of humans and mages, however, they could order a well-cooked fish right off a menu. Or, in this case, right out of the freezer. “I’d love to join you,” the Bakedanuki replied with a smile. She did not recall the last time she had gone to Hosenka, if at all. Fortunately, Izayuki loved exploring and intended to travel all of Fiore in her long lifetime.

Before the bakedanuki could fully discern what was going on, her hand had been grabbed and the two were whisked away to the little sushi shop in the smaller town of Hosenka. The ayakashi could not recall if she had ever been to the fabulous tiny town before, but it was already an extremely refreshing change of scenery for the stressed and tired tanuki. The storefront was homely and the smell of freshly cooked or delicately prepared sushi filled the keen canine’s hungry senses. The kitsune explained the details of the shop and where they would sit as the duo walked in and towards their seats.

Once seated with her silver-furred tail hanging loosely from her chair, but not daring to graze the floor, the ayakashi took a look at the menu. Red velvet cake was not the first thing she could look for in this case-- it would likely be rude and bad form to order dessert right off the bat as the first course. Regardless, Izayuki chipperly ordered an iced tea from the waiter and turned her gaze towards Aiyana once more. “You’ve been here before-- what is the best meal to order? I'll take one of whatever you get,” she declared, her tail flicking slightly in contentment and happiness behind her.

Everything seemed so peaceful and relaxing at first, until a man stormed over towards their table and began to go off on Aiyana, ranting and angry in some foreign accent. Surely Aiyana had not been deceitful, taking the VIP seating without permission. Fortunately, her partner did not seem fazed by the angry chef. Right before their eyes, the kitsune shapeshifted into a nine tailed fox of the other gender. It surprised the bakedanuki, who typically preferred to remain female in her own shape changes, unless she absolutely needed otherwise. Aiyana seemed different, however, having no qualms in changing her gender on the spot. Why was it that they only remembered and knew this form of hers, though?

The man apologized and went away, but Izayuki’s train of thought was broken and derailed entirely when the kitsune mentioned red velvet cake. “You like red velvet cake too?” she mildly gasped, almost interrupting. Her fluffy silver tail wagged behind her happily. Not everyone was as obsessed with the unique dessert as she, after all. Did Aiyana somehow know that this was her favorite, or was this some wild coincidence? Either way, the bakedanuki was quite pleased. The sashimi and sushi platter also sounded splendid. The tanuki rarely had many chances to eat fish, but enjoyed it every time, especially when she did not have to catch it herself. She was still re-adjusting to the fox girl, or, man, having suddenly changed their form. It felt strange, like they were a different person entirely. “Mm, not particularly,” Izayuki replied with a soft smile. “But tell me, what is it like in Lamia Scale? I’ve never met your guildmaster, but Lamia Scale allied with Black Rose over letter.”

The bakedanuki’s tail twitched eagerly as Aiyana talked about red velvet cake, the one true consistent passion of the young ayakashi. How it was so amazing and wonderfully made was beyond her; human junk food certainly was delicious. Izayuki had been particularly fond of her former Kvasir teammate, Magna’s, red velvet cake. He had used cooking magic and spoiled her taste buds into not enjoying other food nearly as much. Of course, with his departure from the guild, she had had to become accustomed to other food once more. After a few weeks of withdrawal, Izayuki was back to eagerly enjoying many kinds of food. She looked forward to sampling this small but nice restaurant’s red velvet cake with fluffy white icing.

Izayuki listened in great interest to Aiyana explaining what Lamia Scale was like. Having started in Black Rose when it was a neutral and independent guild, it was interesting to learn more about how the other legal guilds functioned, since she knew that her own guild still carried its past mentality despite its alignment with the, ugh, magic council. It sounded much quieter than the boisterous Black Rose, but the tanuki nodded in agreement at the kitsune’s mention of becoming friends with her guildmates. “Of course,” she said with an encouraging smile, before her now male job partner asked her about her own guild. “You were from Lavanitir Port City?” she asked in curiosity before continuing, ears pricked in an intrigued manner. “Black Rose is as noisy as always. Silver Moon Inn is often full and busy, and my guildmates seem to enjoy their downtime in the guildhall.”

Everyone in her guild seemed to be happy and thus the guild master wished to preserve that comfort and happiness in any way she could, even if their goal was a much graver one, and the guild harbored a darker side and nature for when the occasion arose. The mafia was meant for nothing more than furthering their more solemn agenda, and after that, things could go back to normal. Hopefully.