"This is endless, they just keep coming!" She barked the words and I felt her tense, setting herself as more soldiers appeared in gouts of green flame, these at a distance with longbows at the ready.
More foot soldiers formed in our path as we darted to the side, arrows whizzing by as we cut down the swordsmen before us. I growled furiously as I blurred across the field of battle, slashing through the archers before we met together once more.
Both our ears lifted as massive torrents of flames spewed forth before each of us while our backs were together. Two hulking ogres appeared, each with massive stone pillars slung over their shoulders.
"Gloria! We can't keep this up, we need to withdraw!" I yelled the words out as I blurred to the side as she simply took flight, stone pillars slamming into the asphalt we had been standing on.
"I can't just abandon my flock to be slaughtered!" She cried the words out as she dove on the same one I had moved against. In a flurry of blows, we brought the giant down and scattered as the second moved on us, slamming its makeshift club down into the ground.
I pulled back and set my stance, the angel doing the same in mid-flight as we sprang upon the other giant, similar results coming from our assault as the beast toppled over in an eruption of green fire.
"Flock or not, if we stay at this too long, the sun will rise on us. I don't think I need to tell you what that means!" I hissed the words as I felt her back push to mine after she landed.
"I- I know sister... I just don't know what to do!" She called back to me, the resolve in her voice wavering. I could hear her labored pants, she had been at this for much longer than I had after all.
"The two of you have won my praise, my underlings appear to be no match, no matter how many I send to the slaughter, you persevere." The haughty words filled the air as we both lifted our ears, shifting our gazes to see a quick burst of green light before another stood before us.
She appeared to be a fox like myself, but 'appeared' was subjective, to say the least. She was closer to Katrina's height; about a head length under my own stature. She had long flowing hair the color of vibrant green foliage. Flowers and brambles were interwoven through it, as if growing from her. Her ears were larger than my own, the fur pattern sharing the same vibrant colors of her hair.
The most shocking feature was her tails; she had nine of them. All were that bright green color, the myriad of them fanned out behind her in constant motion. Another surprising feature was her body; it was covered in a thin coat of fur. Her bared feet looked more like paws, and her hands sporting pads, the shape still similar to my own.
The ninetails wore a simple silk-looking gown of white that clung to her small body, the cloth almost translucent and making no attempt to hide her figure beneath. She had a lithe, petit form, with small but shapely breasts. There was a slight curve to her hips and face, the fur along her belly and chest turning to an offwhite green that moved up to below her throat where she sported a small muzzle.
I felt my ears lower as I looked upon her, she reclined back looking bored as if leaning on her mass of fluffy tails, but I could see her foot-paws weren't even touching the pavement, actually a few inches off the ground. Her sheer presence was overwhelming, I had faced down archangels unflinching, but this power wasn't even in the same realm of comparison.
Her yellow eyes looked between the two of us, seeing the effect she had made upon us, I could feel Gloria trembling behind me, her knees starting to buckle before she reinforced her stance, pushing against my back as if to support herself and stand.
"You two should count yourselves blessed, I've not appeared before any creature of the mundane realms in over a thousand renewal seasons," She spoke the words in a melodic tone as she pushed off her own tails it seemed, her padded-footpaws gingerly touching the ground, small sprouts of grass blades bursting through the asphalt beneath her paws. Her tails swayed as she took a few paces towards us, leaving a trail of grass in her wake.
I swallowed the lump in my throat, finding it difficult to speak in her presence. Snarling at myself I summoned my fires, pushing them straight to blood-red so I could compose myself. Pushing from Gloria's back, I faced the other fox full-on, saber set as I growled, "What are you playing at with all this?"
The ninetails stopped in her tracks and put a hand-paw to her muzzle, giving a wide grin at my display, her rows of teeth looking sharp as she seemed to savor the chance to interact with me. "Oh my... so it's you. I had my suspicions but to see it in the... flesh as it were."
A shocked bark escaped my throat as she was just there in my face, no blur, no sign of movement, just nose to nose, her footpaws suspended off the ground, her eyes upon mine. I saw her muzzle spread into a wide grin, even as Gloria readied her own blade and took a step towards us in my defense.
The small green fox gave an exasperated huff in my face and flicked her left handpaw towards the celestial, a wave of force slamming into Gloria as she flew back in the air several yards before finally spreading her wings to catch herself.
"Sister!" I barked out towards Gloria, then turned to snarl upon the fox before me, starting to set my stance. She gave me a bored frown and I didn't even see what she did, I simply flew away from her in a similar motion, tumbling and bouncing against the concrete of the sidewalk before finally catching myself.
The nine-tailed fox gingerly dropped to her footpaws once more, sighing as she lazily drifted her gaze between me and Gloria, both of us in a stance with our swords drawn. "I suppose it would do no harm to tell the soon to be final-dead that this was all a ploy to draw forth the messiah."
"Messiah?" Gloria frowned as she tilted her head.
"The savior of their damnable race." The fox huffed the words as she lazily thrust a finger towards me.
I gave a bark of a laugh as my flames roared to life and poured off me, rolling down my saber as it crackled with divine power. Of course, I knew who she was talking about. "Ha... too bad you got me instead, bitch! I'm much more dangerous!" I screamed the words as I blurred from sight right as Gloria sprang to the air.
"Oh?" The green fox lifted her ears as I and Gloria both struck at her with our blades. She seemed to simply cease to be there, then a microsecond later I felt a wave of force slam into my back, forcing me to topple straight down into the ground, displacing the asphalt and feeling my left arm break from the impact.
A similar wave of force slammed into Gloria as she swooped down, sending her sprawling in the air before she righted herself in mid-flight and called out to me, "Sarnai!" Her eyes narrowed as she growled furiously at the bored-looking fox, diving on her once again.
I snarled and jerked my shoulder hard, setting my arm as I climbed to my feet, feeling the bones already starting to stitch themselves back together. I refocused just in time to see Gloria swoop down on the ninetails who unceremoniously extended her left arm and caught the angel at the throat in mid-strike.
"Pitiful creature, do you not see you wade straight into the jaws of death?" The green fox huffed the words as she slowly tightened her grip, Gloria's eyes widening as her air was being cut off.
My teeth clenched as I set my saber in my right hand, my left arm still mostly useless. I prepared to strike when I saw a massive blur of brown fur and claws lunge forward. The ninetails wasn't expecting reinforcements, her eyes going wide as the werewolf pounced upon her.
Alex roared in fury as his massive hooked paws simply tore the arm the fox had raised in defense off her body along with most of her shoulder, blood spraying over his brown coat. The fox looked more surprised than in pain, her left paw still holding Gloria by the throat.
The wolf snarled and lunged in to finish the job, going for the foxes' throat. Her yellow eyes widened a wild grin spreading over her muzzle as green flames rolled over where her arm had been, then a new one was in its place. There was a flash of claws and Alex yowled out, blood spraying from his chest, an afterimage of green flaming streaks following the wave of her paw.
