Toofy

Author's Note: For obvious narrative reasons, this chapter is very light on the eroticism. Don't worry, the next will make up for that.

---

Sai stared in confusion at the light surrounding him and the others. It didn't look like a barrier. It was subtle, tiny little flakes of gold floating down gently from an unknown source.

Soft arms wrapped around him, a calming voice hushing him. He felt a tiredness in his aching muscles, but also an eerie shrivelling sensation as the myriad of splits and cuts to his skin reversed themselves. The flesh stitching itself back together.

The backs of the hands holding his chest showed an incredibly fine blonde fur. It was like Tammy's, but made that kitsune's silky fur seem like a wire brush by comparison.

A chin leaned gently on his shoulder, "You know, I'm not supposed to do this. The other's are going to be freaking pissed."

"Thank you. I am indebted to you, whoever you are."

"Mmm." She agreed and kissed his cheek, "That you are. Feel free to call me whatever. Worn lots of names. Mischief. Chaos. The Golden Kitsune. But you get the point, don't you, Sai?"

He felt himself wake up, and feel real fear. Dying was one thing... Being indebted to one of the betrayer gods was another thing entirely.

"Hush." She giggled, pulling him tighter into the strangely comforting hug, "I didn't save you, for your sake. I did it because I have a thing for Toofy. I adore that little cat, but she's going to need a helping hand, soon."

"The kittens?" He breathed in.

The woman laughed, "Safe. The succubus got them out of the city before Kaden issued his order to kill all nekos on sight. Those two rascals are going to grow up to be fine women. It is fated."

Sai winced, "I missed their birth."

"And naming ceremonies. Artema and Ink." The kitsune rubbed her face into his cheek, "But forget about them. Someone is going to fight Kaden soon. As it is, that will be Toofy. We can't let it happen."

Sai eyed the royal mages still trying to break through the barrier. A guard approached and poked it with a sword, before screaming as their skin peeled off them and floated away.

The woman turned Sai around so he was looking directly into her orange eyes. She smiled and cupped his cheek, "These deep blue eyes. They suit you better than the demonic ones."

He swallowed nervously, "What would you have of me?"

"I'll be your patron. Give you my magic. An edge to put you back on level with Kaden, instead of this pathetic display." The goddess smiled, and pulled his hips closer to her. "In return, you will hunt down and kill him before he can lay a hand on my Twenty Four."

"The one who fights the emperor, their fate is to die?" Sai asked.

She smirked, "The one who kills Kaden is fated to die. He might not be well liked, but he is a demigod. We can't go and let the mortals think that they can touch the divine, can we?"

"You don't agree." Sai realised, "Is... Is that what it means to be a betrayer god?"

"No. It is what it means to be me. If it wasn't Toofy, I wouldn't give a shit." She laughed, and sigh felt a tail brushing up between his legs. "Of course, I'm still not going to help you for free, mortal. Yet, I think you remember the dangers of fucking a kitsune, don't you? You must cause us both to finish."

Sai swallowed nervously, "Is that even possible?"

She laughed, and squeezed herself against him. Kissing his cheek, "Willing to die for Toofy. No hesitation. No wonder she loves you, Sai. I like that. Yes. Yes, a mortal can get me off. I often played with Efina, when she was still alive. There was a woman who understood how to... Fuck."

She emphasised the last word as she began to unknot his belt.

He caught her hand, "The others? The army?"

Orange eyes rolled and she gave a small pout. However, he heard the guards collapsing to the ground. Saw Esme lying nearby beginning to breathe deeply and slowly.

The kitsune pulled on his chin, and then she stood up on her tippy toes and kissed him. Her lips drifted to his cheek and she whispered to him, "I'll borrow Tammy's word. I'll say... Quest... If there's something that I don't like."

She flung him effortlessly to the ground, and moved down and pulled off his pants. The goddess laughed at his extremely mild semi, and then flicked at it. He immediately felt a pulse run through his body and he was as hard as he had ever been.

The woman pounced onto his shoulders, displaying her tails. Her many, many tails that were practically innumerable. They spread out in a confusing and overlapping fashion, as the goddess showed off for him.

She chuckled softly and shrugged, her clothes dissolving to ash and falling away. The soft white and grey flakes slipped from her buxom form with a tantalising slowness, leaving no streaks behind.

She positioned herself over him, and then slowly lowered herself. She used one hand to guide him into her entrance, her warmth.

Sai tried to bury any feeling of self-hatred as he committed a sin against his bride... Again. He flinched as he felt her tighten around him, and then the firm and hard lock seized onto the head of his member.

The goddess let out a long and drawn out sigh, "Ooooh... I've been missing that. Oh, yes. Why is it only ever women who worship me? A girl needs a dick, every now and then. Fuck."

She grinned down at him with her orange eyes as she began to ride him, "Too bad Saia isn't here. That'd drive Toofy wild. You sucking on her plaything's tail, whilst I fuck you. She's never going to forgive you for this, Sai."

"So... Long as... She survives." He said seriously.

The goddess rolled her eyes, "Oh don't pretend you're not enjoying this. I know exactly what kind of cunt I have. No mortal is as good as I am, boy."

He took a different tactic, and started to meet her thrusts. "You love... My... Wife."

"Ooh." The goddess cooed, "I do, I do. And without you in the picture, I'm going to fuck her brains out. Why do you think I'm doing this? I want her all to myself."

It took him all his strength not to groan. She was tight, she was active, and even the tie binding him into her was sensuous in the way it moved against him.

If he wasn't so worried about what came next, he would be enjoying the hell out of this. As far from guilt-free as could be, and he was certain that Toofy would be hissing at him, but the woman on top of him was right.

She was no mere mortal.

---

Vanhern looked at Toofy as she continued picking bone fragments out of her hair, and he coughed, "I presume the ordinance to eradicate all nekos is in effect?"

"Mm." She nodded, and forced herself to stop. She lowered her hands into her lap and smiled sweetly, "This is her first time meeting him. She is sorry for her state, and the graveness of the situation."

He shrugged, "I could hardly refuse two ambassadors, even if I suspect your titles will soon be revoked. How may I assist you, Lady Sai?"

Toofy touched the wedding bracelet on her wrist instinctively, feeling a little burst of happiness, despite the way her future now hinged on this moment. "First, allow the Lady Sai to offer the customary greeting gift. For some time, the temple has hidden who it was who assaulted the Vanhern's daughter."

His knuckles went white, gripping his chair, "Yes."

"Temple is destroyed. Mia burned it down." Toofy waved casually at her companion, "But the Vanhern shouldn't fret. Lady Sai discovered the identity of the lordling in question, some time ago. Knows how to prove it."

Vanhern nodded slowly, "I... Heard the temple was burning. Honestly, I thought that was related to the... Slave uprising. A sudden failure of our enchantments."

"It was. That was where Lady Sai broke the magic." Her red eyes flashed, daring him to antagonise her. However, it seemed to only be confirming something for him.

Didn't ease his stench of fear, though.

"However, back to gift." She smirked, "The one who hurt Lady Vanhern was Lord Castelle the Third, the younger. And unless Lady Sai is very wrong, he has already been murdered by his mother. At Lady Sai's suggestion."

Vanhern shifted uncomfortably, "What you speak of are criminal acts."

"Perhaps. But easily forgotten in chaos." Toofy shrugged, "Plagues, no more slaves, destroyed temple, and city about to burn. She would say that the emperor has lost control of the situation, wouldn't he agree?"

"The fire at the temple is under control." Vanhern avoided directly matching her gaze, "I presume then, you have some further act of treason you will commit, Lady Sai? And you wish my protection from it?"

She giggled, "Beside her, is the Meerakeilian. Last Hatchling of the Irrlichdan, and his heir. She has been acknowledged by her kind as queen. All of dragonkind has heard her cry, and knelt to her."

"Oh my." Vanhern stared at the salamander, at her black and red scales. "The roar I heard, the other day. That was... You?"

She bared her fangs and growled quietly.

Toofy switched to draconic, "Play nice! He's already about to shit himself."

Mia laughed, a deep and guttural sound, before she replied in her native tongue, "I want to eat him."

The catgirl smoothed her clothing, and smiled sweetly again, "As she was saying, all of dragonkind is united. United and free of bells. They are coming here, to the seat of power that tried to enslave them. The city will burn. Irrlichdan alone nearly destroyed the Golden Mountain."

"That city is still rebuilding, true." Vanhern acknowledged, "However, the God-Emperor of Mankind fought then, as he will, now. If the Queen of Dragonkind wishes only to cause harm to innocents, then this path is well chosen."

Mia snarled at him, "I fight. I fight."

"We don't have to fight." Toofy snapped at her, and grinned, "However, if it is insisted upon, along with dragons will come draug. Big, undead army."

Vanhern winced, "The plague proceeded them. I suppose you also hold sway over these abominations, Lady Sai?"

"Mmm. But they didn't summon the plague. The emperor did." Toofy blinked her red eyes innocently. "The Astadia leads the draug. She will be the Lady Sai's witness."

The lord nodded slowly, "Enslaving dragonkind. Raising a plague. You are attempting to prove that the current crisis was directly caused by our honoured emperor. As such, he has proven to be unfit for the throne."

She nodded slowly, "No need for fight. The Vanhern can speak to ministers. Speak to emperor. Issue the command, step down or be deposed."

"Your arrogance is astonishing, m'lady." The lord laughed, "You threaten the city, and expect the ministers will bow to your will? That they will take a low level lord as the next emperor? You are too ambitious."

Toofy's face fell. She spoke with irritation, "Her Sai will not be next emperor. The next on the throne will be exotic. They will be neko. The twenty fourth ruler of empire will be Lady Twenty Four de Sai."

Vanhern burst out laughing, trying to cover his mouth and regain his composure, but failing.

The neko glared at him, her red eyes glittering. She spoke quietly, "I, alone, destroyed every slaving enchantment in the entire empire, human. I ate the heart of a dark god, because he took my son from me. I have the queen of dragons subjugated to my will. I have the ancient undead army of the elves bound to my will. Should humanity really push me, and see what I will do to conquer them?"

That sobered him up.

She sneered, "What makes you think that I would allow anyone opposing me to keep breathing, human?"

"Point well taken." He agreed, "That, I suppose, is the stick. The carrot being the just execution of one that hurt what was most precious to me."

As if to underscore the moment, the ground rumbled and the building shook. Toofy tried not to growl in irritation that Mia's army had already arrived. However, she hadn't expected Astadia's patience would last.

Meerakeilian chuckled, "Skies burn. City falls. Who will die, human? Devourer is empress. You just too stupid to know it."

Lord Vanhern stood up, staggering as the ground rolled again, "I will call an emergency meeting of the ministers, and present your case, Lady Sai."

---

It was gone. The magic... All of that magic... Everything he had been preparing to capture, was gone.

The Crucible had been destroyed. Killing off every single orc that had a shred of magic in them. Killing them, and ripping that magic forever outside of his grasp.

He could have caught it, if he were prepared, but his preparations had still been weeks away from completion. He hadn't even finished the tether, let alone the siphon.

The only remnants of orcish magic now lay in him, and the other Sons of Menes. That was all that was left. And if that went, not only would he not become a god, he would become mortal, again.

"Seal the doors." Kaden declared, evicting his servants and locking himself away in his room.

It only took a moment, but he felt the arrival of an army on his doorstep. The attacks that were familiar. The screams that ripped through the air and sent a shiver down his spine.

The roar of dragonkind.

He had hoped, after he had finally killed Irrlichdan, to never hear that sound again. He had hoped that after he slew their king, that the dragons would never again unite against any enemy.

Someone had stolen his magic from him.

Then, they had come for him.

The cat was coming for him.

He should have realised it, when he was toying with her. She may not have been a physical threat to him at the time, she may have been terrified of him, at the time, but he should never have dismissed her as a threat.

Sai's bitching little neko had a talent for survival that was rivalled only by his own, and hers was not reliant on magic stolen by ritual and demon blood.

He should have killed Slag, instead of giving him a name and a title. He had allowed the man to become something he admired, instead of a vulnerability to be destroyed.

He had made too many mistakes.

If Kaden survived this, he needed to treat these mistakes as he had after Tamamo de Mae had tried to execute him. No kitsune dared to cross into his territory. Not anymore.

Perhaps he was too lenient with them, as well.

When Kaden had found the wastes at the edge of his empire, he had stopped. The mud that could barely feed the rabble that barely survived there had made him halt. Made him decide that not everything was worth owning.

It wouldn't take hundreds of soldiers to seize control of the wastes. It would take thousands. You would have to spill as much blood as there is mud, just to get it. Keeping it would take even more.

You would be forced to transform it, piece by bloody piece, until the wastes didn't exist anymore.

Yet, if you did that, there was no more ground for the enemy to hide in.

Allowing his enemy to live, even if it was a half-life, was a mercy that he should not have allowed. His kindness had once again endangered him, and so Kaden would become the enemy. He would embrace every avenue of evil, until no one could threaten him and his goal.

He would bathe the world in blood, make the entire world into his sacrifice.

He would become their god.

First, he would have to survive them. Survive all the scheming little bastards who took a piece of his empire. The ministers. The lords. The ladies. The slaves and eunuchs.

He would kill them.

He would kill them all.

Kaden would sacrifice the entire population of the capital, getting rid of all the bastards. That is what it would take to ease his mind. He couldn't allow himself to become mortal. Not when he was so close.

"By blood begun, by blood undone." He muttered to himself.

How much was the fucking neko willing to sacrifice, so that she could steal what belonged to him? Kaden wondered just how far she would go to get what she wanted.

Whatever it was, it wouldn't be enough. He would always go further. Always do what was necessary. He would make her beg to die, just so that she wouldn't have to see the world that she had helped to create by making him take her seriously as a threat.

She would wish all he had done was fuck her.

It had to be connected to her.

The destruction of the Crucible wasn't the only surge of magic that Kaden had picked up. That had come from below the city, far below. Another surge, larger and far more wide reaching, had come from his city.

He'd recognised the spell instantly.

He was the one who had created it.

The spell of disenchantment, that could break any bond.

The true power behind a slave collar wasn't that the slaving spell was somehow fixed into the object with some powerful magic that made it so only one single spell could break it.

It was that no spell could break it.

No spell, except the spell that could break all enchantments. A spell that could block, reverse, and shred any other spell. The spell that could undo all others.

He had been the one to discover it, craft it. Using the knowledge of the spell as a way to expand his influence beyond the borders of his empire. Selling off mages who he taught the spell to as a means of enticing other distant rulers into trade relationships.

He had built the world on the backs of a new kind of slavery. It didn't matter if it was his empire, or someone else's. They all had to pay a royalty to him, or lose their ability to control their slaves.

Kaden was struggling to imagine the kind of mage who could discover his fucking spell, on their own, and then somehow deploy it with enough power that it could spread out beyond the borders of his fucking empire.

The only one who came close, was Menes, and Kaden had made certain that the orcs had ensured that fucker was never coming back.

Yet, if one fucked up orc could find a way to summon and bind a demon, then it could be done again. Someone else, who may have been trying to sacrifice the orcs with the destruction of the Crucible, might have siphoned off some of that power.

The creativity to imagine stealing the power of a dark god, and then succeeding, put this threat higher than any that had ever stood at Kaden.

It... It couldn't be the cat.

He could see her doing the Crucible. She might be able to guess enough from her relationship with Slag. She had managed to find the city beneath the city.

She had grasped Elatham's death magic incredibly quickly, as well. Magic that was demonic in nature, but was barely touching onto what Kaden had. It had power, but nothing compared to what was required.

Yet, the experience of wielding a little, may have created a craving for more.

How would she have gained more?

He felt his breathing increase. The cat must have been pursuing the piece of Menes.

Slag. Westcolm. Elatham.

All were missing or dead. All were connected with the cat shortly beforehand. All of them had a grudge or six against the emperor. If she had somehow stolen their magic, she might be able to get enough of an understanding to summon a demon.

If she made a deal with that demon... She might have the power required to cast that spell.

Gods he regretted not cutting her head off.

She had proved, as far as the idiots were concerned, her own personal prowess by destroying decades of industry in a single moment. Now, the walls of his city were shaking as she attempted to prove the power of her allies and army.

She was trying to convince the ministers to out him.

---

"What... What is this?" Arina asked quietly, looking to her master in horror as he proffered the small bundle to her.

"One who was lost. Who who needs help, your guidance." He spoke quietly, gently. "It hurts, Arina. I know it does. I know just how much you love his mother, but his time is at an end. All you can do is provide comfort as you guide him to the next world."

"What god would take him? His life was over before it began!" She said desperately.