[Kitsu POV]
"Well, how have you been?" Mom asked, her voice carrying easily across the open stone training ground as she stepped inside. Her presence was always obvious—the air itself seemed to straighten when she walked in, like even the wind bowed to her.
"I have been great, Mom," I said quickly, brightening when I saw her. A genuine smile tugged at my face as I set down the practice blade I had been working with. "How is the Kuni territory turning out?"
"Absolutely horrible," she said flatly, her expression souring. She crossed the open floor, her boots clicking lightly against the polished stone, and folded her arms. "The demons have noticed something has happened, so they're stationing more soldiers at the border to pressure us into something. I don't know what just yet, though."
I tilted my head, frowning at her words. "What do you mean by pressuring you into something? Don't they just want to start a war again?"
"No," she said sharply, dismissing my question with a flick of her hand. "They won't start one if the Federation doesn't move first. And besides, they lost all the previous wars against us—even when we were distracted by the Federation." Her tone had that crisp finality she always used when she wanted me to stop poking holes in her reasoning.
I raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. "With those Kunis running the house?"
"They were forceful, you know," Mom replied, her voice calm, but it only made me more doubtful.
"When?" I scoffed. "Those dwarfs believe he fucked them over. They're a marquis house—they need to hold the line when the time comes. That's literally their job. If they're screwing it up now, then they're just dumb." My frustration leaked into my tone, my tail flicking behind me.
"I can understand that high dwarfs are really rare and strong assets for battles," Mom admitted with a sigh, shrugging her shoulders, "but then again, they pampered those two far too much. Made them useless."
I snorted softly. "I wouldn't know. I haven't been that attentive to what races exist in the world." I shrugged as well, mirroring her without much thought.
"That reminds me," she said, tilting her head slightly, her eyes narrowing with curiosity. "How are they doing?"
"Right, right, they did come with us, didn't they?" I said, blinking, a little embarrassed at my absentmindedness. I nodded awkwardly, scratching the back of my head.
"You forgot about them," Mom said, smiling knowingly, her lips curving into that smile that told me she'd seen right through me.
"Yeah… I did," I muttered, ears twitching as I looked away.
"Did Kayda forget about them as well?" she asked thoughtfully.
"I think so? I haven't seen them since we got here." I tilted my head back, thinking. My memory was nothing but hours of training, the constant repetition of movement, mana flow, and experimenting with new ideas. Faces outside that loop blurred too easily.
"You've been training most of the time, so I doubt you would," Mom said, shaking her head lightly. "I'll have to ask Kayda, then."
"Is there anything else you would like to know?" I asked quickly, wanting to steer the conversation away from my forgetfulness.
"Yeah," Mom said, her tone shifting as she narrowed her eyes at me. "What was that mana you used on the sis-con?"
"Oh yeah, my invisible mana." I grinned and snapped my fingers, forming a dagger of translucent nothingness in my hand. The air shimmered faintly, warping light around it. "It's cool, right?" I asked before casually flicking the dagger at Mom.
Her hand shot up like a snake, catching it effortlessly despite the fact that it couldn't be seen. She frowned. "This is really fascinating. And don't throw stuff like this at me."
"Well, I knew you would be able to catch it," I said, shrugging, trying to hide my smirk. "To you, this is just a small trick anyway."
"I won't say it's a small trick, Kitsuna." She examined the invisible dagger for a second longer before letting it dissipate into the air. "This can potentially kill anyone without them knowing how they died or who killed them. The perfect assassin's weapon."
I nodded in agreement. "That is the plan."
"So, how did you learn this?" she pressed, watching me carefully.
"Well, that is my true self, Mana," I explained, puffing out my chest proudly.
"...What?" Mom tilted her head at me, eyebrows rising. "You mean… this trickery and stealth is your true self?"
"Well, in a way, yeah."
"It makes sense," she said finally, nodding to herself. "Did Kayda help you?"
"'Look into yourself to know yourself,'" I said, quoting Kayda's cryptic words. "She told me something like that and left." I shrugged.
"Fuck you, you're a monster," Mom muttered, though there was a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth as she let the last wisps of the dagger dissipate.
"Hey, that isn't nice," I protested halfheartedly.
"As if you care." She rolled her eyes. "Anyway, why did you need to learn this?"
"Well, it's to cut through Adamite," I explained simply.
"What?" Mom blinked, baffled.
"I need to learn how to cut through unrefined Adamite. That's what Steve said." I shrugged, not really understanding everything Steve had told me but repeating it anyway.
"Wait, so that's how he makes demigod weapons?" Mom asked, her voice sharp, disbelief lacing her words.
"Yeah. He puts his true self's mana into the atmosphere before forging a weapon around it. Or… well, that's what I understood when he explained it to me."
"I wonder…"
"Hmm?" I tilted my head, humming curiously at her.
"Don't worry. I'll have to have a talk with Steve next time I see him," she said, which only confused me further. But her tone made it clear it wasn't something I needed to press.
"Okay," I said, dropping it.
"Well, when are you going back to him to start learning about forging?" Mom asked, her expression softening again.
"Tomorrow," I said. I flexed my fingers, creating a few hundred needles of invisible mana above my hand before letting them disperse in a glittering shimmer. "I can hold it for quite a while now, so I'm satisfied."
"That's good," she said warmly.
"Thanks for speaking with him about teaching me. This will be a wonderful skill to have before the tournament."
"Anything for my daughters," Mom said suddenly, stepping forward to wrap me in a quick hug. Her arms squeezed me just tightly enough to make my ears burn red.
"Right," I muttered, rubbing the back of my head shyly when she pulled away.
"Oh, another thing," she said, her eyes narrowing again. "How did you learn to damage people's souls? I hope you haven't done any experiments with people." Her voice carried a warning tone.
"Ah, no. It was my first time trying it after Kayda did it to me. I really didn't think it would work," I admitted, shaking my head quickly.
"Well, devil magic is terrible for a person's soul, so that might have been why it worked so easily for you," Mom explained, making me nod slowly in understanding.
"Ah, I see. Interesting."
"Don't do that, though. The world and the system don't like it if you destroy or damage souls too much," she warned more seriously, her tone sharper now.
"What? Why?" I asked, frowning.
"Don't worry about it. Just remember you can't destroy people's souls without backlash."
"But you can eat them," I muttered without thinking, raising an eyebrow.
"..." Mom's silence hit like a hammer. She just looked at me, and suddenly my back was slick with sweat.
"Sorry," I blurted, looking down, ears drooping. "I shouldn't have said it like that."
"He is the sin of gluttony. It is a skill created by society, so it is acceptable for him to engage in it," Mom explained stiffly, though her voice carried a simmering anger.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have mentioned it," I said quickly, apologetically.
"Don't worry about it," Mom muttered finally, turning and leaving the training grounds.
I let out a long sigh, rubbing my face. "I should really learn how to filter my words."
[Next day morning]
"So Mom already went back to the Kunis' territory," I said aloud, sighing heavily.
"Yes, she left just after talking to you," one of the servants confirmed from the doorway.
"Aaah, for fuck's sake," I groaned, thunking my forehead against the wall.
"What's wrong?" Kayda's voice asked from behind me.
"I brought up the sin of gluttony," I muttered.
"Good idea," Kayda said dryly, slapping me on the back of the head.
"Yeah, yeah," I muttered, rubbing the spot. "We were talking about souls and stuff, but I got annoyed that I'm not allowed to damage souls."
"Kitsu, I didn't show you how to damage souls so you could torture people like that," Kayda scolded, crossing her arms. Her sharp eyes pinned me in place. "I showed you that there is a weakness you still need to work on. And you need to be on guard for that critical weakness."
"What? Is that what you meant when you did that?" I asked, genuinely surprised.
"Yes. Didn't you understand that?" Kayda sighed, exasperated.
"Ah, of course I understood," I said quickly, looking away in embarrassment. "I'll create a proper shield for that."
"Alright. If it makes you feel better, I actually didn't think you'd know how to do that in a few days. You really made that sis-con suffer with ease."
"Well, that was the only way I could actually make him hurt. If it weren't for you two, I would've been a pancake against my ice wall," I admitted honestly.
"Oh right, I forgot to tell you," Kayda said suddenly, her tone shifting, "Angel Bitch disappeared again. But I think she actually left the kingdom this time."
"Really? To where?" I asked, tilting my head.
"The Federation."
"Great. So she joined the angels there?" I muttered thoughtfully.
"Most likely."
"She has already left, and it hasn't even been a year." "Well, it's not really a surprise," I said with a shrug. I really couldn't care less what she did.
"You don't seem mad or anything," Kayda noted, watching me carefully, like she was probing.
"She can do whatever she wants," I said flatly. Then my voice dropped to a mutter, "But if I see her again, I'll be ripping those wings off."
Kayda smirked faintly but chose not to comment.
"Anyway, that concludes my updates," I said, shaking my head. "What are you going to do?"
"I'll be going to Steve's smithy to get some learning done before the tournament," I said firmly.
"Did you go through all those Smith books I gave you?" Kayda asked, one eyebrow rising.
I nodded. "No. Some of them are way too advanced. I need practical experience to understand the intermediate ones first."
"Okay. Good luck with that, then. Please don't go and kidnap anyone," Kayda said dryly.
"I won't do that. And it's your fault for letting me go on my own," I teased, shrugging.
"Don't try to shift the blame," she shot back, narrowing her eyes.
"Fine, fine. Anyway, I've got to go to Steve's smithy. See you later today." I turned, pulling open the massive double doors of the mansion. Cool morning air rushed in.
"Okay. Enjoy learning," Kayda called after me, waving lazily.
Her words followed me out in the bright morning. For the first time in days, my mind felt light, fixed on what lay ahead rather than the mess behind.