"Heh. Bringing your sisters won't change anything," he scoffed. The God of Light scoffed, standing confidently as his radiant aura pulsed outward in waves. His eyes darted between the three of us—identical in appearance, voice, and mana signature.
"It will," I said flatly—my voice carrying from all three bodies, echoing through the arena's sealed black barrier.
He doesn't know. Good. The longer he thinks we're all separate people, the easier it'll be to overwhelm him.'
The god narrowed his eyes. "Hmm. The task might be a bit hard… only a bit, though."
He blurred forward again—straight at me—but halted immediately when he caught sight of the weapon in my hands.
He took a full step back.
"You… How do you have something like that?!" He demanded, staring at the black katana infused with demigod energy.
"Are you dumb? Who's my mother?" I said with a smirk, then vanished—reappearing behind him in a flash and swinging the blade downward.
Clang!
His own divine sword met mine, metal and light grinding against obsidian frost.
'That hesitation… He recognizes it. Good. Stay off balance.'
My weapon looked like a forged blade, but it was born of me—ice magic laced with demon mana, compressed and hardened through divine forge techniques Steve had drilled into my skull.
"I just need to keep the pressure on." I considered encasing my entire body in ice armor of demigod quality. Cold flooded the arena.
The god growled, stepping back and shielding his eyes for a split second. "You!!! What are you?! This isn't possible!"
"A fox," I answered, ducking under his counter swing and aiming low—trying to slice through his knees.
Clang! Another block, but he stumbled.
"You seriously are a fox!" he barked, slamming a palm into the ground. BOOM! A wave of light burst outward, blasting me back.
As dust settled—
Bang! Bang!
Two high-velocity shots rang out from behind the cloud—my sisters, both hovering in midair, rifles raised.
"AAAGHH!" the god screamed as the bullets struck his back, staggering him forward—straight into my waiting blade.
"Fuck off!" he shouted, catching my swing mid-motion and pushing hard.
He looked shocked when I didn't budge.
"No." I forced him back a step, holding my ground as my "sisters" repositioned above, lining up clean angles.
Bang! Bang! More shots fired.
The god jumped back, dodging the bullets with narrow movements, then lunged at one of my sisters, radiant sword flashing.
She grinned. "Heh. Seriously?"
Right before impact, her body dissolved into snowflakes, scattering harmlessly.
She reformed across the arena with her twin—both floating lazily like it was a game.
'Split-second clone-phase swap. Textbook misdirection.'
The god spun, disoriented—and caught five ice spears from behind, aimed directly at his spine.
CRACK—SMASH!
He snarled and twisted, barely shielding in time. The impact tore at his robe's seams.
"You're just like your mother. Annoying!"
"Thank you for the compliment," I said sweetly, motioning with my hand.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The twins resumed fire. One strafed left, the other right—pinning him between us.
"It wasn't one!!" he bellowed, erupting with divine light and smashing the spears before the bullets arrived.
'I need to speed up the bullet enchantments,' I thought. 'They're too slow to threaten him at this range.'
Then he locked eyes with me again.
I flinched. That look meant business.
"Let's get rid of the real one first," he muttered, summoning twin lightblades and darting toward me.
"Mom said never swing your swords in an X," I said, stepping sideways.
His blades crisscrossed down—harmlessly missing me.
I brought my katana up.
SLASH!
His right arm went flying.
"AUGH!!"
"That's why you don't do that."
As expected, his divine body began to regenerate almost immediately—but slower this time. I pressed the advantage, feinting high before going low.
He blocked it.
"You rat!" he snarled, furious at how I moved around him.
He was fast—blindingly so—but predictable. Sloppy. As Gran always said, gods were powerful, but gods were arrogant.
I backed off just enough to watch him panic.
"Boy!!" he yelled, eyes snapping to the sideline.
Logan, still kneeling, responded, "Yes, Father!"
He threw up several divine buffs—holy armor, agility, and even damage reflection.
"Good."
The god surged with energy, now glowing brighter than ever. In an instant, he appeared in front of me and slammed his fist into my gut.
"Agh—kidding." I winced, then smiled through the pain—and headbutted him.
"AGH!!"
"Don't play with your food," I whispered—then plunged my blade into his gut.
He staggered, coughing lightly.
I let go of the blade and jumped back, drawing a second one—gleaming with frosted runes.
Then, with a flicker, all illusions dropped.
I revealed my full form—nine fox tails extended, each glowing with their element. Ice, fire, storm, void...
Logan gasped from the sidelines.
"A nine-tailed fox?!"
The god scowled. "Hmph. This just got harder."
His body surged with radiant pressure. "AUGH! Boy."
Logan drew his sword and began charging toward us.
I raised my hand, pointing at him.
"Sisters—focus on the boy. I'll handle the god."
The two "sisters" vanished midair—reappearing near Logan, rifles trained on his position.
"That'll help," the god said smugly. "No more suppression fire on me."
"Sure."
I raised a handheld railgun.
FWUMMMM—CLACK—
I fired.
"It's slow," he said, stepping aside. —
And then he looked down.
Half of his torso disintegrated.
"What the—!"
The dimensional round had phased through his shields and bypassed armor entirely.
Seizing the moment, I rushed in.
SLASH.
My blade nicked his chest, exposing a swirling mana core deep inside.
"Oh... so that's how I kill you," I whispered, eyes locking onto the core before the skin closed around it again.
'Game on.'
"FUUUCK!"
The god erupted in a storm of light magic, lightning cracking around him like a divine storm.
I skidded back across the stone floor, hair whipping, tails shielding me.
'Ugh… why do I always jinx myself?'
[Stacy—Outside the Dome]
"Kayda, we don't have time!" I snapped, knuckles white around the grips of my axes. My eyes locked on the arena's heart—on the obsidian-black dome now webbed with crimson cracks. Kitsune's mana surged behind it, wild and unstable, flaring like a dying star.
Kayda stood beside me, silent. Arms crossed. Her expression was unreadable. The wind tugged at her crimson robes, but she didn't so much as blink.
"She'll be fine," she said at last, meeting my gaze with eerie calm.
I stared at her like she'd lost her mind. "Your wife is fighting a half-divine abomination in there, and you're telling me she'll be fine?"
"Yes," Kayda said simply. "But we won't be if we don't focus on our fight."
I followed her gaze—and grimaced.
"Ugh. Seriously?"
One of those bloated, golden bastards was descending from the fractured sky. Eight black wings spread wide behind him, twisted into a mockery of a halo, his golden aura pulsing with each beat. A second emerged from a spiraling gate across the battlefield.
"There are two," I muttered.
"Three," Kayda corrected, nodding to our left.
I turned—and froze.
Another figure had landed silently. No pressure. No theatrics. Just presence. The tattoos spiraling down his arms made my stomach drop.
Those markings…
'It's like the one that killed my parents… But I already killed him. I'm sure of it.'
My grip tightened on the axes, leather creaking beneath my fingers.
"That one's going to be a problem," Kayda murmured, calm as ever.
Before I could speak, a whisper curled beside my ear—smooth, smug.
"Don't worry about him for now. Go for the winged one. Sara and I will handle the marked one."
A figure of shadow—one of the kingdom's guardian gods—coalesced on my shoulder, his body like coiling smoke.
"She's not enough," I growled, refusing to look away from the tattooed clone.
A second voice joined in as another divine presence landed behind us.
"She doesn't have to win," said the other god. "She just has to stall him."
I glanced toward Kayda, then back to the winged clone descending ahead.
'Funny,' I thought, bitterness rising, 'our kingdom has three gods—and I'm stronger than all of them.'
A soft hum pulsed at my wrist—Dean's voice came through the communication rune, velvet-smooth and confident.
"Don't distract yourself right before the fight, love. I have things under control. You know that."
Click.
He cut the call before I could reply. Typical.
I sighed and rolled my eyes. "You heard him. Let's wrap this up fast."
Kayda didn't respond. Her gaze remained fixed on the dome.
"What now?" I asked, shifting into a stance.
She smiled faintly, with something wistful behind it. "Just wondering when she'll show up."
"Who—"
BOOM.
The sky split open again. But it wasn't the original God of Light.
It was the eight-winged clone—descending slowly, spear in hand, the weight of divine judgment pouring off him like molten iron. He wasn't like the others. He was a general. A herald.
And he was smiling.
I felt the rush of adrenaline kick in.
"Are you ready?"
He didn't answer. He just hurled his spear like a comet.
"Kayda, do your thing."
"Always," she whispered.
The air around us shimmered—magic and rot thickening the sky as scourge mana surged.
[Split from the Arena—Earlier]
Just minutes before, the team had split under fire.
The arena floor shook violently as the barrier dome encased Kitsuna and the divine threat inside. None of us could get in—not without shattering it and killing everyone within.
"We split," I said quickly, scanning the sky as divine pressure descended. "I'll handle the winged clone. Kayda's with me."
"Got it," Sara said, her knives already drawn, eyes on the marked one. "I'll stall the tattooed freak."
The gods appeared beside her, cloaked in smoke and light.
"I'll keep her alive," said one with a smirk.
"I'll bind space," the other added. "You know how this goes."
Kayda nodded once. "We'll meet back when Kitsuna ends it."
The last thing I saw before we took off was the sky fracturing above us—and Kitsuna's roar behind the dome.
[3rd POV]
Kayda and Stacy vs. a God of Light Clone
The sky was broken.
Lightning flashed across a war-torn horizon as the black dome crackled behind them. From its heart, Kitsuna's battle raged on, hidden from the world. But the storm outside was just as real.
Kayda, the Red Sage, hovered midair, eyes glowing with scourge runes. Below her, the earth rotted in patches, corrupted by residual magic. Standing on a shattered column with arms crossed, Stacy adjusted the twin axes strapped to her back, gaze steady.
Before them floated a clone of the God of Light, radiating divine energy like a second sun. He wasn't posturing. He was waiting. Measuring.
"You're wasting your strength," Kayda called. "This isn't your real body."
The clone smiled. "This body is really enough to kill both of you."
Stacy spat to the side. "You talk a lot for a glorified puppet."
"Mortal arrogance."
He raised a hand—light spears rained from the sky, a divine barrage.
Kayda raised a finger. "Decay Field."
The air warped as the spears entered her range—light twisted, aged, and crumbled mid-fall, disintegrating into dust before reaching the ground.
The rest? Stacy was already on the move.
She exploded forward, dual axes drawn in a reverse grip. No war cry. No hesitation.
Just steel.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Each swing was a blur—force over finesse, yet precise. The clone dodged the first strike and parried the second, but the third embedded itself in his side, sending him tumbling.
He righted himself midair, expression tightening.
"She's fast," he muttered.
Kayda hovered higher, eyes narrowed. "You haven't seen fast yet."
She opened her palm.
"Entropy Wave."
A spiral of black light erupted from her fingertips, curving and weaving through the air. The clone turned with his blade drawn and sliced the wave in half, but the edges still brushed against his leg.
"Ugh—what…?"
He looked down. The flesh around his shin was decaying.
"Scourge magic," Kayda explained. "It doesn't burn. It rots you alive."
He tried to regenerate it—his divine body started reversing the decay—but then—
WHAM.
Stacy's boot met his face, sending him crashing into the cratered ground below.
She landed beside him, cracking her neck.
"Are you done monologuing yet?"
The clone teleported behind her, blade swinging low—
But she pivoted without turning her head, bringing up an axe with a perfect block. Sparks exploded as divine steel met mortal iron.
"Hmph. You're not human."
"Nope." Stacy shifted her foot and twisted, knocking him off balance. "I'm worse."
She kneed him in the stomach, flipped backward, and hurled one of her axes like a boomerang.
The clone raised a shield of light.
Too slow.
CRACK!
The weapon tore through his side, spinning back to Stacy's hand. She caught it without breaking stride.
Kayda descended slowly behind them, steps light, her presence like frost creeping across the battlefield.
"You look tired," she said.
The clone coughed. "You're not even using full power…"
"Neither is she," Kayda replied, nodding toward Stacy. "That's the scary part."
Stacy cracked her knuckles. "I'll swing for real next round."
The clone snarled. "ENOUGH!"
His body surged with holy light—an explosion of pressure knocked them both back.
He hovered, armor cracked, glowing veins pulsing across his body.
"I was sent here to slow you down. But I'll end this if I can."
Kayda rolled her shoulders, the decay aura around her intensifying. Sigils flared up along her spine.
"And we're here to remind you why that's not going to happen."
Stacy stepped forward again, dragging the blunt edge of one axe along the ground. Sparks flew.
"Come on, clone boy. Round two."