Upon Fangstrong's is massive shoulder sat a small girl, cheerful and unshaken.
"You all just never learn, do you?" she said, shaking her head with a sigh. "One of these days, Hachiman-sama will truly lose his temper, and when that happens, you'll regret it."
She was petite, with long pink hair tied at both sides, streaked with black strands that framed her face.
Both she and the hulking man wore uniforms resembling Brown's, though their lower garments were grey, not white.
The girl's outfit in particular stood apart—frilly and pale yellow, exposing her abdomen and clashing almost mockingly with the grim blood-soaked field.
Onee-sama moved toward them with graceful composure, bowing slightly as if in greeting.
"Good morning, Fangstrong-sama. Good morning, Chiyama-sama," she said politely. "Please forgive our infiltration. But we carry a to-do list, and tormenting the wolves happened to be written on it. If you must be enraged, direct your fury toward the list. Now, if you would excuse us, we were in the middle of a massacre."
Chiyama's body suddenly crackled with pink lightning as she vanished from Fangstrong's shoulder.
At that same instant, Fangstrong's thick, muscular arm came crashing down upon Onee-sama with a force that shattered the earth.
DUUUNNN!!!
The snow beneath her feet was obliterated in an instant, yet she caught his massive fist with nothing more than her small, delicate hand.
"Ohoho. To strike at a delicate maiden such as myself," Onee-sama giggled, her tone both mocking and graceful. "You certainly lack charm."
"As expected of the leader of the Kitsunes!" Fangstrong bellowed, pulling back his massive hand for another strike. "Let us finally settle, once and for all, who truly holds authority over strength!"
And so, their destructive clash began, with each blow cleaving through friend and foe alike.
Despite Onee-sama's small stature, she defended herself with remarkable ease, countering Fangstrong's brute force with fluid precision.
In fact, her diminutive size gave her a slight advantage, allowing her to slip past the titan's heavy swings and press the attack.
Meanwhile, a wave of pink light shot across the battlefield, striking at the remaining Kitsunes in a relentless hit-and-run approach.
"Damn that coward!" Gold roared in fury. "Stand and fight! Stop hopping around!"
In that moment, a clawed hand suddenly materialized in front of Gold's face.
"GASP!" She quickly braced herself for a deathly slash, only to feel her golden hair ruffled instead.
"It's not cowardly if it happens in war, Goldie-tan." Chiyama giggled mischievously.
Gold's cheeks flushed crimson as she folded her arms in flustered protest.
"S-Stop treating me like a kid! Jeez!"
The next moment, both Gold and Chiyama froze stiff.
"Hehehe! Foolish pup!" Green laughed as her emerald eyes glowed brightly. "You forgot you were fighting more than one enemy, didn't you? Now, Blue! Crush her adorable little face into a shattered mess!"
"Eh?! B-But Goldie is over there too!" Blue cried nervously.
"Huh?! Quit your yapping," Green snapped in irritation. "She will just revive back at the Palace! Now do it!"
"No! I'm not hurting my sister!" Blue shouted from the safety of Silver's back. "Silver, tell her!"
"Green, that won't do," Silver muttered with his droopy silver eyes, his voice calm but firm. "Even if Gold would revive… it would still hurt a lot."
"Tsk!" Green clicked her tongue in frustration. "Fine, I'll carefully set her free now."
She narrowed her eyes, focusing as she tried to release only Gold.
But before she could finish, Chiyama vanished in a sudden flash of pink lightning. In the next instant, all four Kitsunes were bound together with a single rope.
"Ah! I knew it! I should have killed them both, after all!" Green whined.
"You bastard of a sibling!" Gold shouted furiously, thrashing against the ropes. "You think dying feels good, huh?!"
Chiyama puffed out her chest with pride and laughed heartily.
"Uwah! Look, a washboard for a chest!" Green mocked.
"Who are you calling a washboard, you brat?!" Gold spat back instantly.
"Idiot, I was talking to the pink dog!"
THUD!
"Hm?"
The sound of something heavy hitting the ground startled the foxes.
They turned to see Chiyama lying unconscious in the snow, blood trickling from a wound on her head.
"Brown!" the Kitsunes cheered at once.
The small boy stood nearby with a brick in hand, which was glowing with golden runes and symbols; his hair disheveled and dirtied from being blasted into the ground earlier by Fangstrong.
"Tsk! Damn that old man," he muttered under his breath, throwing the brick, as he began untying his siblings. "And what the hell is with this knot?! Damn wolf doll!—Eep!"
Brown flinched, and so did the others.
Because, the air suddenly grew heavy as several powerful presences emerged in the distance.
From the shadowed edge of the battlefield, a woman stepped forward.
Her long black hair, tied at the back, was streaked with a single lock of white at the side, and her dark eyes gleamed with sharp red pupils.
At her waist hung a sheathed katana, and her attire matched Fangstrong's in every detail.
She was Swanir, leader of the Phantom Fangs: an elite unit—counting Fangstrong and Chiyama—directly under the command of the Jōnin, lieutenants who served the Supreme Lord ruling over this domain.
Beside her stood a figure who bore a striking resemblance to her, her brother—Bladir, though his gaze seemed distracted, fixed on something distant.
"Stand down, Kitsunes!" Swanir's commanding voice rang out across the battlefield. "You are now in the presence of the Lords of this domain."
The Lords of the domain were three in number.
First was Hachiman, a boy who appeared strikingly young, his green eyes marked by a four-pointed black star that glimmered like an evil eye.
Beside him stood Shizuka, a girl who bore the exact likeness of Hachiman, save for the subtle differences of long black hair cascading down her back and a pair of piercing blue eyes that carried little patience.
And finally, there was Trigger—a tall man clad in a suit, his long, wild black hair untamed, and his golden eyes glowing with an intensity that made even silence tremble.
Trigger surveyed the bloodshed before him, a small smile curling his lips.
Then he began, his voice casual, almost playful. "How are you children doing today?"
"We are doing most excellent, Trigger-sama," Onee-sama responded with a bow.
Not far from her, Fangstrong lay in ruin, his upper half completely missing, the blood pooling beneath him steaming in the frigid air.
She continued, "If you and the Twin Shadow Jōnin had not appeared when you did, our plan was to annihilate more than two-thirds of the Specter Wolves."