Nearby, a small rabbit in a top hat was examining his revolver with a worried expression.
He deeply regretted shooting the boy a short time ago.
"Damn, I'm out of bullets…" The crazy rabbit muttered to himself on the edge of one of the floating isles.
"I need money to buy more…" He sighed.
He had already burned through a lot of crystals to buy the gold-rimmed glasses, the top hat and the suit.
Money ran through his hands like water.
Still, he stared at the horizon with determination.
"I just need to hunt one more demon… one tour for the black heart and I'll scrape together the crystals in no time."
He laughed manically.
"Just one more adventure and soon my name will be carved into the minds of those damned ones."
"They'll all remember my name with fear and terror! I will be their worst nightmare, their nemesis! The greatest demon hunter in history."
He gestured, lost in his own vainglory — then a heavy shadow fell over him.
"Got you." A voice said suddenly, then threw a rope and yanked him by the ears.
"What the—"
The rabbit felt his strength drain from his body out of nowhere, the shock of being so weak and helpless tearing him from his illusions.
Then the hand rotated him, allowing a good look at his captor.
"Hi, crazy little rabbit, ready to become my meal?" Azriel said, laughing, hiding behind that smile a pinch of sadism as mad as the rabbit himself.
"Crazy kid? What the hell are you doing here?" The rabbit asked, more curious than frightened. "And how?"
"Long story. One my meal doesn't need to hear." He set the rabbit on the ground.
Then took more things from his backpack: some utensils for the job.
"Hey, hey, hey! I thought this was a joke!" the rabbit snapped, suddenly nervous.
"You're really going to eat me?!"
"Of course. I don't toy with food." Azriel began sharpening his knife.
"It'll be quick and painless, and you'll be delicious, I promise." The rabbit screamed and thrashed.
"Hold on, kid! I'm still very young! Let's talk. I know I'm tasty, but I'm tasty alive! Dead I'd taste like carrion!"
Azriel kept laughing as the rabbit struggled.
"Help! Someone! He's going to cook me!"
The rabbit called desperately.
"Well, I might consider letting you go alive," Azriel said suddenly.
"Just tell me where the foxes' home is and lead me there."
Azriel had already asked the lizardmen, and they didn't know the exact location.
But of course, preparations had been made with this in mind.
The crazy rabbit knew where the foxes lived, and the ordinary stone pointed to him.
Azriel had entered the spirit world near the rabbit.
"No way I'll take you there! Swap one predator for another? Are you crazy, kid?"He thrashed furiously, and yet the rope only tightened.
"So you choose to be my meal…"
Azriel wasn't fazed by the reply as he continued slicing an onion.
The rabbit would make a fine skewer.
"Wait, wait, I might not have choose!" The rabbit tried to bargain.
"I mean, you don't need me to go the whole way, do you?" Azriel smiled and brought the knife closer.
"Don't worry. It'll be quick."
The rabbit's eyes widened in shock, then squeezed shut in fear of death.
"Done."
Azriel then cut the rope.
"We have a deal." The rabbit looked around fearfully before staring at the smiling boy in front of him.
"You damned kid, I swore you were going to kill me!" The rabbit soon recovered from the trauma.
"A deal? What deal? I only spat words. Come here now and I'll show you the taste of my bullet!"
He whipped out his revolver and pulled the trigger with a mad laugh.
Click. Click. Click.
"..."
They looked at each other in silence for a few moments.
"And they say humans are treacherous." Azriel sighed, glancing at the rabbit before sitting on a nearby stone.
"I save you from certain death and this is how you treat your savior."
"W-what? You were going to kill me!" the rabbit stammered in outrage. Azriel snorted at the audacity.
"I saved you, and that's what matters. Don't get hung up on small details." He put away the knives.
"Anyway," Azriel resumed the subject, "where is the foxes' home? I saw a few around, but most either ran away or seemed terminally stupid."
"Well… if we're talking about the same foxes, of course some look stupid or flee…" the rabbit said cryptically.
"The true foxes, the legendary ones who serve the Fox God, don't like to be seen."
"And those that seem stupid are merely imitations of the ones we're after." The rabbit concluded.
"So there are true ones?" Azriel asked, and the rabbit nodded in agreement.
"We are spirits. We're born in all possible forms, but that doesn't mean we're all the same."
"The servants of the Fox God reproduce among themselves, instead of simply springing from nothingness like the magnificent me."
"Not everyone can just be born at will."
The rabbit swelled with pride for a few moments while Azriel reviewed his knowledge of the spirit world.
"I see… so you emerged from nothing, while they actually get pregnant and all that…" Azriel concluded.
"Exactly. Honestly, I don't understand the appeal of having children, but the foxes are very fond of the idea."
"I've even heard the priestess herself has had over a thousand children! And she's still strong and determined to have even more, even after centuries."
"Oh yes, their home is to the north, about three islands that way. That's where the Fox God's temple is."
The rabbit pointed, already weary of talking so much about the rabbit hunters.
He had fought the foxes hundreds of times in the past, though not all his kin had been so lucky.
"The temple, huh? Do you know if any pilgrims have visited it?" The crazy rabbit glanced at the lunatic beside him.
"Pilgrims?" The rabbit laughed.
"Of course not. They were all killed centuries ago! No one comes here anymore. If they did, the foxes wouldn't be hiding so much."
"They'd be out searching for and protecting their humans."
"Just imagine how happy those poor wretches would be to find a pilgrim after all this time."
"But unfortunately, they're all dead, as are all their descendants." The rabbit scratched his ear as if commenting on the weather.
"They tried to fight for us spirits only to die in the end. A shame, but that's how things are."
"Choose the wrong side once, and all the generations that follow are condemned." The rabbit yawned under Azriel Twintails' scrutiny.
"Not going to say anything, boy?" Azriel Twintails stared at him for a few more moments, questioning the rabbit's intelligence.
"My name, what is it again?" Azriel asked.
"My surname, does it sound common to you?" The rabbit puzzled over this for a moment, and then a light flared in his eyes.
"A survivor… oh."