The Dark Mage

Chapter 2: Tanuki Duo

     It had been a couple months since Natalia Whitetail was discharged from the hospital after surviving a plane crash, and it felt good to finally move around again, even if she felt aches and pains around her body from broken bones that had only recently healed. But with her close friend and partner Buck Ringtail with their asset Titania, life was good. No need to worry about planet-glassing superweapons, 8-tailed Protogen Kitsunes, Valkyries invading their house, or any of the other crazy shenanigans that happened the previous year. It was finally time to get everything back to normal.

      So, Buck thought he might do something nice for his mission partner and remembered how she liked dragon milk cocoa and bought a cup at a local café. Buck then looked warmly into Natalia's beagle brown eyes with a slight smile while putting the steaming cup in her paw-hands. Natalia then smiled back while waving her ringed, fluffy Tanuki tail back and forth and said, "Thanks Buck."

     Buck then said, "You're welcome. Did you want to see any of the sights before we take Titania back home to Kansas?"

     Natalia then sarcastically asked, "Didn't you just see what happened a few months ago?"

     Buck then answered, "Yep. Saw you and that wolf shoot Yako out of the sky. Besides, there's not much to see except buildings under reconstruction and removal of bombs that didn't go off in the air raids."

     "You've got a point. So, I guess we should be getting back home. You ready Tania?"

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Inari and Victor

     After a few days of traveling by train through South Selene and Szolsura, he finally reached the Kitsune clan of his youth. And ready to meet him was his own sister Inari dressed in her expensive silk robes making the most expensive clothing look like chump change while revealing the contours and cleavage of her gorgeous Kitsune body. Even her 3 fake tails out of her 10 looked real, but no one knew that except those closest to her. And when no one was paying attention, she made a prostration towards her brother and said, "Thank the gods you came, my good brother. You have no idea what happened to the clan since your absence."

     But Victor was unmoved and quite frankly disgusted seeing the way his sister was dressed and all the pornographic statues in the Kitsune palace estate. Victor then asked her while holding back his disgust, "Tell me what's happening."

     Inari then asked her Nogitsune Protogen guards to leave them as she led her brother to her private chambers. Inari then twitched her 7 real tails and 3 fake tails as she began to subconsciously touch her face with her black, furry paw-hands. Inari then said, "I-i-it's Dark magic. I don't know how or why, but Dark magic has been unleashed on our people. And Gumiho... she escaped the prison Yako made to contain her. And if I don't do something, I'm going to look like a failure to the clan and show the okami Inari as weak and unable to help them. I've made countless offerings to the okami Inari, but the situation is only getting worse, and the social order is breaking down with no amount of prosperity or pleasure able to pacify these people. All that's happening is Dark magic is causing people to turn violent against each other."

      Inari then began to shudder, "And the keys... the keys of prosperity were stolen. And now all that's left is the residual economy that we once had. And without my right paw-hand Yako, it's not like I can just send him to hunt down Gumiho again. And then that Tanuki killed him. A Tanuki. A Tanuki killed my best right paw-hand Nogitsune. And now I have to lie and say a Selenese imperial ace killed Yako, so his death would be somewhat respectable and not a public embarrassment."

      Victor then interjected, "For the record, Natalia didn't kill Yako. That would be the wolf Inu with the help of Natalia and your former servant Finnigan and an American Lightning Dragonborn Protogen named Bill. And if you didn't send Yako on a suicide mission because of your pride and personal vendetta against Tanukis, Yako would still be here."

     Inari then snarled her muzzle and raised her voice. "And where were you when the clan needed you most?! Praying to the God of the Tanukis while we suffer?! Then you burn the shrine of okami Inari? Just who the hell do you think you are accusing me of wrongdoing while you were doing worse things than I ever did?"

     Victor then calmly answered, "Have I become your enemy because I love you enough to speak the truth and want what's good for you? Please, I don't want to fight you, because I still love you."

     Inari then realized her tone and took a moment to slow her breathing and anger while lowering her black fox ears. "You're not my enemy, even if your way of life is repugnant to the okami Inari. You're the only person who actually equals me, and therefore I have mutual respect for you and what you have to say unlike so many others who are below me. Forgive me."

     Victor then asked, "But why do you have to look down on others that are not me?"

     "Because anything less than perfection is a failure, and you seek your own perfection. You're not like our little sister Zenko who's a failure who never sought to perfect herself and grow in wealth and power. Where I gained wealth and power in all things, you gained wealth and power perfecting yourself to gain your 9th tail and Ethereal magic. You're not like Vixie or Todd Reddington who tolerate imperfections in others. Unlike them, you don't tolerate anything less than perfection in yourself, and that's something I respect about you. You're still a protégé of okami Inari when you were originally supposed to take my place, and you're just calling yourself a Christian."

     Victor then twitched his cyan fox ears in agitation and said, "I denounced Inari centuries ago, and I have no intention of reforming my allegiance to an idol not worthy of it."

     Inari then let out a sigh. "Very well then, I suspect you would rather stay in your old monastery than my 'palace of hedonism' as Zenko would call it. Just be aware your old monastery is the only one left in the clan, and it may need some spring cleaning after so many decades of being abandoned. Which by the way, it happened because Inari gave the Kitsunes something your monastery couldn't, prosperity and pleasure. In the meantime, I need you to find a solution to this Dark magic curse, or... we're all going to end up with our tails hanged on flagpoles."

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Prince Darius's Revenge

     Prince Darius of the kingdom of the Valkyries looked upon the heavily weakened Selenese Empire and Confederacy of South Selene salivating over a grand opportunity to reclaim his honor. He was going to prove once and for all he will be a greater conqueror than his father and siblings, the true successor to the Valkyrie kingdom.