When Eel came too she felt she was stronger… But not as strong as she would be after awakening all her bloodlines through a forced evolution.

On the plus side she tasted something absolutely divine in her mouth which she couldn’t help lick up more of that tasty meal. She could feel her fangs piercing through a veil to get to the sweet nectar that lay underneath - flowing freely inside. It was probably the most delicious thing that the little beast had ever put in her mouth!

That was impressive as she has eaten a lot of questionable foods most wouldn’t even think of trying even if they were about to die. One has no idea how many different mystery meats exist till they go to a butchers selling to the poorest of slums. Later they found out that most of those meats were actually ‘crowd funded’ from members of the slums which made everyone else vomit for some strange reason still unknown to Eel.

It wasn’t as if it tasted that bad!

Feeling a gentle hand slowly running through her hair to caress her scalp as she excitedly sucked up that delicious nectar. All the while an equally delightful smell lingered on the top of her nose letting her ignore the admittedly somewhat cold surroundings. It took awhile but soon a fog clouded her memories of recent events cleared up.

Memories of trying to awaken her bloodlines only to suddenly be ambushed from out of nowhere by a strange little girl. After being ambushed her mind was flooded with unpleasant possible events while, with her mind in disorder, her soul was pulled into the abyss located inside the [Spirit World] to be devoured by a monstrous presence. Luckily a future version(?) of her came to the rescue for some reason then she escaped…

Though even then she can’t remember what happened after that since she gave into her instincts in order to preserve herself.

That does beg the question of how she is ‘awake’ right now if she had fully given into her primal desire to hunt all those who come into her ‘territory’. Opening her eyes - now returned to their standard grey appearance - the first thing that entered her line of sight was the big bosom of Alexis. This was something Which made her confused yet comforted in an usual fashion she didn’t quite understand.

Turning up her eyes the next image to calm Eel’s hearts was the sight of Alexis' soft smile facing that looked down upon her with warm eyes. It was hard not to be excited with a beautiful mature woman like Alexis looking down upon you yet Eel couldn’t help feeling more relaxed as if she did not just get ambushed by a living 7th dimensional tentacle monster. It likely helped that she could feel Alexis' hands playing with her own fuzzy fox ears…

<Wait I have fluffy ears now~?!>

Moving her hands up to rest upon her head she found that she did indeed have a pair of fluffy ears upon the top of her head. Very clearly she hadn’t gained nothing from her dangerous gambit of a ritual; though apparently she had lost her elven ears. Though her fox ears were seemingly very pointy to make up for her loss - then again so was the plump set of beautifully purple tails that wagged behind her.

The girl's tails were actually being embraced lovingly by the older woman who was coddling her like a previous treasure. It did make the younger fox curious about why exactly the older fox was only using one hand when usually she was very handsy. That was also the moment where she looked down to see what she was biting only to notice that it was Alexis’ own arm!

In a hurry the girl backed away while flailing the hands which once were pushing down on her own fuzzy purple ears with plump white plumes at the front. Before she could fall back and split her head open on the pearl-like ice below Alexis quickly moved her head down to catch Eel by the shoulder. Of course, that was with the hand brushing Eel’s head since the other one was very much still bleeding with the obvious bite marks.

Not that Alexis seemed to care at all.

“Oh my~ careful you nearly fell over my little kit ohohoho~.” <Alexis>

“B-but I bit you!” <Eel>

Despite the worries of Eel, Alexis couldn’t care any less about the rather serious bite wound which seemed to be deep enough to be a death sentence if left untreated. Though other than looking pale there was no indication of worry nor pain on her face. After stopping Eel from falling she even continued to pat her head.

“Hm~? Well technically it was me who made you bite but either way it doesn’t matter at all since it’s not like something like this would kill me! I’m an old vixen who could’ve breastfed {The Infinite Mother} let alone you. If something like this was enough to kill me there would be no point in beasts or humans even bothering to get stronger~!” <Alexis>

With a smile she slowly lifted up her trembling wounded arm only for the natural green energy from nature itself to envelope the wound. Soon her wounded flesh knitted itself together to become as fresh as it ever was - even her clothing became as good as new. Sure enough you don’t live as long as Alexis without learning a trick or two!

Knowing that Alexis was well enough she turned to look around to see who else was present only to see an unconscious Fuka with her chest plate, shield & wrist armour removed. Under the unconscious girl's head was the bunny’s plump bountiful thighs - with that sight Eel was sure she was fine enough even if the damage was quite over the top. On the other side someone else surprisingly seemed in far more trouble.

The always joyus Promicarus was currently kneeling on the ground with her eyes closed with her fake tan-like skin boiling like a liquid. With her magic attuned eyes it was easy to see that something was up yet that was all Eel could understand. What was happening currently though was similar to a water balloon trying to contain boiling water yet instead of water in a balloon it was her spirit inside her body.

Being neither physical or spiritual Promicarus found herself in the weird spot in between where she was neither but also both. This meant having her spirit suddenly damaged by Munzumira only to be suddenly embraced by the soothed by the icy winds of big Elizabeth wasn’t all as good as it would be. While it wasn’t dangerous with how strong she was it certainly left her unstable thus she was currently focusing on stabilising herself.

Eel narrowed her eyes at this and although she couldn’t fully understand what was happening she turned to the adorable little succubus who would.

The always adorable Emily currently had her eyes closed with her hands placed on the back of equally little yet less adorable Promicarus. Both their brows were clearly furrowed as they did their best to solve the situation. Nevertheless that was only for a second as they soon both let out a breath with Emily standing up to look towards the now fox-kin like Eel.

Upon seeing Eel the first thing the cow did was blush while looking at her plump purple tails that looked very much snuggly. Noting the girl's strong gaze the cub couldn’t help but tilt her head making her long ears sway to the side which twitching slightly to show her confusion. At that moment Eel felt as if an arrow had just shot through her heart making her take a few steps back while clutching her meagre chest to try to remain standing.

<S-so cute…>

“Hm~ is something wrong Mily~? Was I too scary going all wild for the fi-” <Eel>

“Always go wild.” <Lyada>

“Guh… Well I suppose that’s true. Anyway, is something wrong Mils~?” <Eel>

Seeing those big watery eyes glancing towards her with those twitching fox ears upon her head awakened something inside the cow she didn’t know she had. Sure she at one point had been a beast-kin herself yet she never imagined a pair of ears could massively improve just how adorable her girlfriend was. Finishing the defeat of the powerful succubus who thought she had already seen the peak was those fluffy tails that battered back and forth to show excitement at the fact Emily was just talking to her… It was too op.

“A-ah, uh, n-nothing I w-was jus-st… I wonder i-if you can g-get rid of those fox bits?” <Emily>

Slowly the fox girl turned her head to the other side with those wide open eyes that seemed to be desperately taking in every inch of the sleepy cow who could barely stand at the overpowering power contained within them...

<Is this what they mean you can only feel the descendents of {The Infinite Mother} true pressure when they open their eyes?>

“Hm~ I thought you already got over a lot of your stutter~?” <Eel>

If her cow ears could blush Emily had no doubt hers would be glowing red.

“Well I don’t really know to be honest~!” <Eel>

While saying this one of her tails came in front of her while Alexis stepped back to let the girl find out more about herself. The first thing Eel did was stroke her tail to ensure it was up to snuff which it clearly was by how her face seemed to melt - her ears lowering in response to her sloppy expression. Closing her eyes for a second the purple ‘hairs’ on her ears and tail suddenly began to tremble before blending in with the surroundings.

At first Emily believed they had completely vanished like her tail did when she had only awakened her dragon bloodline to protect her. Yet that notion quickly vanished from her mind as ever so slightly she could make out a faint distortion around Eel. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that this slight ‘distortion’ was those large tails moving around due to Eel happily showing off her new ability.

Still it did allow her to appear perfectly human due to her lack of human ears behind covered by her volume filled locks.

“Fufufu~ beyond my powerful new ability! This is my [Ca-moss-flage]~!” <Eel>

“So thou art covered in mould? That is quite the grotesque admittance of your personal hygiene princess flab paps!” <Promicarus>

“Gross.” <Lyada>

“Urgh… Lyada you traitor!” <Eel>

Despite the bullying the recovering Promicarus & Lyada gave Alexis couldn’t help widen her eyes  in shock at the ability.

“Oh~ that’s actually an amazing ability on the level of at the level of a treasure, little Kit. I can’t even sense any of your bloodlines now despite using my Spirit Energy. An item or a pill that could do that would at the very least be of the heaven rank yet it may even be above that if it can hide it from Munzumira or other empress level threats~!” <Alexis>

“See~ I am amazing and you two are just bigots~!” <Eel>

“Thou art a fool to admonish us without acknowledging the pretence of ‘if’.” <Promicarus>

Eel stuck her tongue out while Promicarus snorted while having her nose point to the sky.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Upon an ornate throne, decorated by the skeletal remains of once powerful dragons, sat the ever emotionless figure of Sohn-Tochter. In front of her were several old men dressed with outfits that couldn't be bought by a {Orrid} due to the price of the materials used. Of course, the one dressed in the highest quality garb was Sohn-Tochter who looked down upon the men with emotionless eyes blind to their attempts of flattery.

The regal outfit she wore at this point had a black feathers from a [Abyss Raven] around her upper arms with a white fabric front that led into a split skirt and blue sides. Upon her feet were a pair of blue heels with black fishnets that were made from the silk threads from a [Abyss Widow] as she apparently was on a theme for the day. Other materials and gems made up her outfit yet they were hardly as rare as stuff from the abyss in the {Spirit Realm}.

She wasn’t the only royal as a young 12 year old blue haired boy sat a step below from {The Queen} with an impressive air about him. Although he would never be as impressive as the aeons long ruler and fabled ‘High-Human’, Sohn-Tochter, one could easily tell the boy was a royal even without a crown. He patiently waited through the boring ramblings of the old men about the state of the empire while listening to the comments made by his mother.

This boy was the only child of Sohn-Tochter thus the heir apparent to the throne upon which the whole world respected.

“... so the reports do suggest that rainfall will increase in the west of {Cratros Kingdom} we rule though it is unimportant to us!” <Court Noble 1>

“There is still a strong chance of flooding especially if the aboriginals intend to block up the river in a fashion of revenge. Fools like those who resist the progress of our automated item factories will always resort to such petty methods. I believe this is truly a matter of concern!” <Court Noble 2>

“Is it a matter that concerns her eminence though?” <Court Noble 1>

“It is true such a matter is far below her…” <Court Noble 3>

“Truly such a small motion can hardly be called relevant…” <Court Noble 4>

“I mean they are rebels no matter how you put it - could a woman be able to handle giving the decrees required to settle them? I think-” <Court Noble 5>

“One cannot ignore the fact-” <Court Noble 6>

“Although she surely has a lot of experience-” <Court Noble 7>

The boy sitting just below the ruler couldn’t help looking at the nobles below while angrily displaying his fangs. Although one couldn’t immediately see he actually had a pair of lion ears upon the top of his head despite his face which… Well one could easily tell her was the prince of {The Indigo-Stratos Empire} from his face and ears. Unable to hold himself back he opened his mouth to let out a roar.

“You should all show respe-!” <Prince>

“Alexander, calm yourself now. Letting one's emotions spill out is not the way of a ruler as it will cloud your judgement and make you appear as a tyrant. We do not refer to the snake. Yelling is something a ruler should only do to declare the start of a battle or the end of one - never raise your voice in court again for it will only ever be a sign of weakness.” <Sohn-Tocther>

“...Sorry imperial mother, I have shown something ugly.” <Prince Alexander>

At first the old men went pale due to the yell from the young prince however upon hearing their rulers follow up as well as Alexander’s apology they practically shone. Even though the apology wasn’t directed to them neither did Sohn-Tochter repute the boy for taking the challenge with the elders. Yet arrogance was home grown in their very bones so to them it may as well have been.

“Please forgive the prince for-” <Court Noble 5>

“Who are you to tell this one who to forgive or what we can or cannot do? Although my heir apparently did let his emotions get to him, it changes naught about his anger being just anger and thus we cannot find more fault with him than his inexperience. As for you all who dare to question my ability to sit upon my throne… Well we have to ask one simple question; are the rebels truly in the {Cratos Kingdom}’s borders?” <Sohn-Tochter>

“Of course that is the case your eminence; I have provided no false reports with my head upon the line if I lie!” <Court Noble 2>

The proud ruler remained silent for a second before slowly nodding along.

“We believe in your loyalty however we also believe you have missed some rebels based on some concerning information your fellow nobles have presented.” <Sohn-Tochter>

“Wha- Well please enlighten me on my faults, my eminence!” <Court Noble 2>

Sohn-Tochter slowly nodded benevolently; apparently happy with this particular noble's disposition even if her face never showed it. Contrary to the other confident looking nobles' reactions Sohn-Tochter didn’t follow up with any more words. Rather than that she slowly raised her hand to point towards the 5th court noble which resulted in two ornate golden knights stepping forward to retrain him before he could act.

“W-what is the meaning of this, unhand me this instant!” <Court Noble 5>

“We, as the rightful judge of all under the heavens, find you guilty of the grievous crime of rebelling against this one's throne with the punishment of the public hanging.” <Sohn-Tochter>

The once rambunctious court was now in absolute silence while gazing up towards their ruler in either shock or fear. She didn’t so much as flinch despite the attention she was gaining, making those who once tried to pressure her shiver with fear. Very clearly many of those in the room disagreed with the verdict yet nobody was quicker than the accused himself.

“You cannot do this to me, you don’t have the right, I’m part one of the most wealthy families in this empire wh-” <Court Noble 5>

“Which is why they shall feel gracious we took their loyalty into consideration and thus did not have them executed in your ploy to undermine the power of the crown. If anymore instances of this grave crime should occur we shall find ourselves unable to give such boon anymore else we may appear as some weak naive girl. We suggest you take mercy as we bequeath it while not wishing for no more than this.” <Sohn-Tochter>

The courtroom froze for a second yet it wasn’t the 5th noble who accepted this mercy but every other noble in this room. Bowing down they each yelled out their thanks for her grace which caused her to merely nod without acknowledgement. Motioning for the now silent man to be brought away.

Meanwhile the little Alexander practically had sparkles in his eyes as he took in the sight of how his mother quickly turned around the situation. Anyone could tell after all that this wasn’t as it first seemed… Rather it was a warning to all those that {The Queen} may allow them to question her lightly yet if it becomes more than a question or is directed towards the heir there will be dire consequences. Not only had she turned a mistake on his part into a way to strengthen his & her standing she had also presented it as a mercy.

Sharp and quick with no chance to repute; that was a true ruler!

It didn’t have to be said that for the rest of that court session nobody else dared raise an objection towards Sohn-Tochter. They also didn’t find any faults with the next heir and since the supreme ruler didn’t give them any response they were left to pile compliments after compliments onto him. Half way through the day Sohn-Tochter’s head quickly shot up to look towards the south.

“It appears that her bloodlines have vanished? No, Violet would crush whoever did that to someone she gave the [Violet Flames of Destruction]. Perhaps with her nature as a ‘hunter’ she has discovered some way to hide herself yet if that was truly the case she really has shown great progress since I last spied on her. Perhaps she’ll arrive in the mountain range quicker than we had first assumed?” <Sohn-Tochter>

“What are you talking about, imperial mother?” <Prince Alexander>

Sohn-Tochter just looked silently at her child for a while finding him to be quite the potential as an ‘ikeman’ even if it was her saying so. Then again {The Heavens} is supposed to be completely impartial so maybe neither her blood or sexuality had nothing to do with it? With that in mind a question came to mind which she raised like any mother would.

“Do you have any interest in girls?” <Sohn-Tochter>

“M-mother?!” <Prince Alexander>