Vyfal the Qilin

“How do you propose we do that?” Thomas asked as he eyed both the enemies in the front and back. The ones at the back were charging at us with a crazed look.

-How do we do that?

I suddenly realized that my fox core was inside me and it had settled within me. I was a little baffled how my mortal body was able to accept and house the core of a fox deity but I thought I could always figure it out later and we had to survive first. With my fox core inside of me, it meant I had access to my abilities as a fox deity.

-But which ability?

But then an idea popped up inside my head; [Fox Fire].

Fox fire is an innate ability of all fox spirits. One could say it was our strongest and purest form of offense and defense. Of course, we weren’t limited to only using fox fire but it depended on how well suited a fox spirit was on other aspects.

When I was still Nyxtriel, I was very skillful at using my fox fire and it was very powerful too. With that in mind, I decided to cleave a path for me and my friends so we could get out of the underground hell we were in.

I could feel power build up inside of me and I watched as both internal energy and external energy pool at the palm of my hands and slowly formed into bluish-white fire which radiated heat inside the hallway. I threw the fox fire towards the men in black in which they evaded but once it hit the wall, it exploded which made the entire structure shake.

“We should probably go now.” Thomas said. “I can feel the sub-floors getting unstable, especially after that.”

Without anyone hindering our advance and the threat of monstrous creatures behind us, we escaped the building quite swiftly and made it outside. I was very surprised to see the rest of my friends fighting off the other men dressed in black who were guarding outside the building.

“I thought I told you to run away!” I yelled and threw a fireball at an enemy.

“There’s no way we’re doing that!” retorted Andrea and fired an arrow at another enemy.

I could only scoff and smile at the sight.

-My friends really are something.

There was suddenly an explosion and a rush of air behind me. Everyone (even our enemies) froze and stared at something behind us. I also slowly turned around and my eyes widened when I saw that the old alchemy building was nowhere in sight. Instead, a huge and deep crater was there instead of the building.

-Did the entire structure collapse because its foundation significantly weakened?

I was pulled out of my thoughts when Dean Alkis suddenly wailed and started screaming about his haven and the works he did by pouring his blood, sweat and tears. But that wasn’t just the bad thing though.

From the crater, the mutated creatures we just fought on the sub-floor were crawling out, making their way up to where we were. And to make matters worse, a few huge monstrosities joined in.

“Damn! That’s not good.” I heard Thomas say.

“You think?” Fan retorted sarcastically.

“This is bad.” Charles said, arriving to the sport where we were gathered. “If those creatures make it out, they’ll certainly head towards the school. If that happens, then there’ll be a monster outbreak at the heart of the capital.”

“Charles is right.” I said. “We need to get them contained inside the crater and destroy them.”

“How do we even do that?” Fan replied, a little grumpy. “Last time we fought them, they just got back to their feet and went attacking us again!”

-Why does the situation seem familiar?

“Back to their feet?” Peter suddenly joined in. “Like, you already defeated them but the monsters are back into action again?”

“Exactly!”

“It’s just like the dungeon break this summer!” Peter exclaimed.

“But I heard the archduchess and two of her disciples conquered the dungeon where those monsters came from.” Fan replied. “Only then were they defeated.”

“How come we didn’t know such a thing happened?” Bernard asked.

“It was covered up by the imperial government so people wouldn’t panic.” Fan answered. “Only a few nobles and officials knew about it, my family included since Fre-, I mean, one of my older brothers fought against the monsters that time.”

My mind suddenly flashed to the memories of last summer. A few days after my birthday, a dungeon break happened and monsters tried to get to the capital.

-But those monsters were controlled by a demon using some sort of black crystal.

My eyes widened and gasped in realization.

“No.” I said. “Look for any dark crystals in their body. Destroy it and those creatures will be destroyed as well.”

“How are you sure of that?” Peter asked.

I pointed my hand downwards and a mixture of fire and ice attacks were fired towards the creatures, hitting the black crystals I just noticed to be protruding on different parts of their body. According to my experience, destroying those would be ending those creatures.

-Wait, does that mean, Dean Alkis has been working with demons?

“Uh guys? Have you forgotten the people in black that’s trying to kill us too?” Andrea suddenly said which pulled me out of my thoughts. She pointed to the human enemies behind us. “I think they’re going to wipe us out to get rid of evidence.”

“We can’t deal with those creatures and them at the same time.” Peter pointed out.

-He’s got a point.

“Bernard, you think you can hold these creatures down with your unique skill?” I asked me engineer friend who looked unsure at my question.

Bernard had a unique skill which he kept secret; [Transmutation]. He has the ability to transform or change the form of one item to another. And from what he told me, he could make a weapon called a cannon using earth as the base material.

“I don’t think I can do it alone.” he said, his voice shaking a little. “I mean, I can’t even-“

“You won’t be alone. I trust you.”

He took a deep breath and he suddenly looked calmer.

“Fine. Who’s going to be with me?” I pointed at Kai and called the white-haired prince over.

“I leave this place to you.” I told them. “As well as… Vyfal!”

From the woods, my familiar in her fox cub form floated towards us. Before we snuck inside, I sent Vyfal to the woods to keep an eye on things and be on standby.

<”What should I do?”> my familiar asked enthusiastically.

“You help Bernard and Kai in dealing with those creatures.” I smirked. “You can eat their cores if you want.”

<”Really? Can I use my original form then?”>

“Sure.”

In a flash of bright light, my once fox cub who was the size of a month old puppy was suddenly a nine-feet tall dark blue qilin that was hovering a few inches from the ground. I heard some of them yelp in surprise, even the calm Fan.

“What… that’s… that’s Vyfal?” Peter exclaimed and pointed at my familiar. “I thought it’s a fox cub!”

“We all have our secrets Peter. I’ll explain things later, for now, let’s focus at the task at hand.” I told them.

“By the way, what is your familiar’s species?” Bernard asked. “He seems familiar.”

I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at his question. It was impossible for him to say Vyfal was familiar, after all, Vyfal was the only one of her kind in Afasia.

“Vyfal is… a qilin, isn’t she?”

I cautiously turned to Bernard with shock written on my face.

-How did he know?

“I’ll explain later, okay? For now, work with her and Kai, and stop those creatures from reaching the surface!”

Bernard and Kai nodded their heads and focused on the crater.

“And us?” Charles asked and then pointed to the human enemies who were already in a defensive stance with weapons on their hands.

“We deal with them, and don’t let anyone escape. Don’t kill them if possible.”

“But if they try to kill us?” Thomas questioned.

“At least break a bone or something.” I replied. “We’re not killers.”

“Sure.”

“And Fan! I mean, Freya!”

“What?!”

“You head outside the school and ask for help from the teachers!”

“I thought I already told you I already sent word to Professor Tresde!”

“Just do it!”

“Fine!”

I watched as Fan ran towards the woods, using the wind to help her move faster.

“We must make sure no one escapes.” I said.

The enemies suddenly lunged at us.