41 Familiar 2

"That old hag is seriously pissing me off." Gritting his teeth, Rei's hackles rose in preparation for an offense. "Mistress, your orders."

Still in daze, the girl gaped at the fox.

"Lily. Your orders!" he snapped.

"What?! Oh… ah… Take my command… Defeat that old hag!" Lily ordered in haste.

"As you wish." Her familiar replied. Then his tails spread fully out like a fan, from his hands white fox fire burst forth. He hurled them towards the witch but she managed to form a barrier to impede the attack.

Moving swiftly, Rei was able to change location to the blind spot of the witch but she was able to deflect his fox fire.

Although the nine-tails tried his hardest to land a hit, the old hag proved to be a difficult opponent.

"Rei, I will be fighting with you. We will not win if I let you fight alone." He heard Lily's voice.

"You will fight with me?!" the fox almost did not noticed a chain being hurled at him due to surprise.

He dodged the chain and tried to gain distance from the witch.

"A witch fighting along side her familiar… That is quite unusual." he commented but later on he gave an affirmation. "But all right! Let's do this."

Salem raised her hand and several purplish pentagrams formed in front of her.

"Multiple casting!" With her reddish eyes widening, Lily exclaimed. "As expected from an elder witch… we are so toasted! I could only cast one spell at a time."

From out the purple pentagrams several chains shot out. They were trying to ensnare the fox but Rei managed to dodge the weapons coming towards him.

"As if those chains can shackle me." He taunted the witch while evading a chain coming his way.

Using his agility, the fox leaped to several areas. Then he halted at the area behind the witch.

Jumping for a huge attack, Rei's nine tails blossomed around his frame. With his eyes flashing gold, Rei unleashed nine fox fireballs towards the witch.

Despite her aged body, the witch had a quick reaction time. Seeing that several fox fires had been hurled towards her, Salem erected a barrier to prevent the fireballs from searing her.

Unbeknownst to her, Lily already made her move. Lily's eyes glowed deep red as she finished casting her spell.

A rust colored pentagram formed on the area Salem was standing on. The wooden floor started to melt and Salem found her feet being swallowed by a quicksand.

Though a bit taken aback, the elder witch prevented herself from sinking further. With just a snap of her fingers, the floor began to harden and stabilize.

However, before Salem was able to free her feet, Rei used the time to attack. So instead of breaking free from the floor, the elder witch had no choice but to parry his attack.

With the tag team of both mistress and familiar, Salem had a hard time keeping up. As a result of being pushed back, the elder witch made a desperate move.

Cutting her palm open, the witch called. "Adder, come forth!"

In response to her summon, a huge pentagram formed. It was so huge that it broke the house. Then out from the pentagram, a giant viper came out.

Hissing, Adder attacked Rei as if it was going to swallow him whole. The nine tailed fox tried to stop it while holding its jaws up. Its venom was dripping from its fangs.

"Its breath stinks!" Rei complained as he struggled with the viper. It would snap at him and drag him through the walls but he was able to hold out.

But as the fight dragged on, Rei was growing tired. He could not hold its mouth open for much longer.

The viper's jaws were already closing and almost swallowing him in.

But for some reasons, the viper snarled and spit him out, sending the nine tailed fox to the ground.

When Rei tried to get up, he saw that Briar had buried a sword on the viper's head to keep it from attacking.

Unfortunately, the viper shook Briar off making him stumble a few meters away.

Angered by the wound inflicted to its body, the viper turned its attention towards the prince instead of the fox.

"Go and help, Lily." Briar shouted as he jumped away and took a defensive stance.

"Materialize! He was able to produce a long sword which was almost close to his height.

The viper turned around and came swiftly towards the young royalty. Briar positioned the sword in front of him as the viper assaulted.

Using a little bit of the mana left in the onyx necklace, the flaxen haired prince planted the sword firmly and sliced the beast in half as it kept on assaulting him.

With the giant viper out of the way, Rei shifted his focus back on the witch and discovered that his new contracted mistress managed not only to bury the witch's foot on the floor but also transformed her legs into a tree trunk.

"Rei, do something!" Lily shouted at her familiar. "I won't be able to hold this transfiguration for long. She's fighting back!"

He noticed that the elder witch's legs had been slowly turning back to normal. But after a few seconds, they gradually turned into a tree trunk.

Rei refocused on Lily and noticed the pallor on his mistress's face.

When he drew near her, he took note of the purple veins that had formed on her temples. It seemed as if her veins had been poisoned or something.

"Rei, hurry up!" she snapped as if in pain. Her fiery red eyes were glowing lighter by the second.

"Such a troublesome brat!" the elder witch shrieked as she broke free from the transfiguration spell.

Lily was sent a few meters away due to the impact.

With a snap of her fingers, Salem's feet had slowly begun to grow back to normal.

But before she was able to free herself from the floor, Rei jumped in offense. His eyes had glow a golden hue and his nine tails had fanned out behind him. He accelerated his moves and threw a huge fox fire towards the witch.

Not anticipating such move, Salem was not able to defend herself.

"Ah! Damn this familiar" she howled in pain as the fox fire caught her right sleeve and seared her arm.

But such attack was not able to bring her down. Raising her left hand for a counterattack, Salem released a huge burst of mana towards the fox.

However, the nine-tails was nowhere to be seen.

"where are you?" she tried to look for him but could not see him.

Rei, suddenly reappeared behind the witch and unleashed another fox fire which had scorched the old hag's back.

But the nine-tails did not stop there, using gravity as springboard, he doubled his speed to jump a few meters to his left. Then he released three fireballs which hit their target.

"argggh!!!!" The elder witch had grown tired and had been burned in some places. But still she tried to counterattack.

However, when she raised her arm, vines crept and held her in place.

"What?" Salem exclaimed as she tried to break free.

"How does it feel being held by vines?" Lily asked out with her arms raised to maintain the restraints. She was sitting on the floor with Briar supporting her up.

Does it feel familiar?" she gave the witch a taunting smile. "It is the same spell you used on us earlier. I replicated it."

"You!" the old hag glared at the girl.

"Rei, finish her off." Lily commanded as her eyes turned crimson.

"As you wish." Rei's eyes glow an even brighter shade of gold. The area's temperature rose as he conjured a huge fireball. With one shot, he had burned the elder witch in place.

Salem's wailed as she was caught on fire. However, her shrill voice gradually grown quiet as Lily's spell took effect.

From her wooden thighs, the spell began transfiguring her whole body into a tree. It made Rei's fire blaze even further. The fox fire engulfed the transfigured witch and burned her wooden body into ashes.