Chapter 324: Tamamo's New Form

As always, Giliath demands your power stones!

*****

Back at Erebonia. 

Valflame Palace. 

Princess Alfin's Quarters.

It was a pretty large and decorative room, one that befitted a princess. Contrary to one would think, a lot of fancy decor could be seen. Where Princess Alfin's cuteness did shine was within her bed. Many cute and fluffy stuffed animals and pillows were scattered across it. It was quite large too. The bed was circular, and it had translucent pink drapes going across the entire thing. Princess Alfin was a princess after all, not many could disturb her during her slumber. If someone did try to sneak into this place, they would get sent on a one-way ticket straight to Gehenna.

It was presently 1PM. The early afternoon struck and the sun was high up in the sky, which warmed the crisp and cool wintry air that wafted around the entire city. It did lightly snow the prior night, but it wasn't enough to stick. Most of the streets could be seen wet.

Princess Alfin's private quarters were mostly vacant, with Princess Alfin out and about. It wasn't entirely vacant though.

If one had a close look, a cute silver-white fox could be seen in a deep slumber within the large, circular bed. The chest of the cute and cuddly fox steadily rose up and down. No matter what happened around the fox, it wouldn't disturb the fox's slumber.

Near the windowsill to the left side, a second figure suddenly came into view. This figure was also pretty small. It seemed to be a black cat with hints of purple fur coated over its body. It even had a cute blue ribbon attached to the tip of its tail. 

Jumping down from the window, the cat just looked at the fox with a defeated look in their eyes.

"You stupid fox, just how long are you going to sleep?", The cat called out to the fox.

But to the cat's surprise, she garnered no response from the fox.

"Tama?", Celine asked, trying to call out to the fox. She took this time to jump onto the bed, and the fox continued its peaceful slumber.

Celine frowned. She even reached the fox's side and poked its cheek with one of her claws. But even doing that, there was still no response.

"This isn't good. I haven't seen Tama in such a deep slumber like this for a while. But when that usually happens, it leads to her---?", Celine tried to ask, but she couldn't even finish her line of thought before her ears perked up. Faint sounds of shuffling feet could be heard from beyond the door. 

"Meow!?", Celine panicked a bit, not expecting the door to the princess's room to start rattling a bit. But all of a sudden, it stopped.

"Did you just hear a meow of a cat, Your Highness?", A voice of a girl called out in doubt.

"I sure did.", A second voice of a girl responded.

Celine heard the sound of the doorknob rattle again, making her ears perk up a second time. Celine's body turned around, and saw the door to the princess's room open. She saw two figures enter. One being Princess Alfin, and another was a girl who was about her age, perhaps a year younger. She had platinum-blonde hair.

Unfortunately, it was too late for Celine to make a dash for it. She didn't bother anyways. She had come across Princess Alfin a number of times now. She knew the princess was with Emma during their trip to the bottom of Valflame Palace too. The moment Princess Alfin's eyes landed on the black cat currently on her bed, she exclaimed.

"It really is the talking cat!", Princess Alfin chirped.

The second girl just glanced her eyes down at the blonde-haired girl before her.

"Cats don't talk, Your Highness. We aren't living in a fantasy story.", The girl retorted, seeing Princess Alfin's excited look. 

She ignored that retort and practically sprinted to the bedside.

"How have you been, Celine?", Princess Alfin asked the cat.

"Meow?", Celine tilted her head, trying to shrug off Princess Alfin's comment just now. Even the second girl shook her head.

"I'm telling you, Your Highness. Cats do not talk.", The girl urged. Even a hint of worry appeared in her eyes. But hearing that caused Princess Alfin to pout, and her cheeks swelled up a tiny bit.

"You see Lif. That is where you are wrong.", Princess Alfin waved her finger at the girl she called Lif. After giving Lif 'the look' with her stare, she turned around and looked at Celine again.

"Emma told me everything. You are her familiar, right?", Princess Alfin asked. Celine raised her eyes just like how a human would. She definitely didn't expect to hear Princess Alfin say that.

'Just what in Aidios's name happened down there a couple nights ago? Does this goody two-shoes princess really know about familiars?', Celine wondered.

'Should I test the waters? Tama is in a delicate situation. I don't want her evolution to get disturbed...', Celine mulled. She couldn't help but glance at the pretty girl besides Princess Alfin. She wasn't as beautiful as Princess Alfin was, who was a bundle of joy shared by the entirety of Erebonia. She was called Erebonia's Treasure for a reason. But that didn't mean this second girl beside Princess Alfin wasn't pretty.

She too was a princess. One from the country of Remiferia. Her full name was Lifthrasir von Bartholomeus. She was the first princess of the House of Bartholomeus.

Unlike other countries, Remiferia was a principality. It was ruled by a single title, one who would be sworn into it as Prince or Princess. Ever since the passing of her older brother, she could have assumed the throne, ruling over all of Remiferia. She did not partake in such actions, and instead, she let her second brother assume the throne as Prince.

It was a man who Naoto had encountered once or twice already, and was able to successfully forge friendly relations with. He was Albert von Bartholomeus. He had assumed the position of Prince over Lif. As such, Lif had much more free time on her hands, allowing her to continue her studies at St. Astraia. She had finally arrived back here after spending a couple days in Remiferia to make sure her home was going to be fine without her being there for a while.

Thanks to that, Lif took an express airship super early in the morning, arriving back here in Heimdallr. Princess Alfin was quick to greet her, and they had just returned after having lunch together at a top-class restaurant. 

And back to the present, Lif could currently be seen staring at Princess Alfin with a doubtful look. Especially after she called the cat before her a 'familiar'.

Celine didn't immediately respond, she only saw Lif tilt her head in confusion.

"What's a familiar?", Lif frowned. She hadn't come across that term before.

'That Emma....', Celine inwardly cursed. She could kind of guess what went down that night. 'Let me guess, this little princess wants to learn magic?', Celine wondered.

Celine just stayed silent for another moment, observing Princess Alfin.

In the end, Celine tilted her head down a bit, and sighed.

"Fine. You win. it would seem Emma really did tell you everything.", Celine spoke out to the two. Princess Alfin's eyes lit up again the moment Celine spoke. As for Lif, she had an entirely different reaction. Her eyes turned wide as saucers.

"Do my ears deceive me or did this cat really just talk!?", Lif exclaimed in shock.

Princess Alfin curved her lips upward, revealing a smug look on her face. Only a couple characters of the Trailsverse would reveal this type of look, but it was very prevalent in the Sky games. Estelle would adopt this look as she loved to rub what she likes to say in other people's noses.

In hindsight, Princess Alfin is doing the very same reaction to her friend Lif.

"I told you I wasn't going crazy, Lif. Celine is different. She may appear to be a cat, but she's what's called, a 'familiar'. They're partners to witches.", Princess Alfin explained.

"A Witch?", Lif frowned. "That's fantasy talk.", Lif complained.

"Trust me little girl, this is no mere fantasy. Witches hide in plain sight. You're just too ignorant with how the world works to perceive witches, let alone magic.", Celine answered.

"L-Little girl!?", Lif retorted again. 

"That is what you are, yes? You don't seem very old. Maybe 3 years younger than Emma?", Celine retorted back, observing Lif for a moment.

"Well you aren't wrong...Her Highness is just slightly older than me, no more than a year.", Lif responded. 

"Four years then. But to ease your doubt, I am indeed what the little princess called me, a familiar. A pleasure.", Celine said, formally introducing herself to the two. Not as a cat, but as the familiar, Celine. 

"And I would love to stay and chat, but my friend here is in a rather precious state. Can you two please not try to disturb her?", Celine asked the two.

"Precious state?", Princess Alfin mused. Leaning to the side a bit, she could see a silver-white fox with six tails currently slumbering deeper inside her bed. Yet she couldn't even admire how beautiful the fox's fur was before she suddenly saw the fox's figure blink with an azure-silvery aura. It only lasted for a brief second.

"Huh?", Princess Alfin suddenly asked. "What was that just now?", She wondered.

"What was what--?", Celine tried to ask. Before she could even look around, Celine suddenly felt the atmosphere turn tense, and with a whoosh, the mana around her started to surge. "Meow!?", Celine exclaimed. She even jumped back toward Princess Alfin and Lif.

Lif's eyes became saucers again. The single blink of mana soon turned into a full-blown funnel. It was as if a miniature cyclone appeared over the fox's body, allowing the azure-silver aura to encompass her entirely.

"What in Aidios's name...", Lif uttered. She was utterly gobsmacked at the foreign scene before her. The mana in the air became completely visible, even to the two girls who weren't sensitive to mana as Celine was. This cyclone of mana covered the fox's body entirely, almost as if it encompassed her like a cocoon.

"So it's begun, has it?", Celine asked herself.

"What has begun?", Princess Alfin decided to ask with growing interest. She had marveled at the magic displayed at the bottom of Valflame Palace where the Vermillion Knight was still sealed. She hasn't seen any spells casted since then. What she was observing was pure mana being absorbed. You would only see this type of activity around Spirit Veins. Or more commonly known as Septium Veins by the common person. And in the east where Calvard and the beyond lay, they were called Dragon Veins.

"So you decided to make use of the Spirit Vein resting beneath this castle. Cheeky. Just shut up and watch.", Celine said, becoming calmer once she realized what was going on now.

"Did a cat just tell me to shut up...?", Lif uttered in disbelief. Princess Alfin giggled at Lif's remark, but she took Celine's words to heart and nodded. She turned quiet. Seeing Princess Alfin not say anything, Lif could only accept the cat's words, and just watched on.

If one had a close look, the fox's body began to undergo a change as the pure mana continued to wrap itself around the fox's body...