Chapter 1

One thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven. That was the number of full moons that had passed since they had first come to this world as a simple little fox, as that was, originally, the only way they had to mark the passage of time, before she became familiar with her new world. In those one hundred and fifty years they had risen from a normal kit to the feared nine-tailed of the ever-frost, a land of demons disconnected from their mainland that had since come to terms with the land's other humanoid races.

She had no grand journey that needed to be completed when she came here. No great evil that needed to be quelled. She only had a new opportunity at a new life. A life of magic. Yes, she struggled at first, as it took quite a while to adapt to their new form and diet. But, after a humble beginning, it was as if luck itself had reached out to help. From fox to fox-spirit, and finally from fox-spirit to a true kitsune, she had risen through the ranks until she had attained the highest of their kind, the nine-tails.

Revered even by humans, she was finally able to move about human cities – without being attacked on sight that is. But it was friends that she lacked in the end. Not being able to fully trust the humans of this land, albeit because of her experience as a fox-spirit, when she was told about the hero summoning, she was still as excited as she had ever been. As excited as she was, though, she did realize that the passage of time changed many things - Memories most of all.

The entire city was excited for the summoning, and a pre-festival was being held in their wake. Trace, the Kitsune, was slowly making her way through the throng of people – most of which cleared the way when they noticed her many tails. There was a very thin line that separated demi-humans from demons, a line that was ignored by some – causing them to lump all non-humans into a hated group. While Kitsune were technically demons, and not demi-humans, no one paid her any mind - that had to do with who she was though.

Despite having never intended to spread their name or make a scene, as they rather disliked drama and avoided it whenever possible, they had managed to make a name regardless. There were very few from the four kingdoms that had not heard about her at this point. Despite that though, the average person was seldom in the loop, which had caused a scene on more than one occasion, during the beginning of the week-long festival.

Now carrying a bag of snacks, with a fresh kebab in hand as she chewed away at a particularly juicy piece of steak, she walked towards the city's center proper. With tails swaying from left to right in time with her hips, she walked right through the grand castle's front door, and between a retinue of guards that nervously ignored her entrance. They had made the mistake of baring her the first few days, and after finding her inside anyway, they had since ceased attempts to arrest her when she disappeared from her cell only to be found walking the halls again.

It could not be said that she was still the same person she was, from her time as a human on earth, but she still had memories of her friends and family, although blurred by time. More out of anxiety than hunger, she was devouring everything in her goody bag, piece by piece, perched up on one of the runner-boards supporting the structure's vaulted ceiling. She could see hundreds of people in fine clothes – as none of the city's regular citizens were allowed inside right now.

As the enchanters neared the end of the long ritual and its many singsong-like incantations, a bright light started to glow off the large magical diagram, building slowly and gradually in luminosity. Trace could hear a static-like noise building in the background, that no one else seemed to notice. Louder and louder, the noise grew with the light until it started to hurt the white, snowlike, fox-ears that perched atop her head, causing them to droop slightly out of annoyance.

With the ritual still in progress, and the sound showing no sign of easing, Trace started examining the ritual spell itself. Parsing through its many layers of minor effects and barriers she found the source of the annoyance and quickly threw her own spell into effect to counteract it. It was not something that she would have considered to be a big deal, as she only wanted to ease the sharp-building-pain in her head. One of the head priests in attendance, however, noticed her influence in the spell with some annoyance. He, like she had found out, knew that it was an effect intended to keep low-level demons from being able to interfere, while only serving to annoy higher ranking demons, like herself.

There were several hundred people in attendance in total. Each of the royal families from the four human kingdoms, quite a few of their respective nobility, that wanted to watch, as well as key figures from the Tower of Magi and the eight great faiths. Trace eyed everyone, almost out of snacks at this point and her anxiety still in full swing, as the ritual spell finally finished. A great flash of light caused everyone to cover their eyes, also causing Trace to almost fall from her spot in reaction.

Two, distinctly human, figures now stood in the middle of the circle, where there was none before. One clearly taller than the other, they looked younger than she remembered. The Eye, or The Watcher as some called him, was the god that oversaw reincarnation on this world, and was also the god responsible for anyone that was transferred to this world. It was "The Eye" that told her about the summoning. They were also the one to let her know that her friends, from her old world, would be the ones summoned from the ritual.

Exactly one hundred and fifty years ago, for Trace, all three of them were enveloped in a bright light and taken from their world. However, the spell was interfered with on the day of its casting, causing it, partly, to mess up, separating Trace from the others in time. Now, Trace watched from afar as they, the two that were summoned, reacted in confusion. A smile of mischief clear on her face. Afterall, as she had not seen them in such a long time, she had to have some fun with them while she still could. She also did not know how long she would be able to be near them, as she was still technically a demon after all, and no amount of personal history would sway the church's upper echelon.

The two humans that were summoned eventually ran out of things to complain or argue about, and whether by choice or coercion, they followed one of the priests into a smaller room where maids were waiting to change their clothes – to better prepare them for the meetings to come. Now in her fox form, leaving her bag of snacks hidden somewhere for now, as she could not take it with her in her shrunken animal form, she snuck into the room with the group and hid under a couch.

It really was them. The feeling of nostalgia hit her harder than she expected, especially now that she was close enough to hear their conversations. Trace shook her head, in reaction to their inside dirty jokes, which brought back memories. She snickered a little in response to one – which just came out as a wheezing whistle in her fox form, as she was unable to speak like that.

Having missed her first opportunity to step out, as she was too busy playing with a particularly large clump of dust, Trace stopped letting herself get distracted and noticed as the maids all left the room again. The two of them were comfortably seated as they talked about the situation. The taller of the two was comparing everything to comics and anime that they had either read or watched, while the shorter of the two was bouncing in place with unconcealed excitement.

'So much for immersion, huh?' Scanning for the earlier maids, with a quick and simple spell, she eased out from under the couch, only to be immediately picked up. With all four legs kicking to try and get free, the shorter of the two suddenly squeezed the little fox to his chest, while shouting something along the lines of "It's so fluffy!" All Trace knew was that she hated to be picked up by others, since it left their scent all over her fur. It was a pain to get rid of.

Finally, the little fox decided that a bite would be the quickest method to free herself, or it would have been, before she was handed off. The, rather comically, taller of the two held her with both hands under either of her front legs, as he looked down at her. Before anything else though, she felt two human hands start scratching her sides.

Wanting to gasp in surprise, she only grew more agitated as her legs started kicking of their own volition. 'Damn. Traitors. Stop! That!' was all that she could think at first. Hearing the door suddenly open, however, Trace realized that she had missed her opportunity. The people who entered the room, however, were not maids, but priests. One of them, in particular, caught her attention immediately, the head priests of this particular temple, Philip, an old acquaintance of hers. He also recognized her fox form immediately.

Looking back and forth, from the fox to its captors, he was completely silent, having stopped talking to his attendant upon seeing her. Now stifling a laugh, he gestured to the two, "You had best put her down, while you still have hands to do so."

Not quite catching on immediately, Trace, the white fox, growled when the one holding her made eye contact. Dropping her in response, a cool blue light emanated from her as she shifted to her humanoid form. She wore a blue silk kimono, embroidered with cherry blossoms and cranes midflight, held at the waist by a large black obi with a platinum buckle secured to its front. Long white hair flowed down to her lower back, with a long pair of solid white fox ears, and a set of nine, fluffy, white tails protruded out of the back of the kimono, and below her sash. The gentle light faded, revealing her, now standing, between the two dumbstruck humans that were holding her before.

"Miss Trace, I ask that we may be able to cover for their indiscretion." With his left hand over his heart, the priest, Philip, bowed slightly. Not accustomed to this world's practices, her old friends backed away from her carefully. One of them, the taller human that held her last, cautiously backed away, while the smaller human looked her up and down, eyes wide for a different reason, as he backed away, with his right hand cautiously on his side.

Waving her hand, with a 'its fine' look on her face as she stifled a yawn, she chose to sit down - now that the fox was out of the bag, as it were. Not wanting to interrupt, any more than she already had, she sat, silently, while she listened in. Philip, not wanting to bother with trying to convince her to leave and recognized that she wanted to be there for some reason of her own, did not try to kick her out of his own office. The two clerics that came in with him eyed her with open distrust, but otherwise stayed silent.

The explanation that he gave to the two, Jay and Derik, the taller and shorter humans respectively, was fairly run-in-the-mill. They were summoned in response to an impending war between demons and the 'goodly races.' Trace openly sneered at his use of the words to describe humans and elves, the so called 'goodly races.' Philip glanced at her, from time to time, when he mentioned demons, which the two either did not notice, or did not comment on.

The fact that the summoning even worked, apparently, meant that a demon lord had been chosen. When asked, even Philip had no answer to give. However, Trace interrupted them there.

"I can actually answer that." With her left eyebrow and hand slightly raised, she got their attention. "The spell requires the blood of a demon lord. Since they are all connected – I don't have an answer for that part – the blood doesn't work until a new lord is instated."

Despite their hatred of Trace, for her being a demon, the two clerics noted down everything that she had said. The Ever-frost, or Hell's Edge as its inhabitants referred to it, was a city populated, predominantly, by demons, but it housed people of all races. Trace, whether she liked it or not – which she, definitely, did not – was considered one of the city's leaders. Despite not being the only nine-tailed, she was, however, the only one that did not completely avoid humans altogether.

The kitsune actually had a fairly large community of their people, that she was welcomed to live in. Trace, however, did not find out about them until after her seventh tail manifested, and she was then invited to move there. Malice, the leader of their people, and the only other nine-tailed that she knew about, invited her to live among them personally. But, as she simply did not like the man, she had only ever visited once.

Two things were made apparent to her, upon her arrival, though. First, five-tails were considered to be the most anyone could achieve, not counting the bloodline of their alpha. Finally, and very creepily, she would add, was that Malice had been keeping tabs on her, somehow, ever since she gained her second tail. Apparently, while not impossible, for a normal fox to become a fox-spirit, gaining them their second tail, was extraordinarily rare.

There was technically a third thing that she learned, but that was more of a personal declaration than anything else. After Malice tried to convince her to wed his eldest son, who was also a seven-tailed at the time, she swore that she would never return.

Trace had not realized quite what she had just revealed to them, until after the words had already left her lips. If the blood of a demon lord was needed for the summon, and it was, it implied, quite simply, that the ones performing the summoning ritual knew everything already. Otherwise, how did they know when they were supposed to perform the summon, despite the demon lord not having been spotted. It was worth noting, also, that Trace had no knowledge about the rise of a demon lord. That was important, to her, because it had not been long since her last visit to their capital.

Most demons, rather surprisingly, she had discovered, were fairly normal and amiable. It was when a demon lord came into power that was the problem. The very same families still in control at present were the same that made a blood bonding ritual with the very first of the demon lords in known history, and it was because of that bond that they had no choice but to listen to whoever became lord – which was a process shrouded in enough mystery for Trace to deem it as 'far too much work to figure out.'

Not every demon lord had started a war, but a hero, or heroes, had always been summoned as a deterrence. The number of heroes was never consistent, but as if fate had already done the cold, hard, calculus, exactly however many were summoned, were always needed, when the demons did attack. Be it because of the death of one or more of them, the final confrontation was always a near thing, rather theatrically, Trace had to comment.

She had not expected the two of them to believe anything at first. It was only from her experiencing everything as being very real, that she did not laugh out loud. What the two of them still saw as fantasy was, quite comedically, and very tragically, their new and inescapable reality.

It was when she heard Jay chuckle under his breath, those fox ears were not just for show, that Trace interrupted again, a hint of anger in her, otherwise sultry, voice. "You can drop the nervous laugh, tree man." Ending with a heavy sigh, she shook her head a little, and then looked the both of them in the eyes before speaking again, "Congrats! I believe isekai is the right word?." Not only was her comment random as hell, but it finally dawned on the two that she had just spoken in English that time; before, while unaware as to why they were aware of it, what was spoken was translated for them in their heads. It was strange, but convenient.

Old memories came back with that statement. Old memories, and a sudden realization that her observation, from the ritual room, was correct. The both of them did, in fact, look younger than she had remembered. Younger, and missing almost all their tattoos.

"Oh my Eye," it dawned on her, "You don't know that word yet…" Then, as if suddenly understanding her own inside joke, she managed to leak out, between laughter, "You're from the before times!" In her own little world, she was lost in tear filled laughter. Not really sure how to continue from that, Philip, the head priest of the temple they were currently inside of, and of whose office they were currently occupying, stared daggers at her, as he waited for her to finish.

"Head priest sir, if I may," one of Philip's attendants gestured toward him.

"Probably not but let's hear it." The head priest sighed out.

"Why do you put up with this demon's shenanigans? She could scarcely be worth the trouble." Appearing to whisper his words, he, however, clearly spoke to them loud enough for anyone nearby to overhear, much less someone with her sensitive canid ears. It was clear as day, to all present, that she was intended to hear his insult, but she did not seem to take notice, from her unchanging laugh, and only the slightest twitch of her left ear. Philip, and Derik, however, noticed the murderous glare in her eyes that were fixed on the cleric's jugular.

It would only take the slightest of pulls for her to twist his head free from his supple, and soft, human neck. The whole action would be finished before anyone present could even react, and Philip knew it. Stopping the potential blood shed before it could happen, the head priest flexed some of his given power, and sent his two attendants away. Derik, however, was still on edge.

What Trace had pieced together before, was that the two of them, Jay, and Derik, were from an earlier point in time than when she was from. Derik, it would appear, was from when he was still serving on the front lines, and he had apparently flicked his combat mode to full-on, following her, otherwise hidden, murderous intent.

Jay, who noticed neither of them, just replied to her earlier comment, unphased by her sudden laughter. "Why are you talking to me, like you know me already, or something?"

Curbing her nostalgia-filled laughing fit, she cleared her throat, "we'll cover that later, after you're finished with being paraded around town, like Major USA. Have fun!" She finished with a light wave, before standing up, relying lazily on the arms of the chair that she was sitting in.

Derik was the first to stand up, in response, after undoing a button on the leather holster on his right hip. While Trace was indeed curious to see how well a gun measured up in this world, she was not, however, interested in killing someone close to her. "Bye now!" With one hand in a fold of the kimono, holding a bright green stone, and the other up by her face, she snapped her finger and crushed the little stone at the same time. Philip, being the only one presently aware enough, at the moment, to sense mana, understood that she had somehow short-casted some sort of relocation spell, as she slowly vanished in front of them. The kitsune was wiggling both of her arms, in front of her, and whispering "Ooooohhh…." The whole time.

Jay could not help but to crack up at the obvious joke, which Trace smiled at. Her entire one hundred and fifty years of life on the fantasy-filled, dumpster fire of a world could be summed up in four words, "run while you can!" A fantasy world, filled with fantasy monsters, only meant an even uglier underbelly, and even more monstrous people, humans chief among them.

To make things even worse, through Trace's travels, it was not that humans were any worse than she had remembered them to be, only now they had a clear dividing line between races to channel their xenophobia. With only loose laws, in that respect, in practice, it created a natural tier of races in their eyes. Summed up, quite nicely Trace thought, as, 'if it looks pretty, they like it. If it's not, then they don't.' Pair that with the primary human faith preaching that any inhuman characteristics, at all, as being sinful, and you had your average, and to be expected, human city.

Trace thought that the city itself was actually quite attractive, especially finding their shops to be useful, but that because their surface was so bright, it's disgusting underworld choked the life out of the city. She hated it here and had honestly long since grown to hate humans too. She had been hunted for meat, which she understood. It was when people started hunting her for simply existing as a fabled two-tailed spirit-fox, to stuff and mount on a wall, that her spark of hatred was truly struck.