I've Turned Into A Fox Girl?

Chapter 349: Sacrifices for power

With an unexpected twist, Luna somehow beat one of the harem members with her staff, successfully knocking them out. We didn't expect her to be able to hold her own, but upon second thought, Luna is quite feisty.

"We should probably avoid making her truly angry." Silver imagined a scenario where Luna uses so many buffs on herself that it makes it nearly impossible to beat her.

"What's that? You want to see me angry?" Luna squinted her eyes at Silver, assuming what she barely heard was a snide comment about her.

"N-nothing, great job Luna." Silver wasn't going to fuck around and find out.

"Enough talking, we need to go help Clara." Himeko didn't want to waste any more time, as looking over, it looked like Clara could use some assistance.

***

<15 minutes prior>

Kiruya emerged from the broken-down wall in a completely new form. She had turned into what seemed like an elemental cheetah. A green wind visibly coated her fur while a floating translucent scarf covered her neck.

"Tch looks like I don't have a choice." Clara instantly felt the boost in power from this form, questioning if it was a representation of some god.

*growl* No words came from Kiruya, who seemed to have lost any rational thought, perhaps similar to Shaman in her own beast form.

'It's currently still unstable, but I'll have to use my dragon form.' She didn't want to use it, as she was trying to avoid accidentally killing Kiruya, but at this point she could no longer keep underestimating her opponent.

However, before Clara could decide on what she wanted to do, Kiruya disappeared from where she was standing. Appearing directly behind Clara, a jaw made from condensed wind covered Kiruya's actual jaw as it moved to clamp down on Clara.

Clara spun on her feet, parrying the jaws at the last moment and using that chance to back away. With no more hesitation, Clara activated her dragon transformation.

Wings sprouted from her back, parts of her skin turned to scales, her horns changed shape, and her pupils became vertical lines. Purple lightning flickered around her body as her mana began to go rampant.

Kiruya though, wasn't going to sit around and wait. With a roar, she conjured up spinning wheels of wind and blasted them towards Clara. The wheels moved at a speed rivalling Clara's lightning, only giving her milliseconds to react.

With her bearings in check, she kicked off the ground, barely dodging the wind wheels, all the while heading towards Kiruya. Clara then started sprinting around Kiruya, her whip blades scraping along the ground, constantly charging them up with her lightning.

Clara became progressively faster, leaving a trail of lightning behind her that charred the ground and walls. Kiruya tried to disrupt Clara's path with wind slashes, but the sheer speed was too much for her to predict.

Once Clara was ready she launched herself off a wall while spinning with her whip blades. Kiruya spun her neck back as quickly as she could, trying to see where Clara was coming from and only managing in the nick of time. She immediately tried to counter, sending a blistering wind at Clara that turned into a pseudo wind wall.

It had successfully slowed down Clara, but that did not last for long. As Clara broke through the wind Kiruya tried her best to dodge. She moved her head away, avoiding a full on clash as Clara's whip blade slashed across her eye, leaving her now partially blind.

However, that was not the end. milliseconds after making contact with Clara's blade, an electrical current flowed through Kiruya's body. She growled in pain while her body stiffened, losing its balance and falling to the floor.

Clara put her spin to a halt and, doubting the fight was over, she dashed forward to continue her attack. With Kiruya's body on the ground, Clara attempted to restrain her with the whip blades. However, just as Clara flicked her whips, Kiruya sprung up on her feet, grabbing one with her jaw.

"Hmph." With a smirk on her face, Clara quickly infused her whip with lightning, intending to send another electrical shock through Kiruya's body. But right before the lightning could make its way through the whip, Kiruya yanked on it before swiftly letting go.

"Shit!" Clara didn't expect Kiruya to recover so quickly from the first shock, so she lost her balance and got thrown towards Kiruya.

Even before reaching Kiruya, Clara was faced with a new threat. A torrent of wind spears shot towards her, leaving little room to dodge. Although she now had wings, there was no time to take flight, her instincts not yet catching up to her new capabilities. Besides, spreading her wings would just make her a bigger target..

So instead, she pulled in her wings, taking on the wind spears head-on. Cuts, gouges, and blood covered Clara's body. Thanks to the mana-imbued clothing that she had received, none of the spears pierced through her, but that didn't stop her from staggering at the heavy impacts.

She finally hit the ground, barely able to even stand. She could only thank her passive regeneration that the wounds were not life-threatening.

"God *cough, cough* damn it Kiruya, why couldn't we settle this civilly instead of fighting." Clara's body trembled as she tried buying time for her regeneration to heal her enough, hoping her words would distract Kiruya.

[Because there is no turning back now, I've sacrificed my lifespan to take this form and to protect Freja. You, as well as your friends, must die for me to fulfill my duty.] Kiruya's voice echoed inside of Clara's head, explaining why and how.

"Are you stupid? The real enemy is the pope and he hasn't even made his move yet. Are you really just going to throw away your life like that?" Clara was shocked to learn that Kiruya somehow traded her life-span just to obtain power. Her thoughts instantly shifted to Kiruya's system, which must have allowed her to make such a trade.

It was crazy to her to think that Kiruya even considered that as an option. Perhaps with Freja's brainwashing, Kiruya was convinced that she had to use it, but it still baffled Clara that she would give up so much.

There was no denying that Clara would sacrifice herself for Shaman, but only if there was no other option.

[My life is nothing without Freja. The world could collapse as far as I care, but as long as I am by her side nothing else truly matters.] Kiruya showed no sign of wavering as she lunged forwards, intending to finish Clara in her pitiful state.

"Clara!" A flaming greatsword crashed down from above, nearly decapitating Kiruya. That was not the end however, as when Himeko's sword embedded itself in the ground, it released a terrifying blast of flames. The winds whirling around Kiruya only served to excite the flames, surrounding her in an inferno that set her fur ablaze.

Kiruya began screaming and thrashing around, trying to put out the flames. She slammed into walls, trying desperately to find some relief from the blazing heat.

Himeko landed in front of Clara trying to see if she was okay. While Himeko examined her body, a gentle blue light coated Clara, and all of her wounds began to close.

"How are you feeling?" Himeko had a look of relief as for a moment, she thought Clara was going to die.

"Much better now." Thanks to Luna's healing magic, Clara felt invigorated. Luna had also cast a few buffs, which lessened the burden of her dragon form, buying her some more time.

"What's the deal with Kiruya Are we killing her or not?" Silver popped his head out from the shadows, wanting some answers.

"Do we have to?" Elanor ran up after hearing Silver. Being the most sympathetic of the bunch, she really hoped the answer would be a no, but she would still listen to whatever decision Clara makes.

"She has sacrificed her life to take this form, we may as well end it for her." It was a tough call for Clara to make, a slight tremble in her voice. However, they weren't being left with much choice.

"So it's like that. Did you want me to join in the battle or do you think you have this now?" Himeko nodded, understanding Clara's decision.

"I'll be fine now, I got caught off guard as I debated whether or not I should kill her, but I've made up my mind now." Clara had hesitated in her attacks since she truly didn't want to kill her, but hearing Kiruya's decisiveness, it was time to respond in kind.

"Understood, but I will jump in like I did just now if it looks dangerous." Himeko patted Clara's head before she backed off to where Luna was.

"Elanor and Silver, follow my lead." Even without Himeko's help, Clara still had her other two party members, which should be enough to put this battle to an end.

*ROARRRR!!!!* From outside, Kiruya let out a loud tiger-like roar, signifying she put out the flames and was now royally pissed.