I was Betrayed then Reincarnated as a Kitsune - Chapter 219: Collapsing Space

Chapter 219: Collapsing Space

[Luna POV]

We waited for a few days for Lia and her people to go and check out the infested part of the forest.  During those days, we went around the festival.  It was fun, but not as fun as I was thinking it would be.  Most of the things that you could get from stalls and such were things for hunting, trapping, or gathering plants.  Today was the day that the boar hunting contest ended.  All the contestants were in the plaza and standing in front of the quarry they brought in.  I was getting a kick out of the reactions of the other that saw that we were the ones that brough in the massive boar.

‘Fufufufuufufufufufufufu.’

{Enjoying yourself?}

‘Yes.  I feel some sort of instinctual joy by seeing their reactions.  It’s like I pulled a successful prank without actually pulling a prank.  Like an itch that needed to be scratched has been.’

{Ufufufufu.}

“Big sis.  Their reactions are so satisfying.” (Soleil)

“I know right.” (Luna)

“Luna, please don’t influence Soleil like this.” (Velvet)

“Velvet, she grew up with me, she’s been influenced for a while now.” (Luna)

“…” (Velvet)

“Don’t worry Velvet, I won’t let my nature run full force like big sis does.  Much.” (Soleil)

“…” (Velvet)

I patted Velvet on the back.

“Good luck.” (Luna)

It was then that the festival coordinator entered the plaza.  He cast a small wind spell that amplified his voice.

“Welcome all, to the end of our annual hunting festival’s boar hunting competition.  This year is a bit special, as you all can see.  Earlier this week, a group that has been staying in the city for some time decided to join in.  And the quarry they brought in…is an Erymanthean Boar.”

The plaza went silent for several minutes before some elves started to cheer wildly.  This caused a chain reaction and soon, the entire plaza was a sea of noise.  The coordinator made some gestures to get the crowd to quiet down.

“Yes, we are all excited, but we still have to reward all of our competitors before moving on to the good part.  We will start with the others before getting to our winners.  After that, the leader of the party will slay the winning boar.  And, as we received permission from the people in question, we will all get to feast.”

Another deafening cheer from the crowd sounded.  What followed after the cheering was a few hours of awarding contestants followed by the top scorers and finally us.  We were stood on a stage and the boar we brough in was behind us, still trapped in it’s illusion.  The coordinator gave a speech that ended with him giving me the permission to slay the beast.  I walked up to it, put a finger in the place between its eyes, and passed some lightning through it’s brain, killing it quickly and painlessly.  When that was done, I was surprised to find that I leveled up twice.

‘Oooh.  How nice, level 68.  I might be getting tail seven soon.’

{I look forward to petting it.}

I looked over to the coordinator and nodded.  He announced the end of the ceremony and then several elves came up to us to start butchering the boar.  After that started, the hours passed as meat was cut up, cooked, passed out, then eaten.  I made sure to get me and my party a generous portion and the day transitioned to evening which transitioned to night as the celebration continued.  We decided to leave at some point after midnight when Ophidia got drunk and started trying to drag Skadi away somewhere.  The next morning, we were all sitting in Lia’s home.

“Master.  Healing magic please.” (Ophidia)

“Fufu.  Alright.” (Luna)

I placed my hand on Ophidia’s head and used some healing magic to cure her hangover.

“Anyone else need some?” (Luna)

“Me nya.” (Mio)

I did the same to Mio.  When I started moving my hand away from her head, she grabbed it and placed it back on her head.  I smiled and started headpatting her.

“Nyaaaaaa.” (Mio)

“No fair!” (Soleil)

“I have another hand, Soleil.” (Luna)

Soleil moved over and placed my free hand on her head.  I started patting her and she closed her eyes and smiled.

“You two are so spoiled.  Not that it’s a bad thing.” (Luna)

“It’s not that, big sis, it’s that your headpats are unparalleled.  The only person that ever comes close is Velvet.” (Soleil)

“Nya.  Soleil is right nya.  Even my parents can’t beat this nya.” (Mio)

“I’m surprised Ana isn’t on that list, Soleil.” (Luna)

“She was, but then Velvet appeared and now I can only ever stand pats from you and her.” (Soleil)

As I patted these two, the doors to the room slammed open and a tired looking Lia walked in.  She moved over to a free seat and fell into it.  Dia then appeared and hopped into her lap with what I could only call a worried expression.

[Lia?  Are you alright Lia?] (Dia)

“Yeah, just tired, mentally.” (Lia)

“What’s the news?” (Luna)

“Aside from me having to severely discipline some of my people, this fungus monster is absolutely massive.  I thought we would be able to take care of it before asking for your assistance, but no, we can’t.  It’s too big.” (Lia)

[Lia, leave it to my Goddess.  Rest now, I will keep you company.] (Dia)

“Thank you Dia, but I need to go with them.  They don’t know how big it is and where it ends, and I can’t entrust this to a subordinate.” (Lia)

“Lia, I’ll use some healing magic on you, but once this is done, you will get some actual rest.  Dia, make sure she does.” (Luna)

[Yes, oh Goddess mine.] (Dia)

I walked over to Lia and used some healing magic.  She looked revitalized once I was done, but she still had shadows under her eyes.

“Let’s go guys.  Ophidia, grab Skadi and Mio and teleport to that part of the forest.  Lia, Soleil, Velvet, you’re with me.” (Luna)

““““““Right.””””””

Everyone got into position and we teleported near the infected part of the forest.  Everyone but me donned a mask to keep spores out of their system and we started to walk.  When we got nearer to the edge of the infected area of forest, Lia pulled out a map.

“Luna, this is the entire area that is infected from an areal view.  Earth and Nature spirits have told us that it went 1km deep.” (Lia)

“Hmm.  Got it, just give me a second.  Everyone, I think I can handle the main part, but it will take all my concentration, so please defend against anything that tries to stop me.” (Luna)

They all nodded and I turned my attention back to the map Lia showed me.  I then closed my eyes and took in a deep breath.  When I opened my eyes, I put my hands forward and created a domain.  As it was by far the largest domain I have created so far, it was a bit difficult.  I started to get a headache and I could feel myself start to sweat.

‘This is more difficult than I thought it would be.’

{Are you alright, Luna?}

‘Yeah.  But a domain this big is kind of hard to maintain.’

{I believe in you.}

‘Thanks.  Now I definitely can.’

I poured more mana into the domain and it expanded again.  It completely enveloped me and the area in front of me.  I then lowered my arms and was breathing a bit heavily.

“How….about….that?”

Silence.

“Tamamo?”

More silence.

“Huh, guess this domain is a bit too much for our connection.”

I took in some more deep breaths before closing my eyes to see if I got the entire fungus and gave a small smile.

“Got you.  Now, let’s get to killing you.”

I then tapped my foot on the ground and the entirety of the domain, above and below ground froze.  I snapped my fingers and the ice shattered.  When this happened, the space turned completely white with no scenery at all.

“This is always creepy.”

I was about to dissolve the domain when I noticed that nothing happened.  No exp was rewarded for what was supposed to be a killed monster.

“Can fungus survive extreme cold?  Guess so.  I should have paid more attention in class.”

I thought about how to go about this then.

“Lightning might be a bad idea.  Ice and ice mist clearly won’t work.  I can’t really use physical means now.”

I started to pace.

“Think, Luna, think.  What else can I do?”

I continued to pace when a dangerous thought popped into my head.

“Collapse space.  I can try that, but safety measures are needed.  Guess I’ll need to put an even bigger domain up.”

My shoulders, tail, and ears drooped at that thought.  I prepared to make another domain to go around the already set up one and got started.  It took several minutes before I felt it work to a safe standard.  Once that was done, I rested for a few more minutes.  I moved outside of the first domain and turned to face it.

“Now lets try this and hope it goes right.”

I started to concentrate on the first domain I made.  I imagined that it and all the space inside it should no longer exist.  At first nothing happened and then I started to feel a rumbling.  After the rumbling, I started to hear the sound of shattering glass.  The domain in front of me started to show cracks and it started to shatter.  When it did, the place in front of me felt like pure nothingness.  Then the domain that I set up as a safety precaution started to shatter as well.  I looked around frantically.  I looked up to see the domain falling to pieces with parts of it in shards.  Overhead the moon shone brightly and I fell on my back while breathing heavily.  The second domain continued to slowly shatter around me and I felt the place where the first one was return to normal.

{LUNA!  ARE YOU ALRIGHT!?}

“I’m….fine.”

{You’re pale.  What happened, when you were swallowed by the domain, I couldn’t reach you with our connection and I couldn’t enter it.  Don’t you ever worry me like that again!}

“I’m…sorry.”

{I didn’t ask for apologies, I want to know what happened!}

“Ice didn’t work, and I didn’t know if lightning would be safe.  No physical attacks I can do would work, so I tried collapsing space.  I set up a second domain, then collapsed the first one.  It was scary.  When it was gone, there was just nothing.  Then, the second domain started to break down and I thought I messed up, but it was just you, so now I’m relieved.”

{Luna, never, EVER try something so dangerous again.}

“Yeah, I don’t plan on it.”

I was about to say something else when I felt nothing but pain.

“GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

{LUNA!?}

“It’s…just a new tail…nothing else.”

{Stop scaring me.  Alright, next time I’m with you or it’s a full moon, I get to do anything I want to you in recompence.  This is non-negotiable.}

“Fu fu fu.  Under…stood.”

At that, I passed out.

[Skadi POV]

After Luna set up a domain, several small animals covered in mushrooms started coming at us, but they were easily dealt with.  Once they were re-killed, Soleil and Velvet then burned them with fire magic.  After a while, no more animals came at us, so we waited for Luna to finish.  Several hours passed with no change in the domain when we started to hear cracking noises.

“What was that?” (Lia)

“No idea.” (Skadi)

It was then that Ophidia took a trembling step back.

“MASTER!?” (Ophidia)

“Ophidia, did something happen?” (Soleil)

“I-I don’t know.  It’s just, I felt something weird with space inside master’s domain, but that’s it.” (Ophidia)

“Goddess Tamamo, what’s going on?” (Velvet)

{Don’t worry, everything is fine now.  Luna did something dangerous, but she’s safe.  Now she’s passed out since she got her seventh tail.}

She sounded tired.

“Tamamo, are you alright?” (Skadi)

{Yeah.  It’s just Luna scared me.  She said she collapsed space to kill the fungus.}

“What does that mean?” (Skadi)

{I don’t know.  All I do know is that it was dangerous and that it scared Luna when she did it.  Anyway, she set up a second domain and that one is slowly falling apart, so you should all be able to get to her shortly.}

“Alright.  Velvet, Mio, get ready to carry Luna.  Ophidia, bring Lia and Soleil back.  After that, come back here to see if Luna is reachable and we’ll go from there.” (Skadi)

“Hey, why can’t I stay?” (Soleil)

“It’s just Ophidia’s first trip, Soleil, we’ll be following shortly.” (Skadi)

“Tch.  Fine.  But when you get big sis, make sure she’s really alright.  It’s not that I don’t trust the Goddess, but I still want to make sure she is alright with my own eyes.” (Soleil)

Ophidia grabbed Soleil and Lia’s shoulders and teleported away.  She then reappeared and we waited for the domain in front of us to completely crumble.  When it did, we saw Luna laying on the ground with two tails limply laying on either side of her.  We walked over to her when Ophidia stopped and looked at the space behind Luna.

“Something wrong nya?” (Mio)

“No, it’s just…strange.” (Ophidia)

Just then, a distortion appeared next to the space where Ophidia was looking and a humanoid silhouette appeared.

[Demigod Skadi, tell my goddess here that she should hold off from doing that again until she fully ascends.]

I nodded at the space spirit and we teleported away with Luna in tow.

Chaos Realm:

Atmos: Oooh.  A space spirit appeared.

Tamamo:…

Tamamo, calm down.  You know I would intervene if before something happened.  I owe Luna that much for her letting us watch her life like this after all.

Tamamo: Mmm.

Order: *Patting Tamamo on the shoulder* It’s alright.

Tamamo: *Deep breath in and out* I’m good.  But she is going to really get an earful from me when she wakes up.

Completely justified.  But watching that made me realize something.

Atmos: What?

Tamamo can do things similar with gravity.  Maybe even more.  Alright, I’ve come to a decision, Tamamo, from this point on, your place in the hierarchy is changed.  You join Luna, Crate, and Gear in the number one spot due to your Authority over gravity.

Tamamo: You can do that?

Who do you think is the one that made the hierarchy in the first place?

Atmos: Congrats, Tamamo.

Order: Indeed.

Tamamo: Thanks I guess.