-Ahri (Spirit Blossom)

The next morning passed in a frenzy. With all of his creations more than eager to assist with the training, the real issue was limiting his party size and making sure that the Nekos always had at least one babysitter. Even with Tricia's drones, he didn't want to ever leave the Neko children alone - there was too much risk in them either falling into the lake or getting lost in John's ever-growing world. And grow it did.

John farmed up nine more of the cores across four dungeon runs, a couple even done at level 16 - only the two done while Lerianna, Seras, and Sophia were all working together with him, of course. The Nekos were making great strides, and Maera's armor was truly formidable, but John still didn't feel safe doing high-level runs with both of them. Still, it was enough to continue John's leveling streak - he was now at level 16, and feeling pretty optimistic. He was sitting on literally millions of dollars' worth of these pebbles, and even if that was the equivalent of Abyssal pennies, John was pretty damn excited about the idea of becoming a real millionaire.

John even ended up dumping a bit more of his Creation EXP into Maera, partially because Maera complained about Mithra catching up to her so quickly and partially because John had a sort of hoarder anxiety growing the longer he let that pool continue to go unused. It brought Maera to level 13 and a good portion of the way to 14, giving her the edge over her sister again, and making her quite formidable - even against the golems they were farming.

Thankfully, John had told almost no one that he had finally succeeded in making the Portal Stone for Tricia - that fact kept there from being too many questions about why he was still farming golems. Not that he thought his lovers would mind, of course, but even to him the repeated enemies were getting a little repetitive, so when John locked another handful of pebbles away after their final dungeon, he was happy to move on.

"Alright, we've got everything we need," John said, smirking as the Barrier faded away around them. Before John's vision had even fully adapted to the return to their new world, he felt his knees being assailed - the kittens were swarming them, Midoriya and Moira among two of the most rambunctious kittens, darting between the adults so carelessly they were nearly a hazard to the grown-ups as much as themselves. John was too nervous to move at first, only relenting when he finally scooped up the rambunctious young Midoriya, scratching the energetic Neko boy under his chin to keep him placated while distancing himself from the pile-on the newborns were giving the rest of his companions.

"Good thing, too, I think we're pushing the limits of how long these energetic little fuckers can put up with only one person to play with," Lerianna shouted out, shaking her head.

"Watch the language, missy!" Seras corrected immediately, shaking her head. "No cursin' around the kiddos! They're growin' way too fast to be learnin' that kind of-"

"You guys literally fucked with them in the next room, in a house with no doors," Lerianna said with annoyance, a faint blush coloring her dark cheeks as her eyes narrowed and she glanced away from Seras. "If you want them to remain 'innocent' or 'pure', maybe don't worry about their language first?"

"Enough, enough," John said, waving his free arm dismissively. "I'm not worried about them cursing, given that the rest of us are literally fighting to the **** with Barrier creatures every other day. If we raise them right and make sure they know right from wrong, I'll be happy, even if they swear like sailors."

"Fuck yeah!" Lerianna exclaimed, pumping one of her fists.

"Don't push your luck," John chided. "Anyway... how about we do one more run, and then I'll head back to the Manor for a bit? I want to talk to Moira about a few things, see what she thinks about our situation, and give Tricia the stone. Any objections?"

"Mind if I stay back 'ere while you're out and about with the Order? You told me I don' really get around to nommin' on my personal mana reserves, so while you're dealin' with the emotionally stunted scientist and the uptight Order, I might be able to get this bush of ours a bit more girth."

"Not sure whether to congratulate you on the practicality, make a joke about the phrasing, or be sad you want to stay here," John said, his external and internal grins matching for very different reasons. John was also planning on using his return to the mortal realm to sell off the enchanted rocks, so leaving Seras behind was actually a plus for once - it meant he wouldn’t have to come up with any excuses for why he had more of the items than he said he did, or what he planned to do with all the money.

"You'd best be sad to be without me, else I'm gonna start gettin' jealous. First time for everything, after all," Seras teased, leaning in and kissing John passionately for a moment.

"Alright, it's settled then," John agreed, opening his menus once more. "Let's celebrate with a… let's see, how about level 15 to keep things reasonable? Who is sitting this one out?"

"Mithra kind of tired," the raven-haired Neko offered, stretching out in a way that seemed casual but expertly captured the tails or heads of three of her kittens almost effortlessly, preventing them from assailing John or the others any further.

"Works for me," John said, setting the level absently while pouring over the options. He wanted to practice his Purify a little more, now that he knew they had the resources to support themselves, but wasn't sure where to start. Last time he thought he knew what enemies they’d be facing, he ended up with a tsundere rabbit girl that hated ****. Not the worst outcome, of course, but still…

"Whatcha got in mind?"

John hesitated before responding, closing his eyes and letting his finger wander randomly across the drop-down menu. He didn't open them until he felt like he'd scrolled far enough, finally peeling them open only to see something almost laughably predictable beneath his finger.

Kitsune Bandits

"Alright, everyone… let's go find us a fox-girl."

"Fucking hell, how does something with that many tails hide so well in brush that short?!" John exclaimed as one more of their foes fell before them, the body of a well-muscled fox-boy landing in the brush and slowly beginning to fade away, despite most of its bloodstains remaining around them.

"They're about as sneaky as the rabbits were fast," Sophia agreed, planting her back firmly against John's to guard his rear. He'd already been caught off-guard by one of the bustier members of this trickster bandit crew earlier, and lost almost half his health due to a sneak attack bonus - after that, his party had begun travelling almost exclusively in a tight formation, backs mostly turned towards from each other. John had been lucky to catch that man before he struck out, but fortunately for them, that seemed to be the last. Judging by the laughter coming from the trees, anyway.

"That doesn't sound much like the other ones did," Lerianna noted, staring into the treeline. They had spawned into what at first seemed like a pretty mundane forest, but now as echoing laughter mixed with the occasional flash of mysterious light, it suddenly seemed quite intimidating. None of the other Kitsunes had used more than minor illusion spells - so why did this mini-boss suddenly seem to be so much more skilled and frightening?

"My, my… look who has wandered into my home. You seem like quite the entertaining crowd. Perhaps we could play together?"

"Sure, we'd love to play. Why don't you come out and show us where you are?" John called out, glancing around to see if he could spot where the voice was coming from. It echoed off the trees and bounced around in places it should not have been able to come from.

"What fun would that be?" the voice called out again, giggling. "Let's have some real fun."

Tails began to swarm out of the forest from all directions - bright blonde tails, fluffy and almost inviting, save for the fact that dozens of them were swarming the group from everywhere.

"If that's how you want to play it, then so be it!" John growled, pulling his hand in. Two Fire Orbs formed in his palm and he tossed them rapidly toward the densest concentrations of trees and the nearest cluster of tails, aiming far enough away that he wouldn't put anyone around him in immediate danger. The orbs exploded with gusto, igniting two large sections of the foliage immediately. The tails themselves never quite caught on fire - instead they merely disappeared entirely the second that the flames touched them. All the same, the remaining appendages retreated instantly, leaving only that hostile laughter in the background.

"What's the matter? Don't you trust me?"

The voice laughed even as the flames flickered and danced around John and his allies, slowly torching away the forest. Not sure where their foe actually was, John didn't want to dart off in any particular direction, so they gathered together as best as they could. When the blaze grew a little too close and the laughter started to die down a bit, John waved his arm.

The fires died out instantly, the mana supplying them being severed at its source. There was a long moment of silence before the voice resumed, its tone still playful but a touch more hostile.

"You can't find peace standing still."

Blue fires erupted around them, igniting the forest once more. Although John had successfully dismissed his own spells, the forest was now blazing just as intensely as before, except this time the inferno was clearly targeted at them. The blue flames moved like they were alive, rapidly scorching across the surrounding greenery.

"I can't see 'er anywhere," Seras growled, still staying in formation as they all tried to edge away from the strongest part of the fire. "No way I can get a shot off."

"I could take to the air and try to spot her, Father," Sophia offered, eyes already going skyward, although she refused to leave John's side without permission.

Flames flew into the sky at Sophia's words, engulfing the area in a blue net too tight for even the Nekos to work their way through. The fire gave up all pretenses of being natural as it snaked through the ground from their left, forcing the entire group to begin fleeing toward the only space where the flames were not crowding in on them.

"Come, now. If you'd like to play with me, you'd better be sure you know the game."

The flames continued to lead forward, closing in on them but never quite catching up. John's mind whirled as he tried to process what was happening around them, how to handle the situation. He'd never dealt with a Barrier creature this odd, this powerful, this intelligent. Hell, even the humanoid ones barely talked. John had intended to control what it was that he created from this Barrier, but suddenly he was more concerned with how easily they were being controlled.

"Should I make your pulse rise? Or… Stop!"

Giggling came from the forest around them as they fled, but the final word came from a figure and voice far more bestial than the others. From the shadows ahead a massive entity started to form - John only had enough time to shout the briefest warning and throw himself ahead before what appeared to be a massive, golden fox-head shot out of the underbrush. It was so oversized that even though John threw his sword out to intercept the jaws, it was all he could do to press the endlessly sharp edge back toward the rim of the creature's mouth to prevent it from engulfing him almost entirely as it turned its head to the side and came at him. The bright golden fox-head clamped down powerfully over the blade, John's arms, and a large part of his torso - its fangs pierced cleanly through his armor, and he felt the stinging pain of enamel sinking into his sides, even as he propped his elbows out to **** the mouth open further.

-310 HP!

Fear overwhelmed John for a moment - one of the largest attacks he'd ever taken, and by a Barrier creature with no reason to be so incredibly powerful. But something else started rising in him. As his blade grappled for purchase against the massive head, as John felt his body caving in underneath the overwhelmingly powerful jaws, he heard shouting behind him but couldn't place the words.

"Mastah! I'm comin' 'ang-" Seras was interrupted as another fox shot from the foliage, just as massive, wrapping its teeth around her - she jammed her rifle into its maw and the weapon creaked as metal began to bend. Tails and fangs and claws ripped through the bushes, lashing out and pinning, striking, or disabling John's allies. It was a ferocity and intensity he'd never seen before, even from the Cabal, even from their strongest foes. John's mind began to scream as blood seeped down his body.

"What's going on? Why do I feel like I'm dying? Gamer's Body isn't helping, it's like… I'm shutting… down…"

John’s vision began to fade, replaced by the black abyss in front of him, the gaping maw that led inevitably to a lethal end. His body numbed, his mind faded, and…

"No. This isn't how it ends."

John felt a spark in his deepest reaches, a rising awareness of something that hadn't been there before. His body felt weak but his mind had never been more alive in that moment. A fire was lit deep within him, erupting flames and heat through his soul, reinvigorating his fading consciousness.

Shard of Bishamonten: 50% Activation!

John felt as if he was waking from a dream. The sudden snap to awareness didn't have many other things he could compare it to, nor did the sudden change of scenery. The fox that had been slowly crushing him to **** in its jaws had vanished, and so had the dark, dreary forest and all its dangers. John actually fell off balance and stepped forward, trying to push back against a foe that was no longer there. The darkness and the threatening voice in the shadows were gone. Instead a bright, almost painfully verdant forest popped into view. The fire had disappeared, the sun was shining, non-killer birds were chirping… it was almost peaceful.

John blinked, his adrenaline still sky-high and rage still flowing through his veins. He twirled around, trying to find the threat. All he saw at first were his family. John's allies still stood around in a similar formation, except that he was apparently the only one who had noticed the change. The others were grappling with invisible enemies, occasionally grunting, screaming, or crying out with effort. But none of them were wounded; the blood was gone, and even the damage to their clothes had been repaired. Only their actions and the way they grappled with the air seemed to show that they still believed themselves in danger.

"What the hell is going on here?"

"Not quite hell, John Newman… just a whole lot of sin."

John whirled and found himself face-to-face with something he hadn't been expecting. Resting on a rock nearby, smiling coyly at him with one finger tracing the edges of her bright-pink lips, a woman sat. Well, not quite a woman - nine tails as blue and as shimmering as water gently drifted behind her. Her hair and ears matched her lips, and the cherry blossoms of the trees behind her, giving her a strange form of symmetry with the land around her.

She wore what could have been described as a kimono, though it was missing pretty significant amounts of fabric - her body was exposed from shoulders to cleavage, in a way that made John wonder how the garment stayed on at all. The cloth only lasted to just below her nethers, so short John was quite sure if she leaned back he'd be getting quite the show. Aside from its lack of coverage, the outfit was actually quite beautiful, playing along the pale skin of the Kitsune with flowing blue and purple lines, trimmed with pink, and matching the bells attached to her ears and around the center of her chest, jingling lightly as the woman giggled at him.

"My, my, my. There's more to you than meets the eye after all, John Newman… and let me tell you, this eye likes what it sees."