Welcome to the Dragons Lair

Day before battle.

"Okayy Terre, tell me what we are up against?" I say giddily.

I notice out the corner of my eye that Ignis is staring at me strangely, probably due to my sudden excitement at the thought of a big battle, but I ignore her gaze.

"Yes my lady, my minions spotted that they seem to be a mix of both combatants and non-combatants. Everything, from pregnant females and children to what look like the warriors of the clan."

"Hmmm, why are they bringing even their most vulnerable to a battle? Surely he is not making them fight as well?" I say concerned for the first time about a battle.

It would leave a very bitter taste in my mouth to have to fight creatures like that.

"I could see madness in his eyes and the way he talked when I briefly met him. He was ordering his subordinates to charge at a firewall to weaken it, even though it was killing them upon touch." Aura says, remembering that rather traumatic event.

"Indeed, when he attacked my old nest, he did not seem to mind throwing away the lives of those under him. So I would not put it past that thing to make children, and other such groups, fight us to try and get an advantage." Terre also supports what Aura is saying.

So that chief wolf is in the truest sense of the word, a monster. This definitely will not end without a big fight.

"Very well, once they arrive I am going to go out to meet them in the plains outside the city walls. Then I can truly judge for myself how mad this wolf seems to be. Not that he is going to get off lightly despite what he says, after what he has done to you guys."

"Fufufu very well my lady, I shall coordinate with everyone to get those who cannot fight to a safe place, perhaps the castle is best until everything calms down?" Terre suggests.

"Sure, I leave it to you three then. We are still not sure how strong the chief wolf is, but I am not going to be killed by some crazy mut! Oh and Terre, don't take to long cause you have to come watch me kick their furry arses!" I shout raising my fist in the air, I was getting super pumped up!

"It would be a pleasure my Lady."

After getting confirmation from Terre, I then run over to Ignis who is still being quiet and go to jump on her back…

"Hyaaah!" I shout as I pounce.

"Urghh, Alicia what are you doing?!" She shouts breaking out of her trance.

"Well you were being reaaally quiet, so was just going… too… fufu you have such lovely tails Ignis…"

When I jumped onto her back, she had her tails on the ground so I had easy access to her back. Now though they were up and waving around quite frantically which made me take notice of their fluffiness.

I slide off her back and onto her tails, grabbing one and rubbing it against my face.

"Haaaah soooo niceeeeee, I am so glad you joined our kingdom Ignis. I think I have found my second interest now fufufu…"

"W-Wait Alicia hiii… the tail is a sensitive spot kyah…."

As I ran my fingers through her fur on her tail, heading towards the base of the tail… I feel like something awakened in me… seeing Ignis' embarrassed and flushed face.

"Hiiii!" Ignis let out a noise as I got closer to the base again.

"Fufufu… nice sound Ignis…" I say as I look up at her again.

I could feel my own face start to heat up a bit and my mind starts to go a bit fuzzy, but I actually felt quite good. As I move to get closer again but…

"Hiiiii! W-What was that?!" I shout, as I feel my tail is now being grabbed.

I am then picked up by my collar and placed in someone's arms. I look up and find that it was Terre… Of course it was Terre.

"Terre? Why did you do that? I was having fun?" I asked pouting, confused as to why she stopped me.

"My Lady, as good as it is to have fun… May I remind you that you are in public, that sort of thing is best off done in a more private location." Terre vaguely explains.

I didn't really get what she meant at first, but then my head started to clear up. I started to remember what I was doing…

"Waaaaaah! N-No I-I wasn't… I-I wouldn't do that sort of th-thing in public! Terre you meany!" I start shouting in a panic when I realise how it must have looked.

"Hehe maybe not my Lady, but you did indeed have too much "fun" with Lady Ignis."

I looked over at Ignis and she was still blushing slightly and holding the tail that I was just stroking.

"AH! Ignis I am really sorry, I got to carried away." I bow my head while slightly looking up at her with my eyes.

She continued to blush however and looked away from me.

"Grrr how can I be mad at someone who is so cute... and I didn't mind to much… it felt pretty good…" she looks down begins whispering something.

"Huh what was that Ignis? I couldn't hear ya?" I say coming next to her and putting my face in her line of sight.

"Ha! O-Oh nothing, it's okay Alicia I forgive you." She says loudly.

"Hehe great!" I give her a big, beaming smile and turn around to head to the castle where we would discuss the coming battle further.

While I was heading off to the castle…

"She has such a cute smile…" (Ignis)

"So cute…" (Aura)

"Super cuuuuuute…" (Terre)

I turn back around to see them all just staring my way… and Terre was slightly blushing and drooling. She's very weird. But now is not the time!

"Come on everyone let's go!" I shout back to them.

Everyone then began to follow behind after me, as I happily skipped back to the castle while humming a tune.

Hehe, battle time soon!

---

The Next Day. Battle Day.

I stood in the middle of plain with Ignis, waiting for our intruders to appear out of the forest.

I was currently in my spirit armour while holding my scythe, while Ignis was wearing some leather armour that we managed to patch up enough to look usable. She was also borrowing one of Terre's swords until we had chance to get her one of her own.

Aura was back at the castle with the rest of her people, it was almost time for her to give birth so we could not risk her being on the front lines.

Whereas Terre seemed distracted as we were making our way to the plains together and said she was just going to check something. I wonder where she has gone, at this rate she is going to miss the battle!

Terre told me before she left that they will be here any minute now and that there seems to be three wolves at the head of the pack.

One wolf is the leader of the pack, the one that attacked both Terre's old nest and killed Ignis' dad. Another one seems to be a strong looking female wolf. Not as strong as the leader, but you could clearly see she could hold her own in a fight. The final wolf, Terre tells me is a very small male wolf. She said that she presumed this wolf to be quite a young one, as his body was smaller than most of the other wolves that surrounded him. She did seem to warn me that he was quite cute, apparently she is now wary when I spot cute and fluffy things.

She also told Ignis to hold me back if I try and pet and fluff him at an inappropriate time. I was a bit insulted, but I guess what I did to Ignis didn't really help me…

As I stood and thought about the information that Terre had given me, I started to hear multiple footsteps coming from the forest ahead.

"Ignis, once the fighting looks like it is about to start I want you to back off and let me handle it. You aren't yet used to your humanoid form so you could get hurt." I say letting Ignis know the plan.

"… It's frustrating, but I understand Alicia. I'll do as you say." She says with a slightly disappointed face.

After a few minutes, they started to appear.

First came the wolves that I was told were leading the pack, along with the incredibly cute small wolf. I managed to keep myself composed though by trying really hard, and by trying to look at him as little as possible.

The female wolf looked really badass and gave off a really cool aura. She had a few scars like all the other wolves, bar the cute male one and the other wolf children who were now coming out behind the leaders with there guardians. Her scars, unlike the ones of the leader which left ugly bald patches everywhere, just added to her aura. All in all, she seemed like she would be strong enough to give me a decent fight.

The leader of the pack stopped some distance from me and once he had made sure everyone had finally come out of the forest, he talked to the female wolf beside him then glared my way again.

Though as I looked at them, I began to think that there were less of them then Terre said there would be. It was quite strange.

I could not ignore the situation in front of me though and needed to concentrate. I match the wolf's glare and I can feel a certain emotion welling up inside me.

"Greetings Wolf Chief. I am Acting Queen Alicia Valensca, I am currently the ruler of the territory that you have entered. So tell me… WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE." I say increasing the intensity of my glare.

I thought I could be more composed when I saw the leader, but what came out of my mouth was very provocative. Even if I did lose my composure, I thought it would be the anticipation and excitement of going to battle.

But it wasn't. All I felt was disgust while looking at and talking to him. Remembering what he has done to Terre, Ignis and Aura, I could barely control my rage.

My glare did not seem to faze the wolf though, as it stood there and grinned at me and Ignis from afar.

"Puny human child, you match the description of the thing that apparently killed my pawns. I don't know who the FUCK you think you are or where you are hiding the those Foxes! But either way, once we kill you and your friend there, we will be tearing these ruins to shreds searching for them! Until we slaughter every last one of them! You shall die for the glory of Wolf Chief Gerog!" He shouted, getting increasingly louder and more aggressive with each passing word.

He was clearly going to try and intimidate me and break me before attack me. He has probably used this tactic often before, guessing by how confident he seemed to be.

But it didn't quite have the effect he was hoping for. Honestly, all I felt was…

"Heheheh..."

"Hmmm?" The wolf Chief made a noise in confusion.

"Hehehe….HAHAHAHAHA! COME ON THEN BRING IT!"

Absolute excitement that I could absolutely pummel this piece of garbage into the ground

---

POV Wolf Chief Georg

"Urghh… What is going on…" The chief wolf said to himself.

He had never once experienced this in his life. He had never failed to intimidate anything he came up against. Yet this tiny girl… is making me feel… scared?

No… That can't be true… UTTER NONSENSE! He thought to himself.

I have killed so many creatures that could be considered strong, how could I possibly be scared of that tiny child!

I look over at Vera, the girl that happens to be my Daughter birthed from that useless woman. Though even her mother was not as useless as the son that she then gave me before she died. A weakling he is, worse then trash.

But he has one use, I can use him to manipulate Vera. She can test the waters against this red headed thing, I am too great to be taking on such insignificant things anyway.

"Grrrrrr… Vera go kill that thing!" She looked over at me with hateful eyes, I did not care though.

"Remember, you don't win and die here, then there is a good chance Noa may have an accident after you are gone. A very long and painful accident, hihi." I whispered to her.

She looked as if she wanted to kill me, but she is not strong enough and she knows that.

"… Very well… I'll be back, so don't you lay a paw on him."

She then turns away from me and begins to approach the red headed child.

Either way I win. She can either lose and die but wear out the enemy, letting me easily finish off the red child. Then I can kill this trash that is a son soon after. Or she kills the red child and I can carry on using and manipulating her.

Plus, there is also my back up plan.

I spot some eyes staring at me from in the forest. I look over to the a spot that is a bit away from where we are and nod.

Hihihi. Let us see how skilled you are red child, but you lose no matter what happens.

---

POV Vera.

I approach the red-haired kid in the centre of the plain. She is still currently glaring at my Father, I don't blame her to be honest. I understand how evil he is, and now she has seen it to. The girl that was beside her seems to be backing away a bit, I guess she is letting this be a one on one battle.

I take a few more steps forward, then her gaze quickly turns to me. Her hateful eyes become less so when she looks at me, they even look slightly sympathetic.

I attempt to glare but I fail to do so. I cannot bring myself to hate the kid in front of me, all my hate is reserved for the monster that is making me fight and holding my brother captive.

"Hey there, so is he forcing you to come out here and fight?" She asks me right off the bat.

I wonder how she knows that? Is it that obvious to figure out the methods of my father just from one meeting.

"Your face says that I am correct. Hmmm... how about you join me instead? I can promise you that it will be a lot better then working for that thing."

I was astonished at her offer, she says she will take in a complete stranger just like that. I have never met a creature who would do such a thing. It sounded like a rather attractive offer, all things considered and I might have taken it, if there was just me. But I cannot leave Noa behind.

I look back at my little brother and confirm my resolve.

"I appreciate the offer, but I will have to decline. I have someone too look after. So please... prepare to fight." I reply back to her after a bit of thought, showing my determination.

"Hmmm… very well. I like your spirit! Shall we get to it?" She shouts back at me with a big smile.

It was quite a beautiful smile. One I did not expect to get from someone I was about to fight to the death with.

I nod my head and I get into a stance for quick movement. She readies her strange weapon and also takes a stance.

And so begins the battle.