~~~十~~~

~~~银狐的愤努~~~

Xuělián was the first to shove past the crossdresser and make her way out into the hall only to be pulled back by Mizuki just as she reached the other door. This was met with an immediate glare before he gave her a worried look while he said, "You shouldn't be the one who goes in there right now, Your Highness."

"And why not?" she snapped in return while trying to wrench herself free from his grasp, only causing the student's grip to tighten. A low growl threatened to fall from her lips as he let the other two women proceed in with no problems. "As one of the foreign ambassadors, he is my responsibility. You know that, right?"

"I am aware, but that being said, I have to put your safety first since you're a princess of the Yín Empire," Mizuki replied as he tugged her off to the side. She was no longer struggling at this point, but he knew that she would still pull away if his grip faltered in the slightest. "I know you give your all into keeping the people you bring on missions safe, but this isn't something you should jump right into."

"What are you talking about, Mizuki?" the ravenette groaned. She was feeling jumpier the longer she was left in the dark about her sworn brother's condition. "Just tell me what's happening and I'll try to calm down, but it doesn't help if you're being cryptic!"

The support mage let out a long sigh, but before he could open his mouth to explain the door to the males' room burst open. It was Dàoyì, he was still in his sleepwear with his hair sticking up in random places and eyes flicking all over the place until they landed on the female. The nickname he had always called her fell from his lips as he staggered towards the pair.

Mizuki was quick to step in front of the female as she took a step back with wide eyes. The first thing she noticed alongside the male's strange behavior was the haze of dusty pink that covered his normally vibrant, azure irises. Just before Dàoyì could lunge forward, his eyes rolled back as he crumpled into the wind mage who was waiting behind him.

While Kaze moved to place his unconscious junior back in his bed, the other two explained what they had witnessed. Upon waking up, both the white haired male and Ryota had noticed that Dàoyì was tossing around and muttering something in his sleep. Concerned for his well-being, they woke him up only to be ignored as they noticed the pink haze in his eyes.

"And none of you felt the presence of a demon at all before or when you noticed this?" the Seventh Princess questioned as she watched Ageha try to break the charm. Her own form was standing in a corner of the room, as far away from him as possible so as not to wake him up again.

"No, we would have woken up immediately if there was a demon nearby," the brunet muttered while biting down on his thumbnail. His eyes flicked back to the younger male. "But for a succubus to have such a strong grip on him they would have to be..."

"At least a Decade Millennium Demon," she finished with a sigh. Her hand then reached up to pinch the bridge of her nose as her eyes shut. "I could already guess all of the demons there were at least Millennium Demons, but this makes it so much worse."

A tense silence fell over the group as the students knew that this entire situation had just become something that was entirely out of their league. All they could do was stay silent as they waited for the next orders from the princess. They couldn't just leave with the foreign student in his current condition as the charm would only be broken if the demon who cast it was killed or broke it off willingly.

It stayed like this for what seemed like an eternity before the ravenette lifted her head to say, "Alright. All of you stay here and make sure he stays unconscious." She then began making her way over to the door before pausing. "His energy will be drained faster if he... if his lust is satisfied, so just keep an eye on him and try to keep his body temperature low while I finish this up."

"Wait, Your Highness, you can't possibly be thinking of challenging an entire colony of demons!" Tsukiyo exclaimed as she stood up from where she sat. "You said it yourself, every single one of them is at least of millennium ranking!"

"That's right, even for you this is way too much!" the Hellhound user added as he held an arm out in between her and the door. He tensed at the way her eyes narrowed up at him but refused to move. "You can't throw away your rationality and risk your life like this!"

The others were about to agree only to be silenced by an overwhelming spiritual pressure that stemmed from the young woman. Her pupils were narrowed into tight slits as the air became thin. The pressure disappeared almost as quickly as it came when the female realized her little slip, but her expression remained the same.

"These are my orders. Do you dare defy them?"

No one tried to stop her after that, staying silent as they watched the adopted royal storm out of the room with her hands clenched into fists. They just let her lock herself in the room shared by the females until the sun went down.

It was Mizuki and Tsukiyo that saw the woman when she finally came out of the room. They were on the first floor, about to get some dinner when they heard someone coming down the stairs. Naturally, they turned towards the noise only to do a double take at who it was, or more specifically, their appearance.

Walking down the stairs was Xuělián. Her hair was parted to the right with no braids, allowing the long locks to fall over her shoulders and naturally frame her face. Her eyes seemed sharper than normal thanks to the precise winged eyeliner she had used, and her lips were painted a deep, blood red. She still wore her heeled combat boots, but other than that, her clothes were completely different from what she wore the last time she was seen.

Both the woman's arms and midriff were exposed by fault of the cropped black, halter top she donned which was tied at the back of her neck and ended a few inches below her bust. Hugging tightly to her legs and hips was a unique article of clothing that she had altered herself. It was originally a normal pair of black jeans, but she had cut the right leg shorter so that it barely reached the middle of her thigh. The left leg was left mostly intact with just some random slits cut into it to expose some skin when worn. Underneath this, she wore a pair of fishnet stockings that could be seen fully on her right leg while it was also seen in the windows created on her left.

The look created was far from the female's usual want for pure comfort and practicality while staying low-key as it drew almost all eyes to her. It even left the Spirit House representative speechless as her companion was practically vibrating in excitement.

"Are you really going to do this on your own, Your Highness?" the ice mage asked as the other woman was about to pass them. The male stood next to her holding the tray of food they were bringing up for everyone.

"Of course I am," the ravenette responded casually as one of her hands came up to rest on her hip. When her purple eyes flicked over to meet her students' they could see that she had calmed down and was in a clear state of mind. "They messed with one of my students so it's only fitting that I pay them back tenfold."

"And your outfit?" the male mused with a small nod. No one had ever seen her wear anything like it before, so he was a bit curious. "It looks good, but is there any specific reason for wearing it tonight?"

The twenty-year-old let out a hum as she looked down at herself. Admittedly, it wasn't something she ever wore. This was mostly because she didn't have the confidence to, but now that she saw it on herself, she regretted not trying it sooner.

"I'm going to murder a bunch of demons and I want to look hot while doing it," she replied in the end, not even giving them a chance to reply as she turned back to the door. She almost regretted her blunt words, worrying about how the students’ views on her would shift, but she had bigger things to worry about.

The transmigrator had always threatened to commit acts of violence if things didn't go a certain way, but she was restricted by multiple factors. In this life, there were fewer restrictions and she was much more capable of following through with her threats. The only things that held her back in this life were her morals and her place in the hierarchy, but this situation was different. The ones who had crossed her were demons, beings that were seen as a danger to her empire, so what she planned to do was justified.

Upon entering the nest of demons, she was greeted by a pretty woman in a pink hanfu who asked her if she would like to request any specific workers. This earned a hum as the mage, taking immediate notice of the demonic scent before she brought a hand up to her lips before answering. "Do you think it would be possible to rent everyone here for the night? I'm sure that I have the coin for it."

The succubus' eyes went wide, taking a few moments to process the request before seeing the small smirk on the customer's face. It was at that moment she realized that it was a serious request when she was handed a large bag full of silver. She raised a hand to cover her mouth as she let out a small giggle before instructing the woman to wait for a few minutes.

Xuělián silently watched as the potential customers were being ushered out of the building in a hurry. She noticed that some of them were quite irritated with the outcome and tried to retaliate but ended up leaving when they realized nothing would change. This earned a small snort from her as she thought, 'If only others could take a hint this easily.'

It wasn't long before the same female came back out to lead her inside with a large smile. The demon was quick to latch onto the ravenette's arm and rested her head on her shoulder. She was completely oblivious to what her so called customer was really there to do.

Upon reaching the open hall, the adopted royal was led to a small table right in front of the stage and immediately poured a cup of the finest wine they had. She was surrounded by about thirty of the ‘professional lovers,’ all of them looking right at her as she enjoyed her beverage until a familiar face stepped forward.

Xuělián immediately recognized the undeniably beautiful woman as the singer with the zither from the night before. She recognized her as the Decade Millennium Demon who had charmed her sworn brother.

"Welcome, Dearest Patron," the succubus greeted with a bow, though her eyes lingered on the woman's form. The others surrounding them were quick to do the same, following the same procedure they had followed many times. "It is our pleasure to be of service to you here in our Fúróng Pavilion."

A hum left the mage's throat as she swallowed down another cup of the wine that was in front of her. With how strong the sweet flavor and fragrance were, she knew that it was brewed using hibiscus and she had to give them credit for choosing such a stimulating plant. Her purple eyes then flicked up to the head worker to ask, "Is this all of you?"

"Yes, Dearest Patron, we're all here to be used at your disposal," one of the male’s answered with a sly smile. He reached forward to take a lock of hair and bring it up to his lips. "However you wish."

"If that's the case, then let's all stop this farce. Shall we?" the ravenette mused while standing straight up, causing many of the others to jump. She then tossed her left hand up with some spiritual energy. It stopped about ten feet above them before forming a translucent purple dome around everyone with a diameter of about twenty-five feet.

'Drawing from the elements of Earth and Spirit: Scales of the Burrowing Viper!'

With the sudden display of magic, all of the demons backed away from the woman with sneers and glares as the strongest one of them tossed her head back to laugh. Her eyes began to glow pink as she mockingly asked, "Congratulations, you know what we are, but what can one of you arrogant humans do against all of us?" All of their eyes began to glow simultaneously as the female was hit with a strong wave of demonic energy once more but much to their surprise, she didn't even flinch.

'Drawing from the element of Spirit: Dispel!'

Every single one of the demons was pushed back a few steps as the charm spell was canceled and they could only look over at the female with wide eyes. All she did was shake her head with an amused smile before saying, "You got both of those things wrong."

"Firstly, I'm not arrogant, I'm confident. There’s a difference," Xuělián mused as she flipped a stray lock of hair back over her shoulder. She then brought her right hand up to check her nails. "And that statement about me being human... Well, I'll just let you see that for yourself."

'Calling upon my inner Chaos: Soul Eater!'

Many of the incubus and succubus let out gasps as an intense spiritual pressure began to push out from the ravenette's form. It was strong and definitely intimidating, but what caught their attention was the fact that it wasn't completely human.

They could only watch in stunned silence as seven large tails grew out from her tailbone. Each one of the appendages was translucent purple in color, made from the owner's own spiritual energy but it was different from the other times she used them. Swirling around in the purple were wisps of black energy that matched the black sparks that currently danced randomly across her physical body.

"Impossible," hissed the Decade Millennium Demon as she raised a sleeve to cover the lower half of her face. Her pupils had narrowed into slits as well as her fellow demons cowered back only to be halted by the barrier. "Not only are you a filthy hybrid, but one imbued with Chaos Energy?!"

"Yes," the ravenette answered with a shrug as her tails swayed lightly behind her. She held her right hand up to her face, watching as the black sparks appeared and disappeared in random patterns. "One of my parents was a Silver Fox Beast while the other was a Chaos Mage... Too bad they both died before I could figure out which was which."

The woman's gaze hardened before her hand fell back to her side as she looked back to the demon before her. She knew her time using the Chaos Energy in her soul was limited before it started having detrimental effects on her body but she intended to end things quickly.

"But thanks to them and my own training, I can defeat you all easily!" she continued with a bright chuckle. This caused a few of the demons to lunge forward with their nails extended into long claws, but they were only met with tails impaling them through the chest.

Once the demons had stopped moving, the tails flicked them off and let their bodies drop to the floor before pink, flame-like wisps formed over them. As the translucent appendages gathered the wisps and brought them back to the female's main body, she inwardly laughed at the now horrified expressions on the remaining demons' faces. A smile then appeared on her face as she brought each wisp up to her mouth and swallowed them one by one.

"You already know that magical beasts, demons, spirits, and even hybrids have a better cultivating speed compared to humans but I'll let you in on a little secret before y’all die," Xuělián mused while holding up the last wisp. She then poked at it before tilting her head back to swallow it. "My Chaos Spell, Soul Eater, allows me to gain more energy and helps me to reach higher levels of cultivation by consuming the souls of other beasts or demons."

The Decade Millennium Succubus began to shiver as the adopted princess cut down another seven demons with her lips curled upwards into an empty smile. After eating the souls, she then looked up and asked, "I wonder what level all of your souls will get me to?"

It was around midnight when the female students heard a tapping on the window of their room. They were immediately put on high alert since their room was on the third floor and silently sprung out of their beds. The princess had not yet returned so they were beginning to fear the worst until the being behind the shutters finally spoke.

"Guys, can you let me in, please? I'm really tired and it's pretty awkward to just be hanging from a window," came the soft voice of the one they were waiting for. Almost immediately, the two women scrambled to the unconventional entrance.

Upon opening the shutters, they were greeted with the sight of the princess just hanging onto the lower guard rail with blood splattered all over her face. There was a slight panic as they hauled her up through the window and helped her limp over to her bed.

"You really managed to defeat all of those demons on your own?" Tsukiyo asked with her back turned to the ravenette. The younger was currently changing into a pair of shorts so that her swollen left knee could be treated properly. "Even the Decade Millennium Demon?"

"I wouldn't have come back here if the job wasn't finished, Tsukiyo," she replied, moving her leg to rest on Ageha's lap to be wrapped. It was painful, but she was used to her lower joints having issues from her previous life. "But how's Dàoyì's condition? Did he get any better?"

'Jesus fuck!' Xuělián thought, barely paying attention to the explanation the house representative was giving. Every little touch or movement in her knee caused a surge of pain to jolt through her nerves. 'I spent too much time playing with them. I really pushed my limits this time!'

Chaos Magic was rare amongst mages as it held high levels of effectiveness and had a low chance of being dispelled, but only one out of every million was able to use it successfully. This was due to the fact that the energy needed for it was unpredictable and could cause damage to the user whether that was physically, spiritually, or mentally. A Chaos Mage needed to constantly train their body and Soul to be able to, not only contain the energy but also to control it as it would lessen a chance of backfire. However, no matter how long a mage trained, there would always be some damage inflicted upon themselves due to the nature of the energy.

Chaos Energy existed only to wreak havoc and if it was held in one spot for too long it would do just that. It doesn't matter if it was being contained in an inanimate vessel or in someone's hand. Once it was activated it would find a way to destroy until the energy flow was cut off or until it burned itself out.

At first, all beings in this world were born with Chaos Energy flowing in them alongside their normal spiritual energy, but not everyone could handle it. Due to this, fewer beings over time were born with Chaos Energy until only a handful of these beings were left. Even less of them were those who could use it practically in their magical practice. One of Xuělián's parents was one of these mages, so it was only natural that she was as well.

However, this was a secret kept from many. The only ones alive who knew that she could use Chaos Magic were the first three royal children of the Yín Empire and the Yín Emperor. The others who had known about it were long dead, having been a select few members of the adventurer’s guild she was in a long time ago.

Since effective Chaos Mages were a rare thing to come across, it was decided by the emperor that it was better to stay quiet about the Seventh Princess’ full abilities. Many others would seek to manipulate or even take this talent away from her for their own gain. It was one of the reasons that she was adopted into the imperial family, after all.

Once all of her injuries were taken care of, the Soul Maiden just plopped back down onto her bed with a huff as the mattress bounced slightly. She then placed an arm over her eyes to block the light from reaching them while muttering something about going to sleep. Now that the adrenaline had worn off, her whole body was starting to feel sore, and she knew that it would be about ten times worse by the time the sun came up.

The woman was tired, to say the least. It was a struggle to stay awake and hear the final words her students had for her, but she uttered one last thing before slipping into unconsciousness. "Don't tell Jiějiě, Er-jiě, or San-gē about this. They'll make a big deal out of it."

By the time morning came, everyone but the ravenette were gathered around a table on the first floor of the inn, ready to have their breakfast. They were all relatively silent, eyes flicking over to their junior that had finally come out of his stupor late the previous night.

The male looked much better compared to the day before, now in his proper clothes while his hair was combed, but he was still recovering. His eyes were cast downwards and his movements were sluggish as he picked at his food. He almost looked dead to the passing patrons who didn't know any better about what had transpired in the past three days.

"Shidì, are you sure you're okay?" Ageha questioned after swallowing her current bite of food. Her hand found itself resting on his upper back to gain his attention. "You don't want to lie down for a little longer?"

"No... No, I'm fine," he sighed, voice barely audible as he shook his head. Blue eyes gazed up at the higher level mage for a moment while he gave his response, but ended up returning to the stairs by the end of it.

The exchange student had remembered everything that happened before being knocked out by Kaze and it made his heart sink. Being charmed by a demon that had stolen the face of his sworn sister was bad enough, but remembering what they had done while his mind was in a haze just made him feel dirty.

The guilt he felt was only made worse when he was told that it was the Seventh Princess who had gone in, by herself, to kill every single demon in the brothel. According to the ice mage, she even came back with multiple injuries and that didn't sit well with the foreigner. It reminded him of the multiple times he had been haunted by her form after she had disappeared now ten years prior.

"Dàoyì, do you really think she's going to be happy if you're just moving around like this?" the wind mage huffed as he slammed his chopsticks down at the side of his bowl. Green eyes were boring holes straight through the younger member of the Spirit House. "The brat made the conscious decision to go in by herself. She isn't stupid."

Mizuki nodded along while swallowing some of his tea before saying, "That's true, Shidì." There was a small clink as he set the porcelain cup back down on its saucer. "Her Highness wouldn't have gone if she didn't think she could handle it. She'll bounce right back in a few hours, you should know that nothing keeps her down for long." He opened his mouth to continue talking but was promptly cut off by the ice mage bolting out of her seat.

"Ah! Your Highness, what are you doing?!" Tsukiyo exclaimed as she rushed over to the stairs where the ravenette stood. She immediately took the younger female's left arm as she kept the weight off of her left knee by lifting her leg. "You shouldn't be walking yet, especially up and down stairs!"

"Tsukiyo, I'm fine," the twenty-year-old chuckled while shaking her head. She gladly accepted the assistance down the stairs before carefully plopping down into a chair at the table. "I'm used to injuring my lower joints."

"This isn't just a small injury! Your knee was shatter-"

'Drawing from the elements of Air and Spirit: Mute!'

Lighter purple eyes glared over at the Soul Maiden as the student’s voice was cut off. She opened her mouth once more, only for no sound to come out and she immediately recognized the spell that was cast. Knowing that the caster wouldn't budge, she just let out a huff before crossing her arms over her chest.

Feeling the worry dripping off her sworn brother, Xuělián turned to face him only for him to look down and avoid eye contact. She immediately swallowed down the hurt that she felt at the small gesture and smiled at him to say, "Ignore her, Dào-gē. I'm fine, really." Her eyes drifted down to the bandaged knee that was visible now that she was back in her normal shorts. "I'm used to minor injuries like this."

"Honestly, all I care about is that you're safe now," she continued while turning to the food in front of her. She didn't want to make him uncomfortable or force him to look at her after what he had experienced. "I'd cross through all planes of death for you. You know?"

It was silent for a few moments and everyone thought that's where the topic would end until the male said, "You shouldn't have to do things like that for me, Lián-mei. I'm sorry." All eyes were on him once more as he turned to her with a look of determination. "I'll get stronger and next time I'll be the one to protect you."

The female internally rejected this notion, but she didn't stop a wide smile from making its way onto her features. She then nodded and reached out to grab his hand before turning to the others to say, "Now that the heavy stuff is out of the way, how about we go visit one of the nearby casinos before heading back to the academy to celebrate?"

"Not that I'm against going to a casino, because I'm not, but what are we celebrating?" Ryota asked as he set his chopsticks down. His head tilted to the side as he continued, "We don't usually celebrate at the end of missions unless it's someone's first."

"I just thought that it would be appropriate because I broke through and hit level ninety last night," the ravenette spoke nonchalantly. There was a smirk on her face upon seeing her declaration sink into the minds of her companions as she lifted a cup of water to her lips.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Kaze asked, completely disregarding the verbal filter he had learned to use in his time at the academy. His eyes scanned the female up and down for any trace of a lie. "You really jumped from level eighty to ninety in just one night?!"

The adopted royal just shrugged her shoulders as a giggle escaped from her lips before asking, "Do you want proof?" She then pushed her chair back using her right leg and stood up, careful to keep weight off of her injured joint. "Because I'll be glad to show you the proof."

Before anyone could even try to stop her, the ravenette allowed her spiritual energy to flow without letting any of her spiritual pressure escape. It condensed at the top of her head as a pair of pointed, translucent purple ears and eight fluffy tails that tapered off towards the tips.

The six students openly gaped at the additional tail on her Astral Spirit in complete silence as they lightly sway from side to side. They didn't know much about those with fox-based spirits as mages who wielded them were quite rare so it was always a spectacle when they saw one gain a tail.

"So, you're one more tail away from being in the top ranking for those of similar Astral Spirits," the purple haired ice mage commented as the beast-like appendages disappeared. She then nodded as the other female took her seat once more. "The maximum amount is nine if I remember correctly."

"That's right, the strongest Fox Beasts, no matter what kind, will have nine tails," the Seventh Princess explained before picking up an extra pair of chopsticks. She then picked up a small piece of egg from Dàoyì's plate. "If you come across one with nine tails in the wild, then run in the opposite direction or proceed with extreme caution. It's most likely of Decade Millennium ranking."

“Congratulations, Your Highness,” Tsukiyo said as she gave a salute to the adopted royal. She was extremely formal in her actions which usually got her teased when they went out on missions. “You are now at the same level as the Crown Prince, First Princess, and Second Princess.”

Upon hearing that statement, she just shook her head with an inward groan. The ravenette knew that her life would get so much harder once word of her breakthrough spread throughout the upper ranks of the empire. There would definitely be more attempts to either gain her favor or try to knock her down and she did not want to deal with it. She just wanted to stay in her small bubble without being too involved with the politics of the empire.

‘All I wanted out of life was to live in a small cottage in the woods, by myself,’ Xuělián thought as she drummed her fingers against the wood grain table. The conversation around her had switched to deciding which casino they would go to later that night. ‘But being in a world full of magic is good too. I just wish that I wasn’t looped into any of these empirical politics.’

Purple eyes flicked off to the right as a smile formed on their owner’s lips. Dàoyì was sitting right next to her, listening intently to the arguments each of his seniors made for the various gambling establishments. His hand had yet to release her own, providing a warmth the woman wasn’t familiar with in her previous life.

She gave a silent smile, moving her chair closer to her childhood friend, before resting her head on his shoulder. This earned a raised brow, but he simply patted her head with his free hand and gave her a grin before returning to the conversation. ‘As long as I have Dào-gē by my side, I have nothing to complain about.’

~~~Fin. Chapter 10~~~