A mischievous ray of sunlight caused Selene to stir in her bed. She considered just waving her hand at the curtains to envelop the room in semi-darkness for a few more minutes but she quickly abandoned that idea and opened her eyes.

With a long yawn, she sat up and stretched. She really wanted to just laze around at her mansion a little bit but she knew her position didn’t really allow for it. There were plenty of things she had to take care of at the temple right from the very morning.

Standing up, she walked to one of the wardrobes present in her bedchamber and dressed herself up into her usual battle outfit. After she was finished with her sleeves, she moved to the balcony and took a glance at the marble city underneath.

With a deep breath, she jumped over the railing. Eight more tails joined the single fluffy cloud hanging behind her back in a flash and Selene’s body got enveloped by white smoke. Before she fell even halfway towards the streets, she assumed the form of a giant Nine-Tailed Fox and began running through the air with the use of silvery, crescent platforms.

People on the ground turned their heads up with joyful smiles, watching the big, white-furred fox soar through the sky just above them. Many Spiritual Foxes showed respectful greetings with their fists and palms as she passed over various streets and buildings.

“The Matriarch looks as magnificent today as always,” a woman commented with a sigh.

“We are so lucky to be guided by someone blessed by the heavens,” a man added.

“Right! The Matriarch’s blessing is the best possible thing that could have happened to our tribe!” a different girl exclaimed while enthusiastically waving at the majestic fox.

Selene could easily pick up on their conversations with her amazing hearing. She felt warm inside from all the appreciation the people showed her. It was tough at times to lead so many Spiritual Foxes but it was all worth it in the end.

Not wanting to be late, Selene picked up the pace and turned into one, long, white smudge as she rushed towards the main temple at an incredible speed. To the people below, it looked like a passing comet or a shooting star flying low with a sparkly trail of spiritual energy. Everyone knew what it really was, of course.

She reached her destination in no time and stepped onto the ground in front of the numerous columns making the entrance to the highest temple on the marble peak. Many Spiritual Foxes admired her breathtaking fur for a moment before Selene withdrew her transformation and reappeared in her humanoid form.

“Matriarch.”

Everyone instantly bowed and greeted her with proper gestures. Selene smiled at them and waved at her people, knowing well that asking them to drop these courtesies was utterly pointless. She didn’t mind it either.

So, she made her way through the temple’s corridors and chambers while receiving and replying to numerous greetings. Soon, Selene found herself amongst the training arenas, where many of her kin practiced with great effort to better themselves physically, mentally, and spiritually.

One particular person caught Selene’s attention as she was walking by the side of one of these training grounds. She stepped out from behind the pillars separating the sidewalk from the arena and stopped by a silver-haired girl of petite stature.

The young woman’s ear twitched and she turned her head, instantly entering a light bow towards the incoming person.

“Greetings, Matriarch.”

“I see that you are taking my advice very seriously, Ronye.” Selene smiled softly.

“I’m extremely honored to receive guidance from the Matriarch herself. It’s only natural for me to follow the instructions to my utmost abilities.”

“Good. I’m sure you will soon break into the seventh stage.”

“I will not let you down, Matriarch.” Ronye bowed once more and then glanced at Selene with a bit of uncertainty. “Ummm…”

“Yes?” Selene raised a brow at her.

“Would you mind exchanging some pointers with me, Matriarch? I think I could use some additional actual combat advice.”

“But of course. It’s my duty to assist my disciple as much as I can. Prepare yourself.”

Ronye nodded and immediately jumped back to create some distance between them. She entered the sixth stage of her Awakening and Selene matched it with a smile. With a taunting hand gesture from her senior, Ronye disappeared in a blur.

A loud thud followed as the legs of both women met and crossed in the air high above their heads. They remained at a standstill as the dust kicked up from the impact slowly fell to the ground. Ronye understood that she couldn’t contest Selene in pure strength and quickly withdrew her leg, launching a spinning mid-kick at the Matriarch with the retained momentum.

Both of them became a blur as they clashed against each other, exchanging powerful, earth-shaking blows. If anyone was spectating the fight between these two, they would be only able to see the movement of dust and sand throughout the arena and experience the immense blasts of air and spiritual pressure from each hit.

The surrounding marble columns began to crack from the intensity of the mock duel. Thick sweat covered Ronye’s forehead as she tried everything to break through Selene’s guard but couldn’t succeed even once. The Matriarch just smiled back at her while casually blocking or swatting away her blows, redirecting their power into the environment.

Yet, Ronye could feel herself growing stronger by the minute. Each of her parried attacks was mitigated in just the way for her to notice the tiny imperfections in them as if Selene was literally moving her arms and legs into the proper place while guarding against them.

But, even if she truly wanted to keep it up for as long as possible, her body wasn’t able to follow through with her wishes. Ronye finally made a fatal mistake which Selene just couldn’t ignore and the older Foxkin punished her disciple with a powerful palm blow right into her sternum.

An immense impact shook the arena as Ronye was sent flying backward. Before she slammed into the marble pillar, though, Selene appeared behind her and caught the young disciple, cushioning the impact. Ronye slowly regained her lost breath while being supported by the Matriarch.

Partially regaining her composure, she turned around and respectfully pressed her fist into her palm with a light bow.

“Junior thanks the Matriarch for this enlightening spar. I truly can’t even come close to competing with the power of someone with such a powerful blessing.”

Selene chuckled softly and ruffled through Ronye’s hair, glancing at the glowing marks peeking through her right sleeve. For a brief moment, she felt reminiscent of them for some reason, but she quickly refocused her attention on the slightly blushing girl she was patting.

“You will match me in no time, Ronye. Your talent easily surpasses even Lerisse's. Your hard work is second to none too. Just keep it up and the position of the next Matriarch is going to belong to you.”

Ronye smiled faintly, trying to hide it by glancing down. “Surely, you jest, Matriarch. You are going to lead us forever as you are immortal.”

Selene rubbed her head a bit stronger. “You never know what the future holds. Immortal does not mean invincible.”

She then suddenly dropped her smile and her face turned serious. Her last words rang in her head repeatedly. They felt familiar but she couldn’t exactly tell how. Why did she associate them with fire for some reason?

“Matriarch?” Ronye’s worried voice reached her ears.

“It’s nothing. I got a bit lost in my thoughts.” Selene shook her head and her soft smile returned. “I’ll have to excuse myself now. Duty calls.”

Ronye bowed once more and Selene continued her journey to the Matriarch’s office. Just as earlier, many people greeted her with respect, and some even with reverence. Since no one stopped her, she reached her destination in just a few minutes.

Entering the spacious chamber, she noticed a mature Spiritual Fox with long dark ginger hair and an emerald dress sitting on a bench by a huge marble bookshelf. The beautiful woman closed the book she had been reading and stood up, joining her hands in a respectful greeting.

“Welcome, Matriarch.”

Selene snorted while rolling her eyes. “Just stop it, Lerisse. You are having way too much fun with this. You were the Matriarch not that long ago.”

Lerisse chuckled softly, walking closer to her friend. “But now I’m not. It’s only natural that I show proper respect to the leader of our community.”

“People shouldn’t respect you any less with how much you brought into the tribe when the seat was yours.”

“Maybe. But it can’t compare to all the knowledge about dungeons and magic you have shared with everyone even before becoming the Matriarch,” Lerisse replied with a proud smile.

Selene glanced to the side. “Dungeons… and magic…”

“And, we can’t forget your input into external spiritual circuits. If not for your study of the blessing you possess, our tribe couldn’t prosper this much ever.”

As Lerisse stepped closer and wrapped her arms around her younger friend’s waist, Selene still looked to the side, furrowing her brows a little as she stared at her forearms.

“Who… helped me awaken the patterns?” Selene asked.

“Fufufu~ Of course, that was me, don’t you remember? We worked so hard on it. Well, considering how indecent it might have looked now and then, I’m not that surprised you would want to forget about it. But, there’s no need to be shy in front of your Soul Mate.” Lerisse showed an alluring smile and began shortening the distance between their faces.

“Soul… Mate…” Selene muttered to herself in deep thought. “My Soul Mate.”

Just moments before their lips connected, Selene put a hand on Lerisse’s mouth and slowly stepped back, surprising her older friend greatly. A frown appeared on the former Matriarch’s face.

“Is something wrong, Selene?”

“Extend your palm forward,” she ordered with a serious face.

Albeit a little confused, Lerisse complied with the sudden request. Selene placed her own palm against it as they stood in front of each other.

“Circulate your energy with me.”

Lerisse nodded and the two women became enveloped in a spiritual aura of light blue and orange color respectively. The energies flowed through their arms, towards their linked palms, and began mixing as they passed through the connection, traveling further.

But then, a faint explosion of force took place and their palms rebounded from each other, breaking the spiritual bridge between the two women.

Selene immediately frowned.

“You can fool my mind and my memories, but you can’t fool my soul. You are not my Soul Mate, Lerisse. You have never been.”

“Selene?” The older Foxkin showed a great deal of anxiety on her face.

“I’m not sure what is happening but this is wrong. You were not the one to help me, Lerisse. I can feel this much. And this,” she raised her forearms to the sides, “was never viewed as a blessing but a curse. Until someone convinced me otherwise. Someone who I dearly love. Someone who I have to return to. My real Soul Mate.”

Selene’s eyes flashed with white radiance as nine tails materialized behind her back. An unimaginable spiritual pressure descended onto the chamber and immediately sent all the furniture into chaos. Just after a few seconds, even the ceiling and walls crumbled under its might as the whole area was enveloped by a world-ending spiritual storm.

Lerisse tried to stop Selene but couldn’t even move against the unbearable wind pressure. She could just watch how a gigantic sphere of white energy gathered above their heads until it covered half of the sky.

Then, Selene smiled at her friend and withdrew the hands she had put up in the air just after the transformation. The enormous ball of swirling mana lost its suspension and slowly descended to the ground like a gargantuan meteor. The moment it crashed into it, everything went silent and an ungodly amount of power surged out of the sphere, enveloping everything in white light.

※ ※ ※

A faint tug on her hair woke Miria up. She blinked a few times as she opened her eyes and glanced down at the source of the pulling sensation. An extremely cute little girl with short black hair and rounded panther ears stared back at her as she held a lock of Miria’s hair in her tiny hand.

With another pull, Miria whined quietly and showed a warm smile towards the little girl resting in her arms, pulling her up. She placed a loving kiss on the child’s forehead and hugged the little girl dearly.

“Sorry. Mommy must have dozed off, ehehe~ Are you hungry?” she asked the cute Pantherkin with a gentle tone.

An adorable, baby grunt answered her and Miria giggled to herself. Laying the little girl down on her arms again, she pulled part of her top off and brought her closer. The sweet Pantherkin soon began suckling on her breast. Miria gently patted the little girl’s tiny ears with a sweet smile on her lips.

She happily fed the baby until it fell asleep in her arms. Before she stood up to carry the peacefully sleeping child to the nearby crib, the door to the house opened and Asterios walked inside. He quickly spotted Miria with their daughter on her lap and smiled at her.

“Welcome back, Master. How was the hunt?” Miria asked, giving him a wide smile in response.

“Very good. Zoe tracked three boars and a deer today,” he answered, walking closer to the girls. “I see that you’ve been busy yourself too.”

Asterios brushed the little girl’s cheek with his thumb and glanced at Miria. They stared at each other with gentle smiles for a moment until he leaned forward and nuzzled his cheek into hers. Miria purred quietly as they exchanged loving rubs.

He then left a tender peck on her cheek and walked away after scratching behind her cute ear.

“You rest a little more and I’ll check on Asfi,” he said from the doorframe leading further into the house.

Miria nodded, looking back at him over her shoulder. “Okay. He was helping my dad before I started nursing Mineria. Also, would you mind looking after her too for a moment so I could go to the town for a little shopping?”

“For you, anything. Let me know when you are ready.”

She smiled sweetly and turned back to watch the little girl in her arms. Miria began to gently cradle her daughter while humming a slow and peaceful melody to make her sleep even more comfortable.

Half an hour later, Asterios returned with a five-year-old boy sitting on his shoulders, looking just like him but with the obvious addition of extremely adorable rounded ears on top of his head, and a thin black tail swaying behind his back.

They walked all together to Miria’s and Asterios’s bedroom, where she placed Mineria down on the bed and Asterios lay behind their daughter, watching over her sleep. Asfi climbed on his body and the two started playfighting a little, making Miria giggle.

She left a peck on everyone’s cheek and escaped the room after Asterios shooed her away for remaining in it for too long while just staring at the trio with a silly smile. Miria quickly collected a few things and jogged to the entrance, passing by her mother who lived with them alongside her father.

It was an evening hour and the sky had already begun turning more orange, announcing the upcoming night. So, Miria quickly trotted toward the market to buy a few things for their dinner. She always picked up a bunch of fresh buns from the last batch of the day at the bakery.

While receiving the paper bag from the owner, someone appeared by her side.

“Good evening, Miria.”

She turned her face towards the voice and spotted a Lionkin with shoulder-long golden hair.

“Hello, Gnesh. I’ve heard that today’s hunt was a success.” She smiled sweetly at the man.

“Oh, it was. All thanks to your incredible mate,” a different voice answered her, belonging to a woman this time.

“Zoe!” Miria gasped joyfully and stepped forward to hug her canine friend.

“Alright, alright! You are going to crush me!” The brown-haired Wolfkin patted her back in desperation.

Miria giggled and loosened the hug, standing in front of the other woman as they smiled softly at each other.

“You know, if you like him that much, you should really just go and ask him out, Zoe. Master definitely likes you too. I wouldn’t mind having you as my sister-mate, really.”

As Gnesh chuckled loudly, a fierce blush covered Zoe’s cheeks while she glanced away.

“There’s no way he would accept me with how infatuated with you he is…” she murmured under her breath.

Miria sighed softly and shook her head. She wasn’t going to pressure her friend into something she didn’t wish for. Even if she knew very well, just like everyone else around them, that Zoe had a huge crush on Asterios. It was the most obvious during the hunts where both of them were present. Nothing could fool Miria’s strong nose and keen eyes.

“Alright. Just remember my words. Master can definitely keep everyone happy.”

A small prickle of pain caused Miria to wince a little but she quickly controlled herself not to show it, hiding it behind her iconic, cheerful smile. Asterios was right. She should rest more and leave things to him.

After chatting briefly with her friends, she said her goodbyes and returned home, heading straight to the kitchen. A few minutes into the preparation of dinner, Asterios walked down the stairs and joined her, hugging Miria lovingly from behind and beginning to kiss her hair.

“The food you are making smells almost as good as you do today, my dear Miria,” he whispered to her ear, making it twitch.

She giggled adorably while trying to chop the cucumbers in front of her.

“I won’t be able to finish it if you keep this up, Master,” she replied with slightly quicker breaths.

“Do you want me to stop, then?”

A brief silence fell between them. The only answer Asterios had gotten was Miria’s butt pressing more into his waist as he ran his hands over her front under the cute apron she wore.

She somehow managed to finish the food as they played with each other and she placed it down on a tray at their side. As soon as it was moved a safe distance from their position, she resigned herself completely to Ast’s hands, leading them to her chest and navel.

“Mmmm… We can’t here… The kids will wake up…” she said, but her heart beat faster and faster.

Asterios chuckled, pushing himself more into her from behind. “Nothing a simple rune can’t fix. We just have to avoid toppling too many things as vibrations are a different thing.”

He then spun her around and pinned Miria’s wrists to the cupboards above her head, starting to leave ferocious kisses on her neck while rubbing her crotch with his thigh. Miria’s breathing grew quicker under his very intensive care.

“You are so rough today…” she whined playfully.

“You want it rough, don’t you? You love it when I do you hard. You are my little, submissive kitty and I’m your strong and ferocious alpha.”

Miria knew it was exactly as he said, that those were her true wishes, but the more strength Asterios exerted over her, the fiercer he got, the more uneasy she felt, for some reason. She didn’t know why. Something just didn’t fit.

Asterios let go of one of her wrists and his fingers slid into her panties, gliding over the fluffy bush down there. She shivered and subconsciously grabbed his hand, stopping it as a weird thought rushed through her mind. He raised a curious brow at her.

“Ummm… Actually… I want to shave it to be more appealing to you, Master, but… I’m not sure what you think…” she said, slightly uncertain why she even did.

He chuckled and placed a hand on her cheek, moving closer to her lips. “Shave it for me, of course. It’s only natural—ugh!”

Miria suddenly kneed Asterios right in the groin and followed it up with a spinning kick, sending him flying backward into the wooden table and chairs. In a flash, she was kneeling over him pinned to the wall with her shortsword pressed into his throat.

“Who are you?!” she growled at Asterios with a furious expression.

“What… cough… do you mean?”

“You are not Master! He would never tell me to change anything just to please him! He would convince me to be just the way I want to be because he loves all of me unconditionally! Especially that little patch of fur!”

“Mommy?”

Miria’s ears twitched and she turned her face to the side. Asfi stood at the foot of the stairs while holding his little sister’s hand, who could barely retain balance as she sucked on her thumb. He had a confused and worried expression on his face while the little girl didn’t seem to understand what she was seeing.

“Why are you hurting daddy?” the boy asked, squeezing his sister’s hand a bit more.

Miria’s lower lip trembled a little. She quickly returned her focus to Asterios and pushed her blade more into his neck, trying to fight against the turmoil of emotions that was wreaking havoc in her heart and mind. She clenched her teeth as her hand began shaking more and more.

But, she couldn’t do it. She growled and stepped away from him. She knew this was all fake. She knew they were just impostors. But, she couldn’t hurt her beloved master. She couldn’t hurt their children. No matter if they were real or not.

So, as her thoughts raced back and forth between them, causing her to panic more and more, she chose to do the only thing she could in that situation.

“Miria!”

“Mommy, no!”

Miria turned the blade towards herself and pierced her own heart as a few tears rolled down her cheeks. Surprisingly, she felt no pain. The time seemed to have stopped and pleasant warmth enveloped her as white light filled her vision.