Hana nodded and turned to Raiden. Since his nine tails spring out from a single point in his tailbone, it did not obstruct the design of the pants.

"What about you, Raiden? Does this make you look your best?" She asked, and his lips curled in a grin.

"I always look my best, Hana." He ran his hand through his hair, having that narcissist appeal. "But your relics make me look even better,"

She rolled her eyes.

As long as you like it. She thought, and the window chimed in front of her.

> ​[HIDDEN ACHIEVEMENT: THE COMPASSIONATE MATE]

> Condition: Prioritizing the comfort and aesthetic of your mates over pure efficiency.

> Reward: +10,000 Karmic Points.

> Current Balance: -961,880.

​Well, looking ’cool’ actually pays off, she thought with a smirk.

​"Let’s move out!" 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

The journey was swift. The Boars were following from a safe distance, and Hana told them not to come any closer. Only when they had secured the bunker would they invite them over to move the crates.

The further west they went, the heavier the air became. The lush greenery of the ridge began to give way to ancient, gnarled trees with pale, bone-white bark.

This was the territory of the Fox Tribe—a place where the wind didn’t just blow; it whispered.

Spooky.

As they reached the edge of the Whispering Ravine, the ’curse’ that Kip had mentioned became visible. The air shimmered with a strange, static-like distortion.

"Stop," Raiden said, his voice dropping an octave. He stepped to the front, his nine tails fanning out.

In the distance, perched on the edges of the white trees, were the Fox Tribe sentries. They were all multi-tailed, their silver and gray fur blending into the mist, but none of them possessed the radiant, pink luster of Raiden. They looked like ghosts compared to his vibrant elegance.

"Who approaches the sacred Ravine?" a sharp, high voice rang out.

A group of fox-kin descended from the trees, led by a female with seven tails and eyes as cold as flint. She stopped dead when she saw Raiden.

"The Trickster," she spat, her lip curling in disgust. "The corruption returns to the soil that rejected him. Why have you come, exile? And why have you brought a dragon and a wing-beast to our borders?"

I guess I’m invisible now. Hana thought but didn’t find offense in it.

Because compared to them, she had little to no presence.

Raiden didn’t flinch. He didn’t even use his usual witty barbs. He simply stepped forward, the brilliant morning sun catching the shimmering pink of his fur, making him look like a god standing among paupers.

"I didn’t come for the soil," Raiden said, his emerald eyes flashing with a predatory light. "And I certainly didn’t come for you, Elder Meira. I came for what you’ve been hiding in the Iron Cave. My mate wants it, and what she wants, she takes."

The sentries bristled, their tails puffing out in an aggressive display, but they hesitated. The sight of Caspian—the Fire King himself—looming behind Raiden was enough to freeze the blood in their veins.

"You speak of the Ancient Sin?" Meira hissed. "How do you know of it?"

Raiden did not respond. He hadn’t known of it even when he stayed in the tribe all his life because they hid the existence from the most troublesome trickster.

There was no telling what he would do to plague the land with hay knowledge. But somehow, he had returned and was asking for it.

How?

"It is a curse that has claimed many lives!" Elder Meira added. "Why are you looking for it? Do you want to bring darkness upon us again?"

Raiden’s eyes sparkled with a fanatic light as he grinned and said,

"Darkness? I would bring more than a curse on this wretched land if I were given a chance," he hissed, and they scowled.

Hana stepped out from behind the wall of her mates, her arms crossed. She looked at the seven-tailed Elder with the same clinical boredom she used for a blown fuse.

"It’s not a curse," Hana said, her voice clear and unyielding, and Raiden straightened, stepping back to let her do the talking. "It’s a bunker. And since you clearly don’t know how to open it, you’re going to step aside while I do. Unless, of course, you’d like to see what happens when a dragon’s fire meets a Fox Tribe’s ’sacred’ forest."

The tension was so thick it felt like it could snap. Raiden looked at his former tribe, a cruel, beautiful smirk tugging at his lips.

He was the most stunning thing in the Ravine, and he knew that his very presence was a middle finger to everything they stood for.

"Well?" Raiden purred, his nine tails swaying in a slow, mocking rhythm. "Are you going to let us through, or do I have to start playing my old tricks again?"

"Stand down," another voice rang out, and Hana looked further to see another multi-tailed fox. They were shorter, male, and skin worn out, grey tails dropping in his wake. "Trickster, you will not be permitted to desecrate our sacred land." He claimed, and for a second, Hana stared.

Elder Meira and the other sentries stiffened as the scruffy, worn-out male fox beastman approached, but the tension shifted the moment Hana’s expression changed.

Though she had initially seemed like an invisible presence compared to the looming forms of the Fire King and the Red Falcon, her sudden, maniacal curve of the lips signaled a change in the air.

This was the fun part.

If they retaliate, the system will allow her to use her own methods to get to the bunker. It might restrict her from spilling blood, but it won’t restrict her from fighting back.

She hadn’t given a good beating in a while, and her body was itching for it.

The system chimed once more, validating her instincts:

> [QUEST COMPLETION: THE WHISPERING CURSE]

> Objective: Reach the Whispering Ravine.

> Reward: +4,000 Karmic points.

> [QUEST UPDATED: PAINS OF THE PAST]

> Current Objective: Get Revenge For Your Spited Mate.

> Reward: +10,000 Karmic points

> Note: Revenge is a dish best served with high-voltage electricity. Make it sting.

> [CURRENT BALANCE: -957,880]

Ah, this is the system asking me to do whatever I want, right? Then, don’t mind if I do.

Hana took a slow, deliberate step forward, her fingers brushing the tactical harness she had donned. She didn’t need to check her status to know her body was itching for the conflict the system was practically inviting.

If these traditionalists wanted to block the path to the ’Iron Cave’ and protect their so-called ’Ancient Sin’, she was more than happy to show them that her version of a curse didn’t involve shadows or whispers—it involved cold, hard technology.

​Raiden’s eyes sparked with that same fanatic light as he watched her, moving back to give her center stage. He knew better than anyone that when Hana’s gaze turned clinical, a ’beating’ was usually the kindest thing her opponents could expect.

The Fox Tribe Elders had spent years using ’sacred’ laws to torment those they deemed corrupt, but they were about to find out that high-voltage electricity was far more effective at bringing people to their knees.