I've Turned Into A Fox Girl?

With everything about my rather unique relationship out of the way, I wanted to hear more about this reincarnated soul.

"Right, so Reincarnated souls refers to those who are brought to this world and made to inhabit their direct counterparts here. As you have experienced, they are given these systems by the gods. Said gods either make themselves known or won't interact with you at all."

"I possessed a body who was also named Makoto and acted very similar to me. It made adjusting very easy and the same goes for the other 2. We did take on slightly different appearances, but we still managed to recognise each other. The only issue was that we had no objective other than to get stronger."

And so, that's how we were brought here, same as you, the only difference being that we replaced our counterparts instead of merging with them.

"With what we know about the gods, they seem to always be observing us, unable to interfere, at least not directly. As far as I'm concerned, this is just one big show for them to watch. Still, seeing as they keep sending people from other worlds here, they might have a grander goal."

My father had the same suspicions I had when it came to the gods. There just had to be something more to bringing us here than just making us stronger. There had to be some kind of catch or goal they were trying to achieve through us.

"Only Klaus heard the whispers of the gods. Thus, to appease them, he created a religion and became this world's pope. I was against this, as I believed that nothing good would come from worshipping these gods. It also looked to me like an attempt to stroke his own ego, brainwashing people into thinking he is this almighty figure."

"However, as you've said, Klaus has gone down the path of dark magic and unfortunately Freja is conspiring with him." It occurred to me that I hadn't told them that I had killed Freja yet. I almost didn't want to say anything, as I felt sick to my stomach knowing now that they were close friends.

Elysia was quick to notice my discomfort and could probably guess what I was worried about.

"Just so you know, we ended up killing Freja just before coming here." Elysia spoke up, taking the brunt of the attention as she took the cat out of the bag.

"I see." My father didn't show any strong reaction, but I could tell that he was considering his response carefully. My mother, on the other hand, did not react so well to the news since they were best friends.

"What?! You killed her!?" She slammed her hands down on the table. She was about to reach over to grab Elysia, before getting stopped by my father.

"Calm down Cecilia, they must have had a good reason to." He pulled her back down to her seat, but she still clearly wasn't happy. Although Freja is the one who orchestrated the barrier, my mother has yet to hear the true severity of her betrayal.

"At least give some more context, Elysia!" I jabbed her in the side with my elbow, miffed that as usual the girl put little effort into explaining things properly. Your next read is at m v|l-e'm,p| y- r

"S-sorry." Elysia grabbed her side as I got her right in the ribs with my jab.

"Ahem, we tried to talk it out with Freja since she had helped us before. However, when we confronted her about her involvement, she went mask off and tried to kill us. Ultimately, casualties became unavoidable once her partner Kiruya decided to transform at the cost of her life. By then, Freja saw no other option other than avenging her, forcing us all into a fight to the death." Filling in the details for them, I saw my father nod and my mother calm down.

"Was there really nothing that could be done?" My mother wanted to be absolutely sure and I nodded as I saw no other way.

"You tried your best, but were forced to defend yourself. As sad as it is to hear, perhaps it was for the best." My father reached out with his hand and patted my head.

"Thanks, you can continue your story." I didn't mean to butt in and bring the story to a halt, but Elysia decided to jump in with the news about Freja anyways.

"Ah yes, there isn't much more to tell other than what happened to Klaus." I had yet to hear his full backstory, which made me curious about what led to his descent into dark magic.

"To put it simply, once we parted ways, Klaus had gotten himself a partner from this world who was very powerful. However, just after you were born, an unknown ailment plagued the capital of the human territory. No one knows where it came from, only that it infected the brain, slowly rotting it while sending the patients into violent outbursts."

"At least those were the usual symptoms. Anyhow, it was during that chaos that the assassination of Katarina, Klaus' partner, took place, killed by her second in command. As soon as she was dead, the entire epidemic suddenly vanished from existence."

"This led Klaus to spiral, believing this was the doing of the gods. I knew he was messing around with dangerous magic, but I thought that was just him acting out his frustration. From what you have told us though, it seems this is part of a much more elaborate plan. It sounds as if he is trying to sacrifice the entire continent to revive Katarina, or perhaps he even hopes of attaining godhood."

The more we came to understand Klaus' actions, the crazier he seemed, making me question why Freja helped him at all. I too had a bone to pick with the gods, since they seemed to be the ones pulling the strings in the background, but I wouldn't go as far as sacrificing everyone just for revenge.

"Sounds like we shouldn't be wasting any time here." With the looming threat of Klaus' ritual being complete, it felt like we shouldn't be here casually chatting.

"You're right about that. I think I might have a way out of here, but it looks like me and your mother can no longer use our magic." My father raised his hand to conjure something, but only a tiny spark came out.

"It seems this barrier sapped away all our magic." My mother tried the same and only a tiny puff of mist was created.

A part of me was worried that they might have lost their ability to use magic permanently. However, that might be a blessing in disguise, as now they wouldn't be able to fight, keeping them out of any more danger.

"If it works similarly to how they drained the vampire queen Alice, then it would simply take some time to recover. I don't know how long, but as far as I know, it doesn't permanently ruin your magic." Said Elysia, having seen the kind of methods Klaus is using. I could only hope that this was indeed the case.

"Hmm okay. We shouldn't keep your friends waiting much longer. They are probably worried about you." My father realised we should not spend too much time talking, so it was time to try out his idea.

*

<Clara POV>

Himeko had explained her opinion on what the item Shaman used could have been. Her best guess was the royal gem, which allowed teleportation back to the palace in case of an emergency and also served as a key to certain restricted places inside the palace.

It did help calm me down, but it meant that Shaman and Elysia were now stuck in the barrier as well.

"We're here!" Himeko yelled out that we had arrived and began to descend. The black-and-white barrier was in full view and, with an initial glance, it looked like there was no way in.

'There has to be a conduit of some kind powering this barrier.' Logically, there should be a power source nearby, keeping the barrier up. I also doubted it was inside, as power sources shouldn't work inside a stasis barrier.

"Still can't contact them." Silver had been messing with the system to see if he could get any message through to them. However, nothing had changed despite us being right next to the barrier.

Landing in an opening in the forest that surrounded part of the palace, I waited till we touched ground, then instantly rushed to the barrier. I stopped just before it and, testing if it kept things out, I kicked a small rock straight into it.

To my surprise, the rock flew right through the barrier, though I could only assume that it got stuck in the air immediately after. Looking at the surrounding trees, I could see that the branches that protruded through the barrier were stuck like a sword in a rock.

"Any Ideas?" Silver was quick to catch up. Unfortunately, I had no idea how we were going to break it.

"Nope. For now, we just have to look around to see if there is any noticeable power source." It would be a long process, as the barrier spanned at least a couple thousand metres.

"Jeez, you guys are too fast!" Luna came running and was out of breath by the time she caught up.

"I can cast some detection magic and see if there are any concentrated areas of mana." While catching her breath, she explained a skill she had that should be of use to us.