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……My body feels light.

It’s a sensation I’ve never felt before.
There’s a feeling inside me, almost like I’m floating. Even though I’ve just learned that I’ve lost my mother, my steps are surprisingly light as I push off the ground.
My whole body is filled with strength, and I can feel myself growing stronger with every step I take.
Soon, that power overflows from my body and takes shape.
My single two tails have split into three.
This sudden physical transformation isn’t the first time it’s happened. Back when I had only one tail, it multiplied just as abruptly.
Now that there are three, I can’t help but feel a little uneasy. Although my clothes have holes for my tail, they feel a bit tight.

“Tailed Beast Clone, Three-Pronged Viburnum”

I infused my tails with mana and severed two of the three.
The separated parts of myself immediately took physical form, becoming beings identical to me in every way.
This clone is an application of the transformation techniques that beastfolk—particularly those of the fox and cat types—are known for. After intentionally separating a physical form, I transform it to create a being with equal abilities.
The three of us race across the land. It didn’t take long to reach our intended hunting ground.
Our target is the lord’s mansion—the residence of the one who plotted against Mother and deceived me.

“One of you, drive out everyone except the lord. The other, stay with me.”
“Very well, I shall go clear the area of people.”
“Then I shall accompany the main body.”

The bodies of my duplicates are completely identical to mine. They even possess the ability to think, and since they are the same as me, we understand each other instantly.
Both duplicates spoke in my voice and moved to their respective positions. One moved close to me, while the other charged headfirst through the window and broke into the mansion.
Following that, I and the other clone also entered the mansion.

“Mother’s scent…”

Mother’s scent and mana, which I could sense even from outside the mansion, became even more intense once I followed the clones inside.
The remains of Mother that Arje-san had brought were preserved so beautifully that it was hard to tell she was dead.
I know why. It’s because there is value in Mother’s corpse.
I don’t know what that value is, nor do I wish to know.
No matter how noble or wonderful it may be, I will never forgive it.

……I can smell Arje-san’s scent too.

A gentle scent and the lingering fragrance of powerful magic. Though we’ve only just met, there’s no way I could forget her. This is Arje-san’s scent.
She must’ve looked for my mother for my sake. For someone who couldn’t even properly offer an apology.

Following the scents of my mother and my benefactor, I ran through the mansion with my clone. Even opening doors feels like a bother, so I break through them with brute force.
I follow the scent Arje-san left behind, heading toward the last remains of my mother’s scent.
Passing through several rooms and descending into the basement, I find both a beloved scent and an unpleasant stench.

My mother’s scent. Arje-san’s scent.
And mixed in with those two, an unpleasant odor—almost like a bitter aftertaste.
The scent of my sworn enemy.

“Damn it, damn it, damn it…! That monster! How could she do this to me?! Does she have any idea how hard it was to kill that fox!! F̲u̲c̲k̲!! F̲u̲c̲k̲!!”

My sworn enemy looked full of hatred, repeatedly kicking the armor scattered around him and spewing a stream of filthy words.
Even as he did so, he seemed to be continuously channeling magic at the center of a poisonous purple magic circle.
That magic circle was likely designed to efficiently drain mana from Mother.
It was a special kind of magic circle that sustained its operation by consuming the mana it drew from its target.
Long ago, Mother told me about such magic circles. She said they were a truly terrifying creation devised by a certain demon race.

That magic circle is now emitting a very faint glow.
Presumably, with Mother—its core—gone, its effect is beginning to fade. What is holding it together is undoubtedly that man’s mana.

“All that time and sacrifices I’ve made to prepare this magic circle, all down the drain! F̲u̲c̲k̲! It’s good that I’ve managed to stabilize it, but it won’t last long… I ought to just call that vixen’s daughter over and…!”
“Call me over and what?”
“…!?”

He must have been startled by the voice from behind. He spun around abruptly and looked at me.
His expression showed clear agitation for just a split second. Immediately, his face twisted into a clearly lewd, smirking grin.

“Hello. Kuzuha-chan, is it? That saves me the trouble of coming to fetch you. Judging by your expression, you came here knowing everything, didn’t you?”
“Yes. I’m here precisely because I’ve figured it all out.”
“So it was that monster’s doing… I don’t know what that monster is, but it seems you came here alone. What a foolish child. To go out of your way to come here and become a lab rat!”
“You…!”

Was Mother killed by a man like this? Was I deceived by a scoundrel like this and used for his own purposes?
The hairs on my body stood on end, and murderous intent seeped from my very being. My heart screamed that I must kill the sworn enemy standing before me.
I suppressed that emotion and took a step forward. My clone moved forward in exactly the same way.
I had not the slightest intention of forgiving him. Yet I had to ask.
I didn’t need to understand—I simply had to know.
Otherwise, I won’t be able to accept it.

“Why did you deceive my mother and me?”
“It’s obvious, isn’t it? To use you as test subjects!”
“Was that to end the war? For the sake of peace?”
“Yes, exactly. I’m the man who has the right to end this war.”
“…Explain yourself.”
“It’s not my destiny to lord over such a tiny region in nowhere! Just look! I’ve manipulated a magic circle this large and even crafted an Artifact from your mother’s mana!”

He is holding a staff the same color as our fur.
From the surging mana, I sense Mother’s presence.
There’s no mistake. That thing was created by stealing mana from Mother.

“Ninefold Theater!!”

A band of mana released from the staff begins to move the surrounding armor.
What is happening right before my eyes is an application of the Tailed Beast Clone that Mother and I use.
We use our tails as a core, infuse them with our own magic to form a shape, and manipulate it as a clone.
What my opponent is doing is skipping the step of forming that shape and instead manipulating something that already exists in its final form.

“I deserve more recognition! I should be valued more! I have this much talent and power, after all!!”
“…What a fool.”
“What did you say!?”

The desire for self-aggrandizement, feelings of inferiority, ambition.
All he possesses are petty, ugly emotions.
He isn’t focused on peace itself, but only on the fame that comes with having brought about peace. And he’s merely basking in the pleasure of dressing up his filthy true intentions with pretty words.

Why on earth did Mother let herself be deceived by someone like this? She was so intelligent; you’d think she would have seen through it immediately.
Perhaps it was because Father was a man of the kingdom, and she feared for its stability.
Or maybe she simply wanted me, a child, to live in a peaceful era.
I don’t know. Since I can no longer ask her, I can only imagine. I will never know the truth.
But the tears just keep flowing, unstoppable.
My emotions spill out, unable to be contained.

I feel murderous intent. Hatred, too, and rage.
But more than that, there is something I must do now.

“I won’t let you use my mother’s power for something like that.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll send you to the same place as her. Then you won’t have to shed tears of sorrow like that anymore!!”
“Your tone of voice is like that of a drunkard; it’s unpleasant.”

The sensation of blood boiling throughout my entire body. The tears that keep flowing are instantly scattered by the wind I summon.
The armor suits have started moving, clearly advancing toward me and my clone with hostile intent.
I gently reached out toward the sky. My clone beside me made the exact same movement.

““Distort and Sever. Double Calamity Weasel.“”

Deploying magic of exactly the same nature: “Overlapping.” This is a technique passed down directly from Mother—a specialty of both her and me.
A spell so powerful it surpasses the Sickle Weasel; so powerful, in fact, that Mother deemed it a “forbidden move unless one intends to kill.” A wind of destruction, like a natural disaster, races through the room.
Every piece of armor my opponent had been pulling together is twisted and sliced apart until it falls to pieces.
The only safe zones are around me and around my sworn enemy.
It even leaves gouged-out scars on the magic circles on the walls and floor.
With this, the place for research is ruined.

“What!? What’s going on!? How could such a little fox possess so much power…!?”
“You wouldn’t understand, not when you can see nothing but yourself.”
“Wha…!?”
“You think you’re even close to matching my mother’s mana?”
“You think you’re even close to matching my mother’s power?”

Together with my clone, I step toward him. I take each step slowly, without rushing.
My opponent looks clearly frightened as he swings his staff. I can feel his mana concentrating. It’s a power that doesn’t even come close to a fragment of my mother’s, or even a sliver of my own.

“S-strike down! Thunder!”

……How pathetic.

I didn’t even feel the need to dodge. It was such a weak power that simply gathering my magic and absorbing it would be enough to deal with it. So, that’s exactly what I did.

“Eek…!?”
“For something so trivial, you’ve turned my mother into a tool?”
“For something so trivial, you’ve taken everything from my mother?”
““You couldn’t be more wrong.””

I have to shatter that delusion.
I won’t let anyone else fall for a man like this.
My mother and I must put an end to this.

“Weasel Sickle.”

The magic I wove grants my wish exactly as I intended.
The wind blade sliced through his right shoulder, and my mother’s staff and arm rolled onto the scarred ground.

“GAAAH!! IT HUURTSSS!!!”
“You’ve cared only for yourself, and this is all you measure up to”
“Eeeeeek!?”
“You’ve accumulated nothing by yourself, not your standing, not your achievement, not even the praises you’ve received. They’re all things given to you.”
“You’ve remained drunk in your little world this whole time, and this pain better wakes you up from your dream.”
“H-help me…!”
“I will not save you. I will shatter your hopes. But I have no desire for a life as base as yours. I do not wish to become a murderer like you. Clone, take that person away.”
“Yes. I’ll be waiting outside, then.”

Carrying the source of the noise, my clone leaves the basement.
The mana I’ve bestowed upon my clone is abundant. Even if left alone, they can continue to act on their own judgment for a whole night.
If the clones I sent ahead don’t have enough hands, I’ll lend a hand; if the lord makes any foolish remarks, I’ll mete out additional punishment. After all, we share the same mind and are capable of the same level of thought.

“What a pathetic copy. They can’t even act independently; just a one man’s theater, layered upon layers.”

I walk over to the fallen staff and pick it up. I kick the arm beside me away because it’s unpleasant.

“……Mother.”

I embrace the staff, which carries a familiar scent.
This is the last thing Mother left behind. Even if I never asked for it, even if it’s terribly poorly made, and even if it was crafted by someone I should resent.
For me, it’s the only thing that lets me feel Mother’s presence.

“…Mother, I’m leaving.”

That is precisely why I must destroy this staff.
Because this thing is neither my mother’s true power nor something that will fulfill her wishes.
At least, let me lay it to rest while feeling my mother’s presence.
Please, light a funeral bonfire so that my heart may reach my mother.

“Heavenly flowers. I ask thee for my mother’s…parting…bloom…bloom in profusion! Foxfire, Flaming Spider Lily!”

The spell my mother was most skilled at. Through the nausea, I managed to chant it and cast it.
As I am now, I can’t possibly recreate it as she did, but I can at least imitate it.
Flames bloomed all around me. They slowly spread, engulfing the room.
They pale in comparison to the beauty and intensity of the flames my mother could control. If my mother’s flames were a swarm of flowers filling the afterlife, mine would be little more than a small flower bed.
Still, I used this spell.
Because the Flowers of the Afterlife are fitting for a farewell, and above all, because it was the spell my mother excelled at.

“…Goodbye, Mother.”

I bid farewell to my mother’s power. The wand I cast aside was immediately swallowed by the swarm of flowers and vanished.
I turned my back on the heat that dried even my flowing tears. Even if I did nothing else, the flames would reduce the underground and the mansion to ashes.
I have laid my mother’s power to rest.
Now, I must hold a memorial service for her.