4 Chapter 4

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Magical beasts were split in five ranks, going from X to XXXXX, the more Xs, the more dangerous the beast.

For example, dragons were XXXXX Rank Beasts, and the one standing in the middle of the wizards was also one such beast, the Kitsune.

The Kitsune was a legendary beast in Japan, a fox spirit with up to nine tails. The more tails, and the older, wiser and stronger the Kitsune would be.

Among the XXXXX Rank Beasts, the Kitsune was quite special as it could be as harmless as an X Beast, or even stronger than most XXXXX Beasts depending on the number of tails it had.

This adult Kitsune they were facing was a very dangerous one as it had 7 Tails, making it one of the most dangerous magical beasts in the world.

Nine Tailed Kitsunes were more of a legend than anything, as no Kitsune had ever been seen with so many tails. Some had probably existed, but their shapeshifting capabilities by then had probably grown so strong that finding them became impossible.

Even Eight Tailed ones were rare in history, but each of them were devastating monsters capable of bringing destruction on entire bands of accomplished wizards with ease.

As a comparison, an Eight Tailed Kitsune was capable of shredding apart most dragons, apart from the most dangerous ones, in a singular fight.

This Seven tailed Kitsune, although it had one less tail, it was probably capable to match against a dragon, but to a wizard, it was much more dangerous.

A Kitsune was extremely fast, and was proficient in illusions, which was a much better advantage to have over humans than large beasts of physical prowess like dragons. Unfortunately for it, it had crossed the wrong opponents.

The Buddhist beads of the monks shone with a blue light as the mist spreading from the adult Kitsune was forcefully dispersed. One of the beads Helene had made for the Buddhist was an illusion dispersing one.

Helene yelled to the others, "Keep it busy!"

Not even waiting for their answer, she began waving her wand as runes started forming in the air above her. The Kitsune was an intelligent being, even more intelligent than most humans, and was well versed in magic, so it understood right away what the woman was trying to do.

Now in it's fox form, the Kitsune leaped toward Helene with swift speed, intending to sever her head from her body, but as she was about to reach her the ground below her feet turned into liquid as an especially powerful knock-back jinx forced her back.

The Kitsune's furious eyes turned to Henry, who had stopped it, but it didn't have time to wallow in its anger as several more spells were fired from Henry's wand in rapid fire.

The Kitsune's fur had somewhat of an immunity to charms so the spells didn't do much damage, but Henry's expertise showed as he forced the dangerous beast to enter his rhythm despite the lack of damage, forcing it away from his wife using both the environment with Transfiguration and Charms that specialized in pushing the opponent around.

At the same time, the remaining Buddhist monks worked together to send tremors through both the ground and the air, making it impossible for the Kitsune to get a stable footing and burst with speed anymore. The tremor in the air also sent the Kitsune's balance into disarray as its inner ear was shaken.

On the side, Ethan watched in both horror and amazement as a magical fight of a rarely seen intensity took place before him. The Kitsune, although in a bad posture, clearly wasn't done as blue fires lit up at the tip of its tails.

The wizards quickly put up their defences, but two of the monks were eventually too slow as the blue flames moved deceptively fast, and reached the two monks at the speed of lightning.

Henry had placed a large and powerful Protego spell over himself and his wife while the monks whirled their staff around to form a barrier, but two of them failed to do it in time and the blue flame struck them.

Their body jumped in shock as the blue flame covered their entire body in nearly an instant. They screamed in pain as the blue fire licked their skin, burning through it with ease as it attacked their flesh, their bones…

In a matter of seconds, the two monks were reduced to ashes, leaving only two of them, as well as Ethan's parents.

Despite their losses, the two monks and Henry did not break the encirclement though as they saw the runes above them had already formed a large circle, and an array was quickly being formed.

The two monks showed impressive Martial Magic while Henry used his experience as a duelling champion to keep the Kitsune at bay, although it was becoming painfully obvious to everyone present the Kitsune would get the better of them before long.

Now, the only question was, would Helene finish her array first, or would the Kitsune finish them before that?

Ethan, whose life depended on this, was getting nervous as his fists clenched in anxiety. Not only for him, but also for his parents. But as his face turned red from watching the dangerous fight, he suddenly felt something bite his arm.

Ethan yelped in pain as he hurriedly shook his arm, easily slamming whatever had bitten him into a nearby rock, making it yelp in pain too. Looking at the bite mark on his arm, Ethan saw it was the young Kitsune who had bitten his arm. It hadn't hurt much, he realized, and he had cried out more from the surprise than anything else.

As for the main battlefield, when Ethan yelped in pain, Henry lost some of his focus as he looked at his son for a split second. However, in such an intense fight, losing his focus for even a tenth of a second could be fatal, and the Kitsune well intended to use it to her advantage.

However, as it was about to slash it claws at Henry's neck, the little Kitsune also made a sound of pain, making the adult Kitsune look away too.

Of everyone present, only the two monks did not look away as their years of meditation and lack of affection paid off. Their attention still on the fight, both of them slammed down their staffs onto the Kitsune's back, who failed to dodge.

Both monks roared as they put all of their strength in suppressing the Kitsune down, who did it's best to fight back, but right as it was about to overpower them, blue chains suddenly covered it from head to toe.

Helene, who was panting on the side, had finished her array as the Kitsune was sealed.

The fox spirit tried to fight back, tried to struggle, but the grip of the chains was too strong as it felt its forces were rapidly leaving it.

Through an impressive feat of willpower though, the Kitsune managed to slowly raise its claw toward its child, who was whimpering in pain against the rock Ethan had thrown it against.

As it turned out, in his shock at being suddenly bitten, Ethan had infused his arm with some magic and threw it against the rock with a strength much greater than a normal four year old should have able to use, in a manner not too different from what the monks used.

Despite having seen it kill eight monks with utter ease, as Ethan watched the desperate mother Kitsune struggle to free itself to save its child, Ethan felt sad.

Ethan did not claim to know a lot about Kitsunes, but he knew they weren't man eaters, and although they were known as dangerous tricksters, as an intelligent being, this Kitsune definitely wouldn't have attacked their group if it wasn't because it felt forced to.

It became painfully obvious to Ethan that it was nothing more than a mother trying to protect its cub, who had revealed itself to humans.

Unfortunately, no matter how pitiful Ethan felt, he also knew it was impossible to let it go. Not only did he not have any say in this, even if he did, he understood that if the mother Kitsune was freed, it would kill them all.

Still, despite his reason telling him this, as he saw the two monks ready their staff to deliver a killing blow to the Kitsune, he still yelled, "Stop!"

Ethan, who was feeling strong emotions at the moment, felt his magic churn powerfully as an even stronger spell than before was thrown toward the two monks. However, before the energy wave could even approach them, Henry raised his wand, blocking it with experienced ease.

The two staffs moved uninterrupted, and pierced through the Kitsune's chest, crushing its heart.

The mother whimpered as it felt its life quickly leave its body. The young Kitsune, who had been groaning in pain earlier, seemingly sensed its mother dying, and limped toward its mother.