“The Misha killer? Are you sure Minerva?” Athena asked with a concerned look on her face.

  I’m not sure but if I'd kill someone, I would conceal the body.

  This Blur acted as how I assassinated in my early years; sucking targets in my dimensional pocket and killing them and incinerating them to eliminate any trace and evidence.

  Targeting a Misha like this would either make the culprit a Misha kidnapper or Misha killer. I hope I'm wrong.

  That thing has funky magic in it, disrupting standard forms of perception. It once sucked in a clo…familiar of mine.

  What is the Misha killer doing here? Does that mean that Azu failed? Did Azu fall victim?

  She must be targeting Selina's passive. It sounds quite useful. But this timing… did we get unlucky again? I would think that having Misha take this would make the most sense but… this perception bullshit is tough on anyone that doesn't have Elgards eyes and I like Selina. This Blur is the ultimate ambush skill.

  Ugh this stupid ability of mine to get into trouble. Selina, Misha killer or not, you're being targeted. Strange things will start to happen from now on. Strange things always happen around us…

  “I didn't sense that coming, so I have no reason to doubt you. I will scan the area and put the city on alert.” Selina walked off and I slipped her. “What!?”

  And where do you think you're going? Did you not just get ambushed by that thing?

  “It will not happen again!”

  Athena pointed next to Selina. “You don't notice it at all do you?”

  Selina ‘dodged’ a kidnapping attempt when I slipped her. She looked around, but had trouble locking on to any of the 3 Blurs that had appeared. 2 more warped into level 3 of the library.

  “This seems like an invasion only we can see, what do we do Minerva?”

  I picked up a book.

  ‘Intricacies and application of Sand magic’? A perfect example of useless literature!

  I chucked the book at a Blur and both of them disappeared through a portal.

  That's some fancy exotic magic, but as far as I can tell it will warp whatever touches it. It's probably made to be near undetectable, as it's a big weakness.

  I kept chucking useless literature and caused all the Blurs to warp away with them. Whatever is on the other side of those portals has something to read now.

  “That's it? Or is it only the start?”

  A portal opened and a familiar figure appeared. “Which asshole keeps sending books over?”

  Azu? Hmm not quite Azu. A stalker? Fan? Maybe a sister? You're not as pretty as her, though.

  This fake Azu had black hair and looked like Azu from her pictures. She grabbed her head and shook her head.

  “I’ve heard those words before, when did the idiots of Witchaven let in brats like you two?” She shifted her gaze to Selina. “Ah, there is my target. This new barrier is a joke.”

  I pointed my catalyst at Fake Azu.

  I would advise you to be wary of these two brats here. I will ask this only once. What did you do to Ayaru Mistflower?

  Fake Azu turned around slowly. “Aren't you two too young to know about that bitch? And what about it? I could wipe you two off the face of the planet in a blink of an eye. I don't need to answer your questions.” She activated 14 skills simultaneously, which I interrupted.

  Athena, this bitch is going down.

  A mana wave went out, and my hair acted like lightning. Athena followed my lead.

  “Hah, a lightning brat and a water brat want to challenge the mother of curses?! Fine! I will use you as guinea pigs!”

  Selina created barriers to block Fake Azu’s attacks. “So its you, Verruka Saltpeter. I hoped that you'd be dead, youngsters leave her to me, she is an ancient Misha.”

  I zapped Selina, causing her to collapse and ‘dodge’ another Blur.”

  That's cool and all but you can't even see those Blurs, no offense, but you would lose.

  Athena blocked Fake Azu’s attacks and started to sing.

  But Versalt… that sounds familiar, that was the name if the Misha killer right?

  This set off Versalt. “You… you're not a Misha are you? I've heard someone say the same thing, that blasted shadow clone ruined my plan and even caused me to lose to that slowpoke Ayaru!”

  Versalt’s mana flared, and she locked on to us.

  “Minerva, what did you do? Why do you keep pissing people off?”

  Hey, I have no idea what she's talking about. It wasn't me this time! I know exactly what my clones do! Besides… oh.

  Athena blocked another barrage of exotic magic. They used normal mana runes but were extremely uncommon. I didn't recognize most of them, but I could read their effects. There was one problem.

  Heh, is fire the only element you can use?

  “I can finally use fire now, so I’m enjoying its use! Now tell me, why did you spit the same lines as the clone of Agnis Hourai?!”

  Selina and Athena looked at me.

  What would be the best course of action. Giana is a master in defensive skills, but she is currently a Misha and can't use her full power. If this Versalt is still alive after meeting Azu then we might be quite fucked. Staying as Misha might get us killed

  Isn't that obvious? Giana this is a bust! You said you were the mother of curses, right? Isn't this our lucky day?

  The area cracked and the illusions on us shattered.

  Let me introduce myself. I'm Agnis Hourai and this is my partner, Giana Kahlua.

  Giana started to sing, and a jellyfish protected us from various fire spells.

  “Ooh two targets for the price of one!” Versalt licked her lips and started to get covered in black goo.

  Hey Deca, she is using fire attacks, do you need to block them?

  “They are riddled with curses…”

  How clever. This is how I'd expect Misha to fight!

  “You've been impressing me for a while now, it's my time to return the favor. I will let you hear the best version of the song that made me famous. I have based the song on a skill I possess.”

  Giana sang in 5 voices and magic got activated without a magic circle. “I will sing [Ayla Aurelia] for you.”

  A jellyfish flooded the floor, while Giana invited me to sit next to her on the frozen core of the jellyfish.

  Selina was also protected by [Ayla Aurelia]. Neither Selina nor I were worried or stressed, as Giana's song drew our attention more than Versalt trying to kill us. This jellyfish didn't care about any of her attacks. I was just sitting on the frozen core and enjoying the song.

  Is this a mermaid racial skill or… her Immortal Jellyfish racial skill? I actually don't know what the Immortal Jellyfish race is like.

  Giana is so overpowered that it isn't funny. Versalt threw an arsenal at us, but nothing came through. Her hair turned into sand though… more reasons to dislike her.

  Selina swam over to us and gestured something.

  “You can talk and breathe normally.” Giana said with an extra voice and continued on.

  “So you were the Silver Menace all this time…”

  Well, we couldn't just stroll in with our tails out, could we?

  “You make a fair point. For what reason have you come here? Not to find a research partner, I suppose.”

  Nope, my research partner is over there. I gestured towards Giana.

  “I have never heard someone sing like this… are you here to help us solve [Hattrick]?”

  Nope, only to give tips. Giana pointed out that it was too difficult when I tried to teach her. The paper we handed to you was written by Giana herself. I’m working on what you could call [Hattrick 2.0] but in a way even a donkey can understand, which is the most challenging part… I’m tempted to name it [Hattrick for Noobs] and I might actually do that. It would require you to know the current [Hattrick] though…

  “There is more?!”

  Versalt seemed to be yelling, but we couldn't hear what she was saying from outside the jellyfish. She must be frustrated.

  This is the nicest I’m going to be to the Misha and this is all thanks to you.

  I fished a copy of Azu's research on hats and on ‘mana runes and magic circle synthesis’ out of my dimensional pocket and handed it over to her.

  You were looking for this in the taboo section, right? I don't know what happened to the original. You might still want to find out what happened with that one, but you might be able to go forward with these.

  “Thank you! Her research on hats isn't taboo though…”

  That's because she released the unfinished research paper. She left out the parts that link to her first research.

  Selina stored the papers as if they were national treasures.

  And with this, playing nice guy is over. Versalt is going down!

  Is what I said, but I waited till Giana finished her song.

  Giana finished singing, but I didn't feel like dealing with Versalt.

  Hey Deca, shall we just go home?

  “Hmm? What's wrong? I thought that you wanted to beat her up?” One of her voices replied.

  Yeah, but look at her, she looks so pitiful trying to break through you jellyfish. You already know this, but your voice is amazing.

  “Oh, thank you! But we can't just let her run loose, right?”

  Giana and I looked down on Versalt who seemed to fling curses at the jellyfish.

  How strong are you actually? This jellyfish is insane.

  “I'm glad that you're impressed! I hope that I'm strong enough to block any nonesense coming our way. Let me try interrupting skills like you do.”

  Giana struggled at first but got the hang of interrupting skills in the early stages of magic circle formation.

  Her growth is impressive.

  “I…I have never seen magic prowess like this!” Selina said as her eyes were glued on how Giana was interrupting skills.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  You mean interrupting skills like that? Yeh it's tricky if you don't have eyes like ours. It's not impossible though.

  “I feel embarrassed to think that the council in Mildowa thinks that our race should be elevated to legendary or mythical status…”

  Eh? I don't think they get to decide that. I don't know what the qualifications are for legendary but the ones for mythical are quite clear.

  Selina looked at me as if I was talking in Hourai. “I apologize for my ignorance but its not just an arbitrary grouping?”

  Well, what they taught us in Hourai was this; there is only one difference between mythical and legendary races. It's impossible to mix mythical races with others.

  Selina’s confusion did not subside.

  So, the Misha are a good example. They're strictly female, but what if the child is a male?

  “The male ends up as the race of the father, although he will have a heightened sense for magic which he inherits from his mother.”

  What happens if a Misha is born with a beast kin father?

  “Well, she will look like a beast kin but still be a Misha of course!”

  You say ‘of course’ but that’s not the case for mythical races. You guys become a mix, unable to choose which one you can be.

  “But that's normal. You don't get to choose what race you are, even if your parents are not the same race.”

  And that's where mythical races differ. They don't mix, so a hybrid can choose. Traits do bleed over, but mythical races can change race if they're hybrids. And this is why dragons are legendary and nine tailed spirit foxes mythical. Dragons can kick our asses, and we can kick theirs. The name doesn't signify a tier in strength.

  “It seems Mildowa’s mythology is still lacking…”

  Well mythology is best taught by mythical or legendary races. I don't know everything, but I know enough.

  “So you would never have the problem of the bloodline thinning? I suspect that the incompetent Misha are a result of thinning bloodlines, but we can't solve this issue as our race is strictly female. Men born to Misha had been sought after, but they are hard to track.”

  I don't have the solution either. I have a baseless suggestion, though. Ugh this might be a bad idea, I might get into trouble for this…

  The library was getting destroyed as Versalt had caused an explosion, hoping to take down the jellyfish. The fact that we were still chatting meant that her attempt was unsuccessful.

  “If it's to counter regression, I will try anything!” Selina said with confidence. The determination in her eyes told me that the Misha would be in good hands, until she burns out.

  So Misha get born with their hats right? And there are no male Misha as none get born with hats right?

  “Correct.”

  So I found 2 interesting sequences in Misha hats. Now mind you, I've only looked into mine and Ayaru's as the research on hats is based on hers. So I only have a sample size of 2 but…

  “Wait! Your hat is real?! Not an illusion? Doesn't that make you a male Misha?!”

  Selina's curiosity ignited.

  You see, that's why I said that I would get into trouble… my hat being ‘real’ isn't important, as that's debatable.

  “Would you mind if I studied you?”

  Of course, I would! Just listen, please! And don't say stuff like that near a vixen…

  I looked over and Giana had locked on to Selina. She hasn't done anything yet. The people that interact with us tend to forget that we're classified as mythical. Maybe I should tell Selina this.

  Ok you need to realize this. I am going to make this painfully clear, as this will save your life in the future. Teach this to other Misha. We…

  I pointed at Giana and myself.

  Are more akin to natural disasters than the other races you encounter. Same for legendary races. Interact with us as if you're attempting to persuade a volcano to not erupt, a tsunami to not flood or a hurricane to not destroy your city. Why do I say this?

  I gestured at the half-destroyed library.

  While this isn't Giana’s fault. This is to be expected when you piss us off. Same as when your council messed with Remi. I burnt this place down, and I would do it again. I have met Ayaru Mistflower and I owe her a lot, so see this as a warning. This city is on a timer, the timer started, the moment Versalt there appeared.

  Selina saw white from terror.

  Anyway back to the topic!

  “H…how can you just switch off that intimidating aura like it's nothing!?”

  Uh, it's our nature. Hey hey! Focus! This is important! It's about your race!

  “The council made a big mistake… oh I apologize!”

  Selina was slowly losing her grip. Maybe it wasn't me but Giana…

  Deca, ease the gaze on her.

  “Fine… I will take it out on this fake Azu then!” Giana started a different song. It was very different. It sounded as if she was going to war. There was a lot of power in her voice.

  Selina finally relaxed.

  What I found in the hats were 2 things. There are no runes that determine the shape of the hat. What does this mean? Well… your hat is not a hat!

  I got a blank stare, but this was my own fault.

  Its an extension of your body, chill. Its not that complicated, but this begs the question. If nothing tells your hat to be a hat. Why do all Misha get born with hats?

  “I don't know. I would love to learn the answer!”

  Uhh, I don't know either, sorry. It needs more research, or we need Azu for that. Speaking of which. Deca! Only kill her after she tells you where Azu is! I will make a big portion of ice cream for you!

  More voices filled the destroyed library floor with a battle song and the jellyfish started to move.

  So you Misha can find that out or wait several decades until I got time to investigate that further. Now the other thing that I found out is… Misha hats are suspiciously similar to ancient magic weapons. It's embarrassing, but I found out quite recently. So here is the thing.

  I took Nilah out in sword form.

  This is my magic weapon, a skill of mine had fused with it but that caused my skill to become quite similar to Misha hats. Nilah! Hat!

  Nilah turned into the hat I wore as Minerva Dragoncall.

  Would you recognize this as a sword, a fox or a Misha hat?

  Selina took Nilah and used several skills on it.

  “As far as I could tell, this is a Misha hat of either an extremely young Misha or an ancient Misha having an age of 5 digits or more.”

  Uhh how can you tell the age?

  “Certain patterns appear on a time basis. Everyone can read magic circles superficially and yours has a new pattern never seen before, just like your sis… partner. If we don't recognize it, it's either a new generation or old enough that nobody alive knows about it, and it's more likely that you're from a new generation.”

  Ah… well the sword form is based on long dead technology so it could be an ancient pattern. It's hard to replicate how I got to have a Misha hat but…

  There were 2 options in this scenario. I don't know which one is correct. One suggests that the Misha are even more incompetent than I thought, and the other suggests something horrific.

  “But?”

  This is my interpretation. I might be missing things or several options but none of them are pleasant to hear. Are you sure that you're ready for this?

  “Nothing can be worse than our race becoming even more incompetent and eventually facing extinction.”

  If you can solve these problems, you might become one of the most important Misha that has ever lived…

  Would it be fair to lay this burden on her? Azu had put in a lot of legwork, the credit should go to her but… she might need help.

  There might be more, but I currently see 2 options. Option 1; Misha had been the ones that created ancient magic weapons. They created them based off their hats which makes them the first to ever wield those powerful weapons.

  “That sounds great, why is that unpleasant to hear?”

  Well, you need skill and physical strength to wield them, something current Misha lack.

  “I see so if we created the first magical weapons we should be physically fit and strong enough to wield them. Compared to that, current day Misha are unskilled and weak in the physical sense. We would have declined harder than we currently are… What's the second option?”

  Well, it would be the reverse… the Misha as a race were somehow created out of magical weapons with their ‘hats’ as the only reminder…

  “Created… is that even possible?”

  Is anything we found out about the ancients possible by current day standards?

  “That's true… this is disturbing…”

  I might be missing options and I've only used extremes. A race could have picked up magic weapons and somehow incorporated it into themselves to become Misha.

  “But why would we only consist of women then?”

  Uhh good question.

  “Maybe it was an accident, similar to yours.”

  Possibly, would that situation make things better though?

  We fell silent. All we could hear was Giana's battle song.

  Selina was about to say something when she got interrupted.

  “Now then, tell me why you look like my Deca’s mentor. Don't try anything funny as there is nothing you can do to me.”

  Oh shit! You caught her!

  “Ugh, let me go! This is unfair! First I have to deal with that clone of that shitty fox, then my master plan failed to get my ass kicked by that slowpoke Ayaru and now that I finally get close to succeeding my 3rd attempt of reviving I have to deal with a mythical beast!”

  Wow you sound unlucky. I don't care though.

  Giana who was holding Versalt with her tail pulled her closer.

  “Eyes on me Misha killer, answer my question and dispel those curses, you created them, right? I can tell by the composition of your magic circles. They seem poorly stitched together though.”

  It seems that Giana might be getting close to not needing any tutoring sessions. Too bad, I enjoyed seeing her run…

  “Oh! Thats right! That shitty fox had [Acedia] on him!”

  Giana froze Versalt’s limbs. “I would be very careful with how you choose your words right now.”

  Giana was about to go into ‘natural disaster mode' and not the charm type. But I’d have to say, she looks dangerously alluring like this.

  Versalt smirked. “Heh, we will see about that! [Acedia] activate!”

  I got hit by a dizzy spell and a familiar feeling spread through my body, the feeling of a curse activating. Fatigue overtook my body and I briefly blacked out.

  Nilah was sharing her vision with me again. It was as if I was Nilah.

  Nilah and Giana worked together to get my body to safety. My vision shifted back to my body as I woke up.

  So tired…

  “I'm sorry Deca, I got careless, and it cost you a life. This bitch is dead!” Giana got up and ignited in foxfire when she stopped and stared at my tail.

  “What is that?!” She pointed at a blue mark that had appeared on my fifth tail.

  Huh? A mistflower? When did she…

  A blue stone shaped like a mistflower glowed and floated out of my tail. I had forgotten about this… Azu told me to use it when I was in deep shit. I didn't want it, so she fused it to my tail.

  An enormous pillar of blue light shot up and destroyed all the floors above us and made an enormous mistflower appear into the sky.

  The fabric of space stirred as someone was dimensional teleporting over. I don't need to guess who.

  I smelled mistflowers then got smothered and then vaguely saw something pink and blue.

  “Oh sweety! I'm so glad to see you! How you've grown! Have you missed me?”

  Azu please… I can't breathe. Also…

  Giana crouched next to us. Looked from me to Azu and back to me again.

  “Hmm, she is a threat but…” She pulled Azu off me with her tail. “Nice to meet you Azu, I've heard a lot about you. I’m Giana Kahlua, Agnis partner.”

  “Ooh another one! Your tails are also fluffy!”Azu said as she tried to hug Giana who got taken by surprise and got her tails hugged.

  Our opponent was loud and Azu and Giana interrupted Versalt’s many attempts of attacking and fleeing. “...lets deal with this Imposter first!”

  “Aagh! Why am I so unlucky?! You're supposed to be stuck on Nesher!”

  “A sexy Misha always appears where she needs to be!” Azu said as she struck a dumb yet sexy pose.

  “And an idol will not tolerate this disrespect for my partner.” Giana said as she struck an idol pose.

  Is it possible that I don't have to do anything? But fighting Azu and Giana? Versalt is Vertoast.