The three found themselves on a beach. Noelle made a small beach house out of light orange crystals and stabilized the illusions so nothing or nobody would be able to disturb them. The three went into the fully furnished house and made themselves comfortable.

  “You know by now that deception doesn’t work on us, right?”

  Noelle and Yvonne nodded and made themselves comfortable.

  “Hiding important facts like this feels like deception to me. I wouldn’t want him to hide something like this, either. The Hifan family has a strong drive to create powerful hybrids to improve the survival rate of our species. It’s not just the Hifan family that did this as most others did too, but what my family did was… selective breeding under charm magic monitored environments and several [Elgards Overloads] applications.”

  Yvonne gasped and covered her mouth.

  “I am both a failure and a success born from those Hifan methodology. You see, my mother got pregnant with me before the Great Eraser, but she put herself and me under a temporal lock as she escaped her family with my father. They… they wanted to cram a third race into me and that was the last straw for my mother. They did succeed, however, but it came with the side effect that I don’t have any offensive capabilities…” Giana said as she looked at her hands and created several floating jellyfish.

  “That’s terrible! Your mother made a wise choice to escape!” Yvonne said. She realized that she had gotten worked up and calmed down.

  Giana flashed a weak smile. “Even so, I can use this. You already know that I’m a nine-tailed spirit fox and a sapphire mermaid, but they have also gotten the properties of the Immortal Jellyfish into me.”

  “Is that why you love jellyfish so much?”

  “They’re tasty.” Giana's sad expression switched to that of a hungry glutton as her mouth started to water.

  “Ehh, I guess that’s not the reason, then.” Noelle said as she scratched her temple.

  “But I love them too. But a 9t without any offensive capabilities could be seen as a failure. I…I don’t know how to tell Agnis this.”

  “I haven’t met him properly, but I’m sure he would stay calm and make the right decision. He did when I tried to catch him in Gittrian… I still don’t know how he escaped so easily… I’m supposed to be good at ambushes…”

  “That’s fine Yv. Giana and I have an idea what he has been through… he would’ve been long dead if he couldn’t adapt to that. And Giana! Just tell him, I’m sure he won’t hate you! He probably understands because he’s a hybrid too!”

  “I guess. I just want to do it right. The Hifan family is quite notorious.” Giana said while thinking about what to say next.

  “From what family is he actually? Do you know Noelle?”

  Noelle cocked her head. “Huh everyone knows that he’s from the Hourai family.”

  Yvonne realized that her question was a bit silly but doubled down. “But isn’t Hourai a phoenix surname? I mean, from what nine-tailed family his mother comes from.”

  Silence fell.

  Giana covered her mouth. “I have no idea what family he is from… I’m such a failure…”

  “Uhh sorry! But that’s not important, is it? It’s not, right?” Yvonne said as her eyes darted between Noelle and Giana.

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  “It doesn’t, but it gives a good indication what he’s really like. I only know the traits of the 3 big families, though…”

  “Ooh tell them! We can guess from which family lil’ bro is from based on that!”

  “Oh is this some sort of matchmaking to find out if he’s suitable for Giana?” Yvonne teased.

  “Stop it! I’ve already decided that he’s suitable! But the Hifan have the strongest bodies and raw offensive power. That’s why they’re so big on hybrids to push this even further. I’m sure that he isn’t a Hifan because he’s quite…”

  “He is quite fragile, like a normal 9t.” Noelle said, shaking her head after recalling the fight against the spirit stakers.

  “Yeah. So that leaves the Mikazuki, but he’s neither pink or blue…”

  “But you said there were 3 big families. Or is that wrong?” Yvonne said while playing with Giana’s tails.

  “Maybe Lil’ bro is from a small family.”

  “Well…” Giana fell silent.

  “What’s wrong?” Noelle snapped her fingers in front of Giana’s face.

  “How have I not realized this?! This means I have to act even sooner than I wanted to!”

  “Uh hello? Giana? Can we know too? Did you figure out what lil’ bro is?”

  “Oh sorry. The last family is the Oures family. It went extinct before the Great Eraser.”

  “Ohh… that’s unfortunate. Wait why were they one of the great families then? And what does that have to do with lil’ bro?”

  “Well. The Oures family had neither strong bodies nor a magical or numerical advantage like the Hifan and Mikazuki. They were relatively ‘Normal’ ” Giana said as she made air quotes.

  Noelle leaned backward in her chair and looked at the ceiling. “Uhh what does that mean?”

  “The Oures family had a lot of members that frequently picked up strange skills or abilities. They weren’t superior in physical or magical prowess. Most of them had strange skill sets. They also picked up a magical element named Pagos somewhere, and it started to run in their family. And it pains me to say, but it’s because of them that the gods started to wipe us out. It seems that neither strength or numbers are what made us a threat to the gods. It was the strange and unpredictable nature of the Oures family.”

  “Uhh, you mean like that fishbowl attack of lil’ bro?”

  “I wish I could’ve seen it but the more I think about it, the more he could be of the Oures family. But…” Giana got up. “We need to go. It’s time to join team Hourai! Of all the families, the Oures had the lowest life expectancy, most other families got at least 10 times older than the Oures as the Oures died young because they always had targets on their backs…”

  “So, it’s finally going to happen! I will finally see Raishin and my little brother!”

  “I wonder how Gregory is doing.” Yvonne said while making a small bunny hop.

  “But first there is something we need to do, someplace we need to go.” Giana flashed a smile as she got up.

  “Oh so we’re going to that first? Find out what lil’ bro, Raishin and Gregory have been up to all these years?”

  “Yes. I have contacted a friend of Agnis. He had tried it before with his friend, but it was in his words ‘Sadistically hard, just as expected of him’ so he will be helping us out.” Giana said, as she [Transformed] into the version of herself that was the best for travelling.

  The idols got ready for a long journey. Their destination on the other side of the continent but getting there was the easy part. The Nightmare Dungeon had gained notoriety because, as its name suggests; its difficulty is set to ‘Nightmare mode’.

  Agnisotra: Foxfire Lunacy series. It will take a while before it gets released, however.

  Agnisotra: Foxfire Lunacy.

  Ayaru Mistflower

  The Moorland Menace

  Refill