A portal opened and a person got forcefully ejected out of the portal into a large subterranean room filled with corpses.


    Ouch! What a sloppy portal, where the fuck am I and… who has this terrible taste…


    The young man said after quickly recovering from this strange event.


    He had no time to think much of it as he dispelled a [Vaporize] that specifically targeted his head.


    Whoa that''s a nasty greeting! The young man said. He kept his composure even though he got ambushed.


    “That is strange, most targets that get sucked up by my collectors are too distressed or disoriented to react to my targeted [Vaporize] or [Supernova Blast]. Who are you?” Verruka Saltpeter asked the young man that had just appeared from the portal.


    He had black hair which was tied up. The ends of his hair seemed white or silver. He was dressed quite formally.


    Huh? Azu? Wait, not quite Azu.


    The man''s demeanour changed.


    You brought me here so you should know who I am. More importantly… who the fuck are you? Why do you look like Azu, but not quite like her. Hmm actually you don''t look anything like her. A fan? Maybe a sister? A stalker?


    A black blob merged with Verruka Saltpeter and information about her target flowed into her mind.


    “Ahh Agnis Hourai, the creator of [Hattrick]. The Misha are going crazy about it and it''s a skill that I need for my grand plan. However…” Verruka raised an eyebrow. “You are not a Misha… Did those fools decide to let other races in?”


    She expected an answer but her target was stretching and suddenly had 9 fox tails out.


    Oh sorry, I wasn''t paying attention. I lost connection with my main body. I’m a shadow clone, you see. So this situation means that I’m probably screwed. A shadow clone should complain to the main body that he keeps overworking us. I thought that I could enjoy this party but noo! I had to be a decoy for some strange Blur...


    “I see a trickster race, that explains a lot.” Verruka tried casting various spells but they kept getting interrupted and the eyes of this man had an eerie color. His gaze was piercing and an uncomfortable feeling welled up in Verruka as she had the feeling as if this man was peering into her past, present and future.


    I see. I think I know what''s going on. A Misha did warn me about a ‘Misha killer'' that targeted [Hattrick]. I think your name was Versalt?


    “It''s Verruka Saltpeter! The mother of curses!” Verruka said proudly.


    Huh? Not Versalt? Did that Misha mess up your name?


    Verruka’s pride turned into annoyance. “Unbelievable, another one that lives under a rock! Most targets have heard of my name! And those that didn''t, used my actual name and not a made up name or a nickname! And to make it worse, you''re a clone? And not the real person?! I have no need for a clone… Die!”


    Verruka''s mana welled up, getting ready to cast several skills and causes when a cold flash went out and wiped out all the mana. “What?!”


    Hmm I’m not on the Kaledon continent anymore. Why do strange things continue to happen to me… first that Blur and now this bullshit.


    Agnis walked around, tripped over a corpse and faceplanted into a pile of corpses.


    What the fuck! This is poor taste for furniture. Your room is even messier than Raishin’s!


    Agnis started to incinerate corpses. Most of the corpses had their hearts eaten so Verruka had no need for them but Agnis started incinerating a pile that were due for ‘Heart Extraction’.


    “Hey hey! You can''t just come into a woman’s room and incinerate all her corpses! And why don''t you fear me?!” Verruka cast [Acedia] on Agnis. It failed as Agnis already had been afflicted by [Acedia]. “Ahh you have heard of me! You are afflicted by one of my deadly sin curses!”


    Agnis continued incinerating corpses without batting an eye.


    Oh yeah I’m quite cursed, that stupid goddess did a number on me with all those curses, that was quite reckless of me.


    His gaze fell on to a corridor, leading deeper into the mountain.


    “No, that curse is mine! Not of a goddess! And if you''re going to lie, make up a more believable lie!” Verruka casted multiple skills but her target kept evading. Every evade sent out [Water Blades] and [Fire Blades] causing Verruka to get pressured by his evades.


    “It seems I can extract more from you than just [Hattrick].” Verruka said while licking her lips.


    Agnis pointed at himself.


    I''m a shadow clone, remember? You probably need my real body for that. Good luck catching him. Now why do I sense deception?


    Verruka was currently merged with an enormous black mass of viscous condensed mana. This viscous mana connected her to other large masses of concentrated mana, spread out through the cave system so she was unable to move from her spot.


    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    She formed 2 blood sacrifice clones, also known as BS clones, out of nearby corpses to deal with this problematic shadow clone.


    Agnis’ face contorted in disgust.


    This is what you do with the corpses? You really do have terrible taste… Why do I always get the weirdos…


    Agnis jumped up, used [Frozen Ground], slipped the BS clones and froze their pants to the floor.


    I have no chance in beating you as I’m a shadow clone but the least I can do is piss you off! I hope that you like playing ‘Hide and Seek’!


    Agnis said before dropping into stealth and disappearing.


    Verruka was baffled and upset. What just happened? This was the first time she ‘collected’ a shadow clone and also the first time her target escaped. She created 12 more BS clones, which spread out to look for this problematic target.


    Verruka managed to calm down. She had stopped researching her targets centuries ago. Something like this was bound to happen. It was certainly the first trickster or assassin-type target she ‘collected'' since she stopped familiarising with who she will ‘collect’ next.


    An half hour went by and the two BS clones were still frozen to the ground. The tropical temperatures should have melted it a long time ago.


    This improved Verruka''s mood as this wasn''t normal ice, it was a branch of magic that''s nearly extinct. Eating his heart became more and more attractive.


    She either had to consume countless hearts, or consume the hearts of Agnis Hourai and Ayaru Mistflower and the prerequisites will be met decades earlier than planned.


    Blobs gathered around Verruka and merged with her. The blobs contained information gathered by all the active BS clones.


    “Hmm, Ayaru surely takes her time getting here. I wonder how her heart tastes like. I appreciate that she’s coming here herself as ‘collecting’ her would be near impossible. Now what''s the deal with this Agnis Hourai guy? I thought fox beast kin were extinct and I don''t remember them having 9 tails”


    More blobs merged with her as she tried to find out where the real Agnis Hourai was and how to deal with the shadow clone as an explosion went off that shook the mountain. Verruka lost connection with the concentrated mass of mana that was responsible for high level fire magic. Neither she or her BS clones would be able to use complicated fire magic without it.


    “That asshole!” Verruka created more BS clones to catch this shadow clone. “How did he even find out?! They are concealed masterfully!”


    Is what she believed but it was a fact that her ‘High Fire Mana Blob’ had been destroyed. She had mana blobs for almost every magic category as managing millions of skills was near impossible. Verruka marvelled in her genius idea to separate magic categories and have condensed mana blobs take charge over them.


    Verruka''s ‘genius’ idea was currently backfiring as Agnis had destroyed the blob responsible for complicated fire magic. She had made sure to hide them properly with illusions.


    “Illusions… fox with 9 tails… It’s surely not a nine tailed spirit fox right? Illusions are quite useless against them…” Verruka realised that her plan would be in serious danger if this was the case.


    Sounds of glass cracking and shattering could be heard as several illusion layers broke and the blob responsible for illusions and deception got destroyed.


    “Noo! My genius plan!” Verruka put all the collectors on alert. They would increase the amount of targets to ‘collect’ as Verruka turned half of the remaining corpses into BS clones to hunt this fox down.


    “Not now! I needed the ‘deception blob’ to deal with Ayaru!”


    A swarm of BS clones rushed out to locate Agnis.


    Verruka dropped her head in her hands. Everything went so well up until this point. The mana she had saved up had been used to create those BS clones.


    “Maybe it’s a good thing that Ayaru is so slow… I need more time.. “


    The ‘deception blob'' had been destroyed so all the other blobs were exposed. If Verruka didn''t deal with Agnis, she would lose more blobs. She needs them to fight Ayaru.


    Verruka was confident in her strength but the only individual she deemed a threat was Ayaru Mistflower. But…


    She felt several BS clones disappear as they got assassinated by Agnis’ shadow clone. Several portals opened and multiple ''collected'' targets dropped to the floor. They all got caught by surprise and died to some [Supernova Blasts], [Oxidize] and [Crystalline Fractures].


    Verruka would normally also use [Melt] or [Vaporize] but she was unable to use it, now the fire blob had been destroyed.


    She consumed more hearts while getting increasingly upset with Agnis’ shadow clone.


    Days went by. Her mana was slowly getting to the point where she felt comfortable as she had collected thousands of hearts. Some hearts gave her fire based skills but she needed to consume many more to create a new fire blob.


    The biggest loss was the loss of the deception blob. She would need to catch targets like Agnis to restore this but as her disappearing BS clones were demonstrating, this could end up backfiring.


    “Stop hiding and fight like a man!” Verruka exclaimed in vexation.


    Agnis appeared next to her moments later and shook his head.


    You do know you''re fighting a 9t right? ‘Unfair’ is our thing. Expecting us to fight straightforwardly and fair is like expecting a fish to run a marathon.


    “I don''t care! And I don''t know what a ‘9t’ is!” Verruka said as she shot out [Fulminate Surge] and [Gale Force] which Agnis evaded.


    Agnis kept evading and sending [Fire Blades] out after every evade, countering Verruka''s attacks. This excessive use of fire pissed her off even more.


    Whoa those are some exotic skills. And uhh, ''nine tailed spirit fox'' is a mouthful so I just say 9t, it''s short and easy. Also… why don''t you cast [Incinerate], [Vaporize] or other fire based spells?


    Agnis asked with a smirk.


    Black blobs, wind and lightning magic got flung toward Agnis. “Because you destroyed my cute fire blob!”


    Ah I see, so I was right. Not that fire works on me anyway. It also is disturbing to see a Wannabe Azu stuck in black goop and talk with a creepy voice like that. Anyways, my mana ran out so I got to go. I don''t know who is supposed to kick your ass but that''s not my problem. Cya!


    The clone dispelled itself and disappeared.


    This made Verruka even angrier. She was the strongest Misha on the planet and this shadow clone made a fool out of her. It didn''t even die, it ran out of mana, mocking her that she couldn''t even kill a clone before it ran out of mana.


    She lost it and threw a tantrum. Several BS clones spread out over the planet went on a rampage so she could vent.


    It didn''t work as she, the main body, needed to vent. There was nothing here for her to vent on.


    She looked at the corpse pile closest to her and smiled. The most important component of her plan was in this pile and untouched. She decided to bottle up her frustration and vent it later. She would vent on Ayaru, turn that beautiful face of her into a mess before ripping her heart out and feast on it.


    Verruka still had insufficient mana but was eagerly awaiting Ayaru’s arrival as she needed to get this out of her system and wondered how Ayaru''s heart tastes like.