Sin Of Greed (Greedy Fox Book 2)

~~ NINE ~~

-that black ball of death descending-

"What?" I breathed out.

"You heard me loud and clear. Had you been a fox, you would have suffered far less than you already have."

"That doesn't make any sense!" I argued. "I ran out of strength back then, the Greed had drained all of it from me. That's why I..." That's why I failed. I wasn't strong enough.

She shook her head. "Even though it was your first awakening of Greed, you still could have won the fight based on pure instinct."

"I was acting on pure instinct. I remember that fight very clearly. I let go of everything that made me human."

"But you were still making calculations like a human. You weren't reacting. When a fox hunts, sure we calculate how we want the hunt to go before we take that first step from the shadows, like most do if you want to increase your chances of success. But once we leave our cover, there is no time to think while chasing our prey. There is no way to calculate the hundred and one ways a hunt can go, or you'd spend most of your time with the what ifs and by then your prey is long gone."

I furrowed my brow. "I think I understand what you're saying." I'd hunted enough times to know what it felt like, the thrill of the hunt and only the singular thought of catching the prey. "But a fight is not a hunt. You need to be thinking ahead of your opponent so you can counter their next attack."

"Again, you're not human," she grounded out. She shook her head. "A broadening of the senses, a reaction to the events around you without conscious thought. There's no point in me trying to explain it. You'll just have to feel it in a fight and hopefully the concept is able to penetrate that hard head of yours."

"It's not my fault that you seem to think I'd failing at being a fox when that's all I've been this entire time."

"Enough," she groaned, pawing at her face. "Hopefully, having the full force of Greed has woken back up the fox side of you. You'll thank me when it happens. Right now, all this is doing is giving me a headache."

'You and me both,' I grumbled. How in the world could I make such a difference in a battle with instinct when I'd already been using instinct to fight? I shook the thoughts from my head. No time to dwell on it, I'd have to figure it out on the run.

I had no idea how much time had passed with the perpetual darkness outside but it was probably time for me to leave. I got the answers and the power that I needed.

I bowed to the fox. "Thank you for everything you've done for me, Greed, but I have to take my leave now. Greed as it is now isn't going to stop those demons."

"And once you defeat the demons?"

"Huh?"

"Why just stop at the demons? Why not conquer all?" She walked around me, tails caressing my legs. A shudder ran up my spine, and I felt my senses expand and the Greed bubble up.

Yes, I could do that.

"All this strength and you want to use it just on those demons. There's kingdoms waiting out there you know?"

I salivated at the thought. Conquering them, sitting the throne, the images were vivid in my mind.

"It is our right, as Greed. We could rule over them all."

The growl that came out of my throat without warning had her chuckling. My hand flew to my neck. The sudden thought of tearing her throat out for asking to share and the rage that accompanied it faded away, my senses returning to normal.

"Oh well, it was worth a shot." She walked away and I had a feeling that I had both just cheated death and passed a test.

She leapt nimbly onto her dais and stared back down at me, this time without the contempt written across her features. She even had a smile.