The verdant green fox crouched and jumped toward the descending mouth. Kali looked with a defiant look toward it as they collided.
*BOOM!*
The black and green aura collided, but the strength of the black aura was stronger. Therefore, the giant green fox was stunned for a second.
The maw didn't lose this chance and moved to the side and bit the fox, sinking the sharp teeth into it. Kali felt those teeth sinking into her flesh, ripping it apart and corrupting her. This made her scream in pain as she felt herself being changed from the very core. However, a severe light flashed through Kali's eyes.
The fox's nine tails elongated, doubling the size of the maw. Then, the tails powerfully grabbed the upper and lower mandibles of the maw and tried to open it.
With tremendous strength, the nine-tailed fox slowly opened the maw forcefully. When she had enough room to maneuver, she used her four legs and made even more strength. There was a cracking sound as she opened the maw and saw some cracks appearing on it. However, she didn't feel it weakening at all, and the abundant black miasma around was healing the mouth continuously.
A ruthless light flashed through Kali's eyes as she moved her own mouth to bite the Black maw! Her sharp teeth sunk into it, and with a twist of her neck, she ripped a piece of it apart and swallowed it! It was only now that Kali heard a painful scream from it. Then, as her tails held onto the maw, she began devouring ravenously and clawing her way into it without mercy.
Shrill painful cries echoed around, making the soul world tremble as the fox consumed the mouth.
The more the fox consumed, the more material, bigger, and stronger it became. The fur became softer, the body sleeker, and around them, beautiful flowers, green grass, and other kinds of vegetation began growing. The soil changed from an ashen grey to a moist brown, showering everything with vitality around the fox and maw fighting zone.
Meanwhile, Yasenia was nervously looking at Kali from the outside, she had tried inserting her energy into Kali, but the black aura wouldn't let her. She has even tried using her aura, hands, and tail to rip that black miasma apart, but she couldn't do anything more than hug Kali close. She couldn't help but feel powerless.
Even if the miasma didn't hurt her heart, her physical body wasn't as safe facing this level of corruption. You could see that some of Yasenia's skin had turned grey, some parts of her beautiful tail had lost luster, and her fingers had some blackish veins pulsating. The physical pain she was feeling was truly terrible, but would our dragoness separate from Kali because of this?
She would not. Yasenia knew that her presence was helping Kali, so instead of trying to separate further, she used her arms, legs, and tail to pull Kali closer, burying the corrupting woman in her embrace and gritting her teeth to fight the pain that felt like thousands of insects eating her.
After some minutes, a green aura enveloped Kali's body. The aura surrounded part of Kali's body, revitalizing it. Yasenia saw this green aura helping kali, and her lips arched in a smile. By now, Yasenia's body was in bad condition, but she didn't loosen her embrace for a second. "You can do it, Honey."
However, Yasenia suddenly saw that aura focus on the top of Kali's head, and under Yasenia's astonished eyes, a pair of beautiful fox ears popped up. The fox ears were surrounded by reddish fur, following Kali's hair color, and they were somewhat big and very fluffy. Then, the aura moved above her butt, and a long, extremely soft-looking light-green fox tail appeared.
Even with the situation they were in right now, feeling all the pain, Yasenia had the urge to pet those fluffy ears and tail with all her might. She observed at the side and saw that Kali still had human ears. 'Four ears? Strange... Well, it doesn't look bad... Would it be bad if I pet her at this moment?'
Suddenly, Tatyana appeared beside them and looked at Kali with an excited gaze. "Bloodline Transformation!"
Yasenia bit her teeth and tried to answer with a calm voice through her pain without losing focus on Kali. "W-What is that?"
Tatyana couldn't help but have her heart hurting seeing her little treasure like this, but she didn't intervene and answered nonetheless. "This is an extremely rare event where a human stirs the dormant lineage of their bloodline and transforms into a beast-human of that race. As their cultivation advances, their body will purify the human bloodline until only the beast bloodline is left, becoming a complete beast with human and beast form."
Yasenia saw a green phantom fox appearing, and it began chomping and clawing at the black aura, devouring it and becoming stronger as the time passed. Tatyana's excitement grew, "Heart demon consumption!? What a fearless girl!"
There were two methods to overcome a heart demon. The first is overcoming your fears gradually, and the second is fighting them forcefully. If consuming the heart demon is successful, that fear will not only disappear but be unable to become a fear again. However, failing to do it would hurt the cultivator extremely badly, strengthening that fear and rooting it in their heart for the rest of their lives.
However, to Tatyana's and Yasenia's surprise, the black aura burst with extreme might and strengthened, blasting into pieces a big part of the green aura and splitting Yasenia's skin, making blood splash! Kali's and Yasenia's painful screams followed this. "AHH!!"
Tatyana's gaze became heavy and ordered in an instant. "Little treasure! Use the yang energy you made her drink and aid her cultivation!"
Yasenia bit her tongue, and her golden eyes regained focus. She didn't dare delay for a single second and instantly circulated the [Heavenly Maiden Ascends To The Heavens] technique, using the Yang energy inside Kali's belly to support her. Then, Yasenia transmitted a single thought accompanied by a dragon roar! "FIGHT ON!"
Meanwhile, Inside the soul world, the half-consumed maw exploded with might and exploded the tails holding it. This aura explosion hurt the fox extremely badly and blasted her away. Kali felt like her body was ripped apart and shouted in pain.
Then, a terrifying distorted voice rumbled in the soul world, making the revitalizing world wither again at a visible speed. "A PITIFUL WOMAN ON THE VERGE OF BECOMING A FALLEN ACTUALLY DARES FIGHT BACK!? WE WERE TRYING TO INVADE YOUR BODY WITHOUT HURTING IT, LEAVING A PART OF YOUR WILL IN IT, BUT YOU ACTUALLY DARE TRY TO CONSUME US!? YOU WILL SURRENDER TO YOUR FATE!"
The maw became twice as big and zoomed toward Kali with tremendous speed. Before Kali could even react, it chomped down again and sunk its serrated teeth inside the fox extremely deeply. An agonizing scream escaped Kali's mouth. "AHHH!!!"
The maw began chomping continuously and ravenously, heavily injuring the green aura fox and recovering its stolen strength. First, the maw chomped a leg off; then a tail was ripped off; after that, an arm, part of its back, another tail...
Kali was becoming more and more wounded and basically eaten alive.
Nonetheless, even while feeling this agony, Kali still wanted to fight back, but she couldn't even move as she was being devoured. Dread began invading her soul as she fearfully thought, 'I don't want to die! I want to live beside Yasenia! I don't want to surrender!'
But the maw was unforgiving and continued devouring her.
When the fox was half eaten, a change occurred inside the soul world. As black and green fought for dominance in this desolate world, an enormous Sun and Moon appeared in the firmament, accompanied by countless stars!
Their glow instantly covered the entire world, blasting the dark miasma away and revitalizing all vegetation. Then, a shockwave accompanied by a dragon roar blasted the maw away from the fox, accompanied by a voice Kali knew so well, "FIGHT ON!"
This roar snapped Kali back and made her look at the sky. Looking at the celestial bodies in the sky, she ignored the horrendous injuries in her body and stood up on her remaining arm and leg, filled with determination! Then, gathering her strength, she roared toward the maw. "You want me to surrender to my fate!? Dream on! I RATHER DIE ON MY FEET, THAN LIVE ON MY KNEES."
*BOOM!*
The fox absorbed the aura coming from the heavens and healed extremely fast.
The maw became scared for the first time and wanted to attack Kali before she recovered completely. However, the Sun, Moon, and Star energy were burning, freezing, and desintegrating parts of itself, making it release another painful abhorrent scream and slam everywhere without control.
As she saw its state, Kali's scarred lips raised in a smile, and she poured the rest of her energy inside the fox.
The fox tripled in size in an instant, and its aura burst outward, changing the surroundings into a verdant forest full of life. Then, it lunged toward the mouth.
The maw knew that it was at a disadvantage and began evaporating, hiding in Kali's heart again. Kali saw this, and she wouldn't let it escape without a big wound, so she began clawing, biting, and smashing it with her nine tails.
The fight continued for some more time until the maw disappeared completely.
Kali was in her human form as she looked around the soul world and saw that one-third of the soul world regained a life, while the other two-thirds remained as a desolate and lifeless world. However, it was a tremendous step.
She couldn't help but look up at the beautiful Sun, Moon, and starry sky. Her lips raised in an exhausted but happy smile, and tears ran down her cheeks as she laughed happily. "I did it… Hahaha, *Sob* I did it! *Sob* I finally defeated one heart demon! Hahaha."
After being under their constant torment, this first complete win was something extremely significant for her and the true first step toward complete recovery. 'Everything thanks to you, Yasenia.'
Then Kali closed her eyes and opened them right after, looking around in the real world. She only saw Yasenia hugging her extremely closely. Tatyana had left before Kali completely woke up, wanting to give them a moment together.
Yasenia still had her heart beating fast because of the scare she received at the end. However, her face had a tender smile, and her eyes revealed praise and encouragement. 'Thankfully, we did that before this happened, or I wouldn't know what to do….'
Yasenia could tell that Kali defeated the heart demon successfully thanks to her previous breakthrough, so she spoke with a gentle and weakened tone. "Welcome back, honey. You've killed one of the biggest heart demons inside of you. The fear to relationships."
Kali was about to smile until she saw Yasenia's current state.
Yasenia's skin had a pale grey tone, her lips were pale, and her tail lacked any luster it normally had; completely dull. Her hands and feet were black, and her skin was open in many places. Kali felt her heart as if someone was twisting a knife in it and instantly shouted, "Flora, HELP!"
Flora instantly entered the room since Tatyana had lifted the prohibition. When she saw Yasenia's state, even she became scared. 'Why did the Lady say that everything is under control!?' "What happened, young miss? How did your body corrupt so much?"
Yasenia looked at Flora and asked, "Is honey okay? Check her first before me; I want to be reassured."
Flora bit her lips and approached Kali. Kali's eyes became teary, and she ordered angrily, "Don't you dare! You MUST check her first! How can I get checked with you like this before me!?"
Yasenia chuckled weakly and said, "Don't worry, honey. I'm going to call Anna and Eve. Let Flora check you."
Kali hugged the weakened dragoness close with tears in her eyes and let Flora inspect her. Only two seconds later and Anna and Eve appeared with serious expressions.
After seeing Yasenia's state, they didn't even speak and began working instantly. Yasenia couldn't hold on for much longer and fainted because of her wounds.