During the purification of her curse, she obtained an interesting new ability called Copution Purification. It allows the removal of curses and diseases by generating purifying magic during sexual activity. Vixen mentally sighed, she could not begin to fathom why she was still surprised by the genre of her skill when the majority of her skill set revolved around having sex. She cursed Maxwell in her heart, it had been a while since she had st thought of his arch enemy.

  ********************************************************************************

  Maxwell, a formidable wizard of the underworld, now teetered on the edge of insanity, his mind unraveling like the frayed ends of his once-immacute robes. His empire of illicit sorcery, built upon the twin pilrs of weapon enchantments and alchemical drug production, y in shambles, all thanks to Vixen—his relentless, infuriating nemesis. She had dismantled his enchanted arms dealer, leaving his criminal clientele defenseless and furious. Worse yet, she had burned his hidden forge to the ground and even used the artifact he had stolen, she repurposed to produce and protect the jungle of ingredients he revolved his business around. She snuffed out years of painstakingly perfected arcane narcotics. Now some of his most lucrative clients, his most beneficial connections abandoned him. The walls of his hideout seemed to close in tighter with each passing hour. Sves and prostitutes littered the ground of his hideout, a new one dropping to the ground on each bout of bad news. Desperation cwed at his thoughts, and madness whispered promises of vengeance.

  Maxwell paced in frantic circles, his open robe swirling like a storm of fabric and rage, while his lone confidant, a wiry man known only as Lark, sat stiffly in the corner, watching the wizard unravel. "Who is she, Lark?!" Maxwell snapped, his voice raw with frustration. "She tears down my work, my empire. Who knew she knew so much about me—like she knows exactly where to strike! No one just stumbles onto my operations, not like this. Someone told her. Someone helped her! Or...perhaps she had always known and just looked the other way for our previous partnership..." His fingers twitched as if itching to hurl a spell, but the great wizard was drained, his magic waning along with his control. Lark shifted uncomfortably, clearing his throat before responding, "We don’t have a name, she moves like a ghost. Its strange, with one as attractive and promiscuous as you cim a lord or noble would have traveled many miles for a chance at her. Yet, no records, no trails—just irreparable damage done in her wake. It’s like she’s always one step ahead of us." Maxwell exhaled sharply, his breath shuddering with barely contained fury. "Then we find her, Lark. We tear the city apart if we have to, but we will learn where she is. And when we do..." His lips curled into a bitter sneer. "She'll regret ever crossing me."

  **************************************************************

  Vixen traveled south along the jagged coastline, the salt-ced wind whipping through her dark cloak as the restless sea crashed against the cliffs below. The remnants of the curse of lethargy was just a memory and since it was purified, her travel time increased exponentially. She had no time to savor her freedom, Maxwell's downfall was her top priority —there was always another battle, another mission, another monster lurking in the shadows and this one bordered on the depraved but she needed all the help she could get for the final battle. As her time on the road lengthened her thoughts drifted to the dragon eggs and wonder what had become of them. The journey grew harsher as she pressed on, the air growing colder, the nd more rugged and unforgiving. Vilges became scarce, their few remaining inhabitants wary of strangers, whispering tales of the nd ahead—a realm where even the mountains bowed to the footsteps of giants. She traveled with caution, skirting along the edges of treacherous crags and dense pine forests where unseen eyes watched from the darkness. At night, she camped beneath ancient trees, listening to the distant rumble of thunder that was not thunder at all, but the echoes of massive beings moving in the distance. She reached the border of the their nd, enormous stone pilrs, half-buried and worn with age, marked the entrance to the giants' domain, their runes still pulsing faintly with forgotten magic.

  The nd of giants was a realm where everything loomed impossibly rge, as though the very fabric of nature had been stretched to accommodate its colossal inhabitants. Towering trees with trunks as thick as castles rose toward the heavens, their massive branches sprawling like the arms of slumbering titans. Leaves the size of shields rustled overhead, casting shifting patterns of shadow upon the vast, moss-covered ground. The mountains here were not mere peaks but monoliths of stone that jutted into the sky like the ribs of the world itself, their cliffs carved by the passage of giants who walked as casually through their valleys as humans would through open fields. Even the rivers ran deeper and wilder, their currents strong enough to sweep away an ordinary traveler with ease.

  The wildlife, too, was a testament to the nd’s sheer immensity. Boars the size of bears snorted and foraged through the undergrowth, their tusks like curved daggers, while wolves as rge as horses prowled the misty ridges, their howls echoing with a bone-shaking resonance. Enormous elk with antlers like twisted tree limbs moved in slow, thunderous strides across the open pins, while eagles with wingspans rivaling the sails of ships circled high above, their piercing eyes scanning for prey. Even the insects were unnervingly rge—beetles as big as hounds scuttled over fallen logs, and dragonflies zipped through the humid air like shimmering daggers.

  Despite the eerie stillness, the nd was alive with a presence that could be felt in the very air. Ancient ruins of cyclopean stone y half-buried beneath creeping vines, remnants of a forgotten age when gods and monsters may have walked side by side. And somewhere, deep within the valleys where the mist hung thickest, the true rulers of this country roamed—the giants themselves, their footfalls a distant tremor in the bones of the earth

  Vixen inhaled deeply, steeling herself for what y ahead. New dangers and challenges awaited, and she would meet them head-on, just as she always had.