Chapter 24
Chapter 24
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: Fox (1)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Mina stared at the woman who shared her own face, yet bore no resemblance to her.
"Who are you?"
"You know, don't you? I'm you."
"No. You're not me."
Mina's eyes sank with icy resolve.
"If you were me... then you should know all the information that I know."
That was what a mirror was.
It reflected one's true self completely, even if inversely.
Thus, a mirror could only show one's ' entirety,' nothing more.
The woman with fox ears—Mina, no, the woman—smiled bewitchingly.
"You're not as stupid as I thought."
Her tone had changed.
Yet it now seemed perfectly natural, as if she had finally settled into her true voice.
"Indeed. I am not some inferior thing like you."
More precisely...
The woman with fox ears pointed toward Mina's chest.
"The blood coursing through your body. The origin of that bloodline, perhaps?"
Bloodline.
At that word, Mina's heart began to pound fiercely.
The woman's tail swayed.
With it, small blue flames began to flicker around her.
"What are you doing? Pay your respects to your ancestor."
Each time the blue flames brushed her skin, her clothes ignited, revealing her bare form.
Yet without a hint of shame, the smiling woman stepped forward with a heavy thud.
The transformation began.
The surroundings grew hazy, as if shrouded in mist.
Even within it, the woman's golden eyes shone vividly, piercing through Mina.
Sway—.
The tails, clearly two before, became three, then five.
With each blink, their number grew, until finally, nine tails split forth.
At some point, she was clad in ancient ceremonial robes that boldly exposed her figure.
Her face had become utterly unlike Mina's.
"I am the mother of all foxes. The fox who ascended to the supreme realm under heaven. I am the Nine-Tails."
Flames blazed.
Icy cold flames.
"......"
Mina felt her teeth chatter.
Was it the changed air around her,
or the plummeting temperature?
Before she could judge, she had to step back.
Even from a considerable distance, the Nine-Tails closed in instantly, smiling at her with her eyes.
"Good. You have sharp instincts. You sensed my presence quite quickly."
Clap clap—.
The Nine-Tails applauded, praising Mina.
Her demeanor was just like a grandmother doting on her young granddaughter.
But the words flowing from her mouth were entirely different.
"I thought your blood had thinned from mingling with humans, yet such an excellent seed was born. Truly worthy of my lineage."
In truth, it was merely self-praise.
"So, descendant. Have you asked all your questions?"
The Nine-Tails' gaze turned to Mina, who had unfurled the Divine Breeze Fan in wary defense.
"......"
Mina slowly gathered her thoughts as she regarded the Nine-Tails.
What should she ask?
Her identity? Why she had appeared?
Such thoughts flashed through her mind in an instant, but the words that finally left her lips were singular.
"You didn't answer my first question. What happened to Bihyeong?"
"Worrying about your mate even in this situation? How touching."
The Nine-Tails giggled as if finding it amusing.
"Fear not. That half-goblin has been sent to where he belongs. The one I invited into this domain using your body is you alone."
"Half? Goblin?"
"You didn't know? That child is like you. Born with the fate of a half-demon."
Well, you're hardly worthy of being called a half-demon, though.
"Fascinating. So clearly a half-demon. Utterly different from you, who inherited only a fragment of my blood."
The fox's whisper echoed.
"Don't you feel detached from him?"
"...?"
"He hid that fact from you. Deceived you, in other words. Can you still feel affection for such a man?"
Her voice was enchantingly seductive, enough to captivate any listener.
Forcing the heart to give the answer she desired.
Yet Mina merely tilted her head, unaffected.
"Deceived? What nonsense is that?"
"...What?"
"Even I wouldn't have told you if this happened to me. It's a matter of life and death."
This world was like that.
Exorcists hunted yokai,
and yokai hunted humans.
In this cycle of prejudice and rigid frameworks, how many could proudly declare themselves half-demons in Sin Bihyeong's situation?
To Mina, no one.
"I know Bihyeong well. It wasn't an act of deception."
And feel detached?
"Why should I? If anything, isn't it great?"
"...What."
"We're both half-yokai. Isn't this what they call 'fated partners' from the stories?"
Mina's expression as she spoke didn't seem like deliberate provocation or denial.
She spoke with pure sincerity,
her words filled with clear intent, affection melting into her voice.
The Nine-Tails couldn't suppress a hollow laugh at her descendant.
"Hah. Your head is fuller of flowers than I imagined."
"So what? That's just how I am. Anyway, you've told me about the bloodline, so how about you leave now? I need to go find Bihyeong."
Mina gripped the Divine Breeze Fan tighter.
'...I've only heard tales of nine-tails, but there must be a way.'
Such a being had emerged from her own blood.
She couldn't be in perfect condition.
'Proof: she started with two tails. Now nine.'
Whatever trick she was using, it was likely a bluff.
'Maybe like that library yokai before—a power that only lasts a moment.'
If so, she too could muster such power.
That was the constraint Bihyeong had told her about.
The Nine-Tails read Mina's thoughts,
"Hahaha! How foolish."
And crushed that naive notion mercilessly.
"To equate a yokai with some mongrel of unknown origins."
Roar.
Blue flames filled her vision in an instant.
Mina hurriedly unleashed the Divine Breeze Fan, but was surprised by its unexpectedly weak power.
'Not amplified this time.'
She kicked off the ground.
'Then another method? Think. Find a way to escape.'
One move had eliminated possibilities; enough to devise a plan...
"Think that's enough?"
Mina's thoughts didn't fully connect.
One of the Nine-Tails' tails, now upon her, whipped at Mina like a massive lash.
Boom!
Raising a fierce dust storm, Mina crashed to the ground.
The Nine-Tails lifted the dangling Mina by her arm with her tail.
'Ugh......'
Dizzying pain pierced Mina's entire body.
As if every bone in her body had shattered.
And amid it, a chilling energy seeped in, freezing her blood from within.
With blurred vision that barely focused, Mina gazed at the Nine-Tails.
The Nine-Tails' mouth opened.
"I've waited only for this day. When you could awaken me. When you could recognize the blood."
So she could devour you.
The Nine-Tails' lips curled upward as if to split.
"Be grateful, descendant. I will make good use of your flesh. While I'm at it, I must devour that half-goblin too."
A goblin with such potential.
How exquisite its liver must be...
'Sigh.'
The thought made her salivate.
"......"
Mina thought as she watched.
'...Bihyeong.'
Run... away...
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Boom!
A powerful stomp from the yokai's domain shook the earth like an earthquake.
Demon Combat Technique.
Earth Shaking.
The sturdy footfall shattered every mirror in the area via its vibrations.
Sin Bihyeong stepped over the shards of mirror without a word.
"...Elder. Are you alright?"
"Yeah. I'm fine."
Sin Bihyeong responded to Eoduk's words.
But Eoduk knew full well the emotions in those words said otherwise.
'He's trying not to show it, but he's worried.'
Mina, was it?
The woman who came with him had vanished without a trace right after entering the yokai's domain.
The elder blamed himself for it.
Thus, he rampaged.
Discarding the original plan to traverse the yokai's domain in one go.
"Where is she?"
Sin Bihyeong's murmur echoed through the empty expanse.
Thirty minutes since entering the yokai's domain and beginning the search for Mina.
Yet not even a strand of her hair, let alone her shadow, was in sight.
'What's the problem this time.'
Where had the butterfly effect started?
Or what unreasonable setback was tripping him up now?
Irritation surged within Sin Bihyeong.
'The one silver lining is, the cap doesn't show her either.'
No sign of her in the Spirit Realm meant she hadn't died, at least.
Sin Bihyeong inwardly repeated his sole solace and moved to take another step.
It was then.
Boom!
An ominous roar resounded.
No. To be precise, it wasn't heard.
It was felt.
'...What is it.'
A wind whispered from somewhere,
and the surrounding darkness cowered in fear,
the half-demon's senses detected something unfolding in an unknown space.
'...Yokai power.'
As soon as he judged it, Eoduk reached the same conclusion.
"E-Elder! Yokai power!"
"Do you know the exact location?"
Mina wasn't in the yokai's domain.
Which made that spot the most suspicious by circumstance.
At Sin Bihyeong's question, Eoduk immediately pointed to one direction.
"That way!"
Sin Bihyeong dashed straight toward the direction Eoduk indicated.
Without bothering to conceal his yokai power, he activated his half-demon body.
Kaboom!
Crashing through the walls of numerous residential complexes revealed in the yokai's domain, he advanced in a straight line.
At its end,
"...This is the place."
Sin Bihyeong arrived at an empty lot where nothing existed.
"It looks like nothing's here, but... I'm certain. Yokai power came from this spot."
Eoduk pleaded as if begging to be believed, but Sin Bihyeong hadn't doubted him from the start.
By now, his own senses were beginning to pick it up.
The lingering afterscent of spilled yokai power.
'It's faintly spread throughout the area. Meaning she's still nearby.'
But why isn't she visible?
As he pondered, the word 'domain' came to mind.
'If yokai can create domains like yokai too?'
Sin Bihyeong immediately drew the Demon Blade and enveloped Eoduk.
Darker than the dim surroundings, shadows cloaked his body,
and the jet-black blade of the Demon Blade turned pitch black.
Sin Bihyeong thrust the Demon Blade into empty air like a key.
Stab.
With that sound, half the blade vanished from sight.
Sin Bihyeong swung the Demon Blade.
Slash!
With a harsh cutting sound, the hidden space revealed itself.
There appeared a massive 'fox.'
"...Nine-Tails?"
Nine tails swayed.
The fox—no, the Nine-Tails—beamed bewitchingly at Sin Bihyeong.
"Oh? To arrive so swiftly. Half-demon, your potential is truly boundless......"
Something flowed from the fox's mouth,
but Sin Bihyeong cut it off immediately.
"Where's Mina."
Icy sunken eyes.
Ghostfire blooming within.
Seeing it, the Nine-Tails cackled.
"My descendant has chosen her mate well indeed. To worry first even now."
Descendant?
What did that mean?
Before he could dwell on it.
"The descendant you seek is here."
With those words, the Nine-Tails pointed to her belly.
A tinkling laugh rang in his ears.
"Here, she will fully accept my spirit and be reborn as a true Nine-Tails. Her remaining life will be filled with blessings."
"......"
Sin Bihyeong heard nothing else.
Only those words circled his mind endlessly.
"Hey."
Ghostfire flared in Sin Bihyeong's eyes.
"Release Mina."
His fists clenched.
So tightly that his nails dug into his palms, droplets of blood falling to the ground.
Regarding such a Sin Bihyeong, the Nine-Tails merely laughed.
"How I handle my descendant is my whim. Mind your own......"
"Shut up."
Roar!
Blue flames gathered, forming a horn on Sin Bihyeong's forehead.
The concealed goblin presence crushed the surroundings.
Bring joy, and it bestows fortune;
incite wrath, and it unleashes calamity.
A goblin called forth both fortune and calamity.
And now.
"Spit her out, wretch."
The fox had incurred the goblin's wrath.