Chapter 98: The Gumiho and the Dark Fox (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 98: The Gumiho and the Dark Fox (2)
A deep and silent night.
Faint moonlight struck the thin layer of clouds, casting a soft, silver glow upon the land. At the Lunar Shrine, perched atop a sheer cliff, pristine white fox fires drifted through the air.
Heukbi, her eyes covered by black bandages, strolled through the fox shrine with her hands demurely clasped. A jet-black fox orb, imbued with the cool energy of the moon, delivered news to her.
The Celestial Fox had finally turned her back on them.
Worse, she was now cooperating with the Gumiho.
She had suspected as much. The Twelve Zodiac Spirits who had been to Vestia had shared this information, reporting that the Celestial Fox seemed to have sided with the Gumiho.
Her intentions were impossible to fathom.
It was an incomprehensible whim, as if she were acting out of sheer curiosity, just to see others face divine punishment.
The situation had reached a point where she could no longer stand by and watch. She had to deal with the Gumiho before she ruined the world.
Fortunately, it seemed she wouldn't have to go through the trouble of seeking her out.
“So the Celestial Fox, and now you… Everyone's been living in such nice places, leaving me out of all the fun, haven't you?”
A guest who had entered the shrine without permission.
Eight tails swayed restlessly.
Their color, reflecting the dim moonlight, was pink.
It was the Gumiho, who had come to the Lunar Shrine to settle an old score.
Her appearance was different from Rin's.
She hadn't tied up her hair to look cute for her master.
Nor was she wearing a flowing dress to appeal to him.
She wore the Eastern-style martial arts uniform favored by the Fox Clan.
Her attire seemed to draw a clear line, declaring that she was a separate being from the one who slept.
“You really live in a gloomy place. I guess it suits a dark fox like you.”
The Gumiho had come to the Lunar Shrine alone.
Karami was not by her side.
The reason being that he would only get in the way.
Karami had agreed. But the look in his eyes was not one of reluctant permission. It was shadowed, like that of someone hiding a scheme.
‘I wonder what strange ideas he's cooking up now.’
He was a man even the Gumiho couldn't figure out.
But she didn't care.
With his pathetic, powerless body, he could never reach the Lunar Shrine, which was teeming with yokai. He wouldn't even know of its location, or its existence.
Capture the Dark Fox, absorb her power, and evolve into a complete Gumiho. Then, alter fate to erase the soul shackles, and it would all be over.
So, the first order of business was to eliminate the traitor.
“Been doing well? You must have had fun after selling me out.”
“How could that be? This girl's heart has not been at ease since losing a dear friend.”
“Oh, really? Then how about you return the power you stole from me?”
“I am afraid that will be difficult, as it was a blessing bestowed upon me by the heavens.”
The Gumiho laughed silently at Heukbi's wordplay.
It was a smile so cold that no one would have called it genuine.
“Calling something you stole a ‘blessing’… What a shameless joke. Well then, I have no choice. I'll just have to take it back by force.”
The Gumiho summoned her fox orb. Having absorbed the Celestial Fox's power, it was now mixed with the power of the sun, appearing as if it embodied a clear sky.
Heukbi didn't back down. Her tone remained calm and even.
“This girl does not mind, but are you sure about this? You only have eight tails.”
“Think of it as a handicap.”
The two yokai foxes summoned their fox fires and faced off.
The battles of yokai—especially those of sorcerers who wield magic—are similar to those of mages.
It comes down to whose magic is superior, and who has honed their skills more diligently.
Like a card game, they exchange blows, one move at a time. If one shows an opening, the other seizes it without fail, inflicting significant damage.
When both are skilled sorcerers, they give no openings. The battle unfolds as they suppress each other's magic, eliminating their opponent's ‘cards’ one by one and slowly chipping away at them.
The Gumiho made the first move.
Fwoosh!
Fox fire, the most basic of yokai fox techniques. But even a basic skill, when honed to its absolute limit, can become as deadly as an ultimate move.
It was a spell in which the very essence of a yokai fox was condensed.
Twenty orange fox fires bloomed around the Gumiho like flowers in full blossom. Each one was similar in size to the one Rin had once used to defeat the Ghost Bear.
“Falling Fire.”
The fox fires, illuminating the dark shrine as if it were day, burned through the silence as they fell.
Watching the fireballs rain down on her, Heukbi showed a hint of sadness.
“You've grown quite weak. It pains this girl's heart to see.”
Just as the bombardment was about to hit, a colossal dark fox leaped out from nowhere and tore into the fox fires.
CRUNCH!
As it chewed on a fox fire, the flames scattered.
The dark fox that had protected Heukbi from the attack prowled before her like a guardian. It recognized the Gumiho as an enemy and growled.
It was not a living creature, but a form of magic created from Heukbi's spiritual power.
The dark fox charged. Even though her attack had been nullified, the Gumiho remained unfazed and continued her spell. She summoned a sun above her head.
A blazing sun.
Searing Heat.
An undodgeable spell that incinerated everything, living or not, within the sun's range, without a specific target.
It happened in an instant. The shrine burned away, turning to ash and scattering, all at the same time.
Even the ground was carved into a gentle curve. But the spot where Heukbi's feet touched remained unscathed. She stood just as before, only the dark fox enveloping her had melted away, shrinking in size.
“To think you would destroy this girl's home. If you insist on acting this way, Lady Gumiho, then this girl must respond in kind.”
Heukbi placed a hand on the dark fox's head. Absorbing her spiritual power, the fox's form was instantly restored, becoming whole again as if it had never been damaged.
The restored fox charged at the Gumiho.
“So this is what you've been up to? Raising a pet?”
The Gumiho smirked slyly and was about to slam her flame-wreathed hand down on its head when she sensed a presence right behind her.
CRUNCH!
Twisting her body at the last second, the Gumiho found her left arm caught in the jaws of a dark fox. Her right arm was bitten by the fox that had charged first. In front and behind, there were two identical foxes, as if one were a reflection in a mirror.
The Gumiho let out a low hum as she looked at the foxes biting down on her arms as if to crush them.
“Hmph~ So this is what you were planning? Clever little trick.”
Whoosh!
The Gumiho shook her arms free. She smashed the head of the fox in front of her, and grabbing the jaw of the one behind, she ripped it apart.
She stomped on the head of the twitching fox as it tried to get up from the ground. Grinding her foot as if putting out an ember, the spiritual power that formed the fox dissipated.
Flames wreathed the Gumiho's arms.
As if to say the probing was over, the Gumiho, having enhanced her body with spiritual power, kicked off the ground. In an instant, she closed the distance to Heukbi at a speed that defied perception.
The Gumiho swung a fist wreathed in crimson flames. Heukbi, coating her own hand in dark spiritual power, deflected the blow with an open palm.
The Gumiho launched a fierce assault, kicking off the ground repeatedly. Heukbi retreated with light, nimble steps, taking a defensive stance.
Kiiing.
The Gumiho's Solar Eye glinted.
The sun illuminated Heukbi's fate.
Countless Fragments of fate appeared in the Gumiho's vision. The fates of the two yokai foxes were intertwined, creating an infinite number of possibilities. None of the fragments had a distinct color.
Even then, they showed a future no more than a second away.
This meant her opponent was so powerful that it was difficult to twist her fate.
But amidst them, the Gumiho caught a faint possibility. She focused her gaze into a fragment, peering into that fate.
Kkii-rik, kkii-rik—her pupils darted ceaselessly in all directions.
The Gumiho searched for a fate brought about by her hypothetical self. The most favorable future. An action that would land a decisive blow on her opponent.
She found that fate.
THUD!
The Gumiho, who had been driving Heukbi back with a barrage of attacks, suddenly stomped her foot down at an angle. Heukbi quickly pulled her foot back to avoid the stomp.
Thump.
“Ngh?”
Heukbi was taken aback.
The ground, carved into a curve by the earlier Searing Heat. On the uneven terrain, Heukbi's heel caught on a protruding rock.
Of all the luck. She had taken a large step back, and of all places, there was a rock right there.
It was enough to make Heukbi curse her misfortune. But this was a fate twisted by the Gumiho—an intentional misfortune.
When she had stomped her foot, she had seen the fate where Heukbi would trip on the rock.
A divine skill, practically precognition.
Seizing the opening as Heukbi's balance faltered, the Gumiho threw a punch. She drove an uppercut into Heukbi's abdomen.
CLANG!
Heukbi crossed her arms in an instant to block. But unable to absorb the impact completely, her body was launched high into the air. The Gumiho leaped after her to maintain her advantage.
Fwip.
From that last attack, Heukbi's fate was recalibrated. Infinite new Fragments of fate were created.
“Your reaction's slow, isn't it? Dark Fox, has it been so long you've forgotten?”
“…”
Heukbi thought as she watched the Gumiho soaring toward her.
‘This is unmistakably the Gumiho.’
It was strange. She was certain that when they sealed her in White Cloud Valley, they had erased her personality as well. But the woman before her was the very same Gumiho from Heukbi's old memories.
She only has eight tails, yet she's stronger than expected. Even considering that she absorbed the Celestial Fox's power, the math didn't add up.
There had to be some other factor strengthening her, but no matter how much she thought, Heukbi couldn't figure out the cause.
She disliked anomalies. It would be best to subdue the Gumiho before any other variables came into play.
Rustle, rustle.
Heukbi unwrapped the bandages from her eyes. The gentle downward curve of her eyes gave her a languid impression.
As she opened her gently closed eyelids, silver pupils that shimmered faintly like a mirror were revealed.
Silver Eye.
The eyes that reverse fate.
The Gumiho's image was captured in her silver retinas.
Just before the Gumiho's attack could land on Heukbi.
Shwiiik!
As if by magic, their positions swapped in an instant.
In a single moment, the offense and defense were reversed.
Heukbi unleashed a palm strike concentrated with spiritual power.
“Keuk!”
The Gumiho's body was sent flying from the blow.
The corners of Heukbi's eyes curved slightly.
“Your reaction is slow, Lady Gumiho. It seems it has been so long that you have forgotten my abilities.”
Heukbi, the Dark Fox, was known among her kind as quiet and introverted.
But one should not forget that she, too, was one of the world's most bewitching foxes.