Volume 8 Chapter 4 Part 5 (1/2)
While s.h.i.+n was talking with Munechika after the battle, Yuzuha was running over the plains, at the largest size she could currently take.
She was already considerably far from Fuji. Even though she still wasn't in her perfect form, the Element Tails' proverbially high physical abilities were serving her well enough.
”..there.”
Yuzuha was looking towards a forest located from the path leading to Fuji.
The nasty presence she had felt while traveling with s.h.i.+n was getting closer and closer.
She had already perceived the being behind this presence. It too should have noticed Yuzuha's approach.
The owner of the presence was deep in the forest and not moving. It appeared to be waiting for Yuzuha.
”Kuu.”
Thinking that it was even better if it didn't run away, Yuzuha proceeded into the forest, mindful of any traps.
After a few minutes, she arrived in an open area without any trees.
It was an area roughly 50 mels wide, where only 10 cemels tall gra.s.s grew.
In that deserted place, there was one shadow other than Yuzuha's. Long white hair reaching to the ground, gently flowing in the wind. A woman was standing there, alone.
Perfectly proportioned features that 10 people out of 10 would surely describe as beautiful, animal ears of the same color as her hair. As she was loosely wearing her kimono, her bountiful b.r.e.a.s.t.s and the captivating whiteness of her thighs sometimes peeked from her clothing.
On her back, from her waist sprouted 6 white tails, softly swaying left and right.
The woman's name was Tamamo.
”Kuu! Found you!”
Yuzuha was growling, her fur standing because of the aura coming from Tamamo, whose appearance made her look like a person from the Fox Tribe.
Yuzuha knew that Tamamo wasn't actually a person from the Fox Tribe. No member of that species would have 6 tails.
”Hehe, and I was here wondering who was comingit was the Element Tail after all. My, you look quite weakened, though.”
In complete contrast with the hostility Yuzuha openly displayed, Tamamo's expression showed her confidence.
As the strength of a demon fox was displayed by the number of tails, Yuzuha was suspicious of the fact that the 6-tailed Tamamo was acting on her own.
Among the demon foxes on Fuji, there were ones with 7 tails as well.
Normally, those would be the commanding officers.
”Kuu, you give, bad aura.”
Yuzuha spoke while taking human form.
”Bad aura, hmm. Could it maybe be.this!?”
A black ball of fire shot out of Tamamo's hand. Yuzuha dodged it instinctively and looked at where the ball of fire landed. She saw the ground dyed in purple where the black flames burnt the gra.s.s.
Something different from miasma was tainting the land. Yuzuha understood it through her intuition.
”You!! Inside, different! This person, container!”
”So YoU CAn UndERstaND ThAT mUCh. YeS, thIS BODy iS VErY vERy GoOD!”
Tamamo's voice was gradually distorting. The sounds it emitted, which could barely be understood as words, were human speech no more.
Yuzuha's eyes saw the pitch black silhouette of another demon fox rise behind Tamamo.
The contour of this figure was blurred here and there, but it was obviously a demon fox.
When Yuzuha had seen Tamamo, together with Juugo, in Kujou territory, she had not perceived this presence.
Furthermore, Yuzuha knew of only one thing who matched this presence.
”Disaster-bearing Demon Fox, Tamamo. The corrupted form of an Element Tail, who possesses other people.”
”Kah KAh! THaT Is ME iNDEed. We mEEt LiKE tHIs fOR ThE FiRSt tIme, yEs. O eSTeEmEd ”pROgENItoR” oF aLL uSs eLEMeNt tAiLs!”
Knowledge of each other came out of their mouths. But only a handful in this world could comprehend what was said.
In the game era, Tamamo was just an event boss and the Element Tails were hidden bosses that only a handful of advanced players knew of.
There was a clear gap in their strength, but the players did not know that there was a clear difference in the strengths of these individuals.
Even if the players did not know, the difference in strength was certainly there. Consequently, Yuzuha and Tamamo were personally aware it was so.
”Kuu! Why you do these things!”
”ThAt'S a cURiOUs tHInG To aSk. I cAMe tO THis wORLd To bRinG fOrTH dISAsTEr! To kIlL aNd To dEsTRoY iS My rEAsOn fOr eXIStINg! aFTeR tHEsE lONg yEArS, YOu hAve fORGoTTen eVeN tHAt?!”
The black shadow trembled, the demon fox possessing Tamamo roared.
To invade cities and bring terror to the people. To be defeated by players, to be reborn, to do so again.
That endless cycle is what let Tamamo be Tamamo. It was something completely natural, as natural as people breathing.
However, now that the world had become reality, it was nothing more than a curse implanted in the cycle of life.
-Moveed ”however”.
”Kuu, that is not necessary now”
”I cARe nOTHinG aBOut tHat. I SHAalL fULFiLl mY eXISTenCe. THIs bOdY haS aLREaDy lOst aLl seNSe oF seLf. IT wAs bETRraYEd, It hATed, It oFfeReD itSeLF To Me. ITS bEAUty liES oNly in itS aPPEAraNCe nOw.”
”.kuu.”
Yuzuha cried with melancholy while looking at Tamamo.
The manipulated woman was smiling. Tamamo said that it did not have a sense of self anymore, but that expression seemed to convey that she had no regrets.
Yuzuha thought that a great many people would have been charmed by her, if it weren't for the red tears flowing down her cheeks.
”If you wish to stop me, use your strength to annihilate my body. O progenitor of the Element Tails, surely you can!!”
The black demon fox returned inside the woman's body. Then, the six tails stood up, swaying as always, and became covered in black flames.
Yuzuha understood that the woman's negative feelings fed Tamamo and increased its power.
”Hnn!!”
As if in response to Tamamo's grunt, the tails attacked Yuzuha.
The 6 tails, spreading in a fan-like motion, moved as if they had individual will and surrounded Yuzuha, as to cut off any possible escape route.
”Kuu!!”
Yuzuha responded by casting a magic spell with quick activation. She then enveloped her own tails in different magic spells, repelling Tamamo's tails, half of which had turned into black flames.
The most effective tails were the ones wrapped in light-type magic and divine-type magic.
”.you can sleep, now. You don't have to, fight.”
”Nonsense!!”
Tamamo's tails repeatedly went on the offensive, while Yuzuha only defended herself.
Maybe because of the demon fox's higher pressure, the attacks that Yuzuha couldn't fully defend herself from ripped Yuzuha's shrine maiden clothes.
”You understand too, do you not?”
Tamamo's tails increased after this question.
Suddenly, 2 tails made completely of black flames had appeared. They were attached to her waist, just like the others.
”Juugo and Kai have died?”
Tamamo whispered with an expression mixed with envy and sadness.
Their relations.h.i.+p consisted in using each other, but it was not manipulation via Tamamo's infusion of power.
The power Tamamo had given them returned to its owner, making it even stronger.
Yuzuha now faced even fiercer attacks: she countered 6 tails with her own and 1 with the flames she spewed from her mouth.
However, she could not counter the last one and tried to avoid it with a jump, but the black flames managed to singe Yuzuha's body.
”If you will do nothing, then die!!”
The 8 tails attacked again. If they hit directly, they would cause considerable damage even to Yuzuha. Before the attack, the item s.h.i.+n gave her activated.
A transparent membrane appeared all around Yuzuha and stopped Tamamo's attack.
”A barrierbut I know well, that it won't last long!!”
Tamamo's tails repeatedly struck the barrier. Exclusively, as the tails made of black flames. .h.i.t it, tiny cracks start appearing on its surface.
Yuzuha could not see the barrier's resistance decreasing. But the gradually increasing cracks showed that its limit was now close.
”Kuu”
The sound of the cracking barrier canceled Yuzuha's cries.