His pupils shrank to tiny points from excitement and anticipation. Takeminakata could already hear the crisp sound of the fox's skull being crushed. He wondered what the white brain matter of a youkai formed from Amaterasu aspect would taste like.
Sū ěr saw that the ancient youkai hiding at the edge of the battlefield were nearly at their limit. In the eyes of the powerful, time slowed its pace. The shadow that was Hoderi shifted and warped, surging out from the intangible darkness to raise a massive right fist—muscles coiled like gnarled roots, a terrifying sight.
Not only was Hoderi radiating killing intent, but Takeminakata was also lunging forward right behind the boulder he had thrown. As long as he could get close to the currently immobile Tamamo-no-Mae, he could lock her head in his grip and strangle her on the spot. Strength was the one thing this god of Izumo was most confident in.
"Aren't you going to act?" Think asked the man sitting cross-legged beside her, her voice devoid of any real pressure.
"...Forget it. Isn't this exactly what she requested?" Sū ěr let out a long sigh.
Besides, they had accepted someone else's gift. They had to follow the giver's wishes to some extent... even if the request was to sit back and watch her die. It was all quite strange.
Yukari Yakumo cast a silent glance at the two of them. She knew for certain that when she had failed to find them at the cottage, they had gone to see the fox. She wondered what they had discussed.
Though consumed by curiosity, Yukari knew it wasn't her place to ask. She buried the question for now.
Their brief exchange took only a few breaths. On the other side, the Nine-Tailed Fox had reached what was arguably the most perilous moment of her existence. She could feel the chill crawling up her spine and a needle-like prickling sensation. Her youkai instincts were screaming at their limit, yet she remained crouched where she had been wounded, perfectly still.
Her white fur, pressed down by the oncoming wind pressure, slanted backward. Tamamo-no-Mae simply closed her eyes. Her nine massive tails gathered like closing petals, instantly wrapping her into a tight ball—transforming her truly into a "White Fox."
It was the purest of whites. Every inch of her body, every strand of fur, began to radiate light as brilliant as the midday sun. Although the sun in the sky had not yet set, this part of the battlefield was illuminated so brightly that even youkai who closed their eyes could feel the light through their lids. Compared to this small corner, the rest of the world looked as if it were still in night.
For Hoderi and Takeminakata, who were facing this change head-on, this beautiful light carried a lethal aura. Their expressions turned to masks of horror. Hoderi only had time to raise his shadow-covered arm in defense. The shadows undulating behind him surged forward in a desperate wave, only to be neutralized, annihilated, and melted. By the time the light dissipated, the skin and flesh of Hoderi raised right arm had been sheared away as if by the sharpest of blades, leaving the surface perfectly smooth, with not a drop of blood remaining despite the agony.
Takeminakata fared even worse. Had the boulder he thrown not been positioned exactly in front of him to stall for a split second, he might have lost half his head. Even so, despite his frantic retreat, he permanently lost his left arm. The wound was identical to Hoderi—smooth to the point of bloodlessness.
The ones who suffered most from Tamamo-no-Mae's strike were not the two leaders, but the nameless youkai who had coveted the Nine-Tails' flesh or sought fame by slaying a great demon. Those who had lunged forward moments ago were erased from the world without a trace, vanishing forever into the light.
An attack that neither god nor demon could resist placed a massive burden on Tamamo-no-Mae. Furthermore, she had already been heavily wounded by Hoderi sneak attack. As the fox struggled to stand back up on her hind legs, she exuded an undeniable aura of weakness despite her majesty. This weakness further stimulated the crowd of youkai who caught the scent of blood.
The light was immense. She no longer resembled jade or a sun; Tamamo-no-Mae currently appeared to be a form constructed entirely of radiant light. Her beautiful, translucent blue eyes were fixed on Takeminakata, seeing right through the bluster of the burly god.
Two tails of light lashed down like whips. In a resounding crack that broke the air, two crossing arcs of light slashed toward Takeminakata with the speed of lightning.
Watching the two approaching arcs without blinking, Takeminakata felt a familiar agony for the second time in countless years: the agony of weakness. It was as if the one standing before him was not this giant fox, but Takemikazuchi—the god who had come to his father's land with Amaterasu orders and hounded his brother to death before their very eyes. So arrogant, and so powerful...
They were different, yet they both belonged to the same Amaterasu.
Veins like pythons bulged at his temples, and his teeth ground together audibly. Takeminakata was trembling. Yet, no matter how much he hated it, he knew one thing for certain—in his wounded state, he could not survive such an attack.
Despair.
He let out an unconscious cry of despair. Sweat dripped from his forehead, and his pupils dilated to their limit. There was a roaring in his ears.
The light approached, it touched, it—vanished?
"Ah... ah... ah?" Finally hearing his own shouting, Takeminakata pupils contracted in a daze. His remaining hand instinctively felt over his body.
It was real. He wasn't dead?
Why? What happened?
His brain restarted, rapidly recalling what had happened in that split second. The two arcs of light that surely would have sliced him into four pieces had tilted upward at the last moment. The fatal attack had ended up doing nothing more than singeing his hair.
But why?
"Lord... Lord Takeminakata! We... we've come to... to help you!"
A wavering voice, clearly terrified to the limit.
When Takeminakata looked back blankly, he saw a squad of humans clutching spears, looking at him while swallowing nervously. They were wearing armor issued by Izumo, which provided some strength to resist youkai, but that wasn't the point.
That fox... did she miss on purpose to avoid hitting them?
Takeminakata brain had never moved so fast.