On Astral Tides: From Humble Freelancer To Astral Emperor

Side Two Hundred – What Must Be Protected – End Of Arc 10

“So stand and face me!” After her words, Tamamo-no-Mae didn’t hesitate, leaping forwards a dozen metres in a single bound towards the hateful dog of the so-called Throne. It had only taken her a brief moment to evaluate the desperate situation she was in, her millennia of experience and cunning quickly assessing the key points.

Firstly, the barrier. It seems that it only responds to direct attacks, else this would already be futile. The beams had caught her by surprise, Tamamo-no-Mae was certainly still rusty and far from her best, endless deep stretches of years being tormented at the hands of the Saint Of Swallowed Sorrows, the dissolution first of hope, then of the self, leaving her hollow, hardly able to believe she still existed. Perhaps this battle will do me some good. Recapture some of my old spark.

No, if the glittering golden wall of adherence, cursed belief, could attack at will, Asha and her Tree, as well as everything else here, would be destroyed in an instant. That was the issue. Too much to protect. And protecting was not usually one of her desires, there were few she had actually chosen to save before in her long life. Caihong’er, certainly, her daughter Liena… No, such thoughts are a distraction.

She had to force the foe away from the centre, back towards the dome, hence why she acted first. The dome, though… Tamamo-no-Mae was weaker than her heyday, but also far stronger than she had any right to be. Even as her outstretched fist moved towards the head of this Luca Aloisio, she surveyed herself, not for the first time, while shuddering tremors shook her. I believed no pain could ever surpass what that monk put me through, but I was wrong. Perhaps one can grow used to any torments in time, but then a fresh one can lead to equal misery. Kindness mediated it though… how… charmingly unexpected.

Her fist was blocked by the great wooden wheel that the man wielded, a wild, furious grin on his face, and the impact rocked them both, Luca sliding back a dozen more metres, which wasn’t a terrible result, but conversely the wheel shuddered, as if alive, and Tamamo-no-Mae felt a bitter chill on her skin where she made contact. Grimacing, she realised it too held great dark adherence, but she had no time to stop. I must always be on the offensive to mask the weakness of my position…

Pirouetting, one elegant, beautiful leg, that Kings, Princes, Emperors and Yōkai alike had sold their very spirits to behold and touch, spinning into a brutal kick, Tamamo-no-Mae unhindered by her elegant kimono, despite the effort of fighting in such, she considered the other problem rapidly, her breathing steadying, her mind starting to spring back into the old routines of combat. Some of her battles had been legendary, and despite her towering, imperious strength, not all had been won. Ōtakemaru had battled her to a draw, levelling a mountain in the process, and the many great servants of Kami and Gods had been ferocious, sometimes she fled, her tails between her legs, though anyone that spread those tales soon found her lacking a sense of humour.

I have seen ages come and go. I suppose I would call the time before Kunlun departed as the Age of Gods and Yōkai. Aether was thick everywhere, the realm of the Material and the Spiritual, both were intermingled in many places. Mortals were both amusing toys and treacherous foes, objects of desire for their fervent ability to believe, and also for their ingenuity. Spiritual beings, despite being far stronger, were all flawed. Myself included. We cannot be what we are not, whereas mortals can be anything.

Her foot was blocked by the wheel, but undeterred, her tails swung, and blades of glittering jade wind, bolts of boiling citrine flame, lances of topaz water, and missiles of ruby earth, all poured down from her against the enemy. Sadly her efforts were futile, as the wheel was like a great shield, and her attempt to finish the battle instantly was a failure.

“Feisty, aren’t you?” His brown eyes held no lust or desire for her, and that made Tamamo-no-Mae both uncomfortable and irritated. No, instead, he was merely full of contempt, and also had a berserk battle lust she saw in the eyes of Ōtakemaru. “But you are still… just a worthless spirit!”

His roar echoed as his muscles bulged, inhuman strength bolstered by a surge of adherence from somewhere, and Tamamo-no-Mae was shoved back, landing on her feet, hissing.

“In blood there is iron…” he began to chant, and Asha, who had watched the momentary exchange, the blinding flurry of blows, with worry, cried out a warning, but Tamamo-no-Mae merely shook her head, long locks flowing behind her.

It was during my travels across the world I first ran into the servants of the so-called Throne. They had little purchase in this land, but I was bored. Eternity is a curse to some, yet those of us who achieve it fear losing it. But… it seems they have changed somewhat. I remember the so-called incarnation, the Avatar of the Throne. Yes… he was powerful, and could work miracles, the greatest tangle of adherence I had ever beheld, but…

Tamamo-no-Mae had clashed with enough Kami, Gods and their mighty servants over the years, and she knew enough to leave the followers of the Throne alone, unless they provoked her. Some did of course, someone always did. But she had put those memories aside as she returned to this land, Japan, though she passed through many others, Persia, Ind, Hua… They have different names now, yes?

The Throne had spread their feelers wide, encroaching onto the demesne of other Gods and their mortal followers, no… batteries, I suppose. One of the new things I have learned of. She had encountered missionaries in Ind, for example, and yes, she disliked them, so had destroyed the more insulting of them. But then on her return she noticed the second age beginning. The Boundary.

“I do not fear iron. What I fear…” She admitted to herself, if no-one else, that she did still shake with nightmares, perhaps fearing that her freedom was but a dream, a last torture from the Saint Of Swallowed Sorrows. “…you cannot give me.” She drew in a great breath, her tails shimmering with verdant emerald sparks, and she exhaled, a roaring tornado blowing. Luca’s words were snatched by the wind, and he was driven back, the ground starting to be shaved apart, fine grit carried like miniature arrows, but again the wheel and his sturdy armour prevented harm. Yet he is pushed back, away from what must be guarded.

“Oh?” Luca roared over the gale. “You think so? The Wheel turns, First Spoke Of Judgement! Cor Perforare!” The wheel bulged, and a dozen vicious stakes were shot from it. She leapt aside, but the stakes twisted in the air as if they was alive, chasing her down.

“Annoying!” Tamamo-no-Mae growled. Her tails swung, jade and citrine light combining once more to lightning, and she swept the bolts across the incoming projectiles, exploding them, her network tingling unpleasantly, and she frowned. I am not whole. His work was… unexpected, and agonising, but clever. Even so…

As the cloud of debris was scattered, she thought of the Boundary. It does not seem natural. I can perhaps see a decline in the spiritual, the Astral tides, they ebb and flow, etheric density rising and falling. Perhaps, like a spreading drought, a fierce and unexpected drop could cascade. Yet… no, I shall not unravel the mystery. But… we great Yōkai, the Cultivators of Kunlun, the true adherents of the Gods, the greater Kami… we all were too powerful for this starved world. And now…

She suddenly flinched, one of the stakes surviving her lightning, and with a cry she dodged, the spike missing her face by a merest whisper. She felt a chill, smelt the tang of iron that was unmistakably the blood of many, many beings, both mortal and not. Foxfire blazed from her, and the stake burst into flames, yet it chased her still, and now she was on the retreat, before she discharged another beam of lightning towards her opponent to keep him on the back foot, but he swayed aside, and it struck the golden dome behind him, spreading ripples.

[The Gate Of Judah Disdains The Wicked Who Seek To Breach It!]

Curse it all! The Angel on the wall swung its weapon, and Tamamo-no-Mae barely dodged the golden beam which moved almost as fast as she could see. The blazing spike nicked her face as it swung past, and with an angry growl, she smashed it with her fist, only to see Luca grinning balefully at her.

The Boundary. Outside it lies deeper realms. From what I have learned, some spiritual civilisations have moved there, but… our world is still far weaker than it was. The Boundary somehow protects us, according to that terrible Goddess who dwells within the mortal… to shatter it is to invite in those that would oppress, enslave or worse, devour the endless hordes of humanity, those rich batteries of adherence.

If she acted, the Boundary here could be destroyed, even in her weakened, half-complete state, her battle instincts dulled by time and torture, she had strength that could do so. But… this working of adherence is both blessing and curse. This space is somewhat sealed. Perhaps… She narrowed her green eyes, ready to act, only to shiver in pain, her face numb. Then her heart clenched, and she felt a great blaze of torment within her.

“Your heart is pierced, wretch! Now perish, the blood of ten thousand Godless sinners condemns you!” Luca roared.

It … is uncomfortable. Yes. But… Compared to what she had suffered, this was hardly unbearable. With a surge of orange light, water gushed, pushing out the black drops from her slashed cheek, the wound sealing, the scar fading, until her perfect face was untarnished once more. The black blood burned away in a cascade of flame, and she retaliated, bombarding fireballs of foxflame slamming down, though she was careful not to strike the walls of the dome again.

“I disdain such trifles.” She tossed her head arrogantly, not seeking to provoke, but unable to change her nature. At least not that part of me. “Your sinners are not my judges. Nobody may judge me but myself!”

She had found a way to preserve Su Caihong’er and Su Liena, leaving them in the care of Sekka in the frozen north, and betrayed the monk that would become the Saint Of Swallowed Sorrows by tormenting and exploiting her for the next… seemingly fifteen hundred years.

I shall call that the third age, the age of mortal ascendancy. Aether was pitifully low except in rare places the Boundary had slight flaws, pools leaking through. The Yōkai, the great powers of Cultivation, of Gods, of the very Astral, they departed or diminished, hid or were hunted. Mortals exploded in both number and knowledge. I find it hard to believe…

“Judgement is only the Throne’s, and we are His hands!” Luca cried, more stakes flying towards her. Lightning and flame clashed with them, and this time she made sure that none escaped.

Since… since being freed, if one could call it that… She felt the invisible hand upon her tail that was the core of her being, the translucent, intangible spirit, and shivered, this time with a sensation that was somehow both disquieting and so very, very comfortable.

I sometimes played at being a servant or a slave, my life was long, and I was often bored. But it was all a conceit, an amusement for me. When it became tiresome, or were my wants denied, I would assert myself, and rebuke the one who annoyed me. None did so twice. Now… She remembered the words of her errant, foolish granddaughter. “But… apparently his bonds are unbreakable, so… he claims he will hold my name forever. Perhaps yours too, grandmother.”

I find it hard to believe such is the case. I am Tamamo-no-Mae! Not the first Kitsune, but truly the greatest, none ever my equal. However… I remember her, throwing herself on the ground before me, grovelling, few tails limp, defeated. “Because I do not wish to die!” she had begged, and on a whim, I spared her. Only to see her again, shorn of leg and tails, back to what she was before. And as bound as I, but certainly happier about it. I suppose I am grateful to her, it seems it was her urgings that led to my rescue. Perhaps letting her live that day was my most fortunate decision.

Perhaps… perhaps it will relieve my boredom and confusion at the changing world that passed me by while I was bound by that cursed monk, or try something I have never done before. To be bound, dominated in truth. But… that is for later. Her sudden smile was interrupted by the bastard Throne follower holding his wheel above his head. A sudden intuition burning within her mind, she spun her tails around her like armour, tails blazing a deep violet. That hurt her, something fraying a little inside her engineered body, but around her deep amethyst flames flared, and as the ground around her erupted, wooden stakes as thick as an Oni’s leg seeking to pierce her, she glared balefully at Luca.

“Second Spoke Of Judgement! Anima Contrita! May the Wheel’s jaws condemn your unclean soul!” At these words, he was closing in on her, undoing her efforts to push him back towards the edge of the battlefield. Asha was crying out, but Tamamo-no-Mae merely clicked her tongue. The stakes seemed to have skewered her, jutting through her body, but she swept a dignified arm, the sleeve of her kimono fluttering, chest heaving, and the stakes were sundered. The flames vanished, and she stepped out, unharmed.

“How?” Luca paused, only to raise the wheel and block another mighty punch, only to suddenly groan as vivid violet flames had sparked to life, and her hand had passed through the flames, emerging on the other side of the wheel. As chainmail cracked and split, cassock tearing, she unfurled her fist, long fingers now jabbing out, and blood bloomed as her nails pierced deep. He groaned again, but his eyes held no fear, only hatred.

“How? I am hardly so weak as to be troubled by such a trifle.” Spikes ripped free from the wheel, as well as from the ground, closing in on her like an iron maiden, but again they passed through the flames, leaving her unharmed, able to break them with casual blows.

I studied this new world I found myself in. There were… many eager to aid me, yet not curry favour. A… strange occurrence, for sure. It seems tales of my exploits, both wicked and wise, have survived the endless centuries, and granddaughter has also spoken of me. Yet… they believe because Akio saved me, I am worth saving, and that I shall save in turn.

“My flesh is a fortress! And my faith is my army!” Luca roared, and he swung the breaking wheel he carried.

“Useless. I am not so easily…” Tamamo-no-Mae frowned then as the violet flames that were redirecting the attacks on her collapsed. The backlash of spatial element running wild caused further cracks and tears inside her patched Chakra network, but undeterred, she grabbed the wrists of her opponent, holding him tight, while she bared her teeth in a snarl.

“Easy? Doing the Lord’s work is never easy! Third Spoke Of Judgement! Existentiā Annihilāre!”

The violet spatial element was blown away, and she shrieked. Tightening her grip, she felt bones crack under her grasp, yet as her elemental energies ran wild, the dark, bloody breaking wheel swung towards her unprotected face.

“I think… not!” Tamamo-no-Mae cried now, her nine tails whipping out like maces. The wheel struck her, and cold pain flared, several of her tails going numb, the smell of death in her nostrils, but she batted the wheel aside, raining blows down on Luca. His cheek cracked, nose breaking, and his armour was reduced to a ragged mess of tinkling silver shrapnel, littering the floor. As his body was bruised and battered, Tamamo-no-Mae staggered, the wheel rim sprouting bloody wooden stakes, and more of her tails were pierced.

“Break!” Luca cried, and the world around her shivered. Pain bloomed, and with her elements in disarray, she struggled to counter as he tore one of his wrists free. She snapped his other though, and her nails raked through his flesh, bright red blood blooming in counter to the dark, fetid blood that was poisoning her wounded tails. Leaping back, she staggered, before righting herself, unwilling to show weakness in front of her opponent.

He too was proud, and he merely looked down at his broken wrist which was pumping blood both red and silver with some disdain, before the breaking wheel shrunk a little, now able to be wielded one-handed. Vines and roots burst from the ground, trying to entangle him, and missiles of earth were launched, Asha desperately trying to intervene, and as Luca was bombarded, Tamamo-no-Mae thought of her change.

“Please, look after Asha and her Tree.” Akio had asked her before he left. “Protect everyone else too, of course, but… our Seeds, they are in danger. Uranai said so, and I believe her.”

“Uranai? I remember that Kudan. She is a miracle. The only one born strong enough not to die young after a single prophecy, or at best a couple.” She had shrugged. “I… find it hard to refuse. If you asked me to eat horse dung and lampblack, I would have to feast upon it.” Her bitter laughter had rung out, and he had looked suitably guilty, which somehow annoyed her.

“Honestly, I didn’t intend to bind you. I didn’t think I even could have. But… I promise my words aren’t orders, but requests. I hope… we can be friends.”

“Friends?” That had amused her. “Who ever seeks to be friends with Tamamo-no-Mae? Many seek my beauty, my wisdom, my power… but my friendship? These few days have been full of surprises.”

“You’re certainly beautiful.” Akio had agreed, looking down at her chest, unable to help himself, and she had stood straighter, revelling in a more usual, honest reaction. “And your wisdom, yes, it could be as profound as Tan’s. She knows a lot of things, but you know more about Earth’s past, as you lived it. Your power? Yes, I hope you can lend me your aid, but… for good, for protection. I don’t need you to revisit your past mistakes. And friendship… why can’t we be friends?”

As her tails twitched, as she regained control of her chaotic elements a little, forcing out the cursed black blood from her numbing body, her momentary thoughts remembered his earnest expression, and she had to smile ruefully.

“You are… a good man, I hear.” For once she was not dissembling or flattering, or scheming. In front of he who held her tail in his grasp, her spirit itself, what was the point? But… she didn’t understand him, not at all. “I… have done much that is wicked, petty and evil. My dear granddaughter knows too. Is my friendship worth anything?”

He laughed then. “I’ve done evil too. For good reasons maybe, but… I need strength, and not just mine. We all need to pull together. If we can, then the necessary evils become obsolete. As for your crimes… I doubt you’ll ever be forgiven, or can even forgive yourself…”

Tamamo-no-Mae had snorted again at that, her tone mocking, but his eyes seemed to peer into her very spirit, and she fancied she could see a mysterious, tenth tail behind her back, glowing with transparent foxfire. His words next shocked her.

“I know. You don’t think you need or desire forgiveness. And maybe I’m just being foolish, meddling… but… you suffered for a woman you cared for and her daughter, and in the end… you were punished enough to deserve a chance to redeem yourself. And… if you can, why not be happy? Just… stop doing those bad things, and over time, you can outweigh the bad. After all… you’ll have a very long time to do it, right?”

Shrugging her shoulders, her body repairing itself, she watched as Luca likewise was throwing off Asha’s desperate attacks. The final Defensive Emplacement on the hill discharged, only for spikes to destroy it, as well as the Armoury nearby, which made her wince.

“Asha, stand down. Do not draw his ire. Leave this to me!” she cried, and Asha nodded, though her expression was worried.

“You should not call a woman old.” Tamamo-no-Mae had retorted, oddly shy and embarrassed, not like herself at all. “Besides… I acted selfishly for Caihong’er’s sake. It was hardly… altruistic. Are you not the same? Are good deeds for love not selfish? Do… do you desire me? If so… order me, and I shall lay off my kimono, my body bared to you, and you can sate yourself with my flesh. I shall… nay, I cannot resist.”

At the look of fury on his face, she had felt frightened for a moment, shocking her anew. His voice was low and hard. “I will never force myself on you. Nothing is lower than a man who takes advantage of women that way. I would rather die. So don’t say that again. As for…” He took a deep breath, calming himself. “…it being selfish to do good deeds for those we love? Yeah, it’s selfish, but still beautiful. Just like you.”

Her thoughts scattering, her lips curled up into a smile. Tails standing on end, her wounded tails restoring themselves, she glared at her opponent, even as he raised his wheel high. “This world has changed. A fourth era is here. The return of what once was. No, it shall be greater, if that Goddess is to be believed. You crave it, hunger for it…” Unsealing some more of her strength, feeling her Chakra network and Astral subtle body tremble, her hair and tails stood on end, as if gravity was in reverse, and the weight of aether was intense. Her figure changed, her body growing taller, limbs elongating, and her ample breasts shrunk, as she adopted a form she had not taken for many, many years.

I remember this. When I was playing as Lady Kayō. But… it is a form better for fighting in… Her smile was cold. “…but I… I was merely doing as I pleased during the first age, the second… I failed and what I cherished was taken from me. Forever, I thought. The third, long era, I was a prisoner, tortured worse than any punishment your so-called Hells you speak of can inflict, and now… this time… this age… I shall try something new, and see if it pleases me. But… to do so, you shall have to depart this place!”

I studied and learned much these days. There were many to help me and my poor foolish granddaughter, show us the wonders that did not exist when last I roamed this land. The world… it is crowded, and dirty, and fool of fools, the wicked and the selfish everywhere. But there is good too. And beauty. And hope. There is always something new to see, over the horizon. And after wishing for my end, now… I find myself rather curious, perhaps even eager, to see what happens next…

“Oh, you think so?” Luca growled, grinning. The wheel hit the ground, and he placed his good hand upon it. “No, it is you, and that creature, and that accursed Tree that must be swept aside and purged. Fourth Spoke Of Judgement! Peccatum, anima et caro franguntur super rotam! Flesh be torn, soul be flensed, and sins be weighed!” The wheel responded to his words, a thick, almost palpable wave of adherence surging, and Tamamo-no-Mae was suddenly alert, as she sensed the initial skirmish was over, and now they would go at each other with full force and fury…

Blood boiled out from the wheel, thick, black and turgid, rapidly enlarging the wooden edifice, until it stood well over three metres tall, a weapon for giants, or to break them. The seething, brackish black and red mass pulsed as if alive, and suddenly stakes shot out from it, no, not stakes, these were like thick bloody needles, and they quivered and bent as if alive, and Tamamo-no-Mae felt sick, as on the edge of her consciousness, mutters, whispers and even screams were heard, faint, clawing at her mind like nails on glass.

Asha was being affected too, and she sagged back against her Tree, which also trembled, branches drooping and rustling as though buffeted by an uncomfortable breeze.

This is… not promising.

“Your blood will dry on the wheel as I break you, and strengthen it, join the choir of ten thousand voices who have perished, broken inch by inch until their sins have been paid for.” Luca smirked, and the wheel spun, the bloody needles surging towards her. Aether burned, and Tamamo-no-Mae dodged, her tails sparkling with more lightning as she blasted through the surging spines that sought her life. Even as they were vaporised or cut apart, more formed, but as she pushed her body, gradually ratcheting up the power she commanded, so as not to overstress the feat of engineering that was her mostly restored body, she suddenly saw the wicked grin on his face, and realised she wasn’t the true target.

“You cursed fiend. And they called me wicked and treacherous…” The needles of blood surged towards Asha and her Tree, so Tamamo-no-Mae, her elements largely having steadied, called upon her violet flames, tails wagging with the effort. It always was a mystery to me, the amethyst flames that seemed to warp distance. How ironic that having merely been freed a short time, I already know more about them than I ever learned in a thousand years…

Asha and the base of her Tree was wreathed in the cold flames, looking up in wonder, as the needles closed in. They were swallowed up, discharged in other directions, faint motes of light leaking from them. Even as she wielded lightning, beams cutting and severing, another volley of attacks came at her, but she evaded as best she could, bloody spikes hammering into the ground. More burst up from below, surrounding her like a cage, or a grinning mouth of bloody fangs, and she sped up still further. Her body ached and burned, like a mortal who had overtaxed their muscles far too much, a sensation she wasn’t used to, and it should have been unpleasant, but now it felt almost… pleasing.

It is honest pain. Not torture. Of course, it would be best if my body was not such a hollowed out gourd, hastily patched. But I would be ungrateful indeed to complain. Darting through the closing jaws, she suddenly had a terrible premonition, fuelled by Luca’s ugly grin. Leaping high into the air, momentarily soaring as high as the crest of Asha’s great Tree, the ground she was standing on was barraged by golden light, craters forming.

[The Gate Of Issachar Shall Not Be Sieged By Enemies From Within!]

[The Gate Of…]

[The…]

A half dozen sonorous voices had cried out, and the golden Angels had swung their weapons. Tamamo-no-Mae was momentarily confused as to why they had assaulted her, only to see the ploy. Her violet flames had shifted the tendrils of blood, and they had impacted the walls afterwards. Should they not have counted as his attacks? Well, no matter, I suspect he knows his wicked arts best…

Unwilling to be on the back foot, her tails gathered a great deal of glowing yellow flame energies, and a massive fireball formed overhead, a half-dozen metres across. With a smirk, she discharged it downwards towards him, even as she fell.

He looked panicked for a moment, but the blood tendrils collapsed, oozing back towards the great bloody wheel, and it rolled to shield him. There was a tremendous blast, and smoke and flame scattered in all directions. The smell of burning iron was sickening, but she was disappointed to see that Luca had survived unharmed.

“We shall see about that!” Tamamo-no-Mae cried, tails lashing. This time she gathered up ruby red earth element, as well as shining orange water, and the rich, verdant brown of wood. Caihong’er had explained the Five Elements that governed Cultivation, Fire, Water, Metal, Wood and Earth. Though of course she had already known, after her travels in Hua, which was now called China, she believed.

“You are not the only one who can attack with weight of numbers!” she declared, and the ground erupted, great arms of earth and stone, held together by ropey vines of plant matter, stretching up high above Luca. They then slammed down, as if trying to flatten him to paste. Unwilling to relent, she then drew in another deep breath, wind element boiling, and exhaled a cutting tornado. The cloud of dust that was rising after the hands attempted to crush him was blown apart, and chips of stone flew in all directions.

Wait… her senses straining, she breathed out again, this time to move as she fell, and a dozen zigzagging bloody tendrils whipped through where she just was, several stony arms shattering. Glancing through the gap, she could see the wheel had formed a bloody dome over Luca, and while he seemed hurt, blood trickling from one corner of his mouth, his brown eyes were as determined as ever. Moments later, the arms she had wrought burst apart, and as she landed, the spikes were chasing her once again, so in desperation she led them away from the centre of the hill, which was starting to accumulate damage from the battle, several Ether Spires looking rather bent, and the beautiful snake decorations of the Earth Altar having cracked and lost teeth and scales.

The longer this goes on, the shockwaves from our battle do more and more damage. If I do not finish this quickly… Her violet flames boiled, once more diverting attacks away from her through holes in space, but Luca again took advantage to redirect them to strike the dome, and golden beams harassed Tamamo-no-Mae incessantly. Fortunately she had prevented any of the tendrils getting into Asha’s Tree, fearing what the corruption that had dogged her tails would do, but bark was flaking off from the clashes, and leaves were falling.

“I am… Tamamo-no-Mae!” she roared, as if to proclaim her power to the heavens. Six glowing balls of flame formed above the same number of her tails, and she grimaced. This is about my limit, safely at least…

The burning spheres were launched, and again and again she conjured fireballs. The blood dome was barraged, but it held, although… Yes, I see it. Six gusting tornados of wind joined the flames, amplifying them to pillars of golden fire, for a moment resembling the Hellenic temples she had seen during her travels across the Western lands, so many years ago.

With a grimace, her focus diverted, and one tornado died down, and she diverted the wind to surround Asha and her Tree, even as Tamamo-no-Mae coughed, feeling sick and numb. The blood burns away, yes, but it is foul and cursed, full of the adherence of resentment and regret. Truly the weapon of a cruel man, a sadist.

Seeing her beautiful, currently dark-skinned face start to whiten, her dark green eyes becoming bloodshot, Luca scoffed, even as he eyed the flames. “A good effort. Many sinners have been freed by your fires. However…”

The wheel shifted, and tides of brackish blood surged, dousing the flames with more acrid smoke. To her eyes, the great bloody edifice had shrunk a little, but clearly, if she wished to burn away all the blood, she would have to get truly serious. I do not know if I can. My body, it is aching fiercely, yet… It wasn’t an order, despite his grip on her invisible tail, her spiritual core, Akio did not dominate her. Instead, it was a request. And… glancing back at Asha, her gaze softened for a moment. Like me, she is out of her time, cast adrift in a sea of suffering, only finally having reached the shore.

Beautiful, perfect lips curling into a smile, Tamamo-no-Mae began to laugh, even as the barrage of crimson whips began to barrage her again, pointed, stake-like tips whirring and rotating balefully seeking her life. Flame and wind blew around her like a mirror to the breaking wheel, and blood sizzled. Despite that, the flaming tornado was being peeled away, inch by inch.

“Have you gone mad? Has despair broken you?” Luca queried, seeming genuinely interested. “If so, I shall end this quickly. I fear all outside have been martyred.”

Indeed the Angels on the gates were calling out their mantras with increasing regularity, the golden beams shooting outwards, and the glow of gold was dimming. At first, Tamamo-no-Mae had thought it her imagination, but now it was clearly visible. Yes, no working, especially one such as this, can endure forever. The adherence within it is being expended by both defence and those golden beams. If so…

“No, I have not gone mad. I wished I had, many times, during my long imprisonment in what mortals call the Sessho-Seki. Blissful oblivion was all I could reach for… as for you… your efforts are merely the posturing of a child. Compared to the days of yore, the first age, or what you claim to follow, that Avatar… your strength is but all boasting and bluster.”

That seemed to further anger Luca, and the barrage of bloody thorns intensified, ground erupting with them, waving like the tendrils of a stinging sea creature. Tamamo-no-Mae merely drew on the strength inside her, and now three more balls of wind and flame were hovering around her, flame drawing in the wind. “No, I was thinking that he gathers those who hunger to him. Some are the broken, the lost… others, who seek something better. As for my foolish granddaughter… well, let me say it simply would not do to have him think she is the pinnacle of our kind.”

“What nonsense do you…” His words were cut off as the winds literally exploded around her, but instead of repulsing the blood, it drew it in, sucking it towards a point in front of her. The wheel struggled, rolling backwards, pulling on the tendrils, before Luca cried out and they were severed, but even so, a mass of blood the size of a small boulder had accumulated within the vortex.

“Nonsense? I am Tamamo-no-Mae, my words once worth a kan

Her body changed again, shifting, her tails broadening and growing, her features becoming more bestial, canines and teeth sharpening and lengthening, ears growing,, fur sprouting. “I do not care for this appearance, I grew to love the adoration of men and women alike. But… what is adoration compared to victory? Besides…”

She glanced at Asha, even as her body was sparking with little aches and pains, burning spikes shivering her. She could feel the work Akio had done on her body creaking. He did say it would take time for my body to acclimatise, and not to overtax it. But… what else can I do?

Understanding, Asha seemed to be smiling, though she was clearly terrified and anxious, clutching at her belly with one hand, rubbing her Tree with the other. Despite that, she spoke. “Indeed. Do not worry, Akio is a man with deep understanding, and he even found Shaeula’s natural form cute. You… look rather intimidating, but… he might just find you somewhat cool.”

“As if I care…” she grunted back, though Asha was raising an eyebrow at her annoyingly, and Tamamo-no-Mae had to force her raised tails down to stillness. “Enough!” Straining to contain the blood, she had to act, and dozens of glowing, fiery suns appeared, surrounding the blood. “I am not to be mocked nor teased!” There was a massive eruption of flames, coupled by Tamamo-no-Mae weaving her violet shield of space over the Tree and the Buildings dotted around the hillside, the effort fatiguing.

“Let your resentment burn to ashes, and vanish knowing the fool who wielded you shall join you soon!” she crowed, and a great molten orb rushed towards Luca. The breaking wheel caught the orb of liquid fire, only to shriek and scream, more blood combusting. Luca was pushed back, his one-handed grip slipping, sweat streaming from his brow, hair smouldering, skin browning from the intense heat.

“The Lord on high, the Throne atop the Ninth Heaven…” he began to pray, as Tamamo-no-Mae poured more of her energy into the glowing sphere, breathing hard. She fought the urge to howl in triumph, as it was undignified, yet her tails were wagging fiercely once more.

“Fifth Spoke… of… Judgement…” Luca suddenly cried, but Tamamo-no-Mae leapt, her now oddly hinged and hugely muscled legs propelling her in a single bound. She passed the glowing fire orb, which was shrinking even as the wheel was, blood burning away, her flesh blackening under the effects of the toxic mist that the fires created, and her now knifelike claws slashed out.

“Judicium… Ira… Et Salus…” The words were barest whispers coming from his mouth, as Luca’s head was upside down, then hit the ground and bounced. Behind him, the fire orb detonated, hurling the head away like a discarded apple, and the wheel shuddered, a great deal of the remaining blood consumed, parts of the dark wood now black with char, not old iron.

“That… ached…” Tamamo-no-Mae stumbled, buffeted by the blast, pushed away by the great pressure, and the sudden weakness in her body, as something had popped within her as she exerted greater strength than she should have to instantly cross the distance and strike. “…but I am no fool. I have heard your chants four times. You think… I would… allow a fifth?” She panted, tongue lolling out, her breath hot and fast.

Asha let out a cry of joy, and was about to rush forwards to the clearly spent Tamamo-no-Mae, only to pause, looking around in surprise. It took only a moment for her to realise what the Dryad was surprised by, as the slowly thinning dome of golden light still sealed the space around them, sparks of brilliance still shooting outwards as it was provoked by her allies without.

Turning her fierce emerald gaze on the severed head, she leapt for it, only for the breaking wheel to move. It had shrunk again, much of the blood exhausted, but it was still like running headfirst into an iron plate, and she was stunned and the cold curse once more burned at her flesh. As she was repelled, the severed head began to laugh, full of hatred and self-loathing.

“It seems you have killed me, wicked creature. How… unexpected. When I reach the Ninth Heaven, no doubt Mary Stuart, and old Magdalena, they will both taunt me. To think I, Luca Aloisio, the Judgement-Cardinal… would be slain by such as you…”

Tamamo-no-Mae moved to crush his head, only for the wheel to block her again, and it was moving with ever-increasing speed and fury.

“How rude. I should not expect manners from a beast without a soul such as you.” His tone provoked her, and she spat back he was the true beast, but he merely chuckled.

“It seems you are Salome and I John, and just as the great Baptist could not survive without his head, no more can I. Yet…” He breathed out a sigh, his burned face twisting into a grin, even as his life streamed out, red and silver, from the ragged stump that Tamamo-no-Mae had carved with her claws. “…I am not Mary Stuart. At the last, I shall… not… fail!”

Desperately, Tamamo-no-Mae bounded at him, but the wheel, ringed with sharp stakes, raked at her body, blocking her, even as an unearthly keening could be heard, and the severed head shaped words.

“Descend, Power! Hear my dying cry, and carry my soul to… the Ninth Heaven… and… let this… destroyed evil… herald… my triumphant…” There was a moment of silence, and then the final word was spat out. “…coming.” The head flared to aether, yet Tamamo-no-Mae felt no relief, as the twelve Angels atop the walls had stopped attacking, even as the barrier around began to slowly crumble, golden motes rising towards the silver skies above.

[The Gate Of Reuben Opens To The Blessed One!]

[The Gate Of Simeon Kneels To That Which Banishes Evil!]

[The Gate Of Levi Cries Welcome To The Power!]

[The Gate Of…]

[The Gate…]

[The…]

[The Gate Of Benjamin Watches Judgement Be Done!]

A great mass of golden mist seeped out from the walls, and violet flames shimmered, though these were not Tamamo-no-Mae’s doing. It was as if the Boundary was cracking, and something was coming through.

Fortunately, this space is isolated. Despite that, and though I suspect this is but a shadow of the true self… I am in trouble.

Attempting to attack the mist, she called out lightning, once more mixing fire and wind, but the wheel stymied her at every turn. Asha backed off fearfully, even as the mist began to sprout odd, geometric metal shapes, fan-like blades of gold and silver jutting from the golden fog. Moments later, a vaguely humanoid form, though with small head, great wings of blades, and with one arm far longer and thicker than the other, forged from shifting fog and lumpen metal, had appeared. With its massive arm, which was longer than the five metres in height the whole being was, it reached down and plucked the wheel, which drank in the golden fog and expanded, now functioning as both massive shield and club.

This… this is a novelty… Before Ōtakemaru, before Nurarihyon, before the Kami, or the Avatars of would-be Gods, or Saints of Kunlun… Tamamo-no-Mae had never felt outclassed. Yes, she had not always won,  but… I see. It is not that I am fearful. After all, seeing it now… The creature was powerful, yes, abnormally so, but it was a shadow, a projection. No, perhaps an Avatar is a better term. It is from far away, far above…

No, it was not even that her body was cracked and patched, that her former strength was sealed. I see. My… my confidence is gone. That cursed monk still robs from me, swallows my sorrows, even now. But… Taking a deep breath, she shuddered. “I am not one to stay defeated. It shames me that I would have kissed the feet of that wretched monk, given him my heart and spirit to stop the pain. But he did not desire it, only my suffering and his gain. Now…”

The Angel, this Power, turned to look at her, small, featureless face a mass of metal cubes and spirals. It almost seemed like it didn’t see her, until it raised the wheel carelessly, and she leapt backwards. The impact shuddered the whole hillside, more damage caused to the Buildings there, and parts of the walkway around Asha’s Tree collapsed, but fortunately there was no serious damage done, though despite that, Tamamo-no-Mae was sweating, her fur sticking to her as silver streamers leaked from her skin.

The best course of action would ordinarily be to probe it, work out its weaknesses and strengths, but… if I drag the fight out, then the Tree and all else here will be destroyed, even if it does not target it… No, I must burn like the Gozan no Okuribi, the great five bonfires, and spend myself in fury, caring not for whether my flames endure. I wonder… do they still light the five mountains of Kyoto ablaze even to this day? I must ask. I would wish to see it again, sake in hand…

Idle thoughts shooting through her mind, she tensed. “Now… I once more find myself with the urge to abase myself, and am once more unwanted, it seems. Friendship. Hah.” She launched lightning, turning the Power away from Asha’s Tree, and leaping aside as the wheel struck the ground once more, the quake doing further minor damage, but this time the destruction mostly radiated outwards, though she could see her allies scurrying away from the surging rubble from the ground through the ever more transparent dome.

“It vexes me somewhat. But… to explore these feelings further, to become myself once more… I must win here, so…” She had been channelling power through her tails, as was the way of the Kitsune, each tail an expansion, a crystallisation, of their spirit. Each one was an order of magnitude harder to forge than the last, nowadays. Even in the days of old, when it was said a fox grew a new tail every century, that wasn’t strictly true. Yes, if the effort was put in, the Kitsune strong enough, It would happen, but the eighth and the ninth tails…

I am not the only one with nine tails because I killed many who could have reached that peak, though that is also true. Poor little granddaughter. Nebisuki. No, I have heard your name. Shinkume-no-Hana, your tail is already in his clutches, so your name no longer binds you. To have reached four tails in such a wasted era is not… terrible. That little coward I spared that day… to think you risked all to rescue me, your tormentor, your nightmare. Selfish or not…

“…I have to return. For until I understand him, her and myself… I shall never know peace!”

At her roar, she drew on her true power, tails thrumming. Six, to defeat the foolish mortal butcher and his wheel. Not enough.

The aether and elemental energies around her, still a little disarrayed after the purged cursed adherence of earlier, surged. Fur standing on end, green eyes shimmering with a rainbow of colours, her power peaked. Seven. No… eight…

Time seemed to slow. Battles between the powerful, such as when she and Ōtakemaru destroyed the mountain during their mythical clash, operated on a different scale and time to lesser beings. What seemed like mere seconds to watching mortals and scampering Yōkai could be minutes or even hours in the eyes of the combatants. Sixty heartbeats. No, perhaps fewer… I must be swift…

Her insides steaming, cracks and crackles sounding, things popping inside her, Tamamo-no-Mae charged, talons extending out to the size of swords, tails ballooning until they were five metre long streamers of fur and fury behind her.

“Mountain Breaker!” she cried with an unearthly howl so full of aether Asha cried out and sunk to her knees, hair streaming out behind her. Nine sparkling rainbow lights gathered, sucking in red, yellow, orange, green, blue, indigo, violet and more, growing and expanding. Her howl had sparked off the fading dome, and the Angels retaliated, though their beams of golden light were barely a shadow of their former might. She took the hits, even as the Power moved, swinging the breaking wheel to block the nine prismatic stars that arced towards it.

[Evil Extinguishing Golden Sword!]

The Power spoke, a wave of telepathy, and Asha clutched her head. Moments later she was recovered as Tamamo-no-Mae split some of her power off, isolating her. Ignoring Asha’s grateful look, she watched as the great glowing orbs detonated, and the top of the fading dome splintered, purple lights cascading.

Of course. This space cannot hold. And if it does not… catastrophe. I must be…swift?

She was thrown back, the Power backhanding her with the small arm, moving at a speed that hurled her into the golden wall, which then showered more beams down on her. Blood bloomed, and she spat silver and red, but was moving as the Power’s golden sword of light punched dozens of metres into the ground, liquefying rock into flaming magma, even as mist and metal was blown away by her Mountain Breaker.

“This… takes me back.” She wiped at her mouth, before lightning twisted into nine blazing ropes and blitzed the Power, Sparks were struck from unearthly metal, and her heart beat once, more shards of her Chakra network cracking. “They say…” She moved, her claws tearing space, only to be blocked by the wheel, which launched more of the bloody impaling spikes at her. This time she was unafraid though, and as her heart beat once more, violet light crackled on her lengthening claws, and she sheared through the spikes, dodging another Golden Sword from the Power. The elements and aether within the sealed dome were shuddering chaotically, and the Buildings below were starting to crumble. Faster… Eight is not enough. But…

Her bloody grin was wicked, her fangs smeared with her own blood. “I am a fool, but a proud one. I… shall… not… lose… again!”

Nine! Several of her larger tails shattered to pieces, even as the rest barraged the colossal giant of mist and irregular metal. Her body was ablaze, a cascade of splintered craftsmanship rippling through her, and despite the pain, she felt a small bite of amused satisfaction. Next time… do better. I am Tamamo-no-Mae, it is only natural to labour for my sake. Now. Nine heartbeats. It is all… I can… manage. The first beat rang in her chest, and her speed was now truly blinding.

[Evil… Ext…]

“Silence, doll!” Tamamo-no-Mae kicked the head of the creature, while her remailing tails slammed the arm wielding the golden beam upwards.

[…ing…uish…ing… Gol…]

“Mountain Breaker, Lake Drinker!”

Instead of nine glowing orbs, now it was dozens, and the sky burned, as brilliant as the aurorae that streaked the skies of this boundary, and the Astral beyond that Tamamo-no-Mae remembered.

[…den… Swo…rd]

Eight. Seven. Two more beats in her chest, more of her self shattering, but the storm of punches, kicks, sweeping claws and lashing tails, even as her body disintegrated, rocked the Power, though most were blocked by the infernal wheel it wielded, which also seemed to have a mind of its own, seeking to pierce her. Flames gouted, and more and more black blood was reduced to ash, as she breathed flame like a mythical Dragon, a Ryū.

“Go to Yomi, you worthless falsehood!” Tamamo-no-Mae bellowed, as her heart beat once more. Six. Suddenly she heard a cry of horror beginning, agonisingly slow, and she could see that the golden beam the Power had unleashed and she had kicked away was reflected off the shattering dome, and had bounced towards something below. It was a Tree, but not Asha’s Tree. No, it was a small, crystalline and silver sapling, made of unearthly materials. Heedless of her fear, Asha was sprinting towards it in slow motion, but she would never make it in time.

It is not the Tree I must protect, but… Foresight prickling, she took a deep breath, and in a violet flash, she was gone. Deflecting the golden beam, melting a furrow in the ground until it slammed back into the Power, scattering golden mist, she felt her arm break. Her heart beat once more, and she realised her Foresight was accurate.

“Bah…” Coughing blood, even with her fiendish reactions, her speed a hundred times or more what a mortal could conceive of, giving rise to the witnesses of many of her great battles likening her to the fury of the Heavens, lightning itself, she was unable to deflect every piercing stake of blood that the wheel had unleashed. But even so pierced, her tails pinned, her abdomen impaled, spikes jutting from her back, the little Tree stood untouched, one crystalline apple dropping from the branches, hitting the ground slowly, a ringing glass chime sounding.

Five. Her protesting body riddled, going numb, her aether and elements scattering, the cold, grudge-filled adherence filling her, she watched as the Power drew closer. Asha was still frozen, barely forming a scream as to her, it had all happened instantaneously.

Die! Suffer! Pierce! Burn! Break! You witch! Demon! Flay! Gut! Bleed! Ungodly heretic! Traitor! Flense! Rupture! Impale! Blasphemer! Whore! Sever! Crucify! Boil!

The echoing cries from the adherence were filled with thousands of years of grudges and pain, and they assaulted Tamamo-no-Mae as she struggled. Another Golden Sword was forming, no, a Golden Halo, the Power drawing on what essence it had, and the crown of golden light shone balefully. Nothing within the dome will survive that…

“Die you say?” she retorted to the cursed thoughts. “I would have welcomed it. Suffer? Oh how I did. Pierce? You pierced me. Burn? My very spirit burns to hold this moment. Break? Oh how I have broken! Yes, many said I was a witch. A demon. Flay? Yes, my flesh flakes away. Gut… my blood does bleed from my pierced innards. Ungodly heretic? I am simply me, and I disdain the Kami, the Gods. I need them not. Traitor? I betrayed many, sunk nations, even my own kin… Flense… yes, my body and spirit are winnowed out. I rupture, my spirit leaking, and I am impaled. I curse the Gods yes, as for being a whore… I have loved, and been loved in return. My tails, they are severed, I am transfixed, yet… yes, my blood still boils, my spirit too! I. AM. NOT. ASHAMED. OF. WHO. I. AM!”

Four. Three. “BUT I SHALL LET IT ALL GO, THE PAST! AND BE REBORN!”

Her howl was pregnant with her own adherence, and though her elements were tainted, she was the nine-tailed fox, master of many elements, her tails dominating them. Flame purifies. But it needs fuel. I…

They were there then. Somehow she could feel them. Perhaps it was an accident of fate, or an effect of the wheel piercing her with the accumulation of ten thousand deaths, the hatreds, the grudges, the belief having congealed into this hateful abomination of a weapon, wielded by an emotionless puppet of destruction.

“I shall… start anew! I do not shirk my past…” Her anger vanished, replaced with sadness, an emotion she seldom felt. “…I have enough pride to own my whims. However… the past me… she vanished, that cursed monk swallowed me whole for his fuel. Now… I somewhat regret it. Perhaps…” Her tails shivered, the tail that was her core too, and it seemed to shimmer with orange and vivid blue diamonds, shaped like teardrops, running down her tail. Pretty.

“…I am feeling his sorrows at what I have done. Or perhaps… is this guilt?” Ten thousand, a hundred thousand, no, a million spectres loomed behind her then, misty and insubstantial, and she grinned, her body becoming less bestial, her fur fading, resuming her most favoured form, that of the beautiful, destructive foxwoman Tamamo-no-Mae. “If so, it is bittersweet.” Her words were indecipherable to any but herself, as she was in the accelerated frame of a great battle, her words a buzz, but she needed to say them.

“Yes, I know. I toppled nations, I slaughtered armies. I killed my own kin, more Kitsune died at my bloodstained hands than at the hands of the mortals. Yes, look at me with hatred, do not forgive me. I do not seek it. To ask for it… would be… pointless.” The small blue and orange teardrops entered her body, and she felt more of herself disintegrate. Blood was seeping from her, dropping into the roots of the shining, strange Tree behind her.

Black ooze dribbled, a match to the blood invading her, no, darker, more sinister. The spirits that haunted her, their own spite, hatred, grudges… the adherence of malice that only such an array of deaths could create, shivered. The leader, a six-tailed Kitsune she recognised as one of the ones that was with her amusing granddaughter when they begged for her aid and she repaid them with death, regarded her with black eyes, and she snorted.

“Of course. But… you are my kin, in the end. Even in death your cursed grudges linger. It is surely Karma that led to my suffering, and this moment. But…”

Her heart hammered, the sound of broken glass echoing, and her body erupted, water gushing from her, a water she had heard of but seldom seen. Spirit Water. Even Caihong’er would have given a great deal for this much, this purity, this… light!

Two. “Are your hatreds weaker than theirs? I am Tamamo-no-Mae! Even in wickedness, I have no equal! Now… the wheel turns, and blaze, blaze! Know I seek not forgiveness. I am above such! But… making amends. To do so for my sins…” Blood ran down her beautiful face, and she cackled, madness and seduction in her gaze. “…then it will take an eternity. Perhaps longer than this world endures. Eternity. Bound. Yet…” Water glimmered, and a harrowing tide of filth crackled from her collapsing spirit, and the shadows were gone. Perhaps illusion, perhaps my dying imaginations, but… “…let it be fuel for my victory, my first step on the road to wherever my future leads, in this new age of unlimited possibility!”

The adherence that poured from her and kindled flame roared. The flame was liquid, like she had never wielded, like his, somehow hot and cold at the same time, and she roared, her heart hammering possibly its final beat, a mere fraction of a second having passed throughout her whole hallucination since being impaled. “Foehn, flame that devours even my Karma!”

Her missing tails were suddenly replaced by the brilliant flames, and it was hot, agonising. Yet also cold, soothing, lulling her to shut her eyes, but she resisted the urge. The blood impaling her sizzled, vaporising, feeding the flames. Her shattered network, breaking like so much fragile pottery, was held together by flowing water, and she raised her head to the sky, roaring.

“One instant cannot pay for all… but any endless road begins with but a single step!” I travelled the world, this mortal world and the spiritual one. It was… entertaining. Now… new vistas stretch before me. Things I have never seen. Old friends I thought I could never meet again… to die here… what a tragic farce. Yet…

The wheel shuddered, flames instantly streaking down the tendrils that had pierced her, and it squealed, wreathed in blazing fury, the blood no match for the fires. An instant later, faster than a blink, Tamamo-no-Mae slammed into it, and the giant metal arm holding the wheel shattered, golden fog also catching light, burning. The forming golden halo dimmed, and she smirked, enjoying the exhilaration of her first and possibly final step on her new road.

“At least… I had… the opportunity to start a new journey. Others will see it through… for me…” Her laugh was bitter, yet somehow it felt good, freeing. “Now, begone!” The wheel hit the ground, now the colour of old oak, brown, and streaked with char and flickering tongues of clinging flame.

“Mountains may break, lakes may boil, but… the world continues to spin. Turning World, Returning Time! Mawaru Sekai, Kaeri No Jikan!” Putting everything into one single strike, all the adherence that had accumulated, her burning Karma, the dome instantly winked out of existence, golden light collapsing, and a brilliant column of silver light pierced upwards, and as it collapsed, the strands of dissipating energy seemed almost to resemble a tree.

[..olden… Halo…]

The last, fading words of the Power were but an almost clockwork, buzzing whisper. The golden crown it was calling vanished, and the golden fog dissipated, the chunks of metal that made up its form also vanishing, as if it was just an illusion. Perhaps in a way it was. It was hardly a true representation of the horrors of the Gods and their servants…

Zero. Her faltering heart beat once more, and Tamamo-no-Mae shattered. Her tails flared to ash, and as she fell, she squeezed shut her eyes. Her spiritual tail endured though, and she couldn’t help but let a thought trickle through it. Your workmanship was shoddy. I loathe them, but next time, maybe seek out Kagutsuchi or Ame-no-Mahitotsu and learn how to forge masterpieces properly…

As she was about to hit the ground, her terribly light body was caught by someone, and she opened her eyes to see a tearful Asha clutching her. Feeling an odd sensation, she turned her head a little, so she couldn’t look into her eyes. “Why weep? We won, I believe. Although…” The sky above was abnormally active, multicoloured cracks rippling across it, matching her shattered body. “…it seems that the Boundary here has not enjoyed… this.” Her words were interrupted by coughing blood.

Shaeula and the others were coming now the dome was breached, but Tamamo-no-Mae had no wish for them to see her humbled. Again. If I was at my best, that fool and his shadow of a higher being would have knelt before me as I crushed them… but alas, the world turns, but times past do not return.

“Here!” Asha spoke, suddenly pushing something into her mouth, and she bit down instinctively. Hard, cold metal suddenly yielded, turning almost liquid, and her eyes widened in confusion, as she saw that she had bitten into a crystalline apple. I remember…

“The Tree! I do not know how, but… it is alive too!” Asha cried. “When I saw it threatened, it called to me, and…” She touched her belly. “…I could not let it be destroyed, but… you saw, and acted. I think… it wants you to live.”

“I simply did not wish for more destruction.” She struggled to shrug, though the fizzing and crackling pains within her had been soothed. Her next words were drowned out as Asha forced the other half of the apple down her throat. Coughing, Tamamo-no-Mae gave her a flinty glare, but Asha was unmoved.

“Yes, I know. But… even so, I thank you. As does the Materia Tree.” Asha smiled softly, seeing the others rushing over. “You took great injuries to protect it and me. Else you could have won easily, yes?”

“Perhaps not… easily.” Tamamo-no-Mae admitted. “Yet it certainly would have been less… arduous.”

“It will be fine.” Asha promised. “If you live, then Akio can fix you.”

“You have a great deal of faith in him, it seems.” Her lips curled into a wry smile. “I am not so swift to believe.”

“You say that, but… was that not Foehn I saw? You were moving too fast for me to keep up with, but I saw that. And…” Tamamo-no-Mae was amazed when Asha ran a finger down her skin and licked at the residue. “I knew it. Moonlight Spirit Water. There is nothing else like it. Only Shaeula and Akio possess such.” Her golden-yellow eyes were knowing as she smiled benevolently, as she wiped at Tamamo-no-Mae’s face gently, which confused and embarrassed her to no end. I am a great Yōkai, feared and appeased. To be treated in such a manner… it is… excruciatingly shameful. Yet… oddly enough, I do not hate it.

“His reforging of me anew did not hold.” she pouted, and only grimaced harder when Asha chuckled. “What? Is my suffering amusing?”

“Perish the thought.” Asha hoisted her up onto her unsteady feet, dusting down her torn and ragged kimono. “Oh your poor tails. You took so different without them. But do not worry. I know Akio planned to fix your granddaughter on his return, somehow. Two is just the same as one, I suppose. As for my laughter…”

“Yes?” Tamamo-no-Mae asked.

“It reminds me of the stories of how he used to break his swords all the time. Master Bjarki was quite distraught, but… each time he reforged the blades, they were better, and stronger. Until now… Storming Moonlight does not break. You shall be the same. A setback, of course. But it has its compensations.”

“Oh, and what could compensate for this?” Tamamo-no-Mae raised one eyebrow in annoyance.

“Akio will be rather guilty, and so very grateful. As am I.” Asha whispered, to spare her embarrassment, as the others were here now. “And that is worth much.” Speaking up, Asha addressed the newcomers.

“Shaeula, Daiyu, I am glad to see you both survived. You too as well Violet.”

“I am most-most pleased too.” Shaeula agreed, before looking sympathetically at the battered and tailless Tamamo-no-Mae. “You as well, fox. It seems you fought hard-hard here. I knew you were a female of your word.”

“Hardly. I lie as easily as I breathe, unlike you, Faerie.” Tamamo-no-Mae had to snort in wry self-deprecation. “Yet… a road begins with a single step, yes? No matter the length of the journey or the trials ahead.”

Daiyu nodded. “It is a good saying, and I agree. We are already on this road, but… it seems you can catch up. And strong companions are worth their weight in gold.”

At that, Tamamo-no-Mae had to bark a laugh. She felt weak, fragile, her aether and elemental energies hard to grasp, but the collapse of her fractured spirit had halted, a strange, almost metallic sensation spreading within her, like cooling balm on burns. “I am worth more than mere gold.” She tossed her head, wincing at the feeling of discomfort. “So... if this mess is over…” She staggered over to the wooden wheel, picking it up, her expression now one of distaste. “…I believe I wish to sleep for a week.”

“There is no-no time for that.” Shaeula warned. “We must-must be sure no more enemies threaten, and when our work is done, we celebrate! Much-much sake, whiskey, beer, food and entertainment! Besides, Akio will not-not be long in returning, and the Pilgrimage shall commence. We have much-much to do… although… my Birthday is at the end-end of the week. That-that day is mine, so if you wish to share him then, best start pleasing me!”

At her cheeky teasing, Tamamo-no-Mae couldn’t help but snort a tired laugh. “Please you? Should you not be pleasing me, a poor, ragged battered woman, who is enslaved and worked until she nearly dies?”

Shaeula barked another laugh, telling her she was one of the ‘luckiest females alive’, and Tamamo-no-Mae shook her head, stumps of her tails twitching. Alive. Yes, it seems I am, we are…

She glanced around at the devastation, some more minor Buildings having collapsed during the shockwaves of her battle, yet what needed preserving was indeed preserved. And for some reason, I feel… lighter. Glancing at her missing tails, she snorted again, before letting them lead her off, Asha supporting her. And not just because of my shorn tails. No, a journey began is hesitation overcome. Now, all I can do is see what lies ahead of me. I wonder if I shall see the same things they do…