Repayment

Legend has it that a hundred years ago, this land faced a massive calamity that could have utterly destroyed the newly built Heian-kyo. At that time, the deity who had always guarded this Land of the Four Gods stepped forward, preventing the disaster at the cost of falling into a deep slumber.

And the deity's kin, the Inari foxes who were bound to her by blood, were left behind in loneliness. Having lost the divine power that originated from their deity, they fell under the covetous eyes of countless beings. Among them were yokai, but even more so were humans—the very humans that the deity had protected.

The foxes of Inari were messengers of the deity and could not be captured at will. Although the human Imperial Court had issued such decrees on the surface, the hunting of them never ceased due to the extremely high value the Inari foxes possessed. This even gave rise to specialized fox hunters.

To gain support, the fox hunters used the massive profits obtained from hunting Inari foxes to bribe the Onmyoji clans of Heian-kyo. From the hands of these Onmyoji clans, the fox hunters obtained methods to track the foxes, as well as incantations to imprison and control them. Through these means, the fox hunters intensified their pursuit of the foxes.

All Inari foxes are divine messengers of Inari Okami, and messengers must remain in alignment with their deity. This means the nature of the deity directly affects all her messengers. Inari Okami is a human-god, a deity who deeply loves humans. Influenced by her, all Inari foxes can fight against yokai with all their might, but they can never bring themselves to kill humans. When faced with human hunters, their primary recourse is to flee.

Over the course of a hundred years, the number of Inari foxes steadily decreased due to continuous hunting, and their range of activity kept shrinking. By now, they had been completely pushed back to the Fushimi area centered around Inari Mountain. This situation only began to change about a dozen years ago, when one of the Inari foxes finally cultivated into a spirit beast. Only after emerging from the predicament of power scarcity since the deity's slumber did their situation see some improvement.

However, despite the obstruction from the spirit beast, which significantly lowered the efficiency of the fox hunters, they were unwilling to give up such a massive source of profit due to the immense value the Inari foxes brought. Their hunts still arrived as scheduled every year during the early autumn season, and this year was no exception.

……

In the south of Heian-kyo, deep within a mountain not far from Fushimi, a group of humans dressed in light fur armor and carrying spears and bows was moving through the forest. At this moment, the light rain in the sky had not yet stopped, and they were all advancing through the rain.

A robust man with a tachi at his waist and a full beard was the leader of this group. In his hand, he held a rope leashing a brown fox with messy fur. It was sniffing the ground while leading the entire group forward, its eyes glowing with a faint red light.

This was a fox controlled by spells. It was tracing the scent of its own kind in the air and leading the humans behind it along the way.

Suddenly, the leashed fox barked twice, and the leading man broke into a grin.

"Close... heh... looks like Fushimi stock." Pausing slightly, the man turned around to look at his subordinates.

"This first one came a bit too quickly, so I'll keep it for myself. If any of you dare to secretly tell Lord Ishikawa, you know the consequences."

There was a slight commotion among the crowd before it immediately died down. Not a single fox hunter present dared to say a word.

"Very well, continue!"

Seeing this, the leader nodded with satisfaction. Just as he was about to turn back and continue forward, one of his subordinates beside him suddenly spoke up with concern.

"Boss, we won't run into Tsuruha this time, will we?"

"Tsuruha isn't that easy to run into. Heh, and even if we did, so what? At most, we'd get burned and have to lie down for a while; it wouldn't kill us." The man spoke with a sneer. Fushimi foxes were extremely valuable and never killed humans, making them perfect hunting targets.

"Hunting Fushimi foxes might seem like inviting divine punishment, but in reality, it's safer than hunting wild beasts. At most, you'll end up crippled." With a cold snort, the leader turned his head forward, already calculating what he would use this first fox for.

When the man's gaze returned to the path, he saw a small, pure white fox standing among the trees not far away. She was staring at his group with eyes full of resentment.

"A Fushimi fox..."

Seeing the white fox, a look of fervor flashed in the man's eyes. He quickly took the great bow from his back, notched an arrow, and drew it to full strength, firing at the white fox. The entire process was incredibly fast; even an ordinary wild beast wouldn't have had time to react before being pierced through.

The arrow flew toward the white fox at high speed, but just as it was about to strike her, a flash of blade light swept past. The arrow was sliced into two pieces and fell to the ground.

A figure in a black robe, holding a tachi and wrapped in bandages, appeared beside the white fox. A crimson, single eye stared coldly at the fox hunters from the shadows.

"Who is the blind fool trying to steal this great one's prey!"

Seeing this scene, the man grew furious. He drew his sword, preparing to go forward and "reason" with this sudden mysterious guest. But at that moment, he realized the surrounding space had suddenly turned freezing cold. An ominous aura began to permeate the area, and even the light grew dim.

The fox hunters present were all veterans of the mountains and forests. They understood perfectly well what this situation meant: they had fallen into the demon realm...

The mysterious guest before them was a yokai!

Realizing this, all the fox hunters gripped their weapons and went on high alert. Encountering yokai in the mountains was not uncommon; usually, they were just minor demons dwelling in the woods, not too difficult to handle if one was careful.

At this moment, they noticed various sounds emerging from the surrounding forest.

Footsteps, teeth grinding, breathing... various noises came from all directions, rising and falling, getting closer and closer. Finally, terrifying figures emerged from the darkness between the trees, surrounding the fox hunters.

Okuri-inu baring their fangs and claws, strangely seductive Shanmei, robust one-eyed Yamawaro, bloated Carrion Monsters, and sorrowfully howling Gaki... various yokai appeared on the scene, surrounding the fox hunters and watching them with murderous eyes. Even the experienced leader had never seen such a sight, and panic quickly spread through the entire group.

"Boss... this, this... what's with all these yokai... did we stumble into a parade of demons..." the previous fox hunter said to the leader in a terrified tone.

The man acting as leader kept looking around, struggling to calm his terror. He gripped his blade to bolster his courage and pointed it at the black-robed yokai that had appeared first.

"It must be the leader! If we cut it down, we still have a chance to escape! Charge!"

Under the leader's encouragement, several fox hunters bolstered their spirits and rushed toward the direction he pointed. However, before they could reach their target, a blur flashed down from the sky and blocked their path.

Sharp claws pierced through skulls and razor-sharp feathers sliced through flesh. In a short amount of time, Makoto shredded the charging fox hunters on the spot, their broken corpses spilling blood that seeped into the damp earth.

Looking at the terrified humans, Miketsu, in the form of Owl, coldly gave the command to the gathered yokai.

"Kill them all..."

A century of blood debts—it was finally time to repay them.