The Contract

Upon seeing the foxes with glowing eyes at Ishikawa's feet, a myriad of emotions welled up in Miketsu's mind. She stood there, gazing at her kin, who had endured suffering and lost their freedom, while the foxes also stood still, uniformly turning their heads to meet Miketsu's gaze.

“Owl… Owl… No, Tsuruha! You planned all of this! You caused all of this!” Ishikawa shrieked in terror, seeing the figure that had suddenly appeared before him. His words left Miketsu slightly bewildered.

Tsuruha? Tsuruha? What’s going on? Is this guy mistaking me for Tsuruha? What's his basis for that?

“Go bite her! Quick, go! Subdue her!”

At this moment, Ishikawa suddenly realized that his original mission was to use the Inari foxes, transformed into shikigami, to deal with Owl. So he immediately ordered all the foxes to attack Owl, knowing from past experience with Tsuruha that she wouldn't retaliate.

Ishikawa’s command had just fallen, but unlike usual, not a single fox responded to his order. All the foxes stood motionless, continuing to silently meet Miketsu's gaze, a scene that left Ishikawa stunned.

These Inari foxes had been forcibly turned into shikigami by him years ago, their self-awareness largely stripped away. They should have instinctively obeyed his commands, even if it meant attacking their own kind.

Could it be that Tsuruha held an unusual status among the Inari foxes, causing their subconscious to resist? Thinking this, Ishikawa imbued his next command with the coercive power of the shikigami contract.

“Attack her, quickly!”

Red light flickered in the eyes of all the Inari foxes. Under the compulsion of the shikigami contract, they extended trembling front paws, slowly and with difficulty walking towards Miketsu. The closer they got to Miketsu, the harder it became to move, their speed slowing more and more. When they reached a certain distance from Miketsu, they even stopped, shaking their heads repeatedly and letting out mournful cries.

Seeing such behavior from the Inari foxes, Ishikawa was stunned. It was the first time he had witnessed foxes resisting a shikigami contract to this extent. Logically, they should only offer slight resistance at the beginning of the contract, then become completely subservient. Even if they resisted, it shouldn't be to this degree; they shouldn't have the awareness or power to defy the contract's commands.

Could Tsuruha have used some spell to influence the shikigami contract?

Ishikawa thought this, then immediately intensified the contract's influence, his face red as he shrieked at the top of his lungs.

“I said attack! Now!”

Yet, even so, not a single fox launched an attack. They formed a perfectly regular circle around Miketsu, shaking their heads incessantly and making strange noises, as if enduring something.

Seeing the scene before her, Miketsu was filled with a myriad of emotions. She knew very well why these foxes hadn't attacked her: it was entirely because she was their deity, and a divine messenger contract existed between the Inari foxes and herself.

The Inari Okami once forged a divine messenger contract with all the foxes on Inari Mountain, bound by blood. Regardless of how many generations passed, the Inari foxes would always be the divine messengers of the Inari Okami.

Even now, though Miketsu could not use her divine power, the divine messenger contract had not vanished; it had merely entered a dormant state. These foxes, captured by Ishikawa and forcibly made into shikigami using the Minamoto Clan's secret arts, essentially had a shikigami contract layered upon their inactive divine messenger contract.

An inactive divine messenger contract was not the same as a vanished one; it merely needed activation. To activate a divine messenger contract, a deity was required. However, Miketsu, unable to use her divine power, could not actively activate this contract. What she needed was passive activation.

This was why Miketsu appeared before Ishikawa alone. She wanted Ishikawa to order the Inari foxes to attack her, thereby passively triggering the master-protection mechanism within the divine messenger contract, and causing a conflict between it and the shikigami contract!

The divine messenger contract's authority superseded that of the shikigami contract. When this conflict arose, the shikigami contract would be broken! This was the strategy Miketsu and Tsuruha had devised to rescue the foxes!

“Awaken…” Miketsu sighed softly, then slowly spoke. The foxes, who had been struggling ceaselessly in the conflict between the divine messenger contract and the shikigami contract, finally ceased their mournful cries and struggles. The red glow in their eyes gradually faded, and their gazes regained clarity.

The Inari foxes formed a circle around Miketsu. In unison, they bowed their forebodies, offering a respectful salute to their returned deity. The shikigami contract had been broken; they were no longer the shikigami of the fox hunter Ishikawa, but the divine messengers of Inari Okami Miketsu.

“I apologize for your hardship… Now, go home…”

Facing the foxes’ reverence, Miketsu let out a long breath and spoke softly. Seeing this, the foxes uniformly bowed to Miketsu once more, then scattered and departed, disappearing into the dark night, embarking on their journey back to Inari Mountain. Miketsu had previously instructed all the yokai not to harm any of the foxes.

In an instant, only a bewildered Ishikawa and a calmly standing Miketsu remained at the scene.

“Fox… foxes… my foxes! Come back! Fushimi foxes!”

With a face full of panic, Ishikawa looked left and right, attempting to recall them using the shikigami contract, but he found that he could no longer contact any of the so-called Inari fox shikigami.

Intense fear seized Ishikawa's heart; his former confidence was now completely gone. The situation had long since spiraled beyond his control. After glancing at Owl, a terrified Ishikawa quickly fled into the distance, but he had barely run a few steps before he screamed in fright and fell to the ground.

A terrifying Gaki appeared before Ishikawa, knocking him to the ground. Then, one after another, yokai emerged from the darkness, slowly closing in around Ishikawa and Miketsu.

The yokai had already breached the encampment at the foot of the mountain, and some of them had now reached the mountainside, reuniting with their leader, Owl.

Looking at the multitude of yokai surrounding him, Ishikawa, sprawled on the ground, was filled with despair. The fate of being devoured by demons was unavoidable. In his utter desperation, his gaze turned to Miketsu, and endless hatred surged from his eyes.

Driven by a strong desire for revenge, Ishikawa suddenly stood up and shouted loudly at the yokai surrounding him.

“You demonic beings of the demon realm, loyal to Owl! Do you know Owl's true identity?!

“You pledge allegiance to Owl, but do you know that this so-called Owl is not a yokai at all! She is using you!”