The Slaying

Listening to Ishikawa's roar, some yokai in the crowd stopped, looking at Miketsu with confusion.

Ishikawa was now at the end of his rope. In such a situation, all he could think of was to retaliate with all his might. He wanted to get revenge on Owl, and for himself, who now had nothing, the only way to retaliate was to publicly announce to her yokai subordinates that Owl was a disguised yokai, creating a natural rift between her and her subordinates. If these yokai were to turn on Owl because of this, he might even be able to escape.

Facing Ishikawa's roar, Miketsu, appearing as Owl, smiled faintly. Then she gently waved her hand, stopping the yokai who were continuously approaching Ishikawa, and then spoke to Ishikawa in a low tone.

“You say… I’m not a yokai? Then what am I?”

As Miketsu spoke, she slowly walked towards Ishikawa, her right hand already reaching into her black robe.

“You’re a Spirit Beast! Tsuruha, the spirit fox of Inari Mountain, the leader of the Fushimi foxes! As a Divine Messenger of Inari Okami, you can’t kill people, so you disguised yourself as Owl to command these yokai!” At this point, Ishikawa suddenly raised his voice, shouting even louder.

“Yes, listen to me! This so-called Owl is not a yokai! She is a Divine Messenger of Inari, a Spirit Beast! The proof is that she cannot kill with her own hands! Has anyone ever seen someone who cannot kill with their own hands—”

Before Ishikawa could finish his words, Miketsu had already drawn her sword. With a cold, stark flash cutting through the darkness, Ishikawa’s head fell from his neck, his arrogant expression frozen as it hit the ground, and his headless body sprayed blood as it toppled backward.

Under the blessing of Yaksha power, Miketsu’s sword strike was incredibly fast, so fast that the blood didn't even have time to stain the white blade, so fast that the crowd of yokai couldn't even clearly see what had happened for a moment.

Slowly sheathing the Blade of the Three Realms in her hand, Miketsu stood in place, looking around. Her crimson single eye swept over the yokai. Those yokai caught by Miketsu’s gaze felt an extremely ancient and profound sense of fear rise from within them. This even made them involuntarily take two steps back, and they instinctively wanted to flee immediately.

Fortunately, this incredibly profound sense of fear emanating from Owl dissipated after only an instant, which made everyone present breathe a sigh of relief. However, that previous sensation had already left a very deep impression on these yokai.

Just a glance could make yokai feel such profound fear from the bottom of their hearts. Could such a being be a Divine Messenger or a Spirit Beast? That human was indeed delirious and spouting nonsense at the brink of death. The yokai present thought so.

“Clean him up…”

Looking at Ishikawa’s corpse on the ground, Miketsu said indifferently, then she turned and left. The yokai in the crowd who enjoyed eating corpses quickly swarmed over after Miketsu left, swiftly devouring Ishikawa’s body until nothing remained.

…

Miketsu left the yokai crowd and came alone into the dark forest. At this moment, soft whispers drifted into her ear.

“How does it feel…?

“The feeling of personally killing an enemy… the feeling of personally punishing a villain… the feeling of personally slaying a human…”

Miketsu was not unfamiliar with this whispering voice; it was her own. But she knew who was speaking to her using that voice right now. It was her syncretism partner, the fierce Buddhist deity — Dakini-ten.

To suppress the unrestrained benevolence towards humans within Inari Okami’s divine virtue, Miketsu, for the first time, actively performed a low-level syncretism with Dakini-ten, briefly integrating Dakini-ten’s bloodthirsty divine virtue, allowing herself to truly wield a blade and personally kill Ishikawa.

This was also the source of the fear the yokai felt. In that moment, what was watching them could, in a sense, be said to be Dakini-ten, that bloodthirsty Asura fierce Buddhist deity.

“Hmm… it doesn’t feel too bad, after all, some people deserve to die…” Miketsu murmured, responding to Dakini-ten within her mind through their link, speaking honestly.

“Heh heh, yes, some people do deserve to die. For a supreme benevolent god to say such things, you truly are interesting, I didn't misjudge you!

“Oh, right~ I forgot to tell you earlier, the hearts and livers of wicked people are incredibly delicious… You should have tried it just now, instead of wasting it like that…” With an enticing tone, Dakini-ten’s words continued to drift in Miketsu’s ear, and Miketsu involuntarily twitched the corner of her mouth. Suddenly, she remembered that one of this fierce Buddhist deity’s preferences was to feast on human hearts…

“Uh… I’ll pass on that…”

“Heh heh, you’ll try it eventually. I look forward to our next collaboration…”

As she spoke, Dakini-ten’s voice within Miketsu’s mind grew fainter and fainter, finally settling into silence. Their syncretism was now dissolved. Seeing this, Miketsu couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief.

Ever since transmigrating to this world, the Inari foxes had always been her most loyal subordinates and closest family. When Miketsu first heard from Konkiku about the Inari foxes’ century-long plight, she resolved to help her kin overcome their difficulties and make those ungrateful fox hunters pay a heavy price.

All fox hunters this year must die; this was something Miketsu had decided long ago. She had originally planned to use her identity as Owl to command yokai to kill the fox hunters, but Ishikawa’s disgusting expression in his final moments stirred Miketsu herself to kill.

Miketsu didn't specifically slay Ishikawa out of fear that Owl's non-yokai identity would be exposed; she simply wanted to personally eliminate the foxes' enemy.

Thus, to kill a human, Miketsu performed syncretism with Dakini-ten for the first time. For this, she had prepared to deal with Dakini-ten’s low-level encroachment, but the subsequent outcome was somewhat beyond her expectations.

“Is this what syncretism feels like? It seems the impact isn’t very significant?”

Miketsu raised her hand to her eyes and spoke. What had she imagined syncretism would be like? Would her consciousness be encroached upon by Dakini-ten? Would she lose control of herself?

However, after the actual syncretism, Miketsu found that her consciousness hadn’t been significantly affected. Besides whispering in her ear, Dakini-ten did nothing else. She still maintained control of her body as usual, and there were no signs of her consciousness being encroached upon.

According to Byakuren, an evil god like Dakini-ten shouldn't miss an opportunity to encroach, right? So what exactly happened just now?

Dakini-ten didn't encroach upon her. Was it because she had a sudden burst of kindness? Or because the degree of syncretism was too low for encroachment? Or had she already encroached, and Miketsu simply hadn't noticed?

Various questions arose in her mind, and Miketsu couldn't help but begin to ponder.