Arrow of Light

Within the Fox Hunt Realm, the Great Snake rampaged. After Miketsu repeatedly dispelled its attacks and even sealed its breath using the Demon-Slaying Power derived from her divine authority, the Great Snake began to seek new ways to counter her. Releasing a corrosive toxic mist to cover itself, it then sought a new method of attack.

The Yokai whose flesh and souls the Great Snake had once devoured now emerged from beneath its scales. Their souls enslaved, they were given new flesh and new bodies to fight for the Great Snake.

Amidst a series of piercing shrieks, grotesque flesh puppets flew out from the purple mist, charging directly towards Miketsu. The Great Snake’s power could easily modify bodies, so these flesh puppets were all endowed with wings, allowing them to pursue Miketsu, who was flying at high speed atop Tsuruha.

The flesh puppets soared into the sky. Tsuruha, beneath Miketsu, immediately opened her mouth and spewed out large swaths of Foxfire, engulfing the puppets that attacked head-on. However, most of the puppets still skillfully dodged Tsuruha’s Foxfire, opening their mouths from various positions to spray purplish-red beams of light at Miketsu. The Great Snake’s bodily modifications had not only given them wings but also the ability to breathe fire!

Innumerable tiny beams of light wove into a dense net, attempting to ensnare Miketsu. Tsuruha swiftly darted through this demonic light net, seemingly at risk of being struck at any moment.

Facing the hundreds of flesh puppets summoned by the Great Snake and their dense assault, Miketsu reached out her hand. Streams of divine power flowed across her palm, eventually condensing into exquisite bronze bells linked in circles to a wooden handle—a Kagura suzu used by Miko during rituals.

Miketsu gently shook the Kagura suzu, and its ethereal chime instantly resonated throughout the entire Fox Hunt Realm. Then, as if responding to this sound, long, drawn-out fox cries echoed from the rice fields below.

Within the boundless rice fields, amidst the golden rice ears, illusory figures gradually appeared. These were foxes of various forms, emitting a faint glow, their bodies semi-transparent, existing between illusion and reality, flickering as if real.

They were the foxes of Inari, or more precisely, the souls of Inari foxes. As followers of Inari Okami, the Inari foxes, after death, were spared the suffering of reincarnation in the animal realm and could be reborn into Miketsu’s divine domain, living an eternal, heavenly existence there. When Miketsu had need, they would still fight for her to the best of their abilities as Divine Messengers, and the recent chime was the signal to summon them.

The spirit fox souls, with their agile forms, leaped into the air, transforming into streaks of light that flew from the rice fields, charging towards the flesh puppets commanded by the Great Snake, engaging them in battle.

“Everyone… is living carefree in Lady Uka’s divine domain. This is truly wonderful…” Tsuruha, beneath Miketsu, couldn’t help but exclaim as she observed the scene. Among these foxes, almost all were familiar to her, having mostly died during the period after Inari Okami’s slumber, when the Inari fox population dwindled due to hunting.

“They will no longer suffer…”

Miketsu softly replied to Tsuruha. With the Inari fox souls joining the battle, the Great Snake’s flesh puppets could no longer focus their attacks on Miketsu.

Because the fox souls could materialize their spiritual forms, their speed was incredibly fast. They could often tear the muddled puppets to shreds with their sharp claws before the puppets could even react. Being within Miketsu’s divine domain, even if their spiritual bodies were dispersed by puppet attacks, they would re-coalesce elsewhere and rejoin the assault, completely unharmed.

Compared to the fox souls fighting with their own will, the flesh puppets, whose souls were forcibly enslaved, appeared muddled and incredibly sluggish. They were in a passive state against the agile soul foxes, who benefited from home-field advantage. Although their wounds could heal quickly under the Great Snake’s power, once killed, they had to transform into blood mist, return to the Great Snake, and be reassembled before they could rejoin the fight.

For a time, the soul foxes gained the upper hand on the battlefield. The number of flesh puppets commanded by the Great Snake sharply decreased. However, since these puppets would revert to blood mist and return to the Great Snake to reconstruct new bodies after being killed, the soul foxes were unable to completely annihilate them.

Seeing this, Miketsu, riding on Tsuruha, spoke directly. Sacred chants, imbued with divine power, emanated from Miketsu’s mouth, echoing throughout the Fox Hunt Realm. These were the scriptures of the Rebirth Sutra; even in her form as a Shinto deity, Miketsu could still wield Buddhist power!

Under Miketsu’s chanting of rebirth, the Yokai souls within the flesh puppets killed by the soul foxes were directly guided to the Underworld, thus preventing them from returning to the Great Snake’s body. Once the Great Snake lost these Yokai souls, even if it could create flesh puppets, they would lack autonomy, requiring it to expend energy to control every detail—truly becoming “puppets” in every sense of the word.

Feeling the rapid loss and transcendence of the external souls, and realizing that continuing to create flesh puppets would only weaken itself, the Great Snake ceased its current actions. It then roared, scattering the charging fox souls, and reared its hundred-meter-tall body high. Powerful energy surged beneath its skin, and purplish-red light overflowed from its scales. Even without the ability to breathe, the Great Snake was rapidly gathering its energy.

“Is this thing trying to self-destruct? Does it want to blow up its body along with the demon-sealing arrow to recover, or is it directly using all its power for a mutual destruction?”

Miketsu, riding on Tsuruha, immediately assessed the Great Snake’s current state and promptly responded.

Miketsu once again drew her Divine Qian Heavenly Bow, and a demon-sealing light arrow appeared on the bowstring. However, this time Miketsu did not shoot the arrow directly at the Great Snake but instead fired it towards the sky.

“Sacred Arrow Rain…”

The Arrow of Light burst open in the sky like fireworks, splitting into countless identical Arrows of Light that rained down upon the Great Snake below. This was the proliferation of attack, much like how spring seeds grow into autumn rice ears—such a phenomenon of multiplying from few to many was a manifestation of Miketsu’s power of prosperity.

Arrows like rain pierced every part of the Great Snake’s body. Instantly, Miketsu’s divine power permeated every inch of the Great Snake, suppressing all the internal energy surges. The Great Snake, covered in light arrows like a porcupine, hissed and collapsed to the ground like a deflated balloon.

“It’s time to end this…”

Tsuruha descended from the sky to the rice fields. Miketsu, standing among the rice ears, faced the now powerless Great Snake and softly murmured. She then drew her bowstring once more, and immense divine power gathered. An incomparably dazzling Arrow of Light, different from the previous ones, condensed on the bowstring. Under the influence of Miketsu’s authority, the energy contained within the Arrow of Light rapidly amplified.

The gentle breeze within the Fox Hunt Realm rustled Miketsu’s clothes and hair. The Arrow of Light, overflowing with divine power, had gathered sufficient energy. With inner tranquility, Miketsu released the bowstring, and in a blinding flash, a torrent of light engulfed the Great Snake.