The Void

Within the Fox Hunt Realm, with Miketsu's final full draw and shot, a golden, shimmering arrow flew from the bowstring, transforming into a torrent of light that surged towards the Great Snake, already incapacitated. When the Great Snake was struck by this brilliant light, the Arrows of Light previously embedded in its body resonated, and the divine power deeply permeating its body was instantly detonated. A massive burst of energy erupted from within the Great Snake, tearing apart every inch of its flesh.

Accompanied by a thunderous roar that shook heaven and earth, the brilliant light of the explosion bleached the world of its color. A powerful shockwave raged outwards from the epicenter of the blast, blowing away nearby rice stalks and toppling Torii gates. It didn't stop until it reached far distances, stirring up waves across the vast rice fields there.

As the light faded and the fierce winds subsided, the Fox Hunt Realm slowly returned to its former tranquility. The earth-shattering explosion left behind only a circular crater, dozens of meters in radius, at the site. Radiating outwards from the crater, rice stalks were blown away for a long distance, Torii gates and stone statues were leveled, creating a desolate scene. Miketsu, flying through the sky on Tsuruha, couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed at the sight below.

“Uh... was that a bit too powerful? It's my first time using divine power to detonate something, so I didn't quite get the hang of it... Next time, I can be a bit gentler... By the way, this place can recover, right...? Otherwise, it would be too regrettable if I damaged the foxes' resting place after death.”

Muttering to herself, Miketsu flew on Tsuruha towards the giant crater at the center of the explosion. She needed to confirm the Great Snake's condition now. Previously, creatures affected by it had gained extremely powerful vitality, their lives incredibly tenacious. Now, facing the true essence of the Great Snake's power, Miketsu dared not be careless, even though the previous explosion was so strong that no one would believe any creature could have survived it.

Flying to the edge of the massive crater, Miketsu descended on Tsuruha. Standing at the rim, Miketsu looked into the crater, and a hint of surprise appeared on her face.

“It actually... wasn't completely annihilated...”

Inside the crater, the original Great Snake had vanished, replaced by countless shattered fragments of snake bones. The hardness of these snake bones exceeded Miketsu's imagination. Not only was Kishin power unable to cut them, but even such a powerful divine energy explosion just now only shattered these Great Snake bones, rather than evaporating and annihilating them like its flesh.

These snake bone fragments floated in mid-air under a strange power, glowing with a faint purple light, a subtle sinister energy still clinging to them. Seeing this anomaly, Miketsu, thinking the snake bones would reassemble, immediately tightened her grip on her divine bow. However, events did not unfold as she had imagined.

The floating snake bone fragments began to rapidly disappear, bit by bit, losing their form and vanishing as if directly swallowed by space itself. In Miketsu's perception, these snake bones were departing her divine domain, heading into the unknown. It was clear that after the Great Snake's flesh was evaporated and its bones shattered, the scattered fragments were immediately pulled by an unseen force, forcibly departing the Fox Hunt Realm. By the time Miketsu arrived, more than half of the snake bones had already vanished into space. Seeing this, Miketsu immediately drew her bow and shot an Arrow of Light, striking the largest remaining snake bone. That bone was pierced and shattered by Miketsu's Arrow of Light, but this did not prevent the bones from escaping the Fox Hunt Realm; the even finer fragments quickly disappeared.

“These bones can actually forcibly leave a divine domain... Lady Uka, where did they go?” Tsuruha asked with a look of surprise at the situation. Miketsu paused slightly before replying.

“Probably... to its master...”

...

To the west of Heian-kyo, on the battlefield where the Tsuchigumo was once fought, the humans and Yokai who had been expelled from the Fox Hunt Realm by Miketsu for their protection had now awakened. They stared in astonishment at the distorted, hazy space before them. Confusion and bewilderment, surprise and curiosity... various expressions mingled on different faces. People wondered with doubt and concern about the scene beyond the distortion, many guessing that the battle with the terrifying Great Snake was continuing within it.

After a ripple, the distorted space gradually began to return to normal. The hazy illusion became real again, and the rewritten world swiftly reverted to its original state. However, the terrifying Great Snake was now nowhere to be seen, and everyone understood that the battle had reached its final conclusion.

Disbanding the Fox Hunt Realm, Miketsu, who had already been hovering high in the sky, quickly left the battlefield on Tsuruha and landed far away.

“Phew... let's rest here for a bit, Tsuruha. I'm waiting for Makoto; I sent her to the shrine to get something...”

Taking a deep breath, Miketsu said this after sheathing the Blade of the Three Realms, which had returned to its original katana form.

“Hmm... Lady Uka, aren't you going back to the shrine to rest? You must be very tired now, right?” Tsuruha asked Miketsu with concern.

“I wish I could... but now isn't the time to rest. There are still so many matters on both the Yokai and human sides...” Miketsu said, rubbing her temples with a weary expression. As Owl, she had summoned the Hundred Demons to the capital and certainly couldn't abandon them. And the Three Great Clans had also previously requested a meeting with Asakura Hao. So, even though the boss was defeated, there was still a huge pile of aftermath to deal with. Now Miketsu was just waiting for Makoto to bring Owl's and Asakura Hao's clothes so she could immediately switch identities and handle things, which gave her a headache as she was already physically and mentally exhausted from the continuous battles.

Managing three accounts simultaneously and having to grind on all of them was truly overwhelming... Miketsu sincerely hoped that deities weren't at risk of going bald.

Darkness, void. This was a space of nothingness where nothing existed. Within this infinite nothingness, a faint purple light appeared out of thin air.

Fragments of bones rapidly materialized in the dim purple light. These shattered bone fragments drifted in the empty space, continuously gathering and combining under the pull of some force. Vertebrae, ribs, a skull... the Great Snake's skeleton, which had battled Miketsu, continuously took shape as the fragments coalesced. Eventually, all parts quickly reassembled, except for the tailbone.

The hundreds-of-meters-long giant snake skeleton was fully reassembled. It then twisted its body, lacking its final tailbone, and “swam” towards the depths of the darkness. There, an indescribable colossal entity gradually appeared. The snake skeleton “swam” towards the entity, which was several times larger than itself. As it did so, it inverted its body, its tail “swimming” towards the opposite direction of the colossal entity, eventually connecting to it, its tail merging with it. The snake skeleton moved slowly in space, as if it were a naturally grown part of the colossal entity. Beside it, there were seven other Great Snake skeletons of the same size. Their ends were all connected, joining the massive body behind them, merging into a single entity.

In the empty space, an ancient voice slowly echoed.

“Susanoo's Daughter, eh... Interesting...”

Among the eight skeletal heads, a phantom humanoid figure vaguely emerged. A faint smile gradually formed on its pale face.

“All myths are lies. What truth lies beneath your lies? It's truly something to look forward to...”