Purification and the Power Fantasy Trope

At midnight, within a withered forest on the outskirts of Kyoto filled with miasma, the massive form of Hagoromo Gitsune lay powerless on the ground. Countless Demon-Slaying Light Arrows were embedded in her body, their Demon-Slaying Power ruthlessly suppressing her demonic energy and leaving her unable to resist.

Miketsu, still in her festival attire, floated in the firmament. She looked down at the struggling Hagoromo Gitsune, clearly sensing that the Great Snake's power was still deeply eroding her soul. This level of corruption had almost completely fused the Snake's essence with her spirit. While it granted Hagoromo Gitsune an incredible form of immortality, it had also twisted her core.

This was no longer a matter that could be settled simply by using Inari's Demon-Slaying Power. This was why the Inari God and Hagoromo Gitsune had been locked in a cycle of conflict for a thousand years without a final resolution. However, with Miketsu herself present this time, the situation was different.

Watching the purple-black hue within Hagoromo Gitsune's pupils, Miketsu reached out her hand. For a brief moment, her own eyes were veiled in that same purple-black, and her crimson pupils turned golden, taking on a serpentine appearance.

Suddenly, the agonizingly struggling Hagoromo Gitsune let out a thunderous roar. Countless purple-black wisps of energy erupted from beneath her fur, coalescing into strands of smoke that gathered into Miketsu's palm, where they were completely absorbed.

Having already devoured the Snake God's divine soul, Miketsu was now reclaiming the power he had scattered. Though she was not yet proficient in wielding the Great Snake's power, reclaiming his external fragments was well within her capabilities. Faced with the corrupted Hagoromo Gitsune, Miketsu chose not to force a purification; instead, she chose to simply withdraw the Great Snake's power from her body.

As the power of the Snake vanished, Hagoromo Gitsune's struggles gradually slowed. The purple-black glow in her eyes faded into a dull shimmer. Seeing that she had finally settled, Miketsu gave a light wave of her hand. The light arrows vanished instantly, and Hagoromo Gitsune's massive true form rapidly shrank amidst a halo of light, eventually returning to the form of the woman in black.

"I... I..." Clutching her head, Hagoromo Gitsune muttered in disbelief. For the first time in a thousand years, her mind felt clear. Her thoughts were no longer muddled, and the whispers that had plagued her were gone.

Looking at her own hands, Hagoromo Gitsune began to tremble. Deprived of the Great Snake's influence, her mode of thinking was drastically different from before. As she reflected on her past actions, an irrepressible sense of guilt surged within her heart.

After all, Hagoromo Gitsune was not inherently an evil yokai. She had originally been nothing more than a mother seeking a quiet corner of the world.

"What have I done? The me from before! No! That wasn't me... that was..."

Seeing that Hagoromo Gitsune's mental state was still somewhat unstable, Miketsu gave a gentle wave of her hand, casting a soft golden glow over her. Under this light, the fox's agitated expression gradually calmed. She looked up dazed at Miketsu, then bowed deeply to the ground.

"Lady Uka... this sinful fox has committed countless atrocities over the millennium. To vanish alongside the Snake Evil God would have been my best end. Why... why do you still show mercy to one such as I?"

Bowing low, Hagoromo Gitsune spoke with utmost sincerity. Miketsu looked down at her and murmured softly.

"Though your crimes were great, you were merely a pawn manipulated by the Great Snake's remnants. Essentially, you were just a victim. Moreover, every one of your past lives ended in tragedy, and your soul has fallen into Hell multiple times to pay for your sins. In a sense, you have already answered for your past. As for the great sins of this life, I erased them before they could be committed. While you are not entirely free of sin, I do not wish to judge you for them."

Miketsu spoke slowly. Hagoromo Gitsune looked up, her expression still filled with confusion. At that moment, Miketsu reached out toward Tsuruha. Understanding the gesture, Tsuruha took a letter from her sleeve and respectfully placed it in Miketsu's hand.

"As for the reason... it is because of a deathbed request from a friend of mine a thousand years ago. He entrusted my Divine Messenger to give this letter to you."

As she spoke, Miketsu dropped the envelope. It drifted light as a feather into Hagoromo Gitsune's hands. With a bewildered expression, Hagoromo Gitsune opened the ancient letter and pulled out a sheet of white paper. Written upon it were elegant characters she knew all too well.

"This..." Looking at the letter, Hagoromo Gitsune's eyes widened, and her body began to tremble once more. An indescribable shock rocked her very soul.

Seeing her reaction, Tsuruha, floating beside Miketsu, spoke slowly.

"This is a letter left by the Great Onmyoji who guarded Heian-kyo a thousand years ago, Abe no Seimei, for his mother—Kuzunoha. It seems he foresaw long ago that you would become a pawn for his own dark half. He wished to stop you personally, but as a human, his lifespan could not reach the day of your reincarnation. Thus, he specially left this letter. He sealed his image into the letter with a technique and gave it to us, hoping we could use it to wake you in the future."

"But unfortunately, the degree of your contamination far exceeded our expectations. We tried to wake you with this letter during your first reincarnation. Although it had some effect at first, the Great Snake's remnants eventually erased your consciousness and destroyed the spell within the letter. In the end, our attempt resulted in failure. However, we have kept the letter with us until now."

As Hagoromo Gitsune listened to Tsuruha's words, tears streamed from her eyes and she began to sob. Under the control of Dark Seimei, she hadn't even known of the existence of the other Seimei.

"In this world... have I truly not lost him completely? Lady Uka?" Having finished reading the letter, Hagoromo Gitsune slowly raised her head toward Miketsu. Miketsu responded with a slight nod.

"Yes. Though he has likely undergone countless cycles of reincarnation. Right now, his current incarnation is still in this mortal world. You... can go find him," Miketsu said gently. Hearing this, Hagoromo Gitsune spoke with overjoyed surprise.

"Is... is it true!? I can see Seimei again?"

"You can. But I must remind you: this life is this life, and past lives are past lives. Even if you eventually find him, do not simply equate him with the Seimei of a thousand years ago. It is best not to force him to be that Seimei. Otherwise, it might lead to a result neither of you desires. Do you understand, Kuzunoha?"

Seeing Hagoromo Gitsune's joyous expression, Miketsu reminded her seriously. This was a piece of advice gained from the experiences of Inuyasha and Kagome.

"I understand! Thank you, Lady Uka! Once this sinful fox finds Seimei, I will serve Inari for all eternity to seek atonement..."

Hearing Miketsu's words, Hagoromo Gitsune bowed deeply once more.

Within the Secret Realm on the outskirts of Kyoto, the purified Hagoromo Gitsune had already departed. Miketsu and Tsuruha remained floating in the sky, both looking toward the direction where she had gone.

"Lady Uka, do you think Kuzunoha will find Seimei's reincarnation?" Tsuruha asked curiously. Miketsu simply waved her hand.

"Who knows? Let fate decide. When the time is right, she will find him." As she spoke, Miketsu began flying away.

'Wait... isn't every thread of fate in this world just a matter of your whim?' Tsuruha thought to herself with a bit of a dry smile, then followed after Miketsu.

'But since Lady Uka took the initiative to say that, she won't withhold that fate...' Tsuruha reasoned further. Indeed, just as she thought, Miketsu had already granted Hagoromo Gitsune enough luck to find Seimei's reincarnation.

"Come to think of it, what is Seimei's current reincarnation like? What will happen when Kuzunoha finds him?" Just as Miketsu was about to leave, she suddenly thought of this question. She casually pinched her fingers to calculate, tracing the karmic ties left over from her past connection with Seimei to find his current status. Suddenly, her brow furrowed slightly.

"Seventeen years old... a high school student? The bullied doormat of his class? His hidden identity is the trash-tier heir of a modern Onmyo clan? A loser of Onmyodo looked down upon by his family? His talent is so poor he can't even enter the Imperial Onmyo Academy?"

After calculating the current state of Seimei's reincarnation, Miketsu couldn't help but rub her chin playfully while flying. She never expected that the genius Great Onmyoji Abe no Seimei from a thousand years ago would be in such a state in this life. 'I didn't expect it at all. Didn't they say a soul carries its natural talent through inheritance? I guess losing half your soul really does have consequences,' Miketsu thought.

Clearly, the current state of Seimei's reincarnation was related to his missing half-soul. It didn't matter as an ordinary person, but if he touched Onmyodo or attempted cultivation, there would be massive problems.

'However, now that Hagoromo Gitsune is going to find him... with her methods, she'll have plenty of ways to make the current Seimei rise again,' Miketsu mused. Suddenly, she realized something else.

'Wait... the bullied doormat in class... the family failure... the cultivation trash... one day, a beautiful great fox yokai comes to his door and gives him total care and protection, thus turning his life around and making those who once looked down on him regret everything as he steps toward the peak of life... damn, this is a classic power fantasy trope! If you added a broken engagement plot or something...'

'Right, and Hagoromo Gitsune's beauty and figure in this life are top-tier, plus she's an extreme doting mother. If Seimei's reincarnation is a seventeen-year-old boy being pampered by an older sister figure, will he start having dangerous thoughts?' Thinking this, Miketsu shook her head vigorously. Her interest was piqued; she wondered if she should check in on their progress in a while. Every possible development seemed so interesting.

"In any case, I need to make sure things don't become too uncontrollable. The plot is fun, but it shouldn't go too far. I'll need to keep observing."

As she flew through the night sky, Miketsu nodded to herself, her heart full of a spectator's anticipation. She felt that her life wouldn't be boring for quite a while.

Under the enthusiastic announcement of the current Hata Clan Chief Priest, this year's Inari Festival came to a successful conclusion, and the city of Kyoto was quickly swept by a wave of people heading home.

Of course, with Rin Hayakawa's departure, Miketsu also bid farewell to Tsuruha to return to Tokyo. At the end of the Inari Festival, when Tsuruha asked when Miketsu would officially return to the shrine as the Inari God, Miketsu simply replied that after observing through the festival, she was very satisfied with how Inari was currently running. Whether it was Tsuruha or the various levels below her, everyone had shown extremely high professional quality. It was thanks to the diligent efforts of these professionals that Inari had achieved its current development.

Looking at Inari's current state, Miketsu told Tsuruha that she, a leader who hadn't managed things for a thousand years, was outdated. In terms of both professionalism and experience, she was far inferior to them, so she wouldn't come and mess up their work for now.

Hearing Miketsu's words, Tsuruha was momentarily speechless. After suppressing her urge to complain, she politely asked when Miketsu would officially return to Inari as Uka-no-Mitama-no-Kami. Miketsu then said:

"Well, Tsuruha, you see, I'm only a fourteen-year-old student right now. I have to at least wait until I graduate from university, right? That's the right time to start looking for a job!"

With that one sentence, Miketsu left Tsuruha speechless. Tsuruha could only watch at the airport as Miketsu boarded her private jet and leisurely flew back toward Tokyo.