In the sky above the island in Ogura Pond, violent fire clouds swirled everywhere. Sharp demonic energy claws tore through the fire clouds again and again, but soon these fire clouds would gather once more, rushing back towards the owner of the demonic claws, endlessly, repeatedly.
"Ha, I'd like to see how long you can last! Mongrel!" Kaen laughed, controlling the swirling fire clouds as they surged towards Toga. Toga tore through the fire clouds again and again, but was thus firmly restrained, unable to launch an effective counterattack.
Toga remained silent, keenly aware that the current situation was not optimistic. Thanks to the power of blood sacrifice, Kaen's strength was almost inexhaustible, while his own was gradually being depleted.
More critically, based on past experience fighting leopard cat yokai, the power of blood sacrifice would gradually increase with the number of sacrificed beings. If they couldn't find a way to resolve the blood sacrifice ritual, their side would have no chance of winning.
The emergence of the power of blood sacrifice had changed the battle not just for Toga and Miketsu, but Yura also felt immense pressure.
Yura, who was using shikigami to block the cave entrance and clear out ordinary leopard cat yokai, suddenly realized that the group of leopard cat yokai she faced had become increasingly fierce and frenzied. Blood-red light stained their eyes, and their attacks grew reckless, trading blows. Unless fatally wounded, they would rise again no matter how many times they were knocked down or cut. Under such a relentless assault, her shikigami had already sustained injuries to varying degrees.
This situation reminded her of what her master had once told her: the power of blood sacrifice that the leopard cat yokai had accidentally acquired a century ago, a power they had relied on to rapidly rise and occupy Harima.
"Haa... haa... These guys, they dare to do this even in Heian-kyo..." Surrounded by yokai, Yura panted, muttering to herself, while tightening her grip on the talismans in her hand. After truly witnessing the power of blood sacrifice for the first time, Yura became even more determined not to let any leopard cat yokai pass.
...
Underground on the island, in a massive cave not far from the Vermilion Bird Seal, Miketsu and Torin's battle continued. Torin, having absorbed the power of blood sacrifice, was proving unexpectedly difficult for Miketsu to handle.
"Cold Blizzard..."
As the blade swung through the air, a freezing frost storm swept towards Miketsu. Having lost Tsuruha and unable to rely on foxfire, Miketsu again threw two Paper Cranes, which exploded in mid-air. The heat and air currents generated by the spiritual power explosion neutralized the demonic cold wind, but the cost was two fewer Paper Cranes in her sleeve.
Torin stepped forward, and under the blessing of the power of blood sacrifice, he darted out with arrow-like speed, piercing through the still-dissipating explosion smoke, and instantly appeared before Miketsu.
Having determined his direction beforehand, and using the smoke as cover for a sudden close-quarters assault, this unexpected move would have instantly killed anyone else. But in Miketsu's eyes, who could see through causality, it had already been anticipated.
Barely dodging the attack by a hair's breadth from the cold blade, Miketsu used the spiritual power acceleration of the Yu-step to quickly widen the distance from Torin, then immediately detonated the exploding talismans she had left behind.
With another roar, the explosion once again engulfed Torin. But just like before, Torin suffered no substantial damage. After the dust was scattered by the icy wind, Torin reappeared with only a layer of shattered ice on his body and one foot injured by the blast, which was rapidly healing under the power of blood sacrifice.
"That truly is, evil demonic sorcery..." From a distance, Miketsu muttered to herself, watching Torin rapidly recover, but her words were overheard by Torin.
"Evil? This power is certainly evil, but don't get it wrong, this isn't demonic sorcery, nor is it the power of us yokai." With a mocking tone, Torin slowly spoke.
"What I despise most is your disgusting human self-righteousness. You think this power is evil? But I tell you, it was obtained from you humans..."
Hearing Torin's words, Miketsu's heart trembled. She had initially thought this power of blood sacrifice originated from yokai dark arts, but to her surprise, the other party claimed it was obtained from humans?
What exactly was going on?
Only then did Miketsu notice that the eerie blood mist coiling around Torin was not demonic power, nor spiritual power. It was a power she had never seen, could not identify, and was indescribable.
"Ice Puppet..."
Torin didn't wait for Miketsu to ponder further. He swung his blade again, and surging demonic energy condensed into solid ice chunks in mid-air. The ice continuously molded itself, forming a five to six-meter tall leopard cat made entirely of ice.
The giant leopard cat roared, then lunged fiercely at Miketsu. Startled, Miketsu used her causality vision to dodge in advance, only to be met with the ice leopard cat's next attack...
"Hmph, quite nimble, aren't you..." Torin snorted, watching Miketsu continuously dodge the ice leopard cat's attacks. He then plunged his blade into the ground, and with his blade as the center, a smooth, mirror-like ice surface rapidly spread out, quickly covering the entire floor of the massive cave.
Miketsu, entangled with the ice leopard cat, suddenly felt her feet slip, nearly losing her balance. In this state, she barely dodged a massive claw strike, but immediately afterward, she was unable to defend against Torin, who came thrusting forward.
Under the combined adverse effects of the slippery ground and the Ice Puppet, Miketsu saw through causality that this strike was unavoidable; no matter what she chose, she would be pierced.
Damn it...
Torin's sharp blade struck Miketsu, but unexpectedly did not pierce her. The immense force sent Miketsu's light figure flying, crashing into the rock wall behind her.
"Cough... cough..."
Miketsu, aching all over from the fall, struggled to stand up. Her black robe in front had been partially torn by Torin's blade, revealing something underneath.
It was a Fox Mask, which had just helped Miketsu block the blade, and it was completely unharmed afterward!
At this moment, a wisp of faint light appeared in the Fox Mask's eyes.
...
It was a confined, dim space, surrounded by rock walls. The only light source came from the top of the space, the bright moonlight shining down from a circular well opening.
Under the moonlight, a giant white fox sat on the ground, looking up at the starry sky outside through the well opening.
This was a fox several times larger than Tsuruha. It had white fur, slender ears, and red markings coiling around its body. Its two tails were bound by iron rings, with large bells tied to them, and illusory masks floated around its neck.
Beneath the Two-Tailed Giant Fox was a dense magical array spreading out in circles. Oh gods, its body was stained with many bloodstains, and in many places, its fur was messily parted, revealing horrifying scars underneath.
"You've come again..." The Two-Tailed Giant Fox spoke with a male voice, though he wasn't looking at anyone at the moment.
"I told you, I'll come to see you every now and then. It's a promise." Answering the white fox was a clear, youthful voice.
In the shadows behind the white fox, a young onmyoji with white hair, purple eyes, and dressed in a Kariginu gently watched the white fox before him.
"I told you there's no need, don't bother me anymore!" The white fox suddenly turned its head, looking at the boy and speaking with a clearly angry tone.
"This place... is very dangerous..."
Looking at the white fox before him, the boy named Seimei smiled faintly.
"Why would it be unnecessary? I told you, I will find your name and return your freedom.
"After all, we are friends."
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