Under the dark sky, the battle on the island in Ogura Pond continued. With the ongoing attrition, the situation grew increasingly unfavorable for Miketsu and Toga.
In the sky, Toga was exhausted dealing with Kaen's endless fire clouds. On the ground, Yura's shikigami were also battered everywhere, facing countless leopard cat yokai that kept rising again.
All of this was due to the Blood Sacrifice Power obtained by the leopard cat yokai from slaughtering humans. The sphere of blood mist suspended in mid-air on the beach provided all the leopard cat yokai on the island with life recovery and power enhancement buffs. Except for Torin, who was deep underground, too far away, and blocked by thick rock layers, all leopard cat yokai received real-time and effective support from the Blood Sacrifice Power, and the intensity of this support was directly linked to the number of living beings sacrificed.
Both Toga and Yura understood that if they didn't resolve the source of the Blood Sacrifice Power, they had no chance of winning this battle. But at this moment, they were both busy dealing with their respective enemies, with no time to find where the source of the Blood Sacrifice Power was, let alone stop it, without even knowing its location.
Facing the seemingly endless horde of leopard cat yokai that kept reviving, Yura felt increasingly tired. Just then, a figure swiftly darted out from behind her. Before she could react, this figure rapidly traversed through the besieging leopard cat yokai, speeding towards the north.
At this very moment, the bloody ritual was still unfolding on the northern beach of the island. Under the demonic claws of the leopard cat yokai, the beach was now covered with human corpses. So far, nearly half of two groups of humans had unfortunately perished, and the sphere of blood mist floating in mid-air had grown much larger than it was initially.
The burly leopard cat yokai contentedly flexed his newly regenerated hand, then scanned his surroundings, looking at the bloody and cruel scene.
“It's time, bring up the third wave quickly!” With a roar from the burly leopard cat yokai, his subordinate leopard cat yokai hastened their work. They swiftly moved the corpses out of the sacrificial circle, then dragged another group of humans into the circle, trampling them underfoot.
Despair infected everyone who was captured. Yet, no matter how they struggled, it was utterly futile. Many simply closed their eyes, silently awaiting death.
Just then, a golden foxfire swept through the leopard cat yokai horde, engulfing many standing leopard cat yokai, including those preparing to perform the sacrifice. Since all the humans were trampled on the ground by the leopard cat yokai, they were completely untouched by the flames due to the height difference.
“En, en... Ugh!”
The burly leopard cat yokai was stunned. Just as he was about to shout “enemy attack,” a gray-black blur shot out from the woods at the edge of the island, pouncing on him and tearing through his throat with sharp fangs.
Standing on the corpse of the burly leopard cat yokai, Tsuruha spat out a mouthful of blood. She silently watched the terrified leopard cat yokai on the field, as golden flames gathered in her mouth.
There weren't many leopard cat yokai left on the beach to perform the blood sacrifice ritual, and Tsuruha could handle them relatively easily on her own. Finally, after she burned most of them to death, the remaining stragglers fled.
Looking at the bloody scene before her, Tsuruha sighed. Although she had successfully prevented the leopard cat yokai from continuing the blood sacrifice, nearly half of the people had already been slaughtered on the spot.
After Tsuruha bit through the ropes that bound them, the people, saved from certain death, excitedly knelt before her, worshipping her as a fox spirit and a divine being.
At this, Tsuruha's heart stirred.
“I am not a deity, I am a divine messenger. Your prayers were heard by a compassionate deity, and she sent me to rescue you. This place is very dangerous, go back while the ice has not yet melted.”
As she spoke these words, Tsuruha's heart was filled with emotion, an inexpressible feeling rising within her. After more than a hundred years, she had once again appeared before the world as a divine messenger.
For a century, Tsuruha had maintained her identity as a divine messenger, but no deity had ever given her any mission. Now, once again before the world, she was carrying out a deity's will.
Hearing Tsuruha's words, the rescued people eagerly rose and turned to flee across the ice behind them.
Tsuruha did not specify that she was Uka-no-Mitama-no-Kami's divine messenger. Although she had just wanted to proclaim Miketsu's divine grace among those people, she realized that Miketsu had not yet truly mastered her divine power, and spreading the news of her awakening might not be a good thing.
“Before she can truly master her power, do not spread the fact that she has awakened. Remember, this is not aimed at mortals or yokai, but at those individuals in Takamagahara.”
In Tsuruha's mind, she recalled Kou's past instructions to her. Although she didn't know why Kou was wary of the gods of Takamagahara, she believed that Kou, at least, harbored no ill intentions towards Miketsu.
Watching the fleeing people retreat across the ice, Tsuruha turned her gaze to the sphere of blood mist still suspended in mid-air. It was formed from the blood and souls of those who had been sacrificed earlier, and surprisingly, it hadn't collapsed after losing its ritual master.
“Disgusting...”
Tsuruha spewed golden foxfire from her mouth, engulfing the entire sphere of blood mist. But when the foxfire dissipated, the blood mist sphere was still there, seemingly only a little bit evaporated.
“Wha—what is going on!?” Seeing the situation before her, Tsuruha was greatly astonished. The eerie nature of this blood mist sphere exceeded her imagination.
Just as Tsuruha was preparing to redouble her efforts and continue destroying the blood mist sphere, a surge of demonic energy suddenly emanated from the northern sky. Sensing this demonic energy, Tsuruha abruptly cast her gaze in that direction.
It was a dark fox yokai with glowing red eyes, treading flames, wrapped in red markings, and with two tails. It was rapidly advancing towards the battlefield on fire, and its first target was Toga, who was struggling to cope amidst the fire clouds!
With a roar, the dark fox yokai's claws gathered flames. It swiftly flew before Toga, who had just torn through a fire cloud, and delivered a full-force blow to his unsuspecting body. Toga's armor shattered, he spat out a mouthful of blood, and was knocked from the sky, plummeting to the ground with an expression of disbelief.
“A fox... yokai? No, that’s not right...”
“Hahahaha!! Finally, they're here! Those humans actually kept their word!” Kaen burst into laughter, seeing the dark demonic fox suddenly join the battle.
After knocking Toga down, the dark fox yokai wasn't finished. Its malevolent red eyes shifted, looking towards Yura, who was fighting the leopard cat yokai on a platform on the side of the rocky mountain.
The dark fox yokai gathered a demonic energy flame orb in its mouth and spat it towards the platform. Yura, who was fighting, noticed the sudden surge of powerful demonic energy in the air. When she turned, she immediately saw the demonic flame orb hurtling towards her.
Three shikigami simultaneously shielded Yura. The demonic flame orb struck the platform on the side of the rocky mountain, unleashing a violent explosion far exceeding the power of Miketsu's single Exploding Talisman, blowing the entire platform into the sky and utterly destroying all the leopard cat yokai on it.
The three shikigami protecting Yura were completely annihilated by the explosion, turning into three burnt paper figures and ashes. Although Yura, protected by her shikigami, didn't directly suffer the full impact of the shockwave and flames, she was blown away, plummeting from the high rocky mountain straight to the ground.
Oh no...
Facing the fall from a height, and temporarily without her shikigami, Yura had absolutely no way to react. At this moment, she could only freefall tens of meters to the ground below, her face filled with terror. She wasn't a powerful yokai like Toga; as a human, falling from this height would surely mean death.
Just then, a white blur swiftly swept past, catching the falling Yura steadily in mid-air.
“Ahhhhh! Ah... ah... ah?”
Yura, who had been screaming with her eyes closed, waiting for death, suddenly felt her body sharply slow down. The unsettling feeling of weightlessness vanished. With a puzzled expression, she slowly opened her eyes.
A handsome young man with white hair and purple eyes, standing on a white crane under the moonlight, watched the girl in his arms slowly open her eyes. Upon seeing his face, she froze completely, her expression unchanging for several seconds, utterly still like a block of wood.
Seeing the girl's reaction, Seimei smiled faintly.
“Are you alright?”
Rate on N.U.
