Book 8: Chapter 8: Wives On the Go (6/9)

A gigantic white fox ran across the ocean.

Her tail was divided into nine.

It was the nine-tailed fox — a calamity said to destroy multitudes of countries once released in the world of people.

That nine tailed-fox continued running over the water, headed towards the east.

Her destination was Faunost, the islands situated in the Far East.

It was the birthplace of Youko, one of the highest ranked monsters in the demon clan.

Halt’s wives went to different places separately to search for a clue about Bunshin Magic. 

Youko headed towards Faunost’s sacred mountain,.

That was the place she was born and raised in.

—***—

“It’s been a while since I came here.”

Youko had already transformed in her human form, and she mumbled as she alighted on the Sacred Mountain.

She promptly made her way towards her destination without any hesitation.

Once the land of Faunost came into sight, Youko soared above the clouds until she reached this place.

Nine-tailed foxes who achieved perfection by absorbing a colossal amount of mana could stand on water, and they could also soar through the sky.

Flying was the quicker method, but it also consumed more mana, so she opted to run on the ocean until halfway.

Youko had a reason why she wanted to conserve her mana as much as possible.

Nine-tailed foxes had the habit of unconsciously absorbing mana from its surrounding and storing them in their tails regardless of whether they wanted to or not.

If the accumulated mana was saturated with anger and malice, the nine-tailed fox would go on a rampage and turn into a disaster once it achieved its completed body.

Youko’s tails were currently filled with the mana of Sage Halt and Divine Beast Shiro.

She didn’t go on a rampage even though she already achieved her perfect body, because the mana that filled her didn’t have malice, and some of them also had divine attributes.

Nevertheless, if she used mana then it would decrease.

Normally, it wasn’t cause for concern. Halt releases an unbelievable amount of mana so she could already get her fill just by staying beside him.

She could easily replenish one-tail worth of mana just by spending the night beside him.

However, she didn’t have Halt with her today.

Moreover, this Sacred Mountain was filled with evil mana.

“I didn’t realize the miasma here is this thick back when I was still living here…”

Youko already obtained her completed body, so the chance that she would go berserk was pretty low.

However, she didn’t want any other mana beside Halt’s and Shiro’s to enter her body.

She strode on while shaking off the evil mana filled with malice and horror that was swirling around and trying to coil around her. 

She had spent around 200 years in this place since her birth in this world.

B-ranked monsters crowded this Sacred Mountain, and it could be said that this place was Faunost’s leading danger zone.

Youko just elegantly passed through this place. 

Monsters wouldn’t appear before her, let alone attack.

The intelligence of monsters rose as their subjugation ranking also rose.

B-ranked monsters could grasp the difference of strength amd power between themselves and their opponents, so unless it was an order from their higher-ups, they wouldn’t recklessly attack.

Youko had morphed into her human form, but she didn’t hide her power.

Normally, those high-ranking monsters wouldn’t even allow anyone to go near this Sacred Mountain, and they would scare off all the adventurers who attempted to do so. However, they grasped the extent of Youko’s power, so they had all ran away from the path of the route she was following.

And so, Youko reached her destination without a single battle.

There was a cave with a huge, gaping mouth, and it occupied part of the cliff. 

Youko lived in this place before with her mom.

“I’m back.”

Youko raised her hand and held it in front of her. A translucent film appeared in the space that had been empty moments ago.

The translucent film covered the surroundings of the cave’s entrance.

It was the barrier that Youko put up in order to prevent the entry of monsters inside her home.

The barrier disappeared when Youko touched it.

Youko entered the cave, and she put up another barrier at the entrance before heading towards the innermost part of the cavern.

“Mother, I have returned.”

Youko spoke towards the pillar of ice that stood in the deepest part of the cave.

A peerless beauty was sealed inside that pillar of ice.

It was Kikyou, the mother of Youko.

Kikyou was already dead.

She passed away around a hundred and ninety years ago, when Youko was only around 10 years of age. 

Youko couldn’t remember Kikyou’s death for some reason.

The only memory that she had was when she used the ice sealing spell to preserve her mother’s remains inside the pillar of ice, preventing her body from decaying.

“You’re still as beautiful as ever, Mother.”

Youko stared at her own mom.

After gazing for a while, Youko started to speak, as if she remembered something.

“Mother. I pledged a vow with a human.”

She reported her marriage with Halt to her mother.

“This human Halt is unbelievably strong. He might even be stronger than you, Mother.”

Youko explained to Kikyou that even though Halt was just a mere human, he could easily slaughter warlocks and demons, and he also formed contracts with the spirit kings of all the attributes.

“Originally, I formed a master-servant contract with Master, but he had discarded my contract one-sidedly. Moreover, the effect of the contract remained on me. It didn’t make any sense. He’s such an abnormal guy.”

She was bad mouthing Halt, but she seemed happy while doing so.

“So many outrageously crazy things happen when I’m with him, and I never get bored with it.”

She talked about Halt’s magic, and how she met the Creator God in the Holy City. She also spoke about the divine protection that she received from the Creator God.

“I’m part of the demonic clan, and yet I received divine protection from the Creator God…B-but, because of that, I officially became his wife! Ah, by the way, Master has 11 wives. And because of that —”

Youko complained to her mother that she was lonely during the nights she couldn’t sleep with Halt.

Afterward, the other wives also had that same sentiment, so they conspired with each other. She explained to Kikyou that in order to have Halt use Bunshin Magic, they first needed to come up with a way to use that magic.

“If only I was as beautiful as you, Mother, then —”

If she was as gorgeous as Kikyou, then she could ensnare Halt and maybe she could even monopolize him.

With these thoughts racing through her mind, Youko touched the seal that confined her mother.

“—!?”

A sudden headache assaulted Youko.

“T-this is —”

It was the feeling that her brain, her memory, had been tampered with by somebody else.

Youko’s sealed memories returned.

Youko, covered in blood.

An adventurer, approaching nearer behind her.

Youko remembered.

When she was just a little child, she went outside the barrier that Kikyou had put up, resulting in an adventurer capturing her.

Kikyou rushed to save her, but she was attacked by the adventurers.

She managed to retaliate, but the weapons they wielded had strong anti-demonic traits —

Kikyou died from the wounds she sustained that time.

Just before her death, she took away Youko’s memories.

She didn’t want Youko to wallow in regret and blame herself that Kikyou died because of her.

She also didn’t want Youko to harbor grudges against the humans.

The memories that Kikyou sealed returned to Youko.

Youko became the most powerful among the nine-tailed foxes that achieved perfection, because she absorbed the pure, refined mana from the sage and the divine beast.

The current Youko had already surpassed the power of her mother, Kikyou.

The moment she touched the seal protecting Kikyou’s body, it triggered the return of her memories that had been taken away from her.

Dark emotions started to grow inside Youko’s heart.

I loathe the humans who killed my mother.

I’m going to annihilate them.

The pillar of ice that sealed her mother’s body reflected Youko’s face that had contorted with hatred.