Chapter 18.1

Chapter 18.1

Thanks Choki for the support...

When was this memory? She has lived for hundreds of years, and this is one of the oldest memories she can recall. Her mother was killed, her house was burned down, she fled to the mountains only to be chased by a lowly man who humiliated her under the gaze of many curious eyes.

"N-No... Don't... Noooo!!"

The girl instinctively knows what this means, what he is going to do to her, and she screams in despair, even though she has no clear knowledge of what he is going to do. But there is no help. The world is not that kind.

...Therefore, a fate, which was brought about by whims and coincidences and "her" calculations, made "here" come there.

"What on earth do all these hairless monkeys want, gathered here on this mountain?"

It was at the same time that her sweet voice sounded. The half of the body of the man who had just ambushed the girl and was about to tear off her costume was torn off and flying in the air with a spray of blood.

"Ah..."

The girl felt warm blood splatter on her cheeks and clothes. Her eyes were filled with the sight of the man's body slowly collapsing, guts dripping from his body.

The white girl, half in a state of shock, turned her eyes slowly in the direction of the voice, or the armed peasants, fearfully.

There was a strange woman. A fantastically, unrealistically, frighteningly beautiful woman with crow's wet-feather hair and red eyes. Her beauty, which could be described as the beauty of a country, made those who saw her forget even to breathe.

However, the peasants who saw her were frightened and dismayed by her. This is because she has fox ears on her head and nine fox tails behind her. It was clearly not what a human should have, for the difference in power between them and her was obvious just from the carnage they had just caused.

"A-Aaahhhhhh, it's a mons—Gghh!!?"

The man who tried to escape was immediately cut off in equal lengths with a swing of her tail. The man falls down with a slipping, slithering motion.

"Eeeel...!?"

"You monster!! I'm gonna kill you...!?"

Some tried to escape, others tried to kill her with farming tools, but all were equally helpless. Soon they were all torn to pieces by the sound of the nine tails.

The girl stared dumbfounded, without a sense of reality, as the men in front of her were slaughtered like insects, so easily that it was almost mind-boggling. But then, she was brought back by the monster who had caused the slaughter.

"Oh my, oh my, what a small and cute little fellow we have here.... Well, that's very unusual. I didn't expect a half-youkai."

The nine-tailed monster walks up to the girl immediately and comments on her with a gleeful glee. Squinting, the calamity youkai admires the girl as if to judge her.

"Ah... Aahh..."

The white fox girl shudders at the look, as if she were literally looking at a thing or a domestic animal. And then... the next moment she is trampled.

"Kkhh...!?"

The girl suffers from the suddenness of the situation. Of course. Even though she is in human form, an adult monster fox is stomping on her chest with one foot. A creaking sound is heard in the forest.

"Aah... Ggghh... Stop... Please!!"

She desperately pleads as the monster fox stomps on her. However, the monster fox responds to the girl with a smile of aggravated amusement.

"Kukuku, are you in pain? Does it hurt? I'm sure that's true. A half-hearted and young half-youkai like you won't be able to endure it even if I take it easy on you like this."

She said so in a mocking manner, and then continued. The initial instance of this chapter being available happened at N0v3l.Bin.

"Even so, you are pathetic. To be the prey of humans' hunts at that age. I bet at that age you haven't even eaten a single human being yet. Humans are truly barbaric."

Mutters the monster fox in a truly pathetic but mocking way.

"But still. Little fox, life is... no, it's not. Let me tell you as your ancestor. The world is a world of the weak and the strong, of the winner and the loser. The weak must be fed by the strong. That's why I have no choice but to strangle you and eat you. So, give up."

"Big sister, I'm afraid we're in danger here. I will stop them, so please evacuate from here."

Naturally, the white fox offers. It was not out of affection or loyalty. After hundreds of years of serving the black fox in front of her, it was a conditioned reflex for her to do so, and she had no idea that there was any other option. However...

"...No, let's not do that. It's useless anyway."

The black fox denied the white fox's offer in a strangely calm tone.

"Big sister...?"

"You know this wound, don't you? Even if I escape, this won't help. I don't want to look like an ugly thing by running away."

These were the words of the pride and intelligence of the calamity youkai, the monster fox. Then the black fox looked at her white sister with narrowed eyes.

"It is the fate of those without power to become the food of those with power... it's just the way it is."

"Big sister..."

The white fox knows what her master or her sister, the fox in front of her, is trying to say.

"I have been aware of it for some time. For years now my power has not only grown but barely maintained itself. You, on the other hand, show no signs of stopping growing."

The black fox was aware that no matter how many humans or how many youkai she eats, her power is not growing anymore. The reason for this is unknown, even to youkai foxes who are more intelligent and rational than other youkai.

On the other hand, she was inwardly amazed at how fast her "sister", whom she had initially picked up and disciplined on a whim, had grown in strength. It is said that it takes a thousand years for a fox to grow up to nine tails, but the white fox in front of her had already grown up to eight tails in just a few hundred years. It was a frighteningly fast pace. It is much faster than that of the black fox, and her growth rate shows no sign of slowing down. It is so fast that in another hundred years the power relationship may be reversed.

"I will not allow myself to be struck down by the humans and have my head exposed and my fur ripped off. So..."

"But...!"

The black fox gives a small laugh at the white fox's dismay.

"Oh my, oh my, I thought you hated me, but I'm surprised you're so upset."

Though, it is not that she has been made to feel a bond with her. However, no matter how harshly she was treated, it seems that to the young white half-youkai, the black youkai fox was indeed her "big sister" who taught her how to live and survive. But that is precisely why...

"Do it, Shiroki. With me as your food, become stronger and aim higher."

That is the only way to continue to live in this cruel and heartless world where they cannot depend on anyone. That is the truth of this world.

"... Big sister."

"...what is it?"

"...I'll make it to the top."

With a snap, the white fox opens her big jaws. With a single tear in her eye, but with a firm will, she approaches the wounded fox...

"I'll give you what you want. My sweet, sweet sister."

The sound of flesh being ripped apart echoed through the mountains....

According to the records of one of the families of the exorcists who control the area, a white nine-tailed fox was seen that night, and several of the exorcists who were chasing it were eaten alive. This was about 100 years ago.

Since then, as if craving for power, new haunted foxes have attacked villages, sometimes other youkai, sometimes exorcists' mansions, devouring them and increasing its power. Then, conceited by its own power, the fox attacked the capital with an army and was miserably defeated, tearing apart its soul in defeat, and the monster somehow survived. For a youkai fox named Kitsuri Shiroki, this was equivalent to being denied her efforts to seek power as a youkai, and so she took this opportunity to cut down the root of her most shameful, helpless, ignorant, and foolish self.

A weak half-youkai girl, made up of the memories and soul of a child who could have died in the streets... a girl who has just been born again, whose memories are muddled, whose thoughts are uncertain, who walks aimlessly through the streets at night, who would have been parading around at midnight. It is inevitable that she would be noticed by those who walk around late at night, and in fact, she was immediately beaten up by them as if she were a distraction.

...or perhaps that is exactly what "she" as youkai wanted. There is no help for the weak, and the weak are only robbed, humiliated, and killed.

That's why... that's why, when the girl who had been beaten, kicked, and beaten without understanding called for help, the cloaked figure that appeared in front of her was the salvation she had been waiting for since "that day". And when she met her other self, cruel and vicious, and recalled all the memories until she was picked up by the orphanage, which had been muddled, the figure of him who appeared once again was exactly the hope that shines for the girl.

* * *