"Cough, cough… I must tell Lady Hagoromo Gitsune… the situation has changed… For the Keikain clan to field a monster of this level… cough, cough… Seimei will be in danger…" Blood kept streaming from his wounds. The once-dominant top-tier yokai who guarded Rashōmon, Kidōmaru, no longer looked anything like his former majestic self.
To be precise, he was in a wretched state. The left half of his body was gone, and even his brain—the central nervous system—was partially damaged.
If he weren't a guardian of the Gate of the Underworld, he might have gone to report to the underworld already. Though he escaped the Twelve Stars' hands, he was now barely clinging to life. If not for his loyalty to Abe no Seimei, he might have fallen already.
"That's Lord Kidōmaru! Quick!" At last stepping onto Hagoromo Gitsune's turf, Kidōmaru finally fainted when he saw a yokai of her faction.
A yokai who sees through hearts? What good is that if you can't keep up? One slash.
A great yokai who devours others in a bite. Devouring—can it compare to the glutton? One slash.
"So this is where Hagoromo Gitsune is giving birth? The aura inside is immense indeed. Heh-heh, it's actually so strong it doesn't lose at all to what I was at the beginning." At the gate of Nijō Castle, Meruem stared at the huge stronghold, sensing the ever-climbing power about to descend—Abe no Seimei, or rather, Nue.
Heh-heh… a perfect body. I must obtain it.
How is that Musashi fellow's task going? To get the perfect body, just the descendants of Seimei's line won't be enough.
The Gokadoin clan…
"Who are you people? Why attack my Gokadoin?" A youth with marks of the five elements' power on him but only half alive stared at Uchiha Musashi, the tomoe in whose eyes spun madly.
"There's no special reason—just borrowing your lives for a bit." With a swing of his katana, Gokadoin Mizuhiko, ninth head of the Gokadoin and a top-tier fighter in the Nura world, was cut down.
"Impressive. Since you court death, my Gokadoin will oblige. Show me how strong you are!" The strongest head besides Abe no Seimei appeared—Abe Kippei, a man like Rihan Nura who was also a hanyō with nine tails, stepped out of the shadows.
Musashi's overwhelming power merited his appearance.
"Abe Oroketsu." A colossal serpent slid out from the other side. "Abe Ariyuki." A white-clad boy, the Gokadoin's third head.
Black-robed Gokadoin, white-robed Abe. The Gokadoin's three strongest heads had all arrived.
In addition were Gokadoin Taichō, Gokadoin Shinketsu, Gokadoin Tenkai, and over a dozen more Gokadoin heads.
"Heh-heh, being huge is something, is it? Try this then!" Musashi, irked by the giant serpent head glaring at him, spoke coldly.
"Summoning Technique! One-Tail to Nine-Tails!" Nine gigantic beasts appeared, squaring off against the Gokadoin at their headquarters.
And behind Musashi strode out countless Uchiha, eyes opened to the Sharingan!
"Chief, let's show these yokels the might of our Uchiha!" The Uchiha were raring to go.
Gokadoin vs. Uchiha.
"I said no one is to disturb Hagoromo Gitsune's childbirth. Unless you wish to make me your enemy!" Before Nijō Castle—one more step and they would reach the chamber where she labored.
But every Nura Clan yokai and Keikain onmyoji was blocked. Their opponents numbered only twelve.
"Meru-kun… what are you trying to do? Do you even understand how terrifying the one inside is? If Hagoromo Gitsune gives birth to that person, all Kyoto—no, all Japan, even the world—will be in danger!" With several powerful shikigami at her back, Yura faced Meruem down.
"It's only Nue, and yet you quail so. I will deal with Nue, but before that, I will not allow a single one of you to disturb his birth. One step forward means death. Keikain Thirteenth Shugen—as the most gifted of your line, you should sense this: I have that ability." Meruem ignored Yura. It was only a Seimei, after all.
"Yura… better do as he says. He's serious. If we try to stop the birth, he really will act." For once, the Thirteenth Shugen set aside his flippancy.
Moments ago, he felt the malice Meruem deliberately released—and it was no less than what lay within Nijō Castle. It might even be greater.
It's entirely possible he truly can kill Seimei.
"A mere human dares block us, the Kurama Mountain Great Tengu? We absolutely do not recognize this childbirth by Hagoromo Gitsune. I'll put a stop to it." The Great Tengu clan, much like Karasu Tengu save for their long noses, lost patience first. They had just arrived after heeding Gyuuki's call to help train Nura Rikuo, and had not witnessed Meruem flooring Tsuchigumo barehanded or the Dark Division's Twelve Stars massacring the likes of Kidōmaru.
Otherwise, he would never have said such a thing.
"Great Tengu, no!" Rikuo tried to stop the Kurama Mountain Great Tengu, but they were not members of the Nura Clan and ignored him.
Their only goal was to take down Meruem and halt the childbirth.
"What?" Facing the charging Great Tengu clan, only one person stepped out from the Twelve Stars' side.
The Twelve Stars—Zishu (Rat).
"To defy the King's command…" Like a noble scion, Zishu traced a few arcs with his hands in the air.
"My body… won't move…" All the tengu in the sky froze midair as if held fast.
Schlik—blades slid into flesh as the tengu turned their weapons on their own comrades. They enacted a scene of mutual slaughter before all.
"What are you doing…" the Great Tengu chief cried in panic. Those were the elite of their clan.
"Are those… threads?" Looking closely, they saw countless semi-transparent filaments attached at the joints of the self-slashing tengu.
Manifested strands of Nen.
"The only end is death!" Zishu stopped his motions and clenched both hands tight.
Every Great Tengu who had stepped forward was either twisted into a ball or cut into pieces.
With one person alone, nearly the entire Great Tengu clan was slaughtered.
Boom! Just then, movement stirred in Nijō Castle behind Meruem. Walls crumbled, the ground sank, and a massive, unknown spherical mass slowly rose from within.
It broke through the walls, and atop that sphere stood a woman—beautiful and mature.
She was Hagoromo Gitsune, possessing the body of a maiden.
"I have awaited this moment for a thousand years. The being who stands above humans and yokai—the Lord of Specters called Nue—is about to be born."
"Mother." The immense sphere began to transform. From an unknown ball, arms and legs emerged, becoming a colossal, jet-black infant.
"What? Where are my darling subordinates?" By then, Hagoromo Gitsune had donned a black high school uniform. The tails behind her swayed.
"But even if all my subordinates are annihilated, it doesn't matter—as long as my baby is born safely. I am no longer what I was a thousand years ago… This time, let Mother protect you, Seimei."
"Stop that thing, quickly, while there's still time! Right now, Nue has no combat ability! You can't be his match!" Even the Thirteenth Shugen spoke up. Too strong—the pressure from the Nue in the sky was enormous.
"Let me lend you a hand." Meruem flicked a glance at the Thirteenth Shugen, ignoring his agitation. He rose into the air to hover above the giant infant.
The energy of heaven and earth—or call it qi—gathered at Meruem's call, so the giant infant could absorb it.
"I don't know what's going on, but it seems that one stands on my side." Hagoromo Gitsune drew a massive fan and barred Night Rikuo in his oni-shroud state.
"What do you want, meow?" Pitou blocked Ao Jizō, who grew restless upon seeing Nue.
"Would you please stand aside? This child belongs to us." Yamamoto Gorō's eyeball, Ao Jizō, drew the ominous demon blade—the Demon King's Little Hammer.
Bang! Boom!
"It's done." Meruem smiled at the colossal infant. Cracks had laced its black body, and at last the shell peeled away like an eggshell.
A long-haired man, stark naked, stood at the center.
Abe no Seimei—or Nue.
The strongest man in the Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan world.
"It's over. It's all over. Abe no Seimei… has returned from hell." An immense Awe rampaged before the eyes of every yokai and onmyoji. Faced with such power, they could only feel crushing helplessness.
"Truly an astonishing monster… but still far beneath the King." The Dark Division—twelve Chimera Ants who were apex beings among yokai—smiled at the godlike descent of Nue.
Though they were weaker than Nue… they knew their King was stronger.
(End of Chapter)
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