Chapter 205: The True Identity of the Celestial Fox
Originally, Tamamo-no-Mae had always believed that the Heavenly Fox was either herself in this world or the collective embodiment of her tails in this world, so most of her stress actually stemmed from this notion.
First, the other had five tails, while she only had four—the gap in power was evident.
Second, if the other truly was herself in this world, then having five tails meant she had already fully stepped into that realm...
At this point, perhaps she shouldn't even be referred to by names like Tamamo-no-Mae or Su Daji anymore.
—At this point, perhaps she should be called the Golden-Faced Nine-Tailed Fox!
No matter how she thought about it, Tamamo-no-Mae felt that was an absolute archenemy.
After all... in the state of the Golden-Faced Nine-Tailed Fox, she would be a Beast!
Such power was far beyond what she could resist.
Moreover, after defeating her, the other might even take something from her, thereby restoring even more tails.
If the other were to suddenly restore eight or even nine tails, what would happen afterward was something even someone like Tamamo-no-Mae, whose morality usually wavered, dared not imagine.
But now Tamamo-no-Mae knew.
Although the other indeed carried her own aura, this so-called Heavenly Fox could not possibly be herself in this world!
First, despite having five tails, the other's aura was not stronger than her own, who only had four tails!
Second...
"I don't know how you managed it, but my tails aren't so easy to control... However, I can't be bothered with your affairs or the matters of the other tails. Could you just leave me quickly?"
That's right.
After restoring her Four-Tails state and facing the Heavenly Fox again, Tamamo-no-Mae realized.
The aura belonging to her on the other's body all came from the tails... At least four of the other's tails were indeed her own tails from this world.
But what dominated was not these four tails.
It was the tail the Heavenly Fox originally possessed—the only one truly belonging to her!
In other words, the so-called Heavenly Fox was a one-tailed little fox that emerged from somewhere, who, by some means, bound her four tails to herself, suppressed them, and thus gave birth to this entity!
The Heavenly Fox was not herself!
This was Tamamo-no-Mae's discovery.
Seeing that Tamamo-no-Mae had realized this, the Heavenly Fox was not surprised, nor did she show any discernible emotion.
She simply, methodically, as if completing a task... spoke.
"Outsider, this Heian Capital is not a place for you to indulge freely, so... die."
As the Heavenly Fox said this, she spread her hands, and a mirror appeared directly behind her head, causing her radiance to spread outward.
Then, her five tails moved irregularly behind her, and her hands swiftly drew a Spell Formula in front of her.
Seeing this action, Tamamo-no-Mae's pupils contracted, and she immediately began chanting.
"This is my land, the land of the gods, the bountiful and prosperous Nakatsukuni, rich in water and harvests."
"The nation pours water into Utsubo, traversing the high heavens and the netherworld, converging as the water of heaven and sun."
"I illuminate the prosperous reed-plain land of fresh rice-ears, adding rings upon rings to the eightfold rings, this is ninefold, this is Amaterasu...!"
"————Suiten Nikkō Amaterasu Yano Shizushi!"
As Tamamo-no-Mae completed her incantation at an astonishing speed, before the Heavenly Fox's attack could even take shape, countless torii gates descended from the sky, landing directly upon the surrounding ground.
Along with them, the entire world seemed draped in a layer of purple gossamer, the surging aura instantly transforming this place into an alien realm.
The Great Bounded Field originating from Tamamo-no-Mae was directly expanded by her.
At this moment, the Heavenly Fox's attack was also fully constructed.
Crossing her hands, it was not an assault aimed at any particular target, for its form resembled the sun, like a peacock spreading its tail, indiscriminately displaying and radiating its own brilliance to the surroundings.
Terrifying light and heat erupted directly from the Heavenly Fox as the core.
That violent torrent of energy continuously assailed everything around.
Hiding behind a torii gate, Tamamo-no-Mae maintained the barrier while sensing the energy from the Heavenly Fox's direction, letting out a long sigh.
"Fortunately, my reflexes are still sharp enough. If I hadn't immediately deployed the barrier, I'm afraid even this Heian Capital would have been blasted sky-high... Though not much stronger than me in terms of power, and not a Beast, even among foxes, she is undoubtedly a madwoman."
Tamamo-no-Mae mused thus, and after the Heavenly Fox's wave of energy eruption ended, the figure within the light charged directly toward Tamamo-no-Mae.
Her hair had now come loose, swaying rhythmically with her tails in the fierce wind. Her hands had transformed into claws, and even her face began to show the whiskers of a fox.
Facing such a Heavenly Fox, Tamamo-no-Mae narrowed her eyes slightly.
Though Tamamo-no-Mae herself appeared more like a Magus-type character, she was not truly such a being.
Unlike humans, she possessed an inherently formidable physical constitution, thus excelling both in spellcraft and close combat.
"Though I occasionally feel the urge to unleash my wild side under the sun, I would never go to such frenzied extremes————"
Seeing the charging Heavenly Fox, Tamamo-no-Mae did something simple: she threw the mirror she always carried directly at her opponent.
The mirror in her hand floated into the path of the charge.
The moment the Heavenly Fox approached the mirror, it erupted with a radiance akin to the solar corona.
This mirror could unleash the power of the Spirit Stone, and the Spirit Stone was the divine body of Amaterasu... Before such an object, reckless charging was not permitted!
The light fell upon the Heavenly Fox, directly repelling her entire being.
And at that moment, Tamamo-no-Mae's Spell Formula manifested around the Heavenly Fox.
Hundreds of Talismans flashed with purple brilliance. Within this Great Bounded Field where Cursed Energy consumption was of no concern, Tamamo-no-Mae employed the most brutal and direct method—detonating these Talismans outright.
Meanwhile, she herself floated in mid-air. From her position, countless talismans rained down like machine gun fire, bombarding the fox on the ground.
If not for the barrier she had personally deployed, Tamamo-no-Mae would have been severely restricted in her movements at this location.
After all, it was too close to where those children were.
But once she had expanded the Great Bounded Field, no matter how fiercely they fought here, it wouldn't be much of an issue.
So…
"Being able to recover four tails was completely unexpected, but now it seems just enough to deal with you."
Tamamo-no-Mae looked down from above at the spot she had just bombarded with who knows how many talismans, slowly smiling.
However, just as she was about to confirm whether the battle was over, within the dust and smoke stirred up by her talismans, two red glowing orbs, like lanterns, suddenly lit up.
"Haaa———"
A beast-like roar erupted from the smoke, shattering it completely.
In this world draped in a purple veil, the sun in the sky suddenly erupted with unparalleled brilliance, giving the feeling… as if the sun were expanding!
Along with it, a terrifying solar wind burst forth from the Heavenly Fox on the ground!
Though you could no longer see any trace of nobility or elegance in the Heavenly Fox now, at the point where the light converged most intensely, its presence was like a sun on earth—lofty, untouchable, and inviolable.
That place seemed to be its Divine Domain.
And also… the most powerful point of its attack this time!
Seeing the Heavenly Fox like this, Tamamo-no-Mae lifted her gaze to the sun in the sky, her eyes filled with disbelief.
"How is this possible... Even gods are merely Incarnations of phenomena. You… how can you invoke the real sun?"
Tamamo-no-Mae could sense that the sun was continuously channeling its power into the Heavenly Fox's body.
Or rather…
The Heavenly Fox was merely a guiding target.
And the sun itself, as the source of the attack... was about to fire!
Its immense power would not overlook any target within its range—even the Heavenly Fox itself had already been marked.
This power was insignificant to the sun, but if it struck the earth... it would likely shatter all of Japan!
What was even more terrifying was that Tamamo-no-Mae realized her barrier was like a shadow under intense light, slowly being dispelled before this radiance.
Without the protection of the barrier, this power would erupt completely within the Great Yata Barrier!
With the Great Yata Barrier in place, the power wouldn't spread across all of Japan, but everything within the Great Yata Barrier... would evaporate under this force!
At this thought, Tamamo-no-Mae remembered Little Kiara and the others.
Then, looking up at the seemingly expanding sun overhead, her gaze gradually grew resolute.
She had never thought of herself as someone who would act impulsively for others…
Just as she had never imagined she would adopt hundreds of children either…
After arriving in this world, it wasn't just the environment that changed—I, too, have inevitably transformed along with it.
...
That does seem to be the case.
Then—
Tamamo-no-Mae gazed at the attack descending from the sky, already prepared to risk everything in an all-out effort.
But just at that moment, the assault from above extinguished before even entering the Great Yata Barrier.
Or to put it another way, with Tamamo-no-Mae's vision, she could see a spear soaring upward from the ground, directly blasting back this strike from the sun!