"Ding—!"
As the tiger-slaying spear was blocked by the blade of the Demon King's Little Hamr, Abe no Seii calmly turned his gaze toward the newly arrived figure.
"So now even you intend to betray as well?"
The one who had thrust out the spear and rescued Nura Rikuo was none other than Hagoromo Gitsune, still dressed in her black sailor-style uniform.
Yet her condition was clearly different from before.
Though the way she looked at Abe no Seii still carried traces of affection and complicated emotion, her expression was far firr than it had been monts earlier.
"Nue, you've gone astray," Hagoromo Gitsune said quietly."Humans and yōkai are beings that depend on one another. If you truly wipe out all humans, yōkai won't survive either.You've been blinded by eternal power—so blinded that you can no longer see anything else.If you insist on continuing down this path… then I can only stop you."
"So that's how it is," Abe no Seii replied, his eyes narrowing slightly."Because I absorbed too much of your yōki earlier, weakening you—combined with a change in mindset—the other soul finally awakened, didn't it?"
As the greatest onmyōji of all, Abe no Seii needed only a single glance at Hagoromo Gitsune in her current state to understand the reason for her sudden shift in personality.
The body Hagoromo Gitsune now inhabited did not house just her soul alone.
During the era when the Second Head of the Nura Clan, Nura Rihan, was still alive, Hagoromo Gitsune had been killed by that overwhelmingly powerful man every ti she reincarnated.
And so, in order to ensure the successful birth of "Nue," she abandoned her previous thod of conquest through brute force and was forced to rely on strategy instead.
The body she now inhabited had been prepared specifically to deal with Nura Rihan.
Because this was not a body gained through reincarnation, but rather a vessel she had possessed through other ans, there were actually two souls residing within it.
One was Hagoromo Gitsune herself.
The other belonged to the body's original owner—Yamabuki Oto, the forr wife of Nura Rihan.
In the past, Yamabuki Oto had been nothing more than an ordinary human. Naturally, her soul was far weaker than Hagoromo Gitsune's, and so most of the ti, Hagoromo Gitsune's soul dominated the body while Yamabuki Oto remained dormant.
But earlier, Hagoromo Gitsune had first been weakened by childbirth, then had a large portion of her yōki forcibly taken by Abe no Seii.
And finally—when she witnessed her own child, "Nue," truly attempting to kill her without hesitation—her spirit itself was wounded.
Under the combined assault on both body and mind, the second soul dwelling within this vessel awakened… and took control.
Or rather, "took control" wasn't quite accurate.
Because this was a possessed vessel, no matter which soul was in charge of the body, the emotions and feelings of the other soul would still influence it.
Just like now.
Even though Yamabuki Oto held dominion over the body, she still addressed Abe no Seii as "Nue," and there was still a trace of reluctance in her gaze when she looked at him.
Of course, although Hagoromo Gitsune's eyes held a hint of maternal affection when looking at Abe no Seii, that affection was clearly far stronger when she turned her gaze toward Nura Rikuo.
That was because the soul currently in control was no longer Hagoromo Gitsune—but Yamabuki Oto.
Though Yamabuki Oto was not Rikuo's biological mother, she deeply loved Nura Rihan, and in her heart, Rihan's child was no different from her own.
Especially given how closely Rikuo resembled Rihan—just one look was enough to max out Yamabuki Oto's affection instantly.
Both of them could be considered her children.
But Abe no Seii had previously tried to kill her and still stubbornly refused to repent. And now that Yamabuki Oto was the one in control, the choice Hagoromo Gitsune made was obvious.
As for Nura Rikuo, when he noticed the way Hagoromo Gitsune was looking at him, his face was filled with pure confusion.
He genuinely couldn't understand why she was helping him.
And the look she had just given him felt… strange.It was oddly similar to how she had looked at "Nue" earlier.
Rikuo clearly rembered that Hagoromo Gitsune had killed his father, Nura Rihan—even though he had been very young at the ti.
What he didn't know was the relationship between his father and the soul currently inhabiting Hagoromo Gitsune's body—Yamabuki Oto.
At this point, Rikuo was even starting to wonder—
Don't tell … she's taken a liking to ?
After all, the way she had just looked at him—beyond the overwhelming kindness—seed to carry sothing almost like the gaze of a lover…
"It doesn't matter," Abe no Seii said coldly, snapping Rikuo out of his wild thoughts."So what if the two of you co at together? You'll only manage to cling to life a little longer, that's all.Even if you can wield your mother's power now, with your current condition—what exactly do you think you can accomplish?"
Although Rikuo still didn't understand why Hagoromo Gitsune had sided with him, her joining the fight was undeniably a good thing. With his strength alone, defeating Abe no Seii was simply unrealistic.
While the battle in the sky raged on, the yōkai and onmyōji on the ground were also fighting with everything they had, desperate to survive.
Faced with a world-ending catastrophe like this, holding anything back would have been sheer stupidity. And at this mont, whether yōkai or onmyōji, everyone chose to cooperate in resisting the looming disaster.
Because once that massive teor fell, no matter which faction you belonged to—yōkai or onmyōji—no one in this region would survive.
All kinds of Fear and onmyōjutsu slamd into the descending mountain-like teor, sending huge chunks of rock crashing down in response.
Yet reality proved that Abe no Seii's confidence had not been unfounded.
Even though the yōkai and onmyōji present had cast aside old grudges and begun working together, human—and yōkai—strength was ultimately limited in the face of a calamity of this scale.
The teor's descent slowed sowhat. Its size shrank slightly.
But the destroyed portion was still negligible compared to its imnse volu.
If things continued at this pace, they would ultimately be unable to escape annihilation.
"Damn it… are we really going to die here like this?"
"That bastard Abe no Seii—if I beco a ghost, I still won't let him go!Deciding the life and death of others with a single word—does he really think he's a god?!"
"What if we change tactics and all work together to kill Abe no Seii instead?If he dies, will this thing stop falling?"
At first, people were able to fight on through their will to live and the last scraps of hope.
But once they realized that no matter how hard they struggled, they still couldn't escape their fate, so began to lose heart.
And in a mont when unity was most crucial, such emotions were terrifying—because emotions were contagious, whether good or bad.
"Show so backbone, damn it!""Buy just a little more ti! It's only a teor—once I finish things on my end, smashing it apart will take just a few punches!"
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