Please to Kitsune-sama!

Chapter 140 : Kitsune-sama Prepares Well

The plan had been laid. The spell unleashed was one of restful sleep. It was not a curse, but a blessing that granted benefit to humans, and thus could not be dispelled the same way as yesterday’s warding ritual. Still, there was always the chance of resistance. That was why priests capable of ancient magic had been taken over and gathered here—faces whose presence would not arouse suspicion. In short: overwhelming force. Even if one or two spells were resisted, it was meaningless against the storm of “blessings” of slumber. No living being could withstand such a thing.

Thus, everyone present was certain of success.

“…Mm. I cannot quite grasp the situation yet.”

“Wh-Whhhaaaaaaaaaaaaat!?”

Before them was not a slumbering Inari—but a fully awake Inari, showing only a faint trace of confusion. No one could understand it. Why? How? Even an awakener—those so-called superhumans—should have fallen to this. This was excessive, suffocating magic, forcing slumber upon its target. Any human would have succumbed. Indeed, it was a truth beyond question.

“Impossible… No matter who it is, they should fall into sleep!”

“Ah, I see now. With such great power of slumber, indeed, any human would fall.”

“Then why… why are you still awake!?”

At the mayor’s trembling voice, Inari smiled gently. For there was only one answer.

“But thou see, I am not human.”

It was simple.

The actions required for human survival are not the same as those required for Inari’s existence. Eating, sleeping—such things were unnecessary, should she will it. In the abandoned village, before it became abandoned, she had lived that way.

Inari “slept” only because she chose to mimic the act. But true sleep was not part of her being. Thus, no matter how strongly slumber was invoked, that “function” did not exist in her.

“In short, sleep cannot bind one who hath no sleep. That is all there is to it.”

“L-lies! That’s absurd! Even we require sleep! If that is true… then you… you are not even a living being anymore!”

“Indeed. Should I be categorized, it would not be ‘living being.’ Yet, if thou ask what I am instead… that, I find harder to answer.”

“Gh…!”

The plan had been devised to face a monster beyond expectation. But this—this was beyond imagining. Who could conceive of such a thing existing upon the earth?

“Yet thou hast said something curious. ‘Even we require sleep’? It almost soundeth as though thou art not human either.”

“[Al Ira Rouz]!”

“[Al Ira Rouz]!”

“[Al Ira Rouz]!”

At the mayor’s incantation, everyone present joined in. Rings of light materialized, tightening around Inari to bind her. Each one was a powerful restraint, enough to hold even the strongest warrior. With so many layered together, surely even a sleepless monster must be subdued. And indeed, the rings enclosed her. Surely—surely this time it was the right move.

“Hop.”

“U-Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!”

Crack! 

The rings shattered easily. Everyone screamed. Impossible. Beyond monster. Why did such a thing walk the earth?

But truly, this was simply a poor choice of tactics. To challenge Inari in a battle of magic was, aside from the slumber spell, hopeless from the start.

“Come forth, Kogetsu.”

The blade appeared in Inari’s hand. Yet she did not swing immediately. Yasuno was absent from the room. It would not do to later say, “The mayor and his people attacked me, so I slew them all.” That was a troublesome excuse even Inari wished to avoid.

The mayor’s side, wary of her stance with the sword, edged back. That gave her a little time to think.

“Now then, were they merely monsters wearing human guise, this would be simple.”

But her instinct told her otherwise. They were human. Possessed perhaps… or something else. In any case, the falsehood had to be stripped away. That was reason enough. Inari ran her fingers along the blade.

At her touch, Kogetsu shone with a golden brilliance—solemn, radiant.

“Reveal the principle of dispelling falsehood—Secret Sword: Juzumaru.”

Golden light filled the room… no, it pierced the walls, rising as a towering column that seemed to envelop all of Ito itself.

Within the radiance, something was torn away from the mayor and his staff, vanishing into nothing. Then—the sound of a door opening.

Isurugi appeared, his face twisted in agony. From his body seeped a black miasma, though he seemed to struggle to hold it in. When the light finally faded, he collapsed to his knees, the miasma still spilling forth, unceasing.

“D-damn you… Did you think… this would end it?”

“Will it not?”

“Of course not! Then I have only one last resort…!”

“Might it come from the sea, then?”

“What!?”

“I thought so once before. I did not know for certain then, but just in case, I made arrangements.”

Yes—precisely. One more ally not present here.

Atsuage stood upon the coastal highway, facing the sea breeze.

“…!”

And Atsuage saw them. From the ocean emerged colossal figures—a legion of giants, soldiers of stone and water.

Before the towering horde, Atsuage raised a paw to the heavens.

From the void appeared two dice, spinning fiercely in the air.