“It’s quite insulting that you thought I wouldn’t find out.” Haruaki walked in with all the passive-aggressive sass he couldn’t bother to hide.

  “I have no idea what you mean.” Kon replied as she waved the servants away. She didn’t want others to hear this conversation.

  Once the servants left Haruaki cast a barrier that prevented any form of eavesdropping. No one below level 800 could break his barrier and even then, he would know.

  “I’m talking about your daughter being an Akuma. You know what our laws say about those that become tainted with demonic essence.”

  Hybrids occur when two species are mixed whether by ritual or birth. There has never been a hybrid of more than two species as any attempt would lead to a painful death. However, those who enhanced themselves with demonic essence tend to lose themselves to their basic impulses.

  This is extremely dangerous for any yokai as they instinctively rule through fear. Kyubi Kon was not a tyrant, and her clan learned their lesson when her clan's founder, Tamamo no Mae, was overthrown for her cruelty. Many yokai abilities are based on fear the same way angels are holy, and demons are unholy. So, combining a loss of impulse control with a desire to spread fear has led to much discrimination of yokai-demon hybrids or Akuma. If such hybrids are found in the Spirit Realm they are often killed on sight before they commit some kind of atrocity.

  “Well, she is a unique case, since she is a hybrid of kitsune, fae, and demon.”

  Haruaki's eyes brimmed with excitement. He had theorized that such a thing was possible but never performed the experiments as he found it too cruel to do. Despite his outward lack of care for life, he was a caring person.

  “You do realize that combination could make her even more volatile right?” A smile appeared on his face as the thought of training such a person made him excited for what he earlier thought was trivial.

  “Careful Haruaki. Your true feelings are showing.”

  Haruaki faked a cough as he composed himself. He hadn’t felt this excited in centuries and Kon was the only one he ever lowered his guard around as he practically raised her when he took her under his wing when she rose to power.

  “I know you are only just trying to warn me, especially with how the tengu have been acting the last few centuries. As much as I despise the notion Lila will make good bait to draw out their true intentions.” Kon let out a deep sigh when she said that. She wanted to make sure those wishing Lila harm would never get the chance, but those who are determined will find ways to do so no matter how much Kon sheltered her. So, she decided that if it can’t be avoided, she will prepare for it and make an example out of anyone that would threaten the Kyubi clan.

  “You have truly become a wise ruler.”

  “If only that wisdom could help me maintain my rule while being benevolent my worries would be gone.”

  They both laughed at that. For those that fight and rule with fear everything was a battle of wills. First to succumb to fear will lose everything. Haruaki taught Kon that a calm mind would take her far, but now that she has a daughter, she was finding rage to be far more effective. She doesn’t want Lila to suffer again and will slay the tengu king or even the galaxy itself for her. That is what she was, how far she was willing to go.

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  “I believe I learned what I need to, but how far can I push her in training?”

  “As far as you need to. As Shuten-doji often tells his sons, sweat more in training and bleed less in battle.”

  *

  Over in the oni palace, the king of all oni and the last Great Evil Of Spiritus lounged around drinking the centuries away. Peace has dulled his sense of battle as he had to learn the art of politics. He truly missed war, and everyone now knew his old tricks, making life repetitive and dull.

  “A report for Your Highness.” A guard introduced himself as he bowed before Shuten-doji.

  “What is it?” He inquired with a yawn, suddenly wanting to sleep for a month or two.

  “Our guards have found out that Empress Kyubi has returned and with an unknown kitsune.”

  This piqued Shuten-doji’s interest quite a bit. He sat up with excitement as he waved for another bottle of sake to be delivered to him.

  “So, she has acquired that daughter she was eyeing all this time.” He bellowed a deep laugh. “GOOD! GOOD! Things will finally get interesting around here.”

  As a new bottle was delivered, he began to drink out of celebration for that child he swore fealty to instead of boredom. The same excitement echoed across all of the oni in his presence.

  Oni were known for being a race of giant drunken warriors that would rampage from one battlefield to the next. Yet in the Spirit Realm they were also the primary law enforcement as they were also driven to punish the wicked. The latter gave them a sense of purpose to guide them in times of peace as law enforcement, and their race was thankful to the Kyubi clan for giving this position to them.

  “Go and request a meeting with Lady Kyubi and her daughter. I would like to meet our imperial princess. HAHAHA!”

  “Right away.” The guard immediately ran off to deliver Shuten-doji’s message with due haste. None of them had seen him in such a good mood in a long time and wanted him to stay that way for now. Maybe he might go through less liquor for a while.

  “Someone go and get gifts. I can’t very well attend such a fortuitous meeting empty handed now, can I? Also, get my children here so that we can discuss the future.” He took another chug of saki after bellowing his orders. He knew the tengu would not wait to act now that the great Kyubi Kon had a weakness they could target. How could he stay in such bad shape when such exciting times were upon him?

  As he stood up the sound of his joints popping echoed across the oni palace as they saw movement for the first time in a year.

  “Shit!”

  The echo was then followed by Shuten-doji falling over due to sudden vertigo, something his own daughter would not let him forget anytime soon.

  *

  The King of the tengu Shiro Tenno had just received similar news that Shuten-doji has.

  “Finally, there is a weakness we can exploit.”

  When Tamamo no Mae had been overthrown the tengu tried to rise up to take the place of the kitsune, only for the tengu’s great evil, Sutoku Tenno to die in the chaos that followed. So they were not happy when Tamamo no Mae’s descendants formed the Kyubi clan and reclaimed the throne of power.

  The tengu had been planning to usurp the throne, only to be thwarted every time before they could have their plans take off. Every time this happened, they lost a little more power until Kyubi Kon came along. They thought it would be the end of the clan when they had her family killed, only for her to rise up like her bloodline was blessed by a phoenix. The outcome of that was that the tengu had been relegated to messengers, barely holding onto the political power allowing them to be one of the three main groups of Spiritus.

  “We will bet everything on this. Capture her. If you can’t do that then kill the brat. No witnesses.”

  With that the order was given and the tengu loyal to the Tenno clan went out to try again to claim the throne for themselves, blinded by greed and desperation.