The last thing Airi remembered was her sword slashing at her mother.
Deep within her, something had called out to her.
An instinct, older than any thought, made her reach for that power and draw it forth from the depths of her body.
With every second she poured that power into her blade, her body grew hotter.
At the same time, Airi felt something moving along her skin.
Her field of vision narrowed.
Smaller.
Darker.
Her body twitched in pain.
Then suddenly, the ground trembled.
Airi's eyes flew open.
A battlefield stretched out before her.
And on that battlefield, a gigantic kitsune was locked in battle.
She was over two hundred meters tall.
Her fur shone gold in the light, and her nine tails lashed across the ground with such force that entire forests shattered beneath them.
Then, from the other side, Airi heard a roar in the sky.
Deep inside her, it stirred a strange sense of safety.
And yet ... that exact same feeling also came from the enormous kitsune.
As if she were her mother.
Then a majestic dragon burst through the cloud cover.
With a thunderous beat of its wings, it dove down and unleashed a massive blast of fire at the golden kitsune.
The gigantic kitsune opened her enormous jaws.
Her sharp teeth flashed in the light.
Deep in her throat, energy gathered until she unleashed a tremendous beam.
The earth split apart beneath the shockwave.
When the two attacks collided, a black sphere formed between them.
For a single, unnaturally silent moment, the world seemed to hold its breath.
Then the sphere erupted in a massive wave of energy.
The shockwave hurled Airi through the air.
"How did I end up in this fight at all?!"
Her voice sounded small against the roaring of the powers around her.
"I only wanted to become stronger..."
She was thrown across the ground until her body finally came to a stop.
Pain shot through every fiber of her being.
When Airi painfully lifted her head, both beings were staring at her.
The gigantic kitsune.
And the dragon.
Their enormous eyes rested on the small, wounded vixen lying bleeding in the dust between them.
Then, suddenly, a golden sphere formed high above them in the sky.
It radiated a light so intense that it nearly blinded Airi.
In the next instant, golden rays shot out from it and struck the dragon.
With every hit, its enormous body grew smaller.
Smaller and smaller.
Until it was finally forced back into Airi's body and merged with her.
Seeing this, the gigantic kitsune slowly lowered herself to the ground.
But then her body began to glow as well, as if her power were overflowing.
Above the temple of Kyoto, the moon stood in a clear, star-strewn night sky.
In the temple garden, Tamamo sat on the terrace, playing her zither.
Kaguya sat in her mother's lap, watching as her fingers moved calmly over the strings.
The past few days had been hard for her,
because her sister still had not woken up.
"Mommy... why have you only been playing sad music these past few days?"
Kaguya snuggled a little closer to her.
"Can't you play something softer? Or Sister's favorite song? I think that would warm my heart a little."
Tamamo's silky fingers, which had just been playing the zither, fell still.
She exhaled slowly.
"My little one... I'm worried about your sister."
Her voice was calm.
"But how about we distract ourselves for a little while?"
A gentle smile crossed her face.
"With something that might bring you joy as well."
Tamamo's golden eyes rested lovingly on Kaguya.
"It's time for you to begin learning the zither too."
Kaguya's eyes lit up at once.
"Really, Mommy? I thought you wanted to wait a few more years."
Tamamo gently took her daughter's hands and guided them to the strings of the zither.
Carefully, she guided Kaguya's small fingertips across the strings,
until the first delicate notes drifted through the night.
Tamamo watched with a quiet, content expression.
At least one good thing is happening today.
Reika told me today that she wants to bind her life force to Oda.
The clan will lose a talented kitsune because of it.
But as humans say, the heart follows no law.
Tamamo's gaze drifted out into the dark garden.
I only hope my little vixen will soon be laughing and frolicking through this garden again.
As the little vixen lost herself in the music beside her mother, Tamamo suddenly felt the air change.
A foreign power filled the air.
Her tails twitched.
It was a power she had not felt in a very long time.
Her fingers froze in the middle of the strings.
Slowly, Tamamo lifted her gaze.
It turned toward Airi and Kaguya's chambers.
Then it happened.
A massive pillar of light shot up from the sisters' room.
It pierced the roof.
It pierced the barrier of the yōkai.
Its light could be seen across all of Japan.
The sky itself seemed to shatter beneath the force of that light.
Behind the cracks, for a single moment, a white space could be seen.
Endless.
Empty.
Alien.
Tamamo leapt to her feet at once.
Kaguya fell to the ground from the sudden movement and began to cry.
But even she scrambled back up and ran after her mother.
When the two vixens finally stood before Airi's bed, they saw only the destroyed roof above them and the sky slowly closing again.
The bed was empty.
"Mommy..."
Kaguya's voice trembled.
"Where is my sister?"
Tamamo's gaze went hollow, as if someone had torn her heart from her chest in that very instant.
Slowly, she sank to her knees.
Tears broke free from her eyes and ran down her face.
At that moment, Akio burst through the door.
"What was that?"