Megami Kyūbi no Yoru Part 1

  The group hurried into the forest, the spider doing her best to keep everyone safe. After a few minutes of fleeing, they had finally managed to catch a moment's rest. Mei Ling still had her spider limbs extended from her body, shielding the group from the strange individuals they had just witnessed. The other girls, trying to find some sense of safety, took shelter under those same spider legs, thinking they might at least protect them from a surprise attack.

  "What the hell was that back there?"

  "I don't know what happened, but I swear to God I'm going to find a way to blame César for this," Adelis said, stubbornly blaming her own son.

  "I don't think they'll leave us alone now that that weird thing told them we were watching."

  "This is bad... why do we always run into a new problem when the ones who know how to fight aren't around?"

  "What weapons do we even have?" asked Momo.

  "I have a gun, 20 bullets, but there were more than 20 people in this town."

  "We'll have to get creative with how we fight them."

  "You're an assassin - you must have more weapons than just a gun."

  "I do, and I left it in the car. The one that's in the workshop."

  "Besides, why is it all my fault? Technically, Adelis should have a gun too!"

  "I told her a million times to always carry one, because you never know when a situation like this might arise!"

  "Personally, I don't like carrying something that dangerous."

  "Besides, I'm almost always with Lisa, and I wasn't expecting today's situation at all - it really took us by surprise," the mother replied, looking around for any sign of danger.

  "Yeah, just like any emergency that happens just because we live near César," Levia added, referring to the person everyone considered directly responsible for their current predicament.

  "Hey, the twins are Imperial androids, right? They can use their lightsabers, that's something," the spider girl asked.

  "Unfortunately, my sister and I currently lack lethal equipment."

  "As electronic warfare dolls, direct combat is not our primary role."

  "While we are capable of using assault-type DOLL weapons, we do not have them integrated into our bodies and therefore require external equipment to operate most of the weapons typically associated with a standard assault-type DOLL configuration."

  "That same external equipment is in the trunk of the same car that is currently broken down and being repaired in the shop," Kazumi and Charlotte spoke at the same time, in perfect sync, their tone bored despite the situation.

  "Oh, how cute. The robots have already learned to make excuses like their father," Mei Ling couldn't resist saying sarcastically.

  "........."

  "Okay, seriously, I'm worried about Levia. No offense, but honestly, you're always getting in the way."

  "We're at a huge disadvantage having to look after her."

  "I know I'm not very mobile on land, but I'm trying my best, okay?"

  "We need to get back to the car and get out of here."

  "And how are you going to do that? The engine won't start without the fuel pump," Momo reminded her.

  "Hey, you're a spider girl, right? What can you do?"

  "Well, I practiced with my webs, but I'm not that good at it."

  "People think that just because I'm a spider, I automatically know how to sew or handle ropes, but that's not true."

  "If you expect me to do things like make invisible thread traps or turn this whole forest into my web, I'll need a few more years of practice."

  "Not everyone is born knowing everything."

  "Weren't you first a spider and then transformed into a human?"

  "I don't remember that time!"

  "Do you remember what happened in the first 15 days of your life? Right, neither do I!"

  Suddenly, a sound among the trees interrupted the conversation. A faint crunching sound, like branches being stepped on far too carefully. Mei Ling slowly lifted her spider legs. The air thickened, as if the entire forest was holding its breath.

  "Did you hear that?" Momo asked in a tense whisper.

  A whistle cut through the air. Something was embedded in the trunk of a tree, just inches from Levia's head: a small, curved dagger with symbols engraved on the handle.

  "Someone's out there!" Adelis cried, pointing to where the dagger had come from.

  One by one, figures began to emerge from the shadows, clad in black robes that barely reflected light. None of them spoke, just moved forward with fluid, deadly movements.

  "Oh, great! Ninjas dressed in black like in manga, just what I always dreamed of!" Mei Ling yelled as she fell to the ground, raising her legs to shield the others.

  Charlotte and Kazumi stood up on either side of Mei Ling's legs, then jumped at full speed towards the hooded men as if they had been waiting for this very moment.

  "Identification: unregistered hostiles. Initiating defensive combat protocol. Activating close-quarters combat mode," Charlotte said monotonously, despite the energy in her movements.

  "We don't have our weapons, but that doesn't mean we can't fight," Kazumi added, finishing her sister's sentence.

  One of the ninjas rushed at them, as fast as a breath. Charlotte caught him with a spin, using only her forearm to deflect the blow with inhuman precision. She finished with a spinning kick that slammed him into a tree with a sharp thud.

  "One enemy neutralized," she announced emotionlessly.

  Mei Ling leapt to the nearest tree, clinging to its trunk as if it were an extension of her body. From above, she unleashed a barrage of thick webs that caught two enemies and pinned them to the roots.

  "Ha! The first time one of those actually works!" she exclaimed euphorically.

  But five more appeared, this time with smoke bombs and throwing stars. The forest filled with a thick, gray mist.

  "Thermal mode activated," the twins said in unison, their eyes changing color.

  Kazumi raised her left hand at full speed, and out of the smoke, a star shot towards her arm. On contact, a few sparks flew and the star bounced in another direction. Right behind Kazumi was Levia, stunned by what she had just seen when she realized that the attack had actually been aimed at her.

  "Don't split up!" Adelis shouted from her improvised hiding place behind a rock.

  "Form a defense line or whatever you do when there's trouble!"

  Kazumi and Charlotte began to move in perfectly synchronized movements, as if they were part of a single unit. One dodged, the other countered. They used parts of the environment: branches, rocks, even an abandoned backpack as an improvised projectile, while Mei Ling slipped between trees, using her webs

  One of the ninjas managed to break through the defense and lunged at Levia.

  "Oh crap, not again!" the girl screamed as she saw the dagger coming.

  But just before it reached her, a web wrapped around him from behind, pulling him skyward with a surprised scream.

  "I've got you, idiot," Mei Ling said, hanging from the tree above like a mother spider.

  The fog began to dissipate, and of the twelve attackers, only two remained standing, clearly weighing their options. Charlotte stepped forward, her fist already stained with someone else's blood.

  "Tactical assessment: retreat recommended," she said coldly, pointing at her enemies.

  The ninjas glanced at each other, then disappeared into the trees without a sound.

  Then, silence...

  In the next moment, more hooded men emerged from the trees, first five, then twenty. In no time, a large group appeared in front of the girls, and now they were the ones surrounded.

  "Tactical assessment: retreat recommended," Charlotte repeated coldly, but not with the same dominant movements as before. Now, she was tense, preparing for the next battle.

  The ninjas advanced, surrounding them with a precision that only someone trained could achieve. The air grew heavy with tension and the murmur of the forest fell silent before the impending battle. Charlotte and Kazumi tried to hold them off despite the numerical disadvantage, their movements able to make the enemies hesitate in their attacks. But when several armed with kusarigamas arrived, they threw their chains to immobilize their limbs, like their arms or legs, at a critical moment of movement, making them lose their balance by surprise.

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  Mei Ling, on the other hand, was busy holding back the ninjas who were closing in on Adelis and the other girls who couldn't defend themselves. She used her legs to throw punches, using all of her spider skills despite her lack of practice. She shot a web at a nearby tree, buried her feet in the ground, and pulled at the tree with all her strength. She managed to uproot it and throw it at some of the enemies, but it only bought them a few more moments. The situation was tough, and the only thing the bodyguard could think of at the moment was to escape with the others as quickly as possible. But the possibility of leaving someone behind to fend for herself was too high. Levia would probably be that girl, and she knew she couldn't let that happen.

  Another hooded man approached Momo from behind. This time no one saw him.

  A buzz. A dull sound.

  And suddenly... a head rolled across the ground like a badly picked fruit.

  The ninja collapsed without a sound.

  A figure emerged from the trees, almost as fast as lightning. Its katana gleamed in the dim light of the forest, slicing through the air as if it were an extension of its own body. The ninjas, startled by the arrival of this new fighter, scattered to surround the figure, but they couldn't anticipate the speed of their attacker's movements.

  A fluid and deadly movement. The katana dazzled with each cut, decapitating one ninja after another with terrifying precision. The woman, with long dark hair, wore a traditional Japanese kimono, but with details that spoke to her role as a monster hunter: a light cloak that fluttered like a ghost, and armor that protected her limbs.

  Her eyes, cold and determined, shone with a fierce intensity. Urakaze. A legendary monster hunter, always faithful to the ancient rites of her people, a samurai warrior who fought mercilessly against the dark beings of this world.

  Every stroke of her katana was a testament to death, but her gaze never touched the girls. In fact, her movements avoided them, protecting them with an invisible barrier of death and violence. Her performance was extreme, violent, and cruel to the ninjas, but forgiving to the group of girls.

  The remaining ninjas faced her with precise coordination, but it was clear that they could not match her strength or skill. Urakaze moved with restrained fury, each strike resonating with deadly impact. This was not a battle to her; it was just a dance she had performed a thousand times before.

  The ninja leader, trying to keep his composure, raised his sword against the hunter, but it was too late. With a sweeping motion, Urakaze disarmed him, sliced his sword in two, and pushed him back with a precise strike, then brought her katana across his neck.

  "If you don't want more deaths, you will flee," Urakaze said, her tone deep and absolute. The ninjas, now trapped in their own uncertainty, began to retreat slowly.

  With a last gasp, the ninjas disappeared into the shadows of the forest, leaving only a trail of chaos in their wake. Urakaze remained in the same place, breathing deeply, her katana still in her hand, her cold gaze sweeping over the group of girls.

  "Are you all okay?" she asked calmly as she sheathed her katana.

  "Wait a minute!? What are you doing here? You are..." Momo said before the girl with the katana took her aside to talk privately.

  "Be careful what you say out loud, glass girl."

  "Rafael sent me to rescue Adelis after they got into trouble while Cesar was away."

  "If you even mention where I'm from, or that Adelis' late husband was the one who sent me..."

  "I'll leak photos from your school days."

  "What!? Where did you get those?"

  "You're lying!" the angel said indignantly.

  "Blame your father for asking the wrong people for help," the samurai girl said while showing her a photo to prove that she was telling the truth.

  Momo stretched out her arm to take the compromising photo of the time she tried to resemble the popular girl from her school, but Urakaze quickly pulled her hand away. After finishing the conversation with the one person who knew her true origin, she turned to the others.

  "Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Urakaze, I am a monster hunter."

  "You could say that I am from the Onmyōji Association, if we stretch the concept of what they do."

  "I've been sent to investigate a mysterious cult that seems to be popping up around here lately."

  "How unfortunate for you to be here on the same night they seem to be holding a ceremony with magic," Urakaze said nervously, trying to present a false profile that would raise the least amount of suspicion, especially from Adelis.

  "You're a monster hunter?" the mother asked, thinking about what might happen with the siren and the spider girl next to her.

  Hearing these words, the androids positioned themselves in front of the Chinese girl, raising their arms to protect her from a surprise attack by the samurai-clad girl. Instead, in a desperate act of bravery to cover up her lie, Urakaze walked up to the spider woman, touched one of her legs, looked at her torso, raised her hand to her cheek, and with a gesture like a proud detective closing a case, began to speak.

  "So, a Jorōgumo, the seductress and man-eater. A horrible spider trying to pass as an attractive girl, typical treacherous insects, always trying to devour humans and the weak."

  "However, I can see that you trusted her enough to risk your life for her."

  "From what I saw earlier, it was she who fought to protect you, fulfilling that same desire."

  "I can see that she is not a threat to the human world and is trying to help in any way she can, so I'll leave her alone as well."

  "I'm not the same foolish hunter I was in the past; I've learned my lesson since then."

  "I can perfectly understand that there can be good monsters who try to live with humans, just as there are humans who can only be described as monsters," Urakaze said confidently on the outside, while she wondered inside if that would be enough to fool Adelis.

  "Good to know," Mei Ling said, releasing her hand from the pistol she was ready to use if the hunter had done something wrong.

  "Do you know what's going on?" Adelis asked.

  "Yes, more or less."

  "This isn't a good place to talk, we should leave before more ninjas show up."

  "There's a golf course nearby, the hotel is big and surrounded by plains, we'll know if anyone approaches."

  "This way," Urakaze said, pointing to a golf cart, probably the one she had used to get here in the first place.

  The girls got in and started. The trip didn't take more than a few minutes. Most grateful was the mermaid, who no longer felt so much pity for the others who had to push her wheelchair everywhere. Arriving at the hotel, they went to the restaurant, and although there wasn't a single person in sight, everything was neat and tidy, with several dishes already prepared and still hot, as if the guests and workers had disappeared without a trace just a few minutes ago. Filled with doubt about what her eyes were seeing, Adelis asked.

  "Where is everyone?"

  "The other people?"

  "Don't worry, they're all safe."

  "Actually, the problem is us - we are trapped here."

  "Right now there's a magical barrier around the whole city."

  "It's like a dome that creates a replica of the original dimension, but with the ability to trap selected people so they can't escape."

  "Whatever they summoned is responsible for this; until we defeat it, I'm afraid we can't leave."

  "What?! Are you saying that we're trapped here?"

  "There must be another way out!" Levia asked, frightened.

  "Normally, a human would eventually run out of energy from using his magic to raise the barrier."

  "We would just have to wait and hope not to be found."

  "But the one who summoned this wasn't human - it was that stone thing," Mei Ling said, reminding everyone that she was also a hunter, a beginner, but with at least the basic knowledge.

  "Shit, so many things happened in such a short time."

  "And those idiots from my supposed clan missed it. What the hell were they thinking?" Urakaze said, frustrated by the situation he found himself in.

  "......."

  "All right, let me bring you up to speed."

  "Right now we're in Nasu Onsen, a rather unique place," "It's the typical Japanese tourist village in the mountains, with hot springs, hotels, people wearing kimonos, and the occasional ignorant foreigner here and there."

  "But once upon a time, this place was known for something else entirely."

  "Just one kilometer from here is the Nasu Yuzen Temple, the place where that strange ritual you all saw took place."

  "It's the place known as the battlefield where the evil goddess Tamamo-no-Mae was defeated."

  "It was only a few meters away from the shrine where she was murdered and sealed in a stone for all eternity."

  "The same legend said that if she was ever released, she would destroy the entire nation of Japan."

  "But time passed, seasons came and went, and the stone never gave way."

  "In time, it became a legend, and in the era of technology and human science, strange things no longer made sense to ordinary people. The place was a good place for hotels, and businessmen took over."

  "A strange group of fanatics began to gather here, using the name Megami Kyūbi no Yoru for their cult dedicated to the evil goddess."

  "......."

  "Personally, I think they just wanted to see Japan fall and didn't care about the goddess.

  "If this plan hadn't worked, they would have become terrorists one way or another."

  "I was investigating their connection with the Kanenaga group, but this came up first."

  "Some time ago, the famous damned Sessho-seki split in two... and nothing happened. Tamamo-no-Mae didn't appear. But that emptiness fed a group of fanatics: Megami Kyūbi no Yoru, a cult that idolized the promised destruction. They believed that without the goddess, they would have to create chaos with their own hands."

  "So the cult, angered by their unanswered prayers, used the stone and summoned ancient magic to force her to appear and unleash the destruction they wanted her to bring."

  "........"

  "Bastards, what they want to revive is the legend and prophecy of Chaos, not the person behind it."

  "But I'm afraid that what they've summoned is not the goddess Tamamo-no-Mae, and instead they've summoned a western demon."

  "And those idiots still haven't realized it."

  "Goodness, so this wasn't all just a coincidence?" Levia said, thinking it was because they already knew Tamamo personally.

  "Actually, I think it was, I mean, we didn't really plan to come here today."

  "It's just a coincidence," Momo replied, even though he was an angel from heaven and could not see any real thread pulling everything together.

  "Sometimes people overthink where there really isn't anything."

  "Sometimes coincidences just lead to big historical events, but that doesn't mean there's anything behind it."

  "What we have to do is find a way to stop them or get out of here."

  "That's relatively easy" Urakaze said.

  "That's also relative. What does that 'easy' mean?"

  "My son, Cesar, says a lot of things are easy all the time, and then he goes and does the most irrational, crazy, dangerous, and nonsensical things that have ever happened, and in which a normal person might have died about four times."

  "What's easy for a demon hunter is not the same as what's easy for a mermaid in a wheelchair," Adelis interjected, concerned for the group's safety.

  "........."

  "The priest summoned the demon with the strange ritual, and he did it with the wrong steps."

  "Even if it's a dangerous demon, its existence on Earth is still unstable."

  "So if we just 'disturb' the catalyst that was used a little more, its whole base will collapse like a house of cards, and it will be forced to return to where it came from."

  "I don't remember him using anything like that during the ceremony... Wait!"

  "The stone itself was on the altar! That's where this thing came from!"

  "But doesn't that mean we have to go there? Right in the middle of that weird fanatical cult?"

  "Well, yeah, but just a little bit," Urakaze said, looking in another direction and playfully sticking out her tongue as if to say an innocent "Oops.