Umiho Na-Ri 03 - English

Kumiho Na-Ri

Demoness of the Storms 3

by

J. Paschmann

Flashback

Kumiho Na-Ri is a nine-tailed, almost immortal fox demoness. On a whim, she saves the life of a Korean officer who has escaped badly injured from a battle against enemy Japanese samurai.

The year is 1592: 160,000 Japanese warriors invade Korea, defeat the Korean army and force the king to flee.

In the midst of this, Officer Na De-Yong tries to recruit a unit of soldiers for a ship under his command to fight against the Japanese.

Mortally wounded, he enters into a pact with the demoness, which binds them together. But neither of them had considered the consequences.

On their way to a temple of the goddess Samshin Halmoni to sever the connection, they once again come into conflict with the Japanese occupying forces. Thanks to their demon powers, they easily defeat the soldiers and kill all the samurai who stand in their way.

But the scribe and interpreter Yoshimoto Kota escapes and alerts the Japanese commander-in-chief Konishi Yukinaga to a possible threat to his plans.

He sends a special unit under the command of the samurai, Taka Miyahara, and the priest and demon hunter, Kazuki Ichimaru, to pursue the demons.

The Japanese actually manage to capture Na-Ri and cut off her head, while De-Yong escapes badly injured.

But Na-Ri is by no means dead. Her demonic power is now divided into three parts: her head, her body and the fugitive De-Yong. The latter must now try to reassemble the demoness's body.

However, the Japanese have secured the head as a trophy to present to their supreme general.

Na-Ri uses her demonic powers to get in touch with her younger sister Yun, a seven-tailed fox demoness.

Together with De-Yong, Yun is to recapture the head and put them together.

Meanwhile, her body is to be smuggled through the Japanese lines to an agreed meeting point by De-Yong's newly recruited soldiers.

However, both the smuggling of the body and the timely recapture of the head fail. Although Na-Ri is freed by the final destruction of her mortal shell because she can now be reborn at the next full moon, the rebirth also means De-Yong's death sentence in 20 days.

Decisions in the fire

As soon as Yun jumped onto De-Yong, she slammed her extended, pointed teeth into his artery. She wanted to suck out his useless, powerless blood, scratch his face and crush his balls. He was going to die a thousand deaths, because he had no idea what Na-Ri would have to endure because of him.

De-Yong did not resist when she bit him on the neck. In fact, he even tilted his head slightly so that she could get to it better. Once again, he had failed. And if he was going to die, he would die right here and at the hands of Na-Ri's sister.

"Alarm, the demon is here!" a voice shouted in Japanese. The soldier had just walked past the somewhat secluded shrine when he heard Yun's outcry. Behind the wooden parapet, he saw a half-man, half-beast creature biting open a man's throat. However, his warning cry went unheard in the roaring noise of the burning city. Too late, he realized his fatal mistake of calling out first instead of drawing his sword and attacking the demon.

Almost from a crouch, over De-Yong, she performed an incredible somersault backwards, even over the soldier, and landed behind him. Before he could turn around, she had already broken his neck. He slumped to the ground like a puppet whose strings had been severed. Yun, now with a human body and the head of a silver fox, stood over the corpse like a vengeful demon, shrouded in the firelight of the burning city, staring at De-Yong with eerie, glowing blue eyes.

The sight should have scared De-Yong to death, but he was already far beyond that. His blood ran down his throat as he wondered if he would go to the same hell that Na-Ri was in now. Or would he be lucky and just be reborn as an animal? Would Yun now suck him dry completely, or torture him first? His eyes fell on his discarded clothes. The prepared needle was still in the belt cloth, with which he could possibly paralyze Yun. But what good would that do? He would die anyway.

Yun trembled with suppressed rage. Anger at De-Yong, the samurai, but also at herself for relying on the mortal instead of doing it herself in her usual way. She would certainly have made the miko make a mistake, like the one earlier, when she omitted the purification ritual in the general's chamber and Yun simply handed her the herbs that would have exposed her as a demon. It was also her fault that Na-Ri was in this situation.

Na-Ri was now back in hell, the world of demons, from where she had to find a new way back into this world. This involved incredible pain, and was something that even really powerful demons could not easily do without a gate knocked out of this world. However, Na-Ri still had an anchor in this world that enabled her to return. It was her pearl, the essence of her power, which resided in this man in front of her. As long as it was not banished, Na-Ri would return. But without De-Yong's body as a focus, the pearl would only be a contourless mass, a fluid imperceptible to normal mortals, which would remain where it was released. This essence could not travel far on its own, had no free will or great power. It was what humans called a spirit. Spirits were vulnerable to spells and purification rituals. Besides, without De-Yong's body, with the pearl as its focus, Na-Ri would rematerialize in the middle of an enemy-occupied city. Naked and completely disoriented and helpless for at least a day. The transition between worlds was terrifying, confusing the mind. So Yun would have to be here at this time and receive Na-Ri.

Yun suddenly broke away from her thoughts, went to her knees, grabbed the neck of the dead Japanese man with her left hand and carried the body effortlessly to De-Yong, who looked at her in amazement, but still motionless. She crouched down in front of him and her head turned back into that of a pretty girl. Her expression was serious, but the demonic gleam in her eyes had also disappeared. In a flash, she pulled the Japanese man's short sword from his belt and stabbed the tip of it into the dead man's neck. Not deep, just a hole about the thickness of a finger in the carotid artery. Blood oozed out.

"I'm not going to kill you. You will drink this blood now and flee the city with me," she ordered De-Yong.

He frowned and tried to understand what this change of heart meant. Why didn't she kill him right away? Did she want to see him torn apart inside when Na-Ri appeared again? Was this to be his punishment? The alternative of dying here and now was clearly preferable.

"Why should I do that? I'm going to die anyway. Kill me here and now. Torture me for all I care, but I know exactly what awaits me. Whether now or later, my death will be horrible. So I'd rather do it now."

Yun was taken aback for a moment. But of course he was right. Torturing him until he drank willingly was unrealistic. Even if she could break his will without hurting him so badly that he wouldn't be able to leave the city with her quickly afterwards, it would take far too long. They had to leave the city while there was still panic. Yun tried to remember what Na-Ri had told her. As brief as their exchange had been, it had been intense. When Kumiho sisters bonded on this level, there were no more secrets between them. She had witnessed everything that De-Yong and Na-Ri had experienced as if she had been there. No, as if she had been Na-Ri herself. Suddenly, she found what she needed in Na-Ri's memories. She put on her most innocent smile. An expression of purity, naivety and harmlessness that had led countless men to their doom.

"I'm very hungry and in need of blood at the moment, De-Yong," she said in a childlike, innocent tone. "I could feast on the samurai, of course, but they are armed and suspicious. Women and children are much easier victims. You happen to come from a village not far from here? A day's walk? Is that where your wife and son live?" Yun slowly let her fangs come back out over her lower lip to make it clear what she meant.

De-Yong's face, already somewhat pale due to blood loss, completely lost its color.

"You wouldn't dare!" he replied powerlessly.

"Why not? Do you think it makes a difference to my kind whether we take the blood of men, women or children, apart from the quantity? And even if we don't necessarily have to kill a person in the process, there is no divine rule that forbids us to do so. You are to us what your cattle are to you: Food! I don't have to kill you, you will die in agony, as you rightly said. But I can kill you quickly and painlessly just before that happens, or I can wipe out your whole family, including all your relatives, in agony. Your choice!"

De-Yong swallowed. He realized that she had him in her hands, but still didn't understand why she didn't kill him right away.

"Fine, I'll drink the blood. But please at least tell me why!"

Yun hesitated, then shrugged her shoulders.

"I'll tell you later. Then you'll understand, I promise. And if you obey me, I will not only leave your family alone, but I will also grant you a quick death as soon as the time comes. Now hurry up!"

She held the corpse's throat out to him. Full of disgust, De-Yong looked at the bleeding wound, from which a steady trickle of blood was still dripping, even though the heart had long since stopped beating. With his eyes closed, he felt for the wound with his mouth until he found it and tasted the blood. Then he began to suck until the metallic, salty taste almost forced him to vomit. Coughing, he stopped.

Yun had watched him and estimated how much he had drunk. It hadn't been much. But his stomach was not used to blood. It was no good if he threw up again straight away. Yun's memories of their first time in this sphere came flooding back. Of her human body, which, just like De-Yong, first had to learn what the demoness inside it needed. As many centuries ago as that had been, her memory of it was like it was only last week.

De-Yong didn't need much blood at the moment, after all, he wasn't a powerful demon like Na-Ri or Yun. He didn't need to tame elemental forces and resist the constant pull into the demon world. Just to become strong and fast.

At last she nodded with satisfaction, picked up the corpse as playfully and easily as if she were moving a straw doll, turned it over and sucked more blood from the corpse, now supported by the earth's gravity. When she had finished, she threw it carelessly to the ground.

De-Yong looked a little better. The wounds were beginning to close, a clear sign that the pearl was still inside him.

"Clean yourself up a bit and finish changing, we have to go," Yun ordered. In the meantime, she squatted down in front of her sister's now spiritless head, picked it up tenderly with both hands and slowly stood up. Then she walked to the altar of the small prayer pavilion, laid her head down there and knelt down in front of it.

"May the divine mother not make your trials too difficult, not take your tails and not make your return too painful! See you soon, my beloved storm sister!"

She placed her palms on the skull and flames flickered up. Before the fire engulfed her new clothes, she withdrew her unharmed hands and watched as the head slowly burned with an unnatural, bluish flame. When the whole altar began to burn, she finally raised it and turned to De-Yong. In the meantime, he had dressed as ordered, then stood silently behind her and watched the ritual.

He also nodded sadly.

"I wish I could see you again in this life, Na-Ri! Farewell!"

Yun raised her eyebrows in surprise, but said nothing.

After this brief moment of devotion, they grabbed their bundles and left the shrine in the direction of the burning city center. From there, they would have to flee with the panicked people through one of the city gates.

Behind them, the shrine also began to burn down. Another of the many sources of fire in this town, which would hopefully no longer provide the Japanese with shelter and supplies.

* * *

Taka and Kazuki fought their way through the panicked crowd in the city. Those who weren't busy getting water to put out the fire tried to save their lives by leaving the city. It was a blessing that the rain had soaked so many roofs, otherwise the fire would have spread to many more buildings. Nevertheless, the fire developed into a catastrophe. A sudden bang of an explosion made them flinch. Gunpowder had probably exploded in some house. Taka stopped in mid-motion as he suddenly realized the danger they were all in if the general had indeed been killed by the second demon.

The chain of command had obviously broken down. Even though fire-fighting teams were organizing themselves everywhere, there was no overview of where and how best to fight the fire. Cursing, he realized that he couldn't look for the fugitives now. Apart from the fact that he could not find them in this chaos anyway, the town could not be allowed to fall victim to the flames. The main force would soon be passing through here and was dependent on the shelter and supplies in this town. Kazuki, who had not immediately noticed that Taka had stopped, turned around in surprise when he did. Over the heads of those fleeing, he shouted what was going on.

"I have to go back and organize the extinguishing, otherwise we'll lose the city! You go on to the shelter and send my soldiers to me at the palace. If the fire reaches the gunpowder supply, we'll all be lost!"

Kazuki turned pale, but then nodded and continued on his way, while Taka turned around and fought his way back to the governor's palace with his four men. Smoke forced them to cover their faces with cloths.

When they arrived at the palace, Taka's fears were confirmed. No one had seen the general and it was clear beyond doubt that the fire had broken out in his room. Taka immediately seized command. Not all the soldiers were samurai; many of the lower ranks came from farming or fishing families. They submitted gratefully and without grumbling to the new commander. But even higher-ranking samurai complied when Taka gripped the hilt of his sword threateningly if they did not immediately agree to his orders. When his men finally arrived, Taka had gained a rough overview of the distribution of the fires. From the palace hill he could see where things were burning and what was probably beyond saving; in his homeland he had already experienced several city fires after earthquakes and was experienced in firefighting. The palace could no longer be saved, so Taka withdrew the forces there and sent them instead to protect the powder store and, if possible, to tear down the surrounding buildings to form firebreaks. The rice stores also had to be protected if they were not yet on fire.

For the next 30 hours, Taka didn't have time to think about demons.

Alternatives

Teiko Akera was kneeling on the lawn in front of the still-smoking ruins of the Korean governor's palace, her short sword lying across in front of her.

The almost 30-year-old, slender shrine attendant and former bodyguard to General Sakuraba, was literally kneeling before the smoking ruins of her life. Her clothes, a former white kimono with a red wrap-around skirt, were soot-covered and full of burn holes, her hair singed.

She had failed and her master had died as a result. Killed by a deceitful demoness that Teiko herself had brought to the general. Yet that was precisely the task of an armed miko like her: to recognize and ward off demons and spirits.

And this demoness had even been Teiko's lover. She had seduced and deceived Teiko. In the end, she killed the general, stole the demon head, which Teiko had also been responsible for keeping safe, and reduced both the occupied palace and half the city to rubble.

Teiko was now a ronin, a samurai without a feudal lord, and also obliged to commit seppuku, the ritual suicide, for her failure. At least the custom allowed her, as a woman, to plunge a dagger into her throat instead of slitting her stomach, as the men did.

She tried to gather courage for the absolutely inevitable. She had not even invited witnesses to her suicide, because the commander-in-chief had placed Seppuku under his express reservation of consent for the duration of the campaign, provided no feudal lord stood in the way. This made her even more disobedient and deserving of death.

Inhaling and exhaling deeply, she listened to the birds singing about late spring. To Teiko's regret, the cherry blossom was long gone. It would have been nice to leave this world in the midst of falling cherry blossoms. At last she bent down, gripped her short sword with both hands and slowly drew the blade from its sheath.

"Ah, so here you are, Dame Akera! - Oh!" an astonished voice called from behind.

Teiko didn't look around, she had recognized the voice of the priest Ichimaru. Why did he have to interfere at this particular moment and spoil her perfect farewell?

Now he stepped into the sun so that his shadow fell on her.

"Lady Akera, I am glad to have reached you in time. I had already figured that you would try to restore your honor in this way. I will by no means prevent you from doing so, but hear me out first!"

Teiko still held the sword half-drawn in front of her. Should she plunge it into her throat now? Now that she had finally plucked up the courage to do it? Her hands began to tremble.

Slowly, the priest's hand pressed down her left hand with the sword sheath and he squatted down in front of her at an angle. The sun shone on her pale face again and the tension left her. She slumped powerlessly and bowed her head in shame.

"Why, Ichimaru? Why did you have to disturb me now?"

"On the one hand, because you are not entitled to commit seppuku without the express permission of the daimyo. But also because you can't restore your honor that way. Not yet! Besides, our faith abhors seppuku. You defile your soul!"

Teiko remained silent. What could she say to that? That she was afraid to go out alone as a ronin, hunting an overpowering demoness with no chance of success? Because nothing else was the alternative. And in the end, it was her duty to clear her family's name.

Kazuki Ichimaru sensed what was going on inside this woman. He felt sorry for her, because she was also a victim of this demon. But now it was not just one, but two powerful kumihos. He could not do without her. Basically, they had all been lucky to survive the night before last. And woe betide the Korean if he managed to revive the first demon. They were elemental demons, and the city proved all too well what they were capable of. A quarter of the buildings around it had been burnt to the ground. Most of the storehouses containing the rice essential to the war effort had been destroyed and the general was dead.

Yes, it was the miko's fault for not exposing this second demon in time. But to shirk her duty to avenge her liege lord now was equally inexcusable. If she did not fulfill her duty, she would not fully end her shame. Only when she had helped to hunt down the demons could she hope to wash away the shame from her family's name with her blood by committing suicide. But she herself would experience additional suffering in the next life.

But he said none of this to her. She was a miko. She knew all that. He waited patiently for her to regain her composure and lift her head. He had just pulled her from the brink of death, and she had to get over that first.

It was a long time before she found the strength to lift her head and look Kazuki in the eye.

"I am a woman, Ichimaru. Also a ronin, alone in a hostile country. Where does that leave me?"