Episode 24 Fox Moon
The lord of the Nightless City, Gumiho, dwells by a lake at the very heart of the Forest of Bonds.
Around the lake, rows of red gateframes known as홍살문 (hongsalmun) stand crowded together, and golden straw cords are strung here and there as warding ropes. Strips of cloth in the five cardinal colors dangle from every wooden post, adding to the eerie mood.
At the very center, a mirror-still lake, without even a ripple, holds the moonlight of the Phantasm Realm where an eternal night continues.
On a small artificial islet in the middle of the lake sits a small pavilion. With cloudlike hair piled up, Gumiho always sat there, drinking and languidly reading.
“It’s been a while.”
Gumiho let her long sleeve drop to release the cup, then slightly turned her head.
Perseta bowed deeply.
“I pay my respects to the lord of Nightless City.”
Gumiho gazed at him for a moment, and then clicked her tongue.
“I dislike you. Humans who surpass me are unpleasant.”
“I am always sorry for that.”
“That very part is what I dislike more.”
She turned her head lazily and looked at Zwart, who stood there tense, then clicked her tongue again.
“What is this? Surely you’re not telling me to invest in the likes of him?”
“I ask it of you.”
“No. I like him even less than you. I cannot stand brutes who rely on strength.”
“Even so, I ask it of you.”
Looking at Perseta, who still had his back bowed, Gumiho moistened her lips with a red tongue.
“In that case, this means you will owe me a debt, yes?”
“Of course.”
“Then good. I cannot let such a chance slip.”
Tock.
Gumiho’s red lips parted, and from within flowed a fox marble no bigger than a fingernail.
“You dull thing there. Count it an honor and swallow.”
Whoosh—
With a flick of Gumiho’s finger, the little fox marble flew like a ray of light and was sucked into Zwart’s mouth.
“Gah…!”
Zwart was startled, but forced himself to regain his composure as quickly as possible and examined his body.
He felt it.
As if it had always been part of him, he felt a power budding in his chest.
Gumiho rose smoothly to her feet.
“Do your utmost. I grant this only for that distasteful mage’s sake, but if you disappoint me too much, I shall mete out punishment.”
Snap!
The moment Gumiho snapped her fingers, space heaved.
The cozy pavilion stretched like rubber, and in an instant it widened so far the distant horizon could be seen; the ceiling rose as high as the sky.
“Now then, make the most of the ability I gave you and try to endure.”
Gumiho’s voice scattered, echoing as if from a deep cave.
So did her body.
For a moment she seemed to be engulfed in flames, and then in an instant she multiplied into hundreds.
Fwoooosh—
Fire and smoke billowed up from every side, hindering his view.
“This is what is called foxfire.”
Swish! Whoosh!
Hundreds of Gumiho, flames filling all sides. In the midst of that confusion, blue flames bloomed with a shiver and were loosed toward Zwart like arrows.
“Hup!”
Clang! Clank!
Drawing up his aura and swinging his longsword, Zwart batted the flames aside.
Watching that, Gumiho clicked her tongue.
“So obvious there’s neither fun nor awe. If that’s all, I shall be truly angry.”
Crack!
Gumiho, slipping out from the flames, stamped down on the back of Zwart’s knee.
Then another Gumiho appeared beside him and kicked the head of the kneeling Zwart.
Boom! Boom-boom-boom!
With that tremendous brute strength, Zwart’s body flew dozens of meters and smashed into the floorboards, burying itself there.
Gumiho shot a glance at Perseta.
“Do not resent me if I break its arms and legs.”
“…I trust my younger brother.”
“Hmph.”
Tap, tap.
Barefoot, Gumiho dragged her long hem along the floor as she walked toward the fallen Zwart.
Hundreds of Gumiho wavered together through the flames, matching her steps.
“Urgh…”
Zwart groaned and stood.
“Hoh…?”
But Zwart’s eyes were not the same as before.
Eyes holding flames blazing up.
At that sight, Gumiho showed interest.
“You’ve awakened a magic eye? For a brute, your concentration is serviceable. Is it because you’re that distasteful mage’s brother?”
Zwart rose and reset his stance.
With his magic eye awakened, he no longer fell for illusions. With eyes burning like lanterns, he discerned truth from falsehood and saw through beyond them.
Seeing that, Gumiho clicked her tongue again.
“Now that I look, you haven’t truly awakened the magic eye either. It can pierce through, but cannot beguile—a half-formed magic eye. If it’s like that even after awakening, it means you lack talent. You have no knack for deceiving anything.”
Zip-zip-zip!
Blue foxfire shot out.
Zwart now saw them straight on and dodged and parried them all.
He even faced every one of Gumiho’s phantoms that popped up to kick him in between.
However…
“Your movement is decent, but it is the quintessential fight of the low. What will you do if I do this.”
Gumiho parted her red lips and spoke.
[Stop now and come here.]
Clack.
Zwart’s body froze.
As if bewitched, Zwart began walking toward Gumiho.
He twisted his expression and tried somehow to resist, but it wasn’t easy; his pupils kept glazing over, vacant.
[Good. Now kneel there, and press your head to the ground.]
Zwart lowered his body. His head went down toward the floor.
Crack!
Gumiho stepped on Zwart’s head with her bare foot then turned to Perseta.
Perseta looked a little shaken, but steeled himself and spoke.
“I trust my younger brother.”
“That brother is licking the floor like a wretch right now. Hm?”
Grrrk!
Flattened to the floor, Zwart shattered the boards as he forced himself back up.
At that surge of force, Gumiho teetered and stepped back.
“…? You resisted? How did you do that?”
Zwart did not answer that question. He only hurled himself toward Gumiho in silence.
“Hm?”
But his speed was heaven and earth apart from before.
Boooom—
He was so fast Gumiho couldn’t evade in time; she had to snap a fan open and block the strike.
Thud, thud!
Even then, she couldn’t entirely dissipate the impact and took two steps back.
Eyes rounded in astonishment, she stared.
“What are you?”
And that was the start.
Clatter-clatter-clang!
Clang!
Zwart began to move so fast he could scarcely be seen properly.
He pierced illusions lightly, and he crushed the countless Gumiho phantoms with overwhelming strength and speed.
Unlike before, when he was being beaten one-sidedly, a fight of equals unfolded.
“Haa…”
Gumiho let out a deep sigh and licked her lips with her tongue.
“You’re no ordinary madman.”
For she had realized what Zwart’s change sprang from.
“You deceived yourself with the fox’s flame?”
Gumiho fixed on the flames pouring off Zwart’s entire body.
Her flame was specialized less in heat than in beguiling and deluding the opponent.
Yet Zwart used that flame to burn each and every muscle and cell of his body to deceive himself.
He deceived his own limits—and leapt beyond them.
Thus he gained overwhelming strength and speed.
“You’re entertaining.”
Gumiho smiled for the first time.
And then…
Fwoosh!
The moment she saw the flames that flared up from Zwart’s sword, her eyes glazed over.
She asked blankly,
“What is that? How did you do that? My fire could never be that hot…”
The heat pouring from Zwart’s blade was so intense that even Perseta, standing far away, could hardly bear it.
The air around them heated and shimmered so that Zwart’s entire body looked like it was breaking into heat-haze.
Zwart shifted his grip on the sword and answered,
“I tried deceiving the world.”
“You deceived the world? Ah…! You deceived the law! You layered my fire in tiers!”
By nature, flames do not overlap one another.
Even if you bring two candles together, the flame only grows larger; the two cannot overlap to raise the temperature further.
Yet Zwart had done it.
Using the foxfire’s property of deceiving the world, he layered and layered the flames to create an even hotter fire.
“Haa…”
Gumiho sighed long once more.
Just as Zwart was about to rush her again..
“Enough. Let’s stop.”
Gumiho turned her back.
Whirr!
In an instant, the world changed.
The countless phantoms vanished, the blazing flames went out, and the pavilion that had grown endlessly high and wide returned to its original size.
“Uh…? Huh? Is that the end?”
Zwart asked, bewildered.
“Yes. So put away your flames as well.”
The sword that had been burning hot returned to its former state.
Whoosh!
Gumiho turned to face Zwart and spoke.
“Good. I’ve decided. I learned today that even ignorance can be beautiful. You and that distasteful mage are as different as heaven and earth.”
Looking at the tightly tensed Zwart, she smiled faintly.
“To you. I shall give myself.”
“Ah! Thank— er?”
“To possess me—count it an honor.”
“E-eh?”
Hop.
With a single step, Gumiho crossed space as if by magic and came right up to Zwart. Even compared to Zwart, who stood 191 tall, she was not much smaller; she grabbed him by the front of his collar and yanked him in.
“Uh…”
While Zwart was letting out a foolish sound, Gumiho’s red lips pressed thickly to his and parted.
Zwart caught the sweet scent of pomegranate.
Gumiho whispered into dazed Zwart’s ear.
“My name is Fox Moon. I am the first tail of Gumiho, lord of the Nightless City.”
In that instant a wind rushed.
Fox Moon’s form turned into a fox with a single big tail covered in fluffy white fur, and then it was sucked straight into Zwart’s mouth.
“Mmph…!”
Zwart clamped his mouth shut in a hurry, but Fox Moon had already entirely vanished into his mouth.
He looked around.
“B-brother… what just…”
Perseta smiled.
He had trusted his brother, but he had never imagined this would be the result.
“What else? You received something tremendous.”
“S-something tremendous?”
“Yes. Each of Gumiho-nim’s tails is a living being, and at the same time part of Gumiho-nim—an ensouled thing imbued with her primordial true force.”
“T-then…”
“I had thought that just receiving her fox marble would be a great success… but you’ve ended up sharing a part of Gumiho-nim herself. This goes beyond merely gaining an ability. And the first tail, at that. Congratulations! Zwart!”
Zwart looked into Perseta’s eyes and knew.
Something truly extraordinary had happened.
For in the eyes of Perseta—who was always the one to cause extraordinary things—there was an unmistakable joy and astonishment.
Zwart clenched his fist and set it to his chest.
Thump, thump.
He felt a certain power pulsing within his chest.
A vast power, incomparable to when he had first received the fox marble.
While Zwart stood there, blankly feeling that power, Perseta tugged his arm.
“Let’s go back now. It’s about time I gave my presentation at the forum.”
“Ah, okay!”
Zwart hurried after Perseta.
Then, suddenly, he thought he heard a woman’s rich, trailing laughter and turned to look back.
For some reason, his chest tickled.
Leave a Reply