Desperate Prayers

August 27th

Asuka was in the middle of the temple in prayer, next to them were several members of her family, both close and distant, gathered secretly in a large shrine belonging to the family, in a hidden place among the mountains. The young huntress was in deep prayerful concentration, performing the ritual in desperation, the doubt within her was still strong, but she hoped that her offense would be forgiven, even if only slightly. The family had chosen the girl to be in charge of leading the ritual because they knew that she was the one who had the best chance of being heard without retaliation, after all, she was the closest to the entity they were calling.

Strong wind hit the place and extinguished the candles, darkness filled the place, then the door of the temple opened violently, the light of the full moon entered directly to the area, the candles were lit again, this time with a ghostly blue faint fire, revealing little by little that they were not alone, One more silhouette was with them, the evil kitsune was seated in a luxurious armchair, beside her two stone fox statues were protecting her, she was almost completely lying down, watching and judging those present, her face was mostly covered by her hand fan.

"May I know what Urakaze non-descendants are doing casually calling something you clearly don't know about?"
"Are you so stupid you've made a mistake in your prayers?"
"You little lost children, if you're not careful what you do you end up calling horrible man-eating beasts."
"You are lucky I was kind enough to appear before other unpleasant creatures came calling."
"Or perhaps the misfortune of calling the Goddess Tamamo-no-Mae and not having the benefit of a quick death."

The Goddess was much taller than any human that ever existed, her body alone lying on the chair almost touched the ceiling, behind her the full moon shone steadily through a window that the thousand-year-old temple did not have five minutes before, her fan-shaped tails covered almost half of the room, the talismans of seals and protection had turned to ash almost at the same time the Goddess entered. Everyone in the room feared greatly for their lives, but desperation had pushed them to do the unthinkable and look for strength where there was none. Asuka, taking advantage of her relative familiarity with the creature, defiantly and insolently walked forward to take the floor.

"O Great Goddess of the Moon, Tamamo-no-Mae, great descendant of Amaterasu, companion of Tsukuyomi and Susanoo, please hear our prayers to you."
"Great Tamamo-no-Mae, we beseech you to lend your power to the hunter clan."
"Our forces are scarce and our enemies numerous, at this rate our clan will be surpassed by others, perhaps even by foreign forces."
"Without your intervention, we will be doomed, relegated to a life of servitude against greater forces."
"We know that our long rivalry is hard to forget, but we are willing to put that aside in exchange for cooperation with each other."
"...."

"Oh, I didn't know that mere mortals could be capable of such arrogance and selfishness."
"I think you are more lost than a shepherdless flock."
"Do you think I care about your miserable clan of demon hunters? I care very little about what happens to you or the other humans outside my family."
"My ties are with them, not with you."
"Why should I even listen to this complete nonsense to you, the same ones who only a few months ago wished for my destruction?"

"I understand that you resent us for the history of our ancestors, but this battle for power will affect everyone"
"Your help would make the difference between life and death for many innocent people."

"Don't give me your empty words of compassion."
"I feel no obligation to protect those who are not part of my daily life"
"The problems of your clan and other humans are not mine, none of them concern me."

"But, O mighty goddess, do you not have a responsibility to protect and guide humans?"
"We invoke you with the deepest respect and devotion"

"Devotion you say? don't you mean despair?"
"I am a free and sovereign goddess."
"I have no obligation to respond to your pleas."

"Please Tamamo-no-Mae!"
"We are willing to become your followers"
"We will erect temples in your honor"
"Having the support of a Goddess would greatly increase the strength of our clan."
"We could even exert pressure to force the other clans to accept to be your subjects as well."

"How low humans are willing to go to gain power to dominate others."
"That's why I'm tired of you guys in the first place."
"You and your power struggles"
"Always betraying each other to be the leader of the others"
"Trying to protect your revolt from the next, always looking to take down the new tyrant who was your ally."
"A thousand years have passed since the last time I was on earth and I still see the same problems plaguing the land that I foolishly swore to protect."
"And how did you ingrates repay me?"
"With the only thing creatures like you know, betrayal!"
"By making me the next enemy, the evil one to be defeated."
"What difference does this time make from the last?"
"That you intend to become my followers"
"Don't think you're so valuable, you're nothing but pawns!"
"Followers? Temples? Worship? Do you think that interests me in the least?"
"My heart only longs for one thing and I already possess it, unlike the vast majority of greedy humans, I do not need anything else."
"Your offerings are nothing but vain illusions in my eyes."
"Oh, how beautiful and pathetic it is to see these self-proclaimed descendants of Urakaze begging in tears for my help."
"And to know that I once spent my time locked away plotting my revenge, devising schemes and treacheries."
"But to think that all I had to do was to find my own happiness and forget about you to see you lost and forsaken."
"Weeping for your position simply because the opponent you hoped to defeat simply put revenge to rest and turned over a new leaf and moved on."
"It puts me in such a good mood, and since I am such a kind Goddess I will let this offense pass for today by sparing your life, despite such a daring offense against me."

"You think you're so important, just look how you talk about yourself as if you were something unattainable."
"But you are not, you are more! Just look at her! The moon goddess who is nothing more than an obedient slave?"
"Look at her necklace, it is a symbol of her submission."
"Who is the master who controls your strings, goddess?"
"Isn't it funny how gods can also be slaves to somebody?"
"She is nothing more than someone else's pawn and yet they treat us as if we were nothing!" said a madman in the audience in the back drunk with power.

"Watch your words, insolent hunter."
"My situation is not what it appears."
"This necklace although it represents submission, it is also a sacred bond with my beloved."
"You have no idea what you speak of."
"My loyalty is not to any arrogant human like you, but to my family."
"Don't you dare underestimate my power or assume that my owner is not more powerful than I am."
"Even if I am really just a puppet in the hands of another, I am still above you."
"My family is my choice and my raison d'être, speak ill of them and incur the divine wrath."

"Oh, loyalty and love?"
"What a noble cause to wear a collar as an obedient pet"
"What if I kidnapped one of your loved ones?"
"Would you still be so "loyal" to them?"
"Perhaps I should test your devotion."
"Your choice, you say?"
"Let me remind you that family ties can be as deceptive as anything else."
"You don't know who they really are, they could be playing you, taking advantage of your power."

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But the man just after speaking began to cough blood, his body began to contort in a horrible way and then a lot of horrible red metal thorns came out from inside the now battered body of the man. A horrible and shocking death, which despite its speed was not at all merciful, because in the face of the fallen man you could see all the anguish he suffered during the few moments he was still alive.

"Oh my, who would have thought, apparently I still have the power to kill whoever I want without repercussions."
"Now where were we? oh yeah, something about me being manipulated, right?"
"Well, in that I must agree that you are right, right now I am just being a puppet."
"...."
"If it weren't for that, there would be nothing left of this unpleasant land you call home."
"...."
"Just because I have not unleashed my thousand curses upon you does not mean that I have magically forgotten or forgiven you."
"I am simply fulfilling the will of my dear Goshujin-sama not to destroy everything just because of something as stupid as a useless revenge for something I was at fault for by trusting the wrong person."
"..."
"But to threaten my family, the people I love, simply out of greed and selfishness that you take too much pride in to even see yourselves as accomplices in your own destruction"
"Do not think so highly of yourselves"
"It only takes one word from him for all these thousand years that you have fought to defend this place to have been in vain"

"Please forgive them o great goddess, for they know not what they do."
"They have made a mistake, but they are willing to rectify it." Mentioned Asuka trying to save even one more life.

"It is clear that they do not know what they are doing since they thought that calling me was a good idea."
"Still, tell me, who thought that this insolence would not have repercussions just because we have spoken a little earlier?"
"Interesting strategy, who was it that thought that by using a common show of kindness and all at once run to take advantage of it believing it to be weakness"

"Exc...excuse me?"

"I know this was not your idea Asuka, you don't even have the guts to face me yourself."
"One of the elders forced you to be the presiding priestess thinking that way I would listen to you more."
"So I'm only going to ask you once."
"Tell me, who was it, who was it that came up with the idea?"
"I'm not leaving here until someone else has died"
"Come on, point to someone, it doesn't have to be the right one, just point to the one you dislike the most."

"No I can't do that, they are important to me, they are my family!"

"Well, my family is important to me too, and yet here we are, you pleading for my help as well as threatening my loved ones."
"I'm not going to be here all night, my beloved is serving me some cold tea and I'm not going to take the time to be in two places at the same time for something like this."
"The truth is that you guys are even lucky that I came today without telling my dear Goshujin-sama about it."
"What do you think would have happened if the white girl found out about this?"
"Do you think she would settle for just one or two?"

"....."
"The third old man on the left in the third row from the back."

* Snap*

The old man almost immediately began to vomit blood, and soon after followed the same fate as the insolent man. The others could only watch helplessly as the poor man lost his life in such a horrible way, for they did not want to be the next victim of the Goddess' wrath. When he stopped moving the Goddess looked at the others with what was clearly indifference to what had happened and spoke again.

"Today I will forgive them their offense with the payment of lives made."
"But this is the exception and not the rule."
"You have become so insolent playing with supernatural forces you do not understand trying to gain power, you are like children playing at being kings in a world you do not understand."
"But that will be the doom of your clan if you continue on this path."
"Take this as a lesson to learn."
"My only intention is to live with my family in peace and tranquility, the same desire as my beloved husband."
"But if you disturb this dream again with your repugnant presence."
"I assure you that I will not rest until I see each and every one of you dying in the most obscene of agonies."

"Yes.... if we have received a clear message"
"We will not repeat this mistake in history" apologized the priestess trembling with fear.

The Goddess did not return to answer the words mentioned, instead, the huge moon shining in the sky was covered by a cloud that stopped its light, another cold wind blew out the candles with speed, there was not a single noise for the next few seconds, in the darkness only the eyes shone with an unearthly intensity, reflecting the mystery of a celestial entity, But by the time they wanted to notice, the hunters were now alone in the darkness of the hall, which had returned to its former form, without the windows, the throne, or the stone foxes, as if they had never been there in the first place, the place regained its calm, but the memory of his presence and the sensation of his power lingered in the air. The hunters are plunged into a reflective silence, aware that they had committed a grave fault for which they had to pay a heavy price.

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