Chapter Book 7: 59: Formidable Opponent (1)
Chapter Book 7: 59: Formidable Opponent (1)
Book 7: Chapter 59: Formidable Opponent (1)
Within the 30th ranked Kitsune-Shruti rage had boiled over into a heavy silence that pervaded over 30 universes.
Not only had the Heads of the three Ruling Clans convened, but the Heads of the ten Founding Clans and the Heads of the various unranked clans were present as well.
The Ruling and Founding Clans made up the thirteen kitsune clans that contained a faith seed creator in their lineage. As for the unranked clans, these included the Snow Clan who had never before raised such an expert. Or, more accurately, said expert was forgotten in history.
According to current kitsune lore, they only know of thirteen faith seeds, however… It’s likely that more have been forgotten due to the obscene length of time that had passed since they last appeared.
The three Ruling Clans, following this logic, were, of course, the Heaven, Jikan and Void Clans. The ten founding clans were the Chikyu (Earth), Kaze (Wind), Kasai (Fire), River (Kawa), Ocean (Umi), Yama (Mountain), and Mori (Forest) Clans.
As for the reason for this meeting, the eight shattered jade plates lying at the center of the hall were all that were needed in testimony.
The number of life saving treasures a single clan had were limited. Often times, they’d only be set aside to protect the best of geniuses during their youths. They would then be passed down to the next generation after a certain level of cultivation or time had gone by. Usually, this would correspond with when this former genius reached the peak of their potential.
For these eight individuals… Head Void, eleventh, ninth, eighth, seventh, sixth, third and second elders… they had long since reached their peak potentials…
For the Void Clan to suffer such a devastating blow, even losing one of their dao formation experts? The head of their clan no less? To say that they had lost half of their fighting prowess wasn’t an exaggeration at all… It would take thousands of years to overcome this setback. Or so they believed.
At the center of it all, the Grand Elder of the Void Clan stood trembling in rage, his void will involuntarily shattering the space around him time and time again.
His nine tails whipped fiercely against the ground with a vitality that didn’t match his aged appearance in the least.
“Who did this?!” Grand Elder Void was not just among the most powerful reserves of the kitsune clans, he was quite literally among their three most powerful experts in combination with Grand Elder Heaven and Grand Elder Jikan.
After hours of trembling, Grand Elder Void’s roar finally tore through the silence…. With the other Grand Elders in seclusion, no one here matched his status and thus no one dared to speak before he did… The trouble was that Head Heaven and Head Jikan had already painstakingly described the situation to him and didn’t know if his roar really meant he wanted to hear their explanation again or not.
“You lose my great grandson Aki and after years, you still have no answer for me! And now you’re telling me that you not only lost seven of my elders, seven of my nephews and nieces! SEVEN! But, my son as well?! What do you have to say for yourselves?!
“Is this how you want to uproot my Void Clan?!
“Have we not always been brothers in arms?!” Grand Elder Void roared. “Have we not always fought those bastard Shruti side by side?! What has my clan done to deserve such deceit?! Such schadenfreude?!”
The various Heads were quick to raise objections. They understood the Grand Elder’s plight, but this kind of careless talk could fracture their clan.
Sure, from the outside looking in it was odd that such a dangerous mission was undertaken by the Void Clan alone. After all, were Misoka and Gin among the captives along with Aki? So why did the Void go alone? Where were the Heaven and Jikan Clan?
However, everyone here knew the late Head Void’s personality. He was impulsive and fiery tempered, just like his father. It was more likely that he rushed forward alone than to say that he was plotted against.
“TELL ME WHERE THIS MASKED MAN IS, TELL ME WHERE HIS CLAN IS, I’LL DESTROY THEM MYSELF!”
The surrounding elders didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Wasn’t this the same mistake your son made? Why are you making it again?
“Grandfather, please hold on a moment.” Just as the various Heads were losing hope in reining this old man in, a collective sigh of relief passed over them as a family young man rushed in.
This young man was none other than Aki’s father and Head Void’s son, Kaori Void. Although he only had eight tails unlike his son, father and grandfather, his genius still seemed to surpass them all. He was truly an anomaly of the Void Clan.
“Kaori.” The Grand Elder’s expression softened slightly. “Do you see what these bastards did to your father? Revenge. We need revenge!”
Kaori sighed, looking toward the shattered jade plate of his father. His heart hurt, but his temper was far more cool-headed than his predecessors. In fact, it was he was responsible for teaching Aki that a man should rein his emotions in.
However, it seemed difficult for even him to do so. His son was kidnapped. His clansmen and fellow brothers and sisters were killed. And now, even his father was gone…
Months ago, when the first seven jade plates shattered, they had believed that Head Void escaped. But, just a few hours ago, even his plate shattered so this could no longer be kept a secret from the Grand Elder.
“We need to think careful.” Kaori said heavily. “This might be a ploy of the Shruti…”