The Nine-Tailed Fox Yokai, Lord Beast (2)

Lord Beast corrupted the ruler of the Shang Dynasty, becoming his utterly doted-upon concubine.

At this time, Lord Beast had six tails.

The six-tailed Lord Beast…

Possessed a strength far beyond my own six-tailed form.

If one were to make a rough comparison,

Perhaps multiplying the Black Tiger that raised sandstorms by ten might barely reach the yoki of the six-tailed Lord Beast.

For a six-tailed fox yokai, corrupting a mere human ruler was child’s play.

She didn’t even need to use seduction.

Lord Beast subjugated the ruler with her body alone.

Er.

Um.

Ugh.

Witnessing the intimate relations between a man and woman directly was a first for me.

…I didn’t skip over it though.

In any case, Lord Beast eventually made both the other world and human realm her dominion,

Truly ascending as their ruler.

Once she became ruler of both worlds, countless beings sought her out.

The king of the Western Continent came and bowed his head before her.

Even the blustering great yokai kowtowed, carefully reading her moods.

Fanning herself, she laughed:

“Ahahahahahaha! How amusing, truly amusing!”

Whatever so delighted her,

Lord Beast continued fanning herself as she spoke:

“How could mere insects like humans or great yokai capture my interest?”

“Yet you… you are fundamentally different.”

“Lurking like a rat to observe me,”

“While rather unpleasant,”

“I shall graciously forgive you with my boundless magnanimity.”

Even her ruler and subjects entranced, she muttered to herself from her golden throne.

Was she referring to goblins?

Yes, it seemed so.

I focused my attention.

The more goblin information, the better.

However, after observing Lord Beast for a while, nothing particularly noteworthy occurred.

She said no more.

…

…

…

I had heard Lord Beast’s life goal was ‘fun’.

And indeed,

She was a fox yokai who lived true to her words.

Her reign could be summed up in one word – tyranny.

The utmost ‘heart of independence unmatched’ in the worst sense.

“Lord Beast, your meal is ready…”

“You dare casually utter my name?”

Splat.

The head of one servant exploded.

Lord Beast hadn’t even lifted a finger.

“Your liver shall substitute for the meal.”

Lord Beast then extracted that servant’s liver and ate it raw.

“Palatable enough. The liver of a virtuous person who accrued no karmic debt in life.”

…So she ate the liver of an innocent, kind person in the end.

As expected, being yokai cut from the same cloth, I did feel a sense of kinship.

But as Lord of the Mountain said, Lord Beast was truly an evil existence.

Lord Beast’s pursuit of ‘fun’ continued all day long.

Simply because it seemed ‘fun’, she handed swords to two servants and ordered them to kill each other, taking the liver of the survivor.

When a great bird-like yokai that triggered karmic fires with each flap of its wings came seeking Lord Beast, she doused its karmic fires with a bucket of water, stripping it of all its yoki.

“Ahahahahahaha! How amusing, how amusing!”

The enraged great yokai, having lost all its yoki, was powerless – yokai died without yoki.

Mustering its last strength, it laid a final egg, but Lord Beast trampled and crushed that last relic before its eyes rather than preserve it.

[Y, y, you dare…!]

“Quiet. I’ve lost interest.”

Splat.

The great yokai’s head burst open.

…

…

…

One day, the loyal ministers Jizi and Bigan took advantage of Lord Beast’s absence to plead with the ruler:

“Your Majesty, you must distance yourself from the concubine Lord Beast…!”

“We earnestly beseech you to take a proper wife and continue the dynasty the right way!!”

The ruler’s eyes were glazed over.

It turned out Lord Beast was not absent, but caressing the ruler from behind.

Taken aback, the ruler smiled blissfully as Lord Beast stroked his body.

Lord Beast spoke to him:

“Your Majesty, Jizi and Bigan have uttered lies with their treacherous mouths – they must be punished severely.”

“In, indeed… I, I shall do so, my woman Lord Beast.”

Savoring Lord Beast’s touch, the ruler ordered Jizi’s liver made into jerky and gifted to Lord Beast, while Bigan was summarily executed on the spot by her.

Lord Beast’s tails increased from six to seven.

…

…

…

Jizi was a perceptive man.

He recognized the Shang Dynasty was far more important than his own life, and was prepared to sacrifice himself for its sake without hesitation.

However, here he had to preserve his life at all costs.

Preserve it, rally troops,

And drive out the concubine Lord Beast to save the ruler.

Jizi was able to escape the ruler’s clutches by feigning to be a slave.

The one who aided the slave-disguised Jizi was a female slave named ‘Miho’ whom Jizi had favored…

…Wait.

That female slave’s name was…

Miho?

The female slave Miho spoke up:

“My lord, though I shall perish here… please preserve your noble self and rescue His Majesty from that madwoman in time to come…!”

Jizi shed tears, caressing the body of the female slave Miho as he said:

“I, I shall never forget your grace and sublime sacrifice for all my life.”

Having escaped in slave guise, in the place Jizi had departed,

Jizi’s female slave,

Miho…

No.

…The seven-tailed Lord Beast

“Ahahahahahahahaha!”

Began laughing like a madwoman.

“Rebellion, even that is amusing!”

Jizi’s survival was not due to his own free will, but Lord Beast’s endless pursuit of amusement.

…

…

…

Lord Beast’s one-sided massacres continued day after day, month after month, year after year.

She kept harvesting livers, eventually evolving into an eight-tailed fox yokai.

“Hmm.”

Just as Lord Beast was starting to feel bored,

A single goblin came seeking her –

Not just any goblin, but one of Duergsini’s Four Infamous Fiends that oversaw the Ri aspect of the Four Perverse Beings.

Brazenly entering through the main gate, the goblin declared to Lord Beast:

[I am the Ri goblin of the Four Perverse Beings. You who mocks the Shang Dynasty, your deception ends today.]

The very amusing situation Lord Beast had so desired.

Yet for some reason,

“Haaaaaaah.”

Lord Beast yawned.

As if shooing away a bothersome insect, Lord Beast waved her hands dismissively at the goblin:

“Consider my good mood today as your fortuitous luck, and boast about it to your fellows. Now begone, nameless goblin – you are not an amusing enough creature.”

[…Did you not hear me? Your deception ends today.]

“Deception? You called it deception?”

Lord Beast slowly rose, her beautiful body shamelessly exposed.

Opening her mouth towards the goblin:

“How pitiful.”

“To label my actions as ‘deception’,”

“And boldly stand before me ignorant of Heaven’s heights.”

[You cannot defy the cycle of arising and passing away…]

“Silence.”

“Cease your sanctimony – do you think I cannot see through a goblin’s hypocrisy?”

“I am destined to become a celestial deity.”

“How could a mere goblin presume to dictate my fate?”

Lord Beast’s attitude clearly treated the goblin as beneath her, enraging it.

[…An insult.]

[I too shall insult you.]

The goblin raised its rod and used a curse –

Intending to separate the ruler from Lord Beast’s clutches.

Yet the ruler remained entranced.

“Lord Beast, what is that sick cow?”

He even referred to the goblin as a ‘sick cow’.

[Wh, what…!]

As the ruler finished speaking, Lord Beast began laughing maniacally:

“Ahahahahahahahaha! So His Majesty sees that creature as a cow!”

“Well then… hehehe, watching you laugh puts me in a good mood too.”

[Wh, what trickery is this, vile fox yokai!]

Instead of answering, Lord Beast simply laughed and laughed and laughed some more.

Finally, she addressed the goblin:

“Goblin livers don’t taste very good. I shall feed your liver to the cows instead of my lover.”

[…You will deeply regret this action for the rest of your life.]

“I am not one to regret past deeds.”

[Once everything ends and the cycle of arising and passing away turns again, we shall start with you…]

“The cycle does not turn.”

Having approached within the goblin’s vicinity, Lord Beast slowly opened her mouth, addressing someone:

“Watch closely.”

“The crux is this.”

“One must not be bound by cycles.”

“When killing goblins,”

“It should be done like this.”

Lord Beast then plunged her claws into the goblin, continuing:

“Take the liver first.”

“A goblin’s true weakness is not”

“The cycles,”

“But the liver.”

Just now…

Who was she addressing?

Surely not…

…No, couldn’t be?