Book 8: Chapter 202: The Way (1)
“From the intel we gathered before all information was perfectly sealed, Head Void died under unknown circumstances. Though, we have a few clues.” King Shruti spoke.The atmosphere turned serious. Since this was the 11th banquet King Shruti had held, it had dwindled in size considerably. Other than himself, his wife, his two children, not to mention King Atlas, his wife, and Adonis, there was only Saru’s Death Guard, Death Guard Elinor Hanu, present.[Author’s Note: Death Guard Hanu is Aoife’s mother, mentioned during the Mino Clan introduction just after Head Void’s attack. She doesn’t share the Mino Clan name, though King Mino still calls her his wife.]“Months prior to their lockdown, reports stated that they used the Void Tunnel we commissioned the construction of for Little Saru’s trial. In all likelihood, their destination at the time was either the same as Little Saru’s, or very close.“We know that Head Void led a group of Void Clan disciples personally, all of whom were excellent celestial warriors. But, none of them came back.“Soon afterward, the now dead Head Void’s son, Kaori Void, forcibly took control of the Kitsune Clans using their ‘Ancestor’s Command’ token. However, this was only after being elected the next Head Void by garnering the support of two geniuses that should have been his competitors – Fourth Elder Nobu Void and Fifth Elder Midori Void.”King Shruti sighed.“We don’t have much information other than this. We weren’t worried initially, because we thought there would be some leaks. But, they really sealed themselves off.”King Atlas frowned. “Why did you assume this? It’s not like you to make such a reckless mistake.”King Shruti shook his head. “Kaori Void is the father of Aki Void, a young man who was publicly humiliated and kidnapped by another young man you might have heard of, Dyon Sacharro.”“Ah…” King Atlas nodded in understanding. “You didn’t believe that a father would give up on finding his son so easily, but Kaori was more heartless than you assumed.”“Right. I thought that he would still release some feelers in hopes of finding his son. Not to mention the fact that even if he was unwilling, two other kitsune clan geniuses, Masako Heaven and Gin Jikan, were also kidnapped on that day. I thought he’d face some internal pressure from their Clans as well, but everything has surprisingly remained tight lipped.”The room fell into a light silence.“What purpose did True God Sacharro have for kidnapping those three in the first place?” Adonis chimed in.No one here had the answer to that question, it was quite silly to ask. But, it wasn’t entirely useless. There might be some use in finding out.“It’s possible that he wanted to mold them into spies. Or maybe they’re being tortured for disrespecting his wife. Dyon does have quite a temper when it comes to protecting his women.” Tej laughed.“It’s too late to use them as spies now either way. The Kitsune would be fools to accept those three now. It’s likely that True God Sacharro was caught off guard by their actions too. He lost the window to make use of them thanks to Kaori’s decisive actions.” Adonis said.“This Kaori shouldn’t be underestimated.” King Atlas frowned. “We can’t allow him to take the initiative any longer. It’s been about ten years since they sealed themselves from the world. That’s not enough time for any sort of drastic change in absolute strength, but it is enough time for a change in functional strength.“We can’t forget that the Kitsune are a supreme grade of beasts. They’re suffering from a small drought in talent right now, but they’re fundamentally on the same level as Dragons. If this Kaori was confident enough to make use of something as rare as that token, it means he had other plans.“Unlike other beasts, the Kitsune legacy hasn’t been cut off yet. We either join hands with them, or we destroy them. There’s no in between.”“So we should declare war.” King Shruti decided.“Not half-heartedly either. If things aren’t dealt with now, we’ll only face further problems in the future. Allowing an enemy to bide their time like this is the worst sin.“My Atlas Clan can’t support you openly due to the restrictions we’ll face until that turning point comes, but a baseline of support isn’t impossible. Namely, we’ll help you develop Little Saru. She’ll need to grow powerful incredibly quickly.”Just like all of the other True Gods in their time, Saru had just exited and was still a first stage saint. She was far from making an impact despite her talent. She needed to grow.“There’s really no need to worry about this so much.” Saru said off handedly.Numerous eyebrows raised toward Saru.But, the young girl herself was thinking back to a memory from over 20 years ago. It was a young man, kneeling before two beautiful women, making a promise that rung in her ears even to this day. Following that, the young man entered a rage-like state. He ripped the enemy that dared to harm those two women limb from limb like a mindless beast.It should have been a memory that made one shiver with fear, but whenever Saru thought about it, she smiled, a deep warmth spreading in her chest.‘There’ll come a time where no even dares to threaten you two’. Those were the words he said.“We can start the war.” Saru continued with a smile. “But… since they dared to touch her, we won’t be the ones to finish it.”