Return of the Mythic Bloodline

"Mother, please don't cry," Gumiho whispered, hugging her weeping mother by the neck. "I have already avenged Father."

"You mean..."

"Yes, the humans I killed were the ones who tricked Father and wounded him."

Hana embraced Gumiho's hug, and the duo stayed like that for a couple of minutes.

"Umm... Aunt Hana, I need to go now. My mother must be worried about me," Rumi said as the duo finished their emotional moment.

"Thank you, Rumi, for keeping my secret," Gumiho said, holding Rumi's hands.

"Don't thank me, we are friends," Rumi said with a wink before leaving the house.

Now, the chaos-filled stone house was left with only Gumiho, Hana, and, well... the ghostly me.

"Did Rumi see your other tail?"

"No, by the time she returned, I had already sealed it."

Gumiho replied, but after a brief pause, she added,

"But... I think Riku must have seen it."

Hana's eyes widened with shock. She held Gumiho's shoulders tightly with both hands and demanded,

"Explain everything clearly."

Gumiho told her the complete story—how the humans hurt Yuta, how she fought and killed them, and how Riku might have witnessed everything that happened.

"We need to leave right now," Hana blurted, covered in sweat from head to toe.

She quickly began packing the necessary things and ordered Gumiho to bring the inkstone, paper, and the peacock feather.

The moment Gumiho brought the items, Hana snatched them, sat at the table, and began writing a letter. Her hands trembled, her lips shivered, and drops of sweat poured onto the paper she was writing on, as if her entire world had turned upside down.

After putting down the peacock feather, she placed the letter in an envelope and slid her finger along its edge. A strange circular pattern appeared on it, and it began twitching as if it were filled with life.

It started fluttering like a pair of wings and flew away through the window.

"I hope you will find the letter before it's too late," Hana whispered, before putting the things she had gathered inside a pocket-sized pouch.

"What kind of artifact is that?" I murmured in shock as it engulfed all the items inside with ease. It must have some kind of extra dimension where everything was being kept.

Their preparations to leave were almost complete, but then a knocking sound came from the door.

"They are already here," Hana muttered, clenching her fist.

"Who is it?" she asked.

"Greetings, Elder Hana, we are the main family's protection guards. Lord Ancestor has sent us to summon you and Lady Ume before the council of elders."

"Hah! On what grounds is Lord Ancestor summoning us? We haven't committed any crime. Tell him we won't oblige his unnecessary demands."

"But-but it's the Ancestor's orders. If you were to disobey them..."

"Don't you know we have special privileges as the family of the Guardian of the Fox Clan? We can ignore any order if it's deemed unreasonable, even if Lord Ancestor himself commanded it."

"Elder Hana, Lord Ancestor has used the Absolute Decree, so please don't make it difficult for us."

Hana's body turned pale the moment she heard the term Absolute Decree.

"What the heck is going on here?" I shouted inwardly while clenching my stomach.

"Am I gonna die watching some ancient political bullshit?"

More than twenty percent of my core was already broken, and its pieces were spreading in all directions inside my body. Although the fragments were moving at an incredibly slow rate—approximately 1 cm per day spent in the memory, but still...

I had no idea how much time was going to be wasted here trying to find a way either to heal my core or to save her. And if that wasn't enough, I wasn't even sure if there actually existed a way to do that.

But I had no other choice beside watching this situation silently, praying that this last string of hope I was desperately holding onto won't betray me in the end.

Meanwhile, Hana muttered in a low tone,

"If he went all the way to use the Absolute Decree, then he is hell-bent on seeing things through."

She held Gumiho's hand, walked towards the exit, and opened the door as she spoke,

"Alright, we will oblige the Absolute Decree."

There were dozens of fox-men standing outside, all wearing the same long black robe. Their expressions were unreadable, and they carried an ominous killing aura, as if the blood of countless lives stained their hands.

Gumiho and Hana began moving into the forest, this time opposite to the direction, the kids went to play previously.

They were being surrounded by guards from all directions, clearly making sure that the duo wouldn't escape.

After a walk of a few minutes, the group passed through the forest and arrived at a large settlement.

Thousands of stone buildings of different sizes stretched as far as the eye could see. The market echoed with the voices of sellers trying to attract customers, and the streets were bustling with people of different ages, but obviously of the same race.

As the group began to move deeper into the city, the people gathered and began chattering:

"Aren't they the protection guards of the main family?"

"Look, there is someone along with them."

"She-she is Elder Hana and Lady Ume. They are the family of the Guardian of the Fox Clan Lord Aruma, the most influential person, second only to Lord Ancestor."

"They always stay outside the city, leading a peaceful life. If they are here, that means something big is about to happen."

"Stop gawking and quickly pay respects to the Guardian's family!"

"We pay our respects to Elder Hana and Lady Ume," all the people gathered said in a loud, respectful tone.

"Our prayers are with Lord Aruma," one of them shouted from the crowd.

"May Lord Aruma stay undefeated in all the upcoming battles," another shouted.

After a half-hour walk filled with people's prayers and gratitude, the group reached a large building shaped like a ring.

The protection guards stopped outside the large entrance and gestured, bowing their heads slightly, as one of them spoke,

"Please, enter inside."

The interior was like an arena, with a large open ground where Ume and Hana stood, and enormous walls on which the crowd sat.

At the front, on an even higher platform, the Ancestor was sitting on a throne. Beside him was another chair on which Yasuko sat with Riku in her arms.

The Ancestor rose from his throne, and the moment he did, the arena, filled with the noises of thousands of people, went completely silent.

He reached the end of the platform and cleared his throat before dropping the bomb with his words,

"Today, I have gathered you all to deliver troubling news about the Guardian's family."