The place was a battlefield or perhaps the remains of what once used to be a battlefield.
Wherever one's eyes would gaze, all they could see would be the destruction and desolation that permeated the whole region.
Everywhere one's vision would chance upon, there would be the scene of tens of corpse of a variable of hunters— some were limbless, while others were burned to crisps.
In this place that was filled with the stenches of death, one girl was humming joyfully a song while sitting on the corpse of a giant fox.
"Hey, Cecilia. Don't you find it funny? That fox dared to call itself a goddess when it was nothing but a Nogitsune that hadn't even obtained her ninth tail[1]"
Standing up on the body of a small god or at least a supernatural being that nearly managed to ascend, Mei looked more like a transcendental being than anything else.
As if she was not someone of this world.
"Still, this was so romantic. She wanted to join her love. Don't you think it's beautiful?"
"I don't think those who died will think the same. Also Despite her story, you still killed her."
"I mean. She is an evil Yokai, you know? At least evil to humans. I don't mix personal liking and job. No matter how much I liked her she had to die."
Mei smiled quietly as she said this while looking at the sky and continuing to Humm her songs.
"You are truly a psychopath bitch, you know?"
"Heh. Say the one called Mad Dog."
Saying so Cecilia jumped off the corpse and landed elegantly before looking at the half-burned body of the fox.
In terms of Pure height, even on all four, it could reach more than 6 meters. It was an impressive being when alive.
But in the end — it simply died. How sorrowful.
"They are going to use her body, right?"
"Yeah. It's a rare bloodline. So they certainly gonna use it down to the smallest bit. I guess they are going to do the same with the body of the hunters."
The organs of hunters were very rare and very prized commodities and ingredients.
"Well, I don't like it. Now that the job is done I can let my personal life interfere."
Mei placed her hand together and made a short prayer. For both the souls of the deceased hunter and that of the dead Nogitsune.
Once she was finished, she raised her hand toward the sky and muttered,
"I call the heavenly lightning."
At her words, the sky itself began to rumble and black clouds filled with lightning sparks condensed together.
Cecilia immediately covered her ears.
The next moment lightning struck one after another until they were so dense one had the impression they were in a forest of light connecting both heaven and earth.
It was beautiful.
It was also frightening.
When the light show finally ended, there was nothing left in a radius of more than one kilometer outside of the very center where both Cecilia and Mei were.
Cecilia's eyes twitched a little bit at the sight of the overwhelming destruction.
"The elders are going to be angry."
"What does it matter? If they are angry they should have come and hunted it down."
She smiled but then her expression changed,
"Sorry. You also helped in the hunt. I ended up disposing of your share."
"Fuck this. I barely did anything. So you can do whatever you want."
Cecilia laughed and looked at the large crater where the bodies previously were.
"Hey Cecilia you know, aren't you curious about what love is?"
She spoke absentmindedly, "For love, this Kitsune trained for 800 years. Love is a really powerful drive. I am kinda envious."
"Did you hit your head against something or did you finally fry too many brain cells with that lightning cloak of yours?"
Mei ignored her and placed her two hands on her hips.
"Yoosh. This is decided. One day I am going to fall in love and when I get a kid, you will be the godmother. It will be fun."
"Don't go deciding my future godson like this. Also what kind of man is even going to have the courage to marry someone like you?"
"Heh… isn't it obvious? Since I am the strongest obviously my husband needs to be at least as strong as me. Though ideally, my husband needs to be human and stronger than me. He also needs to be handsome."
"With those criteria, you are going to die old and alone, you know that, right? Also what about his personality?"
"Personality? In all those Shojo, doesn't the lead fall in love with each other just because they are attracted to their physical appearance?"
"Imagine talking about love when your full experience only amounts to Shojo manga."
Mei pouted a little. It was the first time she felt like she lost. It was quite the novel feeling.
Feeling petty, she approached the place where Cecilia had been talking to her from.
"Anyway Cecilia, you are so interesting. You survived again."
Crouching down she looked at Cecilia who was breathing heavily while being covered in wounds and smiling evilly.
Even though Cecilia was making fun of her, an 800 years old Kitsune was no weakling. The proof was all the dead hunters who faced it.
Many had been at the gold level and a few were even executioners. In the end, though, they all died.
During the fight, Cecilia nearly died as well many times and the fact that she did not lose a limb was already a miracle.
She was not the strongest in this place in fact she had perhaps been the weakest. But her phenomenal instincts that neared the supernatural allowed her to barely escape death.
Now though, she was completely helpless as Mei continued to poke at her wound with her finger.
"Fuck you."
Cecilia breathed harshly and insulted Mei while giving her the middle finger. Speaking had been one thing, but now she was barely able to even lift her limb.
Sadly, rather than getting angry at this, the smile on Mei's face grew even larger. Though thankfully she stopped poking at her.
"You are so interesting, you know? The sword bearer who lasts this long with me eventually starts worshiping me."
She wasn't just a hunter.
In the eyes of many, she was a goddess or some being who reincarnated. This was the only way they could explain her monstrous talent.
"But you…You keep your strong glare. The light in you did not diminish or get devoured by my presence."
Even as she rested on the ground, Cecilia glared at Mei.
"Why the fuck would I worship you? Even if you were a goddess, so what? I am the one who will surpass the gods. I will never worship anyone."
"Fufufu~ How fun. Since you rested enough, shall we go to the next mission? Of course, if you are too tired you can say so."
Cecilia's muscles twitched. She wanted nothing more than to lie down in a medical bath and tend to all her wounds.
But she would rather die before showing weakness to that smug-looking face.
"Let's go."
"Hehe. Let's do it."
—-
A few years later.
"Why don't you respect me? I always wondered. Aren't I a good subject to observe.?"
"Certainly, you are my goal. But you know, Failure in life begins when you aspire to be someone who is nothing like you.
"You are strong and you shine brightly in the sky. But…That ain't my style."
The two of them were standing before a slowly opening gate.
From that place, hundreds of eyes could be seen gazing at the two of them, with hunger and madness.
Despite this, the two girls — or rather, the two young women continued to speak as if the gate was of no importance.
Cecilia grinned, "I don't wanna be the kind of star that shines above like an untouchable celestial."
"I rather am the fist that will destroy everything on its Path."
Walking on, she faced the door entity, and a pure crimson aura mixed with fire bloomed from her body.
Next to the gate was a very large entity that looked to be more than 10 meters tall.
It was a "god". A mountain and river "god" that had been worshiped for years before turning evil.
In reality, though, it was nothing more than a slightly stronger spirit who went crazy after being forgotten for so long.
Observing this, Cecilia realized something.
Nowadays — The term god had become way too light.
"You were right. Those things are not the god I am targeting. Nothing but false imitation."
What she targeted was not those mindless monsters or fake entities who, after being worshiped by ignorant humans, started to believe that they were gods.
What she wanted was — to reach the level of the True gods who could not come down on earth and even surpasses them.
"Will you take care of them?"
Mei asked, her eyes twinkling and Cecilia's answer was nothing but a confident stride.
Soon, as she walked, realization washed over her and a cloak made entirely out of fire covered her body.
"Just watch."
On that day— Cecilia fought continuously for two days against a seemingly never-ending flood of monsters.
It was also on that day that Cecilia finally opened her Door of Truth.
To the question… Who are you?
Cecilia's answer was simple albeit cheesy.
She was the one who would surpass both Gods and Devils.
She was the one who would suppress all on Earth and in the sky.
She was the one who would deal swift justice to the wicked
She was the Destroyer.
Her aspiration may be nothing more than the dream of a mad woman.
But since she was already known as a mad dog, she might as well show the world what was true madness.
At the same time, on that day.
Cecilia made a promise to herself.
—One Day she would kill a true God.
That promise was accomplished a few years later during her trip to London.
It was also the fight that cemented her position as a future Zodiac.
After all — She had managed to fight back and destroy the projection of Surtr.
It was an achievement that even many recognized Zodiacs could not boast to have accomplished.
It was a fight that shook the earth and the sky and casualties reached ten thousand.
On that day — She became a "Godslayer" at the tender age of eighteen.
But, this was a story for another time.
[1]: Kitsune grow one tail every 100 years. The 5th and 7th tails are very important but the 9th tail is the most important one where the fox becomes basically "Divine" in a loose way of speaking.
Kitsune are divided into two types depending on their personalities. It's important to note that all Yokia are basically mischievous. But then there is Mischievous and outright evil.
You have the Zenko or "Good Kitsune" who are generally related to Goddess Inari.
Then you have the Yako or Nogitsune who are the "Evil Kitsune."
The most popular Nogitsune is Daji. A fox woman who caused the fall of many empire by seducing the emperor and causing him to become bloodthirsty.
This is like for Cat Yokai. You have Bakeneko (Monster cat) who are basically kinda bad but not necessarily bad.
Then you have Nekomata who are two tailed cat and are really evil and sometimes murderous.
(AN: Hehe, enough of Cecilia's story I believe. I wonder if you liked this sneak peak into her past. If people liked it, I might write more of her adventures in a more detailed way in future chapters. Something like at two or three chapters at the end of every volume. This could be pretty interesting I believe.
A story within a story. I would go into more details with less time to skip or show important events. If you like more of Cecilia's side story at the end of next volume, tell me.)
The sourc𝗲 of this content is free(w)ebnov(𝒆)l