Chapter 211: If It's You, Then Everything Lines Up
The authority of the Great Yata Barrier had been completely usurped by Noah.
Thus, it wasn't just Amaterasu, as mentioned by the Heavenly Fox, who was affected—the Heavenly Fox herself, who was currently resisting Tamamo-no-Mae, was also impacted.
She too held a portion of the authority over the Great Yata Barrier, so when Noah completed his usurpation, Tamamo-no-Mae could clearly sense the Heavenly Fox suddenly growing much weaker.
Seizing this opportunity, Tamamo-no-Mae launched an offensive against her.
Although she couldn't completely expel the Heavenly Fox, she at least managed to suppress her further.
By now, not only did the Heavenly Fox understand what had happened, but Tamamo-no-Mae also grasped the situation.
This left Tamamo-no-Mae with mixed feelings, though she also breathed a sigh of relief. She then taunted the Heavenly Fox.
"It seems little Tamamo was deceived, but because I was tricked by that Mr. Blue Lancer, I've actually benefited from the misfortune... The feeling is complicated, but I imagine your current emotions must be far more tangled than mine."
Tamamo-no-Mae now fully understood she had been deceived.
The current situation clearly showed that Mr. Blue Lancer had used her Spell Formula to usurp the authority of the Great Yata Barrier, and instead of transferring it to her, he had taken the authority for himself.
But this incident also stripped the Heavenly Fox of the trump card she had once prided herself on.
It even left her significantly weakened.
At this rate, it probably wouldn't be long before Tamamo-no-Mae could completely eliminate her.
So, for a moment, Tamamo-no-Mae's feelings toward Mr. Blue Lancer were genuinely complicated.
As for the Heavenly Fox, her reaction was entirely different from Tamamo-no-Mae's.
At this moment, Tamamo-no-Mae could even hear her furious roars.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it! How dare the ally you brought do this! How dare he usurp Amaterasu's authority himself! How dare he commit such an atrocity!"
"And he even deceived you in the process—what an audacious villain!"
"And you! I calculated everything, but I never expected my downfall would be your utter incompetence!"
"Damn it, damn it, damn it!"
"Curse you, curse you, all of you deserve to die!"
"I am Amaterasu's representative on earth! How dare you defy me, how dare you defy the one who represents Amaterasu!"
Listening to the Heavenly Fox's increasingly hysterical shouts, Tamamo-no-Mae continued to expel her while letting out a soft sigh.
"Though I suspect you'll take this as slander, out of little Tamamo's rare kindness, I must remind you: the sun you speak of might all be fake."
"Your so-called Amaterasu..."
Tamamo-no-Mae didn't intend to provoke with these words; she was genuinely speaking the truth out of goodwill.
...Though she had a feeling it would still provoke the other party regardless.
That's what Tamamo-no-Mae thought.
But contrary to her expectations, the Heavenly Fox wasn't provoked by her words. Instead, she gave an answer that surprised Tamamo-no-Mae.
"Of course I know the sun is fake!"
Huh?
Tamamo-no-Mae was puzzled, and the Heavenly Fox continued.
"I once inadvertently glimpsed that magnificent form. Though I don't know what the sun should truly look like, that being seemed like a creator, as if..."
The spherical structure with a light point at its core—no matter how one looked at it, it hardly resembled the legendary sun.
"It seems more like a cage imprisoning the sun."
"But so what!"
The Heavenly Fox's description of that Foreign God, that false sun, sent a chill down Tamamo-no-Mae's spine. Meanwhile, the Heavenly Fox, as if in utter despair, continued speaking.
"The sun is Amaterasu. Even if that being is a false sun, so what? It is indeed wielding the power of the sun. So whether it has imprisoned the original sun or taken control of it—in any case, since it can accomplish such a feat, what difference is there between it and the true sun? What difference is there between it and the true Amaterasu!"
No, no, no—if what you say is true, it might even be stronger than Amaterasu...
Tamamo-no-Mae almost said this, but in the end, she kept the words to herself, while the Heavenly Fox went on.
"That's why you are the foolish ones! The sun above us now is that being, and that being is Amaterasu!"
"I am the chosen spokesperson of Amaterasu, I am Amaterasu's only believer..."
The Heavenly Fox's voice grew softer and softer.
Tamamo-no-Mae found this puzzling.
Because at this moment, she wasn't suppressing the Heavenly Fox's consciousness—it seemed the Heavenly Fox's consciousness was weakening on its own?
But before she could make sense of it, the Heavenly Fox's consciousness, which had momentarily contracted, suddenly swelled up, seemingly intending to suppress Tamamo-no-Mae's consciousness instead.
And the voice that originally belonged to the Heavenly Fox now transformed into a mechanical tone.
"According to the Interstellar Migration Laws, I am entitled to collect ten percent of the star you inhabit."
"As tax, I have the right to excavate thirty-seven percent of this star to convert into the energy I require."
"However, since I have drawn power from the Core of your galaxy through the Hole, in accordance with regulations, collecting only twenty-one percent will suffice."
"You have slain my tax collector, so you shall become the new tax collector."
Hearing this voice, Tamamo-no-Mae sensed something was terribly wrong.
But the owner of this voice was completely different from the Heavenly Fox.
Even if her consciousness clashed with this entity, the other party held an absolute advantage and was swiftly suppressing her consciousness!
If her consciousness were fully suppressed, her body would fall under the other's control!
Yet Tamamo-no-Mae was utterly powerless to resist in this regard. All she could do was watch helplessly, unable to move even her body, with no way to fight back as she was gradually suppressed.
But just at that moment, Tamamo-no-Mae saw a man and a woman descending directly from the sky...
Tamamo-no-Mae was stunned.
Then she watched as the man walked up to her, leaning his head close to her face.
What was he trying to do!?
She was both shocked and furious!
Yet she could do nothing.
But in reality, what he did was different from what she had imagined. He pressed his forehead against hers, and at an extremely close distance, their eyes met—his eyes staring directly into hers.
Those golden eyes shimmering with radiance were like two mirrors reflecting flames, or perhaps flowing molten gold.
As she gazed into them, Tamamo-no-Mae felt her consciousness beginning to sink inward.
At that moment, she also sensed that on her side of consciousness, a force directly helped her withstand the opponent's suppression, even pushing the other party back considerably.
Then, she heard a second unfamiliar voice, apart from the mechanical one.
"Hah, so that's why such a situation erupted. So the culprit is you after all—if it's you, nothing seems surprising anymore, Chaos."
The fact that the other party seemed to recognize her was something even Chaos's data analysis couldn't determine.
But it felt that its intended course of action shouldn't change much—it merely needed to mobilize higher computational power, not only to suppress the original No. 1 but also to suppress this unexpectedly added No. 2.
However...
When Chaos utilized all the computational power it could currently mobilize with its energy, it realized this approach was futile.
The earlier No. 1 wasn't particularly strong.
But this later No. 2... what exactly was its true form?
While using computational power to resist No. 2's consciousness, Chaos felt as if it were pitting its calculations against an entire world!
It seemed to see the collective consciousness of countless people, the operation of stars, and even weapons specifically designed to destroy civilizations.
In the end, it discovered that competing with the other party in computational power not only yielded no advantage but also caused its energy to drain exceptionally rapidly.
Thus, Chaos ultimately gave up.
It directly closed the "Hole" connected to the Heavenly Fox and even sealed this side's "Hole" completely to prevent the other party from tracking it.
But before sealing the "Hole" entirely, Chaos left Noah and Tamamo-no-Mae with this message:
"It's futile. Everything you do is futile—unknown No. 2, though I cannot decipher your true nature, from what I have seen, you indeed have the qualification to resist my collection. But this is useless."
"This is my final warning. If you do not resist, I will take the twenty-one percent stipulated by the Interstellar Migration Laws, and this matter will end."
"If you refuse to abide by the rules, I will have no choice but to adopt more drastic measures."
"By then, the civilization you inhabit will be utterly consumed by flames."