Demonic Kitsune

Anyway… it seemed this was one of the things she ‘really’ learned from her mother. At the time, when she was told all of this, her adolescent self never took it seriously. After all, nothing like this had ever come up in her past life or before that.

However, right now, it was something she needed.

Scrutinizing the words written in the handout and re-reading them repeatedly, Clare soon understood their meaning.

“Demonic Energy Manifestation” accumulates and manifests the purest and most immense demonic energy possible with incredibly fast growth. However, the “unification and amplification of Holy Mana” from the Holy Church boasts the greatest stability of holy mana.

Hm. Is there a way to combine the two and create an entirely new method?

Though the "Demonic Energy Manifestation" method had some stability, compared to the "Unification and Amplification of Holy Mana," it was lacking. Combining these two naturally opposing natures would be incredibly difficult. However, if she succeeded, the resulting method would be incredibly powerful and stable.

If she managed to fuse them correctly, she would have unparalleled new energy. Plus, having demonic energy was essential when inside the Demon Clan. Without it, suspicion and instant death by demonic beasts would be inevitable.

That said, combining the two would allow Clare to maintain her roots of holiness and give her the strength she needed for revenge against the Holy Church. Using the same method as before would make it very difficult to reach the new heights necessary to fulfill her goal.

Combining each technique on its own wouldn’t be sufficient. But together, they could create something incredibly powerful. The idea of merging “good” and “evil” to create something neutral yet sinister made her, with her humble and pure background, hesitate. However, her current identity in this life wasn’t that of the “Heavenly Saintess” of the Holy Church but a member of the Demon Clan. Whether she was a half-breed or not, even if she despised such an identity, she needed to embrace it both mentally and spiritually.

The Holy Church was devoted to developing the pinnacle of Holy Mana granted by the contract of divine beings and many other benefits. However, it was also known for its greed for all techniques and knowledge.

Their holy library was full of techniques and knowledge from the beginning of time, encompassing the old, middle, and new eras of the Salamander Continent. Unlike the ten best guilds, the seven great families, and the four great continental royal clans, the Holy Church gathered knowledge from all sources and spread its teachings, aiming to monopolize "Healing" and "Immortality" that should be for everyone. To the point, they would even kill for new techniques, knowledge, and any potential external leaks, even from the devoted Saintess or Saints.

In any case, “Accumulation and manifestation techniques” were just means to grow beyond reason. And it was Clare’s time to take a chance and try it. Both methods were highly stable, so the possibility of mana deviation or backlash was negligible. If it didn’t work, she could always give up and learn to master both energies together. 

But she hoped it would succeed.

But first, she needed to memorize the passages of the "Demonic Energy Manifestation." Closing her eyes and opening her spiritual awareness, Clare entered her sea of consciousness and began to memorize the lines within the scripture. 

Memorizing the “45 lines” in the passage wasn’t too difficult for her.

To Clare, who had loved literature in her first life and was curious about ancient scriptures in the Holy Church in her last life, reading through this was a breeze. Even with over “300 lines” of scripture in the entire handout, learning 60 per day was easy enough.

Of course, not all the other children were like that. More than half didn’t know how to read, and even if they did, memorizing 60 lines of scripture wasn’t easy. Clare was surprised to see how much effort the Demon Clan put into developing their talents. Though harsh, dense, and deadly, they didn’t hesitate to use as many resources as possible.

This was why Clare was surprised that the instructors had already been teaching some of the little Arrancars how to read over the past year. However, failure to learn often resulted in severe punishment, even death by demonic beasts.

Despite the challenges, only about 35 children had managed to leave the "Yulin Platform" for lunch by the time the sun reached its peak. Clare was busy experimenting. She could already feel her sea of consciousness raging within her body.

At this point, Clare’s sea of consciousness was already reacting, surging with waves of dark-purple energy. ‘Hehe,’ Clare chuckled inwardly as her tails wriggled, ‘I can sense how this technique works.’

To accumulate demonic energy, one had to find the pathways connected to the heart, sea of consciousness, and spirit. Then, they needed to open them with spiritual awareness, make the energies flow smoothly, cycle them throughout the body, and direct them according to their desires. Typically, it took about three days for a talented child to feel the energy of the method coursing through their body.

For those who lacked talent, it could take around fifteen days. Only a few little Arrancars had started to grasp the basics and feel their own demonic energy. This didn’t mean they could move it around or find the pathways to their heart, consciousness, and spirit. But it was impressive to even sense the energy after a few hours of practice. In Clare's case, she had already begun accelerating energy within her body shortly after waking up in the body of GIMEL.

The stages of sensing and manipulating energy within her sea of consciousness had already passed for her.

Soon, Clare’s ears twitched at a familiar vibration in the atmosphere. It was the instructor’s voice mixed with demonic energy.

“Those who feel something cold, hot, warm, or irritating within their body, raise your hand. If you feel it and don’t raise your hand, you’ll get an ass-whooping. If you’re confused and don’t understand your sensation, raise your hand!”

According to the instructor’s instructions, Clare should have raised her hand to prevent a beating. Her tails stiffened and curled as she gulped inwardly, but she didn’t raise her hand.

The other little Arrancars, a meter back, felt something but didn’t raise their hands. They were beaten until they lost consciousness and bled, and then carried to the infirmary. Despite this, Clare still didn’t raise her hand. Her heart pounded as she gulped dryly, inwardly sweating buckets. Her anxious tails whispered to her to do it, but she resisted. It was a risk she needed to take. 

In the end, Clare didn’t get caught.

It had only been three hours since she had learned the first 45 lines of scripture. Claiming she already felt the energy within her body would be absolutely ridiculous and preposterous for a half-breed Nin. Interestingly, the elite little Arrancars who had started to develop and feel more demonic energy also didn’t raise their hands and never got caught. Clare sensed something within “2 meters” of where she was seated cross-leggedly. SETH was also playing coy, using a thin demonic energy shield to conceal her demonic heart. 

Clare thought it was quite impressive.

Having already mastered sensing her own and others’ energy for about 5 meters in the past year, her senses and instincts gained from both her demon and foxy sides were strong. This range would increase with time. Another technique she mastered over the past year was called—.

The Shield of Petrification.

This technique allowed her to compress her holy mana within a thin barrier inside her heart, preventing any leakage and concealing her accumulated and cultivated holy mana completely from prying eyes. So, nobody would notice she was proficient with any energy.

Letting out a calm breath as the tension eased, her tails relaxed. Clare decided she would raise her hand in about “six days”. She couldn’t raise it too soon, nor too late. She needed to choose a time in between. With that in mind, Clare closed her eyes and focused her spiritual awareness again within her body.

The energy moved according to her desire and in specific pathways, cycling through her body and moving to her heart. A shiver sent goosebumps over her body. It was a sensation like Holy Mana repelling demonic energy. Instead of exploring further or forcing them to collide, which might lead to a backlash and ruin her plans, Clare stored the accumulated demonic energy around her heart.

At the same time, using Mithril Physique Circulation, she slowly washed away the fatigue accumulated from ascending and descending the “Gate of Hell” that early morning. Her aching legs, stiff from being in the lotus position, began to feel comfort and relief. By evening, when the sun slipped behind the western peaks, casting a yellowish-red glow across the sky, almost all the fatigue in her Nin’s body had disappeared. 

Even the bruises on her palm had healed, leaving only clotted blood residue.

After about fifteen days, the little Arrancars who didn’t know how to read began to accumulate demonic energy at a rapid pace. A few children made even more rapid progress due to their talent, despite not knowing how to read at first.

In the meantime, time passed slowly.

— — — — —

Dinner, unlike breakfast and lunch, was delivered fairly and without any strings attached. Because of this policy, hunger from evening to early morning could interfere with the next day’s training.

Clare returned to her room after experimenting on the Yulin Platform following the lectures dismissed by the Senior Instructor. Late evenings were set aside for free training or leisure in the Grand Hall—a semi-large room in the middle of the institute filled with comfortable fluffy chairs. After all, “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”

Sighing, Clare wondered, who is the “Jack” in this world? In any case, she didn’t bother lounging in the Grand Hall, as she didn’t intend to converse with children. Despite hating to admit it, she was bored without any proper interaction.

Pouting, Clare drooped inwardly to that hidden thought as another thought soon dawned on her. ‘What am I supposed to talk about with kids waaaay younger than I am?’

Despite her child-like body, she was disgustingly ancient. An archaic gramps with a goal to fulfill, playing around was highly prohibited. During the time allotted, it was far more beneficial for Clare to go and secretly practice Mithril body and soul reinforcement or Mithril Physique Circulation. If she had time left, she could begin experimenting with the combination of the two techniques.

Before completing all the training within the Institute of Arrancar, she needed to be at least “third-chain.” To be able to call oneself the “third chain,” one had to channel holy mana and demonic energy into their weapons and limbs. Although they couldn’t materialize it outside their bodies—that was reserved for those at the “four-chain” and above—they could utilize incredible might behind their attacks.

Clare set her goal to become a “four-chain” by the end of her ten years here. If she couldn’t achieve at least that much, she wouldn’t be able to get revenge.

If she had the power right now, she would go straight to Wenceslas, Isode, and Blanche and rip them to pieces after torturing them alive, to the point they wouldn’t respawn. As soon as Clare entered her room and was ready to close the door, someone stepped between the door and the hallway, preventing her from closing it entirely.

Opening the well-made door, Clare was quite furious at this intruder. She identified the guest who had come to her room: a girl with long, raven-black hair that reached her lower back, vibrant golden eyes, a towering nose, plum cherry-red lips, and an exquisite dark-red double-layered attire with patches of demons emblazoned on it. She was not only beautiful for her age of thirteen, but her two horns on either side of her forehead, close to her temples, added to her striking appearance.

Even Clare could testify to her beauty up close in the dim lighting as she cursed inwardly. But her expression soon shifted as her internal face wrinkled in irritation. She had let someone come up to her without detecting their presence, but it was the constraint of her current body, and there was nothing she could do about it.

“Hello?”

It was a creepy yet soft and gentle voice. The owner of this voice was none other than SETH, one of the most talented little Arrancars in the entire institute. Not only was she acknowledged by the Dean, but also by Clare, who had lived two lives. Hating to admire it, Clare considered Seth a suitable candidate to be called a “Chunni.”

Clare didn’t think SETH was just the best in terms of talent; she also thought she was the best in how she carried herself among the other little Arrancars. Additionally, she gave each of her actions a reason and a meaning one couldn’t fathom. It was obvious she had quite a background based on the acts and conduct of the demon instructors. Clare recalled a snippet she saw between SETH and a certain apron-wearing female instructor in the Dining Hall.

Clare didn’t rule out the chance that SETH might have a close relative who was a powerful clan member. One of the two was certain: she either chose to come to the Institute of Arrancars to strengthen herself or was forced to do so by her family.

All of this, though, had nothing to do with Clare.

Sighing inwardly, a wonder sparkled in her head. How would SETH react if she showed her true talent?

Honestly, that was Clare’s main concern. Even if it was the first time she had thought of someone as beautiful in a long time, it was surprising that SETH came to visit her, who was named GIMEL, on her own accord.

“What do you want?” 

Clare stared at SETH beyond the well-made door with a slightly cold look. At Clare's words, SETH gazed slowly at her and opened her mouth. "You did it, didn’t you?”

Her creepy smile broadened, sending an eerie chill up Clare’s foxy spine, causing her tails to shiver. Her instincts whispered that this demon girl was bad news, really bad news. Clare swallowed dryly, baffled by the question SETH asked, leaving her silent.

"SOATH?" SETH added. Her words were gentle but menacing.

Clare couldn’t help but click her tongue. Was she watching as the instructor did? Unlike the instructor, she didn’t sense her. Clare’s weak physique and improving talent weren’t helping her now. SETH must have snuck past her senses. It wasn’t just Clare’s power level that had lowered; her senses were still slightly dull because her body lacked many things.

“So,” She said, “It’s not like I broke any of the rules here or anything.”

“In other words, you’ve been hiding your talent all along, haven’t you?”

“And…?” Clare glared coldly at SETH, who smiled menacingly, showing her fangs and closing her eyes.

Beautiful. So damned stunning… But Clare couldn’t shake off this feeling as a clumsy virgin. But now, as the past Heavenly saintess, Clare had never been a simp for a single day. She quickly filtered out any flustered expression or foolish thought.

“Why should I tell you even if I was? It’s not like you’re any different,” Clare said.

“Oh…” SETH leaned closer, her expression turning coquettish. This half-breed is very special, she thought. Just imagining hugging her and caressing her ears made her coy. Despite her high ranking, SETH was concealing a great deal of her talent and power.

Noticing this expression, Clare’s instincts pinched her, warning that this demon girl was weird, far too awkward. Clare was sure SETH was quite sick in the head. Even if Clare’s senses had faded slightly, she couldn’t miss that kind of thing, especially if the person in question was directly in front of her. When Clare mentioned it, SETH’s eyes widened in amazement.

“...You knew?”

SETH couldn’t help but feel a certain obsessive interest growing in her. When Clare didn’t answer, SETH smiled faintly. “You’re interesting. Hehe…” She touched her lips with her delicate index finger and winked. “And cute!”

Clare’s face darkened at being called ‘cute’ by a little Arrancar she was thousands of years older than. As Clare anticipated, SETH was a descendant of the Clan’s high-ranking members. As a result, her abilities were formidable, making it difficult to find an opponent among her peers. Even the instructors couldn’t deny her talent. Ordinary little Arrancars wouldn’t know SETH’s strength was hidden, which is typical. Clare, however, spoke of it as if it were an evident reality right in front of her. SETH's expression was immoral and inappropriate, and calling Clare cute was insulting to a former Heavenly Saintess.

“It’s because I have pretty good eyes for that type of thing,” Clare responded brusquely.

She had already seen herself knocking down SETH with incredible ease. It didn’t matter to Clare that SETH was concealing her power; she was concerned about her intelligence and weird expressions. Clare was sure she knew something else. From her body language, her closed-eyes smile, immoral and coquettish expressions, and vigor, it showed: "I know your secret, but since you’re my next obsession, I won’t tell."

Inwardly, Clare was yelling, “Please tell. Damnit.” 

In any case, it could just be her imagination, and that SETH didn’t know anything and was just messing around. 

… Or did she realize Clare had been accumulating, albeit a little, Holy mana? Clare couldn’t help but have these thoughts as she was very sure, without a doubt, that her “masking technique” was currently activated.

The Shield of Purification was a masked skill that even she, the heavenly saintess, couldn’t see through when Wenceslas utilized it. She had only learned it by chance when she found an experimental note in a discarded basement lab once used by Wenceslas. Now, how could a little demon girl see through it? Unless... something dawned on her as her thoughts trailed off.

‘Demonic Traits?’

That could only be the case. But Clare denied it, insisting that only someone blessed by the “demon god”—a “Demon Lord”—could obtain or awaken such power. It was clear that something was indeed wrong with SETH.

Claiming that Clare was concealing her powers was an indirect threat. However, it seemed Clare’s subtle warning had reached its target.

Clare's nine-year-old brain was almost going up in smoke with all this critical thinking. She had to take it easy. Remaining silent as she gathered mental strength, SETH, on the other hand, delicately pressed her cherry-red lips with her fingertips. “Well, then. I guess I’ll keep your secret for a while since I find you interesting and cute…” Her words trailed off as if she had come to an epiphany. “By the way.”

Clare’s face darkened further at hearing “cute” again. It seemed it was time to kill this bitch. She almost lost control and smashed the back of SETH's head as she turned around. Her foxy side urged her to calm down. Right, she must remain composed and calm.

SETH didn’t simply turn around and leave. Instead, she wanted to leave some words for Clare. Clare braced herself for any counter-threats.

“SOATH was gnashing her teeth at you, like a bitch wanting to devour a wolf whole.”

Clare sighed at her words. SETH seemed to be a creepy child at heart, judging by the earnestness and vexing wrinkles on her face. Perhaps she had gained some confidence by believing that Clare had only recently learned the “Fundamentals of Demonic Energy Manifestation” that day. 

Well, that’s true. 

But she didn’t know Clare had learned to feel energy as well—way before. She probably believed Clare didn’t have a lot of power but found her interesting, cute, and an obsession that must be protected. This view was prevalent among people who had received great praise from an early age but had little experience in the true world of the Salamander Continent.

Clare already knew what she’d do to SOATH if she dared go after her again. She had explicitly told her there would be no second chances with mercy. Clare’s fist clenched tightly at the thought. By the time Clare concluded her thoughts, SETH spoke again, this time in a cheerful and innocent tone that made Clare’s delicate toes flinch.

“Wow, you’re so calm and collected. You must be able to knock down SOATH anytime you want,” SETH said goofily.

“I’ve told you this before, but don’t talk about it as if you’re any different. You should know well that this institute is not a place you can slack around in,” Clare responded, her tone icy.

“What?” Quite baffled, SETH soon burst into laughter. “I’m liking you even more.”

Clare’s words made SETH laugh loudly. The children’s gazes soon turned to the dimly lit passage with well-aligned fluorescent beads on the plain wall. Some even came out of their rooms, all focusing on where SETH and Clare were chatting.

“My real name is Noir. My last name is a secret. So it’s Noir. What about you?” SETH whispered with a smile.

Clare cleared her throat, hinting for SETH to get lost. She had no time for close acquaintances.

“GIMEL. That’s all you need to know.”

At the end of the words, Clare shut the door coldly on Noir. Even after the door was shut, bad vibes began to stem around Noir as her obsession peaked. It was as if she had discovered an extremely interesting plaything.

‘I want her. I waaan~nnnttt her…’ Her thought soon trailed off as her expression returned to normal. She removed the wrinkles from her robes and sighed, her gaze glinting. She guessed she’d have to wait and see.