A brilliantly shining plume of rainbow-colored fire burst forth from each of Yoshika’s bodies, devouring the destructive bolt of energy and coalescing into the bestial form of a six-tailed fox. The fox snarled up at the raging storm above before bounding into the air towards it. Another bolt of energy lanced out at the fox, but it caught the lightning impossibly between its teeth and shattered it like fragile porcelain.

The tribulation cloud flashed, abandoning its usual rhythm of progressively stronger bolts to rain lightning down on the fox. Witnessing this, Yoshika couldn’t help but personify the tribulation in her head—it looked like it was panicking.

The fox shrugged off Lightning with ease, and devoured bolts of Void and Destruction with the wild hunger of a starving beast. The storm raged impotently, striking at the fox with Fire, Ice, Plasma, and more. None of it had any effect, and soon the flaming fox came within striking distance of the cloud and pounced.

It was an awe-inspiring spectacle. The skies of Songdo were dominated by the scene of the fox’s struggle against the tribulation lighting up the heavens like a second sun. The fox’s teeth and claws tore at the cloud like flesh, rending it apart in a frenzy of violence. With each swipe, visible clouds of pure essence scattered, and with each vicious snap of its jaws, the foxfire avatar grew larger and brighter.

Yoshika could hardly believe her eyes at what she had wrought. Her technique, born of desperation and instinct, hadn’t just defended her from the tribulation—it had consumed it. The avatar stood triumphant upon the clouds, now nine-tailed and gigantic enough to outshine the sun. The tribulation was no more—Yoshika had taken the fight to the heavens and won.

She didn’t even know how it was possible, but some spark of familiarity deep in her soul understood. Yoshika was closer to divinity than she realized, and even the twisted tribulations of the divine seal could only leverage so much power against her without risking the collapse of the world—either under its own power, or the power of her resistance.

She recalled Void’s lessons about the nature of deities and their effects on reality. Now that she had a moment of peace, she could feel it. Her presence alone warped the fabric of existence, and it strained and buckled under the power of the foxfire avatar.

Yoshika prayed she could still control it as she mentally summoned the fox back to her. It hopped gently from the clouds, landing next to her at the size of a regular fox and nuzzling its head into Eunae’s thigh. Eunae reflexively petted the fox’s head, and its power returned to her soul in a sudden rush that caused her to stagger momentarily.

Her phantom tails flared with the fox’s scintillating rainbow before solidifying into fully realized flesh and fur.

Just as the Kumiho predicted, her domain had merged with Yoshika’s, but rather than the goddess of Dominion the Kumiho envisioned, Yoshika’s new aspect represented a sense of self-sacrifice. Eunae’s desire for self-control and the rejection of her royal birthright was made manifest through Yoshika’s sense of collective progress.

She could sense that the transformation had affected the nature of her Soulfire, but fully understanding it would require further meditation.

As the dust settled, and the Sky Hall’s formations flickered out, Yoshika emerged to meet her family. Her little sisters had returned with Min and Misun who each regarded Eunae with uniquely complex expressions. Min’s face was a mask of fear and confusion, while Misun was both cautiously fearful, and intensely calculating.

The girls must have rushed straight to them. Smart. Unfortunately it was too little and too late, but Yoshika was proud of her sisters for being so quick to react. One day they would be formidable influences in their own right, and their decisiveness would serve them well.

Seong Min was the first to break the silence.

“What was that? Where is mother?”

Eunae regarded her cousin sadly and shook her head.

“Queen Eunhee is dead.”

“What?! N-no...”

Min’s breath hitched and she covered her mouth, desperately trying to hold back tears.

“How—why?”

“She attempted to reincarnate the Kumiho through me, then take advantage of my tribulation to bind her soul to mine and usurp control. She succeeded in the former, but failed in the latter.”

“No! That’s—she wouldn’t...oh, mother...”

She fell to her knees and wept. Eunae’s mother stared down with a mournful expression of her own, placing a comforting hand on Min’s shoulder. Even Haeun’s eyes watered, holding back tears for her fallen aunt. Queen Eunhee was beloved both as queen and clan mother, and her betrayal was a terrible wound for the entire Seong Clan.

Only Misun was unmoved. She stared intently at Eunae, mumbling under her breath.

“So she was a partial manifestation after all...”

Yoshika’s full attention snapped to her older sister, all five gazes bearing down on her as Eunae strode forward.

“What was that?”

Misun looked up with a start.

“Eh? Oh, I-I mean, I told you didn’t I? I suspected our aunt was compromised, somehow.”

“No. You were more specific than that just now. ‘Compromised’ doesn’t even begin to describe it, but ‘partial manifestation’ is both eerily specific and entirely accurate. Did you know about this?!”

In an uncharacteristically meek gesture, Misun held her hands to her chest and fidgeted with something on her finger, averting her eyes.

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“I didn’t know, per se. I wasn’t sure whether I could trust the source.”

“What source?! No more secrets, Misun! What happened today can never be undone, but it might have been prevented if you had just treated me like a human being for once in your awful, bitter life!”

“I couldn’t! The queen already knew of my suspicion, but if she ever realized the extent of it—”

A loud clap echoed through the palace as Eunae slapped Misun across the face.

“How many times must I suffer in service to your fear, Misun? How many times will you bring this family to the brink of destruction over your petty hatred?”

Misun held a hand to her cheek and clenched her teeth, guilt and anger warring on her face until her defiance lost the battle and she let out a forlorn sigh.

“I’m sorry.”

“I don’t know that I’ll ever forgive you, Misun. We’re sisters, but I’m not sure if we ever were or ever will be family. It doesn’t matter now—what’s done is done. What matters is how. Your secret dies here and now, Misun.”

She chuckled mirthlessly and shook her head.

“That’s an ironic choice of words. I suppose there’s no point hiding it anymore.”

Misun held her hands up together and motioned as if to remove a ring from a finger that wasn’t wearing one. As soon as she began to pull, an intricately engraved ring of jade appeared between her fingers. Heian’s ears perked up, and her eyes snapped onto the ring with an intense focus as Misun presented it.

“This is the source of my information—and also how I prevented Do Hye from reincarnating. His soul—or at least a certain critical part of it—is trapped within this ring.”

Eunae’s eyes widened.

“He’s still alive?!”

“No. He’s dead. And as long as his soul remains sealed, he’ll stay that way. This isn’t like that sword demon of yours, or the soul core Miss Heian created. What I have here is not Do Hye, it’s a piece of him—one that is necessary, but not sufficient to maintain his conscious experience.”

“Then where’s the rest of him?”

Misun shrugged.

“Lost in the realm of shadow like any other shade, I would imagine. I lost track of it once I had the part I needed.”

“Then how did you get any information from it?”

“Very carefully. This artifact is something of a cross between a dimensional storage ring and a jade slip. Inside is an essence construct that keeps Do Hye’s remnant from degrading, and one can read from the ring to access something akin to his memories.”

Eunae crossed her arms and frowned.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It’s difficult to explain, but you can try it for yourself, if you like—I promise it’s safe.”

Misun handed the ring over, and Eunae examined it critically. It was very intricately wrought—far beyond anything she could have created on her own, but she was hesitant to trust experimental soul magic even if Misun was being entirely genuine. Doubly so after having just fought off Eunhee’s attempt to subvert her soul.

“Another time, maybe. I think Dae will want to see this.”

Eunae’s mother cleared her throat for attention.

“I understand that you are upset with me and Misun for withholding critical information. Perhaps we should have been more forthcoming, but I don’t believe either of us could have predicted the depth of Eunhee’s corruption.”

Yoshika turned on her and grimaced, brandishing the ring.

“Apparently she could! She knew the entire time and left us with just a few vague allusions!”

“Would you have been confident enough to act decisively on information taken from Do Hye? Even reduced as he is to...whatever that is.”

Eunae hesitated, sighing.

“Maybe not. I don’t know, and it doesn’t matter anymore.”

“I agree. What we need to focus on right now is the matter of succession.”

Min shot to her feet and shrugged off her aunt’s hand, shooting her a betrayed look.

“You cannot be serious! Now?! My mother’s corpse isn’t even cold yet!”

Misun rolled her eyes.

“She didn’t leave one, cousin.”

“That’s not funny!”

Minhee sighed and shook her head.

“The nation needs a queen. You know the high council better than anyone—do you trust them to handle everything while our family stops to mourn?”

“Tsk, no. That would be disastrous. But what are we supposed to do? Haeun is still too young, and Eunae’s somehow managed to make herself even more problematic.”

Misun put a hand on her hip and scoffed.

“It’s cute that you think we even have a choice. The entire city saw that display in the sky, and it won’t take long for those with the right education to understand what it means. The nation already has a queen—or rather, an empress—and one look at Eunae makes that perfectly clear.”

Her older sister was the last person Eunae expected support from, though she wasn’t sure she welcomed it.

“I have no desire to take over the kingdom. Even if Goryeo joins the empire, I’d prefer the nation to have an independent ruler, as Jiaguo City and Yamato do.”

Misun gave her a sympathetic smile.

“I’m afraid it doesn’t work that way here, little sister, and you know that. If you abdicate, then the entire clan abdicates, and then it’s up to the high council to install a new leader.”

Min groaned and shook her head.

“They might just do so anyway. How in the world am I supposed to explain that Empress Yoshika is now our clan matriarch? It’s always been a fight to keep those corrupt nobles in check, and this will be a hard sell even for those with a vested interest in maintaining our relationship with Jiaguo.”

Eunae’s mother took a deep breath.

“As the clan elder, it is my duty to guide us. I believe that Misun is probably correct. Any attempt to evade the unavoidable conclusion that Eunae—and by extension, Yoshika—is the rightful heir to the throne will only weaken us.”

She turned to face Eunae and bowed.

“Our family has faced enough tragedy today. Eunae, my daughter, though I told myself I did so out of love, I know that I have wronged you, and I never expect to be forgiven for that. I ask you to set aside those wrongs and lead us safely through this time of trouble.”

It was tempting to say no. To deny them, as they had denied her for so long. But that had never been her way, even before joining with Yoshika. Eunae looked into the plaintive eyes of her family, each with their own complicated mixture of hope, grief, and tinged with fear.

They were in crisis, and they needed her help. If nothing else, she couldn’t bear to let Haeun down—the one person who’d been on her side from the very beginning.

“Alright. I’ll do my best.”

Minhee dropped to one knee, and the rest of the Seong clan soon followed suit.

“Then I recognize you now as Queen Eunae, Clan Mother of the Seong, and sovereign ruler of Goryeo. We sisters entrust ourselves to your care, as the one true inheritor of our great ancestor’s will.”