Queenfisher

Sorry for being dumb and accidentally pasting the text of the chapter twice! Seriously, so dumb... It's fixed now!

Content Warning: gory.

Chapter Nineteen

Impure

Demonic Emperor? The words lodged within Nekohiko's mind like splinters. He had never felt more confused in his life.

Was Daichi insane? To believe with such conviction that an innocent person had been a monster all along and therefore his murder had been justified?

"Explain yourself!" Nekohiko ordered, a metallic rigidity entering his tone. His ears pressed to his head. "Explain what you mean!"

But Daichi wasn't willing to listen. Or to explain.

"We should have burned your body straight away to properly get rid of you!"

Even before he finished, Daichi made a hand sign summoning Binding techniques for combat.

Nekohiko was faster. He sprang off the sill a second before Daichi's energy aspect struck the wooden frame. The impact shredded the frame into mulch, and woodchip exploded into the room.

Nekohiko didn't bother blocking or deflecting it with his Binding. This encounter would only end in bloodshed, and he didn't want his Binder's aura imprinted all over this place if he cast a single spell tonight. However angry he felt, he still remembered that murder and any Binding-related incidents would be investigated by law enforcers. Checking the trails of other Binders was a common practice -- and from it, Nekohiko could be traced back to the Red Stone estate.

But this didn't mean he couldn't use Binding to fight Daichi. Only it wouldn't be his Binding he used.

His awareness rose to touch the great Cat Sister lounging up the roofs above. With just a single plea prodding her, Nekohiko called her attention in a flash.

Cat Sister, help!

In response, the dark wind of the Spiritside swept over him.

His paws landed already in the grey, drab Spiritside version of Daichi's room. Greyscale, blurry, strangely familiar, and abstracted at the same time.

Daichi was left in the real world, likely swinging his fists and his sword at the empty room but Nekohiko was here, safe and untouchable by the man's sword. And unlike a Spirit or someone possessing of immense power, an average Binder like Daichi had no chance to open the gateway into the Spiritside so far away from the nearest Shrine.

It was in this crucial difference between the two of them where Nekohiko reveled.

His sharp claws stuck out. With them, he scaled the wall of the room until he got to the ceiling. But even the ceiling was no trouble for metallic claws of such harsh grit. Nekohiko stopped in the center of the ceiling, peeking down and trying to deduce where Daichi's Spirit Binder smell was the strongest in the room.

There, a bit to the side. This must be the exact spot below which Daichi was standing in the real world. With a quick snap of his consciousness like an animal shaking rainwater off their pelt, Nekohiko slipped out of the Spiritside and right back into the world of the living.

He was directly above Daichi.

"...get back to hell!" Daichi was roaring at the shadowy, lantern-light-flickering room, throwing his head to all sides in a desperate search for Nekohiko's cat body in the corners. "Get back to where you belon--!"

"Daichi! Catch!"

Nekohiko jumped on the man's head, his claws sliding out of the ceiling's wood at once.

All the talons sucked out as his paws thrashed, sinking into the soft, gelatinous surface of Daichi's eyeballs. Daichi didn't manage to turn aside in time.

Nekohiko went all in.

Ravage, slash, shriek with fervor.

The blood and eyeball fluid spurted across Nekohiko's fur. The man beneath him bellowed in agony and shock and fear -- and flailed without purpose to get rid of Nekohiko. The two of them crashed into the table, then toppled onto the floor. Daichi's sword swung about while his other hand struck out trying to grab Nekohiko.

He almost did, with a passing blow.

The cat form was truly a fragile one. From the hit, however blind and purely reflexive it had been, Nekohiko flew into the wall. Something wooden and frail crunched within him from the impact. But there was no pain he registered. And no concerns about his odds or what he needed to do next. Only vast, cold-hearted anger surged within him.

Daichi was a true warrior. Even blinded and racked with incomprehensible throes, he still pulled himself together, quickly regaining his balance and sticking his sword toward the direction into which he'd thrown Nekohiko. The only remainders of Daichi's wound were the bloody tears and eyeball ooze dripping down his face in a glazed layer. And the low groans seeping out from beyond the man's gritted, bloodied teeth.

Dodging a sharp cut of the blade, Nekohiko staggered to his feet and rolled back into the Spiritside. Blinded, Daichi wouldn't be able to hear him treading around the room but if Daichi used Spirit Binding to detect his movements, even with such an advantage as having sight, Nekohiko couldn't pose a great threat to a trained soldier.

In the Spiritside, he dashed to the opposite wall and upward to prepare for another vicious attack on Daichi. In the narrow slit of the shuttered window, Nekohiko saw the burning eye of the Cat Spirit with an enormous slender pupil within the bright-green iris. She'd been attracted here by the delicious aroma of blood spilled by a cat's claws. Of course she wanted to participate.

And Nekohiko didn't mind help. Killing Daichi was troublesome for him even now. But...

Really, this person had infuriated him too much. Nekohiko couldn't stop. He couldn't share. He had to be the one to take Daichi's life. No one else. Blood boiled within him.

Monster? Go back to hell?

What was this? Did Daichi actually think this way? Did he believe this was what Nekohiko had been like? It made no sense! It was such a hideous, ugly lie!

Was it Abihiko who had spread such disgusting lies among the people they knew? Abihiko was the only one who would benefit from it, so... of course. Of course he'd done it. He'd murdered Nekohiko and then poured black lies over Nekohiko's corpse to make himself appear cleaner and more innocent in comparison...

And everyone had believed him.

"You go to hell!" Nekohiko roared at Daichi as he sprang out of the Spiritside, jaws open and ready.

Daichi struck out with his sword. A thin layer of cat fur shaved off him but the sword was only a distraction. Daichi's other hand smashed into Nekohiko from the side. Quick, the man rolled his calloused, hard fingers into the cat sides to get a proper grip. He was crushing Nekohiko and trying to pull him away from his face. Nekohiko didn't let him, lodging all of his talons into the man's flesh to keep himself stuck.

With a deep sound of tearing, Nekohiko felt that some part of him had been ripped off in the struggle.

His teeth buried deep into Daichi's throat, his claws ravaged the wound even further as he thrashed and ripped apart. Blood was hot and fresh on his face, on his nose, on his tongue, making him gag with the disturbing taste. Choking, he hissed amidst the horrible sounds of squelching and rasping as he tore open Daichi's windpipe, "You go to hell and wait for your heroic Abihiko there!"

Daichi's sword clanged to the floor and his hold on Nekohiko's shattered back loosened. Next, he crashed down, squeezing his own throat in both his hands as though to stop the bleeding and the gurgles that escaped his mouth.

Oh, a familiar sound, wasn't it? Nekohiko thought vengefully.

I had heard this exact sound myself five years ago. The last thing I had heard in my short, confused life.

"...mon...ster..." Daichi spat, convulsing, weeping tears of pure blood down his cheeks and into his ears. "...calami...ty."

Through the pain in his broken back, Nekohiko leaned to Daichi's face. "Supreme Divine Emperor Nekohiko thanks you so much for your loyal service, Imperial Bodyguard Daichi."

The silence came suddenly and devastatingly.

Nekohiko creaked, rolling his limbs around to check how much damage he'd received. So far, it was harsh but... he survived it, didn't he? He could still crawl around which was a vast improvement compared to his log form immobility. And he could still take care of the mess that was this room. Nothing else mattered.

He didn't stop to think about what had happened and how terrifying and shuddering this whole scene was. He would think about it later. Tomorrow, preferably. But not now. If he began, it was likely he would descend into a stupor and he couldn't have that.

First, he needed to get rid of any evidence that he, a cat, had been here.

"Cat Sister?" he called to the window, bowing through the pain. "Your meal is served. My cat soul is avenged."

Avenged, my ass! he grumbled on the inside as he limped to the small basket of room necessities in the corner. He didn't feel avenged at all. If anything, his desire for vengeance had only increased. The lies, the accusations, the justification of the murder of an innocent youth he'd once been...

The basket had been overturned and most of its contents were in disorder on the floor. While Cat Spirit phased elegantly through the building wall and into the room, matter-of-factly licking the spilled blood on the floor like any regular cat would lap her milk, Nekohiko found the flintstone in the basket and began dousing the room in the oil he'd fished out.

The best way to remove all traces of a murder done. Fire. The ultimate purification and the ultimate escape for all people bound to rot and putrefy after death. Daichi should thank him for such kindness. Not that the man deserved any of it.

Nekohiko ignited a spark after many failed attempts to strike the flint with his clumsy cat paws. How many times had he cursed and sworn during that? He truly needed a human body, and soon. But once the small fire began gnawing at Daichi's oil-sprayed body, all of this trouble was already behind him. His eye caught the tightly-clutched fist of Daichi's right hand. As though something dark and crumpled squeezed in there. Odd. But what did it matter? Everything of Daichi's body would perish in the fire.

He sat up close to Daichi's mutilated face, looking down on him and trying to understand the life of this man. The thoughts he'd had, the beliefs he'd held dear.

But he couldn't. No matter how much he tried, Nekohiko was at a loss. Daichi seemed like a genuine, solid person. To have betrayed a young naive boy and then badmouthed him afterward?

Who would be able to understand that, let alone forgive?

He crept up the wall to the sill, unable to jump anymore. From there, he sniffed the spectral air where the Cat Spirit's muzzle was. "Did you have fun tonight, Cat Sister?"

"Meow-meow-meow," was all she answered. Although Nekohiko didn't get it, he had nothing more to reply other than to agree.

"Meow," he said.

He limped along the dark streets of Sai, feeling just as dark and empty inside as the world was around him. For a moment, as he lingered around the corner of a street on which the signpost indicated the town hall to the right, Nekohiko felt a depthless longing to know. To understand.

Those ugly things Daichi had told him or Daichi's friends had mentioned... just how true and widespread these things were? Did people seriously not know his story, or how he'd been fighting for his Empire before being betrayed at the last moment? Did Daichi and other royal bodyguards that had abandoned him -- all believe that his murder was purposeful? And a heroic one, above all?

Grave, he slowly rose up the lacquered steps of the Sai town hall and squeezed himself inside through one of the slits in the wide, heavy doors. All town halls had the glories of the Emperors documented on their walls in murals or on the painted screens and in their hanging scrolls. The darkness of the interior didn't bother his sensitive cat eyes, so even with almost no light source around, he could see.

In the biggest hall in the entire building, along the walls, the murals depicted them all. Nekohiko's recent ancestors under whose reign this town hall had been built -- his grandfather and his father, Emperors Futoni and Kunikuru... then the Usurper uncle who had taken Father's throne by force and then spent the entirety of his reign searching for Nekohiko to get rid of...

But after the Usurper the only Emperor whose existence was recorded in this town hall was Abihiko. His tall, glorious figure, rendered in royal emerald greens that clashed so vividly with Abihiko's red ribbon in his hair and his thin red lips in a tight smile.

Nekohiko averted his eyes when his gaze fell on that familiar face. However little resemblance this flat picture had to Abihiko, any reference to him set Nekohiko on edge, made his bones ring with ache, set his heart on boiling fire.

So it was true.

Nekohiko's existence was simply ignored! Forgotten. Erased from history!

The White Grove Inn in the distance fumed with rising smoke from its upper story rooms set on fire. The fire bell was tolling and a few warning cries of people rang through over the rooftops. Nekohiko regretted not having dragged a few flints and oil jars here as well -- to set this town hall on fire, too. because this place held nothing but lies. But really, there was no time for any of that. He had to go back home.

His time for true revenge and justice would come. One day. Nothing would ever change that.

He let the Cat Spirit carry him back like a grown-up mommy cat would her kitten -- by her holding the nape of his neck in her mouth. She flew through the skies back home. But sometimes she stopped to lick the rest of the blood off him, so tasty she found it. Nekohiko allowed her anything. She was his ride back home, and besides, she seemed to be truly happy with their little trip. And having a friendly, pleased Spirit in his vicinity was never a bad idea. He'd been taught this at Izumo very well.

The sky was lightening at the barest line above the horizon when Cat Spirit brought him back to the garden spot where her small stone shrine stood. Nekohiko sank into the grass, watching the Cat Spirit disappear dreamily into her lantern-shaped home. Everything in him ached and clicked as he dragged himself up and in the direction of the main house. Argh, but the exhaustion... the pain. He needed to go back to Kataji's bedroom. He hadn't even decided yet what he'd tell Kataji or Aomi if they noticed how beaten up he looked. The only thing he cared about was to get back to bed and rest.

But hey -- at least most of the blood had been licked clean off his fur. He didn't need to clean himself up before climbing into Kataji's bed and dirtying it. Now that he thought about it, he should have agreed to a black fur like Aomi suggested because no bloodstains would be visible on it. The girl definitely knew her murder-and-escape stuff incredibly well--

Creak.

A rustly shuffle.

Nekohiko froze. Before him, a ravel of twigs and deformed branches stood. Not moving, not budging even an inch away from Nekohiko's path.

Ah... The Lumber-Devouring Spirit, Nekohiko recalled tiredly. What a terrifying thing to meet alone at night. A couple of weeks ago, when Nekohiko had been only a piece of lumber without any spell protection, Nekohiko would have dreaded such a chance meeting.

But by now, his wood was well-protected and taken care of.

Nekohiko wanted to walk around the evil Spirit like he'd always done before but the Spirit moved. It blocked Nekohiko's path again, and again. Its limbs jerked disturbingly and the tremors that passed through its haggard body felt more menacing by the second.

Why was this Spirit so unafraid to come close to Nekohiko? It should be repulsed by the purifying spells etched into this cat's bones during the Binding process! All malevolent Spirits were repelled by purity -- and thus even a wooden dummy like Nekohiko was safe from this ugly pile of twigs.

So why did this Spirit instead look like a starving beggar at the sight of a sumptuous meal at his disposal? Why was it opening its hideous maw as though to devour Nekohiko?

What was going o--

And then Nekohiko remembered.

Daichi's blood.

Blood spilled in violence. The single most dirtying, defiling, sullying element in the world. Even a single drop of it made all the protective, purifying Binding spells...

...utterly useless.

Queenfisher

I changed the cover to a somewhat darker one to properly reflect the content this story is exhibiting now. (Though I'm afraid it's not dark, just angsty? No matter. It still fits better than the fluffy cat one).

I don't know when the new cover will show (it takes some time to approve it) but hopefully within a day ^^.

Most importantly, it will be the first time the cover will actually show both the Emperor AND the Tree in the same frame ^^ (although I'm unsure who of the two is the bigger dummy and to whom each title belongs more), so I guess it will be a like super ~meaningful~ cover now.

Both covers are under spoilers for posterity ^^.

Spoiler

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