"Me and my daughter were walking through the forest when we heard the screams of corrupted spirits," Mama Ipoh began. "They were angry spirits—spirits of trees that had been burned down..."
At the top of the staircase, Viora sat silently, her cheeks flushing red as her thoughts raced.
She called me her daughter...
The words lingered in her mind, soft yet powerful. Just being referred to as Mama Ipoh's daughter made her heart swell with warmth. She had never been anyone's daughter before.
Meanwhile, Shirokae's sharp eyes widened slightly, his expression softening as he offered his first gentle smile since arriving. "I didn't know you had a daughter, Ipoh... And I noticed you said 'we.' Does that mean she can perceive spirits as well?"
Mama Ipoh let out a gentle smile as she settled into the wooden chair.
"Yes, she can perceive them, my dear Shirokae. I don't know how clearly she can see spirits, but she can sense them to some degree…" She paused for a moment, her smile softening. "She is my adopted daughter, but I still see her as my daughter of flesh and blood, regardless. In the beginning, she was shy, even tried to run away…"
Mama Ipoh's voice grew warmer, her pride unmistakable.
"But eventually, she was strong enough to trust me again. She's strong—much stronger than I ever was at her age. Learning to trust again after being abandoned so many times… she doesn't even realize how strong she is."
Mama Ipoh's gaze drifted slightly, her tone brimming with quiet affection. "I'm proud to be her mother."
Viora, upon hearing those words, couldn't hold back her tears. She smiled as she cried, trying her best not to be heard.
Shirokae took a slow sip from his kiseru, the smoke gently rising and swirling in the air. With a small smile, he said, "I suppose it's true—there's nothing stronger than a mother's love, whether bound by flesh and blood or not. But I believe you were strong as well at that age… Not many could endure the same hardships you faced."
Mama Ipoh chuckled softly, her tone carrying warmth and nostalgia. "Thank you, my dear Shirokae. I also believe I managed to work it out… at least, kind of well in the end."
hirokae, still smoking his kiseru, exhaled a thin stream of smoke and said, "So, what happened next?"
Mama Ipoh paused for a long moment, gathering her thoughts before speaking. "Well, after Viora fell asleep, I went back to the scene. I tucked her in, gave her the Talisman of the Moon, and then I walked into the forest. I jumped over the barricade and reached the ten burned trees. Normally, spirits of trees wouldn't become corrupted just from being harmed by humans—they would simply die and move on to another tree. But these trees were… different. I dealt with them easily, but…"
Shirokae's gaze sharpened slightly as he interrupted, "But one of the lower corrupted spirits chosen by the wicked appeared… Hephaestus."
Mama Ipoh looked at him, searching for answers. "Do you know him, Shirokae?"
Shirokae shook his head dismissively, a smirk playing on his lips. "I have absolutely no idea who he is. Why would I bother knowing about a pathetic spirit I could erase from this realm with a single thought?"
Mama Ipoh let out a sigh and continued, "Anyway, he claimed he was the one who corrupted the spirits in the trees. I summoned my Chūrei-ranked spirit—the Thunderwolf…"
Shirokae's eyes widened as he spoke, a hint of disbelief in his tone.
"You summoned the Thunderwolf right from the start? You should've been able to deal with him with a single bolt of lightning. A low corrupted spirit shouldn't have stood a chance against an animal spirit of the Chūrei rank… unless the spirit was..."
Mama Ipoh nodded, her voice calm yet strained. "Yes, the Thunderwolf was only partially manifested out of his talisman. I'd say he was only about five percent present in reality."
Mama Ipoh continued, her voice steady but tinged with disbelief:
"He wasn't able to land a single hit on me or get past my Thunderwolf, but… he managed to survive multiple lightning bolts. Even though he couldn't dodge them, something strange happened when he was completely beaten down. He transformed his arm into a red katana and started releasing bolts of lightning of his own—lightning that matched the Thunderwolf's. He was able to stalemate the Thunderwolf's attacks with his own."
Shirokae's eyes widened, his tone sharpening.
"He copied the Thunderwolf's lightning? I suppose this has something to do with the ability he gained after escaping the cocoon…"
Mama Ipoh tilted her head, her curiosity piqued.
"You know something about that cocoon?"
Shirokae's nine tails swayed slowly, drifting left and right like flowing streams.
"I visited Hell once, a long time ago… and by long, I mean billions of years ago. I learned how Hell operates during my time there. I'd think the method of torture he endured inside that cocoon granted him the ability to copy the abilities of others after he escaped."
Shirokae smirked, his sharp gaze glinting through the haze of smoke.
"Still… for a low corrupted spirit to survive and stalemate against an animal spirit of the Chūrei rank? He's not as pathetic as I thought. His potential is indeed something to be cautious of. So… how did you win the battle?"
Mama Ipoh scratched the back of her head, a hint of embarrassment flashing across her face.
"I forgot to mention… when he first shot that beam of lightning, it caught me off guard. I dodged it, of course, but moving that fast under my condition… let's just say it put my body under a lot of stress."
She let out a sigh before continuing.
"But yeah, I ended up manifesting a fraction of the Legendary Owl of Hurricane into reality. I used it to cut both his arms off and had the Thunderwolf finish the job. He still managed to escape, though…"
Shirokae's smirk faded slightly as Mama Ipoh slumped a little in her seat.
"Summoning even a fraction of the Legendary Owl took everything out of me. I passed out right after."
Shirokae let out a heavy sigh, his gaze sharpening as he exhaled a thin stream of smoke.
"Your superflux diminishes a little more every day, Ipoh. Summoning spirits of such high rank…" He paused, his tails swaying slowly behind him, "…it'll drain it even faster. You know what that means."
Mama Ipoh looked away, her expression conflicted.
Shirokae's tone grew firmer, though not unkind.
"You've lived a long life, but you still have many years ahead of you—if you're careful. If you keep summoning the Thunderwolf or the Legendary Owl like this… you'll burn through the rest of your superflux. You will die within a few short years. There's no avoiding that."
He stared at her for a long moment, his voice softening slightly.
"And you know it can't regenerate itself anymore. Not since you got that curse… the one those damned scientists gave you."
Viora's eyes widened in shock as the thought hit her like a cold wave.
Mama Ipoh might… die? If she keeps summoning her spirits?
Mama Ipoh let out a deep, weary sigh, her gaze falling to the floor.
"I know, Shirokae… I know."
Shirokae sighed in return, his expression unreadable as he stood up, his tails swaying lazily behind him. Turning his back to Ipoh, he spoke with a softened tone.
"Well, our little conversation ends here. Take care, Ipoh."
Mama Ipoh waved a hand at him with a small, bittersweet smile.
"Goodbye, my dear Shirokae."
In the blink of an eye, Shirokae vanished from the house, leaving behind a heavy silence. The once lively room now felt a little emptier, as though the air itself had stilled.
Viora sat frozen, still struggling to process what she had just heard.
Her chest tightened as the realization lingered, a quiet dread settling over her.
chapter twenty-nine end