Chapter 142: Tamamo-no-Mae

I stood above my giant monster's head overlooking the city of Kyoto, where the power ranger faction is based. Most of the city districts have either become ghost town or became nest for the monsters. The only place occupied by humans is a district within a thick wall, similar to Messiah, and at the center of the settlement is a skyscraper, no doubt the main base of the power ranger faction.

The sight of my giant monster made them sound their alarm and even from afar I can smell their fear. How delicious.

"Such a beautiful city. Some of its structures are even reminiscent of my own Pleasure District in the Lawless City, especially that tall building over there." Said a certain nine tailed white fox standing beside me as she pointed her fan towards the Yasaka Pagoda, which definitely resembles her White Tower. The buildings surrounding it also looks very similar to the ones found in the Pleasure District of Lawless city, which she ruled. The former capital city preserved many of its old architecture, making it considered the cultural capital of Japan and a major tourist attraction, though most of them are destroyed at this point. Even the Yasaka Pagoda looks abandoned.

When I saw the Pleasure District and the White Tower for the first time, it made me think of Kyoto and I also felt nostalgic as I wasn't really expecting to see Japanese culture in the other world. I almost thought that somehow Japanese culture were brought to the other world from Japan but I dismissed that thought immediately considering the other world is dominated by European culture as most fantasy worlds in fiction do. A little bit eastern culture shouldn't be surprising.

"Do you like the view?"

"Yes. I do. Though I suppose you intended to destroy it, didn't you, Lord Necromancer?"

"Yes."

"Such a shame, though it's already half destroyed anyway. But I certainly can see where you obtained all the knowledge you shared with me, which allowed the Snow Fox Corporation to rival Mitsugoshi. To think that all that knowledge came from another world entirely. You weren't kidding when you said it's from far away." She said as she looked at the skyscrapers, no doubt thinking of the Don Jon Tower and the conversation we had there. Hm, I missed the place already.

"I also wonder if Shadow Garden obtained their knowledge from here too."

"They most likely do." Through reincarnation like me.

"Did you come here to obtain more knowledge, my lord?"

"Yes, I did. But declaring war here is a way to force them into an even greater corner and make them develop more technologies for me to steal."

"Oh, how crafty you are, my lord. Having them being pushed by these monsters isn't enough to force them to create the knowledge you wanted, isn't it?"

"Indeed. Their creations left much to be desired. However, I am quite amazed that they were able to develop their magical technology quite far within just three years of being exposed to magic, even if compared to ours theirs were of severely low quality, but that is understandable as they have never interacted with magic before. And I wished to see if I can push them a bit further into creating something that surprises even me." I gave her my reasoning for coming to Japan, which is merely a secondary objective because being a villain has always been my first objective.

"Then I shall assist you in your endeavour, my lord. I am, after all, yours."

"Speaking of which… what are you doing here, Yukime?" I asked her whilst turning to her confusedly as I certainly didn't expect her to be here.

"I crossed through the portal that you opened in your lab, my lord."

"Any reason why you've done so?"

"Your newest pet has escaped her prison and the entire base is on a lockdown and… I suspect that the only way she could've escaped is through your portal so I passed through in order to chase her. Couldn't find her so far though."

"So she has come… interesting… VERY interesting indeed. Heh heh heh."

"Judging from your chuckle, I'd say you have an evil plan brewing." Yukime remarked whilst grinning.

"Indeed I do. You will see it soon. For now, let us focus on this particular settlement called Kyoto, named after the entire city before it was destroyed."

"Kyoto, huh. What a nice name."

"You may explore the place before we launch the attack. I'll give them one hour to respond to my presence."

"Very well, my lord. See you in one hour!" Yukime said as she left to explore the… Higashiyama-ku prefecture if I recall correctly, where the Yasaka Pagoda is. I knew she's interested to see it so I let her go. She'd be happier to visit it when it wasn't in ruins, I'm sure, but her appearance certainly will attract attention… Now that I think of it, that might quite be interesting. Heh heh heh. Let's watch what happens next.

The colorless rangers, wearing white body suit that makes them resemble the Golem Soldiers from Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger or the Putty Patrollers from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, patrolled the abandoned districts of Kyoto to cull the number of monsters infesting their territory, just like how other settlements do. They stopped their patrol when they heard the alarms ringing from their headquarters.

"The alarm's ringing. Don't you think we should go back?"

"Nah, the boss red ranger said we're not allowed to return under any circumstances until we finish our patrol. If we go back, we'll be beaten up!"

"He's such a tyrant! And yet he pretends to be a hero! We're even dressed like the villain's minions!"

"Man, I can't believe I got assigned to this work again! I just did it yesterday! I just can't take a break, can I? Why can't we get some vacation whereas those Magirangers get to laze of in the headquarters almost everyday!?"

"Stop your complaining and just enjoy the view!"

"What view? All I see is ruins!"

"If the monsters didn't destroy the world, all this beauty would've been preserved for centuries to come, you know? We could've been the last generation to set foot here and enjoy this scenery."

"Bah! I don't care about the scenery! I want my vacation!"

Some of them admired the beauty of the city, looking back to what it once was, while some others are dissatisfied for being assigned to grunt work while the three rangers, the Magirangers, rarely go out themselves and mostly spent their time in the main building of Kyoto settlement, which they called the Command Center.

As they were arguing, their magically enhanced senses picked up the sound of a cat bell. They stopped arguing once they noticed the bell's sound.

"Did you hear that?"

"A… bell?"

"Did someone's cat end up here?"

"How could a cat survive in this environment, idiot?"

"But that's definitely a cat bell! I'm sure of it! Let's go there!"

The group immediately went to the source of the sound. As they approached the source of the bell's sound however, they immediately felt heavy pressure and dread… the feeling of an extremely powerful monster with enormous amount of magic that they've never felt before. For some reason the image of a giant white fox appeared in their minds.

"D-Did you feel that…?"

"Yeah… What the hell is that…?"

"W-We should investiga-"

"Hell no! I'm not going anywhere near that mons-!" The man's voice were cut by the sudden appearance of a beautiful woman wearing snow white kimono standing above a building, gazing at them with cold eyes from above like a predator eyeing its preys. The sound of the bell came from the fan she carries in her hand, where two cat bells are strapped, confirming her to be the source of the sound.

The sight of the woman stunned them… not just because of her beauty and her enormous magical power… but also the inhuman features she possess, namely her snow white hair, fox ears and nine tails.

"T-That's…"

"Those tails real…?"

"Th-They're moving! I guess so!"

"Sh-She's not… human is she?"

"She's beautiful…!"

"What the fuck is she…? Is she one of the monsters?"

"No… Is she… Tamamo-no-Mae!?" The mention of the name of a certain mythological creature sent shivers down their spines. They wanted to think it's just a fairy tale but her waving nine tails and her titanic magical powers makes it hard for them to deny it, especially considering that they now live in an age where magic exists.

If magic and monsters are real… then why not mythologies and old legends?

"Greetings, natives of Kyoto. You may call me Yukime. Would you be so kind as to escort me around the place?" The nine tailed woman spoke in a foreign language that they neither understand nor recognize, which makes them feel even more frightened.

"Wh-What is she saying?"

"What language is that?"

"I dunno! Doesn't sound like any language I know!"

"She's speaking the language of the gods!"

Their frightened body language and foreign speech perplexes Yukime, who just want a friendly tour around the city.

Ah… I forgot that my magic power makes them feel like they're merely ants. Also, to think that I'd encounter a language barrier here… Perhaps I need to ask Lord Necromancer to teach me the language of the natives. Thought Yukime as she left the colorless rangers, who remained stunned even minutes after she left.

"Wh-What was that?"

"Was that a dream?"

"I dunno. Felt so real… and yet so unreal at the same time."

"She spared us…?"

"Is it weird that I… became hard from how coldly she looked at us?"

"Same man… I want her to step on me. Hee hee hee."

"You horndogs! This is no time to be horny! We have to report this to the headquarters now!"

"B-But… under no circumstances are we allowed to-"

"Fuck that! This is an emergency! Besides, the alarm is ringing anyway! We might as well go back!"

"O-Okay!"

The colorless rangers left immediately in order to report their findings.

Yukime returned much earlier than I expected… with a perplexed expression. Did something happen when she encountered those ranger minions?

"Lord Necromancer. I tried to speak with them but I can't understand what they're saying! Could you teach me how to speak their language?" Ah, I see. Sometimes I forget that they speak Japanese here. This is an opportunity for an experiment that I've never conducted before.

"I have no time to teach you… and thus I will place the knowledge of the language directly to your brain. This will be invasive. Are you willing to proceed?"

"Yes." Yukime answered without hesitation, as if I wasn't going to fuck her brain.

"Very well. Be still." I said as I held her head with both my hands and inject my magic to her brain. She didn't resist at all and allowed my magic to flow freely into her brain. This time, instead of reading her mind, I inject my knowledge of the Japanese language to her brain, causing her to have a headache. She didn't scream however, and merely grits her teeth as she endured the pain. She even has a nosebleed.

When I finished, she fell to my arms. I almost find it hilarious that we have switched position compared to that time in her village.

"Nekuromansa-sama… Thank you…" She thanks me in Japanese and passes out. I know the pain that she's going through right now. I felt it before when I took the memories of my clone and end up biting more than I can chew. At least this means my experiment is a success.

It wasn't easy to develop this brain magic because I have to interpret brainwaves in order to decipher its contents through magic. I separate the brainwaves into three categories: emotion, thoughts and memories.

Thoughts are what the person is currently thinking. Reading it is basically mind reading. The information gained this way is limited to what the person is thinking and thus it won't reveal every information in said person's brain but it is useful as it filters unnecessary information. I could even bait the victim to thinking about the topic I want them to think with few words.

Memories are the full content of the person's brain, though it is limited to what they can remember. Things they don't remember are not quite erased, just hidden away and blurred. During my brain experiments I tried deciphering the blurred memories to varying degrees of success. Sometimes I succeeded in getting vague images of forgotten memories, sometimes I couldn't, sometimes I just outright destroy the person's brain. Carmilla's case is one example of forgotten memories resurfacing through some triggers. Through her interactions with Claire Kagenou, she was able to recall her memories about her sister. Too bad she died so I can't watch her brain's development.

Emotion is… complicated as it is influenced by hormones. I tried deciphering emotions in order to read people who can hide their emotions well but due to how hard it is to interpret emotions and due to how much easier it is to just read their minds or their body language, I stopped bothering.

Besides reading, brain magic could even be used to alter brainwaves, allowing me to either manipulate memories or even control the brain through hypnosis. This is harder than just reading the brainwaves and can be resisted by the victim's mere willpower, which is why I'm glad I chose to be a terrifying villain as most people are too afraid to resist my hypnosis.

The development of the brain magic was greatly enhanced by Sherry, my genius little apprentice. Sometimes I'm afraid that she has become better at brain magic than me. That's why while I did teach her how to use brain magic to protect her brain from magical invasions such as mind reading spells or even hypnosis, I didn't teach her my special brand of brain protection magic, which is basically brainwave encryption, making sure nobody can decipher my brainwaves to either manipulate or read it. Even though I truly loved her and know how loyal she is to me, I can't help but be paranoid.

I took a futon I took from my apartment and let Yukime lay down on it. I need her to recover quickly because I have plans for her by making her the Tamamo-no-Mae. What kind of chaos can her presence unleash? Heh heh heh. This is going to be so much fun. But for now, I have a bunch of rangers to destroy. Let's see if you can handle my monster without Zords. Heh heh heh.

Author's Note:

It's been only a week and yet it felt so long. Last week I was unable to update in the weekend because I was drawing the cover art for the vampire and Don Jon arc of this fic, which you can find at my twitter ( TheOminousRain), tumblr ( ominousrain), Instagram ( ominous_rain), DeviantArt ( OminousRain) or in the r/TheEminenceInShadow Subreddit. You can also find it in Sufficient Velocity and Archive of Our Own of this fic.

Anyway, I decided to bring Yukime to Japan because of how Japanese her entire design is. At first I was contemplating on which character to bring besides Alpha but then I remember that Yukime once had a conversation with Don Jon about where he obtained the knowledge to develop products to rival Mitsugoshi and also because she is the classic nine tailed fox seductress like Tamamo so she can be considered mythological creature in Japan. Hope to make more out of this later.

Also, I added a bit of magic research section in this chapter inspired by Sonic-Shine's fanfiction: Obsessions in Shadow, which is dominated by magic research chapters.

borregodillon9: Excellent chapter

Answer: Thanks for reading as always.

DerTrap: If his Sister actually ends up being a villain as well, I really hope we get a healthy amount of wholesome scenes(in their eyes) with them. Scenes that would be horriyfing for everyone else, to make some similarities with Adra and Delta. Just a big brother spending some nice quality time with his younger sister.

Answer: Interesting idea, but unfortunately I have different plans for the little sister.

Sebas602 (Reacting to the Prologue): What an interesting premise, I liked it, I just hope that the protagonist doesn't end up being someone as clueless as Cid

Answer: He's not as clueless as Cid although he didn't know everything at once.

TheVirtualPug: Maybe his sister really is dead... in this world.

Char being his sister all along!?

... probably not.

(hopefully?)

Answer: :thinkingemoji:

Guest (Chapter 9: Rivals Within the Cult): Well the name bishop drake age well

Answer: His death is probably still a mystery even in the light novel, though I have suspicion as to why, which I wrote into this fic.

vikinggold32 (Chapter 99: The Agent's Gambit): Only a fool would put money in one place. Lol

Answer: He didn't

vikinggold32 (Chapter 100: The Mafia Boss VS The Agent): Chap 105 couldn't help but be disappointed, the don was so cool but he was robbed and died a horrible death... Rip for Don... I hope one of the 7 shadows dies.

Answer: He is probably the persona with the longest build up among all other personas that Claude created, most of which were created on the fly.

Seven Shades member death is not ruled out of possibility but I want to kill major characters once I'm sure I've utilized their characters as much as I can.

vikinggold32 (Chapter 102: Signs of Discord): Umm... forget about how to save money :p

You know I read it marathon, only stopping to eat take a shower.. I need sleep

Answer: The one time Cid wasn't lucky and has his money end up with SG (pretty much like in canon).

Glad to have you reading up until hundreds of chapters. Hoope you enjoyed the read and have a good rest.