Chapter 2845 - 2846: The Half-Yokai Kami

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Once Amaterasu's gaze shifted elsewhere, Kaguya was released. She sighed deeply, hearing her father's stern words.

"Kaguya, do you not understand? If she becomes truly furious with us, do you think you alone will bear her righteous wrath? She will punish our entire family. Consider the consequences before you speak. This is not how I raised you."

"…I apologize," Kaguya murmured, feeling a wave of depression as she glanced at Kireina with worry. "But I just…"

"Your father is not wrong," her mother sighed. "Dear… even as gods, we are powerless before the Empress. As long as we remain under her protection, we cannot defy her. Only those of equal authority, like Susanoo and Tsukuyomi, could ever dare argue with or challenge her. We have no such freedom."

"Then why are we even gods if we cannot save a single life?" Kaguya whispered to herself, frustration burning in her chest.

Her personality had evolved greatly during her time here. Life in Genesis now felt like a distant dream, but her love for Kireina had never faded—nor had the memory of Kireina's heroic acts to save their kind from the forest tyrants, or how she had always protected her and devoted part of her life to her, even among many others who loved her. Though it felt like a thousand years had passed since they were apart, this separation had only deepened Kaguya's longing.

"Perhaps there is still something we can do…" Her hands moved silently behind her parents. Her two brothers nodded and mirrored her actions.

Thin, almost undetectable threads of divinity pierced the dimensional membrane of the Divine Realm. The three squirrels began their quiet act of defiance, hidden from the watchful eyes of the Empress of the Sun and the Heavens themselves.

Yet among the many Kami, another stood firmly on Kireina's side. It was the multi-eyed half-Yokai Kami, daughter of the elderly Fukurokuju, a god of Wisdom and Longevity and one of the Seven Gods of Fortune. She stood behind her bearded, bald father, watching the scene with concern through her six eyes. Her aura surged with Psychic Power and Divinity, manifesting as countless additional eyes that observed in silence.

"Ah, this is truly quite an ordeal, huh? Susanoo-sama is at it again…" Fukurokuju sighed. "If things escalate, the Empress may order us to stop him. It wouldn't be the first time. When that happens, stay behind me, all right, Nanako-chan? This is no place for a young Kami like you, barely five hundred years old, to get involved!"

"Oh, Father…" Nanako sighed, gazing at her kind, elderly father who felt more like a grandfather.

She had lived five hundred years in this world as Nanako, an unrecognized Kami born recently as the daughter of Fukurokuju and an unnamed Yokai woman he had loved. Her mother had tried to enter the Heavenly Realm, invited by her husband while carrying their child—a beautiful multi-eyed Kami with six eyes instead of the eight her spider-demon mother possessed.

However, by decree of the Heavenly Law, Yokai were forbidden from entering the Heavenly Realm. Fukurokuju was punished for his defiance. His wife was banished to the mortal realm after Tsukuyomi pierced her chest with a Moonlight Stake, sealing her memories of her love for her husband and her daughter. She was forced to live as a monster, roaming the land and devouring human souls instead of enjoying a dignified life with her family.

Yes, despite the passage of time, Nanako could still remember being a babe in her father's arms.

She recalled the day her mother was banished to the mortal plane. The radiant Amaterasu Ōmikami, Empress of the Sun, descended from her jeweled palace. Her light filled the court, and all Kami bowed low before her brilliance. Amaterasu's gaze fell upon the child, and her voice rang like sunlight on steel:

"What is this, Fukurokuju? You bring before me one born of Yokai blood. The Heavenly Law forbids such mingling. Why do you defy the decree?"

Fukurokuju bowed deeply, his beard brushing the floor, his voice trembling yet resolute:

"O Great Empress, this child is mine, born of love, not rebellion. Though her mother was Yokai, Nanako bears the spark of divinity. She is innocent of her mother's fate. I beg you, spare her life and let her dwell in Heaven under my care. Do not cast her down to wander as a beast."

The court fell silent. The six-eyed child clutched her father's robe, her eyes wide with fear yet glowing with hidden power. Amaterasu's radiance dimmed for a moment, as if clouded by sorrow.

At last, the Sun Goddess spoke, her words heavy with reluctant mercy:

"Fukurokuju, your plea moves me. The child shall not be slain nor cast into the mortal realm. She may remain in Takamagahara. Yet hear my decree: she is not to join the councils of Kami nor partake in divine rites. She shall be confined within your domain, under your watchful care, apart from the affairs of Heaven. Thus shall the purity of the realm be preserved, and the child spared."

Fukurokuju bowed again, tears glistening in his ancient eyes.

"Your mercy is boundless, O Empress. I shall guard her well, and she shall not trouble the order of Heaven."

Nanako's six eyes shimmered—some with sorrow, some with gratitude. Though barred from the company of the gods, she had been granted life and sanctuary. And so she remained, hidden within her father's halls, a half-Yokai Kami of secret sight, watching the world through countless unseen eyes, waiting for the day her destiny would unfold.

Thus, it was through the Empress's mercy that Nanako was allowed to live in the Heavenly Realm. Unlike Kaguya, born of two Kami, she faced the most discrimination of all—even more than the three squirrels. Yet if she had been banished like her mother, she would have become a monster in the mortal plane, forever separated from her father and chasing a mother who could not remember her.

Because of this, Nanako felt deeply conflicted. She did not know if she could truly defy the Empress, who had shown benevolence by forgiving her bloodline and granting her a peaceful life in this realm. Her father and his friends, the other Six Gods of Fortune, often visited and treated her with great kindness.

"Kireina-sama, I cannot let you die here, but I cannot intervene directly… With my watchful eyes, I shall find a way for you to escape," Nanako thought, her eyes glowing brightly.

Her divinity differed from that of other Kami. Merged with the dark essence of Yokai, it was nearly invisible to them, hidden within shadows. Nanako could exert her power unseen—perhaps shaped by her five hundred years of desiring to remain hidden. Divinities, after all, could change. They were not fixed at birth. Shifts in appearance, personality, and thought could transform or mutate them into entirely different powers.

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