Kryptonians: Man of Steel

Chapter 1572 Enchanting All Beings
A bone-chilling coldness silently crept up his spine.

"Everyone,"

Kishida's deep voice, with a hint of barely perceptible dryness, broke the suffocating silence in the command center.

His gaze swept over the pale-faced cabinet members, high-ranking Self-Defense Force officers, and several top folklorists and historians who had been urgently summoned to the long table.

"You've probably all heard the legend of the 'Sessho-seki' in Nasu, right?"

Some nodded subconsciously, their movements stiff; some swallowed hard, their Adam's apple bobbing; and many more stared intently at the figure on the screen, as if their souls had been captured.

The story of the nine-tailed fox spirit Tamamo-no-Mae may not be widely known in Japan, but its legendary nature has long been ingrained in the culture.

Especially in recent years, after the appearance of demons and monsters, the records about her have been repeatedly studied and interpreted, becoming a kind of lingering cultural nightmare.

At this moment, the legend has been vividly torn apart by reality, bringing an impact far exceeding any report.

Kishida's fingers traced the cold words on the ancient text, his voice carrying a heavy sense of history: "Tamamo-no-Mae... is different from other infamous demons like Ōtengu and Shuten-dōji. She was a true figure who, in the Heian period, directly confronted and fought to the death against the most elite forces of the entire dynasty—the great Onmyōji Abe no Yasachika, highly skilled and enlightened monks, and the most valiant samurai!"

He paused, and each word struck the hearts of everyone present like a heavy hammer blow.

"According to scattered records in the *Konjaku Monogatari*, *Honchō Yokai Shi*, and secret documents of the Abe family, she transformed into an unparalleled beauty and infiltrated the inner palace of Emperor Toba. Her name, 'Tamamo,' was bestowed upon her by the Emperor upon her, who was amazed by her 'extraordinary fragrance, radiant beauty, and jade-like virtue.' However, after she entered the palace, the Emperor inexplicably fell seriously ill, growing increasingly frail, and all the nation's renowned physicians were helpless. In the end…"

Kishida's gaze fell upon an elderly historian.

The scholar adjusted his glasses and continued in a hoarse voice, "Ultimately, it was Abe Yasachika, the then-Astronomer and a distinguished descendant of Abe no Seimei, who set up an altar in the palace under the pretext of 'divining the cause of the Emperor's illness.' Legend has it that he used the 'Mount Tai Fujun Festival,' a secret technique passed down in the Abe family, and used the Emperor's personal body hair as a catalyst, finally forcing out the true form of the fox spirit hidden within the Emperor's body!"

He pointed to the nine elegant golden fox tails on the screen, tails that possessed devastating power.

"It was an earth-shattering battle. Lord Taichi almost exhausted his life's cultivation, gathered almost all the elite Onmyoji and powerful monks of the time, and laid a net of heaven and earth. Furthermore, the elite samurai of the Minamoto and Taira clans fought with their lives to finally severely injure and drive him away."

Kishida nodded heavily, his finger tapping sharply on the illustration of the "Ketsushōseki" in the "Konjaku Gazu Zoku Hyakki" (Illustrated Hundred Demons of the Past and Present): "Yes. Although a terrible price was paid, Tamamo-no-Mae was not truly destroyed. Her demonic power, her overwhelming resentment and obsession, coalesced into the 'Ketsushōseki' of Nasuno. For a thousand years, it has been regarded as an ominous and forbidden place, and legend has it that the deadly demonic energy it contains can kill all living beings in the vicinity. Countless high monks have tried to exorcise it, but all have failed. It is a symbol of immortality, an ancient evil spirit waiting to be resurrected!"

He raised his head, his gaze sharp as a knife, staring directly at the screen and at every colleague present: "Now, the Sesshoseki has cracked. Our most advanced monitoring equipment and countless eyes have confirmed it—Tamamo-no-Mae, she has returned."

Kishida's voice suddenly rose, carrying an almost desperate question.

"Gentlemen! Tell me, facing a great demon that was barely 'sealed' rather than destroyed a thousand years ago with the full power of the nation, facing this living calamity that stepped out of legend... can our modern power, our proud technology and weapons, really deal with it?!"

The command center was deathly silent, save for the low hum of the equipment and the eerie glow of demonic energy flowing across the screens. No one could answer immediately. Fear, like cold vines, coiled around everyone's hearts. As if to confirm Kishida's weighty question, the exquisitely beautiful figure on the screen, captured by the most advanced high-altitude reconnaissance drone at the center of the raging storm of demonic energy, moved with the utmost subtlety...

Tamamo-mae.

This name, which had broken free from ancient books and forbidden legends, was now coldly imprinted on the screen. With a jade-like face and golden hair, and unparalleled beauty, the noble and eerie qualities of the nine-tailed fox spirit achieved a contradictory unity in her.

She was not in the form of a ferocious beast, but stood in the eye of the storm in a stunningly beautiful human form, a figure that could make even the most brilliant stars pale in comparison.

Her movements were extremely slow, with an inhuman elegance and composure. She tilted her head slightly, the angle as precise as if it had been calculated with the utmost precision.

Those deep, abyss-like eyes, seemingly burning with the flames of the deepest hell, pierced through tens of kilometers of altitude, ignoring the cold electronic signal transmission, and precisely and flawlessly "locked onto" that insignificant lens on the drone.

Time seemed to stretch out infinitely at that moment.

Then, the corners of her lips slowly curled upwards.

That wasn't a smile.

Or rather, it transcends all human definitions of "laughter." It has no ferocity, no mockery, only a pure, ultimate, soul-stirring "beauty."

This beauty contains an indescribable magic, an abyss of temptation and a prelude to destruction. It seems to directly alter the viewer's perception, twist their will, and make them willingly sacrifice themselves to this exquisite horror.

Overwhelming the country and the city?

No! The upturn of those lips contains a destructive power enough to topple mountains and rivers and cause civilization to collapse! It is the ultimate mockery of "existence" against "order"!

It was captured only through a cold, digital screen, for a mere fraction of a second!
Inside the command center, everyone—commanders, technicians, analysts, and armed guards—felt at the same moment an irresistible throbbing from the deepest part of their being, as if an invisible giant hand had gripped their beating hearts tightly!
Boom! Boom! Boom, boom, boom!

The heart was no longer a docile pump; it had become a raging drumstick, pounding wildly with a force that nearly tore the chest apart! Each beat was accompanied by the excruciating pain of impending death and a strange, indescribable excitement!

An invisible, icy force gripped my throat, and a strong feeling of suffocation surged through me.

However, what is more terrifying than suffocation is the almost instinctive urge to worship that surges up from the depths of the soul—as if the wildly beating heart is about to burst out of the throat, just to roll down to the feet of the being on the screen, humbly and fanatically offering up all its life, will, and loyalty!

(End of this chapter)