The blizzard whips straight at my face, stinging as if someone is taking sandpaper to my skin. The pure white fur I spent so much effort and money grooming is now matted, soaked, and heavy as lead. My nine tails are battered by the wind, looking utterly pathetic.

  "What a psychic cesspool."

  I curse under my breath, exhaling a puff of cold air. Which nerve in my brain short-circuited to give me the brilliant idea of dragging these two burdens down here?

  How long has it been since I crawled down to this damn layer? A few hundred years? Or since the time I had to break my back being a toy for that guy?

  The Professor.

  Those two words pop into my head, bringing a wave of nausea rising to my throat.

  "Damn it."

  I grit my teeth, forcing down the bitter bile. That accursed alias should have been buried under this permafrost ages ago.

  The rage toward that weak alter ego has cooled, leaving only a sticky, disgusting residue. Like stepping on old chewing gum.

  Lost in the trash heap of memories, I realize I have flown too far. Around me is nothing but endless white. No pine forest. No rocky outcrop. The two disciples have evaporated into thin air.

  "Brilliant, Itsuki. Now you are lost in your own head."

  I brake hard in mid-air, my claws scraping against the void and creating a screeching sound.

  In this distorted Layer 2, my divine senses are strangled, just like a phone losing signal. Trying to sense a strange aura here is like trying to smell perfume in a landfill.

  "Have to go back."

  Kaito is a mortal and cannot fly. The kid definitely could not have dragged himself far from the pine forest. Unless... something swallowed him.

  The fur on the back of my neck stands up. A flash of shame creeps into my mind. A god losing his "luggage" in his own dream because he was busy gathering wool. Truly humiliating.

  "Wake up, you old fox."

  I take a deep breath. The freezing cold rushes into my lungs, cooling my heated head a bit. I shove the image of The Professor and that crybaby alter ego aside.

  How do I find someone in this thick fog?

  I squint, looking down at the white ground below. Snow mounds are moving. It is a chaotic, writhing mess.

  Those bizarre hand-walking puppets do not seem to be wandering aimlessly anymore; they are moving with much more order.

  "Hmm..."

  The whole swarm of monsters is bunching up, jostling each other, heading toward a specific point in the distance.

  These parasites have noses sharper than police dogs when sniffing out the "scent" of foreign entities.

  "Found him."

  Just follow their trail. Kaito must be there.

  Or... him.

  That thought makes my arm pause for a beat. But then I click my tongue, diving low to closely follow the stampede of monsters below.

  "Screw it. Not the time to be picky."

  Talk about adding insult to injury.

  In this bone-chilling white battlefield, the first thing that hits my eyes isn't Kaito, nor that flashy teacher. It is the face I hate most in the world.

  The fox in the tattered Kariginu is huddled behind a dry tree trunk, shaking like a leaf.

  "Hey! Wait! Listen... listen to me!"

  Seeing my shadow descend like a meteor, he immediately throws his hands up in surrender, his tail tucked tight between his legs. He looks pathetic. Servile.

  "The kid... the kid is in trouble!"

  Boom!

  Snow sprays everywhere. I land, shaking the ground. Without a word, I lunge forward, grabbing his collar and hoisting him into the air.

  "What the hell did you do to the kid?" I roar, baring my fangs right in his face. The heat from my mouth blasts him, a stark contrast to the cold of the blizzard.

  "No! Calm down! Listen to me!" He flails his limbs wildly, eyes rolling back.

  "Shut up."

  I huff, swinging my arm to throw my weak alter ego onto the snow. He rolls like a trash bag, then scrambles up, coughing and stammering, snot running down his face.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  "It's... it's the kid! He insisted on demanding justice for me! He said you are a dictator and I am the victim..." He looks up at me with tear-filled eyes, pleading. "So... he is in big trouble now. You understand, right? The kid's head... he is trying to carry the mental weight of 'us'. He wants to take it for me!"

  "What?"

  The fur all over my body stands on end. Carrying the mental weight of a 500-year-old god? Does that brat, still wet behind the ears, think his brain is made of titanium?

  "You pulled the strings!" I step forward, my shadow looming over the trembling fox. "What garbage did you stuff into his head?"

  Snow-Itsuki backs away in panic, sliding on the snow. He prostrates himself, forehead touching the ground, ears pressed tight against his skull.

  "No! I swear! I tried to stop him! But he wouldn't believe me! He kept saying I was brainwashed by you... He wanted to protect me..."

  His voice chokes, breaking into sobs.

  "I... I didn't want to hurt him..."

  Look at that cowardly posture. That submissive curved back. The whimpering.

  A wave of nausea rises to my throat.

  It reminds me of those old, slimy days I tried to bury under tons of earth and rock.

  Why is it that looking at him... makes me want to gouge my own eyes out?

  "Hmph..."

  I look down, my cold gaze sweeping over the creature trembling at my feet.

  Killing this guy is useless. He will just scurry down to Layer 3, then wait for me to let my guard down to pop up like mold after rain. He is a scar that never heals, always itching and aching whenever the weather turns.

  In that case, I have to be ruthless. I have to throw him into the deepest pit, where the light of consciousness can never reach.

  "Fine," I say, my voice deep and emotionless like cracking ice. "This time I will throw you down even deeper. Let's see if you have the strength to rise up and rebel, or drag others down with you."

  Hearing this, Snow-Itsuki's pupils contract. He crawls over, hugging my leg, claws scratching at my pants.

  "Don't... Don't... Please! Don't do that!"

  "Silence. Because of you, Kaito is in danger."

  "I'll do anything! Whatever you want! Anything you say! I'll work like a dog! Please don't push me down there!" He screams, the sound tearing through the cold air. "I'm scared..."

  I kick my leg, flinging him away.

  "I have no use for trash."

  "I'm sorry... I'm sorry..." He buries his face in the snow, sobbing convulsively, sounding as pitiful as a stray dog howling in the night. "I'm incompetent... useless... lazy... You are very disappointed, right... I am garbage..."

  Those cowardly whimpers drill into my ears like rusty drills. Enough. One more word and I might go insane.

  I flick my hand lightly.

  Thud.

  Snow-Itsuki's body stiffens like a stone statue, his mouth still agape in unfinished pleading. An invisible spiritual force lifts him into the air, hanging him suspended, swaying like a macabre kite in the storm.

  I turn my back, walking decisively on the cold snow. My fingers twitch slightly, dragging the immobile body of the poor fox floating behind me like a balloon.

  "Lead the way. To the kid, now."

  Finally, after dragging my feet until they almost broke, towing the groaning "compass" behind, we reach the source of the trouble.

  Kaito is sprawled on the snow. Stiff as a frozen tuna just pulled from the warehouse.

  Sitting right next to the boy is Reo. The teacher is huddled in his thin floral shirt. His eyes behind sunglasses dart around, watching the half-human monsters lurking nearby like hungry vultures.

  Seeing my figure loom into view, dragging the human-shaped sack floating behind, Reo clicks his tongue loudly.

  "Well well," he squints. "You really know how to 'love yourself', don't you? Looks just like walking a dog in the park."

  "Shut it."

  I huff coldly, waving my hand.

  Thump.

  Snow-Itsuki freefalls to the ground, landing face-first in the snow, coughing as if he is about to vomit his lungs out. I don't even bother glancing at him, swooping down right next to Kaito.

  My pure white fur-covered hand presses against the boy's forehead.

  Cold. Bone-chillingly cold.

  But beneath the pale skin is a violent storm. I can feel Kaito's stream of consciousness churning, spinning, and being sucked down into a deep, pitch-black hole.

  "Game over," I mutter, withdrawing my hand, claws unconsciously scratching the snow lightly. "He fell to Layer 3."

  "Huh?" Reo jumps up, tossing the stick aside. "Why did he fall? He didn't do anything except stand there like a statue!"

  "Because of his damn busybody nature, that's why," I grit my teeth, glaring at Snow-Itsuki who is scrambling up in the distance. "The brat wanted to shoulder the burden for that loser."

  I point at the empty space where the blizzard is howling.

  "Doing that is no different from volunteering to jump into the incinerator for a pawn. The system sees a foreign object interfering, it kicks the kid down to a deeper layer to process the trash."

  "Are you crazy?!"

  Reo yells. He rushes forward, grabbing the collar of my vest and shaking it hard. Some nerve.

  "Then stop this self-torture game right now! You are killing my student! If you were just a little less hostile to that guy, a little less dictatorial, the kid wouldn't be in this mess!"

  I slap his hand away, the fur on my neck standing up, ready to spew a stream of insults. But before I can open my mouth, Reo suddenly clutches his head tight.

  "Argh..."

  The teacher's face scrunches up, distorted in pain. Sweat pours out, steaming in the cold air.

  "Don't..."

  Snow-Itsuki wheezes, crawling closer, his voice weak like wind whistling through a crack. "Thinking here is a double-edged sword. The more you want to interfere... the harder it bites back."

  "See?" I sneer, a humorless smile on my face. "You think wanting to change is as easy as snapping your fingers?"

  I look down at my hand, fingers trembling slightly.

  "I... I give up. Can't do it."

  Telling me to scrub toilets for the entire Multiverse would be easier.

  Reo lets go of his head, panting heavily. He looks at me, his gaze shifting from anger to helplessness, finally settling on a bit of cheap pity that I absolutely detest.

  "Fine... pretend I didn't say anything. Forget that guy. Save the kid first."

  He flops down onto the snow, tearing at his hair until his platinum locks look like a bird's nest.

  "But I have to ask," he mutters, voice full of frustration. "Is it that hard? Would it kill you to just be decent? Just consider him... a bad colleague you can't fire? Just for show?"

  "You try it," I retort, voice cold as ice. "Go home tonight, turn off the lights, sit in front of the mirror and try to 'be friends' with the guy staring back at you. See if you don't want to smash that mirror."

  Reo is stunned. He opens his mouth to argue, then shuts it tight.

  "Ah... right. I was being foolish. Sorry." He gives a bitter laugh. "True, I have no right to preach to you about this."

  "So what now?" I break the silence, staring at Kaito's face which is growing paler by the second. "How do we drag him up here?"

  "I... I have a way."

  A timid voice speaks up.

  I am about to shout "Shut up", but Reo is quicker, elbowing me hard in the ribs.

  "Let him speak," Reo mutters, eyes still glued to Kaito. "After all, he is the local of this dump."

  I huff, crossing my arms, tail slapping the snow hard to show displeasure but remaining silent.

  "The kid is stuck because... of stubbornness," Snow-Itsuki explains meekly. "He wants to be a hero."

  He looks up, smoky purple eyes—identical to mine, dammit—flashing with a rare spark of determination.

  "The only way to free him... is to make him realize the stupidity of that."

  "Stupidity?" Reo raises an eyebrow.

  "Yes," he nods. "He must understand that blind effort is sometimes just a burden to others. In short..."

  He takes a deep breath.

  "...We have to crush his delusion of being a wannabe hero."