Lord Ninetails

Lord Ninetails (魔王九尾, Maō Tsuzurao lit. Demon King Ninetails) or Tsuzurao is the deuteragonist of Stolen Eyes. He is an overly powerful Yôkai that rules over Kitsune Island and is the creator of Yôko."I ask for SACRIFICES, and THIS is what they get ME?!"

- Rao

Youth - As a Human
Born as the son of an emperor during the Heian Period in Japan, Tsuzurao is a child that grew up at the center of the Japanese imperial court. Because of his elevated status, he was naturally educated to become a man possessing vast knowledge on many subjects, and while his real name at the time remains unknown, it is said that he was a young man with a certain feminine beauty and a striking charisma.

By the time he'd become a master in all things regarding literature, poetry or even arts, his heart grew heavy with boredom. The political theater he was involved in was of no interest to him, and understanding he wouldn't be able to learn anything new where he lived set his sights on more exciting things in life, eventually getting him to leave the court. However, the outside life grew on him little by little in ways he could have never expected, slowly pushing him to become a man whose sole interest relied on getting laid with women. Yet even then, his frustration and boredom hadn't quite gone away.

In a fit of insanity, it is only the day he murdered one of the woman he'd touched, that he felt relief. That he felt something. For the first time in his life, the boredom had vanished for a short while, and so he could not stop there. He kept on craving for more, and more, and yet more, and the killings went on this way for years, without him ever getting caught up. Despite that and his frequent nights getting soaked into the blood of women, something was still missing. A different craving was growing inside his heart.

Growing into a Yôkai
It is only past the orgasmic experience that was sinking his teeth into the throat of a woman he was doing, that Tsuzurao finally understood cannibalism to be his true calling. Unable to refrain himself any longer and at the very summit of his folly, he left the city to live on the roads, deciding to make a fox-shaped origami for every women he would get to eat and rape. Solely thriving on human flesh for months on end, he only realized he had been turning into a demon the moment he got to look at himself in a mirror. Effectively, his skin had whitened and had curious markings here and there, while his face had taken "fox-like traits". It is not long after that a large tail grew down his back, allowing him the use of illusion magic and strengthening his ability to lure in women, making his life overall even more comfortable than before.

However, a bit of an unexpected sizable problem eventually appeared. As he turned into a proper, full-fledged demon, his weight and size increased so much that he had trouble going around without constantly using illusion magic, a much too tiresome thing to do for him. In response to that, he thus decided to divide his power by creating lower lookalike demons, draining enough of his energy for him to go back to a more reasonable size, while they'd do all the work for him. Unfortunately, his insatiable greed quickly drove him to create a little army and all of his fox demons could simply not roam the land that easily anymore.

By then, Tsuzurao 's shape had changed so much that no humanity was left in him whatsoever. His entire body was now similar to that of a monstrous white fox whose fur looked like it was made of origami, with a new fold appearing onto him alongside each new victim.

Reigning on Kitsune Island
Eventually deciding on getting his own place where to live and his own territory, him and his army moved over the north coast and settled on an imposing isle, later to be renamed Kitsune Island. Hearing about his tremendous power, other demons decided to enter his army and all of his followers eventually settled for renaming him Lord Ninetails, in reference to his current number of tails. Ironically, despite his human origins and even though his thirst for power was limitless, he quickly found himself unfit to be a proper ruler, and thus decided to create a superior demon he could fully trust to handle his army for him, one he shared over seventy percent of his power with at the time, Yôko.

Time passed and if not for Orochi's presence, it is likely that Ninetails would have been considered the strongest Demon King at the time. Unbeknownst to him, Orochi had however gotten slain in the mean time, effectively leaving him reigning as the sole demon ruler of the country. However, Ninetails himself would eventually be forced to fight off Orochi's supposed killer alongside Yôko, the latter of which died in the process while attempting to protect her creator. Miraculously managing to get rid of their opponent in time thanks to a trap, Yôko's seed is fortunately saved in extremis, due to Ninetails knowing that losing her would hurt his forces too much to let it happen.

Extremely bitter about the situation, he then orders all of his armies to go back on land and to roam, to search for a suitable vessel so that they may bring back Yôko. However, this proves to be much harder than expected, and many years go by until the possibility arises. Eventually, a strong troop under his command comes back from a faraway village with a single blind boy, inside which he sees enough potential to be used as Yôko's new body. He then decides to lock him up and to torture him for years on, so that his body would be ready to merge with the seed properly.

Seventeen years later, a tremendous earthquake hits Kitsune Island at sea, forcing most of the yôkai activity inside to be put to a halt. In the mean time, the blind boy escapes from his cell, seeking out Ninetails to claim vengeance on him. As planned though, the boy is finally taken over by Yôko and things somewhat go back to normal, much to Ninetails ' joy.

Last Years as a Demon King
Years go by, but not a lot changes. Humans are unable to defend themselves against demons and Ninetails reigns with an absolute iron hand over them. Yôko, on her end, focuses on personal things he has trouble to understand, but pays little mind to since she does well whenever she is needed. Unfortunately, Reset attacks Kitsune Island on the sole summer where Yôko is away, and the battle between the silver wolf and Ninetails ends up being so fierce that most of the island is destroyed. Despite Reset's limitless demonic power, she finally loses to Ninetails after days of fighting, and is thrown off the island by the latter. Yôko comes back to the island right in time to find him in a near-death state, where he tells her he thinks he's beyond saving. Pulling a miracle among miracles, she still manages to save his life using all of her magic, and the both of them end up resting for the following days, undisturbed.

Unfortunately, Kitsune Island is crumbling under their feet little by little, and Ninetails orders Yôko to fix the place while he leaves with most of the army, as his presence would only hinder the process. All of them then leave the island and settle in a gigantic cave a few days away from there, leaving her to work. Fourty days later, Yôko is eventually brought back asleep by the remaining demons, trying to regain some energy after her tremendous effort. However, the whole procession caught the eye of some people nearby, resulting in Ninetails ' army being ambushed by approximately a thousand humans at their hiding site. Way too far from his maximum power and much too wounded, he is eventually defeated (but not without going on a rampage) and beheaded by a special unit of the Ashikaga while trying to protect Yôko, who was still asleep.

Past his death, his head is buried on Kitsune Island by Yôko where he is given the most grand of funerals.

Ninetails is mentioned by Yôko when Ark questions her about her past, and later on by Seiko when she monologues. He is the only character (aside from the Malina High characters) that doesn't live in the modern era. Also, he only exists in the Present Verse.

Although it is never really stated clearly, Tsuzurao considers Yôko to be his daughter. She is the only female character he would never hurt, and doesn't feel sexually attracted to. He respects and trusts her, mostly due to the fact that she is exactly like him, something he loves to no end. He was extremely concerned about her well-being when she possessed Himawari's body.

While it is only clearly seen in the story, past becoming a demon, Tsuzurao is easily excitable and angry, and has a tendency to raise his voice all of a sudden when speaking. This terrifies other lower demons, and is a trait he shares with Yôko. He is also one of the rare demons that has little care for humans brains, and eats them whole instead of removing them.

Despite the similarities, he is not to be confused with Ninetails.

(What a character! Why not discover more of the others? Unless you haven't read their stories, that is.)