The earth spider’s compound eyes burst open, spraying dark green fluid all over Kobe Hikaru’s face.
Hikaru cursed, but he had no time to care about that right now.
He followed through with the blade of the mass-produced model in his hand, dragging its edge downward and carving a crack half a shaku deep into the earth spider’s head shell.
The giant beast howled in pain, its eight long legs thrashing wildly as two front legs swept toward him.
Amid the shrieking wind, Hikaru kicked off the ground, his body rising and leaning back in midair.
The two legs swept past three sun above the tip of his nose.
Before he could land, movement came from the left.
It was the two conjoined big-headed oni, charging over while dragging their iron chain.
The chain spun in a full circle and smashed down with a sharp whistling sound.
Hikaru had nowhere to borrow strength in midair.
Just as he was about to be smashed into a meat patty—
Thrum!
White light flashed.
A demon-purifying arrow shot out with dazzling radiance and a bursting hum, striking the middle section of the iron chain.
The force of the impact knocked the chain half a shaku off course.
[Note: 1 shaku = 0.30303 m or 30.3 cm]
Half a shaku.
Just enough for Hikaru to twist aside and slip past.
He landed, tapped the ground with the tip of his foot, and shot toward the two big-headed oni like an arrow leaving the string.
The blade flashed.
The head on the left flew into the air.
Before it could land, the second slash had already cut out.
The head on the right flew too.
Two enormous heads spun through the air, spraying sheets of black blood.
[Demon Blade Muramasa: Affection +3.]
[Current Affection: 82.]
Hikaru had no time to check the panel.
From the corner of his eye, he saw that giant moth flying toward Kikyo.
Its wings beat, scattering scale powder like rain.
The powder smoked the instant it touched stone.
It was clearly poisonous.
“Right side!”
He shouted.
Kikyo did not turn around, but the bowstring was drawn full again, and an arrow shot out.
This arrow did not aim for the moth’s body itself.
It aimed at the base of its wing.
Pfft—
The arrow pierced through.
The giant moth screamed, lost its balance, and fell crookedly toward the ground.
Hikaru had already arrived.
His blade swept upward from below, striking the moth’s soft abdomen.
One slash split it open.
Its organs spilled across the ground.
[Demon Blade Muramasa: Affection +2.]
[Current Affection: 84.]
Hikaru landed on both feet and “panted” for a moment, feeling exhilarated.
These three yokai could each undoubtedly be called high-level.
All of them had touched the threshold of Substance Transformation after completing the Six Changes of Body Transformation, their bodies grown abnormally huge compared to ordinary monsters.
Yet three high-level yokai at Six Changes or above had been dealt with cleanly in less than fifty breaths, without even having the chance to fully display their demonic transformation abilities.
That was something Hikaru could never have done while fighting alone.
Even with the traits granted by the blade in his hand, he could at most fight one high-level yokai stronger than himself, and only after a bitter struggle.
But with Kikyo’s cooperation, his battle results had become countless times more ferocious.
Still, that was only the appetizer.
More demon silhouettes were surging out of the darkness.
Hikaru tightened his grip on the hilt and drew in a deep breath.
“How many more?”
“A lot.”
Kikyo’s voice came from behind him, still calm.
“Can you hold?” Hikaru asked.
“I can.”
“Good.”
Hikaru did not ask anything else.
He trusted her.
Just as she trusted him.
This feeling was strange.
They had clearly known each other for less than ten days.
She was clearly a shrine maiden, and he was clearly a yokai.
By all rights, they should have been natural enemies.
Yet standing here, back to back—
No, Hikaru was in front, and Kikyo was behind.
Their cooperation felt as if they had practiced together for decades.
Kikyo drew her bow, aiming at a one-horned snake demon approaching them.
Her movement was proper.
Perfect.
But her heart… was not truly calm.
This was a feeling she had never experienced before.
As the shrine maiden who protected this village, she was used to fighting alone.
Facing demons alone.
Bearing everything alone.
No one could help her, and no one had the right to stand beside her.
Because she was the strongest.
And she had to be the strongest.
The head of the demon slayer village had once said that she was the only one capable of suppressing the Shikon Jewel.
The only one.
Those words meant loneliness.
They meant that no one could stand shoulder to shoulder with her.
But now—
“The centipede on the left has a crack in its shell!
Shoot it open!”
Hikaru’s voice rang out.
Kikyo did not hesitate.
Her arrow flew the moment he spoke.
It struck the crack dead-on.
The centipede demon screamed and rolled across the ground.
“Thanks.”
Hikaru rushed over to finish it off.
One clean slash took its head.
Kikyo watched the gray shadow weave through the demon horde, blade light flashing, every slash taking a life.
His movements were very smooth.
Not the polished smoothness of someone who had trained for years, but… instinct.
The instinct of a beast.
Yet compared to a beast, there was more reason in him.
He knew when to advance and when to retreat.
He knew when to meet force with force, and when to borrow his enemy’s momentum.
More importantly—
He knew where her target was.
He never blocked her arrows.
He even took the initiative to drive yokai into positions where she could shoot them easily.
Kikyo had never experienced it before.
Every arrow she fired had someone cooperating with it.
At her back stood someone she could rely on.
This feeling… was unfamiliar.
But she truly did not dislike it.
“Onee-sama—!”
Kaede’s voice came from the distance.
Kikyo’s brows furrowed.
That barrier should have blocked sound.
How could Kaede be awake?
No.
This was…
“It’s an illusion!”
Kikyo instantly reacted and was not deceived.
Hikaru’s voice also pulled her attention back at the same time.
As he spoke, his blade swept out, forcing back the two yokai in front of him.
Then he turned and slashed a wave of demonic energy toward the direction the voice had come from.
Black energy tore through the air and plunged into the depths of the forest.
“Hiss—!”
A sharp scream rang out.
That “Kaede’s voice” abruptly stopped, replaced by the sight of a three-tailed fox covered in gray-white fur staggering out from behind a tree as it tried to flee.
An illusion fox.
A mid-level yokai specializing in illusions to confuse prey, especially skilled at imitating human voices.
Clearly, it had been trying to use Kaede’s voice to lure Hikaru away and create an opening for the other yokai to ambush Kikyo.
“Cheap trick.”
Hikaru snorted coldly.
He did not chase the fleeing fox, because—
Thrum!
A demon-purifying arrow flew past from behind him, precisely piercing through the illusion fox’s spine.
The fox screamed and collapsed to the ground, never rising again.
Hikaru glanced back.
Kikyo still held the posture of drawing her bow, her gaze calm.
The next moment, he had already returned to Kikyo’s side.
The entire process took less than ten breaths.
“Handled.”
He said.
Kikyo looked at him without speaking.
But the hand gripping her bow loosened slightly.
It was not carelessness.
It was… reassurance.
So this was what it felt like to have someone stand beside her.
So this was what a comrade was.
[Shikon Jewel: Naohi Affection +1.]
[Current Affection: 9.]
[It has conveyed a message to you: “She is becoming used to your presence.”]
Hikaru glanced at the panel, and the corner of his mouth rose slightly.
“Continue.”
He said.
“Seventeen left.”
Kikyo nodded.
The bowstring was drawn full once more.
The night was still long.
But she was no longer alone.
…
Chapter 22: The Coordination of Blade and Arrow, Muramasa’s Affection Reaches Satisfaction, Bloodthirsty Immortality, and the Completion of Six Changes!
The battle was not over yet.
Demons continued pouring in without end.
Kobe Hikaru’s Muramasa had already killed until it was stained crimson, and the purple patterns on the blade pulsed madly like living blood vessels.
[Demon Blade Muramasa: Mood: “Ecstatic.” It says it has not eaten this well in a very long time.]
This blade’s appetite was getting bigger and bigger.
Hikaru had no time to comment, because two more yokai had charged in front of him.
One was a four-armed ape.
Every arm was three times thicker than normal, veins bulging, muscles knotted.
Without question, this was another [Strength Change].
A pure power-type mutation.
The most direct kind, and also one of the most troublesome.
Not to mention, it had four arms.
Each arm was essentially one change.
Five Changes or above.
The other was a humanoid figure formed from gathered mist.
It had no facial features, only a vague outline, its body sometimes solid and sometimes illusory.
But it was not something that had turned into mist.
Rather, the mist itself had gained consciousness.
It had become a mist demon, a mirage yokai.
Without question, this was an extremely troublesome type of demon.
In this world, in this era, all things could become yokai.
However, the more rigid and “dead” an object was, the harder it was for it to become one.
Something like mist was even more difficult.
Yet if mist did become a yokai, then the moment it appeared, it would at least be a strong yokai close to Six Changes or above.
For mist to become a demon, it first needed to pass through stages such as knowing, moving, gathering, and dispersing.
Only after that could it fully control itself and transform into a demon.
And each of those stages was one change.
One hard, one intangible.
Hikaru thought to himself.
This combination was disgusting.
The instant that thought settled, the four-armed ape attacked first, all four fists smashing down at the same time.
Hikaru did not block directly.
He used [Ghost Step] to flash to the side.
But the moment he steadied himself, the mass of mist had already drifted over.
A black hand stretched out from the fog, aiming straight for his chest.
Bang!
Hikaru was sent flying by a palm strike and crashed through two corridor pillars.
This was exactly what made mist yokai so troublesome.
They solidified when attacking and turned intangible when attacked.
Unless one could seize the chance at the instant they solidified, there was no way to hurt them.
“Cough…”
Hikaru crawled out from the rubble, a thread of black blood leaking from the corner of his mouth.
That strike had not been light.
But his eyes lit up.
Because he had seen it.
Through the blood mist drifting across the battlefield, he had seen the pattern of that mass of fog whenever it solidified.
Before every attack, its “core” would solidify first.
That core was located at its chest, only the size of a fist, and it stayed solid for around half a breath.
Half a breath.
Enough.
Hikaru tightened his grip on Muramasa again and charged toward the mist.
The four-armed ape blocked his way, its four fists smashing down once more.
This time, Hikaru did not dodge.
Clang—!
Immense force crashed down, making both his arms tremble.
But he held firm.
At that moment, the mist drifted out from behind the ape, and that hand reached toward his back again.
Hikaru did not turn around.
He only shifted sideways, just enough to open the line of fire behind him.
Thrum!
A demon-purifying arrow howled through the air.
The mist tried to turn intangible, but the arrow came too quickly.
It had only just solidified its core in preparation to attack—
Then the arrow nailed straight into that core.
Spiritual power exploded.
The mist scattered completely.
Then Hikaru pressed forward, taking advantage of the moment.
His blade swept upward, and in the instant the four-armed ape froze, he cut off one of its arms.
The ape screamed and retreated.
But with only three arms left, it was no longer a threat.
Hikaru caught up.
Three slashes.
All four limbs severed.
The final slash took its head.
[Demon Blade Muramasa: Affection +4.]
[Current Affection: 93.]
[It has conveyed a message to you: “Almost there.
I’m almost full.”]
Hikaru looked at the panel, and his heart stirred.
Ninety-three.
Only seven points away from full.
He looked around.
There were still eight yokai left.
Enough.
“Continue.”
He charged toward the next yokai.
The battle that followed was almost a one-sided slaughter.
The already seamless coordination between Hikaru and Kikyo grew even more seamless.
Muramasa’s affection continued rising along with it.
94, 95, 96…99…
“This is the last one.”
Hikaru looked at the trembling one-horned snake demon in front of him.
It was only a Five-Change demon, and it had already been frightened out of its wits.
It wanted to run, but its body refused to move.
Hikaru raised his blade.
One slash fell.
The head rolled to the ground.
[Demon Blade Muramasa: Affection +1.]
[Current Affection: 100 (Complete).]
[Congratulations, you have unlocked all bonds with “Demon Blade Muramasa.”]
[Special Ability Three Unlocked: Bloodthirsty Immortality.]
[Effect: As long as the blade is stained with blood, your injuries will continuously recover.
The more blood there is, the faster the recovery.]
[Muramasahas conveyed its final bond message to you: “I am very satisfied.
To be wielded by you is my honor.
Now, let my abilities merge into your body.”]
[After fusion, basic bonuses and dialogue functions will remain, but special talents will no longer remain in the blade.]
As Hikaru had expected, he lowered his head and looked at Muramasa in his hand.
The black tachi was glowing.
Purple light spilled out from the blade, climbed along his arm, and seeped into his skin.
It did not hurt.
Instead, there was a strange comfort to it.
As if…
It had come home.
[Demon Blade Muramasa’s abilities are merging into the host’s body…]
[“Bloodthirsty Immortality” has been bound.]
[“Blood Resonance” has been bound.]
[“Bloodthirst Frenzy” has been bound.]
After his death, his blood had stopped flowing.
Now, it moved again.
Along with it, even his heartbeat returned.
For an oni samurai like Kobe Hikaru, yokai transformation and change were, in essence, the process of making his dead body move again, step by step, and restoring its vitality.
From now on, even without holding the blade, Hikaru could use the power of “blood.”
He looked at the prompt on the panel.
He could also feel his own progress.
He had completed the Sixth Change of the Body Transformation stage.
Blood Change.
From this point onward, he could use blood as his eyes and resonate with blood.
He could stir the blood within his body to enter a frenzy without side effects, and more importantly—
He could fight while bathed in blood, absorbing the blood on the battlefield to continuously restore himself.
Six Changes.
Body Transformation complete.
He had finally forged the first major stage of yokai evolution and reached the limit of Body Transformation.
He had obtained Muramasa’s permanent abilities.
This was a massive win.
He opened his other hand.
Invisible blood mist rose from his palm.
“…Not bad.”
He clenched that blood mist, then let it disperse.
Faint footsteps came from behind him.
Kikyo walked over.
Her face was somewhat pale, and she had clearly consumed quite a bit of spiritual power.
But when her gaze landed on Hikaru’s hand, her brows furrowed slightly.
“You… became stronger?”
“Mm.”
Hikaru answered briefly.
“I became stronger.”
Kikyo was silent for a moment.
But she did not ask further.
She only turned and looked toward the Shikon Jewel floating in midair.
That jewel was still releasing pitch-black light.
Magatsuhi was still restless.
“It is not over yet,” she said.
Then she added, “Tonight is still very long.”
Hikaru gripped the demon blade Muramasa tightly once more.
Although the blade’s abilities had already merged into his body, its sharpness, along with the perfect familiarity brought by max affection, still made it an indispensable weapon for him right now.
He replied:
“I know.”
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