Kamaitachi.
Before transmigrating, Kobe Hikaru had read quite a bit of information about yokai.
In legend, this thing was a yokai that moved in groups of three.
The first tripped people, the second cut them, and the third applied medicine.
But that was only the version told in folktales.
The real Kamaitachi was far more terrifying than the legend.
Because its essence—
Was not a weasel.
It was wind.
Wind condensed into a physical body.
Hikaru looked at the black shadow pressing down from the horizon, and his pupils contracted.
That thing was at least three jō tall, its body long and slender like a weasel’s, while the ends of its limbs were curved claws shaped like sickles.
Its entire body was gray-white, and its fur gleamed with a metallic coldness beneath the moonlight.
The strangest part was its eyes.
It had no eyeballs.
Only two empty sockets, inside which currents of air howled and spun.
That was the color of wind.
The color of nothingness.
“Substance Transformation…”
Hikaru murmured.
Body Transformation was the first stage, referring to mutations in the body’s structure.
Substance Transformation was the second stage, referring to changes in mass and volume.
And the essence of Substance Transformation was not simply “getting bigger or smaller.”
It was the increase and decrease of mass.
The increase and decrease of density.
It was reshaping the very essence of one’s existence.
For ordinary yokai to reach Substance Transformation, they needed long accumulation.
After completing Body Transformation, they had to continue devouring their own kind, stacking up their own “substance” with the lives of countless yokai.
But Kamaitachi was different.
Its starting point was not a living creature.
It was wind.
Formless wind that absorbed demonic energy from heaven and earth, increasing its density bit by bit.
From formless to formed.
From nothingness to substance.
That process itself was Substance Transformation.
In other words, from the moment this Kamaitachi was born, it was already destined to become an existence at the Substance Transformation level.
A true high-level yokai.
The Kamaitachi let out a sharp screech.
That sound was not like a beast’s roar.
It was more like the wail of a gale passing through a canyon.
Piercing.
Sharp.
As if countless blades were grinding against his eardrums.
Then, it moved.
It only beat its wings once.
A violent gale came howling down.
Hikaru’s body was instantly blown backward, his feet scraping across the ground as the blue bricks beneath him cracked and shattered.
And this was only the aftershock!
He gritted his teeth and stabbed Muramasa into the ground for leverage, barely stabilizing himself.
The surrounding bat swarm was scattered by the raging wind, many of them torn apart on the spot.
Its gaze was locked in one direction from beginning to end.
The Shikon Jewel.
“It’s coming for the jewel…”
Hikaru’s heart sank.
This was the true threat of the full moon night.
Not those small-fry yokai.
Not the thousands upon thousands of bats.
But this Substance Transformation-level, Seven-Change Kamaitachi drawn here by the Shikon Jewel’s evil energy.
No wonder Naohi had warned him.
No wonder it had said the true threat had not arrived yet.
Hikaru was just about to warn Kikyo to be careful when he suddenly felt an unusual fluctuation behind him.
That fluctuation came from the direction of the Shikon Jewel.
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
He abruptly turned his head.
The Shikon Jewel floating in midair was trembling violently.
The black energy that had originally been suppressed by white light suddenly swelled, surging outward like a venomous snake breaking free from its chains.
Hiss—
A pitch-black current shot out from the jewel.
That current had a vague human outline, but no facial features—only a twisted, hideous face.
No.
Countless faces.
Layered over one another.
That was Magatsuhi.
The collective evil intent sealed inside the Shikon Jewel.
The resentment left after hundreds and thousands of high-level yokai above Seven Changes had died.
It was escaping!
“Damn it!”
Hikaru instantly understood what Naohi had meant with its final words.
“Beware me.”
It had not been talking about Naohi itself.
It had been talking about Magatsuhi.
The Shikon Jewel was two sides of the same whole.
Naohi and Magatsuhi coexisted within the same jewel.
Naohi suppressed Magatsuhi, while Magatsuhi waited for a chance to overturn the balance.
And on the night of the full moon, when yin energy reached its peak, Magatsuhi’s power was at its strongest.
Combined with the arrival of the Kamaitachi, the demonic energy carried by a Substance Transformation-level yokai was enough to release Magatsuhi’s power to a certain extent.
This was the opportunity it had been waiting for all along.
While the Kamaitachi drew everyone’s attention, while Kikyo was forced to split her focus against an external enemy—
It intended to escape!
[Shikon Jewel: Magatsuhi: Cannot be conquered.]
[Warning: Magatsuhi is separating from the Shikon Jewel’s main body.]
[If Magatsuhi successfully escapes, it will become an independent yokai entity.]
[Danger Level: Extremely High.]
The system panel went wild with warnings.
Hikaru looked at that black current growing larger and more solid, and only one thought remained in his mind.
He had to stop it!
But just as he was about to move, the Kamaitachi’s second attack arrived.
This time, it did not beat its wings.
It charged straight at him.
Its three-jō-tall body became a gray-white afterimage, moving so fast that the naked eye could barely follow it.
Wherever it passed, a deep trench was carved into the ground.
His body reacted before his mind did.
He raised his blade to block.
Clang—!
A metallic collision exploded through the air.
Hikaru’s arms instantly went numb, and his entire body flew out like a kite with its string cut.
He smashed through one corridor pillar.
Then another.
Finally, he crashed into the shrine’s stone wall, leaving a human-shaped dent.
“Cough…”
He slid down from the wall, black blood leaking from the corner of his mouth.
His internal organs were damaged.
Although they recovered at a visible speed, healing fully in only a few seconds, this was just one strike.
And the Kamaitachi clearly had not used its full strength.
Its target was the Shikon Jewel, not him.
He was only an ant blocking the road.
Hikaru supported himself with his blade and stood, looking toward the Kamaitachi.
That giant beast had already passed him and was charging toward Kikyo and the Shikon Jewel.
Magatsuhi’s aura was also growing thicker and thicker.
That black human shadow had already completely separated from the jewel, floating in midair and letting out an eerie hissing laugh.
“Finally… finally, I have waited for this…”
Countless faces spoke at the same time, their voices uneven and overlapping, making one’s scalp go numb.
“Five hundred years… I have waited five hundred years…”
“This time, no one can stop me!”
Hikaru tightened his grip on the hilt, and the newly restored flowing blood boiled in his veins.
Magatsuhi.
Kamaitachi.
A pincer attack.
This was the true crisis of tonight.
And Kikyo—
He turned toward that figure in white kosode and red hakama.
Kikyo still stood where she was and had not retreated.
Her hands formed seals, and spiritual power flowed around her.
But Hikaru could tell that she was struggling.
Having to face Magatsuhi and the Kamaitachi at the same time was too much for anyone.
Even for the strongest shrine maiden of the Warring States period.
The system panel suddenly popped up with a new prompt.
[Shikon Jewel: Naohi is struggling to convey information, but Magatsuhi’s suppression prevents it from speaking.]
[It leaves behind only one word—]
[“Believe.”]
Hikaru looked at that word.
Believe?
Believe who?
Believe what?
He had no time to think.
Because the Kamaitachi had already reached Kikyo.
Whether for the sake of continuing to raise the Shikon Jewel’s affection or something else, he could not simply stand by and watch.
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