“Kochou, Kochou.”
A familiar voice suddenly rang out in front of her.
Kochou Shinobu snapped her eyes open.
Under the moonlight, the white-haired youth had somehow appeared, shielding her.
His back wasn’t broad; in fact, it was somewhat slender.
But at this moment, it was like a wall, firmly protecting her behind him.
“Ippū-san…” Kochou Shinobu was beyond shocked, her eyes widening slightly as her voice trembled.
“You idiot! Why did you…”
“I told you,” Hanayuki Ichika said without looking back, his voice calm yet resolute.
“If they want to hurt you, they’ll have to step over my dead body first.”
He paused and gave a light chuckle.
“I don’t want to be a demon who can’t protect anything…”
“Besides, even if I die… to die under a butterfly’s flower, even as a ghost, I’d be a romantic!”
Hearing Hanayuki Ichika’s slightly teasing yet incredibly firm words…
Kochou Shinobu’s heart couldn’t help but tremble again, as an indescribable emotion surged within her!
Seeing Hanayuki Ichika return, the Aburako Oni and Baba-bi were momentarily stunned before bursting into wild laughter.
“Hahahaha! You actually dare to come back?!” the Aburako Oni sneered.
“Perfect! Saves us the trouble of finding you!”
Baba-bi’s murky eyes narrowed.
“How touching… To know it’s a dead end yet still return to die…”
“You like to act tough and pick up girls, don’t you?”
“Fine. In a moment, we’ll hang you from a tree,”
“grab you by the hair, force your face up…”
“and make you watch every single detail as we devour her! Hahaha!!”
Just then, the cold, pleasant voice of the System rang out in Hanayuki Ichika’s mind.
[Ding! Host detected to be in a desperate situation…]
[Distributing mission rewards in advance…]
[Constitution increased… Demon blood purity increased… Comprehension of Swordsmanship Breathing Style deepened…]
[Blood Demon Art: Domain Expansion: Eternal Night Ruins — Unlocked!]
A majestic power instantly surged into Hanayuki Ichika’s body!
He could feel his demon blood boiling and evolving!
The circulation of his Breath of Darkness became smoother than ever before!
More importantly—
That domain named “Eternal Night Ruins” was already condensing in his palm.
“Oh? Still trying to struggle?” the Aburako Oni scoffed.
“It’s useless! Today, all three of you will die here!”
Baba-bi also slowly raised her withered hands, more ghostly blue flames condensing in the air.
“Children… burn them to ashes…”
Dozens of Soul Fires, along with over twenty demons, pounced simultaneously!
Facing this lethal blow, Hanayuki Ichika simply closed his eyes slowly.
The playfulness and ease on his face vanished completely, replaced by an intense calm and chilling coldness in his eyes, as his aura suddenly became heavy and concentrated.
His tone was icy, carrying a bone-chilling killing intent and a profound aura of total control:
“Blood Demon Art: Domain Expansion — Eternal Night Ruins!”
In the next moment, with Hanayuki Ichika as the center, darkness spread like a tidal wave!
It wasn’t ordinary darkness.
It was an absolute pitch-black that seemed capable of devouring all light, all sound, and all warmth.
The darkness instantly enveloped the entire village center, turning everything within a fifty-meter radius into a domain of pure night.
The Ruins Palace-style dark barrier expanded, with hazy phantoms of ruined walls appearing at the barrier’s edge.
Within the domain, all the ghostly blue flames were instantly extinguished.
All the demons’ movements came to a simultaneous halt.
Their vision was completely stripped away, plunging them into absolute darkness.
Only Hanayuki Ichika could clearly perceive everything within this darkness.
[Activated at Night: Full-Effect Form — Duration: One Minute]
He felt his strength, speed, reaction time, perception, and recovery ability…
all skyrocketing!
While all enemies within the domain had their strength, speed, reaction time, and recovery ability weakened.
Their perception dropped drastically, and their minds were continuously eroded by the darkness, producing terrifying hallucinations of being “devoured by the Ruins Palace.”
“What’s happening?!”
“I can’t see! I can’t see anything!”
“The fire! My Soul Fire has gone out!”
The crowd of demons fell into a panic.
The Aburako Oni and Baba-bi also looked around in terror, but they could see nothing and hear nothing— except for the screams of other demons coming from the darkness.
Hanayuki Ichika moved.
In the absolute darkness, his movements were without any hindrance.
He could even perform brief “Ethereal Shuttling” within the domain’s darkness—short-distance teleportation.
In the first instant, he appeared behind a demon; with a chop of his hand, its head hit the ground.
In the second instant, he shuttled to the other side, piercing a demon’s heart with one hand.
The third instant, the fourth, the fifth…
He shuttled through the darkness like a phantom, taking a demon’s life with every appearance.
And while the Aburako Oni and Baba-bi were powerful, with their vision stripped, perception weakened, and minds eroded by fear, even the execution of their Breathing Style forms and Blood Demon Arts showed obvious sluggishness.
They could only attack wildly, yet they couldn’t even touch the hem of Hanayuki Ichika’s clothes.
“Kochou, lend me your blade!”
Hanayuki Ichika suddenly spoke.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Kochou Shinobu handed over the specially made nichirin sword in her hand.
At the moment their fingertips touched, Hanayuki Ichika felt the residual warmth on the hilt.
It was the warmth of Kochou Shinobu’s palm, carrying a bit of sweat from the intense battle and tension.
This sensation was infinitely magnified in the absolute darkness!
a certain indescribable trust.
Hanayuki Ichika gripped the hilt tightly.
In the next moment, he moved.
He appeared eerily behind a Villager Demons.
The blade, carrying the Wisteria Poison guided by the domain…
slashed heavily into the demon’s back.
“Argh—!”
The scream was short and shrill as the demon’s body began to disintegrate from the point of impact, turning to ash within three seconds.
The Aburako Oni looked around in terror—it could see nothing and could only hear the screams of its companions rising one after another.
“Damn it… where are you?! Come out!!!”
Its only answer was more screams.
The second, the third, the fourth…
Hanayuki Ichika was like a god of death in the eternal night.
Every swing of the blade precisely took a “life.”
The Wisteria Poison soaked into Kochou Shinobu’s nichirin sword…
had its effects multiplied within the dark domain of the Eternal Night Ruins.
Those Villager Demonss didn’t even need to be decapitated— as long as they were touched by the blade, the toxin would invade frantically under the push of the domain’s power, instantly destroying their regenerative abilities.
“Twelve… thirteen… fourteen…”
Hanayuki Ichika counted silently, his movements never faltering.
He could feel his demon blood boiling, and the circulation of his Breath of Darkness became smoother and smoother.
The all-around boost provided by the Blood Demon Art Domain, Eternal Night Ruins, allowed his understanding of “darkness” to reach a whole new level.
“Not enough…”
He whispered, his figure vanishing once again.
This time, he appeared directly in front of the Aburako Oni—only three meters away.
“Found you!!!”
Although the Aburako Oni couldn’t see, relying on a demon’s keen perception, it captured the aura fluctuation the moment Hanayuki Ichika appeared.
It laughed wildly and spat out a large amount of corrosive oil, these viscous liquids forming a giant net ten meters in diameter in the air, sealing off all space for evasion!
“Go to hell!!!”
Facing the oncoming giant net of oil, Hanayuki Ichika did not retreat, gripping the nichirin sword tightly…
He held the blade with both hands, leveling it.
At this moment, all the darkness within the Eternal Night Ruins domain seemed to converge toward the edge of his blade.
It wasn’t the kind of black that absorbed light, but something more fundamental—the “concept” belonging to “night” itself.
“Breath of Darkness — Second Form: Black Moon Flash!”