Before the bodies of the three Green-Skin Demons even hit the ground, a new prompt popped up on the system panel.
But it wasn’t the one he had anticipated; it was still just Muramasa’s Affinity.
Sure enough, he knew it wouldn’t be this simple.
Killing and purifying were two completely different things.
No matter how fast his blade was, it merely cleaved the yōkai’s bodies in half.
The Demonic Aura remained in their corpses, and their resentment lingered in their blood.
That wasn’t purification; that was just mindless butchery.
As for true purification—his gaze involuntarily drifted toward the inside of the barrier.
With every Exorcism Arrow Kikyō fired, the struck yōkai’s body would turn to ash in a flash of white light.
Not even a speck of bone remained.
That was true purification.
Spiritual Power completely incinerated the Demonic Aura and entirely dispelled the resentment, leaving it completely clean without a single trace.
“That’s why I need her help…” Kōbe Hikaru muttered under his breath.
But here lay the problem: he was currently standing amidst the yōkai horde, while Kikyō was inside the barrier.
A distance of thirty meters and an unknown number of yōkai separated them.
How was he supposed to coordinate with her?
How could he make Kikyō’s arrows *coincidentally* strike the yōkai near him?
How could he ensure the residual waves of her Spiritual Power would *coincidentally* wash over the targets he killed?
There was also a more fundamental issue—did Kikyō even know him?
No.
As a Shrine Maiden whose profession was slaying demons, was it possible for her to harbor any goodwill toward a Ghost Samurai who suddenly popped out of a pile of yōkai?
Absolutely impossible!
Would she treat him as a target as well?
Highly likely.
‘Forget it, there’s no point overthinking this.’ Kōbe Hikaru tightened his grip on Muramasa.
To unlock the Straight Spirit, he had to achieve purification, and to achieve purification, he had to rely on Spiritual Power.
The closest source of Spiritual Power was Kikyō’s arrows.
Therefore—he just needed to herd the yōkai into Kikyō’s firing range.
No, they were already in her range.
He simply needed to kill conspicuously enough to catch Kikyō’s attention.
To make her notice that he was killing yōkai, not helping them.
To make her notice the light of the Jewel of Four Souls on him—at this thought, Kōbe Hikaru’s heart stirred.
He looked down at his chest.
The glow of the Jewel of Four Souls was still there.
It was heavily muffled by the cloth wrapping and his armor, but it remained.
If he removed the covering…
no.
That was too risky.
That light would draw the attention of every yōkai present.
Then, instead of him herding the yōkai, the yōkai would be hunting him.
But what if he only revealed a tiny bit?
Just for a split second?
In the exact moment he slew a yōkai, he could let the Straight Spirit light of the Jewel of Four Souls flash—just enough for Kikyō to sense it.
She was the Suppressor.
She had a natural sensitivity to the Jewel of Four Souls.
Even if it was just a momentary glimmer, she should be able to catch it.
‘I’ll take that gamble.’ Kōbe Hikaru made his decision, but before he could act—
*Boom—!*
An explosive roar echoed from the western ridge.
The ground trembled violently.
It was Demonic Aura.
A powerful Demonic Aura had appeared.
And not just one, but four…
coming from four different directions!
The first to appear was a One-Horned Demon.
Standing over six meters tall, its skin was a deep purple, and a long, curved horn jutted from its forehead.
It leaped down from the ridge, landing at the rear of the yōkai horde and smashing a massive crater into the earth.
In its hands, it hoisted a Spiked Club fashioned from an entire tree trunk.
The second was a Giant Serpent.
Its body was as thick as a water vat and roughly fifteen meters long, covered entirely in dark cyan scales as its forked tongue flicked through the air.
The third was a Three-Eyed Crow, comparable in size to a warhorse.
Its three eyes glowed with red, blue, and yellow light respectively.
The fourth—
Kōbe Hikaru’s instincts flared with warning once more.
At the edge of the yōkai horde, a humanoid figure was slowly approaching.
It wore battered samurai armor, wielded a rust-mottled tachi, and wore a white Hannya mask over its face.
Judging by its appearance and posture, it was also a Ghost Samurai, but far stronger than Kōbe Hikaru.
It was an entity that had at least completed the Six Stages of Body Transformation, possessing one more transformation than Kōbe Hikaru.
‘Four high-level yōkai…’ Kōbe Hikaru muttered to himself, but he had no time left to hesitate.
These were evidently the four powerful auras that had been hiding in the surroundings just moments ago.
Once those four joined the fray, the situation would deteriorate instantly.
Kikyō would be too overwhelmed to even defend herself, let alone spare any attention for a Ghost Samurai mixed into the horde.
He had to cause a massive commotion before they could launch their attack.
To make Kikyō see him.
To make Kikyō see the Jewel of Four Souls.
To force her to make a judgment.
‘Let’s go!’ Kōbe Hikaru stopped hiding.
His body surged out from the pile of corpses, swinging Muramasa in a horizontal slash.
A One-Eyed Demon blocking his path was cleaved in two at the waist.
Its upper half went flying, crashing into several other yōkai.
He didn’t stop.
He continued pushing forward, his blade flashing relentlessly.
A Snake-Body Demon’s head flew into the air, and a Centipede Spirit’s carapace was split open, spilling its innards across the ground.
In the midst of this, two Green-Skin Demons were skewered by a single thrust.
“What is that?”
“A Ghost Samurai?
He’s killing our own!”
“Kill him!”
Roars erupted all around as over a dozen yōkai broke off from the main force besieging the barrier and lunged at him.
Perfect.
This was exactly the effect Kōbe Hikaru wanted.
He wanted to create chaos—the more chaotic, the better.
Chaotic enough that even Kikyō would be forced to look his way.
He charged headlong into the surging swarm of yōkai, brandishing Muramasa.
One strike, one life.
Occasionally two strikes, but never a third.
Demonic blood splattered as he fully unleashed [Blood Resonance].
The droplets of blood scattered in the air became his eyes, feeding the position, movements, and attack trajectories of every single yōkai into his perception.
Dodge left, slash right, thrust forward, sweep back.
He carved a bloody path through the horde, his armor already dyed a deep purple by demonic blood.
But in truth, he didn’t need to keep killing.
Kikyō had already seen him.
Inside the barrier, in front of the shrine.
Kikyō’s hand paused.
She had been drawing her bow, the arrowhead aimed at an earth-burrowing yōkai attempting to dig under the barrier’s perimeter.
But in that split second—
Her spiritual perception caught a clear signal.
She also saw it—the glow of the Jewel of Four Souls.
It wasn’t coming from afar.
It was nearby, right inside—the yōkai horde.
Kikyō’s eyes widened slightly.
She abandoned her original target, her gaze rapidly sweeping across the battlefield beyond the barrier.
Chaos, gore, and slaughtering yōkai were everywhere.
Yet amidst that chaos, one figure stood out entirely.
He was killing yōkai.
A yōkai, killing other yōkai.
Clad in battered Red Gusoku Armor, with pale disheveled hair and a Red Oni Mask, he wielded a black tachi that gleamed with a cold, eerie purple light under the moon.
And that Straight Spirit light of the Jewel of Four Souls from just a moment ago—it had emanated from him.
Yes, Kikyō could see it directly.
As the long-chosen Suppressor…
her vision could pierce through all obstacles to see the existence of the Jewel of Four Souls.
The Shrine Maiden was momentarily stunned.
Though she didn’t understand the situation or the reasons behind it, it only took her a fraction of a second to make a decision.
She drew the bowstring to its limit.
The direction of the arrowhead shifted.
It no longer pointed at the burrowing earth yōkai.
Instead, it pointed toward—the yōkai horde near that Ghost Samurai.
Toward the yōkai that was killing yōkai!
*Swish—!*
The Exorcism Arrow loosed.
A streak of white light tore through the grayish-green Demonic Aura, passed through the barrier, and with a resonant hum, directly struck a Snake-Body Demon lunging at Kōbe Hikaru from the side.
Spiritual Power erupted.
The Snake-Body Demon’s form burned, disintegrated, and turned to ash within the white light.
Not even a speck of bone remained.
And the residual wave of that Spiritual Power—coincidentally washed over the corpses of the three Green-Skin Demons Kōbe Hikaru had slain first at his feet.
Ash.
The three corpses turned to flying ash in the wake of the Spiritual Power, scattering into the wind.
Completely clean, without a single trace left behind.
This was—true purification.