The night grew deeper, and the evening breeze turned colder.
After the last yōkai fell, the battlefield fell completely silent.
Hikaru stood among the pile of corpses, the Muramasa in his hand still dripping blood.
The panel suddenly popped up before his eyes.
Hikaru paused for a moment.
‘Five points in one breath?’
‘This bead was so stingy before, giving two points at most.
Why so generous now?’
‘It went up again.’
Hikaru glanced sideways, looking toward Kikyō’s full chest—specifically, the Jewel of Four Souls resting in front of it.
The light of that bead was changing.
The originally ink-black evil energy was being suppressed by a faint layer of white light.
Like milk dripping into ink, the black and white were distinct and sharply divided.
Hikaru waited for the continuation.
The words on the system panel popped up one by one, slower than ever before.
‘The Bond Dialogue for the Jewel of Four Souls is an actual conversation, rather than just transmitting extra information?’
‘As expected of a treasure that even high-level yōkai covet.’
‘It really is much smarter than Muramasa!’
Hikaru raised his eyes and looked at Kikyō.
The Shrine Maiden stood before the levitating Jewel of Four Souls, her hands forming ritual seals.
Her Spiritual Power transformed into threads of light that firmly bound the bead.
Her expression was solemn.
While Hikaru finished off the remaining yōkai, she had naturally begun her suppression of the Crooked Spirit.
Hikaru didn’t reply.
He didn’t know how to reply either.
‘Say “you’re welcome” to a bead?’
‘I suppose it wouldn’t hurt…’
Hikaru’s brows furrowed.
‘The real threat?’
‘That horde of yōkai just now didn’t count as a threat?’
‘That four-armed ape was at the Five Stages, and that fog demon was at least at the Six Stages.
If they didn’t count as a threat—’
When the last three words popped up, Hikaru’s heart skipped a beat.
‘Be careful of you?’
‘What does that mean?’
But the system panel stopped generating words.
The light of the Jewel of Four Souls also stabilized, the white light and black energy maintaining a delicate balance.
Hikaru wanted to ask further, but he knew it was useless.
This bead wasn’t a chatterbox blade like Muramasa, who would dump every thought in its head when it wanted to speak, and hold back every single word when it didn’t.
“Is something wrong?”
Kikyō’s voice drifted over.
Hikaru dismissed the panel and turned around.
“Noth—”
Before he could finish his sentence.
A sudden chill ran down the back of his neck.
It was the Ghost Samurai’s instinctive reaction to danger.
Hikaru snapped his head up.
The moon in the sky was even rounder now, so round it looked as if it might fall.
The pale moonlight cast a corpse-like, livid gray pallor over the entire shrine.
Then he saw it.
A dark mass was approaching from the horizon.
No, not a mass.
It was a swarm.
Densely packed, blotting out the sky.
Countless times larger than the previous wave of yōkai.
“Fuck,” Hikaru cursed under his breath.
The system panel popped up with one final prompt.
And then nothing more.
Hikaru looked at the Jewel of Four Souls one last time.
The white light of the bead was fading at a visible rate.
The black energy regained the upper hand.
And this time, the blackness was thicker and denser than before, almost solidifying into a physical substance.
“The midnight hour has arrived.”
Kikyō’s voice was very calm.
She seemed to have given up on suppressing the Crooked Spirit’s evil power, as it was no longer containable…
She walked up to Hikaru and looked up at the dark swarm in the sky.
“The moon is at its peak, and Yin Energy is at its absolute maximum.”
“At this time, the Crooked Spirit will overpower the Straight Spirit.”
“Therefore…”
She paused.
“What comes next is the true test.”
Hikaru gripped his sword hilt tightly.
Just as stated before.
The talents brought by Muramasa had already integrated into his body, but the sword itself still played a major role.
The sharpness bonus from repeatedly nourishing the blade was still there.
The Bloodthirst trait was also still present.
It just wouldn’t speak to him for the time being—after an ability integration, the item’s inherent spirituality would enter a period of ‘weakness’ while waiting to recover.
That wouldn’t take too long, but it wouldn’t be quick either.
“They are here.”
Kikyō drew her bowstring.
The dark swarm had already reached the airspace above the shrine.
They weren’t yōkai.
Were they…
birds?
No.
Hikaru narrowed his eyes.
Those things had wings, but they weren’t birds.
They were bats.
Thousands upon thousands of bats, each the size of a human head, with glowing green eyes and two exposed fangs.
A swarm of vampire bats.
Individually, these things weren’t strong, but their sheer numbers were overwhelming.
And they weren’t the main course.
The main course was behind them.
Hikaru saw it.
At the very rear of the bat swarm was an even larger dark shadow.
The size of that shadow…
it was at least thirty feet across, hovering in the sky like a small hill.
“What is that?” Hikaru asked.
Kikyō didn’t answer.
She simply released her bowstring.
The Exorcism Arrow shot forth and exploded in midair, transforming into countless streaks of white light that reduced the dozen or so leading bats to ashes.
But to the entire bat swarm, that was merely a drop in the bucket.
More bats swooped down.
Hikaru took a deep breath.
The Demonic Power within his body began to boil.
Blood surged madly through his veins, emitting a sound like a rushing river.
This was the trait of [Blood Transformation].
His blood was no longer ordinary blood.
“Bring it on,” Hikaru muttered.
He raised his left hand.
In the center of his palm, a bead of blood condensed into shape.
Then it exploded.
Transforming into a sky full of blood mist.
The blood mist drifted, enveloping the entire shrine.
Through this blood mist, Hikaru could see the position, speed, and flight trajectory of every single bat.
This was [Blood Resonance].
The first bat rushed to his face.
Hikaru swung his blade horizontally.
The edge sliced through, cleaving the bat in two.
The second, the third, the fourth…
Blade light flashed.
Corpses rained down.
But there were too many bats.
Kill ten, and a hundred remain.
Kill a hundred, and a thousand remain.
And that massive dark shadow was getting closer and closer.
Hikaru finally got a clear look at the thing’s appearance.
That wasn’t a bat.
It was a giant…
Flying squirrel?
No.
That was…
“Kamaitachi.”
It was a renowned, true yōkai of this land!