The two blades clashed in mid-air.
Sparks flew.
One was a mass-produced Muramasa, a famous blade. The other looked rusted and worn. But the result was that Shinji, wielding the Muramasa, was knocked back three steps, his hand numb from the shock.
The gap in strength was too large.
The Hannya mask demon warrior's Six Changes in Body Transformation weren't for show. Each Change caused a qualitative leap in a yokai's basic attributes.
And one of its Changes was clearly at least two Changes focused on enhancing strength, otherwise, even with [Archer's Change] boosting his arm strength, Shinji wouldn't have been unable to block it.
In a fight between the same type of yokai, even just one Change difference was like heaven and earth when it came to strength.
"That's all you've got?"
The Hannya mask demon warrior's voice came from behind the mask, laced with obvious mockery.
"And you still dared to charge in. You really don't know when you're outmatched."
It swung again.
This strike was faster and heavier than before.
Shinji barely blocked, his arms nearly dislocated from the force.
His body flew backward, his feet dragging on the ground for several meters before he could barely stabilize himself.
It let out a cold laugh, then its form abruptly vanished.
So fast!
This wasn't just speed; it was the propulsive force from a sudden burst in its leg muscles, this thing's legs clearly also had a Change.
Shinji's pupils contracted. His [Keen Eye Change], gained from a max-affection dagger, frantically tracked the afterimages in the air.
Left!
He instinctively raised his blade to block.
But the next second.
The Hannya mask demon warrior's sword arm suddenly let out a "crack" in mid-swing. Its wrist joint dislocated, and then, visibly, stretched, expanded!
An arm of normal length had out of thin air extended by three feet!
Cartilage extension.
This sudden extension made its attack range instantly exceed Shinji's prediction.
The long blade bypassed Muramasa's block line and, like a venomous snake, viciously lashed towards Shinji's ribs.
"?!"
Shinji gritted his teeth. [Spear Waist Change] activated, and his upper body folded backward in a way absolutely impossible for a human.
Extremely strong, extremely pliant, bending like a spear.
"Riiip——"
The rusted blade scraped across his chest armor. The moment that seemingly hard, battered armor touched the murky energy of the blade, it sizzled like concentrated acid, rapidly corroding and softening.
Excruciating pain shot through him.
Shinji awkwardly rolled to the side, dropping to one knee.
A black, scorched wound now marked his chest.
[Cursed Blade Muramasa: Mood 'Terrified'. It indicates that rusty blade has poison gas that will make it dull. It doesn't want to touch that thing!]
"Shut up. I don't want to touch it either."
Shinji spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva.
It was yokai blood, different from human red, a murky grey-black.
[Cursed Blade Muramasa's mood is anxious. It conveys a message to you: This guy's too tough, can't bite through!]
"I know."
Shinji responded quietly, but his eyes never left the enemy before him.
The Hannya mask demon warrior didn't pursue.
It just stood there, looking down at him from above.
"Any last words?"
Shinji didn't answer.
He knew that in a frontal fight, he really wasn't a match for this guy. He didn't know its exact name, but this thing had at least two Changes in its arms, one in its legs, plus the poison Change from body to blood, the bone Change for extending its body, and those eyes, obviously another Change.
These Six Changes almost completely countered Shinji's Five Changes.
But since Shinji dared to act, he still had a trump card!
Not just the pressure Kikyō was putting on them,– even if she didn't directly intervene, as long as she was still inside the barrier, these yokai always had to keep part of their attention on her, unable to focus entirely on him.
Shinji also had his own plans.
He was observing.
Through the blood mist scattered across the battlefield, he was searching for an opening.
The effect of [Blood Resonance] was still ongoing.
Those blood droplets on the ground and floating in the air were all his eyes.
Every movement of the Hannya mask demon warrior, every muscle contraction, was captured by him.
Its left knee had an old injury.
The movement there was slightly stiffer than other parts.
That was normal.
Demon warriors were formed when the obsessions of powerful warriors in life attached to their armor or corpses.
The former aside, for the latter, most came with 'injuries'.
Injuries from being killed in battle in life!
Shinji's eyes narrowed slightly.
A way in.
"Finished brooding?"
The Hannya mask demon warrior seemed to lose patience. It raised its rusted blade, the demonic energy on it boiling again.
"Then die."
It charged.
Shinji moved too.
But he didn't meet it head-on. He sidestepped to the left.
The Hannya mask demon warrior's blade slashed empty air.
It paused for a moment, then spun its body, sweeping the rusted blade horizontally.
Shinji ducked, the blade grazing three inches above his head.
His body had already slipped into the Hannya mask demon warrior's left side.
The injured left side.
Muramasa thrust out.
Target – the left knee!
Its knee had once taken an arrow!
"Pathetic trick!"
The Hannya mask demon warrior snorted, sharply raising its left leg to dodge the thrust, while simultaneously driving its knee straight at Shinji's face.
The knee connected squarely with Shinji's chin.
His head snapped back, his vision going dark for a moment.
But his blade didn't stop.
Muramasa arced through the air, slashing towards the Hannya mask demon warrior's abdomen.
A trade-off.
"You're asking for it!"
The Hannya mask demon warrior's left hand shot up and caught the blade bare-handed.
The black blade sliced into its palm, blood spurting.
But it didn't care at all.
Its rusted blade lifted high, chopping down towards the top of Shinji's head!
At that very moment –
"Shww——!"
A streak of white light shot from the barrier.
This arrow was brighter than any before.
The spiritual power wrapped around the arrow was dazzling, the entire arrow like a falling meteor, slicing through the night sky.
The Hannya mask demon warrior's pupils contracted.
It felt the scorching hot aura shooting from its side and rear.
But it was too late.
Its center of gravity was all on its left leg, its rusted blade raised at its highest point.
Even if it wanted to dodge now, it was completely too late.
"Thud——!"
The purification arrow pierced through its left knee.
Spiritual power exploded at the wound, white light like a branding iron burning its demonic body.
"Ahhh——!"
The Hannya mask demon warrior let out a heart-wrenching scream and dropped to one knee.
Its left leg was already incapacitated. Spiritual power was still corroding from the wound, disrupting its demonic energy, preventing it from moving.
Shinji gave it no chance to breathe.
That rusted blade, raised high and about to strike, had its trajectory shifted because of its owner's collapse, passing by his shoulder, only cutting a few strands of his pale hair.
And Shinji's Muramasa had already been withdrawn from its palm.
Dripping with grey-black blood.
The blade flipped.
This stroke had no fancy sword techniques, just the most simple straight thrust.
From the front, piercing the back of its neck!
The blade tip burst out through its throat.
The Hannya mask demon warrior's body froze.
It looked down at the black blade extending from its own neck.
Behind the mask, those dead grey eyes showed confusion for the first time.
"You…"
It tried to speak, but its throat was already pierced, only vague gurgles escaping.
And that arrow wound was still continuously releasing spiritual power. The spiritual power spread upward from its left knee along its meridians, like a venomous snake burrowing into its body.
When the spiritual power reached the wound at the back of its neck – the two forces met.
The external blade wound.
The internal spiritual power erosion.
The Hannya mask demon warrior's body was like it had been ignited from within.
White light overflowed from every pore, bursting from its eye sockets, the corners of its mouth, even the gaps between its fingers.
That Hannya mask began to crack.
Cracks spread from its forehead to its chin, fragments peeling off one by one.
The face beneath the mask, also a dead person's face. Pale, withered, bearing the scars of the blade wound that killed it in life.
It looked at Shinji.
Shinji looked back at it.
Two demon warriors.
One Five Changes, one Six Changes.
One fighting for humans, one dying for demons.
"Damn… traitor…"
The corner of the Hannya mask demon warrior's mouth seemed to twitch, as if it wanted to curse, wanted to denounce, but it had no chance.
Because the white light directly exploded.
Its body disintegrated under the burning of the spiritual power, turning into ashes scattered on the wind.
Those ashes weren't ordinary remains.
They floated lightly into the sky, flickering with a faint silver light under the moon.
That was the trace of resentment after being purified.
Clean, pure, with no lingering murky energy whatsoever,
Purification.
Purification in the truest sense.
Shinji stood amidst the ashes, feeling the residual warmth of the spiritual power in the air.
Warm.
Completely opposite to the cold of his own demonic energy.
[Detected host has completed a purification act.]
[Judgment: Killed one high-tier yokai. Meets Righteous Spirit unlock conditions.]
[Shikon no Tama · Righteous Spirit: Affection +1]
[Current Affection: 1 (Germination)]
[It conveys a message to you: 'Well done.']
He thought to himself that this was indeed the right choice.
[Shikon no Tama's Righteous Spirit represents righteous thoughts. When the holder fights with the goal of slaying demons and eliminating evil, it is considered a purification act.]
He sheathed Muramasa and looked up at the remaining yokai mob.
That horned ogre, the giant serpent, the three-eyed crow – they were all staring at him with terrified eyes.
One of their leaders, a Six Changes demon warrior, was dead just like that.
Killed by someone who seemed weaker than it.
After all, although most demon warriors were mindless, they weren't usually weak or inferior among yokai of the same level.
"Anyone else?"
Shinji gripped the hilt, his voice calm.
The yokai mob stirred restlessly.
The horned ogre's expression was extremely ugly. It wanted to order another attack, but its throat felt blocked by something.
Fear.
This was fear.
"Withdraw…"
It forced out a single word.
"Retreat!"
The mob, pardoned, retreated like a tide.
The giant serpent turned first, its fifteen-meter-long body slithering into the grass at an astonishing speed.
The three-eyed crow flapped its wings and soared, disappearing into the night sky in an instant.
The horned ogre ran last, before leaving giving Shinji a vicious glare.
"You remember this!"
Then it ran too.
Shinji stood there, watching the retreating backs of the mob.
"…That's it?"
He was a bit disappointed.
He'd wanted to grind more affection.
[Cursed Blade Muramasa: Mood 'Regretful'. It indicates the ones that ran away all looked delicious.]
"Next time."
Shinji patted the hilt.
Then he turned and looked towards the shrine.
The barrier was still there, its pale white light curtain still covering the shrine and the surrounding villagers.
The figure on the stone steps was still there too.
White robes, red hakama, black hair like a waterfall.
Kikyō was looking at him.
Her bow was still in her hand, her quiver empty.
Half of those arrows had been used to coordinate with him.
Their gazes met across the night.
Shinji opened his mouth, wanting to say something.
But before he could speak, the system panel suddenly popped up with a new prompt.
[Shikon no Tama · Righteous Spirit conveys a message to you.]
[The shrine maiden is looking at you. She is hesitating.]
[You need to give her a reason to trust you.]
[Give me to her then you will be safe. She will no longer harm you, and will even protect you.]
Shinji looked down at the Shikon Jewel in his chest.
The pale purple bead lay quietly in his palm, its glow soft and mysterious.
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