The Kamaitachi's charge was forced to halt.
It dodged left and right, avoiding those sudden 'enemies'.
The situation grew fiercer and fiercer.
The old locust tree's leaves and branches spread out like a screen, blocking the wind. Although the Kamaitachi's momentum was huge, those holes split the wind flow at just the right places.
The large boulder rolled onto the path, blocking the way. Although it was very slow, its volume was large enough to be an obstacle.
Water droplets from the well splashed everywhere. Although their penetrating power wasn't enough to pierce the Kamaitachi's fur, the concentrated moisture made the air a little heavier.
Wood from the abandoned hut flew in all directions. Those decayed pieces of wood couldn't possibly hurt a Quality Transformation yokai, but they kept coming, as if unaware of fatigue.
Even that hoe…
It stood up. It couldn't even touch the Kamaitachi, but it was still trying its best.
It was also like a weather vane, pointing straight at the Kamaitachi's 'core'!
"What the hell is going on!?"
The Kamaitachi's voice was filled with confusion and anger.
It was wind.
It controlled wind.
Theoretically, anything moved by the wind should be under its control.
But these things…
They were resisting.
That faint power, although not enough to hurt it, was actually hindering it from advancing.
Shinji looked at the numbers jumping on the panel.
[Old Locust Tree: Affection 15, fully blocking the enemy. It tells you that for two hundred years, you are the first person to talk to it every day. It is very happy.]
[Large Boulder: Affection 21, trying hard to roll. It says it's just a rock, can't do much, but being able to help is satisfying.]
[Well: Affection 18, spraying water. It says this is the first time it's been useful since it was dug, even if it's not for drawing water.]
Shinji looked at these prompts, and a strange emotion welled up in his heart.
This was the function of affection.
Although these things hadn't reached the level of unlocking talents, that required max affection, 100 points.
But as long as affection was high enough, they would respond to his call.
This was very unbelievable.
Because these things themselves weren't yokai.
They had no consciousness, no thoughts, didn't even count as "alive" in the most basic sense.
But they were actually also 'breathing'.
This was the secret Shinji had discovered over the past few days.
All things have spirits.
This wasn't just empty talk.
The energies of heaven and earth are divided into pure and impure. Impure energy sinks and condenses into yokai. Pure energy rises and condenses into spiritual power.
And those ordinary stones, trees, wells, although they couldn't absorb impure energy to become yokai, although they had no self-awareness, they could, over the days and months, absorb the faint spiritual power drifting in the world.
Very faint.
So faint it could almost be ignored.
But it truly existed.
A two-hundred-year-old locust tree had accumulated two hundred years of spiritual power.
A large boulder that had lain in the same spot for who knows how many years also had its own 'breath'.
These things themselves couldn't move and had no autonomous consciousness.
But when someone continuously communicated with them, continuously gave them attention, continuously made them feel cared for.
The insignificant spiritual power within them would resonate.
Shinji's affection system, in essence, was establishing this resonance.
He didn't need them to be powerful.
He just needed them to...
Listen to him.
"Owww——!"
The Kamaitachi roared in fury.
It opened its mouth, a blast of wind spraying from deep within its throat, cutting all those leaves to shreds.
The old locust tree's branches and leaves scattered.
[Old Locust Tree: It is injured, but it says it's okay, the roots will grow back anyway.]
Shinji tightened his grip on the hilt.
Enough.
These things had already bought him enough time.
My turn.
He thought to himself.
The bricks under his feet shattered, Phantom Step activated.
An afterimage flashed through the air.
Shinji appeared to the Kamaitachi's left.
That was a blind spot, the side where it had just cut down the tree roots, its body still leaning forward from inertia.
Muramasa slashed out.
Black blade energy tore through the air, aiming straight for the Kamaitachi's waist and abdomen.
"Clang——!"
The Kamaitachi turned, blocking the strike with its claws.
But Shinji's attacks didn't stop.
He used the rebound force from the blade to spin his body, the second strike following immediately.
This strike aimed for the Kamaitachi's neck.
The Kamaitachi leaned back to dodge.
Third strike!
Shinji's body twisted in the air, thrusting the blade tip towards the Kamaitachi's eye socket at a nearly impossible angle.
Those empty eye sockets...
Inside were rotating air currents, the core of its wind control.
"You're asking for it!"
The Kamaitachi roared in fury, its body suddenly expanding.
It recovered from half a story to one story, then to two stories.
Increasing volume meant power dispersed, speed decreased.
But it also meant
Increased defense range.
It no longer dodged, but directly used its body to take Shinji's attacks head-on.
"Clang!"
Shinji's blade struck the Kamaitachi's cheek, but couldn't penetrate.
That greyish-white fur was harder than steel.
The Kamaitachi sneered.
"Petty tricks!"
Its claws swept across.
Shinji couldn't dodge in time and was struck by the palm, his whole body flying like a kite with a broken string.
He crashed through the shrine's outer wall.
Bricks shattered, dust rose everywhere.
"Cough…"
He climbed out of the rubble, the corner of his mouth trickling black blood.
This hit was no light matter.
But his eyes were still bright.
Because he saw it.
Through the blood mist covering the battlefield, he saw the spinning trajectory of the airflow in the Kamaitachi's eye sockets.
This meant It was about to unleash a big move, right?
The Kamaitachi didn't speak.
It just opened its mouth.
That mouth opened wider and wider, until it almost occupied its entire face.
Greyish-white airflow condensed deep in its throat, getting thicker and thicker, denser and denser.
That was its killing move.
Compressing all its wind to the extreme, then releasing it all at once in a destructive attack.
Enough to level the entire shrine.
But Shinji didn't retreat.
He just raised his left hand.
"Help me one more time."
He said.
Not to the Kamaitachi.
This was also, still, spoken to those "friends" still struggling on the battlefield.
The old locust tree's remaining roots shook again. This time, not just the leaves, but even the roots themselves grew inexplicably, wrapping toward the Kamaitachi's ankles like writhing tendrils.
The large boulder rolled, slamming toward its knee.
The last of the water column from the well sprayed out, transforming into a water curtain, blocking in front of Shinji.
The last few planks from the abandoned hut flew toward the Kamaitachi's eyes.
The hoe finally flew over though it only lightly touched the Kamaitachi's tail.
But it was enough.
The Kamaitachi was distracted.
Its attack was half a beat slower.
And in that half beat, Shinji had already struck.
[Bloodthirsty Frenzy] erupted with full force.
[Blood Change] transformed the blood within his body into propulsive power.
His speed reached its limit in this moment.
So fast that even the Kamaitachi couldn't capture it.
A flash of steel.
Muramasa pierced into the Kamaitachi's eye socket, into that spinning airflow.
"Ow——!!!"
The Kamaitachi let out an earth-shaking scream.
That airflow it had been storing up lost control, exploding in its throat, shaking its own internal organs, the compression it had painstakingly achieved through qualitative change, into pieces.
Shinji withdrew his blade and retreated.
The Kamaitachi staggered backward, blood spraying from its eye socket.
That eye was ruined.
Although not dead, its combat effectiveness was at least reduced by thirty percent.
"You… you…"
The Kamaitachi's voice was filled with disbelief.
Although it hadn't divided yokai ranks as carefully as Shinji, it could still feel the absolute gap between itself and the small yokai before it.
And now, it had actually been hurt by this small yokai?
And seriously injured at that?
Impossible!
But the fact was right before its eyes.
Shinji stood there, holding the still-dripping Muramasa.
His body was also covered in wounds, black blood staining half his clothes.
But he was still standing.
Compared to just now, he hadn't retreated half a step.
On the contrary.
He had advanced even further!
The so-called "when your time comes, whole world fight with you."
At this moment, although Shinji didn't have the support of whole world.
He had the support of all the 'things' in this village.
He could still fight.
Could, advance!