The moonlight was thin.
Shinji and Kikyō followed the village's dirt path toward the shrine.
The further they went, the damper and stickier the air became, carrying an indescribable stench of decay.
Shinji frowned.
"This smell…"
"Demon aura," Kikyō said quietly. "High concentration. That thing has been entrenched here for a while."
The shrine's outline grew clearer.
The vermilion torii gate looked especially eerie in the night. Its paint was peeling in patches, like dried, caked blood.
The stone steps were coated in a layer of slick moss.
No, not moss.
Slime.
Shinji crouched and touched it with the tip of his blade.
The slime sizzled on the steel, giving off wisps of white smoke.
"Poisonous," he said, sheathing his sword and standing. "Pretty potent stuff."
[Demonic Blade Muramasa says this stuff tastes terrible. It doesn't want to eat it.]
"Being picky isn't a good habit."
Even though Muramasa's affection was maxed out and couldn't provide any more benefits, its sharpness had already reached a level comparable to a demonic artifact. Shinji didn't play favorites.
He muttered to the blade and stepped onto the stone stairs.
Three steps in, the stair beneath him suddenly softened.
The stone itself transformed into some kind of semi-fluid substance, and he was sinking.
Shinji flashed to the side with Phantom Step, landing on a relatively dry rock.
"Did the poison corrode the ground… Looks like the whole shrine has been 'remodeled' by that fake deity inside."
Kikyō stood beside him, bow in hand.
Her eyes swept across their surroundings.
"The ground, the steps, even that torii… all soaked in its venom."
"This isn't a shrine anymore. It's its nest."
Shinji looked ahead.
A dim, flickering light emanated from the main hall, pulsing like the breath of some living thing.
"So that's why the old man said not to come in," he realized.
"It wasn't some divine punishment nonsense. People really can't enter. An ordinary person stepping foot here would be killed by the poison."
"Mm." Kikyō nodded.
"But not a problem for us."
Shinji drew his blade.
The sword glowed with a deep purple light, the accumulated blood of countless demons Muramasa had slain.
"Let's go."
He stepped forward.
Just one step.
And in the next instant, the demonic aura and ghostly energy of a Six changes demon erupted.
The air surged. His sleeves billowed.
The slime underfoot, repelled by his aura, hissed in frustration.
Boom!
The doors to the main hall blasted open.
A thick, rancid stench rushed out.
Shinji narrowed his eyes.
Inside, there was no enshrined deity, no incense burner or candle stand.
Only candles flickered on either side, illuminating a muddy swamp in the center.
And in the middle of that swamp, crouched a massive creature.
The candlelight only hinted at its outline, grey-green skin, short, thick limbs, a mountain of flesh squatting there.
A toad.
A giant, monstrous toad.
"Hmph." The toad spoke, its voice rasping like it was being squeezed from mud. "Not an offering… yet you dare trespass this god domain."
"Looking for death?"
Shinji looked at it, a slight smile curving his lips.
"A god?" He laughed. "You?"
The toad's eyes narrowed.
A cold, murky light flickered in those murky pupils.
"Arrogant fool."
It opened its mouth.
A thick cloud of green mist erupted from deep within its throat, instantly filling the entire hall.
Poison mist.
Shinji focused. As a demon warrior, he didn't need to breathe, but the stench still made him instinctively want to recoil.
He stepped back half a pace, blade held horizontally before him.
"Don't go inside," Kikyō's voice came from behind. "This mist corrodes both spiritual power and demonic aura."
Shinji nodded.
He could feel it, the green mist eating away at everything around them.
Stone walls sizzled. Wooden beams rotted.
Even the demonic aura and spiritual power in the air were being dissolved.
"Troublesome," he muttered.
This toad wasn't that strong. Based on the density of its demonic aura, it was probably only at the Fifth change.
But it had transformed the entire shrine into its personal domain.
In this poison swamp, its venom was endless, its toxins saturating every inch of ground.
Normal attacks couldn't even get close.
And Shinji sensed something else.
Something even more troublesome than the poison mist.
'Fear.'
He'd picked up the term hanging around demons.
Some demons weren't that strong on their own. Their physical transformations were mediocre. But they excelled at cultivating a 'domain.'
By spreading terror, keeping the humans in their territory in constant dread, that condensed fear became a source of power. It formed a field called 'Fear.'
The essence of Fear was similar to faith in a god. One came from negative emotions, the other from positive hopes.
Demons could draw on Fear to temporarily amplify their strength. It only lasted as long as the terror persisted, but compared to slowly absorbing demonic aura over years or competing with other demons for food, it was a shortcut.
No wonder.
No wonder this toad was being worshipped as a god.
Alone, it was only Fifth Change. But in this poison swamp it had cultivated for months, backed by the power of Fear, its strength could rival a peak Body Transformation high-tier demon.
In this swamp, the toad was absolute master.
"Ribbit—!"
A thunderous croak exploded through the hall.
From within the yellow-green mist, a crimson whip lashed out, fast as lightning, aimed straight at Kikyō's face.
Its tongue.
Kikyō didn't dodge. She didn't even blink.
She just raised her hand.
Twang.
The bowstring vibrated.
An arrow of purification, wreathed in white light, shot forth and struck the tip of that tongue.
A sizzling sound, like a branding iron on raw flesh. White smoke rose. The tongue snapped back, and a piercing shriek echoed from within the mist.
But the swamp around them grew even more frantic.
Mud churned and surged, forming countless black hands that clawed at their legs, their waists.
"Troublesome."
Shinji slashed through three mud-hands in one stroke, then activated Blood Change. His blood flowed like liquid mercury, surging through his veins as he forcibly broke free and leaped to the top of the torii gate.
He saw it clearly now.
This toad was only at the Fifth Change of Body Transformation.
Five physical mutations changes to its bodily structure. It hadn't yet reached the threshold of Quality Transformation.
But this poison mist and mud swamp were just too cheap.
As long as the villagers kept fearing it, the 'Fear' kept flowing, and the swamp wouldn't dry up.
Kikyō had immense spiritual power, overwhelming even. But purification consumed energy. Draining herself in this filth-ridden home turf against this toad wasn't worth it.
That left only one option.
Force it out of its domain!
"Kikyō!" Shinji shouted. "Cover me!"
Kikyō didn't ask why. She loosed three arrows in rapid succession, streaks of white light raining down like a storm, piercing countless mud-hands.
Shinji fixed his gaze on the several lamps flanking the shrine.
The oil was rendered animal fat, offerings scraped together by villagers from their meager meals, stored in vats. Kept burning day and night to appease the 'god's' wrath.
Good fuel.
"Borrowing a light."
Shinji moved like lightning, twisting midair to kick over the large oil vat on the left.
Splash.
Oil spilled, flowing down the steps and into the churning poison swamp.
Not done yet.
He kicked over the one on the right.
Two vats of oil, coating most of the courtyard.
The toad seemed to sense the danger. Countless poisonous spines erupted from the swamp, trying to intercept him. But Kikyō's arrows were faster each one struck just ahead of his landing point, clearing a path of clean ground.
Shinji landed. With the tip of his blade, he flicked up a still-burning lamp wick.
A twist of his wrist.
A spark fell into the oil.
Whoosh—!
Flames shot skyward.
This wasn't ordinary fire.
The poison swamp had accumulated years of miasma and methane. It ignited on contact with flame. With the oil fueling it, the entire shrine instantly became a massive furnace.
"Ribbit aaah—!"
This time, the scream was real. Heart-rending.
The heat blasted the poison mist apart. The swamp dried and cracked.
The 'god' that had been hiding in the shadows could no longer stay concealed.
A bloated black shape crashed through the shrine's wooden wall, tumbling out amidst flames, rolling and writhing.
Inside the shrine, its size hadn't been obvious. Exposed now, its true enormity was startling.
It was as big as a giant ox, a grotesque monster covered in pustules!
Its thick skin oozed venom. Its lashing tongue was lined with writhing barbs. Its legs bulged with muscle, veins standing out like snakes slithering beneath the surface. Its back swelled like a closed flower bud, continuously spewing poison mist from its center.
Its eyes, atop its head, were densely packed, a cluster of compound eyes.
Hideous beyond belief.
Now, the flames popped and crackled against its pustules. Venom dried before it could even seep out. The pain sent it thrashing on the ground, every shred of 'divine' dignity burned away.
At the foot of the hill, the firelight illuminated half the village.
It rolled and thrashed in the muddy marsh outside the shrine, letting out a bestial roar.
Frenzied. Enraged.
Across from it, the shrine maiden in white and red stood on a solid rock, raising her longbow.
And the demon warrior who'd finally driven it out smiled.
His long blade lifted.
His voice rang out:
"People of this village, wake up!"
"Help me slay this demon!"
His fire hadn't just been to drive the toad from the shrine.
It was to expose it.
To illuminate it for the villagers.
To let everyone see the true face of their so-called 'god.'
To ignite the flames of truth for all to witness.