At this moment, the night over Kaede Village remained dense. It was the dead of night, and the long darkness still stretched ahead.
Kikyō stood atop the shrine, gazing at the aged figure approaching slowly.
Her long black hair drifted, tied back behind her, but the ends still scattered in the wind like a waterfall, like feathers merging with the night.
Her face was clear and composed.
But the hand gripping her longbow, the fingers pulling the bowstring, the undying glow of spiritual power, all testified to the unease within the shrine maiden's heart.
Because of the name Kidōmaru.
This existence!
As mentioned before, centuries ago, the great demon king of Mount Ōe, Shuten-dōji, once renowned as the master of all specters and demons had led his Hyakki Yakō to ravage Kyoto.
The Onmyōryō had mobilized in full force, even the samurai of the Minamoto clan were called upon. In the end, relying on the power of Minamoto no Yorimitsu, said to be the incarnation of Gozu Tennō, the avatar of the god Indra, they had barely managed to seal that great demon.
Under Shuten-dōji's command were three great demons.
Ibaraki-dōji, Hoshikuma-dōji, and Torakuma-dōji.
And below them Kidōmaru.
Unlike the three great dōji, Kidōmaru's origin was not illustrious. His story had no dramatic twists or grand sweeps.
He was simply a demon born from the resentment of an infant abandoned in the mountains.
It was said that in life, he had been discarded by his parents in the deep mountains, devoured by wild beasts. The resentment from his death absorbed the souls of countless abandoned infants who suffered the same fate, eventually transforming into this old demon.
He was not the strongest.
But he was the most troublesome.
Because his transformation was not about power, not about size.
It was about speed.
"It seems you know of me," Kidōmaru's voice was aged, like dry wood scraping. "That saves me the trouble of introducing myself."
He raised his hand.
Just raised his hand.
But Kikyō's pupils contracted.
Because in her perception, that hand took less than an instant to rise and fall.
Fast.
So fast that even her spiritual power could not track its trajectory.
"The transformation of speed," Kikyō murmured.
"Oh?" Surprise flickered in Kidōmaru's eyes. "You also know about the essential changes of demons? You are indeed well-informed."
"Yes, my transformation is different from those fools who chase after power."
Though unlike Shinji, who had summarized step by step from weak to strong,
Among demons, there were naturally some who thought about such things.
The essential changes of demons were not something only Shinji could infer.
Kidōmaru or rather, the demons from Kyoto had some understanding of this principle.
Though it wasn't they who had summarized it.
Kidōmaru then walked forward slowly, each step measured.
But the world around him was even slower.
The frozen demons, the still air, the leaves no longer swaying, all bore witness to one thing.
He had not made himself faster.
He had made everything around him slower.
"Demons have many transformations. After reaching a certain domain, I transformed my speed." Kidōmaru spoke as if telling an inconsequential story. "Fast and slow are two sides of the same coin."
"I can make myself faster. I can also make my enemies slower."
"I can even make time itself stand still."
This was not elemental transformation.
This was the manipulation of basic physical attributes.
A realm beyond materialization, one step further.
And judging from the demonic aura emanating from Kidōmaru, this demon's number of transformations had long exceeded ten.
Ten transformations, eleven, perhaps even more, approaching the twelve transformations of a great demon at the ethereal level.
This was no longer within the realm of ordinary high-tier demons.
This was infinitely close to a great demon by Shinji's classification, approaching etherealization.
For the first time, Kikyō's expression grew sharp and grave.
Though she was regarded as the strongest shrine maiden of the Sengoku era, the number of great demons in this age was scarce. Existences approaching great demons were also few.
This was the first time she had faced a demon of this caliber.
"However—" Kidōmaru's tone suddenly shifted.
He turned his head, looking in the four cardinal directions, the locations of the four vanguard demons.
Now, the demonic aura in those four directions had completely dissipated.
"You have surprised me somewhat."
"Thunder beast, Gaikimaru, venomous dragon, cat demon…"
"Those four were demon leaders who had lived for over a century."
"All killed in a single night? And you're still here.... you didn't act." He looked at Kikyō. "Was it your companion's doing?"
Kidōmaru seemed somewhat surprised.
Yet somehow, not that surprised?
Unaccountably, Kikyō's heart stirred.
She suddenly spoke: "You did it on purpose."
The shrine maiden's voice was calm, as cold as the evening wind.
"Oh?" Kidōmaru's lips curved, the corners of his mouth lifting, his neatly combed beard shaping. His steps halted, and he asked with some interest: "You've figured it out?"
And indeed, Kikyō had.
"Those four demons were expendable from the start." Kikyō's white robes fluttered, the hem of her red hakama folding, her stance firm. "You sent them here not to besiege us."
"But to have us.... kill them."
Silence.
Kidōmaru did not deny it. He just smiled.
That smile on his aged face was especially eerie.
"You are very clever," he said. "Cleverer than I imagined."
"Pity—" He raised his hand, pointing around them.
"What if you know?"
In the air, something was coalescing.
Not demonic aura.
Resentment.
Dense, surging, almost tangible resentment.
"I knew you realized my purpose in summoning those demons here was to gather demonic aura… but you seem to have forgotten—after humans die, there is resentment. After demons die, there is also resentment."
Kidōmaru's voice came as if from the underworld:
"You killed the thunder beast. Its resentment fills the western sky."
"You killed Gaikimaru. Its resentment shrouds the southern earth."
"The venomous dragon, the cat demon—the same."
"The resentment of four demon leaders over two or three centuries old, coming from four directions, enough to cover all of Musashi Province."
Kidōmaru had been scheming from the start.
Those four vanguards were never meant to kill.
They were sacrifices.
Sacrifices to create resentment.
"Fear," Kikyō then spoke the word.
A demon's Fear was obtained through spreading terror. It was akin to faith, yet its opposite.
It was nourishment for demons. A "hormone" that could temporarily strengthen them.
Though when the hormone faded, they would revert to their original form,
If Fear could be maintained continuously, that "hormone" would become "normal state."
And the resentment of dead demons was itself a condensation of fear, though without direction, unable to be used individually as Fear, it was still suitable as a carrier to bear the power of an existence that should not be in this world.
"Correct." Kidōmaru's black mist began to churn around him. "On this land filled with the resentment of four barely competent demons…"
"I can finally unleash my strongest power."
It wasn't just demonic aura.
It was a domain.
With resentment as the medium, with fear as the foundation, shrouding the entire region, Kidōmaru's domain.
"I have died once. I entered the underworld and returned. I have no physical body. Only my remaining soul walks between heaven and earth. Though this allows my speed to reach the level of ordinary great demons, I still need 'Fear' to bear my existence in order to unleash sufficient power."
Yes, this was Kidōmaru's true purpose.
From beginning to end, he had been preparing for his own strike.
"Now." He raised his black longsword.
The scabbard fell away, revealing the blade within, glowing with an eerie blue light.
"Hand over the Shikon Jewel."
Kikyō didn't speak.
She just drew her bow and nocked an arrow.
Spiritual power gathered at the arrowhead, turning into a dazzling white light.
"Then we'll see" Her voice was calm. "Whether you can take it from me."
Kidōmaru smiled.
"You will regret this."
"Shrine maiden."
The next second.
He vanished.