The sky over Musashi Province was dark, storms howling.
Though dawn had just risen, day and night seemed almost to have reversed.
Amidst the roaring, the colossal figure at what seemed the center of the world slowly straightened its body.
The ground continued to crack beneath its feet, the fissures spreading outward from the impact point for over a hundred paces without stopping.
Its six arms spread wide, as if capable of covering half the sky.
That face covered by the white bone mask slowly turned. Dark green light seeped from its eye slits, sweeping over every living thing present.
But though this creature's appearance was sudden, Shinji and Kikyō's choice was decisive.
They had just dealt with Uesugi.
Now, they simply had to face the challenge… and not let this enemy succeed.
The moment Shinji stepped out of the barrier, the demonic aura hit him like a solid wall.
Unlike Kidōmaru's targeted speed suppression, or the twisted mix of human-demon regeneration in the Tahōtō demon.
This was pure, overwhelming "quantity."
Etherealization.
In the demon evolution system, the Sixth Transformation was the limit of physical transformation, followed by materialization, and the endpoint of materialization was etherealization, the Thirteenth Transformation, after completing twelve.
But just as before facing the Kamaitachi, Shinji hadn't fully understood the essence of materialization, or the path of elemental transformation.
So-called etherealization had only existed in his theoretical speculation.
Not even a basic theory.
Just his "conjecture."
Extrapolated from shape to quality, combined with the many pieces of information he had as a transmigrator, a further imagination.
Only now did Shinji personally experience this level's meaning.
Theory became reality.
So-called etherealization could indeed be called etherealization, but more accurately, it should be called "Qi transformation."
Or, phenomenonization.
Just as wind is not a specific object, rain is not a specific entity.
The demonic aura of an etherealization great demon is no longer confined to its body, nor even to the area near its body. It spreads out, merging with the surrounding heaven and earth, becoming a "second law" within this region, independent of natural rules.
Within tens or hundreds of miles, the air becomes heavier, the ground softer, even gravity seems to increase.
This is not caused by the "amount" of demonic aura.
It is that its demonic aura itself has become a phenomenon.
Within its domain, the rules of heaven and earth are determined by its very existence.
This is the true chasm between etherealization great demons and materialization demons.
Physical transformation is deformation. Materialization is variation.
So-called etherealization is, changing the sky.
So Kidōmaru, at twelve transformations, one step short of etherealization, could deploy a "domain" and dominate all equivalent existences in speed.
That "domain" is demonic aura infinitely close to etherealization, condensed.
As for this Tsuchigumo before him
A complete great demon of at least thirteen transformations, it had clearly entered the etherealization stage four hundred years ago.
Though due to its slumber and severe wounds, its condition might not be at its peak, it was still an existence that had truly entered "phenomenonization."
Before such an existence,
Shinji's land affinity, that point of support he had used against Kidōmaru, was worthless.
He could only rely on himself. On his own strength!
Lightning-Muscle Sharp Body fully activated, purple electric arcs exploding across his entire body.
But he did not charge at Tsuchigumo.
Instead, he cut diagonally to the left, circling to the flank of its massive body.
At the same moment,
String sounded.
Kikyō's purifying arrow left the bow.
White spiritual power condensed at the arrowhead into a fist-sized orb, not the sealing-plus-purification composite arrow she had used against the earlier demon.
Pure purifying arrow.
Purifying, and breaking qi!
Even this casual shot was the maximum output of an ordinary shrine maiden.
The ultimate killing technique against demons.
The arrow traced a brilliant white trail through the air, aimed straight at the left eye slit of Tsuchigumo's white bone mask.
It hit.
White light exploded.
Spiritual power detonated on the bone mask, purifying force invading the demonic aura layer, like sunlight breaking through shadows.
A large crack appeared on the mask's surface, spanning the entire face.
Tsuchigumo's head tilted.
It hurt.
Though it was just a crack across the bone mask, and the bone seemed special, able to partially resist spiritual purification.
But Tsuchigumo stopped moving.
The green light behind the bone mask turned toward Kikyō.
Then it laughed.
A wild, excited laugh!
"Good. Very good."
"Being able to wound me, excellent, shrine maiden! This level of spiritual power is almost on par with Midoriko from back then."
Midoriko.
The source of the Shikon Jewel, in a sense, its creator.
Kikyō's gaze was sharp. She stood at the edge of the barrier, the hem of her white robes and red hakama flying wildly.
Her long black hair was blown backward, but her face remained cool and handsome, unmoved.
She did not answer.
But the second arrow was already nocked.
Tsuchigumo didn't give her the chance to loose it. He enjoyed fighting, not being hit!
His upper two arms lifted from his knees, his ten fingers interlacing, then separating, between his palms, grey-white threads appeared out of thin air.
Spider silk.
Physical manifestations of demonic aura, Tsuchigumo's signature technique.
The threads shot out at incredible speed, like countless grey-white lightning bolts, radiating from his palms in all directions.
Each thread carried the property of etherealization demonic aura, the ground they touched immediately hardened and became brittle, as if instantly decayed.
Moisture in the air was cut by the threads, condensing into tiny ice crystals that fell.
This was a further manifestation of "phenomenonization."
Making everything hard, brittle, and lose vitality.
Anything entangled by its threads would become part of Tsuchigumo's "phenomenon."
Turn to stone. Become dead matter.
Shinji saw the threads sweeping toward Kikyō from the flank. He pushed Lightning-Muscle Sharp Body to its limit, his form turning into a purple afterimage, charging between the threads and Kikyō.
Muramasa left its sheath.
Lightning wrapped around the blade.
One slash down
Clang!
A dull, stone-on-stone sound echoed.
The thread was cut.
But the demonic aura at the cut immediately spread along the blade toward his palm. A layer of grey-white "frost" appeared on Muramasa's blade.
Tsuchigumo's demonic aura was trying to turn his weapon into itself.
At the same moment, Shinji's lightning counterattacked. Purple electric arcs spread outward along the blade, forcibly repelling the grey-white erosion.
"You can cut my threads. Not bad, brat—" A hint of interest entered Tsuchigumo's tone. "But you can only cut one, right?"
Before it finished speaking,
Dozens of threads shot out simultaneously.
This time, not radiating outward, but weaving.
The threads intertwined in the air, rapidly forming a huge net between Tsuchigumo and Kaede Village.
The net covered an area of a thousand paces, its grey-white threads gleaming with a lifeless luster under the sky.
Anything caught in this net people, trees, earth would be petrified.
The entire village of Kaede, and the vast wilderness around it, was within the net's coverage.
Shinji stomped and retreated, knowing he couldn't cut them all alone. But he was not at all flustered.
Because,
Three consecutive string sounds.
Three purifying arrows left the bow almost simultaneously, their three white trails crossing in the air, forming a fan.
Spiritual power exploded on the spiderweb.
White light and grey-white threads clashed.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Three consecutive explosions.
The spiderweb was burned through in three massive holes. At the breaks, the grey-white demonic aura scattered in the white light, like snow meeting hot oil.
This was purification.
Thoroughly stripping and dissolving the demonic aura that formed the threads at its source.
Spiritual power naturally restrained demonic aura, even at the etherealization level, it had to yield before Kikyō's caliber of spiritual power.
All six of Tsuchigumo's arms paused for an instant.
The green light behind its bone mask pulsed, locking onto that white-and-red figure.
"This level of purifying arrow…" For the first time, something other than excitement appeared in its voice.
Recognition.
And seriousness.
"This concentration of spiritual power, this depth of purification, you're not just on par with Midoriko."
"Though looking closely, your scale is actually a bit less, your spiritual power is purer, and the purification effect is stronger and more concentrated!"
It tilted its head, the bone mask creaking.
"Interesting."
"Extremely interesting."
Of its six arms, the middle two uncrossed from its chest and joined the thread-weaving.
New threads shot out even faster from four hands, in four directions.
Not weaving a net anymore.
A torrential downpour.
Hundreds, thousands of threads shot from six directions simultaneously, turning the entire battlefield, over ten miles, into a grey-white spiderweb hell.
Kikyō did not retreat.
Instead, she stepped forward.
Out of the barrier.
Completely out of the barrier.
The white-and-red shrine maiden stood on the earth, her longbow raised level. The spiritual power on the bowstring no longer condensed arrow by arrow
But continuously released.
White light seeped from her body, spreading along the bow, flowing along the string, forming a spiritual field three yards in radius around her.
Within that field,
Every grey-white thread silently dissolved on contact.
Like ice meeting fire.
Like darkness meeting light.
No need to shoot arrows, no need to deliberately purify—her very existence was the greatest purification of demonic aura.
Shinji watched this.
He saw Kikyō standing there.
Her white robes shone with a lustrous white luster in the spiritual light. Her long black hair was lifted by the spiritual currents, spreading behind her like a black banner.
The hem of her red hakama clung to her long legs, the white cord at her waist shining like a glowing ribbon.
Her face was cool as always.
But in those dark eyes, there seemed to be fire burning.
The fire of protection.
Protecting the village behind her, protecting the children and shrine maidens trembling in the shrine, protecting the demon warrior who had just crossed the threshold of materialization but hadn't yet had time to solidify.
In this moment, Kikyō did not look like a shrine maiden.
She looked like a warrior.
The final line of defense for humanity on this land, capable of facing an etherealization great demon head-on.
"Good." Tsuchigumo straightened its body.
Its twelve-meter grey-white form fully extended, all six arms spread wide.
The greenish-yellow light behind its bone mask was brighter than ever. "Then let me get serious!"
Demonic aura surged again.
The ground for miles began to petrify en masse. Grey-white spread from its feet in all directions, extremely fast.
And all six of its arms began to spin webs.
Hundreds of threads shot from six directions simultaneously, turning the entire battlefield into a grey-white spiderweb hell.
But within the range of that white spiritual field
Not a single thread entered.