The grey-white spiderweb hell was expanding.
Hundreds of threads shot from six arms simultaneously. The moment the threads touched the ground, the soil turned grey, hardened, and became stone slabs. Plants lost all life on contact, their branches and leaves freezing in their extended postures, becoming grey-white sculptures.
For miles, tens of miles... until nearly a hundred miles!
The entire world seemed to be being "eaten" by Tsuchigumo's demonic aura.
This was the domain of an etherealization great demon beyond the Thirteenth Transformation, the rewriting of the surrounding world by its very existence.
Seeing this astonishing scene, Kikyō's brow furrowed. She couldn't find an opportunity to aim again. Dust churned. Wind gathered. Those non-demon things that had been eaten by the demonic aura were blocking her view, hindering her aim.
Shinji stood on a patch of not-yet-petrified earth, Muramasa held before him, lightning wrapping around the blade.
He was moving.
Constantly moving.
Daring not to stop.
The moment he stopped, the ground beneath his feet would become part of it.
But the problem wasn't whether he could dodge. The problem was, he couldn't cut it.
Muramasa struck Tsuchigumo's middle right arm. Lightning exploded, purple light burst.
A scorch mark appeared on the red skin.
That was all.
The scorch mark was filled by new demonic aura in an instant, leaving no scar.
It seemed wounded, but in truth not at all.
This was the automatic repair of the etherealization great demon's phenomenal essence at the material level, like water naturally closing after being parted.
In stark contrast
Swish.
Kikyō's arrow finally found an opening, striking Tsuchigumo's right shoulder.
White spiritual power exploded on the grey-white skin, purification sinking into the demonic aura layer, stripping the demonic aura at the contact surface.
A fist-sized depression appeared on the shoulder, the phenomenon manifested by the demonic aura being stripped away, revealing the world's original substance beneath, like the primordial natural color emerging after tearing fabric.
For a great demon, this was almost equivalent to penetrating its shell.
Effective.
Very effective.
Spiritual power naturally restrained demonic aura. Even at the etherealization level, in the face of sufficiently strong spiritual power, it would be purified and dissolved.
And fortunately, Kikyō's spiritual power was sufficiently strong.
She had already reached the level where she could easily destroy any demon below great demon. Even a limit demon like Kidōmaru dared not take her arrow head-on.
Existence below great demon, no matter how strong, would die if hit.
A graze would cripple them.
During this time, having confirmed her relationship with Shinji, her heart at peace, had brought further growth.
Even among great demons, a clearly violent and warlike existence like Tsuchigumo could not and did not want to take her purifying arrow directly, instead using its demonic aura to block.
It would also be wounded if hit.
And Shinji, demon to demon, demonic aura to demonic aura.
No restraining relationship.
Due to the difference in levels, his demonic aura was actually suppressed before Tsuchigumo.
Lightning could cause physical damage but physical damage would be repaired by the etherealization phenomenon. Bone spurs could penetrate skin, but the penetrated parts would be swallowed by petrification.
Blood mist, when close to the other's body, would be eroded by the phenomenon, lose vitality, and turn into grey-white dust.
Because he was a demon.
However, with demonic aura below even that of a high-tier demon, to have achieved this much truly impressed Tsuchigumo.
As a true thousand-year great demon existing since before the Heian period, it had never seen a minor demon like this!
"Interesting, brat." Tsuchigumo's upper two arms suddenly withdrew, ten fingers clenched into fists, ignoring the shoulder torn by the purifying arrow.
Then smashed down.
No thread-spinning.
No release of demonic aura.
Pure, physical-level violence.
Before the fist wind arrived, the ground had already cracked layer by layer and shattered into dust.
Shinji's body was thrown into the air by the air pressure. He flipped midair, pushing Lightning-Muscle Sharp Body to its limit, barely steadying himself.
But Tsuchigumo's second fist was already coming.
Its middle two arms flanked from the sides, one left, one right, forming a pincer.
The fist strikes were so fluid they were almost obscene, the coordination of the six arms was not at all like simple movements, but like six independent entities striking simultaneously, each arm with its own rhythm and angle.
Left fist straight punch, right palm horizontal slap, the lower two arms lifting their knees simultaneously
It even kicked.
That thick leg with its backward-bent knee joint whipped out like a whip, with enough force to crush a stone wall, aimed at Shinji's waist.
Too strong.
Not speed, Tsuchigumo's speed was actually slightly less than Kidōmaru's within his domain.
It was the breadth of attack.
Six arms plus two legs, eight attack points operating simultaneously, covering almost every angle.
No blind spots.
And in the process of punching and kicking, it perfectly avoided the continuous rain of Kikyō's purifying arrows.
Each arrow grazed past it.
Not extremely fast, but perceptive to an astonishing degree.
This guy is supposed to be a brawler, why is he so good at dodging!?
Shinji cursed inwardly, barely blocking the kick with bone spurs. But the impact sent him flying left, bouncing on the ground four or five times before he finally stopped.
Grey-black blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.
His ribs cracked. Bone Soul Change was automatically repairing, but the repair couldn't keep up with the consumption.
Shinji rose unsteadily, Muramasa supporting him on the ground. Beneath his demon mask, he gritted his teeth. The blade in his hand trembled.
The surrounding air was as thick as dried cement.
The etherealization demonic aura emanating from Tsuchigumo, that phenomenonized domain of a twelve-transformation great demon, was squeezing him from all directions.
Thud!
One of Tsuchigumo's palms took the opportunity to strike down.
Shinji raised his blade to block.
[Bone Soul Change] fully activated, layer upon layer of bone shields forming above his head.
But the moment they touched, the bone shields shattered like paper, layer by layer.
That overwhelming, irresistible force traveled down the blade. Shinji's legs sank into the ground up to his knees in an instant. The air in his chest was forcibly expelled.
"Too weak!" Tsuchigumo looked down, its massive bone mask close to Shinji's face. The green eye slits were full of disappointment and cruelty.
"Brat, is this the extent of your capacity?"
"A waste who can't even breathe in the atmosphere, you dare stand before me?"
It increased its force, while its legs kept moving.
Crack.
Shinji heard the sound of Kikyō's arrows, the bowstring's draw also carried urgency and worry. He also heard the sound of his own arm bones cracking.
Death.
He was truly going to die.
This great spider wasn't joking. It truly intended to crush him like an ant.
The breath of death washed over him.
Thick, foul, yet… extremely familiar.
Shinji looked up. His crimson demon eyes held no fear. He had already died once, how could he fear death?
In that instant, he suddenly understood, suddenly realized.
In this desperate situation, under this limitless pressure,
He had touched his own "opportunity."
Deep in his chest, something seemed to be loosening.
Not bones. Not wounds.
Something deeper.
That film, thin as a cicada's wing, which he had deliberately preserved for so long, had cracked under extreme pressure.
Yes.
The threshold of materialization, where he had long reached the absolute critical point, had split open on its own in that instant.
Spirit-Seeking Bow Arm Change trembled. The power from the fusion of the cat demon's paw and Bow Arm Change was overflowing, like a bag stuffed too full, finally bursting at the bottom.
Lightning-Muscle Sharp Body roared. The lightning from the fusion of thunder horn and Sharp Body Change was spreading along his bones, no longer content to remain only between muscle and skin.
Bone Soul Change grew. The bone-manipulation ability from the fusion of Hiraikotsu was no longer confined to the body, but extending outward, spreading.
Three transformations at their limit, all burst at once.
Not because he pushed them.
The battle itself had become that final straw.
The trigger of approaching death!
Tsuchigumo's demonic aura pressure, the erosion of its etherealization domain, the crushing of its physical combat, pressure from all directions, exceeding his tolerance limit, had finally shattered that film from the outside.
Like the pressure of the deep sea crushing a bottle from the outside.
This was the opportunity he had waited for so long.
Not to break through in quiet meditation, but on the battlefield, between life and death, under extreme pressure, letting his body choose its own path of evolution.
Such a materialization would not be gentle.
It would be violent.
It would be chain-reaction… leaping and surging!
The Seventh Transformation.
Crack, crack, crack.
The sound of bones breaking.
All two hundred and six bones in his body cracked in a spiderweb pattern simultaneously, from skull to toes, from spine to knuckles. Every bone was like porcelain cracking from within.
Then, regeneration.
What seeped from the cracks was not bone marrow, but lightning.
Purple arcs poured from between the bones, filling the cracks, linking the previously separate Lightning-Muscle Sharp Body and Bone Soul Change at their most fundamental level.
Lightning no longer flowed only between muscle and skin.
It had seeped into the marrow.
Into the bone itself.
Inside each newly healed bone, a layer of purple patterns appeared, like a vein embedded into rock no, like the vein itself becoming part of the rock.
Bone is lightning, lightning is bone.
The limit of the Sixth Transformation was six separate bags, each containing its own. Overloading was stuffing the six bags into six mountains, using quantity to challenge quality.
Now, the boundaries between mountains collapsed.
No longer six bags.
But a torrential flood bursting its levees, merging into a single sea.
This was materialization
Physical transformation changes usage. Materialization changes existence.
And the first answer to "existence" was that his fundamental attributes were being rewritten.
Demonic aura concentration surged.
The demonic power originally contained within the six transformations, operating separately, merged when the three overloaded transformations burst simultaneously. The total didn't increase, but the density suddenly rose, like scattered sparks compressed into a single ball of burning lava.
The speed that required full explosion before materialization to achieve was now normal at every breath, this was the nature of materialization: eternal, constant transformation.
The lightning that required conscious activation before materialization now moved at will, without going through steps of mobilization, guidance, and release.
This was Shinji's Seventh Transformation…
Reforging.
Breaking down everything he had, merging it, re-condensing at a higher density.
Not gaining new abilities, but making existing abilities go from "can be used" to "are himself."
His outward appearance didn't change.
But his legs, pressed into the ground up to his knees, at this moment, held.
Tsuchigumo's palm pressure remained, that overwhelming force still traveling down the blade. But the force coming down no longer made him sink further.
Purple arcs climbed from his knees up his leg bones, through his spine, to his arms holding Muramasa. His entire skeleton, like an electrified metal frame, suddenly became more rigid.
Not that his strength had increased.
But that the container bearing the strength had become harder.
But it didn't stop there!
The threshold of the Seventh Transformation was only cracked at one corner. The changes released by the overloaded "quantity" were far more than just one.
The Eighth Transformation.
If Shinji's Seventh Transformation was an inward reforging, then the Eighth Transformation was an outward overflow.
Demonic aura began to seep from his body.
Not the active release of before in battle, blood mist, lightning, bone spurs, all outputs he commanded his body to make.
This time was different.
Demonic aura seeped from the pores of his skin, from the gaps between his bones, through the walls of his blood vessels, spreading outward.
Uncontrolled.
Or rather, not needing control.
Because the demonic aura had become too much for his body to contain.
The Seventh Transformation reforged the interior, compressed the density, but the aftereffect of the compression itself needed an outlet.
The body was a finite container, and the materialized demonic aura concentration had exceeded the container's upper limit.
The excess could only go outward.
Bone Soul Change was the first to respond to this overflow.
Bones that could previously only be manipulated inside the body, extending, growing, reconstructing, then emerging outside, changed.
Bones grew beneath Shinji's feet. Also emerged from the ground.
And, no longer needing the support and active response of the land, even after separating from the bones linked to him, they could still grow at his will, blooming like flowers.
Simultaneously, the demonic aura seeping from his body did not scatter without order, the Undead Affinity of Spirit-Seeking Bow Arm Change was guiding them.
That demonic aura, carrying Shinji's will, formed a thin membrane half an inch above his skin.
A membrane of perception.
Before materialization, Soul-Seeking·Inevitable Hand required deliberate locking onto a target, required process.
Now, that thin membrane of demonic aura shortened the locking process to nearly instinct, any living thing entering its range would have its soul's position automatically marked.
This meant that any attack, before reaching him, would be instantly intercepted and blocked.
Thus.
The perception of Spirit-Seeking Bow Arm Change overflowed outward, the physical extension of Bone Soul Change extended outward, and the arcs of Lightning-Muscle Sharp Body jumped and connected between them.
Thus.
The three overloaded transformations were no longer just individually stuffed into their pockets and squeezed together. They began to spontaneously cross, overlap, and weave outside his body.
This was the essence of the Eighth Transformation: overflow.
Demonic aura broke through the body's boundaries, beginning to use the body as a center to build a second layer of existence.
The boundary between inside and outside blurred.
The concept of "body" itself began to expand outward.
The Seventh Transformation turned his interior from six bags into a river.
The Eighth Transformation let that river overflow its banks.
Then, beyond that, the Ninth Transformation,
Building a new riverbed beyond the banks.
The three transformations' cross-overlap outside the body, at this moment, found their shape.
Bone Soul Change provided the framework.
Those bone structures extending from his shoulders, elbows, and spine were no longer scattered spikes, they began to connect.
Lateral bone bridges grew between the bone spurs. Bone beams rose over the bridges. Bone walls layered from the beams.
A complete skeletal structure rose outside his body.
From foot to knee, from knee to hip, from hip to shoulder, from shoulder to skull.
The white skeleton was like a growing tower.
Lightning-Muscle Sharp Body filled the framework. Purple lightning poured between the bones, not arcs attached to the surface, but filling the gaps between the bones, condensing into substance.
Lightning and bone meshed. Each lightning strand connected to multiple bones, contracting to move the framework, like true muscles and tendons.
Bone as frame, lightning as flesh.
A complete second body, built outside his own.
Six meters tall.
The perception membrane of Spirit-Seeking Bow Arm Change wrapped the outermost layer, becoming the skin of this body, not providing defense, but giving this six-meter-tall existence perception synchronized with his original body.
What the original saw, it saw.
What the original felt, it felt.
And vice versa.
This was a projection.
An amplification.
Projecting his own power onto a larger scale.
The Ninth Transformation, after the Seventh's reforging and the Eighth's overflow, creating another self outside himself.
Gathering lightning to form bone, merging into...
Shura Transformation.
Boom!
A colossal figure rose from the ground.
Six meters tall.
Not too large.
Almost laughable compared to Tsuchigumo's twelve-meter body.
But on that six-meter bone-lightning body, the concentration of demonic aura was no longer comparable to ordinary demons.
Shinji's original body stood at the core of this bone-lightning giant, looking up at the grey-white giant still twice his height.
Seeing this, Kikyō stopped her continuous arrows that had been keeping Tsuchigumo from fully suppressing Shinji. She let out a slight breath of relief.
She had few arrows left.
She had known Shinji was about to break through, but if he had remained still much longer, she might have had to engage in close combat herself.
Behind the gaps in Tsuchigumo's bone mask, the green light suddenly blazed.
"Oh?"
All six arms stopped moving.
It looked down at that brat it had just kicked away.
At that outer skeleton woven from bone and lightning.
Then it laughed.
Louder, wilder.
"Good! Excellent! You're qualified!"
"Come on, brat!"
"Let me see, how hard that new shell of yours is!"