Chapter 24: A Pincer of Malice
Kamaitachi.
Before his transmigration, Hikaru had read his fair share of information about yokai. In the old legends, the Kamaitachi was a creature that acted in a trio: the first would trip a person, the second would slash them with its claws, and the third would apply a salve to the wound, all happening in the blink of an eye.
But that was just folklore.
The reality was far more terrifying.
Because its essence… was not a weasel.
It was wind. Wind, solidified and given physical form.
Hikaru's gaze tracked the shadow pressing down from the edge of the sky, his pupils constricting to pinpricks. The creature's size was staggering, its body towering at least thirty feet high. It was slender, like the weasel of its namesake, but the ends of its limbs were wickedly sharp claws, curved like sickles. Its entire body was a deathly grey-white, its fur gleaming with a cold, metallic light under the moon.
The most bizarre feature, however, was its eyes.
There were no eyeballs.
Only two hollow sockets, from which whistled swirling, chaotic air currents.
That was the color of wind. The color of nothingness.
"Qualitative Transformation…" Hikaru muttered, the words tasting like ash.
Physical Transformation was the first stage, a mutation of the body's structure. Qualitative Transformation was the second, a fundamental change in mass and volume. The essence of this stage wasn't as simple as just "getting bigger." It was an increase or decrease in mass, a shift in density. It was the complete reshaping of one's own existence.
For an ordinary demon to reach this level, it required a long, bloody period of accumulation. After completing their Physical Transformation, they had to continue devouring their own kind, using the lives of countless lesser yokai to build up their own "quality."
But the Kamaitachi was different.
Its starting point was not a biological entity. It was wind. Formless, intangible wind, which had slowly increased its density by absorbing the Yao Qi between heaven and earth.
From formless to formed. From nothingness to substance.
This process, in and of itself, was a Qualitative Transformation. In other words, the Kamaitachi before him was destined from the moment of its birth to become an existence at that terrifying tier.
It was a true high-level demon.
The Kamaitachi let out a sharp, piercing howl. The sound wasn't the roar of a beast; it was the wail of a gale tearing through a narrow canyon—a shriek so sharp it felt as if countless blades were grinding against his eardrums.
Then, it moved.
With a single flap of its wings, a hurricane came howling toward them.
The force slammed into Hikaru like a physical wall, sending him skidding backward. The blue flagstones beneath his feet cracked and shattered under the pressure. And that was just the aftershock.
He gritted his teeth, driving Muramasa's tip into the ground to anchor himself, barely managing to hold his stance. The swarm of bats that had surrounded them was instantly scattered by the gale, many of them torn directly into bloody shreds of flesh and fur.
The Kamaitachi didn't even spare them a glance.
From the very beginning, its gaze had been locked on a single direction.
The Shikon Jewel.
'It's here for the jewel…' Hikaru's heart sank.
This was the true threat of the full moon night. Not the small-fry yokai, not the thousands of bats. It was this Kamaitachi—a monster at the level of Qualitative Transformation, drawn by the corrupting Yao Qi radiating from the Shikon Jewel.
No wonder Naohi had tried to warn him. No wonder it had said the real threat had yet to arrive.
Just as Hikaru was about to shout a warning to Kikyo, he suddenly sensed an unusual fluctuation from behind him. It pulsed from the direction of the Shikon Jewel.
Something was wrong. Terribly wrong.
He whipped his head around.
He saw the sacred jewel, suspended in mid-air, begin to shake violently. The black aura, which had been suppressed by the pure white light, suddenly surged. It gushed outward like a viper breaking free from its chains.
"Hiss—"
A jet-black current of energy darted out from the jewel. The current possessed a vague, humanoid outline, but it had no distinct facial features—only a twisted, hideous amalgamation of countless faces, all superimposed upon one another.
That was Magatsuhi.
The collection of all evil thoughts and wills sealed within the Shikon Jewel. The combined resentment of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of high-level yokai who had died fighting for it.
It was escaping.
"Damn it!"
In that instant, Hikaru understood the meaning of Naohi's final warning.
'Beware of me.'
It wasn't talking about Naohi itself. It was talking about Magatsuhi.
The Shikon Jewel was two sides of the same coin; Naohi and Magatsuhi coexisted within a single vessel. Naohi suppressed Magatsuhi, but Magatsuhi was always waiting for an opportunity to turn the tables.
The night of the full moon, when the yin energy of the world was at its absolute peak, was the moment Magatsuhi was at its strongest. Combined with the arrival of the Kamaitachi… the sheer volume of Yao Qi carried by that Qualitative Transformation-level demon was enough to grant Magatsuhi a degree of liberation.
This was the opportunity it had been waiting for.
Taking advantage of the Kamaitachi drawing everyone's attention, taking advantage of Kikyo being forced to split her focus to deal with the external enemy… it was making its move.
[Shikon Jewel: Naohi: Cannot be conquered.]
[Warning: Magatsuhi is separating from the main body of the Shikon Jewel!]
[If Magatsuhi successfully escapes, it will become an independent yokai entity!]
[Danger Level: Extremely High!]
The system panel flashed with frantic warnings. Hikaru watched as the black current grew larger and more substantial, a single thought searing through his mind.
He had to stop it.
But just as he prepared to move, the Kamaitachi's second attack arrived. This time, it wasn't just flapping its wings.
It charged.
Its thirty-foot-tall body blurred into a grey-white afterimage, moving so fast it was nearly impossible for the naked eye to track. Wherever it passed, the ground was plowed into a deep, raw trench.
Hikaru had no time to think. His body reacted before his consciousness could catch up.
He raised his sword to parry.
"CLANG—!"
A deafening shriek of metal on claw exploded through the shrine. Hikaru's arms went instantly numb, and he was sent flying backward like a kite with a snapped string.
He crashed through one of the shrine's thick wooden pillars, then a second. Finally, he slammed into the solid stone wall at the back of the compound, the impact leaving a human-shaped crater in the rock.
"Cough…"
He slid down from the wall, a trickle of black blood spilling from the corner of his mouth. His internal organs were bruised and battered. Although his undead body was already recovering at a visible rate, the damage healed in mere seconds, he knew this was only a single, casual strike.
The Kamaitachi clearly hadn't used its full strength. Its target was the Shikon Jewel, not him. He was just an ant blocking its path.
Hikaru propped himself up with his sword and looked toward the battlefield. The giant beast had already bypassed him, charging directly toward Kikyo and the jewel.
And the aura of Magatsuhi was growing thicker, more malevolent. The black, humanoid figure had now completely separated from the jewel. It hovered in mid-air, emitting a strange, hissing laughter that was a chorus of discordant voices.
"Finally… I have finally waited for this moment…"
Countless faces spoke at once, their voices overlapping and uneven, a sound that made one's scalp tingle.
"Five hundred years… I have waited for five hundred years…"
"This time, no one can stop me!"
Hikaru's hand tightened on the hilt of his sword, the blood that had just resumed its flow now boiling in his veins.
Magatsuhi. Kamaitachi.
A pincer attack. This was the true crisis of the night.
And Kikyo—
He turned his head to look at the figure in white robes and red hakama. She was still standing her ground, not retreating a single step. Her hands were woven into a complex seal, pure spiritual power circulating around her body like a protective shroud.
But Hikaru could see the strain. A fine tremor ran through her hands as she maintained the seal, her spiritual power a flickering bastion against two overwhelming tides. To deal with both Magatsuhi and the Kamaitachi at the same time was an impossible task for anyone.
Even for the strongest miko of the Sengoku Period.
The system panel suddenly flashed with a new notification.
[Shikon Jewel: Naohi: It is struggling to convey a message, but Magatsuhi's suppression makes it unable to speak.]
[It only left behind one word—]
['Believe.']
Hikaru stared at the word.
Believe?
Believe in whom? Believe in what?
He had no time to ponder it.
Because the Kamaitachi had already reached Kikyo.
Whether it was to continue increasing his favorability with the Shikon Jewel, or for some other reason entirely, he knew he could not just stand by and watch.
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