Three days.
Not long, not short.
But for Kōbe Hikaru, it was exactly right.
Day one.
He followed the big man — the young leader of the demon-slaying village, who went by the name Deba — on a full tour of the village.
The demon-slaying village was larger than he'd imagined.
The area enclosed by the wooden palisade was easily three or four times the size of an ordinary village. Inside were residential quarters, an armory, a training ground, and a workshop dedicated to processing demon remains.
The smell coming from that workshop was intense.
Kōbe Hikaru paused at the doorway and glanced in. Several demon-slayers were in the process of dismantling a wolf-demon's skeleton, preparing to forge it into new weapons.
"This is our oldest trade," Deba said, thumping his chest with pride. "Kill the demons, use the demons, fight demons with demons."
Kōbe Hikaru nodded.
He thought of Hiraikotsu. That thing had been forged from the bones of over a hundred demons — indestructible, with a returning flight and a demon-breaking effect built right in. Extremely useful.
Day two, the demon-slayers' attitude toward Kōbe Hikaru began to shift.
At first they hadn't been outright hostile, and they'd been willing enough to show him around, but there was no mistaking the wariness — even the deliberate distance. After all, he was a demon, and his demon-qi was the kind you couldn't suppress no matter how hard you tried.
But then they watched Kōbe Hikaru help haul the heavy demon-bone materials — picking up loads that took three grown men to lift, not even breaking a sweat.
Their attitude changed.
"That gentleman's got some strength on him."
"He's a demon, sure, but he doesn't seem like a bad one."
"Didn't I hear he's Lady Kikyō's shikigami? Then he's definitely alright."
Kōbe Hikaru heaved a massive demon bone into the materials pile and dusted off his hands.
"Anything else?"
"Plenty more!" Deba said eagerly, pointing to the other side of the yard.
There was another batch waiting to be moved over there.
And so, Kōbe Hikaru became the demon-slaying village's free labor.
By day three, he was on familiar terms with most of the village.
A few of the younger demon-slayers had even started calling him "Brother Hikaru." Kōbe Hikaru found it a little odd, but let it slide. That wasn't why he was here anyway.
He was here for Hiraikotsu.
Every day for those three days, he carved out time to go attend to the great artifact sitting in the demon-slaying village's storehouse.
Wiping it down. Maintaining it.
Talking to it.
He even brought it outside to sit in the sun.
All of that went more smoothly now that he'd earned some trust.
"You're made of bone — basking in sunlight ought to feel nice, right?"
He leaned Hiraikotsu against the courtyard wall so the light fell evenly across its yellowed bone surface.
[Hiraikotsu: Affection +3]
[Current Affection: 32 (Favorable)]
[It thinks that was actually a rather considerate idea of yours, even if it has no idea whether sunbathing actually does anything for it.]
Good enough.
Kōbe Hikaru nodded, satisfied.
The first morning, the affection had climbed to 15. By the afternoon, it had broken through 30. The speed was far beyond what he'd expected.
The reason was simple enough.
Because Kōbe Hikaru had brought it home.
It might have acted indifferent, but the thing desperately missed home. Every artifact had something like that — a soft spot, a pressure point. Hit it, and the affection would shoot up. Miss it, and you'd be grinding away slowly for a long time.
In the meantime.
[Hiraikotsu Affection breaks through 30 — first talent unlocked.]
[First Talent: Bone Hardening]
[Effect: For a short duration, you can dramatically increase the hardness of your own skeleton. Duration depends on demon-qi expenditure.]
Bone Hardening.
Kōbe Hikaru read the description on the panel and turned it over in his mind.
A defensive ability — hardening the bones meant greatly improved resistance to blows. Combined with his existing Shield-Bone Mutation, his defense could reach a whole new level.
But clearly this wasn't the real prize.
He pushed the affection farming into a higher gear.
By the second afternoon, the affection had cracked 50.
[Congratulations — Hiraikotsu Affection breaks through 50. Second talent unlocked.]
[Second Talent: Bone Proliferation]
[Effect: For a short duration, you can cause your own bones to multiply and grow. The speed and volume of growth depend on demon-qi expenditure.]
Bone Proliferation.
An offensive ability. Growing bones meant you could sprout bone spikes, bone blades, and the like from inside your own body.
It reminded him a bit of the Kaguya Clan from another series he knew — Naruto.
Kōbe Hikaru's eyes lit up.
Third day, evening. A few hours before the duel was set to begin.
He found a deserted corner, set Hiraikotsu down on the ground, and began the final push.
"You've been in the demon-slaying village for over a hundred years, haven't you?" he asked.
[Hiraikotsu nodded — though it had no head to nod with.]
"Then you must have seen many demon-slayers."
[Hiraikotsu confirmed: yes. Over a dozen generations now.]
"Were they all good to you?"
[Hiraikotsu was quiet for a moment.]
[It told you: it varied. Some treated it as a tool. Some treated it as a partner.]
[Its last wielder was the latter.]
Kōbe Hikaru didn't respond right away.
He just reached out and ran his hand slowly along that smooth bone surface.
"If I get the chance," Kōbe Hikaru said, "I'll tell your story to his grandchildren."
"When they've grown up. When they're strong enough to lift you."
[Hiraikotsu: Affection +5]
[Current Affection: 82]
[It's... it's a little moved.]
Keep going.
Kōbe Hikaru drew a slow breath.
And then he began to tell his story.
He told it about crossing over into this world, about how he had gone from a corpse to a ghost warrior, about every step of the road that had led him here.
Hiraikotsu didn't speak.
But the affection kept climbing.
The moon rose.
Kōbe Hikaru looked at the number on the panel.
[Current Affection: 97]
Just three points short.
He thought for a moment, then reached into his robe and pulled out the comb — Sakagami Ketsura's true form.
"Look — this is a demon I subdued recently," he said, setting the comb down beside Hiraikotsu.
"Going forward, you two will be colleagues."
[Sakagami Ketsura filed an immediate objection. It absolutely refused to be colleagues with a pile of bones.]
[Hiraikotsu: It glanced at the comb.]
[It informed you that the comb's demon-qi is rather impure. It could use a cleansing.]
[Sakagami Ketsura grew even angrier.]
Kōbe Hikaru laughed.
[Hiraikotsu: Affection +3]
[Current Affection: 100 (Perfect)]
[Congratulations — you have unlocked all bonds with Hiraikotsu.]
[Special Ability Unlocked: Bone Soul]
[Effect: A fusion of Bone Hardening and Bone Proliferation. You can freely control the hardness, shape, and growth direction of your own skeleton — and command it to move. Your bones can grow and protrude from any point inside your body, and can be freely sculpted outside of it.]
[Hiraikotsu conveys a final message: "You're a good person — even if you aren't a person."]
["Now, let me lend you my strength."]
Kōbe Hikaru looked at the great bone boomerang.
It began to glow.
A pale yellow-white radiance seeped from the bone surface, crawled up along his arm, and prepared to sink into his skin —
And then.
It stopped.
[Fusion Failed]
The light lingered at the surface of his skin for a few seconds.
Then it slowly withdrew, retreating back into Hiraikotsu.
[Hiraikotsu is confused. What happened? My power — it can't get in?]
Kōbe Hikaru looked at the warning on the panel.
His expression didn't flicker.
He'd expected this. He'd expected it a long time ago.
The ability gained from Hiraikotsu was, without question, a structural change to the body — not a change in fundamental nature. It belonged to Physical Transformation, not Corporeal Sublimation.
And in the domain of Physical Transformation, six mutations was the absolute limit.
He had known this three months ago.
Six mutations corresponded to the six limbs a living body could independently control.
And each of his six mutations corresponded to one part of the body.
Adding a seventh was theoretically impossible.
In a way, this was also why he'd only ever had six abilities, even now. Not because he'd only cultivated bonds with six artifacts — but because six was his limit. Not the system's.
But —
"Who says one mutation can only hold one ability?"
Kōbe Hikaru wasn't rattled in the slightest. He'd genuinely thought this through long ago.
Six mutations was the ceiling — but what each mutation contained wasn't fixed.
Like a person's two hands, which can have ten fingers. One hand, with five fingers, can make countless gestures.
A single mutation could also hold more than one ability.
On one condition — those abilities had to be the same type.
And as it happened, one of his existing mutations was already about bone.
— Shield-Bone Mutation.
It was the ability he'd gained with his fifth mutation: hardening the skeleton to form a natural shield.
And what had Hiraikotsu brought him?
Hardening. Proliferation. And Soul.
All of it bone-related.
All of it the same type.
"Then let's just fuse them directly."
Kōbe Hikaru closed his eyes.
Fusion wasn't addition. It was multiplication.
It was taking the new abilities and folding them into the existing mutation.
The pale yellow-white light surged again.
This time, it didn't try to carve out a new channel.
Instead, it followed the pathways already present inside Kōbe Hikaru's body, found the route that belonged to Shield-Bone Mutation —
And then.
Merged in. Layered on.
And sublimated.
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