Truth be told, Kōbe Hikaru had no real desire to save the shrine maiden Tsubaki.
Who was Tsubaki? In the original story, she was the dark shrine maiden — a villain who had fallen from grace out of jealousy toward Kikyō.
Letting her die here might not be such a bad thing. One less headache waiting for him down the road.
But even if he didn't want to save her, Kikyō would never stand by and watch.
And on top of that —
[The Shikon Jewel — Naohi indicates it finds this smell deeply unpleasant, and requests that you deal with it.]
That was more than enough to get Kōbe Hikaru moving.
· ·
A Sacred Arrow launched from the top of the watchtower.
The white blaze tore through the night sky — brighter than moonlight — and crossed several hundred meters in an instant, driving straight through the creature's chest.
Flesh exploded. The upper body was ripped apart.
Tsubaki was splattered with warm liquid from head to toe. She didn't even have the presence of mind to feel disgusted — she simply stared, dazed, at the white-robed, red-hakama figure in the distance.
Kikyō.
She had come.
At last — Tsubaki's legs nearly buckled beneath her. She almost fell to her knees.
But her relief lasted only a single heartbeat.
Perhaps because Tsubaki was too close — Kikyō had deliberately held back to avoid catching her in the blast. Or perhaps for some other reason entirely. Either way, the creature did not die.
"Heheheh…"
Laughter drifted out from that ruined mass of flesh.
The shredded chest was knitting itself back together at a speed visible to the naked eye — flesh crawling, bones reforming, skin sealing over the wounds.
Less than three breaths.
The creature was restored to exactly what it had been. And if anything, it looked even more grotesque than before.
Tsubaki's terror surged back.
In the distance, even Kikyō faltered for just a moment — a flicker of surprise crossing her face.
"A Sacred Arrow… it hurts… but it's useless against me… I'm nothing so lowly as a common demon…"
It licked its lips, crimson pupils fixed on Kikyō's distant figure.
"That woman's blood… must smell so much sweeter…"
"But first — I'll eat you!"
"—!?"
A Sacred Arrow could shatter it in an instant, yet it seemed unable to suppress the creature's near-unkillable regeneration. It wasn't all that powerful, and yet — this thing could not be held down by Sacred Arrows. It was no demon.
And it was equally clear that purely physical damage alone was not enough for a single strike from Kikyō to finish it.
The words left its mouth —
And it lunged at Tsubaki again. Faster than before.
Tsubaki's pupils shrank to points.
This time, she couldn't move at all. The fear had crushed her will completely.
In the distance, Kikyō drew and nocked another arrow with blinding speed — barely a tenth of a second to reload — yet even she seemed as though she might not make it in time.
Because the distance was too great.
And because, as it turned out, it wasn't necessary.
"Clang!"
The sharp ring of steel on steel split the air.
A grey shadow appeared in front of Tsubaki. Muramasa swept up in a cross-block, intercepting the creature's claws.
It was Kōbe Hikaru.
He was slower than Kikyō's arrow, but not by so much that it mattered — crossing several hundred meters in under ten seconds was no great difficulty for him. He had already closed the distance, his blade meeting the creature's talons with a shower of sparks.
"Get out of my way——!"
The creature roared, its other claw raking toward Kōbe Hikaru's throat.
Kōbe Hikaru didn't dodge.
He didn't need to.
Because the instant those claws touched his skin —
Crack. Crack. Crack.
A white bone spike burst from the hand gripping Muramasa and drove straight into the creature's palm.
"AAAGH——!"
The creature screamed and lurched back, its palm skewered clean through by the spike, black blood spraying in a gush.
Tsubaki stood frozen.
She saw it — the grey-clad figure was changing. Something was moving beneath his skin, writhing like countless pale serpents coiling under the surface.
It was bone. Growing.
From his arms. From his shoulders. From his back.
One after another.
White. Sharp. Gleaming with a cold and eerie light in the moonlight.
And the spikes kept changing — bending, branching, weaving together into a dense lattice of complex patterns. Like a design. Like a flower in full bloom.
"This is…"
Tsubaki's voice was trembling.
She had never seen anything like this. The bone spikes continued to grow, erupting from every part of Kōbe Hikaru's body and forming an enormous garden of bone.
White bones like a forest, standing in grim silence.
Sealing the creature completely on the other side.
"Snap!"
In the same instant — a second arrow.
Kikyō's second Sacred Arrow came streaking in, threading through the gaps between the bone spikes and striking the creature's chest once more.
This time, the creature was blasted off its feet, crashing through three large trees before it came to a stop.
But it still didn't die. It was already regenerating.
And it truly seemed to be no demon — immune to the purifying suppression of Sacred Arrows.
"Damn you…"
It dragged itself upright, the wounds covering its body sealing over before one's very eyes.
"All of you — you all have to die——!"
It charged again.
This time it ignored Tsubaki entirely, making straight for Kōbe Hikaru — evidently deciding that the figure bristling with bone spikes was the greater threat.
The corner of Kōbe Hikaru's mouth curved up.
This was exactly what he had been waiting for.
"Come then."
He said it quietly.
And then —
The bone spikes began to retract.
Not vanishing — reshaping. Pulling back in and layering themselves over his body.
Forming a new kind of armor.
White. Bone. Armor — laid over the demon-qi armor already covering him.
Red and white, entwined.
Demon-qi and Bone Soul, fused as one.
In that instant, Kōbe Hikaru's presence shifted.
It grew more savage. More overwhelming.
His demon mask changed too — white bone-veins bloomed across what had been pure crimson, etching themselves into the surface.
Like the face of a true god of slaughter.
Tsubaki watched. She wasn't merely stunned anymore — she had gone rigid.
This was no demon.
This was —
"A demon-god…"
She breathed the words.
The moonlight poured down, and Kōbe Hikaru stood amid that garden of white bone, his red-and-white interlaced armor shimmering with an uncanny radiance beneath the night sky.
As the old saying goes — when something defies all reason, there must be something monstrous behind it.
Through the cracks between the bone-veins on his crimson mask, those eyes stared coldly at the charging creature.
That gaze was distant. Detached.
In that moment, Tsubaki understood.
Why Kikyō would travel with a demon.
Why that demon dared to call itself her shikigami.
Because —
This existence was worthy of it.
…
Kōbe Hikaru took stock of the new layer of armor covering his body.
The Bone Soul Mutation was, as expected, remarkably useful.
The bone armor didn't just boost his defenses — it made his offensive options far more varied.
He could grow bone spikes from any part of his body. He could change their shape at will. He could form a full bone barrier in an instant.
It really was just like Kaguya Kimimaro from Naruto — that ninja who could manipulate his own skeletal structure.
His fighting style had been elegant and lethal. Like a dance.
Right now, Kōbe Hikaru felt that he could give it a try himself.
"Then let me —"
Kōbe Hikaru tightened his grip on Muramasa. "Show you what it means —"
"— to dance with bone."
He lunged forward. Bone spikes drilled out from the soles of his feet, launching him like a spring-loaded bolt.
His speed more than doubled in an instant.
The creature's claws swept in.
Kōbe Hikaru twisted aside, and in the same motion a bone blade burst from his elbow and sliced across the creature's wrist.
Black blood scattered through the air.
The creature screamed. Its other claw swiped in.
Kōbe Hikaru bent backward. Two bone spikes punched out from his back to prop him up, then he spun — both legs sweeping out in a wide arc.
His leg bones thickened and hardened in that same instant — like two iron clubs.
"Boom!"
The creature was swept off its feet and slammed into a tree, but it clambered up immediately, wounds already beginning to close.
Kōbe Hikaru gave it no room to breathe.
He was already on top of it, Muramasa and bone blade both swinging at once — one sword, one spike, crossing in a scissor-cut.
The creature's left arm was severed. Its right shoulder was skewered by the bone blade.
"AHHH——!"
It howled wildly and lunged forward, jaws gaping wide, snapping toward Kōbe Hikaru's face.
Kōbe Hikaru took a single step back.
And then from his chest, a massive bone spike punched outward.
It drove straight up through the creature's lower jaw.
Pinning it to the ground.
"Ngggh——!"
The creature's roar died in its throat.
It was pinned. It couldn't move.
And Kōbe Hikaru simply stood there.
Crimson demon armor. White bone plate.
In the moonlight, that figure looked like an asura who had stepped out of the depths of hell.
Tsubaki stared at the scene.
Only one thought remained in her mind.
This man — this demon, this ghost warrior —
What kind of monster was he?
Too strong.
Too — she wanted to make him hers.
translator's note: Just dropping by to ask if anyone is still reading this story. If no one is reading it, I'm going to stop it to start another one. Let me know in the comments if you are reading it.
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