Chapter 58: Tsubaki's Astonishment
To be perfectly honest, Kobe Hikaru had no real desire to save the priestess Tsubaki.
Who was Tsubaki? She was the dark priestess from the original story, a villain who would eventually fall from grace, consumed by her jealousy of Kikyo. Letting her die here might even be a good thing—one less problem to deal with in the future.
However, while he felt no obligation to save her, he knew Kikyo would never stand by and watch another priestess be slaughtered.
And besides...
[The Naohi of the Shikon Jewel expresses its disgust for this scent and hopes you can deal with it.]
That was more than enough to get Hikaru moving.
...
A Sacred Arrow blazed from the top of the watchtower.
The shaft of pure white light tore through the night, outshining the moon as it streaked across hundreds of meters to slam directly into the monster's chest. Flesh and blood vaporized in a violent explosion, tearing its entire upper body apart.
A spray of warm, viscous liquid splattered across Tsubaki. She was too shocked to even register the disgust, her eyes fixed on the distant figure in white robes and red hakama.
Kikyo.
She had come.
Finally... Tsubaki's legs gave out, a wave of relief so deep it nearly sent her kneeling into the mud. But that relief lasted only for a fleeting moment.
Perhaps Kikyo had deliberately held back, worried that the blast might catch Tsubaki in its radius. Or perhaps it was for some other reason entirely. Whatever the cause, the monster wasn't dead.
"Hehehe..."
A wet, gurgling laugh echoed from the mangled remains.
The shredded cavity in its chest was healing at a rate visible to the naked eye. Sinews writhed and knitted themselves together, shattered bones regenerated, and new skin crawled over the raw flesh.
In the space of three short breaths, the monster had returned to its original state—and it looked even more ferocious than before.
Horror seized Tsubaki once more.
In the distance, Kikyo also paused, a flicker of surprise crossing her features.
"Spiritual arrows... they hurt... but they're useless against me..." the creature rasped, licking its lips as its crimson pupils locked onto Kikyo. "That woman's blood must be even more delicious..."
Its gaze snapped back to Tsubaki. "But before that, I'll eat you first!"
"!"
The Sacred Arrow, while powerful enough to instantly obliterate its body, seemed incapable of suppressing its near-immortal regeneration. It was clear this thing wasn't a typical yokai. The purifying power of the arrow held no special advantage against it. And with a single physical strike, even Kikyo couldn't eliminate it from such a distance.
The moment its words fell, it lunged toward Tsubaki again, moving with even greater speed than before.
Tsubaki's pupils contracted to pinpricks. This time, she couldn't even flinch. The sheer terror had paralyzed her, locking her limbs and suppressing her will to move.
Far away, Kikyo drew her bow and nocked another arrow, her movements a blur of practiced grace. She could swap shafts in less than a tenth of a second, yet it was clear she wouldn't make it in time.
The distance was too great.
And, as it turned out, her intervention wasn't needed.
Clang!
The piercing shriek of metal on metal rang through the clearing.
A gray-clad figure materialized before Tsubaki, Muramasa held horizontally to block the monster's razor-sharp claws.
It was Kobe Hikaru.
His speed was a fraction slower than Kikyo's arrow, but not by much; crossing several hundred meters in ten seconds was no difficult feat for him. He had already rushed to the scene, his blade meeting the monster's claws in a shower of brilliant sparks.
"Get out of the way—!" the monster roared, its other claw swiping toward Hikaru's neck.
Hikaru didn't dodge.
He didn't need to.
The instant those sharp claws made contact with his skin—
Crack, crack, crack!
A pristine white bone spur erupted from the back of the hand gripping his sword, stabbing directly through the monster's descending palm.
"Aaargh—!"
The monster shrieked and recoiled, its hand impaled clean through. Black blood gushed from the wound as it scrambled back.
Tsubaki was stunned. She watched, wide-eyed, as the figure in grey began to transform.
Something was surging beneath his skin, like countless tiny snakes writhing just under the surface. It was the growth of pale, white bone. They burst forth from his arms, his shoulders, and his back, one after another. White and lethally sharp, they shimmered with a cold, cruel light under the moon.
These bone spurs were still changing—bending, branching, and intertwining to form complex, almost floral patterns. They looked less like weapons and more like a grotesque garden of death in full bloom.
"This is..." Tsubaki's voice trembled.
She had never witnessed such a sight. The spurs continued to grow, erupting from all over Hikaru's body until they formed a massive, dense thicket of bone. The forest of white spikes stood like a grim palisade, completely walling the monster out.
Twang!
At that exact moment, another arrow arrived.
Kikyo's second Sacred Arrow flew true, threading the narrow gaps between the bone spurs to strike the monster's chest once more. This time, the impact sent the creature flying backward, smashing through three large trees before it finally skidded to a halt.
Yet it still wasn't dead. Its wounds were already beginning to close. It truly wasn't a yokai; the Sacred Arrows dealt immense physical damage, but their purifying properties had no special effect.
"Damn it..." the monster snarled, scrambling up from the ground. "You all... must die—!"
It pounced again. This time, it ignored Tsubaki completely and charged straight for Hikaru, having seemingly sensed that this bone-covered individual was the greatest threat.
A faint smile touched the corners of Hikaru's mouth.
This was exactly what he was waiting for.
"Come," he whispered.
And then—the forest of bone spurs began to retract. They didn't disappear, but rather flowed back toward him, re-covering his body and fusing together to form a new layer of armor.
A stark white, bone-like shell layered itself over his original Crimson Oni Armor.
Red and white intertwined. Yao Qi and Bone Soul fused.
In that instant, Hikaru's entire aura shifted, becoming vastly more ferocious and intimidating. Even his Oni mask changed; complex white bone patterns spread across the crimson surface, twisting it into the visage of a true Kishin—a fierce god of war.
Watching this, Tsubaki was no longer just stunned; she was frozen solid, her mind reeling.
This wasn't a yokai.
This was—
"A Kishin..." she murmured, her voice barely a breath.
Bathed in moonlight, Hikaru stood amidst the remnants of his bone thicket, his red-and-white armor shimmering with an eerie light. As the old saying goes, when things become this out of the ordinary, a demon is surely afoot.
Behind the crimson mask, his eyes stared through the gaps in the new bone patterns, fixed on the charging monster. His gaze was cold, remote, and utterly indifferent.
Tsubaki suddenly understood.
She understood why a noble priestess like Kikyo would travel with a demon. She understood why that demon dared to call himself her shikigami.
Because this being was worthy of it.
...
Hikaru felt the new layer of armor settle over his body. The Bone Soul Transformation was proving to be incredibly useful. This bone armor not only boosted his defense but also dramatically diversified his offensive capabilities.
He could grow bone spurs from any part of his body. He could change their shape at will. He could form a defensive barrier in an instant.
'This really is like Kaguya Kimimaro from Naruto,' he thought. Kimimaro was a ninja who could manipulate his own skeletal structure, his fighting style an elegant and deadly dance.
Right now, Hikaru felt he could try that, too.
"Then—" Hikaru gripped Muramasa tightly. "I'll let you see it."
"Behold, the Dance of Bones."
He took a step toward the monster. Bone spurs erupted from the soles of his feet, digging into the earth and catapulting him forward. His speed was now more than twice what it was before.
The monster's claw swung at him.
Hikaru sidestepped the blow, and in the same fluid motion, grew a sharp bone blade from his elbow that sliced clean through the monster's wrist.
Black blood splattered. The monster shrieked, its other claw swiping wildly.
Leaning back, Hikaru grew two long spurs from his spine to support his body in a low arch. He then spun, sweeping his legs out. In that single moment, the bones in his legs thickened and hardened, turning them into twin iron rods.
BANG!
The blow sent the monster flying into a tree. It immediately scrambled to its feet, its wounds already beginning to heal.
But Hikaru gave it no room to breathe. He was on it in a flash, swinging Muramasa and his elbow blade simultaneously. Sword and bone slashed down in a cross pattern.
The monster's left arm was severed at the shoulder, while its right was pierced and pinned by the bone blade.
"Aaargh—!" it roared in a frenzy, opening its maw to bite down on Hikaru's head.
Hikaru took a single step back.
Then, a massive, thick bone spear erupted from his chest.
It shot forward, piercing straight through the monster's lower jaw and out the back of its skull, pinning its head to the ground with a sickening crunch.
"Ugh—!"
The monster's roar came to a sudden, choked halt. It was impaled, unable to move.
And there, standing over it, was Hikaru. Clad in his Crimson Oni Armor and white bone mail, bathed in the cold silver of the moonlight, he looked like an Asura that had just walked out of hell.
Tsubaki watched the entire scene unfold.
Only one thought remained in her mind.
This man—this yokai, this Oni Samurai...
Just what kind of monster was he?
He was too strong. So strong that one... wanted to possess him.
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