Chaos erupted in the city.
Suda Shigenobu's head hung from the flagpole at the city gate, blood still dripping down and staining the wooden pole a dark crimson.
The samurai in the city were in a state of panic.
Their lord was dead, dead in an inexplicable and clean-cut manner.
Without even a chance to fight back, he had been beheaded in a single strike by a guy who called himself an Oni Samurai.
What was even more terrifying was that the guy had walked away in such a swaggering manner.
No one dared to pursue.
That shrine maiden in white robes and red hakama stood by his side; just by standing there, she made it difficult for the mages to even breathe.
To pursue someone of that caliber would be suicide.
And so—
Those looking to profit from the chaos appeared.
"Hurry! While no one is watching, move the things out of the warehouse!"
A few foot soldiers wearing crude armor crouched low and ran toward the warehouse behind the Tenshukaku.
They were Suda Shigenobu's private soldiers, who usually helped him collect taxes and beat people, doing all sorts of wicked deeds.
Now that their master was dead, their first thought was not revenge, but to grab what they could and run.
The door to the warehouse was kicked open.
Inside were stacked crates of copper coins, bags of rice, and various items extorted from the common people.
"We're rich! We're finally rich!"
The leader of the foot soldiers stared wide-eyed, lunging forward to embrace the crate of copper coins.
Then, his neck was constricted.
Not by a hand.
By hair.
Pitch-black, slender, snake-like hair.
The hair wrapped around him from behind, tightening until his face turned purple, his eyeballs bulging out.
"What—"
The other foot soldiers hadn't even reacted yet.
A few more black shadows flashed by.
Pfft, pfft, pfft.
Those black strands of hair were like blades, slicing open the throats of the three men.
Blood sprayed, splashing onto the piles of copper coins.
"So noisy."
A lazy voice came from the warehouse entrance.
"Chirping and chattering like a bunch of rats."
The remaining foot soldiers went rigid, not even daring to turn their heads.
They could only tell that the voice belonged to a woman.
A very young 'woman'.
And at this moment.
At the doorway behind them, there indeed stood a woman.
The woman had a beautiful figure with delicate curves, dressed in dark red ninja attire, with a low neckline and a hem that barely reached her thighs, revealing a large expanse of snow-white skin.
Her waist was slender, her hips rounded, and the fabric outlined a figure that would make anyone's blood boil under the moonlight—it was just a pity no one dared to look.
Her face was pretty, exquisite, and slightly cute; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call her a young girl.
She also had short, pitch-black hair,
but what made one's skin crawl was that she was surrounded by dense, pitch-black strands of hair.
Like a mass of clawing, black flames moving without wind in the air, every single strand of hair was like a living viper.
"A… A demon!"
Finally.
A foot soldier screamed and turned to run.
He didn't make it two steps.
A strand of hair shot from behind, piercing his heart from the back.
The hair twisted inside him, then pulled out.
Covered in blood and some indescribable mucus.
"Disgusting."
The woman frowned, flicking the blood-stained strand of hair away in disgust.
"The blood of this kind of trash is foul and bitter."
Her gaze swept over the corpses in the warehouse, then over the mountains of treasure, and finally landed on an empty hook on the wall.
Something used to hang there.
Now it was gone.
"The Hiraikotsu from the Demon Slayer village… and the scent of the legendary Shikon Jewel…"
The woman muttered, her eyes narrowing.
Those eyes were golden, with vertical pupils, like a cat, or perhaps a snake.
"Did I arrive a step too late?"
This woman, without a doubt, had come for the Shikon Jewel.
Just as Kanbe Hikaru had previously thought, that night, when Kikyo's arrow illuminated the night sky, there were certainly no shortage of demons attracted by it.
She turned around and walked out the door.
Her black hair stood on end, drifting in the air like a moving shadow.
"Kanbe Hikaru… and that strongest shrine maiden who protects the village, Kikyo…"
She recited these two names, information extracted from the screams of the foot soldiers just now.
"How interesting."
"They shouldn't have gone too far yet, right?"
She licked her lips.
"Before that 'lord' arrives, I'll go look for them."
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