When Sorasuga Ryosuke drew out the second sword—a long blade with an ancient, unadorned design—Ren Kuroda's gaze was instantly drawn to it.
From that weapon alone, he felt a threat unlike anything before. It was the kind of instinctive dread that screamed death.
Ren focused his eyes on the sword in Sorasuga Ryosuke's hands, and for the first time in a long while, he activated the System's appraisal function.
Information immediately unfolded before him.
Weapon Name: Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi (Ama-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi)Item Rank: SS+Origin: According to legend, the Kusanagi Sword was taken from the tail of the eight-headed serpent Yamata-no-Orochi after it was slain by the god Susanoo. One of the Three Sacred Treasures of Japan, and the most powerful among them in terms of pure offensive capability.Divine Authority: Sacred relic of fire suppression. When drawn, the flying sword dispels calamity.
Ren needed only a single glance at the System's readout to understand why this sword radiated such overwhelming danger.
Because this was the Kusanagi Sword—one of the Three Sacred Treasures.
Even though Ren had never seen the so-called Three Sacred Treasures with his own eyes, he was well aware of the legends surrounding them. It was said that when the age of chaos first descended, humanity had relied on the might of these three divine artifacts to drive back invading S-rank yokai.
If a sacred treasure's autonomous power alone was enough to repel S-rank monsters, then with a wielder behind it… killing an S-rank yokai was hardly impossible.
"…The Kusanagi Sword," Ren muttered.
Hearing Ren speak its name, Sorasuga Ryosuke was momentarily startled. But considering his opponent was an S-rank—or higher—oni, it made sense that Ren would recognize it.
"That's right. One of the Three Sacred Treasures—the Kusanagi Sword," Sorasuga Ryosuke said calmly. "To deal with an SS-rank oni like you, we specifically went to Atsuta Shrine and borrowed it."
"As a fellow swordsman, I would've preferred a pure contest of swordsmanship with you—one decided by skill alone, not by the power of a divine artifact," he continued, his voice steady. "But our positions don't allow such selfishness. Even I never expected that someone like me—whose talent in the sword is nothing exceptional—would be acknowledged by the Kusanagi Sword."
He looked down at the blade in his hand, his expression filled with complicated emotion.
As one of the Three Sacred Treasures passed down since antiquity, the Kusanagi Sword wasn't merely powerful—it possessed its own will.
Any weapon with consciousness chose its wielder, and the Kusanagi Sword was no exception.
After the age of chaos began, countless master swordsmen had traveled to Atsuta Shrine, seeking the sword's recognition so they could stand at the pinnacle of humanity.
The shrine had made its stance clear: the Kusanagi Sword belonged to the nation itself. Atsuta Shrine merely safeguarded it. If someone truly earned the sword's recognition in this era of turmoil, they would not prevent that person from taking it.
Because of that declaration, innumerable self-proclaimed swordmasters flocked to the shrine.
Yet despite Japan's long tradition of the way of the sword, not a single one of them had been able to lift the Kusanagi Sword.
Among all known swordsmen, only two humans had ever gained its acknowledgment—and even then, it was merely permission to wield it, not true ownership.
Even so, that alone was an extraordinary achievement.
Thousands had tried. Only two had succeeded.
One of them stood here now—Sorasuga Ryosuke, head of the Sorasuga family.
The other was Genrai Tensen, head of the Genrai family, currently fighting oni forces in Hokkaido.
With the Kusanagi Sword in hand, Sorasuga Ryosuke's aura changed completely. Divine artifacts required spiritual energy to sustain—but in return, they fed that power back to their wielder.
The most powerful offensive artifact among the Three Sacred Treasures, now held by a master swordsman—its threat was self-evident.
After the prolonged battle, Sorasuga Ryosuke's spiritual power was barely holding at A-rank. Yet wielding the Kusanagi Sword, he could easily contend with an S-rank yokai.
From the very beginning, the five family heads had planned everything.
The Kagamori family head had never been the true core of the operation.
Sorasuga Ryosuke was.
Only he had been acknowledged by the Kusanagi Sword. Only he could wield this supreme offensive divine weapon.
If anyone else had been left standing, the sword's autonomous defense might still activate—but its power would be drastically reduced.
The five family heads also understood that if Sorasuga Ryosuke and the Kusanagi Sword had been revealed from the start, he would have been targeted immediately.
That was why, from the very beginning, the Kagamori family head—important as he was—had ultimately served as bait.
Now, with three seals layered onto Ren's body, his yokai power had dropped from S+ to S−.
Sorasuga Ryosuke was badly wounded—but with the Kusanagi Sword in hand, his combat strength was on a completely different level than before.
His feet stepped into the distinctive sword-stance footwork of the Sorasuga family.
In almost the same instant—
Sorasuga Ryosuke vanished from Ren's sight.
At the same time, Ren's Mind's Eye skill screamed in alarm, warning him of lethal danger from behind.
The moment he sensed it, Ren didn't hesitate for even a fraction of a second. He spun around and unleashed Invasion Like Fire · Greedy Wolf in a single fluid motion.
Flames like a raging wildfire erupted, fueled by Ren's yokai power, instantly turning the entire area behind him into a blazing vacuum.
Sorasuga Ryosuke appeared within that inferno—and upon seeing the overwhelmingly aggressive flame slash, he calmly brought the Kusanagi Sword down in a simple downward cut.
Before this, even blocking one of Ren's casual slashes had required all of Sorasuga Ryosuke's strength.
Now, the Invasion Like Fire attack was vastly more powerful than those earlier strikes.
And yet—
With a casual swing, Sorasuga Ryosuke split the flames apart.
A blue arc of sword light burst through the fire, its momentum unbroken as it surged toward Ren.
The azure slash flew at him. Ren could only raise his blade to block.
A clear, ringing clang echoed through the battlefield.
Ren was forced back several meters—and a visible chip appeared along the edge of his yokai blade, Kizukami.
The scene felt strangely familiar.
Only this time, their positions had completely reversed.
Though Ren's condition was nowhere near as miserable as Sorasuga Ryosuke's had been earlier, there was no denying it—when it came to raw cutting power, Ren was now at a disadvantage.
And clashing head-on with an SS+-rank divine artifact using a mere B-rank yokai blade was pushing his luck.
Ren even began to worry that if they exchanged a few more blows, the last thing his cheap old man had left behind for him would be completely destroyed.
"It seems you may recognize the Kusanagi Sword," Sorasuga Ryosuke said calmly, "but you don't truly understand its legends. Especially not when you're using the element least compatible with it—fire."
The name Kusanagi—Grass-Cutting—came from an ancient tale.
The first time the sword displayed its divine power was when Yamato Takeru reached Suruga Province. A local deceived him, claiming there was a vast swamp in the wilderness inhabited by a violent god. Trusting the words, Yamato Takeru ventured into the plains.
The man then set the fields ablaze, intending to burn Yamato Takeru alive.
Surrounded by flames and facing certain death, the sword leapt from its sheath on its own, cutting down the surrounding grass and clearing a path of survival. From then on, Ama-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi became known as the Kusanagi Sword—the Grass-Cutter.
A divine sword possessed of will, capable of protecting its master on its own.
Ren's Invasion Like Fire mirrored that ancient crisis almost perfectly, which was why the Kusanagi Sword had unleashed even greater divine authority—enough to damage Kizukami directly.
Keeping that secret and exploiting Ren's hesitation would have been the smarter tactical choice.
Yet Sorasuga Ryosuke—handsome, scarred, and resolute—openly explained the sword's legend instead.
In his eyes, gaining the upper hand by relying on a divine artifact was already a disadvantage to his pride. He had no intention of further pressing that advantage through deception.
Even so, Ren's predicament hadn't changed in the slightest.
The gap in weapon rank was absolute. Even without the Kusanagi Sword's divine authority, Kizukami simply couldn't endure repeated clashes.
And for two swordsmen, if your blade breaks—
Then what the hell are you even fighting with?
Looks like I have no choice but to deal with these damn seals first, Ren thought grimly. Otherwise, there's no way I can beat him while he's wielding the Kusanagi Sword.
The rank difference between Kizukami and the Kusanagi Sword could theoretically be offset with sheer yokai power. If Ren wrapped Kizukami in his own energy—its ability to absorb yokai power would let it endure the clash, if not match the divine blade outright.
But right now, his remaining yokai power was already inferior to Sorasuga Ryosuke's boosted state.
Diverting even more power into Kizukami would leave him with no chance of victory.
That left only one option.
Break the three seals binding him.
And the fastest way to break a seal… was to kill the Kagamori family head.
But would Sorasuga Ryosuke—now strong enough to suppress him—really just stand by and let Ren do that?
Would he allow Ren to restore his power to its peak?