Swordlight and strands of hair crossed in midair.
Kōbe Hikaru's Muramasa swept out. The black blade-wave tore through the air and sheared through the dozens of hair strands rushing at him.
But that was only the beginning.
More strands poured from the top of the girl's head — not dozens, but hundreds, thousands. A dense, sky-blotting mass of them, a black ocean rolling toward him.
"Interesting."
Kōbe Hikaru sprang back and swept his blade horizontally. Another blade-wave. It tore a rift through the ocean of hair — and the rift sealed itself in an instant, swallowed by yet more strands.
"Sakagami Ketsura."
The girl — or rather, the yōkai — stood her ground, countless jet-black hair strands coiling around her like a living shroud.
"That is my name, Ghost Warrior."
"Remember it."
"Because it will be the last name you ever hear."
Sakagami Ketsura.
The name turned over in Kōbe Hikaru's mind — though in truth, the moment he'd set eyes on this girl-shaped yōkai, he'd already known exactly what she was.
She was a creature from the original story. A yōkai that controlled hair. Her true form was a comb — an ordinary comb that had soaked up resentment and demon-qi until it warped into something monstrous.
Those strands of hair weren't just weapons. They were the medium through which she drained life force. Anyone caught in them — man, woman, child, elder — would have their vitality quietly siphoned away until there was nothing left.
"Sakagami Ketsura…"
The corner of Kōbe Hikaru's mouth curved upward.
"Good name."
"Pity, though —"
He activated[Phantom Step]beneath his feet. His body flickered like a wraith and reappeared to Sakagami Ketsura's left.
"You've picked the wrong opponent."
His blade drove straight for her vitals.
Sakagami Ketsura didn't dodge. She only shifted her body slightly. Countless hair strands wove themselves into a barrier before her, swallowing the fierce strike.
Clang — !
Steel rang against steel. Those strands were harder than iron.
Kōbe Hikaru's brow furrowed.
This was going to be a problem. The strands weren't just numerous — they were dense and tough. Ordinary attacks couldn't cut through them. And on top of that, they regenerated; the ones he'd just sheared off had already grown back.
"Well?" Sakagami Ketsura's voice carried a smile. "Starting to feel it?"
"Your blade is fast, I'll grant you that. But my hair is infinite. You could cut a thousand strands and I'd still have ten thousand, a hundred thousand, a million more."
"I can keep growing them forever. Can you keep cutting forever?"
Kōbe Hikaru didn't answer.
He simply jumped back, opening up distance between them.
Then he noticed something on the ground.
The severed strands hadn't vanished.
They were writhing. Like living things, inching toward his ankles.
He slashed down and cut through them — but more came flooding in from every direction. From the ground, from the air, from corners he couldn't even see. Like an invisible web drawing tighter and tighter around him.
"You're caught~"
Sakagami Ketsura's voice came from all around him.
"My hair doesn't only grow from my head, you know. Anywhere I've lingered, I leave strands behind."
"That stretch of mountain road just now… did you really think I'd just arrived?"
Kōbe Hikaru's chest tightened.
He looked around.
Sure enough.
The ground, the tree branches, the cracks between stones — jet-black hair strands were threaded through every surface, blanketing the entire area like a spider's web.
This was her domain.
She had prepared it long in advance.
"How long have you been waiting here?"
Kōbe Hikaru asked.
"Half a day, give or take." Sakagami Ketsura shrugged. "The moment I sensed the Shikon Jewel's aura, I settled in nearby."
"I thought I'd have to wait a few more days. I didn't expect you to deliver yourselves right to my door."
She smiled — and on that delicate, pretty face, the expression looked deeply wrong.
"That shrine maiden has formidable spiritual power. I'd rather not face her head-on."
"But you're a different matter entirely."
Her gaze drifted over Kōbe Hikaru, measuring.
"A Ghost Warrior… genuinely not weak."
"But —"
She lifted her chin, something imperious in the gesture.
"Not enough."
The words had barely left her mouth.
Every hair strand tightened at once.
His arms and legs were bound. His sword was twisted in their grip. He couldn't move.
"Let go!"
He channeled his demon-qi and let his ghost-power burst outward, trying to wrench himself free.
But the strands seemed to have been soaked in something — the harder he strained, the tighter they coiled. He couldn't break free.
"It's no use."
Sakagami Ketsura walked toward him. Those golden slit-pupils filled his vision.
"My hair absorbs demon-qi. The more you struggle, the weaker you get."
"So be good and hold still."
She reached out. Slender fingers settled under his chin and tilted it up, gently.
"When that shrine maiden comes back and finds you trussed up like this — what do you think she'll do?"
"Hand over the Shikon Jewel, nice and quiet?"
"Or —"
She leaned closer. Her breath ghosted across his face.
"Watch helplessly while I drain every last drop of your life force?"
Kōbe Hikaru looked at her.
No fear in his expression. Not even tension.
Only something that made Sakagami Ketsura feel strangely unsettled — mockery.
He had to admit it: he'd underestimated her a little.
Thinking back, even in the original story, she had once traded blows with the half-demon protagonist Inuyasha — had even had the upper hand for a stretch, at a time when Inuyasha didn't yet have Tessaiga and wasn't at his strongest, but was still far beyond what any ordinary minor yōkai could manage.
A creature that could pressure that version of Inuyasha — by Kōbe Hikaru's own measure — was without question approaching something close to Essence Transformation.
And he himself was only somewhat stronger than his current form.
But that was fine.
He still had a move left to play.
"What are you smiling at?"
She frowned.
"At you."
Kōbe Hikaru said, "You really think a trick like this is enough to hold me?"
"A trick?"
Sakagami Ketsura's expression darkened.
"You're bound hand and foot, you can't even lift your sword, and you're still running your mouth?"
"It's not bravado."
Kōbe Hikaru smiled.
That smile on his pale face looked strange and out of place.
"You've just underestimated me."
"Underestimated you?"
"That's right."
A flash of red crossed Kōbe Hikaru's eyes.
"You only see that I'm a Ghost Warrior."
"But what you don't know —"
"Is that this Ghost Warrior is a little different from the rest."
He raised his head and looked around.
"Take a look at your surroundings."
Sakagami Ketsura paused.
She followed his gaze.
And then her expression changed.
Drifting through the air around them, at some point without her noticing, was a faint haze of red.
It was so faint it had been invisible in the heat of battle.
But looking carefully now — it was a mist. A blood-red mist. Dense and pervasive, blanketing the entire area.
More of it than even her hair strands.
"This is…"
It was the first time genuine surprise had crept into Sakagami Ketsura's voice.
"When did you set this up?"
"From the very beginning."
Kōbe Hikaru said.
"Did you think all that weaving and dodging I did just now was just to avoid your attacks?"
"No."
"I was laying something down."
"Laying down a net —"
The corner of his mouth curved in that signature smile.
"One far larger than yours."
[Resonance with Blood].
It was the ability left behind when Muramasa had fused into his body.
Blood as eye. Blood as medium. Anywhere touched by his blood fell within his perception.
During the fight, he had let her hair strands cut him — deliberately. Every wound, every drop of blood that spilled — it had turned to bloodmist, drifting outward into the air.
Everywhere. Through every crack and crevice.
"You…"
Sakagami Ketsura's composure finally cracked. "You let yourself get hurt on purpose?"
This time, Kōbe Hikaru didn't answer.
Because there was no need to stall anymore.
And because —
The time had come.
____
________________________________________
If you want more chapters, please consider supporting my page on (P). with 50 advanced chapters available on (P)
👻 Join the crew by searching Leanzin on (P). You know the spot! 😉