Chapter 8: An Arrow Piercing the Air
Three days.
It took Kobe Hikaru three whole days to traverse the mountain range, a grueling journey from its treacherous interior to the open plains beyond. It wasn't that his legs were slow, but that the path was choked with 'roadblocks.'
The aura of the Shikon Jewel pulsed from him like an unquenchable beacon, attracting a fresh wave of demons every few steps. There were large ones and small ones, the strong and the weak, some hunting alone and others moving in swarms. Every variety and species imaginable, drawn by the jewel's irresistible scent, converged on his position.
Most came for the sacred artifact, but some were merely passing by and were lured in by the commotion. Others heard the death-screams of their kin and rushed over to investigate, only to add their own cries to the chorus.
In short, the journey had been an exhausting, unending battle.
Hikaru had long since lost count of how many demons he had slain.
He only knew one thing for certain.
[Demon Blade Muramasa: Current Favorability 72]
In three days, the cursed blade's favorability had risen by twenty-two points. The efficiency wasn't staggering, but the grind was brutally consistent.
And now, at this very moment…
'Almost there.'
Hikaru stood atop a hill, his gaze sweeping over the plains that stretched out into the distance. The vast, open expanse was a stark contrast to the claustrophobic mountain passes he had just escaped. A sea of lush green swayed under the sky, and at the very edge of his vision, he could just make out a cluster of thatched wooden huts. It was a small village, barely a few dozen households, but it was the most common type of human settlement in this war-torn era.
Evening was falling, the sun bleeding into the horizon.
The Hour of Demons was approaching.
A simple wooden fence encircled the village, with several exorcism talismans hanging from its posts. They pulsed with a faint, protective light in the day's dying glow. In the center of the settlement stood a shrine, its brilliant red torii gate a stark landmark against the deep green leaves of a massive, sacred tree.
This was Musashi Province.
This was the destination the old demon slayer had spoken of.
And this was where Kikyo was.
"Finally," Hikaru breathed, a sigh of genuine relief escaping his lips.
He had barely rested for the past three days. While the body of an Oni Samurai did not know fatigue, the consumption of Demonic Qi was a very real and pressing concern. If he continued to drain his reserves at this rate, he wouldn't be bitten to death by demons—he would be hollowed out by his own power.
For a corpse animated entirely by Demonic Qi, running out of fuel meant collapsing on the spot. The consequences of becoming an immobile feast in the wilderness were all too easy to imagine.
Fortunately, he had endured. He had held on.
And now, he had arrived.
He took a few steps down from the hilltop, his eyes scanning the plains once more.
Then, he froze.
'No… something's wrong.'
Around that village—
There was something else. A lot of somethings.
Hikaru's pupils constricted. His [Sharp Eye Transformation] activated, the world snapping into focus as the distant scene was pulled closer, magnified and clarified.
Huddled before the wooden fence, a massive number of figures crouched in a dense, waiting mass. Their hides were a sickening palette of gray-green, dark red, and bluish-black. Blue-skinned oni, one-eyed ghouls, serpentine monsters, bird-headed abominations, and centipede spirits…
Demons of all kinds surrounded the entire village like a foul tide, rendering it impenetrable. From his vantage point on the hill, it looked like a single, squirming morass of filthy, gray-green mud, with the small village trapped helplessly in its center.
A rough estimate… three hundred?
No.
Five hundred?
Still not right.
"…At least seven or eight hundred," Hikaru muttered, the corner of his mouth twitching.
This demonic host was even more formidable than the horde that had been hunting the old man three days ago. It was practically the sum total of every demon he had fought on his journey here, all gathered in one place.
But that wasn't the worst part.
The worst part was that they were already attacking.
The demon swarm surged toward the village from all directions, their roars and shrieks shaking the very earth. A storm of attacks rained down upon the settlement—bone clubs smashing, claws tearing, venom spitting, and blasts of raw Demonic Qi impacting one after another.
And holding them back, in the face of this overwhelming offensive, was a light.
A translucent, pale white barrier.
It formed a hemisphere of spiritual energy, shrouding the central shrine and the area for nearly a hundred feet around it. Inside the barrier was a world of clarity and light. Outside was a maelstrom of foul Demonic Qi. The two realms were starkly, absolutely divided.
'This is… a barrier?' Hikaru thought, inwardly astonished.
Three months ago, the chief of the demon slayer village had displayed a similar ability, forming a film of spiritual power to protect himself. But that shield could protect one person at most, and it had collapsed after only a short while.
But this barrier… it covered a massive radius, shielding the entire shrine and dozens of cowering villagers. also, under the frantic assault of seven or eight hundred demons, it remained as steady as a mountain, showing no signs of wavering.
Whoosh—!
A streak of cold white light shot out from within the dome. It was a Sacred Arrow, the signature weapon of a priestess, imbued with potent spiritual energy that was anathema to Demonic Qi, capable of purifying all filth.
The arrow passed through the curtain of light without any resistance and struck a blue-skinned oni that was scrabbling at the barrier's apex. The demon let out a miserable shriek as its body dissolved into ash.
The barrier seemed to be one-way, blocking all attacks from the outside while allowing those within to strike out freely.
Immediately after, a second arrow, then a third, and a fourth were loosed in quick succession. Each one found its mark, striking a demon with an audible thump. Every demon hit died on the spot, some even exploding from the inside out as the sacred energy consumed them.
The whisper of the bowstring, the hiss of the arrow, the impact, the death.
It was all one fluid, deadly motion.
In the space of a few dozen seconds, over twenty demons had already fallen.
Hikaru's gaze pierced through the layers of demonic shadows, finally landing on the figure at the very core of the barrier, standing on the high stone steps of the shrine.
A figure in white robes and red hakama, her black hair cascading down her back like a waterfall.
Her hands were pressed together, her eyes slightly closed, and her lips moved gently as if she were chanting an incantation. Pale, translucent spiritual power flowed continuously from her body, feeding the barrier and sustaining its immense power. At the same time, a longbow and a quiver rested by her right hand.
Every few seconds, she would open her eyes, nock an arrow with a single, practiced motion, and fire.
She didn't even need to open her eyes fully. By relying on her spiritual perception alone, she could lock onto the position of every single demon.
Hikaru didn't need to guess. He knew it was Kikyo.
And beneath her bowstring, within those half-open, crystal-clear eyes, the demons that roared and howled and clawed to break through her defense were nothing more than moths.
Moths drawn to a sacred flame.
"As expected of the strongest priestess of the Sengoku period…" Hikaru murmured to himself.
The demon slayer chief had been the most powerful human spiritualist he had seen until now. That man's ability to deploy a personal barrier was already considered a high-level skill among human mages, most of whom needed to set up an altar, perform a ritual, or even summon shikigami to achieve a similar effect.
But compared to Kikyo, the chief's power was like a firefly next to the brilliant moon.
The power of a single person.
A barrier spanning a massive radius.
Protecting every man, woman, and child in the village.
All while maintaining a continuous barrage of Sacred Arrows to counterattack.
She was both an impenetrable shield and an unstoppable sword.
It was a level of power that bordered on the absurd.
However, he also understood that the priestess before him was likely not yet in her prime. At the very least, she wasn't the peak-state Kikyo from his memories. She could still become stronger.
But even so…
Seven or eight hundred demons. Even if most were small fry, their sheer numbers were an overwhelming force. Enough ants could bite an elephant to death.
And—
Hikaru's gaze swept across the demonic horde again. At the very front of the assault, he caught sight of several figures that were clearly different from the rest.
Those were not small fry.
They were true, significant threats.
But at this moment, he had no time to carefully observe those few special existences.
He had more important things to do.
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