Masachika entered the estate once more.
The "Miei" the old man had mentioned must have been the demon.
Because her family life had been miserable, and because she had lost her daughter, had she begun abducting other families' children after becoming a demon? As Masachika thought that, a trace of sorrow spread across his brow. What an unfortunate woman. He gripped his Nichirin Blade. He had to release her from this suffering.
Once he stepped back inside, the same dim atmosphere closed around him, and that cloying, sickeningly sweet scent came surging up again.
"Where are you...?"
He searched carefully, then finally stopped in front of the purple sandalwood display cabinet in the inner room.
"You damned bastard!"
It was Sanemi.
Masachika froze. It was Sanemi's voice, faint but unmistakable.
And it was coming from the cabinet in the inner chamber.
He had not noticed it before, but now he realized that the cabinet's texture was strangely similar to the hilt of a Nichirin Blade. It seemed to use the same exorcistic materials and craftsmanship. Masachika crouched before the vanity. The mirror was covered by a cloth, and aside from its age, there seemed to be nothing odd about it. This time, he searched more carefully. He opened the cabinet, felt around inside the drawers, and at last touched paper.
It was a crumpled sheet of rough paper, folded into a twisted shape.
"Why would something like this be here...?"
Without much thought, he unfolded it. In the next instant, his pupils shook.
The writing was done in blood.
Blackened bloodstains spelled out the words across the scrap:
"Mother made me drink poison."
"Mother ruined my voice."
"Mother tore out all my hair."
"Mother ripped off my fingernails."
"Mother broke my bones."
"Someone, anyone, please save me."
"Save me."
Masachika went rigid. He could not say a word.
This had to be Sasae's room—Miei's daughter. Which meant there was only one person the words "Mother" could refer to.
The supposed victim in the villagers' story, the mistress of this estate—Miei.
This was the true face of the demon.
Masachika clenched the paper so hard that veins stood out on the back of his hand.
A furious blaze ignited in his chest. So that was the kind of monster she really was? In the end, poor Sasae had been treated like this by her own mother? Filth. A damned demon. The fury roared through him. Staring at the cloth draped over the mirror, he yanked it off in one violent motion.
In the mirror, he saw Sanemi.
So there really was something strange about this cloth and this mirror.
Masachika stared at the reflected image. Sanemi stood there with his sword drawn, confronting a female demon in a kimono—but the direction Sanemi faced was completely opposite to hers. The demon was behind him.
Masachika called out a warning, but Sanemi could not hear him at all.
"What the hell is this? A Blood Demon Art?"
His thoughts raced.
"Wait..."
His eyes fell on something else. The scene shown in the mirror was slightly different from the one before him. In the reflection, there was an incense burner at the lower right corner of the dressing table. In reality, there was nothing there.
"So that's how it is."
Fury flared into a grim smile on Masachika's face. He slashed at the spot where the incense burner appeared in the mirror.
Blood sprayed out.
A neat cut opened across the old man's chest.
A crimson haori flashed past the old man's dimming vision like streaming fire. The woman, her eyes closed, seized the back of his collar with one hand, pushed off the ground, and dark violet lightning burst from beneath her feet.
The old man looked over and saw that, at some point, a woman had appeared where there had been no one before. She carried a long blade. Her crimson haori was splendid, and her dark blue long skirt swayed in the wind.
The biwa notes rang out again in rapid succession. It was as if invisible blades had materialized in the air itself. Sharp crashes split the night, and the surrounding trees and earth were carved apart with countless slashes. The woman stood in the center of that killing field, yet seemed utterly untouched. She merely moved with light, graceful steps, slipping past every invisible blade that should have struck her.
Then Hozuki nudged the eight-headed lotus guard of her sword.
The blade gave a soft cry. The dark red steel looked like a pool of blood.
"You're not one of the Twelve Kizuki, are you?" Hozuki said.
The biwa woman did not stop. She plucked the strings faster and faster, and the number of invisible slashes filling the air multiplied at once.
Her fingernails blurred across the strings, and the rising notes surged outward in a wave that swept across the rice fields.
Cuts appeared in the ground beneath Hozuki's feet.
She spun upward, her dark blue skirt flaring wide. The land around the embankment split into neat, precise fragments, as though an impossibly sharp net had been cast over the entire area.
"Too slow."
Hozuki slashed apart the invisible blades rushing toward her, then lunged the instant she landed.
Her blood-red blade stirred the night mist, and dark violet ripples spread through the air.
Then Hozuki vanished.
"Thunder Breathing, First Form: Thunderclap and Flash."
It was the ultimate godspeed draw slash.
The most violent, most explosive strike of Thunder Breathing.
And in Hozuki's hands, the terror of that technique was displayed to its fullest.
Lightning exploded. The strings of the biwa snapped in an instant.
The biwa woman threw her head back, just barely avoiding the strike that should have cut through her neck. The blade wind sheared away the black hair covering the upper half of her face, exposing a pale blue-white forehead where veins throbbed beneath the skin.
But it was not over.
Electric light flickered again and again. The swordswoman's movements were so fast the demon could no longer track them.
Yet the sensation of a blade poised at the center of her brow never once vanished.
"A Hashira," the biwa woman murmured.
There was actually a Hashira here.
She struck the shattered biwa.
Space split open like a torn painting. The pointed roofline of some ancient, elegant structure thrust itself out of the void, opening like a ravenous maw and swallowing the biwa woman whole.
"Boom!"
Hozuki's strike landed against the outer doorframe of that structure.
There was no sensation of hitting solid matter.
The wind chime on her earring released a swarm of snakes, and her senses spread out at full speed—but as the paper doors slid shut, the demon's presence vanished completely.
She had disappeared utterly.
Hozuki sheathed her blade and exhaled.
What kind of Blood Demon Art was that?
A space-type ability... Could demons, those warped creatures, really possess something so completely supernatural?
Her body had seemed frail and weak, yet she wielded such an astonishing Blood Demon Art.
Frowning, Hozuki committed the demon's appearance to memory.
Only after carefully confirming that the area was safe did she go over to help the old man sit up.
"Are you all right?"
"Ah, I'm fine."
The wound on his chest looked frightening, but because Hozuki had intervened in time, it was actually shallow. The old man studied the woman before him, his gaze settling especially on her dark blue long skirt.
"You have my deepest thanks, child. Tell me... are you a police officer too? What in the world was that thing?"
Because of the darkness, the old man had not seen how the biwa woman vanished, but he had witnessed Hozuki's astonishing swordsmanship.
"It's the killer we've been tracking. A very dangerous creature. If you go out at night, please be careful."
Hozuki knew the old man had mistaken Masachika and Sanemi for police officers, so she went along with the lie.
"Thank you. Truly."
Then, beneath the moonlight, the old man caught sight of her earrings. His aged body shuddered violently, and the look in his eyes changed at once.
"Th-this is... Floating Dream Bridge? Are you—no... are you a descendant of Princess Crimson Moon?"
He suddenly grabbed both of Hozuki's hands.
"What?"
Held fast by the old man, Hozuki tilted her head in confusion.
Two chapters left.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter116)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter82)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter144)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 118
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 111
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 80
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 112
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 80
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 74
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 48
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 50
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 47
Uma Musume: From Beginner 42
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