Kibōmaru vanished.
It was not invisibility, nor an illusion.
It was pure—speed.
In that very instant, Kikyō's spiritual-power perception lost its target; that aged, cold and sinister yōkai aura, as if it had never existed at all, evaporated utterly from the range of her senses.
"Where——"
Before the words were even finished.
A blade of fierce wind came rushing in from her right.
Kikyō instinctively twisted aside to dodge, and at the same time drew her bow and loosed an arrow.
The Sacred Arrow turned into a streak of white light, shooting straight for the source of that fierce wind.
Boom!
The arrow struck something, bursting out with a dazzling white radiance.
But that white radiance lasted only an instant before it was cleaved in two by a pitch-black flash of blade.
"Not bad reflexes."
Kibōmaru's voice came from the left.
Kikyō spun around once more, her bowstring drawn taut.
But there was nothing there.
"A pity——"
The voice sounded again from behind her.
"Too slow."
Kikyō whirled around violently, her arrowhead pointing toward the source of the voice.
Still nothing.
There was only that aged laughter, seeming to come from all directions at once.
"Your arrows truly are powerful."
Kibōmaru's figure at last appeared, standing some three zhang away from Kikyō. There was now a scorch mark on his kimono—left behind by that arrow just now.
"Had it hit, I'm afraid even I would have suffered for it—most likely I'd have been gravely wounded and driven back on the spot."
He raised his hand and pointed at that scorch mark.
"But the trouble is——"
He vanished.
When he reappeared, he was already at Kikyō's left side: "You can't take aim at me."
Kikyō's pupils contracted sharply.
She could see Kibōmaru's movements, and could sense his yōkai aura.
But her arrows could not keep up with his speed.
This was the terrifying thing about the Speed Mutation.
It was not merely that his bodily movement had become faster—it was that he made the flow rate of his own time differ from that of his surroundings.
In Kibōmaru's subjective experience, Kikyō's movements were like a slow-motion replay.
While in Kikyō's perception, Kibōmaru's movement was like teleportation.
This kind of gap was not something that technique could make up for.
"Humans—how very fragile."
"The finest among you can contend with great yōkai, but a single wound is all it takes to possibly cost you your lives."
Kibōmaru seemed to sigh with feeling.
Yet at the same time, he bore down all the more.
"Barrier."
Kikyō murmured this word in a low voice, unshaken by Kibōmaru's words—even though what he said was the truth.
The next second,
White light erupted from all around her, forming a spherical shield with a radius of three zhang.
This was her strongest defensive barrier, able to block the instantaneous attacks of most yōkai, even those of great-yōkai rank.
The very next instant.
Clang!
Blade collided with barrier, ringing out with the clash of metal upon metal.
Kibōmaru's blade-tip halted upon the surface of the barrier, glimmering with a faint blue light.
"A barrier, is it?"
He did not retreat, only tilted his head slightly: "Rather interesting."
He sheathed his blade.
And then——
He drew it.
In Kikyō's perception, it was no more than the motion of raising a hand, yet upon the barrier, twenty slash-marks had already appeared.
Crack.
Fissures began to spread.
"Your barrier is strong."
Kibōmaru sheathed his blade again: "But its strength is fixed, whereas my attacks—can be stacked without limit."
He drew his blade once more, and unleashed his move.
This was the eruption of yōkai aura, and even more, the manifestation of his mutation.
This time, Kikyō could not even count the strikes.
She saw only a single afterimage.
And then——
Boom!
The barrier shattered.
The white light scattered apart, like shards of broken glass.
"Fall back!"
Kikyō's toes tapped the ground, her figure swiftly retreating.
At the same time, her right hand drew the bow again and again, several arrows loosed all at once, sealing off Kibōmaru's path of pursuit.
An unbroken stream of white light tore across the night sky, shooting straight for Kibōmaru's head, chest, and abdomen—multiple vital points.
But that aged figure merely gave a slight sway.
All three arrows missed entirely.
"Futile."
Kibōmaru's voice sounded right beside Kikyō's ear.
Without her knowing when, he had already circled behind her.
His blade was already laid against her neck——
But it was only the matter of an instant; before even Kibōmaru could react, Kikyō's figure had already faded away.
Like melting snow, like dispersing mist.
Spatial transference.
This was one of the secret arts she had mastered as the strongest shrine maiden.
To slowly fade her figure away on the spot, then move to a more distant position—for ordinary yōkai, this technique was very nearly unanswerable.
Offense, defense, speed.
From this point, Kikyō had truly achieved a near-omnipotence.
Had it been any other yōkai—even an existence of the same rank as Kibōmaru—so long as what they excelled at was not speed, not roving movement, they might well already have been driven back by her at this moment.
"Oh?"
Kibōmaru's blade slashed through empty air. He turned his head, looking toward that white figure recoalescing some ten zhang away.
"Spatial transference, is it… Rather interesting."
Kikyō gave no reply.
Her longbow was already drawn to the full, her arrowhead gathering a dazzling white light.
Still the Sacred Arrow.
Still the killing technique that needed but a single arrow to pulverize most yōkai.
But this time, Kibōmaru did not dodge, nor did he attack again.
He merely, suddenly, smiled.
"I see."
"You weren't fleeing—you were drawing me away."
He turned around, looking toward the direction of the Shrine's barrier.
There, dots of lamplight flickered—it was the location of Kaede Village.
At this very moment, they had, startlingly, already left the original battle zone, gradually drawing away from Kaede Village.
And yet, Kibōmaru abruptly halted here.
He had realized something.
"That village over there… how many people are in it?"
Kibōmaru's aged voice promptly turned musing: "A hundred? Two hundred?"
Kikyō's expression tightened slightly.
"You——"
"Your arrows cannot hit me, and I cannot harm you—the name of the strongest shrine maiden is indeed well-deserved. Even the young and vigorous generation of the present-day Tsuchimikado family and Hanakaiin family, who take turns presiding over the Kyoto Onmyōryō, cannot compare to you."
Kibōmaru cut her off: "But, shrine maiden, those villagers you protect… have neither such nimble skills as yours, nor such powerful spiritual power."
He raised his blade, its tip pointing toward the Shrine's barrier—pointing toward the interior of the village.
"And that barrier you set up in advance—how many strokes of my blade can it withstand?"
Kikyō's pupils contracted sharply.
She wanted to rush over and stop him, but she knew her own speed was not enough.
Kibōmaru was faster than she was.
If she rushed over, he could easily dodge, and then attack the barrier directly.
If she did not rush over, he could likewise attack the barrier directly.
It was a dead end.
"Hand over the Shikon Jewel."
Kibōmaru's voice was very calm: "Or——"
"Watch your village be destroyed."
Kikyō's expression was icy cold.
This old oni would actually stoop to such means——
"Take your pick."
Kibōmaru said: "I'll give you the span of three breaths."
Kikyō's hand pressed against the Shikon Jewel held at her breast.
"Two."
She closed her eyes.
After three seconds, Kikyō promptly opened her eyes again,
And released the hand that had been pressing on the Shikon Jewel.
Kibōmaru smiled coldly and was about to make his move, when he abruptly discovered—beneath his own feet, there was a radiant glow shining up.
"Evil-Sealing Array."
An instantly cast spell.
Kikyō lowered her longbow; she had never needed to make a choice at all—her every action had been nothing but a disguise: "Not a strong seal, but enough to trap you for a single instant—that's plenty."
What could be done in a single instant?
Kibōmaru's eyes narrowed slightly, and at the same time, in that same moment, he heard it.
Rumble——!
Thunder suddenly descended from the heavens.
That bolt of purple lightning came without the slightest warning, striking straight down at the crown of Kibōmaru's head.
"What——"
Kibōmaru's figure swiftly retreated, the Evil-Sealing Array beneath his feet shattering in an instant.
In this critical moment, his speed was still very fast, yet in the end he was delayed for a single instant.
And that thunderbolt came on with great ferocity, too.
In that delayed instant, the purple lightning grazed his shoulder, searing out a scorched-black mark.
"Who's there!"
Kibōmaru barked in a low voice.
He raised his head toward the sky, and beneath the moonlight, a figure was sweeping in from afar.
Gray robes flapped and snapped in the wind, and pale long hair was especially striking in the night.
And there was that crimson oni mask, which beneath the moonlight looked like an Asura walking forth out of hell.
In his left hand, he gripped a purple single horn.
Thunder was still surging.
Though the yōkai aura was not strong, in battles between yōkai, aura was only one part of it; mutation, as well as the strength of the main body, occupied an even more important proportion.
And the one who had arrived, judging by his yōkai aura, was no more than a minor yōkai.
Yet his own strength, and the momentum he carried, were clearly not beneath those of an ordinary high-tier yōkai, a chieftain among yōkai!
"Kikyō."
That figure landed before the shrine maiden, his voice calm.
"I'm back."
Kikyō gazed at that back.
The pale long hair blocked her line of sight, but she knew that beneath that oni mask was, in all likelihood, the same calm composure as ever.
The shrine maiden's white robe swayed, and yet she revealed a very lovely smile.
"Mm."
She nodded, and said:
"Welcome back."
Kōbe Hikaru turned around, facing Kibōmaru.
"I've come."
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