Chapter 21: The Shrine Maiden's unmatched Feelings
The Tsuchigumo's compound eye ruptured, spraying a foul, dark green fluid across Kobe Hikaru's face.
Hikaru spat out a curse, but he had no time to wipe the viscous liquid away. He followed through with the swing, driving Muramasa's edge deeper and carving a half-foot-long gash into the spider demon's armored head.
The great beast shrieked in agony. Its eight long legs thrashed wildly, its two massive forelegs scything horizontally toward him.
As the air whistled with their passage, Hikaru pushed off the ground, his body launching into a backward arch. The two demonic limbs grazed the air just three inches from the tip of his nose.
He was still airborne when movement exploded to his left.
It was the pair of conjoined fiends, their malformed heads lolling as they charged, dragging heavy iron chains behind them. They swung the chains in a wide, whistling arc, bringing them down with crushing force.
With no use in mid-air, it seemed Hikaru was about to be smashed into a paste—
Clang!
A streak of white light tore through the darkness.
A Sacred Arrow, glowing with brilliant spiritual power, slammed into the center of the iron chain. The immense impact deflected its trajectory by a crucial half-foot.
It was just enough.
Hikaru twisted his body, sliding past the deadly metal. The moment his toes touched the soil, he shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow, closing the distance to the two-headed demon in an instant.
A flash of his blade.
The head on the left went flying.
Before it even hit the ground, a second strike followed.
The head on the right was severed as well.
Two enormous heads spun through the air, spraying geysers of black blood onto the forest floor.
[Demon Blade Muramasa: Favorability +3]
[Current Favorability: 82]
Hikaru had no time to check the system panel.
From the corner of his eye, he saw a large moth demon diving toward Kikyo. Its wings beat furiously, scattering a rain of phosphorescent dust. The ground smoked wherever the powder landed; it was clearly a potent toxin.
"To your right!" he yelled.
Kikyo didn't turn. Her bow was already drawn to its limit, and another arrow was released.
This one wasn't aimed at the moth's body, but at the base of its wing.
Pfft—
The arrow pierced clean through.
The great moth shrieked, its flight pattern shattered. It lost its balance and plummeted crookedly toward the ground.
Hikaru was already there to meet it. His blade slashed upward from below, striking the demon's soft, vulnerable abdomen.
A single, brutal strike gutted it, its entrails spilling across the dirt.
[Demon Blade Muramasa: Favorability +2]
[Current Favorability: 84]
Hikaru landed on both feet, his chest heaving with simulated breaths. A fierce, cold exhilaration coursed through him.
These three demons—the Tsuchigumo, the conjoined fiends, the toxic moth—were all undeniably high-level threats. Each one possessed a foundation of power that put them on the cusp of a greater evolution, their bodies swollen to monstrous proportions.
Yet, in less than a minute, these three powerful demons were dispatched with clean, brutal efficiency, never even getting the chance to fully unleash their unique demonic abilities.
This was a feat Hikaru could never have accomplished alone. Even relying on the cursed power of the blade in his hand, he could, at best, contend with a single high-level demon stronger than himself, and that would have been a bitter, drawn-out struggle.
But fighting in coordination with Kikyo? The results were exponentially more formidable.
And this was only the appetizer.
More demonic shadows were surging from the oppressive darkness of the surrounding forest.
Hikaru tightened his grip on Muramasa's hilt and took a deep, steadying breath.
"How many more?"
"Many," Kikyo's voice answered from behind him, as calm and placid as a winter lake.
"Can you hold out?" he asked.
"I can."
"Good."
Hikaru asked nothing more.
He trusted her.
Just as she trusted him.
The feeling was strange. They had known each other for less than ten days. She was a shrine maiden, he was an Oni—natural enemies by any definition.
But standing here, back to back—no, that wasn't quite right. He stood in front, and she covered him from behind. The way they coordinated their attacks felt as if they had been partners for decades.
Kikyo drew her bow, her sights set on a one-horned snake demon slithering closer. Her posture was flawless, a textbook-perfect display of archery.
But her heart… her heart was anything but calm.
This was a sensation she had never experienced before. As the shrine maiden tasked with guarding the village, she was accustomed to fighting alone. Facing the darkness alone. Bearing the weight of the world alone.
No one could help her, and no one was qualified to stand by her side.
Because she was the strongest.
And she had to be the strongest.
The chief of the demon slayers had told her long ago that she was the only one who could suppress the Shikon Jewel.
The only one.
That word meant loneliness. It meant no one could ever stand shoulder-to-shoulder with her.
But now—
"The centipede on the left! Its carapace has a crack—shoot it and shatter it!" Hikaru's voice cut through the din.
Kikyo didn't hesitate. The arrow was already loosed.
It struck the crack perfectly.
The centipede demon shrieked and writhed on the ground in agony.
"Thanks."
Hikaru was already rushing forward to deliver the finishing blow. A single strike decapitated it—clean and efficient.
Kikyo watched that gray shadow weave through the demon horde, the blade in his hand a flashing arc of death, taking a life with every swing. His movements were fluid, seamless. It wasn't the rounded perfection born from years of disciplined cultivation, but something more primal… more instinctual.
Like the instinct of a beast.
But a beast tempered with reason.
He knew when to advance and when to retreat. He knew when to meet force with force and when to use use to strike at a fatal flaw.
More —
He knew where her targets were. He never once blocked her line of fire. He would even actively drive the demons into positions where she could easily pick them off.
This kind of rapport…
Kikyo had never experienced it. Every arrow she fired had someone to follow up. At her back, there was an existence she could rely on.
The feeling was deeply unfamiliar.
But it wasn't unpleasant.
"Sister—!"
Kaede's panicked voice cried out from the distance.
Kikyo's brow furrowed slightly. The barrier she'd erected should have been soundproof. How could Kaede have woken up?
No. This is…
'It's an illusion!' she realized, her mind instantly clearing, refusing to be bewitched.
At that exact same moment, Hikaru's voice pulled her back to the present. "Cheap trick."
As he spoke, his blade swept horizontally, forcing back the two demons in front of him. He then spun, slashing a wave of pure Yao Qi toward the direction the voice had come from. The black energy tore through the air and drilled deep into the forest.
"Hiss—!"
A sharp, inhuman shriek rang out.
The "voice of Kaede" was cut short. In its place, a three-tailed fox with grayish-white fur stumbled out from behind a tree, desperately trying to flee.
An Illusion Fox. A mid-level demon that specialized in using illusions to confuse its prey, particularly skilled at mimicking human voices. It had clearly been trying to use Kaede's voice to lure Hikaru away, creating an opening for the other demons to ambush Kikyo.
Hikaru snorted coldly but did not give chase. He didn't need to.
Thwump!
A Sacred Arrow flew past him from behind, accurately piercing the spine of the fleeing Illusion Fox. The demon shrieked and collapsed, its body twitching once before falling still.
Hikaru turned his head.
Kikyo still held her bow-drawing stance, her gaze as serene as ever.
The next moment, he was back at her side. The entire exchange had taken less than ten seconds.
"Done," he said.
Kikyo looked at him, her lips slightly parted, but she said nothing. The hand gripping her bow, however, relaxed just a fraction.
It wasn't a sign of laxity.
It was… peace of mind.
'So this is what it feels like to have someone by your side,'she thought.'So this is what they call a comrade-in-arms.'
[Shikon Jewel (Naohi): Affinity +1]
[Current Affinity: 9]
[It conveyed a message to you: "She is getting used to your presence."]
Hikaru glanced at the panel, and the corners of his mouth lifted into a faint, almost imperceptible smile.
"Continue," he said. "Seventeen left."
Kikyo nodded, her expression firming once more.
The bowstring was pulled taut again.
The night was still long.
But she was no longer alone.
[Inorin's Note:
Enjoying the story? Dropping a quick review, comment, or Power Stone means the world to me and keeps these daily updates flowing!
Want to read 50 chapters ahead or just want to help keep a shameless translator alive? (My livelihood actually depends on this, haha 😭). You can support me directly here:
(P.S. Just remove the brackets and replace the [.] with a regular dot . to use the links!)
✨ Patreon (50 Advanced Chapters): patreon[.]com/InorinTL
☕ Ko-fi (Support / Sponsor): ko-fi[.]com/InorinTL
Thank you so much for reading and keeping this project alive!]