What does that mean?
But the system panel stopped displaying text.
The light of the shikon jewel also stabilized, with the white light and black energy maintaining a delicate balance.
Hikaru wanted to ask more, but he knew it was useless.
This jewel was not like that chatterbox blade muramasa, which would pour out all the thoughts in its head when it wanted to speak, but couldn't squeeze out a single word when it didn't.
"What's wrong?"
Kikyo's voice came.
Hikaru put away the panel and turned around.
"Nothing..."
He hadn't finished speaking.
A chill suddenly ran down the back of his neck.
That was an Ghost Samurai's instinctive reaction to danger.
Hikaru looked up abruptly.
The moon in the sky was rounder, so round it looked like it was about to fall.
The moonlight was pale, casting a deathly gray hue over the entire shrine.
Then he saw it.
A black shadow was approaching on the horizon.
No, not just one.
It was a whole mass.
Dense, covering the sky and earth.
Many times more than the wave of yokai from before.
"Damn."
Hikaru cursed under his breath.
[shikon no tama: naohi indicates—it wants to speak, but it can no longer do so.]
[Magatsuhi is suppressing it.]
The system panel popped up with the final notification.
Then it vanished.
Hikaru took one last look at the shikon jewel.
The white light of that orb was fading at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The black energy regained the upper hand.
And this blackness was thicker and denser than before, almost solidifying into substance.
"Midnight has arrived."
Kikyo's voice was very calm.
She also seemed to have given up on continuing to suppress the evil power of Magatsuhi, because she couldn't hold it back... She walked to Hikaru's side and looked up at the shadow in the sky.
"The moon is at its zenith, and the yin energy is at its peak."
"At this time, Magatsuhi will overpower naohi."
"So..."
She paused.
"What follows is the true test."
Hikaru gripped the hilt of his blade.
Just as mentioned before.
The talent brought by muramasa had already fused into his body, but the blade itself was still very useful.
The sharpness bonus gained from repeatedly nurturing the blade remained.
The bloodthirsty trait also remained.
It just wouldn't speak to him for a while—after the fusion of abilities, the spirituality of the item itself would be 'weakened' for a period, waiting for recovery—the time required wasn't very long, but it wouldn't be fast either.
"It's here."
Kikyo pulled back her bowstring.
That shadow had already reached the sky above the shrine.
It wasn't a demon.
It was... a bird?
No.
Hikaru narrowed his eyes.
Those things had wings, but they weren't birds.
They were bats.
Thousands of bats, each the size of a human head, their eyes glowing with green light, revealing two fangs in their mouths.
A swarm of blood-sucking bats.
This thing wasn't strong individually, but it was overwhelming in numbers.
And they weren't the main course.
The main course was behind them.
Hikaru saw it.
At the very back of the swarm, there was a larger shadow.
That shadow's size... was at least three zhang, hanging in the air like a small hill.
"What is that?"
Hikaru asked.
Kikyo did not answer.
She simply released the bowstring.
A Sacred Arrow shot out, exploding in the air, turning into countless beams of white light, incinerating the dozen or so bats charging at the front into ash.
But that was merely a drop in the bucket for the entire swarm.
More bats dove down.
Hikaru took a deep breath.
The Demonic Qi within his body began to boil.
His blood flowed frantically through his veins, making a sound like a rushing river.
This was the trait of [Blood Transformation].
His blood was no longer ordinary blood.
"Come on."
Hikaru said in a low voice.
He raised his left hand.
A drop of blood condensed and formed in his palm.
Then it exploded.
Turning into a sky full of blood mist.
The blood mist drifted, shrouding the entire shrine within it.
Through this blood mist, Hikaru could see the position, speed, and flight path of every single bat.
This was [Resonance with Blood].
The first bat rushed in front of him.
Hikaru held his blade horizontally.
The blade slashed across, cutting the bat in two.
The second, the third, the fourth...
Blade light flashed.
Corpses fell like rain.
But there were too many bats.
He killed ten, there were still a hundred.
He killed a hundred, there were still a thousand.
And that largest shadow was getting closer and closer.
Hikaru finally saw the appearance of that thing clearly.
That was not a bat.
It was a giant...
Flying squirrel?
No.
That was...
"Kamaitachi."
It was the famous, true 'demon' of this land!
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