"Huh? What was that just now?"
Once everything had settled down, Miss Souji blinked, then looked at her own hands.
"What just happened?"
Sakumura looked equally bewildered. Staring at Crane Feather in his hand, he fell into a daze.
"You two just now..."
Ryoma hurried over, his eyes filled with shock.
"Hey! Sakumura, what was that move? How come you've never used it before?"
Hijikata Toshizo came running over excitedly as well.
"I don't know either."
Sakumura scratched his head.
"You—"
Suddenly, an angry roar rang out from afar, shaking the entire mountain forest.
Everyone turned to look in the direction the sound had come from.
The mountaintop—Kurokawa Hideo's voice had come from the mountaintop.
"That guy's still alive?"
Saito Hajime frowned.
"He's immortal, just like those Chang Ghosts."
Red light flickered in Hoshiguma Yuna's eyes, her tone filled with resentment.
"Or rather, he is a Chang Ghost. Something must have changed, giving him a human-like appearance. He stopped being human a long time ago. Even when he was human, he was an evil demon. Now, he has merely cast aside his human shell."
She had personally experienced Kurokawa Hideo's evil, so she knew exactly what kind of creature he was.
He could slaughter others at will for his own selfish desires. He could endlessly drag innocents into danger to make himself stronger. He was not human at all—he never had been. He had always been an evil demon wearing human skin.
After Kurokawa Hideo's roar, there was no further movement.
And the stench in the air grew thicker.
Those Chang Ghosts appeared once more.
".So in the end, we still have to fight these bastards."
Nagakura Shinpachi spat and drew his sword bitterly.
"At least they're easier to deal with than that guy, aren't they? There are just a