Holy Grail War

Then her attitude softened. She bit her lip, fidgeting.

The girl took a deep breath, steeled herself, and spoke solemnly to the young man:

"Mr. Luo, if you can't handle this thing, just abandon me and escape on your own. Please don't feel guilty about it!"

"I, Higurashi Kagome, don't want to drag an innocent person into this."

"Relax, I'm confident I can take down this big guy."

Luo Shu smiled, his opinion of Kagome rising considerably.

A girl with this kind of sense of justice was rare in an era where rites and music had collapsed.

With the Divine Authority Jade abundant right now, what harm was there in saving her on a whim?

Acting freely without overstepping the bounds—that was this Luo's code of conduct.

"...Thank you, Mr. Luo, for saving my life!"

The weight pressing on her heart lifted, and Kagome instantly cheered up, her pretty face brimming with pure excitement, as if she wanted to throw herself at the young man.

Luo Shu pursed his lips and chuckled lightly, not bothering with modesty.

"Do you know why that Evil Spirit attacked you without regard for anything else?"

"...Why?"

Kagome's excitement faded, and her expression froze in confusion.

"This brings us to your family's heirloom, the Sacred Jewel of Four Souls."

Luo Shu explained with a smile. "It's inside you right now."

"Inside me?!"

Kagome exclaimed in surprise, feeling no foreign object in her body.

Then, the young man reached out his fair hand and "inserted" it into her lower abdomen. As she blushed in shock, he casually pulled out a round jade bead from within her, its faint purple glow illuminating the night.

"This is the Sacred Jewel of Four Souls. You should have heard its story from your grandfather."

"During the Warring States period, the powerful miko Tsuyuko, in order to slay a great demon that was ravaging the world, sacrificed herself. The souls of both merged upon death, eventually forming the Sacred Jewel of Four Souls."

"It's said that the Sacred Jewel of Four Souls can grant any wish—a treasure coveted by all living things."

"With the Sacred Jewel of Four Souls inside you, you're basically a prime target in the eyes of every demon."

"However, your Sacred Jewel of Four Souls has had its aura sealed. Normally, demons and evil spirits shouldn't be able to detect it... I wonder how that thing managed to sense it."

As the young man spoke calmly and unhurriedly, all the mysteries unraveled.

Higurashi Kagome was dumbfounded.

Wait, so the legends her grandfather told her were real?

This thing really was a treasure?

No wonder that Giant Spider had been drooling over her, looking at her like she was a piece of monk's flesh.

Just as the girl was optimistically joking to herself, the young man casually tossed the Sacred Jewel of Four Souls back.

"Mr. Luo, don't you need it?"

Kagome looked down at her palm, surprised to see the Sacred Jewel of Four Souls returned intact.

"I haven't fallen so low as to need to snatch a little girl's family heirloom."

Luo Shu smiled nonchalantly.

To him, this thing was just a discount-store version of the void.

Having it or not made no real difference.

Higurashi Kagome opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off.

"Boom...!!"

The ground began to shake violently, nearly throwing her off balance.

Dust filled the air. The massive creature rampaged in fury, the Sea Spider-like Evil Spirit howling as it closed in on them, its four pairs of black-haired chelicerae about to strike.

"Here it comes."

Luo Shu smiled calmly, drawing the longsword at his waist with fluid, effortless grace.

Every move carried an indescribable beauty.

"Shing... shing..."

He walked calmly toward the monster, the tip of his blade scraping against the ground with a crisp sound. His retreating figure was as steady as Mount Tai, exuding a profound sense of security.

Unmoved by favor or disgrace, idly watching flowers bloom and fall before the court.

Coming and going without intent, drifting with the clouds rolling and unrolling across the sky.

Kagome was mesmerized, her beautiful eyes shimmering as she stared blankly at the young man walking away.

Then he suddenly turned his head and smiled, speaking with a leisurely, pleasant tone:

"Miss Higurashi, watch closely~."

"Ah?"

"This slash... will be really cool!"

"...Mm!!"

In the blink of an eye.

The Hagoromo Boy stepped forward, blocking the path of the raging giant beast.

He tilted his head, the corners of his mouth suddenly curling into a somewhat sinister smile. Surging Mana Burst erupted, his katana gleaming with a beautiful arc under the moonlight. The overwhelming aura whipped up a pressure of wind, his topknot swaying in the breeze...

Though he was smiling, the depths of his eyes were as cold as a death god.

Then, gripping the hilt with both hands, he raised the blade to his shoulder, assuming a starting stance.

The boy sneered, hundreds of Divine Authority Jades burning wildly in that moment.

"Feel honored. You'll be the first monster to witness the birth of the Secret Sword."

"Hiss!!"

The Sea Spider shrieked, fear flashing in its eyes, as if sensing its life was threatened.

Its animal instincts warned it—this was a crisis of inevitable annihilation!

But greed for the Sacred Jewel of Four Souls overpowered everything, driving it into greater frenzy. It roared in fury, its four pairs of chelicerae crashing down like world-destroying tentacles, as if rebelling against the voice of instinct.

"Mr. Luo...!!"

In the distance, Higurashi Kagome, watching the battle, clenched her hands tightly, her heart leaping into her throat.

At that tense moment when everyone held their breath...

Severing ties with the mundane world, Praising desire as the living, Pursuing infinity as a swordsman.

His own age had long been forgotten, His own face was no longer what it once was.

Training was the daily norm of his kind.

Day after day, persisting without weariness...

Until the moment before death, he would slowly exhale his last breath in these very mountains.

―――The ultimate blade was complete. The sword light flashed and vanished in the void moon.

"Secret Sword: Swallow Return."

He uttered the words flatly, and the hand gripping the hilt suddenly swung a slash at the giant beast.

The blade moved like a ghost, like a white thunderbolt.

In the instant of the swing, the trajectories of slashes from other parallel timelines manifested.

One slash...

Two slashes...

Three slashes...

He had actually delivered a slash from three different directions at the same time.

The three slashes overlapped, leaving no room to dodge, instantly warping multiple dimensions and sealing off all of the Sea Spider's escape routes.

"Boom...!!"

Unable to even let out a wail, the giant beast was beheaded. Its massive body collapsed with a thunderous crash, kicking up countless clouds of dust, then split into countless chunks of flesh, dissolving into faint particles of light that scattered in the wind.

A gentle breeze blew, coming to rest on the awestruck gaze of the distant girl.

The A-Class Evil Spirit was dead!

19. Treasure: Life-Killing Stone, Shock from Isayama Yomina!

The moonlight was hazy. The Saw Mountain Great Forest grew quiet, the aura of evil spirits dispersing faintly.

At the spot where the "Sea Spider" had vanished, something seemed to fall with a clatter. Luo Shu raised an eyebrow and walked over with interest.

In the dirt, he saw wisps of mysterious red light flickering, as if a demon were tempting him.

"So it's this one..."

The boy bent down, thoughtful, and picked up a smooth, blood-red bead from the ground.

As silver ripples rippled, a detailed information panel appeared on the left side of his vision.

[Life-Killing Stone]

[Attribute: Evil Faction]

[Rank: Fourth-Tier Enhanced Treasure]

[Origin: A thousand years ago, a Nine-Tailed Fox Demon transformed into a peerless dancer to bewitch the emperor and plunge the court into chaos. The great Onmyoji Yasuchika saw through her, and when the emperor regained his senses, he flew into a rage and ordered the fleeing fox demon surrounded and killed.]

[In the end, she was cornered at the Nasu Fields by tens of thousands of troops led by Miura no Suke, alongside Onmyoji.]

[--Because she died in endless hatred, her vast demonic power and soul essence condensed into the Life-Killing Stone, which split into nine pieces of varying sizes and scattered across the island nation, once again bringing calamity to the mortal world.]

[Usage: Swallow or wear. Power is determined by the host's resentment.]

[Effects: Grants different superpowers according to one's wishes, such as teleportation, super-accelerated physical growth, resurrection after death...]

[Side Effects: Over time, there is a risk of soul erosion, leading to the destruction of self and body, turning one into an Evil Spirit.]

"Not bad at all..."

Luo Shu rubbed his chin with his thumb, lost in thought.

This was a Fourth-Tier Enhanced Treasure—rare even on a global scale.

In theory, if the host's compatibility reached 100%, even an ordinary person could instantly become a Fourth-Tier powerhouse, on par with the Servant-class from Fate/stay night, though lacking combat experience...

No wonder that A-Class Evil Spirit could sense the Sacred Jewel of Four Souls on Higurashi Kagome.

So it held a treasure of the same type.

The youth sank into contemplation, suddenly recalling that he seemed to have seen an anime related to this somewhere.

The anime was called Ga-Rei: Zero, and its female lead was Isayama Yomina. The main storyline revolved around the Life-Killing Stone, spinning a web of grudges and entanglements. The stone's functions were identical to the one in his hand.

So this was that world...

He scratched his head.

If he remembered correctly, the world of Ga-Rei: Zero had a world-ending crisis.