After that, her attitude softened. She pursed her lips and fidgeted awkwardly.
The girl took a deep breath, made up her mind, and solemnly said to the boy:
"Mr. Luo, if you can't deal with this thing, then leave me behind and escape on your own. Please don't feel guilty about it!"
"I, Higurashi Kagome, don't want to drag innocent people down with me."
"Don't worry. I'm confident I can handle this big guy."
Luo Shu smiled, his fondness for Kagome rising considerably.
Girls with such a sense of justice were rare in an age where propriety and morality had fallen apart.
With the Divine Authority Jade still well supplied, what was wrong with saving her on a whim?
To do as he pleased without overstepping his bounds—that was Mr. Luo's principle in life.
"...Thank you for saving my life, Mr. Luo!"
The boulder weighing on her heart had been lifted. Kagome immediately cheered with delight, her pretty face filled with pure excitement, as though she wanted nothing more than to throw herself at the boy.
Luo Shu pursed his lips and chuckled, not standing on ceremony.
"Do you know why this Evil Spirit attacked you so desperately?"
"...Why?"
Kagome's excitement faded, and she froze for a moment.
"That brings us to the Sacred Jewel of Four Souls passed down through your family."
Luo Shu explained with a smile, "It's inside your body right now."
"Inside my body?!"
Kagome exclaimed in surprise. She hadn't felt any foreign object inside her at all.
Then, the boy extended his fair hand and "inserted" it into her lower abdomen. As she stared in shock, her face flushing red, he easily pulled a round jade pearl from her body. Its faint purple glow lit up the night.
"This is the Sacred Jewel of Four Souls. Your grandfather must have told you its story."
"During the Warring States period, the powerful priestess Miko Tsuyuko sacrificed herself to slay a great demon that ravaged the human world. Their souls fused after death, eventually forming the Sacred Jewel of Four Souls."
"It is said that the Sacred Jewel of Four Souls can grant any wish. It is a treasure coveted by all living beings."
"With the Sacred Jewel of Four Souls inside you, you could be called a delicacy in the eyes of every demon and Evil Spirit."
"However, the aura of your Sacred Jewel of Four Souls has already been sealed. Normally, demons and Evil Spirits wouldn't notice it... I have no idea how that thing sensed it."
As the boy calmly explained, every mystery was resolved.
Higurashi Kagome was completely dumbfounded.
Wait, the legends her grandfather had told her were real?
This thing really was a treasure?
No wonder that Giant Spider had practically drooled over her. It looked at her as if she were a feast.
Just as the girl was making an optimistic joke to herself, the boy casually tossed the Sacred Jewel of Four Souls back to her.
"Mr. Luo, don't you need it?"
Kagome looked down at her palm. Seeing the Sacred Jewel of Four Souls returned to her intact, she looked rather surprised.
"I'm not so destitute that I need to rob a little girl of her family heirloom."
Luo Shu smiled indifferently.
To him, this thing was just a bargain-bin version of the Void.
Whether he had it or not made little difference.
Higurashi Kagome hesitated, wanting to say something, but she was interrupted.
"Rumble...!!"
The ground began shaking violently, nearly making her lose her footing.
Dust filled the air. That colossal creature had gone berserk in its fury. The Sea Spider-like Evil Spirit shrieked, already within arm's reach of them, and its four pairs of black-haired claws were about to strike.
"It's here."
Luo Shu smiled calmly and drew the katana at his waist in one smooth motion.
Every movement possessed an indescribable beauty.
"Scrape... scrape..."
He calmly walked toward the monster, the tip of his blade dragging across the ground with a crisp sound. His departing figure was as steady as Mount Tai, giving off an overwhelming sense of security.
Unmoved by favor or disgrace, he watched the flowers bloom and fall before the courtyard.
Unconcerned with coming or going, he followed the clouds drifting and unfolding across the sky.
Kagome stared in a daze, light seeming to flow through her beautiful eyes as she watched the boy walk away.
Then she saw him suddenly turn around with a smile, speaking leisurely in an elegant voice touched with carefree ease.
"Miss Higurashi, watch closely~."
"Ah?"
"This strike is going to be very cool!"
"...Mm!!"
In an instant.
The Hagoromo Boy stepped forward and blocked the enraged beast's path.
He tilted his head, the corners of his lips suddenly curling upward into a faintly wicked smile. Surging mana burst forth. Under the moonlight, the katana flashed with a beautiful arc. His overwhelming aura stirred up a crushing gale, and his topknot swayed in the wind...
Though he was smiling, his eyes were as cold as death itself.
Then he gripped the hilt with both hands, raising it above his shoulder as he assumed a starting stance.
The boy sneered as hundreds of Divine Authority Jade burned wildly at that moment.
"Feel honored. You will be the first monster to witness the birth of this secret sword."
"Hiss!!"
The Sea Spider shrieked, terror flashing through its eyes as though it sensed a threat to its life.
Its animal instincts warned it that this was a crisis from which it would surely perish!
But its greed for the Sacred Jewel of Four Souls overwhelmed everything else, driving it even more mad. Roaring furiously, its four pairs of claws descended like tentacles capable of destroying heaven and earth, as if trying to defy the warning of its instincts.
"Mr. Luo...!!"
In the distance, Higurashi Kagome clenched her hands nervously, her heart leaping into her throat as she watched the battle.
At that suffocatingly tense moment, when everyone held their breath.
Severing worldly ties,
The living sing of desire,
The swordsman pursues infinity.
I no longer know my own age,
Nor do I retain my former appearance.
Training is the daily routine of our kind.
Day after day, I persist without weariness...
Until my final moment, I too shall slowly release my last breath upon this mountain.
—The ultimate blade was finally completed, and a flash of sword light vanished across the moon of the Void.
"Secret Sword: Swallow Return."
He spoke the words lightly, then suddenly slashed at the giant beast with the hand gripping his sword hilt.
The blade moved like a ghost, like a bolt of white lightning.
At the instant he swung, the trajectories of his blade swings from parallel dimensions appeared.
One slash...
Two slashes...
Three slashes...
He had actually delivered a slash from three different directions at the same time.
The three slashes overlapped, impossible to evade. The folding of multiple dimensional spaces instantly sealed off every escape route of the Sea Spider.
"Rumble...!!"
Before it could even cry out, the giant beast was beheaded. Its enormous body crashed down, kicking up countless clouds of dust before splitting into innumerable chunks of flesh that became faint particles of light and scattered into the wind.
A gentle breeze blew, stopping beneath the awestruck gaze of the distant girl.
The A-Class Evil Spirit was dead!
Treasured Life-Killing Stone, Isayama Yomina's Shock!
Under the hazy moonlight, the Saw Mountain Great Forest grew quiet, the Evil Spirit's aura slowly dispersing.
At the place where the "Sea Spider" vanished, something seemed to clatter onto the ground. Luo Shu raised an eyebrow and walked over with interest.
Within the soil, mysterious strands of red light flickered, as though demons were whispering temptations.
"So it was this..."
The boy bent down thoughtfully and picked up a smooth, blood-colored jade pearl from the ground.
As Silver Ripple spread out, a detailed information panel appeared on the left side of his vision.
Life-Killing Stone Alignment: Evil Rank: Fourth-Rank Enhancement-Type Treasure Origin: A thousand years ago, a Nine-Tailed Fox Demon transformed into an unparalleled dancing girl and bewitched the emperor, throwing the imperial court into chaos. She was exposed by the great Onmyoji Yasuchika. Once the emperor regained his senses, he flew into a rage and ordered the fleeing fox demon hunted down. In the end, she was surrounded and killed in Nasu Fields by an army of tens of thousands led by Miura no Suke, along with Onmyoji. —Because she died amid endless resentment, her immense demonic power and soul essence condensed into the Life-Killing Stone. It split into nine pieces of varying sizes, scattering across the island nation and once again bringing disaster upon humanity. Method of Use: Swallow or wear it. Its power is determined by the host's resentment and hatred. Effects: Grants different superpowers based on one's wishes, such as teleportation, accelerated physical growth, resurrection after death... Side Effects: Over time, there is a risk that one's soul will be corrupted, causing the self and body to be destroyed and turned into an Evil Spirit.
"Not bad..."
Luo Shu rubbed his chin thoughtfully with his thumb.
This was a fourth-rank enhancement-type treasure. Even across the entire world, such things were exceedingly rare.
Theoretically, if a host's compatibility reached 100%, even an ordinary person could instantly become a fourth-rank powerhouse—the equivalent of a Servant in the Fate/stay night series—though they would lack combat experience...
No wonder that A-Class Evil Spirit had been able to sense the Sacred Jewel of Four Souls within Higurashi Kagome.
It turned out it possessed a treasure of the same type.
The boy fell into thought, suddenly recalling that he seemed to have watched an anime related to this.
The anime was called "Ga-Rei: Zero." Its female lead was Isayama Yomina, and its story revolved around the Life-Killing Stone, unfolding a series of grudges and entanglements. The Life-Killing Stone's abilities were exactly the same as 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.
Before you continue