Chapter 16: Four

My eyebrows slightly raised

"As I thought" A smile graced my lips "You're not really who you say you are, aren't you?"

That woman who laid by the road. The spirit that kept on pestering me. They are not the same person. Chances are the corpse is just one of the many thrown away by the bandits after they had their way with her

'How did you know?'

I didn't. I honestly didn't. I just hit the spot by pure chance when she said it to me. But an answer like that would probably not be received well by her

"Come on, isn't it obvious?" 

Bullshitting is the best option to hold a superior standpoint in any exchange, or in this situation at least. That means she won't question if I continue pressing her afterward

'I guess it is kind of suspicious' She frowned 'Now that you mentioned it, there's a few slips in our conversation from before. To think you'd immediately pick up on it....I apologize'

"Did you think an apology would settle it?" She flinched at my words. Again I was only bullshitting "Normally I would have demanded an explanation and no small amount of compensation, but now's not the time. How will you help me?"

'The demon you're fighting against is a high-ranked demon. His black wind magic enables him to greatly strengthen every wind related technique he cultivated, hence why he can easily overpower you with just one strike' She calmly analyzed 

'And his magic isn't something to scoff at, either. He can summon lesser blade of gale from nothing and hurl them at you, do keep that in mind. You may end up hurt if you recklessly charge at him'

'With that say, if I can-'

"Say no more"

'Excuse me?'

"So your point is that since I've been using wind technique, he'll always have the advantage over me. And since I only cut him up with my sword, physical regeneration can easily reattach his body back, which means using Kenjutsu against this guy is useless" I theorize "Which points to the fact that I need to slowed down his regeneration by unleashing wide-area damage and beat him to death using my fist"

'No, that's not-'

"Thank you Spirit-san, I understand your plan now" My form moved in a blur toward the demon "I should have thought about it earlier"

"Dragon Breath First Form. Coiling Dragon Kick"

I sprung up with my leg reared back, before kicking him across the face with all my power. The demon's head snapped to the sky. His jaws dislocated, his mind confused, but that didn't prevent me from hooking my arms to his neck and chin, before snapping his neck 180 degree around

However, such injury doesn't seem to affect him as the demon once again tried to throw me off by swinging himself wildly around. Colliding into nearby walls and almost succeeded in shrugging me off his back

"Dragon Breath Third Form. Boulder Smash" 

Using his weight against himself, I threw him down the floor by twisting my body downward- effectively changing our center of gravity. His heavy body slammed to the ground - creating spiderweb crack around it- which made him wheezed out in panic. The demon raised his Naginata up and slashed it down at me, but I once again jumped back to avoid his strike

'At least give me the signal' The spirit girl huffed behind me, before making a handsign

[Bless: Eastern Wind of Chaos]

I blinked, before smiling as a shroud of wind gathered around me. Pulling out my sword, I raised it above my head. The wind reacted by following the movement of my blade- reaching out to the tip and greatly enhancing it

"Wind Breath Fourth Style. Rising Dust Storm"

I twisted my body to avoid his swing and delivered a fast slash at his torso, slicing it open and spilling all of the demon's organs on the ground. Multiple cyclones then slammed into his body, tearing away his flesh away with each passing seconds

"Demon Art: Black Wind Wall!"

My attack was promptly cancelled as he summoned forth a wall of concentrated squall, blocking and deflecting away all of my cyclone from their path. But since the wall itself isn't very wide and only held off on one side, I quickly dashed off- entering his blind spot through the side- until I came up to his vulnerable back, still busy regenerating the wound on his side

The Tanegashima appeared in my hand and I shot him in the dick

With a roar of pain, the demon doubled down. His mind an unstable mix of pain and confusion as he wheezed out another attack by blindly swinging his pole arm around him, creating craters every time his weapon hit the ground 

Thankfully, my experience fighting against bosses in Seikiro has already prepared me for situation like these

[Bless: Southern Wind of Haste]

In a fight like this, timing is of utmost importance

I dodged to the side, feeling my body becoming lighter by the seconds. Using it to my advantage, I dashed around his large form and delivered countless attacks that left his body covered in blood and slash wounds

"Enough" A roar escaped his mouth, gritting in half-mad fever as he raised his Naginata up into the air, before slamming  it down to the ground

"Demon Art: Steel Tempest"

Wind gathered around the tip of his naginata, and before he could react, (Y/n) was pierced through the heart by the pole arm in a surprise attack from him

[Bless: Western Wind of Protection]

Or rather, that's what would have happened if a wall of wind hadn't appeared in front of me to block the attack. I turned my head sideway to see the spirit beside me with her hand stretched out, her face set in a determined frown

'Go'

Grinning, I wasted no time to close the distance between us. 

The demon cried as he swung his pole arm down at me. Me and the spirit split up in two directions, with her sending wind blades at him from one side and casting wind shield for me, while I focused on breaking apart his body as much as possible

"Dragon Breath Fifth Form. Flashfire"

My palms impacted in his abdomen in a barrage of strikes, rupturing his intestines and nearby organs. The demon's face twisted in rage as he slashed at me with the bladed tip of his weapon, slicing me in half

"Demon Art: Post Perception"

"Demon Art: Kaleidoscope"

(Y/n)'s illusion shattered, revealing three other (Y/n) sprinting toward him at full speed with frowns on their face

The demon screamed in fear as he slashed at the one on the right. It shattered. He swung it down at the one in the middle. It too shattered. The real me who's running to his left jumped up with my fist reared back

[Bless: Northern Wind of Destruction]

The spirit's voice echoed beside me, at the same time I felt my body being strengthened. Most likely it's a buff to increase my damage, in which case-

"Dragon Breath Second Form. Obliterating Punch"

Ripping apart the air as it rocketed by, my fist impacted with his head, making it exploded into a shower of mess and gore. The bandit leader's body staggered backward from the force, before being forced to the ground as I tackled him. His body twitched and convulsed, but I steadily held them down with my foot

"Dragon Breath Fourth Form. Ironbreaker"

Subsequently. His lungs, intestines, basically everything from his chest to abdomen was ruptured heavily as I continued hitting him with all my strength. The demon tried to grab me using his hand, but I grabbed them and ripped his limbs off their sockets 

And there comes the finishing blow. My fist smashed cleanly through his ribs, gripping the demon's beating heart in my hand, before ripping it out of his chest. His blood spattering over my face, allowing me to look through the gaping wound on his chest

Strangely, I noticed his body's healing has been slowed down- something that brought a smile to my face as realization dawned on me

"So you demon's weak point is the heart?" I mused "Makes sense, if you can bleed and enable fast tissue regeneration, it must means blood still circulates within you, so long as I take out the very thing that enable it...you become useless"

Had the demon's head remained intact, he would have been screaming right now. Yet, as it was, even his body language alone conveyed a sheer terror toward this boy. A primordial sense of fear that encompassed his body, freezing his every nerve as the boy gazed at the pulsating organ lying on the palm of his hand

"....How does it feel?" I looked down at him "This must be familiar to you. The sight of the captive your bandit goons captured. The people who looked at you, pleading for their life to be spared after having given everything to your men, only to have their family killed in front of them"

"You spared no one. Not the children. Not the men. Not the old. And not certainly the women. All you do is exerting cruelty on others to fuel for your sadistic instinct as an abomination of nature"

"So.....How does it feel to be on the receiving end of it for once?"

"Wait, no-"

I crushed the heart in my hand, immediately killing him

"Omae...Wa Mou Shindeiru"

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"Phew, that was refreshing" I sighed in satisfaction, pulling up my blood-soaked clothe and sheathing my sword "It's good to have some stress relief once in a while"

"And spirit"

'Eep, don't kill me!'

I looked at her in confusion

"What are you saying? I killed him" I gestured at the pile of ash behind me- the result of me burning his body with one of the nearby torch taken from the camp "The guy's dead for sure, no need for you to be afraid anymore"

I smiled "And if it wasn't for your blessings, I most certainly wouldn't have been able to overpower the demon. So at least be proud of yourself"

Her only answer is to shrink further from me

Ah...could it be that she's feeling bothered about the blood on my clothe? It seems understandable that this would happen. Spirit or not, girls always seem to be sensitive whenever it comes to hygiene 

Note to self: Buy a red-colored kimono in the future to avoid suspicion from people

but first...

"Spirit-san" I calmly stopped her "I believe you owe me an explanation, and some small bit of compensation from before" I said compensation because I don't want people to think I'm extorting, because that would honestly make me seems like a bad person 

'O-of course' She coughed 'First off, I'm sorry for deceiving you back at the sideroad. The truth is that I'm not the woman who was raped by the bandits, I only imitated her appearance so that I could talk to you and call for your aid'

"But why would you do that?"

'Several reasons actually' She took a deep breath- more like a mental reaction than an actual need for air 'You do know we're standing in a shrine, right?'

"More or less, yeah"

'Do you know who it was made for?'

"Ahhhhh....." I looked at her ".......Hmmmmmmm.........who could it be? Surely it's not you?"

'it's me'

"Oh my, what a pleasant surprise. So you are a god?" 

'Not a god, more like a spirit guardian of this mountain' She whispered while shaking her head 'I am an imaginary entity, built upon the faith of the people who once lived here. In the past, they used to worship me, bring me offering, and in return I ensure their safety and protection. Blessing of luck, safe travel, a good hunting season, and the prosperity of the people in general'

(Y/n) was silent as he looked at her

"What is your name? I don't remember hearing about one like you"

'And neither do I' She looked saddened, floating up to one of the shattered boulder and sat on it 'As I said before, I am an imaginary entity whose existence are entirely dependent on people's belief of them. As long as there are traces of my existence- whether mentally or physically- I will continue to exist'

'But over the year, many things have happened. The masses began to worship the more mainstream variant of Shinto gods, unifying their faith of nature and attributing them to predetermined individual. Even I was replaced by some guy named Fujin'

'And as they forget about me, so do I' She laughed 'My names faded into the unwritten side of history. My power reduced to a mere fraction of a fraction from the past. The only thing that made me aware of myself is this shrine they had built me from hundreds of years ago. And so, there will always be one thing I never forget, that is my duty of protecting those inside this region'

'And these bandits, these demons' Her face darkened, looking down in contempt at the bodies that littered under her feet, like a silent judgement from the victim themselves

'I cannot just stand powerlessly as they do whatever they want on my territory, yet despite my power, I was helpless against their leader. That's why I have to beg you for assistance, kind Ronin. That's why I have to take the form of the woman and converse with you in the first place, because i genuinely want to protect the people inside this land'

"Ah" I let out a noise of understanding, watching her calmly from the corner of my eyes "So, in time, if no people remember you anymore and this shrine somehow happened to collapse" I looked at the worn down structures surrounding us "you will die"

'That's one way to put it' She smiled at me, but I could tell other emotions lurking beneath those hollow eyes 'But I have no regret, you know. In the end, I fulfilled my duty in protecting the people here, travelers or not. As such I wouldn't mind if I were to simply...fade out of existence'

"I see"

Well that put my plan to raid this shrine out of the window. It would have left a bitter taste in my mouth if I were to take away a piece of her dwindling existence, knowing one day I'd have contributed to her imminent demise from this world

"I guess a compensation is unnecessary, seeing I already have these bandits to loot. But there's another thing I want to confirm"

'And what is it?'

"....Eh....You know what? Forget it" After a moment of thinking, I shook my head, before turning around to begin the cleanup on the bandit's corpses "If you can't even remember your name, there's not a chance you can remember it. Goodbye"

'Remember what?' The spirit inquired with narrowed eyes at my retreating back, but I ignored her. My mind flashed back to what the demon had said when I talked to him

'A mere human like you would not be able to understand. You would not understand the sheer power this shrine have, the spirit that protects it, and the secret residing inside it. No, you're blind to the power they contained!'

Just what could be the secret to this place?

The question faded to the back of my skull. After all, what use would pondering over it do anyway?

I threw a glance at the spirit who's sitting alone on the boulder behind me

As much as this encounter has provided me with abundant loot and skills, it is time to say goodbye I guess

Yet, even at the back of my mind, there's a feeling this probably won't be the last time I see her

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"Scrap" I said, tossing the blade into my inventory "Scrap. Scrap. Scrap. All these blades are useless. Might as well sell them later for some quick money"

Despite their individual prowess, i figured each of these bandit must at least possess some valuable weapon for them to operate so close to the forest boundary, yet all I find is crap blades that couldn't even be used as proper weapon

Guess what they say about preservation over efficiency is true

Their users aren't even strong enough to imprint their own essence into the blade- probably because they just keep breaking their weapon and replacing it with those they found, so I can't exactly trace them. Technically I could, but it wouldn't be of very much use since I can't use any technique from it. Plus their stats are far inferior compared to the other weapons in my possession anyway

You have found [x50,000 Lien]

You have found [x20 Blue Herbs]

You have found [x10 Green Herbs]

You have found [x10 Red Herbs]

You have found [Flint and Steel]

You have found [x17 Pork]

You have found [Dust Powder]

The miscellaneous items I got from them was at least useful for personal use. Some of them on the verge of breaking, but I repaired them using [Item Repair] which turned them back to their brand new state again 

I walked to the Naginata that laid by the Demon's side. Picking it up, I could see it easily towered over me with it's ridiculous height

"Oh, this one. It feels the same as Neo's weapon...." I narrowed my eyes 'It felt as if the weapon is trying to claw itself out of my grip. How peculiar'

Due to repeated action, skill [Demonic Sensory] has been unlocked

[Demonic Sensory]: You can sense demon's negative energy from a distance away. This also included the Grimm and other malevolent Yokai who are close to you

The black energy surrounding the weapon seems to get stronger now, pulsating every second with burst of dark energy threatening to tear my hand away. But I could tell it was the same as before, it's just that now I'm more perceptive of it

"Bonding"

The aggressive aura lessened considerably as our bond was connected, but it still remained there otherwise. It's property as a demonic weapon required it to do so. They served as fuel source for their technique I guess 

Now that reminds me...why the hell wasn't demons and other Yokais included in the list of races I can choose from at the start of the game?

You can freely choose and switch between each of them once you've completed the game 

Ah, so it's those advanced class only obtainable when one opened NG+, huh? Makes sense I guess. 

Still, being a demon would have sounds like fun if it wasn't for the hate they received

"Mechanical Tracing"

An inferior of the copy materialized in my palm, and I put the real one in my inventory before turning back to examine the traced version of it

Ding!

[Mechanical Tracing] has leveled up

From now on, you can learn +1 technique from each weapon you traced

A surprise to be sure, but at least it's a welcome one

Now if only my tracing skills doesn't just produce F-rank weapon, I would be immensely delighted. In RPG, differently ranked weapon also have different powers compared to their brethren- as is the case with rarity. A legendary rank F weapon could easily decimate a normal rank C with ease, and that is not counting in the techniques it possess

So how would it feels like to held a rank E legendary sword in hand? I could only imagine

Ding!

A new weapon has been traced and added to your inventory

Name: Yamikaze (Dark Wind)

Rank: F (A - )

Technique: 

- [Steel Tempest]: A piercing attack infused with wind magic that deals damage to enemy in a line 

- [Black Wind Wall]: Create a wall of howling gale that keep you safe from non-magic projectile (bullets excluded)

- [Howling Black Squall] : Knock back your enemy with a violent gust of wind. When cast along side (Steel Tempest) this skill will push all opponents surrounding you away 

- [Eight Wind of Calamity]: Summons eight familiar that can help you in battle

I twirled the pole arm a few times to test it's weight. Despite the weapon's size, it was...reasonably light, if not a bit weighted at the tip. But maybe that's just because I put most point into Taijutsu. I raised it up again and point it at the bandit's corpses before me

'Well, a little test won't hurt'

"Steel Tempest" I thrust the halberd forward, in the direction of the most concentrated gathering of their corpses

The piled up mountain of dead bodies were blown away, pierced by numerous wind blade that followed after. Body parts cut up, organs spilled, wet blood sprayed into the air as most of them are mutilated beyond recognition. The tattered bodies were sent into the air, before they crashed into the shrine's walls like pieces of immobile meat

"........"

Well I probably shouldn't have done that. Now I'm going to have trouble eating breakfast

But another problem slipped it's way into my mind: Why is it that this weapon is stronger than when I first saw him use it? From what I know, a weapon's rank is dependent on the level of it's master since they are an imprint of their essence, so why is it that such a demon like him is able to turn it into such a formidable items

...could it be that this little halberd in my hand wasn't his? The bandit leader could have just took it from one of the fallen demons before him, he could have just been gifted with it, like a celebratory present when he first become a Lower Demon Moon by example

....Oh...

...Wait...

...That reminds me, I just killed a demon moon - something which I've almost forgot in the heat of battle

.....

Moving on, it seems like there's no more loot for me to take. Time to fulfill my promise and find that captive girl. Maybe she's hiding somewhere around here

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If I were to be honest, I would say I'm not that much of a lady killer

My ability to actually kill a woman notwithstanding, it's just a metaphorical saying about my lack of required skill to woo someone of the opposite sex with either my luck or charisma. Most of the time I'd just be too blunt or be too distant from them - a double standard if I were to say so

So right now, having a naked woman hugging me on the waist is a strange sensation to say the least

"....I thought you weren't going to return" She cried, tears staining my newly-equipped outfit "We all heard the noises and the tortured screaming...and we thought you are done for good"

Oh....she probably heard that

"Yes yes, I get it" I patted her head, before gently plucking her grip on me off "Before that put on these clothe, it pained me to see such a dirty woman like you sprawling on the ground" I handed her one of the kimono from the pile in my hand, ignoring the look on her face when I say the word 'dirty'

"It's from the bandits I killed. I tightened their frame so they'll fit with women. Don't mind the bloodstain" I handed her the rest of the pile of fabric "Now these are for the others. I figured they'd probably be naked if they were kept as entertainment for the men, so just guide me to their location"

She led me across several tents, all the way to the back. I gulped slightly at the dirty smell that permeated my nose the moment I step in. It's slightly better than I expected, but it's still bad. Very bad

5 other women, each as young as and identical looking at the one standing beside me. They weakly raised their head from the dirty floor of the cage they're trapped in and looked at the two of us, their eyes hollowed in despair- probably thinking I'm here to for some physical relief if the way they scurried away from me was any hint

I softly exhaled, trying my best not to vomit at the numerous cuts and bruises adorning their naked bodies

'This is horrible' I shook my head 'Then again, it's still better than Dark Souls'

I drew my blade form it's sheathe- steadfastly ignoring the look of fear that crossed their face- before slashing at the cage's door hinge, severing it from the lock. Putting my hands across the bar and gripping it tightly, I easily pulled the door apart

Now they looked at me with confusion, wariness. But that is fine for me. Only a fool would show hope in this situation. 

The women backpedaled further into the cage as I stepped inside, until their back hit the wall. They huddled together, their eyes fearfully watching me- fearing for the death of them

"It's okay" 

I whispered, gently extending my hand toward them

"Everything's over"

Slowly, one of them moved forward and took my by my hand. I led her outside, where the girl from before stepped forward and embraced her. the others soon followed, taking comfort in each other's embrace, basking in their freedom as the first ray of sunlight paint the night sky

Dawn has arrived. And with it, came the end of a night full of carnage 

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Author's Note: Done. Done!

Wait..not done. I still have 700 spare words in the next chapter. God damn it