Chapter 179: The Possibility of a Demon Blade Princess, Blood and Fire Transformation
The final hammer strike fell. A sharp, ringing metallic chime echoed through the cavern.
The patterns on the cooling blank had finally taken shape. Dark red veins wound across the dark metal surface, branching out like blood vessels or ancient tree roots. They extended from the razor edge to the thick spine, smoothly merging into the tang.
The prototype of a demon blade.
Yet, it was still just a prototype. It was missing a crucial spark.
Kobe Hikaru gripped the heavy hammer. His Crimson Demon Eyes narrowed, locking onto the resting blank atop the anvil. The second talent, [Intent Reading], activated in his mind. It projected the internal state of the forged metal directly into his perception.
The concentration of intent was sufficient. The purity of the folded steel was flawless. The cognition and will carried within those full-favorability fragments had been perfectly hammered into the very molecular structure of the metal.
He wasn't lacking material. He was lacking direction.
Taigen Sessai's teachings surfaced in his memory: All techniques return to one. Find the singular point that all six changes point toward.
Totosai had echoed a similar sentiment, bluntly stating that Hikaru's intent had yet to truly take shape. Whatever the blade soul devoured from him was merely a semi-finished product, a raw amalgamation of power without a guiding philosophy.
Two different masters, standing at completely different vantage points, pointing toward the exact same conclusion. He had not yet found his own absolute path.
Sessai's words referred to the fundamental principle of Hikaru's own existence as an undead anomaly. Totosai's critique targeted the specific intent with which he wielded his Yao Qi. One dwelled within the soul, the other established life without. Their essence differed, but their paths converged at the same destination.
Because of this missing link, the blade resting on the anvil could only reach this current threshold.
Even so, it was incredibly close. The weapon was infinitely close to its complete form, fully capable of carrying Hikaru's dense Yao Qi and even enduring the immense strain of the Asura Transformation. It just wasn't perfect.
If he could push it one step further, the result wouldn't just be a sturdy weapon. It would birth a blade yokai—an entity capable of independently growing stronger, devouring and evolving just like a true demon.
A Tsukumogami. A Demon Blade Princess.
These past seven days of relentless striking at the forge had not been wasted.
Hikaru slowly lowered the hammer. The moment the worn handle left his palm, the faint, ethereal light glowing on the iron face receded. It quieted down, slipping into dormancy like a satiated beast returning to its den.
"In the end, it's still missing a single breath." Totosai squatted beside the roaring furnace. His protruding, bulbous eyes stared intently at the blank for a long time. His heavily wrinkled face scrunched together, forming a tight ball of disappointment.
Regret dripped from his raspy tone. This had been Hikaru's initial goal—to forge a stronger demon blade capable of handling his raw power. The current Muramasa achieved exactly that. It was a complete demon blade. Yet, as a master smith, how could Totosai not see the lingering potential? He knew this blade could go even further.
The old yokai stood up. His short, stumpy legs carried him two steps toward the anvil. He bent over, bringing his large nose closer to the surface of the cooling blank. Just as he opened his mouth to speak, the words died in his throat.
His massive eyes suddenly snapped toward the Oni Samurai.
He felt it. The stone floor beneath his bare feet began to tremble. This wasn't the familiar, rhythmic vibration of the furnace fire, nor was it the deep rumbling of magma flowing within the small volcano.
It was Yao Qi.
A terrifying wave of Yao Qi surged outward from Hikaru's body. The sheer density of his demonic aura was skyrocketing at an unnatural pace, thickening the air until it became hard to breathe.
"Damn it—" Totosai instinctively scrambled backward. His short frame slammed into the stone edge of the furnace, and his own forging hammer nearly slipped from his trembling grip.
Myoga was even faster. The cowardly flea yokai had already scurried deep into a narrow rock crevice before Totosai could even finish his curse. Only two mung-bean-sized eyes peeked out from the darkness.
"Lord Totosai! He—he's getting stronger!"
"I can see that, you idiot! Shut up!"
Dark, oppressive Yao Qi spilled from Hikaru's skin like overflowing ink. This wasn't a violent explosion of power, nor was it a loss of control into a berserk state.
This was pure absorption.
Having reached one hundred favorability with the master smith's hammer, the system's mechanisms triggered. The unlocked talents were forcibly integrating into his very being.
[Hammer Sense], [Intent Reading], and [Self-Forging Fire].
Three distinct talents surged into his soul simultaneously.
The first talent, [Hammer Sense], infiltrated his bones through his palms. It followed the pathways of extraordinary arm strength and precise control granted by the Spirit-Tracking Archer Transformation, fusing flawlessly into his muscle memory.
The second talent, [Intent Reading], flowed directly into his mind. It rode along his heightened perception and the soul-locking system of the archer form, overlapping with the automatic marking function of his Yao Qi membrane.
Then came the third talent. [Self-Forging Fire].
This was the absolute key. Its effect allowed the host to generate forging-grade demonic fire directly from within their own body. The temperature and purity of this flame were dictated entirely by the strength of their demonic power. Unlike the eerie ghost fire of the Firefly Transformation—which was essentially just the volatilization of the aura of the dead—this was a true, tangible element.
It was the second elemental transformation Hikaru truly possessed, following the Thunder Transformation.
Demonic fire ignited within his veins. The sensation was entirely different from the fusion of the Thunder Horn. The Thunder Transformation had been completed through a kiss, its violent nature harmonized and smoothed out by Kikyo's pure spiritual power. It had been rough at the start, but gentle and steady afterward.
The Fire Transformation offered no such mercy. It was violently rough from beginning to end, lacking the slightest hint of soothing harmonization.
The intense forging fire, accumulated by Totosai's hammer over hundreds of years of relentless striking, spread rapidly through Hikaru's circulatory system. It didn't just coat the surface of his blood; it infiltrated the crimson liquid itself, fundamentally altering its properties.
The Blood Transformation—his original, foundational ability to shift into a blood mist, extend his perception, and enter a bloodthirsty berserk state—underwent a radical evolution under the infusion of this demonic flame.
His internal temperature spiked. His blood boiled from room temperature to a scorching heat, and then from scorching to a terrifying degree capable of melting solid iron. The faint blood mist clinging to his skin shifted from a dark, murky red to a shimmering, luminous crimson. The cavern air grew heavy with the searing, metallic scent that only arose when raw iron ore was thrust into a blazing furnace.
The concepts of blood and fire merged into a singular entity.
Just as the Thunder Transformation had fused into his skeletal structure to forge Thunder Muscle, the Fire Transformation fused smoothly into the Blood Transformation. It birthed the Blood-Fire Transformation.
Blood became fire, and fire became blood.
The liquid pumping through his veins was no longer just blood. It was an unextinguishable furnace fire, roaring through his body.
From this moment onward, wherever the light of his flames reached, everything fell within his absolute line of sight. The sensory network of Blood Resonance had evolved, allowing him to use fire itself as his eyes.
Naturally, the physical blood remained. It could simply be driven outward and ignited at a moment's notice. The Blood Transformation and the Blood-Fire Transformation were, at their core, two branching extensions of the exact same root. It mirrored the overlapping nature of his Thunder Muscle and his physical body.
Crack.
Fissures spiderwebbed across the cavern's stone walls. The sheer ambient heat and overflowing Yao Qi radiating from the Oni Samurai applied immense pressure to the enclosed space. Within a ten-step radius of Hikaru, the temperature soared by hundreds of degrees. Even Totosai's heavy forging furnace, built to withstand extreme conditions, trembled violently under the oppressive heatwave.
"This kid..." Totosai stared, his bulging eyes wide as he steadied his footing against the trembling furnace. His deep wrinkles were etched with a chaotic mixture of absolute shock and obvious excitement. "Damn it! He broke through a major bottleneck just by hammering a sword? Is he a demon, or one of those freakish shrine maidens and mages among the humans?"
The old smith cursed loudly, but his words struck the absolute core of the matter.
In this chaotic era where humans and demons bled on the same soil, such sudden moments of deep epiphany usually belonged exclusively to humans. Human exorcists, shrine maidens, and Onmyoji would occasionally shatter their cognitive barriers in a single, fleeting moment, causing their spiritual power to skyrocket. Their strength stemmed from their souls and, more, from their mortal cognition.
A human's spiritual capacity was largely predetermined at birth. Demons, however, operated on a completely different logic. Yokai evolved through endless slaughter, devouring their own kind, and absorbing the terror of mortals. They accumulated Turbid Qi to generate more Yao Qi.
A demon's growth relied entirely on raw accumulation, the passage of centuries, and the brutal tempering of life-and-death combat. They had to drag themselves forward step by bloody step. There were no shortcuts. For a yokai, the path of 'epiphany' simply did not exist. Even ancient Great Yokai who could manifest natural phenomena relied on raw power, never contemplating the philosophical depths of their existence.
Totosai, of course, had no concept of a favorability system. He could only interpret the terrifying display before him as the Oni Samurai stumbling upon some miraculous, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity while striking the anvil—an opportunity that allowed him to shatter a biological bottleneck.
In a way, the old smith wasn't entirely wrong.
Amidst the swirling heat, Hikaru slowly opened his eyes.
The complex purple patterns within his Crimson Demon Eyes had grown far denser than before. Deep within his pupils, a faint, burning orange light flickered to life—the external manifestation of the Blood-Fire Transformation.
He raised his right hand, slowly turning his palm upward.
A concentrated sphere of flame surged from the veins in his wrist, breaking through his pale skin to hover above his palm. It wasn't the eerie, ghostly green of the Firefly form. It was a vicious, roaring orange flame with a dark, blood-red undertone.
The heat was staggering. The air directly above his palm warped and distorted violently.
He clenched his fist. The flame instantly extinguished, leaving no smoke behind.
He opened his fingers, and the fire roared back to life in a split second.
Absolute, perfect control.
"Blood-Fire Transformation," Hikaru murmured. His low, deadpan voice echoed softly against the heated stone walls of the cavern.
This evolution was no mere accident. It was exactly what Hikaru had intended from the moment he picked up the tool. He knew Totosai's legendary hammer held enough history and intent to grant him a massive leap in power. The act of forging the demon blade was, in truth, the act of forging his own body.
Blood and fire had become one.
While his outward appearance remained mostly unchanged, he had undeniably taken a massive step forward. And this step would soon pave the way for a brand new round of Materialization.
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