Anime Crossover: Oni Samurai Artifact System — Chapter 208

Chapter 208: Overflowing Yura of the Hair, Asura’s Liver

That night, the rhythmic, shallow breathing drifting from the main hall told Hikaru that Kikyo had already succumbed to sleep.

It was the earliest he had ever seen her rest since their paths first crossed.

Last night, she had pushed herself to the absolute limit. Deploying the massive Earth Barrier that spanned hundreds of miles across three provinces, she had acted as the living hub to channel the faith of two entire nations. Even for someone of Kikyo’s caliber, the sheer spiritual exhaustion was staggering., she hadn’t closed her eyes for a single second the entire night before.

A shrine maiden’s true strength was never reflected in her physical musculature. Although Kikyo’s constitution was fortified by the constant infusion of her immense spiritual power, she was ultimately still bound by mortal limits. She simply could not compare to the tireless, monstrous vitality of an undead Oni Samurai like Hikaru.

Hikaru stood quietly at the entrance of the main hall, his crimson eyes fixed on the sliding doors. He listened to her steady breathing for a long moment, ensuring she was truly resting, but he did not step inside to disturb her.

Instead, he turned on his heel and walked toward the newly erected structure nearby. A freshly carved wooden plaque hung above the entrance, bearing the title: Kishin Mitama no Mikoto.

This was a temporary shrine, built right here in Kaede Village under the direct orders of Hojo Ujiyasu after he had submitted a formal petition to the capital in Kyoto.

It was a modest wooden structure, not particularly grand or imposing. In the center of the offering table sat a simple arrangement: a porcelain bowl filled with clear water, an ever-burning oil lamp casting flickering shadows, and a small, polished bronze mirror. It was entirely devoid of the lavish pomp and elaborate ceremony one would typically expect for a recognized, true god.

But for Hikaru, it was more than enough.

He sat cross-legged before the offering table, his Crimson Demon Eyes narrowing as they fell upon the bowl of water. A wisp of dark, concentrated Yao Qi seeped from his index finger. He lowered his hand, letting the demonic energy lightly tap the water’s surface.

The moment the ripples spread outward, the pristine water in the bowl instantly turned murky. It wasn’t clouded by dirt or mud, but rather by the dense reflection of Turbid Qi.

Immediately after, a series of blurry, shifting images began to surface within the rippling water.

First appeared a pair of round, mung-bean-like eyes and a massive, fluffy tail. It was the Tanuki Spirit, a yokai of the Fourth Transformation. Despite its relatively low rank in raw power, it possessed a cunning wisdom and rationality that far exceeded ordinary demons, earning it the position of general manager over the lesser yokai under Hikaru’s command.

Next came the image of emerald green scales and a dish-like depression atop a reptilian head, brimming with deep blue demonic power—the Tono Great Kappa, an Eighth Transformation yokai leader currently stationed at Shimizu Port in Suruga.

Then, a flash of silver-white fur and sharp, scarlet vertical pupils—the Tono Kamaitachi, also of the Eighth Transformation, prowling the western mountains of Sagami.

Finally, a pair of freezing ice-blue pupils and cascading white hair that reached down to delicate ankles—the Tono Yuki-onna, an Eighth Transformation yokai presiding over northern Musashi.

And there were many more lingering in the background. Hitotsume-kozo, Kappa hatchlings, and a myriad of miscellaneous, low-level demons recruited from the surrounding lands.

Every single one of them had grown noticeably stronger. They had all gained at least one or two additional transformations since he last saw them. Their total numbers now easily exceeded a hundred. Scattered across the three provinces of Suruga, Musashi, and Sagami, they were diligently carrying out their master’s orders: collecting ‘Awe’ and spreading terrifying ghost stories in the dead of night.

The projection of the Tanuki Spirit jumped to the forefront of the water’s surface, its little mung-bean eyes rolling with excitement.

“My Lord! You’ve finally returned!”

“How is the situation?” Hikaru asked, his voice calm and level.

“Excellent! Over in Suruga, the shrines Lord Imagawa commissioned for us are completely finished, and the incense is burning bright day and night!” The Tanuki Spirit rubbed its paws together. “Senior Great Kappa at Shimizu Port takes a stroll around the waterways every single night. The local fishermen are scared absolutely witless! But the funny thing is, the fish harvests have actually increased because no one dares to go out and poach in the middle of the night anymore, hahaha!”

“What about Sagami?”

“Senior Kamaitachi cleared out several entrenched nests of mountain bandits in the western mountains while patrolling. Lord Hojo Ujiyasu’s people were so thrilled they specifically sent a massive batch of offerings as a token of gratitude—though Senior Kamaitachi complained that the offerings there didn’t taste nearly as good as the ones we get here in Musashi.”

Hikaru nodded slowly. Although the Tanuki Spirit’s intelligence network was a bit crude and informal, it reliably provided all the necessary strategic information.

The current state of Musashi Province was the most unique of the three. This was where Kaede Village was located, serving as the absolute core region for the official, capital-sanctioned recognition of Kishin Mitama no Mikoto as a true god.

During the time Naoe Kanetsugu had been magically restricted to a mere five-li radius around Kaede Village, she had taken it upon herself to coordinate the internal affairs of Musashi Province. She liaised with the Hojo Clan, pacified the anxious inhabitants, and maintained strict logistical order. Though she had been forced into the role by circumstance, Hikaru had to admit that the former Chief General under the previous generation’s Uesugi Kenshin was exceptionally capable.

With the hearts of the people in Musashi Province thoroughly stabilized, the offerings at the shrines naturally became far more consistent and pure.

And what those offerings brought to him was immense.

Hikaru closed his eyes, his heightened senses feeling two distinct, massive streams of power converging upon his body from all directions.

The first stream was heavy, viscous, and carried the metallic, cold scent of mortal fear.

The ghost stories of the Hyakki had been circulating wildly throughout the three provinces for several months now. From Suruga to Musashi and Sagami, the chilling tales of the ‘Hyakumonogatari’ were passed along by terrified traveling merchants, gossiping woodcutters, and superstitious fishermen. With every hushed retelling by a campfire, the fear grew a fraction thicker, and the resulting Awe grew a fraction heavier.

Nearly a hundred yokai now occupied their own designated territories. Each yokai was a living story, and each story was growing in infamy. As the absolute core and master of the Hyakki’s ghost stories, the lion’s share of the Awe harvested naturally flowed directly to Hikaru.

Yet, Hikaru did not hoard this dark energy for himself. He fed the vast majority of the Awe right back through the network to the Hyakki under his command. This constant nourishment was the exact reason his subordinates had been able to collectively undergo rapid transformations in just a few short months.

Then, there was the second stream of power. It was the complete antithesis of Awe.

Solemn. Pure. Lofty.

It was the power of Faith.

It radiated from the collective prayers of the hundred thousand inhabitants living across Musashi and Sagami Provinces. Ever since Hojo Ujiyasu officially petitioned Kyoto to elevate the Kaede Village Shrine into the Shinto hub of the two provinces, the pure faith of those lands had been gathering here, funneled through Kikyo’s massive Barrier network.

Hikaru now possessed this unmatched dual harvest. He was simultaneously the terrifying Master of the Hyakki and the revered true god of two provinces.

Faith and Awe were merely two sides of the same coin. Awe flowed downward into the shadows, while Faith ascended toward the heavens. The former was the ultimate nourishment for demons, while the latter was a radiant power that even gods and Buddhas drew upon to shape reality.

And at this very moment, Hikaru held both in his grasp.

However, there was a catch. He could not use the power of Faith directly.

That radiant energy was far too solemn and heavy. It actively suppressed all things extraordinary and dark—including Hikaru himself. At his core, he was still a yokai, the most extraordinary of the dark creatures. Directly invoking the raw power of Faith into his demonic body would be akin to turning a blazing, holy blade upon his own flesh.

Even normal human priests could not wield such crushing weight without consequence. This was precisely why even a powerhouse like Uesugi Kenshin had to rely on a ‘Divine Tool’ to drive the condensed power of Faith. Whether it was a god descending to the mortal world or an avatar of Bishamonten, a physical vessel was strictly required to handle the load.

But observing Uesugi Kenshin’s methods had given Hikaru a brilliant idea.

If she could use a weapon as a vessel to carry that holy weight, then naturally, so could he. Or rather, he realized he had already been doing so all along.

His crimson eyes lowered slightly, gleaming in the dim light.

The Oni Samurai, straddling the line between god and demon, reached out his hand. He let a thick strand of Yao Qi spill from his fingertips, spreading out and weaving into the air… stretching far toward the distant direction of Suruga.

Following the established network of Awe and the invisible, thrumming threads connecting his Hyakki, his consciousness crossed hundreds of miles in an instant. His mind reached out to touch that famous, lightning-infused blade currently enshrined in the main castle of the Imagawa Clan.

Raikiri · Sōza Samonji.

The legendary blade he had once used to slay the Thunder Beast. The semi-divine tool he had remotely summoned during the Night of a Hundred Tales, using it to sever the Awe field of the three Tono clans with a single, devastating strike of lightning fueled by pure Faith.

After completely exhausting its energy in that apocalyptic clash, the sword had been sent back to the Suruga shrine to be properly enshrined once more. Nearly a month had passed since that night. Through its daily, uninterrupted immersion in the pure Faith of the Suruga people praying at the shrine, the blade was slowly recovering its strength—and even evolving.

At this moment, Hikaru deliberately drew out a thick wisp of the Faith power gathered at the Kaede Village Shrine. With a flick of his will, he injected it directly into Raikiri from afar, drastically accelerating the speed of its evolution.

Hundreds of miles away, inside the Imagawa main castle shrine, the famous blade resting on the velvet offering table let out an extremely faint, high-pitched vibration. A thin, crackling layer of indigo-blue luster bloomed across the cold steel of the blade’s surface.

A familiar interface popped up in Hikaru’s vision.

[Raikiri · Sōza Samonji: Favorability +3]

[Current Favorability: 31]

[Unlocked First Talent: Divine Qi Release — While holding the blade, you can channel the power of Faith and convert it into Divine Qi to be released at a distance.]

Thirty-one.

It had finally crossed the crucial threshold of thirty. And this new talent… it proved that his line of thinking was absolutely correct.

The corners of Hikaru’s mouth curled up slightly in a rare, satisfied smirk.

While his approach wasn’t as crude and forceful as Uesugi Kenshin’s method of directly naming spirits to forge Divine Tools, it possessed the distinct advantage of immense flexibility. also, he didn’t have to worry about the holy energy backfiring and burning his demonic body.

Hikaru had witnessed existences like demons foolishly occupying divine seats before, such as that pathetic Shimura Toad. However, those false gods only ever dared to absorb Awe; they never dared to touch true Faith. This was precisely because attempting to use Faith—that absolute power which suppressed all dark things—would instantly suppress and destroy their own demonic cores.

But Hikaru no longer had that concern. using a dedicated Divine Tool as a proxy was the perfect loophole.

If he remembered his lore correctly, in the original timeline, there was a demon who had successfully stolen the position of a Water God. By wielding a Divine Tool that originated from the true Water God, that imposter demon had managed to completely suppress the demonic power of the Tessaiga, rendering the legendary fang-blade forged by a Great Yokai practically useless in combat.

As he pondered the tactical applications of this, two distinct, sharp vibrations suddenly buzzed against his waist.

Onikiri hummed aggressively in its scabbard, sending a clear, petulant thought directly into his mind: ‘Master…’

On his right hip, Yomikiri was also trembling slightly, emitting a low, unhappy whine of steel.

Of his two primary blades, one had successfully evolved into a perfect Demonic Tool, while the other remained an ordinary Demonic Tool. Both, however, sat at maximum favorability, and both possessed high-level spirituality.

Onikiri’s situation was slightly better; after all, it had fully manifested a blade soul. It simply sensed that its master was actively feeding energy to another blade miles away and was loudly asserting its own presence to demand attention.

Yomikiri, on the other hand, felt a deep, stinging jealousy that its master was paying far more attention to a sword that wasn’t even physically present than to the loyal blade resting right on his hip.

Hikaru let out a quiet sigh. He patted Onikiri’s scabbard reassuringly with his left hand, then gently stroked Yomikiri’s hilt with his right.

“Alright, alright, stop making a fuss. You both did well today.”

A little bit of physical comforting and a steady pulse of warm Yao Qi. The two jealous blades instantly quieted down, humming contentedly under his touch.

Hikaru handled their temperaments with practiced ease, operating like a seasoned veteran of romance handling a minefield of jealous lovers.

But as he settled his swords, he suddenly noticed that another object tied to his waist was uncharacteristically silent.

Yura of the Hair.

The crimson comb hung loosely from his belt, completely motionless. No vibrating. No shaking. No angry rattling.

From the moment he had returned to Kaede Village until now—a full half-day—Yura hadn’t uttered a single word or sent a single pulse of emotion.

This wasn’t right.

Given the notoriously volatile temper of this particular comb, after he had been away on a dangerous journey for an entire month, Yura should have been absolutely bristling with rage. She should have vibrated so violently that his belt came loose. She should have been so overwhelmingly jealous of his time away that a massive pile of angry complaints would have flooded his system panel.

But she didn’t. She was unnervingly, deeply quiet.

Frowning slightly, Hikaru unfastened the comb from his belt and placed it gently in the center of his palm.

“What’s wrong?” he asked softly.

The comb didn’t react.

“Are you angry with me?”

Still no reaction. Just cold, red wood.

“You don’t honestly think I’ve forgotten about you, do you?”

A slight reaction finally occurred. An extremely faint, hesitant vibration that lasted for less than a fraction of a second before abruptly stopping.

A line of text jumped onto the translucent panel before his eyes.

[Yura of the Hair: She does not want to talk.]

[Current Favorability: 94]

[Note: She is being temperamental. But this time it is not jealousy—she saw the process of the poison jiao scale ability merging with you, she saw the flawless, tacit cooperation between you and Iron Hammer in battle, and she feels… she is not good enough.]

The night deepened outside, the bright, silver moonlight shining obliquely through the open doors of the shrine’s main hall, casting long shadows across the tatami mats.

Sitting cross-legged on the clean wooden floor, Hikaru looked down at the silent comb resting in his palm, and then reread the glowing words on the panel.

She feels… she is not good enough.

Yura of the Hair, a dangerous yokai transformed from a simple grooming tool, was initially just a malicious Tsukumogami that gained her power by devouring her master’s hair. After being violently subdued by him in battle, she had followed him all the way to the present. From negative favorability numbers, to thirty, to fifty, and then soaring to ninety-four. Her favorability journey had started much later than most of his artifacts, yet she had caught up faster than almost any of them.

She had argued with him, made massive scenes, been fiercely jealous, and acted incredibly tsundere at every turn.

But she had never, not once, expressed a feeling of inadequacy.

Yura’s favorability of ninety-four had been stubbornly stuck at a bottleneck for a long time prior to this trip. It wasn’t that he hadn’t given her enough attention or Yao Qi, but rather that her own heart hadn’t been able to cross that final mental hurdle.

Simple competition with the other weapons could no longer stimulate her growth; what she desperately needed now was something much deeper. A deep, foundational level of recognition.

And for this exact scenario, Hikaru was actually well-prepared.

Reaching into the inner fold of his dark kimono, he carefully pulled something out.

A necklace.

To be precise, it was a delicate chain strung together with seven distinct stones. The stones were not large—each only about the size of a thumbnail—but they were perfectly round in shape, their surfaces carefully polished until they gleamed like glass.

Each stone was a completely different color. And each one came from a completely different location.

They were all small trinkets he had conveniently collected during his bloody, exhausting travels over the past month. Each one had been carefully selected from the earth, carefully polished by his own hands during his brief moments of rest, and systematically ‘conquered’ by his Yao Qi. Although each stone only added a pitiful few points of favorability—statistically insignificant to his overall power—each one carried a distinct memory of the places he had bled and fought.

To bind them together, he had used the extremely fine, indestructible bone threads extracted via his Bone Soul Transformation, stringing the seven stones together and polishing the entire piece into a beautiful, seamless chain.

The bone threads were incredibly tough, and the stones were perfectly round. As they dangled from his pale finger, they clinked together, emitting a crisp, melodic tinkling sound.

“This is for you,” Hikaru said, his voice dropping to a low, smooth cadence.

He gently placed the colorful necklace right next to the crimson comb. In his broad palm lay the stubbornly silent comb and the softly tinkling stone necklace.

The comb vibrated once. A sharp, surprised jolt.

The panel jumped.

[Yura of the Hair:…What is this?]

“This past month, every time I traveled to a new place, I would pick up a stone,” Hikaru explained, his thumb lightly brushing the polished surface of a blue stone. “At first, I didn’t pick them up specifically for you. It was just a pragmatic habit—wherever I went, I would greet the random objects by the roadside and just conveniently build some rapport to grind favorability.”

He paused, letting the silence of the shrine hang in the air for a moment.

“But later, as I kept picking them up, I started thinking of you.”

The comb remained perfectly still, listening.

“Because these stones are just like you,” Hikaru continued, his deadpan tone softening into something surprisingly genuine. “At first glance, everyone thinks they are completely unremarkable. Just broken, useless stones discarded by the roadside. But after I have touched them, after I have poured my time and energy into them… they are no longer the same. They become something beautiful. Something valuable.”

The comb’s vibration drastically changed. From the tentative, slight tremble just moments ago, it shifted into a deeper, much more sustained and emotional oscillation. It practically hummed against his skin.

The words on the panel began flashing rapidly.

[Yura of the Hair: Favorability 94]

The number didn’t immediately increase, but the intense vibration didn’t stop either. She was listening. Digesting his words. Struggling fiercely with her own insecurities.

Moving slowly, Hikaru picked up the necklace and carefully draped it over the handle of the comb. The seven colorful stones hung perfectly, dangling gracefully between the fine red teeth, tinkling softly with every slight tremor the comb made.

“Yura of the Hair.” He called her full name, his voice carrying a weight of absolute certainty. “You don’t ever need to compare yourself to anyone or anything else.”

“You haven’t been with me for a short time. Your intelligence and your abilities have been a significant help to me time and time again. To me, you are already a completely unique existence.”

The pragmatic, artifact-romancing scumbag monster, Kobe Hikaru, delivered the killing blow with a perfectly straight face.

And so, at this exact moment—

The comb vibrated violently for one long, intense second, and then went completely, utterly quiet.

But this quietness was fundamentally different from her previous, depressive silence. Before, she was sulking in self-pity. Now, she was…

Holding back.

She was desperately holding back from letting herself be visibly happy. A monster who was tsundere down to her very core; that was simply how she was wired.

Finally, the system panel jumped with a new line.

[Yura of the Hair: Hmph.]

[Current Favorability: 95]

The dam had broken. A massive crack appeared in that stubborn mental hurdle.

As expected, it succeeded, Hikaru thought, looking at that single line of text with immense satisfaction. He couldn’t help but chuckle inwardly, genuinely believing he was an absolute ‘genius’ at this.

Of course, despite his manipulative system-grinding mindset, Hikaru’s words had actually come from the bottom of his heart. Although they had started out as bitter enemies trying to kill each other, over this long period, Yura had indeed saved his life and provided crucial intelligence multiple times. She truly deserved to be called ‘unique’.

Hikaru had always been surprisingly sentimental toward his weapons, and undeniably ‘philanthropic’ with his affections.

So then.

“Next, let’s keep this momentum up!”

Having completely shattered the emotional bottleneck, the subsequent progress was naturally as rapid as a flood.

[Yura of the Hair: Favorability +2]

…

[Current Favorability: 100 (Unity)]

[All talents unlocked — Hair Binding (unlocked), Hair Transformation (new): Manipulate hair to grow and extend freely, can be used as independent limbs for attacks, binding, and defense. Hair strength increases proportionally with the amount of Yao Qi infused — All talents can now be merged into oneself.]

It was full. One hundred points.

Hikaru lowered his head, watching the comb resting against his chest.

A brilliant, pulsing light began to seep out from between Yura’s teeth. It wasn’t her usual ink-green, highly toxic light, nor was it the dark, violent red firelight of his swords. It was a soft, radiant light approaching a pure emerald green, carrying the fresh, vibrant aura of howling wind and rapid growth.

That emerald light spread rapidly across his chest, sinking effortlessly through his skin and seeping directly into his body, traveling along his veins and blood vessels.

Where did it go?

It went straight to his hair.

His long, pale hair began to undergo a visible, dramatic change at this moment. The very roots of his hair began to exude an extremely faint, healthy luster. His original pale hair color, while soft, had ultimately always appeared a bit withered and dead—a byproduct of his undead nature. But now, it was as if boundless vitality had been forcefully injected back into it. The strands became incredibly lustrous, bright, and impossibly smooth.

That radiant luster spread rapidly downwards along the length of the hair strands, moving like creeping, vibrant vines.

This was the true power of Hair Transformation.

Manipulating hair to grow freely—the very second this new ability merged into his physical body, it triggered a massive, cascading chain reaction with his existing bodily transformations.

This was not just a simple, isolated fusion with one type of ability. It was an total, systemic fusion that integrated into Hikaru’s entire anatomy.

The concept of ‘hair’ was by no means limited only to the head. The human—and demonic—body possessed millions of pores, countless fine hairs, both large and microscopic. The fusion of the Hair Transformation had an immediate, overall impact on every single one of these.

The emerald energy merged deeply into his limbs. It merged into his torso. It merged into his waist.

Thus, his physical strength reached the absolute four extremities, granting him the terrifying ability to exert kinetic force from every tiny, microscopic fine hair on his body. His sensory perception and physical control skyrocketed.

It instantly synergized with the Blood Transformation, because blood was the biological root that fed hair. Thus, his blood surged with new, explosive vitality, pumping like a roaring engine.

This was a complete, overall evolution, formed by merging the new power deeply into his six bones.

If previously, one unit of Hikaru’s physical force only yielded one unit of destructive effect, then after possessing this ‘Hair Transformation’, that exact same unit of force could now yield three units, or even more, in sheer combat efficiency. His bodily mechanics had been perfectly improved.

The energy felt distinctly aligned with the Wind element.

And because of that, it immediately interconnected with the Thunder Transformation that Hikaru had long since mastered. Both Wind and Thunder were elemental transformations based on rapid growth, extension, and chaotic movement.

And among the ancient Five Elements, Wood governs growth.

Wind belongs to Wood. Thunder also connects deeply to Wood. Naturally, when Wind and Thunder stimulate each other, all things in nature are forced to grow.

This was the essence of Wood.

And anatomically, Wood corresponds to the Liver.

Suddenly, Hikaru felt an intense, unusual movement flaring up from the right side of his abdomen.

The dormant projection of the Asura Transformation began to operate completely automatically within his body. He didn’t even need to actively unfold his terrifying, six-meter-tall giant demonic form. The internal, elemental circulation brought about by the resonance of his three existing organs automatically began to construct the fourth organ the moment it sensed the integration of this new Five Elements element.

Heart Fire resided burning in his chest. Kidney Water resided deep in his waist. Lung Metal resided sharp on both sides of his ribs.

And now, Liver Wood was taking root in his right rib.

Blinding emerald green light condensed rapidly at the position of his right rib, forcefully weaving together to form a dense, pulsing core covered in complex wind and thunder patterns.

The shape of this new core was irregular, looking exactly like a massive seed that was in the violent process of sprouting. Its surface was covered with crackling lightning patterns and miniature, swirling typhoons. Something incredibly dense inside it was growing, stretching, and extending outward into his anatomy.

Asura’s Liver.

It was successfully cast.

Four organs were now complete—Heart Fire, Kidney Water, Lung Metal, Liver Wood.

Only the very last one was missing.

Just one missing.

What he lacked now was Earth.

Hikaru slowly opened his eyes, the crimson glow within them burning brighter than ever before.

The four elemental organs had formed a nearly closed, roaring cycle of power within his body. Fire generates Earth, Earth generates Metal, Metal generates Water, Water generates Wood, Wood generates Fire.

But one crucial link was missing in the middle. Fire desperately wanted to generate Earth, but there was no Earth organ present to receive the energy. The cycle was violently broken at that exact juncture.

He was just one step away.

One last, final step away, and the Asura Transformation could form a true, self-sustaining internal Five Elements cycle, meaning he would no longer have to rely on his main body’s Yao Qi reserves to provide energy for the giant form. He would have infinite stamina.

But acquiring the Earth element was a matter for later.

Before he could ponder his next move, the Yura of the Hair necklace hanging heavily at his waist tinkled once, a crisp, bright sound in the quiet shrine.

The system panel jumped with one final, simple line of text.

[Yura of the Hair:…Thank you.]

There was no pretense. No angry tsundere act. No complaints.

Only those two sincere words.

Hikaru reached out, his newly empowered fingers deftly re-tying the comb securely back onto his belt. The stone necklace hung beautifully from the comb’s handle, tinkling softly as it swayed a couple of times before finally falling still against his hip.

He gently stroked the smooth, wooden back of the comb.

“You’re welcome.”