I Don’t Want to Be a Heroic Spirit

Kiichi froze momentarily, her gaze fixed on the strange figure before her.

The armored man wasted no time exploiting her hesitation. Retracting his cross-shaped spear, he smoothly shifted from a thrust to an upward swing.

But Kiichi was no ordinary opponent. As the founder of the Kyohachiryu sword style and a great tengu yokai, she recovered quickly. By the time the armored man adjusted his stance, she had already raised her blade, blocking the spear's side blade in a calculated defense.

Running through possible counterattacks in her mind, she began to predict his movements. Yet the sheer force pressing against her weapon caused her expression to falter.

The sensation of solid ground beneath her feet suddenly disappeared. To her shock, she realized—she was airborne, launched by the force of his strike!

There was no time to process her surprise. The armored man wouldn't waste such an opportunity.

He rested the cross-shaped spear on his shoulder, stepping forward.

His movements were a perfect chain: his legs powered his waist, his waist drove his torso, his torso fueled his arms, and his arms swung the spear with terrifying precision.

With a single rotation, the armored man's weapon gained immense momentum, its tip surrounded by a visible, semi-transparent whirlwind.

It wasn't just a strike—it was a devastating slam.

Though the weapon didn't make direct contact with her, the nearby trees bore the brunt of the attack. Invisible force crushed them as if struck by an enormous hammer, gouging massive chunks from their trunks.

Splinters, leaves, and white feathers filled the air, caught in the violent winds.

Thanks to her wings, Kiichi remained airborne and avoided the crushing blow.

The armored man, however, was momentarily vulnerable, his energy expended.

Kiichi wasn't about to let such an opening go to waste.

With a quick thrust, her blade pierced through the swirling black mist in the armored man's head.

Most beings would suffer grievous harm from an attack to the head, but Kiichi wasn't confident this would apply here.

Her suspicions were confirmed when, despite stiffening momentarily, the armored man resumed his movements.

Gripping her blade tightly with one hand, he raised his spear in the other, aiming it like a fisherman's harpoon at her head.

The spear's sharp tip exuded an air of unparalleled destruction. It seemed capable of shattering stone as easily as splitting a melon.

But his target wasn't stone or a melon—it was Kiichi, the great tengu.

Clang!

The spear scraped past her hair, missing her by the barest margin. In the split second before impact, Kiichi had struck the side of the spearhead with her fist, redirecting its trajectory.

Her fist remained extended as she stepped forward, closing the gap between them.

She twisted her waist and inhaled deeply.

Then, with a punch imbued with a thunderous shockwave, she drove her fist into the armored man's chest.

Boom!

The front of his armor shattered under the force of her blow, and her fist sank deep into his torso.

An instant later, the energy she had infused into the strike erupted inside him, sending the armored man hurtling backward.

He crashed through tree after tree, leaving behind craters in the ground. Finally, he skidded to a stop against a stone wall.

His chest armor was broken, and black mist seeped from within, swirling ominously.

Despite his injuries, the armored man struggled to rise.

"Stay down."

A shadowy figure materialized in front of him. Kiichi's golden eyes glowed faintly, tiny arcs of electricity dancing within them.

With a swift motion, her blade—crackling with golden lightning—pierced his chest.

The armored man twitched, as though attempting to resist, but a pillar of lightning engulfed him, connecting sky to earth.

When the light faded, all that remained in front of Kiichi was a scorched crater, still crackling with residual electricity.

She stared at the crater for a long moment, then rested her blade on her shoulder, her expression contemplative.

"What… was that thing?"

One thing was certain—it wasn't human.

It possessed extraordinary strength, speed, and skill that seemed honed to perfection. Yet it showed no signs of sentience.

It reminded her of a being afflicted with the Madness Enhancement skill, devoid of thought or communication. The moment it had seen her, it attacked without hesitation.

In all her time playing games like Genshin Impact, she'd never encountered such a creature before.

"…Could it have something to do with this sealed space?"

She glanced skyward, muttering to herself.

"There's still too little information."

Deciding it was time to return, Kiichi reflected on her progress.

Her analysis of the outer edges of the sealed space was complete, and she had eliminated most of the Abyssal Beasts prowling the perimeter.

While she had only deciphered a fraction of the seal, it was enough to deduce its mechanics, locate the Abyssal Beasts, and identify most of the formation's cores.

As long as she systematically destroyed the cores and eradicated the remaining monsters, she and Sara would be able to leave.

But one question continued to nag at her.

"How has this sealed space sustained itself for so long?"

When she had first seen the stone gate outside, she'd assumed it was a simple containment seal meant to keep the Abyssal Beasts from escaping.

But after entering, she realized the scale of the seal was far greater than she'd imagined.

According to her calculations, the sealed space had existed for roughly five centuries.

To maintain a barrier of this magnitude for that long would require a stable energy source or anchor.

The creator of this seal—likely Chika's ancestor and the village's former chief—must have used something extraordinary to sustain it.

Surely they hadn't used something as absurd as the Raiden Shogun's Gnosis…

Shaking her head, Kiichi dismissed the idea.

"Whatever. It's not my concern. When the time comes, the truth will reveal itself."

As for the humanoid monster she had encountered… Kiichi wasn't particularly worried.

Strong as it was, its strength was still within the realm of human capability—not enough to truly trouble her.

The difficulty she'd shown earlier had been deliberate. She'd wanted to test the creature and gather information about it.

And, if she were honest, she'd indulged her playful side.

After all, she'd been facing nothing but Abyssal Beasts since arriving here. The monotony had long since grown tiresome.

The only exception had been that Frost Abyss Mage, but it had been so arrogant she'd ended the fight as quickly as possible.

Now, encountering an enemy with both martial skill and a semblance of intrigue, she couldn't resist taking her time.

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