Three days after returning to Kaede Village, Kikyō went into seclusion.
This was something Shinji hadn't anticipated.
The exchange of spiritual power that night had affected her more than he had imagined.
According to Kikyō's own account, during the process of channeling her spiritual power into Shinji's body, her state of mind had undergone a subtle change.
That change was hard to put into words like a taut string suddenly loosening, or a long-blocked pressure point suddenly opening.
As mentioned before, a shrine maiden's spiritual power was closely tied to her state of mind.
The purer the heart, the purer the spiritual power. The more resolute the heart, the more powerful the control over spiritual power.
And after that night, Kikyō had not weakened because of 'love.' On the contrary, she had become even more refined, even more pure.
This further proved that Shinji was right, her 'feelings' were never a distraction, but something closer to her true heart.
But this change needed time to digest and consolidate.
"I need to meditate for a few days," Kikyō said to Shinji before secluding herself.
She stood at the entrance of the shrine's rear hall, in her usual white robes and red hakama, her long black hair tied with a plain white cord. Her delicate, clear features held a rare seriousness.
"Let the insights settle. Let my spiritual power stabilize completely."
"How long will it take?"
"Seven days."
Shinji nodded. "I'll take care of things outside."
Kikyō looked at him, her dark eyes full of tenderness.
"I've reinforced the barrier. Ordinary demons can't get in."
"If something happens...." She took a talisman from her waist and handed it to Shinji.
"Crush this. I'll sense it."
Shinji took the talisman and put it in his robe.
"Don't worry," he said.
"I'll be waiting for you to come out."
Kikyō said nothing more. She turned and walked into the rear hall.
The wooden door slowly closed behind her, shutting out the outside world.
In this world, for humans with strong spiritual power or magical ability, meditation was a common practice.
The world was turbid; they needed to periodically maintain their purity.
Moreover, the mainstream Shinto system of Japan was a blend of yin-yang theory and Zen Buddhism, constant cleansing was inevitable.
Before Shinji came, Kikyō would spend at least one or two months each year in meditation.
And so, Shinji began his days of guarding the house alone.
'Guarding the house' was more like solitary training.
The Lightning-Muscle Sharp Body had just been fused and needed time to be familiarized and adapted.
Though that lightning power had become part of his body, he was far from being able to control it freely.
Shinji spent a great deal of time training each day.
At dawn, he would go to the open ground behind the village, channeling the lightning within him, feeling the trajectory of that power moving through his sinews and bones.
Sometimes he would deliberately suppress it, letting the lightning lie dormant in a specific muscle. Other times he would burst it forth, seeing how quickly the purple electric arcs could cover his entire body.
This training was tedious, but the results were significant.
Besides training the Lightning-Muscle Sharp Body, Shinji's other important task was, of course, claiming the remaining demonic artifacts.
The venomous dragon's reverse scale, the cat demon's paw, and Yura.
These three items had very different personalities, and the claiming methods were entirely different.
First, the venomous dragon's reverse scale.
This was the hardest to deal with.
Every afternoon, Shinji would spend half an hour holding the dark purple scale in his palm, trying to communicate with it.
"How are you feeling today?" he asked the reverse scale.
No response.
The scale just lay there quietly, occasionally seeping a faint wisp of purple mist.
But Shinji knew it could understand him.
Because every time he spoke, that toxic mist would slightly retract as if on alert, or testing the waters.
"Stop pretending." Shinji gently touched the edge of the scale with his demonic aura.
"I know you're listening."
Still no response.
But that wisp of purple mist visibly trembled.
"Do you think that if you play dead, I won't be able to do anything to you?" Shinji's tone grew playful.
"You're dead wrong."
He took out another item from his robe, the cat demon's paw.
He casually placed the dry black claw next to the reverse scale.
"See? This one is much more obedient than you."
"I pour a little demonic aura into it every day, and its affection keeps rising."
"In another month, it'll be completely mine."
"And you?" He looked at the reverse scale, his voice full of smug satisfaction.
"Still putting on airs?"
When facing different 'objects' with different personalities, different claiming methods were needed.
Shinji knew this very well.
Silence.
The reverse scale still didn't respond.
But the way that purple mist moved had changed, no longer evenly seeping, but now surging toward the cat demon's paw.
As if… provoking?
Shinji raised an eyebrow.
"Jealous?"
[Venomous Dragon Reverse Scale: Affection +1]
[Current Affection: 22]
[It won't admit it, but it is indeed displeased.]
Truly an insidious thing.
Even jealousy had to be expressed this way.
Shinji put away the reverse scale and moved on to the next claiming.
By comparison,
The cat demon's paw was still the most worry-free.
This thing was like a sponge absorbing demonic aura.
Every day, Shinji poured a little demonic aura into it, and it obediently accepted, and then its affection rose a little.
No interaction, no drama.
Tedious, but hassle-free.
Though indeed very boring.
[Cat Demon Paw: Affection +2]
[Current Affection: 33]
[It still shows no reaction.]
[First Bond Unlocked: Nothing at All]
[First Talent Unlocked: Undead Affinity (All low-tier, self-unconscious undead will show you goodwill)]
"Can't you at least give me something?" Shinji muttered to the withered claw. "Even a twitch would be fine."
The claw remained motionless.
"…Fine." Shinji sighed.
Talking to a piece of wood really wasn't much fun.
As for the last one, Yura, she was the earliest he had obtained, and the loudest of the three.
"You're ignoring me again!" The little skull on the red comb vibrated indignantly. "I've been waiting all afternoon!"
"I'm busy." Shinji didn't look up.
"Busy!" Yura was displeased. "With that stinky scale and dead claw, right!"
"You spend all day holding them, ignoring me!"
"I was the first one you caught!"
"I have the most seniority!"
"Why do they get to be ahead of me!"
Shinji finally looked up at the comb vibrating in his robe, somewhat speechless. "Do you even hear yourself?"
And so, time passed.
Five days, gone in a flash.
Shinji's training and claiming were progressing steadily. Kaede Village remained safe.
Occasionally, a few low-tier demons with no sense would approach the barrier, and he would easily deal with them.
Little Kaede, staying with a villager family, would bring meals every day and ask about her sister.
The villagers' attitude toward Shinji grew increasingly warm, the feat of slaying the four vanguards and repelling Kidōmaru in a single night had spread throughout Musashi Province.
People had begun to call him the Thunder-Slaying Demon God.
Though the title sounded a bit chuunibyou, Shinji couldn't be bothered to correct it.
He was, after all, a demon. And he could indeed slay thunder.
One evening.
Shinji was sitting on the shrine's veranda, channeling his demonic aura into the reverse scale.
"Good cooperation today," he said to the scale. "Keep it up. In two more months, we can fuse."
The reverse scale still didn't respond.
But the flow of its purple mist was noticeably smoother than before.
[Venomous Dragon Reverse Scale: Affection +1]
[Current Affection: 23]
[It still doesn't want to talk to you]
[But it's starting to get used to your presence]
Progress was faster than expected. Probably the trick of using the cat demon's paw to provoke it had worked.
That insidious thing really did respond to that.
Just as Shinji was thinking this, he suddenly stopped.
He looked up, his gaze turning north.
The sky there was shrouded in a vast haze.
Not demonic aura.
People.
And the concentrated human energy of a large number of people.
The sound of hooves, the clatter of armor, the rustle of banners in the wind though tens of miles away, with his current perception ability, he could still catch them.
"This is…" Shinji frowned.
War.
Human war.
"Again?"