The Immortal

It was a faint, raspy female voice. The words sounded like a warning, yet the tone carried a deep, violent aura.

Someone was in the flames? And it was a woman?

Hearing the voice, Miketsu looked curiously toward the thickest part of the fire and black smoke. She saw the flames suddenly explode violently, and a pillar of fire shot into the sky, lunging straight at her.

Flapping her wings hard, Makoto urgently dodged the scorching pillar of fire. Feeling the searing heat brush past her, Miketsu couldn't help but frown. She could sense a deep hostility within the flames, and this hostility seemed indiscriminate.

More importantly, however, was the nature of the power in that fire pillar. It actually contained both spiritual power and demonic power! It was extremely turbid and tyrannical, very different from the power she had encountered in humans or yokai before.

So, was the being inside a human or a yokai?

While Miketsu was wondering, many more fire pillars shot up from the depths of the flames and smoke. For a moment, Makoto couldn't even dodge them all and was nearly burned. Unlike Miketsu, Makoto did not possess causality vision and could not handle dodging barrage attacks with ease.

"Makoto, fly steady. Let me cool her down."

"Yes, Lady Uka!"

Miketsu drew her tachi. The Demonic Fang Blade appeared out of thin air in a flash of light, immediately transforming into a giant frost blade, wrapped in a chilling mist.

"Cold Ice Break!"

With a swing of Miketsu's blade, a massive ice and snow storm swept toward the flames below. In a short while, it extinguished the raging mountain fire, blew away the thick black smoke, and froze the charred forest of black wood.

However, on this frost-covered earth, one area remained completely unaffected. Amidst the flames that even the Cold Ice Break failed to extinguish, a young girl stood there.

The girl appeared slightly older than Miketsu. Her white, thigh-length hair was draped loosely behind her. Her skin, equally white, showed no trace of color. She wore a thin kosode and was barefoot. Her crimson eyes looked toward Miketsu in the sky, but they were vacant and unfocused, as if she lacked clear consciousness.

Was this the true identity of the Calamity Fire rumors that had circulated through Kanto, Totomi Province, and Omi Province for a hundred years? A young girl?

Seeing the scene before her, Miketsu was stunned. Then, her attention was immediately drawn to another detail: the girl's body emitted a familiar aura. This aura was extremely depraved and sinister, making Miketsu feel intense disgust, yet it left a deep impression. She had felt it on the leopard cat yokai during the battle for the Vermilion Bird Seal—it was the Blood Sacrifice power that drove them into a frenzy. Although slightly different, this power was very similar to that Blood Sacrifice power!

Why did she have such an aura on her?

While Miketsu was confused, the girl had already begun to move. Flames ignited on her body, and she kicked off the ground, soaring into the sky and lunging straight toward Miketsu and Makoto. She could actually fly!

"Makoto! Lower your altitude and meet her!"

"Understood!"

With that, Makoto carried Miketsu and flew directly toward the girl charging through the flames. At the same time, Miketsu activated her causality vision.

Although she didn't know if the opponent was human or yokai, they were clearly unable to communicate and full of hostility. Facing such an enemy, she would temporarily incapacitate her.

Since even the Cold Ice Break struggled to freeze her, she would just have to cut off her limbs! Under causality vision, Miketsu could directly see all the causes of death. As long as she avoided cutting the spots that triggered those causes, it would be fine.

As Miketsu planned this, the distance between the two sides closed rapidly. But when the opponent entered the range of her causality vision, Miketsu's heart suddenly jolted.

Within Miketsu's causality vision, there wasn't a single line of death on the girl! Or rather, there was no cause that could trigger the result of the girl's death!

No, it was even more outrageous than that! There wasn't even a cause that would lead to her being maimed!

Seeing such a sight for the first time, Miketsu was somewhat dazed. Encountering this situation, she didn't know how to make her move for a moment. However, the girl would not give Miketsu a chance to react. One of her fists, wreathed in raging flames, swung toward Miketsu. Faced with this, Miketsu swung her blade sharply, using the ice blade to suppress the flames and severing the girl's wrist.

Facing her severed wrist, the girl remained completely unmoved, not even knitting her brows. Instead, she delivered a kick to Miketsu, making her lose her footing on Makoto's back and fall straight down.

"Lady Uka!"

Amidst Makoto's cry of alarm, Miketsu plummeted from the sky. During the fall, she pulled out the Qin Xin mask and placed it on her face. Qin Xin instantly transformed into the Earth Spider Mask. Using demonic power, she quickly spun a large web between the charred trees below. Miketsu fell directly onto the web, completely buffering the kinetic energy of her descent.

The girl in the sky silently watched the safely landed Miketsu. Her wrist, which Miketsu had severed, spontaneously burned away in mid-air, turning into a wisp of fire that flew back to the girl and attached itself to the stump of her arm. When the fire dissipated, a perfectly intact hand was there.

Having finished her recovery, the girl's entire body suddenly erupted in surging flames. She transformed into a flaming meteor, diving straight from the sky toward Miketsu. Miketsu, having dropped from the web to the ground, turned around just in time to see this massive fireball smashing toward her!

"Explosive Current Wave!"

Miketsu threw out a demonic energy tornado to meet the fireball. Amidst a series of booming explosions, the demonic energy tornado collided with the fireball, exploding into a sky full of fire clouds as they canceled each other out.

In such an explosion, no one should be able to survive. If it were the old Miketsu, she would definitely think so, but she was clear on one point: there was no cause of death on the opponent!

Within the fire clouds, the girl emerged, her body covered in countless deep, bone-revealing gashes, with not a single patch of intact skin left. She attacked Miketsu with flames wrapped around her arms, all her wounds healing at a high speed visible to the naked eye.

So this is what it means to be unable to die... and unable to be maimed? It seems Causality really doesn't lie...

"An immortal who manipulates fire..."

With a quiet sigh, Miketsu transformed the Demonic Fang Blade into an ice blade and met the girl, who had already rushed in front of her, in close combat. Compared to throwing flames from a distance, she seemed to prefer close-quarters brawling.

"Lady Uka! I will assist you." At this time, Makoto in the sky also transformed into human form, joining the battle with her sharp claws and feathered wings.

Thus, Miketsu and the girl engaged in hand-to-hand combat. Relying on her causality vision, Miketsu constantly evaded the girl's flaming punches and kicks, then ruthlessly slashed at her body with the weapon in her hand. Compared to Miketsu's dodging, the girl almost accepted every attack that came her way. However, no matter what kind of injury her body sustained—even severed arms or legs—she could still recover at high speed and continue fighting. Miketsu even cut off the girl's head once, but it was still useless.

Miketsu and Makoto, one in the air and one on the ground, coordinated with each other. Although they suppressed the girl firmly, they could never achieve final victory because of the girl's abnormal immortality and recovery ability. The girl was like a machine that never stopped, dragging the battle out indefinitely.

In this nearly endless struggle, Miketsu used her causality vision to scan all the possibilities on the girl's body, attempting to find a breakthrough. Finally, such a possibility was found by Miketsu.

At the position of the girl's chest, Miketsu saw a cause—a cause that could trigger the result of "Ending the Battle."

Ending the battle. That was exactly what Miketsu needed. Was all she had to do now attack that spot?

After dodging one of the girl's attacks, Miketsu reached out and aimed her sleeve at the girl's head.

"Tsuruha, bite her!"

The divine messenger, used as a hidden move, lunged out from Miketsu's sleeve. Rapidly growing in size, she bit down hard on the girl's waist from the side.

"Makoto, pin her down!"

Following Miketsu's command, Makoto drove her sharp claws deep into the girl's shoulders, her pointed talons piercing directly through the girl's shoulder blades. Working with Tsuruha, she firmly fixed the girl in place for a moment.

While commanding her divine messenger and shikigami to perform the control, Miketsu also began chanting an incantation. Once the girl was firmly restrained, Miketsu pointed her finger at the position on the girl's chest.

"Divine Golden Light Demon Subjugation Spell!"

A specifically focused golden beam of light shot out from Miketsu's finger, accurately piercing through the girl's chest, right through the location where that cause resided.

The golden light dissipated, leaving a circular hollow in the girl's chest. And within that hollow, a broken blade hung suspended in the air—a broken blade filled with a sinister and depraved aura! The power Miketsu had sensed, which resembled the Blood Sacrifice power, came from it!

Seeing the appearance of this broken blade, Miketsu's expression did not relax. Because in her causality vision, the cause to end the battle had not been triggered. Miketsu's Golden Light Spell had actually been ineffective!

The hollow in the girl's chest healed rapidly, and flesh once again enveloped that sinister broken blade. The sinister power radiating from her body suddenly became even stronger...