Flight

A dazzling golden beam erupted from Miketsu's fingertips. The torrent of spiritual power pierced through the wind shield, opening a round hole in Roku's abdomen. Roku's eyes widened, and he spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, his massive wings ceased to flap, and his entire body plummeted straight downwards.

"Did it work?"

A hint of joy had just appeared on Miketsu's brow when a surge of purplish-red aura erupted from Roku, who was still falling. Miketsu recognized this power; it was the power of Blood Sacrifice!

As he fell, Roku's expression was blank, and his heart was stunned. He couldn't believe that he, who had obtained the Tengu-do, had been defeated so quickly.

During this process, he realized that although he had seized the Tengu-do and forcibly used its power, the Tengu-do had constantly been rejecting him due to his lack of aptitude. Every time he used the Tengu-do's power, his body would be torn apart, only barely sustained by the restorative effects of the Blood Sacrifice power.

In this state, Roku was completely unable to fully utilize the Tengu-do. If he wanted to use more of its power and become a true Great Tengu, he needed a more robust physique! And this, only the mighty divine power could grant him. Thus, he further opened his entire body, completely allowing himself to be corroded.

He knew that such an action might lead him to become a complete puppet for others in the future, much like Kakuhanbo, but he could no longer care about such things!

Using the Broken Blade plunged into Roku's chest as a medium, a vast power of Blood Sacrifice, its origin unknown, was poured into Roku's body. The huge wound on his abdomen healed at an astonishing speed, and in no time, his entire abdomen had fully recovered. Simultaneously, his body began to undergo drastic changes; the blood vessels originating from the Broken Blade had frantically burrowed into every part of his body.

Gritting his teeth, Roku vibrated his wings once more, soaring straight up from his fall and rushing towards Miketsu above him at several times his previous speed.

“Dodge right! Makoto!”

Miketsu, receiving causality feedback, immediately warned Makoto. Makoto followed Miketsu's instruction and narrowly dodged, Roku's form practically grazing her feathers as he streaked past.

The rapidly flying Roku halted, spreading his wings anew under the night sky. Miketsu, who had just steadied herself on Makoto, couldn't help but frown at the sight.

After being infused with a massive amount of Blood Sacrifice power, Roku's appearance had drastically changed. Purplish-red blood vessels, extending from his chest, coiled and crawled all over his body. Fangs grew in his mouth, sharp claws sprouted from his fingertips, and his entire frame had swelled by a full circle. His clothes were even torn in places, and his once pitch-black wings had turned dark purple, with feathers constantly shedding from them.

“What in the world are you!?” Miketsu blurted out, staring at Roku's exaggerated transformation.

“Wh-what thing? Isn't it... obvious? I am... a Great Tengu!” Roku's throat produced a harsh, hoarse sound, and the last part of his speech was roared out as a bellow. At this moment, his consciousness was clearly beginning to blur.

“Thousand Feather Blade!”

Roku, now without his fan, simply flapped his wings, conjuring thousands of rain-like wind blades that assailed Miketsu. Since his body was further strengthened by the Blood Sacrifice power, Roku could utilize more of the Tengu-do's might. This volley of wind blades was twice as strong as before, both in speed and quantity.

Faced with the tempest-like rain of wind blades, Miketsu could only rely on constantly giving Makoto dodging instructions to evade. However, this method was significantly less efficient than Miketsu directly evading attacks using her causality vision.

At this very moment, a shortcoming in Miketsu's combat abilities was exposed. Her primary defensive method relied on pre-emptive evasion through the future sight granted by her causality vision, allowing her to dodge numerous attacks while also accurately identifying enemy weaknesses.

However, in combat with a Tengu, Miketsu was inevitably drawn into aerial battle. Miketsu, who relied on Makoto for flight, couldn't share her causality vision with Makoto, and thus had to relay instructions for evasion. This method was clearly somewhat inefficient, preventing a perfect response to the approaching dangers.

Amidst Roku's rain of wind blades, though Makoto dodged lethal damage thanks to Miketsu's warnings, she still sustained numerous minor cuts. Even Miketsu on her back was affected in several places; her black robe was slashed with several tears, the fabric constantly shorn at the edges by the wind blades, and many of the bandages beneath were severed. Fortunately, Miketsu wore a thin cloth garment beneath the bandages, which deflected the minor, peripheral wind blades, so she remained unharmed.

It was the Fire-Rat Robe that she had acquired from the Fujiwara family.

Although Miketsu was unharmed, the current situation was still not optimistic for her. Faced with such a relentless and dense assault, she had almost no opportunity to counterattack. This simply wouldn't do.

“If this continues, then there’s only one option…”

Just as Miketsu decided to do something, Roku, who had only been unleashing wind blades, suddenly erupted. He ceased his wind blade attack and surged forward with extreme speed, rushing straight towards Miketsu. In a mere instant, he was already before her. The sharp claws in his hand reached directly for Miketsu. Miketsu used the Demonic Blade in her hand to block the incoming demonic claw, but the immense force of the impact knocked her off Makoto's back.

‘Uka-sama!’

“Those who cannot soar freely in the sky... are unworthy to dwell above these Sugo Unten...”

Accompanied by Makoto's worried cry and Roku's mocking words, Miketsu plummeted from the sky to the ground. The wind pressure blew away much of her already tattered cloak and bandages, revealing a large portion of her body and face.

Miketsu was now falling from a height of several hundred meters, and at this moment, she had only one way to save herself. One hand gripped her Demonic Blade tightly, while the other was held vertically before her chest. In this posture, reminiscent of a single-handed Buddhist salutation, she closed her eyes. Then, a brand new power emerged from within her.

Syncretism... Dakini-ten...

A golden ribbon-like phantom appeared around Miketsu, and golden patterns emerged on her skin. In the space around her, Sanskrit chants seemed to resound.

Miketsu suddenly opened her eyes, stepped out with one foot into the air, as if treading on something unseen, which brought her descent to a halt. Then, with her sword-finger pointing to the sky, she soared upwards, trailing phantom golden ribbons. Her bandages and black robe now almost completely disintegrated, revealing the nearly half-naked figure and face of a maiden beneath, resembling a celestial maiden from a mural.

“Celestial Maiden Form!”

Miketsu's Demonic Blade transformed into a spirit spear at that moment, and she herself became a golden flash, soaring directly into the sky. Amidst Roku's astonished gaze, she pierced through the layers of storm shields around him, accurately thrusting the spirit spear into his chest.