When the mist finally lifted, Haru found himself surrounded by pitch-bck darkness, not a single glimmer of light breaking through. He frowned, confused. Just minutes ago, the sun had been high in the sky, how had it turned to night so fast?

  "Enhance!"

  He channeled magical energy into the Muramasa sword, its bde flickering with a faint, dark red glow. Raising it like a torch, Haru scanned his surroundings. Smooth stone walls loomed around him, suggesting he was inside a cave or tunnel; too polished to be natural, likely carved by human hands.

  He paused, thinking back. He'd been walking through an open forest, no caves anywhere nearby. The only oddities were that strange mist and the fleeting shadow of an unknown swordsman.

  'Looks like I've stumbled into some hidden realm,' he thought, staying calm. The idea wasn't too far-fetched. Stories of people slipping into mystical pces; where time flows differently, existed in Japan. Like that old tale of spending three months in a cave, only to emerge centuries ter.

  Since his "idiot hair", that quirky instinct of his, gave no warning of danger, so Haru decided to explore. He held the Muramasa higher, straining his ears. After a half-turn, he caught the faint whistle of wind. Following the sound along the wall, he let the sword's dim light guide his steps.

  After about a hundred meters, the breeze grew stronger, and Haru picked up his pace, relieved he was on the right track. Ahead, a soft glow appeared. Shielding his eyes with one hand, he gripped the sword tighter and moved forward cautiously.

  As his vision adjusted, he took in the scene. He stood in a hollow, dome-like chamber. The tunnel he'd emerged from was at one end, while sunlight poured through an opening on the opposite wall.

  What drew his eye, though, was a small altar in the center. It was a simple shrine, nothing grande just a torii gate about his height and a small worship hall.

  Haru figured this hidden pce was tied to the shrine. He approached slowly, Muramasa at the ready, alert for any trouble. To his surprise, nothing happened. He reached the shrine without a hitch.

  "What's enshrined here… huh? a knife?"

  Where a statue or symbol of a deity should have been, there sat a "knife-like object." Haru hesitated to call it a proper knife. It looked more like a bde bnk, freshly forged, but missing a handle and sheath. The dull, lifeless metal wasn't rusted, yet it felt unfinished, abandoned before it could truly live.

  Beneath a yer of dust, faint animal patterns were etched into the surface. Where a handle should've been, a recessed grip waited, unsharpened.

  'Have I seen this before?' Haru wondered, a flicker of recognition tugging at him, though he was sure he'd never id eyes on it.

  Curious, he reached out a finger, then pulled back, checking his ahoge for any alerts. Sensing nothing, he wrapped his hand around the grip.

  "Oh… it's warm? So comforting… incredible!"

  The bde felt alive, its heat close to a human's. But the longer he held it, the hotter it grew. Startled, Haru tried to let go, but it clung to his hand like glue.

  "Enhance!" In a panic, he poured magical energy into his arm.

  Years of training had honed his enhancement magic to near perfection. At full strength, he could boost his power four or five times over, lifting hundreds of pounds with ease.

  Crack, crack, crack!

  The stone pedestal beneath the bde splintered. With a sharp tug, Haru yanked it free, reducing the base to rubble.

  Hiss~

  The bde burned like a hot iron, and Haru yelped in pain. Suddenly, thick mist surged from nowhere, swallowing the chamber and engulfing him completely.

  [Warning, warning, the host is attempting an unauthorized temporal leap, vioting the StarGate agreement...Beep beep, logical error, contradiction–]

  [Correction: This leap is not via the StarGate, so it doesn't breach the agreement. However, the Star Gate cannot ensure the host's safety… Calcutions suggest arrival in AD 1591]

  [Error!!!]

  [The host will arrive in an unknown world, unlogged by the StarGate. Original temporal reference is invalid.]

  [The leap has begun… Good luck to the host.]

  —--------------------------------------------------------------------------

  "So hot… wait, not hot anymore?"

  Haru snapped back to himself, gncing at his empty right hand. The bde was gone. The mist had cleared, and he still stood in the chamber, seemingly unchanged.

  But as he looked around, silence settled over him.

  '…Temporal leap. It's real.'

  He was in the center of the chamber, where the shrine should have been. Now, there was nothing, not a scrap of wood or a single nail.

  'StarGate, what's happening?' Haru asked in his mind.

  [Ding! Analyzing]

  [Answer: The hidden realm the host entered is a natural nexus of spiritual veins, a blind spot beyond the Fuyuki Greater Grail system's reach.]

  [Due to the Grail system, most magical energy from the ley lines is stored in Mount Enzou's spiritual cave. A tiny fraction was pushed into this nexus. Its unique terrain formed a secret realm, like the 'Peach Blossom Spring.']

  [The Grail system activates every sixty years, but this blind spot has hoarded centuries of unused magical energy. The shrine built a basic 'prayer' and 'fulfillment' mechanism. With a clear 'method' and 'purpose,' it could act as a makeshift Greater Grail. But as a mere blind spot, its stored energy can only be used once.]

  [This time, it granted a temporal leap to the current world.]

  Haru frowned, puzzled. "I didn't make a wish."

  [The wisher wasn't the host, but the 'divine object' enshrined in the shrine.]

  "The bde?" Haru blinked.

  [In this system, it was both the Lesser Grail and the wisher.]

  Haru scratched his head. "A bde… it can't possibly have a grudge against me."

  [Emotional motives are beyond the StarGate's understanding.]

  "Where am I? How do I get back?"

  [Location unknown, but highly simir to Japan's Sengoku period.]

  [Return methods:

  Master the Second Magic to traverse parallel worlds freely.Reactivate this pseudo-Grail, requiring centuries of magical energy accumution.]

  Haru: "…"

  Gripping the Muramasa, Haru stretched and yawned. "Well, first things first; let's get out of here and figure out where I am."

  Survival came first, no matter the circumstances. He stepped out of the cave into a night sky glittering with stars.

  He stood on a hillside. Enhancing his vision with magical energy, he peered into the distance under the starlight. The rolling mountains vaguely resembled Mount Enzou, but in the dark, he couldn't be sure.

  "Even if I'm still in Fuyuki… during the Sengoku era, this pce was probably just a fishing vilge."

  His eyes narrowed, locking onto a distant flicker. "Firelight… a vilge. Looks lively, maybe a festival? …No, wait!"

  He took a deep breath and hurried down the slope.

  "That huge shape…if I'm right…"

  Mount Enzou wasn't massive, and in his rush, Haru reached the base quickly. Ahead, a vilge of about a hundred homes bzed with fire, giant shadows darting through the chaos.

  Haru had a hunch about what was happening. Truth be told, he hesitated. He only knew enhancement magic, and while his sword skills were solid, facing inhuman creatures was another story.

  But then, faint screams of women and children came from the vilge. His heart stirred, and he couldn't hold back. Clutching the demon sword Muramasa, he charged in.

  Heat smmed into him as he entered, nearly burning his hair. Dodging sparks, he followed the cries, rounding a burning hut. A woman clutched a child, hiding in a water jar.

  A strange creature lifted the lid, its cws about to strike. Suddenly, a burning stick struck its head, stunning it briefly.

  It's tough shell dulled any pain. It turned slowly, puzzled by the stick on the ground. As it looked up, a dark red sword fshed before its eyes.

  The bde sliced through the creature's bulging eye, spraying the blood everywhere.

  "Awoo!!!"

  The monster clutched its eye with one hand, waving the other wildly. Its arm stretched over three meters, far longer than its stumpy body.

  It thrashed, crushing stones and wood in its grasp. Haru leaped and dodged, then enhanced his legs and sprang up, nding on its face before flipping to its back.

  Swish!

  A faint sword wind hummed. Haru knelt gracefully as the creature froze. A shallow cut appeared on its neck, then blood gushed, and it colpsed.

  "Thank you, thank you so much!" the woman sobbed, her face full of gratitude.

  Haru smiled, reaching to help them out. But she shrank back in fear, huddling deeper into the jar, refusing to budge.

  He smiled wryly. Hearing more screams in the distance, he paused, then grabbed the lid. "Stay hidden," he said, covering them before rushing off.

  He tossed a fme onto the demon's corpse first, ensuring its blood wouldn't draw more trouble for them.

  Demons?

  Yes, demons.

  For Haru, running into a demon-ravaged vilge right after arriving in the Sengoku era… were demons really this common here? Where were the onmyoji?

  He'd worried his bde couldn't harm them, but these ordinary demons bled like humans. At most they are stronger and have shells and cws, but they are not invincible. As long as he didn't face a legendary great demon, the Muramasa could handle it.

  …..

  A giant ten meter long earthworm-like demon coiled around a vilger. It bound a burly man with just a segment of its tail, dragging him to a rooftop.

  Toothless, it relied on acid to digest prey, dropping them from heights to soften their bones first. As it prepared to drop the man, a swift figure climbed up in a few strides and severed its tail with one strike.

  The man broke free, sliding down a pilr in a panic, not even gncing at Haru.

  Haru didn't care and focused all his attention on the demon. Acid oozed from its wound, and it writhed, spshing the corrosive liquid everywhere. Haru moved carefully, watching for an opening.

  After finding a gap, he lunged, dodging the acid, and drove his sword into its head. The creature thrashed, and Haru twisted the bde until it went still.

  This was his fifth kill. They weren't too strong, as long as he remained cautious, he could take two or three at once. But the vilge was big, fires raging everywhere, and who knew how many demons roamed?

  As he readied to hunt more, a sweet, sultry voice purred behind him.

  "Oh my, I didn't expect to find such a handsome young man here, hehe."

  A chill ran down Haru's spine. 'How'd she get so close without me noticing? And my ahoge didn't even warn me!'

  Turning to fight, he was surprised to find nobody was there. The voice felt like an illusion.

  Only then did his ahoge twitch, pointing left. Without hesitation, he swung the Muramasa hard.

  Cng!

  An iron fan caught the bde. A charming woman in a kimono peeked from behind it, her eyes curving with amusement. "Oh dear, you really don't know how to treat a dy gently, do you? Rude little brother—"

  Her form vanished. Haru's eyes shrank, and he stepped back three steps on instinct.

  Swish, swish, swish!

  Three fan ribs stabbed into the ground where he'd stood, their gleaming tips promising a skewering if he'd been slower.

  "Oh?" The woman's voice stayed soft and alluring, her fan still hiding half her face. "How'd you dodge that…..could you tell where I was?"

  Haru sneered, saying nothing.

  He'd escaped thanks to his ahoge's te warning and his body's reflexes. Against the swordsman's shadow, he'd felt outmatched, but here, his eight years of sword training could shine.

  ....

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