Chapter 282: Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi (Patreon)

A vast, majestic light of blue-green surged outward, radiating from the giant at its center.

Wherever it passed, the churning poison mist was scoured away entirely, and even the restless magma and toxic currents deep underground seemed soothed by an invisible hand.

The villagers below had long since frozen in place, forgetting even to breathe, their eyes wide as they stared at the transforming Ultraseven.

Just moments ago they had been sick with worry over the giant's precarious situation. Now, watching that silver-and-red figure wrapped in blue-gold and jade light, transforming into this fierce and solemn new form, the hearts that had been lodged in their throats strangely settled back into place.

That wave of sacred, steadying presence washed over them like a bonfire in the dead of night, driving away every trace of fear and cold.

"Is... is that still Ultraseven?"

"A new form?"

"I don't remember Ultraseven having this form."

"Showa-era Ultramen aren't like Heisei ones such as Tiga — they don't have the ability to switch forms."

...

Whispers spread through the crowd. The earlier panic had faded, leaving only overwhelming shock and confusion from the depths of their hearts.

Even those who had watched every Ultraman work released so far couldn't find a matching form in their memory.

Never mind them — even Hinako Shimizu herself was baffled.

"Spirit blade... Ame-no-Murakumo?"

Hinako Shimizu raised the straight blade, letting her fingertip trace along its edge.

She didn't know where this spirit blade had come from, but she could feel the power sealed within it.

Dominion over wind, the regulation of nature, the guidance of chaos, the annihilation of spiritual beings, the sealing power of the five elements, and an ancient, formidable spiritual force besides.

The power of the spirit blade fused with the power of light, granting her an entirely new form.

Ultraseven: Divine Warrior Form.

Wind-attribute, specialized-attack type, focused on interference with the soul.

Against beings without innate consciousness that nevertheless gave rise to a self — animal spirits, stone spirits, tsukumogami, revered deities — this form possesses absolute special-attack capability, able to bypass the physical body entirely and deal devastating damage to such a being's spirituality: its consciousness, mind, soul, self, and intellect.

The wind attribute also granted this form a burst of speed-type agility, moving roughly three times faster than her base state.

Her weapon, named the Sacred Sword Ame-no-Murakumo, was the fusion of the spirit blade and Ultraseven's Eye Slugger, possessing the power to slay evil and command raging winds.

"Ultraseven, what is this...?"

Completely at a loss, Hinako Shimizu instinctively turned to ask Amamiya Rin.

After all, it was Ultraseven who had urged her to hold on until the very last moment, promising her that if she could just endure, a miracle would surely come.

Was this the miracle Ultraseven had spoken of?

"..."

Amamiya Rin fell silent for two seconds.

He had no idea. None at all.

The Sword of Ame-no-Murakumo — the most famous divine sword in Japan's mythology — why would it appear here? Yet... perhaps it wasn't so impossible after all. This place's Water Dragon was, after all, one of the heads of Yamata no Orochi, and the fox spirit had said that divine might lay sealed within Hinako Shimizu's very bloodline. If all three existed together here in Ebisugaoka, there should be some connection binding them.

But there was no use dwelling on it now — that would just be hindsight wisdom, useless after the fact.

Because Amamiya Rin truly hadn't foreseen a variable like this beforehand.

The reason he'd encouraged Hinako Shimizu to keep fighting was, first, that he could serve as her safety net.

Before leaving Tsunekiyoshi Jingu, he had already sent word to Swordmaster Tomie, signaling her to hurry over and provide support.

Swordmaster Tomie, wielder of the Soul Reviver's Sword, had combat strength that surpassed even the Kaidan [Ultraseven], and she could also revive the fallen.

Second, the power of Ultramen was a matter of will, and so was the power of yokai-tales. Amamiya Rin wanted to see for himself whether fighting to the very end with absolute conviction could truly create a miracle.

Hinako Shimizu hadn't disappointed him.

This girl possessed not only formidable combat talent and unshakable conviction, but also an extraordinary origin. The three combined, together with the power of light, had forced open an entirely new form within her.

"No more hesitation, Hinako. Use this power to protect everyone's future!"

Unwilling to lie to her, Amamiya Rin spoke his warning directly. His solemn voice detonated in the depths of Hinako Shimizu's heart like a thunderclap, shattering every last doubt she held.

That's right! There was no need to think so much about it! What she needed to do now was use this power to protect the village's future!

On the other side of the battlefield, sensing this utterly different power, the Water Dragon — once so arrogant and aggressive — suddenly froze mid-attack.

It was the manifestation of a head torn free from Yamata no Orochi's seal, the deification of flood disaster and iron-smelting phenomena, and a chaotic mass of consciousness saturated with a thousand years of resentment and the violent force of the earth itself.

Now, facing Ultraseven's Divine Warrior Form, something like instinctive fear surfaced for the very first time in its murky, ashen-black eyes.

That blue-gold straight blade, the purifying divine light swirling around its wielder's body — they were like a natural-born enemy to it. Every flicker of light along its edge tore at the very divinity that sustained its existence.

As it stared at Hinako Shimizu's body and weapon, the fear in the Water Dragon's murky, ashen-black eyes gradually gave way to madness.

It reared its ruined head back and let loose a maddened roar that shook the valley to its bones.

The yellow-green poison mist surrounding it surged and swelled once more, thicker by several times than before. Its massive serpentine body sprang forward, carrying a savage force that would crush anything in its path, charging straight at Hinako Shimizu.

"Bring it on!"

Hinako Shimizu let out a low shout, planted both feet hard against the ground, and shot forward like a streak of light, charging straight at the Water Dragon!

She moved so fast that she left a long trail of blue-green light in the air behind her. The luminous wing-patterns of wind unfurled at her back like a pair of transparent wings.

Riding the wind for extra momentum, Hinako Shimizu closed the distance to the Water Dragon in an instant.

Wherever she passed, howling winds tore through the air, and the dense poison mist couldn't even get near her body, thinning out entirely within the hurricane's force.

"Demon-Breaking: Spirit Slash!"

Hinako Shimizu raised the straight blade in both hands and brought it crashing down onto the Water Dragon's forehead.

Blue-green light coiled around the blade's edge. Wherever it passed, the air split apart with a piercing shriek, and the virulent poison mist dissolved completely the instant it touched the blade, without leaving so much as a trace.

When the light-blade struck hard against the top of the charging Water Dragon's head, its scales — once harder than diamond — shattered like paper. The blade sank half a meter deep, slicing through like a hot knife through butter. Grayish-white flesh curled open, and jets of pitch-black venom and sulfurous, ash-yellow gas burst forth from the wound.

The first skill of the Divine Warrior Form, Demon-Breaking: Spirit Slash, wreathed the blade in blue-green light with devastating special-attack power against demons and monsters that should never have possessed consciousness in the first place.

With that single strike, the Water Dragon let out a shrill, agonized shriek. Its enormous body writhed violently, its serpentine tail sweeping toward Hinako Shimizu on a gale of wind.

"Ame-no-Murakumo: Gale..."

Hinako Shimizu withdrew the blade and stepped back, twisting her wrist to raise the Sacred Sword Ame-no-Murakumo high. The air around her instantly went wild — every clean current of wind between heaven and earth was drawn to the blade's edge, coalescing into a raging river of wind that rose like a massive wall between Hinako Shimizu and the Water Dragon.