She Professed Herself The Pupil Of The Wiseman (LN) - Volume 8 - Chapter 27

Chapter 27

KAGURA LEAPT UP a long staircase in one bound and arrived at the peak of the rocky mountain—or more precisely, a smaller space within a rocky mountain. It was only small compared to the chamber Mira had remained in, however. For an indoor space, it was still quite large.

Based on its size and construction, it looked to be constructed in the style of a king’s audience chamber. A short, wide staircase extended from the middle of the room up to a dais, on which sat a certain occupant.

“So you’re the boss here, huh?” At the back of the room was a rough throne that seemed carved out of rock. Someone sat upon it. Kagura fixed her eyes on the person on the throne and warily approached. It was hard to see them due to the black mist that wafted through the air, but their presence was uncanny.

The figure seemed to sway. “So I am. I am the Oni Princess, the ruler of this domain. But who are you? An outsider? How useless my subjects are if they can’t even keep intruders out.” It was the voice of an almost-innocent-sounding little girl. She sounded more disappointed than angry, and more disinterested than disappointed.

Kagura stepped closer, and the room and the figure behind the black mist became clear. She stopped and frowned slightly. The leader of Chimera Clausen, she who had introduced herself as the Oni Princess, was but a child.

“I am Kagura, a friend to all spirits,” Kagura answered. She gazed at the girl, deep in thought. That mist… Where is it coming from? Within her clothes? Weird… A single oni shouldn’t be enough to emit mist that thick. Then…

In the days leading up to the final battle, Kagura had thoroughly studied black mist ore alongside the alchemists Albatinus and Johan. Kagura thought she knew all of its features and how to deal with its effects, but this came as a surprise to her.

The black mist was an oni’s curse given form. Black mist ore was the catalyst, and thicker mist should imply a greater quantity of the catalyst.

“Friend? To those odious spirits? To be ignorant of their trickery must truly be bliss.” She grinned derisively. Kagura could see no signs of any items on her person made from black mist ore, let alone the raw ore itself.

The mist-spewing Oni Princess had a bob cut with hair as black as the mist itself, eyes as red as blood, and two black horns sprouting from her brow. Her skin was as white as porcelain. She wore gorgeous robes that called to mind a kimono, but nothing else. The princess was clearly inhuman at a glance, yet the fact that she looked so very like a human child only added to her complex beauty.

“Trickery? What’s that supposed to mean?” Kagura glared sharply at the Oni Princess, She seemed to be implying the spirits were the ones deceiving Isuzu.

What’s going on? She’s obviously not a former player, but I can’t see her name or stats…

Despite her growing anger, Kagura tried to Inspect the Oni Princess. Many displays came up in her field of vision, but all of the details were unreadable. Even if the target was stronger than her, she should at least be able to see their name. The fact that even that was unavailable was a first for Kagura.

Well, I’d better not let my guard down.

At the least, it seemed certain that the Oni Princess wasn’t a former player; after all, nothing would display for them at all. Perhaps that meant she was an unknown being. Kagura swiftly turned serious and stayed on guard.

“Exactly what I said. Spirits claim to live alongside humans, but they hold your life and fate in their hands. How unobservant you must be if you fail to realize that.” The Oni Princess looked down on Kagura with an eerie gleam in her eyes. The corners of her mouth crooked up in a smile as she continued to lecture her.

According to the Oni Princess, as beings who governed nature, the first priority of spirits was to maintain the balance of the environment. If humans became so plentiful that they began to destroy nature, spirits would surely turn against them. They had the power to do just that, and they were constantly gathering information in case the need arose.

“Do you understand, daughter of humans, that you are but a stunted and fragile species that the spirits allow to exist?” The Oni Princess whispered now, smirking, “Is that how you wish to live your life? According to the whims of spirits who could crush you at any moment? If you join me, I will give you the power to defeat those spirits.”

The cold light in the Oni Princess’s eyes swelled. Kagura’s arms, at first held before her in a fighting stance, fell limply at her sides—she was suddenly defenseless.

“Hee hee. You are but a human, after all.” The Oni Princess twisted her lips into a gleeful grin. Magic dwelled in the Oni Princess’s eyes, and she could turn them into Demon’s Eyes with a blink. Her eyes could bewitch humans; if she could use her words to plant even the smallest seed of doubt in their heart, her eyes could make it explode into full bloom. The Oni Princess’s target’s fate was sealed the instant their faith wavered. Hers were among the most powerful of the hypnotic type of Demon’s Eyes.

“Now, join me. Together, we can expel the evil spirits.” With a sweet, merciful smile, the Oni Princess held out her hand. The black mist shrouding her thinned. Kagura approached as if drawn, like a moth to a flame.

When she finally stood face to face with the princess, Kagura reached out and took the oni’s outstretched hand.

“No! I refuse!” Kagura grasped her hand tightly, turned, and flung the Oni Princess as hard as she could. The princess’s eyes hadn’t worked on her—they couldn’t. Kagura had a talisman in her pocket to act as a body double at a moment’s notice, but she didn’t even need that. She was the leader of the Isuzu Alliance. Her faith in spirits was as solid as the earth.

“Why didn’t it work?!” The Oni Princess shrieked as she flew through the air. Kagura did not answer; now that she was certain this little girl was her enemy and the head of Chimera Clausen, she cast a spell without hesitation.

[Talismancy Arts Suzaku: Three Measures—Scarlet]

At once, Tweetsuke became a great blazing bird over three meters long and flew like a cannonball composed of overwhelming heat.

The princess fell to the floor, but she covered herself in black mist just in time. The moment the fire touched it, there was a dull thud, and it burst, dyeing the whole room crimson.

“Princess is certainly an apt title. You’re a special one, that’s for sure.”

Kagura’s spell was not meant to explode; it was a repetitive charge from a flame-clad Suzaku. Yet, amid the scattering flames, Tweetsuke had fallen powerlessly. Kagura watched as the talisman at the bird’s core fluttered to the floor. Her foe at least had the power to cancel out spells. 

“You human twerp! Very well. That’s enough questioning. We fight to the death!” The Princess leapt into the air, the black mist trailing behind her like a tail. It abruptly switched directions and rained down on Kagura from above.

A black mass the size of a human head struck the floor, taking a chunk out of the surface with a heavy thunk. Dozens more followed, each strong enough to break through rock.

“Oni Princess…and black mist, huh?” Kagura deftly wove through the black orbs and leapt out of their range. But she wasn’t safe yet; the black shower swerved and closed in on her once more.

She swung her right arm wide. The white khakkhara staff in her hand jingled as it flew through the black mist, and the murk dispersed in its wake. “Thought so. You’re the curse, aren’t you?” The medium gazed at the Oni Princess with cold, yet pitying eyes.

The fact that the Alabaster Oni-Slayer khakkhara staff had worked on this mist meant that it was the same as that given off by the black mist ore. Attacking with the mist itself—a curse—was something that could never be accomplished with weapons simply made from the ore. Based on the volume and density of the mist around the princess, it was clear that her curse was much stronger than that of the ore.

“Well, you’ve found my true identity already. You’re no ordinary human.”

“That’s not it. Beings like you are well known to us mediums.” Kagura was well aware of the phenomenon of curses condensing and taking form; after all, she’d seen it countless times. It was very like a mass of built-up resentment turning into a vengeful ghost, an effect mediums were well-acquainted with. That was how Kagura had so quickly discerned that the Oni Princess was a collection and incarnation of oni curses.

“So you’re possessing that body. I don’t know whose it is or where it came from, but I hope she forgives me for knocking it around a little.”

Rocks, boxes, mirrors, dolls—there were all kinds of possessed items that could be used to manifest curses and grudges. But in order to do so, the originator of the curse needed to have a strong relationship with the object. Who was this little girl? The answer wasn’t clear yet, but knowing she was possessed, Kagura didn’t wish to kill her.

Nevertheless, that didn’t mean she would hold back. She cast her magic on three separate talismans, and a barrage of fireballs, water bullets, and pebbles flew at the princess in quick succession.

Black mist spread out to protect the Oni Princess, deflecting Kagura’s spells and tossing them all back at her.

Hmm, I see. This is that attack reflection that was in the notes. So that’s how she does it…

Kagura defended herself from the ferocious onslaught with a split-second barrier cast. She considered what she had seen here today and compared it to what she’d learned before she came. That was her style: to corner the foe slowly but surely, and then to deal a decisive finishing blow.

Immediately after the hail of bullets came a cloud of black mist that easily shattered Kagura’s barrier. It broke through her defenses in no time, but she blew the mist away with a swing of her staff and gazed at the barrier as it faded away.

Seems like that one destroys the mana used to create the spell. That means I can’t defend myself with magic…

“Then how about this?” Taking five talismans in hand, Kagura focused her mana all at once and constructed a particularly high-level spell: [Shikigami Invocation: Qilin].

When the spell was cast, the five talismans turned blue, red, yellow, white, and black, created a pentagram in mid-air, and shone brilliantly. This spectacle heralded the appearance of something even greater.

The legendary beast, qilin. Its four-meter-long body formed around the talisman core, manifesting the head of a dragon, the tail of a bull, and legs of a horse. On its head were two gallant horns. Its mane was golden, and five different colors of fur adorned its back, while the rest of its body was protected by scales as lustrous as steel. The qilin Qilipepper, just as divine as in legends, stood proudly before the Oni Princess.

“Ho ho, now there’s a heroic one. What a shame. If you existed in your true form, perhaps you could have been a threat to me.” The Oni Princess looked down from midair with a smirk and fired off another chunk of black mist. Qilipepper leapt over it just before it could strike, whipped around mid-flight, and fired a ball of lightning from its hoof.

The mist in the air fended off the ball of lightning. There was a flash like a lightning strike, followed by rumbling thunder. A metallic stench reached Kagura’s nose.

“Not bad, but not close either.”

Even Qilipepper’s attack, as strong as a real lightning bolt, had no effect. The black mist wasn’t damaged in the slightest; it still protected the princess seamlessly.

She didn’t reflect it? Or…she couldn’t? Instead of reflecting off like Kagura’s last set of spells, the ball of lightning had burst when it hit the mist. Did it differ based on element, or could the oni not reflect it because it came from a shikigami? Kagura decided to investigate further.

Kagura and Qilipepper attacked in waves. Kagura brushed aside the mist with her white staff before casting spells, while Qilipepper wove through gaps in the mist and fired off balls of lightning.

“Humph… You’re a bit of a pain aren’t you,” the Oni Princess muttered in annoyance. Then, out of nowhere, she began to chuckle. Her eyes opened wide as she screamed, “Now it is my turn!”

At this, Kagura stopped in her tracks. She cautiously fixed her eyes on the princess.

“Let us begin with this shoddy reproduction!” The Oni Princess thrust her hands toward Qilipepper. The qilin’s powerful, swift legs froze in place, and it lost its momentum and fell straight to the ground.

“What was that?!” Kagura didn’t have a chance to wonder for long; the black mist enveloped the qilin and returned it to its talisman state in no time.

It’s as if something grabbed its legs. Not any normal spell, though. Unique magic, maybe…? But if the incarnation of a curse had unique magic, isn’t that just a curse…?

Kagura had felt it the moment Qilipepper’s legs froze, thanks to their shared senses. Her mind immediately started whirling with an idea. Unique magic was the common name for special powers wielded by beings of non-human races. There were many varieties of magic—probably as many as there were races. As such, no one knew all of them; it remained a subject of research only for those who were especially interested in studying it.

“There. I’ve essentially sealed your magic now,” the Oni Princess said haughtily. She grinned eerily as she spread both arms wide. Her arms began to blur like unfocused images, multiplying to become two, then three on each side.

Black mist hands? No, it’s different somehow. Those are…

Kagura’s barriers were like paper to the black mist, and her spells would be reflected back at her. Meanwhile, her shikigami were somehow captured and devoured by the mist. The princess was right; her magic was essentially useless. But Kagura was unruffled. She began thinking hard, keeping her eyes focused on the black mist wafting around the Oni Princess and the countless black hands spreading from it.

For a mage’s magic to fail against a foe so completely was fatal. Yet Kagura remained calm.

“Taste my dharmic power!” The Oni Princess, apparently irritated by Kagura’s unbothered demeanor, howled in rage as she swung her arms down. In the next instant, dozens of black hands fell upon Kagura.

“Dharmic? Oh, so that’s what you call this!” The mysterious power wielded by the Oni Princess—her unique magic—seemed to be called dharma. Kagura leapt back from her position and grinned at the princess’s words. Then, she swung her white khakkhara down upon the approaching hands. But before it could strike, there was an intense impact that deflected her staff and sent it flying.

That must be a condensed mass of power. I’ll be in for a bad time if it hits me.

Kagura kicked off the floor, caught her khakkhara staff, and knocked down more approaching hands with her spells. She used barriers to block the rest.

Hmm. So if it isn’t the mist itself, it can’t reflect or destroy my mana.

While Kagura was thoroughly probing the properties of the hands, her barrier suddenly burst open. A black hand shot forth for her once more. She dodged and put up another barrier, but it shattered instantly when the hands—approaching like a school of fish—touched it. Seeing that, Kagura understood one thing.

I had a feeling, but it looks like there are mist hands among them.

The black hands created by dharmic magic hid some hands of black mist. The dharmic ones could be shot down with spells, but the mist ones would reflect them. The mist hands could be deflected using the khakkhara staff, but the dharmic ones would deflect it. The strategy was simple, but quite difficult to handle.

Still, Kagura was unfazed. She kept her distance and gazed at the writhing mass of hands for a moment before affixing a talisman to the tip of her staff.

“If physical attacks won’t work, then I’ll smack you with magic!” With her face set in a serious expression, she whipped around and ran toward the black hands, swinging her staff wildly as fire burned on the tip. Everywhere it went, the black hands dispersed. “It’s super-effective!”

The power of the snow-white weapon combined with her magic, blowing hands of both varieties away.

After watching Kagura fight for a while from her perch in midair, the Oni Princess seemed to become annoyed at her lack of progress. She spread her arms wide again. “You’ve lasted longer than I expected. But you will regret making me use my dharmic magic!”

“Don’t bother trying that again.” Realizing that her opponent would try to use dharma, Kagura immediately tossed a talisman straight up into the air. It transformed into Tweetsuke, who flew high up above, created an enormous fireball, and fired it at the princess, who was still preparing her magic.

The fireball swallowed the Oni Princess with even more intensity than the initial [Three Measures—Scarlet]. The air was heated to scorching, and their surroundings smoldered—for only a moment.

“What’s the matter? You expect this to burn me?” As the Oni Princess spoke, black lines shot through the flames and tore them apart. Despite the blaze that had engulfed her, the mist-clad princess was unharmed. Worse, an eerie black figure stood behind her and continued the preparations for her dharmic spell.

But Kagura paid that no mind. It seemed clear now that the princess couldn’t reflect shikigami attacks. Kagura murmured, “Then how about this?” She swapped places with Tweetsuke up above and swung her burning white khakkhara down on the oni.

The attack from above was a perfect ambush. The Oni Princess had no time to evade—the staff pierced the black figure and mist before smashing into the princess’s head. Kagura’s staff rang like a clamorous bell, even louder than the princess’s scream. She landed lightly on her feet and beheld her target, surveying the damage.

“Grgh… Insolent whelp…” A drop of blood dripped out of the princess’s mouth as she opened her eyes ominously and glared at Kagura. Thanks to the khakkhara, the mist around her had thinned considerably, and the dharmic figure she’d created was gone.

So her body isn’t well defended, as long as you can reach it.

Deprived of some of her strength and clearly wounded, the Oni Princess looked like a little girl putting up a strong front. Her observation complete, Kagura jumped high up to retreat once more.

The princess seized this opportunity to fire off a hunk of mist and screamed, “You won’t escape me!”

Just then, a great blaze tore toward her again. This one was an attack from Tweetsuke, who had flown into her blind spot. Kagura smacked the mist away with her staff and watched the flames hit her enemy. When they finally calmed, the Oni Princess was revealed. Perhaps because of how thin the mist was, the fire seemed to have had an effect—her clothes were singed in multiple places.

Without the mist, the spells seem to work fine.

Even the spells that the black mist had nullified would work as long as they touched the princess herself. Kagura was led to one conclusion.

She now had a good grasp of her foe’s abilities. She appraised the Oni Princess’s power aloud: “I see. So basically, you’re only especially strong against spirits.”

Oni curses could nullify spirits’ power and spells alike, on top of myriad other effects. They served as the core of Chimera Clausen’s power, allowing them to trounce countless enemies with ease. However, even things that seemed all-powerful came with weaknesses—many of them fatal.

“You mean to make a fool out of me… Enough! I will see your soul shattered into dust!” The Oni Princess screamed demonically and tore off the burned portions of her clothing. Her pale-white skin was scorched in many places, proving that Tweetsuke’s fire had successfully hurt her. But when she slid a hand clad in black mist over the burns, they disappeared and returned her skin to its eerie, glossy state.

So she can heal herself too? Guess I’ll have to wear her down.

The oni’s form was dyed black, and mist began to spew forth from all over. But there seemed to be a limit to its reach—when it spread too far, it thinned out and turned gray. Nevertheless, it blocked Kagura’s vision, putting her at a disadvantage.

The medium ran forward without hesitation. Mist formed walls to block her path, but she smacked them down with her khakkhara. She was surrounded, but she kept striding forward until she arrived at the mass of mist in the center of it all.

Kagura stabbed her khakkhara into the mass.

“Oops!” She yanked it out, sliced through a misty snake that chased her, and jumped back to put distance between them again.

The Oni Princess’s voice came from seemingly nowhere. “I ­almost had you. You have good intuition, girl.”

Countless thread-like black shadows writhed in the dispersing mass of mist. They were strings tied by dharmic power, blacker than anything Kagura had seen yet and so tough that they couldn’t be broken by the magic-covered khakkhara. When Kagura tried, they stuck to the khakkhara and tore the attached talisman apart.

The mist surging in the room gathered into one spot. Kagura followed it with her eyes and spotted the Oni Princess, who was now in the very back of the throne room. She was able to control Kagura’s field of view to hide her movement and set traps. It was a basic, yet effective strategy.

“So you’re getting serious now. That was close,” Kagura murmured calmly as she attached a new talisman to her staff.

“That staff seems to be some kind of special item. Perhaps I ought to break it next time,” the princess said. The mist gathering around her gradually took form, becoming thicker and thicker. The dharmic strings and shadowy figures oozing from the Oni Princess mixed in as well until, a few seconds later, she held an enormous obsidian sword that was blacker than pitch darkness.

“With that thing, I bet you could…”

Based on the creation process, Kagura could surmise that the sword was a combination of black mist and dharmic magic. But the weapon seemed magnitudes stronger than anything yet, leaving Kagura unsure whether her Alabaster Oni-Slayer could stand up to it.

“You are the first to make me use this. Allow me to compliment you on a job well done. As a reward, I promise to use your body to its fullest as a vessel.”

If that thing struck Kagura, it would kill her instantly. The look on Kagura’s face made it clear what she was thinking, prompting a fearless smirk from the Oni Princess in return.

“Vessel…? Aww, are you trying to give up that adorable body for mine?”

The Oni Princess was the vengeful ghost possessing that unknown little girl. If she claimed that she would use Kagura as a vessel, then Kagura’s assumption was the natural one.

“Heh heh… That’s not all.”

What the Oni Princess explained next was far more serious and terrifying than Kagura had imagined. She claimed that human bodies were oddly compatible with the oni race. Humans were also more fertile and plentiful than oni. Thus, the easiest and most convenient way to revive the oni race would be to use a human body as a vessel.

The Oni Princess flashed a twisted, ecstatic grin. “Once the spirits have met their end, I will give my kind new flesh, and we will rule this world once more. We will begin with the people in the city created by spirits’ power. My children’s souls are already prepared; all that’s left is to let the power of the spirits run wild and turn the surface into a mountain of soulless shells.”

“So that’s your organization’s…no, your goal.” The boss of Chimera Clausen, the Oni Princess, didn’t just want revenge on the spirits. She wanted to bring back the extinct oni race.

A world with spirits extinct and subjected to the oni’s desire to devour nature would have no future. The Oni Princess’s schemes could not come to fruition. Determined to put a stop to it once and for all, Kagura faced the princess and her terrible sword.

“Too bad, though. I’m ready to fight now.” Kagura tossed her khakkhara aside and took a single talisman in hand, pouring vast mana into it. The talisman emitted faint light—this was stronger than any of the magic she’d used yet.

“I know not what you plan to do, but you’re mistaken if you think it will work against this sword!” When the Oni Princess raised her hand, the black blade shot from her hand like an arrow. The Oni Princess steered its flight, and the sword flew forward, clad in spell-resistant black mist, with its features fully magnified. Even the highest-class magic could be nullified if the mana used to construct it was destroyed.

“To celebrate your accomplishment as my first human vessel, why don’t I make you my attendant?” The sword flew, changing trajectory in accordance with the princess’s hand movements. 

Kagura jumped swiftly out of its way, talisman still in hand. It followed, she evaded. “This thing’s stronger than I expected.”

The black sword shook the mountain with each strike as it flew about, shattering everything it touched in pursuit of Kagura. Tweetsuke laid down some backup fire, but it was no help. Each time Kagura dodged and the sword collided into something, it slowly but surely narrowed its lead.

Keeping one eye on that five-meter-long sword, Kagura searched her surroundings. When she looked around, she realized that the distance between her and the Oni Princess was growing greater. Meanwhile, Tweetsuke had shrunk to the size of a sparrow and approached the princess from above.

After Kagura had evaded the sword’s flight path a few more times, Tweetsuke arrived above the Oni Princess. Just as the sword gouged into the floor again, fire boomed. Kagura had switched places with Tweetsuke. Using the confusion of the moment to appear above the Oni Princess without a sound, she held out her mana-infused talisman.

The Oni Princess gazed at the blazing flames for a moment—but then, she turned her face upward with a wicked, gleeful grin. 

“Did you think I wouldn’t notice you?!” Her red eyes opened wide as she raised both hands. Countless chunks of black mist and black hands closed in on Kagura. She had no way to evade; she was at the mercy of gravity—or so one might think.

“Nope!” Kagura replied and activated the spell within the talisman. Powerful winds whipped up, sending her high again just before the black mist and hands could seize her. She looked as if she were taunting the princess. Kagura’s answer seemed to contradict her actions. Her foe frowned.

But just then, something broke through the oni’s black mist protection and slammed into her head. “What?!” The Oni Princess screeched and fell to the floor.

“If you were wearing that spirit gear you all love so much, you might’ve saved yourself from that.” Kagura kept her eyes on her adversary, landed lightly on her feet, and picked up the khakkhara staff she’d struck her with.

Soul Dispatch, the culmination of medium techniques and shikigami technology, allowed Kagura to fully control any shikigami or any item with a shikigami attached to it. She had used this to manipulate the white khakkhara into attacking the Oni Princess from her blind spot.

However, Kagura didn’t stop there.

She whipped out a talisman and sprinted over, reaching the tottering princess in no time and punching her directly in the stomach. “This is for Multicolor!”

Another scream, this one more like a sob, fell from the princess’s lips.

Kagura still didn’t stop. She admonished her foe as she swung her hand down, slapping the Oni Princess on the cheek this time. “This is for Lecia!”

There was an explosive, painful sound accompanied by a little girl’s scream as the princess went flying and fell weakly to the ground. Her pale-white cheek was red and swollen now, and a single talisman was attached to it. Watching as the Oni Princess struggled and writhed with trembling limbs, Kagura finally said coldly, “And this one is for all spiritkind!” She readied her khakkhara, which also had a talisman attached.

The air itself shook. The talismans that had scattered on the ground after their shikigami were defeated now rose thanks to Soul Dispatch, surrounding the Oni Princess. All six of them reacted to Kagura’s mana, becoming cores that would manifest new shikigami.

[Shikigami Invocation: Seven-Star Withering]

The moment Kagura cast her spell, the talismans gleamed for an instant and turned into six orbs of light of six colors. They formed a pentagonal, pyramid-shaped barrier around the Oni Princess.

Inside, the oni had healed herself with dharmic power and stood, attempting to use her black mist to wrench the barrier open. But her injuries made it a struggle to move, leaving her black mist to wander aimlessly.

At a glance, Kagura’s spell was like a cage made from a barrier. But that wasn’t quite right.

“Star of Alkaid, reveal the ways of nature. Bring to my hands the curse-breaking sword.”

This was no cage; it was but a stage meant to help the main actor shine. For the Seven-Star Withering had not yet shown its seven stars.

The khakkhara in Kagura’s hand began to glow in pulses. The talisman on it was clad in rainbow light that slowly enveloped the staff itself. Finally, the staff became the Seven-Star Sword, into which Kagura infused her power.

“Prepare yourself,” she said, putting all of her feelings into those words as she held the sword overhead. Then, she clenched it tightly with both hands and smashed it down into the barrier.

It was like watching a shower of cherry blossom petals dancing in the sunlight. When the Seven-Star Sword sliced through the barrier, a pillar of light formed and swirled violently, showering its surroundings with brilliant particles of light.