When Kikyo heard Harumi's words, the faint smile on her lips stiffened.
Her gaze dropped to the Demon-Slaying Scroll lying on the ground. After a brief silence, she started to bend down to pick it up,
"Old man, pick up your own things."
Kagetsu's voice cut through the air without warning.
"You're not exactly young anymore. Using an excuse like that to strike up a conversation with a beautiful woman,don't you have any shame?"
The moment the words fell, both Kikyo and Harumi froze.
The gentle smile on the monk's face solidified instantly. Embarrassment flickered across it, but what surged through his heart was shock.
He hadn't sensed this man's presence at all.
Until the samurai spoke, Harumi hadn't even realized there was someone else standing beside the shrine maiden.
Just moments ago, his attention had been completely drawn to the dark aura clinging to Kikyo. He had overlooked this man entirely,someone who had been standing right there the whole time.
Kikyo glanced silently at Kagetsu and withdrew her hand.
Kagetsu rested one hand on the hilt of the blade at his waist and strode forward with the lazy arrogance of a wandering ronin.
Seeing that he had stepped in, Kikyo rose to her feet and gently addressed the children gathered around her.
"That's enough for today. Go home."
She picked up her basket of herbs, turned, and began to walk away.
"Wait!" Master Harumi hurried after her,but a figure blocked his path.
"Lady Priestess, she,"
Before he could finish, the man in front of him vanished.
Startled, Harumi instinctively began circulating his spiritual power,only to feel a cold line press against his throat.
A katana rested against his neck.
The icy edge bit into his skin, sending a chill down his spine.
Kagetsu's voice came from directly behind him, calm and frigid.
"If you don't want to die, leave. Now."
Only at this close distance did Harumi realize something else.
This man… was dead as well.
But unlike Kikyo,whose body was steeped in dense resentment and unpurified miasma,this one carried only the faint, clean aura of the departed. Combined with how he had blended so seamlessly into his surroundings, it was no wonder he had gone unnoticed.
Kagetsu wasn't surprised.
He had been drawing in natural energy, merging his presence with the environment. To anyone relying on spiritual perception, he was little more than background noise. And with Kikyo's overwhelming aura nearby, she naturally became the obvious focus.
"You are also one of the dead…" Harumi said gravely, the blade unmoving at his throat. "The world of the living is no place for the departed. Let go of your attachments and return to the underworld."
A soft scoff escaped Kagetsu.
"And what business is that of yours?"
"There are demons crawling through every mountain and forest. If you're so righteous, go exorcise them. Why meddle here?"
"I,"
"I don't have time to argue." His tone turned sharp. "Leave. Or die."
The pressure at Harumi's neck vanished.
He looked up abruptly.
Kagetsu was already standing several paces away, as if he had never moved at all.
"Master Harumi!" The young monk behind him finally stumbled forward, freed from the invisible pressure that had pinned him in place. His face was pale. "Are you hurt?"
Moments ago, the samurai had merely glanced at him,and his entire body had locked up. He hadn't even dared to breathe.
"Such speed…" Harumi murmured, staring at Kagetsu's retreating figure. "That man… is even more dangerous than the shrine maiden."
Behind them, Kagetsu cast a glance over his shoulder. Seeing that they weren't following, he withdrew his gaze.
He had intervened for a reason.
Kikyo's resentment was still raw and overwhelming. If she had dealt with the monks herself, she would likely have killed them,just as she had in the original course of events.
That would only deepen the darkness corroding her heart.
He didn't intend to let her stray further from who she once was.
Still… he wasn't certain whether the monks would return tonight, as they had before.
Ahead, Kikyo had already dismissed the children. Now she stood alone beneath a broad tree, bathed in the golden glow of sunset, staring at the village in silence.
Her expression was distant. Hollow.
Suddenly, a face dropped into her line of sight.
"Thinking of leaving already?" Kagetsu asked lightly.
Startled from her reverie, Kikyo instinctively stepped back.
Looking up, she saw him hanging upside down from a branch, arms folded across his chest. His feet clung to the bark as though gravity meant nothing.
"You…" She paused, momentarily at a loss.
In the past two days, she had learned enough to know that this man was far from ordinary.
He could walk along tree trunks and cliffs as if they were level ground. She had even seen him stroll across the surface of a lake to catch fish, as if the water were solid.
He was strong,overwhelmingly so.
Arrogant. Unrestrained. He acted entirely on his own whims and had no interest in others' opinions.
He did not harm the innocent.
But neither did he go out of his way to save them.
Whether human or demon, he regarded them all with the same detached indifference,as if standing above them entirely.
If Kagetsu could hear her thoughts, he might have laughed and praised her for seeing through him so clearly.
In this era of endless bloodshed, the fact that he wasn't slaughtering villages for sport was already mercy enough.
Expecting him to become some wandering savior?
Impossible.
Unless a demon crossed his path,or the situation involved someone tied to the thread of fate,he had no intention of interfering.
"Since the monk figured out what you are," he continued casually, still dangling from the branch, "you probably can't stay here much longer."
"When do you plan to leave?"
He remembered how things were supposed to unfold.
Tonight, Kikyo would kill the monk who tried to test her. A girl named Sayo would witness it. By morning, she would be forced to abandon the village.
Kikyo remained silent.
For a long time.
Her eyes drifted once more toward the village, glowing warmly in the dying light.
"I only wanted to live here quietly," she said at last, her voice low and heavy with sorrow. "Is that so unreasonable?"
"It's nearly impossible."
His answer came without hesitation.
"The Shikon Jewel has reappeared. It shattered into countless fragments scattered across the land."
"As the priestess who once guarded it, you're bound to it by fate. Your resurrection wasn't an accident. You were drawn back for a reason."
"You can't escape that."
"The priestess who guarded the Shikon Jewel died long ago."
The air around her darkened instantly.
Miasma swirled, thick and violent. The resentment within her surged like a rising tide.
"I am nothing but a corpse dragged back from hell," she said coldly. "My heart is filled with hatred."
"My fate is revenge."
"Kikyo."
He met her gaze directly, completely unmoved by the oppressive aura.
"Stop lying to yourself."
"That girl,Kagome. Your reincarnation. You've met her, haven't you?"
"If she can cross time itself to return to this era… is it really so strange that you could return from the underworld?"
The current Kikyo had only just been resurrected. Her powers were unstable, her soul incomplete.
She was no match for him.
And he had no reason to hold back.