"Miss Kikyo… this barrier…"
Miroku still couldn't accept it. He had exhausted himself trying to break through, yet Kikyo had passed through it effortlessly. His voice was filled with disbelief.
"This is a type of protective barrier commonly used by shrine maidens. It's easy for me to pass through it," Kikyo explained calmly, seeing the confusion in his eyes.
"…."
That only made Miroku feel worse. He was a monk who had trained diligently—was the gap really this wide?
If Sango could hear his inner thoughts, she would probably retort, "Diligently asking girls to bear your children, you mean?"
Of course, she had no idea what he was thinking. Seeing his crestfallen expression, she quickly encouraged him.
"Monk, let's focus on dealing with the black priestess and lifting Kagome's curse first!"
"Though I'm reluctant to admit it, you're right."
Miroku pulled himself together and nodded.
Kikyo ignored their exchange and walked straight toward the source of the densest evil aura.
Before long, they reached the center of the barrier. In a clearing stood a wooden house, thick waves of dark energy seeping from within.
"Hmm?"
The moment Kikyo saw the house, she stopped abruptly. Her bow was raised in one smooth motion. She drew an arrow from behind her back, pulled the string taut, and aimed directly at the wooden structure.
"Miss Kikyo, is the enemy inside?"
Sango reacted instantly, pulling out her massive Hiraikotsu and staring sharply at the house.
"Just one of Naraku's incarnations," Kikyo replied evenly, though her fingers remained tight on the bowstring.
"Naraku!"
At the name, Sango's face hardened. She gripped Hiraikotsu and charged toward the house.
"Sango!" Miroku hurried after her.
"Naraku!"
Kikyo's voice suddenly rang out behind them, raised deliberately—almost as if warning the one inside.
At the same instant, an arrow wrapped in brilliant white spiritual light tore through the night sky, whistling past Sango and Miroku.
Bang!
The arrow pierced straight through the wooden wall and shot inside.
Within the house stood a woman of striking beauty tinged with malice, staring at a cursed Shikon Jewel in her hand.
Long gray-white hair fell loosely over her shoulders. Her skin was pale, nearly bloodless. Blue-green eyes were framed with faint violet shadow. A shell-shaped jewel rested in the center of her forehead. Her crimson lips curved in a sinister smile.
This was the black priestess Tsubaki—the one who had cursed Kagome.
"That half-demon called Inuyasha seems rather eager to die by a woman's hand," Tsubaki said mockingly, glancing at Naraku's incarnation behind her. "Naraku, how cruel of you. To make the resurrected Kikyo kill the man she once loved again."
"Naraku!"
The voice from outside rang out again.
Tsubaki froze. Naraku's incarnation felt a jolt of alarm and moved to retreat—
But before he could, boom!
The spiritual arrow blasted through the wall and pierced his skull. In the next heartbeat, purifying power erupted, blowing his upper body into fragments. Torn limbs splattered across the floor.
Thud.
The arrow pinned itself into the opposite wall, its shaft trembling.
Tsubaki snapped out of her shock, staring at the remains and the quivering arrow. Her face darkened.
"Kikyo!" she hissed through clenched teeth.
"Hiraikotsu!"
Another voice rang out.
Boom!
The already-damaged wall shattered completely as Sango's massive weapon smashed through, flying straight at Tsubaki.
Tsubaki's expression changed drastically. She grabbed the Shikon Jewel shard before her. A snake-demon shikigami coiled around her body and yanked her aside. With its help, she narrowly avoided the attack.
Crash!
Hiraikotsu slammed into the rear wall, splintering wood. It then curved back through the air and returned to Sango's hand.
Though both front and back walls were destroyed, the house stubbornly remained standing. Moonlight streamed through the gaping holes, illuminating the interior for those outside.
Tsubaki dismissed her shikigami and pushed open what remained of the door, stepping out through the broken entrance.
She ignored Sango and Miroku completely. Her gaze locked onto Kikyo, standing there with bow in hand and clad in shrine maiden robes.
Seeing Kikyo's face—unchanged from fifty years ago, untouched by time—Tsubaki frowned.
"Kikyo, what is this? That girl called Kagome—isn't she your reincarnation?"
Kikyo did not answer. Her eyes fell to the Shikon Jewel in Tsubaki's hand.
"So it was you, Tsubaki. You're the one who cursed Kagome?"
Before Tsubaki could respond, Kikyo added coolly,
"With your power, you think the curse will succeed? It's useless."
Hearing that calm dismissal, Tsubaki's anger flared.
"Don't underestimate me! Kikyo, I am no longer the woman you defeated all those years ago!"
"There's no need to say it," Kikyo replied evenly, her gaze sweeping over Tsubaki's youthful face and the faint demonic aura surrounding her. "I can see it clearly. For eternal youth, you sold your soul to a demon."
"For youth and beauty, it was worth it!"
Tsubaki smiled proudly, almost feverishly.
"I fused with a demon and gained eternal youth, beauty—and powerful demonic strength!"
"How foolish."
Kikyo's response was flat, almost indifferent.
"And you have the right to judge me?" Tsubaki sneered. "Why does your appearance remain the same as fifty years ago? I heard you died. Yet here you stand."
"Certain circumstances occurred," Kikyo answered lightly.
She thought briefly of the Sage Power she had just cultivated. With it, she too now possessed extended lifespan and unchanging youth.
"In a sense, not so different from what you imagine."
"Oh?" Tsubaki's smile sharpened with ridicule. "Then what brings you here? To lecture me?"
She was convinced Kikyo had used a similar method to preserve her youth and was now feigning righteousness.
Though neither had drawn blood yet, the tension between them thickened like gunpowder in the air.
Sango and Miroku, who had come to lift Kagome's curse, no longer dared to speak.
Kirara, small in Sango's arms, watched silently. The two stood together, scarcely daring to breathe, afraid of being caught in the crossfire between the two priestesses.
Then Tsubaki seemed to recall something. A malicious smile curved her lips.
"Kikyo… that half-demon who stole your heart," she said softly, stepping closer. "It seems he's with another woman now."
Her smile widened in cruel mockery.
"Did he abandon you, old woman?"
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