Inside the barrier originally erected by Kikyo's shikigami—because of that, Asahiko was unable to notice it until he crashed into it, or at least that is what he wants to believe—all of the previously mentioned "protagonists" are staring fixedly at one another.
This time, the issue was no longer whether Asuka should be recreated or not. That was already old news. Instead, the matter had now turned into something far more serious... Something that promised to become a headache for the unmotivated Asahiko.
"So, let me see if I've understood you correctly, my dear and beautiful Kikyo. Are you telling me that after leaving you alone for five minutes—maybe a little more, maybe a little less—you managed to get yourself neck-deep in a problem worthy even of Inuyasha?"
Leaning against the rough trunk of a nearby tree, which is avoided by several Soul Collectors, Asahiko doubts what he has just heard because... wasn't she supposed to be cautious?
In other words, what he had previously told Kaede was completely true. Kikyo is not the type to lose her composure and act recklessly, or at least she never had until now.
"Your compliments are useless, just like your perception of time, Asahiko."
"Ha, ha, ha... Why don't you just tell me how you ended up here?"
"I simply encountered a problem along the way and was solving it, although it became more complicated than I had intended."
Clicking her tongue almost imperceptibly, Kikyo extends her pale hand, and a Soul Collector—the original name of her white serpent-like shikigami—glides toward her.
Beneath the slender white body of that serpent, a bluish, round, shapeless object can be seen, obviously the soul of some unfortunate woman.
That soul—perhaps truly only a very small fragment of what it once was—instantly merges with Kikyo, momentarily granting her a pale aura and causing her brow to furrow at what she "sees."
"An interesting story?"
"Nothing important. Just another unfortunate woman who was cheated on and then mercilessly murdered."
"Oh... Ha, ha, what a wonderful day."
Avoiding Kikyo's cold gaze by discreetly directing his blue eyes toward the sky, Asahiko begins counting the clouds drifting with the wind, trying to calm his heartbeat.
Ever since he reunited with Kikyo, the situation had become increasingly tense. Apparently, she was strangely unwilling to forget what had happened with Kagome, but he had done nothing wrong... They were just friends!
"Is it really? Being lost in the middle of a forest reminds me of something unpleasant."
"Good grief, you're being truly relentless about this, Kikyo. Aren't you afraid that I'll cast aside my sheep's skin and become a ferocious wolf? After all, I'm a powerful demon. You can't stop me~"
"Well, here I am. Or should I keep waiting for the powerful demon to finally decide to act?"
"...You're playing with fire, woman."
Being the first to avert his eyes because of the "intensity" of the moment, Asahiko lets out a sigh upon noticing Kikyo's fleeting smile and seriously considers going to play in the dirt by the side of the road.
Even as a fox, he doesn't seem capable of defeating Kikyo in the field of mind games, because there is never any way of knowing whether she is serious or not. Everything remains perfectly hidden behind the mask of indifference she always wears.
That creates an awkward situation because, if Asahiko truly wants something, he can ignore logic and plans and charge headfirst toward it. But with Kikyo, everything is... mysterious, ever-changing, and shapeless, leaving him without knowing where to go or where to strike.
"Um... Lady Kikyo, Kochō says the target is moving toward the village to the south."
"Perfect. Let's finish this once and for all."
"Alright, let's get those muscles moving!"
...Elsewhere...
Observing the large amount of "straw" he had managed to gather in such a short time, now surrounding him—defective specimens used only out of necessity—a twisted smile spread across his shriveled face.
Now he understood why those yōkai had gone to such lengths to offer great sacrifices of human flesh and blood. The power released by such profane arts was not something to joke about... Power that he would now unleash against that meddlesome priestess.
"Yes, it's not my fault... Hehehe, it's all because of that priestess. Yes, yes, you know she told the truth."
Muttering incomprehensible words while rubbing his face against a moss-covered stone bowl, which emitted a dark pink glow in response to his madness, a skinny, bald man twisted his entire body in an erratic manner.
Seen from the outside, it was an extremely strange and macabre sight, for while performing that "dance," he was surrounded by mangled human corpses, which were being "wrung out" by some strange force until they released a tiny amount of a foul dark liquid.
That thick liquid, as viscous as tar, as putrid as an animal in the midst of decomposition, and as dark as the deepest night, also emitted an unexpectedly sacred aura that was completely opposite to its true nature.
"Hungry... Hehehe, are you hungry?"
Pressing his ear against the bowl's cold rocky surface, riddled with microscopic cracks, the man once again murmured to whatever it was he heard, then lowered his treasured object toward the tiny "stream" of dark liquid.
That immediately caused the bowl to tremble violently, momentarily intensifying the sacred aura surrounding it, but it was soon brought back under control by the dark pink glow of the fragment embedded in its surface.
Thus, little by little, the dark liquid seeped into every crack and imperfection of the rocky bowl, contaminating its ancient holiness and granting the dark pink fragment a renewed radiance.
"Eat, eat until you're full, and soon we can begin our rightful revenge against those yōk— Protect me!"
Interrupting his own words with a shrill scream, the man did not hesitate to raise the bowl into the air and issue it an order, causing the dark pink glow around it to become even stronger.
Unexpectedly, the protection was not the kind the attackers had expected—not a classic spiritual barrier like those used by priestesses or monks—but instead the nearby earth was shaped by an invisible hand, rising up to defend the bald man and effortlessly stopping the incoming arrow.
"Tsk, and I even avoided touching the ground so I wouldn't raise any suspicion."
Muttering coldly as she methodically knocked another arrow onto her crimson longbow, Kikyo, who was being guided through the sky by her shikigami, frowned for only a few seconds.
But those few seconds were enough for the "bald man" to locate her thanks to the trajectory of the shot. Fixing his sunken eyes in her direction, he immediately shouted another order into the empty air.
Naturally, the new command given to the moss-covered stone bowl was to attack, causing the wall of earth to distort before reshaping itself into several spears, which immediately shot toward Kikyo.
"Insolent brute."
Quickly taking shape upon Kikyo's right shoulder, a tiny girl with fair skin and black eyes matching her hair appeared, waving the sleeve of her yellow kimono and effortlessly erecting a powerful spiritual barrier.
The barrier stopped the spears without trembling in the slightest, demonstrating the strength of its creator. Kikyo, however, paid it little attention and, without hesitation, fired several arrows at the "bald man" below, forcing him to flee like a wounded dog.
"You damned resurrected corp—"
"Wow, you really shouldn't make her angry, my friend~"
Appearing from God knows where, Asahiko slowly but inevitably guided the blade of Clouded Fang toward the bald man's heart, catching the unfortunate man so completely by surprise that he failed to react before his heart was pierced straight through.
Surprisingly, not even a trace of blood flowed from the wound, leaving Asahiko as the one who was now surprised. Unlike the "bald man," however, he did dodge when several spears attempted to impale him from the ground.
"What took you so long?"
"I don't know. Maybe because you flew off and left me behind with Asuka?"
Performing several acrobatic flips to evade the trail of spears continuing to erupt from the ground—it seemed his flexibility and reflexes had improved after his earlier battle with Sesshōmaru—Asahiko calmly answered Kikyo.
"...Acceptable."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean!? Do you also want me to bark and give you my paw whenever you call me?"
"An unexpectedly interesting proposal on your part, Asahiko. Yes, I once made a similar collar for Inuyasha. Now it would only require a few small modifications to make it even better."
"So that monstrous collar was made by your own hands!"
Remembering the necklace of purple beads hanging around Inuyasha's neck—the very one Kagome used to "discipline" him whenever he misbehaved—Asahiko felt a faint trace of fear... And not because of the idiot who kept creating earthen spears to kill him.
"Damn you... Stop making fun of me!"
"You made him angry."
"You started it!"
Landing perfectly on his feet after one final flip—he even raised his hands in a V-sign—Asahiko fixed his blue eyes on the bald old man standing before him and raised an eyebrow at what he was doing.
The latter had brought the moss-covered stone bowl to his lips, which looked as though they had endured a drought, and was drinking a thick black liquid that had somehow appeared inside the bowl.
That was obviously the preparation for a "second phase" of the battle, something entirely expected and something Asahiko was more than willing to interrupt. However, just as he was about to act, he noticed something inside the bowl.
It was a fragment of the Jewel. They were easy to recognize when you carried as many as he did. Yet strangely, this fragment was dark purple and radiated an aura of twisted malice.
"Wha... What the hell is that?"
"A fragment stained by the negative side of the Pearl of Shikon, the place where the souls of all those yōkai whom Midoriko failed to purify reside, the ones who ultimately fused with her."
"But how? This has never happened to us before. Even the fragments Naraku possessed were... normal."
"The impure is pure. Good is evil. Evil is good... Anything can happen in this world, Asahiko."
Speaking in a philosophical tone that made her seem like a being detached from this world—perhaps because it was a truth only she knew—Kikyo once again drew her bow and took her stance to attack.