While Satsuki had entered the consciousness space of the Tree of Ages, Kikyo had settled the unconscious Onigumo in an empty house near the female physician's residence.
It was said that the family who once lived there had gone out a few days ago in search of food, only to be killed by passing rōnin. Thus, the house now stood vacant.
When Kikyo heard this explanation from the physician, a trace of melancholy appeared upon her refined features.
In this era, ordinary people lived lives of unbearable hardship. Beneath the weight of natural disasters, human calamities, and rampaging yōkai, everyone struggled desperately just to survive. And as a shrine maiden, all she could do was save each person she was able to save. As for whether the final outcome would be good or ill—she would leave that to fate.
With that thought, a soft sigh escaped her pale lips. Yet within her faintly sorrowful expression lay unmistakable resolve.
"Shrine Maiden-sama, please take a look. Are these medicinal herbs suitable?"
The woman in white approached from next door, carrying bundles of herbs in a bamboo hat.
"There is no need to be so formal. You may call me Kikyo," Kikyo said, lifting her head and offering the physician—named Keiko—a gentle smile.
Kikyo's beauty was rare even in this era. Her skin was smooth and clear, and her glossy black hime-cut hair carried a quiet elegance beyond the imagination of common folk.
Under such a gaze, even Keiko, herself a woman, flushed slightly and stammered, "Ki… Kikyo-san, please see if these are enough. If not, I can gather more."
As a shrine maiden formally trained by the Grand Shrine, identifying medicinal herbs was a basic skill for Kikyo.
With only a glance, she swiftly sorted the herbs in the hat, removing those that were damp, insect-eaten, or otherwise unsuitable.
After finishing, Kikyo withdrew a sheet of paper from her sleeve and handed it to Keiko.
"Please prepare a bowl of decoction according to the proportions written here."
"Yes!"
Taking the paper, Keiko left in a mixture of surprise and delight. As a physician who had entered the profession halfway through life, the greatest gap between her and a shrine-trained maiden was not herb recognition or understanding of medicinal properties.
It was the accumulation of prescriptions—this was where the true difference lay.
And Kikyo had provided several formulas at once. To Keiko, it was an invaluable treasure of knowledge.
After Keiko departed, Kikyo turned her gaze once more to Onigumo, who lay on the tatami.
In the enclosed space, she could clearly smell the foul odor beginning to emanate from his body.
This was an inevitable stage for the wounded. Onigumo, a bandit by trade, rarely bathed to begin with, and now he bore severe external injuries. Such a stench was hardly surprising.
Judging by his condition, the odor would persist for some time. His wounds could not be exposed to water at present, or infection would claim his life.
As a shrine maiden who exorcised demons, Kikyo possessed a high tolerance for unpleasant smells. She frequently dealt with yōkai, after all.
Her sharp spiritual senses detected demonic energy and miasma far more acutely than ordinary people could—and those were far more pungent and harmful than anything Onigumo now emitted.
In the stillness of the room, only the flickering candlelight upon the table revealed that time continued to pass.
After an unknown span of silence, a weak and hoarse voice emerged from the floor.
"…Am I still alive?"
The instant the words left his mouth, a tidal wave of agony surged through his body. Invisible blades seemed to pierce him from all directions.
Knife wounds were nothing new to Onigumo—he had long grown accustomed to them.
But the true torment lay in the gaping wound in his abdomen. The massive injury caused by the mercury bullet and the burning pain of heavy metal poisoning felt like a red-hot iron plunged deep into his stomach, twisting relentlessly.
In mere seconds, the suffocating torture shattered his sanity.
The hellish sensation made even this hardened bandit tremble uncontrollably. From deep in his throat came a despairing roar like that of a wounded beast.
"Ah… kill me. Just kill me!"
Such a reaction was hardly unexpected. When subjected to ceaseless agony with no end in sight, death could become a form of release.
Many would say, if you do not fear death, what else could you fear?
But that is only because they have never encountered sufferings more terrifying than death itself.
Seeing that Onigumo had awakened, Kikyo merely regarded him with her characteristically distant, sorrowful gaze.
"If I had intended to kill you, you would not have awakened."
"Ah… you… you're that lackey who followed that monster shrine maiden…"
Blinding pain dyed Onigumo's vision red. His rationality scattered under the assault.
"You hypocrites… why save a bandit like me? Wouldn't it be better to let me die?"
"I saved you because you still have a chance to live. And only by living can you atone."
"Cough… hahahaha… atone?!"
Though wracked by pain, Onigumo forced out a harsh laugh.
"I never thought you'd cling to such naive fantasies."
Kikyo glanced at him indifferently.
"Perhaps."
Her calm response enraged him further. Yet the overwhelming agony left him no strength for argument. Soon, the room fell back into silence, broken only by his low groans.
Roughly half an hour later, Keiko returned carrying two steaming bowls of medicine.
The moment she entered, the heavy stench of sweat and rot assaulted her nose. Fortunately, the scent of the herbal decoctions tempered it somewhat—otherwise she might have retched immediately.
"Kikyo-sama, the air in here is poor. Would you like to step outside for a while?"
"There is no need to worry. I am a shrine maiden."
Kikyo accepted the bowls with a smile and infused the medicine with healing and purifying spiritual power.
"Leave the rest to me. His injuries are severe—and he is not a patient of gentle temperament."
"I see…"
Keiko glanced nervously at Onigumo's contorted expression and quickly said, "If you require anything else, please call for me. I will be next door preparing more medicine."
"Thank you, Keiko."
...
"So it seems I have become a nuisance to this timeline."
Within the consciousness space of the Tree of Ages, Satsuki looked at the Tree Spirit, who bore Kikyo's borrowed appearance.
"You are saying that my arrival has distorted the temporal flow of this world, correct?"
"Yes," replied the inorganic voice from the Tree Spirit's lips. "You do not belong to this era. The more bonds you form, the further this world will deviate from its original trajectory. Eventually, its future will twist beyond recovery and descend into irreversible ruin."
A faint gleam flashed in Satsuki's Tenseigan.
After a brief silence, she asked, "Then what is the predetermined future of this world?"
"…I cannot say."
The Tree Spirit answered thus.
"How interesting. Not that you do not know—but that you cannot say."
With her hands clasped behind her back, Satsuki paced slowly before the Tree of Ages.
"Have you ever considered," she said at last, "that the very existence of the Tree of Ages may itself be the cause of this world's distortion?"
"No. I am the guardian of this era. Because of me and others like me, this world has barely avoided invasion by the gods and continued to exist."
At those words, Satsuki suddenly turned, her tone sharp and certain.
"So that is why you deliberately summoned Hagorome Gitsune from another timeline?"
"What… how do you know that?"
Even the Tree Spirit was shaken.
"It is simple…"
Satsuki slowly closed her eyes. A faint afterimage began to shimmer around her body.
It seemed insignificant—but in truth, such phenomena occurred only when power reached an extreme.
Under the pressure of that immense force, a sharp crack rang out. A massive fissure suddenly split the dark consciousness space, like a scar carved across the heavens.
And this was only the beginning.
With the appearance of that first scar, it was as though a silent horn had sounded. One after another, more fractures tore through the void—second, third, fourth—until they became too numerous to count.
Like a web of cracks spreading across glass, they interwove and connected, shaking the entire space violently. Even the once placid surface of the consciousness sea began to churn with turbulent ripples.
"Stop! What are you doing?"
Satsuki slowly rose into the air, her figure godlike. Tangible pressure radiated from her, forcing the entire space to groan and creak.
"Tree of Ages," she said calmly, "you are not the only one in this world who understands temporal-spatial power."
"What?!"
Before the Tree Spirit could recover from its shock, Satsuki extended a single finger.
Snap.
In an instant, the already fractured consciousness space shattered like brittle glass, collapsing into countless fragments.
After a dizzying upheaval, the dark expanse vanished entirely, replaced by another resplendent domain.
When vision returned to the Tree Spirit, it beheld a transformed world.
From the sky, black mandala flowers drifted downward without cease. The former void was nowhere to be seen. As far as the eye could reach, layer upon layer of glazed radiance spiraled outward, infused with faint black demonic Buddha light. They formed an immeasurable realm extending endlessly upward and downward.
Countless twisted scriptures flowed along the outer walls of this infinite expanse, filling heaven and earth with glassy Buddha light and sacred text.
High above, Satsuki sat upon a mandala lotus throne.
Her demeanor was no longer as before. When she slowly opened her eyes, they carried the cold detachment of one who gazed down upon all beings. Behind her, the Wheel of Vipralopa flickered faintly.
She had entered the state of [Aspect of the Demon Buddha].