Meanwhile at the same moment that the battle between Shinji and Menōmaru was nearing its end, 2000 kms away at Mount Fuji, the standoff was still ongoing.
This confrontation had, in fact, begun even earlier than the one in the north. By the time the black clouds of the Hyakki Yakō had crossed into Shimotsuke Province, Kikyō had already arrived at the foot of Mount Fuji.
The Spiritualization Technique's consumption over a thousand km was immense. For any ordinary miko, it would have been unbearable. Fortunately, the one thing Kikyō had never lacked was reiryoku.
Her longbow was in hand. The Shikon no Tama pulsed against her chest. She did not hesitate. She immediately began laying down her barrier, a network of reiryoku seals covering the entirety of Mount Fuji, completed within less than half a quarter-hour after her feet touched the ground.
Then... she waited.
She did not wait long.
A crack opened within the temporal seal inside Mount Fuji, opened actively by Kaguya. It was provocation. And a probe.
Kikyō walked inside.
The instant she stepped into the seal, the world changed.
The air solidified. The light solidified. Even the shattered stones along the mountain path, frozen halfway through their fall, hung suspended in midair, maintaining the posture of a single instant within their descent.
Birds hung in the sky. Fallen leaves paused in the void.
Time... had died here.
Amidst all things, only Kikyō was moving.
The hem of her miko hakama brushed through the solidified air, producing an exceedingly faint rustle. That sound echoed through the utterly silent mountain, clear to the point of piercing.
This made Kaguya, waiting deep within the celestial palace, show a trace of surprise.
"You can move—?"
Just as Shinji had known, Kaguya, the daiyōkai who had devoured a celestial maiden, possessed three abilities. One of them was the wide-area temporal stasis of Meikyō Shisui.
This was a nearly absolute divine art she had stolen from the celestial maiden. Within this space, frozen for over a century, ordinary demons who entered would be frozen. Humans who entered would be frozen. Even light and sound could not freely propagate.
This was precisely why Shinji, despite using Illusion-Breaking and Underworld Sight to probe the direction of Mount Fuji numerous times, and even dispatching many demons to investigate, had always come up empty.
It was not merely because she hid herself well. It was because she had removed herself from time itself.
Even the overflow of her demonic energy had ceased. Naturally, those outside could see nothing.
And now, a human miko had walked in.
Walking with composure. Her steps steady. She even had the leisure to fix the stray hairs the mountain wind had tousled.
"Wide-area temporal stasis, acting upon this heaven and earth itself… It truly is as Shinji said."
Kikyō ascended the stone steps. Her dark pupils stared levelly toward the direction of the celestial palace.
Her voice was cool and even, as though lecturing a student:
"Though reiryoku is pure and pristine, naturally countering demonic energy, it is, in the end, born of the present heaven and earth. Therefore it also falls within the range of your temporal seal."
"What a pity. Your art is still incomplete."
Yes.
Kaguya's temporal stasis technique was missing a crucial link. It was missing that which, in the legend of the celestial maiden's descent, had been stolen by mortals, the Celestial Maiden's Robe.
That legend held both truth and falsehood.
The falsehood, naturally, was the tale of the celestial maiden remaining in the mortal world. But the theft of the Celestial Robe, that part was true.
Only, the one whose robe had been stolen back then was no longer the celestial maiden.
It had been Kaguya.
For this, she had slaughtered the people of every nearby village, yet still failed to find the Celestial Robe. Without that robe, the celestial maiden's power she could wield was also incomplete.
"But you alone, cannot possibly be immune to my 'divine power'!"
Kaguya's gaze was cold.
To this, Kikyō did not conceal anything. She merely responded:
"With my own power alone, I truly could not move."
She raised her right hand and pressed it against her chest.
The white light of the Shikon no Tama seeped through the collar of her miko robes. Warm. Gentle.
"But I have this. And she... does not belong to this era."
The Shikon no Tama.
Centuries ago, the strongest miko, Midoriko, had perished alongside countless demons. It was a treasure condensed from the fusion of four souls. Midoriko's residual soul was still sealed within.
And that residual soul belonged to a time centuries past. It did not belong to the present.
Only an existence that did not belong to this era could move freely within Kaguya's temporal stasis.
And at this moment, without a doubtKikyō had used the power of Midoriko's residual soul within the Shikon no Tama to envelop herself, forming an exceedingly thin membrane of temporal isolation.
It separated her from the frozen world.
Like a fish swimming upon the surface of ice.
The ice was ice. The fish was fish. Utterly unrelated.
This was also the reason Kikyō had come here. The reason this southern matter could only be handled by her.
The Spiritual Resonance within Shinji's body, though originating from the Shikon no Tama, had already fused into his demon body, becoming a power belonging to the present.
Had he come, he might have been able to use the Five Blades cycle to unfold a domain, propping up another world within this frozen time.
But he still could not have been immune to this temporal stasis. He could not have set foot into Mount Fuji.
Only Kikyō, who carried the original Shikon no Tama itself and could wield its power, possessed this qualification.
Of course, with only this, dealing with Kaguya would still have been insufficient.
Kaguya's temporal stasis, though not infinite, could only truly be nullified by the Bone-Eater's Well, or the power of the Heavenly Tree itself.
The Shikon no Tama could only grant temporary immunity. Prolonged exposure would still be unsustainable.
But for a short time… for Kikyō, it was enough.
"Midoriko's residual soul…" Kaguya murmured.
The surprise within her violet slit-pupils slowly receded. What replaced it was full, undisguised contempt.
"The strongest miko of centuries past, even in death, she still watches over her descendants. What foolish human obstinacy!"
She could not possibly be unaware of Midoriko's name.
Kikyō did not respond.
She merely removed the longbow from her back and hooked the bowstring upon her fingertips.
Kaguya also moved at the same instant!
The mirror in her hand flipped.
Mirror of Life—Light of the Mirror!
Ripples spread across the mirror's surface. A white pillar of light erupted from its center, stabbing straight toward Kikyō's chest.
This mirror, it could not only freeze time in conjunction with the celestial maiden's abilities she had devoured, and reflect all attacks, it could also be used to attack.
But Kikyō's reaction was faster.
The spirit-cleansing arrow left the bowstring the instant it was released, meeting the pillar of light head-on.
BOOM!
The pillars of the celestial palace cracked.
The suspended stones, frozen for centuries, finally began to fall within the shockwave, yet their speed was so slow it was nearly static, like objects sinking through the waters of a dead sea.
Kikyō inevitably retreated.
A portion of her reiryoku had been reflected back at her during the collision.
That mirror could reflect all attacks, including reiryoku.
In other words, what Kikyō faced was not merely her opponent's power, but her opponent's power plus her own.
No matter how powerful she was, she still had to evade.
The second strike followed immediately.
Kaguya raised her hand.
This time, it was not a pillar of light, but a localized release of the temporal stasis.
Her five fingers spread.
Colorless ripples spread from her palm, creeping toward Kikyō's position.
Everything touched by those ripples would freeze solid.
Kikyō's retreat accelerated once more.
The white light of the Shikon no Tama flickered violently across her body, barely holding the ripples at bay a few inches from her form.
But only a few inches.
If they drew half a step closer,
"You are powerful," Kaguya remarked calmly. "But in the end, you are only human. The Shikon no Tama can help you resist my temporal stasis but it cannot help you counterattack. Your reiryoku cannot touch me."
This was the truth.
The Mirror of Life could reflect all attacks. No matter how powerful Kikyō's spirit-cleansing arrows, they would be returned unchanged.
And while the temporal stasis could not freeze her directly, it could continuously compress her space to maneuver.
She could not attack. She could not defend.
By any conventional logic, this was a battle destined for defeat.
However, Kikyō's dark pupils were exceedingly calm.
She had no intention of winning.
From the very beginning, she had none.
"Enough," the miko said in a low voice.
The Spiritualization Technique activated instantly, reiryoku wrapped around her entire body, transforming her into a spirit form.
White streams of light overflowed from her silhouette.
In the next instant, the white spirit body retreated explosively from the celestial palace hall.
Through the corridors.
Through the stone steps.
Through the gaps between the birds and travelers frozen in time for centuries.
By the time Kaguya's temporal ripples barely chased her out the palace doors, she had already stepped beyond the mountain's mouth.
Gone.
The entire exchange, arrival and departure, had been but a single round.
The speed left Kaguya utterly unprepared, and filled with confusion.
By the time she chased past the palace doors, Kikyō was already gone.
Completely.
Not even the residual fluctuations of her reiryoku remained, all of it drawn back and contained by the Spiritualization Technique.
Only a few strands of exceedingly faint white light-dust lingered upon the stone steps, dissipating into nothingness moments later.
"She fled—"
Kaguya stood at the highest step, gazing down at the empty mountain mouth.
The mirror in her palm turned slowly.
"She came. Blocked a few strikes. And then she fled?"
She repeated the sequence in her mind, her voice carrying a bewilderment that even she herself found absurd.
A human miko, traveling a thousand kms to Mount Fuji, barging into her temporal stasis domain, exchanging a single round with her.... and then turning and running.
No more fighting.
Leaving as she pleased.
As though she had come for sightseeing.
"…Buying time?"
The thought surfaced, then she pushed it back down.
A standoff. A single exchange.
Not even thirty breaths from start to finish.
Even if the barrier outside still stood, with her power, breaking through a single layer of reiryoku barrier would not take long.
Mere reiryoku could not trap a daiyōkai.
Even less so a "celestial maiden."
Therefore, the miko's departure was equivalent to abandoning the blockade.
Buying such a small amount of time was utterly meaningless.
"Since you choose to abandon it, then don't blame me for giving chase."
Kaguya raised her hand, preparing to forcibly tear open the barrier at the mountain's mouth.
But before acting, she habitually turned the mirror once more, to confirm the situation outside.
The mirror's surface flipped.
Ripples spread.
The image of the north appeared within the mirror.
And then, Kaguya's hand froze midair.
Kurokawa Castle.
Upon the tiles of the tenshukaku's roof, a humanoid, colossal moth demon lay there, barely clinging to life.
Its armor had largely disintegrated.
The luster of its compound eyes flickered and dimmed.
Golden scale-powder drifted in the wind.
Defeated.
Menōmaru.... had been defeated.
"…Impossible."
Kaguya's eyes flew wide.
Menōmaru might have merely been an inherited daiyōkai, his demonic power and techniques derived from his ancestors, theory without substance, but he was still, in the end, a daiyōkai.
How could he have been defeated so quickly, in mere tens of breaths?
She glanced at the celestial displacement markers in the corner of the mirror, the scale she used to calculate the passage of external time.
Within the depths of Mount Fuji, where time itself was frozen, this had been her only means of perceiving the flow of time in the outside world.
And that number told her something.
From the moment the miko had entered the mountain until now, in her perception, barely half an hour had passed.
But the sky outside, had already gone from day to deep night.
And from deep night to dawn.
A full day and night.
"Wha—"
Kaguya whipped her head around, staring at the dome and walls of the great hall.
There.
Threads of reiryoku.
Exceedingly fine, exceedingly dense white threads, embedded within every pillar of the celestial palace, every brick, every crack, still not dissipated.
That was, unmistakably.... a barrier.
The miko's reiryoku threads had used the temporal stasis effect that Kaguya herself had left within the mountain for centuries as raw material, weaving an invisible net.
It had stretched apart the flow of time between the inside of the mountain and the outside.
Half an hour within the mountain.
An entire night outside.
"She used my power… against me…"
Kaguya's voice squeezed out through clenched teeth, word by word.
Upon that breathtakingly beautiful face surfaced, for the first time in centuries, true, genuine fury.
The mirror in her hand nearly shattered.
Kikyō's goal, from the very beginning, had never been to buy time.
It was to steal time.
To steal her time, and give it to her beloved.
To grant that demon called Nakai Shinji an entire night's worth of time difference, enough to crush every threat in the north, enough to slay the daiyōkai Menōmaru.
While Kaguya herself remained trapped within her own power.
Utterly oblivious.
What a scheme.
What a method.
What a—Strongest Miko of the Warring States.
"…"
Kaguya closed the mirror and walked to the mountain's mouth.
The barrier outside was, as expected, still there.
The reiryoku blockade Kikyō had laid covered the entirety of Mount Fuji.
White threads of light flowed ceaselessly across its surface.
But the miko herself was already gone.
Gone north.
Kaguya did not rush to break through the barrier.
Because she saw something further away.
Above the northern horizon, the lingering remnants of five-colored light were still slowly dissipating.
They were the afterglow of the rift left when five blades had shattered the dome, like a great scar slashed across the sky.
And beneath that afterglow, separated by thousands kms, a figure.
Gray robes.
Flowing hair.
Crimson demon eyes.
Faint bone markings at the temples.
Five blades upon his person.
A 60 meters Bone Thunder colossus stood within the skies of Mutsu.
Five arms encircled.
Five-colored light flowed ceaselessly through its skeletal frame.
That figure.... seemed to also be looking at her.
Though separated by over a thousand kms, between existences of this caliber, a thousand kms was nearly face to face.
Eyes met.
Crimson demon eyes locked against cold, deep violet pupils.
Silence.
An exceedingly long silence.
Kaguya felt the demonic energy fluctuation transmitted from the north.
The Five Elements unified slash had already ended, yet the residual pressure was still so heavy that fine cracks spread across the surface of her mirror.
That quantity.
That quality.
It was no lesser than any daiyōkai she had ever spied upon before.
The chess piece was gone.
Her partner was dead.
The miko had stolen her time.
And that demon, was even stronger than she had estimated.
"…"
In the end.... Kaguya withdrew the foot that had already stepped beyond the mountain's mouth.
She retreated back into Mount Fuji.
She tucked the mirror into her sleeve and sealed the temporal stasis once more.
She did not strike.
One on one, she feared no existence.
But one against two, against that demon, and that miko, she had no absolute certainty.
To venture south alone, the gains would not justify the losses.
Moreover, that miko had already proven one thing.
As long as the Shikon no Tama existed, her temporal stasis was not absolute.
If the same method were used again next time, who knew how much more time that miko would steal from her?
Unless she could find the Celestial Robe, and make her Meikyō Shisui truly perfect, otherwise…
Darkness closed behind her.
"That thing… I will reclaim it eventually."
"But not today."
Mount Fuji returned to its eternal silence.