"Miss Kikyo… that barrier…"
Miroku still couldn't believe what he had just seen. Even after stepping through it himself, disbelief lingered in his voice.
"This is a protective barrier commonly used by shrine maidens," Kikyo explained calmly. "For someone like me, passing through it is simple."
"…I see."
But her explanation only made Miroku feel more dejected.
He was a monk who had trained diligently for years. Was the gap between them really this great?
If Sango knew what he was thinking, she would probably retort immediately:
Was that training time spent asking women if they'd bear your child?
Unfortunately, Sango had no idea what was running through his head. Seeing his gloomy expression, she simply tried to encourage him.
"Come on, Monk. Breaking the Black Miko's curse and saving Kagome is what matters right now."
"…You're right."
Miroku nodded, quickly regaining his composure.
Kikyo ignored their exchange and walked straight toward the source of the evil aura.
Before long, they reached the center of the barrier.
A lone wooden house stood in the clearing, thick waves of malicious energy seeping out from inside.
"Hm?"
The moment she saw the house, Kikyo suddenly stopped.
Her longbow rose smoothly in her hands. In one fluid motion, she drew an arrow from her quiver, nocked it, and pulled the bowstring tight.
The arrowhead pointed directly at the wooden house in the distance.
"Miss Kikyo… is the enemy inside?" Sango asked immediately, her expression turning sharp as she pulled the massive Hiraikotsu from her back.
"It's only one of Naraku's incarnations," Kikyo replied calmly, her bowstring still drawn taut.
"Naraku!"
At the name, Sango's face hardened with hatred.
Without hesitation, she rushed toward the wooden house with Hiraikotsu in hand.
"Sango!"
Miroku called out in alarm and quickly chased after her.
Just then, Kikyo suddenly raised her voice from behind them,loud enough to ensure the enemy inside could hear.
At the same moment, her sacred arrow shot into the night.
Wrapped in brilliant white spiritual power, the Sacred Arrow whistled through the air, streaking past Sango and Miroku.
Bang!
The arrow smashed straight through the wall of the wooden house and blasted into the interior.
Inside the house, a beautiful woman sat staring at the cursed Shikon Jewel in her hand.
Yet there was something deeply unsettling about her.
Her long, grayish-white hair hung loosely over her shoulders. Her skin was pale,almost unnaturally so. Light purple eyeshadow framed her blue-green eyes, and a shell-shaped jewel was embedded in the center of her forehead.
Her crimson lips curled into a malicious smile.
This woman was Tsubaki, the Black Miko who had cast the curse upon Kagome.
"That half-demon named Inuyasha…" Tsubaki said lazily, glancing at the Naraku incarnation standing behind her.
"He really does have a death wish, doesn't he? Wanting to die at the hands of a woman."
Her voice dripped with mockery.
"Naraku, you're truly cruel,making the resurrected Kikyo kill the man she once loved all over again."
"Naraku!"
A woman's voice suddenly rang out from outside the house.
Tsubaki froze.
The Naraku incarnation immediately stiffened as well, instinctively preparing to retreat.
But he was too late.
Boom!
The sacred arrow blasted through the wall and pierced straight through his head.
In the next instant, the spiritual power erupting from the arrow detonated.
Naraku's upper body exploded into fragments, scattering across the floor.
Thunk.
The arrow that killed him embedded itself deep into the opposite wall, its feathers trembling slightly.
Tsubaki recovered from her shock and looked down at the scattered remains.
Then her gaze shifted to the arrow quivering in the wall.
Her expression darkened.
"Kikyo…!"
"Hiraikotsu!"
Another voice shouted.
Boom!
The already-damaged wall shattered completely.
The massive Hiraikotsu burst through the wreckage and hurtled straight toward Tsubaki with unstoppable momentum.
Tsubaki's eyes widened.
She immediately raised the Shikon Jewel in her hand.
The Snake Demon Shikigami coiled around her body and yanked her backward, dragging her out of the weapon's path.
With the shikigami's help, she narrowly avoided the attack.
Crash!
The Hiraikotsu slammed into the wall behind her, splintering wood everywhere before spinning back through the air and returning to Sango's hand.
Though both the front and back walls had been smashed open, the wooden house somehow remained standing.
Moonlight streamed through the gaping holes, illuminating everything inside.
Tsubaki dismissed the shikigami and pushed open the half-destroyed door.
Stepping through the broken entrance, she walked outside.
She completely ignored Sango and Miroku.
Instead, her eyes locked onto Kikyo.
Standing there in her shrine maiden robes, bow still in hand, Kikyo looked exactly as she had fifty years ago,untouched by time.
Tsubaki frowned.
"Kikyo… what is this supposed to mean?" she asked suspiciously.
"Isn't that girl Kagome supposed to be your reincarnation?"
Kikyo didn't answer the question.
Her gaze fell upon the Shikon Jewel in Tsubaki's hand.
Her voice turned cold.
"So it was you, Tsubaki."
"You're the one who cursed Kagome."
Without waiting for a response, a trace of disdain appeared in her eyes.
"You really believe a curse cast with your power alone could succeed?"
"It's pointless."
Those calm words instantly ignited Tsubaki's anger.
"Don't underestimate me!" she snapped.
"Kikyo, I'm not the same person you defeated all those years ago!"
"You don't need to tell me."
Kikyo looked at her over calmly,her youthful face, the faint demonic aura surrounding her.
"Anyone can see it."
"You sold your soul to a demon to preserve your youth, didn't you?"
Tsubaki smiled proudly.
"It was worth it," she declared, her voice filled with fervor.
"I merged with a demon. I gained eternal youth, beauty… and tremendous power."
"How foolish."
Kikyo's response was quiet and utterly indifferent.
That calm dismissal only made Tsubaki sneer.
"And you have the right to judge me?"
She looked Kikyo up and down mockingly.
"Why do you look exactly the same as you did fifty years ago? I heard you died long ago."
"Yet here you are, perfectly fine."
"A few things happened," Kikyo replied simply.
As she spoke, she briefly thought of the Sage Power she had recently cultivated.
Now, she truly possessed the possibility of a long life and unchanging youth.
"So yes," she added calmly, "it's more or less what you're imagining."
"Oh?"
Tsubaki's tone grew even more sarcastic.
"So what are you here for? To preach to me?"
Clearly, she believed Kikyo had used some similar method but now stood there pretending to take the moral high ground.
Neither of them moved.
Yet the tension between the two shrine maidens grew heavier by the second.
Sango and Miroku,who had come here to save Kagome,didn't dare interrupt.
Kirara sat quietly in Sango's arms.
The two of them stood close together, watching the confrontation from a distance, barely breathing.
They were afraid that once the battle began, they might be caught in the crossfire.
Suddenly, Tsubaki seemed to remember something.
A malicious smile spread across her lips.
"Kikyo," she said slowly.
"That half-demon who stole your heart… he's with another woman now."
She leaned forward slightly, the mockery in her smile deepening.
"So tell me…"
"Did he abandon you, old woman?"