"H-How is this possible..." Hiten watched this scene, completely stunned. An attack he had poured a massive amount of Demonic Power into had been blocked so easily?
Fear instantly seized him. No longer having any desire to fight, he turned and fled into the distance.
The blue Susanoo slowly dissipated. Retsu looked at the scrambling Hiten and sneered, "Want to run? Too late."
"Flying Thunder God Technique!"
Before his voice had even faded, his figure had already vanished from the spot. In the next second, Retsu appeared in front of Hiten, his foot once again enveloped in Chakra as he kicked him hard in the chest.
*Crack—*
The clear sound of a shattering sternum rang out. Hiten spat out a large mouthful of blood, his body flying like a broken kite toward where Kagome was standing.
Kagome saw Hiten hurtling toward her and was about to dodge when Retsu's figure appeared before her again.
Pale blue Susanoo ribs manifested. With a muffled "thud," Hiten's body slammed heavily into the Susanoo, blood splattering across its surface.
Confirming that Hiten was no longer moving, Retsu dispersed the Susanoo and walked over to the unconscious Hiten. He used the tip of his foot to flip the body over; the wound on his abdomen from the kick was also marked with a Flying Thunder God Mark.
"Trash is trash. Did you think you'd be invincible just by relying on a few shards of the shikon jewel? How ridiculous." Retsu snorted coldly, reached out to pluck the three shards of the shikon jewel from Hiten's forehead, and casually tossed them to Kagome nearby.
"Eh? These are for me?" Kagome scrambled to catch the shards. A pink light flickered in her palm, her face full of surprise.
"Yeah." Retsu activated Kamui again, and a spatial vortex sent Hiten's body into the Kamui Dimension.
He reached out, pulled the samurai sword that was stuck in the ground next to Kagome, and returned it to its sheath.
In his hands, this samurai sword was used for more than just slashing fodder demons; he also frequently used it as a marker for Flying Thunder God teleportation.
The Flying Thunder God Technique was a Ninjutsu invented by the Second Hokage. By leaving a Flying Thunder God Mark on a target object, the user can perform spatial jumps between different marks, achieving instantaneous movement.
"Retsu, don't you want them? I saw you were collecting shards of the shikon jewel too," Kagome asked curiously, clutching the shards of the shikon jewel in her hand.
"I already took the shards from the other demon. Share and share alike; these belong to you," Retsu said, looking at her with a smile.
He collected the shikon jewels merely to lure demons to their deaths; a few more or less didn't matter much.
Moreover, Kagome was the reincarnation of Kikyo, the priestess who guarded the shikon jewel. Guarding and collecting shards of the shikon jewel was her mission to begin with.
He couldn't take all the shards of the shikon jewel; doing so might cause Kagome to feel a sense of frustration while collecting them.
But he couldn't give them all to her either. The protagonist group's current strength was too weak; the shards in their hands would eventually be snatched away by Naraku. In the original story, many times the shards they worked so hard to collect ended up being express deliveries for Naraku.
By keeping a portion himself, even if Naraku stole the shards of the shikon jewel from Kagome, he wouldn't be able to complete the shikon jewel. This was a way to disrupt Naraku's plans.
"Retsu, are you human?"
Seeing that Retsu was so easy to talk to, Kagome grew bolder and curiously asked the question she had been holding in for a long time.
"Of course I'm human." Retsu smiled and raised an eyebrow at her. "You didn't think I was a demon, did you?"
"...O-Of course not, haha!" Kagome waved her hands with a forced laugh, her cheeks feeling a bit hot. She had actually always felt that Retsu was likely a powerful demon similar to Sesshomaru.
"You want to ask about the cracks on my body and this look that doesn't resemble a living person, right?" Retsu saw right through her doubts and spoke in a flat tone.
"Yes! Yes!" Kagome nodded vigorously, her eyes full of a desire for knowledge.
"Because I am indeed not a living person right now," Retsu said calmly, touching his cheek. "This body is a product of the 'Edo Tensei Technique.' It is formed from dust and soil, intended to retain a soul that should have returned to the Pure Land."
"...In other words, you're actually a dead person?!" Kagome's eyes widened instantly, and her voice trembled slightly. The concept of the person in front of her being a dead man was too shocking for a modern junior high school girl like her.
"Demons are everywhere; what's so surprising about a dead person?" Retsu rolled his eyes and looked at her with a look of disdain.
Kagome was stunned for a moment. Thinking about it carefully, it seemed to make sense. In this world overrun by demons, the fact that a dead person could still move didn't seem that outrageous. "I guess... it's fine?" She scratched her head. Although it felt strange, she accepted his explanation and unexpectedly calmed down.
"By the way, how did you die?" Kagome suddenly thought of another question and followed up curiously.
"I was killed by someone." Retsu spoke as if it were a matter of course, but his tone unconsciously grew heavy.
"You're so powerful, how could you be killed by someone else?" Kagome was even more confused. With his strength, how could he be killed?
"I'm not weak, but the guy I met wasn't human," Retsu said through gritted teeth. He got angry just thinking about it. "Working hard for over a decade isn't as good as a cheater using a cheat code once."
At the thought of those cheaters, he couldn't help but feel a surge of rage. That feeling of powerlessness remained etched in his memory even after being reborn.
"Uh... I see..." Sensing the anger in his tone, Kagome wisely shut her mouth and stopped pursuing this touchy subject. The atmosphere was a bit awkward for a moment. Just as she was thinking of how to change the subject, a familiar shout suddenly came from the distance.
"Kagome! Kagome—!"
It was the voices of Inuyasha and Shippō!
"I'm here! Inuyasha! Shippō!" Kagome stood up in surprise and waved toward the direction of the voices, a relaxed smile instantly spreading across her face.
"Your 'mutt' has found you. Wait for them here; I'm leaving." Retsu also stood up and brushed the dust off his clothes.
"Um, Retsu, thank you so much for saving me!" Kagome bowed deeply to him again, her tone sincere. "And for these shards of the shikon jewel."
"It was nothing." Retsu waved his hand. Just as he was about to turn and leave, he seemed to remember something and stopped. His left eye turned crimson as the spatial vortex of Kamui unfolded before him, and a piece of yellow fox pelt appeared from the vortex.
He reached out to catch it and handed it to Kagome. "This is the pelt of the father of that little fox demon who's with Inuyasha. Give it to him."
"Eh? This is Shippō's father?" Kagome took the fox pelt in surprise. Her fingertips touched the soft fur, her heart full of confusion.
Kagome looked up, wanting to ask how he knew, but found that Retsu was already gone. Only a breeze blew through the courtyard that had been turned into ruins during the battle. "Eh? He left so fast?"