"I hope Saint Hakushin is still alive."
Kagetsu gazed at the collapsing upper half of Mount Hakurei and the flickering Barrier, his tone utterly devoid of sincerity.
The moment his words fell,
A swarm of demons burst out from the shattered mountain.
But before they could flee far, they were instantly reduced to ash by the overwhelming purification radiating from the mountain.
"I didn't expect so many of them to still be alive."
Kagetsu raised a brow, genuinely surprised.
That strike should have devastated everything inside. The mountain had already been hollowed out,his slash should have caused a chain collapse from within.
And yet… so many survived.
"This is…!"
Kikyo's eyes widened slightly.
An endless tide of miasma poured out from the mountain's interior. Though the Barrier's purification burned through it constantly, the flow didn't stop,it surged outward like a flood, steadily draining the Barrier's power.
But what unsettled her even more,
Was what lay beneath.
As the false rock surface dissolved under the surge of evil energy, something grotesque was revealed.
Flesh.
Writhing, pulsating flesh.
The entire interior of Mount Hakurei had been devoured from within. The stone walls were coated in living tissue, squirming and leaking miasma wherever the Barrier's power tore into it.
"The Barrier… it's about to collapse!"
Almost as soon as Kikyo spoke,
The Barrier flickered violently.
Then,
It shattered.
The last trace of spiritual light burst outward before vanishing completely.
For a brief moment, the miasma receded,
Then surged back with terrifying force.
Dark purple poison clouds swallowed the entire mountain range, transforming what had once been sacred ground into a domain of pure evil.
"Found you, Naraku."
A cold gleam flashed through Kagetsu's Mangekyō Sharingan.
Within his Complete Body Susanoo, the massive chakra blade ignited,
Pitch-black flames erupted along its edge.
"Amaterasu."
With a single motion,
The blazing tachi shot forward like a bolt of divine judgment.
BOOM!!
It slammed into the mountain with thunderous force.
The earth split apart as flames erupted skyward. Everything in its path ignited, devoured instantly by the inextinguishable black fire.
"Let's go," Kagetsu said softly, pulling Kikyo into his arms.
The Susanoo vanished.
In the next instant,
Flying Thunder God.
Space twisted,
And they reappeared atop the hilt of the embedded blade.
Kikyo steadied herself, then looked down.
Her breath caught.
Pinned beneath the burning weapon was a grotesque figure.
Its body had been cleaved clean in two, the impact tearing its flesh apart into a mangled ruin.
Yet even so,
That overwhelming, sinister aura was unmistakable.
It was Naraku.
"AAAHHH,!"
Naraku's shrill scream tore through the air as Amaterasu consumed his body.
Thick miasma surged outward, trying to smother the flames,
But it only made things worse.
Even the miasma ignited.
Naraku reacted instantly.
He dispersed the burning energy, his body breaking apart into countless fragments. The sections engulfed in black flames were forcibly shed, discarded without hesitation.
The remaining mass twisted,
Reformed,
Rebuilt.
"Tch."
Kagetsu clicked his tongue.
Not surprised.
For someone like Naraku, who could reconstruct his body at will, Amaterasu alone wasn't enough to finish him.
In moments, Naraku had fully regenerated.
A spherical barrier formed around him, sealing him inside like a cocoon.
He rose into the air, leveling himself with Kagetsu and Kikyo.
Hatred burned in his gaze,but so did confidence.
"Kikyo… Kagetsu. It's been a while."
"Yeah," Kagetsu replied casually, smiling faintly. "Nice makeover."
That relaxed tone,like they were old acquaintances chatting,
Only made the tension worse.
To Naraku, it felt like blatant mockery.
And he wasn't wrong.
He had abandoned his human disguise entirely.
His face still resembled Hitomi Kagewaki,
But everything else had changed.
His upper body was armored in jagged, chitinous plating. Pale bone-like structures wrapped around his chest and shoulders, protruding into vicious spikes.
Three dragon-like tails writhed behind him.
Each hand bore a single crimson eye on its back.
And at the center of his abdomen,
A massive red eye pulsed within his bone armor.
A true demon.
"This… is my perfected body," Naraku said coldly, clenching his fist. "You may have destroyed Mount Hakurei,but you failed to stop me. I have already obtained far greater power."
Kagetsu looked down at him with open disdain.
"No matter how strong a rat gets, it's still a rat."
His gaze flicked to the barrier.
"Oh, wait. My mistake."
A smirk formed.
"You're more like a turtle hiding in its shell."
",You!"
Naraku's eyes flared with fury. Miasma surged violently around him as killing intent spiked,
But he held himself back.
Instead, he turned to Kikyo.
A strange smile curled at his lips.
"Kikyo… didn't expect to find me here, did you?"
He didn't wait for her answer.
"This is fate. The pull of karma… the red thread that binds us,"
"Enough."
Kikyo cut him off coldly.
Her gaze was sharp as ice.
"Drop the act."
She stepped forward slightly, her voice steady.
"This was never fate. It was a trap you carefully arranged to lure me here."
Her eyes hardened.
"Rakushakikansuke was nothing more than a pawn to you,used and discarded without ever realizing it."
Naraku froze for a moment.
Then smiled.
"…You saw through it. Impressive, Kikyo."
"Don't flatter yourself."
Her tone was frigid.
"You're just manipulating people's hearts,trying to dress it up as destiny."
For a brief moment, her eyes flickered.
If not for Kagetsu's warning,
She might have believed it.
Might have mistaken this for something inevitable.
But now,
All she felt was disgust.
From the moment she sensed Naraku's trail, she had understood.
Everything,
Every step,
Had been part of his design.
And the thought that she had nearly been deceived…
Only made her anger burn deeper.