"Susanoo: Yasaka no Magatama."
Kasage's low voice cut through the flames as the spinning chakra magatama in Susanoo's palm shot forward.
Boom.
With a piercing shriek, it struck Ginkotsu square in the chest.
His steel-modified body was blasted away like a projectile, tearing through the forest. Massive trees snapped apart along his path before he slammed into a distant cliff.
The impact detonated in a violent explosion, fragments scattering everywhere.
Kasage didn't even look back.
He turned sharply.
Susanoo moved with him, its arm lifting as the chakra longsword dissolved into a streak of pale-blue light.
It shot forward.
Rip.
The blade pierced through a thick tree trunk in the distance.
The trunk split apart—
revealing Renkotsu frozen in shock behind it.
He had been trying to circle around, aiming straight for Kikyo and the others.
The blade pierced cleanly through his chest, pinning him to the ground as blood soaked into the soil beneath him.
"…Damn it…"
Blood filled Renkotsu's mouth as he glared toward Kikyo, Kagome, and the others, frustration burning in his eyes.
"I was… so close…"
A sacred arrow cut through the air.
It struck the Shikon Jewel shard embedded in his throat.
Renkotsu's voice stopped instantly.
His body crumbled into dry bones.
Kikyo lowered her bow, her expression calm.
"Even without Kasage… did you really think you could ambush us with a Shikon shard inside you?"
Her gaze rested briefly on the remains.
"By the way… you were the fifth."
Kasage shifted his attention forward.
Bankotsu had not fled.
Instead, he walked steadily toward the center of the battlefield, Banryū resting on his shoulder, his eyes unwavering.
Kasage let Susanoo fade.
The pale-blue chakra dissolved into the air as he stood waiting.
"It looks like it's just the two of us left, Big Brother."
Jakotsu forced Inuyasha back with a sharp swing of his chain blade, then leapt beside Bankotsu, standing back-to-back with him.
The playfulness from before was gone.
Only resolve remained.
"…Yeah."
Bankotsu glanced at Banryū, his voice low.
"It's a shame. I never got to cut down a thousand yokai with this blade."
Jakotsu smiled faintly.
"That is a shame… but I think it's fine. I've already died once. Coming back and meeting cute Inuyasha again? That's more than enough."
"…You really are something."
Bankotsu let out a short laugh, then fixed his gaze on Kasage.
"Tell me your name."
His tone sharpened.
"So I can remember who killed me."
A brief pause.
Then he shook his head.
"Forget it. Doesn't matter. Once you're dead, that's the end. No underworld. No afterlife."
Kasage's eyes remained cold.
"Then I won't tell you."
He meant it.
No interest. No respect.
To him, Bankotsu was nothing more than a killer who enjoyed slaughter.
"Even if I don't believe in the afterlife…" Bankotsu's expression darkened, "hearing that still pisses me off."
He raised Banryū and pointed it forward.
"I am Bankotsu! Leader of the Band of Seven!"
His aura surged.
"Don't look down on me!"
He launched forward.
Banryū howled through the air as he brought it down with everything he had.
Kasage didn't move.
He simply raised his arm.
A skeletal Susanoo arm formed instantly, catching the massive blade.
Clang.
The collision roared.
Sparks burst outward.
Bankotsu's full-force strike stopped dead.
The recoil numbed his arms.
The ground beneath Kasage cracked and sank.
"…You—"
Before Bankotsu could react—
Kasage's fist struck.
It slammed into his abdomen, chakra surging through his body.
The force exploded out his back, tearing through his clothes as blood sprayed into the air.
Bankotsu's body bent violently.
He coughed up blood and collapsed, his grip on Banryū loosening.
Kasage took the weapon.
One clean swing.
A flash of cold light.
Bankotsu's head separated cleanly from his body.
Before it hit the ground, it had already turned to bone.
"The sixth one."
Kasage caught the Shikon shard without expression.
At the same moment—
"Wind Scar!"
Inuyasha's voice thundered across the battlefield.
Kasage turned.
Jakotsu was struck head-on by the golden arc of Tessaiga's attack, his body thrown violently across the ground.
"…It's over."
Inuyasha sheathed his sword, exhaling deeply as tension left his body.
Then—
a faint cough.
"…Cough… cough…"
Inuyasha froze.
"…He's still alive?"
Kasage raised an eyebrow slightly.
Interesting.
In the original outcome, Jakotsu had survived this attack.
And now—
the same result.
He walked forward and looked down at Jakotsu, confirming it.
Then he glanced at Inuyasha.
"…You held back?"
A pause.
Then, deliberately louder—
"Inuyasha… are you planning to abandon Kagome?"
Kagome, who had just started walking toward him, froze.
Her expression stiffened.
Shippō in her arms blinked in confusion.
Sango and Miroku exchanged looks, barely hiding their amusement.
Even Kikyo's gaze shifted slightly.
"W-what are you talking about?!" Inuyasha's face turned bright red instantly.
"I would never abandon Kagome!"
Kasage tilted his head slightly.
"Oh?"
A faint hint of mockery slipped into his voice.
"So you want both?"
He paused just long enough to let it sink in.
"…Didn't expect that from you."