Chapter 897: Desperate Measures, Resurrection of the Dead! Imprint Your Mark
"She's a demon."
Kikyo's voice was cold, her stance unyielding. From the moment Lingyue Fairy had stepped into their vicinity, the Miko had locked onto her. The polished wood of Kikyo's longbow groaned softly under tension, the nocked arrow aimed dead center at the silver-haired demoness's chest. To Kikyo, demons were inherently dangerous creatures, driven by insatiable greed.
Lingyue Fairy halted, her delicate brows knitting together as she scrutinized the woman threatening her. Her crimson eyes narrowed, catching the pure, overwhelming spiritual pressure radiating from the Miko. Her expression shifted, a flicker of deep realization crossing her elegant features.
"Such an untainted soul... a Miko," Lingyue Fairy murmured, her voice carrying a melodic yet ancient cadence. "You are the Miko who guards the legendary Shikon Jewel!"
The tales of the sacred jewel and its formidable guardian had long echoed through the demonic realms. Suddenly, a thought struck the demoness. Her chest rose and fell in quick, shallow breaths, a sudden intensity flaring in her gaze.
Kikyo's eyes hardened. "Indeed. A demon is a demon."
Sensing the abrupt shift in the silver-haired woman's aura—the unmistakable spark of covetous hunger—Kikyo felt a familiar wave of disappointment wash over her. Her fingers slipped slightly on the bowstring, preparing to let loose the purifying arrow.
But before the string could snap forward, Kikyo paused. She watched as Lingyue Fairy closed her eyes, taking a slow, deep breath. The erratic rise and fall of her chest leveled out. When those crimson eyes opened again, the predatory greed had vanished, replaced by a quiet, dignified sorrow.
"I apologize," Lingyue Fairy said, bowing her head slightly in a gesture of genuine contrition. "For a fleeting moment, I harbored a greedy thought toward you."
Kikyo blinked, the tension in her shoulders faltering. She admitted it? Just like that? The Miko's mind spun with confusion. In all her years of slaughtering monsters, she had never encountered a demon so utterly transparent and self-aware.
"Was it because of the Shikon Jewel?" Kikyo asked, her tone softening just enough to allow for conversation.
Lingyue Fairy lowered her gaze to the bloodstained earth. Her jaw tightened, teeth grinding together as a shadow fell over her face. "My family... my entire clan... they were all slaughtered by that black dog demon." Her voice trembled with suppressed grief. "When I realized who you were, the thought crossed my mind to seize the Shikon Jewel and use its power to bring them back."
Kikyo kept her bow raised, though her aim lowered a fraction. "You could have tried."
Silence stretched between them, heavy with the scent of ozone and lingering death. Lingyue Fairy offered a bitter, self-deprecating smile and gently shook her head.
"I cannot do such a thing."
"You did not merely save my life; you eradicated the beast that destroyed my home, indirectly avenging my fallen kin. You are my benefactors." The innate pride of a high-ranking dog demon would never permit her to bite the hand that had just shielded her. "also," she added, her tone turning pragmatic, "I do not harbor the delusion that I could harm you, let alone snatch the Shikon Jewel from his hands."
She turned her gaze toward Ren, who stood casually a few paces away. It only took one glance. Her demonic instincts screamed in absolute terror and awe. The chasm in power between her and the laid-back young man was a vast, uncrossable abyss. To raise a claw against him would be nothing short of elaborate suicide.
"You are certainly a unique one," Kikyo murmured, finally lowering her bow, the spiritual energy dissipating from the arrow. "But you are mistaken about one thing."
In a blur of motion, the Miko raised her weapon again. The string pulled taut, spiritual power flaring like a miniature sun, and she released it.
Twang!
Lingyue Fairy froze. A blinding streak of pure, destructive light flashed mere inches from her face, the resulting shockwave tearing through her silver hair and whipping violently past her ear. A deafening boom echoed across the landscape a heartbeat later.
The demoness snapped her head around, her crimson pupils shrinking to pinpricks. A thousand meters away, an entire mountain peak was currently disintegrating, reduced to a shower of rubble and dust by the sheer force of the Miko's casual shot.
"Even if Ren wasn't here," Kikyo stated, her voice cool and even, "you would not be able to take anything from me."
Lingyue Fairy swallowed hard, realizing just how severely she had underestimated the human priestess. The sheer destructive output Kikyo possessed was entirely beyond the world of common sense. But before the demoness could fully process the obliterated mountain, Kikyo delivered another baffling piece of information.
"And even if you somehow managed to defeat me, you still wouldn't obtain the Shikon Jewel."
Lingyue Fairy stared blankly. "Why?"
"Because I already destroyed it."
It was Ren who answered, his voice lazy and amused as he finally joined the conversation.
"The Shikon Jewel... can be destroyed?" Lingyue Fairy whispered. It wasn't that she thought he was lying; it was simply too absurd to comprehend. In the collective consciousness of all demonkind, the Shikon Jewel was an indestructible, all-powerful artifact of ultimate desire.
"Why wouldn't it be?" Ren asked, his expression completely unreadable. He casually raised a hand. "Whether it's creating one or destroying one, it's just a shiny marble, isn't it?"
He flipped his palm upward. A pulse of energy rippled through the air, and a brand-new Shikon Jewel materialized out of thin air, hovering and shimmering with a captivating, iridescent glow above his fingers.
Even without ever having laid eyes on the legendary artifact before, Lingyue Fairy's gaze was magnetically locked onto the sphere. The moment it appeared, a suffocatingly dense wave of spiritual power washed over the clearing. Its allure was intoxicating, clawing at her demonic instincts, urging her to lunge forward and claim it.
Then, Ren closed his fist.
Crack.
He squeezed gently, and the all-powerful Shikon Jewel shattered into a cloud of glittering dust, slipping through his fingers to be carried away by the wind.
Lingyue Fairy stared at the dissipating sparkles, her mind short-circuiting. "Was that... a real Shikon Jewel?" she asked, her voice hollow.
Ren smirked, dusting off his hands. "What do you think?"
She already knew the answer. The immense, suffocating spiritual aura and the terrifyingly potent temptation it had radiated could not possibly be faked. A wave of vertigo washed over her. The ultimate treasure, the miraculous artifact that countless demons had bled, schemed, and died for over generations... was nothing more than a plaything to this man. He could forge it from nothing and crush it into nothingness on a whim.
Had she heard this in a tavern, she would have laughed the storyteller out of the room. Yet, the impossible truth had just played out right in front of her. It cemented a terrifying reality: the laid-back youth standing before her was a being of unfathomable, god-like authority.
Thud.
Without a moment's hesitation, the proud, aristocratic demoness dropped to one knee, bowing her head deeply before Ren.
"Esteemed sir," Lingyue Fairy pleaded, her voice thick with desperation and reverence. "This humble one begs of you... please resurrect my fallen clansmen. I am willing to offer absolutely everything I have, everything I am, in exchange!"
Just then, the soft rustle of silk announced another arrival. Izayoi stepped into the clearing, her delicate human features pale but resolute. The human princess only knew the bare minimum: the silver-haired woman kneeling in the dirt was a demon, and the trio before her were the saviors who had slain the monstrous black dog demon that ravaged her home. The finer details of Shikon Jewels and god-like powers were lost on her.
But hearing Lingyue Fairy's desperate plea struck a chord deep within Izayoi's soul. As if throwing herself at a final, miraculous lifeline, the princess collapsed to both knees beside the demoness, her luxurious robes pooling in the dirt.
"Benefactor!" Izayoi cried out, tears spilling over her lashes. "Izayoi implores you as well! Please, save the citizens of my city who were devoured by that beast! I, too, am willing to surrender everything to you!"
Ren sighed, rubbing his temples with a mixture of amusement and exasperation. 'I haven't even made a demand yet, and they're already throwing themselves at me for free?'
Izayoi. In the original timeline of this world, this gentle human princess was destined to become the mother of the half-demon, Inuyasha.
And Lingyue Fairy. The proud, aristocratic demoness kneeling beside her was meant to be the mother of the lethal Lord Sesshomaru.
But the timeline had been violently derailed. The unexpected mutation and rise of the monster known as Black Devouring Fang had led to a massacre. The entire dog demon clan had been wiped out and devoured—including the Great Dog Demon General himself, Toga, the Inu no Taisho, who was supposed to father both Inuyasha and Sesshomaru. With Toga digested, the futures of those two iconic brothers had been permanently erased before they were even conceived.
The butterfly effect of this world's anomaly had initially surprised Ren. However, being the pragmatic opportunist he was, he quickly realized the immense upside to this tragedy.
For example, his current situation.
The scent of incense and blooming cherry blossoms filled Izayoi's private boudoir. Tangled in the luxurious silk sheets and immersed in the soft, stacked layers of absolute tenderness, Ren felt exceptionally comfortable. He shifted his weight, currently enjoying a rather vigorous, intimate ride on the 'Lingyue Fairy-brand bicycle', his hands gripping the demoness's slender waist as she moved above him.
Pausing his rhythm on a whim, Ren looked down at the human princess nestled against his side, then up at the silver-haired demoness straddling him. "Do you two not regret this?" he asked, a lazy smirk playing on his lips.
Both women gasped softly, their breathing hitching at his sudden question. Izayoi and Lingyue Fairy exchanged a fleeting glance. Their skin was flushed a deep, rosy pink, glistening with a fine sheen of sweat, neither able to hide the heavy, intoxicating shyness swimming in their eyes.
They had promised him everything, and they had delivered without a shred of hesitation.
In return, Ren had kept his end of the bargain. With a literal wave of his hand, he had pulled the souls of the slaughtered dog demon clan and the devoured city inhabitants back from the underworld, knitting their flesh back together as if turning back time itself.
Originally, both women had made their desperate pleas treating a dead horse as if it were alive—clinging to a fool's hope. Neither had ever dared to dream that mass resurrection could be executed with such terrifying, casual simplicity. Ren had even been generous enough to pause his 'collection' of his reward, giving them ample time to go out and verify the miracle for themselves.
The results had been staggering. Every single resurrected individual vividly remembered the agonizing darkness of being crushed and swallowed by Black Devouring Fang. When they learned that the laid-back young man accompanying the princess and the demoness had ripped them from the jaws of death, they instantly dropped to their knees, revering him as a living god.
Izayoi's father, the human lord, had wept openly. He immediately decreed the construction of a grand, divine statue in the center of the city, mandating that Ren be worshipped for all generations to come. When the lord learned that this miracle was granted in exchange for his daughter's devotion, he was overwhelmed with a mixture of deep gratitude and immense relief. Without needing to be told twice, he ordered the entire palace staff to evacuate the inner courtyards, ensuring absolute, undisturbed privacy for their savior's 'reward'.
Thus, within the secluded, fragrant confines of Izayoi's boudoir, the boundaries between human royalty and demonic nobility melted away under Ren's touch. He claimed them both completely, guiding them through the peaks of pleasure until they were entirely his. As their soft cries echoed against the wooden panels, Ren left his indelible mark upon their souls and bodies—a brand of absolute ownership, ensuring that the beautiful human princess and the regal demoness would forever belong to him alone.
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