Moonlight was obscured by thick clouds. Kaede Village fell into absolute darkness.
The spiritual glow within the barrier was the only light source, faintly enveloping the sleeping village.
Kikyō was not asleep.
She sat on the shrine's veranda, her longbow across her lap. Her white top billowed slightly in the night wind, clinging to the curves of her shoulders, back, and chest.
Her red hakama wrapped around her closed legs; in her seated posture, the fabric traced the full curve of her hips, pressing a shallow indent into the wooden floor.
Her long black hair scattered behind her, the tips spreading across the boards.
Her dark eyes, slightly narrowed, stared northward.
Something was approaching.
The barrier's warning layer had already been triggered.
By many somethings.
From the north, east, and west, three directions simultaneously.
Demonic aura?
No.
Not demonic aura.
Kikyō's brow furrowed.
She could clearly distinguish demonic aura from other presences. A demon's aura was turbid and heavy, carrying the base filth of the earth.
But the things approaching...
Their presences carried traces of humans.
Faint human life signals, twisted and overwritten.
Demons.
Kikyō's pupils lifted.
She remembered the existence she had encountered outside the demon slayer village last time.
The immortal demons spawned from the blood of the so-called Demon Progenitor, Muzan Kibutsuji, infecting humans, as Shinji had described.
Neither demons nor monsters, not belonging to any classification system she knew.
Their only weakness was sunlight.
Last time, she hadn't been able to finish off that demon in one shot.
Because she didn't understand.
Because it was her first encounter.
But now things were different.
After that battle, Kikyō had spent a great deal of time considering that demon's characteristics, nearly unlimited regenerative ability, the ability to reorganize even after being shattered by spiritual power, ordinary purifying arrows causing only temporary suppression.
The conclusion was simple.
Not that her spiritual power was insufficient.
But that the method of application was wrong.
The spiritual power in a purifying arrow was meant for purification, its strongest damage was its purifying effect on demonic aura, on filth.
But these demons were not yōkai. What drove them was not demonic aura.
They were human. Twisted, distorted humans.
So what was needed was not more destruction.
But containment.
While destroying, using spiritual power to seal the source of the distortion.
Kikyō stood.
Her longbow was in her hand. Three arrows were held between her fingers.
She descended the shrine's steps, her white socks on the cold stone slabs.
At the edge of the barrier, the first demon crawled out.
It seemed this demon had once been an ordinary man, middle-aged, wearing tattered peasant clothes.
But now its face had twisted beyond recognition. Its mouth had split to its ears, revealing rows of sharp teeth. Its eyes were bloodshot, its fingernails extended into claws.
The characteristics of a demon.
Undoubtedly, another product of Muzan Kibutsuji's creation.
Last time, there had been only one.
This time,
A second climbed over the low wall from the east.
A third burst from the western forest.
A fourth, a fifth.
Seven in total.
Kikyō did not hesitate.
She drew her bowstring tight.
Three arrows flew at once.
White spiritual power condensed at the arrowheads, not the explosive purifying arrows of before, but arrows imbued with different techniques, not meant for purification.
The spiritual power at the arrowheads spiraled. The inner layer was purification, the outer layer was sealing.
First seal, then break.
All three arrows simultaneously struck the heads of three demons.
White light exploded.
Unlike last time, the spiritual power did not immediately dissipate after the explosion.
The white light formed a thin 'film' on the demons' bodies, enveloping the shattered tissue.
The demons' regeneration activated.
Torn flesh writhed, trying to reorganize.
But the spiritual sealing film locked them firmly in place.
Each piece of flesh was separately sealed within its own spiritual cocoon, unable to reconnect with other parts.
Then destruction.
The inner layer of spiritual power began to take effect. Not for purification, but for direct explosion.
Isolated by the seal, the demons' regenerative ability could not resist the spiritual power trapped in the same space.
Those pieces of flesh turned to ash in the white light.
Three demons, from arrow impact to complete annihilation, took no more than an instant.
Kikyō's hands did not stop.
Fourth arrow, fifth arrow.
Her movements were so fluid they were nearly perfect, without any hesitation.
String drawn, arrow released, hit, seal, purify.
All in one go.
In less than three breaths, all seven demons were eliminated.
When the battle ended, only seven piles of dissipating ash remained on the open ground.
And the faint, clean scent of spiritual purification lingering in the air.
Kikyō lowered her bow.
Her breathing hadn't even quickened.
Seven low-tier demons, to her now, not even a warm-up.
But her brow furrowed even more tightly.
According to what Shinji had said last time, these demons were generally solitary. They wouldn't appear here in a group for no reason.
What had attracted them?
Kikyō looked up, her dark eyes scanning the surrounding darkness.
The barrier's warning layer had not triggered again.
Temporarily safe.
But her intuition told her this wasn't over.
"Sister!" Kaede ran out of the shrine, her twin ponytails bouncing, wearing her pajamas, her face still groggy from being woken up.
"It's alright." Kikyō turned, shielding her sister behind her. "Go back to sleep."
"But those things just now—"
"They've been dealt with."
Kaede looked at the dissipating ashes on the ground, pursed her lips, and obediently ran back into the shrine.
Kikyō stood alone on the open ground.
The night wind blew, scattering her long hair behind her, framing her delicate, clear features.
Her pale cherry lips pressed together slightly.
She knew someone was watching from the shadows.
But she didn't go looking.
Because...
"Shrine maiden, Kikyō?"
Two figures rushed up from the southern mountain path.
Fast.
The one in front was about fourteen or fifteen, wearing a white and red shrine maiden's outfit, her long black hair tied in a ponytail. Her features were delicate, her expression innocent, but at this moment, her eyes were full of anger.
Momiji.
Behind her came a smaller girl, twelve or thirteen, round-faced, large-eyed, in the same shrine maiden attire, clutching a few talismans, running out of breath.
Botan.
Tsubaki's two junior sisters.
Disciples of the Tahōtō.
Kikyō's gaze paused. She seemed to understand something.
The Tahōtō's existence had once been closely tied to the Shikon Jewel. The former master of the Tahōtō had been an old acquaintance of the demon slayer village chief. As the one long ago designated as the Shikon Jewel's guardian, she naturally knew this.
She actually recognized Momiji and Botan as well, though they had been young at the time and probably didn't remember her.
Their duty was only to guard the Tahōtō; they knew little about the Shikon Jewel.
And now,
They had come.
What they saw was Kikyō standing alone in the midst of seven piles of ash.
In those ashes lingered traces of human aura.
Faint, distorted but undeniably present remnants of human life.
Momiji's steps halted abruptly.
Her face hardened.
"You…" Her voice was full of shock. "What did you do to them?"
Botan also stopped. Her large eyes widened, disbelief on her face.
"Senior sister was telling the truth…" Her voice was smaller, but carried deeper confusion.
"You really are helping demons… killing people…?"
Kikyō looked at these two young shrine maidens.
In that single instant, she understood.
Tsubaki.
It was Tsubaki.
Demon blood attracted demons. Demons attacked the village. She killed them and these two young shrine maidens, unaware of the truth, had arrived at precisely this moment.
They couldn't sense demonic aura, because the demons had none.
They could only sense those lingering traces of human life.
To them, it looked like a shrine maiden had killed seven people in the dead of night and was now standing nonchalantly among their ashes.
Tsubaki's words echoed in their minds...
Kikyō's lips moved, but she saw the anger in Momiji's eyes and the fear in Botan's. She recognized that look. It was not something a few words could change.
Because they had already 'confirmed' everything they had heard from their senior sister.
Preconceived prejudice, compounded by the 'evidence' they had witnessed with their own eyes.
Explanation would be useless.
"…"
Kikyō did not speak. She simply tightened her grip on her longbow. A very faint coldness passed through her dark eyes.
Further down the southern mountain path,
In the shadows of the trees, Tsubaki stood. Looking over her junior sisters' shoulders, she watched Kikyō.
She smiled.
A silent, triumphant smile.
Step one.
Success.
But Tsubaki's triumph lasted only a second.
Because the next second… Kikyō suddenly drew her bow and loosed an arrow....
Directly at her!
Explanation was useless.
Still, a shrine maiden never needed to explain. She only needed to exorcise.
In Shinji's words, the demons in one's heart are still demons.
And must be exorcised.
Tsubaki: "!?"