The moment Tōko met those strange, ominous eyes, her heart clenched violently.
In the next instant, the grip on her wrist loosened.
She instinctively stepped back, intending to put distance between herself and this unfathomable man,
But a searing pain suddenly ignited behind her eyes.
"Ah,!"
It felt as though flames were burning inside her skull.
Her kagura bell slipped from her grasp and fell to the ground with a dull clatter. She dropped to her knees, clutching her face as waves of agony tore through her vision.
"Relax. It's only temporary," Kagetsu said calmly, his tone almost casual. "A small gift. I hope you never have to use it."
Tōko could barely hear him. She gritted her teeth, fighting through the pain.
Gradually,slowly,the burning sensation receded.
When she finally forced herself upright, breathing unevenly, he was gone.
Only the kagura bell lay where she had dropped it, swaying slightly in the breeze, its silver chimes ringing softly.
If not for the faint lingering ache in her eyes, she might have believed it had all been a nightmare.
"I hope you survive."
Far down the forest path, Kagetsu murmured to himself.
He knew her fate.
Ambushed and killed by Naraku. Her corpse was resurrected and turned into a puppet,used to steal the Sacred Longbow of Mount Azusa and sent to kill Kagome.
So he had left her something.
Using the Mangekyō Sharingan's Transcription Seal, he had embedded two ocular techniques within her eyes. If Naraku followed the original course of events, then he would receive a surprise he would not soon forget.
With that matter settled, Kagetsu resumed his journey toward the area where the Shikon Jewel had shattered.
By midday, faint human voices drifted through the forest.
He looked up.
On the outskirts of a village ahead, a crowd had gathered.
At first glance, it resembled a typical conscription scene,something he had witnessed several times already. Certain short-sighted feudal lords frequently dragged villagers into makeshift armies.
Some had even attempted to conscript him.
They no longer had heads.
In this era, many "armies" were little more than armed mobs of a few hundred men,barely distinguishable from bandits.
But as he observed more closely, he realized this was different.
A squad of armored samurai stood in formation.
Before them, more than a dozen young girls stood bound together by rope, hands tied, faces pale with terror. The samurai were escorting them out of the village.
Kagetsu's eyes narrowed.
"Interesting."
In an ordinary world, this might be the whim of a depraved lord collecting concubines.
But in a world crawling with yōkai?
There was almost certainly something more.
Poof.
White smoke rose.
When it cleared, a ragged, wandering samurai stood in his place,clothes worn, posture rough, a captured blade hanging at his waist.
Resting a hand on the hilt, he swaggered toward the village entrance.
A few villagers remained behind, faces stricken with grief.
Relatives, no doubt.
"Hey."
He deliberately adopted a coarse tone, pointing his blade at a trembling villager crouched nearby.
"What are those men taking the girls for?"
The villager's face went pale. He immediately dropped to his knees.
"M-My lord… those are the castle's samurai. Recently… they've been taking young girls from throughout the domain."
The surrounding villagers hurriedly knelt as well. No one dared remain standing.
In this era, samurai stood above commoners. Some tested new blades on peasants for sport. Resistance meant death.
"And why?" Kagetsu pressed, lowering the blade until it nearly touched the man's shoulder.
"I… I don't know…" The villager's voice trembled, eyes reddening. "But none of the girls taken to the castle have ever returned alive."
An elderly villager leaned closer, whispering so softly it was almost swallowed by the wind.
"They say… the lord may be possessed by a demon."
"Possessed, huh?"
Kagetsu sheathed his sword slowly.
That confirmed it.
"Those girls are being taken to the lord's castle?"
After receiving a nod, he turned without another word and followed the direction the samurai had taken.
It didn't take long to find the castle.
It sat atop a mountain, its walls stretching between cliffs like a crouching beast. The structure exuded a heavy, oppressive presence.
From the treeline, he watched the bound girls escorted through the gates.
Then he slipped silently through the forest shadows and entered.
The moment he stepped within the castle grounds, he sensed it.
"There it is."
A murky, stagnant demonic aura pooled deep inside the keep.
Weak.
Very weak.
He frowned slightly.
Numerous soldiers and attendants moved throughout the compound. If he charged in openly, he would needlessly slaughter dozens of humans just to reach the source.
Troublesome.
Then a thought clicked into place.
A lord possessed by a toad demon.
Girls taken as sacrifices.
Yes.
This was that incident from the original story.
If so, Inuyasha and Kagome would likely appear here soon.
"Still," he muttered, "I'll handle the demon first. I can wait for the protagonists afterward."
He formed hand seals swiftly.
"Genjutsu: Temple of Nirvana Technique."
Phantom white feathers filled the sky.
They drifted gently downward, scattering into every corner of the castle.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Samurai on patrol collapsed where they stood. Guards at the gates slumped over. Servants dropped trays mid-step.
Within moments, the entire castle had fallen into unnatural silence.
Only the demon's aura remained active.
"Large-scale genjutsu really is convenient against ordinary people," Kagetsu remarked lightly.
He had deliberately excluded the demon from the illusion.
By now, it would have sensed something amiss.
As he approached the lord's chamber, the doors burst open.
A figure rushed out.
It wore ornate noble robes, thick bandages wrapping the exposed portions of its face and hands. But its grotesquely swollen head and unnaturally thick limbs betrayed the truth.
This was no human.
The bandages were laughable,an insult to deception.
"Who dares trespass in my castle?" croaked the Toad Demon, its voice raspy with rage.
"You're about to die," Kagetsu replied flatly. "Why bother asking?"
"Die?!"
With a wet, revolting sound, a long, slimy tongue shot from the demon's mouth, tearing through the air toward his chest like a spear.
The stench hit first.
Then the attack.