"Kagetsu… what happened to him?"
Kikyo frowned slightly as she looked at the Saint Hakushin, whose expression had suddenly gone blank.
Inuyasha and the others also turned toward Kagetsu, curiosity written all over their faces.
"He's caught in my Sharingan genjutsu," Kagetsu said calmly. "Not an ordinary one,this is Tsukuyomi, a Mangekyō technique. His consciousness is completely trapped inside an illusion I created."
"Genjutsu…" Kikyo murmured, studying the unmoving figure. "What did you show him?"
"I recreated the moment before his death," Kagetsu replied. "I made him relive that choice,so he can face what's truly in his heart. What he regrets. What he's grieving for."
Kagome blinked. "Will that really help him attain peace?"
"It should," Kagetsu said with a faint smile. "And if it doesn't… I've got a backup."
"A backup?" Kagome leaned forward immediately, eyes sparkling. "What is it?"
The others looked just as curious.
A strange smile tugged at Kagetsu's lips.
"If his attachment is too deep to resolve mentally…" he said lightly, "then we use physical transcendence."
"…What?"
"Kill him," Kagetsu said bluntly. "Forcefully free his soul."
"…"
The air went dead silent.
Kagome's expectant expression froze completely.
Kikyo sighed and lightly punched his arm. "That's not a backup. That's brute force."
Fortunately, it never came to that.
Not long after, the Saint Hakushin stirred.
The haze in his eyes faded. Though sorrow still lingered, his gaze was now clear,steady.
"It seems… you made the same choice again," Kagetsu said.
"Yes."
The Saint Hakushin nodded slowly.
"Even knowing how it would end… I still chose to be buried alive. To become a living Buddha."
His voice was calm,free of hesitation.
"I knew I was not a true saint. I knew I would suffer. And yet… I chose that path."
A soft, pure light began to radiate from his body.
Kagetsu's eyes flickered slightly. He's resolved it.
"I see," he said quietly.
The Saint Hakushin lowered his gaze.
"I do not regret becoming a living Buddha," he said. "What I could not accept… was my own weakness."
His voice softened.
"I feared death. I clung to life. And I hated myself for it."
He looked at Kikyo.
"But I understand now… that is not something to be ashamed of."
Kikyo met his gaze silently.
"People lose their way," he continued. "That is why they seek something higher."
A faint, peaceful smile appeared on his face.
"I was too stubborn to accept that… until now."
The light around him grew brighter.
"My soul… is finally free."
His body dissolved into countless motes of gentle light.
The glowing fragments rose into the sky, drifting upward before fading away completely.
At the same time, the mummified body crumbled,transforming into a surge of pure spiritual energy that spread outward, engulfing the ruined Mount Hakurei.
A soft, cleansing force swept across the land.
The lingering miasma and evil energy left behind by Naraku were completely erased.
"That old monk wasn't bad," Inuyasha said, scratching his head. "At least he cleaned everything up before going."
Kagome, who had been quietly praying, opened one eye and looked at him flatly.
"…Sit."
"Boom!"
The beads around Inuyasha's neck flared, and he slammed face-first into the ground.
"Kagome! What was that for?!"
Kagetsu glanced at the setting sun.
"It's done," he said. "Let's go."
At the Bone-Eater's Well
"Kagetsu, you said you had something to tell me,what is it?"
Kagome sat on the grass beside the Bone-Eater's Well, tilting her head curiously.
Nearby, Kikyo and Inuyasha also looked over.
They had already returned to Kaede's village.
Since Kagome hadn't gone back to her own time in a while, she had prepared to leave through the well,but Kagetsu had stopped her.
Now, only the four of them remained.
Miroku and Sango were elsewhere.
"Take this," Kagetsu said, pulling out a talisman and handing it to her.
"When you get home… break it."
Kagome examined it.
The surface was covered in intricate black inscriptions, converging into a circular core marked with a single character.
"What is this?"
"A summoning talisman," Kikyo said, recognizing it immediately.
Kagetsu nodded.
"If you break it, it'll activate and summon me to your location."
"…To my time?" Kagome's eyes widened. "Five hundred years in the future?"
"I want to test something," he said simply.
Then his tone shifted.
"Kagome… do you really believe your world is just five hundred years ahead of this one?"
She blinked.
"What do you mean?"
Kagetsu met her gaze.
"In your world… have you ever seen Inuyasha?"
"Of course I,"
"I don't mean the one who travels through the well," he cut in. "I mean one who naturally exists in your time."
Kagome froze.
"…No."
"Think about it," Kagetsu continued calmly. "He's a half-demon. His lifespan far exceeds a human's."
He glanced sideways.
"How old are you, anyway?"
Inuyasha scratched his cheek.
"…Not sure. Around two hundred?"
Silence.
Kagome's pupils shrank.
"T-two hundred?!"
Her entire worldview tilted.
If Inuyasha could live that long…
Then why,
Why had she never seen him in her world?