"Woman! Die!" Upon seeing her, the monster immediately became frenzied. It suddenly changed direction, raising its sharp claws to swipe at Kikyo, the claw tips carrying a fierce gust of demonic wind.
"Rise!" Kikyo's spiritual power surged abruptly as she uttered a low chant.
The next second, a pristine white magic circle suddenly lit up on the ground beneath the monster, its dazzling light enveloping its entire body.
"Ah—!" The moment it was enveloped by the magic circle, holy flames suddenly ignited on the monster's body, burning it and causing it to let out a piercing shriek.
It wanted to struggle and escape, but to its horror, it found its body firmly fixed in place by the magic circle, maintaining its claw-raising posture, unable to move a muscle.
"A shrine maiden... damn it! When?!" Completely immobilized and burning in flames, the monster could only roll its eyes to look at Kikyo, its voice hoarse as it struggled to ask.
Kikyo paid it no mind. She raised her hand, gathering a pure stream of spiritual power, and lightly flicked it onto the monster, saying, "Come out."
The moment the spiritual power landed on the monster, a faint, illusory female figure suddenly separated from within its body, drifting down lightly to land by the monster's feet.
It was precisely the princess the monster had been impersonating earlier.
"Damn it! Give the princess back to me!!" Seeing that figure, the monster went completely berserk, struggling to try and suck the princess back into its body. But Kikyo's magic circle firmly restrained it, preventing it from moving even a finger.
Seeing this, Retsu walked over, bent down, picked up the princess from the ground, and placed her beside Kikyo. Raising an eyebrow, he asked, "You went through all this trouble, hiding your presence, just to save this woman?"
"Yes." Kikyo nodded, her gaze falling on the princess's soul as she explained, "This monster seized the princess's remains and soul, taking on her appearance to specifically deceive men who entered the mountains."
She turned to look at Retsu, her tone calm as she said, "Alright, go ahead and kill it.
The men it lured here probably aren't dead yet; they've just had their life force absorbed to enhance its Demonic Power.
Kill it, and the absorbed life force will return to those men's bodies."
"Good!" Retsu had long been fed up with this monster. Hearing Kikyo's words, he immediately formed hand seals with both hands.
"Wind Release: Wind Cutter Technique!"
A condensed, blade-like wind blade instantly appeared before him. With a piercing sound of cutting air, it flashed past the monster's neck.
The ferocious expression on the monster's face instantly froze. Immediately after, a thin red line appeared on its neck.
The next second, its huge head slid off its neck, blood spurting out.
But before the head and blood could hit the ground, they were completely incinerated to ashes by the flames within the magic circle.
As the monster's body turned to ashes, the surrounding mansion also began to rapidly crumble and disappear. The white mist shrouding the mountain forest gradually dispersed.
With Retsu's visual acuity, he could clearly see a group of unconscious men lying on the open ground not far away—precisely the missing villagers.
He turned to look at Kikyo, only to see her crouching on the ground, gently holding the princess, softly comforting her about something.
Retsu did not approach to disturb them. He knew this princess had long since died; what remained now was only her soul.
Kikyo was using her spiritual power to perform last rites for her, helping her let go of her attachments and pass on peacefully.
Sure enough, before long, the princess's translucent figure, enveloped in Kikyo's spiritual power, gradually grew faint. Finally, it transformed into a soft orb of soul light, slowly ascending into the sky and disappearing into the heavens.
"That princess died alone, her heart full of loneliness, clinging to attachments to the mortal world, unable to pass on peacefully."
Kikyo stood up, walked over to Retsu, and explained, "Later, she was taken by that monster just now, which seized her remains and soul, using them to impersonate the princess and lure young men into the mountains, absorbing their life force to enhance its own Demonic Power."
After saying this, she turned to look at Retsu, a hint of teasing in her eyes as she added with a smile: "It seems this time, not only was there no beast-eared girl you were hoping for, but even that beautiful princess was long gone from this world."
Hearing her teasing, a smile curled at the corner of Retsu's mouth. He stared at her with a burning gaze: "It's fine. Having a beautiful shrine maiden by my side is enough."
"..." The smile on Kikyo's face instantly stiffened, a faint blush creeping up the roots of her ears.
She flusteredly averted her gaze, lowering her head as if searching for something, her voice somewhat unnatural as she said, "I-I'll go find the princess's remains and take them down the mountain for a proper burial. You go check on how those missing men are doing."
"Alright, leave it to me." Retsu watched her flustered, evasive demeanor, the smile on his lips deepening. He inwardly scoffed with a laugh, thinking, 'With skills like these, you still want to mess with me?'
He turned and walked towards the group of unconscious men. Upon reaching them, he directly formed hand seals: "Water Release: Water Shockwave!" A stream of water, not too violent but sufficiently cool, gushed forth, dousing all the unconscious men and waking them up.
Meanwhile, Kikyo quickly found the princess's remains and carefully wrapped them in cloth.
After reuniting, the two, along with the awakened men, headed together towards the Village at the foot of the mountain.
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