Chapter 310

Looking at Kanna standing before him, Naraku gave a cold command.

"Use your mirror. Find out where Kagura is."

Kanna silently raised the mirror in her hands.

She poured yōki into it, and a faint white glow spread across the glass.

Yet no matter how much power she used, the mirror remained completely blank.

There was nothing.

"I can’t find her."

Kanna shook her head. For the first time, a faint ripple appeared in her otherwise empty eyes.

"Kagura... seems to have disappeared completely."

An unfamiliar heaviness settled over Kanna.

She did not understand what the feeling was, which only left her confused.

Naraku failed to notice the subtle change in her. His expression had already turned grim.

He could not determine whether Kagura was truly dead or had somehow broken free from his control.

But even if Kagura had died, Kanna should still have been able to trace what remained of her presence.

That made Naraku increasingly certain that Kagura was not dead.

For the first time, an intense wave of rage erupted from deep within him.

The yōki filling the underground chamber suddenly surged. The masses of grotesque yōkai packed into every corner began shrieking, and the entire castle trembled faintly under the pressure.

Naraku had always believed that as long as Kagura’s heart remained in his possession, she could never escape him.

Once she ceased to be useful, he would simply kill her without hesitation.

And yet now, somehow, Kagura appeared to have slipped free of his grasp.

"Kagura..."

His voice was filled with icy killing intent.

"You think this is enough to escape me? How naïve."

"No matter what you’ve become, no matter where you run, I will find you."

"And I’ll make you understand that the price of betraying me is ten thousand times worse than death."

Kanna watched Naraku’s murderous expression.

For some reason, the heaviness inside her suddenly eased.

She remembered something Kagura had once said to her.

The corners of Kanna’s lips lifted by the slightest amount.

’Kagura... are you finally free?’

...

Elsewhere, Kagura was testing her newfound power.

She swept her fan forward.

A wind blade instantly tore through the air and sliced cleanly through the middle of a massive ancient tree in the distance.

The trunk separated with a perfectly smooth cut.

Kagura stared down at her hands, disbelief flashing through her eyes.

Her strength had increased enormously compared with before.

She turned toward Haruto and looked at him solemnly.

"Thank you, Haruto."

After a brief pause, she continued,

"From now on, I’ll take you to every yōkai location I know."

Haruto had freed her from Naraku’s control, granted her the freedom she had dreamed of for so long, and even made her considerably stronger.

Naturally, Kagura intended to keep her side of the bargain.

Finding a few yōkai was hardly difficult for the Wind Sorceress.

If it meant repaying Haruto for what he had done, she would gladly do far more.

"Then I’ll be counting on you."

Haruto smiled and nodded, equally pleased.

With Kagura helping him, his efficiency in gathering yōkai ingredients would improve tremendously.

The Gourmet Restaurant would soon gain plenty of new ingredients.

Before they could discuss it further, however, Inuyasha abruptly stepped in front of Kagura.

"Hey, Kagura! Where’s Naraku?"

"You know, don’t you?!"

Miroku’s expression turned serious. His right hand unconsciously moved toward the prayer beads wrapped around his left hand.

Sango tightened her grip on Hiraikotsu, while Kirara’s ears stood alert.

The entire reason they had been traveling from place to place was to find Naraku, kill him, and avenge the countless innocent people and loved ones he had harmed.

Kagura answered without hesitation.

She raised her right hand and pointed northwest, toward the darkness beyond the trees.

"Naraku’s castle is in that direction. Roughly three hundred ri from here."

Kagura would be delighted if Inuyasha and the others went after Naraku.

If they managed to kill him, that would settle one final grudge on her behalf as well.

Then a white figure suddenly flashed through Kagura’s mind.

Her expression changed.

The ease in her face vanished, replaced by seriousness.

She bit her lower lip, hesitated for several moments, then turned toward Haruto with a slightly apologetic look.

"I want to go to Naraku’s castle first."

"So... could we delay looking for yōkai for a little while?"

"That’s fine. There’s no rush."

Haruto waved it off.

As it happened, he was also curious about Naraku’s castle.

If an opportunity presented itself, he would not mind helping deal with Naraku along the way.

And if Haruto remembered correctly, Naraku was currently going through a period of weakness.

An opportunity like this did not come often.

Once they knew the castle’s location, Inuyasha immediately became impatient.

"What are we waiting for?! Let’s go right now and kill Naraku!"

"Hold on, Inuyasha."

Haruto stopped him with an amused look.

"You really think it’s a good idea to appear in front of Naraku looking like that?"

Everyone finally remembered the obvious problem.

It was the night of the new moon.

Inuyasha had lost all his yōki and reverted to an ordinary human boy.

The group fell silent.

Inuyasha was unquestionably their strongest fighter.

Without his demonic power, none of them had much confidence in defeating Naraku.

Going after him now would practically be walking into a death trap.

"Tch! Don’t underestimate me!"

Inuyasha stubbornly snapped.

"Human or not, I can still kill Naraku!"

No one looked convinced.

"There are about four hours left until dawn."

Miroku thought for a moment before suggesting a compromise.

"We could start heading toward the castle now, then stop before reaching it and rest. Once dawn comes and Inuyasha regains his demonic power, we can attack together."

"No."

Kagura shook her head and warned them seriously.

"Naraku is extremely cautious. He has eyes and scouts spread throughout the area surrounding the castle."

"The moment you enter that range, he’ll know you’re coming."

"Then I guess we’ll have to wait until morning before getting close."

Kagome sighed.

"Why should we wait?! I can kill him right now!"

Inuyasha shouted in protest and immediately turned as though he intended to march straight toward Naraku’s castle anyway.

"Sit!"

Kagome did not hesitate.

THUD!

Inuyasha slammed face-first into the ground and got a mouthful of dirt.

He struggled to push himself up, only for Miroku to press the end of his staff against the back of his head.

"Stay put, Inuyasha! Going there now would be suicide!"

"Do you seriously want all of us risking our lives because you refuse to wait a few hours?"

Inuyasha gave a muffled grunt of irritation, but this time he stopped arguing about charging off immediately.

"In that case, I’ll go ahead."

Kagura glanced at the thoroughly restrained Inuyasha before turning toward Haruto.

"I’ll enter the castle first, see what’s going on, and take care of something personal."

"When you arrive after dawn, I’ll wait for you outside."

With that, Kagura’s body dissolved into a gentle breeze and silently vanished into the night.

A nearly imperceptible trace of yōki flickered once before disappearing into the distance.

"That ability really is convenient."

Haruto watched the direction she had gone with a trace of envy.

Turning directly into wind gave her extraordinary speed, made most physical attacks nearly useless, and allowed her to conceal her movements almost perfectly.

For travel and infiltration, it was practically ideal.

And the offensive power of her wind was hardly lacking either.

Still, envy was envy.

Haruto remained perfectly satisfied with his own Gourmet Restaurant.

It might not let him become the wind, but it was unquestionably the ability best suited to him.

Now transformed into a current of air, Kagura traveled at astonishing speed.

In less than half an hour, she crossed the entire three hundred ri separating her from Naraku’s castle and arrived above it.

Thick miasma blanketed the fortress like heavy fog.

The air reeked of decay, foul enough to make anyone sick.

Countless Saimyōshō circled the castle, their wings producing a sinister, continuous buzzing.

Kagura suppressed every trace of her presence.

She became an almost invisible breeze and flowed slowly along the castle walls.

Because she knew the fortress so well, she easily avoided the swarms of Saimyōshō and slipped inside.

Naraku was currently weakened, greatly reducing his ability to sense his surroundings.

Combined with the fact that Kagura had completely severed their former connection, he failed to notice her infiltration at all.

Kagura wound through the castle’s corridors until she finally arrived before a room hidden deep inside.

She condensed out of the wind and regained her physical form.

Then she pushed open the door.

Moonlight poured through a narrow window, illuminating the otherwise empty room.

There was no furniture.

Only a young girl in a white kimono sitting silently beside the window.

Kanna.

Hearing the door open, Kanna slowly raised her head.

Her eyes remained hollow and expressionless.

Even when she saw Kagura standing in the doorway, her face did not change.

"You’re free, Kagura."

"Yes, Kanna."

Kagura nodded seriously and walked toward her.

"I’m free."

Complex emotions filled her eyes as she stopped in front of Kanna.

"Then why did you come back?"

Kanna looked at her, genuinely unable to understand.

"Now that you’re completely free, the first thing you should do is get as far away from this place as possible."

"Naraku wants you dead."

"If you appear before him again, he will kill you."

Kanna’s voice remained flat and quiet.

Yet in those seemingly empty eyes, Kagura caught the faintest trace of concern.