The Demonic Jewel and the Chosen Vessel

The Sengoku era, Kanto region.

The moon was black and the winds were high; the deep night had descended. In this era of war, chaos, and rampant yokai, the night was especially dangerous and deadly. This was even truer deep within the dense forests far from any signs of human life. The more desolate the place, the more likely it was to hide powerful yokai. To an ordinary human, these monstrous creatures with their terrifying appearances were absolutely lethal.

Deep within the dim forest, a horned giant ape—nearly nine meters tall with four arms and a hideous face—was sprinting through the darkness. Its massive frame shook the ground with every step, and the necklace of skulls hanging from its neck clattered loudly. Its once-ferocious face, normally filled with arrogance as the absolute lord of this forest, was now twisted in sheer terror. It was running for its life.

"Pant... pant... Faster, faster..." the giant ape muttered in fear as it ran. Eventually, it skirted around a rocky hill and leaned against the hard cliff face, gasping for breath. If it ran this far, that miko shouldn't be able to catch up, right?

"Damn it... why did such a powerful human suddenly appear? She wiped out all my subordinates in an instant... When did humans produce such a ruthless character?"

"A miko with such power... could she be the rumored Shikon Jewel hunter? Impossible! Wasn't that person still very far away? She couldn't have come so quickly—ugh!"

Before the giant ape could finish its sentence, its expression froze. It felt a strange sensation in its body. Looking down, it saw a perfectly circular hole bored through its chest. A ring of charred flesh surrounded the edge of the hole, emitting wisps of blue smoke. Everything within that scorched circle, including its heart, had completely vanished.

The giant ape silently lowered its head, looking straight through the hole in its chest with its deformed, long neck. Its gaze passed through its own incinerated flesh, through the pierced mountain rock, and through the trunks of the forest trees. It saw a line of perfectly aligned round holes extending for thousands of meters. At the very end of that line, it saw a pair of familiar, cold eyes.

"How... could..."

With a final murmur, the giant ape collapsed. Thousands of meters away, in front of a tree trunk with a fresh hole through it, a miko slowly lowered the heavy crossbow she had been aiming.

"Snipe complete. We can go check it now," the miko whispered. As she spoke, the heavy crossbow in her hand dissolved into phantom light. At that moment, a startled voice echoed in her consciousness.

'How is this possible? At such a distance, with so many obstacles in the way... you actually pierced through everything and hit the target. How did you do that?'

Kikyo's voice murmured in disbelief within the miko's mind. Although she had witnessed many miracles from this predecessor of hers recently, she couldn't help but be amazed once again.

"It’s nothing. It was just divination. For a miko, divination is a required course, isn't it?"

Hata Kikyo spoke as she gave a slight wave of her hand. Several white, insect-like yokai known as soul-collecting insects floated out from the surrounding grass, circling the miko and lifting her into the air with invisible force.

'Divination is a required course for Onmyoji... and it's usually only achieved through tedious rituals. No one divines the enemy's position in the middle of a battle like you do—and with such accuracy.'

Supported by the soul-collecting insects, the miko quickly reached the corpse of the giant ape. She casually grabbed a handful of powder from her sleeve and scattered it over the massive body. The corpse immediately began to burn fiercely. In moments, the flesh was incinerated, leaving only a pile of white bones. Amidst the bones lay a shimmering, pink point of light.

Reaching out, the miko picked up the pink light. Looking closely, it was a petal-shaped, pinkish-purple crystal shard. A faint glow radiated from the shard, though it was tinged with an ominous aura.

"Another one. A so-called Shikon Jewel shard. Which one is this now?" the miko asked. Kikyo responded directly.

'I don't know. You're collecting them so fast that I've stopped keeping track.'

"True. There’s no point in remembering such numbers."

As she spoke, the miko reached into her sleeve and pulled out a broken pinkish-purple orb with a large missing section. This was the Shikon Jewel, or at least the majority of it that she had collected recently.

According to the agreement between the miko and Kikyo, the miko needed to help Kikyo appease her resentment and deal with the Shikon Jewel. Only after fulfilling these two wishes would Kikyo agree to merge their consciousnesses and heal her soul. Appeasing the resentment involved certain mysteries from fifty years ago that currently lacked leads, so they had started with the Shikon Jewel first.

Originally, the miko and Kikyo had planned to go straight for the jewel, but they hadn't expected it to have shattered into countless fragments scattered everywhere. They had no choice but to begin a collection journey. Because of the miko's powerful divination abilities, she had divined the locations of almost all the shards as soon as she held the first one. Combined with using soul-collecting insects for flight, the speed of their collection was unexpectedly fast. In less than a month, they had already gathered more than half of the shards.

"So this is the Shikon Jewel... the ultimate object of desire for the yokai of this era. Heh. No matter the era, yokai love using these twisted methods to increase their power. Especially one as sinister as this, which rouses desire and amplifies emotions."

Looking at the orb, the miko spoke. Hearing her words, Kikyo asked curiously.

'Rousing desire and amplifying emotions? Are those also functions of the Shikon Jewel?'

"Yes. As we collect more shards, I can clearly feel its influence on my emotions gradually deepening. It constantly tries to stimulate my desires, wanting to guide me into using its power. But I suspect that once one becomes dependent on the Shikon Jewel's power, the final end won't be good. For example... you."

The miko spoke bluntly to Kikyo. Hearing this, Kikyo seemed surprised and answered in confusion.

'Me? You mean I was also affected by the jewel? My only goal was to purify the jewel; I never once wanted to use its power.'

"I told you, the jewel's influence is subtle. Those affected by it change without even realizing it. Think about it, Kikyo. Before protecting the jewel, you were a miko whose duty was to guard all living things. You were powerful and proud. Yet not long after you began guarding the jewel, you met a hanyo and fell in love with him."

"Because of that love, you even neglected your duties as a miko, allowing yokai to run rampant and the land to go desolate. Because of that love, you even wanted to cast everything aside just to be with Inuyasha and live as an ordinary woman. Was such an idea of abandoning responsibility something the old you would have ever considered? No. It was the jewel that stimulated and amplified your deepest hidden desires for companionship and dependency, making you blind and dull within that love."

The miko calmly laid out her theory. Kikyo, within her consciousness, was stunned. It was a long time before she slowly spoke.

'Are you saying... the jewel wanted me to fall in love with Inuyasha?'

"Perhaps. Regardless, didn't you become significantly duller after falling in love? You were easily ambushed, and then immediately consumed by the fire of betrayal, losing your logic and judgment. You failed to see the obvious flaws in the scheme before you, which ultimately led to your death and Inuyasha being sealed. Whether it was love or hate... you and Inuyasha were both in the palm of the jewel's hand."

Because she had been spending more time with Kikyo lately, the miko had repeatedly delved into Kikyo's memories during her dreams. She was all too familiar with what had happened before Kikyo's death.

The miko's theory was simple: the Shikon Jewel was not just a source of great power; it could subtly influence its bearer and those around them, amplifying their emotions until they intertwined into a tragedy. And the jewel seemed to take great pleasure in this.

In fact, the Shikon Jewel likely had its own will. The tragedy Kikyo suffered fifty years ago was related to the jewel, perhaps even orchestrated by it. The Shikon Jewel itself did not want to be guarded and purified by Kikyo; it sought chaos.

'Was I fifty years ago... truly influenced by the jewel?' Kikyo murmured in disbelief. She seriously considered the miko's words and realized there was a stark difference in her personality before and after she began guarding the jewel. This theory was very likely correct.

'You have a point. Legend says that wherever the Shikon Jewel appears, conflict follows. There have been many tragedies involving it even when it was guarded by Onmyoji or temples. If that's the case, you must be careful as well.'

This was especially true now that the miko had collected nearly sixty percent of it. The influence must be impossible to ignore.

"Don't worry. Since I can perceive the influence the jewel is exerting on me, it's impossible for me to be controlled by it. My body and mind have long been entirely dedicated to the Lord Deity. My heart holds only a singular, unwavering faith and loyalty to her. All other matters of romance, love, and hate are meaningless trifles."

Responding to Kikyo, the miko gave a light chuckle. Her absolute faith in the deity was her means of countering the Shikon Jewel's influence, while the divine power of her god also protected her heart from any deception.

'Romance... can I assume you're mocking me?' hearing the miko's words, Kikyo retorted. She felt she finally understood that this incredibly powerful predecessor was, in essence, a religious fanatic.

"Of course not. All humans have emotions and desires. All humans have weaknesses. This isn't just you, Kikyo. I am simply a slightly more specialized existence."

As she spoke, the miko looked at the glowing, broken gem in her hand.

For the Shikon Jewel, the thing it desired least was likely being held by an existence like her. The Shikon Jewel craved to be in the midst of flowing desires. However, if this powerful miko were allowed to continue collecting it, the final outcome would surely not be what it wanted.

As if responding to the miko's thoughts, a sinister flash of purplish-black light flickered deep within the Shikon Jewel's crystal.

Sengoku era, Kanto region.

Under the bright moonlight, inside a tall Japanese castle, a young man with a handsome face and slightly curly hair sat leaning against a corner in the lord's chambers. He was dressed in samurai attire. His hand was extended forward, and on it lay a small, shimmering, pinkish-purple crystal shard.

"The Shikon Jewel... is throbbing."

Looking at the crystal in his hand, the young man whispered with a focused expression. His cold face was reflected on the transparent surface of the crystal, making him look even more sinister.

"It has been throbbing since a few days ago... and it's getting stronger. Has something happened? Shikon Jewel, what is it you want to convey to me, Naraku?"

The young man named Naraku continued to speak slowly. This time, the shard in his hand began to tremble slightly, and then a ray of light shot out from it.

The light from the Shikon Jewel shard projected onto a distant wall, gradually manifesting an image. It showed a beautiful woman in a red and white miko outfit with a determined gaze. The moment he saw this woman, Naraku was stunned.

"That's... Kikyo. Isn't she dead?" Naraku murmured. Just then, something flashed in the hand of the miko in the image. Naraku looked closely and saw the massive piece of the Shikon Jewel she held. His face immediately darkened.

"What is going on... Why has Kikyo already collected so much of the Shikon Jewel? That's more than half. It hasn't been that long since the jewel shattered. How did she do it?"

As he spoke, Naraku looked at the Shikon Jewel shard in his hand with an even more solemn expression.

"Besides... why do you want me to see this image? What are you trying to tell me?"

As if in answer to Naraku's words, a glow gradually rose from the Shikon Jewel. Within that light, the broken shard was enveloped in an illusion, transforming into a complete, perfect Shikon Jewel.

Seeing this, Naraku's eyes widened slightly, and a thin smile appeared on his lips.

"Shikon Jewel... you mean that compared to Kikyo or anyone else, you'd rather have me collect you in full? You want me to use your power! Is that it?"

Watching this, Naraku's mouth curled into a cold grin. He knew that he had already won the war for the Shikon Jewel shards, for at this moment, he had gained an inestimably powerful ally.

"I've been chosen, haven't I? Don't worry, Shikon Jewel. I will see your wish fulfilled."

In the dark room, Naraku whispered darkly as he looked at the jewel that had returned to its original state. The Shikon Jewel in his hand began to be rapidly stained with a pitch-black color, dark as ink.