Uchiha Kagase's eyes suddenly turned scarlet, with three tomoe appearing, as he swiftly dodged the attack of the long tongue.
At the same time, he grabbed the katana at his waist, instantly wrapping the blade in Lightning Chakra, and with a powerful motion, hurled it toward the Yokai in a flash.
"Sssshhh—"
The katana grazed the Toad Demon's cheek, the Lightning Chakra cutting a wound deep enough to expose the bone of its face, and dark red blood gushed out instantly.
The Toad Yokai stared in lingering fear at the katana embedded in the wall behind him. Just as it turned to mock him, Uchiha Kagase suddenly vanished from his position.
An instant later, Uchiha Kagase reappeared behind the Toad Yokai, reaching out to precisely grasp the hilt of the nearby katana. The Lightning Chakra on the blade intensified greatly, and with a powerful flick of his wrist, he brought the sword down in a single strike!
"Pfft—"
The ugly head of the Toad Yokai flew into the air, dark red blood spurting like a fountain. Its grotesque body crashed heavily to the ground, its head rolling to the side. Beneath the torn bandages, its pupils still carried a deep sense of confusion and unwillingness.
Uchiha Kagase bent down and retrieved another Shikon Jewel fragment from the corpse.
As soon as the fragment was removed, the Yokai's corpse began to rapidly dissipate a large amount of dark aura. A moment later, only an ordinary-looking male corpse remained—the Lord himself, who had been possessed.
"Damn it! I forgot to collect the life force!" Uchiha Kagase slapped his forehead, muttering to the corpse on the ground: "It's all your fault, you were too weak; you died in a single strike."
He was about to use an Earth Release Technique to bury the body when his gaze was drawn to the katana at the corpse's waist.
He drew the blade from its sheath, and a flash of cold light appeared. The edge was incredibly sharp, and its craftsmanship was far superior to the ronin's sword he had been using.
"Not a bad trophy," Uchiha Kagase said with satisfaction, fastening the new sword at his waist. Then he placed both hands on the ground. "Earth Release Technique!"
The ground around the corpse began to shift and rise, quickly burying the Lord's body underground and leveling the surface again without leaving any trace.
"Now I need to save those girls the Yokai brought here."
Uchiha Kagase focused chakra beneath his feet, leaping high and swiftly crossing rooftops and courtyards, heading toward the direction where he had sensed the girls' energy signatures.
Soon after, he arrived in front of an isolated room. He pushed the door open and entered. Inside lay dozens of girls, the ones who had just been escorted there. They were all trapped in a deep sleep by a Genjutsu; the Yokai had not yet had time to act on them.
He did not wake the girls but turned and headed toward another hidden room not far away.
The moment he pushed the door open, a strange sweet fishy smell hit him. What appeared before him were enormous transparent spheres, similar to toad eggs, connected to each other and covering the entire room.
Inside these "eggs" were not embryos, but women curled up within them.
"Are these the Toad's eggs… I remember there were ninety-nine?" Uchiha Kagase observed the scene before him with a sigh.
Such a weak Yokai had managed to harm so many innocent girls.
The common people of this world survived the ever-present demons only thanks to the protection of priestesses.
He remembered that the plot mentioned that this Toad Yokai would eat the girls once their souls had "matured" inside the eggs.
He was not sure what "soul maturation" specifically meant, nor did he know how long these girls had been trapped in the eggs or whether they had suffered irreversible damage. He could only save them first.
"Multiple Shadow Clone Technique!"
With a "puff" sound and a burst of white smoke, nine shadow clones identical to Uchiha Kagase appeared beside him.
"Let's hurry and save them."
As soon as he finished speaking, Uchiha Kagase and the Shadow Clones simultaneously drew their katanas and carefully cut open the transparent egg sacs.
Most of the girls inside were pale and weak. After being freed, some quickly regained consciousness, while others remained unconscious.
After nearly half an hour of intense work, all the girls were saved. Uchiha Kagase brought the conscious girls into the previous room and reapplied the Genjutsu to make them fall asleep again.
There were still several unconscious samurai in the castle; when they woke up, they would inevitably cause confusion, so it was safer to let the girls sleep a little longer.
Finally, he returned to the hidden room and looked at the three girls still lying on the floor. They were still breathing and their hearts were beating regularly, but they showed no reaction to the outside world, their eyes empty, like soulless puppets.
"It seems their souls have already been devoured by that Yokai," Uchiha Kagase's expression darkened.
This was also the reason why, even though he knew that the plot allowed him to drive the Yokai out of the Lord's body using a Fire Technique, he still chose to kill it directly.
This Lord was not entirely innocent. When he was first possessed, his consciousness had been clear.
Even after being possessed for so long, in the plot, he still regained consciousness for a period after being struck on the head by Inuyasha.
And as a Lord, he could not possibly have been unaware of the existence of Yokai, nor could he have not known that priestesses were capable of exorcising demons.
Yet, it never occurred to him to seek help. On the contrary, he actively cooperated with the demon, capturing girls within his domain for it to devour.
Either he was greedy for the demon's power, feared death and worried that the priestesses might eliminate him as well, or he was simply extremely foolish.
But regardless of the reason, he had to pay for his actions. Otherwise, would the girls he himself had sent to hell not have died unjustly?
"Kamui!"
Uchiha Kagase's eyes instantly transformed into the Mangekyō Sharingan. A spatial vortex spun rapidly, sending the three girls whose souls had been devoured into the Kamui Dimension.
"When Inuyasha and the others arrive, I'll ask Myōga if these girls can still be saved."
He gave one last glance at the shattered egg sacs filling the room. A viscous liquid dripped along the walls, and a faint sweet fishy smell still lingered in the air.
He turned and left the hidden room, heading toward the Lord's chamber where he had killed the Toad Yokai.
*Creaaak—*
Opening the door, a pink figure appeared. Lying on the floor was a young woman wearing a pink kimono over a red haori. Her appearance was pure and beautiful; she was the Lord's wife, whom he had married not long before during the plot. He remembered that her name was Tsuyu.
"Truly a beauty, but unfortunately I am now in an Edo Tensei state." Looking at Tsuyu's beautiful face lying on the floor, Uchiha Kagase bent down, brushed her lips lightly, picked her up, and laid her in another room. He saw a blanket there and used it to cover her.
After finishing, he sat in a corner of the room, silently waiting for the arrival of Inuyasha and Kagome. He remembered that in the plot, Inuyasha and his group had arrived at that castle at night, but he was not sure whether it would happen that very evening.
If they did not arrive that night, he intended to cancel the Genjutsu and leave the following morning. It was already evening, and the sky outside the window was gradually darkening. The castle was immersed in absolute silence, broken only by the occasional chirping of crickets in the distance.