"H-How could this happen..."
The happier Noelle and the others were, the more devastated Kagome's group felt.
"Inuyasha actually lost?!" Shippo's face was filled with disbelief.
To the little fox demon, Inuyasha had always been the most dependable companion.
No matter how strong the opponent, he always found a way to defeat them.
Tears gradually shimmered in Shippo's eyes.
"How could this happen..."
Young Kohaku, holding Kirara in his arms, was equally dejected.
"Inuyasha already did his best," his sister Sango comforted him softly.
"That's right, and it's not like there's no chance left."
Miroku said solemnly, "Don't forget, there will still be matches between the Loser's Bracket contestants later, competing for ninth and tenth place!"
Kagome nodded thoughtfully.
She was probably the only one among them who had noticed the spiritual arrow.
As Kikyo's reincarnation, she was simply too sensitive to the other woman's spiritual power.
That was why she recognized at a glance that Inuyasha's final move had been an enhanced version of Adamant Backlash Wave.
Even so, he had still lost to Asta.
There was nothing more to say.
Inuyasha truly had given it everything he had, even surpassing his own limits.
"Hmph, a half-demon is still a half-demon. Is this really all he amounts to?"
Sesshomaru snorted coldly in the contestants' lounge.
"I will spread Father's great name in his stead!"
Elsewhere.
For some reason, Kikyo, who should have been in the Four Souls Underworld, was alone in a location within the West River District of the Sea Star Underworld.
She stood beneath a towering dead tree.
Watching the spherical Meido Zangetsuha slowly vanish in the distance.
"So he still lost..."
Still dressed in her red-and-white shrine maiden robes, Kikyo murmured softly.
The longbow in her hand dissolved into spiritual power.
Yet her naturally elegant, resilient,