Naraku's body had already melted halfway, black viscous liquid trickling down the arms of the high-backed chair and seeping into the cracks in the floor.
The moment Chiyo's voice rang out, Naraku's movements suddenly froze.
An invisible force descended from above like a gigantic unseen hand, pinning his entire body in place.
The black liquid that had already seeped into the floorboards seemed to freeze, solidifying at the boundary between wood and stone, neither advancing nor retreating.
Naraku's pupils trembled violently.
"You..."
Chiyo stood in the center of the hall, his white hair drifting gently in the still air.
He had not even raised a hand.
He merely looked at Naraku.
"I said, did I let you leave?"
A hoarse sound emerged from Naraku's throat.
He wanted to struggle, to resist, to gather all the evil aura within him and break through the force suppressing him.
But he could not.
That force pressed down on him like a mountain, making even breathing difficult.
Black evil aura seeped from his pores, twisting and struggling in the air, but the instant it left his body, it was crushed by that force and vanished into nothingness.
The hand holding Kagura's folding fan trembled.
She looked at Chiyo, then at the suppressed Naraku. In her eyes was reflected the expressionless face of the white-haired man.
He was suppressing Naraku.
As easily as pinching an ant.
Without the slightest effort.
Kanna stood beside Kagura, clutching the mirror against her chest. Its surface flickered incessantly, reflecting Chiyo's image before shattering, then reflecting him again, then shattering once more.
Each time it shattered, Kanna's body trembled faintly.
She was using her own method to sense the man before her.
Yet every result was the same.
Unfathomably deep.
Like an endless, empty void.
"Kagura."
Chiyo's voice was calm.