But he realized that unless he killed Kokushibo, he could do none of the things he wanted to do.
"You forced me to kill you. Don't blame me for killing you again."
Tetsu no Sosuke watched Kokushibo fade away. He couldn't tell what he felt, only that something about it was strange and hard to put into words.
"Forget it..." He shook his head. He didn't want to dwell on Kokushibo. What mattered now was escaping this Spiritual World.
The Inner Spring remained drained. During his fight with Kokushibo, he had felt something stirring in layers of confusion he couldn't make sense of.
He tapped his brow. "I wonder how Shinobu Kocho and the others are doing... Everything turned strange the moment we entered this courtyard. They haven't endured those mental attacks. Can they hold out?"
He gazed into the distance and was about to press on when a thought stopped him. "Something's wrong. The imagined Kokushibo was no match for me. Whoever rules this place must have known that... So why make him fight me? And why didn't a second Kokushibo appear afterward? Couldn't they create one... or was there no need?"
A bad feeling crept over him. He couldn't shake the thought that something might happen to Shinobu Kocho and the others.
"No!"
He took a deep breath and sat down cross-legged.
The state of the Inner Spring was strange in itself. Usually, when he drained it, his mind grew clear and he could conjure anything he imagined.
This time, though, the Inner Spring felt dry... not smooth or full at all.
It was as though a layer of dark grease coated its surface, leaving it mired in sludge it couldn't escape!
He cleared his mind and sank deep within himself.
It was still empty. No mental attack