Multiverse Gourmet Hunter

Kanna calmly watched as the duplicate raised the Mirror of Death and pointed it toward her.

A soft white light streamed from the mirror and enveloped Kanna’s body.

Under that glow, Kanna’s soul slowly emerged from her original body before being drawn into the duplicate’s Mirror of Death.

Haruto gripped Myriad Worlds, carefully controlling the replica as Kanna’s soul was transferred into its body.

His concentration was absolute.

He did not dare make the slightest mistake.

The moment Kanna’s soul entered the duplicate, both Haruto and Kagura clearly sensed the change.

The replica had come ”alive.”

It was no longer an empty shell without a soul.

”It worked...”

Kagura stared at Kanna, her eyes turning slightly red.

They had checked the plan over and over beforehand, but until the transfer actually succeeded, she had never been able to truly relax.

Kanna raised one hand and studied her pale palm, then lowered her gaze toward the Mirror of Death.

For the first time, a faint ripple appeared in her expression.

Nearby, her original body—now deprived of its soul—collapsed like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

The reborn Kanna looked toward her old body.

The Mirror of Death in her arms lit up once more.

A powerful suction force emerged from its surface.

Streams of pale blue yōki began pouring from the old body, flowing continuously into the mirror before being transferred into Kanna’s new form.

As the yōki was steadily drained away, cracks began spreading across her abandoned body.

When the final trace of demonic energy had been extracted, the old body shattered like a broken mirror.

Countless glittering fragments scattered across the floor before fading into the air, leaving nothing behind.

Seeing that, Kanna’s expression became noticeably more alive.

Even Haruto could clearly sense the joy radiating from her.

It was almost as though the Kanna Naraku had created—the Kanna who had existed only as a tool—had vanished along with that shattered body.

In her place stood a Kanna who had been reborn.

A Kanna who was free.

...

At the same moment, several hundred miles away, deep inside a nameless mountain range, black miasma churned through a dark and damp cave like thick ink.

Naraku was considering how he should strengthen himself next.

Then he suddenly sensed something.

He reached out and produced a translucent crystal heart.

It belonged to Kanna.

But now, the heart had completely stopped beating.

”Kanna!”

”Kagura... you actually—”

Naraku’s voice turned glacial, his expression darkening.

He had never imagined Kanna would somehow escape his control as well.

Kagura’s betrayal made sense to him.

She had always yearned for freedom.

Kanna was different.

In Naraku’s eyes, she had been his most perfect creation.

No emotions.

No desires.

No pain.

No fear.

She did not even understand the meaning of her own existence.

Kanna was like a cold mirror that existed only to carry out his commands.

That was precisely why Naraku had not been concerned when Kagura took her away.

If anything, he had considered it an excellent opportunity.

Through Kanna, he could locate Kagura and eliminate her.

Yet now even Kanna had slipped beyond his control.

Naraku tightened his grip around the crystal heart.

A crack appeared across its surface.

As his fingers closed harder, more fractures spread through it until—

Crack.

The heart shattered completely.

Naraku’s expression became hideous as the surrounding miasma churned even more violently.

But after a while, he gradually calmed down.

”It doesn’t matter.”

Naraku muttered to himself, a cold smile forming on his lips.

”So what if you escaped my control?”

”Kanna, you were born as my tool.”

”Without me, you don’t even know why you exist.”

Naraku firmly believed that even with freedom, Kanna—who possessed neither emotions nor any sense of purpose—would still obey him.

”As soon as I find you, you’ll return to my side.”

With that thought, Naraku began considering whether to create another incarnation to search for Kanna and Kagura.

...

Back in the abandoned castle, Kanna finished absorbing the last trace of yōki and turned toward Kagura.

”Kanna, how do you feel? Does anything hurt?”

Kagura rushed forward, seized Kanna’s hands, and looked her over from head to toe.

Kanna stared at Kagura’s anxious expression in silence for a moment before gently shaking her head.

”I’m fine.”

Once Kagura confirmed there was truly nothing wrong, she pulled Kanna into a tight embrace and began crying with relief.

At last, Kanna no longer had to live beneath Naraku’s shadow either.

Kanna stiffly raised one arm and lightly patted Kagura on the back.

Haruto quietly watched them from nearby without interrupting.

At the same time, he used every method available to examine Kanna’s condition.

Once he confirmed that her soul had fused perfectly with the new body without any sign of rejection, he finally relaxed.

The only imperfection was that Kanna’s new body still had no heart.

Of course, for a body created through replication, that was not immediately dangerous.

As long as Haruto did not dismiss the duplicate, Kanna’s life would remain stable.

Haruto looked down at Myriad Worlds.

The Spiegel crystal embedded in its handle had already returned to normal.

A sudden thought crossed his mind.

The Spiegel was extraordinarily compatible with Kanna.

If she could somehow obtain one and use it as her heart, wouldn’t that solve everything perfectly?

Not only would it eliminate the problem of her heartless body, but it would also grant her true independence from Myriad Worlds.

The thought vanished almost as quickly as it appeared.

Haruto obviously was not going to pry the Spiegel out of his kitchen knife and give it to Kanna.

But there might be other Spiegel demons somewhere in the world of Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End.

If he had the opportunity, he could always search for one.

Still, that was merely an idea.

His relationship with Kagura had begun as a transaction.

She would help him locate more yōkai ingredients, and in exchange he had helped her escape Naraku’s control—while also helping Kanna along the way.

Once their agreement was fulfilled, where Kagura and Kanna went or what kind of lives they chose to lead would be entirely up to them.

With Kanna’s problem resolved, Kagura no longer had anything weighing on her.

She immediately began putting real effort into helping Haruto locate yōkai.

As one of Naraku’s former incarnations, Kagura knew the locations of countless creatures.

Under her guidance, Haruto harvested huge quantities of yōkai ingredients every day.

He could not have been more satisfied.

Kanna traveled with them as well.

After her abilities had been enhanced, the Mirror of Death became even more terrifying.

Whenever they encountered a large group of weaker yōkai, Kanna only needed to raise the mirror once to absorb every one of their souls.

Her efficiency was higher than Haruto and Kagura combined.

That, in turn, gradually made Haruto curious about yōkai souls themselves.

He began wondering whether souls could be turned into ingredients as well.

Unfortunately, no matter how many methods he tried, he could not figure out how to make a dish out of a soul.

For now, he had no choice but to put his research into soul cuisine aside.

That did not mean he had given up.

Just because he could not do it now did not mean it would remain impossible forever.

Haruto was already looking forward to the day he finally tasted a dish made from souls.

One afternoon, Haruto had just wiped out a nest of snake yōkai occupying a mountain valley and was preparing to store their bodies inside the Gourmet Restaurant when he suddenly sensed an immensely powerful yōki rapidly approaching.

Kagura and Kanna noticed it at the same time.

The three of them looked up.

A silver streak tore across the sky before descending directly in front of them.

Sesshōmaru.

His gaze swept briefly over Haruto and Kanna before settling on Kagura.

There was no trace of Naraku’s scent left on her now.

Clearly, Kagura truly had broken free.

Sesshōmaru withdrew his gaze and looked directly at Haruto.

”I want to learn Nen.”

”Name your price.”

Haruto showed no surprise.

He had already noticed Sesshōmaru’s interest in Nen during their previous encounter.

Had Inuyasha not approached at the time, Sesshōmaru likely would have stayed until the end.

Now that he had personally seen Kagura escape Naraku through Nen, there was naturally no reason for him to hesitate any longer.

”Sure.”

Haruto agreed immediately.

Then he began considering what he should demand in return.

Kagura knew the locations of plenty of yōkai, but most were only low- or mid-level creatures.

For the most part, they amounted to ordinary ingredients.

Sesshōmaru, on the other hand, had lived for centuries and traveled all across the country.

He almost certainly knew where many powerful daiyōkai could be found.

And those powerful yōkai were premium ingredients.

Haruto looked at Sesshōmaru.

”Ten edible daiyōkai corpses that haven’t taken human form.”

”That’s my price.”

”Bring me ten, and I’ll awaken your Nen immediately.”

Sesshōmaru’s eyes showed no reaction whatsoever.

He simply gave Haruto a brief look and nodded without another word.

Then he transformed into a silver streak and shot into the sky, disappearing beyond the horizon.

Only one week later, while Haruto was processing another batch of captured yōkai ingredients, he sensed that familiar aura once again.

Sesshōmaru descended slowly from the sky.

And this time, he had brought ten enormous yōkai corpses with him.

Every one of them radiated tremendous yōki.

There was no question that each could be called a daiyōkai.

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