Desperate, Kagome whipped an arrow from the quiver and drew it, though her aim was shaky with panic and a hint of hesitation. Would defeating the ogre kill Kasha as well? Did Kasha know this would happen, and did he wish to die this way or not? Either way, she didn't want to kill him.

Suddenly, she realized that she had waited too long and let her arrow fly too late. Her aim was so unstable that it careened over Kasha's shoulder and was lost in a tangle of branches. The demonic figure cackled at her failure and suddenly she could see only the blackened glint of the evil blade. Just as she put up her arms to shield herself from a fatal blow, a white flash engulfed her and she shut her eyes as warm blood splattered across her clothes and face. Gasping, she reopened them to find herself wrapped in Sesshomaru's arms. He had shielded her and taken a direct blow to his back.

"You couldn't have survived that." In an instant he whipped away, slashing Kasha across the neck with his venomous claws.

"…How?" Kagome asked, gasping with shock.

"Instinct. Not thought." Sesshomaru swiped at a flailing Kasha yet again, then drew his Bakusaiga.

Instinct…Kagome began to blush and almost smile at the thought.

"I owe you, Sesshomaru!" Inuyasha shouted, leaping towards his foe with the Tetsusaiga raised. He drew out no particular power in it; just hacked downwards as if swinging a wooden log. The blade managed to gash the demon's sword arm, slicing into the muscle but not quite reaching bone. It, too, had been an unreadable move, void of thought. Only such a primitive style could be performed without planning, but still, Sesshomaru found it difficult to resist yanking the Tetsusaiga out of his brother's hands and bashing him over the head with it for using such a pathetic technique.

"I'm catching on!" Sango called, flinging her boomerang bone from its sheath like sash as if she were first experimenting with a new weapon, back in her homeland with the demon slayers. It seemed that the possessed Kasha would be unable to deflect the attack, but at the last minute he noticed it coming and shielded himself with the Tokijin. The block had been a product of the ogre's skill, not his mind-reading power. Sango still managed to snatch it from its misguided path, and the evil aura that Tokijin had saturated it in was quickly dissolved.

"He's getting used to fighting without his extra power!" Sesshomaru slashed at Kasha a third time, but the Bakusaiga was knocked back by the reformed Tokijin. Kasha lunged in for an attack, but was blasted away at the last second by a thick spray of poison that the daiyoukai conjured from his hands. The possessed creature lost its balance and fell onto its back, coated in corrosive slime.

"This is the end, Goshinki!" Inuyasha declared. "Diamond Spears!"

With a swing of his arms, thick diamond shards shot from his Tetsusaiga, perfectly aimed at their target. Glinting like a flurry of deadly stars, they seemed to be more than enough to bring down Goshinki's evil new form once and for all. If only Kasha might be able to survive it…

Suddenly, a burst of demonic miasma exploded into the air and fought off human and demon alike. The released demonic energy was so sudden and intense that Inuyasha's diamond spears reversed their course and flew back to their source. Inuyasha was about to raise his Tetsusaiga in defense when, without warning, the poisons in the air took hold of his lungs, locking him in a burning state of paralysis. Then the diamond spears shot through him. The razor shards nearly ran him through several times and opened countless gashes on his arms and legs. Defeated and unable to move, he collapsed to the forest floor in a splash of crimson.

Kagome and Miroku were suffering similarly from the miasma. But just before he lost control of his movement, Miroku managed to erect a holy barrier around himself, Kirara and Kagome using his staff as the power source. To his dismay, Sango, Sesshomaru, and, worst of all, Inuyasha, were out of its range. Fortunately, Sango's mask seemed to be holding up easily against the poison, and at last the toxic smoke cleared enough for them to make out Kasha getting to his feet, with Sesshomaru across from him, shrouded in a sphere of concentrated yoki energy.

"This can't be the power of Goshinki alone!" Sango exclaimed as she watched the Tokijin throb with an evil that would rival Naraku's.

"It was never just me!" Goshinki's words were forced through Kasha's throat in a rasping, unnatural tone. "There are so, so many demons that have been dying for revenge against you so-called heroes! They stretch all the way back to the old crow demon that Kagome had shot down during her first trip past the well! And it ends with me and my brothers and sisters, the offspring of Naraku!"

There was another titanic wave of demonic miasma and the thick gases blotted out everything outside Miroku's barrier.

"Sango, get over here, quick!" Miroku called, beginning to panic, now that he'd lost sight of her. "I'll be able to open the barrier for a moment, if you can just…"

"I'll be fine, Miroku! I'm going to try to get to Inuyasha before those demons do!"

Suddenly, Miroku heard the clash of metal against bone. Sparks flew through the black haze and he knew that Sango was already in a fight. Meanwhile, Sesshomaru managed to focus his eyes enough to distinguish the figures of Sango and Kasha through the miasma. Gliding towards them, he thrusted the Bakusaiga straight for the demon's heart. It carved through a demonic exoskeleton and finally hit its mark, yet when he withdrew it, nothing but another burst of miasma poured from the gaping wound. This extra gas was finally enough to penetrate Sesshomaru's yoki barrier, but it hadn't been enough to actually affect the daiyoukai. Sesshomaru slashed for Kasha again, aiming to slice his head clean off, but the Bakusaiga was parried by Tokijin at the last minute. Deep, purplish poisons gushed from the vile blade, and without warning, Sesshomaru found himself choking on the air and was forced to back away. Never before had any poison, no matter how strong, ever affected him, including Naraku's particularly nasty miasma. Yet this awful vapor was strong enough to make him drop his sword and nearly lose consciousness. Sango was beginning to feel the deadly fog as well as it slowly managed to seep in through her mask. Miroku's holy powers were also soon to give out. His barrier began to fade and melt away as the toxins ate at it incessantly. Miroku did his best to maintain the protective aura but still failed. He and Kagome were barely able to stumble to their feet and internally debate whether to run before they collapsed, unconscious.

"Damn you!" Sango cried, hurling her boomerang bone at her enemy with unusual fury. It cut through some of the miasma, but was promptly deflected with the Tokijin, sending it hurtling out of sight, lost, like everything else, in a blinding, toxic mist.

Before Sango could think to draw her sword, the Tokijin slashed across her stomach, shredding her armor in a single blow. It swung a second time in an upward path, slicing off her mask. Gasping, she inhaled nothing but fumes, and fell to the dirt ground in a bleeding mess.

Now the evil sword whirled in the opposite direction, aimed for Sesshomaru. Exhausted, he barely managed to block the blade with his bare hand, gripping onto it and keeping his grasp even as Kasha attempted to yank it away. Frustrated, the evil demon drove it forward, managing force Sesshomaru to the ground. The stab was still not enough to deal a fatal wound, and Sesshomaru had found the strength to keep his ever tightening grip on the blade. The daiyokai struggled to sit up and finally managed to, still keeping his hold on the unnaturally sharp edges.

"You will deal no more destruction with this evil sword. No…more." He growled with a voice drained of power.

"Just give up and accept your beating like the dog that you are. It is well deserved."

Kasha grinned down at his foe mockingly. A disgusting, mingling mixture of human and demon blood coated his blade.

Suddenly, a burst of wind ripped the miasma from the air.