Chapter Twenty-Five
A gruesome cry resounded in the clearing as thousands of human soldiers charged towards the demon army.
Eyes white.
Skin black as coal.
Body movements like a puppet.
The manipulated humans looked like lifeless body shells.
As the human soldiers charged up the hill, a bright glowing arrow landed in front of the army. Brainless manipulated humans ignored the glowing arrow planted in the ground and continued onwards. But the moment any human soldier passed the arrow, they fell to the floor unconscious and healed of their black skin. Rows of human soldiers automatically tumbled to the floor, yet the soldiers from behind continued onwards. Finally, the arrow cracked at the amount of soldiers surging forward like animals.
A howl resounded in the air which caused the Western soldiers to charge towards the enemy.
First blood was shed.
Blood dripped down Sesshomaru's sword as he cut down Neikan's puppets.
So many.
There were so many humans.
The human soldiers looked just like puppets.
Nothing alive, nothing human.
Yet, the moment they were cut down their cries of pain made Kagome realize how alive they were.
Cries tore through the battlefield from countless directions.
Each cry seemed to pierce through her heart.
Helplessness sent waves of panic through Kagome's body as she fired her arrows to heal some of the human soldiers before they could be cut down. But there were too many.
Did Neikan truly just choose human soldiers to witness blood?
From the top of the hill, Kagome saw their army easily cutting through Neikan's army. As she squint her eyes, Kagome saw Neikan still smirking.
Something was wrong.
Something was going to happen.
Kagome stood frozen as she saw thousands of tentacles erupt from the ground and attach to the backs of the human soldiers. Dark miasma flowed from the tentacles and into the human soldiers causing them to emit a demonic aura.
Suddenly, the game changed.
Kagome observed with shock as the human soldiers cut down several of their soldiers. Neikan was using a similar skill as hers to empower his puppets. Confusion and fear raced through her mind as she tried to figure out how this was happening. How was Neikan able to learn the same technique she had come up with? Searching through the battlefield, Kagome's eyes found Neikan.
Red eyes glowed behind his mask and looked straight at her.
I see you.
Kagome heard Neikan voice playfully in her head.
It hadn't been her imagination.
The voice and image she saw at the spring hadn't been her imagination.
Neikan had truly entered into her mind.
Thank you for the little tip, Miko.
His voice echoed into her mind.
Desperately, Kagome aimed her arrow towards the ground the human soldiers stood on. But Kagome felt a surging sensation of dread as she noticed her arrows no longer healed the miasma. Dropping her bow and arrow, she realized she needed to use more amounts of her power and be within close distance to her target. Fear gripped tightly around her heart as it whispered words of how useless she had become.
How will your dog react as his army is torn down by mere humans?
Neikan's voice rang in her head.
Hearing his hysterical laughter, Kagome covered her ears with trembling hands.
Immobilized by intense fear, Kagome didn't notice a human soldier closing in on her.
"My Lady!" Snapping her head at the sound, Kagome saw Goro block the sword that was aimed for her heart.
"Goro," Kagome breathed out in relief to see someone she was familiar with. Watching the human soldier fall to the ground, Kagome noticed the tentacle attached to the fallen soldier vanish. Relief was quickly replaced as panic slammed back into Kagome at the confirmation that Neikan was able to enter minds.
"He knows," Kagome said quivering with anxiety.
"My Lady?" Goro asked worriedly as Kagome's face paled.
"He knows our battle plan," she voiced louder at the realization of her own words.
"Who knows, My Lady?" Goro asked trying to understand what she was saying. Seeing her look so terrified, Goro needed to know what was scaring her so.
"Neikan! He can enter into our minds! He probably knows how we are trying to take him down! Goro! He will probably know that Sesshomaru plans to finish him! He's in danger!" Kagome cried out in horror. Quickly scanning the battlefield, Kagome saw that their army had almost finished off the human soldiers. As planned, Takashi and Sesshomaru had surrounded the rest of the manipulated soldiers and were finishing them off in every direction.
"I need to go down there," Kagome whispered as she knew Sesshomaru would next attack Neikan.
"My Lady, you musn't," Goro said sternly.
Ignoring Goro's comment, Kagome searched for a path that would lead her straight to Neikan. She placed a barrier around her in hopes to block Neikan from entering into her mind.
Noticing that his Lady was preparing to run into the battlefield, Goro tried to convince her not to.
"My Lady! Please do not place yourself in danger! Lord Sesshomaru is strong enough to defeat Neikan!" Trying to gain her attention, Goro shouted, "My Lady!"
Turning her head to stare at Goro, she observed his stricken expression with a heavy heart.
"I know he is strong, Goro. I do not doubt it," she voiced with a sad smile. Leaning towards Goro's ear, she whispered something before heading down the hill and into the battlefield.
Kagome trained her eyes on the set path she planned to use to get to Neikan. She would run straight through the center where the human soldiers were surrounded in. It would be a risk to run past the human soldiers instead of where her allies were standing, but it was the quickest path available. Calling forth her power, she formed her power into pink orbs of energy. She watched as her orbs planted onto the tentacles attached into the human soldiers backs. She did this to three rows of soldiers. Then creating a string to attach with each orb, Kagome finally held the one string that connected to them all.
She ran forward.
Kagome made sure to run past the human soldiers that were attached with her orb. Catching their attention, Kagome flared out her powers into the master string causing the orb to instantly heal them as they fell unconscious. She did the same tactic to all the nearby human soldiers before they had the chance to attack her.
Though it had not rained, Kagome felt her feet sink into the muddied ground.
Mud caused by the mixture of soil and blood.
Pools of blood continued to pour onto the ground as she ran by dead soldiers.
Sorrow ate away at Kagome's heart as she tried to run faster, away from all the death, but the mud prevented Kagome from reaching Neikan any quicker.
Amongst the blood and black skinned soldiers, the heavens could see a glowing figure run through the center of the horrendous battlefield.
Sweat trailed down her face.
Blue eyes shined with determination.
Finally reaching halfway of the battlefield, Kagome felt the ground beneath her quake.
An eruption of millions of tentacle shaped miasma sprung out from the ground. Though her barrier had protected her from the miasma, the trembling ground caused her to fall to the ground along with several human soldiers to fall on top of her.
"Urgh," Kagome grunted as she struggled to free herself from the heavy weight on top of her. Pushing one soldier off of her, Kagome was able to see what just happened.
She inhaled sharply at the scene before her.
All their soldiers were immobilized in their positions as the miasma wrapped around them. Kagome was shocked to see how easily Neikan was able to stop an entire army. Suppressing the fear growing inside of her, Kagome pushed the other human soldier off of her as she stood up. Looking past the tied down soldiers, Kagome saw Sesshomaru, Takashi, and the two Generals surround Neikan.
Her assumption was confirmed the moment she saw Neikan's smirk.
Neikan knew of their plans.
Their plan was for Takashi and the two Generals to attack and find Neikan's weakness. Then, Sesshomaru would give the final blow when Neikan was distracted. Neikan knew of this and allowed their plans to go as expected. Clenching her hand, she knew that they were headed straight into his trap.
Examining the struggling soldiers, Kagome noticed the tentacles were extracting demonic powers from the soldiers. Widening her eyes in shock, she realized Neikan would be immensely powerful if he absorbed the power from all their soldiers.
"ARGGHHHHHHH!" Kagome quickly turned her attention to the direction the cry came from. Neikan's hand covered the Southern General's entire face with one hand and lifted the General into the air.
"You are not entertaining enough," she heard Neikan chuckle darkly. Within seconds, Kagome watched in horror as the Southern General's face was crushed into dust. The headless body fell to the ground with a thud and disintegrated into the ground.
Her suppressed fear broke free.
Kagome's hand shot upwards to cover her mouth to muffle a cry.
She must not be discovered.
The sound of Neikan's mad laughter surrounded the battlefield.
Kagome watched fear stricken as Sesshomaru, Takashi and the Western General attacked Neikan in several directions.
But every attack was met with a wrist reaper.
Slice
A wrist reaper cut through Takashi's stomach as miasma infected the wound.
Stab
The wrist reaper stabbed through the Western General's chest as the reaper came out from the back.
Her trembling legs could no longer hold her weight.
Falling to the bloodied ground, Kagome was devastated.
Numb.
Fear had taken over to the point she could no longer feel anything.
Though her heart screamed to save them, to stop Neikan, her body did not seem to move an inch.
"You are a powerful miko, Kagome. More powerful than I."
Midoriko's words echoed in her mind.
"You promised to defeat Neikan."
She heard a voice remind her as Kagome tightened her eyes shut.
"You promised to protect your precious people."
The voice said determinedly as she held back the tears that wished to escape her shut eyes; tears caused by fear.
"No fun," Neikan's playful tone was replaced with threat.
Opening her eyes again, Kagome returned her attention towards the fight.
Takashi and the Western General, although injured, were continuing their attacks on Neikan. However, Neikan did not seem to have been harmed the slightest. Kagome's gaze softened as her eyes watched Sesshomaru. Though his attacks seemed to be getting stronger, she could tell that he was wearing out. Noticing an increasing amount of demonic power being absorbed by the tied down soldiers, Kagome saw the flow of power reach Neikan.
"I want the MIKO!" Kagome heard Neikan yell out in annoyance. She witnessed Neikan throw back the injured Takashi and General to crash against the hard ground.
"Give me the MIKO you DOGS!" Neikan's crazed voice boomed with growing anger. Kagome heard Sesshomaru snarl at Neikan's comment and swung his Bakusaiga sending a large blue energy at Neikan.
As the blue light died down, Kagome saw in despair as Neikan remained untouched.
"You must defeat Neikan."
She understood now why Midoriko had specifically ordered her to destroy Neikan.
Nothing could harm him; no one but her.
'Sesshomaru,' her heart whispered wistfully. Kagome glanced at him and observed his stiff position. She knew that he was just as surprised that his attack did nothing.
The wish to support Sesshomaru overwhelmed her.
The muffled cries of the struggling soldiers reached her ears.
The sight of Takashi coughing out blood made her heart clench.
Sorrow sank into Kagome's heart as she finally understood.
They were losing.
And they would lose if she did not do anything.
The overflowing emotion of protectiveness washed away the feeling of fear.
Slowly standing up from the ground, she glared at Neikan's direction.
Determination,
Passion,
And anger burned past her deep blue eyes.
"My turn," Kagome heard Neikan voice darkly. Feeling the ground tremble again, Kagome saw Neikan absorb a huge amount of demonic power.
"Oh no you don't," Kagome snarled quietly to herself.
Kagome knew that she had a slim chance of destroying Neikan if she were to use her powers within close contact.
Knowing what she must do, she hid her presence within a barrier.
Still located halfway away from Neikan, she ran closer and closer.
Black clouds of miasma swirled around Neikan.
As sharp tentacles of miasma shot forward at Sesshomaru, they were immediately purified as Kagome had placed a barrier in front of Sesshomaru. A cold shiver ran down her back as she knew that Sesshomaru's sword would not have been able to protect him from Neikan's attack.
The raw emotions that only wanted to protect her loved ones began to burn within her.
The vision of Neikan neared.
Sensing Sesshomaru run after her, Kagome quickly placed a barrier to encase herself with Neikan.
Time seemed to have slowed for the inuyoukai and miko.
As the barrier was closing, a desperate hand tried to grasp his miko.
Capturing the silver chained bracelet, the inuyoukai pulled on it to stop her.
To the inuyoukai's shock, his miko forcefully tugged her wrist away causing the bracelet to break.
Shatter.
Was it the sound of the chain breaking?
Or was it the sound of her heart shattering?
From the moment the miko felt the bracelet break, her heart broke along with it.
"Kagome!" an unimaginable pained voice yelled for her to stop.
The barrier had closed.
And it was as if the string that tied their hearts together were cut in two by this barrier.
Kagome continued to run forward, not daring to look back.
Closing in on Neikan, she saw him rest his red eyes on her with a smirk on his face as if he had been waiting for her.
"Finally, just the Miko and I," Neikan said with sick excitement.
This was it.
This would be the final moment; the moment to determine who would remain standing.
'Let me protect them,' Kagome whispered to her powers. Images flashed before her very eyes of all those she loved so dearly. And she would give anything to see them safe and happy.
'It doesn't matter what happens to me,' she thought painfully as she knew it would hurt Sesshomaru.
'Just let me protect them,' she pleaded her last plead.
Kagome saw Neikan's hand filled with miasma reach out towards her.
"DIE!" The sound of Neikan's roar echoed within the barrier.
Just as quickly, Kagome saw an opening and slammed her hand against his chest right over his heart while she poured out all her powers.
Instantly, a bright light engulfed her vision.
The barrier she had created exploded with immense power.
Rage.
The smirk on Neikan's face was instantly replaced with shock.
Sorrow.
Finally, it was no longer his hysterical laughs that echoed into the air, but rather a pained cry.
Love.
She poured out everything to ensure her loved ones happiness.
Pink light burst out from Neikan's eyes and open mouth. Her hand that was placed over Neikan's heart began to disintegrate as she witnessed the rest of his body slowly follow.
The pulse of the Shikon no Tama ceased.
The Shikon no Tama was finally gone.
But though she rejoiced in the thought of finally defeating Neikan, she noticed her body vanishing as well.
A sad smirk appeared on her lips as she knew things would end this way.
There was no way Neikan would die alone…
No, he would take her along with him.
Looking in the direction Sesshomaru stood, she was thankful that the bright light was still shining which blocked her view of him. She did not think her heart could take the pain of witnessing his anguished expression. Though he could not see her as well, she knew he could still hear her.
"Sesshomaru," she called out his name one last time as she felt her heart break.
She knew she would be the reason his heart would freeze again.
"I love you," her voice confessed brokenly as tears streamed down.
Slowly feeling her eyes close, she tried to imagine what her life would have been like as his mate.
A sad smile appeared on her lips.
'It would have been beautiful,' her thoughts echoed its last words.
Finally closing her eyes,
She allowed the darkness to engulf her.
Author's Note: I drew a quick sketch of a scene from this chapter. Check it out on my Dokuga Fanart Page.
Thank you for reading,
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