The Demon Within Set Free

After traveling the countryside for weeks, the heroes returned to the village near the Bone-Eaters Well to recuperate. Inuyasha went to the residence that belonged to Kikyo. Her younger sister, Kaede, who was now an elderly woman, still resided in the house and continued serving as the village priestess. Kaede had learned of her elder sister's fate and suffered a greater heartache than she did when Kikyo first died fifty years ago. She also empathized deeply with Inuyasha and agreed that he had suffered as much.

Outside, Kagome changed out of her school uniform and was dressed in the traditional attire of a priestess. She hung her clothes near the tree to dry after washing them. She still couldn't understand who or what was sealing her spiritual power.

Kaede wondered if it was the Shikon Jewel itself that was sealing Kagome's power. Before Kikyo's spirit was laid to rest, she was lent the power of the legendary warrior Midoriko and her will had been taking over. However, within the Sacred Jewel alongside Midoriko were the souls of the many demons who fought against her. The combined souls of the demons was an evil presence was known as Magatsuhi. Now that Midoriko's will was no longer with the Sacred Jewel, it was able to act on the will of Magatsuhi. Kaede wondered if it was the will of Magatsuhi trying to suppress Kagome's power.

Far away in a cave, Naraku held the Jewel and tried speaking to Magatsuhi. "You must act now. If you continue to idly stand by, the soul of Midoriko and Millennia's light will attempt to purify the Sacred Jewel. Even the Dark Lord's power will not be enough to keep it defiled." Naraku wondered if Magatsuhi needed a body of his own, so he offered up some of his own flesh for the evil entity to manifest. Magatsuhi emerged from Naraku's body and fled from the cave.

Back in the village, Kagome changed back into her clothes when suddenly, she felt an evil presence. The rest of the heroes felt it too.

Inuyasha and his friends weren't the only ones sensing the evil presence. Far away, Sesshomaru and his group found themselves standing before a malformed creature. It was Magatsuhi. He had come to take Kohaku's Jewel shard. Max wouldn't let him. She used her Dark Force spell to attack Magatsuhi. Sesshomaru no longer had a sword, but he still had his brute strength. His arm went through Magatsuhi's body, but the evil creature felt no pain. He was about to grasp Sesshomaru in his limbs, but the dog demon escaped.

Kohaku got an idea. If this creature was sent by Naraku, then he shouldn't be able to harm the boy because his Jewel Shard was purified by Kikyo. Unfortunately, his theory did not apply to Magatsuhi. The evil creature came into contact with Kohaku's Jewel shard and began defiling it. Max used her Gem Missile attack to pierce Magatsuhi's arm with jeweled spears. After that, she flew in to rescue Kohaku.

At that time, the heroes arrived. "Max, are you all right?" Emily asked.

"Yeah, but that demon took me by surprise," she said, looking at Magatsuhi.

Kagome began trying to purify Kohaku's Jewel shard, but when Magatsuhi glared at her, he stopped her. She suddenly fell and lost consciousness.

"Take Kohaku and leave," Sesshomaru commanded the others. "He is in the way. And so are you," he said, looking at Emily.

The blonde knew it was pointless to argue with Sesshomaru. It was a cold fact of nature that he was ruthless and no one could persuade him otherwise. Other than that, even though Emily was a princess, she had no power over Sesshomaru. No one did.

"Hold on," Max cried, "you're too badly injured," she said, noticing how badly scorched his arm was.

"You underestimate me," he told her. He held out his arm and began recovering. After that, he took on his true form. It didn't matter how many times Max saw Sesshomaru in the form of a dog. She was always astonished with his transformation and wished she had the power to transform into a great beast just as he did.

Sesshomaru bit off Magatsuhi's head, but the evil creature was still alive. His body released a miasma and tentacles came out trying to reach for Kohaku. Max used her Air Blast to cut the tentacles so the others could escape. To Magatsuhi, it didn't matter how often he would be attacked or in what way since this wasn't his own body. That was when he finally introduced himself and began wrapping his body around Sesshomaru.

But Sesshomaru would not allow himself to be devoured by filthy vermin. He took on his human form again and escaped from Magatsuhi's grasp.

Max growled and told Sesshomaru, "I know you don't want help from us, but I can't let you die!"

Emily was astonished to hear Max say that. If I didn't know better, I'd think Max had a crush on Sesshomaru. Why am I thinking that? I should be saying the same thing to her! She flies ahead and attacks with Lucent Beam. To Magatsuhi, that attack was almost as painful as Midoriko's spiritual power.

With Magatsuhi's body scattered everywhere, the others were at risk for attack even from their own allies. Sesshomaru began gathering the remains in one place. "It's almost surprising to see Sesshomaru put himself in harm's way for others," Max wondered.

It wasn't surprising to Rin. "Not really. Lord Sesshomaru's a good person once you get to know him."

After gathering enough of Magatsuhi's body parts in one place, Sesshomaru decided to leave the rest to the others and deal with the evil entity himself. For the dog demon, his pride was at stake. As he got close enough to the creature's head, Sesshomaru caught the scent of something differen't from Naraku's scent. To everyone's surprise, he drew Tenseiga and cut through a force that was not part of this world, revealing Magatsuhi's true form. The evil creature was a ghostly face.

Magatsuhi wasn't going to give Sesshomaru the opportunity to kill him. He used the parts of his body as a shield against Tenseiga. He also attacked by sending his arm through Sesshomaru's body. Once more, Magatsuhi began attempting to devour the dog demon.

Inuyasha had enough and began attacking the body parts. Like Max, Inuyasha wasn't going to let Sesshomaru die. He knew his older brother didn't want his help, but he didn't care. Are you so proud that you won't accept help from the one who took Meido Zangetsuha or from a fox girl who goes out of her way from you? You idiot!

Magatsuhi began snaring Inuyasha in his grasp. "What's wrong? Why don't you use that splendid sword of yours to blast it to pieces," the evil creature asked.

Inuyasha wouldn't do it. He wouldn't sacrifice Sesshomaru. Knowing that, Emily cut the tentacles with her Lucent Beam spell. "Joey, draw your bow."

"Right," he agreed. He held his bow out to her and Emily began using her magic to power it up. The bow was now filled with light magic. Joey shot one of his arrows and it made its way to Magatsuhi like a laser, attacking him.

Suddenly, a light began illuminating inside the mass of body parts. Sesshomaru was breaking free. The light was also coming from where his left arm was severed after his first battle with Inuyasha. A new arm appeared along with a new sword called Baksaiga. The sword's power was destroying the mass of body parts, making it impossible for Magatsuhi to regenerate. Also, body parts that weren't unscathed were being destroyed by coming into contact with the remains that were.

Magatsuhi's body was destroyed, but the evil entity was still alive and able to escape. Sesshomaru marveled at his new weapon. It was not one that belonged to his father. No, this was his own blade waiting to be released. In the beginning, Sesshomaru's obsession with wanting to obtain Tetsusaiga as his own costed him his left arm. But by letting go of his obsession and his loss of his arm, he achieved a great victory by earning back his arm and his own sword. In addition, Sesshomaru has surpassed his father with this achievement.

Emotions run deep in demons, more so than humans. That means letting go is harder for demons than it is for humans. Sesshomaru may be as tough as nails, but even he has his pride and weaknesses. And like everyone else, even he can't go a day in his life without being challenged or learning something new. Also, his challenges aren't always what he expects. And whether he likes it or not, he has to live his life this way just like everyone else and like everyone else, sometimes even Seshsomaru can have a little growing up to do.

Kagome woke up and realized she was back inside Kaede's residence. Her friends explained to her that she collapsed after Magatsuhi glared at her. She also saw Kohaku lying beside her and sensed that his Jewel shard was still defiled. It didn't make sense to any of the heroes. A small spark of Kikyo's light was still inside Kohaku's Jewel shard and had enough power to purify Naraku when he tried to take the shard. Yet when Magatsuhi got close enough to the shard, he was able to effortlessly defile it. Kaiba wondered if it was because Magatsuhi was the will of the spirits of the demons Midoriko fought and had no material form.

Other than that, when Kikyo used her spiritual power on the Sacred Jewel and sent it back to Naraku, it was meant to purify him and only him. Still, since Magatsuhi also came from the Jewel and the Jewel was filled with Kikyo's spiritual power and Millennia's light from that last resort, shouldn't he have been purified in the same way? Was it because Naraku was trying to defile the Jewel with his demonic power as well as the power of his Cobalt Star shard that Magatsuhi wasn't purified?

Kagome tried to purify Kohaku's Sacred Jewel shard, but nothing was happening. Now everyone knew for sure that Magatsuhi was the one suppressing Kagome's spiritual powers.

Sesshomaru wasn't going to wait any longer. He had a score to settle with Magatsuhi and now he had the weapon to destroy him.

"Lord Sesshomaru, Kohaku hasn't woken up yet," Rin told him. "If we wait a little longer-,"

"Kohaku will be staying here," he interrupted. "You and Max will be too."

Rin was upset to hear that. "Don't be upset, Rin," Max assured her. "He's not abandoning you. He just doesn't want you in harm's way." Max tried to understand why Sesshomaru didn't want her along either. Her ego was telling her it was because he didn't like her and was always telling her she was in his way. But her heart was telling her it was to protect Rin and Kohaku. Max also remembered saying that Kohaku would be in good hands with her around. Other than that, knowing how much Rin liked Max made it all the more reason Sesshomaru would want her to protect the girl.

"I guess so," Rin replied.

"Would you listen to yourself," Jaken shouted. "You're acting like a spoiled brat! Lord Sesshomaru is a born warrior and he certainly didn't need the trouble of bringing two kids and a sassy Kitsune-"

"Jaken, you will be staying too," Sesshomaru told him. Now Jaken was the one getting upset and not wanting to be left behind. As Inuyasha watched his brother leave, he was still against the idea of him facing Magatsuhi alone, but there wasn't much the heroes could do at the time.