As they walked, Miroku felt his lungs burn with the familiar agony that came with breathing Miasma. Weakness trickled into his muscles and his head swam with lightness, it was a miserable feeling, one he was not fond of in the slightest. He was regretting denying Brian's talisman, it would have made this trek into the cave far easier and yet here he was, walking and relying solely on his training. Very much in pain, very much miserable.
But why? Why did he dislike the boy so much, the boy who had done nothing but help and heal them...
Magic! Plain and simple, Miroku did not trust anyone with a trace of true magic, other then spiritual magic. Magic had been what cursed his bloodline, costing him his father and grandfather... Magic had shortened his life and probably would kill him one day. He detested it, loathed it, hated it and those who practiced it. Was he being fair... no... was he being petty, very much so. It didn't help that he could see right through the boy's false kindness, practically taste his falsehoods and wonder at his true disposition.
'I have been conning people for years, I know what a liar looks like.'
Or so was his thought process.
That the boy's spiritual powers, only after seven months of training, had reached half of his own whiles sealed by the wind tunnel and surpassed his power by more then double when you added Chi... well it didn't help his ego any.
A surge of pain shot through his chest, and he regretted his ego. 'Damn, I should have accepted his talisman.' Stumbling, Miroku fell to his knees, coughing painfully. "Damn it."
Inuyasha naturally barked at him. "Hey, what're you doing, Miroku?! So hopeless!"
Wincing, the Monk coughed some more. " If It wasn't for my training I couldn't do this at all. An average human would not stand a chance." He may have said more but then a set of warm calloused hands wrapped something around his neck and the pain faded away. Looking down, he saw a talisman of a dragon wrapped around a circle. He could feel the Chi and Spiritual energy in it soothing his body, repelling and purifying the air around him. He knew who had given it to him but he couldn't help but be bothered by it, just grateful. "Thank you, Brian, I guess I overestimated my abilities."
"Happens to the best of us, but we need to hurry. I can feel strong magic ahead, and the presence of many demons... their auras are all wrong, they feel... blended and mismatched." The boy's voice was filled with worry and fear, and in that moment Miroku genuinely felt regret in how he treated the boy.
Miroku nodded as he stood up. " I can sense it too."
The group continued, moving closer to the sounds of combat that now filled the air. After a short walk, they all reached a huge ditch of purple liquid and demon carcasses.
Kagome gasped, a look of horror on her face. " What is that, it smells disgusting?"
"Demon remains?" Something was wrong here, Miroku frowned seeing this and feeling the magic in the air he knew there was sorcery at work he just couldn't figure out what.
Suddenly the strange liquid started swirling, sucking the carcasses into a whirlpool. The liquid falls away to reveal a hulking demon that radiated powerful miasma and a demonic presence. From the water a strange reptilian demon also appeared. The air shook as they growled at each other and started to fight to the deaeth, brutally biting and slashing at each other with claw and tooth and spiked body armor.
"Demons fighting each other?"
The Humanoid demon punched reptilian demon before the Reptilian demon bit off the human shaped demon's hand. The Human shaped demon grabbed its neck with his other hand and bites into it. Both of them crash into the liquid pool violently, spewing the strange fluid everyhwere.
Miroku was starting to understand. " Hundreds of demons have been fighting and killing each other here. Those who lost and their debris showered the village. These are the remains."
Inuyasha. " Awful. But why are they doing this?"
As if to answer Inuyasha's question, they watched as the human shaped demon tore off the reptilian's head off, throwing it against the wall. Then, with a surge of power and miasma, the fluid and remains flowed around and merged with the surviving demon, changing it's form so that it had a face on it's lower abdomen, reptilian scales on its back and a tail.
"The last demon standing."
Merged its body with the others... "Brian choked out. "Miroku, your versed in magic, isn't this like Fuko? Someone is making a new demon but for what purpose? A spell like this is usually cast to make small familiar demons for assassination or experimentation not for creatures of this size. It would take incredible power to lock these demons in, like comparable to Kagome's spiritual strength kind of power. Who would be able to do this and maintain a barrier so the demons couldn't just climb out."
Miroku cringed, knowing the boy was right. 'Naraku is the only demon I know of that is strong enough for this, especially with jewel shards in his possession.'
The remaining demon screamed out, his voice deep and multilayered. " Why can't I get out?! The last demon standing was supposed to leave here alive?!"
Eye gleaming red, the beast turned towards them. "Is there another demon here?"
Inuyasha almost growled. " You mean me?"
"Wait, Inuyasha!" He tried to stop his friend from jumping in, figuring out just what was going on.
"Lemme go!" But before Inuyasha jumped in, a silver barrier stopped him.
They both turned to Brian, who scowled at the dog demon. "Enough, if you or any other demon jump in before the spell ends you become part of it. If you win you'd join with the beast and lose yourself. If you lost then you would merge with it. Don't be stupid, we need to focus on breaking the spell... Kagome is the answer here, only she has the power to break it."
"He's right." Miroku couldn't believe himself and was grateful for the boy's actions. "This is just like the Fuko spell! The same method to create Kodoku!
Kagome looked curious, as did Sango, but it was Kagome who asked. "Fuko spell, Brian just mentioned that? What's a Kadoku?
"With the Fuko spell, poisonous worms and lizards are placed in one pot, have them kill each other off. The last remaining alive then becomes a creature called Kodoku. This is the same thing only on a far larger spell. Brian's right, this is cast by a very powerful demon."
"I can sense the Jewel but not..." Kagome said, frowning. "It's like it's here but also not, this is definitely a trap."
"To replicate the sense of the jewel you'd have to... "Brian froze, turning around with a shudder. " I can sense a powerful spiritual presence even strong the Kagome approaching, only there's a trace of demonic essence in it... I... "
"Stronger then Kagome... " Inuyasha frowned before a soft reverence crossed his face as he sniffed the air. "Kikyo..."
"It doesn't matter, we have to break this spell..." Miroku pitied Kagome, the pain in her eyes at the mention of Kikyo, but they had to remain focused on this situation less they be killed by the demon.
"""
Brian felt woozy, the lack of Chi was almost debilitating. It was a wrong feeling, nothing should feel like that. "He's right we, Ugh!" He bent over, pain exploding across his body as something slammed into his barrier, almost shattering it on impact. His head swarmed, there wasn't enough Chi to maintain the barrier or cast spells. Even the staff, which drew from the ambient power around him, was weakened. Stumbling back, he focused on his spiritual powers and sent a surge of strength but it was too late, the beast slammed into his barrier again, shattering it and grabbing Inuyasha.
Everything went black for a moment then as the staff started drawing on the closest source of power, of Chi, it could...
His power...
Then something worse happened... the infection on his chest started to burn as he was exposed fully to the magic in the air. The demonic essence fell under the pull of the spell and before he could stop himself he jumped into the cavern. The instant he landed, he felt the spell take hold of his body and knew he was part of the experiment.
"Damn it!" He called out, rolling to the side to dodge an angry fist that whipped at him. He saw, as he turned on his back, the sword of Inuyasha carving through the beast's arm, which fell in the water he managed to get upright. "It's the curse on my skin." he called out. " The demon in my flesh was drawn by the spell."
They really needed to break it.
Souls, half a dozen of them, suddenly filled the air and he turned to see their source, a stunned looking women that looked a lot like Kagome only dressed in a Miko's garb. The others stopped her from stumbling into the cavern, but she did collapse into their arms.
'Damn it, she is stronger then Kagome she could easily dispel the beast... Kagome could hurt it but not destroy it. It wouldn't break the spell on this place, it would just heal or merge with Inuyasha... if we could just move out of this cave, the spell would break automatically when there is nothing containing it.'
Then it hit him and he knew how to escape...
"Shoot the sky Kagome!" Brian called out, knowing Inuyasha. "The barrier needs to be shattered so the spell will complete itself without the demon merging with Inuyasha or I."
His student nodded, pulling out an arrow and pointing it skyward. She focused her power, and unleashed a blast. Pink energy swirled around the arrow as it shot upwards, exploding with glorious light that danced down coolly onto the cavern. In an instant he felt the spell lift... and then everything went to hell.
The pool of carcasses, in a swirl of sheer demonic power, is sucked upwards to the opening forcefully.
Miroku called out over the sound of the spell. "The spell is broken! The miasma is disintegrating!"
The sucking force of the spell was too much and Brian was in the air, screaming as he joins the surge of demonic carcasses along side a stunned Inuyasha.
"Inuyasha!" he called out, grabbing Inuyasha's hand and together they managed to climb onto another carcass. Inuyasha's strong arms held him fast so he didn't fly off. A strong demonic presence feeling exactally like the miasma drew him. "Look over there."
The air current surged toward a seated figure, one of a handsome man cloaked in a white baboon cloak.
Inuyasha growled out. "Naraku!"
The spell seemed to shift as The air current approached the being that was apparently Naraku. The man looked up with a deep smirk just before the living demon touched him and in an instant it started to merge with Naraku forcefully. The air shifting as the man's demonic aura exploded, tripling with strength so great it left Brian dizzy.
Inuyasha tightened his grip before he pulled him away, jumping off the current. Together they both turn to look at Naraku, whose nude body began to morph in front of them. Piece by piece, the various fragments he took in melted into his body. The claws of the hulking demon, the spikes of the reptilian beast, the centipede like appendage and tail... all of it sank into his body, swiftly become one human looking form that radiated intense power.
"Kagome destroyed his body, that's why he made he Fuko spell he needed a new body."
Finally Naraku turned to them. "So the mountain miasma lured you and you entered the cave upon which I had cast my spell." His laugh was almost as cruel as it was intense. " Inuyasha, you could have fused into this body, too, if only you had the courage."
The spell broken, the Chi immediately began to return to the area. Brian closed his eyes and allowed it to flood his cells once more, easing his nausea and strengthening his body. He channeled it into his staff, recharging it as much as he could. He needed to be ready to fight.
When he opened his eyes, he saw Naraku looking at him. " Who are you, I haven't harmed you and yet you join Inuyasha. Did you break my spell?"
Inuyasha, perhaps impatiently, shot toward Naraku screaming. "It doesn't matter who broke it, your dead Naraku!" Before slashing at an unflinching Naraku.
A barrier of energy stopped the blade just as Naraku exploded in a swirl of Miasma that knocked Inuyasha away easily. Naraku's presence waned considerably as he flew away, leaving Brian with a furious Inuyasha and many, many questions.
Who was Naraku really, how did he manage to cast a spell so advanced and just what new powers would come from merging his body with so many demons?"
Would they be able to defeat someone who could grow so much stronger just by consuming demon parts?
Could anyone defeat that kind of person?
'What did I get myself into?'
Chapter end, tell me what you think in the reviews.
Each chapter will be around 1500 to 2500 words long each, each chapter half or a third of an episode... depending on the episode.
Love, your Ninja Overlord,
Mika.