It was all in the timing.
Could they all be precise enough? Because Kikyō had a very strong suspicion that what needed to happen next—namely, closing the portal—couldn't be done with the ballistic reiki or yōki that had worked so effectively on the mantis demon.
Kikyō pondered as she walked up the stairs. Kagura had done an outstanding job segregating the reiki from the yōki in their aura blasters. Had made sure that there were at least three redundant failsafes to keep them apart (Kagura building in multiple redundancies was scary) and now… Kikyō wanted to figure out how to unleash both at the same time.
"Gu," Kikyō whispered, "you know how you built these to make sure not to unleash both yōki and reiki at the same time?"
"Yes…" Kagura raised her eyebrow as she turned to look at Kikyō.
"How do you undo the safeguards?" Kikyō asked. "If… that is how we might be able to—"
"So that's how you think we can turn the portal off." Kagura finished Kikyō's sentence.
"Yes…" Kikyō confirmed; the possibilities of what could happen after they injected yōki and reiki had already begun to bang around in her head.
"You know those booms are booms that don't just… hurt demons, right?" Kagura frowned.
Yes, Kikyō knew that.
She would solve that problem once she solved the close-the-portal-and-maybe-reverse-it problem.
"I know you, Gu. It wouldn't be something that someone could do randomly, but… the failsafe release probably is not that complicated." Kikyō really really hoped that she had the proper read of her girlfriend.
"Don't laugh…" Kagura whispered back. "A-B-A-B up-down-up-down."
Kikyō had to swallow down the snigger that tried to break from her. Yes, she definitely had a proper read of her girlfriend, and her girlfriend was a huge nerd.
"Off-on-off-on, reiki-yōki-reiki-yōki… " Kagura whispered back, "then, pump the trigger, and the yōki and the reiki will alternate… but…"
"Beware of big boom," Kikyō nodded.
"Beware of big boom," Kagura agreed, and took Kikyō's hand into hers.
The look they exchanged was unnecessary: they knew the stakes of what was potentially coming next. But, flooding the portal with the yōki/reiki reaction would do the trick. It would not only stop things from streaming out of the human end, it would also act as an implosion, sucking anything with yōki back in with it.
"Your mesh on Inuyasha..." Kikyō whispered, "would it keep him from being sucked in?"
"Hypothetically… yes," Kagura answered; Kikyō and she turned their attention to Inuyasha, whose ears made it clear that he was following every syllable of their conversation. "Hypothetically."
"I'll take my chances," Inuyasha whispered back to them both, "do what you gotta do."
A grave understanding passed through all of them that moment. There was a real possibility of failing, and there was a real possibility of dying. The noodle demons were one thing; even the creepy henchmen demons had been fairly straightforward to vanquish. Naraku, though, Kikyō shuddered. She was still trying to get used to the way that her hair stood up on the back of her neck as she ascended, how her reiki was rioting inside of her skin.
"Shit is really bad up there, isn't it?" Kagome had turned around, her face nearly as pale as Kikyō's. "It just feels…"
"Bad." Kikyō finished Kagome's sentence.
This was worse than all the other demons. This was worse than the time Kagura had accidentally set off a yōki blast a little too close. Sometimes Kikyō swore she could feel a tendril of something black and grotesque try to brush against her reiki, which was both trying to slow her advance and to spur her on, readying for attack.
"Off the meter," Kagura added, a silver yōki-ammeter hybrid in her hand.
"Whatever is up there is not the strongest demon I've ever met," Inuyasha interjected; he was carrying everything that the rest of them could not carry. "But… you're not gonna want to hold back."
"There are still people in this building," Sango joined the conversation. "Are you really talking about—"
"No," Kikyō answered, "not unless we absolutely have to."
Setting off the yōki and reiki bomb would blow off the top of CPW Towers, and would definitely kill all the humans in the building, including them. What if Naraku survived that? He would be free to go on his rampage without anyone there to stop him.
No.
"We need to set it off inside the portal," Kikyō thought aloud. "Its electromagnetic energy will contain the blast and…"
"The reiki/yōki explosion would reverse it," Inuyasha finished Kikyō's thought. "But… it really, really has to be inside the portal."
"Yeah…" Kikyō was still working that part out. "And it needs to be… big."
Simultaneous reiki/yōki grenade big.
"I guess we stop Onigumo first, then close the portal," Kagome shrugged. "Off-on-off-on, reiki-yōki-reiki-yōki…"
"Well, we better do that right now because…" Inuyasha pointed to the sign: 20th floor, "we're here."
As they opened the door and glanced down the corridor, there was no doubt what direction they needed to head. Kikyō's reiki swirled around her, lashing and lapping at the air, which was abuzz with black energy. Kikyō didn't want to continue forward. She wanted to turn and run away from that feeling. She wanted to hide, because her instincts were screaming that she was in extreme danger.
Kagura's hand entwined itself in hers. "We got this, Keek."
Kagura always knew.
"Not every day you get to save the world with your girlfriend," Kagura squeezed, but Kikyō could hear her nerves. "A demon, a witch, a cop and a physicist walked into hell…"
"How about… five friends walked into hell," Sango offered, still in front of the group, "two-by-two, so we can cover each other. Inuyasha and Kagome, then you and Kagura… then me."
"You just turned my joke into a tactical maneuver," Kagura guffawed, but did as Sango ordered: two-by-two down the hallway toward the source of the black yōki, Kagome and Inuyasha (the soulmated miko and half-demon), then Kikyō and Kagura, then Sango.
"That is definitely the apartment." Kagome pointed at the door at the far end of the hall.
Kikyō felt as if something evil was trying to reach out and choke her. But the energy stopped before it could touch her. As if…
As if her beautiful girlfriend was also a genius.
"Our shields are not just Faraday cages, are they?" Kikyō beamed at Kagura. Had she told Kagura how beautiful she was that day? Because Kagura was beautiful.
"I experiment. And Inuyasha is a fun guinea pig," Kagura answered. Kikyō's face erupted into a smile, even in spite of itself.
It was the last smile she would be able to wear for a while, as they closed in on the last door. When they finally made it, they all took a deep breath—their last deep breath before the plunge.
"3—2—1…" Inuyasha kicked the door in, and they all streamed into the darkened apartment.
The light inside was blinding, a frenzy of rippled lighting walling in the portal. Letting the stream of monsters continue their assault on the city. As Kikyō's eyes adjusted, she was able to make out a dark black silhouette standing dead-center. She could hear the hum of every aura blaster as everyone's fingers found their way to the triggers, and (somehow) Inuyasha's low growl.
"Ah, Inuyasha, it is good to see you again…" The voice was high-pitched and raspy, leaving the sensation of clawing at Kikyō's ears with every syllable uttered. "And you must be the demon hunters…"
"Onigumo…" Inuyasha had tensed, the equipment he had carried all those floors discarded in a pile behind him, his hand on the trigger for his pack.
"Ohhh, yes. That is what I forced this thing to call itself—" the silhouette now carried a distinct human shape, "ah ah ah… I wouldn't do that if I were you, half-breed…" The creature pointed to Inuyasha's hands, which had almost squeezed the trigger. "You wouldn't want to blow up so many innocents, would you now?"
Inuyasha growled, but he took his finger off the trigger. Sango stepped next to Inuyasha, perfectly positioned to cover him. They nodded at each other subtly, a signal to everyone that Sango was taking the lead for what was coming next.
"What would you like us to call you, then?" Sango had changed her voice over to her authoritative voice.
"Naraku would do just fine," the figure said, finally lit well enough that Kikyō could make out his face.
Holy hell, he did look like Wormtongue. He was average height, with stringy waved hair. His skin was sallow and his lips were blueish. But his eyes were red. Not just that: they were glowing.
Kikyō breathed as calmly as she could, to get her reiki under control. When it finally stopped protesting, she used it to probe him, gently.
Whatever was standing in front of her did not feel human.
"Why have you come here?" Sango continued, her voice calm, trained.
"You must be the cop." Naraku turned his blood-red eyes toward Sango. To Sango's credit, she didn't so much as flinch at the attention. "I would have thought one of the witches would ask the questions. Or maybe the half-breed."
Kikyō watched Inuyasha tense, but he too remained quiet. At the way that Naraku's eyes roved both her and Kagome though, Kikyō's stomach dropped. It was not the look of someone with mild interest, or even disdain as he had shown Inuyasha: it was desire. He wanted to feast on them. Kikyō's hand found the trigger of her blaster. Just in case.
"They have better things to do," Sango shrugged, "so let's try again. Why are you here?"
"Revenge," Naraku purred, malice dripping from his yellowed teeth.
"On who, exactly?" Sango was on a roll.
The figure continued to sneer, and even started to pace, but something felt wrong, off. As if just behind the netted lightning, a shadow of something was bubbling up from the depths of the portal.
"The vile scum who banished me!" Naraku answered. "I lived in the borderlands for centuries. Biding my time. Preparing." Naraku's voice became more shrill; the veil of calm menace had started to crack. "They said I was a megalomaniac. That my vision of the world was crazy. That… I was wrong about my supremacy. But…" his voice was becoming less and less controlled, "no. I found a way. The way to defeat them. To return to my rightful place as their lord and ruler—yes—andall I need is you."
There it was again: desire in Naraku's eyes, toward Kagome and toward her. Kikyō bared her teeth at the demon.
"You'll be turned to ash from the inside out if you so much as reach out to touch me," Kikyō snarled, letting just a little bit of her own reiki flare at her threat, "or her."
If Kikyō had thought that that would improve things, she was entirely and utterly wrong. Naraku's yellowed grin was now as wide as a horror movie clown's. He liked watching her display her power. Got off on Kikyō's show of defiance. Like he was waiting until the right moment to pounce, to take what he wanted, to take her or to take Kagome.
Fuck that.
Kikyō squeezed the trigger of her blaster, letting a beam of deep magenta reiki hit the stringy-haired man. A shadow appeared from behind the portal wall, like a tentacle, and swatted the beam away.
Somewhere nearby in the building, Kikyō heard a scream.
"Every time you have a go at me, I'll have a go at an innocent," Naraku rasped. "Apartment 21F, a child is now motherless." His eyes flashed back at Kikyō. "Shall we play this game again?"
Kikyō saw Sango's eyes widen, and watched her silently signal to stand down.
Attacking was not going to do any good. Kikyō was going to need to think.
"You've made your point." Sango continued talking, her voice a lot calmer than Kikyō knew her to be. "Why do you need my friends?"
Naraku is connected to the portal somehow. And connected to Onigumo. But how are they connected?
"Their reiki…" Naraku's maniacal grin was back. "Such a delicious weapon against demons, especially in the right hands…"
"But reiki can hurt you…" Sango was clearly trying to keep Naraku speaking.
There's a shadow in the portal growing larger. Something that was able to absorb my reiki beam. But Naraku is here in front of me… Kikyō just had to keep letting the facts swirl around in her mind.
"Oh fucking fuck," Inuyasha shouted, "you're a fucking psycho. Eating the hearts of spiritual people is a myth, you dumbass." He was now in front of Kagome completely, his growls barely contained, his ears vibrating in alert.
Naraku is here to hunt down people with reiki. But he's not attacking. He's standing there. Almost as if… Kikyō could feel the conclusion lapping at the edges of her conscious mind. She almost had it.
"Ohhhh, tsk tsk, Inuyasha." Naraku sounded gleeful, and he was getting more powerful. "Just because you were taught that it doesn't work, doesn't make it true." The insatiable eyes turned back toward Kikyō… but still Naraku stood close to the portal, pacing but not advancing. "Every heart I devour, I get stronger. Every reiki-bearing person who becomes one with me, I gain their strength! I will return to our world, supreme! Because no one here will be able to withstand my yōki, and no one there will withstand all the reiki in the human world! All the reiki that will be mine!"
He's laughing maniacally but still not moving. But still the shadow is growing… almost like… like…
"Guys! Onigumo is a puppet!" Kikyō shouted it before she could stop herself. "He's buying time! The real Naraku is still in the portal!"
There was a howl, and the man that was once Onigumo shuddered and collapsed in front of them, like the skin of a shedding snake. In its place was a black tentacle, the hand of the puppetmaster, connected to the mouth of the wide-open portal. Kikyō let loose her beam again, switching the machine to unleash both yōki and reiki together.
The resultant blast knocked her backward, but she felt Kagura's hand holding her up. The tentacle was slashing across the room as beams of light shot from Sango's and Kagome's packs, corralling it and injuring it, but never containing it.
"At least those booms are getting sucked back into the portal," Kagura shouted, turning her nozzle on and adding the the red and pink light. "Cross the streams and get ready to—"
"YOU'RE TOO LATE."The rasping voice of Naraku boomed so loudly that it pushed them all back. "Judgment day has arrived."
They watched in horror as two-three-six-seven tentacles joined the first, spreading through the hole and pulling a black, hairy body through with them. When its head also emerged, Kikyō found herself glaring at an entire face full of blood-red glowing eyes.
Naraku's true form was that of a giant spider.
"You first, witch!" Naraku's motions were lightning fast, spearing Kikyō with black yōki. "You're going to be delicious."
Kikyō collapsed to the ground.
She couldn't move.
She was paralyzed.
She watched helplessly as the spider knocked away the beams of light from her friends' packs like playthings. She watched as the portal closed behind Naraku with a pop. She heard her friends shouting. She heard Kagura damning everything to hell as she stepped in front of her to guard her.
Then everything faded to black.