Hey all, back again!
So, just to give a heads up now that we're heading into Fall again, my updating might be on the slow side (more so than usual - lol) due to making time for both School (fifth year at university) and Work, so just continue to exercise patience like the wonderful readers I know you are.
That's it; read on and prosper :)
Chapter 121: Enter Bankotsu - Leader of the Shichinintai
A gentle breeze flutters pass and stirs movement from the red flags set to mark the clan of the castle sitting on the face of a mountain distantly adjacent to a cliff hill, where that same young man dressed in fine warrior wear and his long black hair braided back was now sitting, as he attempted to compose a message to send to the far-off structure.
"Hmm, let's see..."
...But based on the more-than-half-dozen wads of crumpled rice paper, it would seem he was having trouble finding the right words to use.
"Dauh, that's no good!"
He crumples up the one he was currently working on with a frustrated groan, and picks up a new sheet with his calligraphy brush to try again.
"Wait, I've got it: 'Prepare to die...'...Hm...No, no, no! Damn it!"
Another reject is tossed away as the man buries his face into one of his palms in exasperation...
"Bankotsu sir."
"Mm?"
He, now identified as Bankotsu, looks up to see that Kohaku had appeared before him in a respected kneel.
"I have brought you your friends."
...And coming up none too far behind the brainwashed young demon slayer, was Ginkotsu and the other three Shichinintai brothers riding atop him. Jakotsu greets Bankotsu first with a cheery smile:
"Heeey, Bankotsu!"
He waves back just as merrily with a hearty laugh in his voice:
"Hey! Hehahaha!"
Soon enough, the three arriving zombie men were kneeling respectively in front of their leader, while the undead cyborg was settled a little ways behind them. Renkotsu starts the main conversation on a neutral front:
"So big brother: We are all back together at last."
"Not all."
"You see, the thing is..."
The fire-user finishes Jakotsu's attempt to explain the more tragic (to them) piece of news to report.
"Big brother. The truth is Kyokotsu and Mukotsu were-"
"They were killed. Couldn't be helped."
Renkotsu was surprised that Bankotsu knew of the fates of their fellow mercenaries, and had taken the information in more casually than anticipated.
"You knew already?" The latter doesn't elaborate:
"Now, Renkotsu." He then tosses the former the calligraphy brush:
"You're smart, so you can write."
"Sure...but what?"
Bankotsu stands and thinks aloud for a moment:
"Let's see...'The time has come to settle old scores. Our vengeance shall be found, so prepare to die', or something to that affect."
Jakotsu felt his excitement rise, figuring out where his brother's thoughts were leading to.
"Do we get to kill people?"
"Yeah...Remember that castle?"
"Why? Should we?"
A dark smirk spreads onto Bankotsu's face as the jewel shards in his neck glow dimly in accordance to the memories stirring within his mind.
"Yes. The inhabitants of that castle are the deceitful bastards who chopped our heads off."
Flashback
Turn back the clock to more than a decade ago, back when the Shichinintai were all together, and roamed the countryside in search of any sort of odd battle job to satisfy their cravings for thrills and bloodshed...
"That last battle was alot of fun, wasn't it?" Suikotsu nods and replies to Jakotsu,
"I love it when they beg for mercy." Ginkotsu agreed with both:
"Geeeesh..."
"Maybe this next job will be just as enjoyable."
Renkotsu comments with his own cruel smile,
"Maybe. What do you think, big brother?"
"Will it be fun?"
Bankotsu replies to both his mercenary brothers,
"Yes, I rather think it will be."
He pauses on the path cutting through the maple forest they all were traveling through, and looks through a gap to a distant destination.
"Look there: The castle."
...Eventually, the band would reach the structure and enter the courtyard to meet with a general who wore a leather mask of sorts over his face. Jakotsu mutters to Renkotsu,
"So, who is this guy?"
"He's the general of the samurai of this castle."
"You're kidding. Isn't the lord himself gonna appear?"
His question would go unanswered, as Bankotsu and the general discuss the details regarding the Shichinintai's called-in objective.
"My lord wants you to attack a certain village in the Eastern Lands."
"As an advance team?"
"If the Band of Seven is as good as they say, it shouldn't be of no problem."
Bankotsu felt a prideful smirk tug onto his lips:
"If you meet our price."
"My lord has instructed me to pay whatever you demand."
"Hm. Then we accept."
End of Flashback
Bankotsu and Jakotsu were now both standing near one another as their eyes gazed over towards the mountainous castle yonder, the memories of that event which brought the mercenary band to an end the first time fueling their desire for payback in only the cruelest form of irony.
"I'm glad they haven't been wiped out by some other lord over the years."
"Yes, otherwise my 'companion' might not still be there..."
Jakotsu quickly deciphers the meaning behind his fellow zombie's words.
"You mean they still have it?"
"Yeah, (dark smile) and now, I'll show 'em how it's used..."
Renkotsu then approaches after finishing his letter composition:
"Big brother. Will this do?"
He hands the young man with cobalt blue irises the parchment so he could get a once over.
"Let's see..."
...Once he was done skimming through the letter, Bankotsu calls to the odd one out in this little circle.
"Kohaku!"
The young demon slayer darts his head up with surprise etched onto his face from the address, before the zombie adds,
"Take this letter to the castle for me. Give it to the lord himself."
"Why me?"
"You are a ninja, right?"
"No, sir, I am not a ninja."
"Well then, what are you?"
...Kohaku had no answer to give to that question, and reluctantly agrees to delivering the message for the Shichinintai leader, rushing down the hill in the direction of the castle. Jakotsu waves him farewell:
"You take care now, Kohaku!"
...A white cabbage butterfly then comes fluttering over the one zombie who was made of organic and inorganic material, and he watches it with a strange interest...before Bankotsu suddenly leaps up to catch the insect to present to Ginkotsu.
"Here you go."
"Uhhh..."
"You wanted to eat it, didn't you?"
Ginkotsu grunts in an offended fashion matched with the glare he sends at Bankotsu, who quickly realizes the other's intent was for once, not deadly.
"Oh, sorry, my mistake."
The younger male releases the butterfly, and the mercenaries watch it leave for the skies in silence...which Renkotsu would break a moment afterward.
"...Big brother."
"Hm?"
"Shouldn't we be getting ready?"
"Why do you think I sent that boy? Because I want to take my time and let them squirm with fear."
Bankotsu's smirk twists into a menacing sneer:
"I'll let them look after my 'companion' for just a little longer..."
Coraline's POV
It's been about a day since Inuyasha and I spoke about what had happened to me in terms of my sanity being thrashed around and beaten some by my Soul, and it feels like we've reached a new level of closeness in our relationship...as well as a deeper, shared understanding of the challenge in combating the parts of our being that threaten to shift our perspectives and morals towards something incomprehensible.
I also received quite a few questions from he and everyone else of our group about my ancestor, Rosiagnes, which I answered to the best of my capability, since even I still had much to learn from the woman who passed centuries before. Her story, her wisdom, her heart: All of it remains a mystery to me at this present, and I highly doubt I will be able to learn everything...at least not until I join her past the stars.
Which won't be for a very long time coming...That's one belief I'll strive to keep from being touched by feelings like Doubt and Dread.
Anyway, let's focus on current time, shall we? Today, I chose to wear a simple v-neck white t-shirt with a pair of acid-washed jeans that held a patched rip on the left knee, my black combat boots, and my red hair - which had grown quite a bit in these last couple months even with the rare self-trimming, to the point where it was past the halfway mark of my back - was left loose and free, dampened ever so slightly courtesy of the foggy air I and everyone else stood in now.
...We had finally reached the foot of Mount Hakurei.
"It's exactly as Lady Kikyō said it was."
Nodding a bit in agreement with Miroku, I watch as a flock of birds takes flight for a higher part of the tall peaks, thinking to myself,
The atmosphere certainly reins of serenity and peace...
Yet, it feels, a bit suffocating...too calm.
I was interrupted from my suspicions by the sound of Kilala growling, and turn to see her bristle her fur in an agitated fashion. Sango, she clad ready in her demon slayer gear, asks her companion,
"What's the matter, Kilala?"
The twin-tailed cat demon then transforms back into her dormant form with a mew that sounded stressed, before she faints! Besa, dressed today in a dark blue long-sleeve shirt made from lightweight material, brown cargo shorts that had his holstered demon bone sickles strapped in by the belt loops, and full-black converse sneakers, bends down to pick up Kilala into his arms and mutters with a worried frown,
"It looks like she's nauseated...Maybe it has to do with the air of this place?"
Freeman, he wearing a dark green t-shirt with a bit of worn ripping at the bottom, black jeans and his monochrome hightop sneakers, comments as he looks over a newly dizzy Shippo sprawled on his shoulder,
"She's not the only one: The little dude's starting to look green too...It's gotta be 'cause of this mountain's barrier, right, Miroku?"
He nods to my brother and replies,
"They've been exposed to the Aura of the mountain. Lady Kikyō told us that it affects full demons like Shippo and Kilala."
His blue eyes then shift to Inuyasha's form, adding,
"No doubt Inuyasha is feeling it too..."
Turning to stare at the form of my boyfriend, he tries to walk closer to the mountain structure...only to be forced to a stop by a static of energy.
"Rgh!"
I fast-walked over to him and place a hand of concern on his arm:
"You alright?"
He nods to me and mutters,
"There's some kind of barrier here." Miroku comments,
"Yes, and it is probably intended to protect this sacred place. I believe the barrier is powerful enough to instantly purify any evil, demon or otherwise."
Looking over the two demons and one half-demon with us, I add mentally,
And while neither Shippo, Kilala nor Inuyasha have darkness dominating their beings...it seems Mount Hakurei is rather paranoid about allowing them entry, without some sort of friction, at least.
Placing a hand over my chest, which had tightened a little since I moved to the area Inuyasha was standing at, I realize with a grim note,
The same can even be said for someone like me...This mountain...it knows I'm no saint.
I wasn't the only human experiencing a minor problem standing in the overwhelmingly pure atmosphere.
"Strange that I should feel it too, a monk untouched by any trace of evil."
Sango and Besa look to one another in confusion from Miroku's remark:
"But, we're fine, aren't we?"
"Yeah, I don't feel anything...Freeman?"
Smiling between a sheepish and grimaced expression, my brother with freely short coarse black hair places one of his hands over the same area I had done myself and replies,
"Um, actually, I've been feeling a weird pressure in my chest since we arrived here. Nothing bad or anythin'; it's the same weight like when Shippo sleeps on me...And, I might have an idea why."
"What?"
"Well, this place is real antsy about demons, right? And...I'm, technically mated to a demon, so..."
I clue into where Freeman was going in his thoughts:
"You believe Mount Hakurei can sense your bond with Ginta and is against you for it?"
"Possibly. It's just a theory..."
He smiles over at Miroku in a wry fashion and adds sneakily,
"Miroku's problem is a bit more obvious, though, and I don't think I need to say it aloud for us, now do I?"
Said monk sweatdrops at my brother, before he (Freeman) and Besa nod to one another with the 'mmm-hmm' expression, and move to forcibly guide the monk towards the mountain to test his words, much to the latter's dismay.
"Uh, w-wait, what're you doing?! Please, don't do this, please!"
Oh geez...
I shake my head with an amused sigh at the same time my partner Lumos lets out an exasperated moan. Miroku would of course break free from my twin brother's grips fast enough before they reached the barrier, and scrambles back to catch his breath on Inuyasha's left. Wrapping an arm around my waist, the latter comments with a sarcastic smirk,
"Looks like somebody's not as pure as they thought. Wouldn't you agree?"
I lightly shove my hand on his chest with a smile-glare, he smirking down at me in return, before the monk spills out a new theory for us to ponder.
"Hey wait, I just had an idea: Perhaps Naraku is taking advantage of this barrier and is using it to prevent himself from being detected."
Uh!...Is that, possible?
Inuyasha dismisses the idea, reminding Miroku,
"No way, that's impossible: Naraku is pure evil. He takes one step onto that mountain and he'd be purified immediately."
"You're right. There's no way that Naraku could survive on Mount Hakurei."
As much as I wanted to agree with them...something in my gut was screaming otherwise.
"...I'm not so sure, you guys."
They turn to me with confusion traced with astonishment at my lack of certainty, as I look towards Hakurei with a suspicious and slightly nerved expression.
"It's just that, all the experience I've been through, solo and with all of you at different turns, has taught me that not everything is as it seems...And as an Aura Reader, I can't just automatically believe in the idea of a place that holds no trace of shadow. It's not natural...This air, this mountain, does not feel natural."
After all...Peace can never last forever.
"Are you saying you think Miroku's idea might be right?"
Turning to face my boyfriend and the monk, I reply neutrally,
"We have to consider every possible scenario, Inuyasha. You know better than all of us that Naraku has the capacity for almost every dirty trick in the book, no matter how improbable it may sound on the surface."
He widens his amber irises slightly, before simply looking away to the side, choosing not to retort...
Miroku then asks me as he sits down on a rock formation protruding from the hard ground,
"So then what do you believe we should do, Coraline?"
Folding my arms and closing my eyes in thought for a moment...I then answer,
"Until Mount Hakurei presents a less hostile opportunity of entry of us, I think the best course of action to take is to continue our chase for the Shichinintai, since currently, they may be the only source of information regarding Naraku's true location."
Everyone else hms, before nodding in agreement with my reasoning, Miroku verbally stating,
"That isn't a bad idea," and Inuyasha proclaiming,
"Once we find them, we'll capture them, and then we'll force 'em to tell us where Naraku is."
...And by no real surprise, it would be the monk and my brother Freeman who began leading the walk away from the barrier.
"Well then, let's leave this place quickly."
The latter was carrying our fox demon and twin-tail cat demon friends and adds,
"If not for our sakes, Shippo and Kilala's for sure."
I smiled slightly at my brother's care and Miroku's camouflaged reason for wanting to get as far back from this place as possible, which Sango and Inuyasha would point out immediately.
"Hmph, lecher isn't fooling anybody...though I do feel a little bad for Freeman."
"Yeah. In comparison, he's way less impure of mind than the monk does."
I just rolled my eyes, before starting the walk after those two men...Eventually, we would all come across another village that was set on the path that connects to Mount Hakurei, and I found myself paying my attention to the subtle signs of nature shifting course for the next season.
Hm, some of the trees are already stripped of their leaves...Guess summer must be steadily drawing to a close...
"Hey! What're you doing?"
"Hm?"
Looking over and out of my thoughts, I see an elder male with balding white hair tied back into a short topknot, wearing a slate green haori with a muted aqua vest pattered with a few black diamonds overtop, a cream white scarf around his neck, a muted dark blue hakama, and simple sandals looking down at us while holding a hoe casually over his shoulder.
"Don't you know that if young folk like you wander about here, the men from the castle will capture you!"
What?
The others were just as perplexed as I was, and seeing that, the elder wanders down towards us to explain a bit further.
"All the able-bodied people have been forcibly taken to the castle, and there's no exception for travelers."
Miroku asks,
"For what reason? Is there a big battle coming up?"
"Dunno...but it seems that a warning letter was sent to the lord of the castle."
Besa asks,
"Warning letter? Of what kind?"
"It said that the castle treasure would be taken." Inuyasha inquires,
"Whadda ya mean by 'castle treasure'?"
"No one really knows for sure...but never mind that. You all better hide out for now somewhere...Huah, oh no!"
Looking where he gasped to, I could see several samurai warriors on horseback, one standing out among the rest atop a black rather than a brown mare. As he rode closer, I could see he wore a strange mask over most of his face.
Who is that?
The elder man's nervous muttering answers my question:
"It's the general from the castle...!"
Stopping in front of us, the apparent general orders in a stern manner,
"You there: Identify yourselves."
Miroku took the initiative to try and pacify any possible animosity:
"Uh, actually, we're just harmless travelers."
But whatever is going on, it was leaving this general - and more than likely the one he follows - suspicious of anybody.
"Don't take me for a fool."
"Hm?"
"I am amazed that demons would dare to wander our borders in broad daylight."
That comment was more directed at Inuyasha rather than Shippo and Kilala, but it nevertheless makes me angry that most people of this era immediately focus on those who look different from they as the ones of fault.
Why of all the impudent-!
My boyfriend wasn't too far off in such thought:
"You gotta problem with me or somethin'?"
(...Thrust, CLANG)
"Guh!"
Next thing we knew, the general tries to strike Inuyasha with his spear...but was stopped by Besa who jumped in the way and used his sickles to lock the blade-pointed pole between his own weapons!
"B-Besa...!"
Shoving the spear back, my brother with the cornrowed hair shouts angrily,
"What on earth was that for?! My friend did nothing to provoke violence from the likes of you!"
Gritting his teeth slightly, the general replies while narrowing his eyes at my brother,
"You're just as impertinent as your so-called friend, foreigner...but there won't be a second chance."
Turning his horse to ride away, he adds,
"Leave this place immediately," before leaving with his men back to where I'm assuming this castle is...
"You alright, bro?"
Turning to see Freeman looking at Besa with a bit of concern, the latter replies in a mutter,
"I'm fine, brother...Just a little irked by that man's manners. I can understand not wanting to trust every stranger you come across, but being hostile to everyone for no good reason at all? That's just tiresome..."
I frown a bit sympathetically at the guys, and Inuyasha looks at them for a moment, before scoffing while looking at the direction the men on horseback left to.
"Kuh, don't let that bastard get to you, Besa. He's too prejudice to realize the folly in his actions...The kind of man I can easily take down."
Shaking my head slightly with an amused smile at my boyfriend's cockiness, it would flip to an expression of alert when the elder then asks,
"Do you know about the Band of Seven?"
Uh! The Shichinintai?!
Everyone else followed in their on tensing, Inuyasha exclaiming,
"The Band of Seven?!"
Miroku then asks,
"Please, good sir: What information can you tell us about the Shichinintai?"
"The Band of Seven were mercenaries who reeked havoc on these lands some years ago."
"Kuh, tell me something I don't know."
I lightly slap Inuyasha's arm with a scolding expression for his sarcasm, while the elder ignored it and continued.
"The warrior we just met was responsible for the execution of the Band of Seven."
That wasn't what we expected:
"What? That guy?" "Really?"
"Whoa..."
The elder mutters with a woeful tone,
"That man is a devil." Miroku wonders,
"What'll we do now? You think we should try and go talk to him?"
"Don't even think about it! If you all go near the castle now, you're all done for."
Freeman argues,
"Hey, we didn't ask for that stiff to get all huffy with us! He started it!"
Placing a calming palm upward, I chide,
"Easy, bro. Now's not a time to get riled up over complex social reactions..."
"But sis..."
"But nothing."
I look towards the direction where the general and his men left, finally spotting a faint wave of a red flag in the distance that likely belonged to the royal clan of these parts, and state,
"Right now...we should concentrate on the probability that our next clash with the Shichinintai, will be happening alot sooner than we'd expect it to."
Small Time Skip, No POV
We zoom in on the other side of the thick forests of oak and beech that made up this region, where rumbling along the dirt path closer to the castle in the mountains, were those mercenary zombies...Bankotsu's eyes would spot it first:
"Look. There it is..."
Suikotsu grinds a scoff as he glared ahead to the distant structure:
"It makes me sick!" Jakotsu wasn't far behind:
"You got that right!"
Of course, the leader of the band's anger would be burning brightest, as he thought back to what brought them back to this place.
"I still remember like it was yesterday..."
Flashback
The backdrop for this blast to the past is a large castle up in flames, as the Shichinintai made their assault on the occupants.
"Taaaaake, that!"
One thrust from Jakotsu's snake-like sword would take out a good portion of the soldiers, while Mukotsu used his special brand of poison to gas another section to death...
The others weren't too far behind with their own brands of brutality, including Kyokotsu's raw power strikes from his fists, the blasting pow of Ginkotsu's mechanized weapons, the slashing fury of Suikotsu's claws, and of course, Renkotsu's spews of fire that burned his victims to ash...
...Eventually, the valley held the dying scent of smoke in the air, no longer reflecting signs of resistance from the castle.
"Hahaha! That was easy."
Jakotsu and Ginkotsu casually agree with Bankotsu:
"It was over much too quickly."
"Geeesh, no kidding."
"These pathetic feudal lords are no match for the Band of Seven."
Renkotsu then asks,
"Tell me, big brother: Don't you think it's about time we find our own castle to become masters and lords of? Think of it. You could even become shogun."
Taking out the leaf he held in his mouth like a toothpick, Bankotsu replies,
"I'd think it'd be too much trouble," causing the group to laugh a little...
"What about you? Don't you wish to become a lord or even shogun?"
Renkotsu replies with a modest smile,
"No no, big brother. You'd be far better suited than I."
"Hey, I'll even help you if you want me to. My only ambition is simply to kill as many people as humanly possible. (Grin) Now that excites me."
Jakotsu wasn't too far behind in his own bliss:
"Yeeeah...What a turn-on." Suikotsu chides,
"Don't worry. There are plenty of victims for each of us, and then some."
The group laughs wholeheartedly at such a vision of cruelty...but pause when they hear the outcry of many men, and look over to see soldiers of a different following charging in to surround the mercenaries from the cover of the forest green. The blackhearted men of course, are unafraid: If anything, they felt humour towards the idea of another group of self-righteous warriors coming to destroy them.
"Ha. Haven't they learned their lesson yet?"
"Geeesh, time for more killing."
"Alright, let's get to work."
...But they would quickly discover, that their latest job, would be their last, when the ones who hired them suddenly block them off from the other side of the valley atop the cliff.
"Hey! I thought we were suppose to be the advance team!"
The masked general replies to Bankotsu,
"The Band of Seven has become too notorious."
"So you've changed your mind about paying us?"
"You have become too bloodthirsty. Whether you act as friend or foe to them, the Lords of the Land have decided that the Band of Seven has become too strong."
Realizing what action the man was hinting towards, Jakotsu and Suikotsu exclaim urgently,
"Oh no!" "Brother Bankotsu!"
Their leader in turn, replies to the general,
"If that is so, do you really think you can defeat us now?"
"There is nowhere you can run. The Lords of the Region have united to see that you are destroyed."
...The first snowfall of winter begins, and the white ice crystals gently fell from the clouded skies, almost mocking Bankotsu with their tranquility as he saw two more armies of soldiers from different regions move in to surround he and his brothers. Renkotsu rushes to him and asks,
"What now?!"
"Run!"
The Shichinintai did not hesitate to try and retreat from the area, but the general from that castle gestured the command for the companies to unleash a flurry of arrows in the former's direction...
"You are too dangerous to allow to exist, even in this age of wars."
End of Flashback
Opening his eyes, Bankotsu scoffs at the old lofty claim of the general, muttering while looking up at the castle,
"Before I was killed, I myself had killed 999 men. (Smirk) It's time to finally even things up."
He adds to the rest of his fellows,
"Okay men, this is it: Do not fail!" Jakotsu retorts half-playfully,
"Hey, I never lose in a real battle!"
Jumping down from Ginkotsu to run off ahead, the male with cobalt irises calls back,
"Yeah well, you better not!"
...Moving inside one of the sections of the castle courtyard, we listen in on one of the conversations of two men from that village who were forced to come and act as another line of defense, and were in no way prepared for the approaching danger.
"I wonder when we'll be allowed to return to the village..."
"Yeah, I wanna go home."
"Hey!"
They dart their heads up to meet the stern expression of one of the castle retainers.
"You two get back to your posts immediately!" They reply nervously,
"Uh, y-yes, sir!"
Meanwhile, inside the castle, another retainer was kneeling in respect to the lord himself while speaking about their current numbers in terms of offense and defense.
"My lord, reinforcements will arrive soon. We've conscripted the villagers and now I can assure you, that the castle is completely secure."
The lord replies with a scoff at this sudden jump of paranoia,
"I think you're overreacting."
"But, my lord, listen: Great atrocities thought to be the work of the resurrected Band of Seven, have been reported in several regions. And what of Banryū, our clan's most precious possession?"
They turn to look behind them at a massive halberd sword sitting on display, its blade currently sheathed in a purple cloth cover.
"Hold easy. The halberd Banryū is testament that we destroyed Bankotsu, the leader of the Band of Seven. Would he return, we'd only have to kill him again."
...The confident lord would soon be eating his words, when the zombie of their conversation meets the front gate being guarded by three of the soldiers.
"Huh? Hey, hold it! Who are you?!" He smiles and replies,
"Hey. I'm here to take back 'my companion'."
The soldiers nervously mutter,
"I-It's him!"
"Take him!"
(Boom...)
Their agitation was quieted by a blast from Ginkotsu's cannons, and upon seeing the mass of flesh and metal closing in with the rest of the mercenary band from the thick smog of gunpowder, one castle guard cries out,
"Men, hold your ground! Do not allow them to enter the castle grounds!"
Jakotsu smiles menacingly with a chuckle and readies his sword, while Suikotsu holds up one of his own weapons with a sneer that echoed all kinds of doom for the soldiers, making their hearts quiver like harp strings. The guard tries to quell their worries, even though his own forehead started to bead with a nerved sweat.
"Don't...don't panic...!"
A few men stationed up in the watchtower fire a few arrows to act as a cover fire, but such an attack would do nothing against these undead hearts of coal. Suikotsu leads the counter-charge, hacking his claws away at several soldiers, followed quick by Jakotsu and his sword.
"...Take that!"
(SLASH)
The area rang loud with the screams of the men mixed with some to no battle experience, before Ginkotsu makes his move to fire at the castle.
(Boom...)
The lord and retainer would feel the quake from inside the chamber.
"Guh!"
"M-Milord, they're coming!"
"Just stay calm. They'll never get this far."
...Oh would he quickly be proven wrong, when the door suddenly slid open to reveal Bankotsu!
"Aaah, there you are. Did you get my letter?" The retainer sputters,
"Duh! I-It's you," before the lord asks a bit more calmly,
"But what about my guards?"
"Hm? Oh, your guards? I think they're a little hung up right now."
And by 'hung up', Bankotsu meant that he had the castle guards thrust right into the ceiling...!
"A-Ah! How-?!"
"Okay then..."
The zombie male holds his hand up to crack his knuckles menacingly, before the lord tries to worm his way out of dying by the former's wrath.
"W-Wait! Just listen. (Gestures to Banryū) You've come to regain the great halberd, have you not?"
An excitable smile forms on Bankotsu's face:
"Heeey, it's my Banryū!"
The lord steps aside to allow the other to move forward to reclaim their weapon.
"I-It's yours. Take it."
...He would then become shocked as the zombie picked up the ginormous sword with but a single hand.
"Uh...!"
That huge halberd required three strong men to carry it here, yet he can pick it up with one hand...!
Bankotsu slides the cloth off his sword to examine the blade, liking that the steel was gleaming like new.
"Heeey, look, it's so shiny! You polished it, huh?"
Snapping out of his daze, the lord replies,
"Y-Yes, that's right...Look, I don't care if you're a specter: Will you serve me?"
The retainer was highly taken aback by his master's intent:
"Uh! But, my lord...!"
"Serve as my general, and together we will conquer this land."
Bankotsu looked at the lord with semi-feigned confusion from such a proposition.
"Hey now, come on: Are you sure you read my letter?"
"Your letter?"
"'No bounds'."
"No, bounds?"
"'Our vengeance will know no bounds'...or something like that."
It was the lord's turn to become taken aback by the zombie, who chuckles a little before muttering with a dark smile,
"One...thousand. (Thrust) Hrrrrah!"
...Meanwhile, back outside in the castle courtyard, the rest of the Shichinintai were surveying their masterpiece of destruction left behind from their attacks, they being spatters of fire burning around the perimeter, and many bodies of dead soldiers scattered on the ground...
"The fun's over for now, I guess."
Jakotsu mutters in agreement with Renkotsu,
"Yeah," and they all prepare to move along...until they hear the hooves of horses approaching.
"Hm?"
Heading over to the front gate, they spot the masked general and his men returning from down in the valleys where the villages laid. Peering ahead, Jakotsu exclaims with an excited grin,
"Oh-hoh, it just got fun again!"
Holding up a clawed hand, Suikotsu says with a smirk,
"Guess it's time for the next round."
"You two. Step aside."
They turn around to see Bankotsu approaching with his Banryū held at ready.
"Oh-hoh, you got your companion back!"
"Yep, and it's time to test it out."
Zooming in on the soldiers, one points ahead to the shambled structure they were all returning to and mutters in near-disbelief,
"The castle...!"
The eyes of the masked general quickly locked onto one of the forms responsible for the destruction.
"Mrh! Him again!...Halt!"
The company of mares and men stop in front of Bankotsu, who smirks up at the leader both casually and menacingly.
"Hey there. It's been a while."
"Damn you! What did you do with our lord?"
"...One thousand."
"What?"
"Our heads were chopped off, if you'll recall...so I returned the favour."
Fury would boil in the general's blood:
"A curse on you!"
"Are you ready to follow your lord?"
...A white cabbage butterfly comes fluttering by, just as the general cries out,
"Kill him!"
The soldiers charge, and Bankotsu tests the strength of his halberd on the butterfly...which is destroyed into tiny pieces from the sharp currents of wind set upon it!
Ha! I feel even better then when I was alive!
He then leaped into the air just as the general met his space, before spinning the sword with a gruff outcry that spelled the end for the former and his men...
(Pulse...)
It was in that moment that Coraline felt the throb of that familiar jewel as she, Inuyasha and everyone else continued onward across a grass plain in their search for that merciless mercenary band.
"Guh! The Shikon-no-Tama...We're nearing its presence!"
Her dog demon lover adds,
"Not only that, but I smell blood and gunpowder! There's no mistake: The Band of Seven are up ahead!"
The twins, who were running between Inuyasha (he carrying Coraline on his back as Lumos flew near the couple's right) and Kilala (she in full form and carrying everyone else), confirm with their own observations.
"And I can sense their sickly grey Auras of the dead!"
"Me too! Which means we better put the pedal to the metal before that obnoxious general gets himself killed...if he isn't already dead."
...But cutting back to the shambled castle's front gates, we see the mask of the lord's general broken in half like discarded pottery, his body being among his many comrades slain by the dreaded halberd, Banryū...
Their wielder and his band of course, expressed no remorse in what they had done, instead relaxing over some sake and talking about the aftermath in a casual manner.
"Not a single person left alive? Hah, that's rather inconvenient. You weren't really thinking, were you, Jakotsu? (Slurp) You could've at least kept a woman or two alive to pour our drinks."
Said addressed only looks at Bankotsu with an almost bored expression, before shifting the subject some.
"How can I think about things like that, big brother? I've got more important things to worry about, like when am I going to see my beloved Inuyasha again..."
Renkotsu, who was standing atop Ginkotsu, dismisses Jakotsu's lovelorn words by stating,
"You mustn't worry, Jakotsu. Inuyasha has a keen sense of smell."
Bankotsu adds,
"That's true. All we need to do is sit patiently, and Inuyasha will follow the scent of blood right to us."
"You think so? Well, I guess we just wait then."
With Jakotsu's feelings settled, Renkotsu then brings up another matter needing attention.
"Big brother...are you not worried about Naraku?"
"What about him?"
"Why do you think he revived us?" Bankotsu replies simply,
"To help get rid of his enemies, such as the ones named Inuyasha and Kōga. That's why."
"Big brother, you're the only one among us who's actually met Naraku. Do you think you could tell us a little bit more about what he's like?"
The zombie with braided black hair smiles before chiding,
"Listen, Renkotsu: We've been revived so we can reek havoc just like we did in the good ole days. Isn't that good enough for you?"
"Uh, yes..."
But inside, the fire user was thinking a bit nervously,
Big brother is determined not to tell me anymore than he already has. Why?
Sipping down some more sake, Jakotsu muses to himself with longing,
"Inuyasha...I really hope you get here soon..."
As Ginkotsu moves with Renkotsu across the courtyard, we zoom out to the gateway again to see that Suikotsu was standing guard for the mercenary band...
...Just then, a familiar skinny tornado appears from around a corner path towards the dead-littered castle, making the dual-personality warrior's eyes widen slightly on alert.
"Mm! Some kind of whirlwind."
It travels past him and into the courtyard, stopping a few feet away from where Bankotsu and Jakotsu were sitting, before dissipating to reveal noneother than Kōga of the Wolf Demon Tribe!
"I assume you are the Band of Seven."
Jakotsu greets him first with a cheery voice:
"Oh! Hey there, Kōga!"
Bankotsu would then comment mockingly,
"Well well well, so the wolf gets here before the dog, I see."
The wolf demon barks back,
"Quit acting so smug! I know for a fact you're in cahoots with Naraku, so tell me where he is!"
Scratching his head in a feigned ignorance, the zombie with cobalt blue eyes comments,
"Gee, it seems that this Naraku character has made enemies with alot of people..."
That just served to agitate Kōga even more:
"Tell me where he is!"
"It really makes me wonder. (Turns to Jakotsu) Do you think he can be trusted?"
"Why are you asking me? You're the only one who's met him, Bankotsu."
Quickly tired of the stalling, the wolf demon says to the conversing zombies,
"If you refuse to tell me, (lunge) I'll kill you!"
Jakotsu quickly meets the charging demon with his Jakotsutō, forcing the latter to jump high out of the way. The swordsman then says,
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot: We still have a match to finish."
"Nice try! I already know about that snake-like sword of yours, so it ain't gonna work!"
(Ka-pow)
"Huh?!"
(Boom)
Kōga is then nearly taken out by a blast from Ginkotsu's cannon, but manages to barely dodge it thanks to his advanced agility, much to the former's and Renkotsu's dismays.
"Geesh!"
"Damn! He avoided the shot."
As he landed on the ground, the wolf demon's attention would be drawn to Bankotsu, who rises to a stand with his halberd sword at ready.
"Hey, you're a quick one, aren't you? I think it must be because of the Shikon-no-Tama shards in your legs."
"Grr, why you-!"
"That reminds me: Naraku asked me if I would take those for him."
One glance at the lethal gleam shining off of Banryū would cause the wolf demon to tense on alert.
This guy...!
He then springs upward to dodge an offensive swing from the halberd, the blade cutting down a section of the front gate instead of flesh and bone...
Yet we see that the expression on Bankotsu's face was of a smug smirk rather than frustration as he looks up sardonically at Kōga, who thinks to himself all the more on edge while poised on one of the castle roofs,
I don't get it. There's something different about this one...
The former then calls over his shoulder to his brothers,
"Hey, everyone: Don't let 'im get away!"
Ginkotsu heeds the command first, firing multiple shots from his cannon straight at the wolf demon, who leaps and somersaults to avoid getting blasted to smithereens...Suikotsu would then take a try at attacking, emerging from an aftermath cloud of smoke to swing his claws at Kōga, before Jakotsu takes a crack at the offensive with his sword...
But no one seemed fast enough, and all the attacks would fail...that is, until Bankotsu suddenly jumps up while spinning his halberd to catch Kōga off-guard!
"Quit jumping around!"
"Uh!"
"...Move, ya wimpy wolf!"
(CLANG)
Thankfully, the wolf demon would not be meeting death's door today, when Inuyasha arrives to block Banryū with Tessaiga, the impact so mighty that it would shake Bankotsu's grip on his weapon some, surprising him greatly...!
...Both parties land on the ground again, with the dog demon pointing his demon fanged blade towards the zombie, before remarking with a dark smile,
"Well well. Found you," to which the latter would return with an equally sinister smirk...