Hey all; finally updating this story!
Pardon the longer delay. I'm reaching the tail end of the first half of this new university year, so that means last assignments and exam prep. Then there's work, plus, I've been getting the ball rollin' for a new story, which for those who haven't checked it out yet, is based off the TMNT-verse (check out my profile for more info). Lol, yes, I'm a busy bee...
I'll keep trying to post new chapters as soon as I can, of course. Things should pick up in the next while once school settles for winter break.
Read on, fellow bookworms :)
Chapter 129: The Holy Mountain's Rotted Core
Picking up where we last left off, Miroku and Sango had begun their sprint inside the cave they discovered up within the higher peaks of Mount Hakurei, which was permeating a strong demonic energy from the inner depths...
The deeper he lead the descent into the mountain cave, the more assured the monk became of his conclusions.
The demonic aura is getting even stronger.
As I had surmised, the barrier around the sacred mountain has been hiding an evil in its depths!
The pair soon reach the end of the tunnel, opening to the enormous pitted shaft hollowing Hakurei's insides.
"...Parapets?"
Tying on her metal filter mask, Sango comments,
"The demonic aura is thick in here..."
...Miroku then lets out a startled sound, and the brunette follows his direct of sight, spotting the horde of several dozen demons and demon spirits rushing down from the higher point of the shaft!
"Naraku's demons!"
"I guess he doesn't intend to hide himself any longer."
In saying that, the young monk prepares to release the power of his infamous Wind Tunnel...that is, until Sango sees a few of the Saimyōshō buzzing within this dangerous crowd.
"Up there! Naraku's poisonous insects!"
Holding a hand out to her companion, the brunette warns,
"Miroku, don't use the Wind Tunnel. If you suck them in, the poison will get you!"
She then takes the initiative in making the first offensive move.
"Hiraikotsu!"
(Toss, spin, wha-ack-ack-ack-ack-ack...)
Miroku would follow the slayer's attack with a different, more spiritual-bound move of his own.
"Sacred Sutras!"
The paper charms fly, taking down three more demons upon impact, fried by the purification power from the monk...
"Hmm, well, who would've thought?"
The pair's attention diverts to the vantage point across from they upon hearing that familiar silky female voice, spotting the wind-oriented demon incarnation through the rain of flesh and bone.
"You two mortals made this far inside all by yourselves?...Then again, your friend Inuyasha can't come in beyond the barrier, now can he?"
"Kagura!"
"(Dark smile) You certainly have guts, that much I'll grant you..."
The Wind Sorceress fwips out her fan:
"But you won't make it out of here alive!"
She sends a torrent of her wind blades to cut down the two humans, who scramble to their right to dodge, just as another section of the demon horde charges down to attack. Using her giant boomerang like a club, Sango kills one demon with a bludgeon strike right down the middle of its head, commenting with a scoff,
"It looks like they don't want us to go any deeper!"
Destroying another with his staff, Miroku replies back,
"Yes, so we must be closing in on Naraku!"
Taking down another half dozen together, the monk then leads the slayer towards a set of stairs heading for a higher part of this spiraling pit.
"Sango, this way!"
"Heh...fools!"
Kagura sends another set of wind blades right for them, and they crash right into the stairs, creating a huge gap between the human duo!
"Sango!"
...Thankfully, the demon slayer wasn't hurt, and steadies herself before she could fall into the depths of the pit.
"Miroku, you go on without me!"
His face contorts into an expression that protested otherwise.
"I can't do that!"
"Don't worry about me; finding where Naraku is hiding is our first priority, right?"
Sango then focuses her dark brown irises on the incarnation getting in their way.
"Kagura...Hiraikotsu!"
The giant boomerang goes flying straight in the direction of the wind sorceress...
"Uh! Are you throwing that weapon at me?"
Kagura would create a strong updraft in response:
"I am the Wind, remember?!"
Hiraikotsu is carried upward, much to Sango's irritation...which would shift to a familiar shudder of surprise and an old ache of anguish, when she sees her wayward kin standing up in a higher part of the shaft, he staring down at her.
"...Kohaku!"
"Fool! Pay attention!"
Casting her fan downward sharply, Kagura changes the wind's direction to send Sango's weapon right back at her!
(WHACK)
"DRH!"
The slayer is hit hard in her torso, and she's flung all the way down the lower section of those stairs, landing on the ground hard, gasping haggardly before falling unconscious...Overcome with worry for the special woman of his life, Miroku makes a daring long jump across the gap in the staircase.
"Sangoooo!"
He sticks the landing, before rushing over to brunette's side to lift her into his arms.
"Sango...Sango! (Lightly shakes her) Say something to me, Sango!"
Only a few staggered breaths and a partial moan would be made the reply...
"Heh. How very touching, monk."
He glances up at Kagura with a gritting glare, she adding mockingly,
"Unfortunately, you might've lived a little longer if you had only gone on ahead without her."
She then swings her closed fan down as a signal for the demon horde to charge...Gently setting Sango down on the ground, Miroku stands up and turns to face the coming demons, removing the prayer beads around his cursed hand!
"You can't use the Wind Tunnel, though, for fear of the insect's poison!"
"Rrrh! You don't know who you're dealing with. What meaning does my life have without the woman I deeply care for?!"
Sucking in a sharp breath, Miroku proclaims with a raw desire and anger,
"I would sacrifice my life for hers! Neaaaaah, Wind Tunnel!"
(Whoooooooossssssssshhhhhhhh...)
The black hole opens, pulling the many, many demons and demon spirits to their doom, much to Kagura's shock.
"He used the Wind Tunnel, endangering himself!"
Included among the nefarious casualties would be the pockets of Saimyōshō, each mutant wasp's body shooting their poison into Miroku's veins through his accursed ability.
(Pulse...)
"Rrgh!"
The insect, poison is, spreading through my, body...!
Coraline's POV
We've since left the waterfall set away from the mountain after we defeated (but likely haven't killed) Renkotsu, and have returned to that area at the foot of Mount Hakurei where Sango and Miroku had parted ways from us the other day to check out the inside of the barrier...
Neither of them have come back yet...and it's been way too long since they left.
...Miroku, Sango...where are you two?
"Still no signs of the dynamic duo?"
I turn to see my brothers approach my sides, Besa carrying Kilala on his left shoulder while Freeman held Shippo (who had fallen unconscious again due to the pure potency of this area) under his left arm while holding his long hammer over his right shoulder. Shaking my head, I reply to my latter brother with a frown,
"No, and my gut isn't taking that as a good sign."
"...Coraline, guys, wait here."
"Hm?"
All three of us turn around to the sound of Inuyasha's voice, he looking at us with firm direction as Lumos floats near his side.
"I'm going up the mountain to see for myself what's going on."
What? No!
I didn't like the sound of that idea, and neither did the guys.
"Are you nuts?!"
"Inuyasha, you were repelled by the sacred barrier's power last time you tried to force you're way in!"
"Not that we doubt your strength or nothing, but what makes ya think this round will be any different?"
He just insists,
"I'm only half-demon. I'm not gonna let any dumb sacred grounds purify me."
I wanted to believe in his spirit, I truly did...but after that ordeal with Renkotsu, my heart aches with worry over the idea of my boyfriend going in there alone. I made that much clear as I step over to hug him tightly to me, muttering,
"But, Inuyasha, even if by fate you do make it through that daft barrier...there's no way of knowing what could be waiting on the other side. Maybe it's our friends, the Shichinintai...Hell, even Naraku could be lying in the shadows just waiting for you to go in by yourself! I...I've really come to hate the idea of you walking off solo into the arms of danger..."
I could feel his amber irises staring down at me, before he wrapped a single arm around my frame and brushes his lips against my cheek, replying a little softly but maintaining his gruff tone,
"I know you do, and I don't like leaving you, believe me...but we haven't got any time to argue about this. We need to find out what's delaying Miroku and Sango. Besides, you'll be safer down here outside the barrier, and that's my main priority."
Inuyasha...
Despite my desire to try and persuade otherwise, I knew he was right in saying time wasn't on our side and that it wouldn't necessarily be a smart idea for all of us to head into Hakurei at once without knowing every detail. At that, I reluctantly nod and agree to his logic, and we part a little with his arm still around me as he looked towards Freeman and Besa seriously.
"I want you two to wait here as well, and protect the squirt and Coraline until I get back with that monk and slayer."
I could see that they too were still hesitant to have Inuyasha go off on his own, but they nod firmly nonetheless.
"You got it."
My lover locked irises with Kilala for a moment, silently ordering similarly, she responding with a quiet mew of agreement.
"Good...Hey, ya scrawny wolves! You're there, aren'ch ya?"
Huh?
"Oops, busted."
Following the sound of Hakkaku's voice, I look over a ways behind us and see him, Ginta and Kōga coming out from behind a boulder.
Hm, guess I should've seen that coming. I mean, after what happened only a few hours ago, they're probably a little reluctant to leave us to our own devices, even wolf-boy.
"Yeah, mutt, whadda ya want?"
"...I want you to stay here too, help protect this lot."
I was a little surprised that Inuyasha would actually ask for Kōga's assistance, and he seemed to be as well as he walked over to us asking,
"Why? What's goin' on?"
Besa steps up to explain:
"Miroku and Sango left through the sacred barrier the other day to scope out the mountain, and, they haven't returned yet. We're starting to get really anxious...so, Inuyasha's volunteered to go after them."
My boyfriend adds,
"It makes sense for me to go, because the sacred grounds won't be as rough for me as it would be for a full-fledged demon."
"I see...and your intended's okay with this?"
Yet another surprising question, this time from wolf-boy, and I let out a breath before replying dryly,
"I'm not...but, I know he stands a better chance of returning fast."
Kōga gives me a look that said he knew I was more worried than I was letting on, but chose not to comment.
"...Alright. Consider your woman safe, mutt."
"Hmph, her and her brothers, wolf."
Inuyasha readies himself to leave for Mount Hakurei, adding over his shoulder,
"If I find out any or all of my friends and intended mate have gotten hurt, don't expect me to be merciful to your mistake."
With that warning in the wind, he takes off, and I call after him,
"Good luck, Inuyasha, and be careful!"
...As soon as we couldn't see his figure in the mist ahead, Hakkaku and Ginta wonder amongst themselves,
"Think he's gonna be alright?"
"Well he is a half-demon, so maybe he might be okay."
They didn't sound completely sure, but not ill-confident either...Lumos comes to hover by my head, softly crooning his ghostly moans for my waiting ear as a way to ease my anxieties, making me smile the slightest.
"Thanks, bud...Listen. If he doesn't come back soon enough, I want you to track him down, and aid him in every mean necessary to returning here."
My Will O' Wisp partner 'nods' in agreement to my gentle order, and residing to the sitting and waiting game, I think to myself,
Love...please don't push yourself past what your soul can handle.
No POV
Cutting ahead to the dog demon dressed in red, we find him sprinting inside the misty grounds towards Mount Hakurei's valley, despite some resistance from the sacred barrier's energies.
(Bzzzzzt...)
"Drgh!"
This is alot worse than I thought it'd be...!
Gritting his teeth in some pain from the pure power, Inuyasha kept true, not wavering his speed for even a minute, his determination to locate his missing team members helping him stand against whatever dared got in his way...
Meanwhile, back inside the spiral shaft of the inner mountain, Miroku had paused his assault on the horde of demons to use Sango's weapon as a bridge over the gap in the staircase, sidestepping across very slowly with the unconscious slayer slung over his left shoulder, while prepping his cursed right hand at ready for another possible attack.
"Hah...hah...If you wanna throw your miserable lives away, then come on! You'll fall prey to my Wind Tunnel!"
The demons merely growled, choosing to keep their distance...
"Tuh, I figured as much. Even you demons place some value in your hapless lives."
Kagura was a bit amazed that Miroku was still standing.
The monk doesn't seem to be affected at all, and yet he must have gotten a huge dose of the Saimyōshō's poison...!
As soon as he was safely on the other side of the stairs, the young man wearing purple slings Hirakotsu over his shoulder next to Sango, before breaking into a run upward. That's when a new section of the demon horde begins their charge for the monk, and sensing their approach, he spins around to unleash the black hole vacuum in his hand.
"Wind Tunnel!"
(Whoooooooosssssssshhhhhhh...)
More demons meet their doom, including another few Insects of Hell, their deaths not coming without consequence by way of the poison within their blood.
(Pulse...)
"Gh!"
Tapping her fan in thought, the wind demon incarnation muses,
That monk must be very desperate...I don't wanna be sucked in his Wind Tunnel.
I'll have to let him go.
Seeing where the human male was running to, she adds with a dark upturn of lip,
And besides, unfortunately for you, monk, that's not where Naraku is.
As he kept running for a safer vantage, Miroku glances back at the vicious creatures still making chase, pleading silently in contrast to his earlier bitter remark,
...Please, don't, come after me again...If I open the Wind Tunnel one more time...mph, it'll all be over for me.
But it would seem that the monk's end was trying to come faster than he wanted to believe, when he suddenly grows faint and collapses on his front, falling on top of Sango in the process!...Struggling to stay conscious, Miroku lifts himself some and pivots his head with weakened eyes to see the approaching swarm, then turns back to the brunette and whispers,
"San-go...forgive, me," before he too blacks out, leaving both at the mercy of the creatures approaching...
...
Turning away from the inner sanctum of Mount Hakurei, we find ourselves zooming in on a path in the countryside near the holy mountain's grounds, where Jakotsu was currently wandering down, shivering from the chill he felt due to a lack of a proper over layer.
"Ah-choo! Brrh, ugh man, is it cold. (Sniffle) I gotta find some clothes before I freeze...Huh?"
He then spots a company of soldiers approaching from up ahead...
"Heheh, hello~ wardrobe."
Getting a closer look, we see that this group of warriors was escorting their lord and his valued goods to the next neighbouring province...When they see Jakotsu standing in the middle of the road, they stop, and a few of the samurai hop down from their horses while placing a hand on their scabbard swords at ready.
"Who goes there?"
"Wretch, get outta our way!"
Jakotsu asks in a challenging tone,
"And what'll you do if I don't move?"
The warriors pull out their katanas as an answer...making him smile darkly, reaching for his own blade, Jakotsutō.
(...SLICE)
A lone rabbit hidden within the tall grass near the road stiffens on its hind legs, its long ears picking up the sound of the multi-bladed sword cutting down on the warriors and lord, their outcries ringing through the air...before all the men fall dead!
With that threat quickly dispatched, Jakotsu proceeds to raid through their goods for something to wear in replacement of his ruined kimono...
"Hm, let's see now..."
He would settle on a pale yellow kimono with a blue flower pattern.
"I guess this'll have to do."
"...Jakotsu!"
"Hm?"
He pivots his head behind him, and sees Bankotsu approaching him with three of the Saimyōshō!
"Hey! I've been looking for you!"
...
As the sunset began to burn over the horizon, we would find the two zombie warriors sitting on the porch of a nearby traveler's hut discussing recent events.
"I got the news from the Saimyōshō. So, Suikotsu didn't make it, huh?"
Jakotsu sighs a bit sadly,
"No. It was a pretty sad ending for him...Oh! That reminds me."
He reaches into his new kimono, it tied off with a muted red sash and had his purple scarf over the neckline.
"I got something for you, Bankotsu."
And inbetween the fingers of the feminine male, was the shard he took from the undead doctor/mercenary!
"This is a memento of Suikotsu, a shard of the Shikon-no-Tama...Here."
The young leader of the Shichinintai was surprised that Jakotsu was giving up the shard so willingly, compared to the other sole survivor who tried to harbor power from him (and is doing so once again).
"This is for me?"
"What're you talking about? You're the one who said to hand it over if we got one."
...
Silence falls between both undead men for a moment, before Bankotsu looks back up at his mercenary brother with a touched expression for their loyalty.
"Jakotsu...I knew...(Hug) You're such a good friend!"
"Guh?!"
"You really are something, Jakotsu, and the only person in the whole world I can trust, (awkward smile) really weird but loyal."
Though a bit taken aback by the show of emotion, the male with painted red lips manages to chortle,
"You really think so?"
The pair then laugh loudly amongst themselves, feeling lucky to have such a strong bond between them...
Small Time Skip, Inuyasha's POV
Night had finally fallen over these accursed lands, and I had made only so much progress into Hakurei's valley. As much as I boasted on about how the barrier wouldn't slow me down...it didn't mean it wasn't trying to restrict me. Still, I kept up the sprint, my stubborn determination pushing me on.
See? I knew it: I'm not being purified!
"Grh...hrh...!"
I'm gonna make it...!
...Or so I thought. Only problem with that is that while my body may have held out, it didn't mean I wasn't draining my energy. Eventually, I was forced to stop and drop on my knees, the sparks of the sacred barrier still trying to pierce me.
Dammit!...I can't, move!
"Hrgh!"
Does this mean it's too dangerous to go any further? Nrh...What should I do?
My problems would only get worse, when a familiar undead creep calls from the mist behind me.
"Well well, Inuyasha. Can't go any further?"
Damn...not him...!
He at least had the decency to not look that overly smug.
"You look quite weakened by the barrier."
"Renkotsu..."
Didn't stop him from chuckling a little, though:
"I'm surprised. It's not like you to not notice I was following."
I comment back as I move to a stand again,
"You again, huh? The Band of Seven must be really shorthanded."
Come to think of it, I haven't seen any signs of that Suikotsu character for quite a while now...
Does that mean he's finally been shoved back to Hell where he belongs?
Renkotsu doesn't elaborate, scoffing,
"Your mouth is as sharp as ever...One thing's obvious, Inuyasha: you're in a hurry to get in there, aren't you? Problem is, if you go any further, even a half-demon like yourself will be purified."
He aims that portable cannon at me...
"Get going!"
(Ka-boom)
I had no choice but to jump backwards or risk getting blasted to smithereens...However, that also meant heading straight into the more potent part of the sacred barrier!
Oh No!
(BZZZZZZTTTTTTT)
"Aaaaaaaaaagggggggghhhhhhhhh!"
Gotta tell ya, that energy hurt like hell: it felt like I was heading on a one way trip to being reduced to ash...
But then.
(Sheen...)
...Huh...?
There was this great flash of an odd, yet surprisingly familiar pale yellow light that encased by body, starting from my torso...Next thing I knew, I was on the ground, a little winded, but still alive...!
Hm...well how 'bout that.
Sensing a stare of shock from Renkotsu, I struggle back up while muttering defiantly,
"See?...I'm, still...Guh?!"
But that's when I fully register over how exactly I survived the energies of the sacred barrier. It didn't so much purify me...rather, a certain part of my being, my demonic side. Staring down at my now fully human hands, I realize,
My demonic powers are gone, (looks up) and it's not even the night of the New Moon!
...Dammit. It's this barrier's fault!
...But wait...no, that doesn't explain the light I s-
(Sheen...)
"Uh...!"
Suddenly, I look down and saw that my chest was glowing, displaying a weird, triangle shape...a pyramid! That's what it was called, a pyramid!
Hang on...I remember.
(Flash)
That, freaky demon that forged a deal of sorts with Coraline...
"Huh? What was that?"
"Mm, call it an extra protection for your Soul."
"...Of course, this barrier doesn't offer too much of a guarantee: your demon ego still has the chance of taking over your consciousness, but not so much to the point where you'll be consumed by it."
"...Are, you saying...that I won't become a full beast now, if my demon 'ego' tries to take over me?"
"That's all up to you, Red Sword. All depends on how strong your will is when you're stuck in a corner and death comes pounding at the door."
(Flash)
...Hmph. Looks like there's more to this shield around my soul that three-sided creep didn't say.
It must've blocked out some of the sacred barrier's power and saved me from getting obliterated...
As that pale yellow shape fades away, I add in a partly-bitter afterthought,
I still hate that guy for the tortures he put my intended through...but now...I almost wanna thank 'im, almost.
Renkotsu's chuckle snaps me back to reality, and I dart my head behind me to see him staring at me with mirth in his irises.
"Well well, isn't this a surprise. I thought the sacred grounds would purify you, but only your demonic powers have disappeared. (Smirk) How convenient for you that you're only a half-demon."
Swallowing down any nerves for having to fight in my human form, I stand back up while scoffing back,
"Tch, exactly. I'm feelin' way better than I was."
"You're never at a loss for words, are you? Not that it matters, though. (Readies cannon) You're nothing but a mortal now!"
Once again, he tries to blast me to pieces, and because I don't have my demon strength anymore, I was only able to just barely run out of the line of fire, turning to make a break for the valley...
"Damn it...You won't escape me!"
I ignore his outcry, muttering to myself between pants,
"I don't have to waste with that Renkotsu. I've gotta keep running all the way into the mountain...!"
It's the only reasonable plan I've got right now...Miroku, Sango, hang in there while you can.
Sango's POV
"...Nnh...Hh-hnh?"
What, happened...?...Wait. I feel a weight that's not my own...
...Uh! Miroku!?
I gingerly lift myself up and crawl back away from underneath his, torso, feeling a new heat in my cheeks and my heart racing...But, then I notice that the monk wasn't awake.
"...Miroku?"
The stare of dozens upon dozens of eyes stops me from reaching a hand to his form, and I look up, only to see the swarm of demons!
That's right: we made it inside Mount Hakurei following a dark aura, and were attacked by, them!
I immediately grab onto the hilt of my katana, but seize up from an ache of pain in my torso.
Oh, yes. I was also hit by my Hiraikotsu, thanks to that witch Kagura...
...Miroku...
Looking back down at his form more intently, that's when I saw his cursed hand was clenched shut...and did not have the prayer beads around it.
He...He opened the Wind Tunnel, and sucked in those poisonous insects?!
...No...No!
I start shaking the back of his shoulder, desperate for a sign that he wasn't...wasn't...!
"Miroku, come on, wake up, please!"
...My eyes well up with tears when I don't hear a response...
This is terrible. I-It's all my fault!
"Miroku...Miroku, please, open your eyes!"
The water starts flowing down my face as my body fills with dread.
"...Miroku...!"
One of my tears drips onto his cheek...and to my tremendous relief, awakes him!
"Nn...nuh...uh?"
"Auh, Miroku!"
Thank kami!
Despite being so weak, he manages to lift himself a little and smile the slightest.
"S-Sango?...Thank, goodness. You're conscious again."
He then notices the approaching swarm of evil coming towards us from behind me...
Rolling onto his back, Miroku then urges me to leave him behind and save myself.
"Sango, don't stay here. Go on without me."
I would protest to such an idea in an instant:
"No, not unless you're with me!"
His smile became sadder, as he turned his gaze on that right hand of his.
"Mph...I think I might've pushed myself too far this time...You at least have to make it out of this alive, for me, okay?"
Miroku...No! I won't lose him, not this way!
"No! Gh-hh, if you can't, go on..."
I tackled him in a hug and proclaim with a raw voice,
"Then we'll die together!"
"...Sango..."
I feel his left hand pat my back in the sweetest way, and we both shut our eyes, awaiting the end...
...
...
But, nothing happens.
Huh? What's going on?...And why, does my body feel less, bruised?
I would get my answer soon enough, when Miroku suddenly sat us both up, his hand not leaving my back.
"...Miroku? What is it?"
"Why aren't those demons attacking us?"
I pivot myself to see for myself what he was looking at.
"...You're right. It's strange."
It's like they're stuck...
One bold demon tries to send feelers out to jab at us, and we hold eachother to brace ourselves...only for the former to get singed by, a barrier!
"Uh...It was purified."
"They can't come any closer to us..."
I wonder...Is it because we're still on sacred ground? That has to be it.
Miroku then uses his staff to lift himself to his feet again, telling me,
"Let's go, Sango. There's, definitely something up ahead."
Rising to my own stand, I ask still a bit worried over his condition,
"Miroku, are you sure you're alright?"
"Yeah...I guess we won't have to die together after all."
...Hoh boy!
Hearing that sentence dusted a new blush onto my cheeks, and I cover my face with my hands in embarrassment...Yet, hidden under my palms, was a tiny smile of appreciation for the sentiment...
No POV
While the situation may have lightened a touch within the infamous holy mountain, things couldn't be anymore dire back within the valley leading up to Hakurei as Inuyasha - he now in his human form thanks to the unexpectedly protective actions of that mysterious shield around his soul, granted to him by a demonic entity whom shall remain nameless, saving him from being annihilated by the sacred barrier - continued to run away from the blasts of Renkotsu's cannon.
Though based on the following stalker-like thought bubbling within the dead man's mind alongside the chuckle in his throat, it's fair to say that the cat and mouse chase was going to stretch on.
How long do you think you can escape me?
Renkotsu would get another opportunity at easy fire when the male with long shaggy turned-from-silver-to-black hair struggles to climb up a slope.
"Gotch'ya!"
(Ka-Boom)
"Gyah!"
Inuyasha didn't even get halfway gone when the cannon blast connects with the ground beneath his feet, flinging him over the side hard, before he rolled down the slope harshly to smack against the wall of a pit...Gritting his teeth, he staggeringly lifts his upper body by a palm, just as his attacker comes to the top of the rocky incline.
"You have nowhere to run...I guess this is as far as you go."
"Damn you...Rgh...!"
...The young man with brown-rather-than-amber irises then spots something to his right side, feeling a slight draft of air.
What's that...?
"Die!"
(Ka-BOOM)
...
Lowering his cannon, the zombie was feeling confident that his aim was true this time.
"Got 'im, hehmhmhm..."
However...when the smoke clears and he walks down to the new crater he created within the pit, he would see no signs of a battered corpse!
"Huh?...Where's his body?..!"
Renskotsu would narrow down his answer rather quickly of course, when he sees a substantial crack in the wall where Inuyasha's eyes were previously cast towards.
"...He must've slipped through that crack before the blast...!"
He wouldn't have any time to stew about the failure though, when he hears a call from a familiar male voice with a feminine tone.
"Hey, over here, Renkotsu!"
"Hm?...Jakotsu."
The addressed walks out of the misty fog into view.
"Hey. What're you doin' in a place like this?"
He then conveys the bad news regarding their band's dwindling numbers...
"So, I guess we're all that's left of the Shichinintai..."
Chewing on a nail with a serious frown, Jakotsu nods and replies,
"Exactly. Hnh, and that's what the problem is."
"Hm? Whaddo you mean?"
"How can we possibly be the Shichinintai when there's only three of us left? We gotta try and come up with a new name!"
...Renkotsu is at a loss for a response, expecting a different issue regarding some 'certain jewel fragments', before he tries to steer his own secret agenda along without accidentally unveiling it.
"Oh, by the way...you don't know what happened to Suikotsu's jewel shard, do you?"
"Oh that? Well, I took it and handed it over to Bankotsu, of course."
"Yeah?"
...He doesn't have a shred of greed in him. Still, it's bad news for me: Bankotsu is getting all the shards.
Eventually...he'll want Jakotsu's shard too...and I can't let that happen.
Smiling in a shifty manner, Renkotsu decides to send his mercenary brother as a new hunter for a certain common enemy of theirs.
"Jakotsu, I meant to tell you: something interesting has happened recently."
"Hm? Interesting?"
...
So in the time that our demon slayer and young monk escape from the spiral shaft through an upper tunnel way, following this new shift in holy energy...
"Miroku!"
"Right. Let's do it!"
...
Inuyasha would have walked himself deep inside a cave set much lower down the mountain, fighting to keep his breathing even from all the running he's been forced to do.
This hole is very deep...I wonder if it goes all the way down?
He'd have little time to wonder though, when the blades of the Jakotsutō sword comes ramming through the air right for him, forcing the currently-human dog demon to leap out of the way before he could get skewered!
...Recovery time would drop to be forgotten along with his stomach, of course, as he turns to glare over at the undead swordsman's silhouette walking towards him in the glow of the moonlight sliver.
"Sooo, Renkotsu was right...Is that really you as a mortal? You're as cute a human as you are a half-demon."
Inuyasha would only hiss Jakotsu's name in response and pull out his Tessaiga with the intent of using its sheath as a line of defense, not fooled by the smile on the other's face...
"Heheheh, what a pleasant surprise."
Licking his lips with a dangerous gleam in his coal irises, the zombie adds,
"I've been waiting for the time when I could fight you again, Inuyasha."
...
...
Back at the foot of Mount Hakurei, Coraline felt a shiver of worry run down her spine, her two-tone blue irises locked on the giant rock formation in front of her.
...Inuyasha...
Besa stood close by, having his arm wrapped around his sister's shoulders in a comforting manner while Kilala rested on his...He glances back at the resting form of his twin brother - he holding Ginta close to his right in his sleep and Shippo in his lap, while Hakkaku rested propped up a foot away to the left, and Kōga a distance more that way - before turning back to face the mountain's direction while thinking to himself with a serious frown,
The more you try to force the end to come...the more stubborn it becomes to being seized.
This was certainly true for the espresso-complexioned male's friend inside the cave, as the latest obstacle in way of his ultimate goal continued to leer at him.
"We~ll?"
Inuyasha only grunts on the defense and holds up his sheathed sword, prompting Jakotsu to do similarly with his own, smirking viciously.
"Come on..."
Few seconds were wasted after that, and the latest battle began to the tune of the latter's maniacal laughter, he springing on the former with every intent to making this a fight to be remembered.