Hey all! First, wishing a Happy Late Merry Christmas and a soon-to-come New Year!
So sorry about this latest delay of update. There was this crazy wind storm that knocked out power for my family and I for several days until it clicked back to life on Christmas Eve, and it took me a bit of time after that to get back into the writing rhythm. On the plus side, I did get some more brainstorming done, along with transferring my written-in-pencil stuff from random sheets of blank paper into a new notebook I got for Christmas (thank you, mom!).
Anyway, enjoy the latest in this epic :D
Chapter 131: Fare Thee Well - Jakotsu's Requiem
Picking up where we last left in the action brewing within the depths of Mount Hakurei, Jakotsu had just captured Inuyasha within the blades of his Jakosutō sword, the steel spattered in the dog demon's crimson blood. As the latter continued to growl menacingly, the former jeers both sincerely and sadistically,
"So long, Inuyasha! Of all the men I've killed, I liked you the best."
...But even upon pulling back the snake-like weapon, the feminine zombie was about to face the mistake in underestimating his opponent.
"Damn fool! I'm not what I was a while ago!"
Inuyasha manages to break free from the binding metal, much to Jakotsu's shock, before unleashing his Tessaiga's signature attack.
"Wind Scar!"
The three-tine claw mark of energy cuts its way past the connected blades of Jakosutō, to hit their wielder full-blast while also thrashing away at the inner walls and ceiling of the tunnel, essentially burying the zombie 'alive' in rock and rubble...!
...
Waiting a short moment, and sensing no signs that the battle was to continue, Inuyasha mutters,
"It's over," and turns to walk away further into the mountain...until he stops when Lumos moans in warning.
"Hm? What's wrong?"
His sensitive dog ears then pick up on the sound of a ragged cough, and glances over his shoulder to see that while incapacitated...the feminine swordsman was not through yet.
"You're still alive...?"
With a weakened tone, the latter whisper-calls,
"Well?...What are you waiting for? Go ahead and finish me. (Sad smile) I don't mind dying by your hands..."
He lets out another sputtering cough, feeling some blood flow into his throat...
Inuyasha just scoffs, and sheathes his Tessaiga, deciding that Jakotsu was not worth anymore time.
He's a dead man anyway...I need to save my strength for my real target ahead.
"Are you sure about this? If you don't kill me now, I may just appear before you again...I'm pretty stubborn, you know."
"Then I'll just beat you again and kill you!"
The dog demon focuses his amber irises on the Will O' Wisp floating by his right.
"Let's go, Lumos."
The latter 'nods' vigorously, before flying in lead to guide the former through the shadowy tunnel path ahead of them, leaving Jakotsu's buried form behind...And shortly after spotting two worm-like demons calmly flying for the outside overhead the dog demon and Will O' Wisp, Inuyasha's nose would pick up a very familiar, damning scent.
"Uh!"
This is...Naraku's scent! It's coming from the direction of those demons!
Casting his eyes forward, the dog demon in red concludes,
Then it truly is as we all suspected: Naraku's in the core of this mountain!
Lumos was sensing the dark, demonic aura as well, radiating the throbbing red light over his original white-blue glowing body, prompting Inuyasha to ask him,
"You sense the bastard too, I take it?"
"(Ghostly moan, 'nod')"
"Hmph...alright. Let's both be on our toes then."
With that, they continue their trek into the depths of Mount Hakurei...
Meanwhile, Jakotsu was left to lament over his second chance to life being snuffed out quicker than it came like the last fire in a windstorm.
"That, Inuyasha...what a naïve guy...Still-gh! Guh!...Heheh...guess this is it."
His mind fills with flashbacks of all he's done since Naraku revived him along with the rest of the Shichinintai, from his several clashes against Inuyasha, Freeman and Sesshomaru, to those rare moments of content he shared with his mercenary brother, Bankotsu...right up to his last fight against the half-dog demon, ending with his form currently trapped under the weight of both the cave, and his trials...
"What the heck...I had alot of fun..."
Jakotsu shuts his eyes, accepting his fate...which would open again, when he senses the arrival of another undead mercenary, Renkotsu.
...
They stare at one another wordlessly for a moment, before the fire-user says,
"Forgive me...Jakotsu."
...The male with the beauty of a poisonous flower just smiles, residing with what his fellow brother was planning.
Do what you have to, Renkotsu...but as smart as you may be, I think we both know your greed will be your undoing...just as my lust, has been mine.
The tainted shard of the Shikon-no-Tama is removed from his neck...and the body of the one formerly known as Jakotsu disintegrates into dust, leaving behind nothing but bones wrapped within the yellow kimono...
"Be it only one more, I need your Shikon-no-Tama shard...I will use whatever means necessary, to remain alive."
...If only Renkotsu had been aware of the Saimyōshō that was watching from the inside of a crevice, waiting until the former was gone before flying down to take Jakotsu's butterfly hairpin...
By this point, Kikyō and her soul-collecting followers had wandered closer to where the foot of Mount Hakurei would be, narrowing in on the trail of energy connected to the spirit that bailed from the mountain only moments ago.
It's close. Whatever it was that escaped Mount Hakurei.
She would only take a few more steps, before spotting the source through the misty grounds, being none other than Saint Hakushin encased within a spherical shield.
"...Uh!"
A barrier?...And it's a pure barrier. The same kind that encircled Mount Hakurei.
Then...is this the same person who put up the barrier?
Rosiagnes calls from the beyond,
"Aye, tis he, and I recommend caution when approaching, priestess...The soul bound to that dry shell, be in a tremendous amount of sorrowful pain, and may possibly be hostile to all who dare disrupt his space."
Kikyō nods slightly in acknowledgement to the warning, which shifts to alertness when she senses a shift on the winds upward the tall peak of rock.
Demonic energy is leaking out of the broken barrier...
This is Naraku's demonic aura.
Swallowing back her ill of ease, the woman with alabaster skin and ebony black hair slowly walks over to Saint Hakushin's form, kneeling in front of him.
"...You seem to have been most virtuous in your lifetime."
"First a monk, now a priestess?...Do you also pursue Naraku?"
His answer would come in the form of another question, the implication being somewhat accusing.
"Did Naraku hide himself deep inside the barrier you created?"
"...What is that look you give me? Are you trying to look into my heart?"
"I do not even have to try: your heart is plain to see."
That answer catches Saint Hakushin off-guard, his mind recalling Naraku's manipulative words of poisonous wine back in that dark, abyssal void where his soul was once trapped.
(Flash)
"It is okay to be bitter. Those fools revered you and called you holy, and made you promise to become a living saint...Then they buried you alive in solitary darkness...Hate them. Hate all humans and this world."
(Flash)
"...Do you scorn me? I, a saint who saved people and forgave their sins, became lost and died suffering. Then Naraku, a demon, saved my soul."
Fighting the urge to smirk ruefully at how similar he and her circumstances are regarding a nefarious force supposingly saving them from a most lonesome existence, Kikyō counters softly,
"Was it saved?"
Then what is this sadness? This sadness which permeates out of the barrier?
Hakushin no longer kids himself regarding the expectations set by his previous occupational title.
"I was not a saint. While I was on the brink of death, I realized it."
The undead priestess laments within her head,
And in this place, his soul became bound...and into the darkness of his soul, Naraku appeared.
Rosiagnes voices in,
"Yet the saint made the mistake of trusting a devil, whom only harbors hatred towards humankind, and a bitter evil difficult to combat...A mistake of weakness, I may add, which we human beings cannot always hold strong against."
Yes...Saint Hakushin. His soul will not find salvation by keeping such a tainted sacred barrier around him.
Smiling sadly as she recalls her own persona back when she only had the dark half of her soul, Kikyō wonders aloud in a whisper of irony,
"Is there anyone in this world, who has not wandered, who has not sinned?"
Hearing her, Hakushin replies,
"I had to be such a one...and I resolved to be one."
Hmming quietly as her deep brown irises shut, the priestess says with a touch more sadness in her smile,
"I was like you, when I lived...I tried to live without doubt, without mistakes."
"So I was right...You are also dead?"
"That is why I can understand some of your pain. (Looks up) To doubt, is to be human, and that is why humans try so hard to be divine."
An illusion of Coraline passes through Kikyō's vision, and she adds to herself in near amusement and admiration,
Well...not all humans...
"I could not become a Living Buddha. My attachment to material life sent my soul to Hell."
"Do not be ashamed that you yearned for life...Please, dissolve this barrier."
"And if I do, what then?"
"...I wish that you will let me touch your soul."
If Hakushin was taken aback by the 'young' woman's request, he didn't necessarily make it so in his tone.
"You want to lay me to rest? You, a dead priestess?"
She only stares at him with pity, knowing that the scoff was shielding something more...
We now cut back briefly to Inuyasha and Lumos as they continued their sprint and fast flight respectively deeper into the caves of Mount Hakurei...and the further they went in, the more prominent these strange tremors in the earth shook.
What're these vibrations?
Pausing for a moment to get a better feel of the jolts passing through the rock, the dog demon thinks to himself in near bewilderment,
They're almost like...heartbeats.
His nose twitches on alert as he deduces,
With each new pulse, Naraku's scent becomes stronger...You must be there, Naraku!
Unsheathing his Tessaiga, Inuyasha psyches himself up for the probable confrontation ahead.
I've finally found you!
...Back down the tunnel a ways, Renkotsu was feeling the tremors as well, and felt his anxieties towards saving his own undead skin climb.
"Does this mean Naraku is making his move?"
He pulls out the tainted fuchsia shard he just robbed from Jakotsu's 'dying' corpse from his robes, and stares at it while contemplating his options.
Jakotsu's Shikon-no-Tama shard...Shall I use it?
Whether I run or stay to fight...
It didn't take long before the fire-user would decide on embedding the jewel fragment into his neck, his body throbbing a little from the increase of power.
"I'm coming out of this alive!"
Coraline's POV
It has been a little more than twenty minutes since the barrier surrounding the mountain began to act, odder than usual, making it look like the place was gonna get destroyed any second by the lightning energies sparking between the spaces in the fog.
Hm, it looks like the structure of the sacred barrier's weakening...but how?
Was it Miroku and Sango? Or Inuyasha, and Lumos?
...Whatever's going on, I dunno if I like it.
"You're tensing. What's wrong, Coraline?"
I turn to meet Kōga's blue irises with my own, and I ask him in kind,
"Don't you sense the shift as well?"
"Huh?"
"My Aura Sensory is picking up traces of Naraku's Aura seeping through air pockets of the sacred barrier. Surely you can smell his scent now as well."
He gives me an expression of disbelief...until he sniffs the air and stiffens with gritted surprise.
"Gh!...You're right. It's not overly strong, but the bastard's stink is there."
He focuses ahead at the mountain with his eyes narrowed in suspecting anger.
"It's probably stronger inside."
"Gah! Guys, look up!"
We glance back at my startled brother Freeman before following where he was pointing, and gasp at the distant sight of two demons - both looking like flying lizards with no limbs but two sets of wings - struggling to push their way out of the waning dome shield!
No, way...!
"Demons, escaping Mount Hakurei?!"
"What the hell?!" "Impossible!"
"Well if that doesn't say Naraku's somewhere within that slab of rock, I dunno what else can!"
The exclamations stir Shippo awake, and he rubs one of his irises tiredly while asking from Freeman's lap,
"Wha...What's goin' on? Has anyone come back yet?"
Besa answers in a gentle but serious tone while standing up with Kilala on his shoulder,
"I'm afraid not, little man...and I have this sinking feeling none of our friends are."
He meets my eyes with his own, adding,
"Not on their own, at least."
Nodding in agreement, I note as I turn to watch those two demons move on for god-who-knows-where,
"Which also means we can't stay here any longer, unless we wanna become easy targets for whatever else comes crawling out of that damned mountain...We need to head in and join the fight."
Kōga looks at me like I was insane for a moment...before forming a wry grin and stating,
"Well, dog face did say to make sure you and your brothers stay safe...but he never actually said to stay rooted to this spot."
Smirking back at him, I reply,
"For once, you and I are on the same page, wolf boy...What say the rest of you?"
Standing up on his own two feet and shifting Shippo to his right shoulder while resting the handle of his long hammer on his left, Freeman shrugs and comments,
"Eh, anything's better than sittin' on my heels. I'm in."
The little fox kit nods with a nervous smile at the same time Kilala mewls with a form nod, and Besa affirms,
"I'm with you, sister."
Ginta and Hakkaku hm while looking at eachother apprehensively...before facing the rest of us with brave faces.
"I dunno if this is a good idea,"
"But we'd rather follow you guys than run away with our tails between our legs."
Eh, close enough.
Liking that everyone's up for the big adventure ahead, I spin around to walk closer to the barrier line surrounding Mount Hakurei while calling back,
"In that case, gentlemen, and lady, let's get a move on and find everyone."
I hear Shippo ask as everyone else's footfalls approach,
"But won't the barrier still try to keep us out?"
"Not after I'm done."
I then pull out my combat knife, and Besa quickly clues into what I was about to do.
"Uh! You're going to try and cut a path with your knife's barrier-breaking power inherited from the Blood Coral, right?"
"Mhm. I didn't try before because I had this feeling the sacred barrier might've been able to deflect it...But now that its strength has crippled, I'm more than confident I can carve back the energies so we can all enter inside."
Placing the combat weapon between my palms so the blade was facing straight up, I then say to everyone in warning,
"Best to step back," and they heed my word just as I shut my eyes and draw a deep breath...
Okay, focus.
(...Sheen)
Concentrating my own power so it stimulated the other source within my short blade, it glows that salmon pink light with a thin ring of dark arctic blue surrounding, and I shift position so it was pointing outward from my torso...before shooting it with another blast of power!
"Haaaa!"
(Pow)
The blade flies through the air, and behind it, dragged a ribbon of salmon red/dark arctic blue energy that cuts through the weakened sacred barrier like Moses parting the Red Sea!
Yes! It worked!
"Alright, Cora!" "You did it, sis!"
"Nice one, Coraline!"
I chime back to them just as proud but while maintaining a serious front,
"Thanks, but this likely won't last for very long, so we better hoof it while we're able. Come on!"
With that, we all began running inside the inner grounds of Mount Hakurei, determined to lend our aid to the appending battle. I think to myself as I catch my knife on the rebound,
Inuyasha, everyone...we're coming. None of you will be alone!
Renkotsu's POV
Once the energies of my three Shikon-no-Tama shards settled, I made my way back out of the tunnel back to the outside away from the beating of Naraku's power...
But once I was away from the entrance, I would be taken by surprise in seeing my only 'living' band brother sitting on a boulder a few feet in front of me, his back turned.
Bankotsu...
He turns to meet my eyes:
"He~y, so you're alive, Renkotsu."
"Yeah..."
While I did keep a calm external front in my slow approach, internally, I could feel myself fuming over not sensing his arrival sooner.
Damn Bankotsu...Let's see...
He has the shards of Kyokotsu, Mukotsu, and Suikotsu, four in all. The shards I took from Coraline are embedded in his halberd, Banryū.
I have three shards...from Ginkotsu, and Jakotsu...
That's right! If I can keep Bankotsu from using his Banryū, we'll be as good as even.
With my plan set, I prepare myself for what may very well be my hardest struggle for life yet.
If I'm going to do it, it has to be now!
...But upon reaching him:
(JAB)
"Uh!"
Bankotsu manages to grab for my neck and steal away the two jewel shards I had planted in there without even turning around!
Oh, damn...!
"Two and...(Stands up and faces Renkotsu) That's right. There was one more."
"W-Why you...!"
He smirks at me mockingly for my failed surprise assault and comments,
"Damn, you smart guys are dumb! You keep mulling and mulling it over, and it's too late now."
I hate to admit it...but for once, he's right. I calculated for too long and missed the shot right in front of me.
Keeping a palm over my neck, I ask him while fighting a stutter of shock,
"You...You intend to kill me?"
He holds up Jakotsu's hairpin just as a Saimyōshō comes hovering in, contemplating my words.
"Well, what should I do? You killed Jakotsu for the Shikon-no-Tama shard."
I argue back, forgetting about my assaulted flesh,
"You should talk! In the end, all that counts is power! And the more shards you have, the stronger you are!"
Bankotsu chuckles slightly, making my blood boil even more.
"What's so funny?! You have shards embedded throughout your body...and you used us to get them!"
That wiped the smug look off his face...before he would hold up the two jewel shards he just took from me with a straight frown.
"Wanna try it?"
"What?"
"Here."
Then to my absolute befuddlement, he tosses those two jewel shards back to me!
...What is he-
"What's the matter? Take them."
...This has to be a trick of sorts. (Glances at Banryū) It must be.
He notices where my apprehensive attention was, before assuring me,
"Don't worry. I won't use Banryū."
Hesitantly, I place the fragments back into my neck, and Bankotsu says to me with a mysterious smile,
"I'll show you the difference between you and me."
"Gh..."
"Well, what're you waiting for? Hurry it up. If you won't attack, then I'll come at you first."
He starts running towards me, and in a fit of panic, I fire my cannon at him!
(Boom)
Unfortunately, my aim wasn't focused, so Bankotsu was able to leap upward away from the blast.
"Uh! Grh, die!"
I try again, but miss, which triggered a stronger wave of panic in my veins, causing me to fire randomly with no precise aim. I couldn't get a grip on myself...I was scared...
Suddenly, Bankotsu leaps down right in front of the barrel of my weapon, and lightly pushes it downward while inquiring,
"What's the matter, Renkotsu? Hurry up and fight."
I back away on the defense, and tripped on a slippery part of the rocky ground, falling on my behind with my cannon dropping beside me...
"What's with you? Hurry it up. Or, I'll come at you again."
"Damn it!"
Somersaulting backwards, I decide to switch to my other signature attack, taking a swig of the fuel in my gourd before spewing a line of fire at my former friend! It hits him dead-on, giving me hope that today would not be my second death.
"Hah! I-I got him!"
"...Absolutely not!"
(Shoom...TOK)
"UH!"
Next thing I knew, I'm stabbed by Jakotsu's hairpin, the force great enough to knock out the jewel shard embedded inside!
No!
...I fall backwards, helpless as Bankotsu approaches me from the fire. A part of me in the back of my head knew in an instant that I wasn't going to make it...but I had to know.
"Wha...What's the difference. Rgh!...What is it? What am I doing differently from you?!"
(...JAB)
His fingers dive into my neck for the second time, robbing me of my other two shards...and the last thing I hear before exiting this world was,
"The difference is...I don't betray my friends."
Ban-kot-suuuu...
Bankotsu's POV
Watching my last brother's dead flesh evaporate, leaving behind a clothed skeleton to go crashing on its front, I drew in a breath through my nose while closing my eyes a bit forlornly.
"How sad...Now, I'm the only one left."
But, I guess this was inevitable, in a way...After all, we only survived as a group for so long the first time.
I hear the Saimyōshō buzzing a message to me as it hands me that third jewel shard Renkotsu had.
"I know...I've got things to finish."
Putting the fragment inside my body, I walk over to lift Banryū over my shoulder, the images of my fallen comrades flashing through my mind.
My brothers...I won't let your seconds deaths go unpunished.
Looking up at Mount Hakurei, I exclaim fiercely,
"This will be the Shichinintai's final battle!"
With that, I make my way into the cave my two other brothers were previously in, determined to find the one person, that, half-demon dog, who's been a big thorn in my side since our first encounter.
Inuyasha...your death will be the first to come!
Kikyō's POV
I wait patiently for Saint Hakushin to consider my offer of guiding him to a more peaceful end...and eventually, the barrier around his being dissipates...
"Now then, I've dissolved the barrier. Dead priestess, you said you want to lay me down to rest...and dissolve the barrier around Mount Hakurei. However, I was buried alive, and my soul is filled with Anger and Hatred. I cannot be saved."
"...A very determined friend of mine would say otherwise...yet, I did not once believe that I could save your soul."
His eyes widen a little in surprise, and I continue.
"I, just wanted to know...what it is that makes you so sad."
"Sad, you say?"
Nodding a little, I lift myself up a bit and reach over to wrap my arms around this poor mummified man...
"Even though I hold you like this...I cannot feel your Hatred and Bitterness."
They do not beat strong in his Aura...No.
The leading emotions written in his soul...is Sorrow...Pain...just as Rosiagnes correctly warned me to tread lightly of.
"Yours were not tears of Bitterness towards humanity and the world."
There's a pause...before he finally admits to his true feelings.
"Yes...I...I wanted to die an admirable death as a saint...but I could not. I did not want to admit...my own weakness...so I cried in Despair, over my weakness of heart...!"
I softly comment,
"How painful it must have been."
"Yes, it was painful."
"You have done more than enough good in this world...Please...Please be free now."
Saint-no...just, Hakushin, wonders aloud after another moment's pause,
"...Is it really alright?"
Smiling sadly, I chide back,
"Yes, it's all right now."
You need not torture your spirit any longer, Hakushin...If one of us deserves to be free of their trials and tribulations, it is you.
Closing his eyes with a final drawn breath...this 'Living Buddha' resolves with cutting his tethers to this world, allowing his mummified body to dissolve into his collective soul, ascending upward to Heaven...
I smile and wish him peace, before reaching into my robes to pull out the topknot of Rasetsu no Kansuke.
There is no one in this world who never feels lost...who has never sinned in his life.
I hear Rosiagnes agree with my notion:
"Aye, tis true. Even the most innocent of chile has done a' least one naughty thing in their lifetime...The word 'saint' is but a word, with no control over the true human spirit...just as Good and Evil, are feeble attempts to place control over Light and Darkness. They have no loyalties, nor do they always act their assumed roles."
Yes...Those who try to be forever divine...Those who try to be forever kind...Those who are tainted by evil...
Everyone wishes to be saved.
Holding up the small lock of hair, it too transforms into the last of the old thief's souls, which float away on a similar path Hakushin's own spirit took...
"Well done, Kikyō...Now then. I would prepare yerself, for now that the daft barrier is gone, the devil hiding in the mountain shan't be hiding fer long."
I was about to ask my acquaintance from beyond what she meant, when the grounds began to rumble.
Uh!
Casting my eyes to Hakurei, I watch as the mist surrounding began to dissolve...only to be replaced by a thinner, dark pink smog, highlighting the much more, sinister image of sharp, jagged protrusions melded into one, followed by the dispersal of many dark entities!
The barrier...it truly is gone...So. This, is where it begins.
No POV
While Kikyō began to formulate her own game plan now that the sacred barrier was completely cancelled out, Coraline, the twins, Shippo, Kilala, Kōga, Ginta and Hakkaku were going with a 'strategize as they go' action, continuing their group sprint into the valley of Mount Hakurei...when they stop and notice the change in environment.
"Huh?" "Whoa..."
"Well, this is different."
"And creepy..."
"I don't feel the barrier anymore."
"Does that mean it's fully gone now?"
"(Shudder) I'm gettin' the willies..."
...Kilala's ears then pick up on the sound of dozens upon dozens of roars, screeches and shivering moans, and looks to the skies with a growl of her own and her fur standing on end. Noting her behaviour with a confused hum, Besa follows her gaze, and gasps before calls,
"Heads up and ready, guys! Here they come! Hundreds of them!"
And by them, the young male with expresso-shaded skin was referring to the many, many demons streaming out of the mountain like nasty confetti string!
...They weren't the only ones who saw this either.
On a cliff that overlooked Mount Hakurei, Jaken the imp points out the troubling development for his master.
"Lord Sesshomaru! Oh Lord Sesshomaru! The mountain!"
Observing the new appearance of the no-longer-holy peak of rock, the dog demon's expression reflected serious displeasure...
Back down below and into the valley, about ten or so of those demons break from the above swarm to head straight for the ragtag group of humans and demons! Shippo lets out a cry of fright while Coraline draws her ShatterSoul Sword, her footfalls showing no signs of slowing down.
"Outta the way, you vultures!"
She manages to take two down in one stroke of her blade, the sharp end cutting through the demon flesh and bone like they were made of butter. Inspired by her lack of fear, Freeman charges in next with his long hammer.
"Yeheah, just try and slow this train down!"
Not wanting to be part of the front line, the fox demon on his shoulder hops down to the hard ground and scrambles over to the twin-tail cat demon just as she transforms into her full form, refreshed enough to use her full strength.
"Hah, hah, I'm gonna stick with you, if that's alright, Kilala."
"(Rowl)"
Meanwhile, Freeman lets out a short warcry before swinging his weapon like a bat with both hands on the handle, smacking the blunt base against the head of one demon which causes it to spin through the air and crash against two others, creating a small explosion of blood and bone.
"Ha! How'd you like that?!"
"(Screeeeeeak)"
"Huh?"
His victory was short-lived, however, when another demon with the appearance of a bony snake with wings starts lunging from behind, forcing him to duck and roll.
"Whoa!"
What he wouldn't see coming, was the tail of this monster swatting against his wrists and knocking his long hammer right out of his hands!
"Agh, crap!"
Freeman falls on his front hard, and whirls around when he hears the 'screeeeaaak' of the demon close by, finding himself right in its charging path with no way of defense.
Ah, damn, I'm screwed! My crystal only shields against distant attacks, not direct!
He crosses an arm in front of his face, bracing for the worst...which would never come thanks to the interference of the young man's wolf demon lover, who lets out a roar of anger before sprinting over to kick the demon down harshly without thinking!
"Get away from my mate, you skeletal freak!"
The impact was great enough to destroy the bony demon snake's head, leaving behind the body to drop in a limp to the ground. Ginta lands shortly afterward, his breaths heavy as he fought to cool his sudden burst of rage...Removing his arm from his face, Freeman looked up at his lover with an astonished expression.
"G...Ginta..."
He turns around to shoot a smile while stating,
"I may not be the strongest wolf demon around, but if anything on this creepy mountain tries to make you into their next meal, they're gonna hafta hear from me first!"
The young human male with jade green irises was blown away from how sure the young wolf demon with silvery blue irises sounded...before smiling back and nodding.
"Diddo..."
"Oi, lovebirds, save the romance for later, would ya?"
They turn to look over at Kōga, who glares up at the next section of demons heading for the group's direction, adding,
"We still got alot of work to do if we're gonna catch up with the mutt and company!...Let's all show these insects who they're messin' with!"
Everyone cries out a fierce,
"Yeah," in response, ready and able to put in the blood and sweat needed this hour...
Speaking of the topic dog demon, we cut back into the deeper section of that tunnel as Inuyasha and Lumos push on, following their respected sensors that detected the despicable half-demon responsible for this current affair of insanity.
"Come on out, Naraku!"
...But they would be forced to leap backwards to dodge a sudden surface-breaking strike from another sword, belonging to none other than the Banryū Halberd, their wielder emerging from the dusting smoke of the collapsed rock seconds afterward.
"Inuyasha, you won't be meeting Naraku..."
The dog demon growls at the zombie swordsman, who adds with a grin,
"'Cause you meet me first instead."
"Grrrh...Bankotsu..."