Hey people; tis me, the author blabbing in before a new chapter once again!
Just thought I'd finally answer to a few inquiries made in the review section. To the one who goes by Know it all, I do not have any plans of incorporating the Inuyasha films into my story. I just wanna stick to the anime's storyline, at least for now. If the idea does become more appealing in the future, they'll more likely be done as separate tales outside this main tale, but no promises.
Then in terms of the multiple mini suggestions coming in from random Guests, I'm loving what your imaginations are offering me :)
I don't know if I'll put every last one to the keyboard, but we'll see as we continue to go along.
That'll be all. Thanks for the continuing positivity; you're what keeps me sane in this increasingly stressing world called Life. Happy Reading!
Chapter 134: Naraku Reborn, Beyond the Darkness
Continuing from where we last left off, we paid witness to our large group of allies gathering within the central shaft of Mount Hakurei - whether by their own volition or by force - as the aura of their greatest enemy continues to echo a strong heartbeat...
Unfortunately, one of our stronger warriors had become entrapped by these gigantic twisting tendrils shooting from the depths below, much to the horror of his redheaded lover.
...No...No, no!
Once more, Coraline tries to call for the dog demon from her hanging vantage on these strange flesh-like walls.
"Inuyasha! Inuyasha, please wake up! Inuyashaaa!"
...This time, her voice reaches his silver-furred dog ears, and he slowly blinks his amber irises open with a closed-mouthed groan.
"Mmm-mmm...Mm?"
Inuyasha then spots his intended's form a small distance away at the end of the human/wolf demon chain.
"...Coraline..."
She breathes in a sigh of relief and blinks back a few stray tears from her two-tone blue irises.
"Damn, you had me worried for a minute there..."
Once he was fully awake, Inuyasha starts scolding the girl for entering the heart of peril.
"You idiot! Why did you come in here and put your lives in danger?"
She replies in kind with a somewhat weak smile,
"You expect anything less?"
"I told you to wait outside for me. You should've listened, (glances at the others) and I mean all of you."
Her brothers cut in with their own small upturns of mouth and mild glares,
"We would've except everyone was takin' way too long, dude, including you."
"Plus once the barrier was gone, it's not like we'd be out of danger for very long. Naraku's demons were making a break for it, and some of them saw us as last-minute target practice."
Coraline finishes,
"If that's not enough...we were all getting anxious for everyone's return...I, was becoming worried sick for you."
Inuyasha could only stare at the girl in disbelief...before remarking with a scoffing smile,
"I can take care of myself just fine. What's your story, wolf? I knew I couldn't trust yo-Huh?"
That's when the dog demon clues into the fact that one member of their combined forces was missing.
"What happened to that mangy wolf; where is he? (Glance) 'Ey, Ginta, Hakkaku: where's your leader?"
Grimacing, the two wolf demons reply regrettably,
"Kōga...he got, swallowed into these strange walls of flesh not too long before we all came here. We almost did too, but Freeman and Besa saved us."
"Coraline tried to save him, but...he forced her to let go, afraid that she'd get sucked in too."
Inuyasha was shocked that his rival was so easily subdued.
What? He was devoured?!
Coraline's next exclaim snaps him out of his thoughts:
"Which means you and Lumos need to break free post-haste!"
He doesn't hesitate to the urge, and began to struggle against the hold of the tendrils...but to no avail.
"Damn!...I can't, budge...!"
...But I might be able to get the little orb free at least.
Focusing on where the Will O' Wisp was trying to tug and shake itself from, the dog demon shifts one of his clawed hands onto the tendril holding the other, and pulls at that binding force as hard as he can...Thankfully, those efforts ended in success, and Lumos was able to squeeze out for the open air!
...
But any feeling of minor victory would be shot down before it could form, when Inuyasha senses a very dark force closing in from above.
"Gh! Lumos, head over to Coraline, now! (Looks frontward) Guys, heads up!"
The six souls hanging off the cliff wall of flesh form confused expressions...until their ears pick up on a very familiar, spine-chilling chuckle.
"Oh, crap..." "Don't tell me that's...!"
"We all know whose laugh that is!"
Grinding her teeth in time with her lover, the redheaded human and silver-haired half-demon both put a name to the voice with hard glares.
"Naraku!"
Another laugh from the said evil echoes into the shaft at a louder volume this time, making Lumos freeze halfway back to his human partner's proximity, before breaking into a series of panicked moans while spinning in dizzying circles and emitting blinks of red over his white-blue body. Hearing their friends and spotting the danger-sensing Will O' Wisp, Sango questions,
"Did they say Naraku?!"
Miroku replies from his place behind her aboard Kilala,
"Impossible!"
What an unbelievably evil aura! How could it possibly come from Naraku?
Inuyasha starts his struggles up again, now more determined to break free and get his pack and allies to safety...only to stop when his body is suddenly seized by a sharp pain.
"Grh!"
Coraline mutters his name in worry, before the one responsible for this madness croons a mock into the space.
"Having trouble moving, are you, Inuyasha?"
"N...Naraku...you bastard...!"
...Casting our vision above into the shadows of the ceiling, we watch...as the fiend's face emerges from the dark, much to the shock of his enemies!
"Huah!" "Gh!"
"Auh!"
Ginta and Hakkaku felt their nerves creeping up their spines, but hold strong for the sake of the friends - or mate in the former's case with Freeman - they were holding onto.
"I-It's him...!"
"Naraku!"
Inuyasha growls as hatred towards the enemy rose in his blood, before the latter addresses the group as a whole.
"You've done well to succeed in getting here...or so I'd say under different circumstances. (Smirk) But it's already too late: you are already hopelessly entangled in my intestines. It's all over for you."
The twin young men with espresso-complexioned skin grimace with sickened expressions as they comment,
"Wait, so, we're suppose to be inside that creep's digestive track or something?"
"Aw that's just disgusting, man!"
Inuyasha would make the silence distant from the mountain shaft when he retorts back to Naraku,
"You must be dreamin'! I'll tell ya when it's over! It's over when I rip out your damn throat!"
Coraline was all for that plan:
"Damn right!"
She then shifts herself so her brothers were holding her up by her right arm and she was free to unsheathe her ShatterSoul Sword into her left. Knowing what was coming next, Shippo hops up so he was piggybacking Besa, before cheering,
"Hit 'im hard, Coraline!"
"Count on it! Prepare to meet the afterlife, you bastard monstrosity!"
(Slash)
A dark arctic blue cut mark is sent through the air on a straight course for the face above, Sango following in kind with a toss of her demon bone weapon.
"Naraku, you're dead!"
(Toss, spin...)
Unfortunately, neither attack would be able to connect directly with him, instead hitting the tendrils woven above and around...releasing an acid from the wounds! As the substance starts raining down, Kilala hurries to fly out of the path of the heavier drops, Miroku exclaiming while trying to shield his crush,
"Sango, stay away from it!"
The six hanging off the wall cringe as they felt some of the drops hit their bodies, Besa proclaiming,
"This stuff must be an imitation of-agh, stomach acid!"
Coraline adds in realization,
"Which means if we don't-rh, f-find cover, we'll be neutralized! Ginta, Hakkaku, start pulling us up!"
The wolf demons reply,
"Right," and lead a new clamber back to the top of the cave entrance opening into this shaft...
But they would only get so far, when a giant tentacle comes whipping against the demon slayer, monk and twin-tail cat demon, pinning them to the wall!
"Oh no!"
Freeman cries out,
"Double time, people, or we'll be snared next!"
(...Shoom, GRASP)
"Gaaah!"
Unfortunately, they were too late, and would be seized in two groups by two tendrils, the first containing the human and wolf demon men, while Shippo and Coraline were tied up together!
"Dammit! Guys!" "Oooh, this is bad!"
"Grh, let us go, you monster!" "Cora, Shippo!"
"Damn!" "Argh!"
Inuyasha cries out the names of those six, Coraline's being the strongest, and begins fighting harder against his own bindings. Poor Lumos was the only one left free now, but could offer no way of helping anyone...Naraku would take this opportune moment to mock his enemies again.
"Fools...You still don't understand...The whole of Mount Hakurei has become part of my body."
Looking around the whole of this inner sanctum, one could see these fleshy walls starting to throb and wobble a little more violently, ringing a translucent glow similar to the fuchsia shade of the Shikon-no-Tama...
"In other words, you are all trapped inside of me."
The entity of evil lets out another dark chuckle, making Inuyasha grind his teeth in anger, while Sango looks down at the tendril that was pinning her body as well as Miroku's and Kilala's.
"These fleshy walls are a part of Naraku?"
The monk grimaces with a glare, while Freeman mutters from his place back-to-back with his brother, Ginta and Hakkaku in a corner not too far away from the former,
"Second time I'm sayin' it, that's just disgusting, man."
The other three entangled in the same thick tendril nod in agreement, while Shippo asks Coraline fearfully from another spot within this pit,
"C-Coraline, are we, g-g-gonna be devoured just like Kōga was?"
"Now hold on, we don't know for certain if Wolf Boy's really gone. (Peers around) He could still be fighting within these walls somewhere."
That guy's almost as stubborn as my boyfriend when it comes to dodging death...
"Still holding onto pointless hope, are we, woman?"
The older redhead stiffens from Naraku's address, and darts glaring blue irises upward to meet sneering red.
"I'd highly advise against thinking so conceitedly."
"Is that right? Maybe you should take your own advice and shove those boastful remarks up your-Agh!"
Coraline would be cut off when she felt a smaller tendril holding her down around her shoulder area tighten considerably, causing her a fair amount of pain. Her friends and loved ones would gasp with worry, while she directed an even harsher glare towards the enemy.
"D-Damn, you...!"
Naraku merely laughs and says to her,
"It's unseemly imaginations like that which only prove the worthlessness in absorbing creatures such as the likes of you...No. Devouring any of you would only serve to weaken my body."
In the time the demonic monster says such, another tentacle rose near his head...carrying the last corpse of the Shichinintai!
"Gh! Bankotsu!"
Miroku was just as shocked as Inuyasha:
"Bankotsu is dead?"
The wolf demon with silver-blue irises and his best friend with the blond-white Mohawk comment,
"So this means,"
"The Band of Seven's been completely wiped out...!"
They both snap back to attention as Naraku spoke again, his smile not disguising the disgust in his tone.
"The stupidity of humans makes me utterly sick to my stomach...even villains like Bankotsu. He arrived here, to avenge his comrades' deaths, and he fought with you, Inuyasha...I gave each member of the Shichinintai a single Shikon-no-Tama shard...When Bankotsu possessed them all, he should have forgotten about getting revenge and fled with them...(Grin) Yet he didn't."
The trapped dog demon lets another growl loose, knowing where his enemy was going in his characterization...Naraku chuckles and concludes as he summons three smaller tendrils from the larger holding Bankotsu's lifeless body to wrap around the corpse's arm containing the last of the jewel shards,
"They prove themselves to be such fools each time, these mortals called Humans."
A fourth one comes slithering from another vantage of the cave towards the raised left appendage...before piercing the area just before the wrist joint, and taking away the last two Shikon-no-Tama fragments Bankotsu once wielded! With no more power left to retain the resurrected flesh, the mercenary would disintegrate back into a skeleton once more, much to the horror of Coraline, Shippo and everyone else watching...
"Naraku, damn you to hell!...Sure, Bankotsu may have been a villain..."
Inuyasha recalls a few pieces of his last battle with the undead male, specifically, his determination and strive...before concluding with ferocity,
"He was evil alright, but he was a hundred times more decent than you, Naraku!...But compared to him, Naraku, you're...!"
The villainous demon marred by the mark of the spider inquires in cruel amusement,
"Why are you so wound up, Inuyasha? Ultimately, you were the one to end Bankotsu."
"Grrrh, spare me the lectures!"
At that moment, another tendril creeps its way to the broken blade of Bankotsu's sword, Banryū, removing the shards from it, and leaving the metal to rust away...
"(Ghostly moan)"
By this point, Lumos was done with floating around uselessly, and proceeded to barrel through the air against the tentacle to try and steal back the jewel shards! He manages to attain some sort of grip, and began pulling as hard as he could, starting a dangerous game of tug-of-war with that part of Naraku. Inuyasha watches the Will O' Wisp work, both impressed by their bravery and concerned for their well-being.
Lumos...
(...TOK)
"Gauh!"
He would miss seeing the other tendril that was heading his way, before it pierces through his chest! Coraline cries out her lover's name with a small tear forming in the corner of her right eye, her brothers wincing and muttering,
"Damn..." "That has gotta hurt..."
Said young man with long, shaggy silver hair grimaces from the penetrating pain, and the tendril would extract itself while holding the five jewel shards he possessed! At the same time, poor Lumos had lost the fight with the other tendril that the two jewel shards previously embedded in the halberd sword, and would be struck aside like a little ball of dandelion fluff to go hitting the wall by Hakkaku's head.
"Gh! Hey, are you alright?!"
The Will O' Wisp groggily floats away from the wall with a shaky moan of response, while Naraku draws in the Shikon-no-Tama shards to his proximity to place around his head, a smug laugh and smile prominent on his lips all the while.
"At long last, I have them. The Shikon-no-Tama Shards belong to me."
...
(Tok, pow)
Back outside Mount Hakurei, Kikyō continues to shoot her Sacred Arrows at the lesser demons streaming from the jagged protrusion before her...but would pause when she felt the little individual energy beats of the jewel fragments converting into a single throb.
"Hm?"
...The Shikon-no-Tama shards are merging into one.
Narrowing her deep brown irises, the priestess thinks to herself in disdain,
So you finally made your move, Naraku.
And on a steady path heading up the ominous-looking mountain, was Sesshomaru, slowing his own walk to glance upward at Hakurei in thought over the entity hidden inside.
"There's no mistake. It's his demonic aura..."
Coming up behind him was his ward, Jaken, after seeing off Rin and A-Un whom were ordered out of the mountain area for the young human's safety.
"Pardon? Um, did you say something, Lord Sesshomaru?"
Ignoring the imp, the dog demon starts his pace again, thinking to himself,
Naraku...Hm, you finally reappeared.
Jaken's thoughts in contrast to his more or less passive lord were leaning towards self-preservation as he gazed up Hakurei with worry.
I-I've never felt such a strong demonic aura other than around Lord Sesshomaru.
If I continue to go with him, I may wind up dead!
"Hh-h-hnh! L-L-Lord Sesshomaru!"
...The dog demon pauses and pivots to look the imp in the eye, and a silence blankets the space between the two for a moment...before Jaken's pupils well up and he waves,
"Good luck, miloooord!"
(...WHAP)
But let's be serious: was the brown-robed imp really going to get out of the path to mortal peril so easily considering his position to one such as Sesshomaru?
"Let's go, Jaken."
Wincing from the new bump on his head, he replies sullenly,
"Y-Yes, milord..."
Kohaku's POV
I do not know exactly how long Kanna and I had been waiting inside this cave far enough away from the inner mountain sanctum...but soon, she would feel the start of the end.
"It has begun."
Turning to her, I ask despite having a good idea to my answer,
"What's begun?"
She just carries on her cryptic speech while starting a walk away from here.
"However, it will soon end."
...Naraku...
"Are you sure we don't need to wait?"
"...Kagura, is no longer here."
Hm...If she had already left, then I suppose it's fine we did as well.
...Still...
I stole a final glance down the path heading for the inner chambers of the mountain...thinking, about the young woman whose face beats familiar to me, but in such a distant way.
"...Goodbye, miss."
I do not know if it will be the last time we see eachother...but, if you don't come out alive, I pray you don't suffer.
With that, I turn around and start heading after Kanna.
Coraline's POV
Dammit, this is not good. Rgh, if only I was strong enough to break free of this bind...!
With my body too tightly bound to even reach for my combat knife, I was just as helpless as everyone else as we watched Naraku gather our jewel shards into one area.
"The Shikon-no-Tama shards are joining to form one big clump!"
The heartbeats...Naraku's, heartbeats, become louder and cause the walls behind me to rumble, the sensation sending a shiver down my spine...As soon as the jewel pieces were close enough to merge, the area where Naraku's face was is enshrouded in a bright, fuchsia light that burns into a blinding white, forcing me to squint my eyes and turn away for a moment.
"Arh!"
No...!
I hear a few similar sounds echo from my loved ones in their vantages of this fleshy pit...before the flash finally dies down and allowing us all to look that way again...
...
But I almost wish I didn't, when I saw what the teamed efforts of that dark fiend and the collected parts of the Shikon-no-Tama had created this time.
"Hauh!"
Oh...shit...!
While he did retain a good portion of his guise he stole from the late Lord Kagewaki (i.e. the long black, wavy and banged hair, red irises with white pupils and almost alabaster complexion), the rest of Naraku's...body, had changed dramatically. He now sported a well-built form cloaked in robes of onyx black, with a purple and light blue overvest extending to his calves, and a long yellow sash tied around his waist; armour that was more than likely made of demon bone, including spiky gauntlets and these strange hooped parts that made you think of de-skinned wings; three reptilian tentacles protruding from his back; and most disturbing of all...a giant red eye in the middle of his chest plate!
Oh yes, and let's not forget the spherical barrier encasing the whole picture while we're at it...
"What is that?!"
Miroku answers Sango's question with just as much alert in his voice.
"Naraku's newly-formed body!"
I turn to see my brothers Freeman and Besa staring down at our enemy with eyes wide as saucers, Ginta and Hakkaku none too far behind them with their slack jaws.
"Uuuuh, no way!"
"Th-Th-That's...!"
Lumos was on pins and needles thanks to this turn of events, blinking in and out red/white-blue at an almost feverish manner while zipping over to float by the side of my head for some sort of safety. Shippo was too horrified to even emit a response other than a few shaky whimpers...And as for me...I fought to swallow down my heart before it leapt any further from my throat.
Son of a-!
Naraku would soon be moving, barrier and all, in a steady downward float towards Inuyasha, the latter's dark aura reeking of confidence and cruelty.
"Hehehnhnhaha, such a pity...Look at you. Each and every one of you despises me so much, and now that you've finally tracked me down, you can't even lay a finger on me."
Grrrrh...curse him.
(...Ba-bump...ba-bump)
Suddenly, I could feel my vision beginning to get clouded over slightly by my own Soul Energy, shadowing the technicolour with a dark lapis blue filter. I knew this was a sign that my emotions were starting to add more fuel to the fire than necessary, so I drew in some deep breaths to try and keep myself center.
Stay calm, girl, stay calm...
"C-Coraline, are you feeling okay? You're tensing up...like, way up..."
Keeping my eyes on the forms yonder, I reply through my teeth to the younger soul entangled with me,
"I'll...be, alright, Shippo. Just, need to breathe..."
Focusing through the realm of blue on my lover's aura, I listen as he barks back bravely at Naraku,
"Yeah, like I'm trembling in fear! You went to so much trouble ta hide yourself in sacred grounds, I was expecting you to be some big, scary monster!"
In all honesty, I was feeling almost as disappointed as he was, for I too expected something a little more freakish than this...
And yet, now that I was staring at Naraku's form with my Aura Sight (not that my soul was giving me much of a choice at present), I could see some detail changes...namely,
Odd...I can't sense any slivers of, Onigumo's old aura.
...It feels...all demon.
All dark, malicious, and the light...corrupted, lost. A puppet to the darkness...
My eyes widen as I wonder,
Has Naraku finally shed himself of his human/half-demon origins?
...No...It can't be possible...!
I'm not sure if Miroku's sensory was detecting the same as I, but he was definitely feeling something off in our revived enemy's spiritual structure, and took the initiative in warning my boyfriend.
"Inuyasha! Naraku's demonic aura has changed; it's much stronger than it used to be!"
Of course, my man was stubborn in believing that Naraku's strength had increased past what we could handle, which I consider both good and bad. Good, because it meant that he was confident we'd prevail...but Bad because there was the probability he wouldn't take this shift of power seriously.
"Demonic aura?...Don't make me laugh!...Ha, as if! He's just become more warped than before! That's the only thing different about this loser!"
His firm belief fueled his ferocity so much...that he was able to finally break free from the tendril holding him, spinning through the acid that spilled out of the skin and looking quite ready for the real fight that was to commence.
I cried out his name with a smile, happy to see him free again, and Freeman calls out to him,
"Alright, dude! Take it to 'im hard!"
Springing up to bounce off the veined wall, Inuyasha calls back,
"On it," before jumping straight out with a clawed hand raised to strike.
"Iron Reaver, Soul Stealer!"
(Slas-Bzzz...Pow)
"Gah!"
But while the blow was on point, it couldn't break through the energy of the barrier, and he would be thrown back onto a lower part of the main tentacle that came rooting upward from the pit below...
"Hn, pathetic. Only a fool would dare to attack me with bare fists."
"Ha, ya think so?"
Inuyasha pulls his sword sheath off from his hip to hold out.
"If it's a sword you want, I'll gladly cut you t' bits!...Come, Tessaiga!"
...A bright light shines through a lower section of these fleshy walls, before that dog fang sword comes bursting free and flies through the air! Inuyasha meets the aerial weapon halfway in his own jump, grasping its handle by the right hand and invoking the full transformation.
"Now...prepare to die! (Raises it high) It's over...Wind Scar!"
(SLASH)
The three-tine claw of striking yellow goes streaming through the air on a straight course for the enemy...but...the latter was ready, holding up his right fist and producing a red eye similar to the one in his chest plate, while also lengthening one of the spikes on his wrist guard. The way it looked almost reminded me of the deceased Constantine's last stand after he was infected by a Shadow Being, only perpendicular rather than straight out.
Which must mean...Oh no!
All it took was one sideways swing, and my lover's signature attack was counteracted! Cursing, I think to myself in aggravation,
Should've known that bastard would have something ready to deflect the Wind Scar...
Worries would only increase when I notice that the failed attack had not dissipated, rather, it began to act like a rubber ball thrown in a tight spaced box, bouncing all over the place! It nearly hits Miroku, Sango and Kilala, then barely misses my brothers, Ginta and Hakkaku, before it started shooting mine and Shippo's way! My young friend shouts my name, and I call through the roar of energy,
"Lumos, I need your aid!"
My Will O' Wisp partner hears me, and just as I feel the tendril enveloped around my body evaporating, I reach my hand upward for Lumos to float up onto.
(...Sheen-Vworp)
Thankfully, our timing was sound, and we were able to activate that teleport shift before Shippo and I could plummet, re-materializing atop the same central trunk of tentacles that Inuyasha was, only a bit higher up! I hear some gasps of awe resonate from my loved ones, and our common enemy grinds between his teeth in disbelief,
"What?!"
I shoot Naraku a smug smirk, before turning my vision down to Shippo as he finally breathes out,
"Whoa...That was awesome! It felt like we became air!"
A small laugh bubbles from my throat at his excitement, and I turn downward to Inuyasha as he asks me,
"You alright?"
I start climbing down to where he was, watching my step so I wouldn't slip, and reply calmly,
"Yeah, we're good. (Frown) But I'd like to know what the hell's going on. Usually your Wind Scar would've dissipated by now if it couldn't connect."
He nods with just as puzzled an expression:
"That's what I'm wonderin' too..."
We scope out everyone else's positions now that they were no longer restrained to the walls, the first small group of focus being Sango, Miroku and Kilala as they stood atop a small protrusion from the wall while gathering behind the former's weapon.
"Miroku, stay behind my Hiraikotsu!"
"What is going on?!...Ah!"
They barely stave off the next bounce of the Wind Scar, and it travels through the air in a loop around Naraku's shielded form before diving for the other four on our side. My brothers hurry to ready themselves to block the rogue attack with their crystal pieces.
"Aw man, here it comes again!"
"Guys, stay behind us!"
Ginta and Hakkaku do as Besa tells them, and the transparent rainbow dome shield activates from the power of two to form around the quartet, forcing the Wind Scar to ram over it and strike the wall before making another leap for the air again...
Naraku chuckles at our near-misses, before mocking the one who tried to bring their sword upon him.
"Inuyasha. I've trapped your Wind Scar in the very flow of my demonic aura."
What?! No way!
Shippo yells at my boyfriend, blaming him for our current predicament.
"Stupid Inuyasha! You let Naraku goad you into unleashing your Wind Scar and now he's turned it on us!"
"Shut up!"
"Aaauh! It's coming again!"
Hang on...I got it!
Quickly placing the fox demon on Inuyasha's shoulder, I pull out my own special weapon at ready.
"Not this time!"
"Wait, Coraline, what're you-?!"
I give him no hints to what I was up to, and just went for it like he always does, leaping off the tendril straight for the Wind Scar, much to his and everyone else's shock!
"Gah! Coraline!"
"Coraline, no!" "Cora!"
"Has she lost it?!" "She's gonna get torn to bits!"
Not if I use my own signature attack...
"Spirit Slash!"
(Slash...BOOM)
My aura collides with the released power of the Tessaiga, and they fight eachother for a moment...before swirling together like wind and smoke, then blowing apart in an explosion of raw, sparking bolts of energy, which shove my own body back harshly until I landed hard against a part of the wall several feet away from where my brothers and the two wolf demons were...!
...Grimacing with a hiss through my clenched teeth, I fight to raise myself from my crash-landing area, just as Inuyasha comes hopping over with Shippo still on his shoulder, his expression reflecting a mixture of emotions over what I had just done.
"...Coraline...where the hell did'ja get the idea to-"
I interrupt him as I rose up straight once more, minding the new ache in my spinal cord.
"I guess, it came from that event, where I was forced to fight you one-on-one to bring you back to your senses..."
His amber irises widen in realization to what I was speaking about, and I add,
"Only this time, it was your Wind Scar that I wanted to stop from doing something regretful. I wanted, to use my aura to calm it down."
"...Coraline, you..."
I merely shook my head with a reassuring expression, before turning my vision towards Naraku as a sardonic smile formed on my lips.
"Well, Naraku, it seems your plan to turn our power against us has failed. That the best trick you got to offer from your new form?"
He glares at me in return for the mockery, making me hold down a chuckle.
Now I'm starting to understand why Kikyō used to act so arrogantly around this guy.
But, I better take care not to get full of myself...
Hm, speaking of my Soul Sister, (curious frown) I wonder if she's gotten into the valley now?
Kikyō's POV
Soon there would be no more demons swarming out of the mountain for me to draw my bow on, most having focused on getting as far away from the area as they could...Something even I could not blame them for, as I looked over the unholy structure and felt the new evil clouding it inside and out.
A demonic aura is whirling around inside Mount Hakurei...
Wait. There: the beat of a powerful soul...A human soul.
"Coraline...Hm?"
I then sense a presence similar to Naraku's aura leaving from high up the side of Mount Hakurei.
Pivoting my eyes that way, I focus on the figure...before concluding,
That's Kagura, Naraku's incarnation...(Narrows irises) She's holding something...
...Uh!
Once I had an idea to what that thing in her arms was, I immediately drew another arrow onto my bowstring, and release my power against the demon...Unfortunately, she sensed my attack, and was able to evade it. Kagura then readied to counterattack...but stopped before she could even begin, likely on orders from the entity in her possession...
As I watched the two auras disappear from the area, I wonder to myself,
Naraku...what have you unleashed?
Naraku's POV
Thanks to that accursed redheaded woman and her foreign blade, my plan to destroy my enemies with Inuyasha's own attack had failed...
But I would have little time to brood about it, when I detect the presence of the one person I want obliterated by my hands more than all others.
...Kikyō. (Small smirk) So you've finally arrived.
Glancing back down at the ones I have trapped in this sanctum, I reason to myself,
Even though Coraline was able to disperse the Wind Scar, she, Inuyasha and their companions can still land no blow to my newly-obtained body.
...There is only one thing left to deal with.
An image of that priestess passes my mental vision, before I direct my barrier to carrying me on a steady course out of the mountain...
"Naraku! Are you trying to run away from me?!"
Ha, hardly, Inuyasha.
...I then feel his human's stare burning into the area under my feet...and realize,
She can see those jewel shards...!
...Tch, why should I worry, though? She is still unable to do a thing to me.
Or so I thought: as I continued to float upward, I suddenly felt that woman's presence as well as Inuyasha's begin to close in on me fast. Pivoting my irises over my shoulder, I spot their forms leaping up the tendrils for my direction, each with their swords drawn.
Ha. They must be insane, charging at me with the plan to draw both their blades on my barrier...
...But, about halfway in their chase, Inuyasha would re-sheathe his Tessaiga, while the woman...channeled a strong, spiritual energy into her sword, creating a billowing ring.
That, power...her soul is...
There's an exchange of stares and nods between the two...before Coraline suddenly runs off the tendril in a leap, and whirls around to my direction before bellowing out an outcry in a foreign tongue.
"Scáth an Soul!"*
(Slash-slash-slash-slash-SHING, Spin)
Next thing that I knew, the woman sends forth a current of dark blue energy wrapped around an odd wheel shape formed by four, fiery gold wing-like blades!
What?!
She cries out Inuyasha's name just as that orb creature barrels down her way and assists in activating that baffling transport ability, vanishing and giving room for that damned half-demon to make his own leap and use his sword's sheath to strike her attack, and send it reeling faster through the air, hitting the bottom of my barrier dead-on!
"Rh!"
The energy blades cut through my shield...releasing the wolf demon, Kōga, from my clutches in a cocoon of my inner fluids before I could have the chance to fully absorb him. Hearing the woman's exclaim of her ally's name along with that of his two subordinates...it was amusing to say the least.
So that was her intent all along? To free the wolf? Hehaha, what a fool!
"You bother to worry about a friend at a time like this? Your unfailing stupidity thoroughly disgusts me."
My insults did little to bother my enemies, save the one human by name of Freeman who attempts a retort.
"Oh yeah, who asked for your opinion? You're the moron who just lost two jewel shards and fodder for your body!"
One of the wolf demons yanks him back by his waving fist to stop him from shouting anything more, while I merely smirk and think to myself,
Perhaps I have, but those shards are of little importance right now.
I have more than enough power at present to help me complete the task awaiting outside this mountain...
But first.
"If your comrades are so precious to you..."
Raising a palm, I command the structure of this shaft to start falling apart, as well as releasing one of my most potent miasmas to start seeping through the cracks. I watch as Inuyasha scrambles to catch his woman - keeping the fox kit on his shoulder all the while - before hopping downward in the direction of the falling Kōga, the twin humans and two wolf demons following after them shortly after they're cloaked in the power of those strange crystals, and the monk cringing back while shielding the slayer and the twin-tail...The sight of their struggles was satisfying, and I grin while calling down,
"I'll show you all compassion. You can all rest together in the same grave!"
With the bulk of my enemies distracted by their appending doom, I continue my steady trajectory upward, anticipating the long overdue meeting with the first bane of my existence.
Hehahahahaha...Kikyō...I shall be seeing you soon.
*Irish to English Translation - Scáth an Soul, or Shadow of the Soul