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Chapter 44
Terrified by the lord's overwhelming killing aura, the other foxes have already made their escapes out of the room. Leaving behind only the monk and a female servant to confront the Inu Daiyoukai.
"W-Why are you here?!"
Miroku gets up on his feet once seeing Sesshomaru approaches for no reason.
"Eek Houshi-sama! I'm scared!"
The girl jumps behind Miroku to take cover.
I'm scared too...Despite crying inside, he remains standing tall to protect her. "I-It's okay. H-He won't hurt you."
And before Miroku can even ask what he wants, Sesshomaru speaks up.
"Enough playing."
Suddenly they hear a feminine chuckle from behind and Miroku spins around, only to find that that weak looking girl is no longer there but a Kyuubi no Kitsune.
"Sora?!"
It's only then Miroku remembers this one fox who has sneaked into the room just a while ago. Thinking that she's also one of the foxes from the inn, he let the party kept on going and didn't stay alert.
"Could it be that you're also joining for the Kitsune contest?!"
"Hmph! I had enough fun with you."
Sora doesn't answer and tosses away the talisman in her hand. Once the paper gently lands onto the floor below, Sesshomaru charges at her in full speed and she dashes to the window just right behind her. Pushing them wide open and jumps out into the night sky to find her next target.
"Catch me if you can!"
At the forest nearby.
"Bah! Where did that damned Shippou run off to!"
Inuyasha is still tracking down that sneaky little fox for a good beating. Upon hearing hurry footsteps getting closer to his spot, he draws out Tessaiga.
"Inuyasha!"
Jumping out of the high bushes before him is Kagome as she rushes over to his side, panting non stop after a long run.
"Kagome?! What's wrong?!"
He asks while she's trying to catch a breather. "I-It's Sora! She's here...!"
Just then appears from behind them is another Kagome. And she's also looking for him. "Inuyasha?"
"Watch out! She must have transformed into me to trick you!"
The first Kagome tugs his shirt, warning him about the fox's technique.
"Who are you trying to fool?! Inuyasha can figure out which one is fake easily with his noses!"
The second one counters.
"What-?!"
Stuck in between, Inuyasha's too dazed to say or think anything properly. It's not easy to figure out right away when their scents are almost identical.
Wait, almost?
After spending some seconds to strengthen every senses of his and observe more closely, Inuyasha pushes the nearest Kagome away from him.
"You are not her!"
Therefore he claims, only to earn a punch in the face and gets sent flying feet away.
"Inuyasha!"
The real Kagome rushes to his side to help him get up and the Hanyou cringes his fangs in anger. "Damn you, B*tch!"
"To think that my perfect transformation can be broken this fast. As expected from an Inu no Taisho's descendant, sensitive noses as ever."
Sora snickers and catches a talisman falling down from above, it says *Upper Junior 8th rank*
Once seeing the paper in Kyuubi's hand, Kagome finally figures out what is going on.
"That Talisman! Is she one of the competitors like Shippou?!
Not letting anyone having time to understand the situation, Sora makes her escape out of the area by leaping up to mid-air and flies away.
"Opps! I have to get going now!"
Furious for being played around, Inuyasha attempts to chase after her. Just then they notice another figure swiftly passes them by like a wind.
"Sesshomaru?!"
Getting all excited for the upcoming battle, Inuyasha urges Kagome to follow. "Of course he would also be here! Come on, let's go!"
"But what about Shippou?!"
Yet Kagome's hesitates, worrying for the safety of the little fox, whose presence Inuyasha has completely forgotten about if she hasn't reminded him.
"Bah! Fine, we go get him first then!"
After wasting half an hour playing cat and mouse, Sesshomaru finally catches up to Sora and tackles her from behind. Then he pinches Sora onto the ground stop her from running.
"Please, don't hurt me...!"
Suddenly Sesshomaru hears a soft cry below and shocked to find it's Shiomi who is lying under him, tears are rapidly falling down to both of her cheeks. Utterly terrified.
"Shio-"
He loosen his grip only for a short moment. Enough for Sora to kick him out of the way.
"Hah! You are wide open, puppy!"
He's pushed a few steps back and almost knocking him out of his feet. Then another talisman falls down to her hand and Sora switches the face around for him to see. The paper says *Upper Junior 7th rank*
"See this? I get boosted up to 2 ranks in instant thanks to you, my dear."
Eventually snapped after having his feeling being played around, Sesshomaru charges at her with an enormous killing aura yet instead of trembling in fear or making in escape, Sora just stand there laughing in an absolute satisfaction.
"That's right, come at me! I don't even need to use weapon to end this worthless life of yours."
Because his amusing reaction right now is what exactly Sora has been waiting for ever since the beginning
Still in Shiomi's appearance, she blocks his attack then hit his face with her fist. Ending the simple combo by a kick to the side and sends him flying again.
Instantly gets back onto his feet, Sesshomaru uses his whips to strangle her, only to have Sora catches it by bare hand to pull him in closer and kneed the guy in the stomach. Cracking a hole on his armor.
Countless attempts later in order to restrain her miserably failed, yet Sesshomaru isn't showing any sign of giving up and Sora smirks, watching him struggle to stand straight after receiving a bunch of critical hits everywhere on his body.
"My, my... Such enthusiasm. This is the why I love teasing you dogs so much."
Feeling guilty, obviously not, the Kyuubi tilts her head and speaks in Shiomi's pitiful voice.
"Make a sad face for me and maybe I will let you see her... Just maybe."
As expected, her words enrages him even more than he already is. "Silent...!"
Just then Inuyasha and Kagome arrive to the scene. Now that the whole family has gathered, Sora pulls the Naginata out of thin air and taps it on her shoulder.
"Heh! Finally show up, huh?"
Seeing Sesshomaru heavily injured and Sora's arrogant attitude, Inuyasha draws Tessaiga and casts multiple of dark blades toward her.
"Meidou Zangetsuha!"
Yet his attacks are neutralized by her magical barrier. "Trying to suck me into hell? What a joke!"
Kagome soon fires her arrow as well, however without the help of Kasenada's spiritual power, it get destroyed easily just by one swing from Sora's weapon.
Before any of them can come up with another tactic, Sora swings her Naginata again. Creating several long, sharp lines of orange color energy at them.
"Mangetsu Zangeki!" (Full Moon Slash)
Seeing some of them are flying directly to Kagome, Inuyasha retreat to save her. "Kagome, watch out!"
Taking the chance that Sora is focusing on fighting the other two, Sesshomaru recovers his injuries before joining the battle again. Their fight drags on until the sky turns brighter, notifying all contestants that the test is coming to an end.
Since there is no other reason to stay, Sora takes her leave. Leaping up to mid air, she summons a giant dark crimson orb in front of her and sends it down to where the others are standing.
"Secret Art: Vortex Energy!"
"What the heck is that thing?!"
Inuyasha gasps at the sight of the enormous energy flowing within the sphere while Kagome urges him to run, seeing that it's getting closer to them in seconds.
"It doesn't matter! We have to get out of here quick!"
The moment it lands onto the ground, the orb shows its terrifying effect by pulling in all targets nearby with an insane force that much more powerful than Miroku's Kazaana.
To not letting themselves get dragged away, Inuyasha stabs Tessaiga into the ground and keeps Kagome in his arm. But to no avail as the energy lifts the earth below them and eventually sucks everyone in.
Once done trapping Sesshomaru, Inuyasha and Kagome inside. It explodes and quakes the whole small area. While its rumble is loud enough to alert Sango, Miroku and the other foxes way back at the fox's inn.
Fortunately, both Tenseiga and Tessaiga sheaths have created barriers just in time to save their bodies from being blown up into pieces.
"Kagome! Are you alright?!"
Inuyasha asks and she weakly nods. Sighing in relief that them three have miraculously made it out alive.
At result of the battle just now, both Inuyasha and Sesshomaru suffer several bruises and cut, but nothing too serious for their recovery systems to fix.
"Look like they are alive after all."
Watching the whole battle through a flying eye from afar, Byakuya comments in slight disappointment after seeing the Inu youkai brothers and the miko are still intact.
And different from his expectation to see Naraku frowns in anger, he simply snickers in great amusement.
"What's so funny?"
Confused by his strange reaction, Byakuya asks.
"Just now, Sesshomaru didn't go all out on her because she's possesing the human girl's body."
Therefore he points out the crucial detail from their fight.
"Now that you mention it... Sesshomaru has been trying to capture Sora instead of actually hurting her."
If Naraku's prediction is correct. As long as Sora is on their side, Sesshomaru cannot do any harm to them. Left alone Inuyasha who is too weak to fight her on his own.
"Now the only problem is Kagome, she has Kasenada's support."
Byakuya tilts his head in thought and Naraku reminds the guy about his job, which he ordered him almost a week ago. "Have you tried searching for any way to reach the ancient monk yet?"
"You think that I haven't? This Kasenada guy died so long ago that there isn't much info about him left in this world. No relatives, no memento, no nothing. Even the monks studying at his mountain are also useless."
As if having waited to be asked, Byakuya voices out his complains non-stop. Recalling how much effort he has wasted to collect the information only to receive nothing in the end.
Hearing so, Naraku frowns. "Hmm... It seems that I have to take a look into this matter myself."