White Fire

Chapter 10: Wind and Fire

Sesshyo's long sword whipped down across where 'Katsumi' had been seconds before.

His clawed hand followed; slashing across to hit the demon when she side-stepped to avoid the blade. She cried out, jumping backwards; reaching her hand inside her robes and pulling out a red and white fan. "I'll have to step things up a bit." she snarled, unfolding the fan. Sesshyo cocked a quizzical eyebrow. Wait, he knew of someone who used a fan as a weapon...

Of course. Kagura. One of Naraku's many servants. Was Naraku still around? Impossible. Hadn't he been destroyed? No matter. He knew his opponent; defeating her would now be an easy task. Sesshyo flicked Hyokama down in and arc, bringing to life the wicked black flames from which the sword got its power. Kagura laughed, "You think you can destroy me with your pitiful little torch? I'm afraid you are sadly mistaken, Katsumi; or, should I say, Dialis; or, to be more accurate... Kagura." Sesshyo purred. Kagura's eye twitched. "So you know who I am? No matter. It never matters; I can destroy you anyway." Though she spoke with confidence, Sesshyo could tell she was more visibly flustered than before. She growled, swinging her fan back around, bringing up a great burst of wind. "I'll blow out that sword as easily as blowing out a candle!" she screamed, slashing her fan downward at the now charging Sesshyo.

***

As Sesshyo's blade swung out, black flames billowing from it; it did not extinguish like was expected; instead, the fire exploded in Kagura's face; causing her to let out a blood curling shriek.

She collapsed to the ground; smoke rising from her dying body. "... I-I don't understand... the wind should've blown the flame out..." she choked. Sesshyo stared heartlessly down at her. "It would take allot more than that pitiful summer breeze to blow out Hyokama's fire." he said quietly. "With wind an fire, it's all or nothing. Either the wind blows the fire out, or the wind feeds the fire, giving it tenfold the power it started with. Your miniature storm wasn't strong enough to defeat Hyokama, but it was strong enough to give it enough power to defeat you." Sesshyo turned to leave, but whirled back around as he heard Kagura's painful laugh. "You're such a fool; you may have killed me, but I've still won." "What?!" Sesshyo demanded. Kagura laughed again. "Your army is being slaughtered as we speak. The demons from the North, the false Imperial Army... all under my control. If you weren't so young and naive, you would have noticed something was wrong." Sesshyo stared down in horror; yes, of course, it made horrible sense now; Kagura's ease in obtaining the aid of the Imperial Army, and the reason mere mortals, such as they, were having such an easy time defeating full-blooded demons.

"Naraku was in need of a land with plenty of magic in it to suit his plans; and the Eastern Lands are to small; the Western too old and drained; and the Northern lands too unconceivable, there was no way he could challenge the White Wolves before he reached full strength; the Southern Lands suited our plans perfectly. You, barely of age; your people, fox demons and children; there was no way you could defend yourselves. You are easily the strongest creature in this land, yet you are only one; and against Naraku, one isn't enough."

"Witch!"

"Your failure is the greatest disgrace in the history of your family, Sesshyo; what would Daddy think? You should be glad he's not alive to witness your failure." And with that Kagura's head dropped and the life fled her broken form.

Sesshyo couldn't move, he couldn't do anything. The pain of his wounds were nothing compared to the wound in his heart. A failure? But... a failure? A disgrace? It couldn't be... but it was. He knew that every word the dead lady demon spoke was true. He was a failure. Not a single demon in his clan had ever lost a claimed realm in less than a hundred years war; he had lost his in less than twenty days. He was miserable. He was a failure... and nothing could be done to change that; he was immortal, he would remember this horrible day for the rest of eternity.

***

He knew he should go outside to see if any of his army still stood; but he already knew the answer. No one would be left once he reached the gate. The smell of blood and death was strong enough to make him sick; there must've been thousands dead... there was no one left but Naraku's forces...

He drug himself to his feet and slid ghostlike out of the main hall into the courtyard. Naraku's demon army and Kagura's soulless zombies turned to stare at him. A slow snarl ran through the forces, and the turned to walk slowly toward the white-haired demon. Sesshyo's arms hung limply by his sides, and his hair hung down over his face, hiding his tortured eyes. The were thirty feet away when Sesshyo suddenly looked up, his eyes burning red with hatred and blood lust. His face cracked into a painful smile, which slowly turned into a cruel, blood-freezing laugh. "Come!" he challenged. "Come if you wish to die!" he laughed, swinging his hand around to rest on the gray grip of Hinosaiga.

The demon's hesitated for a second then slowly began to move forward once again. Sesshyo stopped laughing and smiled coldly. The usually cold sword grip was hot in his hand; the sword feeding off his blood thirsting soul, the wicked blade preparing itself for an attack of such magnitude, it would look make Tetsusaiga look like no more than the weapon of child for killing bugs. Sesshyo set his feet, then ripped the red-glowing blade from its sheath.

***

Even Sesshyo would have been surprised at the magnitude of the attack, if he had been conscious enough to notice. His demon blood was boiling like a stormy sea on the sun.

Hinosaiga felt like it exploded from the force of the attack when it left the sheath; the substantial casing that had controlled the horrible weapon's power so far, cracked from the overwhelming power that was exerted on it as the sword began the attack. A fiery blade of youki hatred in visible form; a hundred feet long, the blade of light exploded across the battlefield like a tsunami; the shock wave disintegrating everything from bodies to the seventy-foot high perimeter wall. The huge wave carried far past the grounds of the castle, cutting down the entire thousand acre forest; cleaving a canyon through the middle of the great lake, causing the waters on either side to swell into two huge tidal waves going away from the cleft in the middle; the blade didn't stop until it sliced into the Silver Mountain, cutting of its top. The blade had traveled a distance of half a mile; gouging a crater forty feet deep in the ground where the quarter-mile wide blade had passed; and leaving Naraku's entire ten-thousand man army lying face-down, dead, in the mud.

This had taken all of five seconds. In five seconds all of Silver Valley was destroyed.

***

Sesshyo sat on the edge of the blood-filled fountain in the center of the destroyed courtyard for a long time; the exhausted Hinosaiga lying in his lap. The sword didn't object to being handled right now, though Sesshyo wished it would do something, lash out, burn the hand that held it, like it usually did. But nothing. It just laid there. The fair-faced demon turned to look up at the great castle for which this entire area had been named. Once its bright silver walls had gleamed in the morning sun; now they were black with smoke at the top, black with blood at the bottom. Once Sesshyo had looked up at this place and called it home, upon returning from a journey, upon coming over the ridge in to the valley, the first thing you would see would be the bright red and gold banners flying at the tops of the towers. Now those same towers were crumbling, threatening to fall back down on the very castle they had graced. All this ruin, in only twenty days... It was incomprehensible to the mind of the young demon, nay, impossible.

There was nothing left for him here. Sesshyo sheathed Hinosaiga and began his lonely journey down the road to nowhere.

***

The skies were dark when the other white-haired dog demon appeared, Sesshyo knew without even looking that it was a member of his own family. He knew without asking why he was here. It had been four days since Sesshyo left the smoldering ruin of the court of the Southern Lands; in reality the listless demon had been expecting the elder much sooner. But he was here now. Sesshyo stared at the ground for a long time, until he felt the elder's patience beginning to wear thin. Slowly Sesshoumaru's almost identical brother looked up into the face of his great uncle; the passer of judgement to all members of the dog-demon clan. Listless, dull, blank gold eyes looked at the stern, cold face peeering back at him. The demon was much taller than he was; he had to look up almost two feet to look him in the face; and after four days of endless walking with him head hung so low it was almost resting on his chest, it made his neck hurt to look up. The huge demon glared at him, then spoke. "You have failed Sesshyo."

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Ah! Sorry it sooooo long to update!

Please forgive!

I've been busy with my web-comic and kinda, well, (looks around embarassed) forgot about White Fire...

Don't hurt me! I've already got another chapter almost finished!