*Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha, or its characters. I do own, however,
the original characters: Mayumi, Shouta, Momoko, Daisuke, Kenta, and
Nanami. Using my original characters in your own stories is not permitted,
unless with my consent. Thank you.
Chapter 15
The Shattered Amulet
The brightness of the explosion faded, the wind ceasing. Everyone remained unhurt, although stunned for a moment due to the awesome spectacle of the blast. Mayumi was seen tired and panting, enduring the fatigue.
"I will...kill...the demons..."
Everyone didn't understand why the immense blast did not pose a threat to their lives.
"It worked," Daisuke spoke. "My protective spell worked."
The crowd remained watching Mayumi.
"Demons..."
Suddenly, without warning or hesitation, Mayumi flicked her wrist. An unusual wind picked up, and brushed by. It swirled around Inuyasha, like a powerful swarm of wrathful wasps. Inuyasha used the Tetsusaiga to hold himself to the ground. But it soon did not matter, for he was somewhere else.
Nothing was around. Everyone was gone; Inuyasha was in a void of nothingness. He hovered, looked around. Complete silence. Nothing. He couldn't move. Abruptly however, the eerie silence was interrupted. It was Kagome.
"Inuyasha..."
He turned around, and there stood the unusually gleeful Kagome.
"Inuyasha!"
She smiled, and floated over to him.
"Inuyasha, you got the shards back, right?"
He nodded.
"May I see them?"
He held them out for her to take. She grabbed them hastily.
"Thank you," she grinned.
Suddenly, the void became distorted and Inuyasha was back in the forest, with the crowd gaping at what had just happened. Mayumi had somehow obtained the shards.
"Thank you, Inuyasha," she said, smiling.
"Damn it!"
She had used another illusory trick to get them from him.
"At long last, the jewel shards," Mayumi said.
She held up the three shards for all to see. She was amazed by their apparent power.
"At last."
Mayumi took a single shard, and pricked her skin with it. Blood trickled out from her arm. Then, with a determined swoop, she injected and embedded the shard in her arm fully. Blood oozed profusely for a while, but healed. It was a splendor.
She then took the second shard in hand, and shoved it deeply in her back. The two shards shone with an intimidating light. The crowd was in awe, but Inuyasha realized that it was worse to just remain planted and stand gawking. He adjusted the Tetsusaiga, and was about to jump for a sweep of the sword.
But then, Mayumi took the final third shard, and swallowed it, with a single gulp. She ingested it; the crowd began to cower, most of them fleeing in fright.
"No!" Kagome screamed. "Inuyasha!"
Inuyasha was already in midair, when the empowered jewels were finally morphing Mayumi. Her body gave off a brilliant, blinding light, as Inuyasha was pushed back, landing on the ground in a staggered, but readied stance.
"Damn it."
"Inuyasha!" Kagome screamed in alarm.
The only people that remained of the small crowd were Daisuke, Myoga, and Shouta's father. The others all ran from terror. They knew the dangerous and evil powers of the jewel.
"Demons..." the transformed Mayumi said. "They will all die."
The jewel shards and Mayumi's aura combined, creating an extreme luminosity. Kagome covered her eyes. Inuyasha's heart began to beat severely in his chest. Myoga was cowering, about to flee. Daisuke, although worried, was deep in thought, thinking. Shouta's father stood a good distance off, overwhelmed by the light.
The light slowly died, and Mayumi became easier to discern. The amulet around her neck gleamed ominously, as she stood stasis in air, still as a rock planted in earth. Her eyes glowed with a powerful and vengeful expression. Kagome could still see and detect the shards within her, although the light was now gone. The single shard in her right arm, the one embedded in her back, and the ingested shard all seemed to radiate from within.
Silence became threatening, as Mayumi remained still. She eventually looked into Inuyasha's eyes. Although no movement from her mouth or face, Mayumi's eyes held her agony and hatred, becoming extremely violent and stormy.
But the silence was soon shattered. Not by words, but by sounds of power. Mayumi released huge orbs of her power, which came crashing down to the earth, like grand lightning. Inuyasha could not avoid it; her power was supreme. He took the blow, enduring the seemingly perpetual pain, and landed harshly.
His will aided him and helped him up, but only that would not suffice for long. He stood, clutching the Tetsusaiga, and charged head-on, at Mayumi. He slashed at her from above, which caught her in the shoulder. It cried a crimson creek, but she ignored it. Her angst and painful yearning for vengeance was more crippling.
Daisuke beheld the battle from the side, and suddenly was struck with a bold idea. He rushed over to the helpless Kagome, and began to sprinkle special herbs and petals on the enchanted chains.
"What are you doing?" Kagome asked.
"Shhh, don't draw attention," Daisuke whispered.
He mumbled a few words of mantra once again, now more confident in his ability to cast spells. The chains, however, were bound by extremely powerful magic.
"Inuyasha broke free somehow," Kagome told him. "I wish I knew how."
The battle ensued; Mayumi seemed to have the upper hand. The powers of the jewel were hard to transcend. Inuyasha continued with the Tetsusaiga, however, successfully administering some nicks and wounds on Mayumi.
"Vile demon, Inuyasha," Mayumi said. "I shall kill you and avenge my parents' unfortunate demises, and my eternal pain!"
Wind soon began to pick up again. Inuyasha recognized it.
"Damn it."
He leapt at her again, but was knocked back forcefully by a gust.
"I got to watch out for that wind," he told himself. "If she hits me with enough of it, I'll be caught in one of those illusions."
Wind swirled around Mayumi like a vicious cyclone, and she commanded it to seep into Inuyasha's mind once again. Inuyasha evaded the various gusts, but then stood against Mayumi's tornado. She allowed it to free from her body and finally assail Inuyasha.
Inuyasha realized he had to face it head-on. He mustered all the will and strength he could. He stored it inside of him, gathering and summoning slowly. It began to surge through his body, flowing with the rushing of his half-demon blood. It charged through him completely.
He transferred all of this energy into the Tetsusaiga, and it grew with immeasurable power. He took the remainder of his strength and sliced through the tornado of illusions. He destroyed it.
The wind dissipated, and Inuyasha stood with heavy fatigue weighing his body down, like boulders tied to his ankles. Mayumi floated, aghast.
Meanwhile, Daisuke remained with Kagome, chanting his mantra diligently. He was determined to break the shackles. He soon gestured to Shouta's dad, who was still watching Inuyasha, to come and help dispel the bewitchment on the chains. Shouta's dad approached slowly and apprehensively at first, but then broke into a run. Myoga was nowhere to be found.
"Repeat the mantra with me," Daisuke told him and Kagome. "It makes it more powerful."
Thus, the three began to chant lowly and quietly. Soon, the spell began to work, with the heavy chains glowing an unusual color. They slowly withered away, as though a potent acid was eating at them. Kagome tried to break free, but they still remained too powerful. Abruptly however, sparks began to shoot from the weakest spots of the chains, and made loud clanking noises.
Mayumi noticed what they were doing, and turned away from Inuyasha. It was this moment that Inuyasha timed perfectly and flawlessly, as he struck Mayumi down with a powerful slash of the Tetsusaiga. She bled salty scarlet, and this time, she was maimed drastically across her chest. She had to cease fighting, and tend to it. It bled uncontrollably.
Then, there was another loud clank. Kagome had finally managed to break free from the eroded shackles.
"Mayumi!" Kagome cried.
She turned and looked at Kagome. She held her hands helplessly to her scarlet-stained chest.
Kagome stood up into a powerful stance. She grabbed her bow in hand, and pulled out an arrow from her quiver. She held the arrow on the bow taut, and released it as a threatening bullet. It soared through the air, as Mayumi remained still, puzzled at its power and wonder. It was aimed straight for Mayumi, and connected with her, blazing at her injured chest.
It impaled straight through her, and remained planted, embedded and stasis. It then began to glow from within her, as all stood marveling at the sight.
"What is this?" Mayumi thought to herself.
The jewel shards within her began to pulsate and change color to match the bright color of the arrow.
"What?" Mayumi wondered. "The arrow is purifying the shards? But how?"
Mayumi met eyes with Kagome.
"That girl, Kagome," she thought. "She is, in fact, no mere mortal."
The purifying power within Kagome's arrow was then released completely. There was an abrupt silent explosion, and the jewel shards were thus purged of their original tainted evil. Thus, Mayumi's angst and hatred could no longer feed on anything. She lost the power that the shards had given her, and transformed back to her normal state. She floated to the ground, kneeling, and panting painfully.
"No," Mayumi said helplessly. "No, I must destroy the demons..."
Inuyasha sheathed the Tetsusaiga and approached Mayumi.
"Damn it, Mayumi," Inuyasha said. "Look at what you've done! Haven't you even noticed! You've killed humans!"
"What?"
"In case you didn't remember, you killed humans! You murdered Kaede, you destroyed Momoko ruthlessly, and now you want to kill demons? Do you just want to kill everyone?"
Mayumi was taken aback by Inuyasha's words.
"By hearing you talk to yourself, I can see you don't even know what the hell you're doing. Your mother tells you one thing, and then you assume something else. You don't know anything! And I'm sure what you're doing now, trying to slaughter everyone, won't please your mother or father at all!"
Mayumi shed a tear. She realized he was right.
The villagers were soon coming back again, aware the danger had passed.
Mayumi began to cry hysterically.
"Oh, mother, what have I done!" she sobbed. "I've killed so ruthlessly and blindly! I am so sorry..."
She cried. Some of the villagers didn't know what to think, but Kagome seemed very sympathetic. Inuyasha was now indifferent, witnessing Mayumi breaking into tears.
"I am sorry..."
Mayumi continued to cry. Her amulet began to glow and shine, along with her tears. Her amulet was dipped in some of her own blood from the deep chest wound, and resembled a candy apple. The shine it gave off caught her attention. She looked at it a while, scrutinizing its intricate shape, and then was struck with a sudden change. Her tears stopped leaking, and her eyes began to focus.
"Mother, help me," she said. "What is the right thing to do? What is good, mother?"
She looked up into the high treetops of the forest, searching and listening for an answer. But she realized she wouldn't get one. She mused for a moment, closing her eyes. Then, with slight hesitation, she opened them once more, and a decisive expression came across her face.
"Perhaps you could steer me, right from wrong, mother. Perhaps, maybe, you can show me..."
Mayumi clutched the amulet close to her heart. She then, quite suddenly and unexpectedly, began to squeeze it. The amulet shone brilliantly, and began to crack. Light was expelled from the small openings, as the precious amulet of immortality crumbled in Mayumi's palm.
Chapter 15
The Shattered Amulet
The brightness of the explosion faded, the wind ceasing. Everyone remained unhurt, although stunned for a moment due to the awesome spectacle of the blast. Mayumi was seen tired and panting, enduring the fatigue.
"I will...kill...the demons..."
Everyone didn't understand why the immense blast did not pose a threat to their lives.
"It worked," Daisuke spoke. "My protective spell worked."
The crowd remained watching Mayumi.
"Demons..."
Suddenly, without warning or hesitation, Mayumi flicked her wrist. An unusual wind picked up, and brushed by. It swirled around Inuyasha, like a powerful swarm of wrathful wasps. Inuyasha used the Tetsusaiga to hold himself to the ground. But it soon did not matter, for he was somewhere else.
Nothing was around. Everyone was gone; Inuyasha was in a void of nothingness. He hovered, looked around. Complete silence. Nothing. He couldn't move. Abruptly however, the eerie silence was interrupted. It was Kagome.
"Inuyasha..."
He turned around, and there stood the unusually gleeful Kagome.
"Inuyasha!"
She smiled, and floated over to him.
"Inuyasha, you got the shards back, right?"
He nodded.
"May I see them?"
He held them out for her to take. She grabbed them hastily.
"Thank you," she grinned.
Suddenly, the void became distorted and Inuyasha was back in the forest, with the crowd gaping at what had just happened. Mayumi had somehow obtained the shards.
"Thank you, Inuyasha," she said, smiling.
"Damn it!"
She had used another illusory trick to get them from him.
"At long last, the jewel shards," Mayumi said.
She held up the three shards for all to see. She was amazed by their apparent power.
"At last."
Mayumi took a single shard, and pricked her skin with it. Blood trickled out from her arm. Then, with a determined swoop, she injected and embedded the shard in her arm fully. Blood oozed profusely for a while, but healed. It was a splendor.
She then took the second shard in hand, and shoved it deeply in her back. The two shards shone with an intimidating light. The crowd was in awe, but Inuyasha realized that it was worse to just remain planted and stand gawking. He adjusted the Tetsusaiga, and was about to jump for a sweep of the sword.
But then, Mayumi took the final third shard, and swallowed it, with a single gulp. She ingested it; the crowd began to cower, most of them fleeing in fright.
"No!" Kagome screamed. "Inuyasha!"
Inuyasha was already in midair, when the empowered jewels were finally morphing Mayumi. Her body gave off a brilliant, blinding light, as Inuyasha was pushed back, landing on the ground in a staggered, but readied stance.
"Damn it."
"Inuyasha!" Kagome screamed in alarm.
The only people that remained of the small crowd were Daisuke, Myoga, and Shouta's father. The others all ran from terror. They knew the dangerous and evil powers of the jewel.
"Demons..." the transformed Mayumi said. "They will all die."
The jewel shards and Mayumi's aura combined, creating an extreme luminosity. Kagome covered her eyes. Inuyasha's heart began to beat severely in his chest. Myoga was cowering, about to flee. Daisuke, although worried, was deep in thought, thinking. Shouta's father stood a good distance off, overwhelmed by the light.
The light slowly died, and Mayumi became easier to discern. The amulet around her neck gleamed ominously, as she stood stasis in air, still as a rock planted in earth. Her eyes glowed with a powerful and vengeful expression. Kagome could still see and detect the shards within her, although the light was now gone. The single shard in her right arm, the one embedded in her back, and the ingested shard all seemed to radiate from within.
Silence became threatening, as Mayumi remained still. She eventually looked into Inuyasha's eyes. Although no movement from her mouth or face, Mayumi's eyes held her agony and hatred, becoming extremely violent and stormy.
But the silence was soon shattered. Not by words, but by sounds of power. Mayumi released huge orbs of her power, which came crashing down to the earth, like grand lightning. Inuyasha could not avoid it; her power was supreme. He took the blow, enduring the seemingly perpetual pain, and landed harshly.
His will aided him and helped him up, but only that would not suffice for long. He stood, clutching the Tetsusaiga, and charged head-on, at Mayumi. He slashed at her from above, which caught her in the shoulder. It cried a crimson creek, but she ignored it. Her angst and painful yearning for vengeance was more crippling.
Daisuke beheld the battle from the side, and suddenly was struck with a bold idea. He rushed over to the helpless Kagome, and began to sprinkle special herbs and petals on the enchanted chains.
"What are you doing?" Kagome asked.
"Shhh, don't draw attention," Daisuke whispered.
He mumbled a few words of mantra once again, now more confident in his ability to cast spells. The chains, however, were bound by extremely powerful magic.
"Inuyasha broke free somehow," Kagome told him. "I wish I knew how."
The battle ensued; Mayumi seemed to have the upper hand. The powers of the jewel were hard to transcend. Inuyasha continued with the Tetsusaiga, however, successfully administering some nicks and wounds on Mayumi.
"Vile demon, Inuyasha," Mayumi said. "I shall kill you and avenge my parents' unfortunate demises, and my eternal pain!"
Wind soon began to pick up again. Inuyasha recognized it.
"Damn it."
He leapt at her again, but was knocked back forcefully by a gust.
"I got to watch out for that wind," he told himself. "If she hits me with enough of it, I'll be caught in one of those illusions."
Wind swirled around Mayumi like a vicious cyclone, and she commanded it to seep into Inuyasha's mind once again. Inuyasha evaded the various gusts, but then stood against Mayumi's tornado. She allowed it to free from her body and finally assail Inuyasha.
Inuyasha realized he had to face it head-on. He mustered all the will and strength he could. He stored it inside of him, gathering and summoning slowly. It began to surge through his body, flowing with the rushing of his half-demon blood. It charged through him completely.
He transferred all of this energy into the Tetsusaiga, and it grew with immeasurable power. He took the remainder of his strength and sliced through the tornado of illusions. He destroyed it.
The wind dissipated, and Inuyasha stood with heavy fatigue weighing his body down, like boulders tied to his ankles. Mayumi floated, aghast.
Meanwhile, Daisuke remained with Kagome, chanting his mantra diligently. He was determined to break the shackles. He soon gestured to Shouta's dad, who was still watching Inuyasha, to come and help dispel the bewitchment on the chains. Shouta's dad approached slowly and apprehensively at first, but then broke into a run. Myoga was nowhere to be found.
"Repeat the mantra with me," Daisuke told him and Kagome. "It makes it more powerful."
Thus, the three began to chant lowly and quietly. Soon, the spell began to work, with the heavy chains glowing an unusual color. They slowly withered away, as though a potent acid was eating at them. Kagome tried to break free, but they still remained too powerful. Abruptly however, sparks began to shoot from the weakest spots of the chains, and made loud clanking noises.
Mayumi noticed what they were doing, and turned away from Inuyasha. It was this moment that Inuyasha timed perfectly and flawlessly, as he struck Mayumi down with a powerful slash of the Tetsusaiga. She bled salty scarlet, and this time, she was maimed drastically across her chest. She had to cease fighting, and tend to it. It bled uncontrollably.
Then, there was another loud clank. Kagome had finally managed to break free from the eroded shackles.
"Mayumi!" Kagome cried.
She turned and looked at Kagome. She held her hands helplessly to her scarlet-stained chest.
Kagome stood up into a powerful stance. She grabbed her bow in hand, and pulled out an arrow from her quiver. She held the arrow on the bow taut, and released it as a threatening bullet. It soared through the air, as Mayumi remained still, puzzled at its power and wonder. It was aimed straight for Mayumi, and connected with her, blazing at her injured chest.
It impaled straight through her, and remained planted, embedded and stasis. It then began to glow from within her, as all stood marveling at the sight.
"What is this?" Mayumi thought to herself.
The jewel shards within her began to pulsate and change color to match the bright color of the arrow.
"What?" Mayumi wondered. "The arrow is purifying the shards? But how?"
Mayumi met eyes with Kagome.
"That girl, Kagome," she thought. "She is, in fact, no mere mortal."
The purifying power within Kagome's arrow was then released completely. There was an abrupt silent explosion, and the jewel shards were thus purged of their original tainted evil. Thus, Mayumi's angst and hatred could no longer feed on anything. She lost the power that the shards had given her, and transformed back to her normal state. She floated to the ground, kneeling, and panting painfully.
"No," Mayumi said helplessly. "No, I must destroy the demons..."
Inuyasha sheathed the Tetsusaiga and approached Mayumi.
"Damn it, Mayumi," Inuyasha said. "Look at what you've done! Haven't you even noticed! You've killed humans!"
"What?"
"In case you didn't remember, you killed humans! You murdered Kaede, you destroyed Momoko ruthlessly, and now you want to kill demons? Do you just want to kill everyone?"
Mayumi was taken aback by Inuyasha's words.
"By hearing you talk to yourself, I can see you don't even know what the hell you're doing. Your mother tells you one thing, and then you assume something else. You don't know anything! And I'm sure what you're doing now, trying to slaughter everyone, won't please your mother or father at all!"
Mayumi shed a tear. She realized he was right.
The villagers were soon coming back again, aware the danger had passed.
Mayumi began to cry hysterically.
"Oh, mother, what have I done!" she sobbed. "I've killed so ruthlessly and blindly! I am so sorry..."
She cried. Some of the villagers didn't know what to think, but Kagome seemed very sympathetic. Inuyasha was now indifferent, witnessing Mayumi breaking into tears.
"I am sorry..."
Mayumi continued to cry. Her amulet began to glow and shine, along with her tears. Her amulet was dipped in some of her own blood from the deep chest wound, and resembled a candy apple. The shine it gave off caught her attention. She looked at it a while, scrutinizing its intricate shape, and then was struck with a sudden change. Her tears stopped leaking, and her eyes began to focus.
"Mother, help me," she said. "What is the right thing to do? What is good, mother?"
She looked up into the high treetops of the forest, searching and listening for an answer. But she realized she wouldn't get one. She mused for a moment, closing her eyes. Then, with slight hesitation, she opened them once more, and a decisive expression came across her face.
"Perhaps you could steer me, right from wrong, mother. Perhaps, maybe, you can show me..."
Mayumi clutched the amulet close to her heart. She then, quite suddenly and unexpectedly, began to squeeze it. The amulet shone brilliantly, and began to crack. Light was expelled from the small openings, as the precious amulet of immortality crumbled in Mayumi's palm.