Author notes: I'm sorry I haven't updated in a long time, but what do you expect, I'm a guy and therefore about as likely to update on a regular basis as I am to call you back the next day. On another note, I've added a prologue to the story which should be back at the beginning.
It had been hundreds of years since the metal riders came, their weapons destroying all that was holy, all that was sacred. Their flashing blue eyes continued to haunt Darius's dreams, the smell of burning flesh seemed to always linger in his nostrils, the hatred never leaving his soul.
How could he forgive them, how could he let go of the anger that had kept his withered body alive for so long, he thought as he walked through the darkness of the catacombs. This place was his home, he thought as he studied the rotten faces of his undead legion, these creatures were his companions. He had cheated death to create them; he had cheated death to keep his own hatred alive these countless decades.
Death itself meant nothing to him. He had learned to manipulate it over the endless years, force it to contort to his own will. And yet life, true life, always remained just beyond his reach as if death itself taunted his waken hours, hiding its greatest secrets just beyond him.
He had come so far in the mastery of death; his armies were proof enough of that. But despite his power to manipulate death, he always failed to overcome it. What good is reviving the dead if they are only shells of what they once were, Darius thought to himself as he pushed open the heavy wooden door to his inner chamber.
The small inner chamber was desolate except for the simple stone casket that lay in its center. "I'm sorry I won't be the man you remember," he said to himself as he slid off the lid of the coffin. Only a collection of scattered bones and rotten cloth remained of his lost love.
He could still sense that same fear in her eyes, though her eyes were long since gone. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you," he said as the memories of his past flooded back into his mind, the metal riders burning, destroying, raping, raping her. He was weak then, only one against many, there was nothing he could do to stop them from tearing her clothes, from beating her when she refused to open up to them. The way she cried in shame as they forced themselves on her never left his mind; it was always just behind what he really heard.
Before that day he had never associated blue with evil, but only evil could have made their blue eyes smile as they slashed open her bare belly and watched her innards spill out onto the dirt.
"I will make it all right again," Darius said as he rubbed the tips of his fingers along the bones of her jaw. "There is a sword, a sword that can bring you back to me. Soon it will be mine."
****************************************************************************
"In what sick recess of your mind do you think that this is a good idea?" Miroku asked as he watched Sesshoumaru descend into the darkness of the catacombs.
"We have no choice," Sesshoumaru remarked.
"There's always a choice," Miroku stated. "In fact, I chose right now that I don't want to go into that creepy cave. I sense a bad vibe coming out of there. Why don't you go find out what that is and I'll just guard you exit here."
"Jaken can guard our exit," Sesshoumaru said as he attempted to persuade Miroku to enter into the catacombs. "Besides, you need to prove to me your value as a fighter."
"You heard him human," Jaken said as he shoved Miroku into the entrance of the tunnel. "I'll keep guard here while you get rid of that infernal spatial loop."
"Why you little toad!" Miroku hollered after recovering from being shoved from behind.
"Are you coming Miroku?" Sesshoumaru asked.
"Fine," Miroku said as he uneasily turned his back to Jaken and followed Sesshoumaru into the labyrinth of twisting tunnels, his torch raised high in his left hand to help send light into the darkness.
The tunnels seemed to continue forever as the two walked for hours on end. "I don't like the quite for this long," Sesshoumaru said as he strained his eyes to see through the shadows in the distance. "It feels too much like a trap."
"You only figuring out that this is a trap now?" Miroku mocked to help ease his disquietude.
"Regardless," Sesshoumaru phlegmatically said. "Keep your wits about you."
"I'm inside of a dark tomb crawling with undead monsters and my only ally is a homicidal maniac. What makes you think I wouldn't be on edge?" Miroku said just before he felt a cold bony hand on his shoulder. "Ahhhhhhhhh!" he screamed.
"Poison claw!" Sesshoumaru roared as he spun around and slashed the decrepit corpse in half, Miroku was still screaming as he used his staff to beat of the half that was still firmly gripped to his shoulder. "You scream like a woman," Sesshoumaru calmly said once the immediate danger had passed.
"At least I don't look like a woman," Miroku mumbled under his breath as he continued to follow Sesshoumaru through the catacombs.
When you can feel the darkness all around you, and you can sense the danger of a trap amongst your midst, time can seem like it has goes on forever, even though it hasn't. This same sense of endlessness could have been felt transpiring between Sesshoumaru and Miroku between those short moments of quite. Short moments that were destined not to last.
"How dare you attack my minions," a fissured voice echoed from just outside the light of their torches. "Lay the sword that can overcome death on the ground and I will let you leave this place."
"I'll tell you what I told your decayed messenger. I'll rip your head off your shoulders before I let you have the Tenseiga!" Sesshoumaru shouted as he rapidly dashed towards the direction of the voice, his sword Toukijin raised to strike.
"Tut, tut, tut, I thought you were smarter than that." The voice said as twenty animated corpses moved forward out of the darkness to put a wall of undead flesh between Sesshoumaru and his target.
"You think that this can stop me," Sesshoumaru roared as he sliced Toukijin through the zombie's, his eyes never leaving focus on the gray haired old man that stood at the corner of his line of sight.
"Look out Sesshoumaru, they're reviving!" Miroku said as he shifted his attention to the horde of monsters that were emerging through the darkness behind him.
"What?" Sesshoumaru asked right before the creatures he had cut down earlier wrapped themselves around his arm and torso, immobilizing him. "Nice trick," Sesshoumaru said to the gray haired man before he heaved himself against the walls of he tunnel with enough force to shatter the undead tissue on impact. "But now you're mine!" he roared as he again dashed towards the gray haired man. This time again though, twenty undead warriors moved out of the shadows to block Sesshoumaru's charge.
"Hahaha," the gray haired man laughed demonically as he watched Sesshoumaru fight in vein. "I am Darius, lord of the undead. You cannot defeat me."
"I'll kill you!" Sesshoumaru called out as he fought frantically against the rotten limps that tugged at his flesh.
"Get behind me Sesshoumaru," Miroku said as he used his staff to beat at the bodies of his attackers. "I have a plan."
"It better be good," Sesshoumaru remarked as he dashed behind Miroku.
"I'd like to see you bastards revive inside a wind tunnel!" Miroku yelled to the undead force as he pulled at the prayer beads around his right arm. Instantly the endless vacuum in his hand opened up and began to such in everything around it. The power of the wind tunnel pulled at the walls of the catacombs, tearing away the stone support and causing the tomb to collapse down on top of Miroku.
With a quick motion of his arm, Sesshoumaru grabbed Miroku's shoulder and pulled him backwards as the walls fell around them. Feeling the powerful hand on his shoulder, Miroku swiftly wrapped the prayer beads back around his arm.
Sesshoumaru frantically dashed away from the falling rock and earth that descended all around him, Miroku held firmly in his arm. By no factor other than Sesshoumaru's immense speed, they managed to flee the danger zone by only a few short moments, the undead army pinned beneath the cave-in. "Don't do that again," Sesshoumaru forcefully said to Miroku as he dropped him from his grip.
"Hahaha," Darius softly chuckled from the darkness before another army of undead warriors emerged from the shadows.
"Oh this just keeps getting better doesn't it," Miroku said as he braced himself for battle.
With a swipe of Toukijin, Sesshoumaru sliced five of the approaching zombies but six more moved up to take their place. Sesshoumaru kept frantically hacking away at their decayed flesh but never managed to hack his way through all of them. Quickly the ones he had slashed earlier pulled themselves together and began to grip onto his limbs and pull him down.
As the pile of zombies on Sesshoumaru increased they changed their attention to Miroku. He managed to drive back the first wave by frantically swinging his staff however they were too much for him and he was soon overpowered.
As the undead monsters firmly gripped Miroku's arms and legs, they used their collective strength to drag him into the darkness of the catacombs.
With a massive exertion of force Sesshoumaru heaved his body upwards and managed to pull himself away from the cold fingers of his oppressors. Out of the corner of his eyes he could see Miroku being dragged into the darkness. Even if Sesshoumaru had thought it important to help Miroku, there were too many zombies between them. There were far too many for even Sesshoumaru to handle.
The great swarm of zombies pushed Sesshoumaru's back further and further against the point where the tunnel had caved in. With his back against the wall, he prepared himself to die fighting.
The undead forces that had been buried under the cave-in began to dig their way out from under the earth and began to stick their tattered limbs out of the rubble and pull at Sesshoumaru's back. He was surrounded at all points.
"It didn't have to come to this," Darius spoke from within the darkness. "I only wanted the sword. But for you stubbornness you will now die."
Miroku could hear those words and for a moment he pondered the reason for Darius's desire. Surely a necromancer of his power would find use in a sword that can overcome death. Then, as if he had heard a second voice calling out to him within his own mind, the answer came to him. "That's it!" Miroku screamed from the shadows, his voice distorted by the pressure of cold fingers pulling at the skin of his face. "Hit these undead bastards with the sword that can overcome death! Strike them down with the Tenseiga!"
This useless blade, Sesshoumaru thought to himself. How could he hope to defeat such a powerful foe with a sword that couldn't even cut, and yet, he was out of options.
Quickly he pulled the sword from its scabbard and savagely hacked away at the bodies of his attackers. One by one they fell to the ground, the rot decaying from their bodies. They were alive now, and thus beyond Darius's power to control.
"Where are you Darius?" Sesshoumaru called into the darkness. "I have learned you weakness. Now you are mine!" he yelled as he continued to slaughter the dead.
"Sesshoumaru! Before you go chasing after that bastard do you think you could help me!" Miroku hollered from the darkness. Quickly Sesshoumaru cut a path of revival though the bodies of the undead towards the sound of Miroku's voice.
Ten zombies lay on top of Miroku. The pressure of there bodies pressing down hard on him, threatening to tear him apart. With a single rapid motion Sesshoumaru sliced through them all with the blade of the Tenseiga, their flesh returning to them as they continued to press down on Miroku.
By some sheer stroke of unimaginable luck, all ten of them were women, and rather attractive women. With their orders from Darius still fresh in their minds, they continued to pull at Miroku's body.
A large grin spread across Miroku's face as he came to realize his sudden change in circumstances. Savoring the moment, he gently brushed his hand along side the nude bodies of the fairer sex, their clothing having long since rotted off.
Miroku's touch surged through their flesh, exploding their nerves. To have been alive for so long but without sensation, to be aware but unfeeling, the caress of Miroku's hand against their skin was more than their fresh senses could bear. They each gave their own slight moan as they pressed their exposed bodies closer to Miroku.
By now they had some kind of a grip on reality, some kind of a sense of where they were. And yet they continued to embrace the passion of the moment, their orgy of sensation obscuring the horror all around them, confusing what was real.
"We have to get Darius." Sesshoumaru said as he stood over the mass of warm, sweaty bodies. His focused eyes barely able to tell where one woman ended and the other began amongst the bulk of twisting and contorted flesh.
"Why don't you do that, I'm rather comfortable right here," Miroku stated as he softly stroked the palm of his hand downward along the abdomen of the only woman his constricted body could caress.
"We don't have time for this." Sesshoumaru harshly stated as he reached his hand into the entanglement of bare skin and forcefully pulled out the resistant Miroku.
"You just pulled me away from ten naked women," Miroku said as he awkwardly adjusted the robes around his waist. "I hope you know that I can never forgive you for that."
"Whatever," Sesshoumaru said as he shoved Miroku towards the direction Darius had fled.
The sound of Darius's feet pounding the earth and the frantic exertion of his withered lungs echoed through the darkness of the catacombs. Sesshoumaru effortlessly thrust the Tenseiga through Darius's defense of undead soldiers as he chased the cowardly necromancer through the labyrinth of tunnels.
To the bewildered surprise of the silver haired demon, Miroku was actually managing to keep up with him. Although Miroku was not right at his side in their pursuit of Darius, he was never far behind.
Darius could feel his frail body give out under the exertion of running and the stress of fear. Not since the blue eyed conquerors entered this land hundreds of years ago, had Darius feared for his life.
He could sense his army being fiercely cut down, he knew that his life would soon be ended by the silver haired warrior, and yet he could not stop thinking about the promise he had made those long years ago. Perhaps even in death he could have his long sought victory.
Knowing that his enemies were closing in fast on him, Darius quickly pushed open the heavy wooden door of the inner chamber and locked himself inside. "I do this for you," he said to the bones of his lost love as a poisonous green claw ripped apart the massive portal behind him.
"Your life is mine!" Sesshoumaru yelled as he focused his eyes on the frail old man cowering in the corner of the desolate room.
"Rise from your grave!" Darius shouted as he used what remained of his black magic to reanimate the life of his lost love. "Protect me."
With a swift motion, Sesshoumaru sliced the Tenseiga through the body of the undead creature before driving his poison claw through Darius's chest.
"I did it for you," Darius softly spoke as he watched the flesh return to his lost love, his own body beginning to return to the dust from which it was created.
"Darius?" the woman quietly said as she picked herself up off the ground and gazed at the withered face of the man that she loved so fiercely. "Darius!" She screamed as she watched Sesshoumaru withdraw his bloodied hand from her love's chest.
Caught up in grief, she ignored the danger of the silver haired man and ran to embrace the dying body of her love, what remained of her rotten clothing falling to the ground in scraps as she moved.
"You don't suppose that's why he wanted the Tenseiga?" Miroku said through rapid, hyperventilated breaths once he had managed to catch up completely to Sesshoumaru.
"What do you mean," Sesshoumaru calmly said as the watched in disgust the display of human emotions that unfolded before him.
"What if Darius wanted the sword in order to revive her from the dead? It's clear that they have some kind of a deeply emotional connection to each other."
"Regardless of their connection to each other, now that he is dead the spatial loop around this place should have vanished. Let's go." Sesshoumaru answered.
"No wait," Miroku attempted to persuade Sesshoumaru. "You have the power to revive him. If you won't do it for him, then at least do it for her."
Sesshoumaru momentarily contemplated Miroku's wishes as he looked at the grieving woman, the distinctive smell of death rising from Darius's body. I don't understand why Miroku wants me to forgive this man after all that he has done to us, he thought. "The Tenseiga does not weep for him." Sesshoumaru coldly answered as he turned and prepared to leave the inner chamber, secretly hopping that Miroku would not notice the pulsing of his sword.
It had been hundreds of years since the metal riders came, their weapons destroying all that was holy, all that was sacred. Their flashing blue eyes continued to haunt Darius's dreams, the smell of burning flesh seemed to always linger in his nostrils, the hatred never leaving his soul.
How could he forgive them, how could he let go of the anger that had kept his withered body alive for so long, he thought as he walked through the darkness of the catacombs. This place was his home, he thought as he studied the rotten faces of his undead legion, these creatures were his companions. He had cheated death to create them; he had cheated death to keep his own hatred alive these countless decades.
Death itself meant nothing to him. He had learned to manipulate it over the endless years, force it to contort to his own will. And yet life, true life, always remained just beyond his reach as if death itself taunted his waken hours, hiding its greatest secrets just beyond him.
He had come so far in the mastery of death; his armies were proof enough of that. But despite his power to manipulate death, he always failed to overcome it. What good is reviving the dead if they are only shells of what they once were, Darius thought to himself as he pushed open the heavy wooden door to his inner chamber.
The small inner chamber was desolate except for the simple stone casket that lay in its center. "I'm sorry I won't be the man you remember," he said to himself as he slid off the lid of the coffin. Only a collection of scattered bones and rotten cloth remained of his lost love.
He could still sense that same fear in her eyes, though her eyes were long since gone. "I'm sorry I couldn't protect you," he said as the memories of his past flooded back into his mind, the metal riders burning, destroying, raping, raping her. He was weak then, only one against many, there was nothing he could do to stop them from tearing her clothes, from beating her when she refused to open up to them. The way she cried in shame as they forced themselves on her never left his mind; it was always just behind what he really heard.
Before that day he had never associated blue with evil, but only evil could have made their blue eyes smile as they slashed open her bare belly and watched her innards spill out onto the dirt.
"I will make it all right again," Darius said as he rubbed the tips of his fingers along the bones of her jaw. "There is a sword, a sword that can bring you back to me. Soon it will be mine."
****************************************************************************
"In what sick recess of your mind do you think that this is a good idea?" Miroku asked as he watched Sesshoumaru descend into the darkness of the catacombs.
"We have no choice," Sesshoumaru remarked.
"There's always a choice," Miroku stated. "In fact, I chose right now that I don't want to go into that creepy cave. I sense a bad vibe coming out of there. Why don't you go find out what that is and I'll just guard you exit here."
"Jaken can guard our exit," Sesshoumaru said as he attempted to persuade Miroku to enter into the catacombs. "Besides, you need to prove to me your value as a fighter."
"You heard him human," Jaken said as he shoved Miroku into the entrance of the tunnel. "I'll keep guard here while you get rid of that infernal spatial loop."
"Why you little toad!" Miroku hollered after recovering from being shoved from behind.
"Are you coming Miroku?" Sesshoumaru asked.
"Fine," Miroku said as he uneasily turned his back to Jaken and followed Sesshoumaru into the labyrinth of twisting tunnels, his torch raised high in his left hand to help send light into the darkness.
The tunnels seemed to continue forever as the two walked for hours on end. "I don't like the quite for this long," Sesshoumaru said as he strained his eyes to see through the shadows in the distance. "It feels too much like a trap."
"You only figuring out that this is a trap now?" Miroku mocked to help ease his disquietude.
"Regardless," Sesshoumaru phlegmatically said. "Keep your wits about you."
"I'm inside of a dark tomb crawling with undead monsters and my only ally is a homicidal maniac. What makes you think I wouldn't be on edge?" Miroku said just before he felt a cold bony hand on his shoulder. "Ahhhhhhhhh!" he screamed.
"Poison claw!" Sesshoumaru roared as he spun around and slashed the decrepit corpse in half, Miroku was still screaming as he used his staff to beat of the half that was still firmly gripped to his shoulder. "You scream like a woman," Sesshoumaru calmly said once the immediate danger had passed.
"At least I don't look like a woman," Miroku mumbled under his breath as he continued to follow Sesshoumaru through the catacombs.
When you can feel the darkness all around you, and you can sense the danger of a trap amongst your midst, time can seem like it has goes on forever, even though it hasn't. This same sense of endlessness could have been felt transpiring between Sesshoumaru and Miroku between those short moments of quite. Short moments that were destined not to last.
"How dare you attack my minions," a fissured voice echoed from just outside the light of their torches. "Lay the sword that can overcome death on the ground and I will let you leave this place."
"I'll tell you what I told your decayed messenger. I'll rip your head off your shoulders before I let you have the Tenseiga!" Sesshoumaru shouted as he rapidly dashed towards the direction of the voice, his sword Toukijin raised to strike.
"Tut, tut, tut, I thought you were smarter than that." The voice said as twenty animated corpses moved forward out of the darkness to put a wall of undead flesh between Sesshoumaru and his target.
"You think that this can stop me," Sesshoumaru roared as he sliced Toukijin through the zombie's, his eyes never leaving focus on the gray haired old man that stood at the corner of his line of sight.
"Look out Sesshoumaru, they're reviving!" Miroku said as he shifted his attention to the horde of monsters that were emerging through the darkness behind him.
"What?" Sesshoumaru asked right before the creatures he had cut down earlier wrapped themselves around his arm and torso, immobilizing him. "Nice trick," Sesshoumaru said to the gray haired man before he heaved himself against the walls of he tunnel with enough force to shatter the undead tissue on impact. "But now you're mine!" he roared as he again dashed towards the gray haired man. This time again though, twenty undead warriors moved out of the shadows to block Sesshoumaru's charge.
"Hahaha," the gray haired man laughed demonically as he watched Sesshoumaru fight in vein. "I am Darius, lord of the undead. You cannot defeat me."
"I'll kill you!" Sesshoumaru called out as he fought frantically against the rotten limps that tugged at his flesh.
"Get behind me Sesshoumaru," Miroku said as he used his staff to beat at the bodies of his attackers. "I have a plan."
"It better be good," Sesshoumaru remarked as he dashed behind Miroku.
"I'd like to see you bastards revive inside a wind tunnel!" Miroku yelled to the undead force as he pulled at the prayer beads around his right arm. Instantly the endless vacuum in his hand opened up and began to such in everything around it. The power of the wind tunnel pulled at the walls of the catacombs, tearing away the stone support and causing the tomb to collapse down on top of Miroku.
With a quick motion of his arm, Sesshoumaru grabbed Miroku's shoulder and pulled him backwards as the walls fell around them. Feeling the powerful hand on his shoulder, Miroku swiftly wrapped the prayer beads back around his arm.
Sesshoumaru frantically dashed away from the falling rock and earth that descended all around him, Miroku held firmly in his arm. By no factor other than Sesshoumaru's immense speed, they managed to flee the danger zone by only a few short moments, the undead army pinned beneath the cave-in. "Don't do that again," Sesshoumaru forcefully said to Miroku as he dropped him from his grip.
"Hahaha," Darius softly chuckled from the darkness before another army of undead warriors emerged from the shadows.
"Oh this just keeps getting better doesn't it," Miroku said as he braced himself for battle.
With a swipe of Toukijin, Sesshoumaru sliced five of the approaching zombies but six more moved up to take their place. Sesshoumaru kept frantically hacking away at their decayed flesh but never managed to hack his way through all of them. Quickly the ones he had slashed earlier pulled themselves together and began to grip onto his limbs and pull him down.
As the pile of zombies on Sesshoumaru increased they changed their attention to Miroku. He managed to drive back the first wave by frantically swinging his staff however they were too much for him and he was soon overpowered.
As the undead monsters firmly gripped Miroku's arms and legs, they used their collective strength to drag him into the darkness of the catacombs.
With a massive exertion of force Sesshoumaru heaved his body upwards and managed to pull himself away from the cold fingers of his oppressors. Out of the corner of his eyes he could see Miroku being dragged into the darkness. Even if Sesshoumaru had thought it important to help Miroku, there were too many zombies between them. There were far too many for even Sesshoumaru to handle.
The great swarm of zombies pushed Sesshoumaru's back further and further against the point where the tunnel had caved in. With his back against the wall, he prepared himself to die fighting.
The undead forces that had been buried under the cave-in began to dig their way out from under the earth and began to stick their tattered limbs out of the rubble and pull at Sesshoumaru's back. He was surrounded at all points.
"It didn't have to come to this," Darius spoke from within the darkness. "I only wanted the sword. But for you stubbornness you will now die."
Miroku could hear those words and for a moment he pondered the reason for Darius's desire. Surely a necromancer of his power would find use in a sword that can overcome death. Then, as if he had heard a second voice calling out to him within his own mind, the answer came to him. "That's it!" Miroku screamed from the shadows, his voice distorted by the pressure of cold fingers pulling at the skin of his face. "Hit these undead bastards with the sword that can overcome death! Strike them down with the Tenseiga!"
This useless blade, Sesshoumaru thought to himself. How could he hope to defeat such a powerful foe with a sword that couldn't even cut, and yet, he was out of options.
Quickly he pulled the sword from its scabbard and savagely hacked away at the bodies of his attackers. One by one they fell to the ground, the rot decaying from their bodies. They were alive now, and thus beyond Darius's power to control.
"Where are you Darius?" Sesshoumaru called into the darkness. "I have learned you weakness. Now you are mine!" he yelled as he continued to slaughter the dead.
"Sesshoumaru! Before you go chasing after that bastard do you think you could help me!" Miroku hollered from the darkness. Quickly Sesshoumaru cut a path of revival though the bodies of the undead towards the sound of Miroku's voice.
Ten zombies lay on top of Miroku. The pressure of there bodies pressing down hard on him, threatening to tear him apart. With a single rapid motion Sesshoumaru sliced through them all with the blade of the Tenseiga, their flesh returning to them as they continued to press down on Miroku.
By some sheer stroke of unimaginable luck, all ten of them were women, and rather attractive women. With their orders from Darius still fresh in their minds, they continued to pull at Miroku's body.
A large grin spread across Miroku's face as he came to realize his sudden change in circumstances. Savoring the moment, he gently brushed his hand along side the nude bodies of the fairer sex, their clothing having long since rotted off.
Miroku's touch surged through their flesh, exploding their nerves. To have been alive for so long but without sensation, to be aware but unfeeling, the caress of Miroku's hand against their skin was more than their fresh senses could bear. They each gave their own slight moan as they pressed their exposed bodies closer to Miroku.
By now they had some kind of a grip on reality, some kind of a sense of where they were. And yet they continued to embrace the passion of the moment, their orgy of sensation obscuring the horror all around them, confusing what was real.
"We have to get Darius." Sesshoumaru said as he stood over the mass of warm, sweaty bodies. His focused eyes barely able to tell where one woman ended and the other began amongst the bulk of twisting and contorted flesh.
"Why don't you do that, I'm rather comfortable right here," Miroku stated as he softly stroked the palm of his hand downward along the abdomen of the only woman his constricted body could caress.
"We don't have time for this." Sesshoumaru harshly stated as he reached his hand into the entanglement of bare skin and forcefully pulled out the resistant Miroku.
"You just pulled me away from ten naked women," Miroku said as he awkwardly adjusted the robes around his waist. "I hope you know that I can never forgive you for that."
"Whatever," Sesshoumaru said as he shoved Miroku towards the direction Darius had fled.
The sound of Darius's feet pounding the earth and the frantic exertion of his withered lungs echoed through the darkness of the catacombs. Sesshoumaru effortlessly thrust the Tenseiga through Darius's defense of undead soldiers as he chased the cowardly necromancer through the labyrinth of tunnels.
To the bewildered surprise of the silver haired demon, Miroku was actually managing to keep up with him. Although Miroku was not right at his side in their pursuit of Darius, he was never far behind.
Darius could feel his frail body give out under the exertion of running and the stress of fear. Not since the blue eyed conquerors entered this land hundreds of years ago, had Darius feared for his life.
He could sense his army being fiercely cut down, he knew that his life would soon be ended by the silver haired warrior, and yet he could not stop thinking about the promise he had made those long years ago. Perhaps even in death he could have his long sought victory.
Knowing that his enemies were closing in fast on him, Darius quickly pushed open the heavy wooden door of the inner chamber and locked himself inside. "I do this for you," he said to the bones of his lost love as a poisonous green claw ripped apart the massive portal behind him.
"Your life is mine!" Sesshoumaru yelled as he focused his eyes on the frail old man cowering in the corner of the desolate room.
"Rise from your grave!" Darius shouted as he used what remained of his black magic to reanimate the life of his lost love. "Protect me."
With a swift motion, Sesshoumaru sliced the Tenseiga through the body of the undead creature before driving his poison claw through Darius's chest.
"I did it for you," Darius softly spoke as he watched the flesh return to his lost love, his own body beginning to return to the dust from which it was created.
"Darius?" the woman quietly said as she picked herself up off the ground and gazed at the withered face of the man that she loved so fiercely. "Darius!" She screamed as she watched Sesshoumaru withdraw his bloodied hand from her love's chest.
Caught up in grief, she ignored the danger of the silver haired man and ran to embrace the dying body of her love, what remained of her rotten clothing falling to the ground in scraps as she moved.
"You don't suppose that's why he wanted the Tenseiga?" Miroku said through rapid, hyperventilated breaths once he had managed to catch up completely to Sesshoumaru.
"What do you mean," Sesshoumaru calmly said as the watched in disgust the display of human emotions that unfolded before him.
"What if Darius wanted the sword in order to revive her from the dead? It's clear that they have some kind of a deeply emotional connection to each other."
"Regardless of their connection to each other, now that he is dead the spatial loop around this place should have vanished. Let's go." Sesshoumaru answered.
"No wait," Miroku attempted to persuade Sesshoumaru. "You have the power to revive him. If you won't do it for him, then at least do it for her."
Sesshoumaru momentarily contemplated Miroku's wishes as he looked at the grieving woman, the distinctive smell of death rising from Darius's body. I don't understand why Miroku wants me to forgive this man after all that he has done to us, he thought. "The Tenseiga does not weep for him." Sesshoumaru coldly answered as he turned and prepared to leave the inner chamber, secretly hopping that Miroku would not notice the pulsing of his sword.
