Disclaimer: Lyrics to "Queen of Winter, Throned" are the property of Cradle of Filth.
"Fuck," InuYasha muttered to himself as Naraku watched over them from the tree branch, "The Bakuryuuha is my strongest attack..."
"Ku ku ku," Naraku chuckled, "What's wrong InuYasha? Is that all you've got?" He squeezed the jewel and released more of its dark energy. "Let me show you what I have then." He opened his hand out in front of him and powered up a ball of purple energy and blasted it at InuYasha and co. It hit the ground between where they were standing and exploded, sending them all flying in different directions.
InuYasha struggled to his feet. Then he heard her voice again.
(The Shikon Jewel is helping Naraku. But it can also help you.)
"Huh?" he uttered in disbelief. "How?"
(You will know when the time is right.)
He sweatdropped. "So you're not going to help me after all?" The voice did not answer. "Feh! Fine then." Then he saw it. The Scar of the Wind: where the two opposing winds touched, right in front of his opponent. Then the scar turned dark purple: the Shikon Jewel's dark energy. Then it hit him. The scar became jagged, like crystal. He had to slice across it, so he leapt into it and did just that. Naraku leapt back and scoffed when he didn't hit him. But he didn't have to. He landed and looked at his sword in disbelief. It had turned crystalline. "What the...?"
(The Shikon Jewel can give power to whomever it chooses. This is your new ability: the Kongousouha!)
He looked up at Naraku. Small fragments of crystal were forming in front of him. "I get it now," he said. He swung the Tessaiga out in front of him and shouted the name of his new attack: "KONGOU...SOU...HAAA!" Several more crystal fragments appeared from the Tessaiga, all aimed at Naraku.
"What's this?" he said, stunned. The fragments of crystal dashed towards him at amazing speed, and before he could react, he was cut to ribbons. The Shikon Jewel fell from his hand and landed in the soft snow. Naraku was beaten.
The Tessaiga returned to normal. "Is it over now?" InuYasha asked. He looked at the jewel. He ran to it, but before he could grab it, the Hyoukoumori beat him to it. It gathered the energy from the jewel and sped away. "Fuck!" InuYasha screamed, punching the ground. "After it!" The chase continued once again.
Meanwhile, Sekka and Bankotsu were flying over Musashi's Domain on the back of her dragon, Gentoumaru. Midoriko had asked them to bring the Shikon fragments that Fuyuka was carrying to InuYasha and his party. They still had a ways to go to catch up to them however. And within the past few minutes, they had come across some nasty traffic. Hyoukoumori, Yukikyuu, Kooriookami and Toukaibutsu were ironically hot on their trail. They attacked the dragon, but Sekka and Bankotsu managed to hold them off.
"This isn't going well," Bankotsu muttered as he punched an ice bat away. Suddenly, from the ground in front of them, a huge blast of frozen gas shot up. A large group of Toukaibutsu had gathered together and aimed all their blasts at the dragon and its passengers at the same time. Gentoumaru flew around the blast as best as he could, but couldn't entirely dodge the blast. He whimpered in pain as it hit his side. He righted himself and flew higher, hoping the Toukaibutsu couldn't reach.
Then, without any warning whatsoever, a blast of lightning shot from the sky and destroyed the entire group of the ice demons. A thundercloud floated down from the sky. It was Manten, Souten and Yura. "Yo!" Yura called out to her friend. "What's happening?"
"We're on a mission from Midoriko," Sekka answered. She turned to Bankotsu. "Isn't that right, Elwood?"
He smiled. "Of course, Jake."
"Oh," she answered with glee, "You've seen that movie, too?"
He nodded. "I love it. My favorite part was when they-"
"Ya, ya," she said, waving him off, "That's great." She put her hands up to her mouth. "Hey, Yura!" she called, "Would you mind helping us out?"
"Of course not," Yura called back. "We'll cover you."
"Thanks, guys..."
(The Church of Memories...)
InuYasha and his party finally found the edge of the forest. A huge wasteland of snow, ice and coldness stood before them. And right in the center of it all was a giant fortress. Walls of frozen stone surrounded its inner courtyard, which was filled with old dead trees. In the posterior part of the courtyard was a giant tower that overlooked the entire wasteland. This was the fortress of the Ice Army, nicknamed by some "The Church of Memories."
"Exalt," Jakotsu whispered to himself, "the queen of death-white winter enthroned... evil resplendent, in dusk red seething skies... foam-flecked nightmares drag a moon... of Draconian design..."
They ran up to the wall and InuYasha unleashed his Scar of the Wind, breaking a whole in it. They all entered and met with no resistance, which made them feel really uneasy. "Why are there no guards?" InuYasha muttered. "You'd think there was at least one!"
They arrived at the base of the tower. A huge wooden door loomed in front of them. But one more Scar of the wind took care of that problem. The door was bashed open, but it did not come off its hinges. They peered inside; their hearts were racing. A corridor. They followed it to another door. This one they didn't need to use the Scar of the Wind on. It opened on its own.
The inside of the ice fortress definitely looked nothing like the outside. It was a rectangular shaped room. The ceiling was high from the ground. Six pillars, three on each of the longer walls, jetted up from the granite floor. The floor, walls and ceiling were all a dull gray color. There was a red carpet that ran from the door to the far wall. At the end of the carpet, there was a thrown resting in front of a red brick altar. Standing in front of the thrown, with her back turned towards them, was a woman wearing a pink gown with her long purple hair tied up in a ponytail. It was Queen La Saia.
"La Saia!" InuYasha gasped. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"I've been waiting for you for... a long time," she answered. She spun around and added, "Here, in the middle of this wasteland..." There were two flashes of light, and then she finally revealed herself to them. Her skin had grown paler. Her hair had gone from up in a pony tail to worn down. Her purple shell crown appeared. Her dress changed to an icy blue color. She was KooriKisaki, queen of the ice.
InuYasha nearly fell over due to shock. "N-no," he stuttered, shaking his head, "La Saia?"
KooriKisaki cackled. "Fool! Queen La Saia has been dead for years now!" A cold wind blew in from the corners of the room and surrounded the ice queen. Ice then began to form all around the room. The dull gray granite color had gone a sad cold blue. The relatively warm air had dropped to freezing temperatures. "I heard that the Shikon Jewel had resurfaced," she explained, "And that it had been broken, shattered if you will, by a stupid little girl." InuYasha growled. "I know how powerful it is," she continued, "I have been after it for quite some time now. Then I heard about La Saia. She had gained a fragment of the jewel, so I decided to pay her a little visit. I killed her and assumed her form." She grinned. "You fools! It has been me that you've been chumming around with all along!"
"Wow," Juuroumaru muttered, "That's heavy."
"Then," the ice queen continued again, "Naraku came into the picture. He had had some little tiff with a woman and wanted revenge on her." She scoffed. "What an airhead. Anyways... When he joined up with me, I promised him that I would help him search for the jewel." She cackled again. "I never intended to share it with him. I merely used him to get it. And now..." She held up her hand and showed them the Shikon Jewel. "And now I finally have it." From her hand, a white mist formed around the jewel. "Naraku let Midoriko get the better of him, but I'm not that foolish." A layer of ice instantly covered the jewel. "Now it is mine." She laughed wickedly. "And you four shall be the first to taste my newly acquired powers!"
This was it. This was the final battle. Her generals, Shimoka, Fuyuka, Sekka and Gyouka, and their henchmen, Frostbyte, Icehaken, Icykal and Friezer, had been beaten. Naraku and all of his subordinates had been beaten. All the other miscellaneous enemies had been beaten. Now this was it: InuYasha, Juuroumaru, Kagura and Jakotsu against the queen of death-white winter, KooriKisaki. And with the added power of the Shikon Jewel, she was next to unstoppable.
Darkness
In raven feathered dress
Sides with Death at chess
Their pawns are many and the enemy
Powerless
When the miscreants fell dead
She took to conjuring spells in the cusp of the night
And the bestial floor shook with terrible life
I rise before thee Queen
To feed our lusts on the blood of the weak
To rule heaven and worlds crawling beneath
Satanic Tyranny
InuYasha tightened his grip on Tessaiga's handle. Juuroumaru cracked his knuckles. Kagura flicked open her fan. Jakotsu unsheathed the Jakotsutou. Kazan growled. KooriKisaki smiled wickedly and powered up an ice blast and aimed it at the party.