Timmain stopped suddenly. All thoughts of Sesshomaru disappeared as she saw Gulden ahead of her. Her eyes narrowed as she clenched her fists in anger as she watched Gulden standing there with such confidence. He thinks he can kill me again, she thought.
"So I guess you really are a great demon slayer, rising from the dead," Gulden said. "I promise you that will not happen again."
Any doubts Timmain had been feeling were forgotten. She wanted nothing more than the satisfaction of the feel of her blade slicing through his flesh. And she would get her revenge no matter what. Her family would get the justice they deserved.
"I wouldn't be so confident if I were you," Timmain warned him. "I know where your power is coming from. It can easily be taken as it was given to you."
She saw the cocky expression on his face falter a bit and Timmain smiled to herself. He's scared now. He'll be so desperate to keep the jewel shard. He'll end up making a mistake.
"Why couldn't you have just stayed dead," he growled reaching for his sword angrily.
"I had nothing to do with that, you should be upset with the demon that brought me back," Timmain laughed sardonically pulling her own sword from its sheath.
"I'll be sure to kill him after I've killed you. That way I know you'll stay dead," he shouted as he sneered at her with pure hate in his eyes.
"Do you really think you can kill him? Let me see what else you've got and I'll let you know if you have what it takes to destroy him," Timmain taunted.
"I've always hated you!" He shouted almost hysterically. "The way you kill without remorse and always so confident thinking you could never be defeated. I dreamed about being the one to kill you, a great Maraigh. I'll be remembered forever," Gulden said starting to walk in a circle towards Timmain.
"Who will care? Certainly no demon in this land will have ever heard of a Maraigh," Timmain countered beginning to circle away from Gulden.
"I intend on taking your head back to Scotland. All will fear me when I return," Gulden said his confidence returning.
"Let's see this talk turn into action," Timmain goaded.
"My pleasure," he replied as he leaped high into the air coming down on Timmain with his sword raised high above his head.
Timmain stood her ground leaping aside just as his blade came inches from her head. Gulden's sword came down hard causing a large explosion of dirt and grass as it drove into the ground scaring the landscape.
"You'll have to do better than that," Timmain laughed an evil glint in her eyes. She could feel the adrenaline coursing through her and it invigorated her. The rage of battle was starting to take over.
Gulden brought his sword up and came down with it for another blow that Timmain blocked. The two swords clashed with such force that it almost caused Timmain to loose her grip. She reminded herself not to get to overconfident since she was now dealing with a desperate demon with the power of a Shikon jewel shard. His power would be almost doubled than when she last fought him, fueled from his desire to keep the jewel and his hatred of her.
"I can see it in your eyes, Timmain," Gulden said as their swords clashed again their blades locked together as they tried to make the other fall back. "Your scared! You don't think you can beat me!"
"The jewel has obviously made you blind," she answered back angrily. No, I'm not scared. I can beat him. He wants me to lose confidence in myself.
Timmain focused all of her strength towards her sword. She knew it wasn't wise, that it would leave her defenseless and weak for a moment. But her anger at his words caused her to abandon reason and she called for more strength than she possessed and forced it into her sword.
A blinding flash of light exuded from Timmain's sword with such power behind it that it caught Gulden square in the chest throwing him back several yards. He skidded into the ground before coming to a stop in a disgraceful heap of smoke and dirt.
Timmain fell to her knees panting completely exhausted but already feeling her strength starting to return. She just hoped it would return quickly and before Gulden could recover. But as she kneeled watching Gulden, who began to stir, she felt that luck might not be on her side this time. She felt she had enough strength to walk so she stood up, still a little unsteady on her feet, and pushed her self to move quickly and strike Gulden before he got up himself.
As she got closer she felt more of her strength return and started to run. She got to within a few feet of Gulden and lifted her sword ready to bring it down to sever his head from its body. But Gulden had recovered before Timmain and just as her sword was coming down he caught the flat of it between both his hands and pulled it from her grasp.
Instead of being surprised by how quickly he moved Timmain automatically went for the sword she kept strapped to her back. Before she could remove it Gulden delt a mighty blow to her mouth that sent her flying backwards. Timmain picked herself up quickly spitting out a mouthful of blood and a couple of teeth and turned to face Gulden as she drew her other sword.
"Just give up Timmain," Gulden now taunted her tossing her sword aside. "I know you haven't recovered your full strength. It was foolish of you to use it all on one blow when it wouldn't do much to me with this little beauty," he told her as he rubbed his neck. Timmain could clearly see the glow from the Shikon shard and her mind raced to formulate a plan to cut it out of him. She spat out more blood in response to Gulden's taunts and readied herself to attack.
They attacked each other again and again. Each time their swords clashed in protest from the shock and force of the blows. Timmain's sword vibrated violently in her hands causing them to go numb, yet she managed to maintain her hold of the sword after Gulden's next attempt. Timmain then went for an attack but instead of blocking Gulden stepped to the side causing her to looser her balance and stumble forward. She tried to stop her forward momentum but was unable to as she felt a horrible burning across her back as Gulden sliced at her as she stumbled by. She cried out more in anger than in pain turned quickly to kick out at Gulden with a furious intensity. Gulden grabbed a hold of her leg with his free hand and brought the hilt of his sword down hard. Timmain's voice caught in her throat and she thought she would be sick from the agonizing pain that shot up through her entire body stemming from the broken leg.
Gulden released her leg and Timmain fell to the ground groaning as she gasped for air. She looked up and saw the amused look on his face from seeing her in pain. It made her blood boil and she cursed herself for being too reckless with her energy with the main attack on Gulden. He slowly walked over to her and rolled her onto her back with his foot, which he then placed on her neck and began to apply pressure.
"Hurry up and kill me," she managed despite the lack of air in her lungs.
"No," Gulden said pressing down harder on her neck. "I like to see you suffer." To prove his point Gulden drove his sword hard into Timmain's abdomen pinning her to the ground. The foot crushing her airway stifled Timmain's yell. All that managed to escape her lips was a weak whimper.