Chapter 6
The battle for Asagao Palace
The travel through the light blue morning skies lasted less than ten minutes. Eventually they reached the retreating army under Yamato's lead, and the morale of the men was greatly boosted when they looked up to find their feudal lord safe and flying with the regal daiyokai above them. Confusion also arose among them and Sesshomaru lowered his altitude so that the woman could send them a message, proclaiming the truce and encouraging them to hasten their already desperate race towards the castle. Eventually he also lowered his speed so that a running and cornered Jaken could jump from an elevated cliff and reach them in the air, joining the feudal lord in her rump at Sesshomaru's mokomoko. Woman and imp exchanged wary and displeased glances once next to each other, but before any word could be said, the first signals of smoke and fire stained the bright horizon, drawing the trio's attention and gaze.
"The castle!" the daimyo shouted severely and worryingly.
"I sense a strong demonic presence," Sesshomaru informed while hardening his features, his powerful ears capturing the loud noises of fight and death arising from the castle's grounds.
"A demon? So, that coward sent another of his pawns."
"A human enthralling demons?! How can it be possible?" Jaken gave voice to a common question between him and his master.
"And humans alike," the lord responded with a stern face. "I still strive to understand how such a young and simple horse tamer achieved so many resources and managed to gather such an army."
Seconds later the castle's grounds were already in sight and they could clearly discern the contundent damage and chaos. Most of the castle's walls were no more, reduced to debris by the several catapults surrounding the territory and still firing burning projectiles at the resisting buildings. The core of the palace has also been destroyed and only one tower remained firmly standing, dressed in fire, holes and ashes. The flames were also spread around the yards and paths, and the beautiful garden that once embellished the castle's view was now a cluster of burning debris, ashes, charred plants and twisted dead corpses.
At the main yard, dead corpses, broken equipment, blood and gore mixed beneath the feet of hundreds of men and lesser demons clashing against each other. The Sakagama's allies were clearly distinguishable by the family colors and its sigil dressing their bodies, but half of the living beings crowding the castle's territory were invaders, both humans and monsters. The terrified and vulnerable civilians were clustered together and shrugging against each other amidst the raging and burning chaos while several soldiers were fighting hard to defend them, with several of them sacrificing their lives and having their bodies torn apart or devoured by the enemy in the process.
Sesshomaru evaluated the damages. It was certainly no mere coincidence that the castle suffered such a massive attack exactly when a fair fraction of its troops and the feudal lord herself were absent. And by the furious look on the daimyo's face, she was probably reaching the same conclusion and also digesting the heavy consequences of her foolish campaign against him - which consisted in marching against an enemy she could not best while leaving her castle unprotected.
The arrival of the main troops caused a widespread wave of relief among the guards striving to repel the attack and refreshed their fighting spirit. Noticing that the feudal lord was loosening her grip on his mokomoko and intended to join her men in the ground, Sesshomaru lowered his altitude in order to ease her landing. At the same time, he felt that mysterious demonic energy strengthening and hovering the air.
"Deal with the lowly minions. The demon is mine." He dropped the lord nearby her men and then further jumped to the summit of the only tower standing.
Amidst the battle, a giant snake managed to outspeed other demons and hurled itself against a crowded soldier, its wide open mouth and sharp fangs ready to devour him. A fast beam of pink light descended from the sky directly over the creature's neck, severing its head just before it could reach the man. Frozen in place and still clung to his spear, the soldier watched the feudal lord which just saved him land on the ground, with her shining sword at hand.
"Take the civilians and the wounded to the underground passageway, now!" Sakuya screamed the order whilst charging against her next target.
"HAI!" The soldiers around her nodded and ten of them retreated in search of the servants, inhabitants and wounded warriors lost in the battlegrounds.
"Go with them Jaken," the silver-haired daiyokai ordered after noticing a discreet yet certainly venomous red mist slowly spreading in the air.
"Lord Sesshomaru, allow me-"
"Go, now." He stiffened the order, sowing acid chills in his ward.
"Y-yes!" Jaken lept from the tower rooftops. "Teach them a good lesson, milord!"
Sesshomaru watched from the corner of his eyes his small ward disappear amidst the stirred crowd escorted by a dozen samurai to a large underground entrance to be locked in safety. Despite Jaken's fiery volition to fight at his side, that red mist would certainly be too much for him. He heard the soldiers already coughing due to prolonged exposure to the mist, and then he noticed a powerful pink aura enveloping the feudal lord's body amidst the battle. The energy poured from her started to purify her surroundings, and the soldiers apparently found themselves free of the red mist and its stifling and venomous effects.
Then, he finally felt his enemy's approach. He steadied his feet on the roof tiles and turned his face upwards, finding the white fox dressed in a yellow and red kimono, red eyes and extremely long claws bathed in human blood, right above him.
"DIE FILTHY DOG!" The demon laughed hysterically as it fell on top of the daiyokai with all the strength and weight it could gather, colliding with him and dragging him inside a hole dug on the roof with the impact.
Seconds later a side wall of the tower was blasted from inside. The white fox was expelled from it, carried in the air by Sesshomaru who held him tightly by his neck, with his right hand and sharp claws buried in the demon's flesh. They traveled through a U arc in the air and then fell at high speed. The demon bawled as he felt his back crashing violently against the same floor in which he once disemboweled several soldiers and civilians. The daiyokai's claws and his immeasurable strength hindered the scream from leaving the fox's throat.
"DAMN…. YOU!"
"You should have kept yourself hidden. A mistake that you shall not have a second chance to make." Sesshomaru serenely stated, green acid mist pouring and dancing around his fingers, ready to be used.
"I WILL SHRED YOUR DAMNED TONGUE TO PIE-!" The fox demon screeched out a loud shriek of pain when Sesshomaru sprayed his acid poison over its face, feeling the fur and skin in its face and neck burning and liquefying. Before the poison could entirely consume his head, the invader transformed into mist and materialized again above Sesshomaru, aiming a quick strike with his long claws against his back. The daiyokai spun around his own axis, blocking the claws with his own wrist, which received a gash far less deeper than the fox hoped for. In return, the fox received a potent punch which almost smashed his chest. They traded more strikes, until the invader managed to grab the daiyokai by its clothes and then hurled him against the stone arc around the underground entrace. Sesshomaru spun in the air and landed safely, skidding back and managing to break before his back hit the arc behind him and damaged the entrance.
"I SEE NOW! THIS IS WHERE YOU HID THE WRETCHED HUMANS, HIHIHEHAHA" the fox laughed albeit its deep injuries and his face half melted upon realizing Sesshomaru's care not to damage that one specific part of the battlefield. He received as answer only a frown and a duller look from the daiyokai, which confirmed his suspicions. "IF I CANNOT DEFEAT YOU, AT LEAST I WILL BRING THE DAMN VERMINS WITH ME TO HELL!"
He jumped very high and launched a hail of large, sharp claws toward the underground entrance, producing a deadly rain of curved blades.
"Bakusaiga!"
Knowing that he wouldn't be able to parry that wide cloud of blades only with his whip, Sesshomaru sought the hilt of the unique sword so far untouched at his waist, drawing it and immediately performing one single and wide swing. The green trail left by the blade stroke and consumed entirely the majority of the claws, whilst the remaining ones crashed onto the daiyokai's solid body, producing some hidden damage which he ignored. But that was far from the end. Still midair, the fox irradiated a strong red glow, which intensified greatly the density and power of the red mist flooding the battlefield's air.
Sesshomaru noticed a pink energy approaching his feet and then gave a discreet look with the corner of his eyes to the daimyo at the other side of the yard, realizing that she was kneeling and holding the sword deeply plunged to the ground with her both hands, using the sacred weapon to convey her energy to the ground. It was quickly spreading like a stream through the castle's territory and purifying the demon's mist. The daiyokai jumped back to the roof of the damaged tower before the energy could touch him and then slid his glare back to his opponent. Also avoiding the ground, the fox landed at a safe distance from Sesshomaru. He was visibly exhausted and covered with his own black blood and multicolored secretions, which poured from the numerous injuries torn open in his body by the dog demon lord.
"WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT, FILTHY DOG? I AM YOUR OPPONENT!" Infuriated, the fox advanced towards the silver haired demon, with his claws once again thirsty for blood.
"You are but a nuisance. Die at once!" Finally growing impatient at that lowly and persistent creature, Sesshomaru wielded Bakusaiga and launched himself in his direction.
...
"Poor Nogitsune... So weak, so troublesome... and abandoned by his master..."
Floating nearby a treetop in the forest surrounding the castle, a ghostly humanoid and female figure beheld the fiery battle at the castle's grounds. Her most remarkable and gruesome features were her extremely long and black hair, floating like an open fan behind her back and easily reaching the back of her feet, and the absence of eyes in her white pale face, accompanied by only a wide, thin and purple mouth. Yet her vision could surpass long distances and clearly see anything in miles, allowing her to watch the battle at a safe distance, unreachable even by the dog daiyokai's keen nose.
"I am sorry, my friend..." she opened her hand, composed of five extremely long and pointy fingers. A shining purple sphere floated above her palm. The ghostess softly blew it, and the sphere bolted in the castle's direction at an unpaired speed. "...I shall give you a sweet gift to honor your brave death for our cause..."
...
A single strike was enough to end the fox. Bakusaiga's wide blade tore open Nogitsune's abdomen, and the fox's blundering body met the roof, rolling on his own dark blood and spilling living organs around him. Sesshomaru landed gracefully on the other end of the same roof, sheathing his powerful sword while turning to see his foe, defeated.
"...it... it cannot... be..." In deep agony, Nogitsune slowly brought his trembling hand to his belly, feeling the green energy left from Sesshomaru's sword spreading through his flesh and consuming it. He spat blood. "I... I was... defeated... by a blasted dog... Lord Arashi! Save me!"
"This was a complete waste of time." Uninterested in watching his foe spend his last moments with pathetic requests of mercy, Sesshomaru eventually gave his back to the dying demon and made his way to the edge of the roof from where he could jump back to the yard. However, he widened his eyes and turned abruptly to stare at the agonizing demon when a new and strong demonic energy suddenly arose near him.
Nogitsune cried for the last time before the purple sphere appeared from nowhere and clashed against him, lodging itself inside his flesh. An excruciating pain filled him, and at the sound of his own screams, the demon began to slowly rise, pulled by an invisible force. Several soldiers and demons at the yard including the feudal lord stopped their fight as their attention was dragged to that mutilated and glowing body screaming above the castle. A dark-purple energy, powerful and grisly, enveloped him and he bolted, fast as lightning, at the daiyokai's direction.
Sesshomaru jumped widely backwards, aiming to take a safe distance from the bersekering fox, but it quickly reached him to his deep surprise. He felt an extremely strong and painful impact shattering his breastplate and sinking into his abdomen before a strong energy blinded him.
Immediately after that, the explosion came. The sphere consumed the remaining vital and demonic energy of the creature and used its body to spread a massive wave of devastating energy and purple smoke through the castle. The single tower still standing creaked. The demon and human hordes and part of the gardens were entirely pulverized on contact. As Sakuya struggled to keep her spiritual energy flowing across the floor, she still managed to rise a protective bubble in the last second before she and the soldiers were directly hit. The barrier was quickly destroyed, but managed to successfully absorb the majority of the demonic energy and lethal damage. Exhausted, the daimyo recalled her energy and further kneeled. She rested her weight on the sword and closed her eyes, feeling sweat pouring freely across her face.
Apparently, they were finally free from their enemies.
"Lord Sesshomaru!" Realizing that no more threats dwelled at sight, Jaken jumped out of the crowd of humans leaving the underground entrance and ran to his master in the courtyard. His joy was quickly replaced by distress and desperation when he catched the image of his master's state. "MILORD!"
As the dense mist slowly faded, Sesshomaru's silhouette gained form. He was kneeling on the ground, with a wide and deep laceration covering his torso entirely and pouring the fox's mist. He stared at the ground with his golden eyes wide open and in deep bewilderment.
He was gravely injured and infected by the poisonous miasma.
How could that be possible? To whom did that powerful energy belong, that dark force which gave strength to a practically dead demon to the point that it was able to gravely wound a daiyokai like him?
Feeling the venomous smoke painfully corroding and consuming his already lacerated flesh and innards, Sesshomaru coughed putrid blood and purple miasma while he strived to stand. He could barely hear his ward's desperate screams, and his vision blurred quickly. Pride and wrath gave him a spurt of strength and he managed to perform a strong and very long jump towards the forest, vanishing from the castle's vicinities before the mist completely faded and allowed the humans to spot him in that deplorable state.
Seconds after entering the wilds, he lost his balance midair and landed bluntly on the humid and dirty ground amidst the trees, causing a slight earthquake on his impact and leaving a crater around him. He still glimpsed the small silhouettes of animals fleeing, scared by the loud noise provoked by his fall.
And his world became pitchblack.