Legacy of the Moon

Arc I: Forbidden End

Chapter 9: More than just a Reunion

Upon sensing the spiritual pressure of such a large number of demons, almost all the Hollows hiding in the Karakura town began to get attracted towards them. Within a few hours, almost the entire Karakura town was in chaos due to a fierce clash between the Yokai and the Hollows. Humans were running here and there recklessly to save their lives from the sudden collapse of buildings, roads, bridges, and the crash of things such as poles and vehicles. Several areas were caught in flames due to the explosions of gas pipelines and filling stations. It didn't take long before the news of a massive earthquake got circulated in the entire city. Within the course of a few minutes, the entire city seemed as if it was in a severe state of emergency and getting ravaged by a very powerful but invisible force.

Back in the Negal Ruins, Hueco Mundo…

Sesshomaru didn't take much time in coming back to his senses while Halibel was lying almost unconscious far away from him at some unknown place. As soon as he got up and observed the region around him, the first thing he remembered was the moment when he was about to hold her hand amidst the cyclone. "I was so close to her… I must find her before she runs into any trouble," He whispered in his mind while trying to analyze his surroundings. Now he took out her Hollow Mask remnant from his Kimono and tried to sense the direction of her spiritual pressure. He immediately rushed in the direction in which he was able to sense the traces of Halibel's spiritual pressure through her Hollow Mask remnant. However, despite his best efforts, he wasn't confirmed of her whereabouts. He was thinking about her in a slightly worrisome manner and eventually, he recalled a conversation he had with her. It was the very first conversation they had with each other without any important business behind it.

Sesshomaru's flashback

It was not so long ago that he started flying through the sands of Negal Ruins while carrying Halibel on his back. On the other hand, it was the first time for Halibel to stay so close to a male and hence she was hesitating in holding his shoulders tightly while she was leaning on his back. It's been several times that her right hand got slipped off of his shoulder at which he asked in a low voice, "What's wrong?" She replied with a feeling of slight unease, "it's nothing!"

Sesshomaru couldn't ask her anything further because he was also feeling uncomfortable since Halibel's large breasts were continuously getting rubbed against his upper back. "I think it will be better if we try to find our way by traveling through the ground," she spoke after a long break. "Hmm… it would be better," he replied while readily agreeing to her in order to get rid of that feeling of discomfort as soon as possible.

Upon landing on the ground, while they were walking next to each other, Halibel asked him, "what's your name?" Sesshomaru looked toward her and then replied, "Why does it matter?"

"It matters because I need a term to call you if needed, I don't even know what are you?" She replied in an insistent way. "It's Sesshomaru and I am a demon," he replied while keep moving. "A demon, you say… never heard of them before," she responded. "I don't know why demons do not exist in your time but 500 years ago the world was full of us," he said in his usual cold tone. "Do you mean you are from the past?" She asked with a slight shock. "Yes, I have arrived 500 years ahead in time through a well," Sesshomaru answered which greatly surprised her.

"So… Sesshomaru, how your sword…" Halibel spoke after a break in order to ask something from him but was interrupted. "It's Lord Sesshomaru for you," he said seriously while interrupting her. "I am sorry but I can't refer to you as Lord," she responded in a similar tone. "Huh! What are you in this world of Hollows? A civilian, or merely a senior civilian but in my world, I am the heir of the greatest demon empire in the history of the demons and also the Lord of the West," Sesshomaru spoke proudly.

"It doesn't make any sense to me… a great position is earned by great deeds not by taking birth in a royal family or killing others by force," Halibel replied to him while curling her lips in order to express her strong disagreement. "Don't worry about such insignificant things. We are together only for a few more days or maybe hours because once I will get my sword, I will return to my time forever," Sesshomaru said in a cold manner after listening to which Halibel recalled how he saved her from getting raped and how he allowed her to stay on his back for an entire day. She looked towards him while remembering those moments and felt as if somewhere in her heart, she didn't like the fact that he will be leaving.

Now all of a sudden, he snapped out of his thoughts because though for a moment only yet he sensed Halibel's spiritual pressure. "It's her… I found her. She seemed to be quite far away from here but it won't take me too long to reach her, I must reach as quickly as possible," Sesshomaru mumbled to himself and then he swiftly rushed in towards her in his light orb form.

Far away from there, at the place where Halibel was wandering…

Halibel's flashback

"So, you are a Vasto Lorde?" Sesshomaru asked her while they were on their way as he was flying through the sand while she was lying on his back. "Yes, but how do you know?" She asked curiously. "Someone told me," He replied. "Hmm… Shinigami?" She asked further. "Yes," He answered but after a break, she asked him further, "What else have they told you about the Hollows?"

Sesshomaru replied, "Hollows can become a Vasto Lorde only if they remain uneaten but devour thousands of other Hollows." Now Halibel's expression turned to serious from normal. "How many have you devoured so far?" Sesshomaru asked her. "Not even a single one," she replied and after a small pause, she added, "tell your Shinigami friends to rectify their facts, not every Hollow can become a Vasto Lorde no matter how many they devour… I believe that if I won't win alone then I will win as a team but I won't kill anyone unnecessarily." After listening to her answer, Sesshomaru responded, "don't even think about devouring me, the poison in my veins will melt you down." Halibel chuckled slightly upon hearing this. "I didn't mean to amuse you by cracking a joke rather it was a warning because I need you in order to find my sword," He tried to explain his words which only made her chuckle more.

All of a sudden she woke up from her semi-conscious state and calculated the condition she found herself. She was lying in an utterly new area in the Negal Ruins and she was unable to sense Sesshomaru anywhere close. She immediately recalled how she ended up at this place when she was trying to hold his hand in the cyclone. Separated from Sesshomaru, she was all alone to face any unexpected danger on her own but it didn't stop her from keep proceeding forward. "It seems we are quite far away now but I can't stop here no matter what, I will find him as well as my comrades," She mumbled with determination.

She was moving in the direction that she found appropriate according to the images which were flashing in her mind lately. Suddenly she sensed a really powerful spiritual pressure from Hollows. Surprisingly, it wasn't the spiritual pressure of one Hollow but several Hollows which seemed to be the result of the spiritual pressures of their combined spirit energy. Halibel continued to move while trying her best to locate the right direction of this powerful spiritual pressure. However, she was unable to determine its direction as it seemed to be approaching her from all sides.

All of a sudden, she noticed that some powerful Hollows were approaching her from multiple directions. She looked here and there and as soon as she noticed a cave surrounded by the two hills, she rushed towards it in order to limit the directions from which the Hollows can attack her. Upon reaching the cave, she felt as if the collective spiritual pressure of the Hollows had arrived close to her but she decided to finish the Hollows in front of her first.

Once Halibel took shelter in the cave, more Hollows surrounded her from outside even though she was continuously fighting and exterminating them yet she was slowly getting pushed inside the cave. Suddenly she noticed an earthquake-like sensation as if the ground itself was moving. She rushed towards the mouth of the cave in order to find out the reason behind the tremors. She witnessed that the cave itself was flying high in the sky. "Ha ha ha ha ha… you thought it was some sort of cave where you can hide from us? But this cave and the hills surrounding it were a giant hollow fortress. One entity comprises several basic hollows and together we are even more powerful than a Vasto Lorde," the core Hollow's voice echoed inside the castle.

Halibel had no choice but to battle endlessly against the swarm of the Hollows which were getting generated from the Giant Hollow Fortress. She was utterly trapped inside the structure and even after fighting continuously for a few hours, the number of Hollows didn't seem to be decreasing. Halibel had slain hundreds of Hollows but hundreds of them were still standing in front of her to battle. Her condition was becoming worse as not only she was extremely exhausted but also running out of spiritual pressure. Her agility and strength had decreased drastically and now she was finding it hard to keep up with the swarm of those Hollows. It seemed as if it won't be long before she would be in the grasp of those Hollows after becoming utterly helpless and powerless.

On the other hand, not so far away from there, Sesshomaru was using his demonic speed in the light orb form in order to reach her as soon as possible while annihilating any Hollow which was trying to become a barrier in his path. It didn't take him long to reach the place above which the Giant Hollow Fortress was hovering in the air. Sesshomaru was shocked to witness that entity because its spiritual pressure was clearly exceeding Halibel's while he was also sensing her presence inside it. Halibel had also sensed Sesshomaru's presence by now and it immediately recharged her diminished morale.

Suggested Music: "The Royal Baths" from the game Prince of Persia: Sands of Time

Now Sesshomaru returned to his humanoid form and swiftly rushed inside the Giant Hollow Fortress while ripping apart the Hollows which were getting generated from the outer walls of that huge structure. It seemed as if he was as desperate to save her as she was desperate for getting his help at that critical moment. Sesshomaru quickly defeated all the Hollows by using his deadly poison claws which even melted a small portion of the Giant Hollow Fortress.

When he reached inside the cave-like passage of that fortress he noticed that Halibel was terribly exhausted and barely able to keep the Hollows away from her. She was using her physical strength to overcome the Hollows along with swinging her broad sword which was only inflicting deep injuries on their bodies instead of annihilating them. Sesshomaru skilfully used his energy whip to destroy some of the surrounding Hollows as soon as he reached close to her. In the heat of the moment and on the behalf of what he was thinking about her all this time, he was expecting some gratitude from her in return for rescuing her the second time. "What took you so long!" Halibel complained in a frustrating manner while breathing heavily out of severe exhaustion. "What?" Sesshomaru responded in a low voice with slight confusion since he was a bit shocked to find the exact opposite reaction of what he had anticipated. "Huh! Nothing, please take care of these Hollows for a moment," she replied after getting calmed down a bit. Now he began to kill the Hollows which were attacking her while she backed off in order to catch her breath. "Such arrogance!" Sesshomaru mumbled while moving deeper inside the castle after both of them finished almost all the Hollows in the area. "Did you say anything?" She asked as she felt that he mumbled something back then. "Nothing… we are inside this thing hence we should be cautious about inflicting some serious damage to it," he replied to her.

It didn't take them long to reach the innermost chamber of that Giant Hollow Fortress where the core Hollow of that fortress was lying. He was a powerful Hollow with an appearance like that of a regular humanoid Adjucha. He was inside an immovable barrier of energy that was connected to the walls and ceiling of the chamber. That entire fortress was actually a living entity that was continuously engaged in the process of giving birth to several basic Hollows. "Oh! so you two have made it this far… but I won't let you go any further, your path ends here… Ha ha ha," the core Hollow said in a horrifying voice and then he directed several basic Hollows towards Sesshomaru and Halibel. Now both of them began to tackle those Hollows and amidst the battle, Halibel asked Sesshomaru, "Can you handle all of them?" He looked towards her and replied, "yes, but what are you planning to do?"

Now instead of replying to him, she rushed toward the core Hollow as soon as she got an opening. The next moment, she stabbed him with her broad sword but it didn't seem to affect him much. "Such minor injuries make no difference because I am the entire fortress, you brainless woman," the core Hollow arrogantly said to Halibel. "I see… then this might make some difference," she replied while summoning an immense amount of Cero energy which enveloped her broad sword, and then she swung it, slicing through not only the core Hollow but the entire chamber with a huge wide arc of her Cero.

The core Hollow screamed before falling silent and then the entire fortress started to fall apart. All the basic Hollows who were attacking Sesshomaru, started to run out of the castle while the underlying Hollow energy became unstable and began to come out of the fortress in the form of fiery explosions. Sesshomaru noticed that Halibel's sword got stuck in the barrier while the entire inner chamber was about to fall apart. He rushed towards her and helped her in pulling her sword off of the barrier. Afterward, he took her in his arms and began to fly out of the chamber. The moment they escaped the Giant Hollow Fortress, a massive fiery explosion destroyed it completely. Sesshomaru and Halibel got caught in that explosion but before the flames could reach her, he covered her entirely with his own body, and hence it was he alone who got injured by the flames and the broken pieces of rocks.

When both of them hit the sandy ground, it ruptured and they further fell into the underground portion of the Negal Ruins along with a large amount of sand from the upper portion. Sesshomaru was barely moving because of the serious injuries he sustained but it didn't take more than a minute for Halibel to come back to her senses. She came out of the sand and pulled Sesshomaru out of it as well. She was quite saddened upon witnessing him in such a condition and that too because of her. He received a bloody wound on the right side of his head and his armor was also broken to a significant extent. Halibel sat close to him and gently placed his head on her thigh. She then removed his armor and began to check his other wounds while mumbling, "I am sorry… it was all my doing… I put your life in danger because of my recklessness." Sesshomaru slowly opened his eyes, he was still not completely in his senses yet he was trying to get up. Halibel held him before he could get up from her lap and then she spoke in a low voice, "Please don't move like this, you are hurt." Sesshomaru looked towards her and then he looked around after which he realized he was actually lying in her lap. For some time they stayed like this but their peaceful time didn't last long as the next moment both of them got utterly shaken by an immensely powerful spiritual pressure of a gigantic purple Hollow.

It was even bigger than the Giant Hollow Fortress with a bulbous body, long tufts of hair on its back, and a single, large eye that was yellow from the inside. It had Gillian's masks for fingernails and it seemed as if his entire body was filled with some sort of black liquid which was slightly dripping from some cracks on his body. The next moment, he opened his huge mouth and vomited a strange black-colored liquid that surrounded both of them. In no time, several masks of Gillians appeared in that liquid, and eventually, it turned into a group of Gillians that summoned a powerful orb of Ceros by opening their mouth to target both Sesshomaru and Halibel from all directions.

To be continued…