Chapter III

"Why do you desire power, Ross White?"

Ross' lips curled. "That's easy. I want to achieve Final Form."

The Elder shook his head. "What is the real reason?"

Ross stared at the elder's eyes. He thought, thinking about all that had happened.

Mana dying. Kageran, defeated. All those people, wiped off the face of the Earth. His stolen sword, the things that would happen next.

His eyes turned dark. Maeluran put her hand on his shoulder.

"I will defeat. I will kill Shain!"

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Flash-backs? Why now? And why in the world that one?

Ross regained himself quickly enough to block the first attack with his Crystallus.

"By the way, my name is Ross," he said.

Inuyasha growled, jumping back and preparing another Windscar.

This time Ross saw how it worked. Inuyasha could see the auras they were both creating, and then strike where they met.

Ingenious. He was lucky Ross had an aura. If he was a normal human there would have been no way to generate that attack.

But then again, if he was a normal human Inuyasha wouldn't need to use the Windscar in the first place.

Ross moved his sword backwards. "Last time your attack might have been stronger but was only because I wasn't prepared to meet it."

"Oh yeah," Inuyasha's angry face glared at him. "Trying to look cool, huh?" He unleashed the Windscar. "DIE."

But Ross had already been preparing his blow. The Crystallus exploded in power, sending a huge blast towards Inuyasha.

"Not good enough!" he yelled over the sound, and back away, this time taking out the Angellan.

Ross aimed to Extensions at the aftermath at the blast, but Inuyasha was long gone.

"Oh? He's a jumpy one, isn't he…"

Just then an arrow just missed his head by about a foot. He turned to look at the one who had shot.

Once again shock returned to his face as he laid his eyes on Kagome. He needed to know…

"Next time I won't miss!" Kagome said, taking out another arrow from her bow.

He didn't have much time to answer. Inuyasha was already on his heels.

"Fast…" Ross turned and jumped away. Speed wasn't his thing… what he could really deal with was…

"HIRAIKOTSU!"

It came out of nowhere. He couldn't dodge it, he couldn't blast it. The boomerang seemed to moving, as if in slow motion, ready to give him his last breath…

His lips curled upwards. He held out his free hand.

And then he caught it.

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Kagome didn't like what she was seeing.

Everyone seemed to have frozen. Sango seemed to be in shock. She was riding Kirara, who was rushing back down to the earth.

After a moment, Ross spoke.

"My powers are different than yours. For one thing, my power is not speed. Far from it, I am a master of strength, and trust there is not one being that can compare with me at full strength. Second of all, I don't fight with aura. I fight with something a little different: Magi."

"What?" Kagome was confused. Sure, the aura he had felt pure, but his attacks seemed to be the same as any other demon they had encountered.

"In its most basic form Magi can't do anyone any harm. But I'm a Light Adept; I can manipulate Light Magi and turn it into something physical. For instance, I can extend my weapons and use long-ranged attacks using energy. This is called an Extension. It's actually a very basic form of attack for an Adept."

"Is your lecture done already?" Inuyasha growled.

"And now that that's done, I can move on to some more challenging attacks. You won't be able to dodge this."

He aimed his two swords at Inuyasha, paralleling them to the ground. His aura skyrocketed as he tapped into his memory.

"Now how did that go… right."

A strange symbol made of white light appeared in front of him. Everyone took a step back.

Inuyasha raised his Tetsaiga. "Whatever it is, it's not gonna beat me!"

Miroku yelled in panic. "INUYASHA! GET AWAY FROM THERE!"

"Too late," Ross said. "This is called a Mark!"

The next words he said were the incantation: "Power! Twin Lighting Slash!"

The swords unleashed a huge energy in the shape of lightening. It blasted everything in its way, including Inuyasha.

The other effect was the light. Kagome had to shield her eyes in face of it. But it still didn't shield Ross' voice.

"Sorry I got to run away, but we'll meet again soon. However… one of you is coming with me."

Kagome felt him grab her. Suddenly, he did a tremendous jump, and in less than a couple minutes they were far away.

She recovered quickly and began hitting him where she could. For the moment she was in his arms, the way the hero usually picked up the heroine. But there was nothing romantic about what was happening.

"LET ME GO YOU MURDERER. I SWEAR, WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON YOU, I'LL –"

"Oh, shut up," Ross said, annoyed.

"I'M GOING TO SCREAM!"

He dropped her just then.

"Oh be my guest," he said, leaving her on the ground. "It doesn't really matter. I'd say were three miles away from where your friends are. They won't be coming quickly."

Friends… wait, Inuyasha!

"Inuyasha! You… is he dead?"

"No, unfortunately he survived. I can still feel his aura, even from this distance. But that's not the point."

She tried to get up but he unsheathed his sword.

"What are you going to do to me?" Kagome said fearfully, thinking of all the stories she had heard.

"Nothing, if you cooperate. Listen, my questions are simple and not hard to answer. I just want to know one thing: where did you get the outfit."

What? "I don't think you'd believe me even if I told you."

"Okay then, let me reformulate. How do I get to the future?"

Kagome gasped. How… how did he know? It wasn't possible, Naraku couldn't have found out…

"What does Naraku want with the future?"

"It's not Naraku, it's me. Just answer."

"It's a well, but –"

"A well?"

"I mean, no, I can't show you. I'd rather die than show you!" Her attitude resurfaced. She couldn't believe she actually told him without thinking.

"You won't be the only one to die. They will, too. Inuyasha may not be dead yet, but that can be arranged pretty easily. You saw the amount of power I had. I could easily destroy any member of your group. Either you show me where the well is, or you name me the member of the group I should eliminate first."

Kagome stared, wide-eyed. She couldn't let him… but…

Only she and Inuyasha could get through the well. Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea. And she could escape and…

"All right. Fine."

"Good girl," Ross said. "Then let's get going."