Sango slowly advanced through the third floor with her sword drawn, rapidly analyzing her surroundings and looking for anything out of place. So far it seemed like this really was nothing but an ancient lumber mill. Stacks of wood in all shapes and sizes, rusty saw blades, and crumbling wood carving tables filled the area as far as the eye could see. So far there was no evidence this floor was used as a lab for any of Zanshin's experiments.

"Doesn't look like he has anything useful up here. No expensive equipment, no demonic creations, no unholy potion sets." Then something occurred her. "In other words, the perfect place to have a fight without worrying about anything that needs to be defended!"

Suddenly a smile came across her lips. "Zanshin, you old rat!" Sango shouted, seemingly to thin air and the piles of lumber. "I know you're up here. Now come on out and meet your death with whatever shred of dignity remains in your pitiful excuse for a soul!"

For a moment, Sango was greeted with silence. Then she heard it. The sound of approaching footsteps from behind a stack of wood blocks several yards away. Within seconds, Zanshin stepped out from behind them. Despite the massive amount of time he had to prepare for her arrival, she saw he was still wearing the simple clothing he had on when they first met in the abandoned village, and he still had no armor or any visible weapons at all.

"Well, it appears we both know each other all too well, doesn't it?" He asked mockingly. "I knew you wouldn't take the chance of burning this place down without knowing who was inside. And I knew you would split your group up and take the top floor on your own. You always were meticulous, Sango. But you're instance on taking the biggest chances yourself and your unwillingness to risk innocent lives will be your undoing. There are no survivors for you to save here. Just me and the special surprises I prepared for your friends on the lower floors. The three of you are nothing but a bothersome hindrance to my work, so I've decided to make a stand here and wipe you out with one fell swoop."

Sango remained unphased. "You mean like your plant monster was supposed to do in the woodlands? Or Natsumi's trap at her Inn? Or your servants in the abandoned village? The outcome here will be no different. Kirara and Miroku can handle whatever you have waiting for them below us. And I'm more then capable of handling you"

"I don't know where such unfounded confidence comes from," Zanshin responded with a hint of humor. "After all, we both remember what happened the last time you led a team into my lair." With that he cracked his knuckles and started slowly advancing toward her. "Well history is about to repeat itself, Sango, with one slight alteration. This time you won't avoid the fate of your fallen warriors. It all ends here."

"Indeed it does!"

With that, Sango charged at Zanshin with vigor that caught him by surprise, unleashing a fury of sword strikes. Though caught off guard by her sudden attack, Zanshin's honed combat instincts immediately kicked in, enabling him to swiftly dodge her blows one by one. Realizing she wasn't making any progress, Sango suddenly changed her methods, catching Zanshin across the face with a powerful jumping spin kick. Her armored boot slammed into his head with enough impact to knock him back against a wall. Then she immediately progressed with a one-handed inward sword swing, hoping her initial contact and his lack of room to back away would prevent him from dodging her blade again.

Evasion, however, was not on Zanshin's mind. Instead, he reached out almost effortlessly and grabbed her wrist with his left hand before the sword could make contact with his body.

"Not good enough, Sango". He calmly told her as he held her wrist down for a second. Then he drove his right fist directly into her face.

If Sango had ever taken a more brutal punch in her lifetime, she was unable to remember it. The blow nearly picked her up off the ground. Her sword went flying out of her hand as she stumbled backwards for several steps before finally collapsing onto her back, where she lay motionless with her eyes closed.

Zanshin laughed as he walked up to her prone body sprawled out on the ground. "After all this effort, and everything you've been through. It all ends with a single blow. How pitiful. But do not worry. I'll give you the ease of a quick painless death, though it's much more then what you deserve."

With that, Zanshin raised his right foot off the ground and brought it down with full force, intent on instantly crushing Sango's neck. But at the last second, Sango's eyes snapped open and she rolled out of the way with a backwards somersault, instantly snapping up on her feet as Zanshin's foot connected with the ground, leaving several visible cracks as evidence of her narrow avoidance of death. As Zanshin looked up at his opponent in surprise, Sango took advantage of her initiative by pulling the Hiraikotsu off her back and drilling him in the head with it in a single motion. The motion was so fast that it didn't connect with maximum force, but it was still hard enough to knock him off his feet, sending Zanshin rolling across the ground for a bit before he sprang back up, showing no sign of pain or fatigue at all.

For a few seconds, the two warriors just stared at each other, Sango with her Hiraikotsu at the ready and Zanshin with his fists raised. Suddenly, Zanshin felt something running down the side of his face. Taking a hand up to feel what it was, he felt a stream of blood running down his face from a small cut just above his left cheek.

After a brief glance at the blood on his hand, Zanshin smilled and turned back to Sango. She too was marked by their initial encounter, sporting a nasty bruise above her left eye, but looked as determined and vigilant as ever.

"Well done Sango," said Zanshin approvingly, "Looks like you really aren't a little girl anymore."

For the first time ever, Miroku felt glad Inuyasha was not present as he headed into conflict. The ghastly combination of odors and putrid aromas would be too much for him to handle, causing his senses to overload.

As soon as he stepped into the second floor of the old lumber mill, it was clear he had found what Sango was looking for. This was Zanshin's laboratory, no question about it. But there was no satisfaction in making such an important find. On the contrary, there was only shock and horror, as Miroku gazed upon the most nightmarish thing he had ever witnessed in his years of traveling, both with Inuyasha's crew and on his own. Charred and mutilated bodies lay everywhere on makeshift lab tables, while stacks of potions and cauldrons filled with unknown brew filled the area. Miroku quickly realized he would once again have to make due without the use of his wind tunnel. Taking the risk of sucking in any of the unknown substances was simply out of the question, and he was certainly not going to risk turning himself into one of Zanshin's servants by mistake.

Mentally making a silent prayer for Buddha's protection in this vile, unholy place, Miroku forced himself to look over the whole area and assess the situation. Sure enough, it looked like Zanshin was creating a demonic army. He didn't bother counting exactly how many bodies were present, but it was well over several dozen. This many demonic-manufactured killing machines would easily be able to overrun the town's defenses, giving Zanshin all the resources he needed to expand his army indefinitely. That is, unless Miroku and Sango stopped him here and now.

"Good call, Sango." Miroku thought to himself. "You made the right choice".

The good news, if any could be found in such a horrible place, was that none of the demonic creations showed any signs of life. It appeared they had not yet been "activated" or revived through whatever dark ritual Zanshin used to bring his servants into the world, and this was a golden opportunity to destroy them all before this ever occured. All he had to do was go to the third floor and aid Sango in whatever she was dealing with. Then they could leave this vile structure and destroy it...

"Welcome Monk. Zanshin told me you would be coming."

Miroku's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by by a voice coming from a dark corner of the room. Turning to identify it's source, he saw it came from a ragged looking demon wrapped in a dark cloak. At a mere 5 feet tall and lacking the luster and killing frenzy of the threats he had so recently faced, it didn't seem like much of a threat. But Miroku kept his guard up all the same.

"Who are you? What role have you in this unholy place?"

"I am Malth, the keeper of this magnificent laboratory." The demon calmly replied. "I shall brook no insolence from such a foul intruder as yourself! This is my relm, Monk! And you shall not corrupt it with your foul precense."

Miroku did his best to keep his composure. "This entire building is nothing but corruption! Now lead me to your master if you wish to avoid his fate!"

Malth just laughed. "Zanshin has no time for miserable whelps such as you. He is no concern of yours, because you will not get past me." With that, Malth pulled a hand from his filthy robe and hurled a massive wave of dark magic at Miroku, who barely had time to dive out of the way as the powerful blast slammed into a nearby lab table, instantly reducing it to ashes. As he rose to his feet, Miroku saw several black marks on his robe, apparently residue from the dark spell that had gotten onto him. To his horror, the dark marks suddenly started to eat through his robe and burn into his skin.

Miroku let out a shout of pain as he ripped off the infected parts of his robe and quickly purged the dark energy from his body with his own purifying spell. But the residue still left several charred burn marks on his body.

"Did you like that, Monk?" Malth taunted as Miroku gritted his teath and fought through the pain. "That was just a taste of my corrosive powers. The next time you won't be so lucky." Malth raised his hands and threw another wave of dark energy at Miroku, but this time he countered with a barrage of sutras. The sutras collided with the dark spell in mid air, and the resulting conflict of both magics effectively nullified each other.

Before the residue cleared, Miroku ran to his attacker. Though he could feel the remnants of the dark energy burning at his skin, Miroku managed to ignore it, knowing that this might be his only chance to close the gap. Though Malth had proven himself devastating at long range, Miroku was sure he could handle him with conventional weapons, and now was the time to bring his into play. As soon as he got close enough, Miroku lept into the air and swung his staff down with full force, intent on crushing Malth's skull.

However, at the last second, Malth pulled a sword he had kept concealed under his large dark robe and deflected Miroku's attack. Their weapons collided with massive impact. But Miroku was undetered by Malth's hidden weapon. As soon as he landed, he kept up his attack, raining down blow after blow. Malth skillfully blocked them one by one, but he was so busy defending himself that he couldn't get in any attack of his own. Finally, Miroku scored a good hit, slashing Malth across the chest with the bladed end of his staff. Malth roared in pain as his blood sprayed across Miroku's body and he fell to the ground, dropping his sword in the process.

"It's over demon!" Miroku shouted triumphantly as he stood over Malth and started to raise his weapon for a killing strike. "The afterlife is all that awaits you."

To his surprise, Malth looked up from the ground and smiled. "It will have to keep waiting a while longer. You arn't in such a favorable position as it might seem."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Asked Miroku. "There arn't demon tricks that can save you now-" but suddenly he was cut off by a horrible sensation of pain. He looked down in shock to see Malth's blood burning through his robes and into his body, and by the time he realized that Malth's foul blood had the same corrosive effect as his magic, it was too late. Miroku dropped his staff and started screaming in pain, desperately ripping off the bloody pits of his robe and purifying the parts of body where Malth's had blood gotten through

Miroku was able to get the corrosive blood off him before suffering serious injuries, but the delay gave Malth the opportunity he needed to recover. While Miroku was held up, Malth got back on his feet and snatched up his sword. Miroku barely had time to roll out of the way before the bladed weapon came crashing down on the spot where he had just been.

"Now you die!" Malth shouted at Miroku while chasing after him, swinging his sword furiously and hurling more bolts of corrosive magic whenever he could get a clear shot. Finding himself completely outmatched with no weapon and a limited supply of sutras, Miroku desperately ran and ducked around the lab tables and potion stacks, hoping Malth would restrict his magic use in order to avoid destroying his own valuable equipment.

As Miroku desperately bobbed and weaved through area with corrosive magic flying all around him, a single thought suddenly entered his mind.

"I really hope Sango is doing better then this."

Zanshin roared with laughter as he ducked under a Hiraikotsu swing and slammed his left fist into Sango's midsection, causing her to double over in pain. "Now stay down!" A devastating right hook caught her in the side of the head, and she once again tumbled to the sawdust-covered floor

But Sango continued to show her resilience. As Zanshin closed in to finish her off, she sprang back into action, getting up and hammering the Hiraikotsu into Zanshin's knee. Amazingly, he remained standing, but the strike caused him to buckle enough for Sango to follow it up, which she did by hitting him again, this time with a downward blow that brought the full might of the giant boomerang onto Zanshin's shoulder blade.

The mighty demon groaned in pain and went down. Realizing she had to keep up the pressure, Sango kept swinging in an attempt to crush his bones as he lay on the ground. But Zanshin skillfully rolled out of the way as blow after blow sailed past him, doing nothing except tear up the floorboards. Finally Sango landed a solid hit into his side as Zanshin rose to his knees, but by then it was too late. Her flury of Hiraikotsu swings had drained so much of her stamina that the impact didn't have anywhere nearly enough power. Zanshin felt only a minor jolt of pain as the bone weapon struck his side, not nearly enough to cripple him.

Now Zanshin regained the initiative. Using his left arm to pin the Hiraikotsu against his body, he once again nailed her face with a right hand blow. This time it wasn't enough to knock her down, but it had the intended effect of causing Sango to let go of the Hiraikotsu and stumble backwards.

Now weaponless, Sango looked up just in time to see Zanshin drop the Hiraikotsu and grab the top of her head with both hands.

"Let's see you get out of this."

With this simple challenge, Zanshin drove his knee into her face as hard as he could, while forcing her head down into it to enhance the impact. The resulting blow was the hardest Sango felt so far. In under a second , she was knocked off her feet and hit the floor with a dull thud.

Again, Zanshin kept laughing. "Is that it, Sango?" He taunted his prone opponent as she desperately tried to recover. Blotches of various colors danced around her vision and she had to fight hard against her basic instincts to avoid passing out. "I won't let it end this way." She told herself as she rolled onto her chest and then rose to one knee. "Not like this". As Sango slowly pulled herself up, she noticed drops of blood dripping off her head and onto the floor. But she didn't even bother to check where it was coming from. "They'll be time for that when this is finished."

Zanshin smiled as he watched Sango clumsily rise to her feet. "That's it, keep it coming! Your pain is good to me!" He shouted in a taunting manner as he moved in and tried to wrap his hands around her throat.

"Ah go to hell!"

With a shout of defiance, Sango fought back with a surprising burst of adrenaline. Snapping out her hidden arm blade, she slashed him across the right arm as soon as he got close, sending an stream of his blood spraying across her body and giving her the opportunity she'd be waiting for. With lighting speed, Sango punched him hard with two right hand blows, one to the chest and one to his head, before drilling him in the face with a powerful side-angle kick that sent Zanshin plunging into a large pile of carved lumber blocks.

The impact was so massive it seemed to shake the entire building. Sango watched in delight as the entire pile of lumber boards came crashing down on Zanshin, virtually burying his body, though his head and a few limbs were still visible, something Sango fully desired to exploit. She immediately rushed in, intending on driving her blade into his skull.

But it was, perhaps, a little too soon. Just as Sango started to swing the weapon down into him, Zanshin quickly pulled his right hand free from under the remains of the lumper pile and caught Sango's arm with the blade less then an inch away from his head. Then he grabbed a piece of cedar and his left hand and smashed it into the exposed arm blade hard with an inward swing. The impact effectively robbed Sango of her final weapon, breaking the blade off her wrist and sending it flying across the room. Then he slammed the cedar board into Sango's ribs, and she crumpled to the floor.

With one final effort, Zanshin powered his way out from underneath the lumber pile, storming free as blocks of wood flew through the area in all directions. In response, Sango did the only thing she could think of. She slowly rose to her feet and readied herself to continue, any way she could."

Zanshin had no intention of allowing this. Before Sango even finished getting up, Zanshin grabbed her by the neck and picked her up off the ground. Sango could only scream in horror and he lifted her small frame from the floor and slammed it down on a nearby wood carving table. Then he used his superior demon strength to pin her down on the table, while slowly choking her to death.

"You had quite a good run, Sango." Zanshin told her as he slowly increased the pressure of his grip around her throat. "But all good things come to an end. And don't think for a moment that it's going to be quick. You lost that right quite some time ago."

Sango wildly thrashed her limbs, doing anything she could to resist. But nothing worked. She had no weapons left, and his massive superiority in physical prowess made unarmed resistance seem futile. Sango's vision began to darken as Zanshin increased the pressure on her throat, and for the first time since their fight began, she began to wonder herself if this really was the end...

"Where are you Monk?" Malth shouted as he stormed through the lab area brandishing his sword. Faced with a golden opportunity to eliminate the bothersome threat and pleasing his master, the Monk had actually resorted to fleeing like a whipped dog, and Malth couldn't be more enraged by it. "I'll rip this whole place apart to find you if I have too!"

Of course, Malth himself knew this was not true. Master Zanshin would never forgive him for damaging his laboratory, even to eliminate such a serious threat. But he was so outraged at this point that he couldn't think of anything else to say. "Show yourself, you sniveling coward!"

Suddenly Malth's attention was caught by a voice coming from behind a nearby bookcase filled with ancient alchemy tomes. "Very well."

Malth had no time to react as Miroku shoved the massive bookcase into him. In a matter of seconds, it came crashing on top of him, pinning him to the ground, not only under it's crushing weight, but the additional weight of Miroku, dove on top of the case and started pounding away with his fists.

"Did you really think you could defeat me?" Miroku shouted as he rained down blow after blow. "I would never fall to such a foul creature of the shadows. Now tell me where Zanshin is at once!"

With the last of his strength, Malth made a desparate attempt at a counterattack by wrenching his right arm free and swinging a small dagger at Miroku's head. But Miroku was ready and grabbed his arm, using Malth's own momentum to plunge the blade into the demon's throat instead. Malth's eyes shot open wide in shock before closing as his body went limp and he slipped away with a low gurgling noise.

"Rest in peace, you vile abomination." Miroku said silently. Then he got up and went to get his staff. There wasn't a moment to lose. Now that his oppenent was defeated, he had to aid his companions on the other floors. The only question was, which one should he go to first?

But as soon as picked up his dropped staff, Miroku heard a weak, but boastful voice coming from Malth. "You...Y-you think you've won. But the your real n-nightmare is just begining. You're about to b-become a p-p-permenant part of this lab."

Considering the circumstances, Miroku hardly found this statement to be threatening. "You are not in a position to be of any concern. Go ahead and waste your last words with empty threats if it eases your passing. Your fate is already sealed."

Once again, Miroku turned to leave, but Malth continued. "And so is yours! With my last breath, I call upon the dark spirits. Hear me and give my masterpieces life! Awaken and slay the intruder!"

Miroku watched in confused silence as Malth's body began to glow, giving off a luminescence bright to enough to light up the entire room. Then he suddenly vanished in a brilliant flash, leaving Miroku temporarily blinded for a few seconds, but otherwise completely unharmed."

"What the hell was that?" Miroku thought to himself as he took a moment to gather his bearings. Malth's spell seemed to have no effect on anything. The entire area still seemed deserted and lifeless. With no apparent new threats to deal with, Miroku simply shrugged his shoulders and headed out, the current status of his beloved Tiajiya and demon cat weighing heavily on his mind.

And that's when he saw it. Out of the corner of his eye, he detected motion from across the room. Turning to locate the source, he was shocked to see one of the bodies on the lab table sit up, sluggishly grab a weapon, and begin shuffling towards him.

"Oh this can't be..."

But sure enough, one by one the other demons were rising from their lab tables and resting places, grabbing whatever weapon happened to be near them (if there were any), and slowly lumbering to Miroku's location. Some were missing limbs, and even a few were headless, but it didn't matter. They seemed not to be driven by any intelligence or sentient thought, only some primitive urge to follow Miroku's lifeforce...and extinguish it. In a matter of seconds, Miroku found himself surrounded and dozens and dozens of the mindless drones.

For a man like Miroku, who already had to deal with a giant plant youkai, gun-toting humans, elite demon soldiers, and a dark wizard, this newest unexpected challenge seemed almost like a cruel joke, as if the gods themselves were testing him. With a combination of resignation and rage, Miroku prepared to face his new opponents with his staff in one hand and sutras in the other, knowing every second he was delayed here was more time keeping him from helping Sango deal with whatever threat she was doubtlessly facing on the floor above.

"You think you can stop me?" He shouted at them, despite being fairly sure they were unable to comprehend anything he said. "Nothing will! I'll cut through all of you if that's what it takes! Now come on!"