Chapter 20: The Eight-Headed Terror

"That doesn't sound good." Akari said when she heard a deep, loud roar. It was a roar that made a shiver go down her spine. She noticed that Tomoe and Shippo were shaking as their shackles stood up. She knew that sacrifices were needed for the ritual. But the children are with them. What did Jigoku use for sacrifices? Then it hit her.

She used her own followers?! Akari thought with shock.


"Yamata no Orochi, it's so good to see you again, milord." Jigoku said, giving a bow towards the eight-headed dragon.

"Jigoku, well done on bringing me back." Yamata said in a dark tone of voice. That tone of voice reminded Kagome of Sesshomaru for some strange reason. Actually, Sesshomaru sounded more of cold than of dark.

"I promised you that I wouldn't fail you, milord." Jigoku said.

"Indeed." Yamata said, "But you forgot something, my dear."

"What do you mean, master?" Jigoku asked, her brow arched. Before she could blink, Yamata stood over Jigoku and grabbed her with his teeth. He swung her up in the air and she fell into his mouth. Swallowing her whole. Kagome, Masahiro, and Hansuke stood in horror of what Yamata had just did. Swallowing the one who went through so much trouble to revive him. They couldn't believe that he would do such a thing.

"It's seems that I have some very shy guests." Yamata said, "Why don't you three come out and greet me?"

The trio didn't know what to do at that moment. This demon was more powerful than Kaira. But this demon had eight heads and a jewel shard. Now Kagome knew how Hercules felt when he went against that hydra in the movie "Hercules". Too bad Phil hadn't stopped him earlier with the head slicing. Then he wouldn't have to deal with so many heads. Somewhat lucky for them, the creature has eight heads. Is that a good thing?

"Alright, if you won't come out on your own, then I will make you come out." Yamata said. Kagome sensed a large amount of youki that was gathering towards the eight - headed dragon. The trio quickly exited the cave. When they got out of the cave, the walls exploded behind them. Debris of the cave was laid out everywhere around them. Masahiro, Hansuke, and Kagome groaned at the pain they got when they were forced to the ground by the explosion from the cave. They looked back up and saw Yamata no Orochi standing over them. They had no idea that he was that big when they saw him in the cave. Well, they always say that looks can be deceiving.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Yamata asked as he stared at the three individuals below him, "A dragon demon and two humans. An interesting pair."

Masahiro, Kagome, and Hansuke quickly got to their feet as they stared at Yamata's giant form in front of them. They sensed the enormous amount of youki this dragon had. But with the power of a jewel shard, it makes him even more powerful. Masahiro and Hansuke unsheathed their swords and Kagome readied her bow.

"So you three going to fight me?" Yamata asked, "It's pointless to go against me."

"We won't know until we do." Kagome said, tightening the grip on her sword.

"Very well then." Yamata said as his eyes closed and started gathering his youki into his eight mouths. The trio quickly moved out of the way. A blast of dark blue energy shot from all eight mouths and hit the ground. A bright light blinded them and a loud sound was heard. When the light was cleared, their eye hues shook at the sight before them: a huge crater of where they once stood. The crater was big enough to fill in a lake. They looked back up at Yamata's tall form. Steam was coming out of his eight mouths. He let out a satisfying sigh.

"It feels so good to use my powers again." Yamata said while chuckling, "I miss the chills of releasing all of that energy."

He can gather that enormous amount of youki and cause that amount of damage?! Masahiro thought when he saw the damage of Yamata's attack. He didn't know that Yamata had that much power. With the power of a jewel shard, he might be the official lord of the Eastern Lands, but Masahiro already knew that Shinji is more powerful than Yamata. He knew that the odds might be against the three of them, but they have to stop this dragon.

"Kagome, Hansuke." Masahiro said.

"Hai?" They asked at the same time as they turned their heads at Masahiro.

"Let's fight." Masahiro said.

"Hai!" They both said. With new courage raging inside of them, they charged towards Yamata no Orochi. One of his heads was about to release its attack.

"ENERUGĪ-HA!" Masahiro yelled as he swung his blade. A huge wave of purple colored energy went straight towards one of Yamata's heads. The head was split into pieces when the attack hit the head. Yamata screeched in pain when one of his heads was destroyed. It had steam coming from where its head was.
"JUNSUINA BAKUHATSU!" Hansuke yelled as he swung his blade. A twister of pink and gold energy shot towards another one of Yamata's head, destroying it. Kagome readied her arrow and aimed it towards another head of Yamata. When she released the arrow, it pierced between the eyes of the head, which soon turned to ashes. Yamata screeched again in pain of losing his heads.

"YOU WILL PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID TO ME!" Yamata roared as he lunged towards the trio.

"HEAVENLY BLADES!" A female voice shouted as blades of white light sliced off three more of Yamata's head. Yamata screeched in pain once more. The trio looked up and saw Akari flying towards them.

"Akari, what are you doing here?" Kagome asked.

"I thought I told you to protect the village children." Masahiro said.

"I came to help. I couldn't let you guys handle this dragon by yourselves." Akari said as she landed next to them, "Don't worry, the children are alright."

Masahiro sighed when akari said that she wanted to help them. He knew that she didn't want to be left out in a fight like this. After all the time he has known her, she wanted to be by their sides right now. Masahiro knew that his pack wanted to do: stay by each other's sides. That's what he wants as well. Everyone looked back up at the dragon, readied their weapons again, and charged towards Yamata.

Yamata grew angrier and angrier at that moment. His green reptile eyes glowed red in rage. He couldn't believe that the group of individuals in front of him were able to take out seven of his eight heads. It was impossible! Susanoo was the only warrior who was able to defeat him. But he used sake to drug him in order to slay him. He admitted that was a clever plan, yet sly. He wasn't going to be beaten by the strange individuals in front of him. All of the demons jumped towards him except the miko who was readying her arrow. He thrusted his mighty wings, causing the others to fall onto the ground. Then he lunged towards Kagome. She quickly got up, readied her arrow, and released it. Hoping that it would hit him. Unexpectedly, he dodged it. Kagome froze at the unexpected move of her enemy.

"KAGOME!" Masahiro yelled as he quickly got up, ran towards Kagome, and wrapped his arms around her. Their comrades screamed their names as Yamata no Orochi swallowed them whole.


Masahiro held Kagome tight to him as they went down Yamata's throat. The saliva was extremely slippery as they went down. When they left throat, they dropped into the stomach. Before they dropped, Masahiro noticed a skeleton of some creature sitting on top of the stomach acids. With a little pushed to the left, they safely landed on top of the spine of the skeleton, which prevented them from being disintegrated from Yamata's stomach acids.

"Kagome, are you alright?" Masahiro asked, separating from her.

"Hai." Kagome said, "Are we in Yamata's stomach?"

"I'm afraid so." Masahiro said, looking at their surroundings. The green colored acids surrounded them. There were small towers of steam coming from all of the bubbles that popped everywhere. Kagome quickly covered her mouth and nose when the foul smell of the stomach acids hit her sensitive nose. The acid smell was worse than the smell of a gym locker filled with dirty clothes that haven't been cleaned in months.

"How can we get out?" Kagome asked behind her hand.

"I'm not sure." Masahiro said. He knew that if Kagome used a barrier around them, they would only make it halfway to the exit. Masahiro knew that a dragon's stomach acids were quite deadly. Also that she won't been able to stay in here much longer since a dragon's stomach acids can also been poisonous to a human. Luckily she's miko, which was purifying the air for her. But it takes a lot of her miko powers to keep the acid from harming her body. Then they saw a bright yellow glow at the bottom of his stomach.

"What's that?" Kagome asked, noticing the glow beneath them.

"I don't know." Masahiro said, "It might be our way out of here."

"Let's see if it is." Kagome said.

"You should put a barrier around us, just in case." Masahiro said.

"Hai." Kagome said. Masahiro held her around the waist as Kagome erected her barrier around them. They jumped off the bones and into Yamata's stomach acids. They could see very few remains of different beings in the acids, which disturbed the both of them. Kagome knew that her barrier won't be able to hold them from the stomach acids for long. The light they were heading towards was starting to get brighter and brighter. Then the glow formed a barrier around them. The glow started to dim and they saw something they never would suspected to be inside of a dragon.


A/N :

Enerugī-ha - Energy Wave

Junsuina Bakuhatsu - Pure Explosion