Author's note: Fun fact: when I initially conceived of this story there were going to be tens of thousands of Wei rampaging throughout feudal Japan killing hundreds of thousands of Japanese and pissing off all Taiyoukai as he turned the entirety of Japan into a killzone. The time paradoxes for that would have been impossible to resolve so I scaled it back.

Chapter 51 Leviathan Solution

Kouga had underestimated the difficulty in climbing the serpent; it kept shifting underfoot as the coils tightened around Sesshoumaru. Luckily his and Isamu's agility and balance were up to the task of navigating the mess of limbs and other parts, which sprouted like branches from the hide of the youkai serpent.

Also helps that Wei doesn't seem to know we're climbing up his monster's back.

Since Sesshoumaru was currently keeping the damned thing pinned against the side of the mountain and out of the fight, Kouga was also able to take advantage of the mountain's cliffs in certain areas and climb to within leaping distance of the back of the creature's head.

"Ok, here is how we are going to do this," Kouga said, as he made room for Isamu on the cliff face. "This stuff is what humans call gunpowder. If it catches fire it explodes. We are going to shove the barrels into that fucker's eye socket and let the torch do the rest."

"The plan and the goal are straightforward, but I doubt Wei will make it so easy."

Kouga smiled at Isamu. "It would be pretty boring if life was easy."


Trapped within the gargantuan coils of Wei's hell serpent and being brought ever closer to asphyxiation in their grasp, Sesshoumaru spared just enough concentration to track Wei as he vaulted over the coils, one after the other.

"Why hello Sesshoumaru," Wei called out in faux amiability as he landed on the apex of Sesshoumaru's shoulder, right behind the shoulder blade. "I hear the last time you transformed like this you lost an arm. I'll wager those were happier times, when you weren't facing the extinction of Japan."

Wei's deranged grin turned into a sadistic sneer; lifting the Shining Hate above his head and pointing its flaming edge straight down he continued, "Let's relive those times together."

Sesshoumaru's shoulder shrieked in pain and he let out a strangled cry as Wei stabbed downwards and started sawing through his shoulder muscles gleefully.

A ribbon of Sesshoumaru's blood shot up and splashed over Wei's face, its psychic properties briefly linking the two combatants. Wei let go of the Shining Hate and stumbled backwards with a confused mixture of horror and revulsion written in his expression.

"I TOLD YOU I DON'T WANT JAPANESE TOUCHING ME LIKE THAT," Wei shouted dementedly. The Shining Hate disappeared and reappeared in Wei's hand as he aimed at Sesshoumaru's face. "DON'T EVER TOUCH ME LIKE THAT!"

Tongues of golden flame shot out and engulfed the right half of Sesshoumaru's face, filling the air with the scent of burning hair and charred meat.

"YOU ARE NOT FIT TO TOUCH ONE OF US LIKE THAT!"

The intensity of the flames would have made Hell's seem mild by comparison and they eagerly stripped off layers of Sesshoumaru's face. Abruptly the flames cut off and Sesshoumaru felt Wei running along his scarred face and heard several obscenities as Wei jumped onto his monster's neck and start climbing up towards the head. Baffled by the sudden reprieve, Sesshoumaru tracked Wei's line of ascent and saw him heading directly to its summit where a figure with barrels strapped to the back had managed to secure a spot near the eye.

It was then that Sesshoumaru caught a whiff of gunpowder.

Kouga...


The ebon eye tracked Kouga and Isamu as they approached and silently conveyed a promise of agony to them.

Whatever Wei, it's time to put an end to this beast you dragged up from hell.

Kouga dug his claws deep into the flesh surrounding the eye and, bracing his feet against the orbit of the eye, tried to lever the eye from the socket. It resisted initially and then gave way with a wet plopping sound. A fraction of a moment more and Kouga was lifting the quivering orb over his head, doing his best not to gag as a foul stream of fluid came gushing out over him.

"Disgusting," Isamu commented while holding his hand over his nose.

"Don't just stand there," Kouga said, while doing his best to not let any of the disgusting fluid into this mouth and throwing the eye over the side. It dangled by a red fleshy vein below them and swung slowly back and forth. "But you're right, smells like rotten blood."

Isamu's expression said he didn't want to draw any closer to the newly formed pit that Kouga was mired in, but knew he didn't have a say in the matter.

Putting the torch he carried between his teeth, Isamu undid the rope fastening the barrels to his back as Kouga did likewise. Rolling them into the now empty eye socket, Isamu turned around as he heard a scraping sound behind him and saw an armored figure spring up to join them. Wei swept a hand back through his black spiked hair and sent a spray of sweat out into the night.

"What was in those barrels you were carrying?" he grated out, while setting himself in a preparatory stance. From the look in Wei's eyes, Isamu believed he already guessed at the truth and thus held back his fire. "You shouldn't even need a torch under this light."

Kouga's response was direct as suited his nature and leaping out of the pit, swung the monster's eye by its fleshy pink nerve fibers like a gigantic ball and chain.

"FINISH IT DAMN YOU!" Kouga shouted at Isamu while releasing the improvised missile at Wei. "I'LL KEEP HIM OFF!"

Flying from his grasp, it flew unerringly at Wei, but was sliced neatly in twain by Wei's blade. That posed little problem for Kouga though as it had bought him the time to traverse the distance between himself and Wei in a blur of black and brown, tackling Wei and knocking him back into the cliff face of the mountain.

"Idiot," Wei sneered as he grappled with Kouga and smashed his face into the mountainside. "I don't have time for your shi-"

Whatever else Wei might have said was lost in a booming roar of thunder as an explosion blew apart the skull of his leviathan and showered them both with blood, bone and brain matter.