EIGHTH BLOOD

Chapter 22: Deliverance

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The city was named after one of the Seven Gods of Fortune. Ebisu was the patron of fishermen; therefore, he was often depicted carrying a fishing rod. Apparently, the twin lakes on top of the mountains to the left and right of the city had belonged to Ebisu, and were full of rare fish.

Octavia stayed close to Sesshoumaru as they approached the city gates. The entrance alone was teeming with demons. She'd never seen so many in one place before. They eyed her suspiciously as she stepped over the threshold with Sesshoumaru, but said nothing to either of them.

She had a feeling that it was because of the Daiyoukai. Although he looked human, the lingering marks on his cheeks and the blazing gold eyes made it clear that he was anything but. The knowledge should have brought her comfort, but it only made her feel even more out of place, like a rabbit that had accidentally wandered into a fox's den. Her survival instincts kicked in and she avoided making eye contact with any of the demons they passed.

As she walked behind Sesshoumaru, she muttered quietly, "'Hell is empty, and all the devils are here'."

"What was that?" he asked without turning around.

"It's from The Tempest. You know, Shakespeare?"

"Is that some kind of weapon?"

"No. He was a famous playwright. Mind you, he probably hasn't even been born yet, so—"

She stopped herself before she could say any more. With the exception of name-dropping Tokyo, she deliberately hadn't gone into much detail about her home in case it messed with history. As a time traveller, she couldn't help but feel she had a responsibility to ensure that the timeline remained unchanged. If anyone found out that she was from the future, it could bring about a catastrophe. At least, that was usually how it went in stories that involved time travel.

"Explain," said Sesshoumaru.

"It's nothing," she answered. "I was just being silly."

"I can tell when you're lying, human."

She stiffened. "I'm not lying."

He ceased walking and turned to face her. Aside from a few disgruntled looks, the other demons in the plaza strolled past them without a word. "I remembered something earlier," Sesshoumaru told her. "It's about the miko. After Naraku was defeated, she disappeared. Even I couldn't sense her presence during that time. Inuyasha and his companions seemed to know where she was, but they never attempted to retrieve her. I never understood why. Three years later, she finally returned. Since you are her relation, you must know where she went."

Octavia bit her tongue.

He continued. "That isn't all. After her disappearance, Inuyasha became obsessed with the well in the forest he had slept for fifty years in. I lost count of how many times I saw him there. Jaken also mentioned that you were searching for that same well the night we met. Why? What exactly does it mean to you and the miko? Or rather, where does it lead?"

"Nowhere," she answered quickly. "It's just a well."

"Then where is your home? What is Tokyo?"

". . . I can't tell you."

His eyes narrowed. "You can't? Or you won't?"

"Both," she answered honestly. "It's complicated."

"How so?"

She wasn't comfortable having such a weighty conversation in the middle of a street full of demons. They were already starting to blur into a dream-like haze. The more that passed them by, the less real they seemed.

Still, she stood her ground and frowned. "You wouldn't understand."

"I doubt that, human."

He wasn't going to give up until she yielded the information he sought. Unfortunately for him, she had an iron resolve. "I'm not going to put the world in danger just to satisfy your curiosity," she said. "You don't have to know everything. You're not a god, Sesshoumaru. And you never will be."

"That may be true, but someday, I will be more powerful than all of the gods combined."

Her frown deepened. "That's what I'm worried about."

A crinkle appeared between his brows.

She didn't elaborate.

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Sesshoumaru fell into step beside her. She was deep in thought, so she didn't notice any of the fleeting glances he gave her. Despite finding her constant chatter obnoxious and irritating, he liked her silence even less. It was as if she became someone else. Someone he couldn't read. Whoever had claimed that eyes were the windows to one's soul had been wrong. They weren't windows. They were doors. And hers were closed to him now. He waited patiently for her to reopen them, but they remained locked and bolted as the two of them traversed the crowded plaza.

Their fight last night had been the closest he'd ever gotten to truly seeing her. She'd never been afraid to voice her opinions, but that particular outburst had been different. It was the angriest he'd ever seen her. And the saddest. The salty aroma of tears had invaded his senses and urged him to take action before she interpreted his bewilderment as apathy. He hadn't been prepared for the wave of desire that had crashed into him when he touched her, but it had helped him understand. She wanted to forget her pain. By any means necessary.

Had he been anyone else, he might have been tempted to give her what she'd wanted. The Shikon no Tama had been similarly enticing, seducing thousands with its deadly allure, but Sesshoumaru had never been one of them. Therefore, her trapped magic had no power over him, either.

He leaned against a wooden pillar as she took an interest in a fruit stall. The vendor was unfriendly at first, but the human quickly won him over with her knowledge of foreign fruits.

Sesshoumaru's gaze slid to the constantly shifting crowd. A familiar figure on the far side of the plaza caught his eye. A crone with granite skin was weaving through the stalls. Sesshoumaru watched as she plucked wares from under the vendors' noses and stuffed them into her satchel. Catching the human's attention, he pointed out the crone and saw her green eyes darken.

They followed the crone through the plaza, heading towards one of the twin mountains. Once there, the crone slipped into an opening in the rock, like an insect returning to its foul nest.

Sesshoumaru reached the opening first and peered into it apprehensively. The passage inside was pitch black, but there was a draught blowing out from within. The cold air caressed his face and made his bangs dance slowly over his forehead. It simply had to be underground, didn't it?

The human came to stand beside him and gasped softly. "It looks dark in there," she said.

"It is," he answered.

"Won't we get lost?"

"Possibly."

She crossed her arms, unimpressed.

Not wanting to seem reluctant, Sesshoumaru climbed into the opening feet first. Thankfully, it wasn't as tight as he'd expected. Turning around, he locked eyes with the human and gestured for her to join him. She sighed and tentatively stuck a foot into the opening. Once both legs were in, she used the walls on either side to wriggle into the beginning stretch of the passage.

"It's not too bad actually," she mumbled, measuring the space with her arms. "At least we can stand up in here."

He tried not to focus on how his head was almost touching the ceiling as he said, "For now."

She instinctively reached for her sword.

"Only draw your weapon when it is time to strike," he said, stopping her. "It should be an extension of your arm, not another unnecessary weight."

Nodding, she lowered her hand and followed him into the gloomy passage. Water trickled down the walls in erratic streams, making the rock cold and slippery.

Eventually, the combined stench of sweat and faeces drifted into Sesshoumaru's nostrils and made him freeze. The human shrieked in surprise as she bumped into his back. The sensation of her body behind his plunged him back in time. His mother's arms were clamped around him like a vice, and her quiet singing filled the cavern, mingling with the moans of the dying.

"Sesshoumaru?" the human whispered hastily. "Why have we stopped?"

Her voice dragged him back to the present. He blinked slowly and reached for her in the dark. Her breath hitched as he found her arm and squeezed it. She called his name again. And again. And once more for good measure.

"Can't you smell it?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"Yeah," she answered. "It's pretty gross."

He couldn't bring himself to let go of her arm.

"Are you all right?"

He nearly laughed. "Since when do you care about that?"

"I'm only asking 'cause you're crushing my arm."

His grip loosened enough for her to free it. The skin would certainly be bruised tomorrow. He hoped that she wouldn't be too upset about it. He ignored her question and resumed walking.

After a while, the passage grew wider, and the darkness seemed less intense than before. The human's eyes widened in horror as they arrived at the entrance to a huge grotto with lights fixed to the walls. The lights illuminated the terrible truth before them. Hundreds of prisoners dressed in off white clogged the space, like grains of rice in a bowl, and they were all shackled to each other with large, interconnecting chains. They were being guarded by ogres, whilst a group of crones were huddled together on the opposite side of the grotto, engrossed in conversation.

"Oh my god. Ryuuya was right," the human murmured, keeping her voice low.

Sesshoumaru's gaze travelled to the podium at the centre of the grotto. There were no buyers, just salespeople and their stock. If they freed the prisoners from their shackles and put the captors down for their crimes, no one would ever have to stand on that podium again. The only issue was how they were going to accomplish it.

"Has your youki come back yet?"

He shook his head.

"Figures. At least the Bakusaiga still works."

"Hardly," he said. "Without my youki flowing through it, it is just a sword."

"A sword that can cut metal," she reminded him. "We can use it to break that big chain."

"We'll be intercepted by the guards before we can even try."

"That's where you come in."

His brows creased. "Explain yourself, human."

"If you do a good job distracting the guards, they won't notice me hacking away at the chain. All you have to do is lend me your sword." He grimaced at the suggestion. "What? I'm not gonna break it. Don't you trust me?" His silence earned him a frown. "Wow. That's cold."

A deafening squeal echoed through the grotto as the ogres dragged a giant boar youkai in by its two front hooves. Its legs and snout were bound with ropes, but it still required three ogres to restrain it whilst the crones attached shackles to its feet.

The human shot him a pleading look. Did she honestly expect him to simply hand over his sword so that she could wave it around like a stick? Right now, the Bakusaiga was the only thing standing between him and certain death. Although it hurt his pride to admit it, he knew that if he tried to fight so many enemies at once in his current state, they'd quickly overpower him.

The look intensified. "Fine. If you won't trust me, trust the Tenseiga."

Trust the Tenseiga? He snorted internally. Where had that ever gotten him? He was about to voice his thoughts, but her next words made him pause and re-evaluate them.

"It's never hesitated to save you before."

He sometimes forgot that she'd been inside his head. She was right, obviously. If the Tenseiga hadn't protected him in the past, he would've perished several times over by now. He glanced down at the sword and wondered if his father had intended for it to work like that, or if the Tenseiga had acted alone. Sesshoumaru suddenly realised that he and the sword weren't so different. They'd both been second best in his father's eyes. Underappreciated. Unloved.

The Tenseiga was more than just a shadow of the Tessaiga, and he was more than just an heir.

"Very well," he said, unsheathing the Bakusaiga. The human's eyes brightened as he curled her fingers around the hilt. The zigzag runes seemed to come alive in answer to her touch, and the blade momentarily shone green. Interesting, he thought as the light swiftly faded.

"Did you see that?" she asked. "Weird . . ."

"Indeed," he agreed.

The boar was still struggling. Using the disarray that it was causing to her advantage, the human set her plan into motion. She nodded once before silently scurrying out of the passage and into the grotto. Sesshoumaru did the same, except he turned right where she'd turned left, creeping around the sea of prisoners to the spot where the ogres and crones were all gathered. It didn't take them long to realise that he was an outsider. He drew the Tenseiga and was delighted to see that the blade was a faint blue. His mouth curved into a dangerous smile.

Meanwhile, the human cut the shackles of every prisoner and urged them all towards the exit. The Tenseiga's light shone brighter when her eyes found his from across the grotto, enveloping him in blue. Bizarrely, the Bakusaiga once again emitted a pale green hue, which shouldn't have been possible without his youki flowing into the sword. How was she doing it?

"Here!" she yelled, throwing the Bakusaiga with all her might.

He caught it one-handed and pointed both it and the Tenseiga at his foes. With the latter erecting a barrier around him, he was practically untouchable.

The ogres were the first to taste his power. He lopped off their heads with the Bakusaiga and watched as their bodies immediately decomposed. Mere moments later, they were little more than mounds of smoking ash. Enraged, the crones growled and lunged for him, but the Tenseiga's barrier repelled them violently, preventing them from getting too close.

The human cheered. Her shouts of victory caught the attention of a crone, who licked her lips and grinned. The human yelped and frantically searched for something she could use as a weapon. Sesshoumaru bared his teeth at the other crones, cursing them for being in his way.

"Go!" he bellowed, slicing a few of the crones in half at the same time.

"I'm not gonna leave you!" she cried. "What if you need help?"

"I can't fight them and protect you at the same time!"

Her expression faltered.

He swung both of his swords down diagonally to make a green and blue cross. "I won't tell you again! Now, leave! And whatever you do, don't let her catch you!"

She saw the crone sprinting towards her and gasped. She was the largest of her brethren, meaning that she likely wouldn't fit into the passage they'd taken to get here. If the human could get out of the grotto without being caught, she had a chance of making it back to the surface in one piece. Provided that she could escape a youkai twice her size.

The Tenseiga pulsed, releasing a wave of energy that stunned the crones for approximately ten seconds. The human seized her chance and bolted for the exit. Sesshoumaru grappled with the remaining crones in front of him, staring helplessly as the one that had set her sights on the human regained mobility and resumed her pursuit. She was almost at the exit. A few more seconds and she'd be safe. Faster, he encouraged silently. Go on. You're almost there.

Miraculously, she made it by the skin of her teeth. The crone chasing her crashed into the rock and screeched furiously. The passage was too narrow for her to follow. The human had won.

Now he could worry about finishing off the last few crones. He raised his swords and was about to bring them down in a striking motion when the light faded rather abruptly. The Tenseiga's barrier failed, leaving him open to the crones' attacks, and the Bakusaiga was just a sword again. Irritated, he threw the former to the ground and lurched forwards to slash at the crones with his claws before they realised what had happened.

More ogres came running into the grotto. They were armed with clubs and spears and roared triumphantly when they saw what they were up against. After all, he was only one man.

Unfortunately, the increased number of enemies wasn't all he had to worry about.

He felt something long and thick tightening around his waist. When he glanced down, he saw that he'd been snared with a rope infused with red light. He grunted in shock as the light spread to his body and paralysed him. His skin felt hot, like he was covered in flames, and his consciousness was slipping fast. What manner of trickery was this? He barely had the strength to turn his head and see the face of the person that was doing this to him. He didn't recognise them.

With his strength fully depleted, he sank to his knees and howled in defeat.

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