Chapter 21: Chaos

All Levy could do was grip Laxus' shoulders as he continued to run up the stairs. She couldn't bring herself to say anything, she could feel his anxiety mixing with hers.

Although with the speed he was running in, she could still hear the battle that was unfolding outside. She could only pray that they were okay. Gajeel seemed utterly excited seeing the arachnid.

Laxus was a bit surprised they had not been attacked yet. He was sure Naraku or one of his demons knew he was running up the stairs.

He finally decided to go through a door, hoping that he was on the same floor as Kagome. The corridor was dark, barely lit by a flickering lightbulb on the ceiling. Levy swallowed nervously, but she mustered all her courage as they both started to walk carefully. Laxus opened one door with a fist engulfed in lightning, but there was nothing. As Levy opened another door, he instantly smelled the scent of blood.

"There's blood," he whispered to her as he took a cautious step.

"Hello?" Levy carefully said as she stepped in. Lightning from the outside lit the room and both could finally see her leaning against the wall.

Her eyes were instantly wide in horror, "Laxus, isn't that-"

"Kagura," he said sharply. He could feel his throat getting tight just by looking at her.

He recognized the sweater she was wearing. The wind demon was badly beaten and it was obvious she was missing an eye. Levy didn't hesitate going to the woman, taking notice of the chains on her wrists that were broken.

Levy put a gentle hand on her, "Are you okay?"

Kagura winced, "You have to find her."

Levy looked up at Laxus, "We can't leave her."

His eyes flashed for a moment, but his gaze went to the beat up woman. He knew that Kagome would never forgive him if he left her there.

He looked at the demon directly, "Can you walk?"

Kagura swallowed as she stared at him, "Yes."

Levy put an arm around her waist and Kagura put hers over Levy's shoulders. She could feel her body burning from the movement.

Just as she was about to say something, they heard a scream followed by angry courses.

Levy looked at Laxus quickly, "We are on the right floor. Go, I'll just get in the way. I need to get Kagura out of here."

The demon shook her head, "He has… my heart. It's in the basement next to the well."

Laxus hissed, "The same well you all used to get here?"

She nodded. Levy looked between the two of them, "We can make our way there. You go get Kagome."

Laxus gave her a firm nod, but just as he was walking away she stopped him.

"Laxus."

He looked over his shoulder and she gave him a thumbs up with a cheeky grin, "Do what Fairytail does best."

Shinda had just enough time to disappear as the wave of magic from the young enchantress created a gaping hole on the wall. Sesshomaru quickly scanned the area, and as soon as he noticed her forming again, he was there with his sword ready to slash her.

When their demonic energies clashed, it created another explosion, making Wendy cover her head as debris flew everywhere. That's when she heard the concerned screams from Carla, Lily, and Miroku. She tried to get up, but a piece of the wall landed on one of her legs. She wasn't sure if because she used a lot of magic behind her roar, but she was not able to get it off herself.

She saw Shinda's dark red eyes approaching her quickly, but just before she could be injured, Sesshomaru stopped the attack.

The staff pierced him in the abdomen.

Wendy's eyes widened and she found herself screaming his name. Her own cheeks one covered in his blood as it splashed on her. Shinda could see the slight insignificant shift in the demon's eyes to demonstrate the discomfort of the staff. Her confidence grew.

Before she could think of her next move, he had thrown her across from them.

Lily was the first one to get to Wendy and was able to remove the wall from her leg. It was slightly mangled, but the girl should be able to continue fighting. Carla's eyes were wide as she stared at the demon, the way she was getting up, her movements almost mechanical.

Sesshomaru didn't look back at Wendy, "Can you fight?"

Lily still had an arm holding her, but she looked up at the exceed and he slowly let her go. She swallowed the small cry that wanted to come out as she put weight on her leg, but answered him strongly.

"I can."

Miroku's eyes went to the mirror that was now laid on the ground by his feet. He picked it up and he was confused as he could see Shippo through it, in a room that had a well.

A well!

"There's a well here!" He said with alarm, "There's a well!"

Wendy swallowed, "Go find it! Carla and Lily, go with him!"

But before anyone could do anything, demons started to appear, snarling hungrily and angrily. Their saliva dripped on the floor, their claws flexing anticipating to destroy them.

There were a dozen of them.

Shinda grinned, "You think I'm going to let you get to it? You're wrong!"

Sesshomaru charged at her again, while the rest had not much of a choice and started to battle the demons.

Someone needed to get to Shippo.

Outside of the building, Gajeel grunted as he got up.

He wasn't sure how the massive spider had the speed it did. It must be because Naraku was only missing just one shard.

It was easily over 50 feet tall, its fangs about his size as well. With its eight eyes, it could see almost every attack coming. The humans with the uniforms had been firing something at it, but it seemed to only piss it off.

He saw Inuyasha running at full speed through the rain and went to slice one of the legs. However, it only made a cut, it didn't fully cut it off. Then Sango's boomerang came and it cut off more than half of it.

The creature screeched as Gajeel joined them, and he finished the leg off.

They needed to work faster if dismembering the legs was going to take three hits each. They still had 7 legs to go.

It screeched again and their eyes widened when they saw an attack forming in its mouth. It was charging it up.

Inuyasha landed next to him panting, "I can use my sword, but there's too many humans, they're going to be caught in the attack."

In the distance they could hear Ms. Higurashi begging the firemen and the policemen to evacuate. Sango, still riding Kirara, flew to her.

"You all need to get out of here!" She shouted with Kirara roaring, "It's going to attack and kill all of you!"

The men were aghast as they looked at her and back at the arachnid. Ms Higurashi shouted, "Everyone, run to the subway!"

They could feel the ground underneath tremble as a dark purple light was slowly forming into a ball in the arachnid's mouth. Gajeel cursed, running immediately where Kagome's Grandpa and brother were standing, his body quickly becoming metal to use himself as a shield. Sango grabbed Ms. Higurashi and placed her on Kirara and took off into the raining sky as thankfully, the men in uniform started to run towards the subway alongside other people that were lingering around.

Inuyasha wasn't sure if the Backlash Wave would be enough, but he needed to try.

Gajeel could see the power charging up more inside the arachnid's mouth as it inhaled. The energy he could feel was immense.

Just as he was about to tell the old man and the kid to brace themselves as the arachnid exhaled, there was an explosion of lightning coming from the building where Laxus and Levy were in.

There was smoke and glass everywhere, but Gajeel's eyes widened when he saw Laxus in full force pushing against Naraku's barrier. The half-demon had no time to move, so his body collided with the arachnid. The force of his shield combined with the power of lightning from Laxus, they went right through it.

The creature screeched, and Inuyasha took advantage and quickly did a Wind Scar. Gajeel went to join him and did his own dragon roar. Even as it fell down, it tried to swipe them, but as Gajeel was still in full metal form, he braced himself for impact and took a hold of the leg. He screamed as it was pushing against him.

"Cut it off!"

Inuyasha didn't hesitate and with a leap and a swing, he cut off its leg. Gajeel was panting, as he knew they were nowhere near over.

He remembered back at Crocus that Inuyasha destroyed Naraku's shield, "Go join him! I'll finish this thing off!"

A few minutes prior…

She screamed as he tugged at her hair, making her dangerously close to the fire of the candle.

"Where is the last jewel shard?" he sneered against her ear, the hot breath sending a shiver down her spine, "Tell me or I will gut your family in front of you!"

"Fuck you Naraku!" she said as some tears welled up from the pain of her scalp, "I won't tell you!"

His movements were fast, as next thing she knew she was laying on top of the table with him hovering over her. He pinned her wrists above her head as with the other he caressed her face.

"You look so much like her."

The fear and disgust she felt as he came near made her want to throw up. But there was nothing she could do, as the binding in her wrists she couldn't use her powers. She tried kicking him, but he used his knee to push down on her thigh so hard that she screamed out in pain. She felt him ripping off her shirt as well.

She closed her eyes tightly as the tears fell when she felt him against her neck, where there was a sudden kick to the metal door and next thing she knew, she didn't have Naraku's weight on her.

She rolled off the table and with teary eyes, she got up and ran to the now broken windows to see Laxus pushing Naraku back and going through a giant arachnid. Due to the power of the lightning from Laxus, all the electricity was gone. The only light was coming from him and the moonlight that could barely be seen through the clouds.

The building trembled and swayed slightly, and she realized she needed to get out of there.

Her legs felt weak, but she found herself running towards what she hoped was the room where she was with Kagura, but she was no longer there. She could only hope that she was gone.

She found another door that, sure enough, had the stairwell. She knew she was pretty high up but she needed to get out of there. So she ran as fast as she could.

A small smile spread across her lips.

He found me.

Naraku knew the lightning dragon was strong, but he never realized that he'd be strong enough to push him back the way he did, making him penetrate his own creature of destruction for the city, the one he'd use to take over it.

He cursed mentally as he sure enough, saw the other half-demon coming at him, the fang glistening a crimson red. Inuyasha screamed as he finally brought it down on Naraku, where the shield was seen to start to crumble.

"You fools!" Naraku screamed in anguish.

Laxus cracked his neck, "No more shield. No more hiding."

"This is it Naraku," Inuyasha snarled, "This all ends here!"

They saw the way the tentacles flickered with annoyance behind Naraku, the spikes on his shoulder glistening as the rain continued to fall.

There was a shift in the wind however. For a moment, everything stopped moving as both Inuyasha and Laxus looked at Naraku, eyes narrowed, their muscles tense.

The wind shifted again, and that's when they charged at him.

Gajeel was panting heavily as he wiped away the purple blood from his face, as he was luckily enough to stab the giant arachnid in between the eyes to finish it off.

He did use a lot of magic, he could feel his muscles straining.

He heard the crackling of lightning and he didn't have to be nearby knowing that Laxus was finally facing off Naraku with Inuyasha.

Now that there wasn't a giant spider trying to kill everyone around them, he could focus on the fact that Laxus came out of the building alone, meaning Levy was still inside. He had Sango stay with the Higurashi family, trying to get them as far away as possible from the battle between the others. Gajeel ran in, and as soon as he kicked the door open, he screamed her name.

"Levy!"

There was a moment of silence, but he heard her, "Down here Gajeel!"

He followed the sound of her voice and found a door that led down to what seemed like the basement. He was shocked to see Kagura there, but seeing how Levy was talking to her and close, it seemed the wind demon was no longer a threat. He could see the woman tightly holding something against her chest.

Levy was relieved to see him, minor scratches on him, "I-I found the well," she pointed behind her, "This is how they've been traveling back and forth besides the one in Kagome's home. We need to get Naraku back there. Here it is too dangerous, there's too many people."

"We need Kagome," Kagura said, "The moment we are back, she needs to help them fight him."

He looked between the two women, "Laxus is outside with Inuyasha. He destroyed the shield already."

Levy was alarmed, "Then where's Kagome if Laxus is fighting?"

There was heavy panting from behind them, "I'm, huh, ri-ght he-re."

Gajeel barely got to her before her legs gave in. Levy took in her state, the bloodshot eyes as well as the ripped shirt. Gajeel had to sustain the growl that wanted to slip out.

"Laxus found me in time."

Kagome was grateful to see them and grateful to see Kagura with her heart in her hands. Her eyes went to the well, "There's another one?"

"We need to lure Naraku here," Kagura said as she opened the urn to grab her heart, "It's the only way he'll come."

Kagome looked at Levy, "The jewel, you still have it right?"

Levy nodded, her hand patting her pant pocket that had a zipper, "I do."

"The binds you have," Kagura said with a grunt, "Only a full fledged demon can remove them."

"What?" Gajeel said, "Could Kirara do it?"

Kagura shook her head, "Naraku made it on purpose."

Kagome took a deep breath as she had her eyes closed, "Sesshomaru. Sesshomaru has to take them off. He's powerful enough."

"Where does the well lead?" Levy asked Kagura who seemed to regain some color in her skin. Kagome could see the instant difference after Kagura absorbed her heart. Her pale cheeks now held color in them.

"The castle. Shinda is there."

The four of them felt the ground shaking and Gajeel said, "We're gonna have to think of something, if not they're going to destroy the city."

Miroku grunted as he stabbed another demon on the head with his staff. Him and Carla were able to get away to start looking for Shippo. If indeed that was a well that Naraku had been using, they needed to test the theory and have one of them jump through to see where it would lead.

The hope was it would lead them to Kagome.

It always fascinated Miroku how the past and the present were all connected.

Lily was trying his best to cover Wendy. The young mage was fighting alongside Sesshomaru against Shinda while he battled the few remaining demons.

But then she did something neither of them were expecting.

Tentacles appeared from her back and they all shot at the remaining five large demons that were there. The tentacles went through their mouths, and they could see that she was suctioning something from them.

Her appearance started to change, looking more grotesque, the once beauty she had now long gone. Her mouth was larger, and her tongue resembled one of a snake with large fangs.

Her feeding off of the demons made her faster.

Lily was suddenly slammed with what it seemed like a tail from her. The hard hit made him lose consciousness when he hit the wall. Wendy screamed his name, but barely had enough time to dodge the attack towards her.

She couldn't understand how she was more powerful.

Sesshomaru was a splendid fighter. He was cautious and articulate, a complete menace. He was keeping up with Shinda's speed, until he collapsed on his knees.

Shinda let out a shrieking laugh, "The Lord of the West has fallen!"

It dawned on Wendy he had been poisoned when the staff stabbed him. She rushed over to him, doing a wing attack to get her away from him.

But it was futile.

Shinda used her tentacles and wrapped them around Wendy, who was just a few feet away from Sesshomaru at this point. He tried to move, but whatever toxins were in the staff, it was preventing him from doing so.

He had poison in his own body, but this was overcoming his.

He tried to think of different things he could do, but he could feel the nerves in his body not listening. How? How could he fall under the hands of a miserable demon that was just a reincarnation? He cursed the fact that Naraku had most of the jewel, it was the only fathomable thing that could explain it.

He felt tentacles wrapping around him. He tried to transform. Even if he'd be a three legged dog, he tried to transform because in his true form, he was sure he could destroy her.

Wendy could barely keep her eyes open as the tentacles were getting tighter around her, breaking a rib and cutting off the air.

Air.

Her chocolate brown eyes looked up. She couldn't die like this. She couldn't leave Carla. She was supposed to go back home and be with her friends. She wanted to see everyone again. She needed to see everyone again.

And she made a promise to return the bandana around her neck.

This wasn't just about saving Kagome, but saving the people in this world.

She heard someone screaming her name as she felt a snap in her mind.

Shinda screeched loudly and in pain, unwrapping her tentacles from Sesshomaru. The Demon Lord could feel a strange magic in him and as he regained his sight, he looked down to see her hand pressed against his abdomen.

She was healing him, but he noticed the difference in her. He could feel her magic, the scent of a dragon stronger coming from her. Her hair was no longer blue, but pink. Her eyes were a darker shade of pink with a slight slit on them.

He wasn't sure where she possessed this sudden strength and how her magic increased, but now that he no longer had Shinda's toxins within him, he could do the one thing he wanted.

Wendy felt the increase in power in Sesshomaru, so she went and picked up Lily who had reverted back to his smaller form. She used the wind at her disposal and flew through the gaping hole in the wall just in time as there was an explosion of demonic energy.

Her eyes went wide as she took in his form. It was downright terrifying but magnificent at the same time. The red of his eyes resembled blood, but the markings on the head were the same that she's seen the whole time she's met him.

Panther Lily woke up and he was alarmed to see the giant dog, "Another demon?!"

"It's Sesshomaru," Wendy answered, "I need you to find the others and the well. I'll be here with him."

That's when he looked up and looked at her, "You did it!"

She slightly smiled at him, but her gaze went down to Shinda who had gone after Sesshomaru. Lily told Wendy he could fly down, so she let him go.

She took advantage that Sesshomaru swiped at Shinda, leaving her wide open.

"Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Shattering Light Sky Drill!"

Her arms spread out, and a wind barrier at fast speed towards Shinda. Wendy moved her arms counter clockwise where the barrier was able to make direct contact with her. She shrieked in agony and that's when Sesshomaru took a hold of her arm that was holding the staff. It was glowing red and he knew she was about to summon more demons. His fangs snapped her arm apart, making the staff be separated from her. He didn't hesitate and with his giant clawed paw, he destroyed it.

Shinda screamed in agony and anger as the enchantress' attack hit her head on and the Demon Lord destroyed her staff.

With one last attempt to kill at least one of them, she raised her good arm and a wave of dark magic came out directly at Wendy.

Her newfound speed was incredible, she dodged the attack and started to fly downwards and inhaled.

"Sky Dragon Roar!"

Sesshomaru opened his mouth, and as half of Shinda's body was destroyed, he trapped her with his fangs and finished her off, his own toxins dripping from his fangs as he shook her lifeless body.

As he spat her out, he let out a howl.

Wendy was panting as she landed back on the ground. Sesshomaru turned his head at her, snarling at her. She raised her hands, "It's me, Wendy. You know me. I helped you. You saved me earlier."

She took a step closer, but his snarls got louder. She took a deep breath, and she felt the energy of dragon force leaving her. Her body felt weaker, as the previous injuries she could now feel again and her hair went back to normal.

She collapsed on her knees and Sesshomaru growled. She closed her eyes thinking that maybe this was it for her.

"Get up, they must be at the well now."

Her eyes snapped open to see him back in his normal form. She could still see the redness of blood in his abdomen.

"It'll heal. Don't make me repeat myself."

With shaky legs, she followed him through the debris of the now destroyed castle. She was out of magic, but at least they were able to defeat Naraku's strongest reincarnation.

Now it was just him.