Author's Corner
Thanks as always to the wonderful victoriarogue, and shout-out to new reader Musicluvs1226 over on AO3! Thank you both for your lovely comments on the previous chapter. ❤️
I've just realised that I never shared the Pinterest board for this fic with you guys. The link is in my bio if you're interested. If you're reading this in ~thE fuTuRe~, just be wary of spoilers lol.
Trigger warning: violence, gore, and character death.
EIGHTH BLOOD
Chapter 126: The exorcists
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Sesshoumaru heard shoes clapping across the floorboards. A few seconds later, Octavia came flying through the doorway on the far end of the corridor, then sprinted towards him and Mikan like her life depended on it. She was out of breath by the time she reached them. She also smelled quite strongly of horses, but that was a question for another time.
"What is it?" he asked.
"They're here!" she babbled. "The ngea that got away—they're here on the mountain with us. They must have followed our trail. They've already taken control of someone!"
"Who?"
"One of the dawnsingers. I left Ah-Un in charge of keeping watch, but it's only a matter of time until things go south. We all need to leave right now—"
Screams exploded from the banquet room, followed by the unmistakable stench of fresh blood. Mikan's nostrils flared as she reached for Octavia's hand in the dark. Sesshoumaru's own blood pumped faster in response to the strong metallic smell permeating the air.
"Stay here," he told them.
Octavia scoffed. "Like hell we will."
It would have been futile to argue with her.
Sesshoumaru raced towards the banquet room, keeping his swords sheathed until he knew what they were up against. Whilst Octavia and Mikan were both technically unarmed, they weren't wholly defenceless, either. Even without the youki-filled cuff bracelets, the former had enough magic at her disposal to topple the entire mountain, and the latter's claws were as sharp as knives.
When they arrived in the banquet room, several people were already dead. The perpetrator was short-statured and of a slender build—neither of which had impeded her ability to kill. The enormous meat cleaver she carried was dripping with blood, but it was nothing compared to the state that her clothes were in. The once golden robes were now a rich burgundy, and her veil was nowhere to be seen, so the blood had splattered all over her hair. The slimy, red curls glistened beneath the lanterns like intestines.
Sesshoumaru's eyes snapped to Rin. She was on the other side of the room with Kohaku and Ah-Un. The taijiya had positioned himself so that he was standing in front of her, and he was using a shard of porcelain with a honed edge as a makeshift weapon.
The priestess's black eyes followed Octavia as she let go of Mikan's hand and rushed to Rin's side. "We meet again, little star."
Clenching her jaw, Octavia met its gaze and said, "I didn't expect to see you again so soon after I barbecued your friends. How many of you are left, by the way?"
"Four."
"Is that all?" she taunted.
The ngea chuckled. "One would have sufficed. Sometimes less is more. Take this body, for instance. There is only one of her, but look at the carnage she has caused."
Sesshoumaru spotted Mineru and Jiahao from the corner of his eye, flanked by Shizuka and the other dawnsingers. They were the most powerful beings in the room, yet they stood idly by whilst innocent blood was being spilt. Even the Ether Clan's warriors were keeping their distance from the rampaging priestess. It made him feel sick to his stomach.
"Why hasn't anyone put a stop to this madness?" he growled. "My guards would have incapacitated her before she even swung the knife."
The High Priestess shot him a venomous look. "She is a servant of Amaterasu. To harm her would be an act of sacrilege."
"And letting her slaughter the townsfolk isn't? These people are innocent!"
"That's rich coming from you, Lord Sesshoumaru." The ngea was looking at him now. Its inky eyes seemed to peer straight through to his bones. "How many have died by your hand that didn't deserve it?"
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The meat cleaver hit the floor with a deafening clatter.
Octavia's insides recoiled as the ngea smiled with Ushio's mouth, before wiping its bloody hand on her cheek. "Better?" it crooned, lapping the crimson liquid up with her tongue. "You needn't fear me now that I've relinquished my weapon. I might have gone a little overboard, but I had to get the vessel's attention somehow."
"Restrain her," Jiahao ordered his warriors. "Bind her hands and feet if you must, but do not harm her." Ushio's expression remained blank as he looked her up and down, then added, "She is to be kept under lock and key whilst we figure out what to do with her."
"Come now, my prince. Is that any way to treat your lover?"
Mineru's pupils constricted. "How dare you attempt to slander my husband's name and reputation with falsehoods!"
"It's not a lie," the ngea insisted with an air of smugness. "Isn't that right, little star?"
Mikan's mother whirled to face Octavia.
It was an impossible situation. If she told Mineru the truth, there was a strong chance that she would take it out on her instead of her husband. People tended to believe their partners over strangers, even when the former was lying to them.
"Tell her," urged the ngea.
"I—"
"Don't listen to them, my dear," said Jiahao. "Our enemies will say anything to sow discord within our clan. My love for you is eternal, and my devotion knows no bounds."
The priestess's mouth twitched. "We'll see about that."
The black drained out of her eyes and formed a dark cloud above her head. Unsheathing the Tenseiga, Sesshoumaru tried to slice the ngea in half, but it dodged his attack and leapt over him in pursuit of a new host.
Mikan's father sounded like he was choking as the creature forced its way into his mouth and seized control of his body. His eyes turned pitch black.
After coming to her senses, Ushio took one look at the string of dead bodies, then peered down at her blood-soaked robes with a harrowed expression. Her knees buckled when she saw the meat cleaver lying by her feet, and she fainted on the spot.
The High Priestess caught her before she could hit the floor, ruining her clothes in the process. Ignoring the red seeping into her skirt, Shizuka pressed two fingers to Ushio's neck to check her pulse.
"It's not her you should be worried about," the ngea said, this time with Jiahao's voice.
Mineru's hand shot out to grab his throat, but the ngea's reflexes were faster. It parried her attack and twisted her arm backwards, dislocating her shoulder with a loud crunch.
"Mother!" screamed Mikan.
Roku prevented her from intervening by wrapping his arms around her and trapping her against his chest. She commanded him to let go and struggled in his hold, but her orders fell on deaf ears.
Octavia's heart was beating like a drum. The ngea's dark eyes found hers and narrowed.
"What do you want?" she asked.
"You," it purred.
"Why? The Shadow is dead. There's nothing you or I can do to change that."
"You're wrong, little star. As long as we are still alive, the god of darkness will never die." The ngea turned to Mineru and whispered, "It's true, you know. This isn't the first time he's been unfaithful. He likes them young, doesn't he?"
"Be quiet!" she snarled. "He wouldn't betray me. I am his queen—"
"And he your consort." The ngea sneered. "It didn't bother him at first, but after a while, he began to feel subservient. Lesser, even. All you had to do was give him the title he wanted, and this ugliness could have been avoided. And an extra child or two, perhaps."
Her jaw slackened. "I couldn't . . . If you do have access to his memories, then you should know that wasn't an option for us."
"Maybe not for you, but he wasn't the one who failed to deliver on that front, was he?" The ngea giggled. "You must have suspected that something was amiss these past few decades. All those late nights in the tower and endless war councils? Even you aren't that stupid, my queen. You just couldn't stomach the fact that he liked fucking other women because it made him feel powerful, whereas you made him feel weak and inferior."
Red flooded Mineru's sclerae as she growled at the creature donning her husband's face. "Get out of his head and face me, you vile beas—"
The sentence was cut short by Jiahao's fist knocking her jaw sideways. She retaliated by swiping at his face with her claws. The ngea ducked out of the way to prevent its host from being slashed to ribbons, but it didn't bypass her talons completely.
Blood oozed down Jiahao's cheek from the deep gashes in his skin. Flashing barbed teeth, the ngea made him aim his fist at Mineru's head and—
"That's enough!" Sesshoumaru's voice boomed, stealing the ngea's attention away from her. "Your fight is with us."
It gave him a calculating stare. "You are in the way."
Mineru was tossed aside like a ragdoll as the ngea made a beeline for Sesshoumaru.
Octavia hurled a forcefield at him. The ngea crashed into it and roared at the transparent purple barrier. The 'shield' mark rippled and swayed in response to the overwhelming malice, but ultimately held its shape. Octavia used her other hand to summon a second shield that curved around the room like a bubble, separating her and the ngea from the rest of the crowd.
"Is that the only spell you know?" it mocked.
"I'm just getting started." She drew a mark she'd never used before. The symbol multiplied and coiled around Jiahao's body like a floating chain. "Let's try this again, shall we? What do you want from me?"
"For you to fulfil your purpose."
"Which is?"
"The Radiant One didn't kill the Shadow. How could it? They loved each other once, and love is the one thing that never dies."
Jiahao's black eyes widened in obvious confusion.
Octavia grinned. She'd always wanted to use the 'truth' mark, but Cyril had point blank refused to let her practice on him, and vice versa. Whilst it wasn't a forbidden mark, he claimed that it was one of the more dangerous ones. She understood the risks, but how else was she supposed to master every mitama mark if she wasn't allowed to use them? No one had ever mastered all of them, and she wanted to be the first to do it.
"I don't understand. If the Shadow isn't dead, where is it?"
"Trapped. Its mind escaped centuries ago in the form of yours truly, but the body remains a prisoner, nameless and alone."
"Its prison was destroyed, though. The hill—"
"Was part of a much bigger picture," the ngea said, cutting her off. "You unlocked the cell, not the prison. The Nameless One has been trying to escape for generations. However, the boundaries between worlds are notoriously difficult to pierce. They crack easily enough, but breaking through to the other side is no simple task. This can only be achieved through the use of a celestial weapon like the Reikon Blade, or in the presence of rare phenomena such as an eclipse or a supernova . . . or a comet entering the planet's orbit."
Octavia could feel herself shaking. Inuyasha had been right about the cracks, after all. Something really was trying to forcibly enter their world, and it didn't sound friendly. "So, you're saying that when the tobosha no yome appears—"
"That's right," it said without waiting to hear the end of her sentence. "When the comet arrives, it will be the end of everything as you know it. The boundaries between dimensions will shatter like glass, and we shall return to our former glory. As will you, little star. Once freed, the Nameless One can go back to being the Shadow again, and you'll be able to shine your light wherever and whenever you please. Just like the good old days. All you have to do to make that dream a reality is reconcile with the other vessel."
Her laugh sounded old and bitter. "I'd rather be dead."
The ngea shrugged. "Suit yourself."
The glamour lifted from Jiahao's hands, revealing a pair of large paws covered with ebony fur. The ground dropped beneath her feet when the ngea raised said paws and used them to snap Jiahao's neck.
Octavia's concentration broke with it. Her shield disintegrated as Jiahao's body crumpled to the floor like a discarded toy. The ngea wasted no time leaping out of him and scurrying across the ceiling boards like a spider.
Mineru's keening battered against the walls, making the lanterns and tapestries shudder. She fell to her knees before her husband's corpse and tried to shake him awake. Mikan emancipated herself from Roku's hold and joined her mother on the floor.
"He got off lightly if you ask me," the ngea's voice echoed from the rafters. "Once a cheater, always a cheater."
Sesshoumaru threw the Tenseiga like a javelin. His aim was perfect, but the creature was even quicker in its natural state. The sword pierced the roof with a twang and embedded itself in the wood. Cursing under his breath, Sesshoumaru flew to retrieve it.
The ngea slithered along the ceiling to intercept him.
"Look out!" yelled Rin.
There was no time to draw a mark. Visualising the symbol for 'ascend' in her mind, Octavia slammed the cuff bracelets together and used the youki inside to launch herself off the ground. She aimed her palms at the ngea and willed the light to appear.
The Radiant One's power erupted from her hands, causing the ngea to switch directions and scuttle back the way it came.
Having recovered the Tenseiga, Sesshoumaru caught her before she could face-plant the roof and deposited her onto a wooden beam next to the one he was standing on. She tried not to think about how high up they were.
Below, the screaming crescendoed. Octavia peered down through the gap and saw two more black-eyed demonesses clawing their way through the crowd. Like Ushio, they were also dawnsingers, so the townsfolk were helpless to stop them. Octavia searched the room for Rin, but she couldn't see her or Kohaku anywhere.
"Go," she urged Sesshoumaru. "Rin needs you."
"So do you," he countered.
"Don't worry about me." She glowered at the dark silhouette in the farthest corner of the room. "I'm going to finish what Erem couldn't."
Sesshoumaru gave a swift nod before diving into the sea of shrieking guests.
Octavia crept along the beam, keeping her toes pointed and her arms stretched out like the letter 'T' for balance. The wood groaned beneath her feet, making her stomach churn with anxiety.
The ngea hissed at her. "Stay away! Or we'll kill the girl and her protector, as well!"
She continued her approach.
"Why do you resist us?" The creature's tone had an edge of desperation to it. "We are one. Apart, we are broken, but together, we are made whole again. It ends as it began. Remember. Remember!"
She paused in the centre of the beam. "Remember what?"
The 'truth' mark must have worn off because the ngea hissed again, then slid down the wall towards where Sesshoumaru was making a stand against the other two.
Ignoring his grandmother's shouts of protest, he swung the Tenseiga at one of the dawnsingers, but the blade was unable to cut through living matter. The dawnsinger snickered before lunging at him with her claws. They snagged his sleeve when he raised his other arm to block her, tearing the fabric with a coarse ripping sound.
Octavia tasted blood in her throat. He was too close. If the ngea decided to switch hosts without warning . . .
She threw herself from the beam and used the remaining youki in the cuff bracelets to steer herself towards the dawnsinger. The ngea howled as she landed on its back and hooked her legs around its waist. Nothing was stopping it from making her its latest puppet, but as long as it left Sesshoumaru alone, she didn't care.
"Traitor!" it screeched, trying to buck her off. "You were supposed to be on our side!"
"You don't love us anymore?" the other one whimpered.
Octavia gawped at it from over Sesshoumaru's shoulder. It could have thrust its host's claws into his back and ripped out his heart, but it was just standing there.
Before she could respond, the dawnsinger coughed up a mouthful of saliva-slicked blood. Octavia lowered her gaze to the young woman's chest, which had been ruptured by the sharp blade of a naginata.
Mikan's mother yanked the pole back before shoving it forwards again, causing more blood to spurt out of the dawnsinger's mouth and abdomen. Snarling, the ngea jumped ship as Mineru pushed the naginata up through her ribcage, splitting her torso in half. She was dead long before her body hit the floor.
Sesshoumaru chased the creature down and slashed it with the Tenseiga before it could claim a new host. It blew away like smoke after a single strike from the Tenseiga's heavenly blade.
The one beneath Octavia resumed its thrashing. She winced as it clawed at her thighs and sank its teeth into her forearm. Meanwhile, the ngea that had possessed Ushio scooted across the ceiling towards an open window. Sesshoumaru didn't seem to have noticed it, and without the use of her arms, there was nothing she could do to hinder its escape.
Mineru shook the blood from her naginata before setting her sights on the other dawnsinger. Octavia's arm burned as the priestess's teeth burrowed deeper, but that was the least of her worries. She had a horrible feeling that Mikan's mother wouldn't care if the spearhead burst through her chest, as well.
"Let go!" Octavia said through gritted teeth, trying to prise the dawnsinger's jaws open with her free hand. "She'll die if you don't! Please!"
The ngea cackled as the naginata's blade punctured the priestess's sternum. Shizuka screamed when the younger demoness landed on her kneecaps with a nauseating crack.
Octavia managed to free herself and shuffled away on her backside. Her arm was completely shredded. The bite marks were so deep that she could see through to the bone, and the blood hadn't had a chance to clot yet, so it was as slick as oil.
Sesshoumaru stopped Rin from running to her side. Octavia flashed him a grateful smile and staggered to her feet. Her eyes strayed to Mikan, who was still kneeling beside her father's corpse, then to Ushio, whose head was resting in Shizuka's lap. She couldn't bring herself to look at any of the other bodies lining the floor, or their grieving loved ones, for that matter.
Look around you, Erem, she thought. This is what your compassion paid for.
The brightness in her chest seemed to shrink into itself.
"You're right," she spat, shooting the ngea a fierce glare. Its host was dead, but it seemed reluctant to leave the safety of her body whilst the Tenseiga was still drawn. "I don't love you. And I never will. You don't deserve to be loved. Not after all the awful things you've done."
Exhaling, she drew two mitama marks at the same time. One was simple enough – she and Cyril had used the 'remove' mark plenty of times before to get rid of stains – but the second was the opposite. It was one of the forbidden marks that her uncle had made her swear never to use under any circumstances. The spells in question were wild and unpredictable, and the 'taint' mark was no different. But if she were to combine it with one of the other, non-forbidden marks, then perhaps it could be used for good instead of evil. Assuming that it worked, of course.
Usually, a sacrificial offering of lifeforce was required to fuse two marks together, but the blood dripping down her arm was payment enough. The two marks intertwined and rushed towards the dawnsinger's reanimated corpse. Instead of contaminating her body as the 'taint' mark would typically do, the effect was reversed by the addition of the 'remove' mark, and the spell changed from infectious to purifying.
The ngea was forced out of her body against its will and writhed around in the air above her head. Octavia wasted no time lifting her uninjured arm and aiming her palm at the swirling darkness.
The light never came.
Her heart was pounding as she caught Sesshoumaru's eye from across the room and gave him a desperate look.
He understood at once. The Tenseiga made quick work of the black fog that was the ngea's true form, which dissipated upon contact. Octavia thanked him with her eyes before frowning at her hand. The Radiant One had never refused her before. Were its powers somehow weakening? Or had it simply chosen to ignore her?
"Where is the first one?" demanded Mineru.
"Gone," replied Octavia.
"You killed it?"
She shook her head. "It's just gone."
Mineru ordered her warriors to comb the mountain for the remaining creature, but Octavia's attention was elsewhere. She couldn't stop thinking about everything they'd said thus far. One particular detail stood out to her the most – the ngea had claimed that there were four of them, but she'd only counted three.
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