"Is everyone all right!?"
As the dust began to settle, Sango pushed herself up, her first priority being Kohaku. She swept her eyes over the campsite, her heart still hammering against her ribs.
"Yeah, we're fine..."
"But I can't say the same for Rikuo and the others," Miroku replied, his [Staff of Seals] held high to clear the lingering grit from the air. They had been far enough from the epicenter of the clash to find cover, but the shockwave had still felt like a physical hammer blow.
"Kirara, thank you," Kagome whispered, patting the two-tailed cat demon as it stepped back from its defensive posture in front of her.
"Yooooo-ho-ho-ho!!"
"Where's Rin!?"
"I'm right here, Lord Jaken."
Jaken scrambled up from the dirt, his robes covered in grey silt, his eyes frantic. When he saw Rin peeking out from behind the two-headed A-Un, he let out a long, wheezing breath of relief. If so much as a hair on Rin's head were out of place, he wouldn't dare face Sesshomaru ever again.
"You still in one piece?"
"I've felt better."
Rikuo and Akame had anticipated the collision and distanced themselves from the impact zone, escaping the worst of the blast.
"That was terrifying," Rikuo said, staring at the crater. It looked as though a giant had reached down and scooped a massive "bite" out of the earth. Even though the collision had happened mid-air, the residual energy had been enough to turn stone into vapor. If anyone had been caught directly in that epicenter, there wouldn't even be ashes left to bury.
SCKR-ITCH.
A faint sound of movement came from the edge of the pit. Rikuo sprinted forward and looked down. Cu Chulainn was there, his body a map of lacerations and blood, his fingers dug deep into the jagged stone wall of the crater.
"Oh? Rikuo?"
Despite the gore and the fact that he was nearly empty of mana, the Lancer still carried the same infectious, wild energy.
"HUP!"
Treating his wounds as if they were nothing more than scratches, Cu used the wall as a springboard. He swung his legs like a pendulum and executed a perfect 180-degree backflip, landing cleanly on the rim of the crater.
"Hah! That was a hell of a dance," he chuckled, stretching his arms.
The first half of this war had been a frustrating slog of Naraku's shadows, but this? Trading blows with a King was the kind of thrill he had been summoned for.
"Hmm?"
"!"
The atmosphere suddenly turned heavy again. Rikuo and Akame spun around as a surge of demonic energy erupted from the pit. Kirinmaru rose into the air, his ornate armor cracked and scorched, but his eyes were steady.
"A formidable power," the Eastern King said.
Rikuo realized then that Kirinmaru had only suffered superficial wounds.
'He used his own demonic energy as a secondary shield...'
'What a terrifying depth of power.'
To have the presence of mind--and the sheer volume of energy--to defend himself in the nanosecond he was unleashing his own ultimate strike spoke to the true scale of a Great Youkai.
"Unfortunately, you've reached your limit," Kirinmaru said, pointing his blade at Cu Chulainn. He could feel that the Lancer's mana was almost non-existent now.
'Powerful, yes. But he lacks the specific nature required to kill the Shikon Jewel.'
'So, the solution lies elsewhere. Among the remaining Servants or the priestesses?'
Kirinmaru hadn't forgotten his primary goal. He had only returned to this camp because of the Jewel's taunts--to see if the prophecies were true. The Dragon Ball he had found was just a bonus.
Lancer was a beast, but he was a physical warrior. Strength alone wouldn't break the Jewel's cycle.
'Is it the Granddaughter?'
'No. Her energy is impressive, but it's still fundamentally youkai power.'
He watched the other front of the battle. Toga was holding them back effortlessly. Kirinmaru's gaze then shifted to Akame and Rikuo.
Both were Servants. The girl carried an aura of absolute death--a scent of countless slaughters.
The boy, however... his aura was bizarrely thin. It felt almost empty.
'Just these two left.'
It was hard to imagine where the killing blow for the Jewel could come from.
SHHH-ING.
The girl, Akame, drew her blade again. Her stance was a declaration of absolute war.
"Fine. One by one, then!" Kirinmaru shouted. "Let me see which of you is the one destined to slay the Jewel!"
"He ads! Get ready, Moroha! [Gokuryuha] is coming!!"
Toga raised his fist, the tip of his blade glowing with a malevolent, swirling purple energy. He unleashed the [Dragon Stream Wave], a sphere of crushing power that tore through the air.
"Heh... watch this!"
"True Crimson [Bakuryuha]!!"
Moroha didn't flinch. She funneled her heritage's energy into her blade, the [Backlash Wave] forming a massive vortex that intended to swallow the incoming attack.
BOOM!
The two energies collided and were swallowed by Moroha's vortex, which then roared back toward Toga with doubled force.
"Your daughter is actually stronger than you, isn't she?" Koga asked, glancing at Inuyasha.
"Shut it, wolf-boy!"
"Don't distract me!!"
Inuyasha was focusing every ounce of his concentration on a new technique, a vein of irritation throbbing on his forehead. "I'm busy!!"
"Impressive coordination..."
"But you're too impatient, Moroha!"
As Toga watched the reflected energy surge toward him, he didn't run. He drew the [Tessaiga] and swung it into the heart of the incoming [Backlash Wave].
RUMBLE-GA!!
"What?!"
"He hit a [Backlash Wave] with his own [Backlash Wave]!!"
Moroha's eyes widened in shock. She had forgotten that her grandfather was the original master of this technique. By adding his own energy to the already reflected wave, Toga had tripled the volatility of the attack, sending it roaring back at them with apocalyptic force.
"But... I can't just run!"
The massive dragon of energy was closing in. Moroha grit her teeth, her resolve hardening.
"If it's a [Backlash Wave] duel he wants... then let's go!!"
"Stop, Moroha! Don't try to catch that!" Toga shouted, his paternal concern momentarily breaking through the Command Seal's mask.
"True Crimson [Bakuryuha]!!"
Moroha ignored the warning and drove her blade into the incoming tide.
K-ZZZZT!!
This time, she felt the difference. The sword buckled in her hands, the feedback feeling like she was trying to hold back a collapsing mountain.
'How...?'
'I can't push it back?'
The blade was vibrating so violently her hands were going numb.
"Moroha, get out of there! You can't handle that much reflected energy!" Toga bellowed from across the field.
The [Backlash Wave] was an ultimate counter-attack, but everything had a limit. By stacking the energies of [Gokuryuha], Moroha's first [Bakuryuha], and Toga's counter-[Bakuryuha], the energy had become an uncontrollable storm.
'I'm going to die!'
The vortex was about to consume the edge of her blade and tear her apart.
'Sorry, Dad... Mom... I...'
"HAAAGH!!"
Just as Moroha closed her eyes, a familiar roar echoed through the clearing.
A figure in red dropped from the sky like a comet, landing in front of her. Inuyasha drove the [Tessaiga] into the path of the storm, his muscles corded as he acted as a living shield.
The forward momentum of the dragon stalled, held back by the sheer force of his entry.
"Dad..."
Moroha stared at his back, her vision blurring.
"Don't you dare give up, Moroha!!"
"You're not alone! We're right here beside you!!"
"Now, give it everything you've got!!"
Inuyasha's demonic energy began to flare, but it wasn't the usual red. Dark, jagged markings--the same patterns as those on Rikuo's skin--began to climb up the blade of the [Tessaiga].
"That's...?"
Toga watched from above, his eyes widening.
The way Inuyasha was manipulating his energy... it was a form he had never seen before.
"ORAAGORRRHH!!"
Inspired by her father, Moroha's fear vanished, replaced by a surge of adrenaline. They shouted in unison, their voices merging into a single, defiant roar.
"[Bakuryuha]!!"
"True Crimson [Bakuryuha]!!"
The two energies merged into a single, titanic dragon of fire and shadow, reversing the tide and blasting the entire storm back toward Toga.
"Now that... is a combination," Toga whispered, a proud grin finally touching his lips.
'He's mixed in a new power...'
'He's interfering with the standard frequency of the youkai aura.'
Toga realized he couldn't simply reflect this one back again--the energy was too unstable, too "Otherworldly." He had to dodge.
"Dad! We did it!" Moroha cheered, turning toward Inuyasha.
"Heh. Don't go celebrating yet," Inuyasha grunted, though he couldn't hide his own satisfaction. "If you don't stay on your toes... your mother is never going to let me hear the end of it."
"Right!" Moroha nodded, staring at the [Tessaiga]. The dark markings were still pulsing on the blade.
"What was that, Dad? That energy felt... different."
"Oh, that? I picked it up from Rikuo," Inuyasha explained. "It's called [Fear] (畏). It's a way of re-manifesting your demographic energy. It lets you create new properties out of thin air."
"Wow! That sounds amazing! Can I learn it?"
"We'll talk about that after we survive this mess."
Their easy, familial bantering was a world away from the cold murder Kirinmaru was attempting. Toga watched them, realizing that with Inuyasha and Moroha working together, they could hold him back indefinitely.
'Fear... I see.'
'He's evolved the [Tessaiga] again.'
'Now...'
He turned his gaze toward the other fight, sensing Sesshomaru's aura rapidly approaching from the distance.
'When the eldest arrives... this farce with Kirinmaru will finally end.'
SWOOSH.
"Is dodging and hiding all you're good for?" Kirinmaru asked, his eyes tracking the flicker of movement in his periphery.
CLANG.
He parried a strike from Akame with a lazy flick of his wrist, though he felt the jar of the impact. Her blade had managed to graze the side of his gauntlet, leaving a thin, white line on the metal.
'Aside from her speed and her ability to suppress her presence... I don't feel anything special about her.'
'The Assassin subclass.'
'So, the secret must be in her weapon.'
The [Assassin] class was historically the weakest of the seven in a head-on fight, but they always carried a "talent" that bypassed standard defenses.
Akame was silent, her mind a cold furnace of calculation. She knew better than anyone that a frontal assault on a King like this was suicide. She needed an opening--a single heartbeat where his guard was down.
"Hey, don't just stand there, liberate your [Noble Phantasm]!" Kirinmaru taunted.
Akame didn't answer.
Her silence only served to annoy him.
"Fine. If you won't show it willingly... I'll force it out of you!"
Kirinmaru lunged forward, his movement a blur of power. He thrust a hand toward her face, but Akame twisted her body, slipping through the gap like a shadow. She swung her blade at his exposed side.
"Hmph."
Kirinmaru didn't even try to block. Instead, he triggered a violent burst of demonic energy from his palm, the shockwave hitting Akame point-blank.
"Nngh!"
She was sent hurtling backward, the force feeling like she had been hit by a runaway train. She flipped mid-air and landed on her feet, the earth cracking beneath her boots.
But Kirinmaru was already there. He was descending with a fist raised, aimed at her head.
WHOOSH.
Akame didn't look up--she simply felt the air pressure and dove backward.
BOOM!!
The ground where she had stood vanished, turned into a crater by a punch that hadn't even touched the dirt.
'His demonic energy... it's like a solid wall.'
'The opportunity...'
Dangerous as it was, this was the moment Akame had been waiting for.
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]