Squelch--!!
Watching the Shikon no Tama's face darken with a shadow of cold fury, Sesshomaru remained silent. He didn't know exactly what his "foolish younger brother" had done, but it was clear that Inuyasha had managed to strike a nerve that Naraku never could.
Otherwise, the entity wouldn't be radiating such a concentrated, murderous intent.
"I will make him regret this!"
Its voice was a freezing gale. The Shikon no Tama erupted with a massive surge of demonic energy, the sheer pressure forcing even Sesshomaru to step back.
Across the battlefield, the eyes of the countless demon creatures crawling over the landscape flared with a sinister red light.
"Be careful!"
"Something's wrong with them!"
The group bunched together as they realized the demons were undergoing a grotesque, rapid transformation. Some sprouted leathery wings; others saw their limbs fuse into jagged blades, while some grew multiple humanoid arms like a species of nightmare spiders.
"Tch!"
"These things are tougher than they look."
Cu Chulainn swept several charging demons away with his spear, but he could feel the unnatural density of their hides. If he didn't reinforce his strikes with magical energy, his mundane physical strength wasn't even enough to bruise them.
"Unnh, one after another... how strong can he make them?"
"That's the ability Caster had before," a voice chimed in. "Now it's been absorbed and perfected. It seems the Jewel is far more efficient at utilizing it than the original owner ever was."
"And a fair warning: the Reality Marbles won't work on these bastards."
These weren't just mindless drones. They were built with a mix of high-level youki, [Meioju's Armor], and the youki-draining properties of the [Dragon-scaling sword]. They were designed to penetrate spiritual barriers and ignore conceptual defenses.
If given enough time, the Shikon no Tama could forge a legion of such catastrophes--a natural disaster that neither the youkai of this era nor the humans of the future could ever hope to withstand.
"Oof--!!"
"What's wrong with you?"
Kagome shouted as Byakuya suddenly flickered into existence right in front of her.
Unlike his usual casual, detached self, Byakuya's eyes were bloodshot and wide, glowing with a mindless, crimson hunger. He stared at her as if she were a piece of meat, his aura vibrating with a sudden, localized spike of demonic energy.
'His youki... it just tripled out of nowhere. What is happening?'
"Haaaa--!!"
With a guttural roar, Byakuya swung his blade. A pitch-black wave of sword pressure crashed into Kagome's barrier.
C-CRACK--!
"The barrier is--!"
A single strike was all it took. The dome of spiritual energy shattered like a sheet of fragile glass, the shards dissolving into the air.
"Aaargh..."
'He's lost his mind!'
Kagome could hear the meaningless growls coming from behind the illusionist's mask. He was being piloted by the Jewel, his body pushed past its limits. She couldn't afford to let him launch another strike; if that pressure touched her directly, it was over.
She notched a [Sacred Arrow] and aimed for his sword-arm, releasing it with a snap of the bowstring.
WHOOSH--!
Sizzzz--!!
Kagome's eyes widened in shock. The [Sacred Arrow] was deflected several centimeters before it even reached his shoulder, sizzled away by the dense, oily youki armor protecting his body.
"Kill you... kill you!"
White plumes of steam erupted from Byakuya's mask as he lunged forward, his speed far exceeding anything Kagome could react to.
'Crap!'
'Too fast--!'
The difference between this and his previous state was night and day. Kagome watched the blade descending toward her chest, time seemingly slowing to a crawl.
'I'm not going to make it!'
BOOM--!!
Just as the blade was about to bite into her flesh, a silhouette descended from the sky like a falling star. With a speed that made the world blur, the newcomer caught Byakuya's wrist, twisted his arm behind his head, and slammed him face-first into the dirt with a bone-jarring impact.
"You are... Kirinmaru!?"
Kagome stared at the ragged, battle-worn Great Demon standing before her. She never expected that, in her hour of need, her savior would be the very King they had been fighting.
"In terms of travel speed, Great General... I still believe I can outpace you."
Kirinmaru didn't look at his captive; instead, he glanced up at the sky.
"Heh..."
Following his gaze, Kagome saw the unmistakable figure of Toga floating above. She felt a massive weight lift from her shoulders. If Kirinmaru was here and helping her, it meant he had truly abandoned the ज्वेल's side.
"Are you unharmed?"
"Yes..."
Toga descended with a dignified grace, his eyes scanning Kagome before receiving her silent assurance.
"Kagome--!!"
Just then, the three of them heard a distant shout. Inuyasha was tearing through the woods, frantically calling her name.
"It seems that even without my interference, Toga's son would have reached you eventually," Kirinmaru remarked, his expression unreadable as he held the struggling Byakuya down with a single hand.
"Kirinmaru, his name is Inuyasha."
"I see. He just seems so... different compared to Sesshomaru. I didn't bother remembering his name before."
"Sesshomaru isn't exactly a standard that other youkai can follow..."
"Hmph. True. I almost envy you, having such an outstanding eldest son."
Watching the two legendary Great Demons converse so casually while pinning a mindless assassin to the ground, Kagome didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
THUD!
Inuyasha skidded to a halt alongside Kagura and Kanna.
"Wait!"
"Old man? And... Kirinmaru!?"
Inuyasha froze at the sight of Kagome standing safely between the two giants. He was relieved to see her alive, but the presence of Kirinmaru made his every nerve endings tingle with reflex.
"Relax. I have no more reason to fight you."
"I am here to lend my strength to the fray."
Kirinmaru spoke with a blunt honesty that Inuyasha found surprisingly reliable. He looked to his father, who gave a faint nod of confirmation.
"Fine. But what about him?" Inuyasha asked, pointing at the pinned Byakuya.
"White Night..."
"Controlled."
Kanna's short, clipped words explained everything. The Shikon no Tama, enraged by Inuyasha's interference with Kanna, had simply turned Byakuya into a suicide weapon.
But it had made a mistake. It hadn't accounted for the two legends intervening. Even reinforced, Byakuya was no match for the combined might of Toga and Kirinmaru.
"Inuyasha, use that method from earlier on Byakuya," Kagura suggested.
"But he's different from Kanna. His heart is inside his body. If I use [Tessaiga] with the [Nenekirimaru] property, he'll lose every drop of his youki," Inuyasha explained.
"Better to lose his youki than his life," Kagura countered. She knew the Jewel wouldn't let him go easily once it had a grip on his soul.
Inuyasha nodded. It was the only way to sever the connection.
"Alright, here I come!"
"Keep him pinned, Kirinmaru!"
The red demon markings flared across Inuyasha's skin once more as he summoned his [Fear].
"What a peculiar power..."
Even having seen it before, Kirinmaru and Toga couldn't help but admire the ingenuity. It was a revolutionary application of youki in this era.
Inuyasha stepped forward and swung [Tessaiga] in a surgical arc from Byakuya's shoulder down toward his chest. He stopped the blade right above the heart, letting the [Fear] hammer into the Shikon no Tama's command vortex.
'Wait... [Tessaiga] has gained a new property?'
Toga observed with a flare of surprise.
Black miasma hissed off Byakuya's body in a thick cloud until his glowing red eyes finally faded back to their normal, cynical grey.
"Ah... did I fail?"
Coming to his senses, Byakuya looked up at the circle of people--Kagome, his "sisters," and the legendary Great Dog Demon. He understood his situation instantly.
"How can you accept this so quickly?" Kagura asked, approaching him.
"What else can I do? Wait... my youki?!" Byakuya tried to stand as Kirinmaru released him, then winced as he realized he felt as hollow as a drum.
"Inuyasha drained it all to save you."
"[Nenekirimaru], huh? I see. So [Tessaiga] cut down Kanna's Mirror Demon after all?"
"Call her Big Sister!"
"..."
Byakuya stood up, his shoulder still slightly mangled from the strike. He was surprisingly quick to adjust to his new, near-human status.
"Yes, yes... Big Sister."
As the youngest "brother" in the family, he realized he didn't have much room to complain.
"Heh..."
Kagome smiled. Watching Kagura, Kanna, and Byakuya together felt right. If they were free from Naraku's control, they could finally live peaceful lives instead of being ciphers for another's malice.
"Alright, you three should get out of here. We have to find the Shikon no Tama..."
Inuyasha started to sheathe his sword, but Byakuya interrupted him.
"Wait, Inuyasha."
"Before I go, you should take this."
He held up his broken blade, the phantom "village rain" still shimmering on its surface.
"I don't know if it'll help much, but it's better than leaving it here."
"Consider it a... parting gift."
"!"
"[Murasame]..."
"I reconstructed it from the residue left behind by Akame. If you cut it with [Tessaiga], you should be able to absorb its unique properties."
The group stared in silence. They knew the lethality of that cursed blade.
"Hah! Then I won't be polite!"
Inuyasha didn't hesitate. He swung [Tessaiga] down, shattering the remains of Byakuya's blade into a thousand shards.
CRACK--!
The shards turned into black motes of light and surged into [Tessaiga], the blade vibrating with a new, lethal resonance.
"A one-hit kill [Tessaiga]... that's a hell of an upgrade," Kagome said, her eyes shining with excitement.
[Tessaiga] was already powerful, but it lacked the "precision" lethality of a specialized assassin's weapon.
"Wait... it looks like I can only use it once a day..."
"I guess since I only cut a replica, the essence isn't as pure as the original."
"Still, once is enough," Toga remarked.
"True that."
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]