Under the sky stained with shades of red as well as orange, a common situation during sunset when the sun begins to yield its place to the moon, a wide village can be observed slowly sinking into darkness.
The houses are made of wood extracted from the nearby forest, while dirt paths flattened due to footsteps connect the houses and crops, thus creating the absolutely common image that you could see in any human settlement.
Neigh Neigh
Extending from a structure far from the center of the village, the terrified neighbors of multiple horses shatter the tranquility of the newly arrived night. But the most terrifying thing was not that, but that from the stable another noise could be heard, more terrifying and voracious, extremely similar to bones being broken by a jaw.
But of course that did not stop the villagers who noticed the oddities, those horses were their only source of income and food during the harsh winter, losing them now would be equal to losing everything.
"The, gulp… The horses are in there"
Forcing down the saliva twisting in his throat, a man with a pitchfork slowly approaches the stable. He was not alone, but several young men marched behind him with shovels and pickaxes in their calloused hands.
"Mr. Ranma, a-and what if it's a yokai?"
"We'll die either way if we lose the horses… Let's do it!"
"Understood!"
Tightening their improvised weapons in an attempt to calm their trembling hearts, the men slowly approach the stable door, ignoring the sound of bones being broken and the neighing of horses.
Inside it was dark, the torch that illuminated the stable at night seems to have gone out, while a metallic smell of blood burns their nostrils and puts them on alert.
Luckily for them, or perhaps bad luck on this occasion, one of the men had brought a torch. It was lit instantly, illuminating the interior of the stable and the "thing" inside.
"Grr, so tasty, grar, what a delicious specimen"
Chewing large chunks of fresh and bloody meat with his enormous triangular jaw similar to that of a crocodile, a dark purple beast easily devours a nearby horse.
Its body is absolutely deformed, with the upper part being much larger and more muscular than the lower one, while a monstrous spider-shaped scar tears through the flesh of its back.
Embedded in its elongated and skyward-curved head, two copper-colored goat horns can be seen, the same ones that give it a demonic air together with its pairs of blood-red eyes.
"A, a, Demon!"
"RUN!"
With the shout serving as a trigger, all the men present throw their improvised weapons to the ground and run at full speed toward the door. The bad thing is that all that commotion attracts the yokai's attention, no… That thing already knew about them from the beginning.
*Boom*
Along with an explosion of what seems to be pure speed, the enormous body of the yokai blurs for an instant and consequently the stable explodes into pieces, shooting chunks of wood along with horse blood toward the surroundings.
It had not been any special ability or hidden technique, but rather by moving so fast the energy released toward the surroundings has that effect on the environment, demonstrating the incredible physical capabilities it possesses.
"Hahaha, I can smell your fear!"
Piercing a nearby villager with the claw of his right hand, he carries his still-living body to his mouth and begins chewing him slowly. Blood drips from that triangular jaw and falls toward the ground below, though he ignores that before continuing his merciless hunt.
Houses are destroyed by his claws as if they were paper, while everyone who tries to flee is slowly hunted down and tortured before being devoured, showing that he seems to do this for sport or simply for being a sadistic bastard.
"Grgh, how delicious. Don't you want some, older sister? Since fear is the last thing they feel in life, their flesh has an exquisite acidity"
Slowly chewing the body of a young woman, he turns his pairs of blood-red eyes toward the roof of a nearby house and speaks to his "older sister".
Interestingly, nothing can be seen up there for a few moments, although after a current of air shakes the clouds in the sky, the figure of a woman becomes present.
"You can keep everything, Goshinki. I have more important things to consider"
Covering the lower part of her face with one of her fans, Kagura guides her red eyes toward the direction from which the wind brings her a familiar scent. It is that of Inuyasha and his group, but also that of that fox from the afternoon.
"It's funny how you try to hide your thoughts from me, older sister. Hahaha, but you're right, you are only bait for Asahiko"
"Did Naraku tell you that?"
"You know my capabilities, do you think someone who creates something like this can trust others?"
Demonstrating a surprising rationality for his very "monstrous" form, Goshinki finishes dining on the young woman's body and begins hunting his next prey.
"Only bait…? Damn Naraku, how does he even dare?"
Nibbling her lower lip painted with strong red lipstick, Kagura waves her fan in front of her and one of the nearby corpses stands up instantly.
Obviously she had not revived him or something similar, something that until now only Sacred Fang can achieve and Clouded Fang incompletely, but rather she is controlling the corpse with small currents of air.
Under her orders, or rather under her control, the flesh puppet begins to walk toward the solitary cabin, carrying a terrifying message in itself.
…Somewhere else…
"So she wasn't the one with the fans who defeated you, but her younger sister?"
Sitting in a chair dried by God knows where from, Asahiko adjusts his posture to look imposing and observes Inuyasha with clear disappointment.
The latter is in front of him, sitting on a pile of old hay and being treated by Miroku, who seems to want to be doing anything else as long as it is not touching a man.
"My own ability defeated me!. Agh, be more careful, Miroku!"
"You're already grown up, stop complaining once and for all boy. Ahh, I should be helping Miss Sango, not touching your muscular back"
Tightening the bandages as much as possible, both to create pressure on the wounds and as a form of revenge toward Inuyasha, the monk nods to himself and gives him a few pats on the back.
These hits make Inuyasha's whole body tremble again, turning his face pale and causing several large drops of cold sweat to come out.
"Damn you… If you want it so much, go already since I can heal myself!. Agh, why was that for!"
"For acting smart with me, Inuyasha. Cough, about that 'younger sister', Kanna, even you must be careful, Asahiko"
"That much?"
Surprised by the sudden seriousness shown by Miroku, who had already moved away from Inuyasha's back because he finished his work, Asahiko narrows his blue eyes and straightens his back.
Now he was really attentive, since even when he fought Kagura in the forest earlier, Miroku had barely reacted intensely.
"She doesn't seem physically dangerous, her appearance is that of a little girl, but her abilities are among the strangest. Mainly her mirror that can absorb souls and reflect attacks"
"Well, it's a mirror, clearly its abilities would go that way. Oh, we had run into an Ungaikyo together with Kikyo, I just thought it was similar"
Downplaying his words which were let out without considering them much, Asahiko suddenly gets up from the chair and looks toward Inuyasha who does the same.
The two remained silent for a few seconds, as if doubting their senses, but quickly that situation was broken by a sudden scream.
"Kyaa!"
"Kagome!"
"Here we go again!"
Going from zero to one hundred instantly, mainly Inuyasha who completely forgets even his wounds, the three men quickly leave the inside of the cabin and come across a grim scene.
There was a man there. No, the remains of a man rather. His body is stained with blood, the clothes he wears are torn apart and pieces of flesh dance shredded by the wind.
Clearly that thing was dead, but even so his lips pale from lack of blood and begin to move, guided by a current of wind.
"He, Help… Everyone… Help"
"W-what kind of macabre game is this!"
"Calm down, Kagome. Step back, I'll take care of this"
Moving Kagome away by extending his arm in front of her, Inuyasha takes a step forward and draws his sword, while all the other members of the group surround the walking corpse.
Seeing himself surrounded from every possible direction, the walking corpse stops moving and raises his head toward the sky, releasing a powerful scream that releases all the wind that had been inside his body.
"That was very scary, Kagome!"
"Um, yes it was, Shippo"
Taking the little fox child in her arms, Kagome presses him against her chest and calms him with pats on the head.
"What are we going to do? Clearly it's Naraku's trap"
"Miss Sango, are you alright?"
"Yes, thank you for your concern, Your Excellency"
Nodding calmly with Kirara in her arms, the two-tailed nekomata she has as a pet, Sango observes the corpse lying on the ground before looking at everyone present.
"Of course I'm going to go beat them up!"
"Don't be foolish, Inuyasha. Obviously it's a trap, who knows what they have prepared there"
"This time you are too soft, Miroku. Even if we stay here nothing will change, they already know where we are… The best defense is a good offense"
Finishing his intervention in the conversation, Asahiko takes a brief breath to calm himself and exchanges looks with Inuyasha, the same one who nods toward him without hesitation.
Incredibly the minds of these two are in sync, despite the long history of "problems" between them and disagreements over a certain black-haired priestess.