Finalizing the transition from day to night, a deep layer of darkness spreads throughout the entire village, climbing both the buildings and the hearts of those who still remain alive.
The only visible beacon of hope for those poor souls was the silver light of the moon, a soft and weak light that barely manages to pierce through the shadows.
"Ah… It is so tasty how they seek hope even in this situation. Hehehe, why don't we take you out now?"
Smelling the surroundings with his triangular jaw as if it were the tastiest thing in the world, Goshinki lowers his enormous and deformed purple body, then extends his long hand and lifts some nearby rubble.
Those were the remains of a house knocked down during what he considers a mere game, the same one from which he had already extracted the two adults and had left the girl… A small dessert saved for his later enjoyment.
"Snif, mo, mommy"
Sniffling her own mucus, the girl who is easily lifted by Goshinki's great purple hand keeps her eyes closed the whole time, a childish attempt to evade her most primitive fears.
Now he could devour the girl, a single bite would be enough to make her disappear into his stomach, but what fun would there be in that?
"H, Hitomi?"
"... Mommy?"
"Yes, Hitomi. Now open your eyes dear, mommy wants to see you well"
Modifying the voice coming from his vocal cords until one emerges that makes the girl tremble, Goshinki puts an enormous sadistic smile on his face and a putrid stench spreads through the surroundings.
Following her most basic and human instincts, Hitomi slowly opens her brown eyes and tries to look at her "mother", thus seeing Goshinki's monstrous face.
Nothing could make the latter happier than this moment, the perfect instant in which hope is shattered and only despair remains… Ah, what a delicious thing!
"Careful, something's coming!"
"¡Agh!"
The warning from Kagura was extremely quick, but even so a figure crosses the village almost instantly and connects his fist against Goshinki's face. The kinetic and supernatural force gathered in that punch sends him flying toward a nearby house, twisting his ugly face like mashed potatoes.
Even before that quick victory in the first clash, the golden-haired figure does not continue with the attack, but first takes the girl whom Goshinki had dropped and places her safely under his direct care.
"Wh, who are you?"
"Me…? You can call me-"
Brushing back his golden hair with his right hand, the young man puts on a perfect smile and his blue eyes shine at the exact right moment, thus capturing the girl's attention.
"¡Asahiko!"
"Tsk, couldn't you arrive a little later, Inuyasha. Don't you see I'm making an introduction here?"
"Shut up and tell me where everyone is!"
"Ahh… Let's just ignore him. Over there is the ugly one and there is the woman with the fans"
Pointing first toward Goshinki when he says "the ugly one", the same one who is buried in the remains of a nearby house, Asahiko then moves his finger toward Kagura.
She is on top of a wooden roof observing the whole situation, while her fans are folded and a soft smile pulls at her red lips.
"So you came, Inuyasha? I thought you would keep your tail between your legs after last time"
"I got careless for a moment… But that won't happen again!"
Easily jumping from the ground to the roof, Inuyasha unsheathes Iron Fang in the air and slashes toward the still smiling woman.
Her smile was not just empty boasting, because before Inuyasha's sword could even approach Kagura, an enormous purple shadow intercepted the attack.
The "shadow" was obviously Goshinki, the same one who crashes at full speed directly into Inuyasha, thus dragging him toward another section of the village.
"Oh, so-"
"Dance of the Blades!"
Twisting one of her fans until fully opening it, Kagura creates dozens of sharp wind blades and instantly launches them toward Asahiko.
The latter, still with the girl in hand, jumps slightly backward and escapes the impact zone without breaking a sweat. Now free, he snaps his fingers and multiple flaming spears form in front of him, the same ones which are fired toward Kagura.
*Boom* *Boom*
Instantly the entire structure of the house collapses after being pierced by the multiple impacts, forcing Kagura to jump toward the sky and leaving her without any foothold.
That last disadvantage is noticed by Asahiko instantly, making him quickly unsheathe Clouded Fang and send a reddish energy slash toward her. But unlike expected, Kagura is not at a disadvantage in the air, but instead uses the wind currents to move like a leaf and dodge the attack.
"Obviously… A wind spirit. Miroku, where are you! I have a girl in my arms and I need you to-!"
"As if I would let you!"
"It's not like you have another option!"
Creating dozens of illusions identical in appearance to him right after finishing his haughty words, Asahiko camouflages himself among all of them with ease and tries to sneak away from the place. Fighting with the girl in his arms was stupid… Besides being very uncomfortable!
Even so, that strategy fails to deceive Kagura, since she has a "sixth sense" such as the wind, something impossible to fool with Asahiko's current abilities.
Aside from that, Kagura fully opens her fan and positions it diagonally before waving it strongly, attracting the wind from the upper layers and then crashing it against the area in front of her.
There was no great explosion or collapse due to the attack, but instead the entire affected zone slowly sinks downward from the pressure of the wind, as if gravity had increased dozens of times.
"What's wrong, have you already surrendered, Asahiko?"
"Heh, it seems true that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree"
"... Die!"
Exploding in a fit of fury due to being compared to Naraku, Kagura's second fan is opened and an even greater pressure falls over the surroundings.
Such a thing was not a real problem for Asahiko, after all his body surpasses any human specification, but that does not extend to the girl in his arms and his illusions.
"Stay firm, Kirara. Hiraikotsu!"
"Hump!"
Stopping Hiraikotsu, the boomerang that Sango uses together with a straight sword as her demon slayer set, Kagura covers herself with a current of wind and retreats upon seeing herself surrounded by the newly arrived group.
"A little late, Miroku"
"There were more living people than expected, mainly under rubble… As if they had been left there for twisted pleasure"
"I don't doubt it, you saw what that thing was doing when we arrived. Now take the girl, I'm going to deal with her"
Pulling his gaze away from the zone where Inuyasha seems to be fighting against Goshinki, not very hard to find if you follow the screams of the former, Asahiko passes the girl into Miroku's arms and positions himself in front of both of them.
It was already time to start taking this seriously, he had remained on the defensive for too long for his liking, so… Into action!
Making a finger gun gesture with his hand after shouting in his mind, Asahiko releases a barrage of shots made of fire toward Kagura.
These were obviously a distraction more than a main attack, which causes them to be stopped by her defense easily, but they also manage to cover her vision enough time for Asahiko to get close.
"Thanks for the patience!"
Passing through the flames that still remain stopped in front of the "wind shield" created long ago by Kagura, Asahiko's sword slides through both supernatural powers easily, almost reaching the one hiding behind.
Because yes, just before Clouded Fang could even consider touching her, Kagura explodes her wind shield forward, thus creating a powerful current of wind that destroys Asahiko… No, one of his illusions rather.
"I told you it's useless!"
Spinning on her own axis in an almost complete rotation, Kagura suddenly folds one of her fans and intercepts Asahiko's sword, the same one who had appeared in her sword.
The interesting thing is that there really is no "clash" between the fan and the sword, but rather the former passes through the latter without opposition, making Kagura open her red eyes and have a slow reaction to the ensuing explosion.
¡Boom!
Together with the explosion of semi-solid golden flames, the same ones that were covered by an illusion to appear as Asahiko's physical body, dozens of negative states fall upon Kagura and make her retreat.
Seeing that slip on her part and wishing to use it for his benefit, the real Asahiko appears from among the flames like a golden shadow, charging toward Kagura's jugular with his sword in hand.
"Goodbye!"
"Ahhhh!"
While that decisive moment was taking place, with Clouded Fang millimeters away from Kagura's pale neck… Something evil spreads through the surroundings.