The site of the explosion was in utter ruin.
Cracks spiderwebbed across the earth. Broken stone and the mangled remains of demons lay scattered everywhere, smoke still rising from the shattered ground.
Inuyasha had thrown himself in front of Kagome at the last second, taking Sesshomaru's Tessaiga head-on. Now he lay sprawled on the dirt, his clothes torn and his body riddled with wounds. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself upright, eyes darting frantically to Kagome's motionless form.
"Kagome! Kagome!"
She didn't respond.
Her eyes remained tightly shut.
Inuyasha's head snapped up. Not far away stood Sesshomaru, Tessaiga resting in his hand, a cold sneer tugging at his lips.
Fury ignited in Inuyasha's eyes.
"Sesshomaru, you bastard! You wouldn't even spare Kagome?!"
"Cough… cough…"
Miroku staggered forward, leaning heavily on his staff. The poison coursing through his body had already begun to weaken him. Still, he forced himself to stand beside Inuyasha.
"Incomplete transformation… and yet such power…" Miroku breathed unevenly, his gaze steady despite his condition. "If we want to counter the fully transformed Tessaiga… we may have no choice but to use the Wind Tunnel."
He raised his hand toward the prayer beads sealing the curse in his palm.
"Don't!" Inuyasha barked immediately. "If you open it again, you'll just suck in more poisonous insects!"
To prove his point, he grabbed a stone and hurled it into a nearby thicket.
The bushes rustled violently.
A swarm of Mōryōmaru's poisonous insects burst into the air with a harsh buzzing.
Miroku froze.
His face paled even further.
"No, Miroku!" Shippō shouted, running to his side. "If you take in more poison, you won't last!"
"Take Kagome and get out of here!" Inuyasha ordered, his voice sharp and absolute. He didn't look at them as he spoke,his eyes never left Sesshomaru.
Then, more quietly:
"I'm begging you… don't let her die."
The resolve in his eyes left no room for argument.
For a moment, Miroku and Shippō were speechless.
"Do you truly believe you can escape?"
Sesshomaru's voice rang out,cold, disdainful.
He slowly raised Tessaiga. Demonic energy surged along the blade in violent waves.
"With this strike… I will sweep everything away."
"You can try!"
Inuyasha roared and unleashed every ounce of his demonic power, charging straight at him.
"Foolish."
Sesshomaru swung Tessaiga.
A massive arc of demonic energy tore through the battlefield, splitting the earth as it surged toward Inuyasha,and toward Miroku and the unconscious Kagome beyond him.
Behind a large boulder, Miroku and Shippō squeezed their eyes shut, bracing for impact.
But the pain never came.
When they opened their eyes,
Inuyasha stood before them, braced against the oncoming energy, blood streaming from the corner of his mouth. Both hands clamped tightly around Sesshomaru's sword arm, forcing the blade upward by sheer will.
"What are you waiting for?!" he roared. "Run!"
His muscles trembled violently as he poured everything he had into holding Sesshomaru back.
"I understand!"
Miroku didn't hesitate. He scooped Kagome into his arms and sprinted away with Shippō close behind.
"How touching," Sesshomaru said coldly, his left arm restrained by Inuyasha. "Throwing your life away to protect others. Pathetic."
His right hand became enveloped in a dense demonic aura. Claws elongated, gleaming like blades.
He thrust forward.
The strike was aimed straight through Inuyasha's back,more than enough to pierce his chest.
Then,
A hand shot out from the side and caught Sesshomaru's wrist mid-thrust.
The grip was immovable.
No matter how much demonic power Sesshomaru poured into it, his arm would not budge an inch.
"Even if I don't particularly like this idiot mutt," a calm voice drawled, "I can't let you kill him so easily."
Kagetsu stood beside Inuyasha, one hand gripping Sesshomaru's arm as though restraining a child.
"Kagetsu!"
Relief flooded Inuyasha's chest.
Yeah, the guy had beaten him half to death before,but there was no denying his strength.
With him here, Kagome and the others would be safe.
Just as Inuyasha tightened his grip on Tessaiga, preparing to rip Sesshomaru's arm away,
Something clamped around the back of his neck.
Before he could react, a powerful force yanked him backward.
His body flew through the air and landed,surprisingly gently,beside Miroku and the others at a safe distance.
"Inuyasha!" Kagome cried, having just regained consciousness. She scrambled toward him in alarm.
"Damn it! What was that for?!" Inuyasha shouted, scrambling to his feet and glaring at Kagetsu.
"Kagetsu? Why is he here?" Kagome stared in shock at the figure confronting Sesshomaru.
"You know him, Lady Kagome?" Miroku asked.
"Yeah, Kagome, who is that?" Shippō added.
"His name's Kagetsu," Kagome said quickly. "He's… incredibly strong."
"Tch." Inuyasha clicked his tongue, clearly dissatisfied,but he couldn't refute it.
His eyes remained locked on the two figures in the distance.
Sesshomaru slowly withdrew his hand and regarded Kagetsu coldly, a flicker of vigilance in his golden eyes.
This human had approached without a sound.
Blocked his strike effortlessly.
And rescued Inuyasha in an instant.
He was no ordinary opponent.
"Who are you?"
"A weakling doesn't need to know my name."
Kagetsu folded his arms, his expression aloof and indifferent in classic Uchiha fashion.
"Just stand there quietly and wait to die."
His gaze drifted to Sesshomaru's left arm,the human arm attached at the shoulder, veins pulsing faintly around the embedded Shikon Jewel shard.
He knew exactly where they were in the story.
Naraku had manipulated Sesshomaru, offering him this arm in exchange for going after Tessaiga. Sesshomaru had known full well he was being used.
And yet, he went anyway.
The irony was almost laughable.
He despised humans. Loathed Inuyasha for his human blood.
Yet he willingly attached a human arm to himself.
In the end, he would gain nothing,no Tessaiga, no victory,only humiliation and nearly his own demise.
At this point in time, Sesshomaru was still a pure demon.
Cold. Arrogant. Indifferent to life.
A predator who would tear down even his own half-brother at Naraku's mere suggestion.
"A mere human dares speak so arrogantly?"
Disdain flashed through Sesshomaru's eyes.
He swung Tessaiga again.
A towering wave of demonic energy roared forward, carving a trench through the earth as stones exploded into the air.
Kagetsu's eyes shifted instantly,
Crimson bloomed within them.
The Mangekyō Sharingan spun slowly.
Chakra erupted beneath his feet.
Instead of dodging, he rushed forward,straight into the oncoming blast.
Just before the energy struck,
"Susanoo."
Pale blue chakra and ocular power intertwined violently.
A skeletal giant burst into existence around him, forming an impenetrable barrier.
BOOM,!
Tessaiga's energy wave collided with Susanoo in a thunderous explosion.
But the skeletal right arm of the Susanoo punched straight through the attack.
Its massive fist condensed, solidifying mid-swing,
,and smashed squarely into Sesshomaru.
The impact was devastating.
Sesshomaru's body flew backward like a severed kite string, slamming violently into a distant cliff face with a deafening crash.
Dust billowed into the sky.
When it cleared,
Sesshomaru was embedded in the rock wall itself.
A towering, nearly ten-meter-tall blue skeletal Susanoo stood firmly upon the battlefield, shielding Kagetsu within its ribcage.
From his elevated vantage point, crimson Mangekyō eyes stared down coldly.
"That's your full power?" he said lightly. "You're not even worth the warm-up."