At this moment, the site of the explosion was already in complete disarray. The ground was covered in cracks, with shattered stones and demon carcasses scattered everywhere.
Inuyasha had just used his body to block the strike from Sesshomaru's tessaiga aimed at Kagome. Covered in wounds, he struggled to get up from the ground, his gaze fixed on Kagome who lay unconscious. He called out urgently, "Kagome! Kagome!"
But Kagome gave no response, her eyes still tightly shut. Inuyasha snapped his head around to look at Sesshomaru, who stood not far away holding tessaiga with a cold sneer curling his lips. Flames of fury ignited in Inuyasha's eyes. "Sesshomaru, you bastard! You wouldn't even spare Kagome!"
"Cough, cough..." Miroku, poisoned, leaned on his staff and with difficulty made his way to Inuyasha's side. Inuyasha turned to look at him, his voice laced with concern. "Miroku? How are you?"
"An incomplete transformation already has such power... To deal with the fully transformed tessaiga, we can only rely on my Wind Tunnel."
Gasping for breath, Miroku instead looked at Sesshomaru with a resolute gaze. He reached out, about to undo the seal on his Wind Tunnel.
"Stop!" Inuyasha immediately stopped him. "If you open the Wind Tunnel again, you'll just suck in more poisonous insects!" As he spoke, he casually tossed a stone into a nearby thicket, startling a swarm of Mōryōmaru which buzzed into flight.
Miroku's movement halted instantly, his face growing even paler. Shippō also ran to his side, shouting anxiously, "No, Miroku! If you suck in more poison insects, you won't be able to hold on!"
"Hurry and take Kagome away! Run as far as you can!" Inuyasha's voice carried an unquestionable finality. He turned to look at Miroku and Shippō, his expression grave. "I'm begging you... Don't let her die."
Seeing the look of readiness to face death in his eyes, Miroku and Shippō were momentarily speechless.
"Do you really think you can escape?" Sesshomaru's cold, arrogant voice rang out. He slowly raised tessaiga, and Demonic Power surged wildly along the blade. "With this one strike, I will sweep everything away!"
"You wish!" Inuyasha erupted with all his Demonic Power and charged fiercely toward Sesshomaru.
"Overestimating yourself." Sesshomaru snorted coldly. tessaiga swung, unleashing a massive blade of demonic energy that carried an earth-shattering momentum, cleaving toward Inuyasha, Miroku, and the unconscious Kagome.
Hiding behind a large boulder, Miroku and Shippō closed their eyes in despair, awaiting the attack.
But the anticipated pain did not arrive. They opened their eyes to see Inuyasha using his body to stubbornly withstand the impact of the energy blade, his hands gripping Sesshomaru's sword-wielding arm tightly. Blood dripped continuously from the corner of his mouth.
"What are you standing there for? Run!" Inuyasha roared with all his might, pressing down on Sesshomaru's arm with everything he had to buy them time to escape.
"I understand!" Miroku dared not delay. He immediately picked up Kagome and, with Shippō, sprinted into the distance.
"How truly touching. Delaying for your companions? Utterly foolish." Sesshomaru, whose left arm was pinned by Inuyasha, had eyes as cold as ice. His right hand suddenly became enveloped in dense Demonic Power, transforming into a sharp claw that thrust viciously toward Inuyasha's back. This strike was enough to pierce his chest.
At this critical moment, a hand suddenly appeared from the side, firmly grasping Sesshomaru's right hand.
The immense power contained within that hand meant that no matter how much force Sesshomaru exerted, his arm remained immovable.
"Although I don't like this dumb mutt either, I can't just let you kill him so easily."
Retsu's voice came from the side. His figure had appeared next to Inuyasha at some unknown time, one hand gripping Sesshomaru's arm.
"Retsu!" Hearing this familiar voice, Inuyasha felt a surge of joy in his heart.
Even though this guy had beaten him up last time, there was no denying his immense strength. With him here, Kagome and the others would definitely escape safely.
Thinking this, Inuyasha increased the strength in his hands, trying to tear off Sesshomaru's arm holding tessaiga. But suddenly, he felt a tight grip on the back of his neck. An immense force pulled him, and his body flew backward uncontrollably, landing gently next to Miroku and the others in the distance.
"Inuyasha!" Miroku and Kagome, who had just regained consciousness, immediately rushed to his side.
"Damn it! What are you doing?!" Inuyasha scrambled up from the ground and shouted angrily at Retsu, who was now confronting Sesshomaru.
"Retsu? Why is he here?" Kagome looked at the familiar figure in the distance, her face full of surprise.
"Miss Kagome, you know him?" Miroku asked curiously. Shippō also nodded. "Yeah, Kagome, who is he?"
"His name is Retsu. He's a very powerful person," Kagome explained.
"Tch!" Inuyasha curled his lip in displeasure, but he had to admit that this guy's strength was truly unfathomable. His gaze remained fixed tightly on the two figures in the distance, not daring to relax for a moment.
Sesshomaru retracted his gaze and looked coldly at Retsu, his eyes filled with wariness.
This human had been able to approach without his notice, easily block his attack, and rescue Inuyasha. His strength was definitely not weak.
"Who are you?"
"A weakling has no need to know my name." Retsu crossed his arms, wearing the standard Uchiha expression of cold indifference, his tone supremely arrogant. "Just stand there quietly and wait to die."
Retsu's gaze fell on Sesshomaru's left arm holding tessaiga. He already knew which part of the plot this was.
In the storyline, Naraku found Sesshomaru and gave him a human arm embedded with a shard of the shikon jewel, sending him to seize Inuyasha's tessaiga.
And then the absurdity began. Sesshomaru clearly knew Naraku was using him as a pawn, exploiting him to kill Inuyasha. Yet, he obediently went along with it and dutifully went after Inuyasha.
Moreover, despite looking down on humans and despising Inuyasha for his human blood, when it came to himself, he didn't hesitate to attach a human arm.
Even more absurdly, in the storyline, after beating up Inuyasha and his companions, he gained nothing. Not only did he fail to obtain tessaiga, but he was also nearly done in by the arm embedded with the shikon jewel shard.
The final result was that Sesshomaru acted as Naraku's free thug and got nothing in return.
To be honest, he had no favorable impression of the current Sesshomaru.
Later in the storyline, under Rin's influence, Sesshomaru shook off the influence of his demon nature, began to value life and emotions, and became more humane.
But at this moment, he was a true demon—a cold-blooded demon who enjoyed killing and was indifferent to life, devoid of any humanity.
Just like now, merely because of a word from Naraku, he was running around biting people like a mad dog, showing no restraint even in trying to kill his own half-brother.
"A mere human, spouting such nonsense!" Hearing Retsu's words, a flash of disdain crossed Sesshomaru's eyes. He swung tessaiga once more, and a massive blade of demonic energy shot through the air. The ground along its path instantly shattered, sending stones flying.
Retsu's eyes instantly transformed into the crimson Mangekyo Sharingan. Chakra erupted from his feet. Not only did he not dodge or evade, he charged directly toward Sesshomaru, meeting the energy blade head-on.
Just as the energy blade was about to strike him, the Mangekyo in his eyes rotated slightly. A low voice sounded: "Susanoo!"
Pale blue Chakra and ocular power intertwined, rapidly coalescing into a ferocious skeleton that unfolded around him, forming a solid barrier. "BOOM—!" tessaiga's energy blade slammed fiercely into the Susanoo, producing a tremendous collision sound.
Simultaneously, the skeletal right arm of the Susanoo pierced through the attack of the energy blade, coalescing into a giant fist. With immense power, it smashed heavily into Sesshomaru's body.
Sesshomaru's body flew backward like a kite with its string cut, crashing heavily into a distant rock wall with a loud bang.
Amidst the billowing dust, his entire body was embedded in the rock.
Now, a nearly ten-meter-tall blue skeletal Susanoo stood on the ground, protecting Retsu within it.
Looking down at Sesshomaru embedded in the rock from his elevated position, his crimson Mangekyo Sharingan eyes were full of contempt. "Such a weak attack. Are you trying to make me laugh?"