InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Children of Light ❯ The Final Battle - Part 1 ( Chapter 35 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
Chapter 35
The sky overhead howled in fury as thunder crashed against the quickly darkening sky, in protest to the destruction it witnessed below. An eerie sight of mismatched demons and humans, that only the heavens themselves and few others, could ever recall witnessing before. Such blood shed, such fury, such hate. The last time such carnage had ravaged the land, it had been 500 years in the past, and no survivors had been spared the devastation. Only the sorrowful hearts of loved ones left behind would know of the battle that wiped everyone they knew and loved, from the face of the earth.
Kagome and her loved ones had no doubt that this battle would either see the end of their days or the beginning's of a new life. When Naraku had taken to the field, his team of back-up in place, they had spared the little group no time to formulate any kind of strategy. It was pure carnage as Naraku thrust demon after demon against them. Kikyou had been much sneakier and had been able to set off poisonous Miko bombs along their path until Kagome and Inu Yasha realized that they were capable of erecting a force field around their pack, similar to the one Inu Yasha had used earlier on his friends, to protect everyone from the deadly gas.
Inu Yasha and Naraku fought head to head, and Naraku was clearly surprised by the magnitude of Inu Yasha's new power, as a newly enhanced Backlash Wave came crashing through Naraku's barriers. Inu Yasha's grin of satisfaction spread from ear to ear as he watched Naraku's barriers falter, as the awesome power of the newly enhanced Backlash wave consumed him. But Naraku was much more resilient then anyone could have imagined. Much more resilient then he had ever been in the past. Which lead the little group to believe that perhaps, in this day and age, Naraku had been able to acquire some new magic that kept him going and kept him fighting.
“This is insane! It's like nothing gets to this guy!” Kouga roared as he quickly leapt over a lower level demon, using his claws to decimate it as he flew over its head to take out the insect demon that was directly behind the one he had just slaughtered.
“Kagome!” Sango yelled across the field as she battled with a group of demons, Hiraikotsu moving faster then it had ever done before, leaving nothing but a path of destruction in its wake. “Kagome, we've got to find a way to use the jewel. It's the only way!” Sango grunted as a demon surprised her from behind, pushing her forward, as she fell onto her hands and knees.
“I don't think so fucker!” Just as the demon prepared to take advantage of the now vulnerable Sango, Inu Yasha came flying out of nowhere, sending a kick square to the demons chest. Inu Yasha's foot tore straight through. Blinking briefly, the demon looked down, dumbfounded at the gaping hole in its chest, before screaming and turning to dust.
“Thanks!” Sango called out, but Inu Yasha was already gone, using his new strength to eviscerate the hoards of demons that just kept coming. He gritted his teeth and steeled his resolve as he renewed his silent oath to keep his family safe. He would not fail them again.
Miroku and Shippou battled side by side as Kirara took to battling demons that circled around her family. If a demon seemed to be getting an upper hand, Kirara was there to swoop in and take them to safety. But right now she had her eye on Kagome. Sango had asked her to make sure that Kagome was kept safe. Kagome had the jewel, and only she could figure out how to use it.
Kagome grunted with exertion as another arrow, vibrating with condensed power, flew from her hands. The only sign left of the demons she had been fighting was a scorched and torn up field. But she could not keep going this way, none of them could. And even though Naraku was battered and bruised, he seemed to have an unending supply of demons and dark power at his disposal. How was it possible? Kagome got her answer when she spotted a lone Kikyou in the distance, away from the ensuing battle, with her eyes closed, emanating a subtle dark energy.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~Flashback~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“You see cousin, over the last 500 years, things have changed quite a bit. I am no longer that weakling priestess wannabe that you remember and I no longer give a shit about your half-breed bastard. Let's just say I've moved onto bigger and better things with the help of my new crowd.” The look in Kikyou's eyes spoke of a much more sordid and dark nature then anything she had ever been in her past life.
Kagome bristled at her words but kept a check on her rising anger. “Then why are you helping Naraku if you don't care anymore? Why keep me here? And why do you keep saying `your human part'? What's happened to you?”
“Silly girl, I'm not helping Naraku. I've just been playing along for my own reasons, hiding under the surface. And if you haven't been able to tell yet, cousin, I am shall we say, a little `different' this time around.”
~*~*~*~*~*~*~End Flashback~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Kagome tensed, unsure of what she was truly seeing as she watched Kikyou's energy fluctuate. If she had known any better, she would have said that Kikyou seemed to be feeding Naraku a source of power, something she hadn't known was possible without a mate connection. As such, Kagome and Inu Yasha had been unable to share any of their own strength with each other due to the `block' that seemed to have settled itself within their connection. The power that Kikyou seemed to be tapped into continued to flow outward from her aura and towards Naraku. But there was something more. A subtle whisper of something that Kagome had only just caught, and wondered if even Naraku was aware of it. For all the energy and power that Kikyou was sending, there seemed to be a faint energy line that was concealed to look like the others, that was actually bringing energy back to Kikyou. But it wasn't Kikyou's energy that she felt within this strand. Kagome's jaw dropped as she realized the energy being absorbed into Kikyou was not only Naraku's, but energy that belonged to her and her friends as well! Kikyou was secretly feeding off their energy!
Kikyou's eyes snapped open as she sensed someone watching her. Someone that had sensed what she was doing. She grinned maliciously, completely unsurprised to find a dumbfounded Kagome doing an open mouth fish impression, staring back at her across the field.
Kikyou laughed and sent a whisper of a thought that rang clear in Kagome's mind, startling the unsuspecting Miko. “Until we meet again cousin.”
Kagome shook her head to clear her mind of the ugly touch of Kikyou's thoughts, only to find that Kikyou had disappeared. An icy shiver ran down Kagome's spine. Something was not right.
“Kagome! Watch yourself!” Kouga came roaring through, violently ripping and tearing at the heard of demons that had surrounded Kagome. He couldn't understand what had happened. She was just standing there, as if she didn't even realize the demons were surrounding her and about to pounce. It had been Kirara's frustrated roar at not being able to get through the ring of demons that had alerted him to her predicament.
“Huh? Wha?” Kagome held a hand to the side of her head as she watched Kouga take out the demons that had begun converging on her.
“What the? How did they? I didn't even see them.”
“I'm not surprised. I think Kikyou might have been messing with your head.” Shippou called out as he raced to Kagome's side. Miroku and Sango right behind him. “Bu man, that was a close one!”
Kagome nodded, clearing the last threads of the mind seduction that Kikyou had used on her. She remembered now, how similar it had felt to when Naraku had done it to her.
After defeating the last of the demons with Miroku's and Sango's help, Kouga came back to her side. “You okay?” Not wanting anyone to worry, Kagome nodded her head. “Don't worry Kouga, I'm fine,” she smiled.
Holding her gaze for a second longer, and deciding that she was telling the truth, mostly, Kouga nodded his head. “Well, I don't know what happened, but Naraku seems to have lost an edge. The demons are finally starting to taper off it looks like, but Inu Yasha's still got his hands full with Mr. Big dark and scary.”
Kagome was sure that the sounds of Inu Yasha's and Naraku's battle could be heard from anywhere in the world. The raw, primal determination in both fighters was more then evident as the little group watched Naraku and Inu Yasha throw everything they had at each other. Seconds after a dark blast of energy would go hurtling past Inu Yasha, having successfully dodged the attack, a searing wave of energy from the Tetsusaiga would go blasting across the sky. They had even joined in hand to hand combat, as the Tetsusaiga took on the power of Naraku's own dark sword.
Blood and sweat dripped from both combatants. Two souls locked in a deadly fury, neither one willing to give up. Naraku didn't want to admit that he had greatly underestimated the hanyou's abilities. And his back-up source of power seemed to have `disappeared'. He growled inwardly at himself, swearing that he would track down that bitch Kikyou and tear her apart, limb from limb when he finally found her again.
“Give up Naraku, you've lost this one!” Inu Yasha growled through clenched teeth as his eyes flared a deep red. His muscles ached and tensed with the pressure of bearing down on the Tetsusaiga as Naraku fought to keep the blade from slicing through him, as he pushed back on his own sword.
“Ha! Never half breed! What makes you think that I can't just kill you again? After all, I destroyed your measly little pack before. I can easily do it again!”
Naraku laughed as he watched the anger play across Inu Yasha's face. The best way to take down the hanyou, he had discovered, was to let the hanyou's own emotions defeat him. “Besides, what can a worthless hanyou like you do? You failed them last time half breed. You couldn't keep them safe. You couldn't even keep your own mate alive. What good are you?”
Inu Yasha released a roar of pure fury as he leapt upwards, flipping the Tetsusaiga in the air so that it's point would come crashing down, straight through Naraku's skull. But just as Inu Yasha descended, Naraku leapt out of the path of the sword. Inu Yasha came crashing down and was flipped over the Tetsusaiga as he met the unrelenting earth, startling him as he was thrown forward with a force that knocked all the wind from him.
“DIE HANYOU!” From above, Naraku's own sword was aimed directly at Inu Yasha's heart, as Inu Yasha lay on his back, still stunned from the brutal force of the impact.
“NO!” A blast of pure energy came hurtling out of the distance, as Naraku was thrown back by the force of Miko power that had seared through his heavily damaged armor. Though he would never admit it, he was impressed and slightly unnerved by the Miko girl's strength as he hovered in the distance, recomposing himself.
Kagome came running up to an irate Inu Yasha. “Inu Yasha, are you okay?”
“Damn it wench! Why did you interfere? I had him!”
Kagome was slightly taken back by his anger, but knew that he was really angry at the fact that they still hadn't been able to defeat Naraku once and for all.
“Keh, hey dog shit. Where you even watching the same fight? He almost had you.” Kouga growled, annoyed that Inu Yasha could manage to find the time to be such an ass.
“Grrrr, what the hell do you know!” Inu Yasha got up and retrieved his sword.
“Kagome, do you think you've figured out how to use the jewel?” Sango asked as she walked towards her friend.
Taking in the sight of her bruised and exhausted friends made Kagome's heart weep. What was it that she was missing? “Shippou, do you know how the jewel is suppose to work?”
Shippou shook his head. “I'm sorry Kagome, I don't. Even with the little I did know, I had to be careful with what I told you, because we couldn't risk messing up the fates and the timelines. All I know for certain is that you five are the ones connected to the jewels strength.”
Kagome nodded. Shippou had already told her this during their brief reunion.
“Give it up! You'll never unlock the secret of the jewel, it's useless to you! And if you give it to me know, I'll even think about sparing some of you. How would you like that hmmmm?” Naraku laughed as he closed in on the group again. A dark energy bomb was quickly growing to an unbelievable size between the palms of his hand.
Miroku's eyes widened as he took in the immense power emanating from within the dark energy. It looked like Naraku was done with fighting and was ready to take what he wanted. The power infused in the dark bomb he was forming, would certainly take them and half the countryside out. Naraku laughed again as he saw them all register their new predicament. Nothing would survive this blast. All his most powerful energies would be absorbed into this little masterpiece. And if he risked loosing the jewel to get rid of these rodents once and for all, so be it. There were always other ways to obtain power.
Forgetting their recent anger and frustration, Inu Yasha, Miroku, Sango and Kouga instinctively came together in a small half circle, their weapons at the ready, as they prepared to face the onslaught head on. They would not be afraid. And if the past was doomed to repeat itself, then they would die united. They would die, standing together.
It was then that she saw it, as Kagome watched the group of friends, that had become family, come together in their darkest hour.
“Together, the knowledge and understanding combined will power the jewel when all the spirits are in place. The power of all the heavens, in the palm of your hand.”
She understood! Kagome knew how to activate the jewel!