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'Whomever controls both the Bone Eater's Well and the Tree of Ages would be free to bend the sands of time to their own will' was the script that Lord Taikani came across in the ancient ruins of the long forgotten temple that his minions had raided in pursuit of his desire for greater powers beyond the considerable ones he already wielded.
With this knowledge in hand he had led the assault against Edo to gain control of that which he desired, expecting an easy victory but only to encounter stiff resistance against the oddest grouping of foes that he had ever run up against, running the full gamut of demon, half demon, human, and the spiritually gifted.
Lord Taikani towered in at some thirty feet tall and although possessing considerable strength and power had come to this fight expecting to be able to save most of his strength for bending the ancient tree to his own will. In his rage at the impudence of his opposition he had transformed into his true self and had set the Forest of Inuyasha ablaze, along with much of the considerably sized village down below it.
Now he prepared his vast reserves as the various remaining heroes gathered about in one last ditch effort to stop him. He allowed himself a small smile as he watched them come together. Although most of his minions were dead, his enemies surely had their strength sapped during the battle and would be easy fodder for him to finish off.
***
Kagome came up to stand by Inuyasha as the latter continued to catch his breath. She was down to two arrows but there was only one enemy remaining, although by far he was the most formidable and foreboding feeling enemy they had encountered thus far. Sesshomaru landed nearby along with Jaken, Ah-Un, Setsuna, and Towa. He directed his two daughters to move towards the back of the combat zone before drawing Bakusaiga.
Miroku, Shippo, and Sango emerged from the burning tree line, having dealt with the last of the enemies in that direction.
"Everyone okay?" Kagome shouted over to them, seeing nods that conveyed a tired affirmative. Moroha was with Sango's children and the other villagers that had evacuated earlier when the enemy horde had first attacked the village. Now that they were out of the way and horde vanquished could they turn their full attention with their most powerful weapons against the true threat.
"Now you have all assembled against me, but your efforts shall be in vain, for I Lord Taikani shall take possession of both the Tree of Ages and the Bone Eaters Well, from whence I shall come to control the flow of time and bend it to my will," said the thirty foot tall monstrosity in a deep and grating voice that perked everyone's head up in sudden alarm.
Previously they had thought that the demons were just attacking the village and forest looking for humans and livestock to kill and feed upon, but to now learn of the enemy's goal brought an extra edge of sudden determination to the band to stop their enemy in his tracks.
No sooner had Taikani stopped talking when Sesshomaru surged forward, striking at the fire demon with Bakusaiga in hand. The enemy demon howled in pain as he was engulfed within the never-ending destruction of Bakusaiga's powers but then the enemy seemed to disappear before reforming his body a mere twenty feet away, looking totally unharmed.
"An admirable attempt, but futile I'm afraid," Taikani gloated before unleashing a wave of demonic fire that swept over the whole group. Sesshomaru, Inuyasha, Kagome, and Miroku managed to block the attack with barriers erected by either their weapons or themselves but Sango, Shippo, Jaken, and Ah-Un were blown backwards, the foremost mentioned managing to avoid taking any significant damage by using her weapon as a shield.
"You bastard!" Inuyasha shouted as his sword went black with the Meido before he took his turn by unleashing his most powerful attack, the Meido Zangetsuha. The multiple Meido Claws tore through the Fire Lord, sucking much of his body into the afterlife, but once more the fire demon reformed himself nearby.
But Kagome had noticed something odd about the way that he had reformed both times thus far. Specifically, something about the location where he had reformed. Wanting to test this theory of hers, she notched one of the two remaining arrows into her bow and after putting a considerable portion of her remaining spiritual strength into the arrow, as she could sense that he was a very formidable foe, unleashed the arrow.
Again their foe just stood there and took the attack, Taikani doing nothing to block the incoming attack and losing a considerable portion of his body, but once more reforming nearby. But now Kagome knew at least one of the secrets of his regenerative ability and was quick to inform her allies.
"Inuyasha! Sesshomaru! He can only regenerate where fire is already present at!" she called out to the other two fighters still standing.
"Impudent wench!" Taikani roared, angry at having one of his secrets outed so easily. Pointing at the Miko, he summoned fire into his fingers and unleashed a concentrated pyro-kinetic attack that struck her hastily erected barrier before exploding. When it faded, Kagome's barrier was still intact, but just barely before it fell, the Miko collapsing to her knees panting heavily, using her bow to support herself.
"Leave her be, your fight is with us now," Inuyasha exclaimed as he shared a glance with Sesshomaru, who nodded back. His sword transformed once more, this time coming to the form of the Dragon Scaled Tessaiga.
This time he leapt in to attack the Fire Lord directly but instead of slashing into Taikani directly, he instead seemed to miss his target entirely. The Fire Demon started to ask Inuyasha what he thought he was doing before he felt a pull and realized with a start that the impudent hanyo had snagged his demonic vortex within the demonic aura of the odd sword that he wielded.
Eyes widened as the other demon came at him with his destructive sword and Taikani realized that he had underestimated his opposition, perhaps fatally unless he did something to stop it immediately. Calling upon his inner stores of demonic energy, he screamed while unleashing a wave of intense fire upon his foes, throwing goblets of fire in all directions as Sesshomaru used the Bakusaiga to unleash a Dragon Strike upon their ensnared quarry.
A series of explosions engulfed the immediate area around the three of them, causing all of them to vanish from sight as everyone else who was both conscious and watching had to shield their eyes from the bright lights. When it faded, their foe was nowhere to be seen and much of the surrounding fires had been extinguished. Inuyasha had been throwing onto the ground and seemed to be knocked out but had thankfully been spared extensive damage by both his sword's sheath and his robe of the fire rat.
Likewise Sesshomaru too seemed to be knocked out but had also been protected to some degree by his sheathed sword, the Tenseiga. Both of his daughters gasped as they started to run forward to his aid but Kagome held a hand out in their direction, indicating for them to stop as the area wasn't safe yet. Their foe was nowhere to be seen yet she could still feel his demonic aura and knew he was still very much alive.
Looking around, Kagome suddenly panicked as she saw that the only thing with fire on it anywhere nearby was the Tree of Ages as one of the goblets of fire thrown out earlier had landed in its upper branches. She drew her last arrow from the quiver on her back as sure enough Taikani started to reform from the fire there.
"An admirable attempt at stopping me, know that even as I erase all of your from the flow of time, the memories of your intrepid courage in opposing me shall live on always within my own memories," said Taikani two tendrils of fire emerged from his hands, one starting to wrap around the trunk of the tree and the other snaking its way towards the Bone Eaters Well.
With desperation came a calm as Kagome poured the last of her reserves into her final arrow, notching it as determination erased any doubts present about her ability to stop him. Some worry remained over what she might do to the Tree of Ages but then an idea came to mind, an old memory and one of her first upon coming through the portal for the first time. The arrow changed from glowing purple to a brilliant white as she changed the focus from a purifying arrow to one of sealing before letting it loose, watching it fly towards the Fire Demon and striking him in the Tree just as his Tendrils finished wrapping around both the tree and the well.
What happened next was another bright light making Setsuna and Towa shield their eyes once more. When the light died down they saw a big blue barrier mere feet in front of them. Looking inside, they saw Sesshomaru, Inuyasha, Kagome, Miroku, Sango, Shippo, Jaken, Ah-Un, and that Fire Demon all sitting still in their last positions, Kagome still standing with her arms up as if she had just released the arrow. No one was moving within the strange blue barrier, it was if as time had frozen for everyone on the inside.
The blue glow of the barrier increased in intensity and both Setsuna and Towa began panicking as they both ran forward to try and breach the barrier, but both were thrown back and away as a powerful explosion encompassed outwards from the barrier, throwing both of them into the still smoldering forest beyond, away from the direction of the half destroyed village.
***
Kohaku had been on a demon extermination mission a hefty distance away when word had come from one of Shippo's signals about a large demon attack on the village. Dropping everything about his current work he had raced back on Kirara, only to see the smoke cloud of a great conflagration in process as he approached. He was almost to the village when a great explosion of blue light engulfed the area near the Tree of Ages, extinguishing a considerable amount of the flames.
Flying over the area, he had seen the villagers, his nieces and nephews, and Moroha approaching what he assumed had been the main battle area with caution. Landing, he found himself in a shallow crater about a foot deep near the Tree of Ages. It seemed to be centered on the tree itself yet neither the tree nor the nearby well seemed to be affected, although everything else nearby had been blown away including about a foot's worth of topsoil.
Kirara perked up and started walking in the direction of the smoldering forest nearby. Kohaku followed the demon cat and could soon hear a soft crying. Jogging now, he came upon the form of one of Sesshomaru's daughters, Setsuna, as she lay on her back, crying with her eyes closed and a nasty red bump on her forehead.
"Hey Setsuna, it's me Kohaku, I'm sorry I couldn't get here sooner but I'm here to help," he said while kneeling next to the scared young half demon girl.
"Kohaku?" Setsuna asked without opening her eyes.
"That's right, let's get you some help," he said as he gathered the young-ling into his arms and went to put her on Kirara.
"I'm sorry, I don't believe we've met before. And who's Setsuna? Is that my name?" asked the young girl. Kohaku wasn't surprised at the memory loss given the look of her head injury. He really needed to find Kagome or Sango to help him tend to her but everyone just seems to have vanished.
***
"Setsuna, where are you? Setsuna!" called Towa as she looked around for her missing sister. The two of them had been right next to each other when the barrier had exploded yet out the corner of her eye she had seen her sister intercept a tree with her head while Towa herself had continued flying deeper into the forest before mercifully landing in some soft bushes. But Towa was despondent as his sister was likely badly hurt and she couldn't find her anywhere.
"Setsuna!" she called again but no answer, until a soft growl caught Towa's attention, from her left. Checking around a fallen tree, Towa saw some fresh paw prints in the ground, leaving into a small cave nearby.
Getting onto her hands and knees, Towa crawled into the cave. Eventually she saw light ahead, at the end of the tunnel, and crawled out, only to see a fantastical scene before her that stole her breath away.
A majestic dwelling, as large as a lord's manor, seemed to be sitting before her, but beyond that rose many spires, tall as mountains but shaped in very deliberate fashion and glistening in the sunlight as if many of them were carved from crystal.
It took Towa a moment to regain her senses but once she had it was once more time to search for her sister.
"Setsuna! Setsuna! Where are you?" Towa called as she emerged from the cave and took to her feet to look around.
"Well hello there, you remind me of someone I haven't seen in a very long time," came the unfamiliar voice of a human male that she didn't recognize, but bore a close resemblance to someone she did know.
"Who is that? And who are you? Have you seen my sister?" Towa rattled off the questions in quick succession as fear entered her voice, tears welling up within her eyes.
"Inuyasha was his name, at least you have similar ears to him. You can call me Souta and don't worry, I haven't seen your sister but I'm sure we can find her," said Souta as his wife came out to join him.
Knowing now that Setsuna hadn't come this way, Towa turned to leave, only to notice that the cave that she had crawled through had disappeared, a bed of flowers occupying the spot where it had been a mere moment ago. Despair engulfed the young girl as both Souta and his wife knelt down to comfort the lost half demon girl.