Every corner of the forest reeks of fresh blood, while the red clouds in the sky only seem to become more filled with blood with the weight of time.
Due to the increased amount of blood in the clouds, the amount of blood creatures being created have multiplied by many times, forcing Miroku, Sango, Hitomiko and Shippo to tread more carefully.
"Black Hole."
Raising the hand that carries his signature "Black Hole" technique, Miroku positions himself behind Sango who handles Kirara and sweeps away the fleshy beings easily.
Hitomiko on the other hand remains on the ground, though her attacks that we could consider magical are infallible, be it the lightning chains coming from the Byakko talismans, or her explosive balls from the Suzaku talismans.
"Don't forget about us!"
Taking advantage of the explosions created by Hitomiko tearing the enemies apart, Shippo who is standing on Kagome's head, forms a few spheres of flames and releases them on the weakened enemies.
Obviously Kagome wasn't going to stay static, she's training with Hitomiko for a reason, so she keeps aiming her bow at an enemy's head and releases the purifying arrow.
"Yes, one down!"
"Way to go, Kagome."
High-fiving Shippo in a nonchalant manner, Kagome looks away from the enemies and it quickly takes its toll on her. It was similar to a worm made of red meat, only a monstrous mouth full of teeth opened in an attempt to devour Kagome.
"Try my steel claws!"
"Inuyasha!"
"Hump, save your thanks for later, Kagome. Damn, he's already taken Asahiko off the top."
Wiping his beastly claws by just waving his hands, Inuyasha watches as a few trees are uprooted by a body at high speed, so he runs off without crossing any more words.
...Christopher/Asahiko pov....
"Are you still alive down there, Asahiko?"
Hearing Inuyasha's not at all concerned voice, I pull my arm out of the huge logs that are crushing my body to the ground and give a so-so.
"Ehh, what does that mean?"
"That you help me, agh, gross, I feel like I just swallowed some splinters."
"Well you wouldn't have backed up the logs with your head."
"I want to hit you more than I want to hit that moth boy."
Tapping my attire to get the dust, wood chips and leaves off of me, I pointed out how beatable it is to Inuyasha, before fixing the gaping holes in my attire.
"Ha, anytime... Were you able to get him out of the place?"
"Tsk, no, I even let myself get beaten up for kicks and the bastard didn't follow me to finish me off."
"So he's really guarding that area, huh?"
"Bah, he's just a camper that moth guy, though it really looks like he's not going to move from the spot."
We had been fighting that moth guy for about three rounds, of which he won all three... But there's good news and bad news.
The good news is that the moth boy doesn't seem very interested in moving from the blood gathering place, he's basically guarding that place like a guard dog, so his movements are pretty limited.
While the bad... The bad news is that he's strong, absurdly strong. It's not about having an impenetrable defense like Ryukotsusei, or supreme strength like Sesshōmaru... But rather that he has so much negative energy that energy attacks are useless against him, whether it's Inuyasha's Cutting Wind or my flames.
"The good thing is…"
"Bah, unimportant stuff, now let's go for another round!"
"Wait is that you're a..."
Of course Inuyasha didn't pay me the slightest bit of attention, he just kept running at full speed towards the moth boy, forcing me to go after him.
After a few moments, since Menōmaru's punch didn't send me very far, I ran through a tree and out into a newly created clearing in the forest. Such a place was cleared during the previous three rounds, turning it into a barren reddish land filled with the smell of blood from its accumulation here.
"Ahh, Cutting Wind!"
"Simply useless!"
Extending his hand that is surrounded by the tentacles of flesh, I watch as Menōmaru waves Clouded Fang upward uninterestedly and easily wipes out Inuyasha's Cutting Wind technique.
But that's not where it ends, as he keeps Clouded Fang pointed upward for a few moments, fills it with reddish energy, and unleashes a slash towards Inuyasha.
*¡Boom!*
A red explosion spreads from the impact site, while Inuyasha's body flies out and through a few trees. Uninterested in his situation, as he is most likely fine, I charge forward with a knight jousting type fire spear.
Certainly my attack impacted squarely against him, though not against his flesh, but against the barrier of pure energy around him. Simply put, it was so much of Menōmaru's energy that it created a force field around him, rendering weaker attacks useless.
[Just drop the towel, Asahiko. What can you do when you're at such a disadvantage].
"Sure, if you want I'll also wash my neck when you come."
[Why would I do that, Asahiko? You've been the best bearer I've ever had, even than Inu no Taisho, who was wary of my power and never used me... Imagine what we could do, what we could accomplish together!"]
"Shut up already. Cutting Wind!"
Sensing the danger he was running towards me from behind, he gathered strength in his feet and leapt upwards, dodging Inuyasha's attack by the skin of his teeth.
Still I knew there was little that attack was going to do to Menōmaru, just like any other energy type attack, but that doesn't detract from the fact that I'm going to hit him hard and the first step was to gather flames.
The gathered flames turned from yellow to white in moments, making them wild and uncontrollable due to the amount of power. The good thing was that this was going to be a point blank attack, no need for control or anything like that... So, bon appetit.
*¡Booooooom!*
White flames covered the entire field of vision, while I could feel the pieces of earth flying like projectiles and the temperature rising, but there was an area where... Tentacle?.
Piercing through my flames as if they were fake, a red tentacle moves swiftly from the right and before I can react, it whips me backwards hard.
[What a shame, so much power and no weapon to release it... Join me, Asahiko. Let's take over the world!]
"Look, Asahiko, I think the sword likes you."
"Screw you, Inuyasha, and tell me something that's useful."
Getting out of the hole I've made with my body from the impact, I give Inuyasha the middle finger and ask him about whether I noticed anything in my last attack.
"I didn't get a very good look between the explosions, what, they make too much fuss about your flames. Anyway, I could feel the momentary weakness in your barrier... But it was minimal."
"At least they worked..."
Overlooking the twitching of one of my eyelids, and as Inuyasha blows the finger he just cleaned his ears with, I reply with all the love I could muster at that moment.
"Sure, sure, they worked great, Asahiko."
"Better than your Blunt Wind is, since cutting, that wind has nothing."
"Ha ha ha ha... It's useless, I can't see it... Even with its energy in such a vivid form, I can't seem to find the weak point of it."
What is Inuyasha talking about? Simple, even though his most recognizable technique is the Cutting Wind, he also has another one, that one he pulled out of the junk... The Bakuryuha, the technique that defeated Ryukotsusei in one blow.
What happens is that with Inuyasha nothing can be simple, yes for the "Cutting Wind" you need to find the "Wind Wound", for the "Bakuryuha" you need to find the exact moment when the energies of him and the enemy are in balance, and then unleash a counterattack with both energies merged.
"Basically you can't find that... 'Balance' between the energies, since that guy is full of energy?"
"Tsk, yeah, you have to weaken him a bit."
"Gee, if you want you can ask for something more difficult, Inuyasha. Well, stand back for a few moments. I'm going to release my inner pyromaniac."
Stopping with my left arm Inuyasha who looks ready to return to the attack, I opened the palm of my right arm and created a sphere of white flames, before laughing under my breath.
What is art? Art is... An explosion.