Shunji jumped from the Ferris wheel with Akari. The chimera and several puppets launched an attack on them as soon as they saw them. Naoki seemed to be hiding behind them, and Akari asked Shunji.
"Can you take care of him?" Shunji nodded. He had confidence now. Akari also trusted in his strength, so in order for him to concentrate on locating Naoki, she took it upon herself to fight the puppets and the chimera, isolating them from Shunji.
Shunji concentrated his energy and, after searching the entire area, found only one strange place: the center of the array. Shunji flew there and attacked without hesitation.
"Wow, I didn't think you'd be the one to find me first. Looks like that human can't attack me easily, huh?" Naoki mocked.
"Shut up! She doesn't need to get her hands dirty with you." Naoki stopped smiling and attacked him.
Akari saw that Shunji had located Naoki, and she began to accelerate the purification of the puppets, leaving only the chimera. Akari did not hold back and gathered her power to prepare and cut its soul thread. However, there was something strange. The chimera seemed to be deliberately leaving easy-to-attack spots on its body.
Akari didn't know the reason, but she didn't dare to be careless and attack without thinking. So she changed her plan and began attacking from a distance with her arrows. The chimera dodged the arrows and tried to get closer to her by all means.
Naoki, who was also observing the situation, clicked his tongue, saying, "Useless until the very end. It can't even do something so simple."
He chanted a spell, and ten more puppets suddenly appeared, launching themselves at Akari. She was prepared and cut them with her sword, but these were stronger than the previous ones and kept moving.
While she was busy with these, the chimera came up behind her, trying to wrap its body around her. Akari bit her fingers and threw her blood at it, causing it to burn with her spiritual power. This gave her the opportunity to get away. However, she suddenly felt a presence beside her. It had arrived so suddenly that she hadn't noticed it. It was a corpse, but it had no soul. Akari tried to attack, but something else suddenly grabbed her hands, causing her to lose her best opportunity and allowing the corpse in front of her to touch her forehead. A light shone in her eyes, and Akari lost consciousness.
When she opened her eyes again, she found herself in Shunji's mountain. Akari stood up when she heard someone call her.
"Akari." Behind her were her mother, her brother, Suzume, and Shunji.
Shunji approached her, extended his hand, and told her it was time to go home. Akari sensed something was wrong, but she still took his hand without hesitation. They walked hand in hand until they passed by a lake where Akari saw her reflection. Akari was stunned for a second before letting go of Shunji's hand and touching her face in disbelief.
Akari saw in her reflection a face she hadn't seen in a long time; this was her former appearance. The face before her was Kagome's. In the two years since she had been freed from Kagome's soul's influence, her face had ceased to resemble Kagome's, instead gradually beginning to take on the same form it had in her past life. Her family didn't notice anything strange because the change was very natural, and since she was still growing, no one found it odd.
"What happened, Akari? It's time to go home." 'Shunji' or rather Shunji's illusion began to fade, as did the surroundings, taking on their true form. Everything began to take the form of the ancient era. Shunji transformed into Inuyasha, and his mother, brother, and friend disappeared. Akari looked again at the lake that still remained and covered her face. It was Kagome with priestess clothes.
"Haha..." She laughed hollowly. Now she understood. This was an illusion showing her worst fears.
It didn't seem strange to her. She knew that deep down, the fear of having to return to that time still lingered, but this illusion was different. Her true fear was that the time she spent with her family, meeting Suzume and Shunji—that all those moments were just a dream.
"Surprisingly, I'm very scared..." Akari murmured.
On the other hand, the real Shunji was in the middle of a fierce battle. The moment Akari fainted, he flew quickly towards her, protecting her while destroying the puppets and part of the chimera.
Naoki laughed. "Why are you protecting her? It's useless. That woman will never wake up again. She will remain in an eternal sleep alongside her worst nightmares. Don't you think it's a fitting ending?" Shunji observed Akari's furrowed brow, and his face turned cold.
"Shut up, you imbecile!" Shunji attacked him while defending himself against the attacks of the two corpses and the chimera.
Soon, Naoki couldn't smile anymore. Shunji was not backing down at all, even though all four of them were attacking him at the same time. A hint of jealousy and hatred crossed his face. It hadn't been long since Shunji had fallen into his trap, and now he was able to face him at this level. Naoki underestimated him, or rather, he had underestimated the power and talent of a full demon.
There was no more time to play games. Naoki ordered them to kill him by any means necessary; if he continued to live, he would become dangerous.
As the battle raged on, Akari stood up and ignored the illusory Inuyasha before her. Though her fear was different from what she had imagined, it wasn't enough to make her lose hope. She had important people to fight for, and as long as she had even a sliver of hope of seeing them again, she would fight. With this thought in mind, the spiritual power within her began to attack the illusion, shattering it into pieces.
Akari opened her eyes, and she saw that she was being carried on Shunji's back. The chimera threw poison at her, and Akari reflexively created a barrier protecting them both.
"Akari! Are you awake?" Shunji said.
"Yes, I'm back. I'm sorry for the problems." Akari smiled.
Shunji shook his head.
"It doesn't matter. I'm happy you're good." Naoki, who saw her too, shouted.
"How did you wake up from that illusion?!" Akari mocked him.
"Do you think I'm going to tell you?" Naoki twisted his face in anger.
Akari looked at Shunji and told him
"Can you distract him for a while? I have a plan." Shunji smiled and nodded.
Akari stayed behind while Shunji distracted Naoki and the corpses. Akari nocked an arrow and smiled. It was thanks to that idiot Naoki that she remembered something she could use without hurting others. In her current state, it was dangerous to use that power, but oh well, who cares?
Akari shot the arrow at him, and Naoki mocked her.
"Are you tired of pretending, and do you plan to eliminate me along with the rest of humanity?"
He gathered the array full of souls in front of him to protect him, and Akari signaled to Shunji to move away.
Just as the arrow was about to touch the array, it disappeared, and Naoki frowned. As he was wondering what had happened, the arrow suddenly appeared in front of him, centimeters from his face. Terrified, he used one of the corpses to shield himself. Akari knew this was going to happen, so she fired another arrow.
Frantically, Naoki used the other corpse and the remains of the chimera as a shield while spreading poison, trying to escape. Akari didn't move her eyes from him as she watched the arrows cut the threads of three souls before reaching Naoki's. However, whether by luck or by his will not to die, Akari's spiritual power was finally swallowed by poison, thus preventing the thread of Naoki's soul from being completely cut.
Shunji quickly approached her and protected her with a barrier. Akari sighed in disappointment when she saw Naoki escape, but when she suddenly relaxed, she coughed up blood.
"Are you okay?" Shunji said, alarmed.
Akari nodded. Forcing the use of that power with so little spiritual strength had taken its toll on her body, but she was still okay.
"However, I don't have the strength to walk. I think you'll have to carry me." Shunji still looked worried as he carried her on his back; Akari leaned back and thought that his back was warm. She was exhausted and began to feel sleepy, and as she fell asleep, she thought about how she should make it up to Shunji for this date.