"Why keep forcing yourself to stay alive?"
"You murdered your own father with your own hands. Shouldn't you die to atone for that?"
Moryomaru's cold voice echoed above as he watched Kohaku fleeing below.
SNAP!
Kohaku dodged a lashing tentacle and glanced back without breaking stride. The poisoned words didn't touch him.
He knew his sin better than anyone. But if atonement was owed, it would come only after Naraku was dead.
The Sacred Jewel shard on his body would never fall into Naraku's hands. Never.
"Enough, Moryomaru. Finish him off!"
The Infant's impatient voice killed whatever playfulness remained. No more toying with prey.
"Then I'll just separate his head from his shoulders."
Moryomaru's arm reshaped into a blade and slashed toward Kohaku's neck.
WHOOSH!
THUD!
'No good. Kikyo-sama is still too far away. I won't make it in time.'
He tried to dodge, but his legs buckled. His body hit the dirt.
"Struggling right to the end!"
BZZZT!!
Moryomaru unleashed the Goraishi lightning he'd absorbed from Koga. A blinding arc tore toward Kohaku's prone body.
"No!"
He couldn't move. His limbs refused to respond.
"CRIMSON DRAGON WAVE!!"
A thundering shout split the air. Crimson yokai energy surged into the shape of a dragon and swallowed the lightning whole.
"Who's there?!"
An attack Moryomaru had never seen before. He spun to face the source.
WHOOSH!
'Sacred Arrows?!'
What answered him was a storm of arrows raining down like a monsoon.
"!"
CLANG! CLANG!!
Moryomaru contracted his body, shielding himself with the Meioju armor as best he could. The barrage drove him back, forcing distance between him and Kohaku.
"Now's my chance."
Kohaku didn't know who had saved him, but he scrambled to his feet.
"Hey! Didn't expect you to be this tiny at this point in time!"
A figure dropped from the sky and landed before him.
A girl with hair the same color as Kagome's, wearing the same Robe of the Fire Rat as Inuyasha.
"Who are you?"
Kohaku searched his memory. This person wasn't anyone he recognized.
"Haha! My name's Moroha, and I'm Da..."
She flashed a confident grin over her shoulder, then immediately tripped over her words.
'Remember, Moroha. Don't reveal your identity to others lightly.'
Kikyo's instructions. She didn't fully understand the reason, but she'd listened.
"My Ma... Kikyo sent me!!"
Calling Mom by name didn't feel right either. After an awkward internal struggle, she settled on something she could live with.
"Kikyo-sama?"
The first syllable was enough. Kohaku made the connection.
"Yes!"
In the future she came from, Moroha knew Kohaku well. She just hadn't expected the formidable Demon Slayer to be in such rough shape at this age.
"Then let's retreat for now. If we reach Kikyo-sama, Moryomaru won't dare press the attack."
The situation was urgent. Kohaku didn't have time to question Moroha's background.
His logic was sound. But Moroha didn't share his caution.
A slightly special yokai? That was all? She'd crossed blades with Kirinmaru himself. This thing didn't scare her.
"Don't worry about it. Watch me handle this."
She raised her blade. Kikyo's spiritual power still thrummed through the steel.
Her mom was resting. She wasn't about to let anyone disturb that.
Slaying demons, saving people. Moroha could handle it just fine.
"! That scent!"
"Who are you?!"
Moryomaru's exposed arm was riddled with arrow holes. He clutched the wound Cu Chulainn had punched into his chest, staring at the half-demon girl before him.
If his senses were right, this girl, reeking of both human and yokai blood, carried traces of Inuyasha and Kagome in her veins.
Their daughter?
Even Moryomaru and the Infant were stunned. Hadn't they just seen those two recently? Since when had things progressed this far?
"Who I am doesn't matter. I'm the one who's going to destroy you!"
"DEMONIC DRAGON WAVE!!"
Drawing on Kikyo's spiritual power, Moroha raised her blade overhead and brought it down in a sweeping arc.
ROARRR!!
A massive pink dragon, blazing with energy, erupted from the slash and tore toward Moryomaru.
'This is Kikyo's spiritual power!!'
He didn't need a second thought. This time, taking the hit head-on was absolutely out of the question.
Moroha's yokai energy fused with Kikyo's spiritual power transformed the Crimson Dragon Wave into the Demonic Dragon Wave. That was not something Moryomaru could absorb.
Spiritual power was poison to yokai. Pure, undiluted poison.
And this particular spiritual power belonged to Kikyo.
The woman even Naraku avoided at all costs.
BOOM!!
The attack ground through the earth like a plow. Trees, soil, rocks, everything in its path was consumed. A deep, scarred trench carved itself across the landscape.
"That power..."
Kohaku stared at the devastation the girl had produced. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.
'Tch. This brat is too dangerous. A direct hit from that would finish me.'
Even with Meioju's armor, the coverage wasn't complete. Moryomaru still had exposed weaknesses.
'We have to get Kohaku's shard! Without it, we have no chance against Naraku!'
But the Infant refused to back down. No matter the danger, they had to succeed.
Hakudoshi was gone. Their power was already diminished. If they couldn't secure the remaining Sacred Jewel shard, they were finished.
"Take this!!!"
From high above, Moryomaru gathered energy and fired a blast of blue lightning downward.
"Hey! The yokai energy vortex is way too obvious!"
"Watch me shatter you!!"
Instead of dodging, Moroha leapt straight into the lightning's path. Her voice rang with adrenaline.
"CRIMSON BACKLASH WAVE!!"
"WHAT?!"
The familiar, devastating visual effect came surging toward him. For one terrified instant, Moryomaru thought he was facing Inuyasha wielding Tessaiga.
'How can she use the Backlash Wave? That's a Tessaiga technique!'
Even the Infant's composure cracked.
The tornado crashed in. Moryomaru had no choice but to dodge. Every spot grazed by its edge shattered and split.
"This is exactly what I mean when I say you're out of your league. You don't even know what's happening anymore."
"You and Hakudoshi? You were out of the game a long time ago."
A voice. Familiar. The words fell from somewhere within the storm.
A figure had appeared behind Moryomaru without either of them noticing.
"NARAKU!!"
"Well, well. Looks like the first one to come welcome you isn't a stranger at all. It's your own son."
Kirinmaru stood atop the cliff beside the Great Dog Demon, spotting the figure approaching from the distance at a glance.
The Great Dog Demon saw him too. His calm expression shifted, just barely.
"Sesshomaru."
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]