"Why are you HERE?!"
"GREAT DOG DEMON!!"
Shock and fury mingled in the shriek, but the only answer was another swing of the blade.
"WIND SCAR!!"
The second blast descended even more ferociously than the first. The Shikon no Tama abandoned all pretense and detonated its own body to scatter in every direction.
No more careless deaths. Even if it had lives left to spend, they weren't meant to be thrown away like this.
By its own estimation, the Great Dog Demon possessed the strength to kill it at least twice. And the tactics it had used against Kirinmaru wouldn't work here either.
If it tried to swallow the Great Dog Demon the way it had trapped Kirinmaru, he'd simply slash open a Meido and pull them both out. The man had command over dimensional boundaries themselves.
When it had strategized with Naraku regarding the Great Dog Demon, their entire approach had been condensed into a single word.
Hide.
Neither of them had any answer for a great yokai at his absolute peak. Encounter him, and you might not survive.
Their only advantage was that most participants happened to be his relatives, which limited his freedom of action. Using Inuyasha and Sesshomaru to pin him down remained the best available strategy.
That man would never raise his blade against family.
But running into him here, now, where it had expected nothing but an easy kill? That wasn't in any plan.
The Jewel had boasted to Kirinmaru about eventually surpassing the Great Dog Demon. But its preparations were nowhere near complete. Facing him at full readiness was a necessity, not a luxury.
Losing a life to that half-demon girl was humiliating enough. Getting dismantled by the Great Dog Demon on top of it would be catastrophic.
Scattered flesh fled in every direction without hesitation.
"It ran?"
Kohaku stared in disbelief. The entity that had seemed utterly invincible moments ago was now fleeing without an ounce of dignity.
"Hm? He looks so much like..."
Moroha tilted her head, suddenly struck by how much this person resembled Towa's father, Sesshomaru.
"That's your grandfather, Moroha."
Kikyo rose to her feet, watching the tall figure turn back toward them.
"?"
"Ah, I see. I'd been wondering how a yokai could wield my power."
"You're a descendant summoned by the Ritual?"
While Moroha's face was still blank with confusion, the Great Dog Demon had already connected the pieces.
The Dragon Ball War drew figures from past, present, and future. Any being of sufficient renown, human or yokai, could be summoned.
The yokai miasma from before had masked the scents. But standing this close, the truth was obvious. The bloodline flowing through this girl was unmistakable.
If she was his descendant, accessing that immense yokai power made perfect sense.
"Your father is Inuyasha?"
He planted Tessaiga in the earth, walked over, and crouched to eye level with this grandchild who looked almost entirely human.
"Huh?! How did you know!"
Moroha jumped. This wasn't the first time someone had seen through her background at a glance.
Back in her era, nobody ever talked about her parents. But here, everyone seemed to read her like an open book.
'That's strange. Looking at him, I feel... safe.'
His smile was warm like sunlight. No strangeness. No distance. Just an inexplicable familiarity that made her chest feel light.
"You've grown up healthy and strong."
"Moroha, is it?"
"A wonderful name."
Kohaku watched the great figure kneel beside the girl with an expression of pure, unrestrained happiness, and wasn't entirely sure what he was looking at.
He still didn't fully understand what had happened. The shift from certain death to this gentle family scene had left him reeling.
"You're my grandfather?"
"Well, this trip keeps getting better and better! First I met Dad, then both my Moms, and now my Grandpa?"
"This is absolutely worth it!"
Hands clasped behind her head, totally at ease under the Great Dog Demon's gaze, Moroha beamed.
Before meeting Towa and Setsuna, she'd had no friends. No family. And now, within the span of this war, every missing piece had found its way back to her.
How could she not be happy?
"Mm."
The warmth settled in the Great Dog Demon's chest. He turned his gaze toward the woman standing behind them.
Red and white miko robes. A graceful bow of greeting, perfectly composed.
She was beautiful. Strikingly so. And the spiritual power radiating from her was exceptional even by his standards.
'No wonder Inuyasha fell for her.'
That refinement, that bearing, she would stand out even among the great female yokai.
For Inuyasha to have pursued her despite her being a miko, a being antithetical to his very existence, the boy was more daring than his father had imagined.
But there was something else.
"I see. You are no longer among the living."
The Great Dog Demon understood now why Inuyasha would seek a second human woman.
Presumably this miko named Kikyo had met an untimely death and been brought back by some manner of dark arts.
"Do you still carry attachments to this world?"
"Is it because of Inuyasha, or..."
As Inuyasha's father, he wouldn't mind helping this woman find peace, if that was what she wanted. She had likely been something close to a daughter-in-law once. As an elder who'd never been able to offer his blessing, that absence nagged at him.
"Perhaps at first."
"But not anymore."
Her features didn't change. But the Great Dog Demon could read the bitter undercurrent beneath that perfect composure.
Connecting this to the Kagome that Myoga had spoken of, the picture became clear. The heart of his younger son must be stretched impossibly thin right now.
"Is that so?"
"I won't pry further."
"But if Inuyasha has wronged you in any way, tell me freely."
"As his father, I still have enough strength to give him a thorough beating."
He could see the tiny figure reflected in Kikyo's eyes. The small, fierce girl standing between them. Kikyo stared at him, astonishment flickering across her usually unreadable face.
The Great Dog Demon chuckled softly. A promise.
"Oh! Hey, Grandpa!"
"Isn't this Dad's Tessaiga? Did you take it from him?"
Moroha trotted over to the sword planted in the earth, yanked it free, and examined it with sparkling eyes.
No awkwardness. No formality. She'd accepted the relationship as naturally as breathing.
"This came with me when I was summoned. My peak was when I wielded all three of these swords."
"What?! For real?! Then you even have Tenseiga, the one that brings people back to life?"
"Mm. Right here."
"Ohhh!! It's real!! Both Tenseiga and Tessaiga! This is amazing!"
Kohaku watched this scene and felt his face contort into something indescribable.
If memory served, Tessaiga was the sword Sesshomaru-sama had obsessively pursued for years. Totosai and Myoga had explained it was left specifically for Inuyasha, and that Sesshomaru wasn't permitted to touch it. The resulting conflict between the brothers had caused no small amount of chaos.
And yet here was Moroha, casually pulling legendary swords from the Great Dog Demon's back and swinging them around like toys.
He could only imagine the expressions Sesshomaru and Inuyasha would make if they saw this.
"Grandpa, what's that last sword? I've never seen it before."
"This one? It's called So'unga."
"Can I look at it?!"
"Sure. Give me a moment. Unlike Tenseiga and Tessaiga, this one has a bit of an attitude. Let me suppress it first."
Kohaku was absolutely certain that despite the Great Dog Demon's casual tone, that was anything but a simple weapon.
The yokai energy bound to that blade was suffocating. He didn't even want to imagine what kind of ancient terror was sealed inside.
His eyelid twitched as the Great Dog Demon handed it directly to Moroha.
Like giving a child a new toy.
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]