“It is unspeakably foolish,” Magatsuhi’s cold voice sneered, “to turn your back on your opponent.”

Blood spilled from Sesshoumaru’s clenched fangs as he glared behind him. Serrated and envenomed, the tentacle spearing him through withdrew in a sharp, shredding lash–its course diverted from his heart and the Jewel shard above it by Tenseiga’s timely intervention. As Magatsuhi’s wicked limb streaked toward him again, Sesshoumaru staggered to his feet, chunks of bloodied broken armor crumbling from him as he turned and met his enemy’s attack at the last instant with Tessaiga.

“So, there’s still some fight left in you, I see,” the demon of the Shikon no Tama remarked, the daiyoukai stumbling slightly as the appendage locked against him abruptly retracted. “Good.”

A flurry of arced slashes followed, each strike driving Sesshoumaru farther back across the blasted ground. As his power diverted to mend the gaping hole in his chest, he was forced to remain on the defensive–Tessaiga acting as more of a shield than a weapon as it absorbed blow after blow. A trail of dark red followed Sesshoumaru’s backward course, the edge of the jagged cliff looming ever closer behind him, like the maw of some waiting beast. Yet, if he were forced to take to the air in this weakened state, he would almost certainly be struck down.

“How dull indeed,” the Jewel’s demonic incarnation sighed.  The blackened earth split open as he directed his attacks toward the canyon floor instead, attempting to cut the ground out from underneath his earthbound opponent. “To think that Naraku was so fearful of your power…and this is the poor contest you bring me.”

Panting, Sesshoumaru leapt back, a spray of blood following him as he twisted away from Magatsuhi’s pursuant slash, the thin new skin sealing his chest ripping open beneath the strain. With a snarl of agony, he slammed Tessaiga into the ground and raised a barrier around him. It was a costly, risky measure, given his diminishing youki and his opponent’s considerable strength, but in order for his wound to close, he needed to remain still.

Chuckling, Magatsuhi lashed out against Sesshoumaru’s shield, the radiant blue wall of youki shivering as his tentacles smashed and shattered against it. “Hiding from me while you lick your wounds, Sesshoumaru-sama? …Let us see just how long you can.”

As the demon began to bombard the barrier in earnest, Sesshoumaru sank to a crouch, gritting his fangs as his flesh and bones knit slowly back together. Each tense second dragged on for an eternity as he fought to maintain his concentration against his mounting exhaustion. Staring hard through the straining film of light around him, he focused determinedly on his enemy–this foul creature who dared to stand between himself and Kagome.

He had underestimated Magatsuhi’s regenerative abilities. In order to defeat this demon, Sesshoumaru now knew, he would have to destroy all of him all at once.

Narrowing his eyes, he studied the massive storm of youki surrounding his opponent—finding by sight and by scent that schism where the dark, swirling currents of energy collided. But would the Wind Scar be enough to eradicate Magatsuhi in full? If not, and Sesshoumaru expended such resources in vain…

As he deliberated, he saw something else in the demonic winds roiling throughout the canyon—another divide that existed between Magatsuhi’s power and his own. It was faint, and growing fainter, yet still Sesshoumaru could see the difference as he straightened and drew his flaring sword up from the ground.

“Are you finished cowering?” Magatsuhi taunted, smirking as he recalled his bladed limbs to him in wait. “Drop your shield, then, weakling, and accept your fate.”

“My fate…”

Sesshoumaru laughed bloodily, bitterly. A wary frown creased his enemy’s features as he dropped his shield and halted his body’s healing.

“…I have already accepted my fate.”

Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi