Chapter 40: The Desired Puzzle Pieces Are Gradually Falling into Place
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“Humans...”
The enormous Sesshomaru looked down at Hōjō Akitoshi, who appeared tiny beneath him. In Sesshomaru’s eyes, the man was no larger than an ant, yet he was struggling desperately to hack at his ankle.
At that moment, Sesshomaru somewhat understood why humans inhabited the vast majority of this world’s fertile lands.
They were not demons, who possessed longer lifespans, greater individual strength, and more formidable bodies than humans.
Perhaps humanity’s ancestors had been just like Hōjō Akitoshi, throwing themselves forward generation after generation without pause.
That was how they had forced the demons back into the mountains, wilderness, ponds, and marshes.
“But I am Sesshomaru!”
“Do not mistake me for some worthless demon!”
Though he had gained a certain insight, Sesshomaru showed not the slightest hesitation in his actions.
Demonic energy swiftly surged into his ankle, and the pride in his chest drove him to meet force with force.
“Come on!”
Sharp light flashed in Hōjō Akitoshi’s eyes. He, too, wanted to ascertain his true standing through a direct confrontation.
By testing himself against Sesshomaru, he could also determine the direction he ought to take in the future.
“Clang!”
Though it was flesh, Sesshomaru’s demonic-energy-infused ankle seemed to have transformed into an iron pillar supporting the heavens.
With a crisp clash of metal, Hōjō Akitoshi’s blade, reinforced with a faint purifying force, managed only to slice off a few strands of Sesshomaru’s hair and leave a shallow cut across his flesh.
The tremendous force that followed sent Hōjō Akitoshi flying, sword and all.
“Hahaha! Truly worthy of being Lord Sesshomaru, the pinnacle of the demon world.”
He curled up and somersaulted in midair, dispersing the exaggerated impact before landing steadily on the ground.
While praising Sesshomaru aloud, Hōjō Akitoshi dodged the pursuit that came rushing after him.
“Boom!”
Sesshomaru’s claw slammed into the earth, and a trace of excitement appeared in his eyes.
Turning his head in search of Hōjō Akitoshi, he discovered that the human had slipped behind him.
Sesshomaru’s expression instantly darkened. He had no intention of allowing Hōjō Akitoshi anywhere near his rear.
That said, the human’s response was entirely understandable under the circumstances.
Sesshomaru’s tail lashed out, at once like a steel whip and a battering ram.
With a sweep and a snap, it forced Hōjō Akitoshi—who had been hoping to sneak around and strike the demon’s backside—to retreat helplessly.
But before Hōjō Akitoshi could regain his balance, Sesshomaru drove off with his hind leg.
“Ugh!”
There was nowhere left to dodge. Hōjō Akitoshi was vastly inferior in both size and strength.
He violently spat a mass of purple blood from his mouth.
“Lord Akitoshi!”
Kagome was so shocked that she felt as though her heart and liver had been torn apart. She could no longer remain seated. Abandoning Inuyasha, who stood beside her frozen in disbelief at how long Hōjō Akitoshi had managed to hold out against Sesshomaru, the girl immediately drew an arrow, raised her bow, and fired at the enormous demon.
Thanks to Sesshomaru’s tremendous size, Kagome’s less-than-masterful archery nevertheless struck him three times in succession.
The wounds gave Hōjō Akitoshi a brief chance to catch his breath.
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“Impressive. Is this the strength of a supreme demon?”
After recognizing the limitations of an ordinary human through Yura of the Hair, and then witnessing the absolute gulf in power between himself and Sesshomaru, Hōjō Akitoshi’s longing for strength grew ever more intense.
Once this battle was over, he desperately wanted to devote himself to obtaining power of his own.
But first...
Working together with Kagome, Hōjō Akitoshi did his best to keep the enormous white hound Sesshomaru occupied.
Even as he fought, he kept an eye on Inuyasha. If that husky-headed fool still failed to understand Tessaiga before the two of them could hold out no longer...
Then he would have no choice but to apologize to him.
Hōjō Akitoshi did not believe that the Dog General, a being of such stature, would truly be able to watch his eldest son tear his younger son to pieces within his own tomb.
Surely, when Inuyasha reached a life-or-death crisis, that elusive old man would step forward himself.
Whether by descending into Inuyasha’s body or manifesting in broad daylight, the Dog General must have some way to settle the dispute.
Just as he had repeatedly risen from the dead without warning in the original timeline.
“Love and protection... Love and protection...”
While Hōjō Akitoshi and Kagome struggled on, Inuyasha was not standing idle either.
He repeated the hint Hōjō Akitoshi had given him over and over, both in his mind and aloud.
“I’m close. I’m close.”
His brain felt ready to boil, yet Inuyasha kept sensing that he was missing something by the narrowest margin.
Just a tiny step away—but that tiny step slipped away every time.
He could never quite catch hold of it.
“What am I missing?”
He had made the decision countless times in his heart, yet the sword in his hands simply refused to respond.
The frustration showed both in his heart and across his face.
“Ugh!”
“Lord Akitoshi!”
Just as Inuyasha was on the verge of madness, the sound of someone vomiting blood, followed by Kagome’s anxious cry, abruptly drew his attention.
Within his line of sight, Hōjō Akitoshi, after holding out for so long, was finally struck by Sesshomaru once again.
Blood poured from his mouth and scattered through the air, resembling the petals drifting from the cherry tree outside Princess Izayoi’s home during his childhood.
“Ah... The cherry tree in my homeland has blossomed.”
Muttering to himself, Inuyasha saw Hōjō Akitoshi transform into that tree, while Kagome became his mother, standing before the gate and anxiously calling him home.
The next instant, the illusion shattered, and reality returned.
Kagome and Hōjō Akitoshi, like his departed mother Izayoi, seemed moments away from returning to the land of the dead.
Under Sesshomaru’s relentless pressure, Hōjō Akitoshi managed to add several more wounds to his opponent.
Then he was struck again. Not only that, but Sesshomaru, finding a moment to spare, swept Kagome away with his tail as she provided support.
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The string in Inuyasha’s mind snapped. Lofty questions such as love and protection were no longer things he had the leisure to consider.
He simply could not bear to see two people important to him come to harm.
“Clatter!”
It was precisely that simple instinctive reaction that caused the rusted sword in Inuyasha’s hands to change.
A magnificent blade, broad as a door panel, emerged in all its glory. Its hilt bore a guard flowing like a lion’s mane.
The true form of Tessaiga had finally appeared.
“What?”
Sesshomaru, who had been pursuing Hōjō Akitoshi and Kagome, turned his head at the sight. He had witnessed Tessaiga many times in the hands of his father, the Dog General.
There was no way he could mistake the blade’s true form.
“Well done.”
Blood still streaming from his mouth, Hōjō Akitoshi watched with relief as Inuyasha finally understood.
At that moment, lying against Kagome’s chest and held in her arms, Hōjō Akitoshi smiled.
“Lord Akitoshi... Lord Akitoshi...”
Seeing him in such a state, Kagome could not help recalling the films and television dramas she had watched in the future.
It seemed that, in those stories, someone in Hōjō Akitoshi’s condition would next close his eyes and pass away.
Thus, she had no attention left to spare for the battle between Inuyasha and Sesshomaru. Her entire heart was fixed upon Hōjō Akitoshi.
And so, Inuyasha’s sudden surge of determination—with the aid of his father’s fang and Sesshomaru’s weakened condition—produced an exceptionally rare moment of glory.
Kagome spectacularly failed to notice any of it.
“Inuyasha!”
Only when a cry filled with soul-shattering fury rang out, accompanied by the earth-shaking crash of something heavy striking the ground, did she look up.
“Kagome, it’s all right. I’m not dead yet.”
Hōjō Akitoshi struggled up from Kagome’s embrace and gently wiped away the tears that had gathered at the corners of her eyes.
Only then did the girl have time to notice Inuyasha standing nearby with the sword in his hands, wearing an expression as though he had just swallowed a pile of dung.
A moment earlier, he had been smugly waiting for praise.
Now...
Inuyasha felt he would rather die.
“Annoying Hōjō Akitoshi,” he muttered resentfully.
“Sit!”
Having heard that, how could Kagome possibly let the ungrateful mutt off?
Ignoring the bickering pair, Hōjō Akitoshi took the opportunity to approach the left arm Sesshomaru had lost to Inuyasha’s blade.
Without either of the two nearby noticing, he raised his sword and brought it down without hesitation.
With that, Sesshomaru’s flesh and blood were secured. Combined with the fragments of the Dog General’s bones, Hōjō Akitoshi had gained a great deal from this journey.
All that remained was to wait for the pieces of the puzzle to come together, one by one.
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