"Well then, I wonder how long Shishinki can actually stall the Great Dog Demon?"
Byakuya of the Illusions hovered a safe distance away, having no intention of getting any closer. The memory of the time Toga had practically "teleported" in front of his face was still fresh, and he was acutely aware that his own meager abilities weren't enough to survive even a playful swipe from such a legend. He was content to stay well out of reach.
'Byakuya. Go and find those who harbor old grudges against the Great Dog Demon.'
'Eh? Why should I bother with that?'
'Muzan still needs more time. If Kikyo and the Great Dog Demon reach him too soon, everything we've built will crumble.'
'Anyone will do, so long as they hate him. Find them. Unleash them.'
Naraku's order had sent Byakuya on a marathon across the countryside. If the East weren't so impossibly far away, he would have even considered inciting the youkai lords over there to "assist" him. He had heard that Kirinmaru's elder sister had a particularly... intense obsession with the Great Dog Demon.
"But honestly, there aren't many left in this era who can even claim a connection to him, are there?"
After hours of searching, the list of potential "stalling tools" was depressingly short.
After all, he was the Lord of the Western Lands--the supreme ruler of the youkai world. The list of those who had dared to oppose him and survived was a very short one.
Using them to buy time...
It was a strategy that relied entirely on the quality of the pawns.
BOOM!!
"Whoa, that was a close one," Byakuya muttered, watching a massive, mountain-sized `[Meido]` erupt in the distance.
"I wonder if Shishinki will even last the hour. Naraku did say that Toga is even more formidable now than he was in his prime..."
"Ugh!"
CRACK!!
A massive fist connected with Shishinki's jaw, the force of the blow sending him spiraling through the air like a discarded doll. He crashed into the earth, his body carving a long, jagged trench before finally coming to a stop.
'How is this possible?!'
Losing a physical contest was one thing, but why was the gap between their `[Meido]` abilities so vast? Even if his power had been stolen, the fundamental essence of the technique shouldn't have been this lopsided.
He scrambled to his feet, glaring up at the Great Dog Demon who hovered effortlessly in the air above him. His rage was a boiling sea in his chest.
"Tell me... who sent you to find me?"
Toga's focus wasn't on the pathetic creature before him; it was fixed on the unseen hand that had guided Shishinki to his location.
"Hmph."
Shishinki didn't answer. A cold realization was beginning to sink in--he had been used.
Initially, he had treated the anonymous tip about Toga being alive as a sick joke. But the moment he had seen the Great Dog Demon with his own eyes, his thirst for vengeance had overridden his common sense. He had walked straight into a trap.
And it was the kind of trap he couldn't walk away from.
Given the history between them, the idea of walking away without attempting to settle the score was unthinkable.
"You have no intention of speaking, then?"
Toga sheathed the `[Tenseiga]` with a click. Then, he reached over his shoulder and drew the blade he rarely unleashed.
"Wait... that sword..."
A cold dread washed over Shishinki. He knew that weapon. Everyone in the youkai world knew it.
It was the sword of ultimate conquest, the blade that had brought chaos to an entire era.
The `[So'unga]`!
I'm going to die.
The aura radiating from the weapon was far more oppressive than anything he had witnessed in his previous life. The sheer weight of the demonic energy was staggering.
'Damn it! How did he become this powerful?!'
The shift in Toga's strength was beyond Shishinki's ability to comprehend.
"If you won't speak with your tongue, then perhaps your corpse will be more cooperative."
"You... bast-!!!"
The killing intent was so dense it was practically visible. Shishinki's survival instinct screamed at him to flee, to run as far as his legs could carry him.
He gripped his staff, preparing to unleash one final `[Meido]` in a desperate bid for freedom.
But he was too slow.
In the time it took him to blink, Toga had already closed the distance. The strike was clean, direct, and final.
"?"
The world began to tilt. Shishinki's field of vision spun wildly, and for a brief, gruesome moment, he could see his own headless body standing in the distance...
"Wait... really?"
"He's already dead?"
"Isn't that a bit... fast?"
Byakuya watched the decapitated remains of Shishinki with a look of stunned disbelief. He was speechless.
He was supposed to be a legendary Great Youkai, yet he hadn't lasted more than a few breaths against Toga.
"No... it's just that Toga is too strong. He's on a completely different level now."
"A Shishinki with the `[Meido]` couldn't even survive for more than a minute. This is going to be a problem."
Without a second thought, Byakuya turned and fled. He needed to report this to Naraku immediately. It wasn't that he wasn't trying to find good help; it was just that "good help" didn't exist when the opponent was Toga.
"If we can't find a way to stop him..."
"Then I'm afraid our future is looking rather bleak."
"Kagome, are you sure about this?"
Inuyasha watched as Kagome finished packing her things, his thumb hitching toward the single-star Dragon Ball they had placed in the storage shed.
"Yeah... it should be fine."
"After all, it's not like the Shikon Jewel."
Kagome paused for a moment of reflection. The Shikon Jewel fragments were active, malevolent things that caused distortions wherever they went. The Dragon Balls, by comparison, were stable and quiet. Leaving one here wouldn't cause any major issues.
Since only her and Osamu Kirin knew the truth--and Osamu had already left to "photograph the world's scenery"--she felt confident in her decision.
By hiding the Dragon Ball in this era, she was effectively preventing the Masters in the Sengoku period from ever gathering all seven. It was a tactical insurance policy.
Even if the worst happened, they would always have this one "out" to keep the set incomplete.
After all, she and Inuyasha were the only ones who could bridge the gap between their times.
She needed to be extra careful now that Naraku and the Shikon Jewel had forces moving in tandem.
"Let's go, Inuyasha. Sango and the others have been waiting long enough."
"Right!"
"Tch. So he didn't even buy us that much time, did he?"
"It's not unexpected."
Naraku, still existing as nothing more than a severed head, showed no interest in rebuilding his physical form. He would have a brand new, perfect body soon enough; wasting energy on a temporary one was a fool's errand.
He and the Shikon Jewel were both waiting for Muzan to finish his "integration."
Hiding was one part of the plan; the other was to use Muzan as a powerful, public shield. Unfortunately, Muzan had made so much noise that he was now the primary target for every other Master in the war.
While having him as a lightning rod was a good way to stall the others, they couldn't allow him to be eliminated too early.
"We'll just have to have the Shikon Jewel intervene when necessary... and if things get truly desperate, we can always unleash Kirinmaru to stir the pot."
Naraku looked at the jewel-fragment nearby. It was holding a troublesome Master within its own dimension, yet even the Jewel had said that person would break free within two or three days.
It had now been nearly four days, and Kirinmaru had yet to show any sign of escaping. It was a puzzling development.
But while he didn't understand the reason, it was a stroke of luck for their plans.
"GUU-OOOHH!!"
"This guy..."
"He's tough."
The three-on-one battle was still raging, but to Koga's frustration, they were actually the ones being pushed back.
"I told you already... none of you are a threat to me anymore."
The Berserker's smug tone made Rikuo's grip on his broken blade tighten.
There had to be a weakness. Every "Nurarihyon" had a flaw, something that could be exploited.
'Fear.' [Osore]
The system of their powers was different, but Rikuo was certain that his opponent was using a similar kind of spiritual resonance.
As long as he could find the "hollow" within that chaotic aura, he'd find his opening.
"Today, I'll send all three of you to the grave together!"
"Hmph. Talk is cheap, shadow-man. Give it your best shot!"
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]