Chapter 43

The descendant
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"There it is, Inuyasha-sama!" exclaimed Myoga.
"Hatchi, land" Miroku said to his friend raccoon, on whom all of them were flying. Once landed, the whole group stared at the people, they didn't expect to see here.
"Jaken?" Inuyasha furrowed his brows at the sight of Sesshomaru's companions. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"It's not your business, Inuyasha!" the imp squeaked, waving with Nintoujou. The hanyou snatched and started tormenting him, as he usually did to Shippo.

"Tell me!" Inuyasha yelled.

"Ouch! Never!" Jaken responded. Kagome rolled her eyes at the sight. Miroku scratched his chin.

"We seem to run into them quite often lately." He said. Kagome and Sango nodded in agreement. The schoolgirl looked around, but her friend wasn't anywhere near. Neither was Inuyasha's brother. Kagome approached Rin.

"Hello, Rin-chan! Can you tell me where is Sesshomaru?" she asked politely with an encouraging smile. The child happily nodded.

"Sesshomaru-sama went through the barrier to get some weapon." Rin explained.

"And Mai?" Kagome asked.

"Sesshomaru took Mai with him. Jaken-sama and me couldn't get through the barrier."

"Who is this Mai?" asked the voice from Kagome's shoulders.

"It's just my friend, why do you ask Myoga-jichan?" the girl asked. Myoga the flea was about to answer, but Sango's voice interrupted him.

"Look!" the demon-slayer shouted, pointing at the stone wall. Everyone's heads turned in that direction, even Inuyasha stopped tormenting Jaken. One place on the stone wall started shimmering and then the illusion dissolved, showing the entrance to a cave.

"Right in time!" Myoga exclaimed, jumping from excitement. "The seal is broken. We must hurry, Inuyasha-sama!"



"Help me!" cried Mai, trying to free herself from the spear, but her body didn't listen. One by one, each limb went numb, giving off the feeling, as though they didn't belong to her anymore. The girl was terrified. Why something like that happened again?!

Sesshomaru was near her in a heartbeat. The demon tried to grab the spear to pull it out of Mai's grasp, but the barrier was too strong for him to touch – the girl could smell the sickening stench of the burned flesh. Then he tried to flex her fingers by force, but Mai stopped him.

"Stop it, you'll rip my fingers of!" she screamed at him. The eerie feeling reached her chest now, she couldn't move her legs now. Suddenly, her arm moved on its own accord. It pushed Sesshomaru away with the spear's barrier. The demon gracefully jumped back and Mai's eyes widened. What the hell was going on?!

"It was not me!" she shouted, panicked. The numbness was at her throat now, causing difficulty breathing. Then Mai heard a voice.

Do not fight it. Let it happen. - A deep powerful voice resounded through the cavern. Mai searched with her eyes for its source, but she didn't find him. Who was talking? Maybe it's some kind of an illusion.

Join me and together, we will gain power to rule the world, my daughter. - The voice spoke up again. Join him? Who did he think she was? Some damn Luke Skywalker?

"Who the hell are you?!" she shouted, but instead of an answer, she heard only a dark laughter. Sesshomaru stared at her cautiously, narrowing his eyes.

"Woman, who are you talking to?" he asked. Mai gawked at him. He didn't hear the voice? So the voice spoke in her head… That can't be a good sign. She wanted to answer the demon, but her voice wouldn't come out. Now, she couldn't move at all.

I will grant your wish to be free. - The voice spoke again. "Let me free you from that demon, in whose veins flows the blood I hate. Let the hate engulf us and make us powerful."

Mai tried to blink an eyelid, anything, to warn Sesshomaru. The voice… it had to be the spirit of Sesshomaru's father's enemy and now it wanted use her for revenge. Terrified, she observed her arm lifting and pointing the weapon at the silver-haired demon. The skin on her face stretched, as though she just smiled maliciously.

"Die, Sesshomaru." Mai heard her own voice saying those words. The inu-youkai stared at her, genuinely surprised. If not the situation, she would enjoy the look on his face.



"Die, Sesshomaru." The woman said with a malicious mile on her face. The voice was hers, but that could not be her. The eyes… were blank like those of the boy who tried to kill Rin. She was undoubtedly controlled by something.

Sesshomaru did not have time to think further, as the woman whirled around and attacked him with an amazing speed, for a human. In the last moment, she changed the direction of the blow, so that the demon barely managed to jump from her way. Those were the moves of a skilled warrior and she was not the one. Who was using her?

Suddenly, a menacing black aura began gathering around the weapon and the woman. It was the aura of pure evil – the one of death. She grinned at him.

"How ironic for the Inu no Taisho's son to die of the hand of a human girl." Mai said, lifting the spear and preparing to strike. Sesshomaru gritted his teeth and gripped Tokijin. He did not wish to harm the idiot woman, but he would defend himself. The both were standing in battle stances, string each other down. At the exact the same time, they moved.

"KAZE NO KIZU!"

"OSUWARI!"

Sesshomaru leaped sideways to avoid being struck by Inuyasha's attack. He turned his head to see the newcomers.

The hanyou and his companions barged into the cave, the half-demon himself now laying face-flat on the ground. He jumped on his feet and started arguing with Kagome.

"Goddamit! What was that for!" he yelled.

"You could have hurt Mai! Stop firing Kaze no kizu without thinking!" Kagome scolded him. Shippo tugged her hair.

"Kagome, about Mai, there's something wrong with her…" the fox-demon said, cowering at the sight of the dark aura.

Myoga the flea squinted his eyes and exclaimed.

"It's no good, Inuyasha-sama! You have to kill the girl!" the flea called to the hanyou. Inuyasha looked at him sharply.

"WHAT?!" exclaimed Kagome and Inuyasha in chorus. Myoga folded his arms.

"Now when she wields the spear, she'll become the destroyer of all life. The spirit of the previous owner possessed it and there is no way to free her now! You must kill her, before she kills us all."
The group flinched, as they heard laughter echoing through the cave. The one laughing was Mai.

"Kill the girl? That will not happen till I grant her wish." She said, grinning. Kagome furrowed her brows.

"The wish? What wish?" she asked. Mai turned away from them and faced Sesshomaru again.

"With Sesshomaru's death, her wish will be granted."

Mai struggled to regain the control over her body. What the hell was those wretched spirit making her do? She didn't want to fight Sesshomaru – we would kill her! Stop!

You desire his death.

The voice inside her head again.

No, I don't! Let me out!

Once Sesshomaru is dead, you will be free again.

I'll find the other way!

You hesitate and yet you know, that he will kill you without a second thought. Kill him first.

I'm not like him! I'll won't kill him.

Then I shall make you.



Mai swished the spear and the evil aura started soak like a blood from the weapon into the ground. The black fluid disappeared, not leaving a mark.

"Everyone, get off the ground!" Myoga screamed. Miroku and Sango flew up an Kirara and Shippo transformed, lifting Inuyasha and Kagome. Sesshomaru jumped in the last moment to avoid a dark shape, that suddenly sprouted from the cave floor. Then, more began appearing.

"Hands!" shouted Shippo. The little fox-demon was right. Huge black hand-like shapes were sprouting from the ground and tried to capture any of them. Kirara dodged them gracefully and Shippo flew higher, under the ceiling. However, the shadowy hands weren't concentrating on them – they were rather keeping them from interfering.

On the other side of cave, Sesshomaru was in quite a trouble. The demon with his fast moves avoided the shapes. He tried to cut them with Tokijin, but the blade went through like through smoke, not harming them. Mai, engulfed in darkness, was slowly walking towards him. She smirked. The demon was acting according to the spirit's plan. Sesshomaru, in order to dodge the black shapes, was retreating towards the wall.

"It is over, Sesshomaru." Said Mai's voice, as the dark hands sprouted from the wall right behind the silver-haired demon and gripped him, wrapping tightly around his frame and slamming him against the wall.

"SESSHOMARU!" Inuyasha yelled, angry, that the shadowy hands blocked them from helping the demon or Mai.

Sesshomaru observed, as Mai approached him, the demon was not able to move any limb. The girl lifted the spear and pointed the blade at his throat.

"Goodbye, Sesshomaru." She said and delivered a blow.