Ice and Snow, Mind and Heart

Chapter 78: The beginning of the End

Far away, Sesshomaru frowned as he cut through Magatsuhi's spiritual face once more, only for nothing to happen.

'That's odd.' He thought to himself, unable to comprehend the mixed signals he was getting. 'The scent is unmistakable. It must be him.'

And yet, it wasn't. The spirit before him refused to be cut down no matter how many times Sesshomaru's Tenseiga appeared to slice through him. And all the while, Byakuya of the Mirage was watching from nearby with a smirk on his face as Sesshomaru failed over and over again to kill Magatsuhi, an impossible notion with his Tenseiga. Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed.

Byakuya of the Mirage...

Sesshomaru sheathed his Tenseiga, understanding and anger boiling inside of him.

'Now I understand.' He thought, frustrated with himself. 'How foolish of me!'

Sesshomaru suddenly leapt up... at Byakuya. That infuriating smirk dropped and an alarmed expression crossed the incarnation's face as Byakuya hastily dodged away from Sesshomaru as the dog demon swiped viciously with his poison claws.

Sesshomaru ignored the demon as he cut down the source of the scent he was smelling. And the dog demon's eyes narrowed in anger as a clay jar filled with Magatsuhi's scent smashed under his fist.

The image of Magatsuhi's face, the mirage, disappeared as Byakuya realized he had been found out. The smirk returned to the demon's face as he faced an incensed Sesshomaru, who growled, "So that's where the scent was coming from."

"Yes." Byakuya admitted freely now that the game was up. "A piece of the flesh that you sliced off. It carries a fraction of the soul that couldn't escape in time. More than enough to summon you from a great distance."

Sesshomaru's face was impassive but inside he stirred furiously. He had been tricked, his nose which he had always trusted had been used against him. And there was only one explanation for why Naraku, Magatsuhi and Byakuya would have gone to such great lengths to draw Sesshomaru so far away.

As if to confirm his thoughts, Byakuya smiled as he said insincerely, "Unfortunately, it took you too long to notice. My condolences."

The smirk became wider and his tone more genuine as Byakuya added coyly, "But, while you're here, I figure why not have you amuse me a while longer?"

Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed just slightly as he was suddenly surrounded by several hundred demons. His tone was cool however, as the dog demon said quite calmly, "You underestimate me, Byakuya. Do you honestly believe you can impede me with demons as weak as these?"

"Well," Byakuya reasoned quite contently. "That is why I gathered a thousand of them-"

Almost before Byakuya had even finished speaking, Sesshomaru grasped his Bakusaiga and he swung in one strong movement.

"Bakusaiga!"

In a flash of green, rippling light, every single demon was sliced down, leaving a stunned Byakuya in the midst of the falling demon flesh that rained down on the Earth below.

"What?" He gasped, his eye twitching in disbelief as he - for the first time - was left truly shocked... and dare he say, impressed. "All of them at once?"

Sesshomaru meanwhile had ignored what could only be another copy of the elusive incarnation. Instead he was already flying quickly away, covering ground much faster than when he had been tracking Magatsuhi's faint scent the first time. Now, he followed his nose to chase Yuki, a far easier target that he picked up in a second. She was heading swiftly away from him, chasing another scent Sesshomaru recognized. Kohaku. Except his scent was defiled and Sesshomaru knew what it could only mean.