Inuyasha's Red Fang carved an arc through the sunlight.
The thirty-seventh demon fell at his feet, its body still twitching as dark red blood gushed from its wound and seeped into the soil.
He panted heavily and pulled Red Fang out of the demon's chest.
The blade was slick with blood, which ran down the edge and dripped to the ground with tiny patters.
"Sixty-four."
Inuyasha counted under his breath.
Deep in the woods, even more black shadows were surging.
Those demons' eyes glowed in the darkness like clusters of will-o'-the-wisps, packed so densely there was no counting how many there were.
Inuyasha's brows knitted.
"Are you never done?"
His right hand was trembling slightly.
After killing more than sixty demons in a row, he had already burned through most of his Demonic Power, and every joint in his body was protesting.
He was clearly overdrawn.
But he knew he could not retreat.
Three miles behind him, there was a village.
More than two hundred humans.
Sakura and Saku were there evacuating the villagers, and they needed time.
Inuyasha took a deep breath and tightened his grip on Red Fang.
"Come on, then."
The black shadows in the forest suddenly stopped surging.
It went quiet.
That silence was wrong, like the calm before a storm.
Inuyasha's pupils shrank sharply.
Powerful Demonic Power rose from deep within the woods.
It was not one demon.
It was a group.
At least twenty.
Every single aura was at the level of a Great Demon.
"Damn it..."
Inuyasha clenched his teeth.
A hand suddenly pressed down on his shoulder.
Inuyasha whipped his head around.
Long silver-white hair.
A cold, stern face.
Not the slightest trace of emotion in his pupils.
"Sesshomaru?"
Inuyasha froze for a moment.
"What are you doing here?"
Sesshomaru did not