The enemy commander has been defeated!

As time passed, the hill where Yura of the Hair had hidden gradually transformed.

Just as so many people present had proclaimed, it truly became a volcano flowing with lava.

How could this hill, not far from Kaede's Village, still bear any resemblance to its former densely wooded self?

Everywhere they looked, thick smoke billowed skyward, and crimson lava spread in all directions, bubbling ominously.

Her face deathly pale, Kagome truly believed Hojo Akitoshi's words now.

And she was not the only one. Even the Hojo Army warriors who had been swept up in fervor moments earlier felt the same.

Like the ordinary villagers, they had nothing left but awe and fear.

"Lord! This...!"

Never before had Akechi Mitsuhide believed so firmly that the Hojo Army would inevitably become the supreme power in the land.

Faced with this calamity wrought by their own side, his eyes shone as brightly as the sun overhead.

He stepped forward and suddenly dropped to his knees, unable to contain his heartfelt emotion, once again bowing deeply to pledge his loyalty to Hojo Akitoshi.

What were mere demons before the Hojo Army, now armed with such overwhelming might?

"Get up, Mitsuhide. We haven't seen the final outcome yet."

Rubbing the sword at his waist, Hojo Akitoshi also hoped Yura of the Hair would simply die beneath the white phosphorus incendiaries.

Preferably burned so thoroughly that not even her bones remained.

But demons themselves represented a kind of miracle, an unknown.

Could human weapons built on the foundation of future technology truly kill her once and for all?

Without a substantial number of samples to consult, Hojo Akitoshi refused to pop the champagne at halftime and saddle his side with that sort of debuff.

"Lord, I don't believe any demon could withstand an attack like this."

Hojo Akitoshi was cautious, but having witnessed the might of future technology for the first time, Akechi Mitsuhide and the others were brimming with confidence.

Uttering words that all but tempted fate, Akechi Mitsuhide raised his head slightly and turned his fervent gaze toward the sea of fire.

"Ah, let's hope so."

Unwilling to dampen his subordinates' spirits or exaggerate the enemy's strength, Hojo Akitoshi turned to Kagome beside him.

The girl from the future blinked as she stared intently into the distance.

He could not tell whether the sea of fire had stunned her or whether she was trying to distinguish Yura of the Hair's demonic aura.

"Lord Akitoshi!"

Then, just as what they feared most came to pass, Kagome covered her mouth with a small hand and cried out.

As her voice rang out, perhaps fate had indeed intervened.

Yura of the Hair had merely chosen a random direction to break through, yet by sheer coincidence...

She emerged right in front of the army led by Hojo Akitoshi.

Having burst out of the sea of fire, the female demon was now in the firebreak.

Yura of the Hair was truly a wretched sight.

The beauty that could once have made people abandon their principles for her looks was utterly gone.

Her hair was gone, and her limbs were riddled with pits burned into them by the flames.

Fire still burned inside those pits.

As for her head, not even Japan's ukiyo-e depictions of ghosts and demons could have captured its hideousness.

Through a gaping hole in her torso, everyone could plainly see the skull protecting her true form and the comb within it.

"That's disgusting!"

"An evil spirit!"

"A monster!"

The villagers inevitably broke into an uproar at the sight of the thing that had burst out like a hellish fiend.

Even the battle-hardened Hojo Army warriors, long accustomed to life and death, might have faltered and backed away under the sudden shock, if military discipline had not held them in place.

Such was the terror of the vicious creature before them.

"Lord!"

Akechi Mitsuhide wanted to slap himself. He refused to believe he actually had a knack for jinxing things.

Drawing his sword as he watched the demon in her utterly wretched condition, he prepared to step forward and slay her himself.

That would make amends for his mistake.

"Hojo Akitoshi! The Hojo Army!"

Meanwhile, Yura of the Hair had never expected to find her enemies here, of all places.

Enemies saw red when they met. Perhaps she knew she had little time left, or perhaps she wanted to drag her enemy down with her before she died.

Without another thought, Yura of the Hair dropped onto all fours. Only the night before, she had still possessed something of an elegant lady's bearing.

Now she surrendered entirely to her animal instincts!

Determined to take him down with her, Yura of the Hair launched one final, suicidal banzai charge!

"Protect the Lord!"

Akechi Mitsuhide acted without hesitation. How could he possibly allow this cornered creature to threaten his lord, Hojo Akitoshi?

Shouting with his sword in hand, Akechi Mitsuhide led the first group of warriors to react.

The two sides charged straight at one another.

"Kagome, can you do what you did last night again?"

His words sounded rather ambiguous as Hojo Akitoshi took a bow and arrow from a guard beside him.

"Huh?"

Kagome had plainly taken it the wrong way. Her pretty face reddened as she watched Hojo Akitoshi approach her.

"What? Last night?"

Hearing this exchange, Inuyasha, like Kaede, lost all interest in the utterly wretched Yura of the Hair.

Nocking an arrow and drawing the bow, Hojo Akitoshi watched Yura of the Hair send his men flying.

He estimated how the wind's direction and speed would affect the arrow, calculating its trajectory.

With a smile, he offered an explanation.

"I mean when you infused my sword with spiritual power last night. Could I trouble you to infuse my arrow with it this time?"

"Without sufficiently powerful spiritual energy, it seems killing this demon with our mortal strength alone..."

"...will cost us unnecessary lives."

"Oh, oh, oh."

"Got it."

Finally understanding what Hojo Akitoshi meant, she shook her head in embarrassment.

Once again, Kagome reached around Hojo Akitoshi's waist from behind and rested her small hand on the arrow.

Recalling the sensation of imbuing his blade with spiritual power the night before, Kagome strained until her face reddened, drawing on the power within her that came from Kikyo.

That spiritual power obligingly answered her call, then flowed into the arrow, which gleamed coldly in the sunlight.

"Why do they have to stand like that?"

Gripped by an inexplicable pang of jealousy, Inuyasha was deeply irritated as he stared at Hojo Akitoshi and Kagome, who were practically pressed into one person.

Never particularly quick-witted, he suddenly became remarkably perceptive.

"She could just stand beside him! Why do they have to stand like that?"

Unable to make sense of it, Inuyasha ground his teeth.

"Uh."

At his words, Kaede turned her head away. She could hardly bear to watch.

And she thought Inuyasha had a very good point!

Leaving Kaede and Inuyasha aside, Kagome summoned all her strength until she had no more power left to draw upon.

The girl leaned close to Hojo Akitoshi's ear and whispered.

Hearing her words, Hojo Akitoshi immediately released the bowstring without hesitation.

In an instant, the arrow shot forward, carrying flawless white light and the power to dispel evil.

In the blink of an eye, the arrow imbued with Hojo Akitoshi and Kagome's combined strength lodged squarely in the chest of Yura of the Hair as she lunged toward them like an evil spirit!

"Impossible!"

Her charge stopped short. To ensure she could kill Hojo Akitoshi, Yura of the Hair had even held back against Akechi Mitsuhide and the others, refusing to waste much strength on them.

All so she could take him down with her.

She had finally fought her way through Akechi Mitsuhide and the others' interception. Victory had been just one step away!

Yet that single step was an impassable chasm!

Slowly lowering her head, Yura of the Hair looked at the red comb protected by the skull-her true form.

"I hate you!"

As the spiritual power ravaged it, the comb slowly crumbled to ash, and Yura of the Hair descended into the underworld, filled with endless resentment.

"The enemy commander has been defeated!"

He raised the bow high in one hand and took Kagome's small hand in the other, lifting it toward the sky.

Hojo Akitoshi shouted the customary Japanese proclamation, announcing to everyone that the Hojo Army had won this battle.

"Hurrah!"

At once, countless people raised their blades and loudly echoed Hojo Akitoshi's declaration of victory!