Kneel Down. I Have a Question for You

"Y-you... what nonsense are you talking about?"

Perhaps Jaken lacked the nerve, or perhaps he had promised Sesshomaru far more than he could deliver.

After all, given Sesshomaru's aloof temperament, he was almost certainly unimpressed by the ridiculous tricks Jaken was playing.

So when his scheme failed, Jaken panicked even more than Inuyasha.

Ultimately, Inuyasha would merely have been deceived, but Jaken might lose his life!

Gritting his teeth, Jaken tried to say something else to keep his scheme going.

But Hojo Akitoshi denied him even that tiny glimmer of hope.

"Lord Sesshomaru, if you could truly transcend life and death, why would you cling to your late father's legacy?"

"Rather than chase someone else's legend, why not create a legend all your own?"

They sounded like fine words, but under the present circumstances...

At least to Jaken, Hojo Akitoshi's words positively dripped with mockery.

He immediately sucked in a breath, sweat pouring down his face, his neck as stiff as a rusted machine.

Clutching the demonic weapon called the Two-Headed Staff, Jaken swallowed frantically, not daring to move.

"Oh, come on."

Inuyasha could be a little dense, but he was no fool. He saw Jaken's reaction, then noticed the unusual behavior of his silent older brother, Sesshomaru.

He snorted with laughter, his worries finally easing.

He even felt like making fun of Sesshomaru, and being a straightforward fellow, Inuyasha acted on the thought immediately.

"Sesshomaru, I never thought someone like you would stoop to such cheap tricks."

"So, do you really want to find the Great Dog General's tomb that badly?"

"Wow, you're just like a kid who got picked on outside. Want to run home crying to your parents, huh?"

Crack!

Jaken looked as though he had turned to stone and was about to shatter.

We're doomed! That idiot Inuyasha just had to hit him where it hurt!

"Inuyasha, that was really nasty."

Hearing this, even Kagome quietly reproached her companion. His words really did cut deep.

Inuyasha was already over two hundred years old. Who knew how much older Sesshomaru, standing atop the Mountain Ogre, was?

Anyone would get angry at being called a little kid.

"Heh."

Sure enough, Jaken heard Sesshomaru's soft chuckle behind him.

That single quiet chuckle terrified Jaken into performing a full aerial spin and an exceptionally difficult sliding kneel.

It really was quite a feat, pulling off such an acrobatic maneuver without hesitation on the Mountain Ogre's arm.

Snap!

There was no pointless chatter or obligatory exchange of praise before the fight. Sesshomaru truly was a cold, handsome man of few words and ruthless deeds.

A green whip of demonic energy appeared at his fingertips, and he lashed the Mountain Ogre beneath him.

The Mountain Ogre roared skyward in pain and broke into a run, its pounding footsteps shaking the earth.

Then it charged straight toward the Hojo Army's camp.

"Ah!"

Kagome sucked in a breath as the ground shook beneath her like a magnitude-three or four earthquake.

Looking up at the mountain-sized ogre hurtling toward them, the girl felt her breathing quicken under the crushing pressure of what seemed like a collapsing mountain.

She was not alone. Kaede felt the same way, and no small number of the Hojo Army's samurai had gone deathly pale.

"Fire the Kunikuzushi cannons! Matchlock Ashigaru, three-rank volleys!"

The Mountain Ogre had shaken everyone's nerve, but fortunately, Hojo Akitoshi, Akechi Mitsuhide, and a handful of others remained calm.

Shouting orders to his men, Hojo Akitoshi was gratified to see the results of their rigorous training.

Though they were still shaken, their bodies instinctively followed his commands, carrying out the movements mechanically.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The first to fire were the already-loaded Kunikuzushi cannons, into which Hojo Akitoshi had poured considerable resources.

They were already beginning to resemble European-style heavy cannons, and their shot packed a formidable punch!

And so, when the cannonballs struck the Mountain Ogre with tremendous kinetic force-

"Hm?"

Sesshomaru immediately sensed something amiss and seized his retainer Jaken in a flash.

The two of them-no, three. Jaken was still holding Fake Princess Izayoi's chain.

In any case, all three landed lightly on the ground before the Mountain Ogre began trembling and spurting blood all over.

"How could this happen?"

His long, pointed, beaklike mouth gaping wide, the still-shaken Jaken could hardly believe his eyes.

Mountain Ogres were not particularly powerful fighters, but that depended on what you compared them to.

Generally speaking, a single Mountain Ogre could destroy a small human city without difficulty.

And the one Lord Sesshomaru had chosen was something of an elite even among its own kind.

But how could this happen?

Under Jaken's disbelieving gaze, the Mountain Ogre they had brought first took a bombardment from more than twenty Kunikuzushi cannons.

Then over two hundred matchlocks hammered it with a dense barrage as swift as a sudden downpour.

It barely held out before its enormous body crashed to the ground.

Against the firearm units stationed in the Hojo Army's camp, its performance was utterly inadequate!

It had not even come close to Yura of the Hair.

"This..."

Rubbing his eyes, Jaken stared at the assorted holes riddling the Mountain Ogre's body.

The matchlock holes were relatively small. Against the Mountain Ogre's enormous bulk, they did little more than make anyone afraid of clustered holes shudder.

But the power of those Kunikuzushi cannons!

Jaken gestured to gauge their size, staring at the enormous craters blasted by the cannons and the blood pouring out of the Mountain Ogre.

If one of those cannonballs struck him, he reckoned there would not even be a body left!

"Lord Sesshomaru!"

Having recognized the reality of the situation and who truly held the upper hand, Jaken abandoned his swagger and scrambled to hide behind Sesshomaru.

Sesshomaru calmly raised his leg and planted his foot on Jaken's face.

"Your name."

Standing on Jaken, Sesshomaru asked without any change in expression.

"What, you don't even remember my name anymore?"

"Did you get scared stupid?"

Seeing such an enormous creature as the Mountain Ogre brought down filled Inuyasha with a tremendous sense of achievement.

He had always lived in his older brother Sesshomaru's shadow. Seeing him suffer a setback delighted Inuyasha beyond words.

Sesshomaru paid Inuyasha no attention, acting as though he did not exist.

He would not spare Inuyasha so much as a glance, merely gazing quietly at another man beneath the moonlight.

"Hojo Akitoshi, the man who will soon rule all under heaven."

Meeting Sesshomaru's gaze, Hojo Akitoshi stepped forward with his hand resting on his sword.

"You're not bad."

It was probably the highest praise Sesshomaru could offer another person, directed at the human who dared speak to him without the slightest fear.

He gave that indifferent reply without once looking at Inuyasha.

"You!"

There was only so much a man could take. Hojo Akitoshi and Sesshomaru were acting as though no one else existed, and it infuriated Inuyasha.

Inuyasha actually stamped his feet and cursed. Once he finished, unwilling to let them look down on him, he prepared to act.

Perhaps Hojo Akitoshi's shining example had also convinced him that he could do the same with ease.

His courage surging, Inuyasha pushed off the ground and bared his claws, striking like a fierce tiger going for the heart.

He lunged straight at Sesshomaru.

"Foolish."

Hojo Akitoshi had thought he might hear a line like, "My foolish little brother."

But there was a fundamental difference between Sesshomaru and a certain other man obsessed with his younger brother.

Facing Inuyasha's attack, Sesshomaru merely shifted a step aside.

In a flash, Inuyasha's attack not only missed, but Sesshomaru caught his arm.

With a crash, Sesshomaru swung his foolish little brother around by the arm and slammed him brutally into the ground.

"Gah!"

Inuyasha spat out a mouthful of blood, his pupils beginning to lose focus.

"Where is our father, the Great Dog General's tomb?"

Lifting Inuyasha again with one hand, Sesshomaru gripped his throat and asked calmly, as though no one else were there.