Chapter 22 - The Final Battle

Bakura had opened the portal about a half day from Seiryuu's palace, to the north were there was less likelihood of running into troops. For hours they had scrambled up and down broken rocks and steep hills. InuYasha carried Keiki on his back, without complaint, which was unusual for the usually blunt Dog Demon. He never once said that Keiki was useless, although he thought it. What good was a Unicorn that couldn't transform? But he remained silent. Vash carried Keiki's crutches, strapping them across his back.

Finally, the palace appeared before them. They were at the back of a 20-foot high wall that enclosed the entire complex. The city stretched out from the palace to the front and sides, but the land in back of the palace was mountainous and therefore, had no buildings. It was by mere chance that the group ended up at the back gate. They could see no guards. Walking up to the gate cautiously, Bakura felt the gate for spells but there were none. InuYasha tore the gate off its hinges with one slash of his claws. 

Vash was carrying Keiki now, since InuYasha would be needed to handle any guards they might encounter. Keiki was beginning to regret coming; he did not expect to have such a long journey or be such a burden. He had come only because he had a strong feeling that he would be needed, but now he wondered if he had been mistaken.
The group walked through the back gate unhindered. The palace was unguarded and only silence greeted them. Where was everyone? What the group didn't realize was that the guards and soldiers had fled in terror after they saw the Red Phoenix rising out of the palace. Naraku had been so surprised that he lost control of the chameleon Demon and it transformed from Emperor Balago to a low-class Demon in front of the shocked advisors and ministers. They walked out of the city in fury at being deceived. In a very short time, the entire city, already nearly deserted because of the movement of soldiers, was completely emptied. Only Naraku, Jodah, Ashara, Lido, Malik and Rhu were left in the entire city.

The Otherworld group walked into the palace, their footsteps echoing through the empty halls. When they reached the throne room, they saw Naraku sitting on the throne. Ashara stood by his side. "It was a perfect plan," he said to them. "A perfect plan. I was going make Ashara a queen."

"You ruined it!" She shrieked at them, her eyes wild. "You ruined everything."

"Where are Lido and Malik?" Bakura asked. "Let them go free. They are no use to us now."

Naraku pointed to the far wall. Lido sat there cowering. InuYasha rushed to her side and carried her to the group.

"And Malik?"

"Malik is busy. Jodah is teaching him obedience."

InuYasha growled and started to advance. He had never met Malik but the boy had saved Shido's son at the cost of his own freedom. He had vowed that he would bring the boy to safety.

"That's far enough!" Came a voice, echoing off the walls. The entire room filled with a sensation of immense power and Bakura instantly put up a shield. Jodah walked into the room, two males behind him. One was a tall man had long black hair and strange yellow eyes: Rhu, the Black Dragon. The other was a teenage boy, white hair matted and tangled, with dark circles were under large violet eyes in a pale face. His thin body was covered in bruises and bloody welts. He had been whipped and beaten. Malik!

InuYasha went insane with anger and leapt on the mage. He hit an invisible barrier and was thrown back, screaming in pain and anger. Naraku stood up. "Your fight is with me!"

Naraku began to transform, growing bony spikes from his body. So this was his new form! InuYasha recovered quickly and leapt on the Demon before he could finish his transformation, pulling out his sword. Waves of power poured from the sword directly at Naraku, hurling the Demon against the far wall. Before he could attack again, Jodah sent a bolt of pure energy toward the dog Demon. Bakura deflected it with one of his own. Vash set Keiki down next to Lido and attempted to reach his daughter. If he could only take her from Naraku, perhaps he could reason with her.

But Naraku was back on his feet and his spikes lengthened and skewered InuYasha before he could attack again. The Dog Demon howled in pain! He slashed at the spike with his sword, severing it and dropped to the ground, bleeding. The spike recoiled and then reformed as good as new.
While InuYasha and Naraku battled, Vash reached Ashara unhindered. He pulled her to him, but she fought him like a wild thing, clawing and screeching in fury. "Leave me alone! I don't want to go back. I hate you!!!" She screamed at him and he flinched at her words. Had she always been like this? Or was this Naraku's influence. He didn't want to admit it even to himself, but he knew deep inside that this had nothing to do with Naraku. Like his brother, Ashara was fatally flawed. She had no compassion for anyone but herself.

When InuYasha fell, Naraku sent spikes in Vash's direction. The man in red moved like lightning without appearing to be moving at all and none of the spikes hit their mark. Jodah suddenly aimed a energy bolt at the wall above him, burying Vash in rubble.

Jodah nodded at Rhu and the Dragon began to transform, filling the room as he gathered mass. His limbs lengthened and he grew long claws, and huge black wings and scales formed. Wisps of smoke came from his nostrils as he banked the fires inside his body. He grew so large that the wall behind Jodah pulverized. With a scream, the Black Dragon went airborne, tearing the roof off as he flew through it, raining destruction down on them. The mages shielded themselves and their people from the falling debris.

"You think you have won? Well, see if your precious Red Phoenix can defeat a Great Dragon! He is on his way to Suzaku to destroy it. Our plans are not destroyed yet!" Jodah cried triumphantly.

Then a quiet voice said, "You are wrong. It will not be the Red Phoenix that Rhu fights, but me." Then Kyo began to transform in his Red Dragon form. His limbs lengthened and red scales formed, huge red wings opened and Kyo flew after the Black Dragon.

"NO!!!!" screamed Jodah.

"Get to safety." Bakura told Keiki and the Unicorn moved to the exit with Lido at his side. Jodah and Naraku let them go; they were useless and would be dealt with at their leisure, after they dispatched the Hanyou Dog Demon and the blue Demon Mage.

InuYasha brandished his sword once more, calling on its Demon power, and faced off against Naraku. Even if he died trying, he would kill this miserable excuse for a being! On the other side of the room, Bakura and Jodah faced off, and sizzling energy bolts hit each other's shields. But cracks were begin to appear in Bakura's shield. Jodah was the stronger of the two mages and was prevailing.

Keiki and Lido made it outside and looked up. In the sky, a terrible battle was being fought -- the like of which had not been seen for ages. Two Great Dragons were tearing at each other, tooth and claw combined with deadly flame. It was a fight to the death, for neither of them would surrender. There was a world at stake.

Inside the palace, Naraku's spikes struck at InuYasha, missing him by a hair's breadth. InuYasha could see that Bakura was losing to the other mage, his shield barely holding against the onslaught. But he couldn't get close enough to Jodah to do anything; Naraku had him pinned down. But Jodah had forgotten the one person who was standing near his unprotected back. Malik pulled a sword from the rubble, one that had been on the wall as decoration, and plunged the sword into the mage. Jodah screamed in pain and surprise but unfortunately Malik's aim was poor and he did not hit anything vital. Jodah recovered quickly and an energy bolt slammed into the boy, killing him instantly.

But Malik did not die in vain; that instant was all Bakura needed. Jodah had dropped his shield when he was attacked and the blue mage slammed pure, raw energy poured directly at Jodah. Jodah hurled a final bolt at Bakura in return. Brilliant light covered the entire room when the bolts met, blinding everyone.
Naraku recovered first and took advantage of InuYasha's inability to see. Another spike went completely through the Dog, tearing him open, almost disemboweling the young Demon. The spike withdrew and InuYasha sank to the ground, his life's blood pouring out.

When the light returned to normal, Bakura was down, smoke coming from his burned body, and Jodah was gone; only scorch marks showed where he had stood.

Outside, things were not going well for Kyo. The Black Dragon was larger and fiercer. Kyo spit fire on the dragon over and over, but it didn't seem to be enough. Without warning, Rhu caught him, sinking foot-long fangs through the armor plating of Kyo's chest. With a cry, Kyo fell from the sky, changing to a man as he fell. Rhu, still in dragon form, landed next to him. Kyo was helpless, bleeding profusely and unable to get away from the certain death of the Black Dragon's jaws. In his human form, he didn't have a chance.

Naraku laughed when he saw the dead and dying Protectors of Otherworld; finally he had won! He took Ashara by the hand and went to Rhu's cave. Several hundred Demons waited for him there, left over from his transformation. He would start again -- he would never be defeated!

Vash stirred in the rubble and sat up, his coat still smoking from Jodah's energy blast. He got to his feet carefully and saw InuYasha and Bakura. He rushed to them and threw one over each shoulder, then ran to the exit, not sure if either of them were still alive.

Once outside, Vash placed InuYasha and Bakura on the ground, checking to see if they still lived. Both had very faint pulses. Standing up, he looked around and about 500 feet from him, stood the Black Dragon. He was advancing on a man -- on Kyo! Before Vash could do anything, a blaze of golden light appeared at Rhu's side. When the brilliant light dissipated, there stood a Unicorn, dragging a broken back leg. Keiki lunged at the Black Dragon and his golden horn went through the armored hide as it were made of butter, piercing the huge heart. Rhu screamed in agony and rage.  Then he turned to face his slayer.

As the Black Dragon died, he flamed one last time and Keiki was consumed by the Dragon's fiery breath. Keiki had only a second of life, but that second turned into an eternity. Pain disappeared and his beloved Kalire materialized before him, beckoning him. He moved to her, leaving his broken shell of a body behind and together their spirits soared, finding the peace that had always eluded them in life. As Keiki left this world, Lido felt a feeling of pure love surround her. It was love in its purest form -- no holding back -- just a total giving of one's self. She wept from the joy of it.

Vash went to Kyo and picked him up gently, carrying him to where the others lay. Kyo's blood poured out of his torn body like a red river. If he didn't get help soon, he would die. And so would InuYasha and Bakura. The ground around them was soaked red.

Vash felt a displacement in the air and suddenly Chichiri appeared. He quickly assessed the situation and ran to the Demons and stood in the middle, calling Lido and Vash to his side. "I can teleport you all to Suzaku. Mitsukake can help heal them."

Lido went to his side, but Vash remained where he was. "I am staying. I have to stop Naraku."

"How can you stop him? You are only a man -- all of the Demons that have gone against him are either dead or wounded."

Vash looked at the monk, and then said sadly, "I am the only one left." 

With that, he turned and walked in the direction that Naraku and Ashara had fled. Chichiri shook his head sadly and teleported Lido and the three wounded Demons to Suzaku.

Vash soon found the cave and heard voices coming from inside. Naraku was there and so was his daughter. Vash drew out his silver gun; he didn't want to do this! He had only wanted peace his entire life and for a while he thought he had found it. Now it had come to this! Brushing away bitter tears, he stood up and walked into the cave.
Naraku was there, Ashara by his side and about three hundred Demons behind him. As Vash approached, Naraku turned and looked at the tall man in red. "Are you all that's left?"

"I am enough. Your evil ends now." Vash lifted his silver gun and Naraku started to laugh.

"A gun does nothing to a Demon! Didn't they tell you that?"

"This one will." Vash said solemnly, then pulled off the gun's silver top, triggering its transformation.

The gun morphed, became one with his arm, and the red coat tore as his arm changed. A ball of pure energy began to grow inside what had been the chamber of the gun and his arm lengthened to form projections resembling feathers made of flesh on his right shoulder.  His arm and gun combined to turn into the Angel Arm.
The energy grew and grew, and Naraku tried to run but there was no place to hide. Vash was at the entrance; standing between him and freedom. The Demons screamed and clawed, desperately trying to get away from the terror that was the human's arm.

Ashara begged, "Let me go free. Please let me live."

Vash shook his head sadly, "You have chosen your own path and now must pay for it. You were born a protector and you turned against the people who needed your protection the most. I cannot save you. Just like I couldn't save my brother, Knives. I understand that now. I'm sorry."

Then the ball of energy expanded, filling the cave, destroying the mountain, and then expanded even further, engulfing the palace and the city; obliterating the bodies of the Black Dragon and Malik. Everything in a ten mile radius disappeared, consumed by the white heat of Vash's power. Naraku died in seconds, as did Ashara. The Demons came next. Finally, it was Vash's turn as the mountain covered him in darkness. Vash's last thought was of his mate, "Thank you for your love, Aara," and then he died in a flash of white light.

Song:  "Never Could Have Been Worse" from the Trigun Soundtrack

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