"Seriously, aren't we there yet? Feels like we've been running forever."
Cu Chulainn followed along, watching the constantly changing scenery stream past them.
"We're almost there. That guy's scent is just ahead."
With a brief, irritated response, Inuyasha turned his head.
Just thinking about having to face Sesshomaru next made him uncomfortable.
Everyone knew that whenever those two brothers met, they were liable to fight—though Inuyasha was usually the one getting beaten up.
"Hm?!"
Kagura had already spotted the figure standing still on the plains from above, hesitating slightly.
With her aura reeking of Naraku, Sesshomaru had probably sensed her long ago.
If Inuyasha weren't leading the way, she'd probably be mistaken for Naraku pulling some trick.
"Jump down from there and we're pretty much there."
Leaping down from the cliff's edge, a vast plain spread out before their eyes.
...
"Sesshomaru-sama, it's Inuyasha-sama and the others! But there seems to be someone unfamiliar with them."
Rin sat obediently on Ah-Un's back, calling out at the three approaching figures.
"Huh, isn't that Kagura? Why is she with Inuyasha? And who's that other guy?"
'Sesshomaru-sama deliberately stopped. He must have known Inuyasha and the others were approaching.'
Jaken had only just noticed the three pursuers, speaking with a strange tone.
"..."
Akame, however, kept her hand on her sword, not relaxing her guard.
She could sense that the man in blue spandex was a Servant.
"Finally caught up. Is he your brother? You don't look alike at all in appearance or bearing. He's way more handsome than you."
"Are you picking a fight on purpose?!"
Cu Chulainn only saw Sesshomaru's distinctive aura after approaching, then turned to compare him with Inuyasha. Aside from both having white hair, there was no way to tell these two were brothers.
"Sorry, but I'm not Naraku."
Just after landing, Kagura sensed Sesshomaru's gaze, then shrugged and spoke.
"I know it's you... I, Sesshomaru, am not so incompetent that I can't distinguish Naraku from his incarnations."
But Sesshomaru's serious reply left Kagura stunned, unable to recover for quite a while.
"Hey, I said I sensed the presence of Master and Servant here. So the Master is a little girl? Another Servant I haven't seen before."
Cu Chulainn glanced at the girl sitting on the youkai's back, then looked at the black-haired girl ready to draw her sword at any moment with interest.
"This killing intent... mm, looks like not a Saber, but an Assassin. I really want to test myself against you."
Under normal circumstances, Servants should be constantly at odds and fighting. But somehow the Masters this time were all too normal, so Cu Chulainn hadn't properly fought many Servants.
Either he got annoyed by immortal youkai like Naraku, or the Master-Servant pairs he encountered just couldn't be fought...
"Really, enough with the chatter. Let's get this resolved quickly."
Inuyasha steeled himself and walked to the front, facing Sesshomaru as he spoke.
He didn't want to dawdle and give Naraku any opportunity.
Since they were going to save Kagura, they might as well do it properly.
...
"Totosai-sama? Myoga-jiichan!"
"Geez, that brat Inuyasha really knows how to order people around."
"Don't worry about it. I'm just here to show you all the situation in real-time."
Accompanied by a thunderous rumble, Totosai carrying Myoga arrived on his unique three-eyed ox before Kagome and the others.
"Huh?"
They watched as Totosai tapped the ox's head with his hammer, and a light screen emerged from its eyes into the air.
"Inuyasha and Kagura found Sesshomaru!"
"What a convenient ability. I had no idea you could do this."
Being able to watch the situation like a live broadcast, everyone expressed their amazement.
Even Rikuo was curious how this was accomplished...
Though the youkai here didn't seem to use Fear, some of their mysterious powers weren't any less impressive.
"So Rin is also a Master?"
Kagome noticed the conspicuous marks on Rin's hand in the image and spoke in surprise.
"Really! So the girl beside her wearing the same style as Kagome is the Servant? Never seen her before..."
Shippo's words reminded Kagome and Rikuo. Looking over, it was a pretty girl in black school uniform with a sword at her waist.
'She also looks like a student but... I don't recognize those clothes.'
Both Kagome and Rikuo's first reaction was that they didn't recognize Akame's attire.
'Hard to tell from just looking whether she's human or not. Carrying a sword—could she be a Saber? No, jumping to conclusions so early might not be right.'
Rikuo had transformed back to his human self, analyzing Akame as he watched.
Though everyone seemed acquainted and a fight was unlikely, Rikuo still felt some necessary evaluation was needed.
After all, with the Dragon Ball conditions in place, there would eventually come a time for competition.
"Wonder if the method Koga mentioned earlier will actually work."
Miroku sat on the grass, gazing at the floating image in the air and murmured.
"Yeah, if it really works like he said, we might be able to find where Naraku is hiding."
Sango was also deeply concerned about this. Being able to save Kagura while locating Naraku would be the ideal outcome.
If that happened, their group and Sesshomaru's group could raid together. Given Naraku's previous state, he probably wouldn't have time to mount much resistance.
"Never mind Naraku for now—the main priority is Kagura..."
But Kagome didn't care about what came next with Naraku. She only hoped they could save Kagura first.
"Relax, Kagome. It'll definitely work out."
Koga was quite confident in Cu Chulainn's Noble Phantasm. Based on what he'd seen before, there would definitely be unexpected surprises.
"Hopefully..."
...
"You guys! How dare you order Sesshomaru-sama around!! Who do you think you are?! And why save this one! She's Naraku's incarnation!!"
Hearing Inuyasha explain their purpose, Sesshomaru hadn't spoken yet, but Jaken was already jumping up and down.
"No matter what, Sesshomaru-sama definitely won't—"
"Jaken-sama, we'd better not speak up."
"Hm?"
Rin interrupted Jaken's subsequent words, and the little youkai froze up in confusion seeing Sesshomaru had already drawn Tenseiga.
"An interesting proposal. Let's begin."
Sesshomaru's brief response left even Kagura momentarily at a loss.
She hadn't expected Sesshomaru would actually agree to save her.
Given his disgust for Naraku, he was supposed to be the least likely to accept.
"Then I'll get right to it!"
Gripping the red demonic spear in his hand, putting some distance between them, Cu Chulainn couldn't wait any longer.
He himself very much wanted to know the answer.
The enemy was before him, but the heart was elsewhere. What would happen when he used his Noble Phantasm...
Such a rare, unexpected situation was worth testing.
As for whether this woman could be saved after dying—that wasn't within Cu Chulainn's consideration.
"Amazing!"
Crimson magical energy coiled around the spear tip, drawing Rin's exclamation and the attention of Akame and the others.
"[Gae Bolg]!!"
With Cu Chulainn's shout, he charged straight at Kagura.
Then, in everyone's view... the red light emerging from the spear tip suddenly surged upward.
Like a fishing line drifting, it changed trajectory, bypassing Kagura and shooting off toward some unknown location.
"Ah... he flew away."
"Just like a tornado."
"Don't tell me he really flew straight to Naraku?"
What came with it was... Cu Chulainn being forcibly dragged away by the demonic spear.
"HEY!!! I NEVER HEARD ABOUT THIS KIND OF THING!!"