Showdown! Phases of the Blood Moon part 3
"You have no right to question my loyalty to my clan or accuse me of a crime, witch!" Maboroshi no kohime hissed, waking her power. When the sheer might of a storm blast pushed Meioshi back, the doctor let herself be struck but didn't let the patron goddess see any other emotion in her eyes or face. She was as still as a statue. The goddess continued, "I will not lower myself to that of a human! Why are you here? You are not of the clan heads chosen to protect my onmyoji!"
"You are correct, goddess," Meioshi replied calmly. She finally let herself smile confidently, angering the goddess further, and replied, "You don't need to stoop down to speak to me. I'm tall enough. The head pall bearer in the lake there called me here. I suggest you ask him."
Maboroshi no kohime was silenced by that and turned to Tadamasa with some shaking in her shoulders and fear in her eyes. When Tadamasa locked eyes with her and smiled eerily, the goddess calmed her storm winds and turned her attention to Sesshomaru. His lordship merely stood there but waited for the goddess to attack him again. He didn't tell Meioshi the entire truth about this place, but, with her being so involved with it now, it was bound to come out eventually. He may not have known about this group called the onmyoji, but he did know about the enslavement of these humans. The sugar garnets were sold to (or stolen by) the Fire Rat Colony. He remembered quite clearly when the giants traded the garnets for different things of interest roughly sixty to seventy years ago. Human labor was one of the things often traded, but the House of Inu secluded itself from the humans twice. The first time it happened, he was too young to remember but it weighed a heavy toll on his mother. The second time... he'd rather not say. Regardless, these humans were of interest to the fire rats. His hope, which has been increasing day by day since stumbling upon the okiya village, was that the fire rats hadn't purchased any sexual labor from them. That much, Sesshomaru surmised would have to be an inquiry for Atasuke.
The goddess, however, was not interested in the slave labor that had befallen the onmyoji within the turn of a century. She was looking to Sesshomaru for help. The desperation in her eyes and her quiet footsteps to his side alerted his lordship's attention. He had no reason to help this valley goddess. While everyone else may not have recognized him, Sesshomaru had battled the goddess in another form. She seemed to have no memory of him, however, so that other form might've been the result of a berserk mode. Ichi suffered a similar blight when they crossed blades with each other.
"Shinto Guard," Maboroshi no kohime called, making Sesshomaru's ears perk just a bit at the name.
That made Meioshi turn slightly to Sesshomaru as well. That might be the connection between him, the Meido Stone, and what's been happening in the Netherworld! It would explain Sesshomaru's limited replies whenever she asked why he came to help her, why Lady Rakuyama went for his homelands, and even why Tadamasa chose to speak to him instead of attack or kill him like he would with others. It's why Meioshi often had to deal with Tadamasa or King Biancheng alone. The Netherworld demons were merciless. They either sped up a person's death on purpose so they could claim the souls earlier or caused some unholy tragedy for them to stay in the mortal world longer. It was a miracle that Tadamasa hadn't done the latter yet.
"You are with the House of Inu, yes? Descendant of the Komainu?" the goddess questioned. "Why are you here?"
"I am no descendant of the komainu," Sesshomaru replied. He then scoffed with a smirk and said jokingly, "I have no mane."
"Yet you bear the markings of your ancestors," the goddess said with seriousness in her voice and a short quip of her brow. "The temple guardians of the night adorn the moon crest, the symbol of progress and growth. They have a tendency to follow or aid those who show great wisdom."
"That would be bullshit. I'm standing next to a foolish witch," Sesshomaru remarked, turning his head to avoid Meioshi's gaze.
Excuse the hell outta me!? Meioshi thought with a slight frown. She said nothing but did growl at him before returning her attention to the patron goddess. I'll knock his head off later...
"A fault of the humans who dare challenge higher powers than their own," the goddess replied, lowering her guard near Sesshomaru. She looked at him for a moment more before critiquing, "Red, the color of protection and vitality, against the golden mirrors of deceit. The many shades of purple against such smooth skin defines your beauty and status. You are capable of serving some of the strongest deities. Just as much as those pink stripes define your prowess in battle so does the sharpness of your claws and the poison of your blades. Why do you choose to side with a fool, komainu?"
"She is incompetent for one..." Sesshomaru remarked, smirking at Meioshi's angered face. "Unlike you, however, she has proven herself to me in our journey."
The goddess smirked at this before showing her teeth. A slow laugh escaped her lips and she lifted her Akai Tsuno. Stirring the air and clouds of her palace, Maboroshi no kohime summoned a bout of power that was eerie and bloody. Without warning, a bolt of lightning struck Sesshomaru and his eyes went black before he shuddered a bit. Meioshi tried to respond, but the patron goddess twirled her weapon around rapidly before charging at the good doctor to attack. When Maboroshi no kohime drew a glyph of some kind in the soil, Sesshomaru was covered in dark armor matching the goddess's suit of armor. His markings were changing to a distorted collection of irezumi symbols. When he rose his head up, Meioshi's eyes widened with panic. The goddess somehow gained control over him!