That's a mouthful, isn't it? Or rather, it used to be. It's funny how you get used to the way things are pronounced in your favorite foreign media, despite not speaking the language. I've picked up a smattering of Japanese over the years, not even enough to be semi-competent in a simple conversation, but my brain will always hold onto how Kappei Yamaguchi said all those attack names for Tessaiga. Even if, in the future, I became somewhat conversant in the language, I don't see where I would find this incredibly specific information useful in a vast majority of interactions.
Sometimes I resent how my grey matter has been filled with all kinds of stuff like this that I can't use...
Meanwhile, Sesshoumaru's carefully cultivated cool clearly doesn't even take up a tenth of HIS brain. You could probably look in one ear and see straight out the other side.
Naraku says this is just what he'd expect from a pure youkai like Sesshoumaru - his mind is just built different. Then why the fuck is it your strategy to poison all the other people in the area in opposition to Sesshoumaru? Doesn't SEEM like you expected him to not give a shit. Sesshoumaru just glares at Naraku wordlessly. He doesn't need Naraku to tell him he's special, clearly.
Meanwhile, Inuyasha is still facing off against the miasma creeping into the hole in his father's armor, behaving much like the detached tentacle of an actual octopus; independently grasping for its prey with its very own intelligence driving it. Housenki teases Inuyasha for thinking his companions are more important than strengthening his sword, asking if it's because he's a hanyou, and saying that even if a lowly hanyou could gain his power it wouldn't be used well anyway. It the most obvious rage bait in the world, and this is coming from someone who lives in the golden age of rage bait.
Inuyasha scoffs that if that's the case, he doesn't even need Housenki's power anyway, though he doesn't know how great this power is supposed to be. He's thinking he'll just have to do what he has to as he unleashes a Kaze no Kizu toward the miasma. The attack blasts straight through the miasma, out of the remains of his father, and up toward Naraku, who smirks smugly. He says that even if Inuyasha manages to push back the miasma with Kaze no Kizu, it's just a temporary solution.
So, as you can imagine, this next part comes as a bit of a surprise.
It's the prettiest destruction of defenses I've ever seen. Sparkly.
Naraku is shocked by the diamond spears coming from Inuyasha's Tessaiga, staring down at him from his vulnerable position without the protective bubble hovering in midair. Inuyasha gapes back up at him. Jaken is the first to squawk in awe the fact that Naraku's barrier was blown away, the rest of the bystanders in the tomb too busy gawking to provide their usual commentary.
I feel like every transformation of this sword gets gaudier and gaudier.
Inuyasha looks over his shoulder at Housenki when he starts to speak, saying that if Inuyasha were driven by a selfish desire to strengthen his sword, the diamond shards he'd been shot with would have taken his life. At that moment, those very shards dislodge from Inuyasha, littering the floor of the tomb in glittering confetti. At the same time, Housenki's diamond skull splits at the forehead, right where Tessaiga came down on it earlier. Kagome gasps, Shippou narrating from her shoulder that Housenki has been broken.
Housenki gives his blessing for the Inuyasha to inherit his power, "Kongousouha", with that hanyou heart of his. A slightly condescending reference to the chapter title. Regardless, Inuyasha is still in awe at the sparkling sword he's holding.
It's not long before he brings his focus back to Naraku, who's still floating outside, and has somehow decided not to flee in the space of that little interlude. Inuyasha insists that he's not getting away, and swings Tessagia at him, calling out Kongousouha for the first time. Those diamond spears shoot for Naraku and they sure do their job.
Doesn't look very comfortable, for sure.
The peanut gallery is split between disbelief that Naraku got GOT, and commentary that Naraku has indeed been pierced, but all of Inuyasha's group gapes up in shock. Naraku himself is not looking even slightly smug anymore, cursing the whole lot of them haltingly. No doubt it's a little difficult to speak when your entire torso has been obliterated.
Sesshoumaru is still hanging out on Naraku's level in the sky, and Naraku looks over at him when he comments on how it appears that Naraku no longer has the power to create a barrier. No word on WHY that is, of course, but then again, why would Sesshoumaru know? All he's really sure of is that he's taking this opportunity to go ahead and finish the nuisance off. He swings down Toukijin with some little enthusiasm, which is a LOT for the normally lethargic Sesshoumaru, and the blast slices at damn near every inch of Naraku.
I guess his miasma production is on the fritz too.
It's looking to Miroku down below for all the world that Naraku might be finished and he says as much among his fellow gaping friends, but a moment later, Naraku's pieces start to fade out of sight. Sesshoumaru is in his own silent surprise that Naraku is vanishing, though he can't be expected to admit that kind of thing out loud.
On Kagome's back, the arrow from Kikyou in her quiver starts to glow, and she gives it a alarmed side-eye. She looks back at Naraku's disappearing fragments of body, now coiling into a swirl of flesh, and notes that there's a Shikon shard in there. Kagome supposes she's getting all the signs that this is the time to use the arrow and draws/nocks it without resistance. She bids it to hit where she's aiming just before she fires, and it arcs up, catching one of Naraku's disconnected eyes as it makes contact with his flesh coil.
... This is looking distressingly familiar.
Kagome looks alarmed, probably because she notices the similarity between this and her initial mistake too. Then she spots the Shikon shard that Naraku tried to steal among the vortex of light and flesh. Who knows what that means. Miroku, Sango, and Shippou all stare open-mouthed at the spot Naraku once occupied, and Sesshoumaru looks placidly at that same space, now occupied by a few sparkles but nothing more.
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? This is another of those scenes that doesn't do its time-management too terribly well. During the explanation that Housenki gave Inuyasha about how and why he inherited the technique Kongoushouha, Naraku should have been trying to flee, OR we should have seen a panel where he himself realized that he couldn't seem to reconstitute his barrier. Having Sesshoumaru voice that reality for us was entirely too late, and left me wondering why Naraku wasn't being more active in trying to avoid his and Inuyasha's blows.
The other thing I couldn't help but question was why Naraku's bubble broke permanently here, when Housenki's diamond spears pierced it and NARAKU multiple times in the previous chapters. What was different about Kongoushouha when it came from Tessaiga rather than Housenki himself? There's a lot of talk about how Inuyasha's hanyou heart has rendered him worthy of having the technique, and since Housenki is full youkai, we might assume that would make SOME difference, but there's no word on WHAT. Besides, all that talk was specifically relating to how his hanyou heart made him more concerned with the well-being of his companions than strengthening himself and his sword, which doesn't really furnish us with a clue as to why that would translate to a permanent barrier blaster with Kongousouha.
What it DOES do is give us more contrast between Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru - the very first exchange in the chapter emphasizes how Sesshoumaru doesn't give a shit that the rest of the people here are going to drown in miasma if he keeps cutting Naraku the way he is, an attitude that Naraku attributes to Sesshoumaru's pure youkai pedigree. But Housenki is pure youkai too, and he seems to value Inuyasha's concern for friends far more. Besides, Sesshoumaru isn't willing to sacrifice the other people in the vicinity because he's trying to get stronger; he's just pissed at Naraku and lashing out like a lunatic, albeit a STOIC lunatic.
I'm just... not sure what RT is trying to SAY here, despite having the distinct feeling that she is trying to say SOMETHING.
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