I guess that answers one of the head-scratchers I had about the use of the word "corridor" a few chapters back. What I thought was a PIT was actually what was identified as a CORRIDOR, and not the path AROUND the pit/corridor. Otherwise this wouldn't make much sense - you don't generally talk about the "bottom" of a corridor as anything other than the FLOOR. I think this is a strange choice of word, but it does set the expectation that the pit will ultimately be used AS a corridor up through the mountain.
I'm also more and more reminded of that scheme Naraku had a while back where he made youkai fight and kill each other in a mountain in order for the winner to be his new body. The more I think about it, this arc is a lot like that one, except, you know... more.
The difference being, of course, that these ones are the security force and not the raw materials.
Kirara jumps out of the crook of Kagome's arm, and prompting a questioning tone from Kagome. With a burst of fire, Kirara transforms into the massive sabercat form. Still cradled on Kagome's other arm, Shippou's eyes snap open, like a switch has been flipped. He sits up and declares that he's gotten better, at the prompt from the surprised Kagome. By way of explanation, Kouga says that the barrier somehow disappeared completely from the mountain he glares up at. He clenches his teeth, adding that he can smell Naraku's funk coming from inside the mountain, as well as something else.
You sure you want to commit to that level of pettiness? Labeling someone OTHER than the guy who killed a good majority of your comrades as more of a grate on your nerves? Okay, kinda a bad look, though...
Back inside the mountain, Inuyasha and Bankotsu face each other in the quaking cave passage. Inuyasha accuses Bankotsu of planning to get in his way, and Bankotsu admits to it upfront. He says he's taking this opportunity to seek revenge for all the rest of his band of mercenaries, who all died in battle. Except for Renkotsu, who died a sniveling whiner. But Bankotsu's not going to talk about that, or much of anything that would probably delay his new fight too terribly long. Inuyasha is of the same impatient disposition, and takes a short time to scoff that he's only engaging with Bankotsu now since it's obvious he's not getting to Naraku unless he beats Bankotsu first. With an invitation to get on with it, Inuyasha swings down Tessaiga and lets loose a Kaze no Kizu.
As the blast travels to him, Bankotsu calls Inuyasha a fool, and also Kaze no Kizu a "little thing".
There doesn't seem to be a lot that has any effect on you, frankly.
A big gust is generated by a wave of Bankotsu's halberd, something Inuyasha identifies as a "scorching wind" in disbelief. Not sure if this is colliding with Inuyasha's Kaze no Kizu (how SLOW is that attack???) or if it's coming up against something else altogether, but it sure hits something and causes a big-ass explosion.
So it's confirmed that Kaze no Kizu was REALLY crawling then. Weird.
Inuyasha recalls the time at Hijiri Island where Bankotsu also cut down the Kaze no Kizu, but there's some concern about Bankotsu having gained some power since then. Inuyasha accuses that bastard of using the Shikon shards from his dead friends, and Bankotsu admits to using them all openly, as a memento of the others. No shame about it whatsoever.
Clearly not, otherwise he wouldn't just be breaking even in this fight.
Inuyasha fires off another Kaze no Kizu, which just produces more flaming debris when it collides with Bankotsu's attack. He's getting more and more frustrated, groaning internally that he doesn't have time to play. Is this enjoyable enough to be called "play", because from where I'm sitting, it just looks like a traffic jam. Inuyasha jumps up and through the remaining dust cloud from the two attacks meeting, surprising Bankotsu.
But the element of surprise doesn't offer much in the form of results. As Inuyasha swings down with Tessaiga, leaning into gravity, Bankotsu meets the blow with his galaxy-sized sword and shoves Inuyasha back with a single-handed swipe to the left.
Maybe the shards are giving Bankotsu "plenty" of power after all.
Bankotsu sarcastically asks Inuyasha what's wrong, because he's not putting up much resistance. It's a fair question, since he wasn't there to see the incident of massive blood loss Jakotsu caused just a little while ago. Inuyasha leaps to the side just before Bankotsu cleaves his sword right into the side of the cave passage, crumbling the wall. He turns to Inuyasha and says how it's strange the hanyou might have been this weak all along, then shifts gears to speculate that maybe HE'S actually gotten a lot stronger instead, smirking.
Inuyasha scoffs at him to get real, throwing back at Bankotsu the question if this is really the best he can manage with the Shikon shards. Ah, the ol' "I'm not weak, YOU'RE weak" reframe. Masterful work, Inuyasha. Bankotsu says that Inuyasha has a comeback for everything, and charges at him, yelling that he can only say those sorts of things AFTER he's defeated his enemy. Inuyasha charges too, promising to rip all the Shikon fragments out of Bankotsu's body and telling him to prepare to die.
Miroku shouts that SOMEHOW it seems that the whole holy barrier has completely fallen. Gee, I wonder how THAT happened... He says that evil energy is flooding the place, and Sango asks if it's Naraku's. Miroku confirms this, but it's more than that. He trails off in this assessment, but continues on in the thought that the evil has increased since earlier (presumably referring to that they encountered in the center of the mountain, though this isn't quite clear), and in fact the energy that he identifies as youki is continuing to increase as the moments tick by.
Miroku and Sango eventually run out of a cave back onto the walkway lining the pit in the center of the mountain, that Sango remembers they were in earlier. There's regular pulses coming from the depths of the pit, and when Miroku and Sango peer curiously into it over the side of the railing, a small pinprick of a figure emerges out of the darkness after a few more pulses. Both our heroes are quite alarmed by the image they see in the dark.
Woah! That is the shit of nightmares right there!
So, what did I think of this chapter overall? The battle between Inuyasha and Bankotsu is quite weirdly paced - time doesn't seem to work right at a certain point, just to give Bankotsu a few extra seconds to blabber a little. This is in service to emphasizing how much stronger Bankotsu is with all of these Shikon shards on him and his sword, without leaning too terribly much on the fact that Inuyasha really SHOULDN'T be at full power himself at the moment. My guess is that Inuyasha is ignoring that HIMSELF at the moment, and even if he did acknowledge his massive blood loss and trauma not too long ago, he's certainly not going to admit this to an enemy. Still, I should have liked to see Inuyasha THINKING about his less-than-optimal functioning here, and how it's impeding his ability to fight. If we're going to slow down his attacks, we should be giving HIM more room to remind us why he's not doing so well, and not using those extra seconds to give his opponent time to brag.
With Bankotsu drawing so much attention to how much stronger he's gotten, I'm also reminded how strong he was to begin with. I hope in the next couple of chapters that we get an explanation as to how he has always been able to wield with ease a weapon that the people who took it from him needed SEVERAL grown men to even lift. Even before he had the assistance of the Shikon shards, he's been just swinging that ridiculous thing about with little care, and this is only ONE of the reasons why the audience might need to be reminded that Bankotsu and his band were SUPPOSED to be human all along. I can't quite recall if there was ever an explanation for this particular ability of his, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
But, knowing RT's habit of just NOT providing crucial details, especially toward the end of arcs...
All the same, I do really appreciate Naraku's face and nothing else looming up out of a dark pit. That's scarier than anything shown in this arc so far, and it literally gave me chills. Dude is so CREEPY.
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