The humans onboard the vessel went about their tasks, mindless in their behaviors as they struggled to first lift the modified cannons out of ship's hold, and then struggle to push them across the deck until they were against the starboard railing. The cannons were not small and long rifled guns like normal, but instead were large and fat, the complete opposite of their predecessors. Whereas cannons normally fired at long ranges with small cannonballs, these would fire into the air, at shorter ranges, with large cannonballs. That wasn't the only difference too. Normal cannon balls were round solid hunks of steel. While these were still round, there was a surprise in them for the defenders.
After hoisting the cannons onto the deck, the men turned right around and use the hand wenches to pull the cannon balls out onto the deck, then load them into the cannons. Two demons stood by each cannon, both of them holding a stick with a small flame at the end of it. When both of the cannons on the ship had been loaded and were ready for firing, the men stopped in their duties, looking for confirmation to continue.
The captain of the vessel ran up a yellow flag on the mizzenmast, a signal to the other ships in the line that she was ready. Soon, other yellow flags joined the one that he had run up, until all twenty-six vessels in the line had yellow flags fluttering in the breeze. The captain turned back to face his superior.
"Lord Cunningham. The vessels signal that they are ready,” said the captain, bowing before moving away. The man turned to face him, a small smile gracing his lips, before nodding. The captain turned back to the mast, and took down the yellow flag, raising a large green one instead.
The green flag had barely been hoisted before the demons on the deck sprang into action. One of the demons at each cannon lit a fuse that was on the cannon ball itself, before the other demon held the wick to the base of the cannon. With a mighty roar, the gunpowder exploded, hurling the massive steel ball into the air. A second bellow followed as the other cannon on deck also fired, then more distant bellows as the other ships in the line began to fire as well.
The cannon balls arced into the air, before starting to rain down on the troops below...
* * *
Both Inuyasha and Sesshomaru had seen the strange contraptions being brought out onto the decks of the enemy vessels. Kagome could also see, and it appeared to be some strange kind of cannon. While she had read about cannons being used in the early centuries, she had never seen anything like this in her textbooks. They also paid attention to the series of flag signals going back and forth on the ships.
"They're about to do something. The hair on the back of my neck is starting to stand on end,” said Inuyasha, growling as he laid a hand on the hilt of his sword. Sesshomaru, his facial expression more calm, also laid a hand on the hilt of his sword. Even Kagome brought her bow down off of her shoulders, although she refrained from notching any arrows just yet.
Then, at once, all of their ears twitched as the booming sounds of the cannons firing reached them. The other demons standing in rank that had sensitive hearing also perked up, and even the humans pointed at the geysers of smoke curling upwards from the enemy vessels. In addition to the booming sounds, they could also now hear the sound of something big whistling through the air.
Kagome was the first one that thought of looking up. When she did so and gasped, the two brothers also looked up.
"Incoming!" yelled Inuyasha, grabbing a hold of Kagome and leaping clear. The other demons and humans standing in rank also cleared the area, as a large cannon ball came falling down into the spot where they had been standing. It never reached the ground though, instead exploding in mid-air, sending hot shrapnel in all directions. Kagome hissed when a hot piece of metal hit her exposed thigh, burning a small area of skin there.
All along the beaches the exploding bombs continued to rain down. One of the wooden watchtowers that had been built on the beach, manned by several archers, exploded into little pieces of wood when a bomb exploded into it. Ranks of humans were decimated, and even demons were being cut down by the bombardment.
"Barriers! Barriers!" yelled Miroku, and other monks and priests serving in the army took up the cry. A series of barriers were soon erected, protecting the troops from the bombardment, although much damage had already been done. Judging from the smell of death, at least a couple of hundred humans and several tens of demons were dead or dying on the beach.
Now that barriers were protecting them, the dying stopped, although the priests and monks that were putting their efforts into maintaining the barriers began to sweat as the bombardment continued. Cannon balls were bouncing off of the barriers, and then exploding against them. Two of the barriers began to weaken. That is when the trio of them decided to taken action.
Kagome notched an arrow into her bow, charging it with her spiritual energy. She released the arrow, aiming for one of the vessels in the middle of the enemy line. Inuyasha and Sesshomaru both ran down the beach, the former drawing Tetsuiga, the latter Tokijin from their respective sheaths. Kagome's arrow flashed by them, through the barriers, and out into the water.
It streaked over the blue waters like a cruise missile, heading for its target. At the last moment before impact, the arrow pulled upwards, almost as if it had a mind of its own. Instead of striking against the side of the ship, the arrow struck a cannon ball that had just been hoisted out of the hold below and was being put into a cannon. The arrow detonated the cannon ball, destroying the cannon and killing the crew. But more importantly, burning fragments entered into the ship's hold, igniting the fuses of other cannon balls kept below.
The first few explosions blew up out of the hold, and toppled the main mast into the water. But those explosions were sufficient to ignite the rest of the ammunition in storage, and with a mighty roar barely a moment later, a massive sheet of flame entered into the air as the vessel's magazines detonated. A cheer went up from the beach when this happened, as flaming debris rained into the water around the stricken ship. Her keel broke, and the vessel split in two. Flaming debris fell onto the ships in front of and behind the vessel, distracting their crews from firing the cannons into putting out the fires.
Kagome gaped as she saw the effect of her arrow, and nearly fell into the ground face first as Miroku delivered a mighty backslap to her rear. "Well done Kagome!" he said in a jubilant voice.
Inuyasha and Sesshomaru were also surprised by the effect of the arrow, but now knew the weakness of the enemy ships at least. Using the floating debris in the water as stepping-stones, they made their way out to the enemy ships. When within one hundred meters of the nearest ship, Inuyasha unleashed the wind scar upon the vessel. With a flash of yellow light, the energy attack hit the starboard side of the vessel at the waterline. The attack failed to detonate the magazines, but it was not needed as she was gutted from the attack, water rushing in to fill her holds. The humans and demons aboard rushed to abandon ship as she began to list at a rapid pace.
Sesshomaru unleashed a mighty energy attack from Tokijin, the solid blue ball of energy striking another vessel amidships. This one was also gutted and began to sink rapidly, with its crew abandoning ship. He hopped over to the next vessel in line, and noticed red flags flying from their small masts aft.
"Prepare to repel boarders!" yelled the captain of the vessel, a short fat human standing behind the steering wheel. Several human soldiers came up from below and aimed their harquebusiers at Sesshomaru, their fuses already lit. Sesshomaru held out two fingers from his right hand, and they glowed green. A moment later, the soldiers fired, but he merely used his poison whip to send the bullets right back into the soldiers, killing them instantly.
He did not stop there though, and next used his whip to cut through the masts onboard the vessel, dropping them into the ocean. The captain, uttering a guttural roar from his throat, charged Sesshomaru with his sword rose high. He didn't use the whip, but merely sprayed poison onto the man. With a horrible sounding scream, the human captain dissolved into a puddle of goo on the ship's deck. Having finished with this vessel, he leaped to the next one in line to continue the assault.
* * *
"Shit. Not good." muttered Lord Cunningham as he watched his vessels being savaged by those damned demons. The arrow had been a fluke, but now that they knew the weaknesses of his vessels, they were attacking furiously. Three vessels had been sunk; with two more becoming wrecked, and other ships were now under assault as well. He looked up to see the one demon wearing a red kimono coming up on his vessel.
"Boarder!" yelled Cunningham as he backed away from the deck. He felt the hairs on nape of his neck rise as someone big moved up beside him.
"I'll handle him,” said the demon lord who commanded the fleet. It withdrew from its belt a strange looking sword, one that was large and had strange markings etched into it. He pointed the strange looking sword at Inuyasha, and it began to glow a dark blue.
Inuyasha saw the strange demon appear and pointed his sword at him. He raised his own fang into the air, preparing to deliver a wind scar to this vessel. Before he could bring his sword down however, a blue lightning bolt shot out of the sword, catching Inuyasha squarely into the chest. The hanyou was thrown backwards towards the water. But he managed to recover, and leaped clear back towards the beaches.
"Use the murder cannons,” said the demon in a harsh voice. The soldiers brought up very small cannons from the deck below, and mounted them on the railing. They proceeded to load the cannons with grapeshot, and prepared to fire on their master's command.
Having seen his brother fall, the demon in white kimono was heading towards their vessel now. The gunners adjusted the aim of their cannons accordingly.
"Fire." said the demon lord. Yanking on a chain, the gunners let loose with their grapeshot. Sesshomaru tried to use his whip, but there were simply too many of the bullets. He got many, but many more got him. With a grunt, the demon fell into the water below. Lord Drake smiled, although none of the people could see him do so, since a dark shroud covered his face.
"Fool." muttered the demon lord. He looked up as a prickly sense raced up his spine, and saw another sacred arrow heading straight for the ship...no...for him! The Shikon miko, having seen both her mate and his brother struck down, had fired another arrow.
Hissing, Drake brought his sword up, and pointed it straight towards the incoming arrow. Again the sword glowed blue, and again a lightning bolt issued from its tip. The arrow was about to reach the ship when the lightning bolt hit it, dissolving it in a flash of blue energy. The lightning didn't stop there, but rather sought out the source of the arrow's power. It blew right through the barrier Miroku had put up, and exploded into the ground Kagome was standing on, sending the miko flying through the air.
With a yell, Kouga caught her before she hit the ground.
"Kagome, are you okay? Kagome?" he asked in a sudden panic. But she didn't answer him, and indeed she was unconscious, although she was still breathing. Inuyasha joined him, the wounded hanyou having retreated from the battle. Kouga handed her over to the half demon, turning and looking out over the water with rage boiling behind his eyes.
"My turn now." he growled, before taking off running down the beach and out over the water. The Harquebusiers and gunners fired at him, but he dodged the bullets and grapeshot using his superior speed. Lord Drake looked at him with contempt in his cold eyes, and raised his sword as Kouga leapt up into the air. But the wolf demon was not aiming for Lord Drake. Rather, his foot came into contact with one of the mortar cannons, and knocked it backwards, aiming the cannon straight up into the air, as one of the demons fired its gunpowder.
"No! The mortar! Close the hold!" yelled Lord Cunningham as he rushed for the wooden door. He managed to close it just as the mortar came down on top of him, exploding in the process. He was killed instantly, but he saved his ship from a far worse fate.
"Damned vermin!" yelled Drake, sheathing his sword. Kouga took the invitation to attack, leaping at the demon lord with his right foot, poised for a might strike. But with a sudden speed that surprised even Kouga, the demon lord grabbed his ankle with one of his hands, stopping the wolf cold. Kouga grimaced as he felt the demon lord's hand. It felt as if it were made of cold iron, and indeed that was the case as Lord Drake was wearing a pair of iron gloves.
Drake smiled as he used his superior strength to crush Kouga's ankle between his iron fingers, the snapping of bone audible to everyone standing on the deck of the ship. The wolf demon let out a howl of pain. Not wasting a moment, Drake swirled around in a circle several times, building up speed as Kouga was dragged around on the ride. Drake then released Kouga's foot, sending the wolf demon flying through the air. He bounced on the waves several times before crashing onto the beach, several hundred meters distant. The men on the deck gasped at their demon lord's strength.
The demon looked around until he found the captain of the vessel. He pointed at him, and the little man stood up straight, not showing any visible signs of fear or intimidation.
"You, you are now the admiral. Send the signal to commence the landings!" said Drake, glancing back out over the beaches. Half of their bombardment ships had been sunk or crippled, and most of the barriers were still in place. Now it was time to try a different track.