The vivid demonic markings on the silver-haired Dog Demon's face gradually faded, and his mouth had stopped changing, but his eyes grew even more bloodshot. Watching Ryūkotsusei laugh brazenly, Sesshomaru curled his hands into claws. The blue-green poison thickened into liquid, coating both his hands.
"Have you still not accepted your fate, Ryūkotsusei?" Sesshomaru's voice was bone-chillingly cold. "Prepare to die at my hands!"
Before he had finished speaking, he sprang up, kicking off the cliff face. He seemed to be charging toward the wound over Ryūkotsusei's heart, but when Ryūkotsusei dodged, he seized the opening to leap up and claw at that eerie, masklike face.
Ryūkotsusei jerked his head up to evade him, but Sesshomaru's sharp fingertips had already touched his vulnerable face, leaving three thin, yellow-green streaks of blood.
Ryūkotsusei screamed in midair as the deadly poison ate away at his face. Fortunately, he had dodged in time to avoid a fatal wound. But the agonizing pain still lingered across his face.
"You're asking to die, brat!" Ryūkotsusei had never been so furious. The blue lips on his masklike face opened wide in defiance, exposing the slender, sharp teeth within. The dragon's mouth beneath that face also gaped open, and lightning of unprecedented intensity rapidly gathered inside. Throwing all caution aside, Ryūkotsusei roared, "Thunder Light Burst!"
Fueled by his fury, Ryūkotsusei's Thunder Light Burst was astonishingly fast. Even with his agility, Sesshomaru could not evade it at all. He raised both hands and took the blow head-on. Terrifying electrical power raced over the Dog Demon's skin, hair, and fur tail, sending violent tremors through him. His sleeves in particular were utterly destroyed by Ryūkotsusei's lightning, leaving only ragged scraps at his shoulders, while the flesh across the front of his body began to scorch. And that was not all. The residual force of Ryūkotsusei's all-out Thunder Light Burst was just as fearsome, driving Sesshomaru deep into the cliff and shattering every rock around him.
"Dead yet, brat?" Ryūkotsusei laughed triumphantly outside, as though he could already see Sesshomaru's mangled body.
"Cough, cough..." Sesshomaru was wounded all over. Lightning had slashed cuts across his handsome face, and blood streamed down it without stopping. "Sorry to disappoint you. I, Sesshomaru, am still alive." He braced himself against the cliff and stood. "You think far too highly of yourself, Ryūkotsusei!"
His body should have long since exhausted its strength, yet for some reason, the thought of the girl buried beneath the earth and stones instantly transformed the cold fury in Sesshomaru's chest into an endless will to fight. Strength surged through him, demanding that he slaughter the monster before him!
Thump. Thump. Thump. This was... Tenseiga?
Sesshomaru looked at the useless sword his father had left him, hanging at his waist-Tenseiga, which possessed only the power to heal.
Was Tenseiga calling to him?
Sesshomaru drew Tenseiga with a sweep of his hand. Accompanied by slow, powerful pulses, the blade radiated a soft white glow.
The Dragon Bones? A power that did not belong to this world, but to the other world. That was why Tenseiga could cut it down.
So that was it.
The instant he saw Sesshomaru rise, Ryūkotsusei's laughter caught in his throat.
"Impossible!" Ryūkotsusei shouted, losing control. That had clearly been his most powerful attack! Had a mere hundred and fifty years weakened his power this much? Or was it because he had only just awakened from the seal and could not fully wield his demonic power?!
"Your life is mine to take." Sesshomaru raised the hand gripping Tenseiga high. As the Dog Demon leaped, Tenseiga swept down from above Ryūkotsusei.
"Aah!" Ryūkotsusei let out an agonized scream. The pain of having his power stripped away surpassed even the torment of merging with the Dragon Bones all those years ago. The Dragon Race's power, which he had painstakingly drawn into his body, was severed in its entirety. "No! Don't leave me!" Ryūkotsusei cried out, as though begging the gradually vanishing power to stay.
Ryūkotsusei's dark gray skin and flesh gradually dissolved into the air, leaving only the white Dragon Bones and the monster who had stolen them.
Stripped of his power and completely separated from the Dragon Bones, Ryūkotsusei was nothing more than a pitiful, weak illusion monster.
"No, don't kill me. Please." The feeble monster fell to his knees and begged Sesshomaru for mercy over and over. The contrast with his earlier arrogance was so stark that he scarcely seemed to be the same person.
"This ends here." This time, Sesshomaru spoke those words. The merciless Dog Demon did not spare him a glance. A yellow-green Light Whip lashed from his fingertips, and he turned toward the heap of rubble, leaving behind the shattered remains of the monster who was no longer Ryūkotsusei.
Sesshomaru's normally decisive steps grew increasingly hesitant. Though it was called the fang of healing, Tenseiga had never saved a single person in his hands.
He thought of Han's smiles as she looked at him-her happy smile, her shy smile, her smile of delighted surprise...
Sesshomaru tightened his grip on Tenseiga again. If the fang of healing could not save anyone, what use was it?
Suddenly, Sesshomaru's keen ears caught a faint sound from within the rubble.
Could it be...
The Light Whip extended from his fingertips again, sweeping all the rocks on top aside.
A familiar spiritual power barrier appeared before him. Inside it, Han lifted her head toward the light that had suddenly appeared.
Their eyes met.
"Sesshomaru..." Han's normally clear voice carried a faint, hoarse sob, and glistening tears poured from her eyes.
She tried to give him her usual smile, but the instant the rocks had collapsed, all her strength to smile had been buried beneath them along with her. If she had not raised a barrier in desperation and held it until now... And so, no matter how hard she tried, she could not smile.
"It's... all right now," Sesshomaru said haltingly, hesitantly holding out his hand to her.
Clear tears slipped from the corners of her eyes. Like a fledgling swallow, the girl flung herself into his arms, and all the terror of being alone in the darkness burst out at once. She clutched the clothes over his chest, her tears soaking the thin fabric through. "Sesshomaru, Sesshomaru, Sesshomaru..."
Han repeated his name as though reaffirming her faith.
"It's all right now," Sesshomaru said, his face impassive, a silent sigh on his lips.
Han still sobbed breathlessly in his arms, but her heart settled.
It was all right now. She knew. But at this moment, she was so attached to the warmth of his embrace that she did not want to leave.
Totosai was flying through the air on his ox. Looking down at the two embracing figures, he wondered whether he should interrupt. But-
"Sesshomaru, are you an idiot?! You actually broke Ryūkotsusei's seal! With Ryūkotsusei awake, this little country could have been reduced to ashes!! Good thing you finished him off..."
Unable to contain himself, Totosai blurted out a stream of accusations, then swiftly made his escape while Sesshomaru was held up by the girl.
Well, Tenseiga was very happy, though. Sesshomaru seemed to have come to understand the desire to save someone, too. Probably.
Seated on his ox's back, Totosai narrowed his eyes as he thought.
Before you continue