The two great yokai nations of the east and west bordered each other and boasted the greatest number of powerful yokai: Kir inmaru, the leopard cat lord Michinaga, Flying Moth, Ryūkotsusei, and Shinigami Oni.
There were also Tōga of the Dog Tribe, Princess Tsukuyomi, Hōsenki, Bokusenō, and even the more elusive Great Sage of the Demon Spirit.
All these powerful beings resided in the two great yokai nations of the east and west.
These two nations were mighty, while the yokai of the Northern and Southern Countries fell short of their strength.
Both the Northern and Southern Countries were far from the Eastern and Western Countries. Moreover, the latter two had richer resources and better living conditions, leaving their Great Yokai with little interest in the other two nations.
But this also gave the Northern and Southern Yokai Kingdoms time to develop. While the Great Yokai of the east and west fought endlessly, the two Yokai Kingdoms to the north and south quietly waited for their chance.
Naturally, the Northern and Southern Countries had Great Yokai of their own, but they were somewhat lacking compared with those of the east and west.
Thus, in years past, the yokai of the Northern and Southern Countries rarely ventured into the Eastern and Western Countries.
But times had changed. Of the Eastern Country's two overlords, the Greater Yokai Kir inmaru had fallen to Tōga's sword in defeat, while the other overlord, the leopard cat Michinaga, had been killed outright.
The two Great Yokai Ryūkotsusei and Flying Moth had also died beneath Tōga's sword, and Shinigami Oni had been rumored to have died at Tōga's hands years earlier.
Of the many Greater Yokai in the east and west, Tōga alone had slain four and driven another away in defeat.
All at once, vast stretches