Crimson Cherry Blossom Remnant Heart Style

The earth suddenly began to shake violently. Countless spiderweb cracks spread wildly outward from the fortress, and shattered stone surged skyward like rain falling in reverse.

The sudden upheaval caught Zi Yan off guard. Before she could react, a muffled, agonized roar came from underground.

"Aaaaah!"

Having consumed the blood essence of a Great Yokai-a substance that caused severe side effects even in the donor's own children-the Panther Cat Second Elder, whose left arm had been severed, had already resigned himself to dying here.

His panther cat body had swollen by more than a third, his muscles knotting into dark red lumps. A nauseating stench of blood radiated from him.

"Earth Dragon Turnover!"

"Sink, damn you!!"

His earth-aspected yokai power poured out wildly, struggling to wrench the power of the earth's veins into motion.

Even the slightest backlash made blood stream from all seven openings in the Panther Cat Second Elder's head.

Then a force that felt like the weight of the entire earth crushed down on him, exploding the Panther Cat Second Elder into a cloud of blood!

The barrier of the Dog Tribe Fortress, formed along the earth's veins, began to shake violently under their backlash.

Crack.

The moment the first crack appeared on the barrier's surface, Zi Yan gathered the Dog Yokai familiar with it and began stabilizing the fortress.

Seeing that the moment had come, the Panther Cat Great Elder raised the Head Staff high.

"All troops, attack! Tear the barrier apart!"

Lights of every kind of yokai power intertwined, pounding the barrier like a violent storm with deafening explosions.

Under the Panther Cat army's rainbow-colored barrage, the cracks in the barrier widened, and its light grew increasingly dim.

Watching the barrier teeter on the brink of collapse, Zi Yan exhaled deeply. She put all other concerns aside and led the Dog Yokai into formation to await the enemy.

At last, with an earth-shaking crash, the barrier of the Dog Tribe Fortress-which the Panther Cats had privately dubbed "the sun that never sets"-shattered into a dazzling rain of light and vanished into the air.

The Panther Cat army cheered in triumph and surged toward the Dog Tribe Fortress like a tide.

Their excited battle cries shook heaven and earth.

Outnumbered two to one, the Dog Yokai forces met the enemy in close combat amid the beautiful yet deadly radiance of clashing ultimate techniques.

From the very start of the battle, blood sprayed through the air, staining the ground beneath their feet red.

The yokai power at Zi Yan's earlobes formed cherry blossom pendants, which drifted to the ground and transformed into blossoms floating around her toes and sides.

This was the sign that "Scattering Blossoms Step," the opening stance of the "Crimson Cherry Blossom Remnant Heart Style" she and Tōga had painstakingly created together, had begun.

Her steps followed the erratic drift of falling cherry blossoms. Each footfall created a small "lingering fragrance domain," where anyone weak in will or spirit would experience olfactory hallucinations upon entering.

Zi Yan stepped lightly, and lingering fragrance domains bloomed beneath the Panther Cat vanguard's feet.

The intense scent of mountain cherry blossoms sent a collective shudder through the Panther Cats!

"Crimson Cut: Chaotic Cherry Blossom Return!"

Her scabbard struck sparks of cherry pink against the moonlight. Three arcs of blade light sliced through the necks of thirty Panther Cats.

Before the fountains of blood could fall, Zi Yan had already stepped on the collapsing bodies and leaped into the air.

The drifting blood mist condensed into blood-red cherry blossoms, casting a crimson halo over the "Hazy Moon Stance" that followed.

Clang!

The blade braced against her left shoulder precisely deflected the incoming arrows of yokai power. Within the blind spot created by the refracted bloody light, Zi Yan's sword tip had already pierced the throats of three Panther Cat Commanders before her.

The high-frequency vibrations unique to "Blood Flick: Senbon Stitching" sent plum-blossom-shaped wounds spreading from their throats to their hearts.

When the eighth Panther Cat Commander's corpse turned into a cherry tree stump, Zi Yan caught the smell of burning rotten flesh.

"Soldiers fight soldiers, generals fight generals. Must I teach you even that much in the dead old dog's place?"

Seven floating skulls formed an array. The grim-faced Panther Cat Great Elder stood within the eye socket of the central skull, his Head Staff spewing searing blue-white yokai fire.

"Setting Sun: Hundred Demons' Transcription!"

Dim light pierced the night. Eight alluring afterimages of Zi Yan, each wrapped in cherry blossoms, surrounded the Panther Cat Great Elder in an aerial ring a hundred meters across.

Every instantaneous shift of her true body left a sonic boom cloud behind. Circular slashes carved burning cherry blossom brands into the surface of the skull array.

The Great Elder crushed two skulls with a savage grin. Black-purple miasmic flames instantly swallowed the afterimages, while the Head Staff in his hand let out a shrill, ghastly laugh.

The cherry blossom storm formed by "Thoughtless Wheel Dance" collided with the miasmic flames, its steel-hard pink petals slicing through the night sky.

Zi Yan suddenly spun and cleaved through the miasmic fire. The specially prepared "Scent of the Other Shore" on her blade seeped into the Great Elder's left arm-thorny cherry branches sprouted from his otherwise intact limb.

"Heavenly Weeping!"

The tornado of air stirred by her vertical ascent carried them both three hundred meters into the sky.

Zi Yan hung upside down against the cold moon rising in the heavens as a forty-meter crimson blade of light slashed down.

Ignoring the illusory abnormality in his left arm, the Panther Cat Great Elder formed a Demon Bone Barrier with the five skulls circling him.

The ring-shaped shock wave from the collision between the light blade and the demon bones blasted a hundred-meter-wide vacuum through the clouds.

"Heavenly Weeping: Second Form!"

She unleashed the ultimate sword technique again midway through her descent. This time, the blade of light swept up the spiritual-power cherry blossoms scattered earlier.

As the blade of light pierced the core of the demon bones, the Great Elder fell toward the burning fortress. Zi Yan stepped on the final cherry blossom and drifted gracefully to the ground.

"Such beautiful, dangerous swordsmanship. But is that all?"

The Panther Cat Great Elder emerged from the shattered demon bones, dark yokai aura washing over him. With one hand, he leaned on the Head Staff, which kept laughing viciously.

"You're still far weaker than the old dog!"

He had already breached the Dog Tribe Fortress and killed the Dog Tribe Grand Elder and Second Elder. The remaining Third Elder was his for the taking as well.

At that moment, the Panther Cat Great Elder did not mind wasting a few words to ease the mingled exultation and grief in his heart.

"Just as you said, every elder of the Leopard Cat except me may be dead. But as long as I remain, as long as all your Dog Tribe elders die too..."

"The Panther Cats will still be the Panther Cats who hold the Western Country in fear, and my Leopard Cat will never make the same mistake again!"

An azure-blue dragon formed of wind and fire slowly wound its way out of the Head Staff and coiled above the fortress.

With every breath, it spewed scorching flames and raging hurricanes.

The vast, surging yokai aura chilled the Dog Yokai and emboldened the Panther Cats.

"Our Dog Tribe came this far through blade and fire, hands and feet!"

Zi Yan slowly tightened her grip on her sword, cherry blossoms dancing around her. She stared straight at the enormous wind-and-fire dragon that made her body tremble. Her cool, resolute voice rang out around her, rallying the Dog Yokai once more.

"Then from this day onward, I'll break your blades, extinguish your fires, and crush your hands and feet between my teeth!"

The Panther Cat Great Elder slammed the Head Staff into the ground. The dragon spiraled downward, brutally smashing through the blades of sword energy formed from cherry blossoms.

I wish I could replenish my 'Tōga energy' before I die!

With the breath of wind and fire already upon her, Zi Yan unleashed her final Thoughtless Wheel Dance!

Thunderclouds suddenly rolled across the sky, and an azure dragon burst forth with a roar!

"Azure Dragon Strike!"