Demon Binding-Cherry Blossom Blizzard: Wild Blossom Heavenly Wind Slash (Part Two)

"You want to wipe us all out in one fell swoop? Aren't you afraid you'll choke?"

The Panther Cat Great Elder roared, shattering the three remaining skulls. Their scattered bone ash flowed into the Head Staff.

The great dragon formed from the wind and fire spewed by the human heads suddenly split into three.

The Wind-Fire Dragon's breath annihilated blossom after blossom of cherry-petal blades. Beneath the eager gazes of the Panther Cat Soldiers, its searing, raging body shook the cherry blossom realm.

"An ant trying to shake a tree. Laughably out of your depth!"

Zi Yan's graceful phantom appeared behind Tōga. United in heart and movement, they swung the Fang Sword together.

"Second act-Wild Blossom Wind Carving: Thousandfold Cherry Blades!"

The petals filling the sky instantly coalesced into twelve enormous cherry-colored wind blades, spiraling toward the Wind-Fire Dragon and the Panther Cat Great Elder to shred them.

Compressed within the wind blades was the immense power of the Wind Scar. Upon contact, they instantly split into a hundred miniature streams of sword energy, forming an inescapable three-dimensional cutting net.

The Wind-Fire Dragon had nowhere to hide beneath this overwhelming assault.

"Cursed cherry branches" rapidly sprouted from their wounds, and the foreign yokai power began eating away at them.

The Wind-Fire Dragon's blue-green body began turning cherry pink, crumbling and disintegrating.

The Panther Cat Great Elder beneath them was affected as well. Looking at the cherry blossom realm sealing off heaven and earth around him, he steeled himself to die.

"If this life of mine can destroy the Dog Tribe's present and future, it would be a bargain indeed."

As the Panther Cat Great Elder murmured, the Head Staff in his hand shattered. Its core, formed from vengeful spirits, became a streak of black light and flew into one of the Wind-Fire Dragons.

The blue-green dragon abruptly turned a deep, pitch black. Its yokai power, laden with curses and venomous resentment, instead began corrupting the foreign power within it. Its open maw sucked in the cherry blossoms filling the sky.

The black dragon's body began swelling. Each pulse sent out a ring of black ripples, and an indescribable power of cursed resentment ate into the cherry-colored barrier like a plague.

The dancing petals turned a filthy gray-black. The once-brilliant pillars of light gradually dimmed, and roots and vines withered to ash the instant they touched the dragon.

The Panther Cats caught in its reach immediately dissolved into pools of thick, foul-smelling black blood.

The Panther Cat Great Elder himself charged straight into the cursed black dragon's mouth.

Its vacant eyes suddenly blazed red. The Panther Cat Great Elder's sentience began taking command of its body.

The hatred and resentment of nearly a thousand Panther Cats who had died gruesome deaths poured into the black dragon like scattered starlight.

Yokai power vast as mountains and seas surged like floodwaters pent up behind a dam, sweeping everything away in an instant!

A column of yokai energy pierced the cherry blossom barrier from earth to sky. As though it had stepped halfway into another realm of power, the black dragon let out the Panther Cat Great Elder's hoarse, crazed howl.

"Let the Dog Tribe's future rot along with this filthy curse!"

No trace of lucid thought remained in the dragon's eyes, only malice and destruction. Pairs of greedy, hateful cat eyes abruptly opened across its enormous, bloated body.

Their gaze alone made Tōga's entire body prickle, leaving him on the verge of vomiting.

"Final scene: Flower Burial, Purification of the World!"

Tōga pointed his longsword.

All the cherry blossoms collapsed into a single point, forming a cherry-colored eye of wind that enveloped the black dragon.

The countless spinning blossoms turned black and crumbled to ash at a visible pace.

Yet the black dragon stopped in the midst of preparing to pounce. The cherry-colored eye of wind forming the Cherry Blossom Viewing Illusion restrained its destructive instincts with the suffocating sensation of fallen blossoms drifting down without end.

The Fang Sword, its power gathered, unleashed a cherry-colored river of sword light that spanned heaven and earth.

Wherever the sword light passed, the filthy black tide melted like ice and snow.

The withered vines sprouted anew, and tender white cherry blossoms fell once more.

The black dragon let out a piercing wail. Where its scales peeled away, countless twisted faces of vengeful spirits appeared, only to grow transparent in the rain of blossoms.

"Impossible... How could my curse lose to the mere likes of you two!"

The Panther Cat Great Elder's remaining consciousness roared within the dragon's head.

"Nothing but a beaten cat's yowling."

Tōga's voice was cold as iron. With a turn of his blade, the cherry-colored river of sword light abruptly split into a thousand fine threads, binding the dragon layer upon layer.

The cursed black dragon crumbled inch by inch, becoming a skyful of luminous dust.

The cursed resentment within the barrier was swept clean, and tender green shoots sprouted from the scorched earth.

The dozen or so Panther Cat soldiers surviving outside the fortress fled in panic, only to have their retreat cut off by the roaring warriors of the Dog Tribe.

The Panther Cat Great Elder's final shriek faded into the wind. Fragments of the Head Staff fell with a clatter and turned to dust.

Tōga dropped to one knee, driving the Fang Sword deep into the soil. Between ragged breaths, he spat out a mouthful of clotted blood.

This Demon Binding-Cherry Blossom Blizzard: Wild Blossom Heavenly Wind Slash had all but drained him dry.

The Panther Cat Great Elder's final trump card had been truly terrifying, too.

Timing, terrain, and circumstances had all favored him. White Bone Maru, whom the Azure Dragon Strike had smashed to pieces, was not even fit to carry his shoes.

A rich floral fragrance filled Tōga's nose. Zi Yan, who had separated from his body, had likewise exhausted her yokai power.

She staggered, then all but forced her way into Tōga's arms. Her hair was disheveled, but a smug smile curled at her lips.

"Well... wasn't Demon Binding with your big sister even stronger than you imagined?"

Tōga shook his head helplessly, gently wiping the blood from her cheek with his fingertips.

"What's so impressive about that...? If I hadn't taken the brunt of it, you would have been drained dry long ago."

"I'd gladly let you drain me dry."

Zi Yan raised a hand and poked his chest, her eyes shimmering.

"After all, that heart of yours, 'Dog General,' will always beat for me."

Suddenly, familiar footsteps sounded behind them.

"Beat?"

"Would you care to explain that to me in detail?"

The distant horizon paled to the color of a fish's belly above the fortress, where the smoke of battle had cleared.

The first rays of dawn pierced the clouds. In the distance came the Dog Yokai's cheers of victory; close at hand was the voluptuous, alluring body nestled in his arms.

This should have been the thrilling moment when the hero, having saved the world, welcomed cheers and a beauty into his arms. Yet Tōga's heart was ice-cold.

"Oh, I have something to do. I'll leave you two to it."

Zi Yan promptly slipped out of Tōga's arms. She gave Ringetsu, who was even more terrifying than the Panther Cat Great Elder, an awkward but polite smile, then bounded away like a rabbit.

Tōga froze where he stood. The Fang Sword reflected Ringetsu's graceful figure-

The golden sunlight illuminated the young woman's sweat-streaked face, making her look like something from a dream.

Though she had run through the night, Ringetsu remained elegant, composed, and breathtakingly beautiful.

Yet her gaze was colder still than the black tide of the night before.

Tōga suddenly missed the cursed black dragon from earlier. What a useless creature. Why did you have to die so quickly? You could at least have held on a little longer.

"Ringetsu..."

Tōga, daring to face life head-on, stood up. But before he could voice the words gathering in his chest, Ringetsu's movements interrupted him.

"The Admiral seems rather disappointed?"

Ringetsu smoothed the creases in his shoulder armor and robes. Moonlight gathered at her fingertips as she wiped away every last trace of Zi Yan's lingering yokai energy.

She lifted her eyes and gazed at Tōga.

(Zi Yan concept art: some people said her bust was too small in the previous picture, so I replaced it with one with a bigger bust.)