"Are we going to find that yokai named Sesshōmaru now, Lady Satsuki?" Ruri asked respectfully, sitting at the side of the chariot.
"Mhm."
Satsuki nodded lightly. After extracting the memory of the leopard cat yokai, she had already recorded the unique yokai energy signature of the one called Sesshōmaru.
With that, locating him using her Tenseigan would only be a matter of time.
Having made up her mind, Satsuki channeled the power of Yin-Yang Sage Arts stored in her forehead into the Tenseigan. For an instant, golden and silver light intertwined within her golden eyes.
The Tenseigan's perception expanded exponentially, stretching across entire nations.
An overwhelming pressure radiated from her body, and even the surrounding space began to vibrate, groaning under the strain as if it might shatter at any moment.
Every yokai within a hundred-mile radius reacted instinctively to the terror, fleeing their hiding places in blind panic.
Hundreds upon hundreds of grotesque, lesser yokai scattered like startled insects, driven purely by primal fear to flee as far from Satsuki as possible.
Her gaze, however, ignored them entirely as she scanned the world far beyond.
Finally—
On a snow-covered plain near the sea, Satsuki found her target: Sesshōmaru.
He had long, silver-white hair, with a golden crescent moon marking between two forelocks on his forehead. Two crimson stripes adorned each cheek, and he wore a white kimono embroidered with hexagonal plum blossoms. His golden eyes gleamed with pride and elegance—a noble visage almost divine in its beauty.
Were it not for his demonic nature, he could easily have been mistaken for a handsome young noble adored by humans.
Yet such things held no interest for Satsuki. What captured her attention was the unique power hidden deep within his body.
"A yokai possessing a force bordering on the realm of Authority itself? How intriguing."
Satsuki murmured softly, then with a mere thought, the chariot slipped into a spatial passage and vanished.
...
Standing at the seashore, gazing at the waves—this was Sesshōmaru's long-standing habit, a form of quiet discipline he had practiced since the days he began tempering his yokai power.
It was a tradition inherited from his father—the strongest great yokai of the Western Lands, Lord Tōga.
Sesshōmaru had never once considered himself weak. He had inherited immense power and potential from both parents. Given time, he believed, he would surely rise to become a great yokai in his own right.
He had believed this firmly—until the day he witnessed his father's true strength on the battlefield.
Gazing now at the ever-shifting ocean, sometimes tranquil, sometimes storm-wracked, Sesshōmaru could not help but recall that day—the first time he saw his father's might unleashed.
Thousands of yokai annihilated in an instant beneath his father's fangs.
That sight alone was enough to make his body tremble even now. It was then that he realized just how insignificant his own strength truly was compared to that overwhelming, world-crushing power.
Yet for one as proud as Sesshōmaru, surrender was never an option—even if his opponent was the mightiest yokai of the Warring States Era, even if that opponent was the father he respected above all.
He would surpass him. One day, he would stand as the strongest yokai of this era.
For the pursuit of strength—absolute strength—was the very purpose of his existence.
"In this age, the path I walk is that of dominion. And power is the only means to carve that path ever forward."
Each time he came to the sea to meditate, each time he faced the crashing tides, he reminded himself of this truth.
The power of Lord Tōga had left an indelible mark upon his heart. Even as he looked upon the raging waves before him now, he could not help but see the image of his father—vast, immovable, and invincible.
With that thought, Sesshōmaru envisioned the endless sea as his father himself.
Then, with a graceful motion, he raised one hand, extending a thin, yellow-green whip of energy from between his fingers. His figure blurred into a streak of light as he charged straight toward the roaring wave.
With a single lash, the towering fifty-meter tide split apart before him.
But the power of nature could not be overcome so easily...
Under the pull of the tides, a few seconds later, an even greater wave surged forward.
Sesshōmaru, expression unchanging, swung his light whip once more, shattering the wave into glittering mist.
Wave after wave crashed toward him—each one torn apart by the relentless motion of the glowing whip that traced luminous arcs across the sky.
This exchange continued for half an hour.
Even Sesshōmaru, with his immense stamina and yokai power, began to feel the strain. His breathing grew uneven, and beads of sweat formed on his brow.
Yet his eyes never wavered, and his silence carried the weight of unshakable resolve. Standing amid the roaring sea, he seemed as immovable as a mountain of stone.
Not enough...
Far from enough...
If it were Father, a single strike would have been enough to evaporate this entire sea... But I— I can barely hold back the waves.*
This level of power... is nothing before him.
I must become stronger. Stronger than this...!
With that thought blazing in his heart, Sesshōmaru's golden eyes flashed sharply. Instead of retreating, he surged forward, forcing his body into the heart of the raging ocean.
The deeper he went, the more violent the sea became. The waves no longer struck from a single direction—they came from everywhere, all at once.
In midair, Sesshōmaru began to spin rapidly. The yellow-green energy whip coiled around him like a dancing ribbon, slashing through the waves that tried to consume him. Each strike repelled a torrent of seawater—only for the next surge to rise even higher.
Time passed.
Sesshōmaru's vision began to blur. His spinning body faltered, and dizziness struck him for the first time in years. The once-vibrant whip dimmed, its destructive power fading. The brilliance in his golden eyes slowly dulled.
His powerful yokai body was screaming in warning—he had reached his limit.
The pursuit of strength is universal. Whether human or yokai, all living beings desire power.
Yet attaining true power is never a matter of a single moment.
Even Satsuki, to awaken the Tenseigan, had once endured years of patient seclusion upon the earth before finally emerging in brilliance.
Now, as Sesshōmaru's strength gave out and the surrounding waves surged to engulf him, he was on the verge of being dragged beneath the depths.
Suddenly—
A massive tail of yokai energy burst through the waves, wrapping around his body and yanking him back toward the shore.
Just before the proud noble lost consciousness, he heard a faint, almost amused voice beside him.
"Lady Satsuki, the one you're looking for is quite the reckless fool."
In truth, Satsuki had arrived at Sesshōmaru's location long before.
However, she didn't reveal herself immediately. Instead, she concealed her presence and quietly observed his actions from the shadows.
Only after this yokai called Sesshōmaru had completely exhausted all his excess energy did she instruct Ruri to extend her tail and rescue him.
"Depleting both his yokai power and stamina, with not a single retainer nearby... I can't tell if this guy truly believes he's untouchable, or if he just has a death wish," Satsuki remarked dryly.
Placing Sesshōmaru down on the snow, Ruri glanced toward her master. "Lady Satsuki, should I fetch some water to wake him?"
"There's no need."
Satsuki raised her wrist lightly, and a soft blue radiance of Authority emanated from her palm, bathing Sesshōmaru's body in its glow.
In an instant, his yokai power and stamina were restored to their peak.
She made no effort to heal his mental fatigue—but it was enough to rouse him from unconsciousness.
Instinctively, Sesshōmaru reacted like a threatened hound. His body sprang from the ground, golden eyes flashing red as he growled menacingly at Satsuki and Ruri.
A surge of immense yokai energy exploded outward, whipping the snow into the air and clearing the field around him.
Such a force would have made any ordinary yokai cower.
But here, it had absolutely no effect.
The woman before him—whose presence carried no trace of yokai energy—merely frowned and said in a tone of mild irritation, "Be quiet."
Be quiet...?
The words struck Sesshōmaru like lightning. He froze.
That tone... it was identical to his mother's—the woman who lived above the clouds in the Castle in the Sky. The woman who taunted and mocked him endlessly, yet secretly cared for him in her own way.
But Sesshōmaru had never taken kindly to her. His pride and self-respect could not bear being treated like a child, even by his own mother.
Even now, having already stepped into the realm of the great yokai.
"Hey, have you stared enough?"
The sudden voice cut through his thoughts. His crimson pupils slowly faded back to gold, and the feral snarl on his face gave way to his usual stoic calm.
Only then did he notice the other presence beside the woman—a figure clad in a deep violet kimono, emanating a distinctly demonic aura.
He immediately remembered the massive tail of yokai energy that had pulled him from the sea earlier. The scent was identical.
"..."
Sesshōmaru rose to his feet slowly. Though his body brimmed with strength, his mind felt oddly unbalanced—a dissonance he hadn't experienced since mastering his yokai energy.
And that alone told him these two were not ordinary beings.
"You sought me out," he said coolly. "For what purpose?"
"Our purpose is simple," Satsuki replied flatly. "But as you are now, you're not qualified to know."
Through her Tenseigan, Satsuki could see the truth clearly. The yokai before her was strong—but not extraordinary.
What truly caught her interest was the peculiar energy buried deep within him—a power resembling permanence.
If Sesshōmaru could one day master that force, his attacks would take on a terrifying property: each wound inflicted would endlessly spread through the target's body until it was utterly destroyed.
Such an ability would be especially devastating against beings with regenerative or immortal qualities.
If Satsuki had possessed that power during her battle with Hassan-i Sabbah in the FATE world, his immortality would have been rendered completely meaningless.
But Sesshōmaru, proud as ever, bristled at her dismissive tone. A faint spark of killing intent flickered in his golden eyes.
"Two against the entire Dog Clan's Western stronghold," he said icily. "You must be confident indeed. Tell me—what gives you such arrogance? That little act of rescue earlier, or your own strength?"
"Strength is the foundation of confidence; aid is the expression of intent." Satsuki's golden eyes lowered slightly, her gaze upon Sesshōmaru resembling more a passing glance than true attention—closer to indifference than regard.
"I'll give you a chance, Sesshōmaru. As the son of Lord Tōga—if you can touch me during battle, I'll tell you my purpose."
At her words, Sesshōmaru's right hand flexed. A bluish-green whip of light coiled from his palm with a sharp hiss. His voice was low and cold. "That suits me perfectly."
Before the last syllable faded, Sesshōmaru's figure blurred and vanished. In an instant, he reappeared at Satsuki's side, his light whip snapping forward with lethal precision.
But before it could strike, a massive purple tail of yokai energy swept between them. It effortlessly deflected his attack and then continued its arc, crashing down toward him with unstoppable force.
"Hm? That one…"
Out of the corner of his eye, Sesshōmaru glimpsed the violet figure standing beside the black-haired woman. Behind her swayed three enormous tails of yokai energy, vast enough to blot out the moonlight.
The figure held a folding fan before her lips, watching him with a faint, amused smile—as though the duel unfolding was little more than entertainment.
Targeted by the colossal tail, Sesshōmaru twisted in midair. His movements were sharp and blindingly fast, leaving afterimages as he narrowly evaded the crushing strike. In the same breath, his free hand flared with toxic green light as he thrust toward the violet figure.
"Poison?"
With a single glance, Ruri's mind—guided by the Akashic Records—discerned the structure and nature of the green energy.
When the distance between them closed to mere meters, Ruri's body erupted with a surge of yokai power, her aura bursting outward like a storm. The explosion of force stopped Sesshōmaru's strike cold.
Then, extending one slender finger toward him, Ruri gathered her energy. A sphere of violet yokai light formed at her fingertip and shot forward like a cannon blast.
But Sesshōmaru, worthy of his title as one of the Western Lands' mightiest, reacted instantly.
As a great yokai, he unleashed all his power, shattering the invisible force restraining him. Yet the blast came too fast—there was no time to dodge.
Instinct took over. He drew the sword from his waist, pouring his remaining energy into it. With a powerful sweep, he released a projectile of green energy to meet the violet one head-on.
The two energy spheres collided.
A single instant of silence—then the world exploded.
BOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!
The immense vortex of yokai power tore through the landscape, obliterating everything within reach. The resulting shockwave sent tremors through the land, and the earth cried beneath the pressure. The horizon was consumed in blinding light.
Cracks spread like a web through the ground. Even the nearby sea recoiled violently, forced back dozens of meters by the sheer force of the impact.
Dozens of seconds later, the storm of power finally began to fade. As the light dimmed, the scene revealed itself—
At the center of the devastation, Satsuki and Ruri stood exactly as before, composed and unscathed.
Across from them, Sesshōmaru had been thrown hundreds of meters back. He plunged his sword into the earth, gouging three deep trenches before finally halting, breath ragged as he struggled to remain standing.
The blade in his hand—after one final act of defiance—let out a sorrowful note.
Then, with a sharp crack, it broke cleanly in two.