Tōga did not watch the Heavenly Fang's battle.
From the very beginning, the Dog Clan had only one option — victory.
The magatama markings borne by the four Heavenly Fangs did not merely contain demonic energy.
They also carried fragments of Tōga's own understanding of battle.
That essence alone was enough for the four to quickly awaken battle techniques suited to their own strengths.
The remaining sixteen reserve Heavenly Fangs had all survived the baptism of battles fought against enemies many times their number.
With the Sankon Tessō's claws and Steel Fists complementing one another — attack and defense, even an average Dog Clan soldier could fight five lesser panther demons at once.
Tōga himself did not go to the Wind and Thunder Gorge.
Whether the conflict between the Leopard Cat Tribe and the Crow Tengu ended in victory or ruin, the Dog Clan would remain the fisherman who reaped the spoils.
He stood alone atop a mountain that lay along the shortest path between the Leopard Cat Tribe's domain and the gorge, his gaze sharp as a blade, watching a black speck grow larger on the distant horizon.
Deep within the heart of the Leopard Cat Tribe's territory, inside a hollowed-out mountain cavern,
a messenger Leopard Cat demon lay prostrate at the foot of the stone steps below the throne.
Cold sweat drenched his back.
The skull-shaped braziers hanging on the rock walls crackled and spat embers,
sparks landing upon his trembling ears.
He forced himself to report the situation at Wind and Thunder Gorge, the actions of the Third Elder — while enduring the suffocating pressure radiating from his lord.
The Panther Lord listened in silence, his expression darkening with every word.
The moment the report ended, his stern features twisted into something monstrous.
Veins bulged across his forehead like coiling snakes.
With a single, crushing sound, his clawed fingers shattered the armrest of the throne.
When his thirty-meter-tall demonic body rose, the entire mountain cavern quaked.
"Such audacity! Who gave him the right to act on his own!?"
"Bring him back, alive! If the Sixth Elder has perished because of his recklessness, then throw him into the Death Camp! From this day forward, he'll lead every suicidal charge!"
"If he cannot slay the Dog Clan elders, then he will rot there for life!"
Furious beyond reason, the Panther Lord immediately ordered his personal guard captain —
a high-ranking yōkai on par with the strongest elders —
to set out for the Wind and Thunder Gorge at once.
The captain obeyed and departed without a word.
He flew through the night, beneath countless stars, racing across mountain peaks.
By the time the sun stood high, he halted abruptly in mid-air —
for before him, upon a craggy cliff, stood a young Dog Clan warrior.
Their eyes met across the empty sky.
Murderous intent boiled between them like wildfire.
The captain's demonic aura, stronger even than that of the Leopard Cat Tribe's Second Elder,
spilled out in waves so dense the very air hissed and tore apart with a zizzing sound.
Half his face was a ruin of blackened scars —
his left eye burned like molten gold,
while the right bore the claw-torn mark left long ago by the Dog General, before his ascension as a Great Demon.
That sight made the corner of Tōga's lips curl in excitement.
This was Byakukonmaru, the Panther Lord's favored son —
personally trained by his father, and said to be the one most likely to ascend to Great Demon status.
"Dog whelp…"
Byakukonmaru's growl rolled from his throat like boiling magma.
At his waist, a bone whip coiled and hissed, lifting its head like a living serpent.
"So it was your kind who interfered with the Third Elder at Wind and Thunder Gorge."
Tōga's reply came sharp and cold.
"With the way you cats handle your affairs, you really think we needed to meddle?"
"Getting your skulls cracked open by the Crow Tengu was only natural."
He scoffed, slowly drawing the Fang Blade from his waist.
His long silver hair whipped wildly in the clash of demonic auras,
and within his chest, long-dormant battlelust flared to life.
"Your clansmen are waiting for you down below," Tōga said, eyes glinting.
"You'd best hurry, and join them."
Words were wasted.
Byakukonmaru's molten-gold eye went cold.
The clear sky darkened in an instant as clouds gathered and churned.
The oppressive weight of a high-class yōkai's power poured over the land like a storm.
Even Tōga furrowed his brow under that suffocating presence, his body instinctively tensing.
Then, in a flash —
A bolt of black lightning tore through the air with a triple thunderclap,
descending straight toward him.
The bone whip cut the sky,
the force so immense that each swing made the air explode with a muffled boom.
Waves of pressure rippled outward in concentric rings,
shattering the rocks they touched to dust.
But instead of retreating, Tōga advanced.
As the Fang Blade left its sheath, he slashed upward,
unleashing a golden blade of energy that soared like it would cleave the heavens themselves.
The Kaze no Kizu [Wind Scar] roared forth, its razor winds colliding head-on with the bone whip.
The violent clash twisted the air,
the two forces tearing and grinding against each other,
bursting in a blinding explosion of light.
Byakukonmaru's molten eye flickered with a trace of surprise —
but only for an instant before it hardened into killing intent once more.
"The more gifted the dog whelp, the more he deserves to die!"
Thinking of the current Dog General, his fury blazed hotter.
His demonic aura surged like a black tide,
so thick it seemed to solidify the air itself.
With a flick of his arm, the bone whip writhed like a living beast,
blocking the Kaze no Kizu's assault —
and began to pierce through its golden winds, inching toward Tōga.
Tōga stamped his foot; the rock beneath him shattered.
Using the recoil, he leapt high into the sky,
swinging his blade again and again.
A series of Kaze no Kizu chained together,
forming a golden torrent that surged down like a divine flood,
ready to swallow the Leopard Cat Captain whole.
Byakukonmaru gripped his bone whip with both hands, twisting it into a spiraling shield,
deflecting every slash that came his way.
Even as he defended, his aura swelled further —
dark, boiling energy wrapping him completely.
And when that power reached its peak,
he raised the whip to his mouth — and swallowed it whole.
His body convulsed and swelled; his face lengthened,
fangs and claws bursting forth.
In an instant, he transformed —
a towering leopard demon clad in bone-spiked armor grown from his own spine and shoulders.
With a thunderous roar, his massive claws swept forward,
tearing the Kaze no Kizu to shreds.
Facing the beast, Tōga's excitement only burned brighter.
In his eyes, the fire of battle raged like never before.
"Now this, this is a worthy opponent!"
He raised his sword, crossing it before his chest.
"Sōryūha!"
From deep within the clouds above came a rumble like the beating of the heavens.
Bolts of lightning writhed between the storm clouds,
painting the world in blue-white light as Tōga's silver hair danced wildly in the wind.
The Fang Blade trembled,
its blade humming with the crackling scent of ozone.
Then —
A torrent of demonic energy surged skyward,
wrapped in blue-white thunderfire,
condensing high above into a colossal azure dragon.
Its whiskers were arcs of lightning;
its scales shimmered with pulsing spheres of blue electricity.
When its claws moved, the very air rippled like water.
Byakukonmaru let out a deafening roar,
gathering black energy into a swirling vortex within his jaws.
But the dragon descended from the heavens with a roar like thunder,
devouring that beam of destruction whole.
Lightning exploded from Byakukonmaru's seven orifices as the storm swallowed him.
The mountain beneath them split apart layer by layer,
and the ancient trees were burned to ash before they even fell.
The overwhelming force distorted space itself,
the sky quaking as if ready to collapse.
Blue lightning and black demonic energy intertwined,
forming a vast storm of raw power.
When the two forces collided,
the world within ten leagues blazed bright as day.
A shockwave ripped outward,
tearing a perfect circular void through the clouds above.
The ground trembled, thunder raged,
and for a moment —
it felt as though the heavens themselves were falling.