The ground suddenly began to convulse violently. Countless spiderweb cracks spread outward from the fortress in a mad frenzy, shattered stone reversing direction and blasting skyward like a storm.
The sudden upheaval caught Ziyan completely off guard. Before she could react, a deep, agonized roar thundered up from beneath the earth.
"AAARGH—!"
Having consumed great demon blood so potent that even blood kin would suffer catastrophic backlash, the Leopard Cat Second Elder, already missing his left arm had prepared himself to die here.
His Leopard Cat yōkai body swelled by more than a full size, muscle knotting into dark crimson tumors, a nauseating stench of blood radiating from him.
"Earth Dragon Upheaval!"
"Sink for me—NOW!!"
Earth-aspected yōki burst from him in a reckless torrent, forcefully prying against the power of the ley lines themselves.
Even the mildest recoil made blood pour from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
Then the crushing backlash — as though the entire landmass had collapsed upon him — detonated his body into a mist of blood.
The Dog Clan fortress barrier, formed upon the ley lines, began to shake violently under the rebound.
Crack.
The instant the first fracture surfaced, Ziyan — loyal to her post even in catastrophe, immediately summoned the barrier specialists and took charge of stabilizing the formation.
Seeing the moment had come, the Leopard Cat Great Elder raised his skull staff high.
"All forces, advance! Tear the barrier apart!"
Multicolored yōki beams crashed into the barrier like a torrential storm, thunderous explosions shaking the sky.
Under the Leopard Cat army's rainbow bombardment, fractures spread rapidly, the light dimming with every impact.
Ziyan stared at the trembling barrier, inhaled deeply, and abandoned all hesitation. Her duty to her people was absolute, and so she formed ranks with the Dog Clan warriors to meet the breach.
Finally, with a deafening boom, the barrier known among the Leopard Cats as the Unsetting Sun shattered into countless brilliant shards of light and vanished into the air.
The Leopard Cat army erupted in triumph, surging forward like a tidal wave.
Bloodlust roared across the battlefield.
Outnumbered two to one, the Dog Clan warriors clashed head-on with their enemies amid dazzling, lethal exchanges of ultimate techniques.
Blood splattered the land the instant battle began, staining the earth crimson.
From Ziyan's earrings, yōki condensed into falling cherry blossom pendants that scattered to the ground and drifted around her feet.
This was the opening stance of the sword art she and Tōga had painstakingly created together —
Crimson Sakura, Lingering Heart Style — "Scattering Petals Step."
She advanced in drifting, petal-like footwork. Every landing point formed a localized Lingering Fragrance Field — those with weak willpower who stepped inside would experience olfactory hallucinations.
Ziyan tapped lightly forward. The fields blossomed beneath the Leopard Cat vanguard.
The overwhelming scent of mountain cherry blossoms triggered mass tremors across their ranks.
"Crimson Sever — Chaotic Sakura Return!"
Her scabbard scraped moonlight into rose-colored sparks. Three crescent slashes passed cleanly through the throats of thirty Leopard Cats.
Before the fountains of blood could hit the ground, Ziyan leapt atop the falling corpses and vaulted skyward.
The drifting blood mist crystallized into blood-red sakura, coating her next technique, Hazy Moon Guard, in crimson radiance.
Clang!
The blade braced against her left shoulder precisely deflected incoming yōki arrows. Within the blind zone created by the refracted bloodlight, her sword tip pierced the throats of three Leopard Cat commanders.
The signature vibration of Blood Recoil — Thousand Needle Stitch caused plum-blossom-shaped wounds to spread from throat to heart.
By the time the eighth Leopard Cat commander collapsed into what resembled a cherry stump, Ziyan smelled burning, scorched flesh.
"Soldiers fight soldiers. Commanders fight commanders. Does a dead old dog really need to teach you that rule?!"
Seven floating skulls arranged themselves into formation. The grim-faced Leopard Cat Great Elder stood within the eye socket of the central skull, his skull staff spewing white-blue demonfire.
"Afterglow — Hundred Oni Chronicle!"
Dim light pierced the night. Eight seductive afterimages of Ziyan, wrapped in sakura petals, encircled the Great Elder in a hundred-meter aerial ring.
Each teleportation of her true body generated sonic booms. Her circular slashes carved burning cherry blossom brands into the skull formation.
The Great Elder snarled and crushed two skulls in his grip. Black-purple miasma flames swallowed the afterimages as the skull staff emitted shrill, maddened laughter.
The sakura storm of Mindless Waltz collided with the miasma fire, petal-shaped blades slicing the night sky like forged steel.
Ziyan suddenly twisted and split the miasma flames apart. The specially refined Beyond-Death Incense on her blade invaded the Great Elder's left arm — and thorned cherry branches erupted from it.
"Heaven's Lament!"
The updraft spiral from her vertical ascent hurled both fighters three hundred meters into the air.
Ziyan inverted herself against the rising cold moon, and in the next instant a forty-meter crimson blade descended.
The Leopard Cat Great Elder ignored the hallucinated mutation in his arm. Five remaining skulls spun around him, forming a demonic bone barrier.
The collision between blade and bone produced a circular shockwave that tore a hundred-meter vacuum through the clouds.
"Heaven's Lament — Second Form!"
She triggered the art again mid-descent, this time wrapping the blade in the scattered spirit-sakura from earlier.
When the strike pierced the bone core, the Great Elder fell toward the burning fortress, while Ziyan descended lightly upon the last drifting petal.
"Beautiful and dangerous swordsmanship… but is that really the end?"
He emerged from shattered demon bones, blackened yōki washing over his body, one hand resting on the shrieking skull staff.
"You're still far weaker than that old dog."
The fortress was breached. The Dog Clan Great Elder and Second Elder were dead. The Third Elder herself, stood alone before him.
In this moment, the Leopard Cat Great Elder indulged himself in speech, savoring both triumph and grief.
"Just as you said, the elders of my Leopard Cat clan may all be dead but me. But as long as I live — and as long as your Dog Clan elders die with you —"
"The Panther Cats will still dominate the West. And we will never repeat the same mistakes again!"
A blue-green dragon of wind and flame coiled out from the skull staff and spiraled above the fortress.
Each breath exhaled torrents of fire and raging hurricane winds.
The overwhelming yōki sent chills through the Dog Clan warriors — and drove the Leopard Cats into frenzy.
"Our clan has survived until today on blade and flame, on hand and foot!"
Ziyan slowly tightened her grip on her sword. Sakura petals whirled around her body as she faced the wind-and-fire dragon shaking her very bones. Her voice — loyal, unwavering, and unyielding — rang across the battlefield and reignited her warriors' spirits.
"Then from today onward, we'll break your blades, extinguish your flames, and crush your hands and feet!"
The Leopard Cat Great Elder slammed his skull staff into the ground. The dragon spiraled downward, smashing brutally through her sakura-forged sword light.
"Before I die… I really want to recharge my Tōga energy…"
With the breath of wind and fire already upon her, Ziyan unleashed her final Mindless Waltz.
Thunderclouds rolled across the heavens.
A vast azure dragon roared forth.
"Sōryūha!"