“Concerned for your little pets, Sesshoumaru-sama?”

He leapt to the side as Mouryoumaru’s crystallized limb barreled toward him, smashing through the rock where he had once stood. Low guttural laughter filled the air.

“Don’t worry. I’m sure Hakudoushi is taking excellent care of them.”

Golden eyes narrowed at Mouryoumaru. “This Sesshoumaru has grown weary of your japes.”

Held level before him, Tokijin seared and rippled with azure flames of youki. As Sesshoumaru stoked it further, the flames unfurled and spread, roiling and twisting about him, his sleeves and hair billowing as his power rose to tower above them both in the form of a gigantic, blue-and-white dragon.

“Souryuuha!” he yelled, unleashing Tokijin’s ultimate attack upon Mouryoumaru.

The dragon lunged, slamming his adversary back into the mountainside in a maelstrom of white-hot youki. Boulders crashed down from the summit above, dust rising in a massive cloud under the force of his assault.

As the dust settled, Sesshoumaru turned from the carnage and prepared to take flight. A cloud of youki materialized beneath his boots, propelling him into the air. He had nearly reached the top of the ridge when something foul wrapped around his ankle from below and ripped him from the sky.

He slammed hard against the wall of a neighboring cliff, his back sliding down the fractured rock as Mouryoumaru emerged from the rubble, chuckling and unharmed.

“The tales of your greatness have been exaggerated, it seems.”

Sesshoumaru staggered to his feet, tearing his loosened right pauldron free. He tossed it into the dirt as Tokijin flared once more in his hand.

“So there’s still some fight left in you,” Mouryoumaru observed, smiling darkly. “Good.”

As a jet of tentacled crystal lanced toward him, Sesshoumaru jumped up and back, pushing off from the cliff behind him. He hurtled toward Mouryoumaru at blinding speed, Tokijin bending and blazing as he forced his full power into the spent blade.

A look of shock flitted across Mouryoumaru’s patchwork face. Sesshoumaru’s sword hit its mark, driving him to the earth and cleaving through his armored chest. Pinning him down, Sesshoumaru wedged Tokijin further into the crack.

Then, he heard the miko scream.

His head jerked up at the sound—a cry of unmistakable pain. In his moment of distraction, his power cooled, and Tokijin splintered, snapping in two.

Inuyasha © Rumiko Takahashi