The three blades remained firmly gripped in the projections of Shinji's Shura Form. The cycle of three elements had already begun to spin on its own.
It lacked Water and Wood. Of the Five Elements, only three were in operation, Fire, Metal, Earth. In Shinji's design, he would use five blades to carry the Five Elements within his body, then externalize them through the Shura Form.
The resulting so-called domain, the so-called intrinsic bounded field would, without question, be a cyclical domain forged of the Five Elements.
Self-perpetuating. And unlike the fixed gate summoned by Kidōmaru's Rashōmon, Shinji's domain was a blade. It could be held in the hand. It could move with him, covering the space around him.
Within this domain, the power of Shinji's Five Viscera would be perfectly manifested. Through the ceaseless cycling, the entirety of his demonic energy would be multiplied, and multiplied again.
Yes, not merely fivefold but five times five. Doubled and redoubled. Yet at this moment, with two of the Five Elements missing, the cycle had a flaw.
His demonic energy broke and leaked at the juncture where Metal should generate Water. Metal generating Earth flowed smoothly, but after Metal, there was no Water to continue the chain. The power would dissipate at the end of the cycle. It could not achieve perfect, unbroken circulation.
But, it was truly enough. At least within this sealed abdominal space, against Sesshōmaru, it was enough. An incomplete domain was still a domain. A pseudo-finite Phenomenon. A power of the same order and standing, capable of touching another Phenomenon… and inflicting "damage" upon it.
Though the three-element cycle had its gaps, the total volume of demonic energy continued to climb. Onikiri devoured fire and spat fire. Yomi-giri condensed metal and killing intent. Banryū anchored earth and immobility.
The three blades were like three perpetually-running pumps, drawing the Five Viscera power from within the Shura Form, amplifying it, and pouring it back in. The domain's range was not large, barely three hundred meters in radius. But within it, the very texture of the air had completely transformed. Heavy. Dense. Thick. Viscous. Like stepping into a swamp. Stepping into… demonic energy belonging to Shinji!
It was an externalized Phenomenon, approaching that of a daiyōkai, where one's own demonic energy devoured the world.
Sesshōmaru's half-beast form stood at the edge of the domain. Even the short silver-white fur covering the soles of his feet had been pressed flat against his skin.
His golden slit-pupils narrowed faintly. He could feel it, space was rejecting him. A domain embryo forged from only three blades. Incomplete. Flawed. Before a true daiyōkai, perhaps barely enough to exist.
But Sesshōmaru was precisely the type, strong, yes but one who had never accumulated sufficient experience in domain-level confrontations against opponents of the same tier. This was the common failing of young powerhouses born of noble blood, who had terrifying forces standing behind them.
They were born standing atop the summit. They had never needed to climb the mountain. As the eldest son of Tōga, the greatest daiyōkai of the Western Lands, one could even say his only true offspring, Sesshōmaru had a massive faction behind him. Retainers and vassals were numerous.
There were truly very few daiyōkai of the same level who dared to deliver a killing blow against him. Even though the Western Lands had declined after the death of the Inu no Taishō, they remained one of the most elite factions in the demon world, the only existing terrestrial demon nation, besides Hagoromo Gitsune's Kyōto, where demons ruled over humans.
He was utterly different from the Tsuchigumo. The Tsuchigumo's race was not strong at its roots. So before becoming a daiyōkai, the Tsuchigumo had, without doubt, climbed up from the very bottom, step by step. It had grown through constant battle and slaughter, devouring its own kind again and again.
Sesshōmaru had not. He had been a daiyōkai from the moment of his birth. Thus his strength was absolute strength. And his weakness was absolute weakness, a lack of experience in prolonged battle against opponents of the same tier.
A lack of means to overturn a disadvantageous situation. And even more, a lack of something else.
Initiative.
The strong needed no initiative, because they were already at the top. He himself was already sufficiently powerful. Though that power could not yet be perfectly manifested, in most situations, it was enough. But precisely because of this, when he was dragged into someone else's rhythm, even if that rhythm was far from what he could theoretically achieve at full strength, he became clumsy. Just like now.
Facing the "domain" unfurled by Shinji, Sesshōmaru still charged in. His dog claws slashed down, wrapped in venom. His speed was still so great the air was torn to shreds.
But within the domain, those shredded fragments of air were automatically mended by the demonic energy of the three-element cycle. The seams of space healed the instant his claw-trails passed through. His Phenomenon was suppressed here. His attacks were diminished here.
The lower-left arm of the Shura Form blocked the dog claw. Vajra Indestructible stacked with Immovable Earth. The bone arm was rooted into the domain floor. No matter how the half-beast's strength crashed down, it was like striking the very root of a mountain.
The upper-right arm, empowered by Leopard-Tail Speed, followed with a counterattack, sweeping upward from below toward Sesshōmaru. Though the half-beast Sesshōmaru twisted aside with agility, his furred tail lashed out in a counterattack, striking the chest of the Shura Form's skeletal frame and producing a resonant hum.
But that hum was absorbed by the domain. The vibration traveled through the demonic energy diffused by the three blades and was converted into demonic energy, flowing back into the Shura Form's frame.
A portion of the power Sesshōmaru expended, was recovered by the domain. Shinji's reinforcement within the domain was a comprehensive elevation. This sensation made the eldest son of the dog-demon clan's slit-pupils grow even more overcast.
He suddenly accelerated. His half-beast body wove and shifted within the domain. Dog claws and poison mist alternated in attack. Every strike carried the mass of a daiyōkai.
The Shura Form responded with everything it had. Its four arms rotated like wheels. Fire, Metal, and Earth switched ceaselessly between blade and bone arm. Blow for blow. Fist against flesh. The thunderous impacts of bone and claw detonated continuously within the abdominal cavity.
A draw. The blessing of the domain embryo had bridged the gap in tier, allowing the Māra of the Twelfth Transformation's Return to One, upon the projection foundation of the Shura Form, to fight the half-beast natural-born daiyōkai to a standstill.
But that was all. The half-beast Sesshōmaru, though not superior in base attributes like strength and speed compared to full beast transformation, was more agile, more strategic, and more technical.
If the battle continued, Shinji's domain would collapse before his opponent. He could feel that countdown. But he still had a trump card. One final move, capable of annihilating a mountain dozens of meters tall into nothingness.
That move, in this state, within the demonic-energy surge brought by the three-element domain, was enough to heavily wound the natural-born daiyōkai before him, instantly stripping him of combat capability, unable to rise again. Though the cost would be his own exhaustion. But still, as said before, it was enough!
However, it was at that very moment. That instant. At Shinji's waist, a tremor came that belonged to neither Onikiri nor Yomi-giri. It was… Tessaiga.
That worn, tattered demon blade, which had only just acknowledged him with an Affection of merely 1 was emitting a short, urgent hum from within its sheath.
It was actively.... yearning. Yearning for Shinji to draw it. Shinji glanced down at his waist. Upon the hilt of Tessaiga, that layer of downy white beast-fur was glowing. An exceedingly faint gold seeped outward, spreading along the surface of the scabbard.
At the same time, from deep within the blade, came an exceedingly familiar suction force. Tessaiga was absorbing demonic energy. It was absorbing the surrounding miasma, that dense, overwhelming demonic energy from the remnants of Tōga's corpse, so thick it dyed the very sky gray-violet! The residual demonic power that Tōga had diffused across this cleft of the underworld for centuries, that vast power whose depths even Shinji could not measure, was being siphoned by Tessaiga at a terrifying speed.
Golden light surged from the gaps of the scabbard, climbing along Shinji's arm and up onto the Shura Form's skeletal frame.
Upon the System panel,
[Tessaiga: Affection 1]
Still only 1. But it was helping. A blade with an Affection of merely 1, proactively aiding its wielder in battle by absorbing external demonic energy to fill the gaps of the domain, this, in itself, proved that Tessaiga's acknowledgment of Shinji far exceeded what the number displayed.
In the corner, Tōga's remnant soul watched the glowing Tessaiga. He blinked.
"…It actually moved on its own?" His voice, for once, carried surprise.
Tessaiga had been forged from his own fang. In a sense, it was another child of his. He knew its temperament better than anyone. It was an exceedingly picky blade. Even when held for over a decade, it had never once taken the initiative to do anything for its wielder.
It was merely used. Never did it proactively help. It was like a cold, proud young woman. But now, Tōga's gaze fell upon those crimson demon eyes at the core of the Shura Form. Five Viscera. Three Souls. Both demon and human. Because he was a demon, Tessaiga could be activated.
Because he was human, Tessaiga was willing to respond. And that heart of protection, the conviction that had raised barriers for Kikyō, for Kaede's Village, for nearly one hundred thousand faithful souls under his governance, was precisely the core of will used when Tessaiga was forged.
Protection.
It was not because it acknowledged this demon's strength. It was because it acknowledged his heart.
Tōga was silent for two seconds. Then he did something. The silver-white light-dust of his remnant soul diffused outward slightly. He released his "control." As the master of this cleft of the underworld, Tōga's Human Soul, though faint, was still the final controller within this space.
His Human Soul suppressed the scattered demonic energy, preventing it from running wild or condensing into dangerous forms, or even spawning new daiyōkai. Now, he actively let go.
"Go." Only one word.
The instant the suppression upon the residual demonic energy vanished, Tessaiga's absorption speed multiplied tenfold. The gray-violet demonic energy surged toward Tessaiga's blade like a breached dam. The golden light shifted from gentle to blazing. The entire blade shuddered violently within its sheath.
Tessaiga, which had always possessed the characteristic of devouring demonic energy to grow, was undergoing metamorphosis. And then, Tessaiga drew itself from its sheath. The blade shot from the scabbard's mouth.
Shinji's right hand instinctively gripped it. The sensation upon contact was utterly different from before. The hilt was scorching. The blade expanded. But this time, the direction of its transformation was completely different. It did not become the crescent-fang great blade.
Instead, the entire sword transformed into a stream of golden demonic energy, detaching from Shinji's hand and surging upward, expanding and growing.
Golden light tore open a blazing domain within the gray-violet space. Demonic energy condensed into form.
The skeleton of a colossal dog was constructed within Tessaiga's golden radiance. Canine skull. Canine spine. Four limbs. Tail. White bone for the skeleton. Golden demonic energy for the sinews. The gray-violet miasma left behind by Tōga for the flesh and blood.
A skeletal giant dog, equal in size to the Shura Form, took shape within the abdominal cavity. Its form was strikingly similar to a miniature version of Tōga's own fully-beastified corpse. The snout was long and tapered. Fangs jutted outward. Within the hollow eye sockets burned golden flames.
But it had no will. No life. It was merely an empty shell, projected by Tessaiga using the devoured demonic energy as raw material. The empty shell was waiting for something.
Shinji understood. And his response was swift. In the very next breath, the Bone Thunder Shura stepped forward. Its four arms spread wide. Its skeletal frame directly embedded itself into the shell of the skeletal giant dog.
White bone fused into white bone. Thunder poured into golden light. The upper body of the Shura Form burst forth from the spine of the giant dog, its four arms still encircled. But its lower body had completely merged with the canine skeleton.
A man standing upon the back of a dog. More precisely, the Shura Form had donned the canine armor manifested by Tessaiga.
This.... was Ikō Shura. The Majestic Armor Shura! It was similar, in a certain sense, to a ninja from another world donning a chakra armor over a tailed beast.
The four arms of the Shura Form manipulated three blades. The canine skeleton granted mobility and additional demonic energy. The residual demonic energy of Tōga, absorbed by Tessaiga, circulated through the canine skeleton, filling the missing Water and Wood elements within the domain's Five Elements.
The Five Elements, had, for a brief time, been completed. Though this demonic energy was temporary, because Tōga was dead, and his residual demonic energy was merely rootless duckweed, lacking vitality, diminishing with every use. Yet before it was exhausted, Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, self-sustaining, operating on their own.
Sesshōmaru was now utterly engulfed by the domain. The half-beast eldest son of the dog-demon clan felt the violent transformation of the air's texture. What had previously been the heavy, swamp-like pressure now became substantive oppression.
Every inch of space rejected him. Every wisp of demonic energy fought against him. And because he felt the demonic power of Tōga… he, who should have retreated, was, at last, enraged once more.
But the Shura War-Dog, under Shinji's control, raised its head. Its jaws opened wide. Its four arms were raised high. Shinji did not hesitate. The Souls resonated. The Heaven Soul drew in purity. The Earth Soul expelled impurity.
The two forces of purity and impurity surged outward simultaneously. They did not pour back into his body to detonate. Instead along the cycle of the Five Elements domain, they converged outside his body.
The convergence point was the dog's mouth. White pure energy and gray-violet impure energy collided between the fangs, compressing. The temperature skyrocketed. Space warped.
At the point of convergence, a colorless orb of light, the size of a fist, condensed.
Furukami. The Raging God. But beneath the full activation of the Five Elements domain, the amplification of the canine skeleton, and the total infusion of Tessaiga's demonic energy, the scale of this strike far surpassed the one that had obliterated that hill on the journey back.
Furu—Kami! The jaws of the Shura War-Dog snapped shut, then wrenched open. The orb of light shot forth. Soundless. Lightless. Only the instantaneous vacuum left behind as the air was utterly compressed.
And then, it abruptly detonated. It hurtled toward Sesshōmaru!