"Hmpf! That little needle of yours won't work on me!"
Moryomaru roared with disdain, swinging a massive, armored arm at the airborne Akame.
BOOM!
"Ugh!"
Akame withdrew her blade just in time to bracing it against the impact. The force of the strike sent her reeling, throwing her back toward the forest floor.
CRACK!
Her back slammed into the ground, but she didn't allow the pain to register. She adjusted her weight mid-roll, springing back to her feet with animalistic grace just as a series of jagged, bone-like projectiles tore into the earth where she had been a moment before.
THUD! THUD!!
The earth was gouged with deep, lethal craters. It wasn't hard to imagine what the result would have been had those strikes found her flesh.
Snap!
The projectiles retracted into Moryomaru's wings, only to whip back out like seeking serpents.
Akame dodged the first wave, then twisted her body, sheathing her aura as she aimed a precision strike at one of the passing tentacles.
'If that girl's blade even grazes him, he'll be inflicted with that `[咒毒]` (Cursed Poison) and die instantly.'
'Even Hakudoshi couldn't survive it.'
'There's no way Moryomaru walks away from this if he takes a hit.'
Kagura watched the exchange, the memory of Akame's effortless execution of Hakudoshi still fresh in her mind.
CLANG!
But what happened next was unexpected. As Akame's blade descended, it was met with a shrill, metallic screech.
!
Seeing the thick, obsidian scales manifest on the tentacle at the exact moment of impact, Akame didn't hesitate. She threw herself backward, putting immediate distance between herself and her target.
"Are the armor fragments capable of manifesting anywhere on your body at will?" Akame's expression became even more focused as she analyzed the situation.
`[Murasame]` was a terrifying weapon, capable of inflicting instant death with a single scratch. But that lethality was predicated on being able to draw blood in the first place.
"Hahaha!! Your blade is useless against this reinforced armor!"
"It was forged by combining my essence with the scales of a Dragon-Man... the `[Kiryuga]` (Demon Dragon Armor)!"
"This is light-years beyond that pathetic shell of the `[Meiousei]`!"
Moryomaru sneered down at her, his voice brimming with arrogance.
The scales, refined by the demon smith Tokishu and integrated into his very being, had drastically enhanced both his defensive capabilities and his effectiveness against other yokai.
This was why he had the confidence to face Sesshomaru.
His armor wasn't just hard; it was conceptual. The Dragon-Man scales allowed it to effortlessly absorb and drain the "demonic energy" of any attacker. Against a standard yokai, Moryomaru was practically invincible.
In the current hierarchy of Muzan's "Demon-Yokai," Moryomaru was undoubtedly the most heavily armed and fortified--far surpassing the Hakudoshi who had relied solely on his own weapons.
"This is looking bad," Kagura muttered, her brow furrowed as she realized the problem.
She glanced at Sesshomaru, but the Great Demon remained as still and unmoving as a statue, his eyes fixed on the fight with a look of cold indifference.
"Hmm?"
Moryomaru realized that despite his grand explanation, he still wasn't getting the reaction he wanted. Instead of a look of fear or awe, all he got was Akame launching another high-speed assault.
"?"
WHOOSH-WHOOSH-WHOOSH!!
Akame moved like a flicker of black light, her blade striking out at the seeker-tentacles again and again. Every time Moryomaru's scales manifested to block her, she was already gone, her next strike coming from a completely different angle.
'This woman!'
Moryomaru's smugness began to evaporate.
The girl's strategy was simple yet suffocating: attack with such speed and frequency that he was forced to constantly generate new scales to defend himself. While he believed he could survive a single hit, the sheer weight of her "intent to kill" was something he couldn't ignore.
His biological instincts were screaming at him to avoid that blade at all costs.
'She's too fast... this isn't the movement of a human.'
He whipped his tentacles in a frantic attempt to pin her down, but she slipped through his reach like water.
"Moryomaru is playing it very safe. Does he actually know what that sword can do?" Jaken wondered, watching the armored monster retract his tentacles.
"Don't look at me. I don't know if Naraku told his Servant about her," Kagura replied, hiding her mouth behind her fan.
But in her heart, she suspected Moryomaru was in the dark. If he knew that a single scratch meant "Death," he wouldn't be engaging her like this; he'd be raining down attacks from a safe distance in the sky.
'But even if she finds an opening, breaking through that armor is going to be nearly impossible.'
'Those scales combined with his regenerative properties... he's a fortress on wings.'
'Naraku's Servant really has created a monster.'
Kagura felt a newfound sense of relief that she had severed her ties with Naraku when she did. If she had stayed, it was only a matter of time before she was dragged before Caster to be "remodeled" into some horrific hybrid like this.
'Kanna... don't you dare die on me.'
The thought of her emotionless "older sister" filled Kagura with a sudden, sharp pang of worry. She hadn't seen her since her escape.
BOOM!!
"Hmph. Try all you like, it's futile!"
Frustrated by the constant harassment, Moryomaru unleashed a massive cyclone of demonic energy, the sheer force of it pushing Akame back.
"Sesshomaru! Are you just going to stand there?!"
"Do you really think this little brat can solve your problems for you?!"
He knew the girl was a Servant, but to him, she was nothing more than a nuisance.
"..."
Sesshomaru didn't even deign to respond, his silence a sharp rebuke.
"Fine then! I'll just devour her first!"
"I'm sure the flesh and blood of a Servant will be quite the delicacy!"
With a roar of fury, Moryomaru dove toward Akame, his massive wings and arms spreading out like gnarled sails to cut off all her paths of retreat.
!
Realizing the trap, Akame executed a powerful backward leap, clearing the immediate vicinity of his descent.
"Tch! You're even more slippery than that wolf-brat, Koga!"
Moryomaru was livid. Even if she couldn't break his armor, her sheer speed was making it impossible to land a decisive blow.
'I have to catch him off guard...'
'As long as he can see me, he'll block with those scales.'
Akame didn't let the difficulty of the situation slow her down. Standing up from her crouch, she took a long, slow breath, calming her heart.
"What?"
To Moryomaru's utter shock, Akame didn't charge. Instead, she vanished into the dense treeline of the forest, her presence disappearing entirely.
`[Presence Concealment]`!
'I can't sense her?! What is this?!'
A cold spike of dread shot through Moryomaru. He couldn't see her, couldn't hear her, and for the first time, he couldn't feel her. But he knew she was still there.
'Is she using the trees to hide her tracks?'
Roaring with frustration, he began to vent his demonic energy from his mouth, sweeping the forest floor in a frantic attempt to clear the obstacles.
CRASH!!
Like a massive harvester, the energy beam sliced through the trees, leveling everything in its path.
"Dammit!"
The falling trees kicked up a massive cloud of dust and debris, further obscuring the area and blocking everyone's line of sight.
"I have you now--"
PLU-T!
"Ngh...?!"
Moryomaru's words died in his throat. He had been so focused on clearing the trees in front of him that he hadn't noticed the shadow behind him. A cold, sharp blade had been driven through the back of his neck, exiting through his forehead.
"When... did you...?"
Deep purple sigils began to spread like a virus from the wound. As his consciousness began to fade, the last thing Moryomaru heard was a cold, quiet voice.
"Sent to your final rest... `葬送` (Burial)!"