"Hmph! That won't work on me!"
Swinging his massive hand at Akame, Moryomaru shouted dismissively.
SLAM!
"Ugh!"
Retracting her sword and blocking horizontally to meet the arm strike, Akame grunted as she was knocked down from low altitude.
SCREECH!
Her back hit the ground. Ignoring the pain, she immediately adjusted her body and rolled into a standing position.
The sharp tentacles extending from his wings had already reached her—Akame instantly sidestepped to dodge.
BOOM BOOM!!
Several deep holes were punched into the ground. It wasn't hard to imagine what would happen if flesh were struck.
SWISH SWISH!!
Pulling free from the ground, the tentacles bent and pursued her.
Akame evaded some, then twisted to swing her blade at the tentacles that had passed by.
'If that girl's sword causes a wound, it carries a cursed poison that kills instantly.'
'Even Hakudoshi died that way.'
'If Moryomaru gets hit, he definitely won't escape unscathed.'
Kagura watched this scene with vivid familiarity.
The memory of Akame effortlessly slaying Hakudoshi that night was still fresh.
CLANG!
But what surprised everyone next was the piercing sound when Akame's blade struck.
"!"
Seeing the scales emerging on the tentacle, Akame didn't hesitate to pull back immediately.
"The armor fragments can appear anywhere on his body?"
Noticing this, Akame's expression grew serious.
Murasame was a powerful weapon—as long as it drew blood, it could inflict lethal damage.
But the prerequisite was actually wounding the opponent.
"Hahaha!! Your sword can't break through this reinforced armor. The dragonkin scales fused with my body to create... the Oni-Dragon Armor! It's far stronger than the original Meioju shell."
Tilting his head at Akame, Moryomaru explained with great confidence.
Processed by the demon swordsmith Toshu, the dragonkin scales had been integrated into his body, massively enhancing Moryomaru's defensive capabilities and his power against youkai.
This was why he dared to face Sesshomaru directly.
The hardened armor gave him an innate advantage, and the dragonkin scales granted his armor the property of easily absorbing youkai power.
Against any youkai, he would not lose.
One could say the current Moryomaru was truly the most heavily armed Demon Youkai at Muzan's disposal—far stronger than Hakudoshi, who had only wielded weapons.
"This doesn't look good."
Kagura furrowed her brow, recognizing the problem.
But when she glanced at Sesshomaru, she found he remained completely unmoved.
"Hm?"
Unfortunately, Moryomaru discovered that after his entire speech, he still hadn't drawn any attention.
What came instead was Akame's high-speed assault.
"?"
SWISH SWISH SWISH!!
Each time she swung her blade at the tentacles, when Moryomaru's scales formed at the impact point, Akame would swiftly switch to another location and launch a new strike.
'This woman!'
Realizing something, Moryomaru wasn't as relaxed as before.
Her approach was simple—attack at extreme speed, forcing him to constantly generate scales for defense.
Though he felt that taking a single cut wouldn't be a big deal, the threat of death from within made it impossible to ignore.
It was precisely because of that bodily instinct that he'd initially chosen to block Akame's blade rather than let her swing freely.
'Too agile... nothing a human should be capable of.'
Driving his tentacles to try and catch her, they were nimbly evaded.
"Moryomaru is guarding so tightly—could he know about that sword's ability?"
Jaken watched Moryomaru trying to retract his tentacles and wondered aloud.
"Don't look at me—I don't know if Naraku told his Servant or not."
Noticing Jaken's gaze on her, Kagura opened her fan to cover her mouth as she replied.
That said, Kagura believed Moryomaru probably didn't know.
Otherwise his reaction wouldn't be this calm.
After all, that sword could kill with a single scratch. With Moryomaru's personality, if he knew, he definitely wouldn't engage Akame in close combat—he'd keep his distance and attack from above.
'Even so, actually wounding Moryomaru is extremely difficult.'
'He must be instinctively resisting being cut by that weapon.'
'That armor combined with those scales is proving quite troublesome.'
'Naraku's Servant really did create an incredible demon.'
She was grateful she'd escaped Naraku's control early. Otherwise, who knew when she'd be dragged off to be transformed into something monstrous by Muzan.
'Kanna, please don't die...'
Thinking of that emotionless "sister," Kagura was quite worried about her.
Since escaping, she had no idea what had happened.
BOOM!!
"Hmph, no matter how many times you try, it's useless!"
Though being harassed was humiliating, if she couldn't break through the armor, it ultimately didn't matter.
Moryomaru then released a tremendous youkai wind that blasted her back.
"Sesshomaru, are you still not going to act? Do you think this little girl can handle me?"
Knowing her status as a Servant, Moryomaru was dismissive.
"..."
With no intention of responding, Sesshomaru merely watched with indifference.
"Fine then—I'll deal with her first! The flesh and blood of a Servant must be quite nutritious."
Being treated this way, Moryomaru was in no good mood. He turned to look at Akame charging toward him again, then extended both arms and wings toward her.
Like massive sails, they enclosed Akame's left and right escape routes.
"!"
Realizing what was happening, she leaped backward at extreme speed.
"Tch! Even harder to catch than that brat Koga!"
Seeing he hadn't completely trapped her, Moryomaru was furious.
Though she couldn't break through his armor, that sharp speed was beyond reason.
'I need to catch him off guard to wound him...'
'Once he notices, those scales and armor will block everything.'
Not deterred by the difficulty before her, Akame contemplated methods to achieve victory.
Rising from her crouched position, she took a deep breath.
"What?"
Then, under Moryomaru's astonished gaze, she darted into the nearby forest and vanished from sight.
[Presence Concealment]!
'I can't sense her anymore—what is this?!'
Danger rushed in. Moryomaru sensed something was wrong.
He couldn't see her with his naked eye, yet he knew that woman was still nearby.
'Using the trees to hide her movements?'
Concentrating youkai power, he blasted from his mouth, trying to clear away all the obstacles around him.
BOOM!!
Like a saw blade, rows of trees were cut in half.
"This is bad!"
The fallen trees kicked up dust and debris, momentarily clouding everyone's vision.
"I need to—"
SQUELCH!
"Ugh?!"
He'd been about to swing his tentacles and arms to disperse the smoke, but the blade piercing through his forehead from behind left him stunned.
"When did she...?"
Strange cursed characters emerged from the wound. The last thing Moryomaru heard were those two short words—
"[Eliminate]!"