Tearing through the sky darkened by storm clouds, a powerful bolt of lightning momentarily illuminates the surroundings before shattering in midair, unleashing upon the crumbling mountain the most primitive fury of mother nature.
The rocks were instantly shattered, the few surviving trees were burned without mercy, and the roots that keep the mountain together follow the same path, thus beginning the inevitable collapse.
*Crack* *Crack* *Craaaack*
Letting out a terrifying shriek that almost seems to come from the deepest part of the Earth's crust, little by little the mountain collapses upon itself and leaves those standing upon it terrified.
These two are obviously Inuyasha and Asahiko, it is quite difficult to overlook their striking hair, as they keep looking around in disbelief.
"What's wrong? Do you perhaps need a little help making a decision?"
Mocking the little creatures running before him, Ryukotsusei remains calmly coiled around the nearby mountain and gathers bluish energy in his dragon mouth, making even space itself tremble.
*Booooom*
Painting the skies a deep blue as he opens his mouth, the breath that is simply overwhelming completely destroys the mountain, closing off every escape route for the boys and forcing them to jump onto Ryukotsusei's body.
Which, by the way, is absurdly enormous, easily measuring more than 50 or 100 meters in length, a simply absurd serpentine beast. So much so that both young men can walk across his body without any problems, getting a brief respite from the madness taking place nearby.
"Ha, ha... Ugh, I thought we weren't going to make it out of that alive."
Keeping a light jog over the dragon's coiled body, Asahiko turns for a moment and speaks to Inuyasha, who is running beside him while dragging Steel Fang.
Such an "attack" was completely useless, since the sword does not even leave a faint pale mark on Ryukotsusei's scales, although the intention is appreciated.
"Tsk, because the bastard is playing with us!"
Suddenly leaping forward, Inuyasha strikes the scales beneath him with Steel Fang, although as always he only manages to produce sparks.
But even seeing that, he keeps his sword steady until Asahiko passes by his side and strikes with Clouded Fang, once again using the hammer and nail tactic... Without success.
"Hahaha, who would've thought it would be useless."
"It's not funny!"
"Friend, if I don't laugh, I'm going to start crying. Look, here comes more."
Zigzagging as he sees the winds swirling until they form fierce blades, the raindrops become as powerful as bullets and lightning bolts fall from the sky, Asahiko barely manages to get out of there alive.
On the other hand, Inuyasha did not come out so well because of the great dead weight he carries around, Steel Fang, although his body is much tougher than Asahiko's and he easily withstands the weather attacks.
"Damn it..."
"Control yourself Inuyasha! It's not-"
"That's right, you have to learn to control yourself, filthy Hanyo."
"Jump!"
Shouting the warning while escaping without hesitation to one side upon seeing Ryukotsusei's open jaw, which glows in a blue hue, Asahiko twists his body in midair and then decides to leap toward the nearby draconic head.
*¡Booooom!*
Watching in HD, 4K, as the breath of blue lightning passes beside him and pierces through the mountain around which Ryukotsusei is coiled, Asahiko launches a downward attack with Clouded Fang.
It was not aimed at the dragon's eyes, but rather at the strangely humanoid mask located right between his two horns, which, by the way, has been communicating with them since the beginning of the battle.
"¡GET AWAY!"
Releasing an unexpected sonic attack from its small mouth, the mask, which is the size of a human face and did not seem very threatening to begin with, opens its eyes wide upon noticing Asahiko's apparent absolute indifference.
And it's no wonder, because although it is not exactly a physical attack, the scream it has just released can easily disorient anyone, even more so yokai who possess above-average senses.
"Hahaha, your mother too!"
Defending himself with the absolute word upon noticing the movement of Ryukotsusei's lips, he lets out a laugh while the reddish aura over the blade of Clouded Fang spreads, completely covering his body and transforming him into a red shooting star.
Which obviously falls mercilessly upon the dragon's head, exploding into a dazzling reddish light that stains the storm for a few seconds, stopping the rain and constant lightning.
"No... You have to be kidding."
"Did you really think I would leave my weakness so exposed? But I have to give you some credit, you're the second one to get through my scales."
"So you can move that mask all over your body? Haha, perfect."
Ignoring the unpleasant screech that emerges due to the friction between Clouded Fang and Ryukotsusei's scales, which he had pierced with his last attack, Asahiko laughs with a touch of madness before transferring dozens of insidious illusions into the dragon's mind.
Which, by the way, are amplified due to the proximity between the blade of Clouded Fang and the creature's brain, causing them to take effect more quickly and with a ferocity never seen before.
"AHHHHGG!"
"Hahaha, come on, scream louder now that I can actually hear you!"
"AGHH, CURSE YOU!"
Twisting his body as if he were a waterspout, Ryukotsusei tries by every possible means to throw Asahiko off his back, completely forgetting that he is not fighting just one opponent, but actually two enemies!
The second in the equation being Inuyasha, who is now overcoming the mountain's collapse and the dragon's madness to slowly climb, scale by scale, all in order to reach the opening his father had left.
"Ha, ha... Now you're mine!"
Slashing with Steel Fang toward the throbbing reddish organ that can be seen through the enormous wound, Inuyasha is left speechless when his sword... Bounces off.
Yes, the noble and magnificent Steel Fang bounces backward. It was like trying to cut rubber with the blade of a sword without any kind of edge, with the obvious result being that it bounced back and caused no damage, at least for Inuyasha, because for Ryukotsusei it is another story.
Feeling his heart being threatened by Inuyasha, he does not hesitate and instinctively guides a huge part of his negative energy to reinforce it, creating the previously seen situation.
But even that save worthy of an award does not calm the visceral terror that ran through him when his heart was in grave danger, terror amplified by Asahiko's illusions that continue to affect him, so Ryukotsusei automatically uses his trump card.
"CURSE THE BOTH OF YOU! NOW FEEL TRUE TERROR IN YOUR FLESH!"
Filled with uncontrollable fear and almost primitive fury, Ryukotsusei lets out a monstrous roar that resonates with the surrounding storm, giving rise to a simply absurd scene.
The storm, the one that has been unleashing its fury mercilessly upon the earth, momentarily stops before contracting toward Ryukotsusei's body, entering him through each and every one of his "pores."
Obviously this creates a domino effect in which Inuyasha is blown away from the heart by a current of air, while Asahiko is harassed by lightning until he retreats in embarrassment, both of them falling from the dragon's serpentine body.
Although the latter of the two does react quickly and transforms into a golden bird, catching Inuyasha in mid-fall before flying away from the monstrous Ryukotsusei.
"Did he get bigger?"
"I know you're saying it in disbelief, but God, I swear if I don't make a joke about your eyesight to relieve the stress-"
"It's not the time to-"
"Shut up Inuyasha! This isn't the time to waste time, it looks like Ryukotsusei is ready!"
Silencing Inuyasha, who bites his tongue and has a clearly bulging vein on his forehead, Asahiko flaps his large golden wings to gain distance, something very necessary now that Ryukotsusei has evolved.
Obviously this last part is a crude metaphor, since he is at the top of the food chain, but the dragon really has undergone great changes after his fury... Catastrophic changes for our heroes.
His once large body is now simply enormous, easily exceeding 150 meters in length and with a thickness of 25 meters, while his surface is surrounded by a miniature storm.
Worst of all, that aberration of nature can now fly gently through the now-clear sky, just like a snake swimming through the vast sea, thus erasing every possible escape route and increasing his danger.
"You brought this upon yourselves, now feel my fury!"
Opening his gigantic mouth full of teeth that seems to give rise to a black hole, Ryukotsusei begins to prepare his breath with clearly deliberate slowness, enjoying every second of his absolute control over the situation.
...Offstage...
"Alright, alright... Just let me go already, you bunch of lunatics!"
Kicking with all his strength upon seeing where they are taking him, Totosai tries to escape from the restraint he is subjected to and almost succeeds, although within a few seconds that action attracts the attention of his captor.
"Calm down already, Totosai. It's just a dragon, Inuyasha and Asahiko have probably already taken care of him."
"You stupid monk! It's not just any dragon, Ryukotsusei is a powerful Daiyokai that even Inu no Taisho had to- Agh."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say."
High-fiving Shippo, who had stuffed a piece of cloth into Totosai's mouth as a result of having been too bold with Miroku earlier, this really does look like a kidnapping now... And not just of an ox.
Because yes, the three of them were flying on Totosai's characteristic mount, which they had, by the way, requisitioned to arrive faster, all without caring about its owner's opinion.
"Did something happen, Miroku?"
"Not at all, Miss Kagome. Flies were getting into old Totosai's mouth and I-"
"The two of you, look over there!"
Drawing everyone's attention more toward herself than toward where she is pointing as she cries out in alarm, Sango perfectly maneuvers Kirara before stopping beside the flying ox, entering combat mode instantly.
Such sudden maneuvers almost make Kagome fall to the ground, as she was also riding on Kirara's back together with Sango, but when she looks up she completely understands her companion's surprise.
Before them, standing atop one of the tall rocky pillars that seem to want to pierce the heavens, a young man with long white hair and elegant aristocratic clothing can be seen.
"Sesshōmaru?!"
"I should have expected that you would also be here watching as Inuyasha was foolish enough to awaken Ryukotsusei."
"That dog's stupidity has to- agh."
"Shh, Shippo, watch out if he gets angry because you talk about his species like that."
Taking advantage of the closeness between Kirara and the ox to take Shippo into her arms, Kagome gently scolds him while keeping her gaze on Sesshōmaru, although her attention is soon stolen by a tearing roar.
*¡Booooom!*
The clouds above the mountain were torn apart by a deep blue scar that seemed to make the sky bleed, imprinting for a few brief moments a monstrous shadow in the eyes of those looking upward.
"What is that!"
"Mmmph, bah. You stupid kids! I warned you that Ryukotsusei is no joke! Now we're all dead!"
"Shut up, Totosai!" x5
All of them glare furiously at the habitual coward who seems to wish he were anywhere but here, more than one of them considers hitting him, mainly Sesshōmaru and Miroku, although in the end both of them abandon those ideas.