"Lord Sesshomaru!" Jaken rushed toward the smoke-filled crater, anxiously trying to see Sesshomaru's condition.
"ROAR——!"
At that moment, the dust and smoke in the crater exploded outward, a violent gale sweeping forth and directly blowing away the charging Jaken, sending him tumbling several times on the ground.
As the smoke cleared, a massive white giant dog slowly rose to its feet. Its enormous blood-red eyes locked fiercely onto the nearby Retsu, and a violent, savage aura radiated from its entire body, clearly indicating it was in a complete rage.
"Heh, so you turn into a dog when you can't win a fight? Do you enjoy biting people that much?" Retsu's taunting voice echoed across the entire battlefield.
This taunt thoroughly ignited Sesshomaru's fury. He threw his head back and let out an ear-splitting roar, then opened his massive maw lined with sharp fangs and pounced toward Retsu.
In Inuyasha's world, the setting for demons is rather strange. Their combat power is actually at its strongest when they are in human form.
Although demons gain greater physical power when reverting to their true form, their massive size also leads to a sharp decrease in speed, making them less effective in combat compared to their humanoid state.
The battle between Sesshomaru and Inuyasha at Inu no Taisho's grave in the storyline is the best proof of this.
When Sesshomaru wasn't in his giant dog form, Inuyasha could barely keep up with his speed.
But after he transformed into the giant dog, not only could Inuyasha easily dodge his attacks, even the human Kagome could evade his pounces. In the end, he even had his arm sliced off by Inuyasha with a single sword strike.
Therefore, in the storyline, rational demons rarely reveal their true forms during combat. Once they revert to their demonic bodies, it often signifies they are at their wit's end.
Now, Sesshomaru's choice to transform into a giant dog, in Retsu's view, was undoubtedly seeking his own death.
Facing the pouncing giant dog, pale blue Chakra surged from Retsu's body once more. The skeletal frame of Susanoo rapidly took shape, followed by layers of muscle and skin, and finally, a set of crow tengu armor covered the entire form.
A half-body warrior, over ten meters tall, stood imposingly on the battlefield.
"Awooo——!"
Sesshomaru leaped up fiercely, opening his massive jaws to bite at Susanoo's neck. Yet this seemingly ferocious attack posed almost no threat to Susanoo.
"Heh, beaten so badly you've lost your mind?" Retsu couldn't help but sneer. "You could have lasted a bit longer if you hadn't reverted to your true form, but turning into a giant dog? Isn't that just asking for death?"
Before his words faded, Susanoo's enormous fist, carrying immense force, slammed hard onto Sesshomaru's dog head.
"Awoo——!" A shrill cry of pain tore through the night sky. Sesshomaru's massive body lost its balance under the impact of the tremendous force, toppling to the side.
But before he even hit the ground, Susanoo's giant hand grabbed him by the neck and, following the momentum, pressed him firmly into the earth.
Immediately after, Susanoo's right hand clenched, and a long blade formed of pure Chakra materialized out of thin air. With a backhanded thrust, it pierced through Sesshomaru's body, pinning him to the ground.
"How about that? When you were bullying that Half-demon and humans before, did you think you were particularly impressive?"
Retsu manipulated Susanoo, delivering another heavy punch to Sesshomaru's dog head. "Did you think you were invincible?"
"All you do is bully defenseless women and your own brother. Trash like you, are you even fit to look down on humans?"
Another punch landed, causing fresh blood to spill once more from the corner of Sesshomaru's mouth.
"You look down on your brother for being a Half-demon, yet you yourself were played for a fool by a Half-demon, running around like an idiot trying to kill your own brother. Is that Half-demon your father or something?"
"When did you decide to acknowledge a Half-demon as your father? Does your proud mother know about this?"
Susanoo's fists showed no mercy. Each punch that landed on Sesshomaru's head erupted with a burst of violent wind.
"If you're not convinced, you can call that Half-demon over for revenge. Just don't know if that piece of trash will be as stupid as you are!"
With every sentence Retsu uttered, Susanoo would deliver another fierce punch to Sesshomaru's dog head.
After several punches, Sesshomaru's struggles grew weaker and weaker until he completely lost the ability to resist. His massive body also began to slowly shrink, gradually reverting to his human form.
Retsu reached out and pulled the Chakra blade from his abdomen. Pointing the tip at Sesshomaru's neck, he made a motion as if to strike him down.
However, from the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Inuyasha and Kagome hurriedly running over. A playful smile curled at the corner of his mouth, and he deliberately slowed his action.
Sure enough, seeing that he was about to deliver the killing blow, Inuyasha immediately picked up the fallen tessaiga, dashed forward in a single stride, raised tessaiga, and positioned himself protectively in front of Sesshomaru.
"Lord Sesshomaru!" Jaken also seized the chance to run to Sesshomaru's side, trembling as he checked his injuries.
However, Retsu had already held back. Although the injuries looked frightening, they weren't life-threatening.
At this moment, Sesshomaru lay on the ground. Gone was the previous ferocity and rage. He simply used a pair of calm eyes to look at Inuyasha, who stood shielding him, his thoughts unknown.
Kagome also quickly ran to Inuyasha's side, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with him, blocking Retsu's path.
"Inuyasha, Kagome, why are you stopping me?" Retsu feigned confusion, his tone laced with mockery. "A fool who lets himself be used as a tool by others so easily, we might as well just cut him down."
"Let him go. Someday, I'll be able to defeat him myself," Inuyasha said awkwardly.
"Think carefully. If I hadn't arrived today, you would have either been killed or severely injured by him. And the Kagome by your side might have been killed by him."
Retsu stared at Inuyasha and spoke seriously.
"I..." Inuyasha glanced at Kagome beside him, then looked at Sesshomaru on the ground, gritting his teeth as he said,
"He's my brother. I can't just stand by and watch him be killed."
"Brother?" Retsu scoffed, his gaze sweeping over the silent Sesshomaru as he deliberately said,
"But when he was attacking, he certainly didn't treat you as a brother."
"No matter what, a brother is a brother," Kagome said, standing beside Inuyasha, her eyes resolute. "I believe that someday, the relationship between these brothers will improve."
"Have it your way," Retsu said, looking at the silent Sesshomaru and knowing his goal had been achieved.
He put on an air of nonchalance, waved his hand dismissively, and dispersed the Susanoo surrounding him. Folding his arms across his chest, he stepped aside.
Seeing that Retsu would no longer attack, Inuyasha visibly relaxed.
He understood clearly in his heart that if Retsu was determined to kill Sesshomaru, he wouldn't be able to stop him.
Inuyasha sheathed tessaiga and turned to look at Sesshomaru behind him. Supported by Jaken and leaning on Tenseiga, Sesshomaru barely managed to stand. Inuyasha opened his mouth, but in the end, only three words came out: "You should go."
Sesshomaru looked at him silently, his gaze complex and inscrutable—there was unwillingness, humiliation, and perhaps a trace of a barely perceptible tremor.
He didn't say a word, simply turned and walked toward the depths of the dense forest. His back was still proud, but it had lost some of its previous overbearing arrogance.
"Lord Sesshomaru, be careful!" Jaken hurriedly followed.
"Really, even if he doesn't say thank you, he should at least show some acknowledgment," Kagome couldn't help but complain as she watched Sesshomaru's departing figure.
"Forget it, that's just how he is," Inuyasha said with a casual smile.
Standing to the side, Retsu watched the direction Sesshomaru had left, a meaningful smile curling at the corner of his mouth.
At this stage, Sesshomaru was still a pure villain—someone who disregarded life, despised humans, and looked down even more on Inuyasha, who had human blood.
But today, he had not only been utterly crushed by a "human," but also saved by the very Inuyasha he scorned the most. This humiliation and shock—who knows what Sesshomaru was thinking in his heart.
Retsu, who understood the plot, knew that Sesshomaru's obsession with tessaiga was, in fact, a misguided path from the start.
He never understood that, as a dog demon, the weapon that could truly protect oneself was never one's father's fang, but one's own fang.
tessaiga was forged from Inu no Taisho's fang—that was the father's power.
It was given to Inuyasha precisely because Inuyasha, as a Half-demon, lacked sufficient strength to protect himself before he had fully grown.
But no matter who it is, in the end, one must rely on one's own power for protection.
Just like in the storyline, tessaiga, made from Inu no Taisho's fang, could easily break, and was eventually reforged using Inuyasha's own fang.
That was because Inuyasha, as a dog demon, had truly grown up and no longer needed to depend on his father's protection.
As for Sesshomaru, even after obtaining weapons like Tenseiga and tōkijin, he never truly became powerful because those were not his own fangs.
It wasn't until he nurtured his own fang, "Bakusaiga," within himself that he truly became a great demon capable of standing on his own.
"I hope today's crushing defeat will help him understand this truth sooner," Retsu thought to himself as he watched Sesshomaru leave.