"Heh, pyrophobic?" Masun grinned as he watched Sesshomaru cat-step toward the center of the circle. "Then let's turn the heat up!" The tiger-demon ostentatiously waved his striped arms and the encompassing flares blazed from cinnabar to a scorching white-blue.

Before Sesshomaru could notice the inferno's dramatic temperature increase, there was a swift slug to his stomach. He slashed blindly at the area, only to feel a sharp whack to his spine. The second blow was followed by a third. Then a fourth. Soon the dog-demon was in a cyclone of strikes, and with the smoke clouding his nose, there was no honing in on Masun's location. It was as if the tiger were simultaneously everywhere and nowhere at all. The hurricane had him engulfed on all sides.

Sesshomaru smirked. Two can play at this game.

A heartbeat before the next hit, Sesshomaru lashed out his whip, and kept it out. Pivoting on his toes, he whirled faster and faster, letting the poison-laced band of yoki lengthen.

There was a startled cry and Sesshomaru glimpsed Masun stumble to the ring's edge; but he didn't dare stop spinning.

"Tch, cute trick, kid," Masun growled. "But your child's toy scarcely leaves scratches on my skin."

"That wasn't the point." Sesshomaru abruptly broke from his whirlwind and used his "toy" to give a final shove at Masun, closer to the ghastly fire.

"Hah! You still couldn't push me into –" Suddenly the blaze engulfed the tiger-demon, devouring his flammable, poison-soaked form.

Masun roared for the flames to cease, but only succeeded in extinguishing those entrapping Sesshomaru.

By pure instinct, the demon of the Mainland began shifting to his true shape. Some fifty feet at the flank, the massive tiger shook off the embers. "No whelp of a mongrel," snarled Masun, "is ever going to defeat me."

Sesshomaru kept quiet, instead he focused on the build up of venom in his claws.

"You don't even seem to be the equal of Inu no Taisho, much less Ryukotsusei."

There was that name again.

"I now understand why you keep to your little islands, you could never contend with a true daiyokai." White flames sputtered from his jaws. "You are nothing. You are insig– "

"You talk too much." Sesshomaru sprang and flushed the accumulated poison into Masun's mouth just before he spewed up his next wave of fire.

Masun made the fatal error of trying to re-swallow his flames, but the increased volume with no outlet – Sesshomaru shielded himself as smoldering bits of bone and flesh hailed down.

"Phew," breathed the victor.

"Lord Sesshomaru! Quickly!"

Fighting fatigue, Sesshomaru staggered back up to resume his place on the battlefield. It was what a daiyokai did.

--

There were thousands – no – tens of thousands. Most of the Mainland demons were cut off at the beach, but others by the droves slipped past and closer to the forest. Closer to the boundaries of Sesshomaru's line.

They nearly outnumber us, grim apprehension washed over Sesshomaru. How do we stop them?

Next to him, Masun's head still blazed.

An idea jolted him.

Sesshomaru grabbed the spear of a fallen comrade, stabbed a burning remain, and charged his talons with every ounce of venom and yoki.

I must fulfill my duty to Father.

Unleashing a jet-stream of flammable poison on the foremost trees, Sesshomaru used his demonic energy to channel it further along the perimeter. When the last branch was doused, he flung the torch to the nearest pine. Instantly an impenetrable wall roared to life.

Not a moment too soon either. A new rush of scorpions, ogres, and other invading scum was washing in; but not one of them got past the blazing white barrier.

Utterly dizzy and drained, Sesshomaru slumped behind a boulder to catch his breath.

The enemy's at bay…they're not going past…where Father said. I did my job.