Ootake vs Yakou

Yakou: O-oh, so this is…
Yakou spoke with admiration, arriving at this place. This world was closed in a boundary of glass.
And then, the whole floor was covered by the sea of sand. With the exception of sand falling from above, this place consisted of glass walls and the ground of sand.
There’s not a single sign of a soul, tasteless silence of nothingness.
Yakou: So that’s how it is. This is a battlefield. No, at that moment it is probably an arena.
Walls of glass in the boundary, and under the feet is the ground of death. In that sense, this world is for sure the one of death and struggle.
Yakou: And this sand is… the death?
As far as one can see there’s a dark desert, and it bears the sign of death.
Just by standing there, Yakou felt like his life forse was running out. Because he already achieved Taikyoku, he was able to bear this weight.
If a weaker person took a step onto this ground, he would’ve collapsed and died right away.
In this hell [world] nothing but death exists… If one listened carefully, he would hear the faint “want to die, want to die” from the glass-covered sky.
Ootake: You done well coming this far. Hajun’s child.
The existence that faded in the surroundings, the mass of overwhelming empty death — Yakou failed to notice it.
Ootake: You, again, seem to be impressed by this concept of death.
The voice is colorless, the tranquility itself. But along with that voice, the steel roared with a strike.
Despite thinking that it was just a simple hit with a fist, Yakou…
「吐菩加身依美多女――祓い給え清め給え――寒言神尊利根陀見！」
Twenty-four dimensional barrier that protected from all sides. The absolute defence able to redirect every attack. This was what Yakou created between him and Ootake.
Overly excessive protection. Even one tenth of that would’ve been enough to stop the attack from Kamunagara before.
Extremely fast mantra reminding of a scream. Along with applying the toughest defence, Yakou retreated by teleportation. Even if that would make him a coward, Madara Yakou had no other choice. But honestly, he haven’t knew why he acted that way.
It felt like it was the most suitable action, but at the same time, absolutely meaningless.
Ootake: Useless.
All that defence was just like a thin paper. Each hit to the barrier from that steel fist beared enough power to crush the mountains just by the heath of the impact, and it crushed the defence easily.
An iron hammer that penetrated, not minding what was before him — with that complete extinction going forward, there was no time to defend.
And so, without any means for defence...
Ootake: I will teach you the lesson. Be aware of death.
With the ruthless words, a single lethal hit reached the Yakou’s heart.
Yakou: O-o-oh…
In a single moment, his existence was broken and turned into the sand.
Not a pieces of flesh, but a cloud of sand scattered around. Arriwing at the final point of death here.
Both hands and legs dried and turned into a sand. Chest is already disappered from the initial hit. There was a deep crack appearing at the head.
It would fall down, and turn into the sand.
Always looking at the world from the Taikyoku, something like this Yakou could not acknowledge. That thing before him was nothingness given form, and therefore, it haven’t fooled around. The fatal hit that Yakou suffered had not forgiveness in it at all.
Yakou: A-a-h…
It was impossible to escape.
This rule of the absolute demise, that inevitable death, it was commanding the whole existence.
And so, then, that was what he was going to say.
Yakou: Ha-ha...Ha-ha-ha…
Yakou: This is nice. I like it.
“It is worth looking on”, Yakou thought with a faint smile.
「喝采せよ、あらゆる存在の救世主。今こそこの地に降りたまえ」
「汝ら我の蓮座にひれ伏すべし。我はすべての苦悩から、汝らを衆生を解き放つ者」
「我はあまねく万象の、現在過去未来を裁く者」
On the verge of death, something started to move.
Madara Yakou’s Taikyoku fallen off, and the color of death has started spreading around.
「中臣の、太祝詞言い祓え、購う命も誰が為になれ」
「東嶽大帝・天曹地府祭――急々如律令奉導誓願何不成就乎」
Yes, there was no color in the Yakou’s Taikyoku yet. This sky was still clear as a white paper.
Akuro’s corrosion, Morei’s burning inferno, there was nothing like that. Being a genius in the magical abilities, yet there was nothing that Yakou yearned for in this world.
「オン・ヤマラジャ・ウグラビリャ・アガッシャ・ソワカ」
However, here he have met it. After all this time, finally, he have found it.
No, in this case, would it be more correct to say that he finally understood it?
「ナウマク・サマンダ・ボダナン・エンマヤ・ソワカ」
His reason for existence. The shape of his sould.
Star of fate, the true name, when he was saying that that expedition was his stepping stone for that, he might have predicted that very moment.
There is no doubt. It was an essential stepping stone for my completion.
Not like Momiji. And not like Morei. Tokoyo? Akuro? Sukuna? Numahime? Or like Yato? No, no, it’s not that...
I have finally found it. You are the only existence that fits me.
And so…
「貪・瞋・癡――我、三毒障礙せし者、断罪せしめん！」
For the first time in his life, Yakou’s heart was filled with the strong desire, with the color of killing intent.
I am Enma, the one who convicts — the judge of dead, King of Yama.
Then, there’s no reason to keep alive the one before him, he will judge him, and then throw him down. To the abyss of nothingness.
Sweeping away the fatal fate that was thrown on him, he felt empathy with that hell, the most suitable for him. Different from Yato, another kind of standstill, he responded to another worst Tenma of Yatsukahagi.
「──太・極──」
「神咒神威――夜摩閻羅天」
Honoring the keen insight of his dead teacher, Mikado Ryuumei, here, at this moment, with those resounding words, Madara Yakou’s Taikyoku raised.
In the split moment, the sand surrounding him disappeared.
Yakou’s flesh reappeared, gaining it’s form again. His body, and his clothes, destroyed before, now restored as if it was natural.
Yakou: Ha-ha-ha-ha, ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!
And then, it was followed by the wave of massacre. A hurricane of destruction.
Both of them now are the gods of death. Death kills death, and as the result, the fact of Yakou’s dying disappeared.
Ootake: ...Just as I’ve thought.
Foreseeing Yakou’s burst of laughter, Ootake’s empty voice answered.
Ootake: Once before, there was a man who wanted to run from the end by stopping time.
Ootake: “I am different from you”, he said. We were born from the same poison, but that’s what he decided to believe.
Ootake: Really, since it gave him a victory, it was a strong choice. But you…
He looked at Yakou. And after doing that, his gloomy words sounded.
Ootake: It seems that you’ve choosen the same thing as I did.
Yakou: Exactly. It looked extremely fascinating.
They were similar, since they’ve both aimed at the single point of death. That’s why, regardless of how heavy was the fate that bringed them there, in the end they just were driven together as the magnets.
Actually, everything that he and Yakou did before that point seemed like a string puppet’s actions.
Once defeated by Morei, talking with Momiji, with each metting with Tenma Yakou’s expectations raised.
And as his Taikyoku kept being shaprened and improved, preparing for that moment...
Yakou: It seems that I’ve made a right choice. Our meeting as the opponents like that was surely the right thing.
Yakou: It’s thrilling...A-ah, that feels so good.
Two masses of impossible death coming into contact. Enma and the iron tiger, who both live in hell, both of them were extremely proficent at destruction.
Yakou closed and opened his hand a few times, getting used to the overwhelming power filling himself. His fingers danced elegantly, creating the bonji symbols in the sky
Yakou: Like that? No, that’s wrong… may be like that?
Heaven, earth — making a mudra, weaving yin and yang together, a technique that he’ve used countless times before, he now have learned anew.
Namely, the new power of his Taikyoku.
Yakou: Or, may be…
Law of death — in order to overpower the absolute death of Ootake.
Yakou: Like that?
He crushed the sky with five opened fingers.
In the next moment, upper part of Ootake compressed, and scattered into the sand.
A power that squeezed and crushed the life itself. With the only lower half of the body left, Great Tenma Ootake collapsed in a single hit.
As if judging the ant below. Yakou was only barely aware of the power he now possessed.
Yakou: I got it right, it seems.
Complexity of the art creation, effectiveness of evocation, he was clearly seeing everything to the end of heavens.  By achieving the suitable color for the Taikyoku, Yakou started to understand the domain of his Kajiri better.
As long as his aim was to kill, there was nothing he could not do.
Yakou: Well then, time of sleeping is over. For the tiger of the underworld, it’s not suitable to play tanuki.
Yakou: I returned the favour. Now, get up.
Sand moved.
As if answering the carefree call, the armor that should’ve been destroyed appeared again under the empty sky.
Once again, without any sign of damage, the intact figure of Ootake raised.
By placing an end on an end, the only thing that remains is to come back to life.
Yakou: Of course, it’s not the end. There is no way for me to able to end it as I am now. If this space in an gap in emptyness, then it is very much like tenchuusatsu.[1]
Yakou: Then, it’s easy to understand. Deep inside this steel, the heavy origins of stagnation are swirling. Yes, now I can see it clearly.
Yakou: So I assume that you want to die. Am I right?
The one strike from before, the direct hit of Yakou’s art would be lethal for sure.
And yet, Ootake haven’t even tried to defend. Then, his immortality is somehow special.
Yakou: Opposites are drawn to each other. Well, this much should be obvious, but, honestly, I don’t completely understand.
Yakou: You respect the draw of curtains on things, you feel the place where the things end.
Yakou: It’s a bit tactless of me to talk about it, but it must be heavy. There’s not a single living thing without a fault, isn’t there?
Ootake: Details are different.
But he is looking for the death. This much Ootake confirmed.
The voice devoid of any emotions is terrifying. Though this much should be natural for Tenma, but when this one talks it creates an especially horrifying sensation.
It sounds as if skull was making a sound, with a steel form showing no emotions, it looks like a mechanical doll, it is almost like you can hear the sound of gears turning inside.
Ootake: And you… You want to kill.
At the same time with those words, the steel fist flied trough the air with a hollow presence.
Yakou: I would not deny this.
At the moment after returning the confirmation, the single strike again annihilated Yakou. The hurricane of sand raised, and amongst it, the figure of Yakou reformed again.
Without bearing any deep thoughts, the exchange of instant deaths have begun.
Returning from the underworld, accumulating countless number of deaths, just a struggle until one of them would be able to get the final win, truly the feast of carnage.
Ootake: How it is? Comical, isn’t it? Almost like a bad play.
Death collides with death, and disappears. According to mathematics, multiplication of negatives should result in positive, but somehow, it looked extremely heavy for Ootake.
The clash between one seeking the absolute death and the one seeking the absolute killing. Even with the actors perfectly chosen, it looked like a worthless act.
Yakou laughts. Somehow, Ootake says funny things, he answers with his voice shaking because of a hole in the chest.
Yakou: Then, do you think that a flower could make a boring play better?
Ootake: It is somehow better?
Yakou: No, I don’t think so. I agree with you.
Ootake: If the actors are good, then the play is supreme — that’s what you’re saying?
Ootake & Yakou: This is a nonsense of a loser.
Split open, return again, fight, roar.
Ootake: That’s why I am not a someone’s puppet!
Crushing the oponnent’s head at the same time, returning from the underworld at the same time, and killing each other again.
Waves of Yakou’s power were absolute. Just after defining his Taikyoku, Yakou have only used a few arts, nothing more than one tenth of the actual power. And even with that, in the past few moments the number of kills of his law has already been close to the thousands, and kept growing.
Every method of killing existing in the universe he brought together, tried, judged — and yet, all of them were countered by a single fist.
On the battlefield covered by the sandstorm of corpses, both sides, without a single wound, kept talking.
Yakou: Fine, I understand. I have recieved your answer. But wishing for the death — not the most usual way of thinking, isn’t it?
Yakou: If you don’t want to be an actor in the play that have been already written, then create your own. You will be able to do it. That’s how I’ve always been.
Yakou: I am pretty sure that my Taikyoku [plot] would not be boring.
Ootake: Then do it. That is, if you can.
Ootake: This arrogance is well fit for the child of Hajun. Foolish and obedient.
Ootake: I will say it clearly. Amongst the whole expedition, you are the most powerfull cell.
From the hit sand of the dead world raised. It reached Yakou’s legs, robbing him of the opportunity to move for a while.
Ootake: In the current world, you are the most powerful. And exactly because of that, you fail to notice the most obvious question.
Ootake: Because you only love yourself, you do not understand your sky. Because it will disturb your narcissism.
Ootake landed multiple hits on the stopped Yakou.
Turning into the sand, disappearing soon after, recieving eighteen deaths, in front of Ootake Yakou moves slightly his slender fingers.
Yakou. Interesting. So for you, I look foolish.
This time, Ootake’s chest explodes. Reversing the chant that originally bringed life, he brings him early death.
Leaving behind the original rules of his mantras, Yakou isn’t bounded by the common sence anymore. He acts with a single light ahead of him — the singular thought of how to kill.
Tendious and dull effect created a huge impact, and the enemy that cornered him was blown into small pieces.
Yet, of course, both of them raised from the sand the same as before.
Silently and calmly Yakou and Ootake were standing. Two deities wielding death would not fall that easily.
Ootake: I don’t see anything else. In the first place…
And now, again.
Ootake: This Taikyoku… what it is?
Talking like that, Enma and steel tiger clashed.
Consecutive instand deaths. In contrast with the abnormal scene that occured, the ones who were there still retained their original bodies.
Yakou: There is but one answer: this is the only color that suits me. Taikyoku of Madara Yakou.
Yakou: There was no other choise for me, and I have no regrets. I am sure that it is the right path.
There was no hesitation in this answer. And the fact that Yakou was having fun proved this answer correct.
In contrast with Yakou, who was celebrating the truth of the world, Ootake…
Ootake: Pitiful.
With a silent voice, Tenma denied Yakou’s words with a deepest feeling.
Ootake: Not having any doubts, blindly believing the power you got, you are just a clown who doesn’t understand anything.
Ootake: This death that you spread around, excluding yourself…
Along with the gloomy voice, the fist falls.
Ootake: Who are you laughting at? To what end?
To stop any objections, Ootake’s hand erased Yakou’s neck.
Ootake: You are supreme. You are perfect. And this is true, you are really overwhelming everyone else.
Ootake: May be when he was young, this Snake was just like you.
Ootake: And so… no, because of that…
From inside the tiger mask, the red light faintly flickers.
Ootake: If you keep going like that, you will become a garbage just like him.
A tired voice of an old soldier resounds. Laught of amusement at the current state of Ootake comes from the Yakou’s neck as it restores.
Yakou: O-oh, how very interesting. What exactly do you mean?
Ootake: You will soon understand.
Ootake’s voice sounds with a confidence.
Ootake: When you’ll die like that from my hand.
Yakou: Stop it. Your voice is full of envy.
Death collides with death.
Dimensional defence like the one used before, counterbalancid Ootake’s destruction with the waves of force resembling his own.
Yakou: If you wish for death so much, I will grant in to you. Yes, after all, this is why we came so far.
Yakou: Look, it is close. The time of saturation is almost there.
Corpses rise.
Their total amount is 217. The result of the endless massacre, the whole death of Ootake’s hell rises. Empty shells of life rise.
The desert itself starts to rise under the power strong enough to break the underworld itself.
Ootake’s armor begins to break — on the glass that separates him from the outer world, cracks start to appear.
Yakou: No matter how strong it is, your Taikyoku is not infinite.
Yakou: Everyone has their own color. And so they are not able to coexist. Generally, the stronger one repaints over the weaker one. But we… we are of the same color. And so…
Yakou: What do you thing would happen then? This — is the answer.
Because of the overflowing amount of death, corpses begin to rise.
The boundary of this world. This is the place at which Yakou aims.
Yakou: So, let us scatter away this glass barrier!
Ootake’s world is overflowing with death.
The fist of the end breaking the arts of obliteration. Destruction clashes, destroys each other, and the sand grows.
The boundary line line of this hell starts to break under the pressure. The cracks that appear on Ootake’s armor is the proof of it.
Ootake: Not yet.
With the roar, fist full of military force strikes.
Ootake: I already said it: you will die there. Because you should not be the victorious one.
Ootake: Just sink silently under the abyss. If you won’t… the terrifying future is awaiting you.
Inside Ootake hate and mercy are swirling, mixing with each other.
He is recalling his own past, the hearless deeds that were done.
Ootake: The things much worse than terrible things I’ve tasted in the past.
And so, the salvation is in the complete destruction.
Tearing off the barrier, destroying the arts, with a simple-minded honesty Yakou faces Ootake.
Yakou: Ha-ha-ha...future...future, you say? This is quite charming warning.
With the left side destroyed and turned into the sand, Yakou circles in the mid-air, laughing.
Yakou: Well then, let me retell you the direction of our commander.
Yakou’s right hand gestures, reconstructing his body.
Yakou: The future is not determined.
Yin and Yang rivalry, the rule of the whole creating, every form — is crushed by Yakou’s hands. This is nothing else but the new law repainting the world.
Yes, this is what Madara Yakou believed it to be.
Yakou: Do not rely on the blind fate, do not look down on the weak.
Taikyoku of supreme extinction raises and resounds.
Yakou: Listen carefully. Or clear future [tomorrow] is…
Yakou: Filled by the endless possibilities!
With the words similar to the ones of their commander the very highest point arrives.
New mandala is appearing here. The that no one has ever seen, the birth of the new craving.
And so, with the pride of arriving to the truth of one’s desire…
Enma’s judgement is bestowed. At this moment…
Yakou&Hajun: [By my wish, perish and disappear!]
Yakou: …!?
Yakou is horrified by the wish that in this moment forced it’s way through… no, covered his will.
He could not remember what he said. He didn’t knew what he said.
And at that moment, mandala responds to this mantra.
Yakou: No, wait, I…
Completely swallowed by the pride in his own abilities, his own will was burnt to ashes by the flame of determeniation behind him.
And with that impacts Ootake bursts open, rising a wave of sand.
With the strong pressure breaking outer border or this hell, on the Ootake’s armor begins to shatter. Before one’s eyes it bursts with saturation.
If you look at the situation rationally, it should be obvious who the winner is. Yakou’s world finally crushed and eats the world of Tenma.
And yet...
Ootake: Infinite possibilites, you say… Just as I’ve thought, brat’s delusion.
Cracks begin to appear on the mask of the tiger-like helmet.
— There is no hope.
Iron mask starts to open with a scream-like creak.
— There cannot ever be one. Not for you.
Protective armor… no, the restraint was released as an exchange for it’s destruction.
— Everything should not be yet is.
Forlorn and full of gloom, the song sounds.
The sound of an iron armor grating served as a replacement for Ootake’s chanting. The way it could no longer take a form of a language, in a sence, was the most correct for it.
In the first place, he should’ve not been able to talk. He shoud’ve not had a mouth. To expose the truth of his form, there was no words created.
Yakou felt like he was lead to this ending, mercilessly, carefully. The aim was to strike at that one moment, the moment before when Yakou felt this incredible malaise.
It’s useless. There’s no way. Awert your eyes. What was behind that mask — no one should see. But now it was too late, and Yakou’s third eye was already opened.
The pride of his own power, immediately followed by the shock of not understanding it — has lead to him missing a death blow, because he was amazed by the mystery. The eyes that he had lost for sure would’ve been wide opened now.
— Now, became nothing and perish.
The wave of inevitable destruction swallowed Yakou’s whole body.
There is no name.
He is like a nonexistece. This face looks from the very end of the final, absolute death.
— ….
In front of a visage of nonexistence soul freezes and breaks.
Nothing. Nothing, nothing, nothing — flesh and blood, atmosphere, the whole creation — there is nothing.
After the death — corpse remains. However, this is the depth of nothingness that could not be described by words.
— Know it. Same with me, same with my other part, you — a puppet mocked [blessed] by the Throne.
— This — is what I am.
Once, when his soul was poisoned, this man wished for the final end. At the time long ago, he should’ve been sublimed in his holy war.
His head was hit by a guillotine blade. He should’ve been decapitated by a blade of an instand death.
— There is no face. From the neck down, he gave this form to me.
He stayed in this form until now. He stared at the death longer than anyone.
— And this is why I do not allow it. For you, Hajun’s cells, to clamour and wriggle like a worms in this world.
— This final end — I would not permit.
Overwhelming hatred shows, looking almost like a hell.
With the desire to reach the final death so strong that if he wasn’t sealed in this armor he would ruin even ones there, in Edo, he kept wishing for the destruction.
— Here everything dies and vanishes.
— Without a single blink of a light, without a single mistake, without any chance to come back from the underworld… just sinks into the bottom of the abyss.
— Kh-h...gha-a-a-a-a-a-a!
Astonished, trembling, Yakou was swallowed by the idea of an ultimate death.
There was no next wave of Taikyoku that could’ve surpassed this strength.
Even the fact that Yakou acquired the way to overcome death by resurrecting from a corpse was completely erased, vanished, and finally…
— Die.
With the ruthless words formless nothingness repainted Yakou’s existence.
Losing the domain of death — Madara Yakou disappeared.
His life ended, vanishing without any trace.
Yakou: …!
There is nothing. Enveloped by the death from all sides.
There’s no voice anymore. Hands, legs, flesh and blood, internal organs, everything was lost. Just a void of emptyness. Even the memory is eaten out by nothingless.
So then, this is death.
The very final point of life, the place from which there’s no return anymore, the final cliff, from which Yakou have fallen.
Yakou: …?!
That’s what he thought. But falling… what is that?
Yakou surely died.
There’s no doubts. No one could object it. Certainly, for sure, person known as Madara Yakou was defeated.
But then, what are those thoughts? He is now, after his own death, still perceives himself.
A contradiction. Despite disappearing, he still exists.
Whithout his five senses, even with the six one he still could not percieve anything.
The eternal hell of nothingness, he started to think that this is what Ootake’s Taikyoku was.
And then he relized that it was looking at him.
Hajun: [So they broke you, huh.]
At that moment, Yakou was sincerely glad that he had lost his throat. He was overjoyed by the fact that he had lost his body.
Three lights. No, those are not lights, those are eyes.
He looks from far heavens at this borderline of death.
Seeing the difference between himself and this being, Yakou was was left in silent awe.
Ootake? Yato? What a foolish comparison, they are nothing alike.
It’s so enormous that one could go mad just from it’s presence. Deepness of this wickedness is just too big.
The only thought is this moment is: “Please, do not move”.
Yakou: Gh-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-agh!
Information came flowing through the Madara Yakou’s soul, as if someone was vomiting it inside.
As if he was a small fish falling from a waterfall — this was the degree of madness he experienced from this truth poured onto him.
A mass of impossible to understand symbols, voice, information, it was flowing into the very core of Yakou’s existence, trampling him down, violating, reinforcing.
Whithout any consideration.
Yakou: G-h-h...Argh...a-a-a-a!
Garbage — there is garbage.
The most evil wickedness imaginable. If you listen to it, ears will be teared off, if you look at it — eyes would be gouged out, this is the degree of this negative pressure.
To break your skull open and to mess up your own brain with your own hands — a-a-h, this is what would be the true happiness. This world is no better that the garbage dumpt, terrifully polluted — this was the truth Yakou attained.
The idea of a low-life, terrible being, feces worse than a beast. This is what was flowing into Yakou through the pores of his skin, scooping out his death.
Stop it. Don’t mess with me. This was not what I wished for!
This was what Yakou screamed, truly a lamentation of Avici.
Going mad from the feeling of rotten meat coming together again. A terrible pain of being forced back from the edge of insanity.
A killing intent coming up from inside and running wildly — there was no other thing that he wanted to murder more.
He wished for death, he admired death. His killing intent rised in the inverse proportion to his soul breaking.
Yakou: Y-you…
So it is how you are?
He once proclaimed to Momiji “I want to see ■■.”
Morei asked then. Why he wanted it.
Foolish one, pitiful man who haven’t really understood the meaning of his words and his wish, this woman’s delusions turned out to be true.
The same kind of answer was violenty hammered into Yakou by Ootake.
This is the reality. This is the truth. This is the place where he wished to arrive, the final judgement of Enma, the natural conclusion of his Taikyoku.
There is no own will in you. You are just floating. ■■’s child,  ■■’s cell — you are the very best one of them.
Again and again, coming to Edo, hearing those words again and again.
This is ■■ — father of us, people who live in the desire realm, the one who’s Taikyoku controls the Throne.
Why he wanted to see this person — this was what Yakou wondered about.
He thought that his desire was a thread that was leading him. But there was no thread between him an this universal being.
Everything — everything that he took for granted before now, the truth of those things he now understood.
Yakou: You… you are… Hajun!
Before the flickering light of three eyes, Yakou opened wide his blind eyes.
Yakou: A-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-o-o-o-o-o!
The mark of the evil god in his forehead: he was screaming from the understanding of the fact that his third eye was what made them alike.
And then, he was once again back in this place.
Yakou: K-h-h...h…
Stepping at the sand that cut off his life again, Yakou roughly breathed.
And first of all, he was grateful to see that hell around him. He was deeply moved by the touch of this dirty mud.
Air only filled by the scent of death. A-ah, but even this emptiness — trillion times better that what he felt moment before.
He was deeply grateful to the Ootake’s world of nothingness that he has returned to.
Yakou: This… what it it?
And yet, he felt something different.
Coming back from the wave of his own Taikyoku, that should’ve felt quite normal and simlilar to this hell around him.
Yakou: I reached it?... The end of final demise, that place…
Still dumbfounded by what happened, he looked at his own body.
The feeling of the abyss brought by Ootake’s hit is still there. But his own body has already restored it’s functions and had no injuries.
He shivered from the fact that he was still alive despite not understanding why it happened.
Present himself, just from what he was created?
He did not understand the reasons behind his current existence. If he was reduced to the state same as Tenma before him, he would’ve understood it, it would’ve been orthodoxal developement, but this…
Yakou: No, wait. Orthodoxal?
There was something in those words.
Lips tremble. No, wait, that couldn’t be… understanding the answer, Yakou was terrified by it.
The disgusting truth that he wanted to avoide. And the vast shadow silhouette rised.
Ootake: So, after all that’s how it is.
Ootake’s voice sounds as he stands up. The mass of death where the neck should be, confirms his thoughts.
Ootake: Now you understand. You should’ve died there.
Ootake: Because of your fate to survive, you was able to go that far — but only that far. When you opposed me, there was no way anymore.
Yakou: …
Those words hold only a single meaning.
Ootake: Could not die? How was that? The sense of being denied of the place where you should go.
He pointed at the paradox of their fight and Yakou’s death.
He realized that Ootake understood this truth much more deep than anyone else. Because once before, he was like that himself.
Ootake: It would go on like that in the future, without any exception.
Ootake: Proper victory. Evasion of the defeat. Overflowing with exitement, you will go through the victories like that over and over again.
Ootake: But this is no longer living. When the starting and the ending points are the same — it becomes just a continuation of the same.
Ootake: It’s just an endless cycle. Just a lifeless carcass that still keeps going.
Ootake: The endless dash of stagnation. Just like my other piece.
This story of the past Yakou somehow deeply understands.
East’s side — the land of defeated ones that keep chasing life.
This is how it is connected by Mugen Jigoku. Everything is but a single line.
Ootake: That’s ironic. Despite being that close to me, your words are much closer to his side. Well, in reality, it should be natural.
Ootake: “End” and “stagnation” are starting from the same point, the matching pair of Taikyoku. So this is how it should be.
Ootake: In the first place, the true natures are incompatible. A dash to the end, and the wild ride to destroy. The core ideas are different.
Yakou: Not the maintaining of hope, but destroying in the name of hope — this is my true nature?
Ootake: If not that, then what? You want to kill, right?
Ootake: Both are extreme to the point of silliness ideas, but which one of them is evil… is a worthless question.
Ootake: My and his wishes… in the compassion with that one, they both are divine. The end and the stagnation. Good, I feel pride in it.
Ootake: I want to keep it’s beautiful form.
This was the origin of Ootake’s and Yato’s craving. The only difference is, one wants to end it while it’s still beautiful, and the other one wants to preserve it forever.
And to think that Yakou’s desire was like that. There was no for aesthetics in killing, it was not a love that destroys — nothing but a wish for massacre.
However, he does not see everything as a garbage. There is no wish for absolute destruction of everything but him.
A wish for that universe to disappear completely leaving only him…
Yakou: Kh…
Yakou’s nail are driven into his palms.
Just by imagining it, the anger boils. When they communicated, he understood this craving.
And this revelation was an unbearabe shame for Yakou.
Yakou: Then…
He asked the men who stood before him.
Yakou: Then, are you saying that you are not unnatural? This shape — isn’t it also a pride?
Ootake: I would not deny it. Now I am distorted for sure.
While his form keeps collapsing with creaks, for the first time emotions started to show in Ootake’s voice.
His wish for demise… is still working right now. Yes, after all, he wanted to die.
Lost, murdered, teared in pieces, then why he is still there? Yakou did not understand why this man denied his death and still challenged him.
Connected to Yato against his will. With that wish of his, he surely looked as a victim. In this controversal existence Madara Yakou was highly interested.
Then, why? This truth he wanted to know. Wanted to know the reason that kept him going, suffering.
Right now, he is tormenting himself, then where is the foundation for what he is doing?
Ootake: And yet, there is but one thing that I could not throw away.
Ootake: My ally is still fighting. Then I also cannot rest yet. This body is still a part of his moment.
Ootake: His will is my will.
Ootake: So it is not longer a logical reason. Just a madness similar to yours.
For a friend, he strained himself, and stayed at the battlefield. Ootake himself admitted that it is distorted.
Ootake: Even if this is an absurb battle, completely lost from the very start.
Yakou: …
Did he just laughted?
Was it just a delusion? For a moment, Yakou surely felt like he have seen a bitter smile.
Yakou: I see, so this is your friendship.
Yakou: For a sake of a friend.
Ootake: And for myself.
This is how it was balanced inside of him. Both selfishness and altruism are essential — that mismatched balance is what a true human was.
Now that he thought about it, it was also what Momiji was saying.
Ootake: He was a man who believed in a dream.
Ootake talks about his friend like that, despite being the same.
Ootake: And to keep his pride, I was defeated like that.
Ootake: If he says the he will not admit it, the I also would not. I would not allow to pollute our crusade.
Ootake: So this was not a waste. You have seen it, right? The truth of his law.
Ootake: In the Hajun’s world — everyone is enemy.
And this is why Edo remained. This is why they survived like that. If not for them, there was no way Yakou would’ve understood it.
Yakou: A-ah… so that’s how it was.
He felt deep gratitude to the last heroes — to the benefactors of this universe.
Yakou: So, that’s why it was me, Madara Yakou. That’s the reason for that choice.
Yakou: You resemble me. And I resemble Yato. You talk about the time of the color of eternity, that was before Dusk.
Ootake: That’s right. What I could not do, for him and his woman… you reach it.
Ootake: Even if it would be enlessly painful.
Yakou: Ha-ha…
Covering the face with his hand, bending the whole body, Yakou happily laughted.
Yakou: Ha-ha-ha, ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!
In the place where the air itself is filled with death, completely out of place emotion.
Yakou: A-ah, I give up. For the very first time I feel so happy. So much that my stomach hurts from all that laught. Ha-ha-ha…
Yakou: Oh, yes, I admit it. It is definitely my defeat. In the end, I acted like a fool, if I say so myself.
Yakou: This is truly admirable. In this battle, you are the true winner.
Splendid. Amused Yakou applauded to the dying person.
Anyone who knew Yakou would be surprised by such act, but Ootake did not move. But it wasn’t that he made light of Yakou’s praises.
Yakou: Then, this is my duty as a loser.
They are the same, even deep inside. Then, he already knew the next words…
Yakou: The one who destroys, the supreme ruler of demise, Tenma of dead. In your dying hour, what would you order me to do?
Ootake: Worthless question. Your own desire — reach it with your own power.
This conversation was like a ceremony.
Ootake: You had to know. It was needed for you to realize it. This self-love filled Tengudou… bring the end to it.
Ootake: The order is this one thing: show me your victory.
Yakou: Acknowledged.
Because it was his own desire, obviously Yakou aswered gladly.
So those last words were the limit. Ootake’s body began to disappear.
Probably because of what he said, there was no more lingering feeling in him. His armor beging to break, turning into the grains of sand, disappearing.
As if eaten by the nonexisting head, Tenma of death, losing his restrictions, finally achieves his craving.
And…
Ootake: Well then, this is the last parting… brother.
At the verge of destuction, he adresses his words to his other part.
Ootake: Now I disappear not leaving even the ashes behind. If you understand me, then you should also go.
Ootake: As I offered my neck before… this time, it’s your turn.
The fate of this world should be decided by living ones.
If there are ones to entrust everything to, then it is fine. If we can’t even win against ourselves, then it is impossible to defeat them.
Go with all your strenght. Go and kill. Engrave our moment there forever.
By this, you would leave a crack in the invincible Sixth Heavens, Ootake said.
Ootake: Farewell.
Words are short, but filled by a lot of thoughts. Ootake acknowledged his own death, and disappeared.
After all long wandering, finally returning to the end of decapitation that he has so much pround in.
Without any regrets, his war was finally over.


[1] Tenchuusatsu (天中殺), also called kuubou (空亡), is a “bad”, unfortunate time in Four Pillars astrology. It is commonly described as 「あってなきが如し」, “should not be yet is”. Later on Ootake uses this exact expression, saying that “Everything should not be, yet is”.