Frost spread like a living thing, swallowing the space around them in a blink. Doma had been forced to fire off three techniques in a row.
Even in the Upper Rank battles, even against Akaza, he had never been pushed into a corner like this.
A surge of anger rose in his chest, hot and violent, yet he couldn't afford to vent it.
His head had nearly been cut clean off by Vincent Fox. Only a thin strip of flesh still connected skull to neck, and his head lolled against his chest like a broken doll.
One more hard pull and it would come right off.
His hands shifted again. A streak of ice crystals flicked from his fingers.
Instead of scattering, the massive amount of frost split into five clumps, each condensing into a tight sphere.
"Blood Demon Art: Crystalline Children!"
With that low command, the five clusters rapidly swelled.
They hardened before the eye could blink, becoming five humanoid dolls.
"What the hell is that?" Inosuke shouted, stunned by the sight.
The five ice puppets landed lightly. Each one wore the same face.
Doma's face.
Then those puppets smiled.
Their icy fans snapped open.
Swish!
Swish!
A storm of frost erupted.
Blood Demon Arts with the same pressure and lethality as the original Doma poured down on Vincent like a blizzard made of knives!
Bang!
The floor exploded under Vincent's step.
He moved so fast the air itself seemed to lag behind.
His body twisted and shifted in midair, leaving afterimages like ghost trails.
In a single breath, he was behind one of the ice dolls.
Bang!
One punch shattered its head into glittering fragments.
A second punch reduced the entire puppet to a spray of frost, which was immediately melted away by the heat rolling off Vincent's flames.
He swept his left hand.
A fireball shot out.
It exploded in front of him and bloomed into a wall of fire.
The remaining four puppets' attacks were cut down instantly, their ice blades weakened and scattered.
The few that slipped through were dodged with ease.
"Huh? Since when were you this strong?!" Inosuke yelled. "Did you get even better again?!"
And he couldn't ignore it.
Vincent's state this time was different from when he fought Akaza.
His movements looked… natural.
Last time, even if Inosuke hadn't been able to fully follow the battle, what Rengoku later described made one thing clear.
Vincent's speed had been overwhelming.
But his strikes hadn't always matched that speed, as if the body could move faster than the technique meant to guide it.
Yet now, Vincent looked perfectly in sync.
A casual punch.
Another ice puppet exploded.
Only two remained.
"Go help Vincent!" Shinobu shouted. "I'm fine!"
The scales had clearly tipped in Vincent's favor, but this was still Muzan's territory.
No one knew what would happen next.
More importantly, through the blizzard of ice, Shinobu could see it.
Doma's neck was already knitting back together.
And his complexion was changing.
That terrifying purple tint was fading.
The poison was being broken down.
At this pace, in only a few breaths, he would completely neutralize it.
And once he did, his resistance to wisteria poison would rise even further.
Worse, her Nichirin Blade was already destroyed.
Shinobu touched the back of her waist.
Two tubes of condensed wisteria poison were still there.
Four to five grams, at least, even more than what she carried in her own body.
But the real problem was simple.
How was she supposed to get that poison into Doma now?
On the other side, Inosuke roared and charged, swinging both swords like a storm.
"A brat with no foundation in swordsmanship," Doma said softly, his rainbow eyes reflecting a cold light that seemed ready to pierce straight through Inosuke. "You really think you can hurt me?"
He had already finished breaking down the wisteria poison. His neck was almost fully restored.
Facing Inosuke, he was openly contemptuous.
His iron fans flashed.
Two ice blades shot forward.
Inosuke slashed to meet them.
Steel and ice collided.
Frost shards flew.
Inosuke clearly struggled against the impact.
His forward momentum stopped dead, and he even began to slide backward.
Then his vision blurred.
And suddenly the world felt wider.
When he focused again, he saw Doma had already recovered most of the way.
In that brief instant, Doma had used some trick to rip off Inosuke's boar mask.
"This face…" Doma murmured. "It's familiar…"
He tossed the boar head aside, then casually raised his hand and formed several new ice puppets.
Then his expression shifted.
Realization.
A smile.
"But how did you make that mask?" Doma said, amused. "It's amazing. You can only see out from the inside, right?"
"Bastard! Give it back!"
"Relax, relax." Doma's tone was almost playful. "Your face really is familiar. I've met you before, haven't I? And I think there's a very unforgettable memory attached to it."
"I've never met a maggot like you!" Inosuke snarled. "Don't touch my fur!"
"Wait, wait. Let me think."
Doma actually stuck a finger into his own temple.
Then he stirred it, twisting deep inside as if rummaging through his skull.
Blood seeped from his eyes, nose, ears, and mouth.
And he smiled, cruel and delighted.
"Ah. Not that long ago. Fifteen years."
His voice turned dreamy, like he was reminiscing about a pleasant evening.
"That day, a girl, about seventeen or eighteen, came to me with a baby wrapped in swaddling cloth. She said her husband beat her. Her mother-in-law tormented her."
He waved his fan lightly.
"I'm the head of the Eternal Paradise Cult. Of course I had to save her."
He glanced at Inosuke, smile widening.
"Her face was bruised badly from the beatings, but after treatment… she was truly beautiful. I remember."
He leaned closer, his rainbow eyes gleaming.
"Those lovely eyes. Almost exactly like yours. Just much gentler. That was your mother, wasn't it?"
"I don't have a mother!" Inosuke roared. "I was raised by boars!"
"Huh? Boars can't give birth to humans." Doma chuckled. "That woman had to be your mother."
He tilted his head as if tasting the memory.
"She was so beautiful. And she could play all kinds of instruments. I didn't even plan to eat her at first."
Then his tone sharpened with mock regret.
"But your mother…"
He snapped his fingers.
"Oh, right. Her name was Kotoha. Now I remember."
"That stupid girl didn't believe my 'good intentions.' She kept calling me a fraud."
He shrugged, as though he had no choice.
"So I ate her."
His smile was gentle.
His words were not.
"Not even the bones were left."
Doma slowly fanned himself, putting on an expression of pity that made the skin crawl.
"And when she was dying, she threw you off a cliff."
"At the time, I thought you were definitely dead."
He looked at Inosuke like he was admiring a joke fate had played.
"But you survived. And now you've come to hunt me."
Doma sighed.
"Honestly, I should've jumped down after you and finished you off back then."
Boom!
Inosuke swung both blades with all his strength. The two incoming ice blades shattered into nothing.
"So I'm supposed to thank you… huh."
His body dropped into water. Blood immediately stained the surface red.
But his voice was low, steady, as if pain couldn't reach him.
"You reminded me of memories I didn't even remember."
He raised his head.
His eyes burned.
"You trash."
He stood up.
Two savage wounds crossed his chest, leaking blood steadily.
Doma watched him and smiled.
Then, slowly, he spoke, his voice soft with contempt.
"You… bastard."
----------------------------------------------------
The deeper he goes, the more the truth unravels. Don't wait read ahead and witness Vincent's rise before the world catches up!
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