"So, who gave you that idea?"
"Daki? Gyutaro?"
"Oh, let me count... three, four, five. We're separated by three ranks."
"My title is Upper Moon Two!"
Doma's way of speaking was also gentle, his tone relaxed and flat, like he was chatting with a friend. But within his words, a sharp edge was subtly emerging. Beneath the gentle, flat exterior lay the harsh chill of deep winter.
Kanae exhaled a white mist, which seemed to contain tiny ice shards. Compared to her earlier rosy complexion, her face was now far too pale.
"As expected of an Upper Moon..."
Before she could finish speaking, Kanae couldn't help but spit out a mouthful of fresh blood. Within the steaming crimson, faint ice crystals were visible.
When she chose not to abandon her blade and used her Breathing Technique to break free from the restraint, Kanae inhaled a large amount of ice crystal dust. She had intended to surprise Doma with a sudden attack and cut him down, but she never expected that Doma, who had been calmly manipulating his Blood Demon Art, would also react so quickly.
Even if they were engaged in close-quarters combat without using Blood Demon Arts, Kanae would have to pay a significant price to defeat him, let alone with ice poison having entered her body, causing her strength to plummet by a third.
"It's truly a shame. If you were facing another Upper Moon... hmm, facing Akaza, you might have lasted a bit longer."
"If it were Hantengu or them, you would have had a chance to cut them down."
"Unfortunately, you're facing me. No swordsman who needs to breathe would want to be my enemy."
"I've researched your Breathing Techniques for a long time."
Doma's gaze lingered on Kanae's delicate, pale face, and he sighed softly, seemingly heartbroken by the beauty that was about to vanish.
"I've done my best, but believe me, even the most insidious and vicious Blood Demon Art is no match for the hot-blooded spirit of swordsmen."
Crack! Doma gripped the Nichirin Blade forcefully. Without the strength of its owner to resist, the part Doma was holding instantly shattered.
As the pieces of the Nichirin Blade fell, Kanae gathered her breath. After being freed from the restraint, she pushed off with her toes, put strength into her waist and abdomen, and spun her body violently for a slash. The broken blade cut through the air, slicing towards Doma.
Doma shook his head gently. "As expected of a Demon Slayer Pillar. Your will is truly tenacious. Even in this situation, you're still thinking about how to defeat me."
"You know, your condition is not optimistic. If you make another move, you'll surely die."
The Ice Puppets' bodies simultaneously burst, and a strong wind, carrying ice crystals, came rushing towards Kanae, covering her entirely.
"Solidify!"
Doma reached out and pressed down. Layers of frost spread over Kanae's body. Her spinning slash slowed down more and more until finally, as the broken blade lightly touched Doma's neck, Kanae's body surface was sealed in a layer of solid ice.
Thump, thump, thump. Doma tapped the ice block, satisfied. "You wanted to commit suicide, but I can't bear to let you."
"When you become one of my kind, your current thoughts might change."
He didn't kill Kanae, but sealed her actions. At the same time, he withdrew the ice crystal dust from her body. However, Kanae's frostbite remained, and it was very severe. She wasn't like Kurozawa, with his superhuman physique. A normal swordsman, no matter how skilled their Sword Forms, would be severely injured if hit head-on by a Blood Demon Art.
Doma stared at the ice crystal sealing Kanae with eyes full of admiration. Then, with a wave of his hand, the ice crystal flew out and landed in the hand of the ice sculpture he had erected in the center of the Prayer Plaza.
His gaze retracted, shifting to the mist-like frozen clouds. Doma's eyes deepened for a moment.
In his vision, within the dreamy ice crystal dust, a pitch-black flame was burning fiercely, impossible to extinguish.
"Now, it's just the two of us. Let's get along well."
"Dream on!" As if the mist composed of tiny points of light was torn apart, Kurozawa's figure rushed out from within. The black flames on his body touched the ice crystal mist, generating a wider expanse of water vapor.
He had already sensed Kanae's unfavorable situation through his Fighting Spirit and had been eager to rush out of the ice dust range. But strangely, he had lost his direction within it. The sensed Fighting Spirit fluctuations were incredibly chaotic. After finally understanding those fluctuations and tearing through the mist, Kanae had already been captured.
After rushing out of the ice dust range, Kurozawa waved his hand. The flames on his body receded, and Mingzhou solidified inch by inch.
Water Breathing, Tenth Form: Constant Flux! Without hesitation, Kurozawa used the final form of Water Breathing, constantly spinning and twisting, the Constant Flux that could layer the power of his slashes.
The ground beneath his feet instantly cracked, and Kurozawa's figure shot up like lightning.
His body weaved and twisted. Vaguely, the blade light stretching around him formed a massive, black dragon shadow. The friction of the blade light against the air was like a black dragon roaring.
The black dragon opened its massive maw, its body winding, and charged towards Doma with an earth-shattering momentum.
This black dragon of blade light was imposing, and it seemed that avoiding it was the best course of action.
In the distance, Doma's mouth curved into a smile, then he suddenly laughed. "Water Breathing Sword Forms, Tenth Form, Constant Flux."
"The more you spin and twist, the stronger the accumulated power, and the harder it is to resist."
"However, in the early stages of the Sword Form, it's not much stronger than other Sword Forms."
He had been ordered to research Breathing Techniques and was very familiar with the major mainstream ones.
As he spoke, Doma closed his eyes, his hands spread as if to embrace the earth.
Blood Demon Art: Crystalline Puppets! Accompanied by ice crystals filling the sky, three Ice Puppets simultaneously appeared in front of Doma.
Blood Demon Art: Ice Bodhisattva!
Apart from the two original giant Ice Bodhisattvas, two more Bodhisattvas rose from the ground! A total of four Ice Bodhisattvas stood before Doma.
At the same time, Doma's already pale face grew even paler. Using his Blood Demon Art so recklessly was a considerable drain on him.
"Go, slaughter this dragon!" Doma pointed towards Kurozawa's location. The four skyscraper-like Ice Bodhisattvas simultaneously took a step, rumbling towards Kurozawa.
The Ice Puppet clones leaped onto their shoulders to manipulate them, while Doma's main body remained still.
Across from him, Kurozawa heard Doma's analysis of his Sword Form, and his heart trembled slightly. Seeing the four god-like Ice Puppets charging towards him, his face became extremely grim.
"Just how many of these things can he split off?!"
In the span of a few breaths, the giant and the black dragon collided.
From the dragon's mouth, Mingzhou instantly unleashed a thousand blades of light, enveloping an Ice Bodhisattva and all its Ice Puppets. Amidst the sounds of cracking and snapping, this Ice Bodhisattva disintegrated and collapsed, turning into a large cloud of ice crystal dust, forming an Ice Crystal Domain.
Immediately after, the dragon's body coiled, and Kurozawa evaded the Ice Crystal Domain, leaping into the air.
From above, Mingzhou struck down heavily, and a blade of light over ten meters long suddenly appeared, splitting the second Ice Bodhisattva and its Ice Puppets in half.
On the surface, it looked like Kurozawa was overwhelming them, but in reality, the power accumulated by Constant Flux had already been exhausted at this point. This Sword Form was considered to have been broken by Doma.
Doma's main body clapped its hands and laughed, "What a ferocious strike! Among all the Water Breathing swordsmen I've seen, your strike is the most sharp and fierce."
*Bang!* The second Ice Bodhisattva exploded, sending up layers of ice crystal dust. The Ice Crystal Domain, which had already covered over thirty meters, rapidly expanded again, engulfing Kurozawa.
The remaining two Ice Puppets raised their fists high. Fists as massive as houses rained down like a storm, each leaving a half-meter deep crater on the ground.
Kurozawa could only dodge continuously for a while. With every breath, he also had to guard against the invasion of fine ice crystals, immediately falling into a difficult predicament.
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