Rumble—!!!
The ground shook violently. A massive layer of ice surged upward madly like a living thing.
A colossal Bodhisattva statue, seated, formed entirely of ice, was rising with a rumble from beneath the earth, centered on Doma!
This ice Bodhisattva had a solemn and dignified appearance, with downcast eyes and hands clasped together, radiating a terrifying cold that could freeze the soul and boundless oppressive pressure.
Its size occupied nearly half the mountain peak. The shadow it cast completely enveloped Taka, Giyu, and the severely wounded Shinobu.
The surface of the statue shimmered with rainbow-colored light. That was the manifestation of Doma's highly concentrated demonic power. Every wisp of light contained an absolute zero enough to freeze steel!
In the face of such a colossal creation, Taka and Giyu appeared so insignificant.
This was Doma's strongest Blood Demon Art. Unleashing it required tremendous consumption of demonic power. He would not easily use it unless pushed to the brink.
"Seriously, you're very impressive, black-haired swordsman." Doma landed lightly on the Bodhisattva's palm, looking down on everyone from his lofty position, slowly healing the gash on his neck:
"Although I rarely say this, would you consider becoming a demon?"
"....Is that your last words?" Taka looked at the huge ice crystal Bodhisattva before him and said coldly.
"How unromantic."
The ice crystal Bodhisattva slowly raised its hand, blotting out the moon as it descended.
"Tomioka, take Shinobu and go! Quickly!"
In the face of this overwhelming sense of pressure, Taka could only try to find a way for them to survive.
With an attack of this scale, every movement caused lethal shockwaves.
Shinobu's lungs were now extremely severely damaged, and the wounds on her body were even more shocking. Even inhaling a single breath of the ultra-low temperature cold air emanating from the Bodhisattva could cause her to suffocate on the spot.
Giyu gripped his Nichirin Sword tightly. A flicker of struggle passed over his cool face.
As the Water Hashira, his duty was to fight the demon until the very last moment.
But seeing Shinobu behind him, pale and barely alive, he also understood that Taka's decision was correct.
"....Don't you dare die." Giyu said no more. His figure flashed as he picked up Shinobu and sped away along the breach left by the collapsing mountain gate.
Boom—!!
The moment he left, the Bodhisattva's strike had already landed!
Before the palm of the Buddha even arrived, the sheer air pressure had already caused the hard frozen ground to crack inch by inch. The air was extremely compressed!
In Doma's view, this single strike would be enough to completely crush Taka into pulp.
"Bark—!!"
With his teammates withdrawn and all restraints gone, Taka had no more concerns.
The scorching Nichirin Blade began to change. The patterns on it seemed to come alive, twisting ferociously, emitting a howl that made the soul shudder!
The long sword, beneath the shadow of the colossal hand, transformed into a crimson streak of light, charging against the current! The flowing molten lava blade patterns viciously crashed against the descending ice palm!
The long-slumbering evil beast had finally smelled blood.
Shrrk—!!!
The Bodhisattva's palm was forcibly pierced through!
In Doma's shocked perspective, Taka slashed out a huge area of red-black fighting spirit. Every beam was like a living mad dog, directly pouncing and biting into the ice Bodhisattva's palm!
They had no fixed trajectory, no unified target. They just madly pounced and bit!
When they converged, even divine punishment descending from the heavens would be devoured alive!
"....What is this?"
Doma's rainbow-colored pupils contracted slightly. This was a situation beyond his understanding.
Whoosh!
The next second, Taka's figure directly vanished from the spot!
Clang! Shrrk—!
He passed through the hole in the Bodhisattva's palm like a phantom, directly attacking Doma!
Doma parried almost purely by combat instinct, the fan itself being chipped!
"Truly impressive. I feel like I might not be able to handle you alone."
"Come, my children. Dance with this troublesome guest—"
He dodged Taka's slash. The fan surface flickered with the light of his Blood Demon Art.
The cold at the mountain peak suddenly intensified. Several highly condensed ice crystal humanoids rapidly rose from the ground!
Their appearance was identical to Doma himself. They held ice-crystal formed golden fans. Their bodies emanated a cold and powerful demonic aura—
This was Doma's Blood Demon Art - Crystalline Divine Child! Each ice puppet possessed about half the strength of Doma's main body!
Almost the moment they formed, the five ice puppets attacked from different angles!
Their movements were swift as lightning, their coordination flawless.
"Die... die...."
The five ice puppets spoke simultaneously. Their voices overlapped, echoing in the shrine, sounding eerie and hollow.
Large swathes of frost clouds spewed from all directions, trying to freeze Taka's movements.
Dense ice crystal lotus leaves spun and cut. The freezing clouds obscured vision and hindered breathing. Barbed great ice vines coiled like pythons. Sharp ice pillars shot simultaneously from the ground and air. Fierce ice frost slashes crossed into a net!
This was an absolute killing move, a deathly ice prison.
With this technique combined with the Water Lily Bodhisattva, Doma was even confident he could annihilate all nine assembled Hashira!
Bam Bam!!
The scorching Tonan instantly pierced an ice puppet's chest, madly devouring its core demonic power, causing it to disintegrate instantly!
With a backhand slash, the blade also cut another sneaking ice puppet in half and devoured it.
But every time Taka shattered an ice puppet, a new one would form. The Crystallized Divine Child's attacks never ceased.
He had to constantly dodge the attacks of the Blood Demon Art and the Water Lily Bodhisattva, searching for an opening to attack on the edge of life and death.
Taka could only stick close to Doma, trying to compensate for the disadvantage in area attacks by fighting at close range.
Shrrk—!!
"You're very clingy. Do you want to dance with me?" Doma's ribs were sliced open by Taka's sharp blade, showing no signs of healing. This drew some dissatisfied complaints from him.
In his calculations, by this time the swordsman before him should have long collapsed. Why could he still breathe?
Doma naturally didn't know that the seized demonic power was replenishing Taka through Tonan's blade, repairing the organs damaged by inhaling the ice mist, supporting him to continue fighting.
Moreover, Taka had a strange feeling-
Somewhere deep within his soul, a binding shackle was snapping. He couldn't describe the feeling.
He only felt that every time he experienced a life-or-death battle, every time he seized new power from his opponent, this feeling of breaking free grew stronger, and the power within him increased.
Back when facing the Lower Moon Kizuki, the Pack Howl from Tonan could only barely defeat shadows and wound the Lower Moon.
But after experiencing bloody battles with Akaza and Doma, Tonan's power had grown stronger and more pronounced.
After absorbing stronger demon blood, Tonan was also growing stronger.
If he encountered that Lower Moon demon again, just one of those Reiatsu Mad Dogs touching it would be enough to devour it alive!
"Forget it, I'll take back my words. Please don't become a demon." Doma's expression had already become serious. This time, it wasn't mockery, but from the heart a desire never to see Taka again:
"If you became an Upper Moon and came to me for a position exchange blood battle, I'd be scared."
"That's enough, you lying demon." Taka sliced through Doma's golden fan. Wisps of white air seeped from his mouth and nose with his words: "You have no emotions at all."
"Eh?"
"Your heart is completely hollow. The Reiatsu of your emotions is like a dead thing."
Taka dodged a thrusting ice pillar and laughed coldly from the bottom of his heart:
"You can't feel joy, anger, sorrow, or happiness yourself, yet you clumsily imitate others."
"I don't understand who you're putting on this act for. Why exactly do you live in this world?"
"..." Doma's cheek was grazed by Taka's blade wind, instantly gushing blood. Yet he showed no sign of pain.
He looked coldly at Taka, his tone equally cold: "You really are a mean-spirited person. Why do you speak so harshly?"
As he spoke, he discarded his damaged weapon and pulled out two more golden fans, spreading them wide. His force was several degrees more vicious.
Was he truly angry? Perhaps only he knew.
Bam—!!!
Just as their battle reached its white-hot stage, both sides covered in wounds—
A figure, wrapped in violent momentum, charged up! With one kick, it shattered the colossal palm of the Water Lily Bodhisattva about to strike Taka's back!
Both were somewhat surprised as they looked.
The newcomer was bare-chested, quite peculiar on this icy, snowy peak of Myoko Mountain.
He wore a boar mask on his head. With several punches, he destroyed all the ice puppets attacking from a distance. His body emanated an extremely terrifying aura.
'Inosuke?' Taka was startled, but quickly noticed something was wrong.
'Why was his demonic aura so dense?'