Looking at the boar-masked figure who had burst into the midst of the fierce battle, Taka found it somewhat strange.
He recognized it as Inosuke's mask, but the person beneath it was definitely not Inosuke.
"Hey! You brat over there! Still alive?!" A muffled voice came from under the boar mask.
Without waiting for Taka's answer, his fists suddenly clenched. The surrounding ice shards swirled up and down with his rising fighting spirit.
"Destructive Death - Air... cough, no!" He seemed to realize something mid-sentence and awkwardly corrected himself: "Fist Breathing: First Form: Hollow Bone!"
Thwump! Thwump!
Doma, locked in fierce combat with Taka, suddenly sensed several visible white airwaves approaching from a distance. He had to quickly summon his Crystallized Children to block these formidable blasts.
The fist force condensed into solid shockwaves in the air, instantly shattering those ice puppets into countless fragments!
Doma, already somewhat shaken by Taka's words, was now even more speechless: "Akaza-dono? Can you please stop fooling around? This is a critical moment."
"Akaza who? Never heard of him!"
The man in the boar mask withdrew his stance, leaped onto the shoulder of the ice Bodhisattva, and gave Taka a thumbs up: "Don't worry, kid! I'm the Demon Slayer Corps' newly appointed Fist Hashira, Hakuji! Here specially to support you!"
'Fist Hashira? Don't be ridiculous.'
The moment he saw that punch wind, Taka knew… this guy was Akaza.
'What was going on? A change of heart? At a time like this?'
'And what about his mask? Was Inosuke in danger?'
"Fist Hashira? Akaza-dono, are you betraying that lord?" Doma's rainbow-colored eyes flickered with a dangerous light. "You should know the price of betrayal."
"I can't understand a word you're saying! Fist Breathing: Second Form!!"
Another roar. Hakuji threw several punches, surging towards Doma like a violent storm.
Already somewhat miserable from Taka's attacks, now with an added Upper Moon demon, Doma truly felt things were getting difficult.
The three tangled together. Blades, fists, and fans clashed continuously, bursting into dazzling sparks under the night sky.
"Swordsman!" Hakuji roared, kicking away an ice vine trying to entangle Taka. "I hate sword users, but now, unleash all your power! Let's butcher this beast!"
Taka didn't reply, his scorching Crimson Blade merely humming.
Although he didn't know why an Upper Moon demon had come to support him, even calling himself some Fist Hashira-
He could sense the emotional fluctuations in the other. The killing intent towards Doma was real and unmistakable.
For him, that was enough.
Facing their combined attack, Doma swung his golden fans. One huge ice lotus after another bloomed in the air.
"How long are you going to show off these soft, weak techniques?!"
Hakuji roared, slamming a powerful straight punch into an ice lotus.
Bam!!
The ice lotus shattered. Countless tiny ice petals shot towards them like flying knives.
If they were ordinary swordsmen, even if not severely wounded, the ice mist would damage their lungs.
But unfortunately for Doma, neither of the two before him was normal.
One simply couldn't be killed. His lungs seemed made of iron, fighting on while spewing blood.
The other didn't even need to breathe. He was a demon! This lung-targeting cold air was deadly to humans, but to him, it was completely harmless!
His fist wind transformed into an impenetrable curtain of afterimages. Every punch precisely shattered a piece of ice lotus, forcibly opening a path through the freezing current.
Taka followed closely, infusing his Reiatsu into his feet. His figure became illusory and elusive.
In that moment, the shrine echoed with continuous explosions. Stone pillars collapsed. Divine statues shattered.
The monks, complicit in evil, had already suffered casualties in the earlier fierce fighting. Now they were being devastated en masse.
Those crushed to death, those who fell to their deaths, those directly crushed by the fighting spirit… countless.
Served them right.
"Akaza, can you stop fighting?"
Doma's fan severed Hakuji's wrist, but the other party regenerated instantly. The emotionless Doma didn't know how to describe this helplessness: "Seriously, why are you fighting for humans now? You've already become a demon...."
"Shut up! I'll say it again! I am Hakuji!"
Doma's words seemed to strike a nerve. Hakuji's fist wind grew even more fierce: "My fists were never meant to be swung for things like you!"
"Whether I go to hell or suffer for eternity without rebirth! I'll drag you, beast, to die with me!"
"Fist Concentration Breathing - Annihilation Style!!"
He threw a violent punch. His entire aura surged to its peak in that instant.
His exertion was so violent that the edge of his boar mask even cracked.
This punch condensed centuries of his training as a demon, and the regret and anger of being reborn as a human these past few days!
"Tch... Water Lily Bodhisattva · Thousand Hands!"
The ice Bodhisattva transformed again. Countless huge ice palms instantly formed on its back!
Those massive palms, with the force of a mountain collapsing, descended together, slamming towards Hakuji. Even a demon would be crushed into paste by this technique!
'Such a colossal technique inevitably had tremendous cost and an opening!'
Taka finally got his chance. The Reiatsu beneath his feet erupted to its limit. His figure transformed into a black line, instantly appearing above Doma's head!
All the Reiatsu and demonic power within him were poured into the blade. The intense fluctuations caused scorching black flames to ignite on the scorching blade!
"ROAR! Tonan!"
A slash that tore the sky fell!
Countless ice palms were severed in unison! They didn't even have a chance to melt before being completely engulfed by the black flames! Even the ground was carved with a deep trench!
"It's over." Doma suddenly felt a wave of helplessness. The next moment, Hakuji's heavy punch smashed violently into his chest!
Boom—!!
Even for Upper Rank Two, directly taking this punch was an immense challenge.
Doma's chest caved in. His back exploded! Blood and organs flew everywhere!
"Cough.... You've truly gone mad, Akaza-dono...."
But he wouldn't die from this. His wounds were rapidly healing. He was ready to fight on!
"Taka!!"
At that moment, a roar came from the mountain gate.
A cool young man, draped in a half-patterned haori, holding a blue Nichirin Sword, rushed anxiously into the courtyard.
Although unclear what was happening, he had no time to judge. He directly threw a vial of thick, purple-black liquid towards Taka.
It was Giyu, who had rushed Shinobu to safety and then quickly returned.
What he threw was something Shinobu, on the verge of death, had insisted he give Taka before the Kakushi members took her away.
"The moment of our promise has come!!"
He roared, delivering Shinobu's entrustment, then drew his blade and joined the fray.
Taka flashed, caught the vial, and instantly understood its meaning.
He knew Shinobu had been researching wisteria poison, trying to create a deadly toxin enough to kill a Kizuki.
But her blade could only inject a very small amount of poison at a time, likely insufficient to achieve the desired effect.
This heavy vial should be extremely concentrated wisteria poison.
With this, he should be able to suppress Doma's regeneration!
At the same time, another figure noisily rushed into the shrine.
"Hey—!!!!"
"You bastard who stole my mask! Don't run! Give it back!!"
A wild, shouting voice rushed in, furious.
Taka knew that voice well. It was Inosuke.
But the moment he saw clearly the boy, he found it somewhat strange.
Because this boy wasn't wearing his iconic boar mask.
His mask was being worn by... Hakuji. And the face he revealed...
Delicately carved, eyes like stars, long eyelashes casting shadows in the moonlight.
It was a face so beautiful it would make women jealous, full of ethereal spirit.
However, the one with the biggest reaction on scene wasn't Taka, but Doma, whose chest still had a fist embedded in it.
"....Kotoha?"