[It seems I must face the enemy alone for now... Hmm? Strange, what's happening, my hand...]
Suddenly, Himejima Gyomei detected something abnormal.
In that instant just now when he pulled back his chains, he keenly sensed that his arm seemed somewhat unable to exert full strength.
Although the situation wasn't severe, it definitely existed—he could feel his movements slowing down.
[What's happening? Could my body already be somewhat exhausted?]
[No, that's impossible... This duration of battle isn't enough to make me feel fatigued, what exactly is...]
"Finally noticed something wrong?"
Noticing the puzzled expression on Himejima Gyomei's face at the first moment, Gyutaro opposite him suddenly cracked a grin.
Raising his hand to swing out several more crescent slashes, he kindly provided an explanation.
"My slashes are fused with my Blood Demon Art—they carry potent venom. If you don't detoxify quickly, even just a tiny scratch is enough to be fatal, it's only a matter of time...
Big guy, being able to resist this long before showing poisoning symptoms is already quite impressive."
[What?! This demon can also use poison?!]
Himejima Gyomei was greatly shocked by this.
During his defense earlier, his cheek and shoulder areas had indeed been slightly scratched by Gyutaro's slashes, but these were all very minor scratches—he had thought they wouldn't have any effect.
He never imagined that such small wounds could also cause poisoning!
This demon was actually this troublesome to this degree?!
He could no longer hesitate!
Even if he had to use all-out offensive attacks without defending, he must quickly slay these two demons. Otherwise, once the poison took effect, they would all die here tonight!
HUM!
Just as Himejima Gyomei made his final decision, preparing to attack regardless of cost, his mind suddenly became clear.
Immediately after, he felt as if his eyes could suddenly "see."
This wasn't truly seeing, because his field of vision was still completely dark, with nothing at all.
Although it was only an instant, he did "see" Gyutaro—a Gyutaro standing opposite him, completely transparent, with muscles and blood vessels fully exposed!
[Could this be... the Transparent World?]
After only a moment of confusion, Himejima Gyomei understood the situation.
He was shocked by this.
When he had heard of the Transparent World's existence in the past, he had once believed that as a blind person, he would never be able to enter this domain.
He never expected that he actually could?!
[I see, so-called Transparent World doesn't necessarily require physical eyes to see, but rather leans more toward a perception of the mind's eye?]
In the perception of complete darkness, Gyutaro's body lit up again for an instant.
[Blood, muscles, bones...]
Using this instant, Himejima Gyomei immediately judged Gyutaro's next attack.
Without hesitation, using the brief moment when he spun his body to swing his chains—turning his back to Gyutaro—he quickly and specifically adjusted the flight trajectories of the flail and hand axe in mid-air.
[With this move... the victor will be decided!]
Exchanges between strong opponents are often decided in an instant!
Himejima Gyomei, who had seen through Gyutaro's next offensive using that instant of Transparent World, was very confident—his next attack would definitely hit!
The pincer attack of flail and hand axe, even if unable to slay it in one breath, was sufficient to make it temporarily lose combat ability, completely turning the tide!
"Hmm?"
Time slowly flowed. Raising his hand to swing out another crescent slash, Gyutaro keenly detected something wrong.
In mid-air, that massive flail and sharp hand axe, guided by the chains' traction, precisely avoided the crescent slash he swung out. Under the night sky they made a large arc, rapidly attacking him fiercely from front and back directions!
Among them, that flail which circled to the rear would precisely pass through the position where Ume stood behind him!
"Not good! Ume, dodge quickly!"
Too late to think carefully, Gyutaro shouted and immediately turned around, wanting to pull Ume who was still focused on watching his battle, completely not noticing the flail in mid-air behind her!
"Now!"
Finally forcing out a trace of Gyutaro's opening by targeting Ume, Himejima Gyomei similarly roared, using all his strength to pull the chains in his hands, guiding the flail and hand axe to attack him!
"Demon, take this!"
At the same time, Tanjiro who had been observing the battle from the side also keenly detected the change in the battle situation. Without hesitation, he similarly swung his Nichirin sword to join the battle once more!
Time suddenly became infinitely slow. At this critical moment, under the bright moon, a pure white ice lotus quietly bloomed!
RUMBLE RUMBLE!
Accompanied by that heaven-shaking, earth-shattering loud noise, an enormous ice lotus instantly rose from the ground, then its petals closed together, completely enveloping the Gyutaro sibling pair in the center of the field!
Each of its petals was over a dozen meters tall, revealing bone-chilling cold air upon them. Under the moonlight's illumination, it appeared both holy and alluring, not of this mortal world!
[What is... this?]
All attacks were completely blocked by this ice lotus. Everyone around raised their heads, looking at this suddenly appearing giant ice lotus in disbelief.
"..."
Time returned to slightly earlier.
In the underground shooting range of Doma's Tokyo villa, gunshots echoed continuously.
RAT-TAT! RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
Wearing dust-proof glasses and military green tactical gear, Kotoha stood behind the shooting platform, holding an experimental automatic rifle of Eternal Bliss Company's latest model, continuously pulling the trigger at a target twenty meters away.
Shell casings constantly ejected, the massive recoil repeatedly shaking her petite body, but Kotoha still stood steadily in place, gripping the rifle body without letting go.
Not only that, she even maintained over fifty percent accuracy!
Perhaps some would wonder—with Kotoha's slender arms, how could she control the gun?
Actually this was because... well, this was indeed miraculous.
She was truly a very miraculous woman.
Recalling the Kotoha of back then, perhaps this was what every person who got too close to a creature like Doma would eventually become...
"Ah-Mo, I feel this model's recoil is still too large!"
Finally emptying another magazine, Kotoha immediately turned her head and shouted loudly to Doma who had long been standing by with a small notebook.
"I see, we still need to find a way to reduce the recoil further..."
Doma nodded seriously, quickly writing down Kotoha's suggestions in his notebook.
"Then there's also the magazine well design—every time I change magazines, it always jams twice before catching, this point is really troublesome..."
"Mhm mhm, then the magazine well design issue..."
"Finally there's the magazine capacity issue. Since ours is an automatic rifle after all, the magazine capacity also needs to be improved through design.
Of course, this must be done without affecting normal operation..."
"I see, finally the magazine capacity..."
"Yes, that's all! Then I'll continue testing the next model!"
"Okay~"
Wiping the sweat from her forehead, only after Doma finished writing everything in his notebook did Kotoha smile and pick up another rifle model from the shooting platform.
Looking at the happy smile on her face, it was full of voluntary joy, without the slightest trace of forced labor suffering.
RAT-TAT! RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
[Doma, do you have time right now? I need you to help me with something.]
Amidst these deafening gunshots, Mitsuba's voice suddenly rang out in Doma's mind.