"Looks like it didn't quite work, huh."
With the UV lamps cranked to max power, Reverie wielded them like a child playing with a flashlight in a rural night, swinging the beams across Douma like a giant lightsaber, clearly enjoying herself.
"Such a pity," Kochou Kanae sighed, watching.
If UV lamps had worked, she could've turned the Demon Slayer Corps into *JoJo*'s UV squad against Ultimate Lifeforms, wiping out any cryptic Blood Demon Art in seconds!
Too bad…
Still, this outcome was within Kanae and Reverie's expectations.
Sunlight comprises radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, X-rays, gamma rays, and more. UV is just one part.
Even if they crafted lamps for all other rays, it wouldn't rule out that the demon-killing "sunlight" stemmed from a unique reaction of various rays mixed in specific ratios.
After all, moonlight—reflected sunlight—has no effect on demons.
Even Honkai Impact 3rd's tech level couldn't replicate sunlight's exact wavelength and frequency.
Of course, beyond these conclusions, Kanae leaned toward the idea that this world's "sun's power" wasn't merely electromagnetic waves.
Maybe reaching toward the sun and shouting "Hikari yo!" could turn you into a Giant of Light~!
Just kidding.
But it was clear the sun held special power. The Mark might be a faint manifestation of "sunlight" in humans.
"I was planning to invite you to join my 'Eternal Paradise Cult,' but now even that lord is alarmed!"
Douma wore a near-perfect, performative smile. "It's not too late, though. Join the cult. As its leader, I'll grant you eternal happiness. In return, just tell me what that thing is."
Douma snapped his folding fan shut, pointing at Reverie's UV lamp.
Reverie gave Demon Douma a look reserved for idiots. Kanae's eyes swirled with an enigmatic emotion.
"Oh, dear, oh, dear! That won't do—you'll drift further from happiness."
Douma frowned. Kanae's gaze made him feel oddly uncomfortable!
His lotus-patterned golden fans flicked, intricate ice-flower patterns delicate, arcs graceful, scattering densely with sharp, chilling edges.
Blood Demon Art: Scattered Lotus Blossoms!
The ice flowers spun, their paths erratic, like a blizzard's wild dance, encircling them.
Kanae leaped in front of Reverie, shifting to defense.
Scarlet blade-light bloomed in all directions, like plum blossoms proud in snow.
Flower Breathing, Second Form: Shadow Plum!
Kanae blocked Douma's Blood Demon Art, but a trickle of blood seeped from her lips.
Douma's Blood Demon Art was too much of a counter to the Corps!
Breathing Techniques relied on breath, and close combat forced her to inhale ice-crystal powder from Douma's frozen blood, its chill starting to necrotize her alveoli.
Before, she'd have lost most of her combat strength, maybe unable to fight at all.
With her enhanced physique, it was just a minor injury.
Kanae's gaze toward Douma was sorrowful.
"Happiness? Tell me, do you even know what happiness is? Not just happiness—joy, sorrow, anger, love—all human emotions, you lack them." [T/N: That love was originally move (感动), just change to fit with these emotions]
Pity glimmered in Kanae's eyes. "You mask your empty heart with vibrant expressions. But even that effort can't stir a single spark in you, can't ripple your heart."
"Feeling nothing—must be tough, right?" Kanae shook her head, looking at Douma with compassion. "No, you can't even feel 'tough.' Sigh, let me end your sad, sinful life."
Douma's expression vanished completely.
Reverie, curiously blinking, said something wildly at odds with her pretty-girl image: "Just curious—can you even get it up in this state?"
Kanae blinked curiously too. Douma's face turned into a natural Blood Demon Art, radiating bone-chilling cold.
"I've accepted countless followers' emotions, blood, bodies, ending their pain and confusion, granting salvation, guiding them to new heights, letting them spend eternity with me."
Douma gripped his fan, expressionless. "Why say such cruel things?!"
Frigid air surged. Douma vanished, a ghostly phantom.
His unfurled lotus-patterned fan's edge, razor-sharp, slashed at the girl's swan-like neck. Simultaneously, icy air soared, forming dozens of sharp ice spikes plummeting from above.
Target: Reverie!
Douma couldn't feel emotions, so Reverie's words shouldn't have fazed him.
He targeted Reverie because she didn't seem like a swordsman. Given her bond with Kanae, the latter would surely protect her at all costs.
Using emotions as a leash, pinning the oddly powerful Hashira with the weaker one.
Standard demon tactic against the Corps.
Best case, he'd capture the blue-haired girl and force her to reveal what her "fake sun" was!
Despicable?
Douma had no emotions, and expecting honor from a demon is a mistake, no?
Though the faux sunlight couldn't kill him, it evoked a threat like real sunlight. Even knowing it was fake, his body instinctively feared, dodged, slightly hampering his Blood Demon Art.
But it doesn't matter!
The more intensely a swordsman used forms, the more they breathed, inhaling more of his Blood Demon Art!
Humans couldn't outlast demons in attrition; the longer the fight, the worse the swordsman's injuries.
His Breathing-countering Blood Demon Art was Douma's ace.
But, to his surprise, Kanae didn't rush to shield Reverie, her face showing no trace of worry.
Telepathic synergy meant a glance or gesture let Shirakis understand each other's intent.
Her blade danced like petals, shattering two ice spikes. Kanae pushed off, retreating over ten meters, landing lightly like a butterfly, then dropping prone.
Tossing the UV lamps toward Kanae, Reverie leaned back, her hand pressing the ground, body flipping airborne. Her sleek hair flowed like silk with her motion.
Twisting her slender waist, Reverie's delicate frame slipped through the gap left by Kanae's shattered spikes, dodging the rest by a hair's breadth.
A backflip shed momentum. The moment her feet touched ground, an unfamiliar object appeared in her pale hands.
What was that?
A black, oddly shaped item, seemingly steel-forged, its heft and faint gleam suggesting danger. Though it posed no overt threat, the dark, hollow barrel gave Douma a bad feeling.
Very bad!
It instinctively triggered his Blood Demon Art.
"Mist Ice: Water Lily Bodhisattva!"
A chill wind rose, a massive ice Bodhisattva surging from the ground, frigid air spreading wildly.
A third eye on its forehead, eight small Buddhas adorning its crown, chest draped with prayer beads, clad in celestial robes, feet on a lotus, face serene, wise eyes gazing down.
The Bodhisattva's shoulder hands cradled a seated Buddha atop its crown, chest hands clasped, thirty-four hands behind holding weapons, fanning out like a wheel, exuding an eerily beautiful aura.
"Water Lily Bodhisattva? Nice. I've got a Bodhisattva too. Let's see whose is more merciful~!" The blue-haired girl's lips curved into a stunning arc.
This world lacked Honkai energy, so Valkyrie-standard gear was out. Otherwise, Reverie wouldn't need to act—grabbing a few four-star game weapons would clear Demon Slayer.
But regular modern tech weapons? No problem!
At Anti-Entropy's base, Shiraki asked Tesla and Einstein for some modern arms.
Due to Shiraki's size-limited space channel, large-scale WMDs couldn't pass, but most firearms, folded, were fine.
"Check this—Gun Breathing, First Form—" Reverie pulled the trigger without hesitation. "Times Have Changed!"
"Namu Gatling Bodhisattva, Six Roots Purified Depleted Uranium Rounds, 3,600 Revolutions Per Breath, Great Mercy Delivering All!"
As her words fell, flames erupted, thunderous roars descending!
M61 Vulcan Cannon, foldable model.
Some relic Tesla dug up from who-knows-where, relatively "old."
Anti-Entropy's high-end weapons were all mechs or Honkai-powered~!
With an M12 hydraulic system, its max fire rate was a "mere" 7,200 rounds per minute, effective range just 1,000 meters, normally unable to pierce a 30-meter Honkai beast's armor.
Its special AP rounds could nick Honkai beasts slightly.
But against Honkai beasts. For demons?
Da-da-da-da-da-da!!!
The savage gunfire roared like thunder in the quiet night, jolting the sleeping village awake.
The air around Douma quivered, attacks unseen. Crisscrossing flames engulfed his body, swallowing him.
"What!?"
Douma's expression was blank, stunned.
A little shock from modern civilization's weapons for demons!
The clang of metal hitting the ground rang clear. A hail of bullets surged in an instant, effortlessly piercing Douma's body.
Demons' strength lay in regeneration; their physical toughness was near-human. The ice Bodhisattva offered slight resistance, but under that fire, it was useless.
Douma's body, and the Bodhisattva beneath, shattered, crystalline ice shards mixed with scarlet blood spraying!
The expanded magazine let Reverie fire freely, unloading AP rounds in a minute. The buildings behind Douma crumbled, leaving only gaping voids.
Scattered limbs and mangled flesh littered the ground. As the weapons stilled, the world fell silent again.
Reverie smiled at the head on the ground. "Looks like my Gatling Bodhisattva's more merciful."
Torn to rags by the barrage, Douma still clung to life, his head and flesh writhing to reform—a demon's terrifying vitality!
Reverie dropped the Gatling, pulling out sealed test tubes. Kanae, rising the moment the gunfire ceased, hurried over.
"Now we can collect blood samples at leisure~!"
---
T/N: She did bring the America's Breathing Technique F-R-E-E-D-O-M !!
But hey... That's Cheating Da fu are you doing by bringing a gun in a sword fight, and it's M61 Vulcan cannon, no less ..