"Use your breathing to stop the bleeding, now!"
Shinobu saw the blood pouring off Inosuke and shouted immediately.
It looked like a major vessel had been cut. The bleeding was heavy, and if this kept up, Inosuke could die from blood loss.
Inosuke gritted his teeth and nodded, forcing his breathing into control to clamp the flow down.
Then he lunged forward anyway.
All his life, he had believed his mother was the boar that raised him.
But just now, a gentle silhouette surfaced in his mind, clear as daylight. A woman who held him, who softly hummed lullabies to him.
His real mother.
And now that mother had been devoured by the demon in front of him.
Not just her.
The mangled girls littering the floor.
Shinobu's sister.
A fury beyond words detonated in Inosuke's chest, and he charged.
Doma answered with two ice blades.
Inosuke's body twisted with shocking flexibility, bending in a way that shouldn't have been possible.
He slipped past the attack by a hair and shot forward.
At the same time, Vincent Fox finished off the remaining ice puppets and the White Princesses that had been vomiting freezing mist. The instant Doma formed more puppets, Vincent appeared behind him.
"That's enough," Vincent said coolly. "You've killed more than enough people. It's time I send you to hell."
Doma reacted on instinct, snapping both fans out.
Ice lotus after ice lotus bloomed around him.
Vincent threw a single punch.
The crystalline flowers shattered piece by piece, collapsing like brittle glass.
Doma's body flashed, reappearing on the ceiling. He fanned himself leisurely and spoke as if he were lecturing children.
"Are all Demon Slayer Corps members this uneducated? Heaven and hell are obvious fabrications. I understood that when I was ten."
His smile widened, gentle and nauseating.
"They're lies. Human fantasies. Fiction."
"Do you know why you cling to them?"
"People who do good and still suffer need a 'heaven' to soothe their resentment."
"People who are crushed under evil need to believe in a 'hell' that doesn't exist, so they can hope villains will be punished after death."
He sighed, almost pitying.
"How laughable. How weak humans are."
Then he spread his arms wide.
"That's exactly why you should join my Eternal Paradise Cult. Come, join me. Follow me into bliss."
Vincent's eyes narrowed. "You talk too much. If hell doesn't exist, I'll beat one into existence for you."
His figure flickered.
He was on the ceiling too, hanging upside down like he belonged there.
His right hand lifted, wrapped in scorching flame, and slammed toward Doma.
Doma flashed away, dodging the fatal point.
Half his body was blown away, but it wasn't a killing blow.
Fresh flesh erupted in an instant, smothering the burning flames as he regenerated.
Doma balanced on one leg, his expression shifting between gloom and calculation.
"You know," he said, voice almost cheerful, "you're the first people to ever see this technique."
"Last time someone saw it, I slapped them into meat paste."
He licked his lips as if recalling a regret.
"Too bad I didn't get to eat that Hashira. What a shame."
With that, he snapped both fans open.
The room rumbled.
And something changed beneath his feet.
A colossal crystal Buddha, more than ten meters tall, burst through the ceiling and rose into view.
Bang!
Bang!
Two huge palms smashed apart the wooden beams blocking its movement, exposing its massive form.
"Blood Demon Art: Misty Ice Lotus Bodhisattva!"
Inosuke stared up at it, face paling beneath the rage.
For the first time in his life, the self proclaimed invincible Inosuke felt a thread of helplessness.
Doma sat on a lotus behind the giant figure, calmly healing.
At the same time, he guided the crystal Buddha to strike.
Two enormous palms came down, one toward Inosuke, one toward Vincent.
"Damn it!"
Inosuke took the hit first.
He raised his blades to block and instantly realized he couldn't match that brute force at all.
His swords carved a shallow notch into the palm, and then he was shoved back, skidding away.
On the other side, Vincent faced the incoming strike.
He lowered his stance, hips sinking.
Then his right fist exploded forward.
Fist met palm.
A violent blast detonated.
Flames roared up the Bodhisattva's arm, melting everything they touched.
Under that single punch, one of the giant hands shattered beyond recognition.
The other palm slammed down.
Vincent punched again.
This blow carried slightly less force than the first, but it still pulverized the incoming hand into fragments.
"Oh?" Doma lounged on his ice lotus, watching them with amusement, not caution. "Not bad."
"But its vitality is incredible."
"If you don't destroy it completely in one go, it can regenerate."
He beckoned lazily.
Two water like whirlwinds shot up from the lotus pool and crashed into the broken arms.
In the blink of an eye, both arms restored to perfect condition.
The freezing air thickened again. The room's temperature dropped sharply.
Inosuke snapped his head toward Shinobu.
Even so, her expression looked… light.
As if she were holding the winning hand.
"What?" Doma teased, fanning himself. His body had fully recovered too. "That's all you've got?"
He pointed at the Misty Ice Lotus Bodhisattva with smug certainty.
"This technique makes even Upper Rank One back off. He won't fight me head on."
Then his gaze slid to Vincent.
"But you can't keep that state for long, can you?"
"So what'll it be?"
"Run for your life? Or stand here and try to take me head on?"
Vincent didn't answer.
He stood calmly in place, faint silver gray energy drifting around him.
Doma couldn't sense danger from it, yet that subtle sacred aura made his skin crawl.
It irritated him.
"Die," Doma hissed. "All of you filthy brats."
His fan snapped.
The crystal Buddha attacked again.
A massive palm smashed down at Vincent, shattering what remained of the wooden floor.
Vincent dodged cleanly, then drove a punch straight through both palms at once.
Doma sighed dramatically.
"Aren't your instructors supposed to teach you that killing a demon means cutting off the head? You're really making it hard for me to enjoy winning."
His smile never left his face.
He flicked his fan again.
A wave of cold flooded the room.
More ice puppets formed, five of them, all wearing Doma's face.
Three or four White Princesses appeared too, their lips parted as they exhaled freezing breath, trying to lock Vincent's movement in place.
But Vincent had pushed his body to full output.
His heat was so intense it melted Doma's attacks instantly.
The frost didn't even reach him before it turned to water, falling like drizzle.
Then Vincent moved.
He stomped.
The last stretch of floor shattered underfoot, completely collapsing.
Vincent launched upward, soaring high.
In the next second, he dropped.
And as he descended, something terrifying took shape.
A red domain expanded outward like an arena.
It enclosed Vincent, Doma, and the towering Misty Ice Lotus Bodhisattva.
Doma was about to strike again when, suddenly, his eyes widened.
He couldn't see.
Not even a little.
----------------------------------------------------
The deeper he goes, the more the truth unravels. Don't wait read ahead and witness Vincent's rise before the world catches up!
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