"Now this is a face I can finally stand to look at." Yohan admired his handiwork, satisfied with the blows he had just landed—punches delivered in response to Doma's earlier words.
As for the ice crystals trying to invade his space? He was a sage-body wielder. When he fully mobilized his bodily functions, intense heat radiated from every inch of his body—how could mere ice get close to him?
But he had no intention of telling Doma that. That trump card? He was saving it for later.
Doma's chest burned with fury. A human had brought him this humiliation?
Unforgivable.
He clapped his hands together. The two golden fans mirrored each other, summoning an immense burst of ice crystals that gathered in the space between them, coalescing into five shining spheres.
Blood Demon Art: Crystalline Divine Child.
The five ice spheres rapidly transformed—taking on the exact form of Doma himself.
Five ice clones!
But it didn't stop there. Each clone conjured its own pair of ice fans and began attacking Yohan.
These weren't mere puppets—they wielded Blood Demon Arts on par with the real Doma.
"Why don't you play with these little ones for a while?"
A storm of ice crystals surged forward, slashing toward Yohan.
Boom!
The ground beneath Yohan's feet cracked as he vanished.
In the blink of an eye, he reappeared next to one of the ice clones.
Tekkai: Steel Body.
Smash!
With one punch, the clone shattered into countless shards.
As if sensing something, Yohan jumped into the air—dodging the next four attacks in an instant.
He's faster than Akaza.
Doma was shaken. He'd fought Upper Moon Three, Akaza, before. Sure, Akaza's combat instincts were a nuisance, but compared to Yohan… Akaza was lacking.
These ice clones were lifeless objects, their movements predictable. But Yohan was dodging them as if he had eyes on the back of his head—as if he already knew where the attacks would land.
Yohan, meanwhile, had clearly lost interest in these fake Domas. A few more strikes and only one was left.
"Looks like your toys are pretty fragile."
The final clone crumbled.
But Yohan wasn't going to give Doma an easy death. That would be too kind.
A demon like this—hell alone was not enough.
Doma's smile twitched as his last clone was destroyed. He furiously waved his fans, launching a barrage of sharp ice pillars at Yohan.
But Yohan didn't flinch.
He faced the assault head-on. Activating his Tekkai to the fullest, he shattered the ice with each punch, closing the distance step by step.
Watching him approach, Doma let out a twisted smile. "Ah, much better. I love men like you—the ones who excite me."
"Excite?" Yohan sneered.
"Stop pretending. You don't feel excitement at all, do you? You can't feel anything, can you?"
"Compared to the range of human emotions—joy, sorrow, anger—you understand none of it."
"You've been faking it this whole time, haven't you? Playing a part. Crafting a persona—one full of charm and warmth—just to hide your true face."
The moment Yohan exposed the truth, Doma's expression fell away. His eyes emptied. No pretense. No emotion. Just a dead calm.
This was the real Doma.
"Yohan, you really are... magnificent."
"Which is why—I'm done playing."
"What comes next... is my ultimate technique. What a shame I won't get to personally escort you to paradise."
Blood Demon Art:
"Rime: Water Lily Bodhisattva."
As his words fell, Doma fused his fans into one and swung it with immense force.
From beneath him, a colossal ice statue slowly rose. A massive crystalline Buddha sat cross-legged in meditation, its hands pressed together in a serene pose.
Doma himself sat atop a gigantic frozen lotus blooming behind it.
The statue's speed belied its size—its hands came crashing down with terrifying momentum, slamming into the earth with enough force to leave massive indentations.
From a distance, Shinobu—who had been tending to Kanae—screamed.
She had been watching from afar and had a clear view of the Buddha's overwhelming size.
Its presence alone suffocated her.
She couldn't imagine how Yohan, standing directly before it, could possibly survive.
"Die."
Under Doma's command, the colossal hands descended toward Yohan.
The massive shadows dimmed the world around him.
"What a pain... this is going to take effort," Yohan muttered, not panicked in the slightest.
"System," he said calmly, "bring out Teigu Demon Bound Armor."
A flash of white light.
A sword appeared in Yohan's right hand. He slammed it into the ground.
Demon Bound Armor—Activate!!
Behind him, a brilliant red aura exploded outward.
A towering demon materialized, looming behind Yohan. Its muscular arms wrapped around him, its mouth wide and full of razor-sharp fangs, poised to devour.
Then—armor.
A black-and-gold suit of demonic armor enveloped Yohan's body from head to toe, forged by the power of the demon itself.
This was his own evolved form—a unique evolution of Demon Bound Armor.
The pinnacle of defense.
"Let's test your strength."
Doma saw the red glow. He saw the armor. He didn't know what Yohan had just done—but his sense of danger surged.
He commanded the Buddha to crush the man like an ant.
But something was wrong.
The Buddha's palms wouldn't move. They met resistance—something impossibly solid.
"Crush him!!" Doma bellowed, exerting all his might.
Boom!
Yohan, armored in black-gold demon steel, punched upward—shattering the Buddha's hand into ice shards.
Doma narrowed his eyes. "So... you're hiding secrets too, huh?"
"But that thing won't break so easily."
He waved his fan.
The shattered crystals flowed back together, reforming the Buddha's hand.
The cold returned with it.
"You won't defeat me this way."
Doma's confidence returned. Yohan's punches were powerful, sure—but Doma was certain he could outlast him.
"After all, how can the living outlast the dead?"
But Yohan didn't reply.
He simply stared at Doma.
"What? Giving up?"
"Right. You don't even have a Nichirin blade. You can't kill me, you know."
Doma's smirk returned, smug.
Then he added, mockingly, "You seem like a man with secrets. Why not share them with me? If you do, maybe I'll let you be the last one I devour."
"Of course, I do prefer women—more nutrients in them, you know."
He looked at Yohan again.
A flash of white light flickered across the armor—and Yohan's aura weakened drastically.
Where did he go?
Doma blinked. He could no longer sense Yohan's presence at all.
"You—"
BOOM!
Before Doma could finish, a fist appeared out of nowhere, pulverizing the flesh around his neck.
Yohan's punch obliterated his head.
As an Upper Moon, Doma didn't die from the blow—but his regeneration was taxed heavily, and without his focus, the crystal Buddha cracked and faltered.
Another devastating punch shattered the entire statue. The enormous figure exploded into glittering fragments of ice, raining down like shards of glass.
Yohan didn't give Doma a single second to recover.
He hammered his body relentlessly.
The once elegant demon was now caved in and crumpled—like a punctured balloon.
Then Yohan finally spoke.
"Did you know?"
"It's not that I can't kill you—"
"I was just thinking of the best way to kill you."
"At first, I planned to use a Nichirin blade. But now... I've changed my mind."
"I think I'll let you see the sunrise with your own eyes."
"Watching death come closer with every second... doesn't that sound fun?"
In that moment, Yohan looked like a true demon—his blood-red eyes glowing from within the pitch-black armor, his presence more terrifying than any monster Doma had ever known.