"Cough, cough, cough…"
Haruto pounded his chest forcefully, expelling the frozen powder before it could cause further damage to his lungs.
This demon's Blood Demon Art… it severely countered the Demon Slayer Swordsmen's Breathing Technique!
"How interesting~" Douma's face moved close to him: "How is it? Do you feel like your internal organs are freezing?"
"Bang!" Haruto punched him without a word.
"Hm?" Douma swayed back, dodging the punch, a hint of complaint in his voice: "You really have a bad temper, you know. I was talking to you nicely~"
Haruto slapped his hand on the ground, reversed his grip on the nichirin blade, and swept it horizontally towards Douma: "Talking nicely means you want to eat my bones?"
"Clang!" Douma raised his iron fan to block: "To slowly chew and swallow a plate of delicious food is the greatest respect one can show to it."
Ah… that's actually not wrong.
"Were the Ushi-oni and Nure-onna your doing?"
"Hm?" Douma tilted his head: "Those two names sound a bit familiar… Wait a moment, I have a very good memory."
He pressed his hand, signaling Haruto to pause his attack—
"Wait a moment?" Haruto actually laughed in exasperation, he lightly trembled his blue-purple nichirin blade, and a technique had already formed at the blade's tip: "Breath of the Stars, Second Form: Prairie Fire!"
The blade's light was chilling, dispelling the surrounding sparkling frozen powder.
"Didn't I tell you… to wait a moment?!"
Douma was rummaging through his memories, and with some impatience, he unleashed his first Blood Demon Art at Haruto.
"Blood Demon Art: Winding Lotus!"
Several vines entwined with icy lotus flowers flew out from beneath his iron fan, rapidly coiling towards the attacking Haruto.
Haruto forcibly twisted his body, stepping on the first vine that reached him, and a trace of frost actually appeared on his toes.
His heart skipped a beat, and he immediately chose to abandon Prairie Fire, changing the direction of his nichirin blade, and a new technique poured forth.
"Breath of the Stars, Fourth Form: Shifting Stars!"
His figure instantly swapped positions with Douma, and those icy lotus vines consequently attacked Douma!
"Pfft!" The vines tightly wrapped around Douma, but withered and fell at the moment they were about to constrict.
"Eh? My position actually changed?" Douma's eyes widened, and he looked even happier at Haruto's expression: "Is this your Breathing Technique? Oh my, is it a brand new style? I've never seen such beautiful techniques~"
Oh my ass! Why is this person talking such nonsense?!
And… although Douma wore a joyful smile, the coldness in his eyes and the seemingly meticulously designed, unchanging curve of his lips, all indicated that he was merely feigning.
A guy without emotions is the hardest to deal with… "But who exactly are the Ushi-oni and Nure-onna you mentioned? It's really bothering me that I can't remember, I'm not even that old yet~"
Douma chuckled, and under Haruto's disgusted gaze, he plunged his sharp fingers into his brain through his temple!
M-massaging his temples?
Haruto couldn't control the twitching of his mouth. Compared to all the demons he had encountered, this powerful, beautiful, and insane guy was truly terrifying to the extreme!
Douma's fingers drilled into the bloody hole he had dug, his expression as if he wasn't digging into his brain but… cleaning his ear.
"Found it~" Douma replied cheerfully: "Was it that girl in Hirano? I always thought she had great talent to join the Twelve Kizuki, but unfortunately, her progress seemed to be hindered by someone who should have died long ago.
I originally planned to kill that man directly, but Mihoko—it was Mihoko, right?
Her obsession with him was too deep, so deep that even while transforming into a demon, she forcibly crawled over and stuffed her arm into the man's mouth.
And so, they transformed into these strange things."
Douma shrugged: "Feeding him during the transformation, she was destined to feed him for this entire life. I was quite disappointed by her actions~"
Is this why Nure-onna had to share a portion of her nourishment with Ushi-oni after eating humans?
Haruto finally understood the full picture of the incomplete kaleidoscope in his mind.
"Oh my, let me guess why you're asking me about them?" Douma's rainbow eyes landed on Haruto's face: "Do you also wish to be like them, longing for me to bestow precious blood upon you to gain eternal rebirth?
Although you are quite handsome and your scent is very sweet, I still prefer girls who can bear children to go further on the path of a demon… For example, that Pillar behind you, she seems to be heavily injured. Would you like me to help her~"
Haruto quickly glanced back, his heart sinking.
This was bad. Kanae seemed to have fainted from excessive blood loss.
He had to hurry… hurry and leave this place!
At this point, he no longer dared to imagine being able to kill this powerful Upper One; being able to safely leave with Kanae was already the best outcome.
"Oh? Are you trying to leave?" Douma's eyes widened innocently: "Perhaps you don't know, but your thoughts are all written on your face~"
Haruto's face tensed, and a surge of irritation rose in his heart.
Did no one talk to this demon when he was alive? Why is he so talkative?
"But trying to run away is impossible. While your speed is very fast, with the unconscious one, it's not so certain anymore~"
"Has anyone ever told you… that you talk a lot?"
"No one has, but some demons have~"
No longer engaging in verbal sparring, Haruto held up a Tear of Light and quickly approached Douma, striking at his head.
"Such a fast nichirin blade!"
The latter, however, waved the twin fans in his hands, laughing amidst the blooming lotus-shaped ice crystals: "Too bad, too bad! Still too weak!"
No… I can't get entangled with him any longer!
His nichirin blade only ignited the opponent's fighting spirit, and what they needed now was not to fight, but an opportunity to escape the battle!
A Pillar-level Swordsman… was he really so pathetic in front of an Upper One?
Haruto's alveoli throbbed with pain. Even with repeated caution not to inhale Douma's sprayed frozen powder, Haruto, who relied on the Breathing Technique to fight, inevitably fell into his trap.
The more his lungs were obstructed, the more he needed to breathe fresh air.
Haruto's breathing became heavier and heavier, eventually producing the broken breaths of a consumptive patient.
"Oh my, did you hear your own breathing?"
Douma made an annoying, surprised expression: "It sounds like it's about to die from the burden Inhaling too much of my blood will do this. When you die and I cut open your stomach, you'll find your lungs have turned into fibrous tissue like burlap
Come now, let me cut off your head and let you leave this mortal world without worry, to the Pure Land everyone desires~"
What nonsense… If I can't even leave a single scratch on this demon, how disdainful will everyone be when they talk about me later?
That Star Pillar is trash!
He eats so much normally, but when it comes to fighting an Upper One, he's completely useless!
Haruto took a deep breath and held it, reducing the stimulation of cold air to his lungs.
He tremblingly raised his nichirin blade, all his strength converging in his hands.
A bright moon quietly hung above Douma's head.
Haruto opened his eyes, looked at the full moon, and showed a bitter smile.
Tonight's stars, it seemed, were going to lose to the night.
Breath of the Stars, Ninth Form… Banished Moon.
The blue-purple nichirin blade light streaked across the night sky, and the wind it stirred even tore Douma's kimono.
The nichirin blade reached the demon's neck in an instant, cutting into the crimson flesh, finally losing its force against an upright iron fan.
Douma's face was devoid of any expression at this moment, his left hand holding the iron fan vertically, blocking a strike that even surpassed his imagination.
"Your nichirin blade is truly fast."
He murmured: "Too bad, I'm not slow either."
Haruto lowered his head to look at his chest; Douma's other hand, holding an iron fan, slowly retracted, a vibrant heart still beating on the fan's surface.
[Star Pillar-bro—]
[Take me away, take me away, I'm really going to cry myself to death—]
[If Star Pillar-bro's speed were a bit faster, he probably could have sliced off this B's head with one strike!]
[I paid for a VIP membership just to watch this?]
[I'm really fed up with Croc-sensei, that old trickster. Later, Shinobu will come and drag two corpses, right? One is her beloved sister, and the other is her kind savior whom she has feelings for… I'm logging out first, whoever wants to watch can watch!]
[Star Pillar-bro's death is the same as Shinobu's mother's; both had their hearts ripped out by a demon…]
[Master Douma was a respectable man in his previous life, let's all spit on him before leaving.]
[Scum of demons!]
Hoo… The white-haired swordsman let out a long sigh of relief, staggered back two steps, and then fell into the boundless darkness.