*Hic~*
Hardy hiccupped, with Yoriichi-First-Form following behind him as they walked through the woods outside the Swordsmith Village.
Having just finished a feast of wild vegetables, he planned to take a stroll to aid digestion and then enjoy a soak in the hot spring house built by the local swordsmiths.
Just thinking about it felt wonderful.
The sun was setting, and the brief dusk was about to fade.
On his way back, Hardy suddenly stopped, his hand moving to the hilt of his sword.
"You're quite alert! Konnichiwa, I'm Doma. I caught a delicious scent, so I came to ask for directions."
A young man wearing a red hat approached with a beaming smile, waving in greeting.
What stood out was his eyes—brilliantly multicolored, with the characters for "Upper Rank" written in his left eye and the numeral "Two" in his right.
"Scent?"
"Ah, yes! I caught the scent of a delicious young woman over there, and I got hungry, so I thought I'd ask a passerby for directions!"
Doma smiled, pointing toward the distant mountaintop.
That was where the hot springs were located.
Could he be referring to Mitsuri Kanroji?
Is she bathing in the hot spring right now?
"Oh, right!"
Doma clapped his hands, as if suddenly remembering something, and looked at Hardy:
"You seem pretty strong—are you a Hashira? Don't worry, I don't eat men. At most, I'd just like to borrow your head for a bit. Would you mind helping me out?"
Doma clasped his hands under his chin, looking at Hardy with an expectant expression.
"Have you ever seen anyone agree to lend their head to someone else?"
Hardy retorted.
"You make a good point! In that case, please forgive my rudeness!"
Doma bowed deeply to Hardy, still smiling brightly.
"Also, I know you're deliberately chatting with me to stall for time and wait for reinforcements, but I'm still happy you're willing to talk with me for so long. After all, my colleagues don't seem to like talking to me—ah, except for Gyokko. He should already be in your village as a guest, right?"
As Doma finished speaking, two golden fans floated out from his sleeves, scattering countless lotus-shaped ice crystals that swept toward Hardy and Yoriichi-First-Form at his side.
"Blood Demon Art: Lotus Leaf Ice!"
Yoriichi-First-Form stepped forward, shielding Hardy and swiftly deflecting all the ice crystals with his sword.
"Pretty cold, huh..."
Drawing his Nichirin blade, Hardy's expression grew serious as he looked at Doma.
After all, this was Upper Rank Two—he couldn't afford to be careless.
Fortunately, he had brought Yoriichi-First-Form along, giving his side the equivalent of another top-tier Hashira-level combatant.
It was just a pity he hadn't brought the puppet armor set; otherwise, his own combat power would be even greater.
Still, the fight wasn't unwinnable.
Doma's greatest strength was his Blood Demon Art, which could create low temperatures and fill the air with fine ice crystals, damaging the lungs of breathing technique users and preventing them from using their breathing styles.
But for Hardy, this wasn't a problem.
Even without breathing techniques, with chakra reinforcement, his overall combat ability was still formidable. The only concern was that the puppet might freeze up and its joints get stuck in the cold.
But...
"Lightning Release: Thunder Prison!"
Pressing a hand crackling with electricity to the ground, he poured a massive amount of Lightning Release chakra into the earth.
In an instant, bolts of lightning shot up from the ground, forming a cage that surrounded the area.
The intense heat from the lightning immediately dispersed the fine ice crystals in the air and relentlessly struck at Doma.
At the same time, Yoriichi-First-Form pressed the switch on his right hand with his left, activating the battery connected to the Nichirin blade, and charged at Doma.
"Hm?"
Doma swung his fan, conjuring a crystalline lotus that rose from beneath his feet to shield him. With another wave of his right hand, he summoned countless ice vines entwined with lotus flowers, which snaked toward Yoriichi-First-Form.
"Why does this person seem so familiar? No... I've never met him before. Is it a memory from Lord Muzan's cells...?"
Doma touched the area around his eyes, feeling unsettled.
What's with this cold, silent red-haired swordsman? Why does he feel less like a living person?
And that Hashira can control lightning? Is the Thunder Breathing of the Demon Slayer Corps really this strong?
Hardy was also extremely cautious at this moment.
He had only been training chakra in this body for less than a year—even though his body had developed to a certain extent, his chakra reserves weren't vast, so he couldn't maintain large-scale Lightning Release ninjutsu for long.
But demons had virtually limitless stamina—Doma could keep generating ice on a large scale.
Fighting a battle of attrition with a demon is not a wise choice.
However, he seemed to have other ways to deal with these ice crystals.
Hardy split off a portion of his focus, directing his perception inward to his lungs.
Good. After training in the Art of Heart Illumination, his sensory abilities had improved as well. Although he wasn't sure if he could perform the Fine Malady Extraction Technique on others without medical instruments, using it on himself was more than sufficient.
The thunder gradually subsided, and Doma once again waved his fan.
"Blood Demon Art: Frozen Cloud."
This time, the scale of the ice crystals was much greater than before, as if a cold wave was sweeping through the area.
Not far away, on a mountain, the youthful, fair bodies of two young women rose from the water.
"Ah! Why did it suddenly get so cold? Shinobu, look! There's even fog outside the window!"
Mitsuri Kanroji wrapped herself in a yukata and pointed outside.
Shinobu Kocho quickly tidied herself up, dressed, furrowed her brows, and gripped the slender Nichirin blade beside her.
Every day, she endured excruciating pain to inject herself with concentrated wisteria poison. So, whenever she had free time, she would come to the mountain hot springs to use their healing properties to alleviate her pain.
"No, it's summer now. Even if there were hail, the weather wouldn't change so abnormally, let alone so suddenly and without warning."
Such an abnormal change reminded her of the murderer who killed her sister.
"Ah! Ah! A demon is attacking the village! All swordsmen, support immediately! All swordsmen, support immediately!"
Shinobu's expression instantly turned sharp and cold. She donned her butterfly haori and vanished in the blink of an eye.
Mitsuri Kanroji hurriedly grabbed her Nichirin blade, not even having time to change, and chased after her.
"Breath of Separation, Third Form: Circulating Separation Whirlwind!"
"Blood Demon Art: Scattered Lotus Blossoms!"
Fine plasma and endless petals of ice crystals vanished together.
Hardy clenched his Nichirin blade between his teeth, manipulating the Yorichi Type One puppet with chakra threads to block Doma's attacks, while using the Fine Malady Extraction Technique to remove the tiny ice crystals from his body.
...
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