The Phantom Dance had begun.
*CLANG!*
Doma blocked one blade with his fan.
*CLANG!*
Another blade came from his left.
He twisted his fan and caught it just in time.
Then-
*SLASH!*
A third blade cut across his shoulder.
Doma's eyes shifted rapidly.
Three Kagerous.
No.
Four.
Five.
Six.
They moved through the smoke in perfect synchronization, each silhouette mirroring the others with flawless precision.
One attacked from the front while another struck from behind. Two crossed paths on either side of Doma, while a fifth appeared above him, descending with a powerful vertical slash.
Doma spun.
*CLANG!*
He crossed both fans above his head, blocking the descending blade.
But the moment he stopped that attack-
*SLASH!*
Another Kagerou appeared behind him and cut across his back.
Blood splattered through the smoke.
Yet almost immediately, the wound began to close, Doma's flesh regenerating before the blood had even finished falling.
His smile returned.
"My, my..." he said, ducking beneath another strike. "You're really good at this"
He swept both fans outward.
"However..." His eyes sharpened. "...you've made one mistake"
The fans snapped open.
"Barren Hanging Garden"
*WHOOSH!*
Ten consecutive fan strikes exploded outward.
Each swing unleashed a powerful wave of freezing air, accompanied by razor-sharp shards of ice that tore through the surrounding smoke.
*BOOM!*
The first phantom was shredded.
*BOOM!*
The second disappeared.
*BOOM!*
The third.
Then the fourth.
Then the fifth.
Doma didn't stop.
His fans moved faster than the eye could follow, unleashing ten rapid strikes and ten waves of freezing air.
The smoke was violently torn apart, scattering in every direction as the icy attacks ripped through the battlefield.
Kagerou's eyes narrowed.
'Too fast...'
Kagerou immediately changed his breathing rhythm.
His body blurred.
"Kemuri no Kokyū... Ni no Kata... Enpo (Second Form: Smoke Step)"
His body slipped backward into the smoke just as the freezing waves tore through the space where he had been standing.
Kagerou reappeared several meters away.
But...
Doma was already there.
His fan came crashing down.
*CLANG!*
Kagerou barely raised his ninjato in time to block the attack. The force of the impact sent him skidding backward across the frozen ground.
Doma followed without hesitation.
Another slash.
Kagerou ducked.
Another.
He twisted his body aside.
Another.
He stepped away.
Ten attacks.
Ten moments where a single mistake meant death.
Kagerou's feet continued sliding across the ground as he narrowly avoided each strike, sometimes by only a few centimeters.
Doma's smile widened.
"You're quick"
Kagerou said nothing.
His lungs were already beginning to burn.
'This isn't sustainable'
Then... Doma suddenly stopped.
His fans slowly lowered.
Kagerou immediately sensed that something was wrong.
Then he felt it.
The temperature around them had changed.
Not colder.
Something worse.
The air itself felt hostile.
Doma smiled.
"Let's make things a little more difficult"
He inhaled.
Then exhaled.
"Freezing Clouds"
A massive cloud of freezing mist erupted from Doma's body and rapidly spread throughout the alley.
Kagerou's eyes widened.
The mist was composed of microscopic particles.
They entered through his nose.
His mouth.
Even the slightest breath sent a stabbing pain through his chest.
Kagerou immediately stopped inhaling.
Doma laughed softly.
"That's right~" He opened his fan. "This technique is especially unpleasant for Demon Slayers"
Kagerou slowly covered his mouth with one hand.
His eyes remained fixed on Doma as the smoke surrounding him began to thin.
His lungs were already struggling.
'I can't keep holding my breath...'
Then Kagerou noticed Doma suddenly flick his fan.
"Lotus Vines"
The ground cracked.
Massive crystalline vines erupted from beneath the frozen pavement, twisting violently as they shot toward Kagerou.
*CRACK!*
Kagerou jumped.
One vine passed beneath him.
Another swung toward his waist.
He twisted in midair.
*SLASH!*
His ninjato severed the vine, but another emerged from behind him.
Kagerou disappeared.
"Enpo (Smoke Step)"
He glided through the remaining smoke, slipping past the incoming vine.
It missed him.
Then another came.
And another.
The entire battlefield was becoming filled with twisting masses of ice.
Kagerou landed on top of one of the vines.
He looked toward Doma.
Doma was smiling.
"You're running out of places to stand, boy~?"
The vines suddenly converged toward Kagerou.
He jumped.
They collided beneath him.
*CRACK!*
The ice shattered against itself.
Kagerou landed.
Then-
A soft, feminine voice came from behind him.
"Found you~"
Kagerou's eyes widened.
He turned.
Two enormous female figures made entirely of ice stood behind Doma. Their expressions were serene, their mouths slightly open.
From their mouths, a freezing mist slowly poured into the air.
"Cold White Princesses"
Kagerou immediately moved.
The mist spread rapidly.
It collided with his smoke.
*HSSSSSS!*
The smoke began to freeze.
The two ice princesses slowly turned their heads toward him, their movements eerily synchronized.
One exhaled.
Then the other followed.
Two streams of freezing mist swept across the battlefield.
Kagerou jumped between them.
His body twisted through the narrow gap, barely avoiding both streams.
The instant his feet touched the ground-
*BOOM!*
An enormous barrage of ice spears appeared overhead.
Kagerou looked up.
Hundreds.
No-
Thousands.
Doma raised his fan.
"Wintry Icicles"
The sky fell.
*BOOOOOOM!*
Ice spears crashed into the battlefield.
Kagerou moved.
Left.
Right.
Forward.
Back.
Every direction became death.
One spear pierced the ground beside his face.
Another grazed his shoulder.
A third tore through his haori.
He ducked beneath a fourth.
*CRACK!*
The ground beneath him exploded.
Kagerou was thrown backward.
He landed hard.
Blood ran down his cheek, and his breathing became heavier.
And Doma simply watched him.
"Oh~ You're still standing? Amazing~"
Kagerou wiped the blood from his cheek.
His expression remained calm.
"You talk too much"
Doma blinked.
Then laughed.
"My~ my~"
Kagerou drew another breath.
Smoke gathered around his body, slowly spreading across the battlefield.
"San no Kata... Fukuei (Third Form: Shrouded Shadow)"
He vanished.
*SHING!*
A slash came from the left.
Doma blocked.
Another came from the right.
Blocked.
Above.
Blocked.
Behind.
Doma turned.
Nothing.
His eyes narrowed.
Then-
*SLASH!*
A cut appeared across his cheek.
Doma touched it.
He looked at the blood coating his fingers.
"Oh~"
His smile disappeared.
Kagerou emerged from the smoke.
His blade was already moving.
Doma raised his fan.
*CLANG!*
The two weapons collided.
Kagerou pushed forward.
Doma pushed back.
Their eyes met.
For the first time, neither of them smiled.
Then Doma whispered...
"Enough"
The temperature dropped again.
Snow began falling.
Kagerou looked around.
The snow wasn't falling naturally.
It was swirling around them.
Then-
Thousands of ice petals appeared within the storm.
Lotuses.
Countless crystalline lotuses.
Doma spread his arms.
"Scattering Lotuses"
The storm exploded.
*FWOOSH!*
Kagerou's eyes widened.
The entire alley had become a cyclone of razor-sharp ice petals.
There was nowhere to run.
He immediately raised his blade.
"Ichi no Kata... Kon'en! (First Form: Soul Mist!)"
Smoke erupted around him.
His body blurred.
The petals tore through his form.
*SHING! SHING! SHING!*
Blood?
No.
Smoke.
Kagerou's body had become indistinguishable from the haze.
The ice petals passed straight through him.
But the storm was too large.
Even Kon'en couldn't protect him forever.
As the smoke was gradually dispersed, Kagerou felt his lungs burning.
His concentration began to waver.
'Damn it...'
A petal cut across his arm.
Another sliced his cheek.
A third tore through his side.
Kagerou stumbled.
The smoke dispersed further.
Doma watched calmly.
"Your technique is impressive. "His smile returned. "But there is a limit to how long you can hide"
The storm intensified.
Kagerou's eyes hardened.
Then-
The ice storm suddenly stopped.
Silence.
Doma lowered his fan.
Kagerou looked up.
Several small figures stood around Doma.
They looked like him.
Miniature versions of Doma.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Then more began to appear.
Doma smiled.
"Crystalline Divine Child"
The small ice figures opened their fans.
Kagerou's expression finally changed.
"...Clones?"
"Not quite"
One of the figures opened its mouth.
"More like..."
Another raised its fan.
"...little versions of me"
All of them smiled.
Then-
Every clone attacked.
"Frozen Lotus"
Countless ice petals erupted.
"Lotus Vines"
Crystalline vines tore through the ground.
"Wintry Icicles"
Ice spears filled the sky.
The battlefield descended into chaos.
Doma remained in the center, completely relaxed, while his clones surrounded Kagerou from every direction.
Kagerou moved.
"Enpo! (Smoke Step!)"
He vanished through the smoke.
A clone attacked.
Kagerou reappeared behind it.
*SLASH!*
The clone's head flew from its body.
But it didn't fall.
Its body immediately began regenerating.
'Even the clones regenerate?'
The clone turned toward him.
Its fan opened.
"Frozen Lotus"
Kagerou barely avoided the attack.
Another clone appeared.
Then another.
Then another.
Kagerou's breathing became ragged.
His lungs were screaming.
His body was covered in cuts.
His smoke was becoming thinner.
And Doma still hadn't used his strongest technique.
Kagerou looked toward him.
Doma was smiling.
"You're amazing"
He raised his fan.
"But..."
The clones suddenly stopped.
Doma's expression became almost serene.
"...I think it's time to end this"
He slowly spread both arms.
The ground beneath him began freezing.
Ice climbed upward.
A massive shape began forming behind him.
First came the feet.
Then the legs.
Then the enormous body.
A gigantic lotus bloomed beneath the structure.
Finally-
A colossal Bodhisattva emerged from the ice.
Its enormous hands were pressed together.
Its face was peaceful.
Almost divine.
Kagerou stared upward.
The statue was so enormous that it towered over the surrounding buildings.
Doma smiled.
"Rime... Water Lily Bodhisattva"
The Bodhisattva opened its eyes.
Kagerou's instincts screamed.
The statue inhaled.
Then-
It exhaled.
*WHOOOOOOOOOSH!*
A cataclysmic wave of freezing wind swept across the battlefield.
The ground froze instantly.
Walls crystallized beneath the overwhelming cold.
The remaining smoke vanished.
Kagerou was thrown backward.
His body crashed through the side of a building.
*BOOOOOOM!*
He disappeared beneath the rubble.
For several seconds, there was nothing but silence.
Doma lowered his fan.
"That should do it"
The Bodhisattva remained motionless behind him.
Snow continued falling.
Doma turned away.
Then-
*CLINK*
His foot stopped.
Something had struck the ground.
A kiseru.
Doma slowly looked down.
The pipe lay among the frozen debris.
His smile faded slightly.
"...Oh?"
The rubble shifted.
*KRRR...*
A hand emerged.
Then another.
Kagerou slowly pulled himself from beneath the debris.
Blood ran from the corner of his mouth.
His haori was torn.
His arms were covered in cuts.
His breathing was ragged.
But his eyes...
His eyes remained clear.
Doma stared.
Kagerou reached down and picked up his kiseru.
He brushed the dust from it, then placed it between his lips.
Doma's smile slowly returned.
"My~ my~"
Kagerou took a breath.
It hurt.
His lungs felt as though they were being shredded from within.
But he inhaled anyway.
Smoke slowly escaped his lips.
Thin.
Weak.
Almost pathetic compared to the massive cloud from earlier.
Doma tilted his head.
"You really are stubborn"
Kagerou looked up at the enormous Bodhisattva.
Then at Doma.
His hand tightened around his ninjato.
"You've shown me everything"
Doma blinked.
"Everything?"
Kagerou's eyes narrowed.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"And now..." He slowly raised his head. "...let's end it, shall we?"
The smoke around his feet began moving again.
Doma's golden eyes sharpened.
Then-
Kagerou's breathing became completely silent.
His presence vanished.
He was still there.
But he couldn't be felt.
As if he had simply stopped breathing.
Doma's smile disappeared.
Something was wrong.
"...What do you want to do...?"
The snow continued falling.
The battlefield was silent.
Then-
Kagerou's voice whispered from somewhere within the frozen air.
"Kemuri no Kokyū..."
Doma's eyes widened.
"Kyū no Kata (Ninth Form)..."
The smoke began appearing behind Kagerou.
"Doku'en (Poison)"
*Click*
Unexpectedly, Kagerou didn't move.
He simply stood there.
Then-
He sheathed his ninjato.
*SHING*
Doma tilted his head.
"...What?"
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then-
"...Urgh!"
Doma suddenly doubled over.
His eyes widened.
Blood erupted from his mouth.
*COUGH!*
He vomited a large amount of blood onto the frozen ground.
His knees buckled.
*THUD*
Doma fell to one knee.
The serene expression that had remained on his face throughout the battle finally disappeared.
Behind him, the enormous Water Lily Bodhisattva suddenly began to tremble.
*KRRR...*
Cracks spread across its enormous crystalline body.
One.
Then another.
Then dozens.
*KRRRRAAAACK!*
The entire statue shattered.
Massive pieces of ice collapsed into the battlefield, exploding into clouds of frozen dust.
Doma stared at the remains.
His breathing became uneven.
He wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand.
His golden eyes slowly lifted toward Kagerou.
"W-When...?"
Kagerou remained standing.
Barely.
His body was covered in wounds.
Blood dripped from his sleeves.
His breathing was ragged.
His lungs burned with every breath.
The only reason he hadn't collapsed was because his hand was gripping the hilt of his sheathed ninjato, using it as a makeshift support.
Yet despite his condition...
He smiled.
"...From the beginning"