"Sizhi, do you remember our strategy for escaping the storm in the Darkent Realm?" Taffie asked softly.
Sizhi nodded, "I remember! What's your plan?"
"Just like when we escaped the storm in the Darkent Realm."
Taffie's strategy was quite simple: she wanted Svider (Sizhi's demon) to create large, elastic balls. Each ball would be filled with DV Army soldiers. Then, one person would be tasked with throwing them over Meito's poisonous fortress.
This method made more sense and was faster than defeating Meito first. Jyu would handle the Arabai alone.
"I understand!" said Sizhi as he listened carefully to Taffie's strategy.
"Jyu! We're leaving you here alone—don't lose!" shouted Taffie.
Jyu waved his small, furry hand. His bear-shaped form was ready to face Meito alone, without a trace of fear.
Meanwhile, Sizhi immediately ordered Svider to create many balls. In an instant, the balls were ready, and all the DV Army soldiers immediately entered them.
Without a moment's hesitation, Taffie struck the balls hard. Now the balls soared high enough to pass through the poison barrier created by Meito.
"Hey, what are you doing?" shouted Meito angrily, as his poison barrier was now useless.
Meito tried to attack each floating ball. But Jyu wouldn't let him; he acted quickly by engaging in close-range combat.
"Come on! Just fight me, you stupid demon," said Jyu, trying to provoke Meito's anger.
Meito was completely occupied with Jyu. Meanwhile, Taffie had already executed her brilliant strategy, leaving only herself, Sizhi, and Svider behind. The three of them quickly followed, flying on Svider's back.
"Now there's nothing left to bother us. Let's settle our previous issue," said Jyu in Kuma's signature raspy voice.
Meito was now furious; his gaze was sharp, as if he were stoking the flames of vengeance. In truth, their battle had only just begun. The fight in the Darkent realm had been merely a warm-up, the winner of which was considered illegitimate. That battle was just a charade to lure Jyu into a trap. Now, however, the real battle had begun, and the stakes were their lives.
Feeling caught off guard, Meito finally reabsorbed the poisonous barrier he had created. Then he created another poisonous barrier surrounding himself and Jyu. Now his barrier resembled a conical dome trapping both of them.
"I won't let you escape. The moment you inhale my poison, your end will come right then and there."
Jyu looked around; there was truly no way to escape. Now his movement was severely restricted, limited to just 10 meters.
But something was off about the poisonous dome surrounding them. Suddenly, the dome seemed to unravel, and the poison began to fall like snow.
Jyu was bewildered by this situation. If the poison kept falling and the gas spread quickly, then whether he liked it or not, Jyu would definitely inhale it. That meant death was truly inevitable.
"Are you afraid?" Meito asked with a loud laugh.
Suddenly, Meito enveloped his body in a thick, dark blue poison.
It now covered his entire body, leaving only his voice still laughing.
"Goodbye, ugly doll. You have only two minutes before my poison fully dissipates. Now I'm going to sleep while waiting for your death."
"Damn it!" said Jyu, now quite panicked by the unfolding situation.
Meito was truly cunning. He had created a poisonous dome trapping both himself and Jyu. This poisonous dome would dissolve in two minutes, filling the empty space within. Jyu was trapped; if he couldn't escape or defeat Meito within two minutes, he would die.
Meanwhile, Meito himself chose to relax inside the poisonous circle. This was his way of surviving Jyu's attack. So he didn't have to bother fighting; he just had to wait until Jyu inhaled the poisonous fumes.
Jyu returned to his human form. Then he slashed at the poisonous dome with his black sword. The result was zero.
Jyu's slash only slightly disturbed the poisonous gas; within a single second, the gap created by the slash closed again.
"Enough. Just accept your death. Enjoy my poison dome," Meito said, laughing so hard.
Jyu returned to his bear-doll form. Quickly, he struck the ground, shattering it. He hoped the poison's concentration would disperse, creating an opening to escape this trap.
But once again, it was to no avail; Meito's poisonous gas instantly sealed every gap created by the cracks in the ground. Meanwhile, the poison continued to fall like snow, saturating the ground. Every patch of soil touched by the poison immediately began to smoke and turned black.
"Damn it! What should I do? I have to kill Meito, but how? He's shrouded in poison that's surely even deadlier"
"In the previous battle, he was just putting on a show. Now he's unleashing his true power—it's incredibly troublesome"
There's no other way but to attack Meito. But Jyu himself didn't want to attack head-on; it was far too risky. Finally, he hurled a barrage of rocks at Meito, but unfortunately, the stones bounced off. The thick blue poison surrounding him had a rubbery, elastic quality.
Meito laughed smugly as Jyu's attack failed, "You think you can break through my defenses that easily?"
"Don't underestimate me like that!" said Jyu, who had now transformed into a bear-like monster.
No attack had any significant effect on Meito's toxic gas. Everything failed, and Jyu was running out of time—only one minute remained before the toxic gas completely dissipated.
Jyu took a deep breath; the next moment, he crouched down and shouted as loud as he could. His roar thundered, creating a massive airwave that spread in all directions.
This was Jyu's strategy to counter Meito's toxic gas. Gas is indeed very difficult to combat with sword slashes or rock strikes. The nature of gas is to fill the available space; that is why its natural counter is air.
Jyu let out a roar that shook the ground, creating a super-powerful airwave. It was this wave that was certain to dispel Meito's toxic gas. Within seconds, the toxic dome had vanished, carried away by the airwaves.
Even so, this wave was unable to break through Meito's blue toxic gas barrier.
The concentration of the toxic gas remains dense; only a small scratch was created after being struck by Jyu's attack.
"I never thought anyone could escape the trap of my toxic dome"
"Thank you for the compliment, but that was very easy," said Jyu in a hoarse, heavy voice.
Jyu immediately transformed into a teddy bear. He quickly attacked Meito. Of course, Jyu couldn't touch him, but with his illusory powers, Meito was easily deceived.
Due to Jyu's illusions, Meito suddenly leaped out of his defense. He looked startled when he realized he was already floating in the air.
"You're dead!"
Jyu then struck with a powerful blow that hit his head squarely. Dead. Meito's head was shattered, and his body immediately collapsed lifelessly onto the ground.
"Why hasn't the poison gone away yet?"
But strangely, the blue poison that had been enveloping Meito's body wouldn't go away. In fact, the toxic gas was now becoming denser and forming a ball.
Jyu watched it closely; the poisonous ball kept shrinking yet growing denser.
"Oh no! It's a bomb," he said in panic, and Jyu immediately ran to find cover.