"Ah... AAAAAAH!"
The lock of the Genjutsu loosened slightly due to the violent collapse of his physical body.
Doma opened his mouth and let out the first scream truly filled with agony since he became a demon.
He looked at Shinobu, who was watching coldly, and her face gradually overlapped with the female swordsman who used Flower Breathing years ago.
"So... this is what death feels like..."
Half of his cheek began to slough off like melting wax, revealing bone-white skeletal structures.
That desire for survival and fear of the void finally filled the entirety of this hollow soul at the last moment of his life.
Amidst the shrill wails, Doma's body collapsed, turning into a pool of foul-smelling black-red pus, which then quickly weathered in the air, turning into a floor of fine ash.
The century-old Upper Rank Two had fallen.
The cold air in the ice chamber gradually dissipated with Doma's death.
Clatter!
The syringe in Shinobu's hand fell to the ground, making a crisp sound.
She stared blankly at the pile of ash on the ground, her body seemingly drained of all strength. Her legs went weak, and she fell forward.
Yamada caught her steadily, letting her lean against his chest.
"It's over." Yamada gently patted her back, his voice low and gentle.
The hatred and grievances suppressed for years finally burst through the dam at this moment.
Shinobu buried her face in Yamada's embrace, her hands clutching his clothes tightly, her shoulders trembling violently. She sobbed silently, her tears quickly soaking Yamada's collar.
Yamada didn't say anything, just holding her quietly and letting her vent her emotions.
In this world full of man-eating demons, too many people lived burdened by hatred.
Being able to personally sever these shackles was the best salvation for her.
After an unknown amount of time, the sobbing in his arms gradually subsided.
Shinobu lifted her head from his embrace, her eyes red and swollen, but her purple eyes held a clarity and relief never seen before.
"Thank you." Her voice was a bit raspy.
Yamada reached out his thumb and wiped away the tear stains from the corners of her eyes.
"You want to dismiss me with just a 'thank you'?" The corner of his lips quirked up.
"Once we get out of this dump, you'll have to cook for me for the rest of your life to pay back the debt."
Shinobu laughed through her tears and gave him a mock-annoyed look. "Don't push your luck."
Rumble!
While the two were talking, the entire ice chamber suddenly began to shake violently. The floorboards beneath their feet let out an overburdened creak, and the surrounding walls began to twist and flip.
With the death of Upper Rank Two, Muzan had clearly noticed the abnormality here.
Nakime's spatial Blood Demon Art activated again, attempting to teleport them to a more peripheral location.
Yamada's gaze turned cold. "You've played enough of these hide-and-seek tricks."
He wrapped his arm around Shinobu's waist, his other hand pressing on the sword hilt at his side.
"Since you like this turtle shell so much, then I'll just tear it apart and see where else you can hide."
The collapse of the ice chamber was just the beginning.
Without the suppression of Upper Rank Two, the spatial structure of this area began to run wild under the control of Nakime.
The ice and wooden floor beneath their feet shattered, and the ceiling above crashed down like a giant meat grinder.
All sense of direction—up, down, left, right—was completely stripped away, as hundreds of thick wooden walls converged from all directions, attempting to crush the two people within into a pulp.
Shinobu instinctively clutched Yamada's lapel, her short blade held horizontally before her chest.
"You like playing these house-building games?"
Yamada sneered, a crimson hexagram rapidly spinning in his deep eyes.
"Then let's see whose building blocks are harder, or whose blade is sharper."
Boom!
A massive surge of dark purple Chakra erupted from Yamada's body without reservation.
This power was no longer the minor skeletal form it had been before. The Chakra quickly outlined thick bones, interwoven meridians, and full muscles in mid-air, finally donning a heavy armor.
In just a second, a purple structure, hundreds of meters tall with two wings on its back, rose abruptly from the narrow and cramped space of the Infinity Castle.
Perfect Susanoo!
Crack!
Crack!
Rumble!
The wooden walls and stairs attempting to close in were instantly crushed into flying splinters the moment they touched this behemoth.
The entire Infinity Castle let out a painful groan under the unbearable pressure at this moment.
Shinobu's vision blurred, and the sensation of weightlessness vanished instantly. When she regained her senses, she found herself and Yamada standing side-by-side in a rhomboid, translucent purple crystal.
This crystal was embedded in the brow of the hundred-meter Susanoo.
Looking down from here, the once intricate and bottomless labyrinth now resembled an ant's nest crushed underfoot.
"This... what is this?"
Shinobu stared blankly at the purple energy body, like a divine miracle, her mind a blank.
"My personal ride. Not a bad view, is it?"
Yamada crossed his arms, gazing down at the wooden structures below that were still continuously reorganizing, attempting to fill the gaps.
"Nakime, right?"
"No matter how big you make your tortoise shell, it won't change the fact that you're mice."
Susanoo's colossal arm slowly lifted, its hand clenching fiercely in the void.
Clang!
Two purple Chakra swords, tens of meters long, materialized in the Susanoo's hands.
"Open!"
Yamada's eyes sharpened.
Susanoo swung its twin swords.
Swish!
Two crescent-shaped slashes, a thousand meters long, formed a cross and moved towards the depths of the Infinity Castle.
Wherever the slashes passed, whether it was the inverted pavilions that could alter gravity or the load-bearing pillars as solid as rock, everything was cut in half by this single strike.
Spatial Blood Demon Art became an utter joke in the face of absolute power.
Wood splinters, rubble, dilapidated walls.
The entire Infinity Castle was forcefully plowed by these cross-shaped slashes, creating two bottomless, massive vacuum zones.