Chapter 101: Farewell, Shinobu; Farewell, Tatsu
"Blood Demon Art: Frozen Fog, Crystalline Children!"
The instant Doma's voice fell, no blood gushed from the wounds of his severed limbs.
Instead, an extremely dense, nearly liquid, cold white mist erupted.
In an incredibly short amount of time, this white mist...
...actually condensed into five miniature ice-sculpted dolls with figures similar to Doma's, each holding ice fans!
"Blood Demon Art: Lotus Ice!"
"Blood Demon Art: Scattering Lotuses!"
"Blood Demon Art: Cold White Princesses!"
The moment the five Crystalline Children took shape, they launched an attack simultaneously.
Ice blades filled the sky, accompanied by a chill capable of freezing internal organs,
and two massive ice-sculpted maidens atop lotuses exhaling lethal freezing gas.
At the same time, from point-blank range, they blasted toward the three who had no time to dodge: Kanae, Giyu, and Shinjuro.
"Not good!"
The faces of the three changed drastically as they exerted every ounce of strength to swing their blades in defense.
But having just unleashed their finishing blow, their old strength was spent and new strength had yet to rise.
Faced with this sudden attack, equivalent to five Upper Moon Twos attacking at once, everything seemed pale and powerless.
"BOOM—Bang bang bang!!!"
A terrifying storm of frigid air instantly swallowed the three of them.
Accompanied by the dull thuds of flesh being struck, Kanae Kocho, Tomioka Giyu, and Rengoku Shinjuro were sent flying like kites with broken strings.
They were violently knocked back by that overwhelming force.
They traced several parabolas in mid-air, blood spraying wildly,
before crashing heavily into the ruins dozens of meters away.
"Cough, cough..."
Tomioka Giyu struggled to prop himself up,
but his left arm was twisted at a bizarre angle, clearly broken.
His internal organs felt displaced, and every breath brought heart-wrenching pain;
the blood he coughed up even contained tiny ice shards.
His nichirin sword lay a few meters away, but he didn't even have the strength to reach for it.
"Damn it... my... flames..."
Rengoku Shinjuro lay on his back in the rubble.
His Haori was torn to shreds,
and several deep, bone-deep wounds were constantly seeping blood, only to be quickly frozen by the extreme cold.
He gasped for air, wanting to stand up again, but his legs had completely lost all sensation.
Kanae Kocho's situation was also dire.
That last strike had hit her directly in the chest.
Kanae lay quietly on the cold ground like a butterfly with broken wings.
Her Haori had already been stained a dark red by blood.
Her face was as pale as paper, her breathing so faint it was almost imperceptible;
several ribs were broken, and one seemed to have pierced a lung, making every breath feel like torture.
Cold.
So cold.
Kanae felt her body temperature rapidly slipping away;
that bone-deep chill was stripping away her life force bit by bit.
Her vision grew increasingly blurred, and the surrounding sounds became distant and ethereal.
In the distance, Shinobu's heart-wrenching cries could be heard.
"Sister! Sister! No! Don't die!"
"I'm sorry, Shinobu... Big sister lost."
Kanae spoke silently to her sister in her heart, her lips barely forming a bitter smile.
Despair swallowed the three of them like a tide.
They had given it their all, even pushed beyond their limits, yet they still could not defeat the monster before them.
The terror of an Upper Moon demon was displayed vividly at this moment.
At the wounds of Doma's severed limbs, granulation tissue was frantically wriggling and weaving together.
The terrifying regenerative ability of an Upper Moon demon was rapidly repairing his body.
Although regenerating limbs would take a little time,
to the three who had completely lost their combat capability,
he was now the God of Death holding the power over their lives and deaths.
"Oh dear, what a shame.
You were clearly just one step away from killing me."
Supported by the Crystalline Children, Doma's partial body slowly approached the three.
That hypocritical face of his once again wore that compassionate smile.
"But it's alright, I've seen all your efforts.
To reward you, I will use the gentlest method
to eat you bit by bit,
so that you may find eternal salvation within my body."
Kanae quietly looked at the gloomy sky covered in ice and snow.
In this final moment of her life, her mind did not flash through the images of her life like a revolving lantern,
nor was there any fear of death.
In her mind, only one person's figure appeared.
That young man who always looked at her with a gentle gaze.
Tatsu.
"I'm sorry, Tatsu..."
A crystal tear slid from the corner of Kanae's eye, turning into an ice bead the moment it touched the cold air.
"I might... have to break our promise."
They had promised that when this war ended, when there were no more demons in the world,
they would find a place where no one knew them,
open a small clinic, and spend their lives in peace.
She knew Tatsu was strong, very strong.
But she knew even more about Tatsu's situation as a demon.
If Tatsu appeared here, he would not only have to face the Upper Moon Two, Doma,
but might even provoke the hostility of Mr. Rengoku and Mr. Tomioka.
How could she bear to let that gentle person fall into such a lose-lose dilemma?
She just felt it was a pity that she couldn't touch his cheek one last time, or hear him say 'I'm here' again.
"Farewell, Shinobu.
Farewell, Tatsu..."
Kanae slowly closed her eyes, preparing to welcome the arrival of death.
On the edge of the battlefield, in an extremely well-hidden corner of shadows,
a pair of eyes slowly opened.
The opportunity had come.
Doma's limbs were severed, and he was putting all his effort into regeneration.
His attention was entirely focused on the three who had lost their combat power, and his alertness had dropped to its lowest point.
Most importantly, in order to unleash the 'Crystalline Children' that blasted the three away,
Doma had consumed a large amount of energy; this was currently the vacuum period where his defense was at its weakest.
"Kanae... how could I possibly let you die at the hands of scumbag like this?"
Tatsu slowly, bit by bit, drew the nichirin sword at his waist.
It was a nichirin sword that appeared entirely ghostly green.
The process of drawing the blade did not make a single sound.
Tatsu's muscles, under the control of the Transparent World,
operated in an absolutely perfect, absolutely silent manner.
There were no redundant movements, no leakage of killing intent;
his entire being seemed to merge with the surrounding shadows, turning into a lifeless stone.
Then, within his body, a violent power was frantically awakening.
Tatsu took a deep breath.
This breath was extremely long and deep.
Oxygen entered the lungs through the trachea and was then rapidly pumped into the blood, flowing to every part of his body.
Although he was a demon, what he used was the original breathing, the source of all Breathing Styles,
and the Breathing Style that countered demons the most—Sun Breathing!
Loving Book So Far? Check Out 30+ Advanced Chapters At PA Treon
patreon.com/FictionOP