"They're weak…"
Hlökk's voice echoed in Doma's mind as he dodged a Blood Demon Art.
The ice demon caught his opponent with an acrobatic, graceful motion before neatly decapitating him with his fan.
Unconsciously, he felt a slight discomfort at the valkyrie's remark.
It wasn't pity or any emotion of that sort, but at that moment, Doma felt dissatisfied.
'Did I really hesitate to face… this?' he thought, confronting another group of demons.
The question might seem arrogant to many, but it was factual and legitimate.
The ice demon hadn't anticipated such an easy victory after decades of planning.
He hadn't planned on ending up in a universe where mortals challenged gods, nor on becoming a form of divine entity himself.
Doma hadn't foreseen any of this, but things had turned out that way.
All this time, the former Upper Moon had worried about several dangerous factors—chief among them Muzan's demon army.
Yet here he was, in the Infinity Castle, effortlessly annihilating the very demons that had once stood in the way of his peaceful long life.
"Don't say that, Hlökk. You can't compare these creatures to Heracles and the other gods," he said after ducking to avoid another attack.
"Blood Demon Art: Miko!" Doma's voice rang out with an almost unsettling calm despite the chaos surrounding him.
It didn't take long for several copies of Doma, sculpted from ice, to manifest.
Unlike during his fight against Heracles, the ice demon deemed it unnecessary to monitor each of their actions or demand perfect quality in the summoning.
He settled for Miko that looked like middle-school children, yet possessed power equivalent to his own when he had faced the Lower Moon Cent Eyes.
'Normally, I could never have handled the influx of data and senses from twenty Miko, but…' Doma smiled, aware that things were very different now.
He could absorb part of the information while letting the protocol operate without his direct intervention, his attention focused elsewhere.
That was why he managed to summon twenty without suffering mental consequences or overloading the Blood Demon Art: Paradise of Vanity.
"Blood Demon Art: Winter Priestess."
"Blood Demon Art: Lotus Vine."
"Blood Demon Art: Ice Lotus Petal."
As soon as they were summoned, the Mikos applied the Omega protocol and unleashed their powers without the slightest restraint.
The power displayed by each was no less than that of one of Muzan's Lower Moons, and there were twenty of them.
These new reinforcements joined the members of Shadow Garden as well as the Mugen trio, Rin, and Akaza.
The battlefield quickly turned into a visual massacre, a symphony of chaos and ice.
But Nakime's intervention instantly changed the situation.
The familiar sound of a biwa resonated through the vastness of the Infinity Castle, and the twenty Miko were suddenly scattered to random areas.
Doma even sensed that some of them had left Nakime's dimension in a single instant.
"Nakime-chan, you chose Muzan?" he muttered, frowning slightly.
This expression wasn't part of his acting; he was genuinely annoyed with Nakime.
Not only had he shared her bed on several occasions, but her decision was now going to complicate the battle.
Nakime controlled the Infinity Castle, which meant Doma and his allies could no longer cooperate effectively.
"Not really, since you clearly abandoned him first," declared a familiar voice before a figure emerged from the shadows.
"Doma-san…" said Kokushibo, as his katana suddenly extended toward his opponent.
Clang!
The sound of metal rang out after the former Upper Moon casually deflected it.
Doma put on a fake smile as he faced one of the few people he truly considered a friend.
"Kokushibo-senpai~ I really missed you," he said, spreading his arms theatrically for a hug.
Kokushibo's response?
"Blood Demon Art – Fourteenth Form: Catastrophe, Tenman Crescent Moon!!!" Kokushibo declared in a calm, cold voice, but the sound of his words echoed across the entire battlefield.
All the demons and humans, focused on eliminating their opponents, stopped after sensing the cyclone of crescent moon blades.
"An omnidirectional whistling vortex of blades—you've really improved a lot," he said in a relaxed tone, but Doma took Kokushibo seriously.
He had fought him multiple times in the gray world over 98 years, and it had taken him a decade to completely defeat him.
'It took me another 30 years to beat him without using ice, but his level was never static in each of our encounters,' he thought to himself as he raised both fans.
The two weapons were currently divine, since Hlökk had used her power on them.
"Doma… this creature is powerful, and his blades are not normal," Hlökk declared, frowning as she observed Kokushibo's demonstration.
The Upper Moon One had no divine weapon, which would have allowed him to unleash his full potential.
Yet he displayed extraordinary skill with his blades.
"He's probably better than Kojiro without my big sister," she continued honestly.
"Haha!" After hearing Hlökk's words, the ice demon suddenly burst out laughing.
"Why are you laughing? Aren't you supposed to have emotional issues?" Hlökk frowned, watching the demon's face.
"Sorry, but you're not the type to compliment someone, and that made it curious," he said sincerely.
Doma created two ice katanas and used Hlökk's power to make them divine before throwing them behind Kokushibo's blade tornado.
This bold act shocked the valkyrie in his mental world, since she understood better than anyone the value of a divine weapon.
Yet Doma created and casually tossed one toward his opponent's guard.
"Kokushibo-senpai, if you feel you have no chance, then use these two blades," he said before activating Blood Demon Art: Frost — Water Lily Bodhisattva.
(Image)
'Out of respect, I don't want to crush a friend who isn't really going all out'—the second part of his statement was heard by Hlökk through their link, but not by Kokushibo.
'Did he also have such a chivalrous side?' Hlökk blushed a little as her imagination wandered.
However, the battle had never stopped despite the valkyrie's inattention.
Doma destroyed Kokushibo's omnidirectional blade tornado with a single strike from the enormous Buddha statue, which soon sprouted additional ice hands from its back.
A crude imitation of Netero's Goddess Kanon appeared on the battlefield.
"Please, Kokushibo-senpai, don't die without using my gift~" After those words, Doma hid the lower part of his face with his fan.
The demon sat on an ice lotus flower resting on the statue's shoulder.
Kokushibo had already dealt with this statue in the past, during training with Doma.
However, his instinct signaled an anomaly.
'This statue is different from the last time I perceived it,' he thought, recalling his last sparring session with Doma.
The Buddha statue before him was much larger and had several additional impressive limbs on its back.
Kokushibo could also sense a considerable coldness emanating from the ice creature.
'On top of this statue, Doma has already filled the battlefield with his snowflakes,' he analyzed further.
The Mikos had used Winter Priestesses because they intended to alter the Infinity Castle's environment.
As for the cold bothering their creator's allies? The Mikos didn't care; they were using the most efficient protocol for the moment.
Doma could prevent his allies from suffering inhalation poisoning, but frostbite was inevitable.
He didn't have enough mental strength to control the cold over such a vast area while facing Kokushibo and occasionally managing the Mikos' actions.
There was also the vector power, which the ice demon had to use in case of emergencies.
That was why all the swordswomen on the battlefield had trembling hands as they held their blades, facing the enormous statue and their respective opponents.
"Doma-san… are you so sure of your victory against me—no, against Muzan-sama?" he said calmly before gripping his katana with both hands and regulating his breathing.
The Upper Moon chose to ignore the poisoning and trust his formidable regeneration.
He had no choice.
"If you surrender now, I'm willing to plead on your behalf with Muzan-sama," he said in an unusually gentle tone.
The coldness and distant demeanor of the Upper Moon crumbled at that moment.
Proof of the place the ice demon held in the heart of the former Sengoku-era samurai.
"No thank you, Kokushibo-senpai." Doma paused before continuing.
"You probably already suspect it, but I never take unnecessary actions unless I know I can win," declared Doma, resting his cheek on his hand in his initial lotus position.
Doma's words would have angered many people, but not Kokushibo.
He had spent enough time with his friend to know when Doma was truly confident and when he was bluffing.
"I see… then I'll have to shatter your predictions this time," said Kokushibo, smiling despite his calm and composed tone.
It was different from the thin, distant smiles Doma sometimes saw when he came to hang out in his quarters with Nakime.
Kokushibo was truly smiling.
'Strange… for the first time in my long life, I desire someone's talent without hating it,' he thought, his face more peaceful than ever.
At that moment, the shadow of Yoriichi Tsugikuni manifested.