Disclaimer: Demon Slayer is not mine. This fanfic is a translation.
Enjoy Reading!
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Rumble—!
Above the temple of the Eternal Paradise Faith.
Within the pitch-black clouds that churned like thick ink, flashes of golden thunder could be faintly seen, accompanied by the continuous rumble.
The sky above the temple of the Eternal Paradise Faith has turned pitch-black. Flashes of golden lightning could be faintly seen accompanied by the continuous thunder.
"Hahaha!!"
A faithful had opened the window wide and was laughing as he enjoyed the breeze. His face flushed from drink. Hearing the sound, he curiously poked his head out, glanced at the sky, and muttered.
"Huh? Is it going to rain?"
He raised his eyebrows in a daze, unconcerned, and turned back to the party, "That's fine; it'll be cool this night."
A drunken smile spread across his tipsy face as he raised his cup. "Let's keep drinking!"
The group raised their cups, cheering and laughing as they clinked them together.
"To our great Founder!"
Boom—!!
As if to join the celebration, a blinding flash of light erupted from the sky, instantly illuminating all the surrounding darkness.
Golden lightning struck the main hall of the Paradise Faith, tearing a massive hole in the temple's dome!
The dazzling light streamed through the open window, casting the silhouette of the follower leaning against it into stark blackness.
There was a full second of silence.
Only then did everyone react, wailing and shouting as cups and sake scattered across the floor.
"My ears! I can't hear anything!"
"What was that!?"
"Lightning struck?!"
"No way."
The room that had been filled with laughter and cheer was now in complete chaos.
Creak—Crash!
The sliding door to the room was suddenly pulled open.
The bewildered crowd instantly fell silent, their gazes turning toward the doorway.
"A-A terrible thing has happened!"
A man with a panicked expression gasped heavily for breath, carrying an unconscious man on his back as he appeared in the doorway.
"There are…"
He leaned against the doorframe, exhausted, his forehead drenched in sweat, speaking in fragments.
"Assassins! They're attacking the Founder!" He shouted desperately toward the people in the room.
His eyes scanned the fearful faces one by one.
The crowd exchanged uneasy glances, cold sweat on their faces.
As their eyes met, the man understood one thing.
No one wanted to go protect the Founder.
His eyes widened with realization. He abandoned the speech he had prepared and instead voiced what was truly in his heart.
"Run! Hurry, run!" The man turned around, shouting breathlessly.
On his shoulder, the unconscious man he carried continued to murmur.
After all, the followers of the so-called Eternal Paradise Faith were those who adhered to its creed.
"Don't trouble yourself with anything; just live as you please."
Such people would not sacrifice themselves to protect their so-called "Founder."
Perhaps the only truly loyal ones were those, like the bald disciple, who had witnessed Doma's true form.
…
"Hm?"
Doma's ear twitched slightly. He sensed a sound from above and behind him.
"Someone is—"
Instinctively, he tilted his head and looked up toward the ceiling.
A blinding light grew larger and larger in his pupils.
Rumble!!
Dazzling gold filled his vision. A wave of scorching heat suddenly approached.
Within Doma's colorful eyes, crackling lightning broke through the dome of the main hall, instantly illuminating the dim interior.
He froze for a moment.
Feeling the burning pain on his face.
He could barely make out the several dark figures leaping down from the opening in the ceiling, illuminated by the brilliant lightning.
A demon's superior reflexes gave Doma a moment to think.
'Lightning?'
'It's breaking through the roof… coming straight for me…'
'If it hits me!!'
Doma's pupils contracted slightly, instantly adjusting to the blinding light.
'I'd probably die, wouldn't I!?'
His vision instantly sharpened.
His gaze quickly swept over the descending figures and locked onto the one leaping highest.
The one holding a katana crackling with lightning, his haori billowing in the wind, his earrings swaying, his gaze locked onto him with unwavering focus.
Tanjuro.
"…Ah～It's you!" Doma's blank expression vanished. The corners of his lips curled into a smile as he faced the lightning directly, his expression unchanging.
"The human Muzan-sama specifically warned us about~"
He gripped one fan tightly, keeping Sanemi at bay.
Half of his face gradually became coated in ice crystals, rapidly transforming until it was completely translucent.
Tanjuro gripped the crimson-hot Kusabimaru. He dropped down with force, lightning crackling around him.
Crack!
A long spear of lightning instantly swept across the spot where Doma's neck was!
Fss—!
However, a mist of frozen crystals erupted violently from Doma's location!
The dense white mist quickly enveloped the area. The others descending could barely make out Doma's blurred silhouette.
Swish, swish!
Within the thick icy mist, several sharp flashes of blade light cut through the air, slashing alternately toward the positions of "Doma's" head and joints.
Clatter!
"Doma's" head hit the floor with a crisp sound, shattering into several pieces.
The dense mist wavered slightly as the blade lights passed.
"Fall back! This feels off."
Obanai retreated a few steps, concealing himself within the mist. He slightly lifted the bandages wrapped around his face, allowing him to avoid the effects of Doma's mist.
But it still made contact with his clothes and skin, forming frost.
After striking "Doma's" torso, Tengen reacted quickly, leaping back with agile movements.
"Tch!"
He clicked his tongue, squinting as he assessed the situation within the hall.
He weighed the great curved red-gold sword in his hand.
In the Transparent World he had recently mastered at the moment his blade struck Doma.
The demon's body, which should have been flesh and blood, had eerily turned into a void.
The sensation of the strike was also not that of normal flesh.
Tengen glanced sideways in another direction.
The Upper Moons were fundamentally different from any demon he had encountered before.
Kanao remained silent. She crouched slightly, swiftly retreating after severing "Doma's" legs.
Tanjuro gripped his sword and rose to his feet. The lightning that had coursed along the blade had been released in that single strike.
But.
He raised the blade and looked down.
The blade, which should have been glowing red from the lightning, now had a section that had abruptly cooled, returning to its original black color.
Tanjuro frowned slightly.
What he had worried about before had now happened.
When he had sensed Doma's gaze in the Entertainment District, he had once struck an ice sculpture with his crimson-hot blade.
Just like then, the part that touched the ice sculpture had cooled, losing its properties to kill demons.
Now, the surrounding icy mist began to dissipate.
And Doma was nowhere to be seen.
Only a decapitated ice sculpture, identical in appearance to Doma, remained.
The moment Doma had sensed the surprise attack, he had released this ice sculpture.
[Blood Demon Art – Kesshō no Miko]
He himself had used the icy mist to retreat, quickly escaping the encirclement.
"Bastard!"
Sanemi, with frost covering his skin, sliced off one of the ice sculpture's arms with his blade, his brow tightly furrowed as he remained alert.
Clap, clap, clap.
The sound of applause came from behind the group.
Tanjuro turned his head, looking back over his shoulder.
"Oh my, what a perfect coordinated attack."
Doma stood behind the group, the very ones who had meant to surround him. He clapped his hands, a carefree smile on his face, and praised them.
"Hmm... your speed was excellent, your coordination seamless, and you even managed to use that surprising golden lightning technique."
"You're all very impressive. I almost didn't have time to react."
He opened his fan, fanning himself gently.
"But it's a shame."
Doma tilted his head slightly, still smiling.
"If you can't land a hit, it's all for nothing."
His smiling eyes met Tanjuro's, unconsciously goading the man.
Behind him, crystalline ice formed lotus leaves and flowers, blooming around Doma.
Moonlight streamed through the hole in the roof, casting a beam like thin gauze onto the ice crystals, making them gleam.
Tanjuro's response was to flick his blade.
The next moment.
Puchi!
A line of blood suddenly appeared across Doma's neck!
Doma's smiling face twisted into shock.
Blood spurted from the gash on his neck; the searing pain was only now starting to register.
"Did you… just… hit me…?" His eyes trembled as he clutched his bleeding neck, assessing the depth of the wound.
His fingers brushed against the wound. After confirming it hadn't severed his neck, Doma smiled in relief.
His gaze shifted to Tanjuro standing opposite him, a hint of surprise in his eyes.
"Impressive… ngh!"
Blood surged from his mouth, blocking his severed airways.
Doma choked in place. He quickly used his other hand to open his golden fan, causing icy mist to spread around him.
His wound wasn't healing!
Squish!
He thrust his fingers into his throat, forcibly pinching the wound closed. His voice was hoarse, but his expression showed a kind of pleased surprise.
"Oh my, blood is flowing into my lungs. That hurts terribly, cough!"
He looked up at Tanjuro with an eager expression.
"No wonder~ Muzan-sama ordered us to prioritize avoiding you."
Doma unfolded both golden fans. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, and the wound on his neck showed no signs of regeneration. He raised his voice with a grin.
"You are very strong!"
He straightened up, arms spread wide. Dense icy mist emanated from him, keeping the others at bay.
Shhh…
Purple marks spread across his face. Festering veins crept along wounds on his back that had been stabbed.
Carelessly, even one of his eyeballs fell from its already decayed, purple-tinged socket.
Doma's eye rolled on the floor before quickly turning to ash.
It was a high concentration of wisteria poison.
He paused as he felt the poison working inside him.
His gaze swept through Tanjuro to Shinobu, who was adjusting her poison with her sword sheath.
"Did you cut me as well…" Doma murmured.
"I thought I could just deal with you all easily, but now."
Shaa!
Frost solidified beneath his feet.
"It seems if I don't get serious, I really might die."
"Muzan-sama would be displeased with me."
Groan!
The temple of the Paradise Faith suddenly began to shake. The sound of layered waves rose from beneath the earth.
[]—Blood Demon Art!—[]
Tanjuro widened his stance, steadying himself. His brow furrowed as his transparent world instantly showed him everything around him.
When he saw the thing, imbued with the demon's presence, rising from the underground river, his pupils contracted.
He quickly turned his head and warned.
"Everyone!"
"Fall back!!"
Doma's lips curled into a sinister smile. His face was shadowed in the moonlight as he raised his golden fan high. He whispered the words softly.
[]—Muhyō – Suiren Bosatsu!—[]
Boom!!
Towering waves surged up from around the temple. A blast of freezing air swept through the area.
The temperature plummeted instantly!
The underground river erupted from the cavern beneath!
Crash!!
A nearly twenty-meter-tall ice statue instantly rose from the ground.
The abruptly rising ice statue crashed into the temple's ceiling, tearing the entire roof off. Dust and icy mist billowed everywhere.
A roaring wave of force blasted outward.
Whoooosh—!!
"So this is… an Upper Moon."
Obanai gazed directly at the towering ice bodhisattva, letting the freezing wind buffet his body as he retreated swiftly.
Accustomed to cold, damp environments, this level of chill hardly affected him.
Snakes have cold body temperatures.
Tap, tap, tap!!
Tengen sprinted swiftly along the wall, moving slightly faster than the spreading icy mist, avoiding being frozen.
His eyes were fixed on the scene behind him.
In his vision, Tanjuro stood motionless before the rising ice bodhisattva.
He vaguely remembered that the man had a record of repelling an Upper Moon before.
He looked up.
The mountain-like ice sculpture filled his vision.
'Was something like this even possible to repel?!'
"What the hell?!"
Inosuke, who had been ordered to wait on standby, stared with wide eyes, caught off guard and blown into the air by the sudden blast!
Icy mist swept over his body, instantly freezing his clothes stiff!
Crack!
"Hahaha!" Inosuke laughed heartily as he shattered his frozen clothes.
He adjusted his position midair and landed on a nearby section of the ruined temple wall.
He looked up at the massive block of ice before him.
Such a sight left him dazed for a moment.
Inosuke quickly sprang to his feet, a look of excitement on his face as he pointed at the ice bodhisattva and shouted.
"It's huge!"
The ice bodhisattva stood with its hands clasped before everyone, its enormous form looming overhead. Moonlight refracted eerily through its translucent body.
The prayer beads on its hands, even the crown on its head, were meticulously detailed.
Beautiful carved lotuses grew around it. Surging waves rose, submerging its base.
"What wonderful expressions~ I'd truly love to keep playing with you all like this."
Doma had already neutralized the poison in his system. He lounged with an easy smile, reclining nonchalantly on the crystalline lotus beside his statue.
Everyone was reeling from the sudden appearance of this colossal entity...
...when another voice announced himself in spectacular fashion.
[]—Hakai Satsu!—[]
[]—Messhiki!—[]