Looking at the boar-headed man who had suddenly barged into the fierce battle, Asuka felt something was off.
He recognized the mask. It was Inosuke's boar headgear.
But the person beneath it was definitely not Inosuke.
"Hey! Kid over there! You're not dead yet, right?"
A muffled voice rumbled from beneath the boar mask.
Before Asuka could answer, the man clenched both fists. The shattered ice fragments scattered around them rose and churned violently as his fighting spirit surged upward.
"Destructive Kill: Air… cough, no, that's not right!"
Halfway through shouting the move, he seemed to realize something and abruptly corrected himself.
"Breath of Fists, First Form: Empty Bone!"
Boom! Boom!
Locked in combat with Asuka, Doma suddenly felt several visible white shockwaves blast toward him through the air. Forced on the defensive, he hurriedly summoned crystalline ice dolls to block the terrifying gusts of fist force.
The condensed shock of the punches instantly shattered the ice constructs into a storm of fragments.
Doma, who had already been somewhat shaken by Asuka's earlier words, now felt an even deeper sense of speechless disbelief.
"Lord Akaza? Could you stop messing around? This is a critical moment."
"What Akaza? Never heard of him!"
The boar-masked man lowered his fists and leapt onto the shoulder of the ice Buddha statue in a single bound. He gave Asuka a confident thumbs-up.
"Don't worry, kid! I'm the Demon Slayer Corps' newly promoted Fist Hashira, Hakuji! I came here specifically to back you up!"
Fist Hashira? Don't talk nonsense.
The moment Asuka saw that punch, he already knew the truth.
This guy was Akaza.
What kind of situation was this? Had he turned traitor? At a time like this?
And what was with the mask? Had something happened to Inosuke?
"Fist Hashira? Lord Akaza, have you betrayed the Lord?"
A dangerous light flickered within Doma's rainbow-colored eyes.
"You should know the price of betrayal."
"I don't understand a word you're saying! Fist Breathing, Second Form!!"
With another furious roar, Hakuji unleashed a barrage of punches that poured toward Doma like a violent storm.
Already struggling against Asuka's relentless assault, Doma now had another Upper Rank demon attacking him.
For the first time in a long while, the situation truly felt troublesome.
The three of them clashed in a chaotic melee. Sword, fists, and fans collided again and again, sparks exploding brightly beneath the night sky.
"Swordsman!"
Hakuji shouted, kicking away an ice vine that had tried to entangle Asuka.
"Even though I hate people who use swords, unleash all your strength right now! Let's butcher this bastard!"
Asuka didn't answer.
Only the scorching crimson blade hummed fiercely in response.
He had no idea why an Upper Rank demon would suddenly come to help him, or why he was calling himself the so-called Fist Hashira.
But he could feel the emotions radiating from the man.
The murderous intent directed toward Doma was absolutely genuine.
That was enough.
Facing their joint assault, Doma waved his golden fan, and enormous ice lotuses bloomed in the air.
"How long are you planning to keep showing off these soft little tricks?"
Roaring angrily, Hakuji drove a heavy straight punch into one of the ice lotuses.
Boom!
The lotus shattered, sending countless tiny icy petals flying toward them like blades.
If it were ordinary swordsmen, they would either be seriously wounded or have their lungs destroyed by the freezing mist.
But the two people standing before Doma were anything but ordinary.
One of them simply refused to die. His lungs seemed forged from iron. Even while coughing blood, he continued to fight.
As for the other…
There was no need to mention it.
He didn't even need to breathe.
He was a demon.
Cold air meant to destroy human lungs meant absolutely nothing to him.
The force of Hakuji's fists formed an impenetrable barrage. Each punch shattered an ice lotus with perfect precision, forcibly carving a path through the freezing storm.
Asuka followed closely behind, spiritual pressure flowing into the tips of his feet as his figure became ghostlike and impossible to track.
Within moments, thunderous crashes echoed throughout the shrine grounds. Stone pillars collapsed. Statues shattered.
Many of the monks who had aided the demons had already been caught in the previous waves of destruction.
Now they suffered even more.
Crushed by falling debris. Broken by the impact. Some were simply pulverized by the overwhelming fighting spirit.
Countless bodies fell.
Retribution had finally come.
"Akaza, could you please stop fighting?"
With a single fan swing, Doma severed Hakuji's wrist. Yet it regenerated instantly.
Even the emotionless Doma struggled to describe the helpless frustration he felt.
"Seriously… why are you fighting for humans now? You've already become a demon."
"Shut up! I'll say it again! My name is Hakuji!"
Doma's words clearly struck a nerve.
Hakuji's punches grew even more violent.
"My fists were never meant to be swung for things like you!"
"Even if I have to go to hell! Even if I'm damned forever!"
"I'll drag you down with me!"
"Fist Concentration Breathing: Annihilation Style!!"
He unleashed a devastating punch, his entire presence surging to its peak in that moment.
The force was so great that the edges of the boar mask cracked.
That single punch carried centuries of training as a demon, along with the remorse and fury he felt for becoming human again these past few days.
"Tch… Sleeping Lotus Buddha: Thousand Hands!"
The ice Buddha transformed again.
Behind it, countless gigantic ice palms instantly condensed into existence.
Those massive hands descended together with the crushing force of a falling mountain.
Even a demon would be smashed into paste by such an attack.
A move this large would inevitably consume enormous energy and leave an opening.
Asuka had been waiting for this moment.
Spiritual pressure erupted beneath his feet as his figure transformed into a streak of black light, appearing instantly above Doma's head.
Every drop of spiritual pressure in his body surged into his blade.
The violent energy caused scorching black flames to erupt from the crimson sword, burning with a light that seemed capable of scorching the eyes themselves.
"Roar, Nugata!"
A slash that seemed capable of tearing the heavens apart descended.
The countless ice palms were severed all at once.
They didn't even have time to melt before being swallowed entirely by the black flames.
Even the ground below was split open by a deep trench.
"This is bad."
For the first time, Doma felt a sense of weakness.
At that exact moment, Hakuji's heavy punch slammed directly into his chest.
Boom!
Even for Upper Rank Two, taking such a blow head-on was no small challenge.
Doma's chest caved inward, while his back exploded outward.
Blood and organs sprayed across the air.
"Cough… You've really gone mad, Lord Akaza…"
But that alone wasn't enough to kill him.
His wounds were already regenerating rapidly. He was still prepared to continue fighting.
"Asuka!!"
At that moment, a loud shout came from the temple gate.
A stern young man wearing a half-patterned haori rushed into the courtyard, gripping a blue Nichirin blade.
Though he had no idea what was happening, there was no time to figure it out.
He hurled a tube filled with thick purple-black liquid toward Asuka.
This was Giyu Tomioka, who had escorted Shinobu Kocho to safety before immediately rushing back.
And the item he threw…
Was something Shinobu had insisted must be delivered to Asuka before she was carried away by the Kakushi while on the verge of death.
"The promised moment has arrived!!"
He shouted Shinobu's final message before charging into the battlefield with his blade.
Asuka flashed forward and caught the vial instantly.
He immediately understood its meaning.
He knew Shinobu had always been researching wisteria poison to create a toxin powerful enough to kill a member of the Twelve Kizuki.
But her sword could only inject a small amount of poison at a time.
That likely wouldn't achieve the desired effect.
This heavy vial was probably an extremely concentrated form of wisteria poison.
With this…
They could suppress Doma's regeneration.
At the same time, another noisy figure burst into the shrine.
"Hey!!!!"
"You bastard who stole my mask! Don't run!"
"Give me back my mask!!"
A wild voice shouted furiously as someone stormed in.
Asuka recognized the voice immediately.
It was Inosuke Hashibira.
But when Asuka saw the boy clearly, something felt strange.
Because the boy wasn't wearing his signature boar mask.
That mask was currently on Hakuji's head.
And the face now revealed beneath it…
Was delicately sculpted, with eyes bright as stars and long eyelashes casting shadows beneath the moonlight.
It was a face so beautiful that even women would feel jealous.
Yet the person who reacted the most wasn't Asuka.
It was Doma—still with Hakuji's fist embedded in his chest.
"...Kotoha?"