At the far end of the Swordsmith Village, every swordsman stationed there to guard it had fallen.
Only one Demon Slayer remained standing with her blade raised in trembling hands.
Kurobane Chiyo.
A Water Breathing swordswoman, she was now the only one still on her feet.
Behind her lay the village chief, collapsed on the ground, while another smith had already passed out after losing both arms.
"My, my, what a wonderful night this is. Allow me to introduce myself—I am Doma."
"What stubborn eyes you have. You're an exceptional woman. I must admit, I'm a little captivated."
At the jagged opening of the ruined pavilion sat a man at ease, as if he were visiting a teahouse rather than a battlefield. He held a pair of dark-gold iron fans in his hands. His hair was pale as white oak, the crown stained as though drenched in blood. He smiled down at Kurobane Chiyo, unhurried and gentle.
His eyes shimmered in seven colors, beautiful enough to seem divine.
And within them was etched the mark of Upper Rank Two.
His features were handsome, his expression carefree, his voice warm and fatherly.
Yet this amiable man was one of the Twelve Kizuki's most monstrous demons.
Kurobane Chiyo's hand shook around her sword.
The monster had shown no intention of attacking.
After slaughtering the other swordsmen, he had even spent some time chatting idly with her.
"I am the leader of the Eternal Paradise Faith," he said with a smile. "I cannot bear the suffering of others, so I grant paradise to the afflicted. To make my followers happy is the sacred duty of a religious leader. Well then, girl—would you like to become one of my believers?"
Kurobane Chiyo only frowned tighter, forcing herself to remain calm beneath the crushing pressure of his demonic aura.
Then suddenly, movement stirred behind her.
She spun around.
A tiny doll made of ice had hoisted the village chief onto its shoulders and was carrying him through a door that had appeared out of thin air.
"Village Chief!"
The girl blanched.
The chief was the finest swordsmith in the village, its very foundation. And now this demon was trying to abduct him.
"Water Breathing—"
"Oh?"
The demon's face appeared right in front of hers.
When?
Kurobane Chiyo's eyes widened.
"When someone is speaking to you, letting your attention wander is rather rude," he said with a smile. "Still, since you're a girl, I'll forgive you this once."
Her hands suddenly felt empty.
The demon had already returned to his original seat, now idly twirling her chipped Nichirin blade between his fingers.
Studying the ruined edge, Doma shook his head.
"To think merely contending with those ugly fish monsters from Gyokko would leave your sword in this state. Girl, your swordsmanship really is not very impressive."
He shrugged lightly.
"Still, no matter. I've never minded women being weak. After all, you are magnificent beings capable of bringing forth life."
"Come. I shall grant you paradise."
He smiled as he spoke—
Then his gaze drifted away from Kurobane Chiyo and rose upward.
He let out a soft sigh.
"So Gyokko is dead. Truly useless."
The fish creatures encircling the house dissolved at once into pools of blood.
Someone came striding across the frozen water, cutting through lotus flowers, sword in hand.
Thunder rolled.
A blade was already at Doma's neck.
"Clang!"
Doma raised one of his iron fans and caught the strike. Using the recoil, he sprang to the top of the shattered pavilion and looked down at the newcomer.
"Good evening, Miss Sui."
Sui lifted the demon sword in her hands.
"Are we supposed to be acquainted?"
"If you say something like that, it truly wounds me." Doma narrowed his eyes. "I've been paying attention to you since the night at the Osaka kabuki theater. To protect your identity, I even lied to my colleagues and concealed the fact that you were a swordswoman. Surely that proves the sincerity of my feelings?"
"I've been waiting for you to bloom, Miss Sui..."
He opened his eyes fully, the rainbow irises glowing.
"And now, seeing such astonishing beauty standing before me, I can say with confidence that my patience was worthwhile."
"Go," Sui said to Kurobane Chiyo.
"Why is it that none of you can ever simply hold a proper conversation with me? Why do you all insist on looking elsewhere?" Doma sighed, waving a fan.
Sui shifted her stance with exquisite precision, placing herself directly between him and Chiyo's retreat path.
"Eternal Paradise Faith leader. Upper Rank Two. Doma," she said quietly.
"Yes, yes, exactly! I'm delighted you remember my name!"
Sui lowered her head.
Kurobane Chiyo had already moved beyond the reach of the coming attack.
Then Sui swung.
Lightning erupted.
In an instant, it sliced open Doma's flesh.
His iron fans met the demon blade with a clash like struck steel, and a bolt of lightning exploded outward from the collision, blowing the entire pavilion into splinters.
Doma leapt away, landing lightly amid the ice lotuses outside the village.
He glanced down at one of his fans and found a tiny nick in the metal.
What kind of blade could leave a mark on these?
At the center of the ruined pavilion, the dust split apart.
Sui burst through it, thrusting straight for Doma's skull.
"Thunder Breathing, First Form: Thunderclap and Flash."
A massive arc of lightning flared across the frozen ground.
Doma retreated step by step, yet the smile never left his lips.
"So fast. Miss Sui truly is an extraordinary woman. Among all the women I've seen in these hundred years, I'd say your quality is unquestionably first-rate."
Sui grew even faster.
A god-speed slash.
"Slash—"
Blood blossomed across Doma's face.
For an instant, his smile froze.
The tip of Sui's blade had driven directly into his eye socket.
Then she twisted.
She was not as physically powerful as the Stone Hashira, Himejima Gyomei—but that merely meant she was weaker than him.
Lightning roared.
The demon sword cut across Doma's face and bit into his neck.
He was Upper Rank Two, even stronger than Akaza. The strike had landed only because he'd underestimated her.
Now her blade sat at his throat.
For one fleeting instant, Sui considered opening the Mystic Eyes and ending him here.
Just a moment.
Just the lightest stroke.
This vile demon would turn to ash.
"If Muzan Kibutsuji learns that your Mystic Eyes can still open, he'll hide where no one can ever find him. A human lifespan cannot compare to that of a demon."
Sui's blind eyes did not flare with their murderous blue light.
And her sword did not sever Doma's neck.
She would keep her promise.
The next time those eyes opened, it would be for the Demon King alone.
"So your sight truly is gone, Miss Sui?" Doma said with a smile as his face regenerated. He reached up and plucked the blade from his neck.
"That is rather unfortunate. I did want to see how Lord Akaza died."
Without that power, Sui lacked the raw strength to cut through his neck.
No matter how refined her swordsmanship, it would not be enough.
"Miss Sui?"
He turned, searching for her.
She was gone.
"Flame Breathing, Ninth Form: Rengoku."
Blazing fire surged like purgatory itself, melting the ice lotus blossoms around Doma. A blade came down at an impossible speed and slammed into his neck.
This time, it struck cleanly.
Steel screamed against flesh harder than iron.
Doma twisted around and saw Sui behind him.
"No matter how many times I see it, the speed of Thunder Breathing is difficult even for me to follow," he said, narrowing his eyes. One hand clamped over the blade at his throat, and then he snapped open his fan.
"Blood Demon Art: Lotus Vines of Frost."
With one sweep, the air condensed into ice. Frozen lotus flowers bloomed, and a killing cold swept toward Sui.
"Thunder Breathing, Second Form: Rice Spirit."
Her sword flashed in rapid succession, shredding the ice blossoms into pieces. The lightning wound around the freezing mist, tearing open a path. The frost never touched her. Instead, it became a dense veil of vapor that served as a screen.
"Amazing," Doma said.
"You can even cut apart the blood I dispersed into the air as mist, preventing it from corroding your lungs? How very clever."
Then he blinked.
The fog cleared.
Sui was no longer there.
So she was hiding again, waiting to strike?
"Blood Demon Art: Freezing Cloud White Princesses."
Two upper bodies of women formed from ice bloomed beneath the edge of Doma's fans. Their eyes remained closed as they exhaled killing frost that spread across the entire Swordsmith Village.
Wood shavings froze solid.
Even the temperature alone was enough to kill.
For any swordsman, inhaling even the slightest amount of that frozen mist would rot the lungs and rob them of the strength to fight.
The entire area had become a death zone.
"Stop hiding, Miss Sui. Come with me and enjoy paradise."
Thunder rumbled overhead.
Dark clouds swallowed the moon, and a jagged flash split the heavens in two, turning the world a deathly white.
The branching lightning made every living thing in the mountains tremble at its primal violence.
And within that thunder, Doma heard a wind chime ring.
"Thunder Breathing, Seventh Form: Susanoo."
Wrapped in black lightning, the woman in the crimson haori brought her blade down in a vertical strike.
The crackling bolt tore straight through the wall of ice mist. The frozen White Princesses melted into water before the lightning even reached them.
This strike carried the majesty of a true thunderbolt.
It was as if the god of destruction, Susanoo himself, had descended from the old myths to cut down all before him.
In the light of that black lightning, Doma began to cry.
"Miss Sui, you really are so strong. A frail human child, and yet you've reached this height. It moves me. It truly moves me."
He walked straight toward the lightning.
As though he were offering himself to her blade.
He had become, in that moment, every inch the figure of a high priest.
Arms spread wide, he began to chant.
"All Buddhas and World-Honored Ones appear in the world for one great cause alone.
To cause sentient beings to open the Buddha's wisdom and attain purity—thus they appear in the world.
To reveal the Buddha's wisdom to sentient beings—thus they appear in the world.
To awaken sentient beings to the Buddha's wisdom—thus they appear in the world..."
"To lead sentient beings into the path of the Buddha's wisdom—thus they appear in the world!"
At first his voice was low, almost gentle—
Then it rose and rose until it crashed like a colossal wave against a cliff face.
"Boom!"
Sui's blade struck something vast and intangible, carving a sword mark dozens of meters long through a wall of ice.
The snakes of her perception screamed in confusion, writhing wildly inside the frozen mist.
Something had appeared within its center.
Something had enveloped Doma's body.
"What is that...?!"
Sui landed.
Her snake swarm returned the outline of an enormous mass.
At the center of the freezing storm, the air condensed into a milky-white spiral.
A colossal shape rose from the ground—
And slowly took on the silhouette of a human form.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 138)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter160)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter98)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter175)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 163
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 150
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 100
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 170
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 145
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 125
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 69
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 90
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 66
Uma Musume: From Beginner 100
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 70
Uma Musume: I Want All 90
I Can Copy Unique Skills 65
Summoning an Evil God, but the 52
Supernatural Multiverse 65
My Harem Is Indescribable 55
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 55
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 66
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 55
Still playing traditional Honk 35
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 35
What Should I Do After Switchi 24
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 35
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 27
Transmigrated as Sukuna 27
Checking In in Demon Slayer 32
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 44
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