Severely Injured
In the close-range Fighting Spirit domain, any flaw, hesitation, or mistake the enemy made would be infinitely magnified in Kurozawa's perception, leading to powerful strikes.
Because of Daki's interference, Gyutaro's momentary hesitation was precisely detected by the Fighting Spirit sense.
A winning smile appeared on Kurozawa's face.
Immediately after, he took a deep breath, his internal energy circulation speeding up to its limit, and his muscles bulged.
"Die!"
Mingzhou transformed into a streak of pitch-black light, fiercely thrusting into the swarm of blood sickles surrounding Gyutaro. Its attack direction was precisely the weakest defensive point; within the trajectories of the massive blood sickle swarm, the gap here was significantly larger than elsewhere.
Simultaneously, Kurozawa's body also stepped forward, actively being swallowed by the blood sickle swarm.
In an instant, countless small wounds appeared on Kurozawa's body. His clothes were torn almost instantly by the sharp blood sickles, and his skin developed blood marks after three or four rotary cuts. After a dozen or more cuts, it was broken open, revealing the bright red muscle underneath.
And Gyutaro's powerful Blood Demon Art could inflict hundreds of cuts on Kurozawa in a single moment. Kurozawa, who had deliberately charged into it, was immediately covered in blood.
But as he was being injured, the tip of the Mingzhou blade emerged from the blood sickle swarm, making contact with the tough skin of Gyutaro's forehead. The sensation of flesh and blood transmitted through his hand further solidified Kurozawa's resolve.
Kurozawa's target was Gyutaro's head. The Mingzhou's thrust, capable of piercing steel, could definitely penetrate Gyutaro's skull, sending the Pitch-Black Aura into his brain and incinerating his rationality.
In the final dozen centimeters of this struggle, the deeper he went, the more frequent the attacks Kurozawa himself suffered, but he paid no mind.
His left hand protected him, while vital areas like his mouth, nose, and throat were protected by concentrated Pitch-Black Aura. Kurozawa was covered in blood, his dense wounds layering one after another, yet his figure remained as stable as bedrock.
"Are you trying to die together?!" The tip of the blade had already pierced Gyutaro's forehead. Left with no choice, he relaxed his control over the Blood Demon Art and retreated repeatedly, trying to break free from Mingzhou.
But Kurozawa was faster. Mingzhou was like a maggot clinging to bone, stubbornly biting into Gyutaro's brow and refusing to let go. By now, it had pierced into Gyutaro's brow bone, and cracks were spreading across his skull.
Crack! The blade tip finally pierced through the iron-hard bone, touching Gyutaro's brain.
Gyutaro sensed a fatal crisis and finally let out a desperate cry, "Doma-sama, save me!"
As he cried out, the fluctuation of Doma's Fighting Spirit intensified for an instant.
While dealing with Kanae, Doma had been keeping an eye on the battle between Kurozawa and Gyutaro. He didn't need Gyutaro's call; he would have acted now anyway.
An ice doll, identical to him in appearance and build, suddenly materialized in the freezing air. It instantly broke free from Kanae's obstruction and flew towards Kurozawa.
"No, it's already over!" Kurozawa's heart tightened, and a ruthless look appeared in his eyes.
All the Pitch-Black Aura he used for defense vanished. His injuries worsened, and even his left eye was cut open by a blood sickle, blood flowing down his eyelid.
On the other side, the Pitch-Black Aura attached to Mingzhou suddenly became more vigorous, surging into Gyutaro's brain along the blade of Mingzhou.
"Ahhhhhhh!" Gyutaro screamed.
As a true Upper Moon, he had a firm will, far surpassing that of his sister Daki. But in the burning pain that felt like it went straight to his soul, his spirit rapidly weakened.
At the same time, influenced by the Power of Despair, layers of illusions sprouted.
In the midst of extreme pain, Gyutaro saw the most desperate scenes of his life. This was also the negative illusion Daki was experiencing.
It was when he was still human, his sister burned beyond recognition by a samurai, barely clinging to life. He fought back, and after killing the samurai, he too was on his last breath, lying in the mud, waiting for death with a heart full of unwillingness and despair. As time passed, the unwillingness lessened, and the despair grew stronger.
Moreover, in this desperate illusion, Doma did not come to rescue him and Daki. The siblings struggled and died in endless pain, while a seductive, decadent sound seemed to be luring him into despair.
After just a few cycles, Gyutaro's mental will verged on collapse. He lost the will to resist and even actively craved death. The fluctuation of his Fighting Spirit rapidly weakened, like a dying flame.
The negative emotions brought by the Pitch-Black Aura could always plunge people into deep despair.
When Gyutaro's will collapsed, the blood sickle swarm stiffened abruptly, then suddenly disintegrated, transforming into streaks of crimson blood that fell to the ground, splashing onto Kurozawa. Combined with Kurozawa's own blood, he looked as if he had emerged from a pool of blood, covered in a thick layer of gore.
At this moment, Kurozawa's physical injuries were already quite severe.
Forcefully killing an Upper Moon with similar strength came at a significant cost.
Looking closely, one could see his wounds were bleeding outwards, meaning even the fourth stage Breathing Technique couldn't stop the bleeding. As blood was lost, he would grow weaker and weaker.
Having lost the defense of the blood sickle swarm, Kurozawa had no more reservations. He propped himself up, and Mingzhou instantly pierced through Gyutaro's head, the blade tip entering from the brow and exiting from the back of the head. A layer of black flame was burning on his head; Gyutaro's expression was already numb, his flesh and skin turning to ash little by little. He had lost the will to live.
However, Doma's ice doll was approaching.
Daki's skull on the ground was regenerating flesh and skin because it wasn't being continuously burned by the Pitch-Black Aura, slowly recovering.
These two had to be killed simultaneously.
Kurozawa took a deep breath, kicked Daki's head up, and pierced her head again with Mingzhou.
Boom! The Pitch-Black Aura burned on both Gyutaro's and Daki's heads simultaneously. Judging by the speed at which their Fighting Spirit was weakening, they would turn completely to ash in less than a minute.
"An Upper Moon's vitality is truly astonishingly tenacious," Kurozawa braced himself, watching the approaching ice doll.
Pain, fatigue, weakness, cold... This was the first time Kurozawa had suffered such severe injuries.
At this moment, he understood the plight of ordinary Swordsmen dealing with Demons. Even if they could ultimately defeat the Demon, due to their severe physical injuries that were difficult to recover from, there was a high probability they would watch themselves approach death.
If I could have the regeneration ability of a Demon... even if I couldn't see the sun, it would be worth it.
"Gray-White, use all Potential Points, put everything into Constitution!"
The thought that arose in Kurozawa's mind was executed meticulously by Gray-White.
A faint light seemed to flow over his already battered skin. His wounds regenerated and healed rapidly, and Gyutaro's blood poison was also purified. But Kurozawa didn't notice that some of Gyutaro's, no, Hongyue's original Demon blood, was absorbed by the faint light as his wounds healed and entered his body as well.
At this point, the ice doll stopped about ten meters away from Kurozawa. It looked at Kurozawa, its ice-carved face bearing Doma's unchanging, sickening smile.
The ice doll raised a hand, and intense fluctuations of Fighting Spirit surged within it.
In an instant, another Ice Bodhisattva, over four meters tall and identical, materialized behind it in the freezing air, rising from the ground. It then swung a fierce palm, striking towards Kurozawa.
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