"Blood Demon Art: Lamenting Infant!"
The infant cradled in Shima's arms snapped its eyes open and unleashed a shriek that rent the air! Visible gray-white soundwaves expanded like an explosion. Tatsuya, taking the brunt of the impact, felt his skull vibrate violently, his eardrums feeling as if they were being pierced by steel needles.
Good thing I was hammered by that waterfall every day during training! Otherwise, I'd be deaf right now!
Tatsuya gritted his teeth and retreated, his vision flickering with darkness from the shock. Shima didn't miss the opportunity. She blurred toward him, her withered claws whistling through the air as she lunged for his face!
Takeshi, standing at the edge of the soundwave, was less affected. He roared and swung his chained axes: "Stone Breathing, Second Form: Upper Smash!"
The spinning blades, infused with heavy stone-like aura, smashed toward Shima like a falling meteor, forcing her to lean back to evade. Seizing the gap, Tatsuya suppressed his dizziness and erupted with lightning! His Nichirin Sword became a golden bolt, thrusting straight for the throat of that eerie "baby."
I have to stop you from launching that soundwave again!
Shima shrieked, refusing to dodge. She used her back to tank another heavy strike from Takeshi's axes—Squelch! Flesh flew, exposing her spine—but her withered claw accurately intercepted and deflected Tatsuya's lethal thrust mid-air.
CLANG! The screech of metal on bone sent sparks flying.
The impact sent Shima stumbling back. The baby in her arms, sensing danger, let out a more piercing, soul-shredding wail. Another more powerful soundwave exploded like an invisible sledgehammer, forcing Tatsuya and Takeshi back several paces and granting Shima a moment to reset her stance.
"This is... my child's and my last 'Pure Land,' our last 'home'... I won't let you destroy it!"
"Blood Demon Art: False Womb!!"
Takeshi swung his chains. "Careful, Tatsuya! Something's wrong with the ground!"
Shima plunged her long, gaunt arms into the earth beneath her feet. An ominous aura surged! Within a fifty-meter radius, the ground began to writhe and swell like a living thing. Dark red, viscous flesh instantly replaced the soil and sand, creating a horrific hellscape.
Countless rotting, foul-smelling umbilical cords burst from the fleshy ground like vipers, frantically coiling around Tatsuya and Takeshi's ankles. Deeper down, placenta-like masses pulsed. The air was thick with the nauseating stench of blood and death, as if they were trapped inside a massive, distorted womb.
My body... it's getting heavy? As Tatsuya sliced through the cords, he felt his muscles being drained of strength. Even the Thunder Breathing in his veins felt like it had fallen into a thick marsh, its circulation slowing down abruptly.
Forcing us to experience the suffocation of a dying fetus? What a devious domain... to think a Blood Demon Art could do this!
"I can't move fast!" Takeshi roared, hacking away several meat-tentacles tipped with bone spikes. He attempted a heavy offensive strike aimed at Shima's torso: "Stone Breathing, Third Form: Skin of the Stone Body!"
But under the slowing effects of the domain, this heavy blow appeared clumsy. The baby let out a short scream, and Shima herself moved like a weightless ghost, sliding aside in a bizarrely twisted posture to avoid the blades. Her movements were fluid, as if gravity didn't apply to her.
Takeshi's axe was a beat too slow, hitting only the fleshy ground. Tatsuya fought through the weakness and the hitch in his breath, sparks exploding at his feet!
"Thunder Breathing, First Form: Thunderclap and Flash!"
He became a zig-zagging streak of golden light, aiming for the back of Shima's neck! However, just as the blade was about to hit, the "infant" twisted its face 180 degrees, its hollow black eyes staring directly at Tatsuya.
It opened its toothless mouth—Pffft! A thick, foul, dark-red mist with intense corrosive properties sprayed out, instantly blinding Tatsuya's line of sight!
"Tch!" Tatsuya aborted his lunge. Takeshi immediately filled the gap, his chains rattling as his axes whipped up a violent rock hurricane.
"Don't even think about running! Stone Breathing, Fifth Form: Arches of Justice!"
The massive stone aura crushed toward Shima's flank, sealing her escape! In the chaos of the blood mist, Tatsuya's figure didn't stop! He forcibly adjusted his center of gravity and pushed his Breathing to the absolute peak—
"Thunder Breathing, First Form: Thunderclap and Flash—Six Fold!"
First Flash! Golden light rent the mist, thrusting at Shima's shoulder. She blocked with a claw, sparks flying. Second Flash! Before the light faded, the blade traced a sharp angle, slashing at her elbow. Third and Fourth Flash! Tatsuya moved like a wraith, two simultaneous strikes attacking her throat and the wrist holding the "child." Shima leaned back desperately, abandoning her counter-attack. Fifth Flash! Tatsuya used her backward momentum to lunge upward at her exposed neck! Sixth Flash! The Ultimate Strike! Tatsuya concentrated all his strength into a single point. His blade became a condensed golden thread, tearing through the air with a speed that surpassed all previous attempts, aimed straight at the center of Shima's neck!
The killing moment arrived—CRACK! A sickening sound of splintering bone!
"The feel is off... I didn't cut through!"
The blade was stuck halfway deep into her neck bone, unable to advance further.
Not only am I weaker here, but her body density has increased?! This domain buffs her too?!
Shima let out a shriek of agony. Her eyes flared with malice as she swung a claw toward Tatsuya's wide-open chest.
"DON'T YOU DARE!" Takeshi roared, jerking his chains. The heavy axe handle slammed into Shima's arm, knocking her trajectory off—RIP! Tatsuya's uniform and flesh were torn open, three bloody gashes appearing on his chest.
I'll be drained dry if this keeps up! Think!
Tatsuya ignored the searing pain. His eyes swept the battlefield. Thanks to his Six-Fold Flash and Takeshi's assault, they had pushed Shima nearly thirty meters away from the center of the fleshy domain.
Shima had been moved, but the core pulsing area—the placenta-like masses—remained fixed at her old home's location.
The domain doesn't move with her... it's fixed to the shack! Forcing her to move worked! We have to get her completely out of this range to break this Blood Demon Art!
Tatsuya wiped the blood from his mouth. "TAKESHI! THE DOMAIN IS FIXED! DRIVE HER OUT OF THE RANGE! WE CAN'T KILL HER IN HERE!"
Takeshi's bloodshot eyes went wide, and an earth-shaking roar erupted from his chest: "GOOD! LEAVE IT TO ME!!"
Takeshi stepped forward, crushing umbilical cords under his feet. "I trained until I nearly died so that no one would ever be eaten in front of me again! That includes you!" He poured the absolute limit into his Stone Breathing. His muscles bulged to the point of tearing, and white steam hissed from his mouth. A layer of stone-like armor seemed to coat his skin.
His heavy axes came alive, dancing with a mountain-shattering ferocity. The chains hissed through the air, creating a storm of steel that encircled both Shima and himself.
"In life you were pitiful, but in death you are only hateful!"
Like a cornered beast, he abandoned all defense. He pushed, shoved, and slammed into Shima with brute force, ignoring the tentacles lashing his back. He moved inch by inch, leaving bloody footprints on the way to the edge of the domain.
He's gotten so much stronger since Fujikasane... I can't let this chance go to waste! Tatsuya gripped his hilt, ready to support.
Takeshi finally cornered Shima and, gripping the axe handles like two heavy warhammers, engaged in a primitive, suicidal melee.
One more step! Just one more!
Whenever Shima tried to rip Takeshi's throat out during a gap in his assault, Tatsuya's voice rang out like a death curse: "Too bad... THUNDERCLAP AND FLASH!!!"
A streak of gold-red lightning would inevitably follow, aiming straight for the "infant" in her arms. Every time, Shima was forced to abort her kill and frantically block Tatsuya's blade.
Clang! Slice! Rip!
The lethal cycle repeated. Takeshi was covered in wounds, his uniform soaked in red. Shima bore deep gashes on her pale skin. But Takeshi refused to back down. Finally, they reached the edge! The dark red fleshy wall of the "False Womb" was within reach!
Takeshi's eyes flared with a desperate, final light. He completely ignored Shima's claws lunging for his stomach.
"GAAHH—!"
The claws sank deep into Takeshi's side, piercing through to his back. The pain turned his vision black, but he used the impact to brace himself. He poured every last drop of his vitality into throwing the heavy iron chains around Shima's waist!
"IT HURTS LIKE HELL! BUT I'VE GOT YOU!!"
The chains coiled around Shima like a living python, locking her tight.
"What are you doing...?!" Shima shrieked. Takeshi used his mangled body as a fulcrum, twisting with everything he had, using the claws embedded in his gut as a lever.
"NOW... GET THE HELL OUT!!!"
With a roar that cost him his last breath, Shima and her wailing infant were hurled through the air like a twisted ragdoll. The chains snapped with a violent ping at the edge of the domain.
Shima's body was flung far out of the range of the dark-red flesh, away from the stench of the False Womb.
"NOW! TATSUYA—!!!"