With her Bright Red Nichirin Blade and war mark active, Kanae...
...could be said to have temporarily suppressed this Upper Rank Two.
Several of her attacks had even nearly beheaded him. At the closest, her blade had missed his neck by a hair.
The wounds her Bright Red Nichirin Blade left on him...
...also drew repeated exclamations of wonder from Doma, who noticed that they would not heal quickly.
But Xia Xi noticed two problems.
First, Doma's energy level had barely fluctuated.
Even demons...
...would show minor, single-digit fluctuations in their various energy levels during an all-out battle, depending on their emotions and exertion.
No change at all...
...could mean only one thing.
He had not been using his full strength at all.
And the other issue...
...was that several small debuff icons had appeared on Kanae's panel at some point.
The first among them...
...was [Lung damage], though the Medicine skill's note classified it as mild.
But that was enough to catch Xia Xi's attention.
Even though Kanae had carefully avoided most of the freezing air...
...his Blood Demon Art seemed to counter Breathing Styles even more effectively than Xia Xi had imagined.
Considering the extremely tiny ice crystals present in all his attacks...
...every breath and attack...
...was a check for a Demon Slayer Corps swordsman. The slightest carelessness would mean inhaling some.
Naturally, Xia Xi could not bear to let this girl stay out front, continuing a battle of attrition with a sneaky bastard like this.
"What happened to the fair, one-on-one duel we agreed on?"
"Oh my, aren't this lovely young lady and I fighting seriously?"
"Then why are you resorting to cheap tricks like scattering 'powder' into the air?"
Doma's voice paused briefly.
"Oh my, you saw through it."
He grinned. "But hasn't this young