As Doma watched the black shield burn away every attack, his smile took on a hint of gravity for the first time.
He could feel his Blood Demon Art, those ice crystals formed from freezing air, being utterly broken down and vaporized the instant they touched the black flames, unable to transmit even the slightest trace of energy through them.
It was a peculiar sensation.
It was as though the ice sculptures he had painstakingly carved had met the sun.
No, these were more overpowering than the sun.
The sun merely melted things, but these black flames devoured them, annihilated them.
"What a fascinating ability."
Doma dropped his flippant demeanor, a nearly fanatical desire to study it gleaming in his rainbow-colored eyes.
Ordinary attacks, no matter how numerous, could not break through this burning shield.
Then he could only answer with a higher form of "art."
He drew a deep breath.
A terrifying surge of cold, far beyond anything before, erupted from his body.
This time, the cold did not turn into ice crystals or ice puppets. Instead, it swept across the entire floor of the hall like a tide in an instant.
Crack... crack...
A thick layer of ice covered the hard wooden floor at a speed visible to the naked eye. The ice was crystal clear, yet countless suffering souls seemed to be frozen within it.
The temperature in the hall plunged to an inconceivable degree.
Inside the shield of black flames, Inosuke could not help shivering. He felt as though his body was about to freeze stiff.
Shinobu Kocho and Kanao had also gone pale. Even though the black flames blocked most of the cold, the chill seeping into their marrow was still unbearable.
"This is..." Shinobu Kocho watched the scene before her, filled with shock.
*Was