Demon Slayer : The Silent Journey

Chapter 85: Doma vs Seiji (Final)

[3rd POV]

'This can't be human.'

That was the only line of thought Doma was able to fit between calm and disaster. One moment the human was walking towards him and then he turned into a violent storm in the same stretch of moment.

The ground shook due to the sheer force exploding on it. The air quivered and fled as the human storm-incarnate obliterated everything in an instant.

'I didn't see it.'

It was a scary thought for the Upper Moon 2. With the strength he now possessed, no entity should be able to move faster than he could see. Not Kokushiibo, and not even Muzan Kibutsuji.

It was impossible.

...

*BOOOOOOM!!!*

And so, with his entire body other than his head completely obliterated, Doma stared at the aftermath of the impossible. Purple lighting razed the ground and flashed in a brilliant light that stunted the world.

A violent wind ravaged the atmosphere, turning every molecule of air into a deadly blade. Doma was not even able to witness how his ice clones were reduced to ice dust. It happened too fast.

Yet all that violence and all that super speed were guided by perfect accuracy. They were stitched together by a wave, a flow of water. Doma deduced that from the afterimage left by the human.

No, he was no longer just a human to Doma.

A Hashira.

For the first time in his long life, Doma felt the weight of the title Hashira. He knew now, that he was facing against the pillar of humanity.

Finally, sound returned to the battlefield after seemingly gathering enough courage. The shockwaves that erupted from shattering sound barriers completely ripped the topmost layer of the ground, exposing deeper earth.

*Thud*

Doma - currently only a head - fell to the ground with a thud. His head fell in the perfect position to stare at the back of the Hashira.

His eyes told him that the enemy was only a human who was broken beyond belief. From all of the injuries Doma saw on the man, he should have fallen with a single touch. The enemy was weak and fragile, already past his breaking point.

Yet Doma's heart saw a different entity. His heart saw a fellow monster who had the capacity to end him - an equal. There was also a certain feeling in his heart which he could not describe. But that feeling stood out for Doma who usually never felt a tinge of emotion.

'What is it?' he wondered.

The feeling only intensified when the Hashira turned his head, eyes glowing purple - somehow looking even more demonic than his.

It froze him for a moment.

...

Speaking of heart, he should regenerate quickly. It was not fitting for someone like him to remain only a head.

Being beheaded was fatal to most demons but for the top three of the upper moon, it was no longer enough to kill them.

Doma unleashed his full potential and rapidly reconstructed his body in all its majestic glory from only a head. The Hashira simply watched while Doma fully regenerated.

"Ah, thank you for waiting," Doma said with a playful smile, unfitting of the situation.

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"Stop doing that," A cold robotic voice came from the Hashira. Doma hated the way he talked, some words had the wrong pitch and tone. It sounded like an AI voice, an imitation.

"Doing what?"

"Stop acting like you have emotions," the Hashira said and his piercing eyes focused on Doma. "You feel nothing, you are no different than the ice dolls you create,"

With the help of his purple eyes, he was able to see how Doma was imitating playful emotions even though he never really felt a thing.

Doma was born apathetic. Ever since his birth, he had never experienced proper emotions. The best he could do was imagine the emotions and imitate what he had seen.

'The next emotion I should feel is anger, right? He is hitting a sore spot after all.' Doma thought to himself. He had become immaculate in acting emotions after centuries of studies.

But weirdly enough, he did not feel like faking anger. There was this burning sensation in his heart which was the very first time Doma was feeling anything.

"You living dead, you should've never existed," the Hashira spat out with a thick amount of hate in his awkward voice, "I'll fix that,"

Doma talked no more and started using his blood Demon Art. The feeling in his heart increased when he saw the enemy get into a stance, he was not sure but he suspected it was an emotion.

He thinks it's excitement!!

"Blood Demon Art!!"

The temperature in the air plummeted and the white smoke of frosty ice overwhelmed the surroundings. The world became numbing cold and on a summer night, winter came.

"Rime — Water Lily Bodhisattva"

A gigantic icy Buddha materialized amidst the frigid air. The space around the statue seemed to distort due to the depressive cold. The winds were still, frozen at the moment as the Buddha was erected to its full glory.

From the mouth of the Buddha came chilling white clouds that froze everything in its path. Spinning lotuses with sharp vines also came to life around the Buddha and they towered over the human.

The Hashira watched all of it happen from a distance. Each breath he took released smoke in the arctic air, yet he remained unharmed. He was like an undying flame, with the heat of a star in his lungs.

His purple eyes pierced right through the frozen air.

Doma grabbed the space in front of him and the Buddha followed his action. Then he took the action of tearing down space - the Buddha followed.

The icy statue of a God, standing almost ten meters tall, came crashing towards the human with the weight of a mountain. The lotuses spun forward at incredible speed, aiming to rip him apart.

In return, the Hashira only observed him with eyes colder than ice. Its calculating depth gave a terrifying chill to anyone who gazed upon them.

At that moment, he created a new breathing style to perfectly counter against Doma. It was the same thing he had done for Sun Breathing

The ice Buddha would require incredible raw strength to destroy so he took that aspect from Stone Breathing. The chilling clouds from the Buddha's mouth demanded Wind Breathing to fight against them. And finally, he took the intensity of Flame Breathing to fight against the frigid temperature.

These three styles were broken apart and rebuilt to create a new breathing style.

"Volcanic Breathing : First Form," said the human before moving straight towards the giant Buddha.

He lept in the air, higher than the ice buddha. The lotuses spun and changed trajectory to follow him but he paid them no heed. He brought his long sword high above his head and you could see an intense red cover his body and sword.

"Molten Divide,"

Under the stunned eyes of Doma, the ice Buddha instantly split into two and the shockwave from the slash destroyed every individual lotus coming his way.

That was not the end. Soon after, the earth split into two.

*BOOOOOOOM!!*

It was a ground-splitting attack with the intensity of an erupting volcano. The ground quaked as if the tectonic plates had shifted. Then an overwhelming wave of pressure crushed the vicinity mercilessly.

It was not only an attack that equalled the Ice Buddha. It was an attack carefully crafted by someone to counter Doma's attack perfectly.

The Upper Moon never stood.a chance.

The aftermath of the clash was a scene of broken ice and scarred earth. There was an oppressive silence in the air that seemed to choke Doma.

The emotion in his heart increased.

"Blood Demon Art : Crystalline Divine Child,"

Doma immediately continued the battle. Something inside was urging him to attack even more intensely. He created miniature clones of himself once more and they attacked the Hashira all at once.

But this time, it was no longer effective.

The Hashira was way faster than the clones so they were never able to surround him to take advantage of his blind spot. He moved from one place to another as they blurred around the battlefield and the village.

The exchange went on for quite some time. The sound of ice clashing and breaking against steel filled the Village. The houses in the village were destroyed in loud destructive explosions. A calamity had struck the settlement.

After this battle, the village would not be habitable anymore.

But through all this, Doma could not process anything anymore. It was all a blur of information.

He remembered creating more ice clones every time they were destroyed. But he remained in his place, aware of the battle yet not joining for some reason.

There was something choking him from the inside. It stopped him from moving an inch towards the human.

How odd, how very odd.

Then in a loud ear-splitting explosion, the Hashira destroyed all six clones at once. He razed a path through the village and immediately reached Doma.

"Let's end this now," he said, the imperfection of his speech still remained.

Doma remained in his place, he did not even try to make clones anymore since they were ineffective. With every intention of ending the battle himself, they stood opposite to each other.

"Blood Demon Art," Doma readied his spell.

In return, the Hashira said...

"Esoteric Art,"

"Water Breathing : Eleventh Form,"

Water surged out from the Hashira and covered the entire surrounding. Doma felt like he was pulled into another dimension as he found himself in the middle of a waging ocean.

But even after a while, the Water never calmed down. Instead, the waves became more and more violent.

"Living's Malice,"

Right then, killing intent floods out like a raging tsunami. The intent of the malice and hatred was so strong that it transcended the psychic plane and manifested itself to the world. Not only could Doma feel it but he could experience his death multiple times.

It froze him in his spot.

The burning feeling in his heart, the emotion he felt finally became known at that moment. Since he never felt emotions before, he did not know what it was but now, he realized.

It was not excitement.

It was fear.

He was afraid.

Doma could not move at all. Every second he experienced his own death. The killing intent was so strong that even the breeze upon his skin felt like a deadly attack and he was completely stunned.

He was scared. He knew he should not be scared of the blowing wind or the sound of crickets but like a child with an irrational fear of ghosts, he trembled.

Therefore, he never even saw the real attack coming. When everything felt like they were trying to kill him, the real attack that was made to kill him was completely hidden.

This technique was the complete opposite of Giyu's 'Dead Calm' and his selfless state, yet they accomplished the same task. Instead of erasing one's presence by eliminating all hatred and intention, this technique amplified it.

The killing intent and the hatred of the user were so powerful that they completely corrupted the surroundings. Like conquerors haki, the intent materialized on the world and the victim felt like everything in the world was out to harm them.

So they could never see the real attack coming. They could not differentiate between a blowing wind and the slashing of a sword.

...

Even without his knowledge, Doma's head was chopped off. His body fell to the ground and his bisected head soon followed.

Doma was too stunned to even react.

His eyes were wide, too overwhelmed by the emotion in his heart. In the following second, his head started turning into ash.

He could've regenerated, an Upper Moon like him would not die by simply beheading. And yet he was dying.

Why?

It was because he dared not regenerate when those eyes were looking down at him. Being erased seemed to be the better alternative than continuing the battle.

And so, Doma died not because of any blade or attack but because he didn't do anything.

He was too overwhelmed by the first and the last emotion he ever felt in his long existence.

Fear.

..

..

..

[Colder than ice]

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Author : Sorry, I had to re-write this Chapter because I killed Doma in a very dumb way. In all honesty, Seiji had no way of killing Doma other than waiting for sunrise. Remember it took wisteria poison 400 times stronger the amount to kill normal demons to bring down Doma.

I don't see anything other than sun breathing that can kill Doma.

It felt off at first, how Seiji killed Doma. But I re-wrote the Chapter and this time, in Doma's perspective to mention that he died not because he was killed, but literally because he was too afraid to heal.

He killed himself basically. And this became realistic when we learned that Doma could not feel emotion so he did not know how else to react to the first emotion he felt which was fear.

So, that's how you kill Upper Moon 2 I guess.

..

Also, Kudos to the reader whom I did not remember. He said something about selfish state which would be the opposite fo selfless state under the Chapter that said Seiji could never enter selfless state.

I took his advice and created Living's Malice, absolutely opposite of Dead Calm lol.

So, that's the end of the Doma arc. I hope I cooked up an acceptable product.

Thanks for reading and supporting me.