Ibaraki-dōji did not die, because at the critical moment, Kidomaru kicked Mahoraga away and saved him.
Even so, Ibaraki-dōji was still heavily injured and no longer had the strength to continue fighting.
Although a yokai's vitality was ten times, or even dozens of times, greater than a human's, they still bled, still got injured, and still needed a long time to recover.
One could refer to Nurarihyon for this point.
In the original plot, that guy had been full of spirit when he was young. After fighting Hagoromo-Gitsune, although he won and became the new Lord of Pandemonium, he was left with irreversible injuries.
Over four hundred years, he gradually changed from a handsome, flourishing nurarihyon into a shrunken old man.
If he had not been severely injured, he would not have aged into that state.
After being kicked away, Mahoraga stood up expressionlessly, its crimson gaze locking onto Kidomaru.
Kidomaru said, "Step back, Ibaraki-dōji."
He intended to take over this battle.
"No. I can still…"
However, Ibaraki-dōji's strong pride would not allow him to withdraw just like that.
But just as his words fell, Kairouta made his move.
He slapped Ibaraki-dōji on the back of the head, making a muffled bang.
In the past, this kind of attack would not have counted for anything. But right now, Ibaraki-dōji was severely injured and at his weakest. Kairouta's strike immediately made Ibaraki-dōji close his eyes and fall asleep on the spot.
It fully displayed the fine body of a young yokai.
Kidomaru nodded at Kairouta. Kairouta replied with a "be careful," then carried Ibaraki-dōji to the side, giving the center of the stage to Kidomaru.
Rowan's casual voice came over.
"Actually, I don't mind if the two of you come at him together."
Kidomaru acted as if he had not heard, because he also had his own pride.
Rowan shrugged and said no more, lowering his head to look at Kidomaru and Mahoraga in the arena.
Although neither of them had moved yet, the scene was already filled with intense killing intent.
Kidomaru's thumb pressed against the sword guard and pushed it forward by one inch.
Just one inch, and the exposed section of the blade split the ground in two. The crack in the ground even extended all the way beneath Mahoraga's feet.
The blade had not yet been drawn, but its intent had already arrived.
Rowan could not help looking at Kidomaru in surprise. This guy really had some skill.
Mahoraga lowered its head and looked at the crack beneath its feet. A very shallow white mark appeared on its armor.
It did not even know how that thing had appeared.
At the same time,
Kidomaru drew his sword.
The instant his figure vanished from where he stood, a torn vacuum passage was left in the air. The air on both sides squeezed inward to fill the gap, producing a piercing sonic boom.
And when his figure condensed again, his blade had already cut into Mahoraga's left ribs.
That slash had no flashy tricks, no thunder, no flames, and no dazzling light.
There was only pure sharpness taken to the extreme.
Where the blade passed, the armor Mahoraga took pride in was sliced open like thin paper. The newly formed tissue beneath had not even had time to react before the second slash swept from the opposite direction, crossing the first cut precisely at the same position.
The cross-shaped wound exploded across Mahoraga's torso, almost cutting its entire upper body diagonally into two pieces.
"Umu. Very impressive."
Nero expressed that even she, as an emperor, found this strike rather brilliant.
Mahoraga staggered backward. The cross-shaped wound on its shell was wriggling madly, trying to heal.
But Kidomaru would not give it time.
His blade momentum surged like a tide. Every slash landed in a different place, and every slash cut open the shell, entered the flesh, and touched the core.
His footwork was very steady, neither fast nor slow, yet it gave people a strange illusion. It was as if he was not chasing Mahoraga and cutting it, but rather Mahoraga itself was crashing into his blade.
Blade light wove into an airtight net inside the Golden Theater.
That net kept tightening. Mahoraga's figure was cut apart, dismembered, and crushed within it.
Its left arm was severed cleanly at the root, the cut as smooth as a mirror. Its right leg separated at the knee, and before it even hit the ground, it was swept into fragments by a horizontal blade wind. Its head was split diagonally from the jaw, and half its face flew off together with its neck.
Dense, overlapping blade marks crisscrossed over its torso, cutting it into a flesh-and-blood puzzle barely maintaining a human shape.
Kidomaru stood at the center of the blade net, his long hair dancing wildly in the sword wind.
There was not even a single drop of blood on his blade. This was not because Kidomaru's blade was especially good, but because his blade was too fast—so fast that blood had no time to cling to it.
In front of him, Mahoraga was like a toy, without any ability to fight back.
Kidomaru was not surprised by this. This was the swordsmanship he had refined slash by slash over hundreds of years. Every strike condensed his effort and hard work. It was not something a mere shikigami could withstand.
Looking at Mahoraga, which he had dismembered slash by slash, Kidomaru expressionlessly swung his blade again.
This strike would completely kill Mahoraga.
However,
when the blade fell, it made a sound completely different from before.
It was no longer the dull echo of a sharp blade cutting into flesh, but a clear metallic clang.
Kidomaru's pupils shrank slightly. His blade stopped on Mahoraga's body.
It had been blocked.
At this moment, after suffering the most painful beating, Mahoraga had finally adapted to Kidomaru's attack.
Immediately afterward, Mahoraga's body began recovering at a speed visible to the naked eye. The cut wounds healed, and the severed arm grew back.
The sight made Kidomaru's hair stand on end.
No. This could not continue.
After seeing Mahoraga slowly stand up, Kidomaru immediately made up his mind.
Sword Halberd: Sakura!
In an instant, countless slashes fell upon Mahoraga like a violent storm, but they were useless.
Kidomaru changed moves without hesitation.
Sword Halberd: Plum Tree!
This move was faster and fiercer than before. The speed of the slashes increased by at least ten times.
But it was still useless, because at this moment, Mahoraga had already adapted to Kidomaru's slashes. No matter how fast or astonishing Kidomaru's slashes were, in the end, they were still slashes.
Since Mahoraga had already adapted, slashing attacks no longer had any effect.
At the same time, Mahoraga's counterattack arrived.
It picked up the great sword on the ground and fiercely chopped toward Kidomaru.
Kidomaru held his blade horizontally to block. The instant blade and sword collided, a pure and tyrannical force came through the blade.
His feet slid backward more than ten steps across the ground before he barely stabilized himself. At the same time, his blade cracked under the force, and a fracture line appeared across the body of the sword.
This made Kidomaru lose focus for a moment, because this blade had been nourished by his yokai aura. Over hundreds of years, it had already transformed into a yokai blade. It was not only sharp, but also sturdy.
It had not suffered such heavy damage in a very long time.
"You are strong."
Kidomaru slowly spoke, acknowledging Mahoraga's strength. But that did not mean he would admit defeat.
Kidomaru took a deep breath and raised his cracked blade back to a middle stance.
The cracks on the blade were clearly visible under the light, like a spiderweb that could shatter at any moment.
But his hand remained steady as a boulder, and his gaze remained calm as water.
For hundreds of years, he had faced countless powerful enemies and experienced countless battles on the verge of death. Never once had he retreated or begged for mercy because of an enemy's strength.
The blade could shatter. The body could die. But a swordsman's will would not.
This strike gathered all his strength.
He stepped forward and swung his sword.
The sound of the blade cutting through the air was like some ancient chant. The long sword that had accompanied him for a thousand years released its final light in this strike. Every crack on the blade glowed.
This sword fused all of Kidomaru's power, condensing a thousand years of fear, a thousand years of killing intent, and a thousand years of dignity as a demon chief into a single point.
Then—
he thrust.
The instant the blade tip touched Mahoraga's armor, time seemed to stop.
Then, the blade shattered.
Starting from the tip, inch by inch, it turned into powder. The fragments scattered under the light, like cherry blossoms blown away by the wind. As for Mahoraga's shell, only a shallow dent remained.
That dent could not even pierce through its outer shell.
Mahoraga raised its hand and gripped Kidomaru's throat, its five fingers closing.
Kidomaru could feel his throat bones crying out on the verge of shattering.
The air was cut off, and his vision began to blur.
Mahoraga's expressionless face enlarged before his eyes. Just as Kidomaru thought he was about to die,
the earth shook.
A massive black shadow crashed over from the side at a speed completely inconsistent with its size, carrying power enough to split mountains and crack stone. It slammed solidly into Mahoraga's side ribs.
Mahoraga's armor made a dull boom under that force.
Its body flew sideways like a stone that had been struck, smashing into the wall of the Golden Theater.
And the hand choking Kidomaru's throat also loosened the instant it was sent flying.
Kidomaru knelt on one knee, gasping heavily.
His vision had not yet fully recovered, but he knew which yokai had saved him.
After all, in this Golden Theater, the one capable of saving him was not the severely injured Ibaraki-dōji, but the unharmed Kairouta.
At this moment, Kairouta's enormous body stood before Kidomaru like a mountain.
His breathing was as heavy as a bellows, and every exhale made the surrounding air tremble visibly.
He did not turn back. Instead, he took the iron club from his shoulder and held it with both hands, one end of the club pointing toward Mahoraga.
Mahoraga had already stood up. A spiderweb-like patch of cracks appeared where Kairouta had struck it.
But those cracks were healing, and after healing, the armor became even harder.
"Next, it's my turn."
Kairouta split his mouth open and smiled ferociously, intending to replace Kidomaru and smash this shikigami before him into paste.
This made Rowan think of Kaido, because Kaido's weapon and his weapon were simply too similar.
So with a thought, Rowan summoned Kaido.