Frosty Sky

Facing the countless ferocious water fish assailing her from the sky, Miketsu’s Demonic Fang Blade bristled with a dense, chilling aura. As she swung her blade forward, an extremely cold ice and snow storm swept forth from its edge, instantly engulfing the sky-filling water fish.

“Cold Ice Break!”

Under the sweeping blizzard, the numerous ferocious water fish were successively frozen into lifelike ice sculptures. They then lost control and plummeted to the ground, shattering into countless ice shards. Clearly, the Lord of Arakawa could not control water once it was frozen.

“This guy… can also use ice?” Seeing Miketsu employ an ability that countered him, the Lord of Arakawa couldn't help but frown. At this very moment, Miketsu’s counterattack had already begun.

“Wind Feather Burst!” The tip of the Demonic Fang Blade was pointed backward, and violent currents of air erupted from it, propelling Miketsu’s body forward. She flew rapidly close to the ground toward the distant Lord of Arakawa. Since her previous long-range projectile attacks hadn't worked, she was prepared to switch to a different method of assault.

“Coming straight at me? How utterly reckless!” Seeing Miketsu rushing toward him, the Lord of Arakawa once again waved his folding fan, causing the water he could still control to condense before him, forming a water barrier to obstruct Miketsu’s advance. Although this water barrier appeared as if it could be easily pierced, the Lord of Arakawa was confident that if Miketsu dared to charge into it, he could use immense water pressure to trap her in an inescapable water prison.

Facing the trap before her, Miketsu, possessing causality vision, naturally wouldn't fall for it. After slightly adjusting the direction of the demonic energy vent on her Demonic Fang Blade, Miketsu, who had been nearing the water prison trap, made a sharp turn and flew upward, directly bypassing the water prison and continuing her direct charge toward the Lord of Arakawa.

The Lord of Arakawa was startled by this and waved his fan once more. This time, the water around him that he could still control transformed into countless water pillars, shooting toward the attacking Miketsu in the sky. Miketsu, however, performed extremely agile maneuvers by merely slightly adjusting the direction of her demonic energy propulsion, like a dive bomber evading anti-aircraft fire, and arrived directly before the Lord of Arakawa. Yet, the Lord of Arakawa showed no sign of panic.

“Heh… quite agile, aren’t you? But if you think I can only control water and am poor at close combat, then you are gravely mistaken! Kaikoku-saku!” Facing Miketsu’s close-range assault, the Lord of Arakawa extended his hand. A water shark that had been circling beside him opened its mouth, from which a glimmering katana shot out. As the Lord of Arakawa caught the katana, Miketsu had already swung her Demonic Fang Blade down with full force.

The Lord of Arakawa urgently held the Kaikoku-saku to block. Just as he intended to parry the attack and counterattack with his sword skills, his eyes suddenly widened, and his expression completely froze on his face.

“What…”

The ear-splitting clang of weapons echoed across the entire barren island. An immense power, completely unimaginable to the Lord of Arakawa, surged through the Kaikoku-saku in his hand and throughout his body. Under this immense force, the Lord of Arakawa remained in his blocking stance as he half-knelt, and then the ground beneath him fractured into spiderweb-like cracks.

“To withstand my strike without your body collapsing, your close-quarters combat ability is indeed impressive…” Facing the Lord of Arakawa, Miketsu then pressed down with her Kishin power. The ground beneath the Lord of Arakawa immediately shattered from the immense force, and Miketsu slammed him underground like a game of whack-a-mole. After a cloud of dust, only a cracked hole in the ground remained.

“Buried in the earth…? No…”

Looking at the hole, Miketsu frowned as she prepared to unleash another technique into it. The reason was simple: at the deepest part of the vertical pit, Miketsu didn't see the Lord of Arakawa. Instead, there was a pool of flowing water—a seawater fissure beneath the barren island, leading directly to the open sea.

“Rumble!”

Just then, the seawater around the barren island suddenly surged and churned violently. The previously calm sea surface suddenly rolled with successive towering waves. The sea wind blew, and the waves roared. Under the influence of an invisible force, the ocean surrounding the barren island reacted unusually.

“Hahahaha! I never thought you could push me to such an extent, Owl! I, the Lord of Arakawa, acknowledge your strength!” Along with the increasingly howling waves, a voice came from the distant sea. Miketsu turned her head to look and saw a turbulent sea from which a massive wave was surging toward the barren island. As it advanced, the wave continuously grew, quickly reaching a height of several tens of meters. To Miketsu, it was a colossal wall of water rushing toward her, and at the very crest of this towering wave was the Lord of Arakawa, directly controlling the immense volume of water with his body!

“You are strong, Owl, but in this domain, you cannot defeat me. Witness the magnificent power of these surging waves!”

“This is… quite spectacular indeed…” Looking at the massive wave surging toward her, Miketsu gripped her Demonic Fang Blade, upon which a bitterly cold demonic ice energy once again manifested. As the giant wave, controlled by the Lord of Arakawa, engulfed the land and made landfall, Miketsu swung her blade, conjuring an ice and snow storm.

“Cold Ice Break!”

Miketsu’s ice storm met the surging colossal wave, instantly freezing its surface with a layer of ice. However, this ice sheet only lasted for a second before bursting into deep cracks and completely collapsing. The towering wave continued to rush toward Miketsu, submerging the land in its path.

The volume of water is too great, I can’t freeze it all at once? Thinking this, Miketsu urgently used demonic energy propulsion to soar into the air, rising to a height beyond the reach of the waves. However, she was already submerged in the surging seawater. At this moment, the land was gone; everywhere was the Lord of Arakawa’s home turf!

“Constructing an offense with such an immense volume of water, preventing me from completely freezing it in one go? Heh, that is indeed a countermeasure. The cold wind of the Cold Ice Break is too dispersed and can’t concentrate its freezing power, but…”

Gripping her Demonic Fang Blade, Miketsu vigilantly watched the sea surface below. She knew that the Lord of Arakawa’s attacks wouldn't cease for long. The next one would surely be another large-scale water-controlling offensive, intended to break through Miketsu’s ice seal.

And Miketsu was prepared to decide the victor with this next strike!

As expected, the still turbulent sea surface below Miketsu once again began to churn violently. Under a fierce burst of demonic energy, a distant low roar came from far to near, as if something was approaching from the deep sea.

“Boom!”

Amidst a burst of towering waves, an ethereal blue water whale, several tens of meters long, leapt out of the sea, illuminated by the moonlight. It opened its colossal mouth, intent on swallowing Miketsu, who was hovering above the sea. Inside this magnificent whale was the Lord of Arakawa, controlling the water with all his demonic power.

“This ends now, Whale Fall…”

Facing the approaching water whale, Miketsu had no intention of fleeing. A whirlwind of demonic energy coiled around her Demonic Fang Blade. Miketsu swung her blade, unleashing a massive demonic energy tornado—an enhanced Explosive Current Wave.

However, Miketsu didn’t expect the Explosive Current Wave alone to stop the water whale. As she maintained the Explosive Current Wave, a bitterly cold demonic energy coiled around her Demonic Fang Blade, and the sword itself transformed into a translucent ice crystal.

“Explosive Current Wave… Cold Ice Break… Demonic Energy Fusion…

“Frost Sky Dragon Break!”

As if a faint dragon’s roar echoed, the demonic energy tornado unleashed by Miketsu suddenly underwent a qualitative change. As it charged forward, the demonic energy tornado transformed into an ice-blue frost dragon, roaring and charging directly at the water whale. The previously dispersed frost demonic energy was now gathered together, meeting the Lord of Arakawa’s water whale head-on.

Amidst a rising white storm, the frost dragon and the water whale collided. In an instant, the dragon dissipated, while the whale was quickly and completely frozen from head to tail, inside and out. The Lord of Arakawa, eyes wide open, was trapped and sealed within the colossal ice sculpture.

“What… he actually…”

Watching this scene, Miketsu flew before the whale ice sculpture. Before it could fall into the sea, Miketsu extended her bandaged left hand, which was not holding a sword.

“Then… this ends here, Lord of Arakawa!”

After her final declaration, Miketsu punched fiercely. Under Miketsu’s immense force, the whale ice sculpture cracked into countless massive fissures, and then shattered completely.