The cave's air suffused with the hatred that evaporated both of the Upper Moon's bodies. Every molecule was concentrated with anticipation, intensity and fury.
"I'll show Lord Muzan your head, and he'll see that this whole quest was unnecessary," Douma's apathetic glare turned unserious as his eyes curled upward. He didn't know how to be serious, because honestly, he couldn't feel anything, he thought torturing people would evoke some sort of empathy or enjoyment But alas, he was unsuccessful. He opened his clenched hands, his palms coming into contact with the damp cave air. Perfect for his Blood Demon Art.
The cave trembled as ice began to form, large masses of ice sprouting and growing at unnaturally high speeds. Spikes formed on their exteriors and their growths branched right at Ali, like several spears.
Ali's body twisted as he evaded a growth aimed to penetrate his liver. He slammed his fist into the robust ice. The strike was followed by a massive surge of wind that eroded the ice masses in the air, sparkles of snow floated in the air as the masses shrunk quickly.
Douma's feet slammed into the ground, though the rock cracked into tiny pieces as he grounded himself. His hands slapped against the dirt, potent waves of hellishly cold temperatures radiated. The entire dome-like cave room was coated in a thick layer of ice. Douma sneered and cackled as he tensed his body.
Sharp icicles assembled on the ceiling and rocketed towards Ali at the speed of bullets, his flesh torn apart by the zooming projectiles. He shouted in agony as his veins bulged with hatred. His eyes locked onto the smug grin on Douma's crazed face.
Ali, still in midair, straightened his body, he summoned wind behind to blast himself forward. He shot towards Douma, and both his hands slammed onto the foul demon's torso. Ali tackled him into the ice-reinforced wall, a large crater forming on impact. Blood poured from Douma's ankles, his feet, which had been firmly latched into the ground by ice, had completely torn off.
With no time for intermission, Ali's fists slammed over and over into Douma's face, blood, and then quickly tissue splattered into the air, staining the ice, Ali's rib slammed by a large ice pillar that Douma conjured from the wall. Snow accumulated in Ali's hair as he tumbled to the side, leaving cracks in the ice. Once again a ginormous ice pillar plunged from the ceiling, crashing onto Ali's tumbling body, he felt a tremendous force push him down onto the ground.
Douma's shattered face began to restructure itself, the same grin that Ali had beaten off his face regenerated. Was this happiness? Is this why Akaza enjoyed fighting? He was wrong, it was simply the first time his body had produced adrenaline in a long time. He constricted his hand and forced the ice pillar to press down at Ali's body with increasing power.
Ali's vision went blurry, his palms pressed down on the ground, pushing up with all his power. His body trembled, the weight of a hundred cars squashing down on his body. His hands slipped on the ice and the pillar collapsed down onto Ali.
His entire skeleton shattered into minuscule pieces, his skull and brain completely crushed into mush under the intense pressure.
Douma grinned, one hand resting on his face, as he stepped out from the crater from the wall. With a flick of his wrist, he dissolved the pillar into snowflakes.
"Get up!" Douma shouted gleefully as he braced for Ali's emergence. He had faith in his enemy. And that faith was proven correct as the snow blasted in all directions, floating in the air like flakes as Ali stood, completely healed. The fight in his eyes was as intense as ever.
His ego was inflated off on that small victory, Douma conjured another ice pillar from the ceiling to descend rapidly. Only this time, Ali halted the pillar's speed with his hand, he was forced into a kneel as the pilar continued to press down. His knee pressed onto the ground, the ice cracking.
Ali's hand swiftly moved to the end of the pillar, he exerted all his force into pushing the large block of ice forward, the top completely snapping off and leaning forward. Ali blasted himself backwards to the very end of the pillar, which now lay horizontal in the air. His fist melted the centre of the jagged, broken-off end. He sent the newly broken-off mass of ice rocketing towards Douma at a powerful trajectory.
What followed next was a violent splatter only comparable to Ali's splatter just then. Douma found himself back in another crater, his entire body flattened by the impact.
"Your turn," Ali clenched his fist and exhaled deeply, portraying the same faith in his enemy. They both held knowledge of the other's power. This fight may very well end in a stalemate to their dissatisfaction, but both of them would do whatever in their power to avoid that conclusion.
The ice pillar broke down into millions of small needles, Douma's silhouette visible through the tiny gaps created. Every single needle began to fly towards Ali. His fists slammed together to form a large gust of wind that split the endless stream of projectiles into two separate flows. The needles break in contact with the solid ice walls.
As the last of the needles were redirected, Douma stood there, his hand outstretched, heavily breathing. His eyes are unmistakably full of twisted enjoyment, but equal amounts of blood lust.
As Ali re-established his fight stance, wind spiralled around him at intense speed and began to flow out into the cave, completely submerging the cave in currents that would disable any projectiles. Both of their elements covered the fighting dome.
"Now I regret not having students," Douma clapped his hands together and cackled as he met Ali's stance with his own, "Akaza may have not been as dull as I thought,"
The fight would continue in a deadlock for several hours. Neither of them ever got a stable advantage to completely immobilise the other.
Douma, who had been Upper Moon Two for over a hundred years. And Ali, who had only taken the mantle of Upper Moon Three a few weeks prior. There was a staggering disparity in combat experience, but what Ali lacked in experience, he made up in vigour and ferocity. Douma hadn't faced a challenge like this in decades, he was rusty fighting someone on equal footing, while Ali had been challenged to near-death fights constantly for the past year.
The day had completely passed, unknowingly to people on the surface, the intense fight between two powerful demons had been going on as they did their household chores, while they had conversations, every second they breathed, the two demons were trading blows.
Ali's hands gripped the ice barriers Douma had just fabricated in front of him, ripping them apart as if he had dug his hands in styrofoam. The same intensity from several hours before remained on his face.
Douma panted, he could feel it in his body, the feeling he hadn't felt in the past century. Fatigue. The density of the ice he fabricated was steadily decreasing, yet it only felt as if Ali was exponentially increasing in strength. Did he not tire?
"Come on, what's wrong?!" Ali took up the role of mockery this time, his laugh bounced off the ice-encased dome. Bouncing directly into Douma's ears. Ali's fists ripped through the final ice wall between him and Douma.
Douma wasn't there, instead, an ice block pistoned out of the ground at a rapid speed. Ali's jaw shattered at the collision of the ice. It was back at its full strength, Douma strained his Blood Demon Art to its limit to produce ice that could hold Ali back.
Ali tumbled backwards, his back slammed into a wall. An ice spike stabbed right through his stomach, the agonising incident kept him stationary for long enough for Douma to encase Ali in several boxes of the densest ice he could create as of now. He layered the inside of the boxes with spikes, to prevent Ali from punching through.
He panted and fell to his knees. He could feel his head throbbing, his heart pumping intensely, and his eyes struggling to focus. As he finally got a moment of rest, his body responded negatively. He felt vomit travel up his throat. He vomited out of overexertion.
He exhaled, the atmosphere calm for the first time in several hours.
A loud thud coincided with the ground shaking, the tremble enough to cause loose ice to drop from the ceiling. Douma's eyes shot up at the multi-layered ice prison he had created.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Crack. Crack. Crack.
Shatter. Shatter. Shatter.
Blood dripped from Ali's knuckles, sliding against the ice-covered ground. A severe underestimation had been made on Douma's part, that Ali would stop short at pain to break through the walls.
The pieces of ice blasted in multiple directions as a strong wind burst propelled Ali forward, his hand firmly seized Douma's neck, and his fingers dug into the tough flesh. Douma was slammed to the floor.
A hundred punches were delivered in the next minute. Ali pummelled Douma's entire body, with the exception of his head, into mush equivalent to the texture of mashed potatoes. Combined severe fatigue and complete annihilation of his body limited Douma in his use of his Blood Demon Art.
"This ends here," Ali's body throbbed with fatigue as well, he was just better at hiding it. He held Douma's severed head, which stared back at him. Ali was going to absorb Douma, he couldn't imagine the power he would gain after it, and he wasn't sure if he would be able to handle it. But he would happily die if it meant Douma did as well. Suddenly, a crude smile arose on Douma's face.
"Perhaps Lord Muzan was right, you are deserving of my position," Douma revealed the true reason he had attempted to get Ali. Muzan wanted to make Ali Upper Moon Two in suspicion that after the absorption of Akaza, he had outgrown Douma in strength.
"Going to absorb me?" Douma snickered, "Go ahead, this probably reminds you of Akaza huh?"
Douma knew he couldn't win. He needed time more than anything else. Time to flee. He intentionally distracted Ali.
Akaza's weak frail state flashed in Ali's mind, and for two seconds, he froze. Not due to ice, not due to the cold. But due to the memory of his teacher. Two seconds was all that Douma needed. His arm had regenerated. In a fraction of a second, his pale palm slammed onto Ali's head.
Ali felt ice freeze over his body, before he could move, he was completely encased in an ice crystal. Douma's body rapidly regenerated as Ali struggled to move at all, all he could do was look at Douma taunt him and then clench his hand before he dashed out of the exit.
The cave rumbled, Douma had forced the ice that surrounded the ceiling, ground and walls to grow into the rock crevices, breaking the rock apart. As soon as Douma travelled far enough for the ice's self-maintenance to dissipate, the entire cave would come crashing down on Ali.
Small cracks began to form in the ice crystal, Ali's loud grunts audible even through the thick crystal walls.
The cracks became more prominent, and the ice looser, it finally split in two. Ali erupted with a shout for Douma. Just as he broke free, the ice above him began to cry out in strain.
Water flooded down as the barrage of dirt, rubble and rock buried Ali, the intense weight pressing him against the Earth.
Ali was buried four hundred metres under the surface.