Kyojuro Rengoku saw Tanjirou erge from the forest alive.
Then he saw Hantengu vanish beneath Tanjirou's sword.
For a brief mont, amid the blood, smoke, and torn earth, the Fla Hashira's stern, owl-like face broke into a brilliant smile.
"Well done, young man!"
Even Sanemi Shinazugawa, who almost never wasted breath on praise, glanced over from the corner of his eye.
"Not bad."
Tanjirou turned toward them at once, the fla-like mark on his forehead burning vividly beneath the moonlight. Despite the Demon Power surging through his body and the heat rising from his skin, his tone remained as earnest as ever.
"Thank you very much!"
The mont the words left his mouth, the feedback from Hantengu's death finished pouring into him.
Power filled his muscles.
His bones felt denser. His lungs drew in air with terrifying ease. Every beat of his heart drove strength through his limbs like a hamr striking steel.
If the Tanjirou from before would have struggled desperately against Akaza, then the Tanjirou standing here now was different.
Terrifyingly different.
Asuramaru felt the change from within the sword and imdiately reminded him, "You can maintain Demonization for roughly half an hour at most. You've already used nearly half of that. Finish this quickly."
Tanjirou's eyes sharpened.
"I understand."
He turned toward Akaza.
Flas blossod along Asuramaru's edge.
Akaza was no fool.
He had seen enough to understand that sothing about this boy was deeply wrong. Hantengu had fallen. The sword in Tanjirou's hand suppressed regeneration. The two Hashira, despite their injuries, had already regained enough strength to keep fighting because of that strange power.
If this dragged on, the situation would only worsen.
Akaza made his decision instantly.
His body lowered.
The snowflake compass beneath his feet glowed brighter.
"Rengoku," Akaza said, his voice carrying a faint trace of regret, "it really is a sha."
Then he smiled.
"But you two have to die first."
His fists rose.
"Destructive Death: Air Type."
Akaza punched the empty air.
The impact did not travel like an ordinary strike. Invisible shockwaves burst forth, tearing toward Rengoku and Sanemi with enough force to crush bone.
Rengoku stepped forward.
His damaged left eye bled down his face, yet his remaining eye blazed brighter than the flas around his sword.
"Fla Breathing, Fourth Form: Blooming Fla Undulation!"
His nichirin sword spun in a powerful arc. Flas surged outward, forming a blazing vortex in front of him.
Akaza's shockwaves crashed into the spinning fire.
The ground cracked.
Dust and sparks scattered.
Rengoku held firm.
Behind the vortex, Sanemi had already moved.
The Wind Hashira's body blurred to the side, both hands locked around his sword.
"Wind Breathing, First Form: Dust Whirlwind Cutter!"
His body and blade spun together, becoming a horizontal tornado that tore across the field toward Akaza's flank.
Akaza kicked off the ground and leaped.
"Destructive Death: Disorder!"
Countless punches rained down from above, each one launching a dense barrage of shockwaves.
Sanemi's eyes narrowed. He halted his charge with brutal precision, shifted his breathing, then sprang upward.
"Wind Breathing, Ninth Form: Idaten Typhoon!"
A violent gale wrapped around his sword. Sharp wind blades erupted as he rose, colliding head-on with Akaza's storm of fists.
Impact after impact split the night.
The battlefield beca a whirl of fla, wind, and invisible force.
Tanjirou moved.
There was no ti to hesitate. He raised Asuramaru and slashed upward.
A pitch-black crescent tore into the sky.
As he ran forward, he could not help asking in his mind, "Asuramaru, what is this move called?"
Inside the sword, Asuramaru went silent.
A na?
You are asking now?
It could not exactly be called "basic Demon Power application." That sounded too plain. It had impact, it had shape, it had the right amount of ominous flair. A proper na was necessary.
After a brief pause, Asuramaru answered, "Getsuga Tensho."
"So that's its na."
Tanjirou accepted it without the slightest doubt and charged ahead with both swords in hand.
Inside the sword, Asuramaru felt a strange sense of dissonance.
Hearing Tanjirou say that na later might be a little unbearable.
The black crescent forced Akaza to twist mid-air.
Sanemi's wind blade grazed his shoulder at the sa ti. Rengoku's flas surged from below, cutting off his landing path.
Akaza clicked his tongue.
The situation had changed.
Three against one.
Rengoku and Sanemi were already difficult opponents. Their bodies were wounded, but their spirits remained unbroken, and their swordsmanship had only grown sharper under pressure. Now Tanjirou had joined them, and his current strength was no longer far beneath Akaza's.
Worse still, every wound caused by Asuramaru refused to close properly.
Akaza's flesh tried to regenerate.
The process slowed.
Blood ran from cuts that should have vanished in an instant.
A faint numbness spread through his limbs, sothing filthy and foreign invading the flesh beneath his skin.
That sword again.
Akaza's gaze locked onto Asuramaru.
The problem was definitely that sword.
Tanjirou ca in low, flas curling around his left-hand sword while water surged over the nichirin sword in his right.
Rengoku pressed from the front.
Sanemi cut in from the side.
Akaza blocked Rengoku's flaming slash with one arm, pivoted to avoid Sanemi's wind, then drove a kick toward Tanjirou's ribs.
Tanjirou twisted away by a hair's breadth.
Water followed his movent.
"Water Breathing, Third Form: Flowing Dance!"
His footwork changed, smooth and fluid, letting him slip past the kick and slash toward Akaza's waist.
Akaza blocked with his forearm.
The edge cut deep.
His eyes widened slightly.
Too sharp.
Before he could counter, Rengoku's voice rang out.
"Fla Breathing, Third Form: Blazing Universe!"
A flaming downward slash carved through the night and severed one of Akaza's arms.
The arm spun through the air, scattering blood.
Akaza regenerated it at once, but the process dragged half a breath longer than it should have.
Half a breath was enough.
Sanemi appeared above him.
Wind scread around the nichirin sword.
Akaza punched upward, forcing Sanemi to abandon the killing line and shift his blade aside. At the sa ti, Tanjirou's black crescent slashed across Akaza's back.
Blood sprayed.
Akaza landed, slid several steps, then lowered his center of gravity.
His smile was gone.
If this continued, he would die.
Not eventually.
Soon.
His regeneration was being suppressed. His body was becoming harder to control. The two Hashira fought like n who had already accepted death, and Tanjirou's power was rising with every exchange.
He had co here to kill the Demon Slayer Muzan feared.
He had not co here to be butchered.
Akaza's eyes flicked toward the surrounding wilderness.
He needed an opening.
He needed distance.
Rengoku noticed the shift imdiately.
"He's trying to run!"
Sanemi's expression twisted.
"Like hell he is!"
Akaza moved.
A barrage of wind blades ca from Sanemi's sword, but Akaza slipped backward through the gaps with terrifying agility. He turned his body, avoiding a fatal blow, but Rengoku stepped into his retreat path and swung.
"Blazing Universe!"
The sword flashed.
Akaza's newly regenerated arm was severed again.
He gritted his teeth.
His regeneration slowed even more.
The foreign power inside him was spreading. The wounds from Tanjirou's sword were not rely injuries. They were restraints.
No more delay.
Kyojuro Rengoku drew in a deep breath.
His aura condensed.
Flas gathered around him, no longer scattered sparks but a roaring blaze drawn inward to one point. From heart to limbs, from lungs to blade, everything aligned.
He lowered his stance, both hands gripping his sword at his side.
"Fla Breathing, Esoteric Art."
The ground beneath his feet cracked.
"Ninth Form: Rengoku!"
He charged.
A dragon of fla tore across the earth, swallowing the distance between them in an instant.
Akaza raised both fists.
"Destructive Death: Annihilation Type!"
The collision shook the field.
Fla t shockwave.
The impact blasted dirt, sparks, and shattered stones into the air.
At the sa ti, Sanemi leaped high above them.
His entire body twisted with the gale.
"One breath!"
Wind gathered along his sword until the edge scread.
"Wind Breathing, Tenth Form: Cold Autumn Mountain Wind!"
A hurricane descended from above, aid straight for Akaza's neck.
Akaza forced one arm upward, blocking the strike just enough to make it miss his neck. The wind blade tore into his right shoulder instead, nearly carving through his torso.
His movents locked for a single instant.
Tanjirou seized it.
Flas surged around Asuramaru.
"Hinokami Kagura: Solar Halo Dragon!"
A blazing dragon coiled around his sword as he rushed in from behind.
This was the killing blow.
Akaza felt it.
His instincts scread.
His trapped body twisted with brute force. His right fist, already splitting from Sanemi's wind, lashed backward with everything he had.
The fist t Tanjirou's sword.
Asuramaru cut into it.
But Akaza's shockwave erupted at the sa ti.
Tanjirou was blasted away, his body flying across the torn ground before he twisted mid-air and stabbed one sword down to slow himself.
Akaza roared.
"Get away from !"
Power exploded from his body.
He smashed his split fists toward Rengoku and Sanemi, driving both Hashira back through raw force. Then he regenerated his arms with everything he had left, turning not toward the forest, but toward the derailed train.
The passengers.
His objective shifted instantly.
If he could force them to defend the civilians, he could create an opening.
"Destructive Death: Disorder!"
A storm of shockwaves blasted toward the train.
Tanjirou's heart clenched.
"Not good!"
He moved to intercept, but Rengoku and Sanemi were already ahead of him.
Rengoku planted his feet, blood running down his face as flas surged around his blade.
Sanemi stepped beside him, his entire body soaked red, his grip unwavering.
"Leave this to us!" Rengoku shouted.
Sanemi bared his teeth. "Go kill that bastard!"
Tanjirou did not hesitate.
"Understood!"
He turned toward Akaza, who had already pulled away, putting enough distance between them that catching him directly would be difficult.
Then Tanjirou raised Asuramaru.
All the Demon Power he could draw surged into the sword.
The edge darkened.
Black mist boiled along the blade, compressing, sharpening, roaring until the air itself seed to tremble.
Tanjirou gripped the hilt with both hands.
His Slayer Mark burned.
His Demonized eyes locked onto Akaza.
Then he brought the sword down with everything he had.
"Getsuga Tensho!"
.....
[If you don't want to wait for the next update, read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon.]
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