"Upper Moon One? You're nothing special! If I could cut into your neck before, I can do it again! Wind Breathing, Second Form: Claws-Purifying Wind!"
The impatient Sanemi couldn't hold back, raising his Nichirin Blade and charging at Kokushibo once more.
Three azure wind blades, sharp as a reaper's scythe, sliced through the air with deadly precision toward Kokushibo.
This strike carried Sanemi's unconditional trust in his comrades and his utmost hatred for demons, the shrill screech of the wind rending the atmosphere.
Yet, a cold glint flashed in Kokushibo's six blood-red eyes.
"Hmph!"
A single scoff carrying a soul-freezing chill escape from his mouth.
Facing Sanemi's strike—one capable of cleaving steel—Kokushibo slightly bent his knees, assuming an iai stance.
Swish!
A flash of cold light erupted.
In the instant his blade was drawn, Kokushibo's grotesque Nichirin longsword sprouted twisted branches of bone and sinew from its length, radiating ominous black energy.
CLANG—!!!
The fleshy branches intercepted the most concentrated core of Sanemi's wind blades with pinpoint accuracy, unleashing a tremendous shockwave.
"Your speed is commendable! But you're still far too green!" Kokushibo sneered coldly before abruptly exerting force.
No one could even perceive his movement.
Only Sanemi felt an overwhelming force surge through his Nichirin Blade.
His palms split instantly as blood gushing out.
His entire body was sent flying backward as if struck by a battering ram, crashing into the distant rubble with a thunderous impact, dust billowing.
"Sanemi!" Himejima Gyomei's eyes blazed with fury, the massive chain of his Meteor Hammer humming ominously.
His towering frame erupted with speed belying his size, like an enraged guardian deity, swinging the hammer with mountain-splitting force!
"Stone Breathing, Fourth Form: Volcanic Rock, Rapid Conquest!"
The spinning hammer and chain-axe formed a near-tempest.
But just as Gyomei sought to avenge Sanemi's injury, the weight of Shinichi's exposed identity and the blood debt of all fallen comrades—
A figure wreathed in crimson and emerald flames teleported between Gyomei and Kokushibo.
It was Shinichi!
"Gyomei... move!" Shinichi's voice was hoarse and savage, though distorted as it tore through his throat, the tone carried an undeniable finality.
His right eye burned crimson like a hellish furnace, locked onto Kokushibo as the demon's murderous black aura coalesced once more before him.
"Shinichi! You—" Gyomei's attack halted abruptly, his Meteor Hammer frozen mid-swing.
He could feel the terrifying energy radiating from Shinichi—a volatile mix of demonic fury and the life force of Forest Breathing—and saw the self-destructive resolve in his eyes.
Shinichi intended to face Kokushibo alone!
"My... fight! Go...!" Shinichi growled, his demon-twisted features contorting in the scorching steam.
"Trust... me! Protect... others!" His final snarl held traces of struggling clarity.
Without waiting for Gyomei's refusal, Shinichi bared his fangs with a low roar.
There was no time left—against the overwhelming might of Kokushibo, Shinichi unleashed his full power without restraint!
His demon blood boiled over completely!
The third-stage Raging Blood erupted at its peak!
Crimson steam exploded around him, forming a visible shockwave that vaporized nearby debris in an instant.
Blood Demon Art: Forest Breathing - All-Consuming Ashes - Inferno of Creation!
BOOM!!
The searing heat that followed felt like being thrust into an actual furnace.
Gyomei's ears echoed with a conversation with Shinichi from long, long ago—
'My identity will always be a problem. Truthfully, I don't know what might happen if i keep using my demon transformation. So if that day come when i lose control of myself, Gyomei... I'm counting on you to stop me from hurting anyone.'
"Tch...!" Gyomei's heavy sigh was swallowed by the battlefield's chaos.
His gaze lingered on Shinichi's burning silhouette—the shirtless back crisscrossed with glowing orange cracks that seemed ready to rupture at any moment.
In the end, the strongest Hashira chose trust him.
His massive body pivoted, chains whirling as he charged toward other rampaging demons with thunderous force, clearing space for Shinichi and Kokushibo's decisive clash.
"Arrogance! You think this pitiful strength can challenge me?" Kokushibo's voice was cold, six eyes blazing with fury.
To him, Shinichi's defiance was sacrilege against the hierarchy of demon.
"I'll make you understand the gap between us—the true meaning of 'Moon'!"
"Moon Breathing - Fourteenth Form - Catastrophe - Tenman Crescent Moon!"
Kokushibo's grotesquely twisted nichirin blades erupted with an unprecedented pale glow.
Not mere shockwaves this time—countless massive, curved moon blades surged forth like monstrous fangs.
From Kokushibo's epicenter, the attacks spread like a tidal wave of annihilation, each crescent carrying space-rending sharpness and soul-numbing cold.
The onslaught's scale engulfed nearly the entire battlefield!
This collision far surpassed all previous ones!
It wasn't just shockwaves spreading, but the very fabric of space twisting and annihilating!
A blinding light instantly devoured everything.
The incandescent moonlight and crimson slashes madly intertwined, consumed, and annihilated each other.
The deafening roar was no longer mere sound, but a direct impact on the soul.
The earth cracked and collapsed like fragile eggshells, forming a massive crater.
The chaotic energy currents tore through everything around them like rampaging beasts.
Nearby buildings—whether intact or already ruins—were all shredded into fine dust.
No one could see what was truly happening within the battlefield.
BOOM!
Just as Gyomei's Meteor Hammer effortlessly smashed through dozens of Demon heads like weeds, he suddenly sensed the terrifying battle fluctuations nearby had ceased.
When Shinichi's figure reappeared in the shattered crater of the devastated ground, he knelt on one knee, breathing heavily.
The Nichirin Blade in his hand was covered in cracks, its lingering crimson and emerald glow dimmed to the extreme.
His exposed upper body bore countless deep wounds that reached the bone, struggling to heal under the writhing orange-red flesh, but the regeneration speed had noticeably slowed—his Demon Transformation's rapid recovery seemed to be nearing its limit.
His right eye remained crimson, yet beneath that ferocity lay unmistakable exhaustion and heaviness.
As for Kokushibo, though he still stood tall, His disheveled appearance was beyond anyone's expectations.
His face was scorched black, his six blood-red eyes barely recognizable, one arm brutally severed and yet to regenerate, his purple attire charred and his body riddled with wounds no less severe than Shinichi's.
"Impossible!" Gyomei's eyes widened, but the next instant, he realized—this was their chance!!
The Meteor Hammer trembled violently.
Nothing else mattered!
They had to seize this moment to slay Upper Rank One!!
Yet at this perfect opportunity—
A jarringly out-of-place, unfamiliar, and piercing voice abruptly rang out!
"You rebellious scoundrels! All of you, raise your hands!!"
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