Chapter Fifty-One: It's Time to Deliver the Verdict!
Note: I'm thinking about starting to write a completely original novel of my own. What do you think?
Question: What do you think about Akaza's character and his strength in general?
Enjoy~~~
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"Under the moonlight, I am the strongest… wait, wasn't it the sun…?"
Ren suddenly stopped in the middle of the fight, placing his hand on his chin in deep thought, while his body leaned with astonishing finesse to evade Akaza's kick, which shattered a massive rock behind him into pieces.
The scene was surreal; Akaza was fighting with every ounce of his power, his muscles tense and his eyes burning with killing intent, while Ren looked as if he were trying to remember the lyrics of an old song or a forgotten quote.
"You bastard! Are you ignoring me in the middle of a fight?!" Akaza shouted, his voice shaking the forest as he threw an overwhelming punch toward Ren's face, a punch th—
Shockwaves erupted consecutively from Akaza's fist, but Ren, with smooth and graceful movements, slipped between those waves. Not a single hair on his body was touched, and his hands did not even leave the sleeves of his black kimono.
"I remembered it!" Ren exclaimed suddenly with a bright smile, ignoring the dust and destruction around him. "It was: under the sun I am the king, and under the moon I am the nightmare… yes, that sounds more majestic, don't you think, Akaza-chan?"
Akaza stopped moving for a moment, panting slightly—not from physical exhaustion, but from the immense psychological pressure imposed by Ren's presence. The aura emanating from Ren was not merely combat power; it was a "void" that swallowed every attack directed at him.
Akaza did not realize that Ren was using cursed energy to block any attack whose impact could reach him.
"You…" Akaza whispered, the veins on his forehead close to bursting. "How can you become this strong in just two years? How did you surpass me?!"
Ren laughed coldly, and at that moment, his gaze changed. The indifference vanished, replaced by a sharpness that made Akaza feel as if thousands of swords were pressed against his neck at once.
"Do not compare yourself to me, demon." Ren slowly lifted his foot and took a single step forward. "The warm-up time is over. Do you want to see what 4% of my power really looks like?"
Before Akaza could respond, Ren vanished completely from before his eyes. Akaza couldn't detect any movement using his "Compass," as if Ren had disappeared from existence.
BOOOOOM!
Akaza felt an enormous pressure explode in the center of his chest. He didn't see the strike. He didn't see the movement. Yet he found himself flying backward at tremendous speed, smashing through dozens of trees before crashing into the heart of a mountain slope, creating a deep crater.
Akaza coughed blood and stared at his torn chest in disbelief. "He didn't use his sword… he hit me with just the palm of his hand?!"
From within the dust, Ren walked forward with confident steps, the silver moonlight reflecting off his face, once again carrying an expression of "boredom."
"Wake up, demon… we haven't even started the real dance yet."
The dust settled slightly, and Akaza emerged from the rubble. His demonic body was regenerating at a terrifying speed, but his expression did not carry its usual rage… it carried fear and shock.
"My technique… it can't sense him?" Akaza whispered to himself, his golden eyes widening madly. "My technique relies on sensing fighting spirit, but this man… his fighting spirit isn't directed at me. It's as if it's everywhere and nowhere at the same time!"
Ren stood a few meters away, playing with a lock of his hair in boredom. Then he raised his left hand and flicked his finger through the air, as if brushing away an annoying fly.
"You know, Akaza?" Ren said calmly, his voice reaching the demon despite the distance. "You take pride in your strength because you fight humans… but have you ever tried fighting the 'concept' itself?"
In a blink, Akaza lunged in desperation, using his strongest technique: "Destructive Spread: Hell of Chaos!" Hundreds of invisible punches were unleashed in fractions of a second, turning the air itself into pressure shells capable of crushing a city.
But what happened was stranger than imagination.
Every projectile that approached Ren began to slow down… then stopped completely just centimeters away from him, as if an invisible wall of void were protecting him. Ren did not move an inch, standing still, his hands now inside his pockets.
"Is that all you have?" Ren asked in a cold tone. "Then let me show you what true 'judgment' looks like."
Ren raised his index finger, and glowing blue energy gathered at its tip. The atmospheric pressure in the area suddenly changed; trees began to be pulled toward the finger, as if a black hole had just opened.
"Lapse: Blue.."
[Gojo Satoru Template: 33%]
Akaza screamed, trying to leap away, but Ren's gravity was stronger than the laws of nature. Akaza's body was dragged toward Ren with insane force, and in that instant, Ren reached out and grabbed the demon's face, partially crushing his skull.
"Akaza-chan, I told you… don't compare yourself to me." Ren whispered into the terrified demon's ear. "You seek power to prove your existence, but I… am the power that makes existence possible."
With absolute ease, Ren threw Akaza into the air, then interlocked his fingers in a strange way and spoke with terrifying calmness:!
As Akaza's body hung in the air due to the gravity of "Blue," and before he could crash to the ground, everything froze. It wasn't merely a pause in time—it was existence itself preparing to transform.
Before Ren's eyes, a transparent system screen emerged with a faint glow:
[Alert: The current 'Domain Expansion' skill has been replaced with the skill: (Hiromi Higuruma)]
[Domain Name: Deadly Judgment]
[Cost: 80,000 Soul Points]
[Note: "Ron" is in a state of extreme rage due to the reckless spending of soul points]
"Sorry, Ron…" Ren apologized to Ron internally, yet he smiled as he looked at Akaza, who stared at him with wide eyes while still suspended in the air.
Ren did not raise his fists to fight. Instead, a heavy silence fell as he brought his palms together. His fingers interlocked slowly and firmly, as if sealing an eternal lock, then he whispered in a calm voice carrying the echo of a courtroom: "Domain Expansion: Shokunin no Enbu"
"Ryouiki Tenkai (Domain Expansion)…" Ren whispered calmly, yet it echoed through the forest like a thunderclap. "Shiko Yuuyu (Deadly Judgment~approximately)!"
(There was an error around chapter 41, where I mistakenly wrote Ryouiki Tenkai as Gyouiki approximately)
At that moment, darkness erupted from beneath Ren's feet, swallowing everything in its path. Suddenly, Akaza found himself in a completely different world.
The bamboo trees vanished, and the natural moonlight disappeared, replaced by a surreal space resembling a massive, ancient wooden courtroom. The walls were adorned with decorations resembling scales of justice, and above, sat "Judgeman"—that enormous demonic entity, paper seals covering its eyes, floating as if it were the embodiment of fate itself.
[Domain Technique Explanation: "Deadly Judgment"]
Rule One: Physical violence is completely forbidden within this domain.
Rule Two: The defendant (Akaza) is judged based on a real crime committed in the past.
Rule Three: "Judgeman" knows everything about the defendant, but does not share information with the "prosecution" (Ren).
Rule Four: If guilt is proven, the punishment of "Technique Confiscation" or "Death Penalty" is applied.
[Technique modified to suit the host!]
Akaza landed on his feet behind a wooden stand designated for defendants, panting in shock as his eyes darted around wildly. He tried to gather his strength and shouted as he attempted to activate his technique, but nothing happened! The technique he had refined for centuries was completely "dead."
"What is this place?! Why can't I use my Demon Blood Art?!" Akaza shouted, feeling panic for the first time since becoming a demon. "Is this an illusion?!"
On the opposite side, Ren stood behind the prosecution's stand, leaning on it with utter calm. He no longer wore only an expression of boredom, but looked at Akaza with the gaze of an executioner toying with his prey.
"An illusion? Don't be ridiculous, Akaza-chan," Ren said mockingly as he adjusted a strand of his hair. "You are now in court. Here, the power you bragged about isn't worth the price of the ink I'll use to write your conviction. Here, words are truth, and my judgment is reality."
Ren laughed arrogantly, his voice echoing through the majestic hall. "You feel powerless, don't you? To be stripped of your demonic strength and stand like a weak human before a merciless judge… this is the justice I wanted to show you."
Suddenly, "Judgeman" struck the air with his massive gavel, producing a terrifying sound that made Akaza tremble:
[Defendant: Akaza. Crime: Murder of the Wind Hashira 169 years ago. Prosecution, begin presenting your evidence!]
Akaza's eyes widened, his hands trembling on the wooden stand. "How… how does this thing know what happened?!"
Ren, with a chilling smile, opened a file that appeared before him and said calmly: "Oh, the judge knows everything… Now then, Akaza, do you have anything to say in your defense? Or shall we move directly to the head-chopping segment?"
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