Chapter 10: Akinasa
Bang! Bang!
Executing two or three Stone Thrusts in rapid succession with full force, Ryuji's figure violently ricocheted through the alleyways, closing the distance like a gale.
Amidst the whistling wind in his ears, other sounds began to mingle—a frantic, hurried crawling, interspersed with the sound of clothing rubbing against the ground and suppressed gasps of pain, clearly reaching him.
At the same time, another voice drifted into his ears.
It was a gentle and somewhat leisurely female voice, softly humming an out-of-tune nursery rhyme as if she were sitting idly in her own courtyard.
The melody was soft, yet it formed a contrast with that frantic crawling sound that was so eerie it made one's spine chill.
It's not Doma!
This judgment flashed through Ryuji's mind.
That fellow Doma doesn't hum while eating people; instead, he would patiently listen to the suffering of his cultists!
More importantly, that Upper Rank Two with his twisted tastes wouldn't choose to eat someone in a dim, cluttered, and even filthy alley corner like this!
He is a "God," after all.
Within a few short breaths, Ryuji's thoughts moved like lightning, confirming that this demon was not Doma, and the tension in his heart finally loosened slightly.
After all, as long as it wasn't an Upper Rank, he had a fighting chance—or at the very least, he could still run, couldn't he?
Bang!
His body hit the ground heavily once more. Ryuji's gaze swept past the street corner, catching sight of a figure in the shadows struggling to crawl out.
It looked like a woman, her clothes in disarray, with eye-catching crimson blooming on her body, dragging a winding, viscous trail of blood across the dark stone pavement beneath her.
In the dark alley behind her, the leisurely tune approached bit by bit, possessing a bizarrely light quality, as if on a suburban stroll.
"Found you!"
The gentle female voice came from the darkness with a sigh of pleasure.
Ryuji stopped abruptly, his eyes narrowing.
I've found you too, demon!
His chest heaved violently as he gasped for air. The full-force burst of consecutive Stone Thrusts just now had consumed a significant amount of stamina; the pounding of his heart and the muscle soreness brought by the high-speed rush were now clearly felt.
He needed to stop for a moment to catch his breath.
His Stone Breathing could currently only be described as having just reached the entry level; he was far from proficient in its use, let alone Total Concentration or the higher level of Total Concentration: Constant.
Breathing Techniques were not as simple as he had thought... but, that was all.
Inhale, exhale!
With just two powerful breathing cycles, as fresh oxygen flooded his lungs, the formidable, inhuman recovery of his One piece Physique began to manifest.
The fatigue in his muscles receded quickly like a tide, his heartbeat rapidly steadied, and strength surged through his limbs once more.
This was one of his trump cards!
In the alley, the woman who was crawling with difficulty also seemed to notice the figure that suddenly appeared at the entrance. She cried out hoarsely, "Help! Please, save me!!"
The woman's screams echoed shrilly in the alley.
Before her voice even faded, bang!
A dull explosion of a footfall erupted at the alley entrance!
In the next instant, the woman felt the light above her head dim as a tall figure crossed the space, landing steadily behind her, isolating her from the darkness deep in the alley.
It was Ryuji!
His hands tightly gripped Kozurasu. The white hilt-wrap at the end of the handle flew into the air due to his violent movements, fluttering behind him like a silver-white angry dragon!
On the blade, the unique gradient purple shimmered with a cold luster in the dim light.
Without the slightest hesitation, without a moment's pause.
"Stone Breathing, Second Form—"
He twisted his waist, his entire body's strength pouring into his arms like a surging river. The heavy blade sliced through the stagnant air, letting out a low roar!
"Horizontal Slash!"
A domineering purple arc tore through the night, bursting forth horizontally, instantly filling the entire narrow alleyway!
Just as the blade was about to touch the demon's neck, Ryuji's peripheral vision seemed to catch something... was the color of that long bloodstain on the ground a bit off?
But the speed at which this thought flashed was far slower than the speed of his slash!
A head left its neck in response, falling onto the filthy stone pavement, rolling a few times before stopping at Ryuji's feet.
The moment he saw the face of that head clearly, Ryuji's pupils suddenly constricted!
It was a woman's face.
Pale, stained with long-dried, blackened blood, her eyes wide with extreme terror, her distorted expression of fright frozen permanently on her face.
It was a human!
Did I cut the wrong person? Did I kill an innocent?!
No! This thought was crushed by a colder intuition as soon as it arose—this woman had been dead for a long time! That cry for help... Crap!
"Oh my, your voice sounds truly wonderful..."
A gentle, sweet, and even somewhat lazy female voice sounded softly, almost right against the back of his neck.
Right behind him! Within arm's reach!
The hair on Ryuji's entire body stood on end instantly. Too close... no time!
At this moment, he was in the instant after the exertion of the Horizontal Slash; the Move was spent, his old strength exhausted, and new strength not yet born, his center of gravity shifting with the swing of the blade.
It was the moment when his defense was most vulnerable and his movements most rigid!
He couldn't parry, and he couldn't rush forward!
Making a split-second decision, he released his right hand's grip on the hilt, while using the massive residual inertia of the swing, with his left foot as a pivot.
He let the blade carry his entire body to spin violently, like a giant rock blown by a gale!
Swish!
The soles of his cloth shoes rubbed against the stone pavement, making a piercing sound.
Ryuji's feet dragged marks on the ground as he lowered his stance, hoisting Kozurasu onto his left shoulder with his left hand, while his right thumb casually brushed across the haori on his chest. There, at some unknown point, three shallow, bleeding gashes had appeared.
The cold, stinging pain only clearly registered now.
Ryuji's gaze bypassed the long-dead female corpse on the ground and fixed on the woman who had been crawling on the ground just moments ago.
Or rather, she should be called a demon!
Under the Moonlight, Ryuji saw its face clearly.
A slender figure stood there, with the stature of a girl about fifteen or sixteen years old, her skin an unnatural pale.
Akinasa tilted her head slightly, a faint, half-smiling curve on her lips, as her gentle voice sounded again:
"Such quick reactions... you don't seem like a Mizunoto-rank swordsman."
It gently licked off a bit of crimson from its right fingertip, its movement suddenly pausing.
Those gradient grey irises shimmered with a strange luster in the Moonlight, and below the corner of its left eye, a red tear stain was clearly visible.
It looked at Ryuji, the curve of its smile deepening, as it used its right hand to gently brush back its light grey-blue waist-length hair. Various musical note hair ornaments swayed gently between the strands.
It bowed slightly, and its gentle voice sounded once more:
"Swordsman with the beautiful voice..."
The moment the words fell, Ryuji's pupils constricted!
Not because of the words, but because of the dark red patterns, like cracked porcelain, faintly emerging on its neck.
It's a Blood Demon Art!
Ryuji became alert, shifting Kozurasu to his right shoulder, guarding against a sneak attack.
Ding-ling!
An extremely faint bell chime abruptly appeared in Ryuji's ear, followed by the sudden explosion of chaotic footsteps from eight directions, completely surrounding him!
Akinasa looked at the wary Ryuji, her eyes narrowing into slits. She gathered her gauzy haori, which was embroidered with mouths in silver thread, and slowly backed away, disappearing into the thick night.
"Until we meet again~"
Before its figure vanished, that gentle voice seemed to come from all directions simultaneously, with a hollow echo:
"We will hear each other again soon... remember, my name is Akinasa."