First, after blocking two of his punches, Takeru shifted slightly, causing Akaza's guard to drop momentarily. Seizing the opening, Takeru threw a full-powered, unreserved punch directly into Akaza's abdomen.
Boom!
With a deafening sound, Akaza's body shot backward like a cannonball. He crashed through several large trees over forty meters behind before finally coming to a stop.
However, when Akaza stood up again, he found himself completely uninjured. It wasn't due to his regeneration… rather, Takeru's attack seemed to have carried no force at all. This left him bewildered.
Strangely, he felt incredibly energetic, as if he could continue fighting for days on end.
Just as Akaza was lost in confusion, a peculiar doll appeared behind him. The doll had a large display screen showing the number 4620.
"Time's up. Commencing interest calculation!" The doll announced. The number began to change, directly jumping to 5082.
"What is this?" Seeing the doll beside him, Akaza was stunned. He then viciously punched the doll, sending it flying. Yet, the doll, seemingly unharmed, flew right back to his side.
"Hmph!" Seeing this, Akaza kicked the doll away again.
Even after being sent flying and crashing through a tree, the doll remained intact and flew back to his side once more.
"Time's up. Commencing interest calculation!" As the doll spoke again, the number on its display changed once more, this time to 5590, and its size grew slightly larger...
Although he didn't understand what was happening, Akaza instinctively sensed something was wrong. He turned his gaze back to Takeru and explosively charged to his side.
It wasn't just Akaza who was confused… Rengoku, Tanjiro, and even Yukino and Sylphin stared dumbfounded at Takeru, having no idea where that doll had come from.
"What the hell is this thing?!" Akaza roared at Takeru upon reaching him.
"I just lent you some of my stamina," Takeru replied with a smile.
"What do you mean?" Although Akaza understood each word individually, their combined meaning eluded him.
"Exactly what it sounds like. By the way, the interest rate is 10% per 10 seconds. Every 10 seconds overdue incurs a 10% interest charge," Takeru explained without hiding anything, still smiling.
Hearing this, Akaza was even more stunned. This world had no concept of Nen Abilities, and Takeru's power seemed even more bizarre than Blood Demon Arts, leaving Akaza momentarily unable to process it.
"Time's up. Commencing interest calculation!" While they were talking, the number changed again. The stamina doll's value became 6149.
Seeing Akaza still dazed, Takeru appeared before him once more and threw another punch.
By the time Akaza snapped back to reality, he found himself, again, completely unharmed. The only change was when the stamina doll announced the next number: the value on its display had reached 9365.
Seeing the number on the stamina doll and feeling a slight, growing fatigue within himself, Takeru decided not to lend him any more stamina.
After all, it wouldn't be long before Akaza went 'bankrupt'.
"Though I don't fully understand, as long as I defeat you, it should be fine, right?" After batting the stamina doll away once more, Akaza fixed his gaze on Takeru.
"A wise choice. But that depends on whether you can hit me first," Takeru responded with a faint smile.
With that thought, Akaza hesitated no longer and attacked Takeru again. However, his movements were laid bare to Takeru's Observation Haki.
Coupled with Takeru's superior physical reaction speed, Akaza simply couldn't land a hit.
Takeru, while seeing numerous openings in Akaza's defense, only landed a few light blows.
Although the ability [Hakoware] was incredibly potent, it had its flaw: once Takeru used this ability on someone, until that person's stamina was bankrupt, all of Takeru's attacks against them would be converted into 'lent stamina'.
When the target attacked Takeru, the numerical value would decrease based on the damage dealt, but the stamina Takeru had already consumed would not be recovered.
Only after the target's stamina was completely bankrupt would all the stamina Takeru had provided be returned to him at once.
Furthermore, the target would then be forced to continuously supply stamina to Takeru at a rate of roughly 20 stamina points every 10 seconds.
In the short term, it seemed negligible, but at that rate sustained over three days, the accumulated amount would become enormous.
Based on Takeru's estimation, a normal adult's stamina, if quantified, would be around 1000. Normal sleep recovery would only replenish about 200 stamina points per hour, which would be utterly insufficient to keep up with a 20-point drain every 10 seconds.
Moreover, once stamina bankruptcy occurred (unlike during the interest calculation phase), there were no spatial or distance limitations. No matter where the person was, the debt-collecting stamina doll would forcibly transfer stamina to Takeru.
Therefore, under normal circumstances, once an ordinary person was hit by this Nen Ability, they would inevitably be exhausted to death.
Aside from this method, Takeru could choose a second option: forcing the target to supply 100 stamina points every 10 seconds. However, in this case, the stamina doll would only last for one hour before disappearing.
"Time's up. Commencing interest calculation!" Soon, the stamina doll changed again, its size growing larger, and its value reaching 12080.
"Destructive Death: Air Type!" Noticing the stamina doll's value increasing yet again, Akaza dared not gamble on what would happen if the number reached a certain point. He decided to stop holding back and used one of his techniques.
With a punch thrown in the air towards Takeru, Takeru perceived an air-cannon-like attack speeding toward him. Facing this, Takeru calmly threw a punch of his own, easily dispersing the air blast.
Seeing Takeru so effortlessly neutralize his Air Type, Akaza unleashed five consecutive punches. Five invisible air blasts shot towards Takeru's position.
In response, Takeru simply threw a few more casual punches, easily detonating the incoming Air Type attacks mid-air.
Watching Takeru's calm demeanor and the ever-increasing number on the stamina doll, a sense of urgency grew in Akaza's heart.
Meanwhile, Rengoku, Tanjiro, and the others could only watch dumbfounded. None of them had imagined that Takeru, using just one peculiar technique, could so thoroughly suppress Upper Moon Three, Akaza.
The speed of their exchanges made it difficult for Tanjiro to follow. Rengoku could keep up with Takeru and Akaza's battle, but he felt he would struggle to perform as well as Takeru.
Combined with Takeru's unique ability, Rengoku quickly realized that Takeru's strength undoubtedly surpassed his own.
Moreover, if they could learn such an ability, wouldn't it make confronting demons much easier?
Back on the battlefield, driven by urgency, Akaza's attacks became even faster and more ferocious. Fueled by the stamina borrowed from Takeru, he attacked without any restraint.
Yet, faced with Akaza's increasingly wild assaults, Takeru's expression grew even calmer. He showed no intention of merely defending… regardless of how Akaza attacked, Takeru met each blow with a punch of his own.
Soon, when the value on the doll reached 15695, Akaza had to grudgingly admit that his normal attacks were utterly ineffective against Takeru.
He quickly retreated, putting some distance between them.
"Destructive Death: Annihilation Type!" Akaza unleashed a furious barrage of blows at an incredible speed towards Takeru. Countless blue shockwaves surged forward.
"Perfect timing. Rankyaku!" Seeing the rapidly approaching blue shockwaves, Takeru swiftly swung his leg. Instantly, numerous white slashing waves shot from his foot, clashing with the Annihilation Type shockwaves mid-air. Both energies dissipated upon impact...