《Demon Slayer : The Silent Journey》


 Chapter 1: Reincarnation

    <h4>Chapter 1: Reincarnation</h4>

    [MC''s POV]

    I''m fucked.

    I''m so fucked.

    "I am so fucked."

    "How many times do I have to tell you Seiji, no cursing." A voice told me from the side while I continued staring at the ceiling as Iy t on my ck like a wellid corpse, contemting on how fucked I was.

    My head lifelessly rolled to the side to look at the person who had just reprimanded me. He was sitting on the floor with one of his kneesing up to his chest. There was a small table in front where different Japanese dishes were set and he was eating a bowl of rice with chopsticks.

    He wore a ck traditional Japanese dress and there were many scars on his face that hinted at the violence he had seen. But underneath such scars was a young face that could not be older than 20.

    "Come and eat your food before it gets cold." He told me while shoving lumps of rice into his mouth. He did not even bother to look at me, his eyes were closed while he enjoyed his food.

    Of course, he would be enjoying his food peacefully, because unlike me, he was not absolutely fucked. Wait, that''s not exactly correct. He was just as screwed as me, but unlike me, he was blissfully ignorant of what the future held.

    You might be wondering why I was in such deep trouble and even contemting killing myself right now. The answer was simple.

    Currently, it was the year 1910 and somehow, I was living in a rural vige in Japan.

    And if it wasn''t obvious already, I had somehow travelled back exactly 110 years into the past.

    How it happened? I did not know. Thest thing I remember was sending a leave letter to the principal, faking sickness so that I could skip school that day.

    I did not die, I did not get hit by a truck nor did I fall into a rabbit hole like Alice.

    One moment I was there and in the next, I found myself here. There was no hint, there was no warning and there definitely was no logic.

    Actually, I found myself in this situation yesterday but being hopeful that it was a dream, I slept. But the next day, I was still in the same situation, trapped inside some kid''s body in an era that was known to be the worst.

    For people who are not well versed in history, let me tell you some of the future event that awaits me - a person living in Japan during the early 1900''s ; World War 1, The Great Kanto Earthquake that killed around 150,000 people, World War 2 which was known as the bloodiest war in human history with 85 million casualties and two atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

    Yeah, what a remarkable future that awaits me. Did I also mention that Hitler would being into power soon as well?

    Fantastic.

    "I am so screwed."

    "Are you going toy there all day like a dead fish? If you don''te I am going to eat your share." the young man said after a while.

    I continued lying on the floor for a few more seconds before I pushed myself up. I looked at the man whom I recalled to be Kenshi, the eldest sibling and my big brother.

    Sinceing back to this era yesterday, I have slowly been gaining the memories of this 4-year-old body that I inherited. There were a total of seven members in our family but all of them were away to work for the day except for me and my brother.

    They thought I was sick since I refused to act right yesterday and slept the whole day. So they made my brother stay at home to watch over me at home.

    As the youngest in the family, I was quite spoiled.

    "I''m not hungry, you can have it." I said and my brother simply shrugged, "Suit yourself then."

    I got up and walked out of the room to wander around aimlessly while gathering my thoughts and processing the entire situation. Everything still felt unreal to me.

    I walked out into the courtyard and a pleasant breeze came to relieve my not-so-unpleasant mood. The leaves of the trees fluttered in a flushing sound and the air which was still untainted by pollution filled my lungs.

    The sun hung high in the sky and its gentle warmth caressed my skin. The greenery seemed to reflect this warmth as it zed like jade. It was a beautiful summer day and the chirping of birds and the buzzing of insects was what really made this felt like a dream to me.

    I was born deaf back in my original life. So this was the first time I was hearing things. If not for the memories I was slowly gaining, I would have had a harder time adjusting.

    So I listened closely to the different sounds of the world and the melodious music of still nature. I thought to myself, maybe everything was not so bad.

    I had no family back home as my mother ran away with a guy when I was ten and my father passed away due to alcohol the following year. I had no real siblings as I was an ident my parents won''t allow to happen twice and I have been passed around between rtives like a chore.

    My social life was not good because I was deaf. I couldn''t afford hearing aids either so I remainedpletely deaf for the 13 years I had been alive. Instead, I had to adapt to reading people''s lips for the most basic level ofmunication.

    I was bullied in school as well because I was sent to a government school where all the poor and lowlifes of society went and they were more than happy to bully the small kid more unfortunate than themselves.

    I actually kicked one of them in the shin not too long ago and I was trying to skip school in fear that they would get revenge before everything happened and I travelled to the past.

    So there was nothing much to miss from my other life. So maybe even though I was born in a really bad era, this could be a great chance to start over.

    I had a proper family now and judging from my memories, they were all great people. With my future knowledge, I could escape all the uing disasters and maybe even thrive in this world

    So maybe this was not such a bad turn of events.

    Scratch that, this was a great turn of events. This was a new start for me and I was finally able to fulfil my dream of hearing sound as well.

    That''s it.

    Maybe I am not fucked.

    I fucked.

    ...

    ...

    ///////////

    "We''re home." My mother was the first to announce her return as my small body quickly got up to run up to my new family.

    My brother Kenshi followed behind with a small smile. He was a cool guy who actually fought in the Russo-Japanese War and survived to tell the tale. I spent the entire day with him and in doing so, I was able to gain back all of my memories.

    Yes, my memories.

    I realized after recalling everything that I had not taken over the body of a small child, instead, I was born as such and I recalled my memories only now.

    "Wee home." I said with a smile on my face, feeling giddy at not just seeing my mother but also hearing my own voice.

    I liked talking, even in my past life when I was deaf. It always felt like magic to me how people could share thier thoughts, feelings and intentions with just a movement of thier lips.

    "Oh~ was my baby feeling well today?" She chirped at me while picking up my small body and rubbing her cheeks against mine. She smelled like grass and soil which made sense since my family were farmers.

    "Y-yeah." I replied with a blush and a smile on my face. It was awkward as a 13-year-old to be handled like a baby but at the same time, it felt good to be loved by your mother. That other bitch could never.

    "Where''s father and the others?" I asked and my mother replied with a smile. "I came home early to prepare food since your brother can''t be trusted with the task. They will be home soon."

    My brother had an awkward smile and rubbed the back of his head under my mother''s faux disappointed gaze.

    "Do you want to help Mommy cook dinner, Seiji?" My mother turned back to me with a beaming smile.

    She was beautiful. She wore dull clothes tainted with dirt and her hair was tied into a messy bun. By all means, she wore no ttering clothes but she looked beautiful to me, like nature''s greatest gift.

    "Hn." I nodded with a small smile.

    And that was the start of my new life. It was easy for someone who never had anything to start over.

    .

    .

    .

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 Chapter 2: Demon attack

    <h4>Chapter 2: Demon attack</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    Three years psed even before I knew it and I had lived more than I ever did in my past life.

    I was happy.

    Some people might find that hard to believe, given my prior reaction to the situation I found myself in. But happinesses from the people you surround yourself with, not from the world surrounding you. I experienced that first-hand.

    Because in this second life, I was lucky enough to be surrounded by a real family who truly loved me.

    Now how could I possibly be sad even if I was living in the worst era of human history? How could I stop smiling when I finally had a family?

    There was my father, my mother, my older brother and three older sisters. Including myself, we were a loving family of seven. Quite a small family actually in this era.

    We were wealthy as both my father and brother were army officers who retired after the Russo-Japanese War. We moved from the city to the rural areas after thier retirement.

    They bought arge piece ofnd for farming and a small mansion with thier pension money. There, we lived a slow and peaceful life just like they always wanted.

    I thought I was blessed to have been reborn into such a family.

    My father and brother were tough men but they had a very soft side for thier family. My mother and sisters were all beautiful and loving women who couldn''t help spoiling me every moment of the day. I would get passed around like a teddy bear and I was more than happy to oblige.

    I was the youngest in the family and by a lot. There was an 8-year difference between me and the second youngest sibling. I was what they called a te in life child''. I was a pleasant surprise addition to the family.

    But this happiness did notst long. And I would have expected it if I had known the world I was living in at that time.

    I was 7 years old when it happened.

    ...

    "Who would have thought a gen-z soul like me could ever enjoy farming?"

    I said with a smile while wiping the sweat from my face. As a 7-year-old and the little jewel of the family, I was of course not allowed to do hard work on the farm yet. But I was in charge of watering all of the nts.

    They said I had a nurturing touch and the nts I watered grew healthier. Of course, I knew they were just overexaggerating but it was enough to make me take my job seriously and try my best.

    Which was exactly why I was the only person in the crop field right now. It waste in the afternoon with the sun shining deep orange as it was about to set.

    But I still remained in the field because I was watering the crops. The best time to water them was in the afternoon because that way, the nts would be able to absorb the water properly without the sun evaporating the water.

    I did not mind staying behind as the field was right next to our house and it also allowed me to witness my favourite scene every day.

    "It''s truly beautiful." I said while gazing at the horizon, specifically at the sun which was slowly sinking between the peak of two mountains.

    I liked beautiful things. Since I was deaf in my past life, I had a strong love for anything that was visually stunning. From arts, sculptures and pretty girls, I loved them all.

    I resumed my work after a minute of just watching the sunset and quickly finished watering the nts before it got dark.

    If I waste, my mother would be worried so after I finished my work, I hurried home.

    I thought it would be like every day. I thought my mother would wee me with a bright smile on her face, I thought my brother would praise me for working extra harder than everyone else.

    But that day, it was different.

    That day was the end of it all.

    "What is that smell?"

    I asked myself. It was the smell of blood so thick that it made me want to fall down on my knees and vomit. There was a metallic tang to it that stuck in my nostrils.

    I quicken my steps and head towards my house. The closer I came to the house, the stronger the smell got and then I heard the sound of sobbing from inside.

    "Mom? Dad?!" I ran to the door and slid it open.

    My blood froze when I saw it. The image was forever imprinted on the darkest corner of my mind.

    Inside, I saw the walls of the house I called my home, painted with blood and intestines. I also saw littered corpses and pieces of flesh sprawled around from the entrance to the living room.

    My stomach twisted at the sight and then my heart when I realized it was the pieces of my family. I couldn''t help myself and emptied the content of my stomach right then and there.

    I vomited violently in the doorway. My vomit was mixed with tears that fell down like a broken dam. I did not feel anything at that time even though I was brawling my eyes out. I felt too many intense emotions all at once so I think my brain just numbed everything.

    Then I heard a piercing scream which made me look up. I stumbled and then crawled towards the sound. The blood and pieces of flesh on the floor made it so slippery that I fell down numerous times.

    But I did not care. Because I knew whose voice that belonged to.

    "Mieko!!!" I called out. My juvenile voice was overflowing with fear and panic.

    When I reached the kitchen I finally saw my sister but I also saw something else. A monster I could only describe as ugly.

    He looked like an old man with a hunched back. His body was full of wrinkles and dirty white hair fell down his balding head like webs. He was also extremely pale and he was pinning my sister to the ground.

    My eyes shook when I saw them.

    My sister waspletely naked, her clothes were torn off by the sharp ws of the monster. She was crying and her face twisted with pain and despair.

    One of her breasts was gone, eaten by the monster who held her down. A side of her stomach was cut and her insides were spilling out with blood that was so red it looked ck.

    I also noticed that her thighs and her buttocks had gaping wounds, most of her flesh there was gone. The monster''s face was covered in blood and it was not hard for even my panicked mind to conclude what was happening,

    My sister was being eaten alive.

    And the way she was being eaten felt like a picky child eating his food, choosing to eat only the good parts first. The scene was a raw and unadulterated show of violence. It was demonic.

    ...

    I screamed.

    "AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" My throat ripped due to how loud it came out.

    And then I charged at the monster who had killed my family and was eating my sister. My seven-year-old body moved as fast as it could and adrenaline pumped in my veins.

    I still haven''t felt anything yet.

    But before I could even reach the monster, he turned towards me. His face looked like an old man and he opened his mouth.

    He released a sonic boom that ruptured my ears and froze my adrenaline. My small body was sent flying away from the shockwave and I crashed into the wall.

    Pain.

    Pain coursed throughout my body and it was the first thing I felt. I clutched my ear with both hands and it was bleeding endlessly. I felt warm liquids inside my head and I felt dizzy.

    I tried to get up but I couldn''t. For a brief moment, I forgot up from down and right to left. My body was in shock and I broke many bones when I crashed into the wall. The only thing I could do was look up and stare as the monster continued devouring my sister.

    I still did not feel anything other than pain. But I remembered I was d when she finally died and her screaming stopped.

    I remained on the ground and watched until the end where my sister became a lump of intestines and bare bones. I saw everything.

    I just curled up on the ground and wiggled like a worm. Helpless.

    After the monster was done, it looked at me and then he came near me. I could no longer hear what he said, it felt like I was underwater.

    But I could read his lips.

    He said something along the lines of me being too small to be eaten and that he was full. But strangely enough, I could vividly hear thest thing he said to me.

    His lips curled up into the cruellest smile I had ever seen and then with eyes filled with amusement, he said to me.

    "Thank you for the meal."

    I was helpless. I couldn''t do anything.

    The demon left but as I watched him leave, I was filled with anger and hatred I never knew was possible. Was a child even capable of bearing such hatred?

    Out of pure spite, I pushed myself off the ground and then ran after him. When he was in the doorway about to leave the house, I caught up to him.

    I ran at him with mindless abandon. My body functioned only through anger and my action was filled with spite.

    But I remember, my main objective then was not to kill the monster. I knew I could not kill him even if I wanted to. I only attacked because I was filled with anger and because I wanted something else.

    I wanted to die.

    I wanted to die before my mind stopped panicking and this nightmare became a reality. I wanted to die with my family.

    But the monster did not kill me.

    I think it knew what I wanted and was refusing to grant me my wish. He merely swung his arm at me and I felt my shoulder and ribs breaking under his inhumane strength.

    And then for the second time, he opened his mouth and released a sonic boom that sent me flying away like a ragdoll.

    Iy sprawled on the ground, along with the pieces of flesh which I once called a family. I could not even differentiate who was who. They were all just mingled remains of bones and intestines.

    The monster left and I was alone in the house.

    My home had turned into hell.

    It took some time but then it eventually came, pain. And it was not the physical pain I got from being injured.

    It was something else, something that came from the deepest part of my soul.

    Reality sank in and the nightmare finally became vivid. I started brawling and I felt my heart being crushed by an invisible hand.

    It felt like I was being strangled. Grief, sadness, pain, despair, guilt and every negative emotion I know of and some I never knew existed.

    I gathered the pieces of flesh and bones and hugged them in a bloody mess of gore. And the whole night I stayed in that hell, trying to find the final warth offort from my lost family.

    I think I cried the whole night but everything was silent because I lost my sense of hearing.

    That night, after three years since regaining my memories, I was robbed of everything I was blessed with in this second life.

    My family and my hearing.

    I mourned in the silence.

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 Chapter 3: The Transparent World

    <h4>Chapter 3: The Transparent World</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    I said the time and ce I was born in could not have gotten worse.

    I jinxed myself because it got so much worse.

    Demon yer. That was the world I was living in. That was my new reality.

    A manga/anime that was based in the Taisho era of Japan. The main viins of the anime were the demons who fed on human flesh and were vulnerable to sunlight. These demons were hunted by demon yers who were the good guys.

    It was a dark shounen where almost every named character had thier families ughtered by demons one way or the other.

    So if I was being honest, it was not surprising that I suffered the same fate.

    But god was it a hard fate to swallow, I couldn''t ept it. I remember crying and mourning for days after losing my family. I cried until everything felt numb.

    But after a week passed, I was fully at peace with my situation, I was lucky because other than the initial grief I felt, I did not bear any lifelong traumas.

    Because my mentality was fundamentally different from everyone else, I had known my family for only three years while I lived 13 years in my past life without a family.

    So what did that mean?

    It meant that deep down, I knew I never really had a family. The family I got in my second life were all blessings that I did not deserve. It was like a privilege that I was even able to live with them and enjoy life for three years.

    So instead of mourning over what I lost, I learned to be thankful for what I had.

    You could say that I was dealing with thier death much betterpared to a child who knew his family his whole life. To them, it must''ve felt like someone had destroyed their whole world. But to me, it felt like someone stole everything from me after I won the lottery.

    Two different feelings from the same event. The mind was a powerful thing.

    After a week, all I felt was hatred for those who had stolen from me. I despised the beings who robbed me of the warmth of a family. I would never forgive them, especially that old demon who refused to kill me.

    Fuck that ugly piece of shit.

    It has been eight days since that night and life had been silent for me ever since. With my hearingpletely destroyed by the ''blood demon art'' of that old demon, It was just like my past life, I was deaf and without family.

    Talk about going back to square one.

    In a short time, I got used to being deaf again. I even regained my old skill of reading a person''s lips to hear what they were saying. I guess old skills die hard.

    But even though I was living in perpetual silence, I was far from being lonely. In fact, it was the opposite as I was never left alone since the incident happened.

    All the vigers came together to care for andfort me. It got to the point that people were actually fighting over whose house I was going to stay in and take care of me.

    Not only that, the vigers were quick to clean up the mansion and prepare a big funeral for my dead family. And I kid you not, people I had never even met before cried harder than even myself at the funeral.

    What could be the reason? Was it sympathy? Was it the pity for the small child who lost his whole family in one night? Or was it human kindness?

    It was none of them.

    The real reason was greed. As I said before, my family was exceptionally wealthy due to my father and brother, so these people were trying to get on my good side so that I would choose them to be my legal guardian.

    I was still a child in front of thew so I could not inherit the wealth of my family until I came of age. Until then, my family''s wealth was to fall into the hands of my guardian.

    Normally, a rtive of mine should be my guardian but as I did not have other rtives, it would have to be one of these vigers who would be my legal guardian.

    Although eventually I would regain full ownership of my inheritance, there was still many benefits people could gain while I was young. For example; they could use ournd to cultivate crops, live in our mansion and evenunder my money with the excuse of using it to raise me.

    Truly disgusting but that was just human nature, you do everything to thrive. Especially in a time like this where war and poverty were constant.

    I knew all of this because they did not hold back what they said in front of the kid who they thought hadpletely lost his hearing. I might be deaf now but like I said, I could still read thier lips easily.

    ...

    "Can you understand me."

    A stupid question to ask a kid who just lost his hearing but okay, I could entertain you - random viger who acted like my favourite uncle since I lost my parents. At least he was nice enough to feed me good food and let me have my own room until now.

    I nodded.

    "Really? Then do you remember what happened that night? Did a demon really attack your family?" he asked with exaggerated bodynguage.

    I just stared at him with the most nk face I could give. People of this age were truly insensitive. Or maybe it''s just a boy thing. Did he not realize I could be traumatized and I might break down again if he kept bringing that up? I was not, but still.

    I guess they couldn''t help being curious as demons and gods were in the line between myth and reality. They just assumed a demon attacked because of the gore but some argued that it was a wild animal from the mountain, a bear maybe.

    "I don''t know if anyone has told you this but you have a really creepy stare." he said that part to himself but I saw it.

    Actually, no one had told me such things. But I guess it was reasonable for my gaze to change after I gained what I did.

    I continued staring at the man''s face and focused on my eyes. Then my gaze pierced right through his head and I saw his brain. Literally.

    I saw his brain and his skull. My eyes traveled down and I saw his expanding lungs and pulsing heart. I clearly saw how his heart was pumping blood throughout his body and I saw his muscles twitch with every movement he made.

    I was also able to discern the minor muscle tear in his biceps, quads and shoulder which hints at the work he was doing in the fields.

    It felt like I had an inbuilt x-ray vision in my eyes. I could see everything I wanted and hadn''t desired. I could also read his bodynguage like an open book, and predict his movements by the breath of his lungs and the contraction of his muscles.

    At first, I thought I was merely seeing things. I thought that it was the result of a trauma I got from seeing my loved ones eaten alive.

    But soon enough, I realized that it had nothing to do with trauma. Instead, it was one of the rarest powers in the Demon yer World.

    It was called the transparent world.

    People with this ability were able to see the inner workings of any creature. They could perceive the flow of blood, breathing, muscr contractions and joint movements of the creature they are looking at. They could then use this ability to predict the movement of said creature, find thier weaknesses and even discern thier gic makeup which helped them distinguish demons from humans or even trace back their descendants.

    Not only that, the transparent world also boosted the perception of the user and gave them faster reflexes. There might be other things that were not mentioned in the manga as well.

    There were only 7 known users in the whole world and the only way to attain the transparent world was after activating the Demon yer mark, another unique power of the Demon yer world.

    It was truly odd how I got this power without awakening my mark. My only guess was it had something to do with me being deaf - because as we know, the lost of one sense could enhance other senses.

    To be honest, I was not worried about how I got it. Only how I was going to use it.

    "I will leave you now." the man said with nonsensical hand gestures.

    "Call me if you need anything."

    He went out of the room and slid the door shut. I was left alone in the room, sitting upright on the futon. Somehow, the perpetual silence became heavier after I was alone.

    I wondered why I had not killed myself already.

    I did not have a reason to live any longer. I already died in my past life and everything after that was just extra. As I said, the time I was able to spend with my family was already a privilege.

    And this world was not even my own. This was the world of Demon yer, a world where I did not belong. A ce where I should not exist.

    I looked around the room and observed every difference between this life and my past life. The sliding doors, the decoration of the room, the futons, the age, the culture etc. It was all something vastly different from my first life.

    I felt like an outsider.

    My family was the only anchor I had to this world. They were the ones who made me feel like I belonged here but with them gone, I felt like I should not be here at all.

    So why had I not just killed myself?

    What could I possibly expect from continuing to live? I was deaf and I was an orphan, was this not exactly as I was in my first life?

    No, scratch that. It was worse with the presence of demons and the uing world wars and disasters. It would be easier to just kill myself right here and finally rest or fade away to nothingness.

    Such thoughts were loud in the silence of my world. I contemted for a long time until I eventually came to a conclusion.

    Hope. That was the biggest thing that made me want to keep living. The hope was that everything would not remain as it was. Maybe I would eventually find a new family to live for, maybe I would make friends, fall in love and find a reason to fear death again.

    Hope became a pir of my world.

    And there was one more thing that prevented me frommitting suicide right then and there.

    Demons.

    Fuck those ugly pieces of shit, especially that old demon who took everything for me. I would ughter everyst one of them.

    My hatred created a goal for me and I found a reason to continue living once more. That goal became my driving force during the darkest moments of my life.

    I knew I was capable of realizing this dream with my future knowledge and the transparent world. So I got up from the futon and walked towards the mirror in the room.

    I stood in front of it and looked at my reflection.

    A young boy with dark circles around his eyes stared back at me with purple eyes that glowed eerily. His eyes looked dead and alive at the same time.

    He wore a ck haori and he had a messy purple hair on top of his head. His skin was pale and he was quite big for a kid his age.

    So that was me.

    ''Not bad.'' I thought to myself. I haven''t seen my reflection in a week but I still looked good as ever. I was handsome in my past life and I was sure to grow up to be just a beautiful in this life as well.

    Well, another reason to continue living I guess.

    I focused my eyes and then I looked at the inner workings of my own body. It was kinda gross as my brain, lungs, muscles, heart and all of my organs revealed themselves under my gaze.

    This was it.

    This ability would be extremely useful to grow stronger. It was every science-based bodybuilder''s dream ability and it would allow me to train with the utmost efficiency.

    Not only that, it would help me immensely in learning about breathing styles.

    ''Well, what am I waiting for? Another demon attack?'' I thought to myself when I saw that the injuries I got were mostly healed.

    Then I got down and I began doing push-ups while carefully looking at my own reflection.

    ..

    ..

    ..

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 Chapter 4: Path to strength

    <h4>Chapter 4: Path to strength</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    "Can you recall what the demon looked like?"

    Why was everyone so insistent on traumatizing me? If they kept on reminding me like this, I might actually start crying to make sure they never bother me again.

    I took my eyes off his moving lips and looked at the board he had in his hands. On it, the question he asked was written in bold hiragana.

    I knew how to read Japanese even though it was not my nativenguage in my past life. I was kind of anguage freak back then, I knew how to read and write twelve differentnguages. It had something to do with being deaf and writing being the only form ofmunication I had with others.

    I did not go to school in this second life of mine, but my past life''s knowledge tranted into an actual skill so even though I was seven, I was probably the most educated person in this vige.

    I looked up at the man who was holding the board and I analyzed his dress. He wore a ck jacket which buttoned up to his neck along with ck pants. He wore a white belt on which a katana was tightly strapped.

    All in all, it was the standard demon yer uniform.

    "Why does it matter dude? You are ten dayste anyway."

    "Wait, what did you say?"

    Oops, did I say that out loud? I reminded myself to be careful as I asionally had slip-ups like that after going deaf again. I would blurt out my own thoughts and I wouldn''t be aware since I couldn''t even hear my own voice.

    The demon really fucked up my ear.

    "I said you won''t believe me anyway. No one does." I said and he gave me a look that screamed ''That was not what you just said.''

    But what was he going to do, argue with the seven-year-old who just lost his whole family? No, he shook his head and his eyes became gentle instead.

    "I promise I will believe what you say. Do you trust me?" No dude, we just met a few minutes ago.

    He moved closer to the futon where I was sitting and he gently put his hand on my shoulder while he supported his body with his other hand. He leaned towards me.

    "I understand you, kid. I experienced the same thing you did when I was a child." He started, "And now, I am a demon yer. I hunt those monsters so that they won''t ever harm anyone again. So I need you to tell me what the demon looked like and what his powers were."

    His eyes found mine and for the first time since I got the Transparent World, someone was able to hold eye contact with me. I wondered, did he remember I was deaf or did that factpletely cross his mind in his emotional state?

    After a few seconds of silence which was awkward only for him, I replied.

    "He looked like an old man with a hunched back. His skin was pale, almost blue and he was very very ugly."

    "They all are." he chuckled.

    "And for his powers." I said, "He could shout really loudly and it even caused my ears to bleed."

    The demon yer went mute in thought and he muttered to himself, "So a sound-based blood demon art huh?"

    After that, he focused back on me and shed a smile. "Thank you for your help kid. I will make sure your family rest in peace by killing the demon."

    He stood up after that and fixed his uniform. He hade to the vige today and was able to get permission to talk to me alone after asking permission. But now that he got what he wanted, he was going to leave.

    But I didn''t let him.

    "Wait a minute sir." I called out and crawled out from the futon where I was resting. He turned back to look at me, he tilted his head in question.

    "Yes?"

    "How can I be like you?" I asked bluntly. "How can I be a demon yer like you?"

    He paused at the question and with my sharp eyes, I was able to see his hesitance to reply to me. On one hand, he did not want to give an answer to protect me but on the other, he knew what it was like to lose your loved ones to a demon. He understood the feeling of hatred and the need for revenge.

    "Please." I added.

    ..

    ..

    ..

    //////////////////////

    He was a good dude. I never learned his name but I hoped I meet him again.

    He really gave me a proper answer to my question. Although it was not as detailed as I would''ve liked and what he said was mostly what I already knew, I appreciated the help. Especially for telling me the location where the final selection would be held.

    The way to be a demon yer was simple. Firstly, you had to find a mentor to teach you sword skills and train your body. They could be any demon hunter but mostly, the mentors were veteran demon yers or retired Hashiras.

    After passing the training, you had to get your own nichirin de. This was why it was necessary to get a mentor because you could only obtain one through them.

    And then, you must go to Mt. Fujikasane to attend what was called ''the final selection'' process. After passing that, you would be an official demon yer.

    Pretty straightforward if I am being honest.

    The only problem was how to find a demon yer to mentor me. It''s not like demon yers weremon in the first ce but a veteran or a retired Hashira were even rarer.

    But then again, I could just go to the final selection directly and steal a Nichiren de from one of the participants. Scratch that, I wouldn''t even have to steal. If I remember the show correctly, many trainees die every year in the final selection so I could probably loot their dead body.

    My main priority should be getting stronger.

    Iid back on the futon and rxed my body for a much needed rest. I thought since my body was already healing, it wouldn''t be a problem if I trained. I was wrong and after a couple of days of training - doing push-ups and other exercises - my injuries got worse.

    Basically, I couldn''t heal when I was constantly using up all my energy and creating muscle tears while training.

    I got so engrossed with getting stronger that sound logic slipped my mind. It was kind of embarrassing but in my defence, I thought it would be fine since it was a shounen world where breaking your limits with determination and friendship was the average Tuesday.

    s, this was not fiction anymore, it was real. And even if it was, I was not the main character.

    So with all those thoughts swirling in my ever-silent world, I closed my eyes and focused on resting. If I had to rest, I was going to rest like no one ever rested before.

    Such was the path to strength.

    So I slept.

    ..

    ..

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Chapter 5: Training arc

    <h4>Chapter 5: Training arc</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    The next phase of my life was full of hurdles and self-discovery as I walked the path towards strength, it was not an easy road.

    If my life was a book, I would name this Chapter of my life ''The training arc''.

    Firstly, I was adopted by themunity leader of our vige. Contrary to my expectation, we did not move to our mansion due to fear that it might be a bad omen or haunted, especially with the way my parents were brutally ughtered. But they did use our field to cultivate like I expected.

    It was at this point in my life that I realized greed was only a small fraction of human nature. Just because people were greedy, that did not mean they were bad people.

    Humans had ws, but they also had a soul. With the help of my enhanced eyes, I could see lies and deceit from miles away, so believe me when I say there was no lie, humans were kind.

    They were good people.

    Although I could never love them like I did my previous family, I was d they were there for me. It must''ve been tough to handle me in my early days when I wouldn''t open up to anyone and live an isted life with the excuse of being deaf.

    But they were persistent. So at one point, I gave in and I was happy I did.

    The family who adopted me were two old couples - they were 40 but it was considered old when the life expectancy was 42 years old - they had no more families as thier two daughters already got married and moved out to thier husband''s household.

    But even though it was only us three, we always had guests as uncle was the leader of the vige. They could either bw travellers or traders and since there were not such things as hotels, they would stay in our house or any other house they could find for the night. So we were never lonely.

    My training started after I was fully healed from the injuries and at first it was mainly about building muscles with the help of my past knowledge and fully utilizing the transparent world.

    Other than building a stronger body, I also did everything I could to gain strength. That includes swinging wooden swords (sticks) many times to get myself familiar with the action.

    The transparent world became vital in sharpening my movements. I could see how my muscles twitched and worked when executing a specific action and even without any prior knowledge, I was able to teach myself to move perfectly.

    I called it perfect movement. Since it barely cost me anything to use the transparent world, I always had it active and with it, I was able to monitor each action I made every day. I would then correct my own movements until I moved with perfect fluidity.

    I never wasted movements in any action I did. I made sure only the right muscles were working when I executed and used just enough power.

    Having the transparent world virtually active also made me extremely familiar with the human body. After two years of living in that world where I could see everything, I was capable of predicting future actions with ease.

    I learned the hidden pattern in movement and I was able to predict future actions by analysing the current state of a body. At one point, it felt like people were talking to me with thier body. I could understand everything by just looking at thier body, movement itself became anguage to me.

    Correct, I had learned thenguage of the body.

    One more interesting thing to note was that having the transparent world perpetually active made me sleep a lot due to obvious reasons. My brain worked overtime to process all the information I got from my eyes so it took a toll on my brain. I had to sleep at least 12 hours every day.

    This would be even worse if I was not deaf. Luckily, the part of my brain which should process my sense of hearing was free and more of my brain was able to focus on my sight alone.

    I hoped this minor drawback would be fixed by the time my brain fully matured.

    So three years passed just like that and during that time, my improvement could be summarize into three things, enhanced physique, perfect movement and bodynguage.

    At the age of 11, I realized I was no longer making much improvement other than my physique so I started looking for other ways to get stronger.

    That was when I learned that there was a Kendo Dojo in the city of Tokyo which was not too far away from our vige - it was only around half a day travel on foot.

    I asked my uncle to buy me a bicycle to go back and forth from Tokyo to the vige every day. He did not protest as I rarely ever asked for anything and it was bought with my inheritance money anyway.

    That was also why I was never expected to work on the farms to help them. Not only were they cultivating the fields which were legally mine, but they also used my inheritance to buy everything I needed. So they left me alone to do what I wanted.

    At the age of 11, I joined the Noma Dojo which was located in Tokyo. This was also the first time I realized just how strong I was.

    So, how strong was I?

    One word, overpowered.

    It might not seem impressive at first but the two skills I had developed, ''Perfect Movement'' and ''Body Langauge'' were an absolute cheat. Coupled with my physique which was apparently as strong as a 15-year-old, then you have someone who could beat the master of the Dojo with ease.

    On the first day, the Master of the Dojo and I had a spar on my request. We fought and that was when I realized that fighting was different for mepared to everyone else.

    How so you may ask, well...

    Fighting to me, was a conversation.

    When we started the spar, he did not move his lips but the Master spoke. His first attack was a straight verticle sh and he told me how many times he had practiced that one single swing, over ten thousand times.

    The way the muscles on his right arm tensed much more than his left told me that he was right-handed. His eyes that were looking at the left side told me that normally, his attack would be blocked and countered from the left.

    His feet were nted firmly on the floor, showing his absoluteck of fear towards me. And it also told me that he had no interest in fighting aggressively, he was only trying to demonstrate his skill.

    His tight shoulders told me exactly where the swing was going to end and how much force was put into it. His bent elbow screamed his next move to me, a horizontal sh from the right.

    It was overwhelming.

    He talked a lot.

    The master told me everything without opening his mouth. The craziest thing was that it happened in under a second.

    I dodged his swing with perfect movement. I was like water which found the easiest and most effective way to flow.

    After I dodged, the Master had a surprised look on his face and then he used another attack. Just like I expected, it was a horizontal sh from the right side.

    I also blocked that with minimal effort. There was no waste of energy when my bokken mmed against his. His attack barely slipped off mine when the wood met.

    Then it was my turn to attack and right when I thought of attacking, the Master spoke again. This time, he told me about every weakness he had and how he was going to protect himself.

    His hesitance to step back told me of his arrogance, his greatest weakness. The middle finger on his right was not gripping the handle properly, it was injured.

    The tight movement on his hips told me of the back pain he had, abination of old age and many years of training. His right eye was better than the left which caused an imbnce in sight, he most likely wore sses to read.

    He shifted his body weight to his right foot and that told me how he would have a hard time moving to the right. He blinked and I stepped in.

    I was not fast nor did I put power in my footstep but the ease at which I moved made me twice as fast and looked triple as fast.

    I was in front of him and I swung at his right side. He quickly took a step back in a show of expert footwork and then he tried to block.

    But here''s a thing about perfect movement, I only used the necessary muscle group and strength in my actions. So it made it extremely easy to discard said action and make changes midway.

    So in an instnat, I changed my swing to an upward sh that would cut his hand which held the bokken while he tried to block my first attack. But he was experienced, he saw through my attack.

    With a body superior to mine, he leaned back, almost in a falling motion, to dodge the sh.

    But he told me he was going to dodge like that even before he did. The way his muscles were currently working and tensed told me exactly what he could and could not do in his position.

    So I changed the sh again to a stab. I took a step forward and lunged at him. The master could no longer block and right when he stumbled to a stop my bokken hit him, stabbing not at his heart but his pancreas.

    I could see exactly where I was hitting and without a doubt, he would''ve died.

    There was a long moment of stunned silence from him. His bodypletely froze in shock

    Then he said with a strained smile, "Stabbing is not allowed."

    Right. Kendo was a sport and I remembered the referee talked about the rules of the spar before it started, I didn''t look to know what he was saying.

    I dropped my bokken and bowed, "I''m sorry. it''s my loss."

    That day I realized the full extent of the skill I had mastered with the help of the transparent world. Although it was nothing to boast aboutpared to people like Muichiro Tokito who became a Hashira after two months of training when he was the same.

    But I think I was decently strong enough.

    I did not know the limit to my skills but if I could easily read a master Kendo like a book, I suppose I would not have a hard time ying weaker demons.

    After the spar, I was immediately deemed a prodigy, a once-in-a-millennium genius.

    In this part of my training, I did not use my transparent world and I learned sword skills from the master and learned how to fight without the help of my eyes. Perfect movement was always there so I still easily became the strongest in the Dojo without the transparent world. It only took me half a year.

    I would learn sword techniques in the Dojo and then after going home, I wouldpletely master that technique and even make improvements with the help of the transparent world.

    Cycling back and forth every day from the city to the vige built my body to be stronger and also increased my stamina many times over. I was able to carry baggages and other objects in my travels after a while. The vigers used me like a mailman but I did not mind and used it as strength training.

    I entered manypetitions during my time in the Dojo and obviously, I emerged victorious in everypetition. I even got some fame to my name and added wealth to my inheritance.

    And just like that, two years passed and I was 13 years old.

    ..

    ..

    This was when I experienced the hardest part of my training.

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Author : So what do you think of Seiji''s powers and abilities? I made this status to keep up with the information.

    ////////

    [Status :-

    Name : Seiji Shigan

    Age : 13

    Physique : Trained adult

    Height : 5''5

    Main power : Transparent world

    Skills :-

    1. Perfect Movement - This gives him the ability to move perfectly with no wasted strength or movement. It allows him to move by working only the necessary muscle groups so he can conserve energy but also make changes in his action mid-way. It is exactly as its name suggests. This no longer requires the use of the transparent world and remains passive unless he learnsplicated movements or techniques which he has never seen or done before.

    2. Body Language - This requires a transparent world and using this skill, Seiji literally understands bodynguage. Even the tiniest twitch of your muscle or your breathing pattern and even your heartbeat tells him everything. Seiji can perfectly predict movements before they ever happen but this depends on how experienced the fighter is. If the opponent is top tier, Sieji might only be able to predict thier next move. You are telling him everything basically.

    ..

    ..

    ..

    -End]

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    [Seiji''s POV]

    The next phase of my life was full of hurdles and self-discovery as I walked the path towards strength, it was not an easy road.

    If my life was a book, I would name this Chapter of my life ''The training arc''.

    Firstly, I was adopted by themunity leader of our vige. Contrary to my expectation, we did not move to our mansion due to fear that it might be a bad omen or haunted, especially with the way my parents were brutally ughtered. But they did use our field to cultivate like I expected.

    It was at this point in my life that I realized greed was only a small fraction of human nature. Just because people were greedy, that did not mean they were bad people.

    Humans had ws, but they also had a soul. With the help of my enhanced eyes, I could see lies and deceit from miles away, so believe me when I say there was no lie, humans were kind.

    They were good people.

    Although I could never love them like I did my previous family, I was d they were there for me. It must''ve been tough to handle me in my early days when I wouldn''t open up to anyone and live an isted life with the excuse of being deaf.

    But they were persistent. So at one point, I gave in and I was happy I did.

    The family who adopted me were two old couples - they were 40 but it was considered old when the life expectancy was 42 years old - they had no more families as thier two daughters already got married and moved out to thier husband''s household.

    But even though it was only us three, we always had guests as uncle was the leader of the vige. They could either bw travellers or traders and since there were not such things as hotels, they would stay in our house or any other house they could find for the night. So we were never lonely.

    My training started after I was fully healed from the injuries and at first it was mainly about building muscles with the help of my past knowledge and fully utilizing the transparent world.

    Other than building a stronger body, I also did everything I could to gain strength. That includes swinging wooden swords (sticks) many times to get myself familiar with the action.

    The transparent world became vital in sharpening my movements. I could see how my muscles twitched and worked when executing a specific action and even without any prior knowledge, I was able to teach myself to move perfectly.

    I called it perfect movement. Since it barely cost me anything to use the transparent world, I always had it active and with it, I was able to monitor each action I made every day. I would then correct my own movements until I moved with perfect fluidity.

    I never wasted movements in any action I did. I made sure only the right muscles were working when I executed and used just enough power.

    Having the transparent world virtually active also made me extremely familiar with the human body. After two years of living in that world where I could see everything, I was capable of predicting future actions with ease.

    I learned the hidden pattern in movement and I was able to predict future actions by analysing the current state of a body. At one point, it felt like people were talking to me with thier body. I could understand everything by just looking at thier body, movement itself became anguage to me.

    Correct, I had learned thenguage of the body.

    One more interesting thing to note was that having the transparent world perpetually active made me sleep a lot due to obvious reasons. My brain worked overtime to process all the information I got from my eyes so it took a toll on my brain. I had to sleep at least 12 hours every day.

    This would be even worse if I was not deaf. Luckily, the part of my brain which should process my sense of hearing was free and more of my brain was able to focus on my sight alone.

    I hoped this minor drawback would be fixed by the time my brain fully matured.

    So three years passed just like that and during that time, my improvement could be summarize into three things, enhanced physique, perfect movement and bodynguage.

    At the age of 11, I realized I was no longer making much improvement other than my physique so I started looking for other ways to get stronger.

    That was when I learned that there was a Kendo Dojo in the city of Tokyo which was not too far away from our vige - it was only around half a day travel on foot.

    I asked my uncle to buy me a bicycle to go back and forth from Tokyo to the vige every day. He did not protest as I rarely ever asked for anything and it was bought with my inheritance money anyway.

    That was also why I was never expected to work on the farms to help them. Not only were they cultivating the fields which were legally mine, but they also used my inheritance to buy everything I needed. So they left me alone to do what I wanted.

    At the age of 11, I joined the Noma Dojo which was located in Tokyo. This was also the first time I realized just how strong I was.

    So, how strong was I?

    One word, overpowered.

    It might not seem impressive at first but the two skills I had developed, ''Perfect Movement'' and ''Body Langauge'' were an absolute cheat. Coupled with my physique which was apparently as strong as a 15-year-old, then you have someone who could beat the master of the Dojo with ease.

    On the first day, the Master of the Dojo and I had a spar on my request. We fought and that was when I realized that fighting was different for mepared to everyone else.

    How so you may ask, well...

    Fighting to me, was a conversation.

    When we started the spar, he did not move his lips but the Master spoke. His first attack was a straight verticle sh and he told me how many times he had practiced that one single swing, over ten thousand times.

    The way the muscles on his right arm tensed much more than his left told me that he was right-handed. His eyes that were looking at the left side told me that normally, his attack would be blocked and countered from the left.

    His feet were nted firmly on the floor, showing his absoluteck of fear towards me. And it also told me that he had no interest in fighting aggressively, he was only trying to demonstrate his skill.

    His tight shoulders told me exactly where the swing was going to end and how much force was put into it. His bent elbow screamed his next move to me, a horizontal sh from the right.

    It was overwhelming.

    He talked a lot.

    The master told me everything without opening his mouth. The craziest thing was that it happened in under a second.

    I dodged his swing with perfect movement. I was like water which found the easiest and most effective way to flow.

    After I dodged, the Master had a surprised look on his face and then he used another attack. Just like I expected, it was a horizontal sh from the right side.

    I also blocked that with minimal effort. There was no waste of energy when my bokken mmed against his. His attack barely slipped off mine when the wood met.

    Then it was my turn to attack and right when I thought of attacking, the Master spoke again. This time, he told me about every weakness he had and how he was going to protect himself.

    His hesitance to step back told me of his arrogance, his greatest weakness. The middle finger on his right was not gripping the handle properly, it was injured.

    The tight movement on his hips told me of the back pain he had, abination of old age and many years of training. His right eye was better than the left which caused an imbnce in sight, he most likely wore sses to read.

    He shifted his body weight to his right foot and that told me how he would have a hard time moving to the right. He blinked and I stepped in.

    I was not fast nor did I put power in my footstep but the ease at which I moved made me twice as fast and looked triple as fast.

    I was in front of him and I swung at his right side. He quickly took a step back in a show of expert footwork and then he tried to block.

    But here''s a thing about perfect movement, I only used the necessary muscle group and strength in my actions. So it made it extremely easy to discard said action and make changes midway.

    So in an instnat, I changed my swing to an upward sh that would cut his hand which held the bokken while he tried to block my first attack. But he was experienced, he saw through my attack.

    With a body superior to mine, he leaned back, almost in a falling motion, to dodge the sh.

    But he told me he was going to dodge like that even before he did. The way his muscles were currently working and tensed told me exactly what he could and could not do in his position.

    So I changed the sh again to a stab. I took a step forward and lunged at him. The master could no longer block and right when he stumbled to a stop my bokken hit him, stabbing not at his heart but his pancreas.

    I could see exactly where I was hitting and without a doubt, he would''ve died.

    There was a long moment of stunned silence from him. His bodypletely froze in shock

    Then he said with a strained smile, "Stabbing is not allowed."

    Right. Kendo was a sport and I remembered the referee talked about the rules of the spar before it started, I didn''t look to know what he was saying.

    I dropped my bokken and bowed, "I''m sorry. it''s my loss."

    That day I realized the full extent of the skill I had mastered with the help of the transparent world. Although it was nothing to boast aboutpared to people like Muichiro Tokito who became a Hashira after two months of training when he was the same.

    But I think I was decently strong enough.

    I did not know the limit to my skills but if I could easily read a master Kendo like a book, I suppose I would not have a hard time ying weaker demons.

    After the spar, I was immediately deemed a prodigy, a once-in-a-millennium genius.

    In this part of my training, I did not use my transparent world and I learned sword skills from the master and learned how to fight without the help of my eyes. Perfect movement was always there so I still easily became the strongest in the Dojo without the transparent world. It only took me half a year.

    I would learn sword techniques in the Dojo and then after going home, I wouldpletely master that technique and even make improvements with the help of the transparent world.

    Cycling back and forth every day from the city to the vige built my body to be stronger and also increased my stamina many times over. I was able to carry baggages and other objects in my travels after a while. The vigers used me like a mailman but I did not mind and used it as strength training.

    I entered manypetitions during my time in the Dojo and obviously, I emerged victorious in everypetition. I even got some fame to my name and added wealth to my inheritance.

    And just like that, two years passed and I was 13 years old.

    ..

    ..

    This was when I experienced the hardest part of my training.

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Author : So what do you think of Seiji''s powers and abilities? I made this status to keep up with the information.

    ////////

    [Status :-

    Name : Seiji Shigan

    Age : 13

    Physique : Trained adult

    Height : 5''5

    Main power : Transparent world

    Skills :-

    1. Perfect Movement - This gives him the ability to move perfectly with no wasted strength or movement. It allows him to move by working only the necessary muscle groups so he can conserve energy but also make changes in his action mid-way. It is exactly as its name suggests. This no longer requires the use of the transparent world and remains passive unless he learnsplicated movements or techniques which he has never seen or done before.

    2. Body Language - This requires a transparent world and using this skill, Seiji literally understands bodynguage. Even the tiniest twitch of your muscle or your breathing pattern and even your heartbeat tells him everything. Seiji can perfectly predict movements before they ever happen but this depends on how experienced the fighter is. If the opponent is top tier, Sieji might only be able to predict thier next move. You are telling him everything basically.

    ..

    ..

    ..

    -End]

 Chapter 6: Training arc 2

    <h4>Chapter 6: Training arc 2</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    Two years passed and I was 13 years old. This was when I experienced the hardest part of my training.

    ..

    ..

    ..

    Studying.

    Yes, apparently I had to study even in a fictional world where breathing was a superpower and in the year 1918.

    It had something to do with my inheritance. There were real estate, business, money and other investments which were part of the inheritance. And in order to have them legally at the age of 16, I had to have at least a high school level education or ''chugakko'' as they called it.

    It was either that or I would only be able to ess my inheritance at the age of 20. Which was bloody ridiculous because I might not even live to see 20 in my line of work.

    I was more than aware of just how dangerous the job of a Demon yer was, more than anyone else probably because I watched a demon devour my sister alive and because of my past life knowledge.

    Even strength could not assure your survival because it was the Hashiras and the strongest people who died in the end.

    That was why I was so careful and not rushing into the forest blindly to fight demons unlike a certain wind pir, even though I was already more than strong nough. Some may call it cowardice but I call it not leaving my life to the whims of luck.

    Calcting the timeline of the cannon with my age, I would be 20 years old when we fight Muzan. That meant I might die even before I saw a penny of my inheritance so passing high school was a must.

    So when I was the age of 13, I spent most of my time studying while also training my senses. I was deaf and that meant I relied heavily on my eyes and I had blind spots. So in order to make up for that, I had to sharpen my instincts and other senses to an extremely high degree.

    So other than studying, I worked on my spatial awareness.

    Luckily, I already passed middle school in my past life so I did not have to start from scratch and other than history and Japanese, I did not have to study much. Education in the 21st century was undoubtedly superior after all.

    The exam for high school was nationwide. That meant that even if you didn''t go to school, you could study by yourself and pass the exam. It was the eve of the First World War so no one had time to waste a whole day going to school so people mostly took this kind exam.

    I was among them and after a total of 4 months of preparation, I passed high school sessfully on my first try. My uncle and aunt were so happy with my achievement as even high school level education was impressive during this time.

    After I was done with my exams and got my results, I finally focused on the most important aspect for demon ying.

    Breathing Styles.

    I figured I would pick up the skill easily, especially with the transparent world. If people like Inosuke could invent thier own breathing style, why the hell should I not be able to?

    "This will be a piece of cake," I said and looked at my reflection in the mirror.

    My gaze pierced through my flesh and bones and I focused on my lungs which were noticeably bigger than average.

    Lung training was obviously part of my physique training schedule since I knew how important it was. I trained using a gourd like it was shown in the anime and I also came up with my own method of training which included holding my breath for long periods of time.

    Now I had a powerful set of lungs which should be able to support even the sun breathing, hopefully.

    I had covered all of the basics. I had trained my body, and learned how to swing a sword - which was an understatement as I was the under 18 national kendo champion - and I had gotten familiar with my eyes as well.

    The only thing left was to have my own breathing style.

    ...

    ...

    ...

    ...

    Long story short, I was able to learn the skill but I failed to get a breathing style.

    I could enhance my body thought breathing - I was probably the best at it since I had a massive advantage - but I failed at creating my own unique breathing style.

    The concept of breathing style was simple, take in huge amounts of air in your lungs and absorb the oxygen. That would increase the amount of oxygen in your bloodstream, giving you superhuman abilities.

    I was able to do that.

    What I was not able to do though was find the pattern which differentiates every breathing style. I realized this soon enough but I think I would be able to seed after seeing someone use any breathing style in action.

    This was why after the initial failures, I stopped instead of trying to find the answer myself. Why wast time when I could get my answer by seeing a demon yer fight once.

    So, that''s how I learned the basic breathing style. I called it, Steroid breathing (because it''s true and funny). Everything you need to know is in the name.

    It was an iplete breathing style that did not have any particr special attribute but worked well in enhancing every stats I had.

    After that, I finally decided it was time to end the training arc.

    I was exactly as old as I was when I died in my past life. I was 13 years and 7 months old.

    It was also the exact age Tanjiro was when his family was killed so I thought it was the perfect year. Both I and the MC would start our story at the same age.

    So at the age of 13, I began my journey.

    My main goal was to travel to Mt. Fujikasane for the final selection this year and on my way...

    Hunt some demons.

    That''s right you ugly sons of bitches.

    Revenge time.

    ..

    ..

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Author : Three Chapters released!!

    [Status :-

    Name : Seiji Shigan

    ..

    Age : 13

    ..

    Height : 5''5

    ..

    Physique : Highly trained adult

    ..

    Main power : Transparent world

    ..

    Breathing style : Iplete. Basic enhancement. (Steroid Breathing)

    ...

    Sword skill : Easily Hashira level in sword skills alone. But he is still below Hashira when it came to fighting with sword as hecks experience.

    Meaning if it was swordman vs swordman, he would rival any Hashira in pure skill but in swordman vs demon, his sword skill may prove to be more ineffective.

    ..

    Skills :-

    1. Perfect Movement - This gives him the ability to move perfectly with no wasted strength or movement. It allows him to move by working only the necessary muscle groups so he can conserve energy but also make changes in his action mid-way. It is exactly as its name suggests. This no longer requires the use of the transparent world and remains passive unless he learnsplicated movements or techniques which he has never seen or done before.

    2. Body Language - This requires a transparent world and using this skill, Seiji literally understands bodynguage. Even the tiniest twitch of your muscle or your breathing pattern and even your heartbeat tells him everything. Seiji can perfectly predict movements before they ever happen but this depends on how experienced the fighter is. If the opponent is top tier, Sieji might only be able to predict thier next move. You are telling him everything basically.

    ..

    ..

    ..

    -End]

 Chapter 7: First Demon

    <h4>Chapter 7: First Demon</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    At the age of 13 years old, I began my journey.

    The n was to direct all of my teenage spite and rebellious phase towards the demons. Since I died at the age of 13 in my past life, the demons were in for two lifetimes'' worth of teenage angst.

    I pity them.

    "I''ll be leaving now." I said to my uncle and aunt who had been taking care of me for many years now.

    "I know nothing we say is going to make you stay so what else can we do." My uncle sighed, "Good luck in your travels my boy."

    "Take care of yourself Seiji, make sure you send us letters. And always remember you have a home with us." My aunt said while wiping tears from her eyes.

    I gave them a deep bow to show my respect and appreciation. They were the closest thing I had to a family. We might have even been closer and happier if I just opened up during all these years.

    But ever since what happened that night, I put a certain distance between myself and other people. It was because of fear of losing a family again and because of what I wanted to do.

    My heart was still too bitter for that kind of love.

    "Thank you for taking care of me." I said and bowed just a tad bit deeper.

    I hope they live for a long time. I hope they single-handedly increase the average life expectancy of a Japanese which was 45 years old.

    After saying farewell, I left the house and then the vige.

    I did not tell them what I was going to do exactly, only that I was going to leave to travel by myself and that it was an important thing to me. I had told them about it since I was young so they couldn''t refute and knew it was inevitable.

    In addition, travelling alone like this from vige to vige was not a rare thing. There were many people who did it for adventure or to find a permanent vige where they could settle.

    So I was able to leave with their blessing.

    I had a katana strapped to my side. It was forged by one of the most famous smiths in Japan and it was given to me as a gift when I finally beat the master of my Dojo fair and square when I was 12.

    I also carried a bag with me that had essential tools like first aid, clean water, tools and a few utensils if I ever wanted to camp in the forest. I think there were some canned foods as well that my aunt packed for me.

    I bought a map from the city so I was half aware of where I should go. The journey to Mt Fujikasane would take me roughly two weeks if I travelled on foot but I expect to reach the mountain in a month.

    This was because I wanted to hunt demons and get experience before entering the final selection. Another reason would be that I just wanted to enjoy the journey.

    A question to all my 21st century readers, did you know how beautiful Japan was? Especially during the early 1900s when nature was still virgin, mostly untouched by humans and pollution.

    It was insane when I thought about how much we ruined nature in the span of only a century. But for now, the world was beautiful.

    And I really like beautiful things.

    My eyes could fullyprehend the beauty of nature in all its glory. I could see the air rushing through the forest, a relieving breeze. I could see every reflection of light from the leaves and every moss on the rocks.

    I saw colours that had names and those without, colours which a normal person would never see. If people saw beauty like I did, I think everyone would fall in love as well.

    It would''ve been even more beautiful if I was able to travel during the day but s, I was not perfect.

    I slept during the day and travelled during the night. One of the reasons I did it was because I wanted to be attacked by a demon.

    But the main reason I slept during the day was because I was deaf. Imagine I slept during the night when demons were roaming around. I hate to admit it but I was a deep sleeper. I was more vulnerable than anyone else when I was sleeping.

    So I could only sleep during the day when I knew for certain demons won''t attack me. I could only sleep when I knew they were hiding in some dark caves or in a hole.

    Not to mistake this to be an absolute weakness though. I trained all of my other senses - especially my sense of smell and touch - to be extremely sensitive so I was still notpletely defenceless.

    Anyways, during the day I slept and at night I travelled.

    People were kind and there were many huts or small viges all over Japan so I would just ask nicely for a ce to sleep and they were happy to say yes.

    I was not sure if I was lucky or unlucky, but I did not encounter any demons in the first two days of my travel. It was only on the third day, while I was trekking up the mountain of Akihara that I encountered my first demon.

    And oh man was it an experience.

    ...

    Mount Akihara was cold all year round but since it was not winter, there was no snow. The mountain was a named one which meant that it was significantlyrger than the usual mountains.

    People rarely visited the mountain due to its high altitude, harsh condition and because it was not the only route. Actually, it was the longer routepared to the bridge route which led to the same ce.

    But I remember I chose the mountain route because of two reasons:-

    The hope of encountering a demon and the desire to catch sunrise at the peak of the mountain - how beautiful that must be.

    The air was extremely thin and it only got worse the higher I climbed. The air was frigid and each inhtion would freeze my lungs and cause a slight difort on my nasal cavity. Nevertheless, I was well trained so it barely bothered me.

    I did not know if there were animals or insects but I imaged them chirping loudly in the silence and istion of the night.

    There was a small and rugged trail up the mountain which was covered in vegetation because it was rarely used. The trees in the mountains had thick roots and barely any branches in order to endure the strong winds that undoubtedly blew on the mountain all year round.

    It was absolutely dark with no light other than the stars and the moon. But the dark never bothered me because, with the transparent world, the world was perpetually visible.

    Therefore, I noticed immediately, the sudden change in the wind. There was something rushing at me from my side and the smell of blood and rotten corpse filled my nose.

    I stopped.

    And right then, a demon came out from the the forest to my left. His body flew across the trail and right past me at a speed that made me raise my eyebrows.

    Had I not stopped, his body would''ve crashed on me and probably break every bone I had. His action was calcted and it also took my footsteps into consideration. It was like a predator leaping at it''s prey.

    "Well, that was embarrassing." Imented at his monumental miss as his body sprawled to a stop at the side of the trail.

    "But don''t worry, no one else saw that." I said but he did not appreciate my words. He growled at me like an animal with his veins popping out on his face.

    "I promise I won''t tell a soul." I said and he lunged at me. It was a pity, if he had not revealed himself he might''ve stood a chance.

    But the brief instance already allowed me to study his body in detail. I already knew how strong he was, what his main strength was and everything in between.

    He told me everything already.

    His body disappeared in a burst of speed and force, leaving a shockwave behind as he shot at me like a cannon. A series of actions that was painfully slow with my eyes though.

    Short burst of power, that was his whole gimmick. He looked like a middle-aged man wearing a white haori and with a pale skin. He had thick powerful legs and bulbous forearms to which spear-like fingers were attached.

    I took a single step, bent my knees and leaned back to dodge his second attempt at taking my head. It was a swift and precise dodge and he missed again.

    But he did not stop and hended on a tree horizontally before he quickly pushed himself off the trunk of the tree. Then he bounced around the trees in the mountains at blinding speed - for normal eyes of course.

    I think he was trying to confuse me and make it harder to dodge. But it was still painfully obvious to me.

    He might not speak with words but actions speak louder than words.

    The directions he was looking at, the way he ced his feet afternding, the way his neck muscle tensed and the position of the tree itself told me exactly when he was going to lunge at me or when he was going to jump to another tree like a monkey.

    I could easily telegraph his movement.

    Atst, he shot at me again. His body became a blur of fluttering white and I positioned my body sideways to make him miss me by a hair''s breadth.

    An explosion of air and dirt followed as the demon nted his hand on the ground. When the dust settled, he was crouching down with a shocked, almost fearful look in his eyes.

    He was mere inches beside me so I yfully chopped at his head with my hand.

    That was also when his eyes fell on my katana and I saw in great detail how his muscles tightened in fear and his heartbeat took a stark turn. His heart previously beat rapidly in excitement but now it was thumping loudly in fear.

    He must''ve mistook me for a high-ranking demon yer. He was smart enough to realize that he was in danger.

    He pushed himself off the ground in an attempt to flee. Too bad he told me of his n to run a second before he even moved.

    I finally pulled out my katana and right when he thought he had sessfully made an escape, I sliced his ankle and when he tried to take another step, his entire foot came off. With the sudden imbnce and misdirected force, he rolled like a doll.

    He was weak, pathetically so. He talked a lot as well.

    But one thing that was infinitely interesting to me was the difference between a human body and a demon''s body. The difference was not obvious but if you looked closely, you could see how they were two entirely different things.

    Demon''s muscles were thicker and way more active than a man''s. They were extremely tight and they moved even at the cost of being ripped apart. That was only the start as demons also had thicker bones and thier blood flow was unnatural. Thier blood did not rely solely on the heart to travel throughout their body.

    At a nce, I could tell that with thier healing factor, the limiter in thier brain was effectively removed. It was said that humans were only able to use half one-third of our true strength so that we do not harm our own bodies.

    But that was not the case for demons.

    They could use 100% of their strength at all times. That was one of the reasons for thier superhuman stregth, other than the obvious magical factor of course.

    "Increadible." i said when I saw the way his wound closed. I could see his body heat increase rapidly and his ankle release smoke while it regenerated.

    "I have to know more about this." I said and the demon turned back to look at me with evident fear on his face. But there was also a newfound anger and relief.

    "You! Your sword, it''s not a nichirin de." He said.

    I tilted my head, "Yes, believe it or not, no cksmith or weapon dealer in Tokyo knew about the nichirin de. I couldn''t find them at all."

    "Then-Then you can''t kill me!!" He said and a crooked smile came onto his face.

    I nodded, affirming his statement.

    "Indeed."

    His foot healed and then he rushed at me with incredible speed and a newfound confidence at the fact that I didn''t have a nichirin, the bane of all demons.

    After all, why should he be afraid when I couldn''t kill him?

    He probably thought he was being sneaky but his bodynguage revealed his sneak attack long ago. I leaned back slightly and tilted my head just enough for his w to nick the firstyer of my skin.

    Then I took a sharp breath and used my iplete breathing style.

    Steroid Breathing. (Yes I was serious in naming it that)

    My speed doubled and I pulled out my katana with swiftness that the demon could not even behold. My attack was perfect, without any unnecessary energy or movement. It aimed true and it did its job just precisely.

    Under his shaking eyes, the demon saw his arm literally being peeled off by my de.

    Cutting them or chopping them would take necessary energy and more than one movement so I simply carved out his flesh from the bone with a circr motion.

    It was effective but brutal for the enemy.

    Luckily, I was deaf so I did not hear the shrilling scream of agony released by the demon.

    He fell on his back, watching in horror at his arm which was only white bone. He was healing but the regeneration seemed extremely painful as he writhed like a worm.

    "Yea, I cannot kill you." I said and slowly approached him while he tried to crawl away.

    "But you said that like its a good thing for you."

    A swift death would''ve been preferable to what I did to him next.

    The demon became my first victim. I used him as a way to vent out years of hatred and bitterness.

    I also used him as a way to get myself familiar with a demon''s biology - which was vital for the transparent world - and test the limits of thier healing factor.

    At one point he prayed for surise.

    ..

    ..

    ..

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Author : How was the Chapter? Was it too brutal? If it''s not obviously already the MC is lowkey insane.

 Chapter 8: Mount Fujikasane

    <h4>Chapter 8: Mount Fujikasane</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    "Please...please....please...."

    "No more....no more..."

    I wonder how many people have said the same thing to him as he tore them apart, limb by limb.

    If I were to guess from his strength and from how my sister cried and begged while the demon ate her alive, I would say at least hundreds.

    "Stop talking. Move. Run." I said to his dismembered body which was not healing anymore. I needed him to move to get myself familiar with a demon and learn thenguage of thier unique body.

    There was blood along the small trail and pieces of his demon flesh sttered everywhere. He had made a great effort to run away and fight back at first but after a while, he gave up.

    Now his body did not even heal when I cut him. He justid on the ground, dismembered, like a useless corpse. The only movement in his body was on his lips which moved to form incoherent words.

    I stood over him and watched. His face stopped morphing into agonizing shapes while ago and he had stopped crying. He just stared ahead like a dead fish with a nk sheet for a face.

    It was no longer stimting.

    The sun rose not long after and the demon finally had a reaction again. His face stretched in relief and tears fell from his eyes. He was happy to see the sun.

    The sunlight shone on him and his body dissipated like ash. His blood and sttered pieces of flesh also disappeared. In just a few seconds, there was no longer any evidence of the demon ever existing.

    That was definitely an experience, I told myself.

    I might have gotten a little overboard since he was the first demon I encountered. Recalling the helplessness I felt that night, the power I had over a demon now was intoxicating. It was like a drug that filled the bottomless rage and hate I had inside.

    It was not a good thing, I knew.

    I could not just blindly hate demons because I knew there were many good demons like Nezuko, Tamayo, Yushiro etc. and demons who were just as much of a victim as human.

    I also knew feeding such negative emotions and walking the path of endless revenge was not wise. (I watched Naruto okay).

    But I was only 13 so allow me to be childish and petty. I still have time to grow.

    I continued my journey after that. I had enough time to reach the top of the mountain and I watched the sunrise like I wanted to.

    Then I head towards Mount Fujikasane again. I was not in a mood to sleep so I continued traveling the entire morning and only slept after noon.

    Days passed and to my silent delight, I encountered demons every night since then. They were not as powerful as the first one but they were enough for self-training and research.

    I also practised my breathing style a lot during this time. I realised the huge gap between the physical prowess of a demon and a human so it highlighted to me the importance of breathing styles.

    The mountains and the forest provided great training as well. It tested the limits of my endurance and gave me the perfect environment to train my senses.

    To get stronger, I had to rewire my mind and ept that the logic of my past life did not apply to this world. I often struggled with that while I was young.

    At one point in my journey, I encountered a vige that was gued by a demon with blood demon art.

    It was during the final week of my travels.

    The demon was a beautiful woman who could hypnotize and brainwash people with the sound of her voice. Her blood demon art worked simrly to sirens from what I could understand.

    The demon realized that if she act smart, she could have unlimited food supply instead of hunting for human every night. So she brainwahsed the vigers and managed the vige to suit her need.

    The whole vige was under hermand and she was rearing the humans like cattles.

    The women''s poption in the vige was more than the men''s by around ten to one. The vige had a weird customs and other practices that would ultimately increase the birth rates.

    Mostly males would be eaten and women were kept like breeding tools to give the demon an infinite food supply. The men in the vige were just enough to maintain the farm and get the women pregnant.

    Honestly, it was a fucked up vige and rarely visited by people because when they did, the visitors would be hypnotized and eaten.

    It was the demon''s personal human farm.

    Obviously the blood demon art of the demon did not work since I was deaf. At first, I did not even notice it and I thought it was just a really strange vige with strange traditions.

    But when I heard the women talking about how proud they were of their son sacrificing themselves to the gods, I knew there was something wrong.

    Honestly, my experience in the vige could be an entirely different book on its own but we shall not tell that story today. Maybe in another volume, I would tell about my experience in the vige in detail.

    So I fought with the demon who was controlling the vigers and it was my most challenging battle yet. The demon had many years to feast on human flesh so she was powerful.

    But she fell swiftly like everyone else because she was at a disadvantage. Her blood demon art did not work on a deaf person.

    After the demon''s control over the vige was gone, the vigers went almost went mad. They still retained the memories of what happened so they knew the horrible things they were manipted into doing.

    Be it sacrificing thier children, killing travellers and offering them to the demon ormitting many acts of debauchery.

    I did not stay long in the vige. I left after telling them what happened was not thier fault and to me the demons for everything. And to start anew.

    The vige would be thest one I visit in my journey because there was no way in hell I wanted to get into another mess.

    ...

    ////////////

    Atst, after more than a month of travelling, I reached the base of Mount Fujikasane.

    I did not even have to look at the map to confirm I was there because the sweet scent of a particr flower filled the air.

    Beautiful flower trees covered the mountain to give it a distinctive lookpared to the rest of the surroundings. I did not have to be told that they were Wisteria trees.

    They were the colour ofvender and they covered most of the mountain. I was truly stunned by thier beauty especially when they released a faint glow in the dark of the night, almost like they had magical properties within them.

    There was a small vige at the base of the mountain. They were the people from the Demon yer Corps but they were not demon yers. Instead, they were people stationed in the mountains to maintain the Wisteria trees.

    They were gardeners essentially. Some of them were retired demon yers while others were workers who used Wisteria to create different products like the wisteria incense.

    There was a whole industry for Wisteria products at the base of Mount Fujijasane.

    When I went to them and told them about why I hade to the mountain, I received the unfortunate news that the final selection was still a few weeks away.

    Oh! The horror of being forced to wait.

    But my time at Mout Fujikase the following weeks would not go to waste as I met someone who would be one of the most important person in my life.

    ..

    ..

    ..

    "I thought I will be the only one who came early for the final selection!! It seems I was wrong! There are still people whose hearts are burning hotter than mine!!"

    I was deaf but even I knew the guy was loud

    It was only the second day after I reached Mount Fujikasane, the ce where the final selection would take ce. He came up to me while I was sleeping under one of the Wisteria trees, thier beauty casting drowsiness on me.

    That was when I met him.

    "Hellorade, my name is Kyojiro Rengoku."

    "It''s nice to meet you!!"

    ..

    ..

    ..

    [IMAGE]

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Author : I want to take this moment to ask for stones. The book finally has enough words to be on the rankings. Please let''s have good week and attract lots of new readers.

    Add the book to your collection and a review would also be helpful..

    ...

    <strong><i>Join my patreon to read 10 chaptees ahead!! Also there are polls regarding felmale leads and MC''s weapon on the patreon. </i></strong>

    <strong><i>Patreon : Emmaneul_Capricorn</i></strong>

 Chapter 9: Rengoku Kyojiro!!

    <h4>Chapter 9: Rengoku Kyojiro!!</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    "Hellorade, my name is Kyojiro Rengoku."

    "It''s nice to meet you!!"

    I still remember that day so vividly.

    The warm sunlight peeked through the Wisteria trees and caressed my skin. The brightness was no longer a bother that stopped me from sleeping, instead, it had befortable out of habit.

    He came up to me with all the loudness of a day, for a moment I thought I had regained my hearing. His presence was like the sun, unapologetic for shining so brighter than everyone else.

    Izily opened my eyes to give him a look and I was awe-struck.

    He was beautiful.

    In an artistic way of course. If God were an artist, he would be considered a masterpiece.

    A tall frame filled with muscles that were designed solely to fight and swing a sword. There was a wild aura - a fighting spirit if you will - that surrounded his body at all times.

    His organs were healthy and fresh, like the parts of a brand-new car. They were free of blemishes, no drugs, no tobo or unhealthy lifestyles had affected them.

    His body proportion and bone structure spoke of his gic blessing. From his great-grandfather, they were a swordsman, and his existence itself was the result of many generations of selective reproduction. Not arranged marriage but more so that he was the direct line of the strongest sons.

    He was bred to be a powerful swordsman.

    "Hi!! My name is Kyojiro Rengoku, Nice to meet you!!" He announced for a second time.

    He was a tall young man who seemed to be about a year older than me. He had long bright yellow hair with red streaks akin to mes along with two shoulder-length bangs and two chin-length bangs on the side of his head.

    He had ck forked eyebrows, and golden eyes that faded to red with white pupils. He wore a yellow haori with me patterns.

    He had a very unique pair of eyes and I found myself staring at them.

    "Hi!! My name is Kyojiro Rengoku, Nice to meet you!!" and that was the third time he said the same thing. I got the feeling that he was the type of person who would never stop unless I replied.

    "Hello Kyojiro Rengoku, my name is Shigan Seiji. It''s a pleasure to meet you as well." I said to the future me Hashira.

    Heughed, "What a in voice you have for someone who seemed to burn with passion!"

    It was funny because I got that lot. They said my voice had absolutely no intonation and it soundedpletely t as if I was speaking in the same octave.

    "I guess I came to you at the wrong time. I apologize for waking you up." He said but the wide smile on his face told me that he was not really sorry.

    "But may I ask why you are sleeping on such a beautiful morning?"

    "I didn''t sleepst night." I said and gotfortable leaning on the tree again.

    Rengoku hit his palm with a fist in a gesture of realization. "Oh! I see you were hunting demons all night! I should''ve guessed."

    It was interesting to meet one of the most beloved characters in Demon yer. Unfortunately, like many characters beloved by the fans, he died at the hands of the demon Akaza.

    "I actually cried when I saw his death as well."

    "Wait, who died?"

    Oops, did I say that out loud?

    "Nothing." I said and closed my eyes.

    Although it was an exciting experience to meet him, I was too tired and sleepy to care. Maybe after a much-needed sleep, I would interact with him more. He said he was here for the final selection so it''s not like he would disappear soon.

    "Seeing you resting so peacefully makes me want to rest as well. Would it be a problem if I rest beside you?" He asked but I had already closed my eyes so I didn''t hear it.

    But apparently, Rengoku was the type of person to take silence as consent because he sat down and leaned against the same tree I did and he closed his eyes.

    He had also travelled day and night to reach the mountain and he needed rest even more than I.

    So the first time we met, we both rested under the same tree, tired from our fighting and journey respectively. The Wisteria tree provided a calming shade which was perfect for a nap.

    From then on, Rengoku would stay by my side and quickly take the position of my first friend.

    ....

    A question from the readers:- How do introverts like you make friends?

    The answer is we don''t.

    An extrovert found us, liked us and adopted us.

    And that day, Kyojiro Rengoku found me.

    .

    .

    .

    /////////////////

    We woke up in the afternoon and I met with an odd realization that Rengoku was actually dead tired when I first met him.

    After the nap, he was smiling brighter and became visibly louder than before. But his smile and thunderous character were not annoying by any means, instead, it was an endearing trait that people liked about him.

    His charisma was off the charts.

    In just a few hours, he became closer to the people living at the base of the mountain than I was ever able to get in two days.

    He saw me as a kindred soul, a fellow swordsman who wanted to do good in the world and be a demon yer who protected the innocents. So he stuck close to me and tried to get me to open up to him.

    Well good luck with that, my uncle and aunt failed to do so even after 6 years.

    And I think he took that as a challenge. Something about his charisma and extrovert personality wanted to get close to me and be friends.

    There was nothing wrong with me per se, I was not some edgy motherfucker who strived to be alone just for the sake of it. I just never bothered putting effort into connecting with other people except for being acquaintances. I believed that was enough.

    There was also another reason.

    I was extremely bad when it came to people. Being deaf in my past life, I never had a meaningful rtionship. And the people close to me in this second life were all brutally killed by a demon. So you could not exactly me me for my ws.

    Rengoku knew this and he made sure to be vocal about it as well.

    "Hey, do you know it''s really creepy when you stare at people whenever they talk? The workers told me that''s why they didn''t like talking to you." Rengoku said. I learned that he was honest like a child and he could also be quite blunt. I liked that about him.

    "Is it?" I mused.

    "Yes, and the fact that you never respond to most people who talks to you. You seem to ignore everyone else except people who confronted you face to face." He said with a nod of his head as if to affirm his own words.

    I had to use my eyes and read lips to know what people were saying. And if they were out of my sight, I could not even notice them when they spoke to me.

    "Well, tell them I''m sorry for being deaf," I said and his eyes widened and he stopped walking.

    "You are deaf?" He asked but since he was behind me I didn''t know it. He put his hand on my shoulder and I turned to him.

    "You are deaf?"

    "Yes, I am deaf in both ears. I lost my hearing from a demon." I said and I could see he was stunned. I could also see the apology on his face.

    Since I had such incredible eyesight, people rarely noticed that I was deaf. And I never liked advertising my disability either so there were often misunderstandings.

    "I see...I should have noticed." He said.

    "It''s fine. It happens all the time." I said and continued walking. Regoku took a few seconds to collect his thought before he followed behind me.

    We were currently on our way to another mountain close by. Mount Fujikasane was filled with Wisteria trees so it repelled demons. In order to hunt them, we had to move to another mountain.

    Rengoku said he wanted to join me and since I also had an interest in seeing him fight, I allowed him. Now it was the both of us, moving through the mountain road to hunt the creatures of the night.

    We had sleep in the morning so we were filled with energy.

    We did not encounter any demons during the night. Apparently, the demons knew to stay the fuck away from Mout Fujikasane.

    So Rengoku and I spent the time just wandering around under the bright moonlight. We talked quite a bit during this time, it was mostly about how I was able to talk when I was deaf and other rted things.

    Like I said, he was a charming man so I quite enjoyed the time.

    It was only near the break of dawn that we encountered a demon. I was able to see him while we were at a high altitude and I saw him running at the base of the opposite mountain.

    The demon had blood all over his body which told us that he just had a sessful hunt and he was now running back home to who knows where before sunrise.

    We ran down the mountain immediately and with my eyes focused on the demon like a hawk, I led us to a route that directly crossed paths with the demon.

    When we caught up with the demon, Rengoku''s aura changed and his smile faded away. He ran past me and with his hand gripping the hilt of his sword, he said.

    "Leave him to me."

    And that''s what I did.

    I watched Rengoku rush at the demon who tried to run away the moment he saw us. I didn''t remember the me Hashira to be a speedster but he was extremely fast even at his young age.

    I took the chance to observe in detail how breathing style worked. This could be what allowed me toplete my own breathing style.

    Rengoku caught up with the fleeing demon with ease and when he did, he sucked in huge volumes of air. So much so that a small vortex formed near his mouth.

    My purple eyes released an eerie glow as I used the full power of the transparent world. Then all of the secrets in the world wereid bare in front of my eyes.

    I saw the way Rengoku''s lungs expanded to a ridiculous degree. His body started producing an insane amount of body heat and that gave him gave him a boost in strength.

    I also observed in detail the pattern of his breath. Unlike my breathing where I inhaled to maximize each breath, he did it in a well-formted pattern.

    His yellow haori with me patterns, lit up and I was stumped when I witnessed the next scene.

    There was a trail of fireing out of his mouth and then his katana caught on fire. The edge of his sword released a trail of fire that lit up the darkness of the forest.

    "<i>me Breathing : First Form</i>." he said.

    "<strong>Unknowing Fire</strong>."

    He swung his de horizontally and it created a perfect arc of deadly mes. His de met the neck of the demon with a raging roar of fire and the head was sliced off in an instant.

    The headless demon fell on the ground and a few secondster, his body disintegrated.

    I stopped in my track and just stared while Rengoku sheathed his katana and the mes died down. I was confused.

    I remembered reading somewhere that the elemental visuals were only put in the anime for imagination and that in reality, there were no shy scenes.

    But what I just witnessed was exactly like the anime.

    Was it real or was I able to see it because of my special vision?''

    ..

    ..

    [IMAGE]

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Give me stones

    Author : I am adding the visuals in my story for the simple reason that its cool. But exnation goes that MC is able to see them because of his eyes.

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    <strong><i>Patreon : Emmanuel_Capricorn</i></strong>

 Chapter 10: Flame Breathing

    <h4>Chapter 10: me Breathing</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    It was...

    Beautiful.

    <strong>I have to learn that.</strong>

    Rengoku slowly sheathed his sword while releasing air from his lungs. I remained rooted in my ce until he turned to me with his signature smile that burned even brighter than his mes.

    "It''s done my friend! Our night patrol was not a waste." he said and then followed up with a heartyugh.

    Meanwhile, I stared at him with a nk face but with many thoughts swirling in my mind. It was clearly stated that breathing styles could not actually achieve supernatural powers like encasing a sword with fire.

    But I clearly saw it happen.

    "Hey, did you see the mes?" I asked.

    "Huh? What mes?" he tilted his head in confusion and that proved my suspicion that it was only me who could see the mes when he used his breathing.

    "Do you mean my breathing style? I used me breathing." he said and then his eyebrows lifted up, "Wait, how do you know what breathing style I used? I never told you."

    So it was my eyes.

    My eyes enabled me to see the effects of breathing when normal eyes couldn''t. It was simr to how I was able to see the colours of gas in the atmosphere if I tried.

    The transparent world was more than just having x-ray vision and better eyesight to me. I didn''t know if it was the case for everyone else or if it was just me but I could see impossible colours. I could even ultraviolet rays, infrared, radiation etc.

    My eyes allowed me to perceive the world as it truly was, without limitations.

    "I have seen a me-breathing user before." I lied but due to my perpetual t tone, no one could tell.

    "Oh I see! I wonder if it was my father that you saw or anyone else." he hummed to himself.

    "Should we return? I feel like the sun is about to rise soon." he said. Seeing how the demon was wildly trying to run back to his hideout, it was safe to assume that the sun was rising soon.

    "Yes." I said and we both returned to Mount Fujikasane.

    My thoughts returned back to my eyes and what I could do with its capabilities. Being able to see breathing styles was quite an advantage, especially if you go up against another breath user.

    It could tell me exactly what type of breathing they were using, when they were using it and even differentiate what form they were using over time. It was no different than a boxer telegraphing his opponent''s move by looking at his shoulder.

    If I could see breathing styles, then I must be able to see the blood demon art of demons as well. This could be an absolute game-changer.

    When Tanjiro was fighting against the lower moon Yahaba and Susamaru, he was able to deflect thier attacks only when Tanjiro could see the arrow - thier blood demon art - with the help of Yushiro.

    I smiled at the thought.

    I just added a new vocabry to my dictionary for thenguage of fighting.

    ..

    ..

    ..

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (The next day)

    Our des collided and released a spark of impact and friction. My eyes saw everything in detail, from the condition of both our swords to the vibrations released by them.

    If I had ears, I would describe the vibration as the sound of steel shing steel.

    His nichirin de was well-made but it couldn''tpare to mine which was crafted by one of the greatest smiths in Japan. I could see that his sword did not get enough heat and hammering when it was made. It was made by a smith who put no effort or passion in its creation, it was just one amongst the mass-produced.

    An ordinary nichiren de. If my eyes were telling the turth, I could break it after a couple of well-ced strikes, exactly four inches below the tip.

    The sword was not only ordinary but it had seen a lot of uses. The weakness at the tip told me that it was sharpened more times there - since that part of the sword was mainly used for slicing - and made it thinner than the rest.

    We pushed each other away when there was no winner in the sh. It was just a split-second observation but I had already learned a way to win if this was a real battle.

    "Hahahaha!! What a strange experience it is to fight against you." Rengoku said and gripped his sword tighter, "It feels like I am fighting against my own shadow."

    We were currently engaged in a spar he initiated after we woke up from our morning sleep. He said he wanted to see how well he would fare against me and I was more than happy to talk with him, or should I say fight.

    "Nevertheless, I wouldn''t give up that easy," he said and pushed off the ground with such force that he disappeared to the untrained eyes.

    Rengoku was a talented fighter. As the future Hashira, he was already a monster even before he became an official demon yer.

    It was just as you would expect, every Hashira was built different.

    I took a step back to throw off his attack. He expected me to remain in ce or charge at him for another sh so he was thrown off when I stepped back.

    His sword came at me still but it was not at the correct distance and his body was leaning too much. He threw a flurry of shes at me and I easily deflected them with minimal ease and a cid face.

    He might be strong but he was still inexperience, especially when it came to fighting another swordsman.

    He had trained all his life not to be a proper swordsman but to be a demon yer. Therefore he was not familiar with fighting another swordsman, after all, you could count the number of demons using a sword with one hand.

    He had more experience fighting demons who mostly used thier bare hands, ws or other weapons which was rarely a sword.

    On the other hand, I was a master of kendo which was a discipline restricted to only fighting other swordsman. So he could notpare to me when fighting each other.

    There were levels to these things.

    But then he was physically stronger than me because of his age. He was one year older than me and that might not seem much when you were an adult, but it made a huge difference when you were in your teens. It was a time when your body developed the most so one year allowed Rengoku to be much stronger than me.

    But in the end, the sheer difference in our overallbat power boiled down to my special eyes.

    Now imagine this.

    Imagine you were seeing the world and everything in slow motion. Imagine your eyes had the ability to zoom in and observe every little detail of the world. Imagine you had x-ray vision and you could see your opponent''s muscles so you could predict his every movement. You know his body better than him.

    And then imagine your opponent talking to you every moment of the fight. He tells you his every n, and every course of his action. Not only that, he tells you about his fighting style and how he had trained and more. He tells you about how he feels, what he thinks and even things he did not know himself.

    Of course, he was not actually talking but actions speak louder than words.

    That was my world. A transparent world where you could see everything.

    That was what it felt like to be me.

    To me, fighting was not fast, fighting was not violence.

    It was a conversation, and if it got tough, a debate.

    My opponent said things with his action and I replied with my own action. Every movement held meaning and we exchanged them, we matched them.

    <i>"me breathing : First form."</i>

    <strong>"Unknowing Fire."</strong>

    Rengoku never opened his mouth but he said that. I knew because the pattern of his breaths, the expansion of his lungs, the grip on his swords, and everything else matched what he didst night.

    He released fire from his mouth and his sword caught on fire. That was another giveaway.

    It seemed he had finally decided to add a new word to our fight. I smiled because the conversation was getting quite dull so it was a pleasant change.

    I tightened the grip on my sword and took a deep breath as well. Then I utilized my own iplete version of a breathing style that boosted my physical stats to the limit.

    "Steroid breathing."

    His burning sword came at me faster and more intense than ever before. Maybe it was because of the visual but I felt heating from him.

    Our swords became blurs of images and we exchanged lethal blows at each other. The ground underneath us shook and we stirred up dust that covered the entire vicinity.

    I could break his sword but I decided not to be an asshole. His attack hesitated when the dust blinded his vision. He still knew where I was and where to strike but without his full vision, he was afraid of idently hurting me.

    So his sword faltered.

    What a nice ass dude.

    I swept his feet off the ground with the blunt side of my sword and he fell on his back. When the dust settled, he was on the ground and my sword was pointing at his neck.

    "I guess I lost." he said but still smiled like a winner.

    "You hesitated. I told you I have good eyes, I could see through the dust." I said.

    "And I could not. Winning was not worth even a small chance of harming my friend." he said.

    He sure knows how to take the joy out of winning. Now I couldn''t even gloat about my victory.

    I offered him a hand before pulling him up to his feet. I helped him clean the dust off his haori before he startedughing.

    "You are quite amazing my deaf friend. But I can''t help but notice your horrendous breathing form. Tell me, who taught you that?" He said and patted me on the back.

    "No one. I made it myself."

    "Aha!! No wonder it''s so horrible." heughed.

    "Hey, I worked hard on it."

    "I don''t mean to discard your effort Seiji-san. But you missed the fundamentals of breathing styles itself." he said.

    "If you truly did not have anyone to teach you, how about I teach you my breathing style?" he said with a wide grin on his face and eyes shining with excitement.

    I was honestly not prepared for such a statement. I was already trying to copy his breathing style but it would be even better if he could teach me.

    But why would he? I thought he would be a bit more reserved with spreading the me breathing. Was he okay with offering such power to a random stranger he met a few days ago?

    "Why?" I couldn''t help but ask. If it was me, I wouldn''t go around teaching every random bloke I see. Just look at what happened to someone like Keigaku when they got power.

    "Why not? You are my friend." he said.

    It was strange how such a simple answer like ''Why not'' could make so much sense when said by the right person.

    Rengoku was not like me.

    He did not have an evil bone in his body so thoughts like mine never even crossed his mind. It was honestly a stupid naivety in a world of evil and demons.

    But I couldn''t help but be captivated by such innocent naivety.

    "Right." I said.

    Friends huh.

    I smiled.

    ..

    ..

    [IMAGE of MC]

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Author : If you guys are wondering, yes his eyes are way more special than normal transparent world. He just haven''t realized it yet.

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    <strong>Patreon : Emmanuel_Capricorn</strong>

 Chapter 11: Breathing styles and training

    <h4>Chapter 11: Breathing styles and training</h4>

    [Seiji''s POv]

    Here''s an interesting fact about the future me Hashira.

    Did you know that he learned his breathing style mostly through the dairy and manuals left behind by the previous me Hashiras?

    It shocked me at first because I thought he would at least get some training from his father but no, other than a few guidances and a beatdown where he told his son how pointless his training was, the father was a useless bum.

    Don''t let him catch me saying that though. He still had deep respect for his father and wouldn''t allow anyone to badmouth him.

    He admired his father for all he had done and Rengoku did not me him for how he turned out to be. A profession like his could really break any man, my friend said.

    His father had been strong for long enough. He had saved enough lives. Now it was his turn to do so, it was his turn to carry his father''s burden.

    That''s what he told me.

    Anyway, let''s shift the topic to more interesting matters.

    Breathing styles, just like Rengoku said, I had been going horrendously wrong this whole time. It was no wonder I wasn''t able to use it properly, much lessplete my own breathing style.

    The problemy in my simplistic thought andck of creativity. I was too caught up on logic and what I remembered from the show.

    You take in huge amounts of air and increase the amount of oxygen in your blood so that your muscles have a boost in energy and performance.

    I lived by that statement and it was wrong.

    I am not sure how I couldpare it but let me try it this way. Imagine a breath could be any number and my capacity for one breath was 10.

    So I go, 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 = 50

    I took in as much air as possible and forced my body to absorb all the oxygen it could get. But that was a primitive way of doing it.

    I learned that using unique breathing patterns and correct forms could have huge effects in the way my body got enhanced.

    So I could go like, 10 x 5 = 50

    Using a proper pattern and knowing exactly what I wanted to achieve allowed me to increase the efficiency of my breaths many times over. What took five huge breaths could be achieved using two if proper technique was applied.

    Then there were many other things that could be taken into ount as well. There were proper ways to exhale and the way you matched your breaths with your heartbeat. And posture could have a significant impact. Take the negative number as an exhtion.

    -10 x - 9 + 10 = 100

    It''s all about the patterns. And just like how you could have a positive effect, if you did an incorrect form and pattern, you could have a negative effect.

    9 + 10 + 10 x 0 + 5 = 5

    I hope thisparison made sense as it was the most simplistic way I could exin.

    In conclusion, breathing style was not about your lung capacity, it never was, it was all about forms and the pattern with which you breathe.

    When I learned this, I almost leapt up and started dancing in joy because if there was anything I was good at, it was learning and observing the pattern of things.

    After all, breathing styles were also a movement, all under thenguage of the body.

    ..

    ..

    //////////////////

    "Stop it, that''s enough." I said to Rengoku who had a giant boulder on his back while he did pushups.

    "You are only breaking your body."

    Rengoku was a training freak. His training was so intense that it almost scared me when I first saw it. It was scary for me because I could see in detail how his body was working and tearing apart with each set of training he endured.

    I had never seen anyone training so hard and barbaric before.

    It reminded me of Might Guy from Naruto. In fact I believe they were the same person in different universes. Instead of shouting ''Youth!!'' Regoku yelled ''Set your heart abalze!'' while breaking his body and forging it like a sword.

    "That is the whole point Seiji. How about youe join me instead, let me show you everything is possible if you put your mind to it." He said.

    "No."

    I was not going to endure such hellish training for literally no gain. I could see how my muscles work and I trained just enough to simte them and then allow them time to grow so that I could make the most progress at a period of time.

    What Rengoku did was actually counterproductive. He was overtraining himself and in terms of increasing muscle power and building the body, he was cutting his own gains.

    I tried to tell him this multiple times but he did not listen. In the end, we just came to a mutual agreement that we had different type of training styles.

    I utilized my gifts to get the most progress out of training but he was using his determination to not only sharpen his body but his mind as well.

    Each of our styles had its pros and cons.

    Looking objectively, my training style was superior and I made maximum progress. But on the other hand, Rengoku was not only training his body but also the endurance of his mind.

    It was because of his freakishly intense training that he was able to go beyond his limits and achieve the impossible when it was needed. Like it was the case when he was fighting Akaza.

    In the end, it was just a matter of choice. Which one would you prefer?

    Heh, this reminded me of the scientific training vs ego-lifting in the gym. Which one was a better method?

    By the way, this did not mean I was not training hard by any means. I was training as hard as my body could handle but Rengoku was just another level. He was a freak.

    And I believe he would get stronger his own way. Who am I to try and stop him when I clearly knew that he would grow stronger?

    "One hundred!!" Rengoku yelled and then he stood up with raised hands. I cringed when I saw the muscle tear on his tricep and chest muscles.

    That would take at least two weeks to heal properly but he would probably train again the day after tomorrow. I guess we are persisting through sheer shounen power with this one.

    "Seiji! Let us go for a run around the mountain." he said and I released a sigh. I shook my head and relented.

    I guess I could go for a run.

    A few minutester I had to struggle to catch up wirh him. He said let''s run around the mountain but what he meant was, let us sprint as fast as we could around the mountain.

    Fucking freakish bastard.

    ...

    We trained like that for a week.

    We would spar against each other whenever we had time with the victor always being me. But the thing about winning against Rengoku was that he never even went close to going all out. His body just couldn''t go full power on someone he held close.

    I learned me-Breathing with Rengoku as well and he was even kind enough to let me read the manuals of the previous me Hashiras.

    I managed to learn all of the forms in a week. I made huge progress especially when Rengoku was always willing to demonstrate them for me and my eyes saw everything so it made it easer to learn them.

    Although I was far from mastering them, I think it boosted my overallbat power many times.

    We would hunt demons during the night as well and it became a lovely bonding time between us. It was times we spent under the moon that I would remember forever.

    Then a week passed and it was finally upon us.

    The final selection.

    ..

    ..

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Double update

 Chapter 12: The final selection

    <h4>Chapter 12: The final selection</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    Beautiful.

    The world was beautiful.

    But demons corrupted this world.

    Thier ugly existence and evil hearts were a stain on this beautiful world.

    Such beauty did not deserve filth.

    So I shall drive them to extinction.

    I would rid the world of its blemish.

    And I would start from this mountain.

    ...

    Such was my thought process as I climbed up the trail and steps of Mount Fujikasane. The mountain was covered with beautiful Wisteria trees from the base till halfway up the mountain.

    The flowers released a beautiful glow of pink, purple andvender and it felt like I was in a different realm entirely. There were Wisteria trees at the base but halfway was where they were most plentiful.

    The ce was so bright. It was brighter than day.

    The Wisteria flowers released a sweet scent that made the simple act of breathing an enjoyable experience. They were soft when you touched them and their beauty made you hesitant to even blink.

    It was a feast to all the senses.

    I wished I had working ears because I was sure they would make such soothing sounds when the winds blew on them.

    "Hahahaha Seiji, you look drunk." Rengoku tapped my shoulder and said.

    Yes, my friend, I was drunk.

    Drunk from beauty.

    My eyes felt like they were having an orgasm just looking at the beautiful scenery. No joke it was squirting tears.

    The steps were covered with a thinyer of algae yet it was extremely clean and maintained. Red pirs with kanji words written on them stood at the edge of the steps and gave a unique Japanese vibe.

    In conclusion, I was going to attend the final selection every year.

    Atst, we reached halfway up the mountain and there was a small clearing there with a tform. Rengoku and I were the first ones to reach the ce so we decided to stand under the biggest Wisteria tree that also provided a perfect view of the wholepound.

    We waited as the other participants slowly made thier way up the mountain. Rengoku and I judged everyone who came up the mountain. We gave our thoughts on which one of them was strong and which one had the potential to pass the final selection.

    I had my eyes to judge them and Rengoku imed that his gut feeling was never wrong.

    "That one looks strong. Look at him, he is covered with scars! Clearly, his heart is burning with determination! He will definitely pass."

    "Yeah, and it''s not just scars. He has three of his fingers missing. He wouldn''t be able to hold a sword properly. He fails."

    ..

    "Look at that giant of a man. He looks strong."

    "That''s just his gic. His tendons are weak and his muscles show ack of proper development. Also, he is too fat."

    ..

    "What about that guy? His eyes give me the chills."

    "He''s blind in the right eye."

    ..

    "Look at that guy carrying a long sword. It''s too long he has to put it on his back. He looks like he knows how to fight properly."

    "That might be true. His muscles are certainly developed in the perfect way, that tells me at least he knows how to swing. He might pass."

    ..

    "Oh! I know that mask! He is a disciple of Urokodaki, the retired Water Hashira, they all have that distinctive mask."

    "He''s dead."

    "What? Why?"

    "Don''t ask."

    ..

    "Oh!~ That girl has inverted nipples. That''s rare."

    "Seiji!!!"

    "Oops, did I say that out loud?"

    ..

    In a few hours, the smallpound was filled with young warriors who wished to be demon yers. They all had that look in thier eyes, like a student who were about to face the final exams.

    Most of them were looking at each other like they were enemies and that was not a good thing. We were not going topete with each other for the final selection, instead, it would be about survival and you might need to work together.

    It would not do you good to re at everyone.

    After all participants had gathered, ady with white hair guarded by two demon yers walked towards the tform and stood on it.

    "Good evening everyone." thedy with white hair started and everyone turned towards her.

    "My name is Lady Amane Ubuyashiki. Wee participants, to the Demon yer Corps final selection." she said.

    Holy shit, it really is her. The badass wife who did not tremble in front of the Demon King, aka the perfect wife.

    God, she was beautiful.

    Her beauty stood out even in the garden of beautiful wisteria flowers.

    "Let us not waste time and get straight to the point. Here in Mout Fujikasane, there are several demons that were captured alive by demon yers. They are kept there for this event and the wisteria flowers prevent them from leaving the mountain." She said.

    "They bloom on this mountain each year-round and they cover everything from the base to halfway to the top. But the wisteria ends here." she said and signalled behind her which no longer had wisteria.

    "There are demons beyond this point and they are very hungry. For the final selection, you must survive for seven days beyond the wisteria''s protection. Good luck everyone."

    "Your trial begins here."

    After she said what was needed, she left the tform immediately and left us to go beyond the safe point.

    "Hey Rengoku, what did her voice sound like?" I asked.

    "Huh? She sounded normal to me. Although some might say her voice was quite stoic." he said with a shrug.

    Then we were all separated into a few groups. These groups would go up the mountain from different locations.

    Rengoku and I had to separate.

    "Good luck Seiji, see you in seven days." Rengoku said with a smile that outshined the glowing flowers for a good second.

    "Of course. Be sure you don''t hurt yourself trying to save a stranger, everyone who came here is prepared to die."

    I said because I knew he was strong enough to easily pass this test. The only way he could get hurt was if he tried to act like a hero and save everyone as Sabito did.

    "We can do anything we want, even the impossible, as long as we believe in it." he said and then his smile turned wider.

    "So I can save everyone without getting hurt."

    "I''ll just have to kill every demon then." I said with a smile and we separated.

    I was amongst a group of ten people and we went up the mountain from the west side.

    The atmosphere immediately turned gloomy and a sense of danger prickled my skin when I left the protection of the wisteria trees.

    "This should be fun." I said and my eyes glowed in the new darkness void of wisteria light. I could see the demons ahead and they were sharpening their teeth.

    Let the final selection begin.

    ..

    ..

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 Chapter 13: Hand Demon

    <h4>Chapter 13: Hand Demon</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    Let the final selection begin.

    But first...

    I needed a sword.

    I only had a normal katana with me but I required a nichirin de if I wanted to pass this trial. So I did what every rational person would do.

    I looked around for someone to rob.

    My eyes did a quick scan of the people in my vicinity and I locked on the weakest of the bunch. It was a thin young man who seemed to be around 20 or so, his body told me that he barely trained and from the slight shiver of his legs, he was afraid.

    I didn''t know why he even attended the final selection but he was doomed to die here. So I did him a favour and walked up to him before chopping his neck, effectively knocking him out.

    "You can try again next year if you are truly determined." I said while dragging his body down the mountain and back to the protection of the wisteria.

    I pulled out his nichirin de and inspected it for a bit. It was in good condition other than a small chip here and there.

    "This will do."

    The other participants who saw what happened chose to shut up and stay away from me. I took the de and started climbing up the mountain with the rest of the group.

    It did not take long to encounter demons as the ce was infested with these vile creatures. Three demons appeared in front of me - one came up to me with a confident stride and a wicked grin on his face, another was on top of a tree and another suddenly leapt at me from the side bush.

    It was a roughly nned ambush but from the wicked smile on thier faces, I could tell that it had always worked out in thier favour so far.

    Why fight a participant by yourself and risk dying when you could overwhelm one of them three-to-one? It was less risky and they would share equally with each other.

    Demons were intelligent creatures. That was what made them all the more disgusting. They were able to strategize and they knew exactly what they were doing.

    I spun the nichirin de in my hand and even without sparing a nce, I cut off the head of the demon who leapt at me.

    There was a pause while the demon fell to the ground with a thud and his body quickly disintegrated. The atmosphere changed in an instant and the demon felt that maybe it was not such a good idea to target me.

    Meanwhile, I looked at the sword in my hands. It was effective, but in my mind, it was too effective.

    The demons died too easily. It felt like they did not suffer at all while I ended thier filthy existence. I could understand now why Shinoubu would prefer using poison to kill demons.

    It was not satisfying at all.

    I shook my head, putting aside the unhealthy thought. Let''s just assume they have a sad backstory so that I wouldn''t be so pissed about thier easy deaths.

    I looked at the two remaining demons and realized they were talking to me.

    "I''m going to enjoy ripping out your insides and-" I stopped reading thier lips just then. I preferred silence to nonsense.

    I shot towards the demon and before he could even react, I cut both of his legs and appeared behind him. He released a guttural scream that I could feel from the vibration alone.

    I changed the grip on my sword and then swung the Nichiren de up so that it went between his legs and I cleanly sliced him in half.

    I could get creative with my kills to make it more satisfying.

    The demon on the tree immediately turned around and started running away but my eyes never lost him. I smiled when I saw the desperation on his face. It was the face of someone who realized they fucked up.

    I sprinted through the forest and followed the demon in silence. I made sure to hide my presence and I avoided leaves and twigs to remain unnoticed.

    After running several metres away, the demon finally came to a stop and jumped down on the ground. He was a demon yet his chest rose and fell like he was tired.

    I picked up a rock and threw it in the opposite direction. The sound immediately caught his senses and he looked towards the sound with a spooked face.

    I closed the distance between us while he turned away and then I stood right behind him.

    He froze.

    He sensed my presence behind him.

    I did not kill him just yet as I let him suffer in fear and terror. There was sweat dripping down the side of his face and after several seconds, he slowly turned his head back to look at me.

    That was when I ran my de right through his neck.

    My eyes captured every detail of his fearful face and his head fell to the ground before quickly turning into ash.

    The night was still young and I still had seven more days to go.

    How delightful.

    I started moving through the forest again in search of other demons. They must''ve enjoyed the final selection as it was the time of the year when they could hunt humans. In fact, I was sure it was a much-anticipated event for the demons in this mountain.

    But not this time.

    During this one week, I would show the demons what it felt like to be the victim.

    What was the trial again? Survive in the mountain full of demons for seven days?

    Let''s rephrase that.

    Try and survive me for seven days you foul creatures.

    ..

    ..

    ..

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (2 dayster)

    I moved through the forest non-stop during the night and slept during the day. The mountain of Fujikasane was vast and with the frequent demon attacks, I had not covered the whole ce even once,

    But tonight, things were quite different. I had not encountered even a single demon as they learned to run away from me.

    They could not even think about trying to hunt for participants as they ran from me. Demons had great senses so I could not do much when they were actively trying to avoid me.

    I wondered how Rengoku was doing. Strangely enough, I haven''t met him during these past two days and I wouldn''t say I was worried but it would bring me much relief to see him.

    I walked through the forest at my own pace but I was brought to a halt when I saw blood all over one specific clearing.

    My eyes analyzed the broken terrain and the blood. I could somehow recreate what happened here in my mind from the clues.

    I turned to my right and then saw broken trees and disced bushes which clearly indicated that something big walked through that path. The blood also followed the trail so I decided to investigate.

    A couple of minutes walkter my eyes finally caught the demon who caused all of it. The smell of rotting corpses filled the air but I did not even show a reaction due to what my eyes were seeing.

    A gigantic demon the colour of green vomit sat down in a clearing that he made. His appearance could only be described as an abomination with many hands protecting his neck and acting like a scarf and many other arms protruding out of his body.

    But what really caught my attention was the dozen of dead corpses thaty in front of him

    I watched as he picked up one of the dead participants and slowly tore off the clothes. then one of his hands erged and ripped off the corps''s head. He peeled back the head topletely rip out the spine as blood spurt out nonstop.

    The demon then threw away the head connected with the spine before he opened his wide jaws and ate the human in three bites.

    "...."

    The demon was having a meal. And from the way he was savouring the taste of the humans, he was having a very peaceful meal.

    I walked out of the forest and came out to the clearing he had made to have a meal. His head immediately turned towards me and I could see him shake and chuckle.

    "Another one just delivered himself to me, how convenient."

    I was going to kill him.

    Sorry Tanjiro and whatever plot this world had but I would not allow this creature to live for even a second longer.

    ..

    ..

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 Chapter 14: Rest In Peace

    <h4>Chapter 14: Rest In Peace</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    "What do you think you''re looking at brat? I don''t like your eyes, they give me the creeps." the hand demon said with a mock shiver.

    It was a little tricky to read his lips since, well he didn''t have one. But I was able to decipher what he was saying from the vibrations and the movement of his giant throat.

    His form was an abomination, it was ugly put together. Its grotesque physical features felt like a psychopath created something even he would find revolting.

    What a bad day to have eyes.

    The scent of two-day-old corpses mixed with the stench of the demon made me want to puke. For the first time, I regretted training the sensitivity of my other senses.

    I hate it.

    I hate him.

    "Not answering? Well, that''s just fine." the hand demon said and the arms around his body moved. My eyes had some trouble keeping up with it because his body was so different from a human''s.

    Muscles started forming out of nothing and bones snapped into unpredictable directions and the blood flow was also unnatural. It did not feel like I was looking at a living thing, it felt like I was looking at water.

    For the first time in a while, I could not read bodynguage.

    Fighting was not a conversation.

    Actions talked but it was gibberish.

    I guess I finally found a new weakness I always had. It was demons like him with no concrete form and were in an ever-changing state.

    "I will make you SCREAM!!!" the demon yelled and then five hands shot towards me at ridiculous speed.

    My eyes widened, and my brain tried to make sense of the hands that were somehow reaching out to me. They were still connected to the same body but they were elongating at incredible speed.

    Nevertheless, the world was still moving in slow motion for me. I reacted quickly, without wasting a single movement. I spun the de in my hand and with the swiftness of the wind, I cut all of his hands in different joining angles.

    That was not the end though, from where I cut one hand, two took its ce and they reached out to me. I was forced to move away so I rolled to the side and ran away as the hands followed me.

    They were incredibly fast, I could see how the demon was controlling the hands and forcing them to push forward but it did not make sense. I conclude that it was his blood demon arts, something along the lines of flesh maniption.

    I ced one foot on the ground and turned towards the iing hands, I counted thirteen. I took a deep breath and used my own breathing to enhance my physical stats.

    Learning from what happened before, the demon did not reach for me blindly. Instead, his arms became whips, without bones, and theyshed at me from all directions.

    But my enhanced body was more than capable of matching his speed so I parried the flurry of attacks that came my way. My arm became an afterimage as I parried fifty attacks in five seconds.

    "You are strong, but not strong enough!!" the hand demon yelled. I was deaf yet the sharp gust of wind that came from his shout sent a tingle down my spine.

    The hands morphed into one giant hand that was able to cast a shadow over my entire body. I leapt back and the hand mmed on my previous position, leaving a hand crater where I once stood.

    Then the hand demon tried to be sneaky by sending his hands underground. I could see his barely hidden grin as the hand finally reached right under me. They popped out from the ground, trying to grab my feet but such attempts were honestly pathetic to my eyes.

    I did a backflip and cut the hands with ease.

    "Huh? You saw thating. That''s new." the hand demon said, My feetnded on the ground and I straightened my back and took a bold stance.

    I was afraid of many things.

    But an ugly piece of shit like him was not one of them.

    "You got some pretty tricks up your sleave, and you look young." his eyes turned into slits, like the eyes of a yful cat.

    "You have a bright future as a Demon yer. This will make it all the more satisfying!!" he screamed and he turned himself into a ball.

    His hands wrapped tightly around his body. More arms started growing from his body and wrapped around him until he became a sphere like a ball.

    "That''s new." I said. I didn''t know he could do that.

    Then he rolled towards me at incredible speed. His body was huge so I had to push myself off the ground with all my strength.

    I jumped above his rolling body, dodging him.

    A hand shot out from his rolling body but I saw it. I swiftly cut it off before it reached me.

    His body rolled into the forest and felled any trees that were on his way. The ground shook and a trail of dirt was left behind in the wake of his unorthodox attack.

    "YOU CAN''T RUN NO MORE!!!" he screamed and then he rolled towards me again. He had gained enough momentum and he was even faster than before.

    My eyes released a purple glow while I analyzed his body. I learned the pattern of his rotation and in a split second, I calcted where and when he would leave an opening.

    A scene of the future yed in my mind, and I was able to cut off his head in one clean strike.

    I acted on that future.

    I gripped the sword in my hand, it was getting brittle and would surely break if I did notnd a clean slice. I took in huge gusts of air from my mouth and they turned into mes.

    I felt my body heat up.

    Here''s a thing about learning breathing style with eyes like mine.

    After you learn each form, you be familiar with them like you would with words. After learning the meaning of a word, you can use it in different sentences. Simrly, after you learned the concept of one form, you could apply it in different attacks.

    <i>"me Breathing, Esoteric Art : First Form." </i>

    My legs pushed me off like a bullet.

    <strong>"Unerring Fire."</strong>

    The timing was impable.

    My eyes and my perfect movement allowed me to slice the demon right when his head was on top while he was still rolling rapidly.

    The top of the ball - his head - was neatly chopped off. A trail of fire followed my perfect movement to create a mesmerizing disy of light.

    The demon''s body immediately lost strength and it stopped contracting into a ball. His head fell on the ground with a thud, eyes widening to the limit in shock while he watched his own body stumbling into a pitiful fall.

    "What happened?" he asked himself, his final words.

    ..

    ..

    I released a long breath and I watched the nicirin de break into pieces after my attack. I figured the old sword was not going to hold on for long, especially after executing my own technique.

    Esoteric Art, it literally means secret or unique art.

    A breathing user was able to aplish such arts after fully mastering thier breathing style. They created thier own forms or versions of an attack. Rengoku''s me Breathing ninth form and Giyu Water Breathing eleventh form was such an example.

    However, I was able to shortcut that and create my own different forms of a breathing style after learning just one.

    I was just special like that.

    The<i> ''me Breathing First Form : Unknowing Fire'' w</i>as an attack in which the user dashes towards the enemy and delivers a horizontal sh at the enemy from a blind spot. It required great timing and situational awareness to attack the enemy''s blind spot.

    My own version of it, ''Esoteric Art First Form : Unerring Fire'' was just that but even more deadly as I predicted the future with my eyes and then I attacked based on that future with impable timing.

    The perfect movement also helped me achieve this as there was literally not even a millimetre of mistake in my attack. I attacked at the right ce, at the right time, without w.

    It was certain death.

    I threw away the sword hilt on my hand and rxed my body. The aftermath of an adrenaline dump was always exhausting.

    I stood in my ce for a minute before I walked to the dozen corpses the hand demon had stored for his meal.I swiftly checked their body and took their nichirin de off thier dead bodies.

    Then I spent the rest of the night digging a hole to bury thier bodies. By sunrise, I was able to bury all of them and after holding a short funeral and giving respect, I left the barren clearing.

    I hoped they rest in peace, knowing that I had avenged thier death.

    ..

    ..

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 Chapter 15: A Demon Slayer

    <h4>Chapter 15: A Demon yer</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    The rest of the trial went by pretty easily as the hand demon was probably the strongest demon on the mountain.

    It was just a test, the final selection, so of course the demons on the mountain were not that strong. I learned that I was too overqualified for this trial, which was to be expected as even Tanjiro did not have such a hard time with it and he only trained for two years while I trained for seven.

    But I did not fuck around for a week. Instead, I actually made use of the test and all of the training opportunities that it presented.

    A demon''s body was hard to readpared to a human''s. This could not be any clearer from my fight with the hand demon.

    The history of a man was etched into his body. You could tell what kind of movements he had done most through his muscle constitution which in turn tells you what his job was. Farmers had strong backs and forearms, smiths hadrge shoulders and triceps, artists had long nimble fingers and unique tendons etc.

    Even in the case of a swordsman, you could tell a lot of things such as how strong he was, which was his dominant hand, his weakness etc.

    But demons were a little trickier than humans with thier regenerative abilities and the way they could simply get stronger by eating humans. Then again, there were demons whose bodies surprisingly told me that they trained but these demons were one in a hundred.

    So I utilized the opportunity to learn more about demons and thier bodies.

    I looked upon Yoriichi as an example. He too was born with the transparent world and it was his deep understanding of the human body that gave birth to breathing styles. He was also able to develop Sun Breathing forms made to kill Muzan by seeing his weakness.

    This kind of research - acquiring a deeper understanding of my own body and my enemies was just as important as your standard training.

    Other than learning about the demon''s body, I also learned a lot about their behaviour and habits this week.

    Specifically, I learned how to hunt demons when they were doing everything to avoid me and how to find their hiding spot during the day.

    Here''s a fun fact, most demons usually have a cave or a shady ce where they would hide during the day. But there were also many demons who had no such ces or could not reach them in time.

    What did these demons do?

    Well, apparently they buried themselves underground.

    "Like this dude." I said while looking at the freshly dug and closed soil. I put a little focus on my eyes and I was able to see through the ground.

    Lo and behold, a demon was sleeping underground like a corpse. Sometimes, they would even dig out whole tunnels to stay away from the sunlight.

    I took out my Nichiren de and stabbed the ground. He was buried very shallow so my de was able to pierce him right at his throat. His body soon disintegrated, and he died even without realizing it.

    I eventually stumbled upon Rengoku as well on the sixth day. We decided to stick together from then on and we hunted the demons together.

    On thest night of the final selection, we did not even have to hunt demons as most of them were annihted and the survivors hid very well and refused to ever surface again even during the night.

    And just like that, the trial came to an end.

    I passed.

    With flying colours might I add.

    ..

    ..

    ////////////////////

    "Wee back to all the remaining participants and congrattions to all of you. I am d to see you are safe." Lady Amane said while the sun slowly rose on the horizon.

    The final selection had ended and other than Rengoku and I, there were a total of twelve more participants who were able to survive through the week.

    The number surprised me quite a bit as I remembered only six or so people passed when Tanjiro took the test. But then when I thought about it, it made sense that there were more survivors, considering I went on a demon-killing spree.

    "From today onwards, all of you are officially Demon yers. First of all, we will all issue uniforms for you so we must take your measurements. So please, be patient with us and stay put."

    "Secondly, all of you will have your rank engraved on the back of your hand. I''m sure most of you are not familiar with the Demon yer Ranking so let me exin." Lady Amane said and she went on to exin how the ranking works and what must be done to reach each rank.

    The rank goes like this :-

    1. Kinoe

    2. Kinoto

    3. Hinoe

    4. Hinoto

    5. Tsuchinoe

    6. Tsuchinoto

    7. Kanoe

    8. Kanoto

    9. Mizunoe

    10. Mizunoto

    All of us were assigned the rank of Mizunoto and we would have to climb up the ranks from there. There were also the Hashiras or pirs as they called them but those were said to be impossible to achieve for most people.

    Well, not for me though.

    "Hahahahaha, I would be sure to reach the rank of Hashira and take my father''s duty upon my shoulder."

    And him too.

    "Now onto the next topic." Lady Amane said and she pped her hand.

    Her action made me alert and focused, so I was able to see the disturbance in the air. I followed it and turned around.

    I saw thirteen crows flying towards us and they all flew down to each of the participants. Except me.

    A bird did fly near me but it was not a crow. Instead, it was a strange sparrow with the colourbination of red, white and ck.

    There was also a notable feature about it that immediately attracted me. It was the absolutely dead eyes. They looked like the eyes of a dead fish and the bird radiates a lot of attitude.

    I turned to Rengoku who had a normal crow on his shoulder. He had his usual radiant smile on his face while he told the bird he was looking forward to working together with him.

    "Hey, I think mine is broken." I said while pointing at the sparrow that was flying just above my head.

    Rengoku gave me a look before he bursted outughing. He said, "It fits you."

    If I didn''t know he was so nice I would take that as an insult. I finally offered a hand to the bird but instead of perching on it like a normal bird, it sat on the palm of my hand like sitting on a nest.

    I spent a minute just staring at its dead eyes, expecting the sparrow to at least say something but it was neverending quiet.

    Fuck.

    Did they really give me a mute bird just because I was deaf? I mean, it won''t really make a difference bute on, how am I supposed to use him as a messenger?

    The fact that it was not a crow did not bother me since I knew there were demon yers with different birds as the messengers. Zenitsu also received a sparrow instead of a crow.

    But hey, at least give me a working one. Is that too much to ask?

    Wait, is this what discrimination feels like?

    "These are your Kasugai Crows. They will be your valued partner as a Demon yer and will act as messengers to facilitatemunication." Lady Amane exined.

    I observed the other participants and thier crows. Although I expected it to be tricky, it was not difficult to read the wordsing from the crows. The throat contraction and tongue movement were almost the same as humans.

    "So, what is your name?" I asked and looked at my sparrow''s dead eyes.

    "..."

    "..."

    "You don''t have a name?" I replied and that raised two issues.

    One, my sparrow did not have a name. It was a ''she'' and she was asking me to name her. Second, how the fuck was I able tomunicate with her?

    I knew the world of Demon yer had many supernatural elements with ghosts teaching the character and demons basically having magic spells but I really wanted to know how I was able to understand herpletely.

    She was staying so still so maybe it was something about her eyes.....nope they were as dead as ever.

    I shook my head and stopped thinking about it. Instead, I used my brain toe up with a name for her.

    "How about I call you crow?" I said to the sparrow.

    She looked me dead in the eyes and said it was toozy and she would not appreciate being associated with her annoying colleagues.

    "Raven then." I said. It was close to what she was - which was a Kasugia Crow - and her dead eyes and attitude reminded me of Raven from Teen Titans.

    "From now on, you are Raven." I said and she jumped on top of my head and made a nest on my hair.

    "Now for the final task, all of you shall select an ore to create your nichirin des often referred to as colour-changing katanas." she said, "It will take anywhere from 10-15 days for your des to be ready but you shall choose the ore now."

    The workers living in the mountains came out and brought different ores with them. The participants were made to select their preferred ores one by one.

    When it was finally my turn, I raised a question.

    "Lady Amane, will it be possible to write a letter to my smith so that they can make a few changes on my de?" I asked.

    Lady Amane nodded, "That will be possible. Just make sure you to not ask something outrageous."

    I said thank you and then proceeded to pick the biggest ore in the pile because what I was about to request would undoubtedly take a bigger ore than others.

    .....

    "You may all leave the mountain as official Demon yers." Lady Amane said after everything was done.

    And that day, at the age of 13 years and 10 months.

    I became a Demon yer.

    .

    .

    [Image of Raven]

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 Chapter 16: The wandering swordsman

    <h4>Chapter 16: The wandering swordsman</h4>

    Author : It''s saturday, literally the worst day of the week for faithful readers because most authors took break today as well, making it so that there are barely any updates of books.

    So here is a long Chapter to make up for it.

    ________________________________________________________________

    [Seiji''s POV]

    After the end of the final selection, Rengoku and I had to part ways. He had a home to return to and a father who was awaiting for his return.

    He seemed enthusiastic about breaking the news to his father. He left the same day the trial ended and I was left to my lonesome self, again.

    You truly feel the value of someone''s presence in thier absence.

    Rengoku was loud so it was too silent when he left. Which was strangeing from a deaf.

    I contemted what to do for the next 10 days. I could return to my own home but that felt like a bad idea when my house was around 14 days away.

    I did not have any rtives nor a friend whom I could visit. Heck, I did not have a sensei who trained me to be a demon yer, or else I would''ve ran to him for an embrace and pretend like I aplished something significant.

    In the end, it was just me and Raven who, by the way, had decided to make my hair her permanent nest. Luckily she was smart enough to be not shit and stuff on my head.

    "I will shave my head if you get too annoying." I said while walking along the path that led to somewhere I did not care enough to know.

    Raven gently tapped on my head and said I would never shave my head because I cared too much about my looks.

    "..."

    It was true. As I said before, I like beautiful things and I wouldn''t like myself if I were not beautiful. And I did not mean that on a gic level but on how I maintain my looks.

    I was always clean and neatly trimmed. I wouldn''t like it even if the tiniest hair was out of order in my body or the smallest blemish marked my clothes. All of which might seem redundant to most but not for me and my eyes.

    I was also quite picky with how I dressed, preferring to wear things that suited me. Whatever I wore must be neat, and tidy and fit me perfectly. I was also called a poor fashion enthusiast in my past life.

    So yes, I would never shave my head because I locked better with wavy exotic purple hair.

    {Where are we going?} Raven asked by tapping her small feet on my head.

    "Nowhere." I said, "We are going to roam around the mountains and forests like a ronin while waiting for my first mission and nichirin de. And of course, we will also kill any demons we encounter." I said, continuing my journey.

    Now a question might pop into your head. How could Imunicate with Raven? The answer was Morse Code.

    I learned Morse Code way back in my past life and in this life as well. When I was facing the examination of ''chugakko'' which I took out of necessity for my inheritance, I actually chose Morse Code as a substitute for viva voice which was an exam I was not able to take due to being deaf. It was a special privilege to select any subject of my liking in ce of viva voice due to my disability.

    When I first met Raven, she sat on my palm andmunicated through Morse Code. I did not realize it at first but I quickly caught on itter.

    So yes, it had nothing to do with her eyes or her being a psychic.

    I was kind of surprised the Demon Corp thought that far ahead. They not only selected a bird that would be able tomunicate with me but they also knew informations about me, like the fact that I knew Morse Code and took it as a subject in my exams.

    When I asked Raven about it, she said it was only a natural reaction. I was quite famous in Japan as a prodigious kendo master so when the Master heard I was going to be a Demon Salyer, he took special consideration for me.

    The same goes for promising Demon yers rmended by Hashiras or retired Hashiras.

    What else could I say, I was impressed with Ubuyashiki.

    I spent days roaming around the mountains, sleeping during the day and travelling during the night like the demons I was hunting.

    There was this universal rule about not finding something when you were actively searching for it. The same went for demons, when you searched for them you couldn''t find them yet when you were most vulnerable and did not want to encounter a demon, you found them.

    I was only able to y a total of five demons in the span of ten days. Three of them I encountered in the mountains but I found the other two terrorizing a vige and I yed them while I stayed in said vige.

    There was nothing notable to say about these demons, they were strong for sure, likely in the same level as the hand demon but they were not strong to me. And they were not tricky to fight like the hand demon was.

    The two of them who had blood demon art had very basic powers like the ability to grow des in thier body and hair that could turn into sharp tentacles.

    Nothing I couldn''t handle.

    But it was the sixth demon that was somewhat remarkable because he was able topletely hide his presence and I also learned in this encounter, the true value of my birdpanion.

    I did not have ears, and although I had sharp senses, they were limited. My eyesight was my greatest power and I could see everything in front of me but that was also limited to my field of vision, 180��.

    That meant I had a very wide blind spot behind me. I could tell when something wasing close to me by the movement of the air but by then, it would usually be toote.

    But luckily, I had another pair of eyes on top of my head.

    Dash dot dot (_..)

    It meant the letter D. But the way she tapped on my scalp told me everything I needed to know.

    D.

    Danger.

    I pivoted on my heels and turned around just in time to pull out my katana and block the demon who tried to plunge his ws into my back and take out my heart.

    His ws met my de and a bright spark lit up the darkness.

    With the alertness of a person close to death, I quickly redirected his hand and sliced at his neck. My movement was ever so perfect and swift even in times of panic.

    But a weird sight greeted me. My sword went right through his neck but I didn''t slice him, it was like cutting through a phantom.

    !!!!

    It was a blood demon art. I did not know how it worked, I was clueless, So the best action to take was running and making distance.

    That was what I did,

    I quickly leapt to the side and I swung three warning shes to stop him from closing the distance. I stopped when I was around 5 metres away from him.

    "You blocked that." the demon said and tilted his head in an odd mix of anger and confusion, "No one has ever blocked that."

    I fear the day I have to be in an uglypetition with a demon. I would never win.

    Because what the fuck was that?

    "Can you wait for me while I vomit." I said, my in voiceced with disgust. I felt bile rising up my throat.

    In front of me stood a demon with crossed eyes with mucus in his eye sac. He had spiky hair, the colour of sand and he only wore an Obi and a torn yukata that covered up to his knees.

    Putting aside the ugliness and the triggering asymmetrical shape of the demon - I analyzed him to determine his strength and blood demon art.

    It was not difficult to see him for what he was. All truthsid bare before my eyes.

    His body is intangible. I could tell this instantly because many indications point towards that. the first thing was that I could not see the inside of his body, and my x-ray vision failed.

    The air was phasing through his body, I could see it clearly with my eyes. There was also this weird aura surrounding his body which told me something was going on with him.

    His blood demon art was intangibility. That would exin theck of sound in his steps and his non-existent smell. Both senses which I trained to make sure no one could sneak up on me from behind were meaningless to him.

    "I don''t like the way you are looking at me human. Do you think you will survive just because you are a demon yer?" he asked, "I got news for you, I have a thing for demon yers'' flesh and I have killed countless of them."

    He burst forward with incredible speed. He left cobweb cracks on the ground due to his powerful legs pushing him off.

    The air exploded out and so did he.

    The action was predicted but only at thest few seconds. The fact that I could not see inside of his body was clearly a disadvantage.

    But when he pushed off the ground, that was when his intangibly ended and his body became visible. I learned many things from that and he also told me many things about himself.

    He could be intangible but he could not attack while doing so. He also could not make parts of his body intangible, it was either all or nothing.

    He had two beating hearts in his chest, which was not umon for strong demons as it boosted thier physical strength and made them a bit more durable to piercing.

    A peek at his muscles told me that he was exceptionally fast and was built for speed. But hecked the sheer strength of most demons his calibre.

    <i>"me Breathing : Second Form."</i>

    My breath turned into mes and my sword left a trail of fire as I swung vertically upwards. It created a perfect arc that went up like the sun.

    <strong>"Rising Scorching Sun."</strong>

    The demon''s smile widened and he turned intangible. His movement became even bolder and he phased right through my attack and through me.

    I immediately turned around to see him shoot towards the forest. Hended horizontally on a tree before heunched himself at me again like a cannon. The branch of the tree was blown apart due to the sheer force.

    "You''re dying!!" he screamed.

    I turned my de sideways and threw a horizontal sh at him but just like before, he phased through my de and right through my body.

    "Hahahahaha!!" heughed like a hyena. He thought he had gotten to my head. He was infinitely amused seeing my attacks be void in front of his blood demon art.

    My lips curved too.

    This must be his usual strategy. Normal people could not differentiate when he was intangible or not so he would attack multiple times from different angles like this. He constantly put the opponents on edge until he found openings he could take.

    Or better yet, he let his enemies tire themselves out. Humans were not like demons, exhaustion was a big issue for them. And it''s not like they could ignore his bluff either since they couldn''t tell if he was intangible and he was literally too fast to even get a thought across.

    And in the case that they let their guard down, thinking he was about to fake another attack, he would make them regret that by taking thier head.

    It was a wless strategy as the enemy would inevitably fall.

    Unless they''re me.

    Because I had an advantage, I could tell exactly when he was going intangible and when he was real.

    He swiped his sharp ws at me and I barely had time to dodge it by moving to the side - theck of air resistance made him move at extreme speed.

    I drew my sword and managed to cut his leg as he shot past me but that was a minor injury for a demon like him.

    "Be careful, fighting me is not the time to be lost in thought!" he said with glee before he sprang at me again. But this time, it was a fake attack.

    He bounced around the forest, destroying many trees in the process. He faked another three attacks which I pretended to respond to.

    Then he decided that he had a chance and he went for the kill.

    "DIE!!!" he screamed, it was stupid to give out your location like that if you were truly to attack your enemy. Which was exactly why someone other than me would expect the demon to fake another attack.

    But I saw it clearly.

    I saw how his body turned into a physical body and resisted the air. Heunched at me with the boldest and fastest movement. Everything was so exaggerated that you would think it was another fake.

    But I tightened my grip on the hilt of my sword.

    <i>"me Breathing, Esoteric Art : First Form." </i>

    My legs pushed me off like a bullet and my body left a trail of yellow fire that lit up the darkness with hope, as if to signify the victory of light against dark.

    <strong>"Unerring Fire."</strong>

    It was the ultimate attack of both precision and timing. My action was so smooth and perfect it looked like water breathing instead of me breathing to spectators.

    The demon could only stare and witness his own death upon the reflection of my de. His ugly eyes met my purple eyes at thest moment and he found no mercy.

    Even the tiniest fibre of my muscle did not hesitate while I chopped off his head in a single swing. It was at the perfect moment when he was not intangible, the exact angle from where he wouldn''t see iting and the right distance that gave him enough time to despair but not enough room to act.

    "Disappear vermin." my final words and then his body disintegrated without even hitting the ground. me Breathing was extremely effective not only because it boosted the user''s stregth but it also made the nichirin de more effective.

    I sheathed my sword and I synch thest of my breath with the gentle click of the sheath.

    ....

    Then without another word, I continued my journey.

    It was already eleven days since the final selection so I should be getting my first mission and nichrin de soon.

    And just like I thought, a swordsmith arrived in the morning.

    .

    .

    [IMAGE of MC]

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Author : Raven have an important role of covering Seiji''s greatest weakness - limited vision.

    I thought hard on how I could realistically make him ovee this. The thought of giving him sensitive touch to sense vibration like elephants or snakes crossed my mind, and so does the thought of giving him strong instincts or sense of smell to be able to sense danger.

    But in the end, I did not want Seiji to be so unreasonably overpowered so quickly. He will have weakness and strength and he will use every tool to make up for his weakness and capitalize on his strength.

    Thanks for reading.

    .....

    <strong>Join my patreon to read two weeks ahead and participate in polls and group chats. </strong>

    <strong>Patreon : Emmanuel_Capricorn</strong>

 Chapter 17: Nichirin Blade

    <h4>Chapter 17: Nichirin de</h4>

    [3rd POV]

    "Your sword has arrived, young man. Get up." I was able to barely make out his words due to a mixture of drowsiness and the sudden brightness after closing my eyes for too long.

    I did a quick scan of where I was, under the shade of a giant tree in the Kabujitsu mountain. I remembered going to sleep under the shade after the sun had risen up.

    "Good morning sir." I said with a yawn while stretching my limbs. I rubbed my eyes to reduce the heaviness of my eyelids while the person in front of me released a sigh.

    "It''s afternoon." he said and a quick peek at his attire told me that he was a Demon yer Corp swordsmith. He had the signature mask as well.

    "Then Good afternoon."

    "I know you young demon yers are working hard but it''s not healthy to live like that. A man is made to work during the day and rest at night." he said and looking through his mask, I saw that he was on the older side.

    "I''ll keep that in mind." I said although I was not sure if I would follow the advice. I didn''t believe I would be able to sleep peacefully at night.

    "Anyways, here is your nichirin de." he said and revealed the giant long sword he was carrying behind him.

    I stood up and took the sword from his hand. It was just like a normal katana except it was twice as long and the hilt was also longer, allowing for a two-handed use.

    "Never thought someone would order an Odachi for demon ying. I have only made such swords for ceremonial purposes so I was unsure, but I really lucked out on that one," he said with a proud smile on his face.

    "It should be deadly if you can use it correctly"

    Odachi.

    A Japanese equivalent of the ymore. It was a long katana made to be wielded with both hands and was rarely used inbat due to its inefficiency.

    The length of the sword reached past my shoulder. I pulled out the sword from its sheath and admired how the sun reflected on the sharp de.

    "It''s beautiful." I admired.

    I could see in vivid detail how well-crafted the de was. It made me take another look at the smith who was able to create such a marvellous de.

    "What is your name?" I asked. I needed to know his name.

    "Hatori Kanezuka." he answered with a nod.

    "Thank you for making my de." I said with a respectful bow.

    His smile widened and he waved me off, "No no, I was simply doing my job. I should be the one thanking you since your request gave me a new thing to work on instead of crafting the usual swords."

    "Enough pleasantry,e on, take out the sword. You know the reason why us swordsmiths always deliver the nichirin de personally is because we want to see the colour changing so don''t keep me waiting," he said.

    "Right." I replied and withdrew the depletely from its sheath.

    I was able to hold it in one hand with ease and when I did, the sword started changing its colour. It started from the base until the colour spread to the tips.

    A dark purple de.

    "That''s magnificent. Purple swords are rare." he said and then revealed a satisfied grin behind his mask, "Coming all the way here was worth it."

    "About that, how did you find me?" I asked.

    "Well you definitely did not make it easy." he said and gave me the stink eye while I replied with an awkward smile.

    I was always moving so it must''ve been quite a challenge.

    "The bird led me to you." he said and that was when I noticed the absence of Raven on my head. She was not on the trees nearby either.

    "A sparrow?"

    "Shaped like one at least," he replied and I chuckled. Raven was ck and red, unlike any other sparrow.

    She must be busy with her job at the moment. I was supposed to have my first mission after getting my nichirin de.

    "How about you show me how you n to use the sword young man? I was incredulous ever since I got the letter." he said and walked back to give me some space to show him.

    I gave a polite smile and nodded.

    The reason why I specifically asked for an odachi was not only to look like a cool anime character, it also had a real practical use.

    One thing I noticed whenever I found myself in battle was that I was not meant to be a closebat fighter.

    My fighting style relied too heavily on my eyes so I needed my opponents to always be in my field of vision. If they got too close to me, it was harder to see every part of thier bodies.

    I would''ve made for an excellent marksman but since that was not a viable option, I had to look for an alternative to increase my range.

    The solution I came up with was wielding a long sword. That way I could always keep my opponents at a good distance where I could see every part of thier bodies. The long distance would also allow me to anticipate their moves better.

    All in all, it was an advantage for me.

    I wielded the sword in one hand. The weight was almost three times that of a normal nichirin de but since I was stronger than most, it did not affect me much.

    There was also puberty, I nned to capitalize on this phase of my life to get stronger. I would develop my strength to the point that wielding an odachi would feel like wielding a normal de.

    The odachi was not only heavier but longer than a katana. That usually made the wielder slower and sometimes even weaker.

    Not for me though.

    I had perfect movement which allowed me to easily wield the odachi. It reduced all the waste movements that came with using an odachi. I was also able to bnce the weight of the sword perfectly which made the heavy weight nearly irrelevant when swinging.

    My eyes allowed me to perfectly read my opponent and the rhythm of battles. With this, I had impable timing which should make up for myck of speed.

    In short, I had perfect precision and timing to make up for the disadvantage that came with the odachi. And as one warrior once said,

    Precision beats power and timing beats speed.

    "Ready?" I asked but I did not look to see his reply

    I brought my sword up above my head and I swung down at the tree that once provided me shade.

    I took in a gust of air to boost my body and I used all the fibre of my muscles to apply torque on my de. I sliced the tree with deadly precision.

    A small whirlwind erupted from my attack and then the tree neatly slide off its trunk and fell on the ground.

    But that was not all because I also cut two more trees which were behind the one I aimed for. My swing was so perfect that it created a wind de that was able to cut down two more trees.

    The sound of the trees falling on the ground released a deep vibration on the ground.

    "Wow!" Hatori eximed and pped his hands. "I see, you have mastered the Wind Breathing Style. No wonder you would dare wield a longsword."

    "Thank you, I still have much to learn," I said, finding no reason to correct him that I was not a user of Wind Breathing and I did not use any breathing style in my attack for that matter.

    After that, I did other movements and just like I expected, I did not struggle much to wield the sword. Although it would take some to be as familiar as a normal katana.

    Hatori and I chatted for a short while after that. I asked him in detail how made the sword. I also inquired if it would be possible for him to make a bow and nichirin-tipped arrow for me in the future. It was a genuine idea I had for a weapon.

    In return, he asked me if he could look at my normal katana.

    I said yes and handed my katana to him. It was made of normal steel but it was crafted by one of the greatest smiths in Japan.

    "This is truly a work of art. Who was the swordsmith?" he asked while inspecting the sword.

    "Gassan Sadakazu. He was given the title ''Imperial Artist'' which is the highest title the Japanese government can give an artist." I said, "If not for my Kendo master''s request and my victory in the nationals, I would never be able to even hold Gassan''s work. They are in great demand." I said.

    "I''m sure it is. Wow." he said while inspecting the tiniest detail of the katana. It felt like he was able to see just as much as me at the moment.

    "If you want you can hold onto it since I no longer have use for the sword. It will just be a heavy burden in my travels." I said.

    "Well if you say so." he said with shining eyes. He was excited.

    Hatori left soon after that since he also had other deliveries and a ton of work back at home. I was left alone in the forest so I took the time to train with my new sword again.

    I also strapped the sheath on my back since I was not able to the sword on my waist like a normal katana.

    The afternoon sun slowly started falling on the horizon and Raven returned after disappearing the entire day. She immediately perched on top of my head upon her return and she brought news from the Demon yer headquarters.

    My first mission was that I had to travel to Tokyo and investigate the recent disappearance of demons in different Wards of Tokyo.

    I was also told that I was sent to Tokyo because I was knowledgable of the city and its areas. I spent most of my time in Tokyo when I was young since my kendo dojo was located there.

    The Master also said that I could take the chance to visit my home if I wished to. Talk about being a great boss.

    And there was also one more news.

    "Tsuchinoto? Cool."

    I was promoted to the rank of Tsuchinoto. Apparently, they were counting all of the demons I yed after the final selection.

    Raven also reported back to the headquarters so they thought it was only fair that they promoted me to Tsuchinoto since I killed six demons, half of them even had blood demon arts.

    It seemed reaching the rank of Hashria won''t be too hard.

    A smile graced my lips as I got a new interesting idea. How about I beat Muichir''s record of bing a Hasira in the span on two months?

    Well well well, what an interesting challenge. My gen z blood boiled just from thinking about it because this was literally what we grew up with.

    Speedrunning.

    "Watch me speedrun to Hashira!!"

    Sounds like the title of a youtube video, or in this case.

    The title of a Chapter.

    .

    .

    .

    [Image of the sword]

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Author : I request stones. I want more people to read my story so help me climb the rankings.

    And I give you more Chapters. Equivalent exchange, like the way the universe intended

    ..

    <i>Support the author and get acess to two weeks worth of advanced Chapters by joining the patreon. </i>

    <strong><i>Patreon : Emmanuel_Capricorn</i></strong>

 Chapter 18: First mission

    <h4>Chapter 18: First mission</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    The journey to Tokyo was not long as it was the first time I was travelling with a destination in mind. I travelled through day and night without stopping.

    I also used Steroid Breathing constantly to increase my running speed so in just one day, I was able to cover a distance that would''ve taken other people a week.

    I did not stop to hunt demons nor did I stop to even eat or sleep. I just ran and ran until my body felt like it was on fire.

    It was almost as bad as the time I trained with Rengoku.

    Many would criticize my stupidity. Why was I overexerting myself when I was about to face demons when I reached Tokyo? Was I not just reducing my chance of survival?

    Absolutely true.

    But that was the difference between a speedrunner and the rest. While everyone saw stupidity, I saw the six days I saved.

    ...

    In all seriousness, I knew myself and my body the best. I would never tire myself out to the point where I was vulnerable.

    So when I reached the city of Tokyo, I was out of breath and tired but that was about it.

    "I did it Raven. What did I tell you about not underestimating the insanity of a speedrunner?" I said with a smile as I looked upon the bright streets of Tokyo in the evening.

    It was truly a marvel to see the bright lights, the trains, and the bustling streets in the early 20th century. The buildings were tall and they stood side by side along the busy road.

    It would take a bit more to impress a modern guy like me but I could see how vige boys like Tanjiro would lose thier shit when they see Tokyo.

    I looked at my reflection in one of the windows of the building to see Raven. She still had the eyes of a dead fish in front of such a spectacle, she gave zero fucks about the city.

    I shook my head in defeat and began walking along the roads with the pedestrians. I may have reached Tokyo but I still did not know exactly where I was.I saw a bright light in the distance and just ran towards it.

    The first thing I should do was find out which Ward I was in. Then I would head towards the Ward with the missing people.

    The people of the city were mostly dressed in Japanese traditional clothes but there were also plenty of people either wearing suits or dressed in Western style clothes. Modernity was still associated with Western countries so there were people who wanted to live and behave as Westerners.

    World War 1 did not affect Japan much so there was a sense of prosperity in a big city like Tokyo. There were lots of foreigners in the city as well and business were booming.

    I walked through the crowd and my demon yer clothes along with the huge sword strapped on my back attracted lots of gazes. I just gave a creepy re to the men who stared too much while I winked at thedies.

    What can I say, I was an attractive bloke.

    Just like somedies were appreciating my good looks, I was also appreciating theirs.

    Now a question, what would you do if you had x-ray vision built into your eyes and you met attractive Japanesedies, housewives even.

    I would not reveal what I did as mywyer kindly advised me to, but let''s just say some bazookas were sealed under the modest Yukatas.

    Thier shapes were deformed but they yearned to be set free. But bazookas were not the only weapon of destruction because while somecked bazookas, they had cake.

    Huge cake.

    Jiggling cake that was perfectly cut in the middle, vani vour.

    But could you believe that that was not the end of it?

    Some had long flowing legs.

    Few of them had wide hips and small waist, perfect love handles.

    And one of them had seven hearts and five brains. Wait.

    pause

    ..

    ..

    ..

    My body froze and I became a statue. All bodily functions ceased to work as they stilled for a moment.

    My jolly moodpletely vanished and the rest of the world fade away as my eyes remained stuck on her.

    She was a stunning beauty on the outside but I was unfortunate enough to be able to see through the ugliness inside of her.

    No, it''s not ''her''.

    Him.

    His outer flesh was a mere disguise he put on. Underneath thaty the most cursed being in this world.

    The source of all my hatred.

    My breath hitched as I struggled to even breathe in his presence. There was something big, that was swelling endlessly in my chest.

    Rage and bitter hate.

    They nearly took over my body and chopped off the head of that stain on the Earth. It took everything in my power to stop.

    Doing nothing had never been so hard.

    I stood still as he walked towards me and right past me.

    "I will kill you." the sentence managed to slip out of my lips although I was unaware of it.

    It was only when she turned around to re me in the eye did I realised I had blurted the sentence out. He knew that I was a Demon yer from my outfit and he knew what I meant with that word.

    He realized I knew what he was.

    Then a great pressure decided upon my shoulder. Killing intent so thick I could taste blood in my mouth assaulted my senses. My body shook.

    It was the same feeling I got that night.

    He was so much stronger than me it hurts to even exist in front of him. My eyes saw how his nails extended into a w and he swiped at me.

    My body moved to dodge the attack and it was sessful. It was the fastest movement I had ever witnessed even though it was a causal swing of his hands.

    But I could read him.

    He seemed to be caught off guard by my action as his feminine features morphed into something sinister. Yet we were in the middle of the street so he decided to leave me alone for now.

    He walked away.

    I remained in my ce, my heart was a beating mess of fear and anger, panic and hatred. My body was covered in sweat at the encounter.

    Fuck.

    Fuck.

    Fuck.

    I grabbed the skin of my chest and continue walking again. It was a short yet valuable encounter for me. It opened my eyes to how strong I still needed to get.

    I finally fell down and vomited on the ground. My heart pounded in my chest and my vision got blurry.

    What was happening?

    It was an anxiety attack, but why? Was it because meeting him reminded me of that night?

    Even so, why was I on the ground and writhing like a worm? I though I had grown past this, I thought I had be stronger.

    No, no, no.

    The images started appearing in my mind. I closed my eyes to stop but I couldn''t stop seeing them.

    I will kill him.

    I will kill him.

    I swear. I swear.

    <strong>Muzan Kibutsuji.</strong>

    ..

    ..

    ..

    [IMAGE]

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    Author : Double Chapter because you guys are so nice in giving me stones.

 Chapter 19: Let’s talk

    <h4>Chapter 19: Let''s talk</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    Holy fucking shit.

    If I got a penny for every time a demon came into my life and made me want to roll over and die, I would have two.

    It''s not much but fucking hell why''d it happen twice?

    What were the chances that in my very first mission as a demon yer, I would encounter the literal demon king? The chances were so slim that it was a clear indication of my remarkable fate in this world.

    For real this was the type of shit experienced only by the main characters.

    ..or the side character who would soon die to show just how scary and brutal the main viin was. Hopefully, I was neither and I haven''t realized the third option yet.

    The Asakusa Ward of Tokyo was the ce I found myself in. It was also the ce where the demon king was hiding in in sight, blending in with the thousands upon thousands of humans living here.

    I''d assumed it must be quite easy to do so since he could shapeshift onmand. Heck, he was in his women form when I met him but I was sure he would''ve changed that form by now.

    I quickly went to the direction opposite to where Muzan went and I also prepared myself to leave the city. Honestly, fuck the mission. The culprit behind the missing people was obviously Walmart Michael Jackson here and I was like, five years and ten more training arcs away from being at his level.

    So I decided to leave the city as soon as possible, which was about the easiest decision I made in my life.

    I put a hand on my heart and felt my heartbeat calming down. It was embarrassing to say but his simple presence reminded me of the most traumatizing event that happened in my life.

    Ipletely lost my cool because of that, which was totally not cool. I knew I had serious unresolved issues from both lives but I did not like confronting them.

    Instead, I found a loophole of ignoring all of those problems or traumas and I learned that if ignored them long enough, most wounds heal with time.

    This one would too.

    When I am the strongest Demon yer and when I drive the demons to extinction, all of these traumas will be solved.

    Like I said, I just need time.

    Time will heal me.

    ...

    ...

    "Watch where you are going idiot!!" I saw a man on the train scream at me as I barely crossed the rail.

    I wanted to scream back that I couldn''t help it, I was running for my literally life right now, but I chose to keep my mouth shut and continue to leave the city.

    ///////////////////

    [3rd POV]

    Muzan Kibutsuji walked into an alley and quickly changed his form into that of a man. He put a hand on his face while grinding his teeth in anger.

    He was found out.

    He thought he had hidden perfectly but that boy was able to tell instantly that he was a demon.

    How the boy did it, he did not know. But he knew he needed to remove him before he revealed the information.

    He snapped his finger and immediately, two of hs loyal servants appeared kneeling beside him.

    They were high-ranking demons he kept around them to run errands whether that be killing people or bringing him humans.

    They were not as strong as the twelve demon moons but together, they had the potential to be one.

    "There is a demon yer in the city, purple hair and eyes. He is a lower-ranking demon yer so quickly dispatch him and bring me his head." he said and immediately, two demon disappeared toplete thier mission.

    It was not often that thier lord gave them important missions like this so the two demons, Susamaru and Yahaba, ran on top of the building to look for thier prey.

    it did not take them long to find thier target, in fact, Yahaba did not even have to use his eyes to track thier prey.

    "Watch where you are going idiot!!" they heard a scream and when they looked towards it, they saw their target, a demon yer with purple hair.

    He was running out of the city, he was trying to escape them.

    Not a chance!

    "Hey Yahaba, do you think we will be able to be Twelve kKzuki after this?" Sasamaru asked in a giddy tone.

    She was too obsessed with being one of the Twelve Kizuki that she was ready to do anything. She even went as far as calling herself one due to her obsession.

    "Maybe, but I know the Lord will reward us with his blood if weplete this mission." said Yahaba.

    They both had smiles on thier faces as they followed the demon yer outside of the city. They nned on attacking him then.

    And so they walked to thier deaths.

    ///////////////////

    [Seiji''s POV]

    I was being followed.

    Which was a lot creepier than it sounds.

    Especially when it was a bird on top of your head who told you that you were being followed.

    At first, I thought it was Muzan but then she told me that they were two demons, a girl and a boy. Relief instantly washed over me as I realized it was not the demon lord.

    Instead ofing after me himself, he had sent two of his underlings to deal with me. And from the description, I think I know exactly who they were.

    Susamaru and Yahaba.

    They were one of the earliest demons Tanjiro encountered in the series. If I remember correctly, they were one of the lower moons.

    But I was not too worried since they were pretty weak, being killed by Tanjiro before he even acquired Sun Breathing.

    If I had to rate my current straight, I would put myself in the same rank as a weak Hashira. I was at the level of strength where I was not really afraid of the lower moons.

    So when I finally reached far enough from the city, I stopped in my tracks.

    I slowly pulled out the sword on my back and then I turned around to gaze at the two demons who were following me.

    "Weak."

    The word left my mouth unintentionally.

    Just from looking at them, I could tell that they were nowhere near the level of a lower moon. Maybe they were even weaker than when Tanjiro met them.

    But it was not a bad thing.

    At least with them here, I could have an excuse for iming that the mission given to me was indeed aplished.

    They remained on top of a tree, their face were in the shape of confusion. They wondered how I could see them in the darkness and whether I really noticed them or I was just bluffing.

    Nevertheless, after a minute, a temari ball shot towards me and I smiled.

    It was a good time to vent out all of the shitty emotions I just went through. Who knows, this could be like therapy.

    "Let''s talk."

    ..

    ..

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Auhtor : Fighting is like talking to him, for those who got confused in thest sentence.

    Stone me, I can take it.

    ...

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 Chapter 20: First mission accomplished

    <h4>Chapter 20: First mission aplished</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    "Let''s talk."

    I started the conversation.

    I vent my frustration, anger and hatred with my first words. It was a violent, direct and bold way to start a sentence.

    My body sliced through the air that was resisting my speed and then I swung my sword horizontally. The sharp sound of metal slicing wood rang out in the quietness of the night before a hurricane roared.

    Seven trees were cut down in an instant, including the tree where the demons were on.

    My eyes glowed purple in the darkness as I carefully observed thier reply to my daring action. The demon boy, Yahaba, was calm and collected. He activated his demon art and a red arrow carried him away as the tree copsed.

    On the other hand, the demon girl, Susamaru, was easy to anger. Her eyebrows knitted with rage and she conjured a temari ball in her hand. She threw the ball at me while she was falling.

    She was the type to disregard her own safety if it meant she could hurt her enemies. It was a very typical trait for demons who had great regenerative abilities so it did not surprise me.

    The temari ball shot at me with the speed of a bullet - which sounds scary, I know - but I dodged the ball with an effortless tilt of my head.

    There was no difference between the speed of a bullet and a crawling baby in front of my eyes.

    I allowed the demons tond on the ground while I took that time to examine them more closely. In that short instance, I was able to discern thier blood demon art.

    It might have taken longer if I did not know thier abilities before, but since I watched ''Demon yer'' in my past life, it was simply a confirmation more than a real analysis.

    Susamaru, the demon girl can conjure many Temari balls which she could then throw and kick towards her enemy at the speed of a bullet. Her balls were capable of prating cement walls.

    Yahaba, the demon boy has eyes on the n of his hands. These eyes are extremely sharp and capable of tracking even footprints. His blood demon arts allows him to conjure invisible red arrows which interfere with the vector of matters - the object affected by the arrow is pulled to the direction of the arrows.

    "I''ll have your head for that!!" Susamaru said with an angry face. But I noticed that, although she was short-tempered, she was doing it a little too much.

    "I will rip out your heart and feast on it." She said with a creepy grin and veins popping out of her forehead. She was trying a little too much.

    ''A distraction then.'' I thought to myself and gave a side eye to Yahaba who was sneaking away before he hid behind a tree.

    They must''ve done this a lot because they were experts in it, too bad I caught on quickly. But then again, I could see through trees so there was no hiding from my sight.

    If I remember correctly, Susamaru and Yahabe worked extremely well together. Yahaba would control the Temari balls of Susamarua to create projectiles akin to a honing missile. Thebination of thier two blood demon arts made them quite a tricky adversary.

    Yahaba was the weaker physically and acted as a support of Susamaru. That was why he his immediately.

    Susamaru conjured temari balls out of thin air with a huge, nasty smile on her face. She pulled her arms back and they blurred as the balls shot at me.

    But this time it was different.

    The balls had invisible arrows guiding them. It was the blood demon art of Yahaba and with it, the balls swerved and moved with impossible angles.

    <strong><i>*Boom!*</i></strong>

    The sound barrier was broken.

    It seemed the arrows increased the power behind them as well. How neat.

    Luckily, the invisible arrows were not invisible to my eyes. Instead, they act as an obvious indicator of where the balls are going to hit. Prediction had never been easier.

    <i>"me Breathing : Third Form." </i>

    <strong>"zing Universe."</strong>

    Inferno wrapped around my de and I felt my body heat up to an unnatural degree. My breath turned into mes and I leapt into the air.

    The temari balls followed me but with a twirl of my de, they were sliced in half. The temari balls were part of the demon so they disintegrated upon making contact with my de.

    Then I crashed beside the enemy with wide eyes. Susamaru was clearly surprised that I was not caught off guard by the honing attack like most people.

    My de created a burst of hot air that sent a shockwave through the surroundings. Everything was lit up in golden fury as my de bit into her body.

    I cut diagonally across her chest.

    Her body could not even put up resistance to my de, it was like carving a cake.

    "AHHHHHH!!!!" the demon girl released a shriek that would surely burst my eardrum if I was not already deaf.

    I smiled and jumped back as twelve invisible red arrows came at me with brilliant speed. They were quick and although they had no piercing power, they could drag me around like a ragdoll if they catch me.

    So I twirled my long sword to create a protective barrier. The mes took the form of a flower and I deflected every iing arrows with ease.

    <i>"me Breathing : Fourth Form."</i>

    <strong>"Blooming me Undtion"</strong>

    me breathing was known to be an aggressive fighting style that required explosive strength and inhumane stamina to burn forever. But the Forth Form was created solely for defensive purposes.

    I flicked my sword to clean the blood off and I watched as Susamaru healed herself. I observed her body closely as her body healed and not just that, she grew four more arms from the side of her torso.

    "I will burst your head for that!!" she screamed at me. I brought up my sword and a smile tugged my lips.

    The enemy spoke.

    Six Temari balls with an inbuilt aim bot in the form of arrows rushed at me at the speed of sound. It was surely a sight to behold, anyone else might''ve shat their pants.

    Thier action was desperate and angry. They took me as a weak opponent at first but now they realized they were the ones who should be scared.

    They were giving everything they had. I could tell at a nce that they were inexperienced, it was probably not long ago that they turned into demons. They had solid teamwork and they found a genius way to work together but that was it.

    They didn''t really know how to fight. Nor the dangers that came along with it.

    I''d assume that all of the opponents they faced till now were too busy dealing with theirbines attacks so they were never confronted head on.

    Multiple battles such as that had given them false confidence.

    My arm and sword became one and they blurred into multiple afterimages. I focused on my breath to maintain deep concentration and maximum reflex.

    My eyes and my mind were quick, it was just my body that had to catch up.

    Six deadly balls bounced and swerved in a way that defied physics. Yet their objective was the same - put a hole in me.

    But under the shocked gazes of the enemy, I deflected the iing projectiles with ease. My armpletely disappeared with rapid movements as I blocked every attacking at me.

    I also used the shiny, reflective side of my sword to look behind me, so I was able to block all attacks that came from every angle.

    I liked the expression on thier faces while looking at the scene I was painting.

    Despair.

    Because no matter how angry they were, no matter how frustrated they were, and no matter how much they desired strength.

    I was always angrier, I was always more frustrated and my thirst for power was far greater.

    I just learned how to control them. I mould them into a de that cuts down demons unfortunate enough to encounter me.

    "I am Malenia, de of Mique and I have never known defeat." I said with an amused smile on my face while I slowly walked towards Susamaru.

    The sound of a de moving at incredible speed in the air and the nging sound of temari balls getting deflected rang through the surroundings. Sparks surrounded me.

    "Wh-What are you doing!!" she screamed.

    "Can''t you see? I''m entertaining myself because truthfully, your strength is.." my legs propelled me forward faster than sound.

    "..boring."

    In an instant, I was behind her and the deed was already done by then.

    Susamaru''s head slide off her neck and I crushed her head with the soles of my shoe. Her body disintegrated after a few seconds.

    I disappeared again right after, my movement was untrackable by the naked eye. Years of training and perfect movement allowed me to achieve feats of incredible speed.

    "You have good eyes." I said from behind Yahaba. He was sitting on top of a tree, trying to hide from me.

    Yahaba lept off the tree and put his hands forward. His palms had eyes and they blinked. Then multiple arrows shoot towards me.

    "Let''s see who has better eyes." I said and easily cut through the invisible arrows. He was telling me everything, his strategies, his fears, and even things he had not realize yet.

    "I spy with my little eyes, something red." I said, lunging towards my left and swinging my sword.

    I was just in time to catch Yahaba who - with the help of his arrows - was trying to fly away from me. He was trying to escape to the city because he knew I wouldn''t return.

    But s he could not escape me.

    His body was bisected at his waist. While his lower body continued flying towards the city, his upper body fell to the forest floor.

    Blood splurted out, painting his vision red.

    He started regenerating his legs and while he was trying to push himself back up, I cleanly cut off his head whilending.

    He died like an animal in a sacrificial ritual.

    ..

    ..

    "Well that was therapeutic. Don''t you agree Raven?" I asked her while she flew towards me and perched on top of my head.

    "That is mission aplished," I said with a smile, watching Yahaba disintegrate to ash.

    "Now let''s get the fuck away from Tokyo and continue our speedrunning elsewhere." I said and I continued my journey.

    I had aplished my first mission.

    But there was no rest for a speedrunner.

    In less than two months, I had to be a Hashira.

    And I won''t ept anything less.

    ..

    [IMAGE]

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 Chapter 21: A familiar face

    <h4>Chapter 21: A familiar face</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    It has been more than three weeks - nearly a month - since Ipleted my final selection.

    And it has been a week since my first mission where I encountered a demon none other than Michael fucking Jackson.

    Speaking of which, he wasn''t in his Michael Jackson form when I met him, was he? Thinking about it, I felt scammed and robbed.

    Why did I have to encounter zesty Demon King instead of Michael Jackson? My disappointment was immeasurable.

    On a positive note, it would seem that I was no side character who would die a dog''s death just to show how cruel and bad the main viin was. It''s been a week and I was still alive and sending demons to hell.

    Do you guys remember those two dudes who died after knocking Muzan''s shoulder and the woman whom he tortured by injecting his blood into her until her cells melted? Yeah, I was d not to be one of them.

    Anyway, the missions I got afterwards all went extremely well. In fact, I hadpleted a total of 9 missions in the span of a week. Let that sink in, nine missions werepleted in a single week.

    For reference, Tanjiro took days toplete one mission. On the other hand, Ipleted more than one mission every single day.

    Truly, it was a feat worthy of a speedrunner.

    However, the main reason I was able toplete missions so quickly was my eyes. Of course they were, they were my special cheat.

    Now imagine this, you are a demon yer and you have a mission that said to investigate a vige which had missing people recently. Now you go to this vige and strangely enough, you find nothing wrong with it.

    Them you have to stay there and investigate for days upon days until the demon act up again. Only then could you y the demon and save the vige.

    I need not go through such things. I went to the vige and with the help of my eyes, I could see the marks of demons and thier blood demon arts. You usually find blood demon art in such viges as it is only demons with that kind of technique that would stay and terrorize a vige.

    So I was easily able to find these demons and what was going on in the vige. I did not need days to investigate.

    And even if the demon left no mark or used blood demon art, they usually have tunnels underground or a hideout. I was able to find such ces with my eyes.

    Then I would y the demons which proved to be quite easy since I was already above lower moon level - I think. No demons have posed a serious threat to me.

    The only thing that took time was the travelling part and getting new missions. Speaking of which, I had a new Kasugai crow.

    Raven had proved to be too valuable as apanion to constantly act as a messenger. She sat on top of my head and she became another pair of eyes I had at the back of my head.

    That and also because I was getting missions too rapidly. Raven could not be bothered to go back and forth like that so I got a new crow.

    An actual crow this time.

    In the end, Raven became a service animal for me - which was funny and fitting since I was deaf.

    "A new mission!! A new mission has arrived!!" The Kasugai crow said while circling above me. I think the higher-ups have realized my true strength and my desire to climb the ranks because missions have beening at me nonstop.

    You would think at one point they would decide to give me a break but nope, they came endlessly. Which honestly put a smile on my face.

    They said do something you love and you will never work a day in your life, it was true. I was doing just that so there was no mental exhaustion for me.

    "Where to?" I asked the crow above.

    "You need to y the demon living in Mount Tarumae! The demon has been hunting humans who walked through the mountain but he is very adept in hiding so this will require some tracking." the crow said.

    "Complete the mission as quickly as possible and I will return. Kaw!!" the crow flew away.

    Well.

    Shit.

    It''s a mission that requires tracking down a demon. I hated these kinds of missions since it took a little longer than going to a vige and killing the demon living there.

    I was adept at tracking as well with the help of my eyes and the experience I had in Mount Fujikasane, but it still took longer time than I would''ve liked. But the Demon yer Corp seemed to realize how well I performed in these kinds of missionsd to others so they have been giving me simr missions these days.

    Whatever, I will make do with it.

    How many demons would this make? Counting Yahaba and Susamaru, it will be my 15th demon.

    35 demons more to go before I be Hashira. Oh, I can see it happening in less than a month. How exciting.

    "Raven, do you know the way?" I asked and I received one short tap, two long taps and the final three short taps on my head.

    Yes, indeed she knows the way to Mount Tarumae.

    "Lead the way." I said and disappeared under the bright sun of midday. I aimed to reach there by night and quickly y the demon.

    If it haunts humans going through the mountain, it should attack me as well. Or at least get close enough for me to chase after him.

    Lets go!!!

    ..

    ..

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    [Seiji''s POv]

    (Mount Tarumae)

    "Oi!!" I called out.

    "Not to bother you but that is my demon you are killing!!" I said, my usually in voice was displeased this time.

    Did I really travel all the way here just for someone else to steal my kill? I thought I wouldn''t experience such things aftering to this world since League of Legends has not even been created yet.

    But here he was, an old man who was so short you would mistake him for a child. He had a prosthetic leg made of wood in his right leg. The prosthetic was a little longer than it should be, which hints that the old man wanted to look taller than he actually was.

    He had white hair and he was balding but I would agree that he had a gorgeous moustache.

    All in all, I wouldn''t say he was ugly, but he was definitely funny-looking.

    "Ahh! A Demon yer." the old man said and took a huge breath that released streaks of yellow lightning.

    "Would you mind giving me a hand? I have a hard time reaching his neck." He asked me while holding out a small Nichrin de, it was a Wakizahi.

    In front of him was a demon - who was likely my target considering where I was. The demon was a tall demon with a thin frame as if he had not eaten in years. His bones protrude out of his sickly body in a horrific way.

    Like every other demon, he was ugly.

    But what really caught my attention instead was the old man. I think I know him.

    I racked my brain while the old man and the demon engaged in another fight. The old man was winning but he was too short to reach the neck of the demon which was pretty funny. He only had one leg which kind of prevented him from leaping and there were no trees around to use as a foothold.

    When the old man took a deep breath and lighting came alive around him, the memory finally popped into my mind.

    Right, it was him.

    The Master of Zenitsu - what was his name again?

    Jigoro Kuwajima.

    ..

    ..

    [IMAGE]

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 Chapter 22: New sensei

    <h4>Chapter 22: New sensei</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    Jigoro Kuwajima.

    I totally read that off his haori because there was no way I could''ve remembered the name of such a vague side character for that long.

    "Young man!" Jigoro called out while dodging the attacks of the demon who had somehow turned his arms into long des.

    Was that his blood demon art? Turning parts of his body into des?

    I observed the demon''s biology carefully and concluded that he was not a threat. He could turn his body into steel des which required his blood gathering in parts he wanted des - so he should not be able to turn any part of his body into a de much less simultaneously.

    But the thing that put him into the harmless category was his simplicity.

    You don''t want to be simple when facing me.

    I took out my sword from my back and with a crack of my neck, I blitzed towards the demon. The enemy immediately took a step back as his instinct screamed at him.

    He pulled up his arms which were des and shielded himself. But I had seen such a replying from miles away.

    I cut at the exact spot in his arm where steel connected flesh. My de cleaved through his arm and then his neck. The enemy had no time to react.

    My action was resolute and it said...

    <strong>Disappear. </strong>

    And so the demon''s head hit the ground along with both his arms-turned-des. By the time I sheathed my sword, his body had disintegrated to disappear from the face of the earth.

    One less demon in the world was a step towards a perfect world.

    Fuck them.

    "Ohhh.. you are quite the swordsman young man!!" Jigoro said, "I totally misjudged you, hahahaha."

    "The same goes for you, old man. You might be tiny but you sure can fight." Imented inly which made the small jab I made more effective. He visibly reeled back.

    He might be small but the old man could really fight. Even if I had not intervened, he would''ve yed the demon one way or another. I would expect nothing less from the former Thunder Hashira.

    "Tiny? I will have you know I used to be average height when I was young!! It''s just that old age has shrunk me." he said in defiance.

    My eyes see through all lies. Not only that, I could construct how his body would look like in its prime by observing its current state. He was at most two inches taller when he was young.

    "Right."

    "Why do I get the feeling you don''t believe me?" he said.

    "I do sir."

    "Really?"

    "Of course."

    "You do then, hahahaha!!" he said with augh and twirled his long moustache.

    "What''s your name kid?" he asked me while he strapped his short sword back to his belt.

    "Seiji Shigan." I said.

    "Seiji Shigan, what exactly does it mean? Seer of Turth? Ruler of Will?" Jigoro analysed the meaning behind my name but there was no exact meaning. My name could mean many things in kanji.

    "I''m not sure what my parents intended as they died before I can ask them what my name means." I said.

    " A demon killed them?" he guessed.

    "Yes, how did you know?"

    "Bah! Whose families aren''t killed by demons? You see, it requires a unique kind of hate - that can onlye from having lost loved ones - to be a Demon yer." he said with a nod.

    "I see."

    "Enough about that, What I want to know is which one of us old goats managed to create a monster like you?" he said and rubbed his chin. He analysed me up and down.

    "I''d say you are already at the strength of a Hashira, how old are you?"

    "14. Well, 13 years 11 months to be exact."

    "God damn those poor demons, hahahaha!! I am certain you will be their greatest nightmare ten years from now," he said, amused.

    "So do tell, who trained you."

    "No one." I said, "I used to train kendo under Master Naito Takaharu in Tokyo but that was it. I never had someone to train me in the ways of a demon yer."

    "..."

    "..."

    "You are not messing with me, young man?"

    "Positive."

    "Well that puts you in apletely different league again." he said thoughtfully, "And also disprove my spection that you are as strong as a Hashira. Without a breathing style, you will never cross that threshold."

    I wisely decided not to mention how I learned and copied me Breathing sessfully in the span of a week.

    After a long silence, the old man suddenly revealed a wide smile on his face. My eyes also detect greed under his harmless smile.

    He wanted to have me all for himself, like a jewellery smith who finds a diamond in the mud, ready to be polished.

    "Tell you what kid, my name is Jigoro Kuwajima. A former Hashira, also known as the Lightning Pir or the Roaring Hashira," he said with no small amount of pride in his tone.

    "And if you want, I will be more than happy to be your trainer and pass down the secret art of Thunder Breathing to you." he said and grinned at me.

    "So, what do you say?" he asked.

    "I would love to." I replied.

    It was a no-brainer. In my opinion, Thunder Breathing was one of the strongest breathing styles even in the context of the five original breathing styles.

    Not only that, I had already mastered me Breathing so Thunder Breathing seemed like the next step since, you know, fire and lightning always have simr affinities in fiction - like in the Avatar.

    It will also add more weapons to my arsenal. It meant I would have more varied ways to kill a demon.

    The thought of killing a demon so quickly that it had no time to pray and ask for forgiveness put a smile on his face. Without such a chance, it will make sure they go straight to hell.

    "But." I said. "I won''t be able to do it now."

    "Huh? And why not?" he asked.

    I stayed silent for a while before I decided to tell him about my n and my goal of bing a Hashira in less than two months.

    At first, he thought it was ridiculous but when he realized I was serious, he had a change in mind. He said it was always good for someone to challenge themselves and he respected my goal.

    "So..can Ie back to you in a month or so?" I asked.

    "There will be no need of such a thing." he said, "I am actually quite free myself and have no student under me at the moment."

    "So I can follow you in your missions. You are already physically more than capable so I will only need to teach you Thunder Breathing. If you spare me three or so hours everyday, it will be enough." he said.

    I remained silent and took a look at him again, this time in a new light.

    He was a nice old man.

    The reason why he wanted to follow me was not because he was desperate to teach me. In fact, it made no sense why he should trouble himself and follow me around just because he could get a few hours of teaching every day with me when I said I will seek him out for training in a month.

    The real reason was that he wanted to make sure I lived. The goal I had was a reckless one even though Jigoro decided to respect it.

    To go on multiple missions consecutively without allowing myself time to rest or grow just for the sake of reaching a higher rank quickly was not a very wise choice without knowing the whole context. It screamed of the reckless, burning passion of youth.

    And Jigoro wanted to make sure I lived by apanying me. He could help me in fights or advise me aginst my actions if he realized that I was putting myself in too much danger.

    In the end, he wanted the new generation to be safe, especially someone with talents like mine.

    "Are you sure gramps? Can you even keep up with me?" I said and nced at his prosthetic leg.

    "Nonsense, I was the fastest Hashira and would leave you to dust even today." he waved his hand.

    "Well then." I said and bowed, "Thank you, I will be in your care."

    "Same to you." Jigoro said with a smile.

    ..

    ..

    ..

    Something feels wrong.

    Bowing was a sign of respect because you basically put your head lower than the person you are bowing to. It was a sign of humility.

    But Jigoro was too short that my head was still higher than his even when I bowed.

    So Iy face down on the ground.

    "Stop insulting me brat!!"

    .

    .

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    Author : Give me stones and I give you extra Chapter today.

 Chapter 23: Thunder Breathing

    <h4>Chapter 23: Thunder Breathing</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    Thunder Breathing was fast.

    Fighting was like a conversation, where me and my opponent exchanged words in thenguage of the body.

    With my eyes, I was able to perceive and most of the time, predict the movement/words of my opponents.

    Movement has patterns, actions tell the past and the future.

    But all of these went down the drain when I went against a Thunder Breather for the first time. I was caughtpletely off guard due to the sheer speed at which Jigoro moved.

    It was like arguing with a rapper.

    I could see his future, I could predict him and I know how to reply as well but my body was too slow to react. In the end, I find myself dead every single time.

    "You....saw me." Jigoro said from behind me but I did not know because my eyes were fixated on the residual lighting which was the aftermath of his attack.

    Eventually, I turned towards him with wide eyes and an open mouth.

    "That was way too fast." I said. If he was still that fast now, I could only imagine how much faster he would be in his prime.

    It was a humbling experience, to know that there were people other than Muzan who could pose such a great threat to me. I was sure that if he attacked me from behind, my head would roll off with ease

    I would have no time to react.

    "Stop acting surprised like I was the one who just did an impossible feat!!" Jigoro yelled and point his finger at me.

    I tilted my head.

    "You, you, your eyes followed me! How is that even possible!!" he said, "That was the first form of Thunder Breathing and it was supposed to be the fastest form."

    "I don''t understand. If you know that my eyes followed you, it means that you can also see me while moving at such speed right?" I asked.

    "No! Everything was over in an instant for me. But I have fought for more than four decades and I have performed the first form of Thunder Breathing thousands of times. The one I executed just now was different, I could feel your eyes on my body. It was a feeling I had never experienced before." he said with sweat falling off his face.

    "Yeah, well." I scratched my cheek, "I told you I have very special eyes."

    "No, you said you have special eyes which allowed you to read people''s lips even though you are deaf. You never told me anything about being able to see someone move at the speed of sound!!" he said.

    "This changes a lot of things, no, this changes everything!! hahahahaha!!" he said and startedughing.

    Should I be concerned that he was this happy in our first training session?

    "Kid, I will turn you into the strongest Thunder Breath user in the history of demon ying. Hahahahahaha!!"

    And so my training began after Jigoro demonstrated Thunder Breathing to me.

    ..

    ..

    ///////////////////

    (Two weekster)

    Perfect movement. It was the ability I gained after many years of constant training. It allows me to move my body perfectly, engaging only the necessary muscle group in my movement to conserve energy. Couples with motor skills so incredible that each move I made was with extreme precision.

    This skill allows me to change my movement midway like someone changing the meaning of a sentence even after already saying the first words of the sentence.

    Even though I had no superhuman stregth like Gyomei or Mitsuri, I was able to aplish feats of stregth equal to them by having perfect control of my body and the force it generated.

    But Thunder Breathing was kind of opposite to that.

    ''You have to use every fibre of muscle in your leg to explode out in an instant. Utilize all your strength in one moment.'' that was the concept Jigoro gave me.

    To bepletely honest, that was a stupid way to fight. It was also the major downside of Thunder Breathing.

    I could not stress enough how much injury that could cause. Even if you were not injured, your body would fatigue extremely quickly and you will find yourself unable to fight for long.

    In a battle of attrition, Thunder Breathing was the worst while Water Breathing was the best. That''s what Jigoro told me.

    Honestly, the more I learned about Water Breathing, the more I wondered if I should''ve started out with Water Breathing. It seemed to match my style perfeclty.

    Instead, I seem to start from Breathing Stylespletely opposite to my nature. Fire Breathing and Thunder Breathing.

    It was fine though. They were both powerful breathing styles and my goal was to learn all of the five major breathing styles anyway so we will get to Water Breathing soon.

    I would learn all of the five major breathing styles and finally create my own, taking the best out of every style and creating the ultimate Breathing Technique. That was the end goal.

    And I will ruin Muzan Kibutsuji''s whole career with said style.

    Anyways, we are straying from the topic.

    Thunder Breathing, although a direct contrast to my style of fighting proved to be not so difficult to learn. It took me two times longer than learning me Breathing but in the end, I think I was able to at least get the hang of all six forms.

    Learning the unique pattern of Thunder Breathing was not difficult with my eyes. I basically did the same thing I did with Rengoku, I copied the breathing patterns of Master Jigoro.

    The only thing I struggled with was the concept of Thunder Breathing itself which contradicted my style of fighting.

    "Get ready." Jigoro said and I nodded.

    I crouched down and lowered my centre of gravity as much as I could. I folded the muscles on my legs and tensed them, ready to explode out like a spring.

    My head was tucked under to avoid air resistance as I took a deep breath. Blue lighting came alive around me and the air vibrated from the strength coursing through my legs.

    <i>"Thunder Breathing : First Form."</i>

    <strong>"Thunderp and sh."</strong>

    It took me quite some time but I finally understood the concept.

    Thunder Breathing itself was based on the principle of ''Impulse''. The first form of Thunder Breathing was the best example of it.

    Impulse refers to the impact force exerted upon a surface in a specific amount of time. The lower the amount of time needed to deliver the force, the higher is the impact.

    Now imagine you push someone with 100 newtons of force slowly over arge period of time, they will probably not feel much. But if you push them with the same force within a millisecond, they will fall and you will likely break thier ribs.

    In the same manner, with Thunder Breathing, you apply all of the force your leg can generate on the ground in a short amount of time. This allows you to explode out at incredible speed over a short distance.

    The keyword being a short distance, around ten meters. If you want to go further, you will have to execute the technique more than once which Zenitsu did in the series.

    Anyway, I pushed myself off the ground with all of the strength my leg could produce in the span of one fickle moment. I engaged every fibre of my muscles and perfect movement allowed me to aplish such feat.

    Then I blitz towards the stick Jigoro held on top of his head. The sound of my leg pushing me off the ground rumbled like thunder. In an instant, I cut the stick in half and appeared right behind him.

    I released steam for breath while I slowly sheathed the sword on the side of my waist.

    "Incredible," Jigoro whispers in awe.

    The first form of Thudner Breathing was the most important form. It encapstes the very principle of Thunder Breathing so if you master the first form, you master the rest of the forms.

    The power behind the rest of the forms also depend on how well you mastered the first form.

    "I am happy to hear that." I said with a twitching face because my legs felt like buckling and falling on the ground. They were fatigued beyond belief.

    And it was not just because of one attack either, I have been in constant training for over two weeks.

    "You mastered it." Jigoro said while looking at the bisected stick in his hand. Then he turned to look at me.

    "You mastered Thunder Breathing in two weeks. That is an incredible feat which I don''t think I will ever see again in my life," he said but ultimately, a smile crept up to his face.

    "I am d to have witnessed it." He said and looked at the rising sun in the distance.

    "I think if anyone is going to end this war and kill the Demon King, it will be you Seiji." he said.

    "I am truly d to have been a part of it." he said as tears pooled in his eyes.

    I gave him a bow.

    "Thank you for all your teachings, master." I said with sincerity. I could not hear my own voice but I hoped my voice reflected my feeling.

    "I have nothing more to teach you. From here on out, it is entirely up to you on how you will advance your skills." he said.

    ...

    ///////////

    "Goodbye young man, I guess this is where we part." Jigoro said with his back facing me as he walked away.

    The sun was slowly climbing towards the peak of the sky. He waved his hand as goodbye.

    "Thank you for all you have done for me!! I hope we meet again gramps!!" I yelled out which was very out of character but I had to because he was walking further and further away from me.

    "Hahahaha, no. Thank you Seiji!!" he said and turned to face me again.

    The smile on his face matched the brightness of the sun above him. I could not point it out but his smile was so much more brighter than when we first met.

    "Thank you for giving this old man hope again!!" he said and startedughing.

    I got lost in thought.

    ..

    I see. So that''s what it was.

    His smile had hope in them now.

    He never truly believed that the war between demons and humans would end soon but after seeing my talents and training me for two weeks, that outlook has changed.

    Now he had genuine hope that it would be over soon. He believed that I would be the one to finally put an end to the demons.

    I inspired such hope in him.

    I felt my breath hitched while looking at his disappearing figure.

    Hope was such a powerful thing. It was hope that made me persist through the difficult times in my life. When I lost all of my family, my hearing and when I was in apletely different world, hope was the only thing that drove me towards tomorrow.

    Hope that things will be better. Hope that i will find a family or love again.

    I hoped I would be happy again tomorrow, just as I was yesterday.

    That''s why everyone keeps fighting every day, isn''t it?

    Hope.

    I will create a better future for this world with my de.

    <strong>I swear. </strong>

    ...

    ...

    [IMAGE]

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 Chapter 24: Shinobu Kocho

    <h4>Chapter 24: Shinobu Kocho</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    Total concentration breathing or constant breathing.

    It was when the user of a breathing style constantly used thier technique to enhance thier body at every moment. Be it night when they are sleeping, or day when they are eating.

    They practised a constant purposeful breathing pattern which allowed them to stay superhuman. They heal better and they be stronger as well.

    There were few even amongst the demon yer who could use this advanced technique. It required a powerful set of lungs which could only be achieved through hard training.

    I remember even Tanjiro, the main character, struggling with it in the beginning.

    But believe it or not, I never had trouble with constant breathing. In fact, I have been doing that since the beginning with my iplete breathing.

    This was mainly because even though I never learned a breathing style, I trained my lungs from a young age since I knew how important they would beter on.

    Most of the time, I used my own breathing style ''Steroid Breathing'' as it enhanced all aspects of my body. Although it may not have forms, ''Steroid Breathing'' was the best when it came to constant breathing.

    But in the case of speed and travelling, the ''Thunder Breathing Constant'' proved to be superior. My senses and aspects other than speed were not improved but it made up for it with the sheer increase in speed.

    So with the help of thunder breathing, travelling proved to be much quicker and easier. That meant I waspleting my missions even faster than before.

    While I trained for two weeks with Master Jigoro, I did not ck on my mission either and often used the demons as a dummy practice.

    This was why, right now - after nine days had passed since Jigoro left - I was already on myst mission to be a Hashira.

    "I have killed a total of 49 demons." I said with a smile, "Afterpleting this mission, I will finally be promoted to the rank of Hashira."

    "In total, it has been 47 days since I passed the final selection, which is roughly a month and a half. With that, I have broken Gyomei and Muichiro''s record of bing a Hashira in two months."

    To be honest I was a little excited.

    I mean, who didn''t love pushing ranks?

    The sun was slowly setting in the western horizon, its bright yellow light had turned into a warmer orange. The people finished up thier work to get back home before dark while demons waited impatiently for the hunt to start.

    But as the demons hunt in the night, so do I.

    ...

    //////////////

    The mission I got this time was pretty straightforward. The mission was to y a demon living in the Iya Valley. Many lower-ranked demon yers had died trying to y the demon which was why they were giving the mission to someone they considered as strong as a Hashira.

    The demon was apparently bold enough to remain in the valley even after three attempts at ying him. Which told me that the demon was pretty confident in his strength.

    I should expect a strong one.

    This would be fun.

    After a few hours of travelling, I reached the Iya Valley. It was a very narrow valley located in the middle of two mountains.

    The valley had thick vegetation and the Iya river ran through the mountains, providing a fresh water source for the nts and animals.

    However, due to its steep gorges and dangerousndscapes, the valley was isted. Which puzzled me quite a bit, why would a demon live here? There were no nearby humans on which it could feed.

    I stood at the top of a mountain and I looked down upon thend. It was dark but my eyes easily pierced through the darkness as I searched for my prey like a hawk.

    But before I could locate my demon, my eyes caught something else - or should I say someone else.

    ''Is that?'' I asked myself while narrowing my eyes.

    Then I lept off the mountain to fall into the valley. Raven pecked at my head in anger before she flew off my head.

    The wind rushed past my body as I descended into the valley. When I neared the ground, I used the tall trees to decrease my momentum andnded gracefully on the ground.

    Inded close to her.

    "Little girl, why are you here?" I asked the girl who caught my eye.

    "It''s dangerous," I said inly while observing her.

    I was finally able to confirm my suspicion now that she was so close. She had dark ck hair that faded tovender at the end. Her eyes were hazy purple with no pupils, which made her eyes look like that of an insect.

    She wore a white and purple haori and she tied her hair into a bun while two strands framed her face. She had a small body but with her youthful face, it made sense.

    "Huh? Who are you calling a little kid, you look the same age as me." she said and turned to face me.

    I paused abruptly.

    Damn.

    She''s pretty.

    I stared.

    I think I stared too much.

    "What the fuck are you looking at creep? Your eyes are creepy as hell!"

    It''s amazing how personality can drag down one''s beauty. That wasn''t a very nice thing to say but understandable I guess.

    For the record, I did not use X-ray vision. She had nothing worth peeking at yet as she was just a small girl.

    But she had potential.

    Pause.

    "I am a demon yer and I am on a mission to kill the demon living here. But who are you?" I asked the girl.

    She seemed taken aback by my words, "A demon yer?"

    She did not see a sword strapped on my waist so I had to show her my odachi which was sheathed on my back. Then I showed her my uniform under the haori.

    "I see." she said, "Well, my name is Shinobu Kocho. I am a Tsuguko of the Flower Hashira and a medical expert. I was sent here in case you get injured. The valley is quite isted so the master wanted me toe here and give you medical help immediately if you need it."

    Wow. Talk about prodigal privilege.

    I assumed the higher-ups did not want to see a young talent like me die so they sent her here to make sure I survived in case I suffered an injury in my mission. Since many lower-rank demon yers have died, there was a chance of the demon being strong.

    And this mission was particrly dangerous because even if the injury I suffered after the fight was not fatal, it could have led to death since there was no nearby help.

    "I understand," I said.

    "If that is all, I will immediately get to hunting the demon," I said and disappeared.

    I see him.

    The demon.

    I ran towards the ce where I saw movement and smelled the scent of a demon. I pulled out my sword and my heart roared in my chest, preparing for a fight.

    ..

    ..

    [IMAGE of Shinobu]

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 Chapter 25: Debate of death

    <h4>Chapter 25: Debate of death</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    I''m scared of pretty girls.

    So I ran to the less scary being which was the man-eating demon living in the Iya Valley. I swiftly ran through the thick forest while Raven flew overhead.

    The demon I was hunting put absolutely zero effort into hiding himself. I could sense his bloodlust so clearly that the logical conclusion was that he wanted people to find him.

    I could also see him. My eyes pierced through the thick vegetation and locked on his demonic form. I would say that he was awfully human-like for a demon.

    In just a few more minutes, I finally reached the demon. He wore a yellow haori with a white scarf on his neck. His clothes were neat and tidy, unlike most demons which gave the impression that he was a human.

    But I knew for certain he was not.

    "Your time is up demon. Your arrogance had led to your end." I said, my voice echoing in the small clearing I found myself in.

    ''It led me to this ce.'' I concluded in my mind when I saw the marks of previous battles in the surroundings. This was likely the ce where he fought with the Demon yers that tried to y him before me.

    The demonughed, I could not see his face since he was turning his back on me but I knew he was genuinely amused.

    "It is so convenient this way, I don''t know why I haven''t thought of this sooner. My prey delivered themselves to me and I do not even need to hunt them down." the demon said. It was hard to tell but I could make it out from the movement of his throat.

    "You have it all wrong Demon yer, it is you who rushed to his own end." he said and finally turned to face me.

    !!!!!!

    He had the face of a young man with three ''X'' scars on his forehead and cheeks. But the thing that instantly caught my attention was the Kanji in his eyes.

    �� - the number ''4'' in Kanji, that was written on his left eye.

    "...lower moon four." I muttered in surprise before I looked down to hide my face.

    "Oh~ are you scared ''Demon yer''? You people have been a bother to my master so he gave us all an order to kill as many demon yers as possible. I have been staying in this valley, calling them with my presence so that I can ughter the lots of you." he said, even though I never asked.

    "I''m sorry." the demon said with a crooked smile, veins popped around his eyes and his human teeth turned sharp. His face abandoned all humanity and finally turned demonic.

    "Actually, I''m not sorry." then he shot at me with a burst of speed.

    I finally looked up to meet his eyes and I pulled out my sword before swinging at him. His ws met the sharp edge of my de with a spark of friction and he halted in mid-air. His body tried to overpower me but with refined technique, I resisted.

    My usually stoic face scrunched up to show anger.

    Because at that moment, I was absolutely pissed - livid even.

    Why?

    "You just couldn''t show your ugly face sooner." I said and pivoted on my heels to deliver a backkick at the side of his body.

    Steroid Breathing enhanced my physical strength and my kick broke his ribs and tore his liver. A small shockwave erupted and sent the demon flying to the side.

    I had every right to be angry at that moment. I had worked so hard to be a Hashira as fast as possible - which required me to either kill one of the Twelve Kizuki or y 50 demons.

    Since I did not know the location of the Twelve Kizuki and because I was still not strong enough to take on the upper moons, I decided to be a Hashira by killing 50 demons.

    I nearly seeded, I had in a total of 49 demons and he was supposed to be the final demon. But he turned out to be one of the lower moons.

    If I had met him earlier, I would be a Hashira instantly without having to grind so hard. He just had to show up when his death would least benefit me.

    The feeling was exactly the same as that time in my past life where I studied the whole night for a test, only to find out the teacher was absent the next day.

    It''s silly, I know but goddamn was it frustrating.

    "You''re pretty strong, that''s a surprise. I guess they would send someone decent after the third time." the demon said and a demonic smile split his face.

    <i>"Blood Demon Art : Velocity Burst."</i>

    ''That''s new, I have never seen a demon use blood demon art like tha-'' my eyes shone bright and opened wide in absolute shock.

    It was because somehow, the enemy who was at least 5 meters away from me had suddenly appeared in front of me, arms pulled back to deliver a punch. His eyes were demonic red and his smile was straight out of a nightmare.

    The wind caused by his sudden appearance blew my hair and dried my eyes, making me want to blink.

    I could predict movements perfectly. I knew thenguage of the body better than anyone and my enemies spoke to me before they even made a single move.

    But what I couldn''t see were spells - blood demon art. And the demon had just used some form of spell to appear in front of me.

    Time had slowed down to a crawl as my brain and eyes worked overtime to make up for the shock. I brought my sword up just in time to block his punch.

    I would block the hit and the demon''s arm would be split in half since the sharp edge of my sword was shielding me.

    But then something happened again.

    A shockwave.

    A powerful shockwave erupted from his fist and the force sent me flying away like a ragdoll. I blinked and time resumed like normal. Everything happened in an instant.

    <strong>*BOOOM!!*</strong>

    I nted my feet on the ground and slid to a stop. I could not feel my arms properly.

    My eyes immediately fell upon the enemy and this time with all the seriousness in the world. All silly thoughts were cast aside and emotions were discarded.

    It was no time to joke around. The enemy was strong. He was easily the second strongest being I ever encountered. I could tell that much with a single exchange.

    ''So this is the power of a lower moon.'' I thought grimly and took a stance with my sword.

    "Good, I like that face better." the demon said and chuckled before he shot at me once more. This time, I was ready so I could see everything that I missed before.

    ..

    ..

    He was fast. He was easily three times as fast as Jigoro whom I had trouble keeping up with.

    How was the demon able to gain such speed with such minimal effort? My eyes revealed the truth to me and answered my question.

    Shockwave.

    The demon was able to create a shockwave on the bottom of his feet and from his hand - maybe even with other parts of his body but his feet and hand were the only parts he used so far.

    A powerful shockwave strong enough to shatter the earth pushed him off. The speed at which he moved was so fast and sudden that his own body suffered internal injuries.

    Blocking was out of the option since the enemy could also create shockwaves with his hands so I dodged the body which wasing at me like a meat cannon.

    But as the demon flew past me, I could tell from his bodynguage that he had no intention of missing. Instead, he was readying his muscles to deliver another attack instantly.

    The twitch of his arm, the rotation of his hips and the side nce he gave me, all of these things told me of his next n.

    I pivoted on my heel and leapt to the side and dodged the following attack before it even happened.

    Just as predicted, the demon exploded shockwave at his feet again and changed his trajectory. The sudden change in vector absolutely crushed his body but he was a demon, he didn''t care.

    But by the time the sequence of action was executed, I was no longer where I was supposed to be. The demon was forced to stop his attacks abruptly, his face told me he was surprised.

    I can still read him.

    "That was...strange." the demon said but then shrugged his shoulder, thinking what I just did was luck or a fluke.

    He casually healed all of his muscle tears and internal injuries while cracking his neck. I also decided to get serious and I took a deep breath - blue lighting sizzled as I inhaled and mes came out of my mouth while I exhaled.

    Two of the five major breathing styles mingled inside my body.

    "Fine, let''s talk."

    And so, the debate of death starts.

    ..

    ..

    [IMAGE of the Demon]

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 Chapter 26: Slaying lower moon 4

    <h4>Chapter 26: ying lower moon 4</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    "Fine, let''s talk."

    "LETS NOT!!!" the demon yelled and he exploded out towards me. He came at me with endless momentum but this time, I was ready.

    <i>"me Breathing : Second Form."</i> I said as my eyes glowed bright and mes wrapped around my de.

    <strong>"Rising Scorching Sun." </strong>I swung my sword up in a perfect arc, like the sun rising to the sky. A trail of fire followed my de.

    The sound of two consecutive shockwaves rang out, its vibration shaking the air itself. The demon produced shockwaves from his hands to stop his momentum and he halted right before my de reached him.

    His rows of sharp teeth smiled at me as if he had predicted my attack perfectly and dodged in time.

    I bit down a smile, one thing you should never do when you fight me is try to out-predict me. It was a battle that assured defeat.

    So I changed the grip on my sword, holding the de horizontally and the pattern of my breath also changed abruptly yet seamlessly.

    <i>"Thunder Breathing : Second form." </i>Lighting came alive around my body and my muscles tensed up, preparing to explode out with every fibre of stregth at one moment.

    <strong>"Rice Spirit."</strong> I dered and the following action exploded in one moment. My arm blurred and my de became five, slicing from different angles in one moment.

    That was the concept of the second form. It was to deliver five consecutive shes at the enemy from different angles in one moment.

    The shocked demon did not even have time to react as I cleaved at his limbs one by one. I sliced off his left hand, and then his right arm. In less than a millisecond, I sliced off both of his feet as well.

    Four shes.

    With all his limbs cut off, he could not use his shockwave anymore.

    Thest swing was aimed at his neck. But right before I decapitated the demon, he opened his mouth and a terrible shockwave shot at me - my head would''ve exploded in a gory mess it hit.

    So I stopped my swing midway and tilted my head to the side. The shockwave went right past my ear and left a dent on the ground. I had seen the way his throat contracted before the attack so I had ample time to dodge.

    The shockwave also pushed the demon back and he escaped my range in an instant. But I was determined to capitalize on the opportunity. He let his guard down and it cost him four limbs. Now I had to cut off his head before he could regrow them.

    <i>"Thunder Breathing : First Form."</i>

    <strong>"Thunderp and sh."</strong>

    Lightning wrapped around my body and I pushed myself off the ground at the speed of sound. A sonic boom shattered the ground and roared like thunder.

    I became something akin to a streak of lightning.

    The demon''s face pinched together to paint a nasty expression of fear and anger. He focused all of his regenerative power into one hand and managed to use his shockwave to shoot himself up the sky.

    By the time I reached him, my de could no longer slice his neck but I bisected his body just below his armpits. My de cut through his demonic flesh like a cake.

    But the moment was lost, the demon used his shockwave to propel himself high in the sky where I could no longer reach him.

    He healed his body in the safety of the sky.

    "You insignificant bug!!!" The demon roared in the sky, "I will kill you!"

    <strong><i>"Blood Demon Art : Meteorite Fall."</i></strong> the demon said and just by the name, I could already guess what was about to happen.

    Words and actions spoke to me.

    The end of all four limbs exploded multiple times with shockwave and the demon shot down to the ground like a meteorite. I used thunder breathing to move away from my position quickly and the demon shattered the earth in his crash.

    A huge dust of smoke rose. My eyes pierced through the smoke and locked on the demon who thought I would have trouble seeing.

    Heunched himself at me again, his body cutting through the smoke at sonic speed while I gripped the handle of my sword and took in a huge gust of air.

    <strong><i>"Blood Demon Art : Shockwave Dance!!!"</i></strong> the demon yelled.

    <i>"Thunder Breathing : First Form." </i>I<i> </i>replied to his action. It was an exchange of words, an exchange of meaning and violence.

    <strong>"Thunderp and sh."</strong> I said and after careful analysis of my enemy, I determined the amount of move required. "<strong>Twelvefold</strong>."

    Our body moved at supersonic speed. Our image became a blur of sh and shockwave as we exchanged twelve consecutive attacks in a matter of seconds.

    We were equal in speed, but he was stronger and more durable. On the other hand, I could read him like a book and predict his moves - then I replied in such a manner that nullified his superior strength and durability.

    The sound of our exchange was like thunder and explosion, bringing chaos to the thick forest. Animals fled while trees were uprooted due to the shockwave and due to being used as a foothold.

    We were equally matched.

    By the end of our sh, we were already miles away from the previous clearing where we fought. I felt my body ache due to the exhausting nature of Thunder Breathing.

    To attain victory, I needed to end this quickly.

    Although it might look like I was at a massive disadvantage right now since I was tired and my enemy was a demon who knew no injury or exhaustion, it was actually the opposite.

    The end for the demon drew near because through our exchanges I finally had a grasp of his fighting style.

    I was now familiar with the rhythm of his movement and the patterns of his attack.

    What attack did he prefer? Which angle is his favourite? Which part of my body did he always target? What are the timing of his attacks? How did he react to an opening?

    I had the answer to all of these questions. He told me himself through our battle.

    And now it was time to end this.

    I intentionally created an opening. It was a bait which I knew he would take without fail. He was desperate, angry and humiliated.

    "DIE!!!"

    It was oh so simple.

    I got him used to Thunder Breathing and its fast nature. So the sudden change in breathing style was more effective than it should be.

    "<i>me Breathing : Fifth Form</i>." I whispered as I fell from the sky. Our final sh took ce high in the sky so we both fell.

    But unlike me who was seemingly helpless while mid-air, the demon could use his shockwave to maneuver in the air. That was the fake opening I created, I lied with my action

    "<strong>me Tiger.</strong>"

    mes encased the entirety of my body. Those mes wrapped and folded around me until it became the shape of a tiger. I sucked in huge volumes of air in my lungs and my body reached a supernatural temperature. I was in overheat.

    me Breathing was not like Thunder Breathing. It was not fast, but it was explosive and it burned with intensity that waspletely unmatched.

    My purple eyes bore down on the demon with disdain. Only a fool would run into mes.

    The mes around my body which was in the shape of a tiger head, swallowed the demon and chomped down on him.

    The canines of the tiger were my des and they chopped him up into pieces. me Breathing was more effective than other breathing style due to its close rtion with Sun Breathing, so even a sh to his body damaged him greatly.

    The demon let out a guttural scream. It was times like these when I wished I was not deaf.

    Was his scream as helpless as the screams of my family? Was it as sad as mine on that fateful night?

    I hope so.

    No. I made sure it was so.

    <strong><i>*BOOOOOOM!!!!*</i></strong>

    ...

    ...

    ...

    On that lonely night in the valley, at the young age of 13 and 11 months, I slew the lower moon four and became eligible to be a Hashira.

    .

    .

    .

    [IMAGE of Seiji (Hot)]

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    <strong>Patreon : Emmanuel_Capricorn</strong>

 Chapter 27: Heaven and thighs

    <h4>Chapter 27: Heaven and thighs</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    "Good talk." I said while sheathing the sword on my back.

    I might not suffer any visible cuts or injuries but I was beyond tired and I was sore all over due to the shockwave that the demon threw at me like candies on Halloween.

    ''Definitely going to feel worse tomorrow.'' I thought while taking a closer look at my body.

    Although I did not kill the demon with one strike like Giyu did in the anime, I was still happy with the strength I disyed against the lower moon demon.

    Now I had a clear picture of just how strong I was.

    I was probably strong enough to take on any lower moon - although the first and second may prove to be extremely difficult - and I was definitely at the level of Hashira.

    A Hashira who was on the weaker side but a Hashira level nheless.

    I suppose if my body developed for a few more years, I would be able to fight against the likes of Upper Moon themselves - of course, excluding the top 3.

    Coupled with the improvement in skills and the breathing styles I would eventually learn and master, I would hopefully be even stronger than that.

    Raven flew down andnded on my head. A small smile tugged at my lips as I asked, "Did you see me, Raven? Was I cool?"

    She gave me an answer by tapping on my scalp.

    Indeed, I was pretty cool. Her words, not mine.

    My smile got wider at her answer. It was already great that I got to y demons but looking cool while doing it? That''s double great.

    Raven tapped at my head with her small little feet again, telling me that someone was approaching me from behind so I turned back.

    "You...you really did it." Shinbu said as approached me. There was a hefty amount of surprise and awe on her face.

    "You killed the demon by yourself." she said and bit her lips. "Even though you are the same age as me."

    Then she carefully looked at me up and down before saying, "You''re hurt."

    "No I''m not." I said and a small trail of blood flowed out of my mouth,

    I blinked and then took a detailed X-ray look at my own body.

    "oh." was what came out of my mouth. I actually suffered quite the injury internally. I sat on the ground and Shinobu quickly ran up to me.

    I guess all of the shockwaves that hit my body - although not a direct hit - caused a lot of trauma internally. Coupled that with the over-abuse of Thunder Breathing, this was the result.

    "Don''t worry, I have some medicine that can help you." she said and rummaged through the small bag that she was carrying before she took out a few pills.

    "Here, this will stop the pain and this will stop the bleeding." she said and came close to me.

    Too close, too close.

    I panicked in my mind as she brought her pretty face near my face. As you would expect from someone like me, I was not good at dealing with the opposite gender my age. Especially if they were someone I find extremely attractive.

    I did not show that on my face though. Outside, I was stone cold.

    "Your face is heating up." she said, I could feel the heat in her breath. She put her hand on my forehead to check my temperature.

    "Is it a fever?"

    Luckily, raven came to my rescue as she shooed Shinobu away like a protective girlfriend. I took a deep breath and rxed my body as much as I could.

    "I''ll be fine after some sleep." I said. The constant use of my eyes in such a high-intensity fight also caused mental fatigue. Although it was getting better, the main drawback of my eyes was always mental exhaustion which caused me to need more sleep than normal.

    Iid down on the ground, "Shinobu, can you stay with me for a few hours, thanks."

    And I was out cold.

    ..

    ..

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    When you have eyes as good and as sensitive as mine, you learn to truly appreciate the beauty of the sun while also loathing its ring rays.

    And this was one of those moments when I absolutely loathe the sun.

    The bright rays of the sun fell on my eyes and my lids were too thin to stop thempletely. It woke me from my slumber and its unforgiving light made sure I never returned.

    Shit.

    It was ufortable since the rays were falling right on my face yet I did not move a single muscle. I did not turn my head or cover my eyes to stop the brightness.

    Why?

    It was because of the soft supple pillow I was sleeping on. They were not actually pillows and if you''ve read as much as me, you would know instantly what they were.

    Thighs.

    No, you read that wrong. I didn''t say heaven - even though it''s pretty close.

    I said thighs.

    Or maybe you''re not wrong because aren''t they the same thing? Tomato, tomata and all that jazz.

    So as much as it was ufortable on my face, it was extremefort on the back of my head. And right now, thefort eclipsed the difort.

    So let me stay like this for a while. No, fuck that, I should stay like this forever. Should I just die like this?

    "You''re awake."

    Shit.

    Don''t move, she might just be saying stuff.

    "I know you are awake."

    You''re deaf, you''re deaf. you''re deaf.

    "I can see you peeking." she said and it was then that I realised indeed, I was looking up at her and reading her lips. I did not know when I opened my eyes but I instinctively did and now it was over.

    "....."

    "I can''t get up. My back...it hurts." I said and she stared at me with a dead face.

    "There were no injuries on your spine or back. I checked," she said with a closed eye smile.

    So it''s really the end.

    I sighed and sat up. I cracked my bones and stretched my arms before standing up and checking my surroundings.

    We were still in the same ce, the only difference was that Shinobu dragged my body somece under a tree.

    "How long was I asleep?" I asked.

    "9 hours." she said.

    I felt bad instantly, "Sorry for the inconvenience. How long did I use you as a pillow?"

    "Oh, don''t worry about that. I only let you rest on myp after the sun had risen. You were talking in your sleep and seem to be having a nightmare you see." she said.

    "You said something about demons robbing you of everything and....something about your sister." Shinobu said. I could see a hint of pity on her face. As someone who loved her sister, she felt sympathetic.

    Is that why she was giving me ap pillow?

    Well, thank god for my unresolved issue. Whoever said traumas were bad? Like all things in the universe, even trauma had good and bad.

    Iughed at my own thoughts while looking away from Shinobu. It never felt good as a man to see pity from a girl he finds attractive.

    Speaking of which, is it weird that I find her attractive? She''s like 13 and although she was more developed and mature than girls in my past life, she was still not a woman.

    Is it because I never crossed the age of 13 in both lives? Or am I just Drake?

    And this was not like a physical attraction I felt for a random beauty I saw on the street. This was more like, ''Oh, I can see us marrying and having kids'' kinda attraction.

    Whatever, let me shelf that feeling for a moment and say it''s due to my budding teenage hormones.

    This world infested with demons was not a good ce to fall in love. Especially with a character that I know is going to die in her pursuit of revenge.

    Lovees after I wiped the demons from the face of the earth, never to take my love again.

    "You never told me your name?" Shinobu said, bringing me out of my thoughts.

    "Oh." I said, feeling a tad bit embarrassed at my mistake.

    "Well, my name is Seiji Shigan. Thank you for taking care of me."

    ..

    ..

    [IMAGE of Shinibu]

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    Author : Top 10 and get extra Chapter!!!

 Chapter 28: To the headquarters

    <h4>Chapter 28: To the headquarters</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    "Well, my name is Seiji Shigan. Thank you for taking care of me." I said, finally giving a proper introduction.

    She smiled, "No worries. You barely had any injuries to begin with. It seems that it was due to fatigue or mental exhaustion that you passed out instead of an actual grave injury."

    "Yeah, I feel much better now." I said.

    Shinobu was a kind girl. She was much bolder and straightforward than I initially expected - or at least how she was shown in the anime.

    She was still not that alluring onee-san I remembered. Right now, she was simply a young girl of 13 years old.

    She was curious and showed lots of different emotions but most of all, she was still very innocent. I could see this instantly from the way she spoke and from the way she behaved.

    My best guess was that her sister was still alive. She was yet to harbour endless hatred and pain in her heart.

    We had a short talk while we gathered up the supplies and the things Shinobu had taken out to treat mest night. Although she was not yet a demon yer, she had already attained her genius in medicine.

    She asked me lots of questions due to her curious nature - which i appreciated because i could not keep a conversation. She asked me how the fight went, what my breathing style was and how strong the demon was.

    I answered her as well as I could.

    "So Seiji, what rank are you again?" she asked.

    "Hopefully after this fight, I will be a Hashira." I said and she blinked.

    She turned to look at me, her face changing to different expressions because at first she thought I was joking. But then my face and the tone of my voice told her that I was serious.

    "A Hashira? That would mean..."

    "I have already in a total of 50 demons." I nodded. "And the demon I foughtst night was one of the lower moons."

    "What!? A lower moon?" she asked in surprise.

    It was probably the first time in my life but I was secretly happy to show off. But I kept it cool because a cool guy does not freak out while showing off.

    I acted like such feats were nothing although secretly, I was extremely proud of my hard work and achievement.

    "Yes, lower moon 4 to be exact."

    "I see, no wonder." she said and her odd eyes zed in awe. I think she was impressed. "You are like, super strong then."

    I rubbed my nose, "I guess I am."

    Just then, a crow flew above our heads and started cawing. Raven immediately came down from the tree she was perching on and sat on top of my head.

    <i>"Caw!! Caw!! Seiji Shigan, go to the Demon yer Corp Headquarters!! Caw!! Caw!! Seiji Shigan, go to the Demon yer Corp Headquarters!! Caw!! Caw!! Seiji Shigan, go to the Demon yer Corp Headquarters!!"</i>

    Well, I guess that''s my promotion.

    "I don''t know where the Demon yer Corp headquarters is.." I said and the crow replied.

    <i>"Follow me!! Follow me!! Follow me!!"</i>

    The crow flew away, trying to lead me to the headquarters. I did not move yet and looked at Shinobu with a smile.

    This seems to be where we part.

    "I should return to the flower mansion as well." Shinobu said before standing up.

    "It has been pleasant knowing you, Seiji." she bowed.

    "The same goes for you, I hope we meet again Shinobu."

    "If you don''t mind, you can visit the flower mansion anytime." she said and gave me a bright innocent smile.

    I am going to assume that she enjoyed mypany as I did hers.

    "I will keep that in mind." I said and then disappeared from my ce. The crow flew ahead and I followed him right behind, chasing his tail.

    I havee a long way since the night I lost everything.

    But now, it was finally time to take another leap.

    Here Ie.

    ..

    ..

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    [3rd POV]

    Shinobu watched as the boy ran after the Kusagai crow. His destination was the Demon yer Corps headquarters, a ce she herself had never visited even though her sister was a Hashira.

    She made an educated guess, Seiji was probably summoned there to affirm his rank a Hashira.

    It was still hard to wrap that fact around her head. A boy her age had not only killed 50 demons but he had sessfully yed a lower moon by himself.

    He was incredible.

    There was something special about him. His presence alone oddly calmed her heart and the more she learned about him, the more she was drawn to him.

    For example, the fact that he was able to aplish everything he did while being deaf. At first, she did not realize he was deaf and she truly panicked when he didn''t wake up no matter how much she called out to him.

    It was only when she did a thorough check of his body that she realised he was deaf.

    Speaking of checking his body, the image suddenly came to her mind and with it, red came on her cheeks. Apparently, he had an extremely attractive body even at his age.

    His body looked more sculpted than natural. The ratio, the shape and the amount of muscles and fats were just right.

    That was to be expected since Seiji built his body with the help of his eyes. As someone who loves beauty, Seiji built his body not only to be strong but to look good as well.

    And Sinobu was educated enough in human anatomy to appreciate his hard work.

    "A deaf swordsman huh." she hummed. He reminded her of the strongest person she knew - the Stone Hashira Gyomei.

    Maybe he would grow up to be as strong as him.

    Whatever the case was, Shinbu felt an odd peace in her heart. With people like him fighting alongside the Demon yer Corps, maybe this war would finally end.

    Meeting him gave her a brighter hope for the future.

    ..

    ..

    [Seiji being cool and stuff]

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Author : I asked for too 10 but I got 1. Thank you.

    500 stones and another Chapter.

 Chapter 29: Perfect Welcome

    <h4>Chapter 29: Perfect Wee</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    I followed the crow for half a day. It proved to be quite a fun challenge as it flew over rivers, mountains and valleys while I had to do everything I could to catch up.

    But in the end, I never lost the crow and right at noon, I reached the Demon yer Corps headquarters.

    "This ce is nice." I said while looking at the huge mansion andpound. The ce was hidden between a range of mountains with barely any forest.

    The trees surrounding the ce were all cut down. I assumed it was to get easier view of anyone who approached the headquarters. A demon would be spotted before he got too close.

    There were also many Kusagai crows who acted as security. There were walls surrounding thepound and they perched on top of that.

    Raven flew off my head and decided to join her fellow she Kusagai crows. I shrugged and entered the headquarters through the main gate.

    I head inside and before long, I noticed six people who were kneeling down in front of a house from afar.

    My eyes could easily tell who they were so I immediately went there.

    "You are finally here Seiji, we were waiting for you." I stopped when the master addressed me.

    Kagaya Ubuyashiki.

    He was sitting on the narrow wooden strip that ran along the Japanese traditional house that served as a transition between the interior and thepound.

    He was much younger than I remembered and the scar on his face extended only to one eye. He looked quite healthy as well.

    But my eyes saw the true condition his body was in.

    He was....he was very ugly.

    Like a demon.

    "What are you doing dumbass!! Greet the master!!" screamed someone. It had no effect on me as I was deaf but his angry bodynguage made me do as I was told.

    I got on one knee and greeted Ubuyashiki.

    "It''s fine. I''m happy to see you my boy." he said. I looked up and observed the six people who were also kneeling in front of Kagaya.

    Gyomei, the Stone Hashira.

    Kanae, the Flower Hashira.

    Giyu, the Water Hashira.

    Uzui, the Sound Hashira.

    Shinjuro, the me Hashira and father of Rengoku.

    And finally, the person who just screamed at me.

    Sanemi, the Wind Hashira.

    These people were the existing Hashira today.

    The first thing I noticed about them was the sheer aura of strength oozing off them. Just one nce and I could tell that no one was inferior to me.

    I guess things were quite different at the top eh. I''m getting excited.

    "Okay, so now that everyone is here, shall we begin our meeting? It has been only three months since thest Hashira meeting so you must all be confused why I had summoned you again. I''m sure you are curious." Ubuyashiki said.

    I could not hear his voice but I assumed it must be quite lovely and charismatic because every single Hashira present listened very closely.

    "We, the Demon yer Corps finally gained a new pir today." he said and all of the Hashira were caught by surprise.

    They all turned to look at me.

    "Allow me to introduce you to the new Hashira, Seiji Shigan." Ubuyashiki said with a gentle smile that held unveiled wisdom.

    The Hashiras present eyed me up and down. I could feel their analytic eyes as they tried to gauge my strength. The more experienced ones like Shinjuro and Uzui nodded, acknowledging my stregth while the young ones continued to be incredulous.

    Especially the weakest of the bunch.

    "Him? Master, are you sure he is qualified?" Sanemi asked while ring holes at me. The guy got serious anger issues but he looked fun.

    "I am sure Sanemi. If anything, Seiji here could not have been more qualified. After all, he seeded in killing 50 demons while also ying one of the lower moons." Ubuyashiki dered, eliciting gasps from them.

    The Wind Hashira shook in his ce for a while before he looked up, eyes even angrier. "I''m sorry master but I don''t believe that. Please grant me permission to test his strength."

    The others looked at him with wide eyes. They were surprised at how daring Sanemi was to say such things in front of thier master. Does he mean to use the master of lying?

    Respect has always been a major virtue for Japanese people. So they all had ultimate respect to Ubuyashiki, who was thier benefactor and thier master. Especially since they were basically samurai and Ubuyashiki was thier lord.

    Ubuyashiki had a small frown on his face. "Sanemi, i-"

    That was when I cut in, "I ept."

    They all turned to me again. "I ept his challenge to test my strength."

    "Are you sure Seiji, you just fought a lower moonst night." he asked me, his face concerned.

    "Yes, it will be fine Lord Ubuyashiki." I said and turned towards Sanemi with my eyes releasing a purple hue.

    "Besides, I am not the only one who had a tough fightst night." I said. I could see fresh wounds, broken bones and a few other internal injuries on Sanemi.

    It seemed he had a tough fight just recently as well. But after hearing the summon, he came to the headquarters immediately.

    "Huh? Why do you ept? Are you looking down on me boy?!" Sanemi said, veins popped on his face to show his anger and agitation.

    He stood up and walked towards me with slow intimidating steps. I could almost see fire and volcano behind him.

    He stood in front of me. He was around two years older so he towered over me. While I stood at an impressive 5''5 feet, he was 5''10 feet.

    "I said, are you looking down on me?!" He repeated as he towered over me.

    I ignored him and moved my head to the side. I gave a look to Ubuyashiki and after a while, he gave a helpless smile and nodded.

    ''Yes, so it is decided.''

    I alwasy wanted to fight against a Hashira. This will be a good time to test them, especially Sanemi who was one of the strongest character in Demon yer.

    Lets see the level of my future allies.

    "I can''t let you get close!!" I said and pushed Sanemi as hard as I could. Perfect movement allowed me to push him with perfect technique so he fell on his butt.

    I created distance between us and I heard the sound of something cracking. Sanemi''s face was stiff with anger and I saw steaming out his nose.

    "You bastard!!" he yelled and pulled out his katana.

    I replied to his action by pulling out my long sword, odachi.

    "Let''s reselolve this through talking." I said and Sanemi exploded out. His body easily cut through the air, as if the atmosphere was making way from him.

    "Not a chance!!"

    Wind coated his body and he exploded out like a hurricane. Since he was only using constant breathing, I did the same.

    <i>''Steroid Breathing.''</i>

    Power flowed through my muscle, boosting the overall performance of my body. Then my eyes read every little details about my opponent.

    I learned a lot from one attack but one thing was certain, he was likely the waeknest amongst the Hashiras present and I suspect that it wasn''t even long since he became a Hashira.

    I swung my sword at him.

    Our swords shed and created saprks.

    I smiled

    A perfect wee does exist.

    ..

    ..

    [IMAGE]

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Author : Thank you for all the stones. Here''s your third Chapter.

    Did anyone get the reference?

    <strong><i>Patreon : Emmanuel_Capricorn</i></strong>

 Chapter 30: Sanemi vs Seiji

    <h4>Chapter 30: Sanemi vs Seiji</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    Here''s an interesting fact.

    I was ten times better at fighting humans than I was demons. If I were to fight against Yoriichi or Muzan, I believe my chances of victory against Yoriichi would be higher.

    This was because of two reasons. Firstly, it was because humans could not use spells and they could not manipte thier flesh on whims. This limitation of humans made my eyes extremely more effective against thempared to demons.

    And also because I have spent more than five years fighting against men. It was only recently that I learned to fight against demons. This was a direct effect of not having a demon yer as a master.

    So as Sanemi rushed at me with his sword, I did not feel any pressure. My eyes saw him as less of a threat than the demon I foughtst night.

    Our swords shed and produced sparks.

    My muscles tensed at the weight of his raw strength. As someone who was older and hence bigger, he was physically stronger than me. But if someone looked closely, they would notice that I was overpowering him.

    You might ask how that was possible and the answer lies in the difference between our techniques. To put it bluntly, I was in apletely different realm of mastery over the swordpared to him.

    In Kendo, we used wooden swords so pushing against each other using our swords was one of the most important techniques. I knew exactly which muscles to engage and the location of the sword where I should apply my strength.

    Sanemi gritted his teeth as a new vein popped in his forehead. His eyes were bloodshot with anger and hatred for the world. He put more strength into his sword, reversing the situation as his overwhelming raw strength overpowered me.

    I revealed a small smile.

    Another thing I should mention is the difference in our swords. The katana is primarily used as one-handed sword in this world while the odachi is a two-handed sword.

    So I calmly put my other hand on the hilt of my sword - using two hands - and in an instant, I overwhelmed him. A small shockwave erupted and I pushed Sanemi back, sending him sliding away.

    "You bastard!!" he yelled and charged at me.

    But he was stopped on his track when the end of my de suddenly found his neck. My sword was longer than his, meaning I could cut him into pieces where he could not.

    "Hah!!" he roared and knocked down my sword and came charging at me again. I calmly took a single step back and pulled my sword.

    He tried to dodge my de by ducking but as if I could see the future, the tip of my de was already near his neck again.

    He leapt back immediately to collect his thoughts. He did not charge at me afterwards and simply stared at me from a distance.

    He slowly walked around me like a predator sizing up his prey. I also walked away from my location, not underestimating him since he was a Hashira.

    We walked around each other in a circle, we didn''t stay still because going from motion to motion was faster than going from being still to motion.

    His muscles tensed, and his grip on his sword tightened. There was also slight twitches in his quad muscles and his arms but he nevermitted to an action. Each attack hesitated until they ultimately died down before even being executed.

    He started sweating while I smiled.

    ''He has excellent instincts.'' I thought to myself. He had attempted close to a hundred attacks during the short time but all have failed.

    He could feel instinctively that each attack would be met with failure. He found no openings in me, there was no way to approach and cut me down.

    Fighting me was like fighting against your own reflection.

    With the help of my eyes, I could read every twitch of your body and predict your attacks and movements. Then I would change my own posture and position to perfectly counter those attacks.

    The closest thing I couldpare our current situation was - two boys arguing in the park, trying to find out who could count bigger than the other. One boy said a million and the other said a million plus one. Then again he said a billion and the other boy said a billion plus one. A trillion and a trillion plus one, a quadrillion and then a quadrillion plus one....and so on.

    The point was that it was impossible to beat me in this game. No matter how well you n, I would use those same ns against you. Like how the little boy used what was said to him and only added plus one.

    I did not need to n, I did not need to strategise. I would simply read you and then use your own n against you.

    It must be truly frustrating to fight against me. I wish I never had such an unfortunate fate.

    ..

    ..

    /////////////

    [3rd POV]

    "I''ve never seen anything like this before." Kanae, the Flower Hashiramented while gazing at the ongoing standstill. She may not be the one fighting but her incredible eyes allowed her to decipher exactly what was going on.

    On the other hand, Giyu remained silent and pondered on the simrity of Seiji''s fighting style with Water Breathing. Seiji couldn''t be a Water Breathing user because Giyu would know, especially if he was strong enough to be a Hashira.

    So he wondered if Seiji had a breathing style that was derived from Water Breathing.

    "That boy...." Shinjuro said and narrowed his eyes, "...is quite dangerous."

    On the other hand, Uzui merely shrugged. He was not as impressed as his fellow Hashiras were because in his opinion, "It''s not shy at all."

    ..

    "You.." Sanemi said through gritted teeth, "I''ll kill you!!"

    Then he swung his sword at Seiji even though he waspletely out of range. Seji tilted his head in confusion, he predicted the movement but didn''t know how to reply to this one.

    ''Is he stupid? Why did-'' !!!!!

    Seiji''s eyes widened and he leaned to the side, just in time to dodge the wind de that cut strands of his hair. His eyes could see the movements of the air and even the vibration, but this attack caught him off guard due to how natural it was.

    It was like a breeze, natural and not man-made.

    <i>*Woosh!*</i>

    That was the opening Sanemi had been searching for all this time. The moment he saw it, he took it and came at Seiji like the wind.

    "<i>Wind Breathing : First Form!!</i>" He took in huge volumes of air and dashed towards Seiji.

    <strong>"Dust Whirlwind Cutter!!"</strong>

    At least this time, Seiji was able to predict that he was going to use his breathing style. The expansion of his lungs, the increased flow of his blood and his heart which roared like an old engineing to life were all indicators.

    Sanemi spoke.

    But then Sanemi disappeared from his eyes and instead, what came at him was a horizontal tornado. The wind wrapped around Sanemi and he violently blew forward like a whirlwind.

    All of the winds produced were as sharp as des, ready to mince anything that crossed thier path. Seiji''s eyes locked on the Wind Hashira as he came like a green blur of sheer speed and tornado.

    "<i>me Breathing : Fifth Form</i>." Air turned into mes as they entered his mouth.

    <strong>"me Tiger."</strong>

    His long sword was wrapped in mes, and a yellow aura shed against violent green. me was not like the wind, it was not violent or rushed at the enemy to destroy them.

    Instead, a me burned bright and hot in its ce, ready to destroy anything that dared approach its flickering presence. The heat was a warning, growing more intense the closer you get.

    To charge into mes was to charge at certain death.

    ...

    Shinjro dropped his folded arms and stepped forward in shock. His eyes lingered on Seiji as he executed the textbook-perfect fifth form. Itcked the determination, rage and intensity but the movements were the epitome of excellence.

    ''Who is he?'' It was a question that stayed on his rarely sober mind.

    ...

    Sanemi appeared in front of Seiji, he swung his de horizontally, sending wind des from every direction. A green wave of energy wrapped around him and put him at the centre of a tornado.

    Seiji on the other hand brought his sword in a high guard before performing a series of shes that created the image of a fiery tiger that dashed towards the winddes.

    A shockwave erupted as the two Hashiras met in another sh, this time they both utilized thier breathing styles.

    The attacks nullified each other.

    "Take this!!" Sanemi said, pushing through his limits and he swung his de upwards.

    Seiji predicted it and took the best course of action. He blocked the de and used his body weight to resist the upward force. But the swing was powerful enough to send him flying. It looked like a powerful wind had taken him to the sky.

    <i>"Wind Breathing : Fourth Form!!"</i> Sanemi yelled and his arm turned into blurs. He released multiple whirlwind shes from below Seiji.

    <strong>"Rising Dust Storm!!"</strong>

    The ce was engulfed in dust, blocking the scene of what was happening. Green des made of wind rushed at Seiji, it was unbelievable how sharp the wind could get.

    <i>"me Breathing : Fourth Form" </i>Seiji said calmly from above. Then he performed circr shes that whizzed through the wind des.

    <strong>"Blooming me Undtion"</strong>

    He painted the image of a beautiful red flower while blocking every single wind des that came at him. His movement was elegant and each stroke served a deep purpose, directed by his purple eyes that saw through the world.

    As if they were rivals by birth, the fourth forms of both breathing styles perfectly countered each other. Amidst the rising dust, the onlookers only heard the exchange of blows as yellow de and green de met in a flurry of attacks.

    After multiple exchanges, both Sanemi and Seiji emerged from the smoke at opposite directions. Their eyes were focused as they slid to a stop.

    Then they exploded out again.

    ...

    <i>"Wind Breathing : First Form!!" </i>

    Sanemi turned into a tornado again. His form was wrapped around by a green swirling tube of violent energy and he burst forth like the wind.

    <strong>"Dust Whirlwind Cutter!!"</strong>

    Seiji also grabbed the hilt of his sword with one hand and lowered his centre of gravity. He closed his eyes - his greatest weapon - to focus and control his leg muscles. Then he burst forth with every stregth in his body.

    His step was so loud that it sounded like thunder. The force shattered the ground and he turned into lightning.

    <i>"Thunder Breathing : First Form!!"</i>

    <strong>"Thunderp and sh!!"</strong>

    No one expected the boy they thought was a me Breathing user to pull out Thunder Breathing. But no one had time to react as the two Hashiras crossed paths and exchanged powerful sh

    <strong><i>*BOOOOOM!!!*</i></strong>

    ..

    ..

    It happened in the span of one second.

    The two of them found themselves in the starting ce of thier opponent.

    Seiji sheathed his sword on his back before turning to look at Sanemi who copsed right after. His de snapped in half and there was a wide cut on his chest. It was not deep but blood seeped out of the wound.

    The winner was clear.

    Seiji Shigan.

    ..

    ..

    [IMAGE]

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Author : This deserve a stone.

    Please give me reviews. I like them, the good ones of course.

 Chapter 31: Becoming a Hashira

    <h4>Chapter 31: Bing a Hashira</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    That shit was so cool.

    I mean, swinging a sword to kill demons was one thing but having a spar like real samurai? That''s another level of awesome.

    What kind of boy had not dreamt of having a cool swordfight? With my eyes, I was able to see the special effects of breathing styles as well, which made the experience even more awesome.

    For real this was a cool anime-type shit. If there are people watching me, please make a cool edit of that fight with those trending songs in the background and let the beat synch with our sh.

    "That should be enough, I hope you are satisfied." I said the tone of my voice was dead, as usual.

    Whatever it was I was feeling inside, I did not let it show. My outer appearance was stone-cold because it was cool only as long as you didn''t acknowledge it. That was the line between being cool and cringe.

    "You...!!" Sanemi said through gritted teeth but he stopped when Ubuyashiki spoke.

    "That is enough Sanemi."

    He threw his head to the side and clicked his tongue but otherwise, he obeyed the words of Ubuyashiki.

    "The oue was just as I expected." he said with a knowing smile, "Seiji here is the national champion of Kendo. He was hailed as a one-in-millennia genius and his swordsmanship is said to be unmatched."

    The Hashiras acknowledged his words and even Sanemi was forced to ept the fact. My swordsmanship was undoubtedly superior to his.

    "Well, if there is no more opposition let us officially wee our new pir" Ubuyashiki said, "Seiji?"

    I blinked, and when I noticed everyone''s eyes on me I got down on one knee.

    "Do you Seiji Shigan, ept the title of Hashira and promise to be a pir that supports the Demon yer Corps?" He asked me with a fond smile.

    "Yes."

    "The title of Hashira is proof of your strength. Do you, Seiji Shigan, promise to use your stregth to protect the weak?"

    "Yes."

    "Then rise, Hashira." he said and I rose.

    "Stand firm on your beliefs and never falter - like an unshakable pir. From now on, y the demons in front of you not only out of hatred but also to protect the people behind you." he said.

    "The title of a Hashiraes with heavy responsibilities. But I know you will do well to carry them, my dear boy." he finished with a proud smile that reminded me of my father.

    ..

    /////////////////////

    "That is all for now, I will give you time to get to know each other. And Seiji, please meet me after you are done." Ubuyashiki said weakly before he disappeared into the house.

    Now that left all of the Hashiras in the courtyard. The situation reminds me of when parents leave thier children - who never knew each other before - in a room and tell them to y with each other.

    The rest of the Hashiras started talking amongst each other.

    Uzui approached Gyomei with a friendly smile before they engaged in some kind of gossip. Giyu went to Sanemi but the Wind Hashira yelled at him to leave him alone.

    Giyu was yelled at and ignored but before things escted, Kanae got in the middle of the two. Sanamei behaved like a well-mannered kid in front of her.

    And that left me with the only remaining Hashira and the one I least wanted to interact with.

    "Tell me kid, where did you learn me Breathing?"

    It is Shinjuro Rengoku, the me Hashira. But I know him as the asshole father in my mind. I immediately did not like him jus because I was friends with his son.

    "Your son taught me."

    "Kyojiro?" He asked, his face showed surprise. "You know him?"

    "Yes, I do." I said. "We participated in the same final selection which is where we first met. He taught me the me Breathing style while I taught him swordsmanship."

    "...I see." He said and looked down, "So you are telling me that you learned Falme Breathing only recently and you are already that good with it?"

    "Yes."

    "Some people really are born with unparalleled talents people like us can''t hope to match no matter how hard we work." he said with dry chuckles.

    Yeah, I did not like him.

    He stayed silent and took a swig of alcohol from the gourd he had at his side. But then I saw something sh in his eyes and his next words came out hesitant.

    "So....how is Kyojiro." it started off low but with each question asked, it grew expectant, "How is hepared to you? How did he do in the Final Selection? What is he like when fighting a demon?"

    I did not answer instantly. My eyes carefully observed his face, trying to read his emotions and I was only met with genuine curiosity. So I replied genuinely.

    "He is incredible." my voice didn''t falter because it was the turth, "I wish my spirit could burn half as fiercely as his."

    Unexpectedly, Shinjuroughed. It was a genuineugh that came from irrepressible joy.

    "You jest." he said but my eyes could not ignore the pride on his face - pride for his son.

    "Be careful in your missions kid. We don''t want to lose a talent like you." he said with a tap on my shoulder before he took another swig of his alcohol and walked past me.

    ..

    ..

    That was weird.

    I looked at the back of the veteran Hshira. He was just a broken man barely held together by his sense of duty. But at one point, he used to be the strongest of his era.

    Maybe...I was wrong in my judgement.

    After Shinjuro was gone, the other Hashiras came up to me one by one to introduce themselves. It was quite the experience - meeting people whom I once thought of as a fictional character.

    Since it was our first time meeting, there was not much interaction. They said thier names, thier title and how they looked forward to working together with me.

    I imagined this is what it would feel like when there was a new worker in the office.

    But amongst all of them, one Hashira in particr stood out to me. And surprisingly, it was not the Flower Hashira.

    It was...

    "Gyomei Himejima, the Stone Pir. It''s a pleasure to feel your presence." he said in a voice I imagined to be as firm as a boulder.

    He was absolutely stunning. And I swear I''m not gay.

    He was easily the strongest Hashira, heck he might be the strongest human alive. His body was a sculpture, a masterpiece created by the greatest mason.

    Thick fibres of muscle wrapped around his gigantic skeletal frame. His muscles are far more than mortal flesh. If Gods were real, they would be made of the same thing as Gyomei was.

    Even demons did not have the monstrous physique that he had. Even Muzan himself could notpare to the sheer raw power emanating from his body.

    A God of War.

    If Rengoku''s body was bred to fight, Gyomei was built to demolish everything that stood in his way. Normally, I would find such a monstrosity ugly but there was a weird beauty in him. It was the charm of the pinnacle of strength.

    White eyes - blind and unseeing - stared down at me. I felt like those eyes saw more than normal eyes could ever see. I could feel his gaze into my soul.

    "If you need any help, be sure toe to me." he said before he walked away, all 8 feet of him.

    After all the introductions were done, I headed into the traditional Japanese house to meet Ubuyashiki. The moment I entered, I found him lying down on a futon and Lady Amane was beside him.

    The thing Ubuyashiki wanted to talk about was regardingst night, He wanted to know in detail about the 4th lower moon demon since the twelve kizuki were the strongest demon.

    I briefed him about how the battle went. The stregth of the demon, and the abilities he possessed. I also informed him about what the demon said to me.

    Muzan Kibutsuji was giving orders to the twelve Kizuki to kill as many Demon yers as possible. He promised his blood as a reward to the demon who did a good job.

    "That would exin the sudden loss of my children. We had more causality in the past two weeks than we ever did in a month." he said. The spike in his blood pressure disyed his grief.

    Then he asked me an unexpected question. It was regarding my encounter with Muzan in Tokyo. I was surprised he even know about it since I did not make a report.

    He said it was good that Muzan was blending with the humans instead ofmitting genocide. But he still thinks that we are not ready to face him yet so he has done nothing to provoke him. He said the information they got because of me was invaluable and so was my ability to see through his disguise.

    When he asked me what I thought of the Demon King, I said.

    "Even if all of the Hashrias here fought against him at once, we would only be ughtered like pigs. The Demon King has power beyond your expectation." I said.

    Ubuyashiki showed a mirthless smile, "So we really stand no chance ."

    ..

    ..

    "Give me five years." I said after a long stretch of silence. He looked towards me, his face coloured in surprise.

    "After five more years, I promise to be strong enough to y the demon king." I said, my heart resolute and I hoped my voice reflected it.

    Ubuyashiki simply started at me for a while before he burst out in a chuckle. But there was no ridicule or amusement in hisugh.

    "Those are strange wordsing from someone who was shaking just by mentioning Muzans''s name." he said. Was I trembling while talking about Muzan?

    "But." he said and smiled, "Its strange that I believe your words."

    "You have a unique soul Seiji, one that is capable of inspiring hope in the people around you." he said, "Did you know that Jigoro sent me letters after years of isting himself from the Demon Corp? He had been in a downward spiral since he lost his leg but meeting you had given him a brighter hope for the future. All he could talk about in his letter was you."

    "Never lose that part of yourself in the long journey that awaits you. Please keep on fighting against the evil demons as the pir of hope." Ubuyashiki said.

    He really had a way of charming people with his words. I could see why he was so respected even by the strongest people in the world.

    After our discussion ended, I headed towards the exit to leave but he said one final thing to me.

    "Oh, and happy birthday Seiji."

    I paused. Did I get that right? Was it my birthday?

    I wouldn''t know because I never celebrated my birthday since my parents died. The birthday celebration was also not a huge thing in Japan yet.

    "Thank you." I said and left.

    And so, at the age of 14, I became a Hashira of the Demon yer Corp at recorded time.

    ..

    ..

    [IMAGE of Ubuyashiki]

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    <strong>Join my patreon to support me and read ahead!! </strong>

    <strong>Patreon : Emmanuel_Capricorn</strong>

    ...

 Chapter 32: Rest

    <h4>Chapter 32: Rest</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    "Oh, you''re done already."

    A face without w was a rare find when you have eyes like mine, and she was one of those rare finds. Even the parts you thought were wed, when they came together on her, they made a very pretty face.

    She was beautiful.

    She greatly resembled Shinobu from the anime except she had different eyes and she was taller. Her mannerisms and behaviour were also simr.

    She was hot, in an ''onee-san'' kinda way if you know what I mean.

    And also..

    "She''s going to die."

    "Excuse me?" Kanae said.

    Shit, did I say that out loud.

    "Sorry, it''s nothing." I said before whispering, "I won''t let it happen anyway."

    The whole point of my existence was to change destiny for the better. The story of Demon yer won''t end as tragically as it did and I won''t let everyone die.

    That''s one of the reason why I fight - to create a better and brighter future.

    "Can I help you with something?" I asked Kanae.

    There was no one else in thepound as all of the Hashiras had left to continue thier missions. Well, everyone left except for Kanae who for some reason was waiting for me.

    She giggled softly, "No, not me. It''s you that needs help."

    She then walked towards me much to my nervousness, and only stopped with an inch separating us. She was so close that I could feel the aura of beauty and sexiness from her.

    She was 5''6 feet tall and that meant she was taller than me.

    She simply smiled, not only with her lips but somehow with her eyes. She was expecting me to say something, to ask for help I''d assume.

    But what came out was far more honest.

    "Step on me."

    That threw her for a loop.

    It was a bit perverse of me but honestly, who could me me? She was a beautiful onee-san and she was taller than me. Many people paid for these types of things and I was just asking, no harm done. I''m not a simp.

    Besides, she won''t get it anyway.

    "You need medical attention as soon as possible." she said, shrugging off the nonsense I have been spewing till now.

    What she said was true. I might act fine but in reality, I couldn''t be further from being okay. I still had internal injuries fromst night and my fight with Sanemi definitely did not help either.

    "How did you know?"

    "Well, first of all, I am a doctor." she said, "And I have a special set of eyes you see, just like you."

    I stared into her pale violet eyes. They shone with a dim magical light and the pattern in her eyes almost resembled a flower.

    I remembered that Flower Breathing had a lot to do with the eyes of the user. The final form of Flower Breathing even enhanced the user''s vision so that they could see the world in slow motion.

    So in a way, there was indeed a simrity between us. What I was born with, she achieve a fraction of it through her breathing style.

    Hmm, that makes me wonder how effective the Flower Breathing would be coupled with my eyes.

    "I want you to follow me back to the Flower Mansion so that I can give you treatment." she said, but her bodynguage and the way she phrased it made it seem like I didn''t have a choice.

    She seemed to be the type to take her profession seriously, not allowing to see people hurt without lending help, as a perfect doctor would do.

    Regardless, why in the world would I refuse?

    "I''d be very thankful Lady Kanae." I said with a bow.

    "Please don''t call me that, just Kanae would do. We are colleagues after all."

    "I''ll keep that in mind Kanae."

    "Well then, let''s leave immediately." She said with a smile.

    It seemed I would fulfil the promise I made to Shinbu sooner than expected. I''m sure she won''t expect to see me again so soon.

    Kanae and I left the Demon yer Corps headquarters and headed towards the Flower Mansion. The ce was not that far away from the headquarters.

    It took us only a few hours to reach the mansion. If I had to guess the distance between them, it was only around 25 km at most.

    The flower mansion, unlike the headquarters, was hidden inside the thick vegetation of the mountains. Theputed itself was also smaller but the mansion was bigger.

    The ce had a very peaceful and calming vibe to it, perfect for recovering patients. My eyes pierced through the walls of the mansion and I noticed many injured demon yers inside. I guess the mansion was like a hospital of sorts for the Demon yer Corp.

    The workers greeted her warmly, with smiles and respect, as we entered thepound. Kanae led me to the patient room of the mansion where she herself immediately gave me treatment.

    Most of my injuries were internal so I was given pills and medical herbs to help my recovery. She also applied ointments on my arms which were apparently fractured before she wrapped them up in bandages,

    She was extremely professional while she worked, prompting me to not strike up a conversation, which was not really an issue since I wouldn''t be able to start a conversation anyway.

    After all the treatments were done, Kanae told me to rest on the bed and she advised me not to be in action for a few days.

    I had no problem with that.

    I had been constantly fighting due to my speedrunning but since I finally aplished my goal, I think I deserve rest.

    Although I would like to go around thepound and search for Shinobu, I put the task for my future self. Right now, I just want to sleep and rest.

    And so I did.

    ..

    ..

    ..

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    [3rd POV]

    The Chapter was short but it ended with a satisfying conclusion without any cliffhanger. It would be awkward to add more content to the Chapter but it is still way shorter than the average Chapter.

    So let us take this chance to see how people thought of our boy Seiji.

    1. Ubuyashiki Kagaya :

    He thinks Seiji Shigan is a boy with a good heart who was greatly wronged by the world. His story and his disability reminded him of Gyomei and he also believed that Seiji has the potential to be as strong as the Stone Hashira, if not more.

    He had been keeping eyes on Seiji since he became popr as a Kendo Prodigy because Ubuyashiki was madly on a lookout for talents. So he also knows about his incredible feats. The fact that Seiji was able to master breathing styles in a matter of weeks made him think that they might be seeing the seconding of a genius like Yoriichi.

    If Seiji was not going to join the Demon yer Corp on his own, Ubuyashiki thought of inviting the talented swordsman after he had grown up. He knew about how his parents were killed by demons as well.

    ....

    2. Shinjuro Rengoku :

    He is jealous of geniuses such as Seiji Shigan. He thought that maybe if he was as talented as them, he could''ve saved so many more people.

    But overall, he had a good impression of Seiji since he was friends with his son Kyojiro Rengoku. He wished to see these two boys lead the Demon yer corps in the future.

    ....

    3. Gyomei Himejima :

    He is saddened to see yet another young boy bing a demon yer. He thinks it is his job to protect everyone - especially children - and he wishes to create a world where kids do not have to fight.

    He acknowledged Seiji''s talent and strength. He was the only person amongst the Hashira to realise just how special Seiji was. Gyomei noticed immediately the perfect movements Seiji had.

    His presence was unlike anything he had ever felt before. It reminded him of the vibrations of rhythmic music.

    ...

    4. Giyu Tomioka :

    He doesn''t really care much but he admires real Hashiras like Seiji. He is greatly impressed by Seiji''s fighting style and thought of inviting him to learn Water Breathing if he truly is able to learn multiple breathings. Maybe the Demon yer Corp would finally have a worthy Water Hashria then.

    Seeing someone nearly 3 years younger than him be that strong and reaching Hashira inspired him to train harder again and made him realize he couldn''t ck off while he held on to the title of Hashira.

    ...

    5. Uzui Tengen :

    He likes it better when Seiji use Thunder Breathing because it is shier. He is impressed by Seiji''s speed.

    But other than that, he thinks Seiji has darkness in his heart. He seems to have quite a lot of unresolved issues and he was running away from the past by rushing to the future, kinda like what he was doing.

    He thinks it''s too bad Seiji did not have three amazing wives to help him like he did.

    (??)

    ...

    6. Kanae Kocho :

    Sees him as a younger brother since he was around the same age as her sister. It was too soon to judge him yet but she thinks he had girts to be able to endure injuries like he did,

    She was quite shocked to learn that he was deaf and wanted to know how he managed to live so normally and even be a great warrior with such a handicap.

    She wondered if she should teach him flower breathing due to his enhanced eyes but also thought that it might not suit him since he wouldck the lightness and flexibility of a female body.

    ...

    7. Sanemi Shinazugawa :

    He really doesn''t like the dude. Seiji reminds him of Giyu with his calm demeanour and his aloof attitude as if he was above the rest of the world. He doesn''t think he could trust someone so stoic.

    But he respects Seiji''s talent and strength but also wants to beat him and humble him.

    .

    .

    .

    [IMAGE of Kanae]

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 Chapter 33: Future plans

    <h4>Chapter 33: Future ns</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    The only drawback my eyes had was mental exhaustion.

    This waspletely reasonable because seeing so many things in detail and many others that normal eyes were never meant to see, any human brain would be overloaded with information.

    When I was young, I would have to sleep at least 12 hours to deal with the mental exhaustion. But as time went on, the requirements became less and less.

    Still, surviving on barely 5 hours of sleep a day would be harmful to any human body, much less a body that has a special eyes such as mine, which was exactly what I had been doing in the past two months.

    I forced myself to fight and work with only 5 hours of sleep every day.

    And clearly it had taken a toll on me because right now, I felt incredible. I did not know how long I slept but I felt so amazing and good that I hadn''t even opened my eyes yet.

    In a world ofplete silence, deep sleep was guaranteed. And even though I had woken up, as long as I did not open my eyes the world waspletely silent and still.

    It was a great time to have an internal monologue.

    The question is, how do I n to move forward from now? What was the n? What was the next goal?

    I had be a Hashira and I now held the most influence and power a demon yer could get. So, what''s next?

    Killing Muzan Kibutsuji was the main goal but thinking about that time when I encountered him in Tokyo, I knew that it was still too far away to even consider.

    I should at least be the strongest Hashira alive first to even think of ying Muzan. In the story of Demon yer, the Hashiras - even the strongest - were merely cannon fodders to the Demon King.

    It was only through sheer continuous luck, plot armour, tricks and heavy sacrifice that they finally put down Muzan Kibutsuji.

    I wanted to kill Muzan Kibutsuji without any sacrifice, and I was not the main character with plot armour. That meant I would have to be strong enough to match Muzan at the very least - which I should mention, no one other than Yoriichi ever aplished.

    ''Yeah, it is not realistic yet.''

    So let''s start with something more realistic and doable. I promised to be as strong as Muzan in five years - a promise that became more and more ridiculous with each passing thought - so what can I do to achieve it?

    Or what can I do to at least get closer to the goal?

    The first thing that came to mind was learning all of the breathing styles that exist. I was now a Hashira, meaning my colleagues were the best breath users in the present day. I could definitely learn thier breathing from them.

    It took me a week to learn me Breathing and two weeks to learn Thunder Breathing. If those feats were used as a base, it shouldn''t take me long to learn every breathing styles.

    After that, I could work on mastering each and every one of them. I should aim to be as proficient at using each unique breath as their respective Hashira users.

    I think that ispletely realistic. In fact, it would take me less than five years to aplish it - which is where the canon starts.

    Speaking of canon stories, you can be sure that I would do everything in my power to not let that happen. I won''t let Tanjiro''s family be ughtered like how it happened in the story.

    This goal was also personal.

    If you really thought about it, my backstory was eerily simr to Tanjiro''s. Both of us came home after a hard day of work only to be greeted by blood and the cold corpses of everyone we ever loved.

    A demon had killed our world while we were away.

    The simrity did not end there as we witnessed tragedy befall our sisters. I was robbed of my hearing and he was robbed of his sister''s humanity.

    I couldn''t save my own family back then, I was not strong enough.

    But god damn, I will make sure the same thing doesn''t happen twice.

    Maybe I would finally get a bit of sce - like how Andrew Garfield''s Spiderman did when he saved a different version of MJ.

    So yeah, it was personal.

    And beside it being a personal endeavour, there were many positive fruits that coulde out of it. Firstly, I could learn Hitokami Kagura - which is basically a watered-down version of Sun Breathing.

    Secondly, I could learn the location of the blue spider lily from Tanjiro''s mother. For those who don''t know, the blue spider lily is said to have the power to give demons the ability to walk under the sun and be resistant to the nichirin de. Muzan had been searching for it for centuries and the demons were created with the objective of finding the blue spider lily for him.

    There were also many other things like the possibility of saving Tanjiro''s father and convincing the absolutely broken character to join the demon yer corps, etc.

    The only problem was that I had no idea where Tanjiro''s house was located. The only thing I remembered was that he used to sell charcoal in a vige near their isted home.

    I have no other clue. But then again, Japan was a small ind, how hard could it be to find one home?

    And what else is there, ''hmmmmm...''

    It had been on my mind for quite a while but I could try asking for a bow and nichrin-tipped arrows. The smiths of the Demon yer Corps should be able to create one and hopefully, they would respect the request of a Hashira.

    I wanted to know how my eyes would affect marksmanship.

    Maybe I could develop a new breathing style for marksmanship. Who knows, I definitely won''t if I don''t try so I was going to try.

    ''Hm?''

    My world, ever so still and silent, was disturbed by vibrations felt by my skin. It was a tug of reality that threatened to bring me out of my musing.

    More aware of my surroundings than ever, I felt someone inch ever closer to my skin. I could feel thier body heat as they got closer. I held my breath, I knew I was safe and no harm would befall me, yet my body was ready to fight.

    But then, a small headnded on top of my chest.

    I could not hear, I did not see, but I could feel thier ear on my chest. They were listening to my heartbeat and strangely enough, that made me listen to my own heartbeat with them.

    *Thup-dup* *Thup-dup* *Thup-dup* *Thup-dup* *Thup-dup* *Thup-dup* *Thup-dup* *Thup-dup* *Thup-dup* *Thup-dup*

    *Thup-dup* *Thup-dup* *Thup-dup* *Thup-dup*

    My heart beats firm and consistent. Finally, I opened my eyes to see whose head was on my chest.

    The moment I saw who it was, I felt my heart stop beating.

    It was...

    ..

    ..

    ...an old man.

    !!!!

    "What the actual fuck!!" I yelled and quickly pushed the old man with a creepy smile off my chest.

    It was unlike me to raise my voice, much less straight out yell, but the situation deserved it. I was truly shocked out of my mind.

    "What do you think you''re doing?" I asked.

    "I was checking if you were still alive or if you had problems. Lady Kanae told me to check every six hours!" the old man said.

    That''s....reasonable.

    Why was I so shook anyways? And why do I feel a gigantic sense of disappointment wash over my entire soul?

    Well, the answer was obvious. I was expecting him to be Lady Kanae or even Shinobu but I guess I was wrong. I really shouldn''t get my hopes high just because I woke up on thep of a beautiful girl once.

    "That was...embarrassing."

    I noticed movement on my side so I looked towards the window to see Shinobu peeking in like a kitten. A yful smirk danced on her lips and her eyes zed with mischief.

    "Yes it was." she said.

    God, why did I say that out loud?

    "Thank you for keeping an eye on him." Shinobu said with a smile.

    The old man bowed and went away right after. I stared at Shinobu - not because of any particr reason other than just being fond of seeing her face.

    "So, you finally decided to wake up after two days of sleeping?" she asked.

    "It''s good to see you again." I said.

    "Same to you, I didn''t expect to see you again so soon." she said and then threw a sword at me. I effortlessly caught the sword with a puzzled look.

    "Why don''t you stretch those tight muscles and give me some tips, Hashira." she said, "A nice sweat before a bath is always good."

    It was weird that she asked me for such things right after waking up. Literally, no one does that, at least say good morning first.

    But sometimes, eyes can tell you more than words. From the eagerness in her eyes and the way she peek at the window as if she had done it multiple times, I could tell that she had been waiting for me to wake up for a while now.

    Likely to talk to me because she wanted to ask me for advice. There was also apetitive glint in her eyes. I saw a girl who was motivated to try her best and live up to what she believed was her sister''s expectation.

    She was honest and would go for what she wanted without hesitation like a child.

    "Sure." I said and cracked my neck. She was right, my body was indeed tight and full of knots.

    Her smile widened and she moved away from the window right as I lept out from it.

    I remembered the pattern of Wind Breathing during my fight with Sanemi, so this would be a good time to try those out.

    I was feeling refreshed and a bit weaker due to an empty stomach. But I immediately shot towards Shinobu with the sword.

    ..

    ..

    ..

    [IMAGE]

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Author : If you get the reference of *thup-dup* then you my guy, are the goat. I like you.

    Anyways, sorry for disappearing. I have a life and life happens if you know what I mean. I''ll do extra Chapters tomorrow again to make up for it.

    ...

    <strong><i>Join my patreon to read ahead and support the kawai author!!! </i></strong>

    <strong><i>Patreon : Emmanuel_Capricorn</i></strong>

 Chapter 34: Destined to never win

    <h4>Chapter 34: Destined to never win</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    "What were you thinking inviting him to a spar immediately after he woke up? He is our guest Shinobu, at least feed him first."

    I ate a bowl of rice while watching Kanae reprimand her sister. Shinobu had an awkward smile on her face, trying toe up with excuses but finding none.

    "Didn''t I also tell you that he needed rest for at least four days to healpletely?"

    "I know, I know. Sorry I got carried away because I was excited." she said, it was the worst excuse ever but I liked the honesty.

    "Besides, sparring with me would not even be considered an activity to him. He beats me as easy as he breathes, right Seiji?" Shinobu asked and turned to me.

    "Sure."

    It was literally true.

    She huffed, as if she was finally out of the case because I sided with her. Kanae grabbed her own face and sighed before turning to me.

    "How''s the food, Seiji?"

    "It''s good."

    "I''m d to hear that. I am confident in making healthy food but not tasty food. It''s good if you like it." she said and smiled. "And sorry if my sister was bothering you."

    "Hey!! I was not bothering him, we''re friends."

    Were we? I was not sure if people became friends that easily. But then again, the same thing happened with Rengoku.

    That means now I have two friends, a boy and a girl. That''s two more than what I thought I''d ever have.

    The sisters were fun to watch, it was crystal clear that they loved each other and got along just from seeing thier interaction. Even the way they argued was straight out of the writer''s mind when he imagined a perfect sibling rtionship.

    I invited them to eat with me and since neither of them had breakfast yet, they agreed to join. The three of us ate our food on the engawa - which was the Japanese version of the porch - while gazing out at the garden.

    The Flower Mansion was a serene ce meant for healing. The ce was filled with good-scented flowers and a small artificial stream fed the garden. It''s beauty and peace was what allowed many patients to heal faster,

    We had small talks where the sister asked where I came from, and if I had any remaining families alive.

    Yes, they legit asked me if I had any families alive because it was somon amongst demon yers to have thier families killed by a demon. It was basically the canon event for most demon yers and it was why they became who they were in the first ce.

    No one wanted to make a living by killing demons unless they had a thirst for vengeance or deep hatred towards demons- unless, of course, it''s your family tradition like Rengoku.

    Heck, being a solider was safer and better than being a demon yer.

    I told them I had an aunt and uncle back in my vige who adopted me but my parents and siblings were all killed by a demon when I was young.

    They also told me about thier past and how thier family was ughtered by a demon with only the two of them being survivors. They said it was Gyomei who saved them just in time before the demon could get to them.

    "We got lucky because we still have each other after we lost everything. But you...I couldn''t even imagine what it would be like, to lose your parents, brother and..sister." Kanae said softly. I could see the pity in her eyes and if I was being honest, I didn''t like it.

    "It''s fine, you get used to it." I lied, you never got used to it.

    You can''t.

    Losing people you love is like losing a limb or losing your hearing, you lose a part of yourself forever, and you are no longerplete. You never got used to it, you just learned to move forward in your iplete self.

    "Time heals all wounds." I said again. ''It will heal me too.''

    Then the conversation shifted towards something fun and light-hearted. They told me stories about thier training and how Kanae became a Hashira.

    It was mostly just Shinobu who talked about how Kanae became a Hashira. From the way she talked about her sister, I could see the deep admiration she had for her.

    After we finished the food, Kanae gave me another check-up on my condition and even though I could see the condition of my body perfectly with my eyes, it was nice to hear the analysis of a professional.

    I spent the rest of the dayzing around and practising the patterns of Wind Breathing whenever I felt like it.

    Actually, it did not end there. I spent the next two days doing nothing but resting and practising the different Breathing Styles.

    Kanae was a busy Hashira but she managed to share breakfast with us every day. On the other hand, Shinobu was perpetually at the Flower Mansion and taking care of the patients.

    She would also train to be a demon yer whenever she could. She was going to participate in the Final Selection next year so she was preparing for that.

    My rtionship with the two sisters grew a lot during the two days, especially with Shinobu. As two teenagers of simr age, our topics of interest aligned and there was a special chemistry between us.

    Shinobu was very different from what I remembered in the anime. In fact, Kanae resembled Shinobu in the anime more than she did.

    One of the main topics we would talk about was books and stories. Apparently, Shinobu was quite fond of stories, especially that of horror or ghost stories. I also liked stories and reading in general, having read many books in my past life.

    I liked reading different books so much that I learned how to read in 12 differentnguages. I would often tell stories I remembered from my past life to her. She thought I came up with them and she had termed me as a genius in her mind.

    Other than that, I was helping around the Mansion any way I could - which mostly consisted of helping the patients with broken bones - which was verymon. With my eyes, I was easily able to fix dislocated shoulders or joints and also help in aligning broken bones so that they healed faster.

    But after two days had passed, I was finally allowed to be in action again. And my peaceful life came to an end, it was short but sweet.

    The first thing I did after being told I could fight again was as anyone would''ve expected.

    "Let''s have a match between us, Kanae." I said.

    "It has not even been one second." She blinked.

    Well, I have been staying stagnant for too long. I needed to continue my journey towards strength and what better way than challenging strong opponents?

    I have also been curious about flower breathing so I really wanted to see it in action.

    "I guess it can''t be helped." she said and we went out to the yard to have a match.

    ..

    ..

    ..

    /////////////

    (15 minutester)

    "It''s impossible."

    Iy upon the grass like a leaf in autumn. My gaze was focused on the blue sky and the smoky cloud, yet the endless expanse of blue could not push away the image in my mind.

    I think what I saw was imprinted on my mind.

    "I can never win against her. Heck, I can''t even fight against her."

    The weight of the words fell on my chest, knocking air out of my lungs. My body felt hot and my brain did not have sufficient blood to processplicated thoughts. All of the blood in my body was rushing to somewhere else.

    So, here''s what happened.

    After the fight started, I was struck with a frightening realization.

    My style of fighting required me to look at my opponent''s body - muscles, blood flow, joint movement etc - to predict thier attacks and reply to thier actions.

    To do this, I used my X-ray vision. And what do you think happened when I finally used an x-ray on a beautiful girl like Kanae?

    Yeah, it would not be wrong to say I fought two battles at once. My mind could not focus on the fight at all as it was always distracted by other thoughts. My action was a mix of fighting and trying to hide my hard member.

    It was impossible.

    I was, by no means a degenerate. I did not react in such ways even when I peek at other beautiful women.

    So even though Kanae was by far the most attractive girl I met, I was doing fine just seeing her naked body.

    But when Kanae started fighting, it was a different matter. Flower breathing required elegant movement and flexibility so it almost looked like she was dancing. And when she danced, ''they'' danced too.

    With sweat covering her body, it was too much to take. It was too sensual. I might have superhuman strength but I was just a teenager. It was a battle I was never meant to win.

    "How embarrassing." I said in absolute defeat.

    Today, I realized a new fatal weakness of mine and honestly, I was not sure how to ovee this. I could only hope that this ends when I stopped being a hormonal (horny) teenager.

    ''Luckily, girls as beautiful as the Kocho sisters were rare.''

    "Are you okay Seiji." Kanae asked me. She was upside down in my vision as she looked down at me.

    I looked away and blushed.

    "Yeah, I''m fine." Respectfully.

    "It''s okay. You just healed, maybe you are still not feeling well."

    "Yeah, maybe." I said, knowing full well that no matter the condition I was in..

    I was destined to never win against waifus.

    ..

    ..

    ..

    [IMAGE of what Seiji saw!! Don''t miss this!! ]

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Author : New week. Give me stones and I give you extra Chapters.

    No set goals, I will simply match your efforts in the name of equivalent exchange.

 Chapter 35: Destroyer of Demons

    <h4>Chapter 35: Destroyer of Demons</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    "I''d rather watch a pig trying to climb a tree."

    "Look away then, no one is forcing you to watch me!!!" Shinobu said as she did....whatever it was that she was doing with her sword.

    She moved with the grace of a feather but it was clear that the sword was too heavy for her. The steel in her hand threw her entire posture off bnce. It was a horrible sight to see.

    "Can''t you just go back to practising with a wooden sword?" I asked, my voice was hopeful.

    Shinobu was by no means a weak girl, she was simply normal while being surrounded by freaks of nature. She had the strength you would expect a 13-year-old girl to have.

    She could pick up the sword and swing it - a civilian won''t even notice the problem. But with a trained eye, you could see that the sword was heavy for her. She was not strong enough to swing her sword, much less cut off a head.

    She was simply not meant to be a swordsman.

    "Why don''t YOU practice with a wooden sword." she said while performing movements simr to her sister''s. "STOP WATCHING ME!!"

    Honestly, I wish I could. But seeing her try to swing the sword in vain, I knew there was a big chance that she could hurt herself.

    My eyes were locked on her figure as she practised. I could predict when and where an ident was going to take ce by reading her body and the sword in her hand.

    Before long, I was proven right as the katana flew off her slender finger. I burst into action, using the concept of Thunder BReathing, I covered the distance in an instant.

    I was also moving before it actually happened so I was just in time to catch the sword before it fell on her and graze her pale leg.

    "....."

    "...."

    She blushed and looked away.

    "thank you." I knew it did not ring out from theck of air rushing out of her mouth but I could read her lips.

    "You''re wee."

    "Would you listen to me now?" I asked.

    She pursed her lips and her big round eyes looked up at me. They had no pupils and looked like the eyes of an insect, but it was beautiful.

    "No. I think this is a great chance for me to give everything I have, knowing that you will save me if I mess up." she said under my eyes full of disbelief.

    "I will take this~" she said and took the sword from my hand. She slipped past me so that she could continue practising on her own.

    I sighed.

    I watched her from a close distance, trying to advice her as best as I could while also saving her when she messed up.

    An hour passed and I couldn''t hold it anymore. I knew I should leave it to her to find her own path but it was unbearable.

    There was something triggering about seeing someone who I knew would be incredible, stray from her path. Most people wouldn''t get it since most people didn''t have eyes like mine.

    The closest thing I couldpare it to was watching someone eat a burrito from the middle. You were simply not supposed to do it like that.

    So I said, "You are trying too hard to be like your sister."

    She stopped practicing and looked towards me. Beads of sweat fell down her dolly face and trailed on her perfect skin.

    "I know you deeply admire her but you are not your sister and you never will be. You have to stop trying to imitate her." I said.

    She frowned, "But she is a Hashira, if I-"

    "Yes, but you are not blessed physically like she is." I cut her off and she clenched her fist in frustration.

    She knew that her body was not strong like her sister''s. She was small and weak. It has been her greatest insecurity.

    "You need to find areas where you are blessed as well. I can see something special in you Shinobu, you just need to learn to see that too." I said genuinely. I hoped this time, my voice did note out stoic.

    She remained standing in her ce for a long time as she contemted my words. Then she met my eyes with a question, "Tell me, what should I do?"

    I shrugged, "I don''t know. That''s for you to find out. But I do have some advice." I said and put a finger on my chin.

    Shinobu perked up, her eyes expectant.

    "Firstly, even though you suck at swinging your sword, you have no trouble stabbing so you should polish that area." I said and she knitted her eyebrows in thought.

    "But you can only kill a demon by cutting off its head."

    "Says who?" I asked, "The demon king? The almighty God? Yoriichi?"

    I shook my head, "Where there is a will, there is always a way. If you want to kill a demon enough, you should have no trouble finding ways to kill it."

    "Like using poison." I said while biting down a smile.

    "Poison? But demons have great regenerative ability, poison would not work on them unless it''s a Wi-" she paused, her round eyes widening in a silent realization

    ''Yes, what if those poison has wisteria flowers?''

    Remeber, it was not a sword that brought the downfall of Muzan and Douma.

    It was poison.

    Then silent persists as she went deep into thought. She was testing the theory that came up in her mind, arguing against it and supporting it.

    "I''ll take this." I said and slowly pulled the sword out of her hand. She was too deep in thought to even notice.

    "Seems like you figured out something, I will leave you to your thoughts." I said and walked away from her. The moment I turned around, my lips stretched into a smirk.

    This should help her figure out her fighting style sooner than she did in canon. Although it was questionable, I think I did the right thing.

    I went around thepound to enjoy the day. I was thinking of what I was going to do in the time being but my thoughts were cut short when Ravennded on my head.

    "Oh, hey there princess, how''ve you been?" I asked and pet her head as she made herselffortable in my hair.

    She nuzzled on my finger for a few seconds before she quickly collected herself. Her eyes turned dead again and she tapped on my scalp.

    I blinked, "There is someone for me?"

    Raven said that someone was waiting for me outside of the mansion. I immediately headed towards the main entrance of the Flower Mansion and that was when I met him again after a long time.

    "Hatori?"

    A quick recap for those who forgot. Hatori Kanezuka was the swordsmith who created my sword and delivered it to me.

    I ran towards him and bowed when I reached him. He had a wide smile on his face which i could see through his mask.

    It seems like I was not the only one who was happy we met again.

    "Hahahaha look at you now my boy! Already a Hashira in two month." He said proudly and surprised me by wrapping his arms around me.

    He gave me a hug.

    "Its good to see you again too." I said as he let go.

    "But what brings you here?"

    "Oh, haven''t they told you? Each Hashira gets a new sword made of the highest quality of Scarlet Ore. This sword will be exceptional, unlike the one I made you before."

    He then showed me the sword he had been carrying on his back. It was the exact replica of mine in terms of size and length but I could immediately notice the difference when I held it.

    It was perfectly bnced, without w.

    Without another word, I drew the sword from its sheath and was immediately stunned when I saw the perfection of the de.

    "This is...." words got stuck in my mouth as I fully pulled out the sword.

    The first thing I noticed was the engravings at the start of the de. The word, ''Destroyer'' was boldly written on it with Kanji

    On the opposite side, it was also written ''Evil Demons.''

    Put them both together and it meant ''Destroyer of Evil Demons''

    <strong>�� ���� �� �� �� ��� �� ����</strong>

    The perfect edge of the de reflected the light of the sun on my face. It was almost blinding.

    "A true masterpiece." I said in amazement. My eyes took in every little detail of the de and they agreed with every meaning held by the word.

    I could feel it.

    This was it...

    This was the sword that would end it all.

    ..

    ..

    [IMAGE (Post cool swords as well if you can) ]

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Author : I am not sure how to match number 1 effort but this extra Chapter should be a good start.

    500 stones?

 Chapter 36: Pee-pee

    <h4>Chapter 36: Pee-pee</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    "She''s beautiful isn''t she?" the movement of his lips brought me back to the real world.

    "Yeah." I said and marvelled at the sword for thest time before sheathing.

    "Its one of the best works I''ve done in my whole life." he admitted with a smile, "I have been practicing on making an odachi so that should be better than the previous one in design as well, not just quality."

    "Thank you for all your hard work."

    "Bah! Its nothing. It is we who should be thanking you. You''re fighting the war for us and keeping everyone safe. I heard you even killed a lower moon so thank you." he said.

    "Oh an speaking of swords, how''s the one that I made for you? You have note to me for repairs at all and I assumed it was because you have been inactive. But that''s not true so why haven''t youe yet? Do you have another smith who repairs your sword?"

    "Actually, the sword was never in need of repair. The only damage it got so far were some chips which I was able to smoothen out with sharpening stone myself." I said.

    Due to my perfect movement and superior mastery over the sword, there had been no case where I broke my sword or damaged it heavily.

    It was not a noticeable thing but its what sets me apart from other swordsmen. If you learn how to cut perfectly at all times, you will find yourself with less damage to your sword.

    "Hah! I''d call you a liar if you were anyone else." Hatori said with a smile. He clearly knew the skill it took to not damage your sword in every fight as well.

    "Now that I''ve done what I came here for, I think its time for me to leave."

    "So soon? How about we sit down for tea first?"

    "Nah, duty calls at the moment. I still have much work to do like delivering a new sword to the Wind Hashira."

    "Well then..." I said and put away the odachi before I bowed at a right angle, "Thank you yet again.

    Hatori smiled under the mask, "I wish you all the best in your future endeavours kid."

    "You too."

    Hatori turned around and walked away from the Flower Mansion. I watched his image disappearing into the horizon and I went back into the mansion.

    Now I have received my Hashira sword.

    I guess that means its time to finally continue my journey again.

    It''s been fun.

    ...

    ...

    ...

    //////////////////////////

    (The next day)

    "Couldn''t you stay for a few more days?"

    "Stop it Shinobu, he is also a Hashira, he has his own duty to uphold now."

    I smiled as the two sisters stood in front of the Flower Mansion to bid me farewell. I was fully equipped with my Demon Salyer uniform along with my new sword - fully ready to take on all the evil of the world once more.

    "Your sister''s right Shibi. Besides, a few more days won''t make a difference, it will only make it harder to say goodbye eventually." I said and the girl had a healthy blush on her face when I called her Shibi.

    It was a nickname I gave her because Shinobu can be a mouthful. And she can do nothing about it because I earned the right fair and square in Hanafuda (Japanese card games).

    Kanae just smiled teasingly, seeing her sister blush and all.

    "Safe travels to you Seiji."

    "And you toody Kanae."

    "I told you you don''t have to call me that."

    "Sorry, it stuck to me since everyone in the mansion called you so." I said.

    "Make sure to visit us again whenever you have time." she said and I nodded.

    "I wish you safety on your journey as well." Shinobu said but then she smirks lightly, "But not too safe, maybe get some injuries now and then so that you are forced to return."

    "Shinobu!"

    "Thank you for your hospitality so far." I said and turned around before leaving the mansion.

    It was fun spending time with the Kocho sisters but now the slice of life has to end. It was time to end the vain existence of demons again.

    After a few minutes of walking, the mansion had already disappeared under the thick forest. I looked up into the sky and noticed Raven flying overhead.

    She flew down before making a nest on my head again.

    "Ready Raven?"

    tap tap pause tap

    And that was yes in morse code.

    "Then lets begin."

    .

    .

    .

    <i>"Seiji Shigan!! Seiji Shigan!! Seiji Shigan!! A demon has been sighted in a vige located to the north! A demon has been sighted in a vige located to the north beside Mount Kashmish!! Find the demon and kill it!! Caw!! Caw!!"</i>

    ..

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    [3rd POV]

    Shinobu watched Seiji leave and if she was being honest in her inner monologue, she was going to miss him.

    It was understandable, the past few days had been extremely fun. Seiji was possibly the only friend she had of her age so in a way, it felt like a childhood friend moving away.

    She broke out of her thoughts when he finally disappeared on the horizon. She turned to her sister only to find her smiling teasingly at her. For some reason, Shinobu immediately got embarrassed.

    "You like him, don''t you?" Kanae said with a knowing look.

    Like was a strong word.

    It was also the perfect word.

    Yeah, she likes him, so what!!

    "..N-No." Shinobu replied. "It''s not like that."

    "Oh my, I''ve never seen you blush like that ufufufufu." Kanae teased, "You''re so adorable."

    "But at least I know my sister knows how to choose them. Seiji is quite the looker, isn''t he? Not only that, he seemed to have a good character and he is strong." Kanae said and then paused.

    "I would move fast if I was you."

    "I said it''s not like that!!" Shinobu denied it and huffed, "It''s not that serious."

    After all, she was at the age where her crush could change like the weather. A childhood crush was not that serious. What she valued more was the friendship they now had between them.

    "Besides, aren''t you also interested in him?" Shinobu asked her sister with narrowed eyes.

    "My, my, already so protective. Well, it''s true that I am interested in him but not like you though." She said, "For example, unlike you I don''t want to see his pee pee."

    "I don''t wanna see it either!!" Shinobu said, causing Kanae to giggle.

    "And don''t call it pee pee, there is a perfect medical name for it."

    "Oh, and what is that?" Kanae asked and then waited.

    "...."

    "...."

    Shinobu knew but at the moment, she was suddenly conscious about saying it. Its embarrassing.

    "I hate you."

    "Peepee it is."

    ..

    ..

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Author : Thanks for the stones!! I see maximum effort. Next Chapter should be up in an hour again.

 Chapter 37: Death

    <h4>Chapter 37: Death</h4>

    [3rd POV]

    It was one thing to hear about death.

    And another to witness death.

    It was more horrifying than you would be willing to believe. It was like a cold grip on your heart that tightened with every movement you made. It was unreal.

    But it was there, someone was dead. That''s it.

    Thier love, thier story, thier dreams, and thier memory. All of those came to an end. It was easy to understand but impossible toprehend the absolute end.

    And for what?

    "Oooo~ I like the colour of your blood." crimson red - the fuel of life - spewed out like a fountain as the demon brutally tore through his daughter.

    He cried, he cried, he cried, he cried....he cried....and he cried some more. But none of those tears were for his torn limbs, his gaping wound, or his half-eaten neck.

    It was for his daughter. It was for the life he made, the life he loved.

    He was d that his daughter was dead. Her silence at least assured him that she was no longer suffering. Yet her silence did not silence her earlier screams. Those tragic sounds still remained in his ears.

    A question popped in his barely conscious mind. Why do humans even scream at all when they are in danger or when they are in pain?

    Humans screamed when they were in danger because it was a cry for help. It was a final struggle to call for assistance from someone else.

    If that was so, her scream must have been a call for help and since he was the only one nearby, it was directed at him.

    His own daughter was calling for help but he couldn''t do anything.

    ''Why couldn''t it just be me? Why wouldn''t he eat me instead of her?'' he thought in his mind while watching the demon devour her flesh.

    It was a cold truth but the reason was that the girl was younger and tasted better.

    "Such a pretty skull." the demon said while tearing off the scalp from the girl to feast on her brains.

    Why had he not died yet? Why was he forced to witness his daughter being dismembered like this? he wondered to himself.

    But his body moved on its own and his heart took control. He had a knife in one hand as he crawled towards the demon.

    His body moved out of pure hatred and spite alone.

    Die.

    Die.

    Die.

    He cursed with all his heart.

    ..

    ..

    ..

    ..

    <strong><i>*BOOOOOOM!!!*</i></strong>

    Someone crashed through the walls of the house and before anyone could react, thunder rang out. It was loud enough to rupture eardrums.

    The entirety of the house itself was sliced in half as the entire foundation shook violently. After the world returned to normalcy, the demon was already headless and a silhouette was standing in front of him.

    The father could not make out the details but he saw purple eyes in the dark. It was so unnatural and eerie that it struck him with more fear than the demon''s eyes.

    Those purple eyes locked on the demon as it slowly turned into ash. The father felt his blood growing cold as he gazed more into those eyes.

    He couldn''t believe the hatred he saw in them. There was so much hatred and anger in those eyes that it even eclipsed his.

    His body grew colder as the adrenaline stopped. Now that the demon was dead, he had no reason to live. He should hurry and meet his daughter on the other side.

    As the father drew his final breath, he thanked those purple eyes for avenging him and his daughter. He also wished peace upon them.

    Because living must be hell with that much hatred.

    ..

    ..

    ..

    ..

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    [Seiji''s POV]

    I watched as the fire I started inside engulfed the entire house. Its raging me burned the bodies of the father and daughter inside and the house acted as a coffin for them.

    I joined my hands and gave a prayer for them.

    I silently watched the fire burning away the house as Ravennded on my head. I did not react and only spoke after minutes had passed.

    "I was toote."

    Raven tapped on my head and told me that it wasn''t my fault.

    I smiled, "It is my fault."

    If it was not my fault then whose was it? Was it the fault of the father and daughter for being too weak? Or was it the demon''s fault for being hungry?

    It was none of them. It was entirely my fault and I was not afraid to take the me.

    It will make me stronger, it will make me faster next time. I savoured the bitterness in my heart.

    "Next time, it won''t happen again." I promised.

    I saw the entire thing happen. It was times like these when I hated my eyes. I could see miles upon miles forward and observe the scene but my body was not fast enough to stop them.

    "What a bad day to have eyes. Those scenes will forever be stuck in my mind too." I said. With great eyes also came photogenic memories.

    It was not as broken as it sounds though. For example, just because I could recall the things I read perfectly doesn''t mean I can be a genius. Learning and memorizing were a different thing.

    The main way I used this ability was to remember patterns in movements. It was how I could read my opponents perfectly and predict them. It was also how I easily learned the patterns of breathing styles. If I saw it once, it''s in my mind forever.

    There were also other uses, like remembering traumatic events perfectly or recalling fond memories.

    And by fond memories, I meant times like when I sparred with Kanae.

    I smiled. Finally, my mind had found a way to escape the depressing mood - jokes and nudes.

    Peal of mirthlessughter escaped my lips as I left the house. The area around was cleared of trees so the fire should not spread

    Then I shifted my mind to another topic.

    It has been a month since I became a Hashira and I have spent most of my time going on different missions and sharpening my skills with the sword.

    The life of a demon yer was not an easy one, much less that of a Hashira. When you were the literal pir of humanity against the demons, there was no time to rx.

    You could always be doing more. So I have been learning to rx a little bit and learn that some causalities were necessary.

    ".... "

    Actually, I think being constantly surrounded by death and demons had wrapped my mind.

    <i>"Kaw!! Kaw!! Kaw!! Seiji Shigan! Seiji Shigan! Go to the vige of Noseki!! Go to the vige of Noseki in the east! Travel East to Noseki vige kaw!! kaw!!"</i>

    ''What? Already?'' I thought to myself and looked up at the Kusagai crow circling in the sky.

    Well, I guess I could rest in the vige. The message did not say anything about having to immediately y a demon so it''s probably a mission that requires investigation first.

    I think this was a way of Lord Ubuyashiki giving me a break.

    With Raven nesting on my head and guarding my back, I travelled towards the East to the Noseki vige.

    I had not been there but I''ve heard of it before.

    The sun rose up not long after and as I encountered fellow travellers on the road, I asked them for directions so I did not have trouble finding the vige.

    At the time before noon, I finally reached my destination.

    The vige itself was peaceful and after a brief scan from the horizon, I determined that there were around 300 houses. Noseki was definitely not a small vige.

    The scent of tea and herbs wafted through the vige. I was but a deaf man but I could tell that the vige was calm and peaceful. Which aligned with what I have heard about the vige.

    Apparently, the vige had multiple onsen and it was kinda of a resting ce for travellers. Many came to the vige for a vocation and the ce was also known for its herbs and tea.

    "That''s quite a marvel." I muttered to myself when I finally saw the stone bridge called ''Ishibashi'' which was a centrepiece of the vige,

    It was a bridge that connected the farnds and the main vige. It was ancient and it was a mystery how the ancestors of the vigers managed to build that.

    I crossed the river by using the stone bridge and finally entered the vige. The people in the vige immediately turned thier heads towards me.

    It was understandable since I had quite a remarkable appearance and creepy eyes as I have been told. Not only that, I was strapped with a long sword on my back.

    Surprisingly, no one approached me and just looked away after seeing my clothes and the sword behind my back, which I found odd. Normally, people in any vige were way more wary of me.

    Not that I wasining, I liked that they left me alone.

    I walked through the vige and turned my head around, scanning the ce and enjoying the view. There were kids ying and people who were going on with heir daily lives.

    I also noticed that there were proper electrical wires and towers in the vige which was neat.

    But as i walked through the vige, my eyes suddenly caught a familiar face. I stopped and stared.

    ''What is he doing here?''

    "Oh!! You''re here already. Like I expected, you are quite fast hahahaha." heughed loudly as his gems glittered.

    "But still not quite as fast as me." he shed me a bright smile.

    Well, it seemed that something else was going on. This was no standard mission because otherwise, he wouldn''t be here.

    The Sound Hashira, and the fastest/shiest Demon yer.

    Tengen Uzui.

    "Yo."

    ..

    ..

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Author : What a difference in mood am I right? The previous Chapter and this one.

    I just noticed it as I release them back to back.

    . .

    ..

    Join the patreon to read ahead and support the story!!

    Patreon : Emmanuel_Capricorn

 Chapter 38: The Hot spring incident

    <h4>Chapter 38: The Hot spring incident</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    Standing at the impressive height of 6''6 feet and filled with bulbous functional muscles, Uzui Tengen was an absolute unit.

    He was standing beside Gyomei during the Hashira meeting so he gave the impression of being normal, but now that I took a look at him up close by himself, I realized how truly monstrous he was.

    You''re telling me, this dude was even faster than me?

    A part of me would never believe it unless I saw it. A creature this big should not be allowed to move that fast.

    My eyes pierced through the very fabric of his being, analyzing from head to toe like a modern supeputer.

    Humans have two types of skeletal muscle fibres called fast twitch muscles and slow twitch muscles.

    Slow twitch muscles contract slower and were designed for long-duration activities. They produce less energy in a moment but can produce energy for a long time. This means that athletes like long-distance runners or cyclists have more of these types of muscles. They had no explosive power but had high endurance.

    Fast twitch muscles were the opposite, they contract faster. They were designed to produce a burst of speed or power but they fatigue quickly. Athletes like powerlifters and sprinters had more of these types of muscles. They had less endurance for sudden bursts of power.

    Humans have both types of muscles in their bodies. But depending on how you train, you can have more of either one of these.

    And as my eyes pierced through Tengen''s skin and analyzed his muscles, I was surprised to learn that his body was made up of mostly fast twitch muscle. The ratio between them was so far apart that it should''ve been impossible.

    It meant that he was extremely explosive but would not do well in a drawn-out battle.

    My eyes continued, studying the exceptional mind-muscle connection of his body. His fingers had insane dexterity and the proportionate muscles on both arms told me that he could use them both. He was a warrior who used two swords.

    I also noticed his freak liver and therge amount of white blood cells in his body which would exin his poison resistance. His quad muscles were ginormous but his calves were small due to his long Achilles tendon which was a tendon that helps with explosive power.

    It was always incredible toy my eyes upon such specimen. Humans who were just built different. Thier uniqueness was beautiful.

    Instinctively, my eyes glowed and searched for weakness. The body contained the history of every experience someone had so I read those.

    From his rigid thumb which was no longer as flexible as the rest of the fingers due to being constantly broken, to the small bruises on his pelvis region, my eyes searched for a weakness in his body. That was until my eyes travelled up to his face.

    Gone was his friendly and joyous expression. His face held a dangerous edge and his eyes spoke of warnings.

    Oops.

    I blinked and stopped analyzing. Tengen was not like the other Hashira, he was a shinobi who had trained since he was a child so he felt it when my eyes searched for a weakness in his body.

    He probably got serious when he saw me stare at each and every w and weakness his body held.

    "That was not very nice." he said.

    I''m sure it was not the best experience to have someone stare and pin down your weakness with their gaze. I''d imagine the feeling to be like someone staring at your insecurity.

    I looked down, apologetic. "I''m sorry."

    "..."

    "..."

    "Welp!! It''s okay. I will excuse you this time hahaha." heughed, "It''s just been a long time since someone looked at me like that, sorry if I scared you kid."

    Scared? I wasn''t scared. I just finished pinpointing every part of your giant body I should aim for, to kill you.

    Is what I would say if I was edgy like literally any main character of High school DxD fanfic on wattpad.

    "It''s nice to meet you again Mister Tengen."

    "Just Tengen is fine. I already have such a fashionable name, no need to ruin it by adding mister." he said and shed me a smile.

    "Okay then, Tengen." I said, "By the way, you said you were expecting me but I wasn''t informed anything about you. Is it a mission that requires two Hashiras?"

    A mission that demanded two Hashiras, were we clearing a hideout of demons or fighting a lower moon or something?

    "Hahaha, what do you mean a mission? Ah, you don''t know since you are new but every month, the Master will give us a few days to rest so we are doing just that."

    "Wait there are no mission?"

    Was that why the Kusagai crow only said to go to the Noseki vige and didn''t mention anything about ying a demon?

    "No missions kiddo, it''s a time to let loose!"

    "Are the other Hashriasing as well?" I asked, kind of expectantly.

    "Well, they are all invited." he said, "But it''s pretty rare that they attend. It''s usually just me and one or two other Hashrias now and then. You see, they are quite serious about thier job and very uptight so they don''t always take the chance for a break. Me on the other hand, I''ve never missed one."

    My lips curved,

    "I see." Literally because I don''t hear.

    Then someone called Tengen from a distance. He immediately turned around and I followed his line of sight to see a woman with ck curly hair with bangs and blue eyes.

    "Uzui!! We want to go to the hot springs already!"

    It was one of his wives if I remember correctly. And need I say that she was extremely hot? She was thick as hell. She was exactly what you would imagine a sexy female shinobi specializing in seduction to look like.

    "Okay, Suma! Go ahead I will be right there." Tengen said with a wave and Suma quickly left for the hot spring

    He turned back to me, his smile was a little more genuine and brighter this time.

    "Your wife?"

    "Yeah, one of them." he said, "Did you see the joy in her voice? They are the reason why I never miss any breaks. They never get to have me all for themselves with all the work so any break I can get, I spend it with them." he shed a smile.

    "You''re a lucky man." I said.

    "Sure am! hahaha." he said, "Well, I have to go now. As you saw, they are waiting for me. Stay shy kid, I will meet you again."

    !!!!

    My body tensed and I immediately created distance when I saw him inhale huge volumes of air in his body. His muscles contracted and got ready to explode with power.

    <strong><i>*BOOOOOM!!*</i></strong>

    Then he did explode out. A resounding boom erupted, breaking the sound barrier and even though I was deaf, I could tell by the vibration that it was extremely loud.

    My eyes barely caught his body amidst the dust as he blitzed towards the hot spring. I was left in utter disbelief.

    ''The guy just used a breathing technique to have a shy exit.''

    I looked down at the small crater. Now there was a small crater on the dirt road of the vige. It won''t be hard to fix though.

    I sighed. It seems all of the Hashiras were a bunch of unique characters. First, there was Sanemi with his anger issues, then Shinjuro with his depression and alcoholism, and Kanae with her ''ara~ ara~'' vibe.

    Finally, there was Tengen Uzui....I don''t know how to describe him yet.

    Anyways, armed with the new information that I was not on a mission and was meant to rx, I felt my body loosen up as a sense of relief washed over me.

    If this was a break, let me enjoy it.

    "By sleeping as much as I want." I said and then I walked around the town in search of the perfect nap ce.

    It did not take me long to find a small hill near the outskirts of the vige which was perfect for a nap. It was extremely simr to the ce Eren slept when he was a child. It had a gentle patch of green grass and a small tree provided the perfect shade under the warm sun.

    Iid down at the ce and gazed upon the vast blueness of the sky.

    My thoughts went back to Tengen Uzui and his breathing style. He was the user of Sound Breathing and like I initially suspected, it would be useless for me to learn that breathing style.

    It was quite simr to Thunder Breathing in their pattern but overall, it was a personalized breathing style meant for Tengen alone. It was a perfect fit for his body but it wouldn''t be the same for me.

    I was better off using Thunder Breathing.

    I also learned that Sound Breathing would be virtually useless against me since it relied heavily on disorienting your opponent with loud sounds and vibrations.

    It took advantage of the imprinted instincts of creatures. The ear was an important organ for not only hearing but for bnce as well. That meant loud sounds could disturb the bnce of beings, even demons I''d assume.

    Another interesting fact was that humans instinctively flinch or react at sounds higher than 100 decibels even if they braced for it. I''d assume the sound breathing to take advantage of such things as well.

    And there was the main strength of sound breathing which was its sheer speed.

    ....

    Yeah, I was able to deduce all that with the things I remebered from the anime and from seeing him execute one form of sound breathing.

    With such thoughts swirling in my mind and with Raven nestling beside me - to protect me - I closed my eyes to enter a world of absolute silence and darkness.

    I was vulnerable.

    But under the feeling of the warm sun on my skin and trusting Raven, I let sleep im my consciousness.

    ..

    ..

    /////////////////

    I woke up at night.

    Which was by no means a new experience for me as a demon yer. In fact, it was my new normal at this point.

    I stretched under the moon and took some time to refresh myself before I entered the vige again. The streets were softly lit up by the street lights and I head towards one of the onsen that I saw in the morning.

    I reached the onsen soon enough and paid the owner before heading to the changing room to take off my clothes. After I was done, I headed into the hot spring and after cleaning myself with the water and soap, I stepped into the hot spring.

    "Haaaa~ This is good." I said, " I can get used to breaks."

    The water, almost too hot, burned away all of the fatigue that had built up in my body during the month as I sunk deeper and deeper into the water.

    I opened my eyes and looked around the onsen - which by the way, I should''ve done before entering the hot spring.

    That was when I experienced the ssic anime ''walking in on someone at the hot spring'' troupe but with a twist.

    There was someone else in the hot spring. They were naked and with half of thier face submerged underwater as they blew bubbles.

    I stared with a nk face

    So here''s the twist.

    It was dude.

    "It''s a shock to see you here." I said, "Tomioka."

    *bubbles* (You too)

    I was disappointed that that I couldn''t learn Sound Breathing butdy luck seem to be on my side. Because a wild Water Hashira suddenly appeared!!

    it was high time I learned another Breathing Style and this was one I looked forward to the most.

    Break''s over I guess.

    Water Breathing get!!

    ..

    ..

    [IMAGE]

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Stones!!!

    <strong><i>Join ma patreon to read ahead!! </i></strong>

    <strong><i>Patreon : Emmanuel_Capricorn</i></strong>

 Chapter 39: Water Breathing

    <h4>Chapter 39: Water Breathing</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    "It''s a shock to see you here, Tomioka."

    Tengen said that usually one or two other Hashrias would take the break with him but never in a million years would I expect Tomioka Giyu to be one of them.

    He just never really struck me as the type of guy, both in my past life and in this one. I expected other Hashiras like Kanae, Sanemi and even Gyomei. Just not him.

    Giyu replied by blowing bubbles as half his face was submerged in water. But I was able to get what he said by the contraction of his throat.

    "Well, at first I thought this was another mission but turns out it was a rest day or something like that." I said, "I ain''tining though, I really needed it."

    Ubuyashiki really was one hell of an employer.

    My eyes scanned him from head to toe in the span of one second. In that short time, I was able to learn a lot.

    His body was extremely fatigued and there were multiple torn muscles. But theck of external injuries told me that instead of being in a tough fight, Giyu was pushing himself above his limits and he was under rigorous training.

    That was a surprise. He was already so strong as he was, I wonder what pushed him to train like a shounen protagonist. Or was he always like that?

    "I can see that you painfully needed rest. You won''t see progress until you allow your body to heal." I said, which was funny. I should be thest person to advise on the topic considering I still have the habit of depriving myself of sleep and constantly overworking.

    Giyu blinked at my words before he raised his head above the water.

    "Yes, I have been training quite hard these days."

    There was a minute of silence afterwards as we both simply enjoyed the warm atmosphere of the hot spring. The hot water on our skin made every other sensation we had in our body - soreness and pain - vanish.

    After that, I said.

    "Would it be okay if I join you in your training for a few days?"

    "You want to learn Water Breathing?" Giyu asked me, instantly deducing what I wanted. It was already known that I was a user of two different styles of breathing so it was not a surprise to him that I wanted to learn a third breathing style.

    Actually fourth, since I was getting the hang of Wind Breathing.

    "Yes." I said.

    "If you want to learn Water Breathing, I can rmend you to my sensei, Urokodaki. I think he will be better suited for teaching than I." he said. I observed his face carefully so I knew he only had good intentions.

    But, "No."

    I shook my head. "You will be a better teacher than anyone else. You see, I am a visual learner so I will be able to learn better if there is someone who can show it to me rather than instruct me."

    One factor why it took me longer to learn Thunder Breathing than me breathing was my teacher. While I fought with Rengoku and he could demonstrate the techniques for me countless times, Jigoro was an old man and even executing one form was difficult for him.

    With my eyes, I learned much better if I could see and copy instead of being guided and taught.

    And if someone like Giyu - who was one of the strongest Hashira - were to act as the one I copied from, I reckoned I would not only learn but be proficient in Water Breathing quickly.

    He blinked at my words. His face was extremely stoic so I had to deduce his expression from the little things like the way he blinked his eyes.

    Good thing his blinks said a lot.

    "I heard that you have very special eyespared to us and you are deaf. I guess that is true." Giyu said. He probably heard it from Kanae or Ubuyashiki.

    I smiled, "Indeed."

    "I wouldn''t really mind it if you join me in my training." he said.

    "Thank you." I replied.

    Then silence returned.

    "..."

    "..."

    I mean, what else did you expect when two extreme introverts were in a room together?

    I looked around the hot spring as the naughty part of my brain told me to look through the walls to peek at the female side of the hot spring.

    But I resisted such temptations.

    Not because I was a person with good morals or anything like that, but because I was not alone and it would be absolutely shameful if I got a boner with another naked guy next to me.

    "So-.." Giyu said but the rest of the sentence died in his throat.

    This time, it was my time to blink in confusion. I stared at him.

    He wanted to say something, likely start a conversation so that we could be friends or something if I based his character off of what I knew from the anime.

    But at thest moment, he hesitated. Maybe his awareness of my disability was stopping him or because he did not want to disturb me, thinking that I would prefer silence.

    Don''t worry Giyu, I know the feeling way too well. You already had the script in your mind but you suddenly hesitated right before speaking out and your mind suddenly came up with logical reasons as to why you shouldn''t do it.

    Luckily for both of us, I was blessed with the ability of prediction and pattern recognition. From the contraction of his throat, our situation and the starting word of his sentence, I deduced what he was about to say.

    "You want to ask me what my first month of being a Hashira was like," I said.

    "...."

    "Hn." he nodded.

    My lips curved, "Well, it was much more rxing to be honest. But you see, around five days ago I encountered these two kids who were forced by a demon to lure in travellers. The demon had a unique blood demon art-"

    And so, I told Giyu about the extraordinary experience I had in thest month. He also added a few words and would sometimes advise what I should''ve done in the situation.

    He also told me about the significant encounters he have had during the time that he was a Demon yer. Even before we knew it, we were having a very nice conversation in the hot spring.

    Giyu was often misunderstood by many people due to his seemingly stoic face but I could read him perfectly well. The mere blink of his eyes and the tiniest movements of his brows were enough for me to see his emotions.

    He found talking to me easier than others even though he himself did not exactly know why.

    I learned new things about the Hashria that I never knew before. Like the fact that he became a Hashira at the age of 15 and has been a Hashira for well over a year now.

    I went to the hot spring with the intention of aiding my healing and to freshen up but I got much more than I bargained for.

    Throughout the conversation, I noticed a small curve on Giyu''s lips which was arching more and more as time went on. He was smiling.

    I think he likes me.

    ..

    ..

    /////////////////////

    We went out of the hot spring after an hour or so. Giyu bid me farewell and told me if I still wanted to, I could join him in his morning training.

    He himself was going to take it easy with the training since the whole reason he took the break was so that he could heal and rest. But he said he could easily show me his breathing style.

    It waste into the night and I just woke up so to keep myself busy, I went to the river of the vige and washed my uniform and haori there. The onsen had Yukata avable so I wore those in the meantime.

    Then I spent the rest of the night with a mix of meditating, ying with Raven and training my breathing patterns.

    When morning came and the sun slowly peeked out from the horizon, Giyu finally sought me out. He led me to the outskirts of the vige and when we found a good spot, we began.

    "Water Breathing is the mostmon breathing style. It is easy to learn and its adaptability makes it so that it is helpful in any type of situation." Giyu said while pulling out his sword.

    "Water Breathing is not aggressive like other breathing styles. Instead, it relies heavily on counterattacks and defensive forms," he said and took a stance.

    "Come at me."

    Say less.

    <i>"Thunder Breathing : First form" </i>

    Without holding back, I pushed myself off at the speed of a bullet.

    <strong>"Thunderp and sh."</strong>

    The very act of me exploding out was loud enough to shake the earth and it made the sound of thunder. I expected a reaction from him but my eyes saw that he was still calm.

    <i>"Water Breathing : First form." </i>he whispered.<strong> "Water Surface sh."</strong>

    To counter my attack, he opted to swing his sword. The world slowed down as I was left confused, the technique was clearly not strong enough to sh against mine.

    He was not going for a block either since he was swinging his sword. So what was he nning when he swung his sword?

    My arm twitched and I swung my sword at him in one deadly stroke. I saw him adjust the grip of his sword and then he returned to motion.

    But instead of swinging in a way to sh with my sword, Giyu swung from under. My eyes widened as I saw his attack flow under my weapon and instead of trying to block it, he increased the momentum.

    With the disturbance, my swing lost its aim and whizzed right past Giyu who tilted his head.

    Time resumed.

    <strong><i>*BOOOOM!!*</i></strong>

    My eyes allowed me to see the world in slow motion but in reality, everything happened in less than a second.

    I stared at my sword and reyed how Giyu dealt with my deadliest attack with ease. Instead of blocking or dodging the momentum of my attack, he changed the trajectory by applying power under my swing.

    His movement was smooth, like flowing water. It was also the first time I''ve seen someone with perfect movement.

    It was no rocket science but what I was impressed about was how calm he was. Thunder Breathing was fast, my attack happened in the span of one second.

    And he used - not a defensive form - but an attacking form to defend. At that point was there a defensive and attacking form in Water Breathing?

    Is that what is meant when he said Water Breathing was the most adaptable?

    "Incredible." I said.

    "I want it."

    ..

    ..

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 Chapter 40: Learning Water Breathing

    <h4>Chapter 40: Learning Water Breathing</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    Water Breathing.

    Oh boy oh boy do I like this one.

    Where should I start? It was the perfect breathing for me. It would not be wrong to im that this breathing style was handmade for me.

    In fact, the concepts of many of the forms of Water Breathing were something I actively utilize in my fighting style.

    For example, <i>the ninth form : Sshing Water Flow, Turbulent </i>was when the user reduces thending time and surface area needed when taking each step. This was something I actively did with my perfect movement but it was a whole ass form in Water Breathing.

    Then there was<i> the third form : Flowing dance </i>which is where the user predicts the movement and location of thier opponents and executes a perfect, predetermined movement which looks smooth like a dance or flowing water.

    Again, it was something I heavily incorporated in my fighting style. My eyes predicted the enemies and I moved before it even happened.

    Not only me but Giyu was also surprised to see how well Water Breathing fits me.

    The so-called monthly breaksted for two days and during those times, I was fully focused on Water Breathing. In just two days, I was nearly able to learn everything about water Breathing.

    Giyu proved himself to be a great teacher due to his unexpected enthusiasm. After he saw how well Water Breathing suited me and the speed of my learning, he became fullymitted on teaching me.

    My training also consisted of meditating near the river where I contemted the nature of water and strived to be the element. The words of Bruce Lee were valuable even in another world.

    Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it bes the cup. If you put it in a bottle it bes the bottle and if you put it in a teacup it bes the teacup.

    Absolute adaptability was the core nature of water. With my eyes, I could see the weakness of my enemies and I could change my fighting style to match thier weakness. I did not need to have a concrete style, instead, I became whatever I needed to be to kill my enemies.

    This concept not only applied to Water Breathing for me but to fighting as a whole. I did not limit myself to one breathing style, instead, I used any breathing style which best suited the situation and was the greatest weapon to the enemy.

    If a demon had great regenerative power, I used me Breathing. If they had incredible speed, I used Thunder Breathing. If they were in groups, I used Wind Breathing.

    I have no permanent shape. I was formless, yet I could instantly take the shape of my opponent''s fear.

    Fighting was a conversation, it was debate. You don''t get into a conversation with limited words, you failed as a debtor if you followed the script. Instead, I adjusted in real time depending on what the opponent said to me. I strung together words with no purpose individually and crafted sentences that would silence the enemy.

    Words were all of the things I have learned throughout my life and they were increasing day by day. I was able tobine them and create something new every single time with my understanding and my eyes.

    That was my talent.

    ...

    It went without saying that learning Water Breathing was extremely beneficial to me. It might not be a new concept like Thunder Breathing but it enlightened me.

    Unfortunately, time was limited as two days quickly passed and we had to resume our normal mission.

    My training had to stop.

    ..at least that''s what I thought but luckily.

    <i>"Caw!! Caw!! Seiji Shigan!! Giyu Tomioka!! You two are to travel together to the West and clear the newly discovered Demon Hideout!! I repeat, Seiji Shigan!! Giyu Tomioka!! You two are to travel together to the West and clear the newly discovered Demon Hideout!"</i>

    "What a pleasant surprise," I said with a huge smile and turned towards Giyu.

    He returned my look with a smile of his own. Like I said, he was unexpectedly into training me the past two days so he was happy that it could go on.

    We quickly prepared our equipment and geared up for the mission. The three wives of Tengen whom by now I had got acquainted with, came to us to bid farewell.

    "Stay safe in your mission. Lord Tenegen also wished you the best in your journey." Makio said with a smile on her face.

    "Here, we made lunch that you can enjoy on your travels." Hinatsuru said and gave us a bento. It was thoughtful of her and I hade to enjoy her food.

    "Thank you. But where is Tengen?"

    "Well....the break ends today so he was a bit..preupiedst night. He was tired so he slept in today." Sumo said with a wide glowing smile while Makio and Hinatsuri had blush on thier faces when mentioningst night.

    "Thats fine I guess. Tell him to stay safe as well." I said and gave a respectful bow to the women.

    Damn, I was both jealous and also felt kind of bad for Tengen. The guy with the most fast twitch muscle just had to have three wives, didn''t he?

    His wives were all shinobi and stronger than other women as well. But looking at their faces, they seem happy and satisfied.

    Turly a chad.

    And with that, we left the vige of Noseki, It was time for my journey to continue but this time, I had apanion.

    Truly, it was a miracle that we got such a mission at the perfect time. Maybe Lady Luck was finally smiling on me after taking my hearing and my family.

    ..

    ..

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    [3rd POV]

    (Hidden location : The Ubuyashiki Mansion)

    "Are you sure that was a good decision? Wouldn''t it have been better to send Gyomei since he is closer to the demon hideout? He will also be able to clear it by himself so we won''t have to waste two Hashira." Lady Amane asked her husband who was looking out at their garden with a permanent smile.

    "We won''t win this war if we only think about the present Amane." he said with a gentle voice that came with a breeze.

    All his ancestors made the best decisions in the present and never saw victory. He had to be different, he had to look ahead into the future because that was where victory lies. Tomorrow.

    For today, survival was enough.

    "We need to give a chance for Seiji to grow to his fullest potential. Even if that meant wasting resources now, I truly believe that it will all be worth it in the end."

    "Is that really all there is to it?"

    "Well.." Ubuyashiki trailed, "I might also want to extend thier time together. It has been long since Giyu met someone he could talk to. That child needs healing, both in mind and spirit after all he has been through. I think they will both help each other move forward."

    "I see. I understand." Lady Amane said with a smile as she gazed at her husband with hidden admiration.

    "They just need to do their best. The responsibilities on thier shoulders are heavy but I believe in my children." Ubuyashiki said as his hair danced with the wind.

    His illness was getting worse.

    Yet slowly but surely, he was building a better future.

    The war and the curse will end in his lifetime.

    ..

    ..

    [IMAGE]

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Author : Sorry for disappearing but real world got too real if you know what I mean.

    Anyways, here is a double Chapter even without stones.

    Although stones are still appreciated and may or may not result in triple Chapter.

 Chapter 41: The final test

    <h4>Chapter 41: The final test</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    (The demon hideout)

    "Seiji! From the side!" Giyu yelled while shing the heads demons around him.

    ''Already on it.''

    <i>"Wind Breathing : First form." </i>I whipped my sword and it created a gust of wind. Then I took in huge volumes of air with my mouth before releasing it with great force.

    <strong>"Dust Whirlwind Cutter."</strong>

    I became a whirlwind of des. A green tube made of wind energy covered my body as I minced everything in my path. I did not even aim for thier heads, I merely reduced them into scraps of meat.

    Wind Breathing was the most violent Breathing Style. It had zero uracy or fitness, which was why I had a difficult time getting used to it.

    You just sh everything in your path like a tornado which ripped apart anything in its path.

    There was no targeting weak points, there was no efficiency. You just slice everything into tiny pieces so that you hit the target.

    It was very primal. the main concept was basically Nah, I''d sh. There was nothing else to it.

    The Wind Breathing itself gave you an incredible burst of energy. It allowed you to explode with extreme force but unlike Thunder Breathing where you utilize that for linear speed, Wind Breathing lets you devastate everything in your surroundings.

    It was great for ying groups of demons.

    The aftermath of my attack was blood and flesh raining down on me. I felt my eyes twitch as I was drenched in decaying blood of demons.

    "I hate this breathing style." I murmured. I hate the style, I hate what it does and I hate its Hashira.

    Then I whipped my sword to clean it from blood and looked towards the remaining demons. Although we had killed a couple dozen of them, there were at least 20 or so demons remaining.

    Demons were like animals.

    While the stronger ones with Blood Demon Art were able to survive by themselves and even have territories where they hunted, the lesser demons would form groups to survive.

    The demons in this hideout were such lesser demons. They were not strong enough to survive on thier own so they worked together.

    "Run." I said and the demons who were frozen in fear immediately scattered around to save thier horrible lives.

    I could see Giyu on the opposite side of this abandoned mansion and he was also mowing down the demons like a well-oiled machine.

    My eyes glowed purple in the dark as I scanned the environment, The position of each demon, the direction they were running to and the cement of objects in the mansion were immediately registered in my mind like a mental map.

    I took into ount all of the movements I saw around me, I determined their speed and where they would be by the time I reached them. I predicted around 4 seconds into the future.

    Then I acted on that future.

    <i>"Water Breathing : Third Form."</i>

    <strong>"Flowing Dance."</strong>

    I danced. My footsteps were perfect so it looked like I was sliding on the floor instead of taking steps. My movements were elegant and wless as I left behind afterimage wherever I went.

    I shed - not directly at them but instead at the ce where they would be in the future.

    I string together different attacks and different sets of movements into one flowing motion. To the normal eye, it looked like aic character in action where phantoms were drawn to signify movement.

    My long de left a trail of water as I cut off the demon''s head from the most random angles.

    Water could flow through a mountain, flow over the mountain, flow under the mountain or flow around the mountain. It took any path possible but in the end, it always went through. It could not be stopped.

    Simrly, my de found thier vulnerable necks no matter what they did. They could cover thier necks, move thier heads, duck under, or try to block.

    But no matter what they did, they found themselves headless.

    Time resumed and my de cutting through the air made a sound akin to flowing water. In an instant, I chopped off the heads of thirteen different demons.

    Thier world spun as thier heads fell to the ground. Thierst vision was of thier own headless bodies with my silhouette standing in the middle.

    Goodbye and go to hell.

    The world is better without you.

    ...

    "Thirteen huh." I said and smiled, "That''s a new record."

    While I bask in my new aplishment, Giyu finished off the remaining seven demons. And thus, the mission wasplete.

    /////////////////

    (A few hourster)

    The old mansion finally caught on fire. The mes ranged and consumed the building, burning the remnant shadows of the demons along with the dark history of what happened there.

    I could feel hot air blow past my cheeks, making it quite ufortable so I took a few steps back and stood beside Giyu.

    "The mission is done." he said with a stone for a face. He neither looked pleased nor mad, he was just nk. As if he he was looking at a rock in the middle of a road.

    I gazed at my reflection on my de and I had a simr expression. But if one looked closely, they would see small hints of satisfaction in my eyes.

    I stopped looking and sheath the sword on my back.

    It has been a week and a half since I met Giyu Tomioka. The mission we were given took longer than expected since the demons were very adept at hiding.

    Even I, with my cheat eyes, was having difficulties and we had to track them down for more than four days.

    Giyu said these types of missions were mostly given to Gyomei since his perception of the world was different from ours so he could easily find demon hideouts.

    But we did not do badly at all evenpared to Gyomei. The demons were spread into many viges and they had fake hideouts to cover thier tracks which was quite tricky.

    Demons were as smart as humans if not more. So what they had was a proper organisation that required to be destroyed from the root. And that took time.

    But it was a good thing for me because it meant I got to learn more about Water Breathing and spend time with Giyu - who by the way, was absolutely adorable in character.

    I wonder if this is what Rengoku felt when he was with me.

    Giyu was introverted and appeared cold on the outside but deep down, he was a very kind soul who liked thepany of others. He also had deep traumas and a massive inferiorityplex but I mean, who doesn''t have a few screws lost in thier head in our line of work?

    The past week has been fruitful. We fought a lot of demons and even though they were weak, it allowed me to study Water Breathing by watching Giyu fight. Coupled with my own training and my innate affinity with the breathing style, Water Breathing quickly became the one I was most proficient with.

    "The third form of Water Breathing that you executed back there was incredible." Giyu said suddenly, breaking the silence. Well, not really since I was deaf but you know what I mean.

    "Thank you." I said with a smug smile that I failed to hide.

    "Less than two weeks of training and you already became more proficient in it than me." Giyu admitted. To rify, he was referring to the third form only. Water Breathing as a whole, I still had a long way to go before I became as good as him.

    It was to be expected, I had a giant advantage on certain forms because of my eyes. The third form heavily relied on prediction and perfect flow of movement so I naturally excelled in it.

    Other than that, I still had a long way to go until matched his mastery over Water Breathing.

    Giyu was possibly the person who had the most mastery over thier breathing style. The only otherpetitor to that title was Shinjuro who had decades of experience

    Just think about it. Almost all of the Hashiras in the anime had something special about them ; Mitsuri and Gyomei had superior bodies, Shinobu was a medical genius, Muichiro shared a bloodline with Yoriichi, Sanemi had his unique blood and Tengen had his shinobi background.

    But then there was Giyu, who did not have such speciality other than his absolute mastery over his breathing style. But still, he was one of the strongest Hashira.

    His mastery came from his trauma, pushing him to be the best he could be because he felt the need to fill up for his friend who died to save him.

    He was so goated that he created the 11th form of Water Breathing which allowed him to tap into the selfless state without awakening his Demon yer mark.

    So there was no debate, when it came to mastering thier respective breathing styles, Giyu was on top.

    Therefore, even I would struggle topete with that level of mastery.

    ''But would you lose?''

    ''Nah, I''d surpass.''

    "Lets go. There is a vige close by where we can rest." Giyu said and I nodded.

    ..

    ...

    /////////////////

    (The next day)

    <i>"Water Breathing : First Form!!"</i>

    <strong>"Water Surface sh!"</strong>

    My eyes saw no hesitation in his muscles as he exploded into action. His sword swung at me with the finesse of a painter. His de left a trail of water in its path and I felt a cold shiver wash over me.

    He was serious.

    I moved away quickly and Giyu cut the giant tree behind me. The tree fell to the ground, sending tremors into the earth. My eyes looked at the stump of the tree and noticed its crystal smooth top. That was a show of how clean his cuts were.

    I swallowed the lump in my throat and I was forced to take a stance.

    "This is a test Seiji, don''t fail me." saying so, Giyu blurred and rushed at me.

    ...

    You must be wondering how I found myself in such a situation.

    Well...

    Find out in the next Chapter because this one is getting too long.

    .

    .

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 Chapter 42: I can fix him

    <h4>Chapter 42: I can fix him</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    "Sanemi is still young. He became a Hashira only a few months before you did and he worked years for it. So I can understand why he was skeptical of you at first. If you really get to know him, he is not a bad person at all." Giyu said calmly while sipping tea.

    We were currently at the house the vige had prepared for us. Since we were the ones who saved them from the demons, they were very hospitable and even provided us with a whole house where we could stay.

    "...I understand." but I still don''t like him.

    My dislike for him did not have a very concrete reason at all. I just didn''t like his character and what he did to Nezuko in the anime.

    But it was also nothing serious. It''s not like I won''t talk to him or ignore him if he needs help. The level of dislike was onlyparable to my dislike for certain foods, like ginger.

    "What I don''t understand though is why you are telling me this," I said and crossed my arms.

    "Sanemi is my friend and I don''t want you to have the wrong impression just because of one encounter. He is actually very kind at heart."

    My face scrunched up in doubt, "I don''t think you are."

    "What?" he asked and blinked once, twice. "You don''t think Sanemi is my friend?"

    "Yeah."

    "Why?"

    "Because I know he hates you."

    "What?!" Giyu eximed as if I just told him he was pregnant. He mmed his hand on the tea table and leaned forward.

    "But he didn''t say anything to me."

    "Dude, why would hee up to your face and say he hates you?"

    "Are you sure? How do you know this?"

    "My eyes." I said pointing at my eyes, "I told you before, I am very good at reading people."

    Plus, it was clearly shown in the anime that Sanemi and Obanai could not tolerate Giyu at all. It was even stated in the data book of the manga.

    He slumped back down on the floor as a gloomy aura surrounded him. "I thought we made progress after we sparred the other day," he murmured in a voice only he could hear but I saw it.

    "Who cares if he dislikes you? Me and a lot of people like you." I said trying to console him.

    "It seems I will have to work on it again. Next time, I will make friends with him for sure." he said and I could see the sh of determination in his eyes.

    Pftt, it''s kind of funny seeing him so secretly eager to make friends.

    "If you want to make more friends, why not start with someone easier? Like Kanae or Tengen." I asked.

    "Well...Tenegn is a bit older than me and Kanae is a girl. I wouldn''t know what to say to them." he said and scratched his cheeks.

    "As if you''d know what to say to Sanami either."

    "I do know what to say to him." he defended himself.

    "What else have you said to him other than correcting him on his technique or breathing forms?" I asked, it was a guess.

    "...."

    And I was correct.

    "Right. I hope you know that you might onlye across as condescending rather than being friendly when you did that."

    "What?....I didn''t know that." said the clueless Water Hashira.

    I shook my head with a slight smile on my face.

    At least he wasfortable enough to discuss these things with me. Our age gap was nearly three years but our mental maturity seemed to be of the same age so we quickly became good friends in the span of a week.

    I watched as he took the biscuit from the table and nibbled on it while deep in thought. He looked stoic and calm to everyone else but I was able to read the tiniest hints of his features.

    "So, what are we going to do now that wepleted the mission?" I asked. He stopped eating his biscuit to contemte my words before his eyebrows fell, and so did the mood.

    I could see the change in his emotion.

    "Normally, we should return to our individual missions but I was thinking of taking a break for a few more days so that you can master Water Breathing to perfection."

    "Oh." I blinked in surprise.

    "You are....truly looking forward to seeing me master Water Breathing, aren''t you? Why is that?" I finally asked.

    Since the time he saw that I had an immense affinity for Water Breathing and was able to catch the concept almost instantly, he has been verymitted to training me and making sure I mastered it. I had an idea on why he was doing so, but I wanted to confirm it.

    "Isn''t that obvious? The Demon yer Corp is still missing a Water Hashira, someone has to assume the mantle and I suppose I hope it would be you."

    ...

    ...

    Shit, that''s exactly what I expected.

    I could feel a sudden change in the air as Giyu''s face took a depressed turn. I could see hints of shame on his visage.

    "But you are the Water Hashira."

    "I am not the Water Hashira." he dered with absolute seriousness in his voice.

    Oh god. Shouldn''t this take ce in the third season, which was still around 6 years or something?

    I could not stress this enough but I was absolutely horrible in these types of emotional things. I was literally running away from my own traumas and waiting for time to heal me, how the fuck should I help someone else with thier trauma?

    Isn''t this where the main characteres in? Tanjiro! Please kindly get your ass over here!!

    "...."

    "...."

    I should say something shouldn''t I?

    "What do you mean, you are not the Water Hashira?"

    "...."

    "I never did pass the final selection Seiji." he said and clenched his fist. "I am just...an imposter who is acting as a substitute until the real Water Hashira emerges."

    Said the greatest Water Breathing user to have ever existed. Yeah right. Actually, I am also an imposter who acts as Seiji Shigan until the real one eventually wakes up.

    Ridiculous.

    "I''m sorry, but please excuse me." saying so, Giyu got up and went out of the room.

    I released a dramatic sigh and flopped on the ground. I looked at the ceiling, searching for god between the moulding wood and tiles.

    ''Please help me''

    ..

    ..

    ..

    /////////////////

    (The next day)

    The next morning, Giyu woke me up like usual and we headed out to train like we usually do. But this time, I had a different n.

    I had a lot of time to think about it yesterday and I have decided to fix Giyu and help him resolve whatever issues he had. He was no longer a stranger to me so I wouldn''t let him suffer 6 more years of self-torture just because I didn''t like dealing with emotional stuff.

    ''I can fix him.''

    We headed to an open space where we could train but when we reached there, I refused to start to train with him.

    "No."

    We were in a small clearing with a patch of grass and a small pond on the side. The forest trees surrounded us to create a natural barrier.

    The morning sun rose on the horizon, its yellow light reflected on the droplets of dew on the leaves creating magical glitters that were feast to the eyes. The chilly morning air shed with the earliest warmth of the sun on my skin , creating a pleasant sensation.

    "What do you mean no?"

    "I don''t wanna practice water breathing anymore. I''ve learned enough. I think I should practice another breathing style instead." I said and crossed my arms.

    "Stop messing around Seiji." Giyu narrowed his eyes.

    We engaged in a staring contest for some time but my eerie purple eyes easily won the match.

    He sighed, "Is this because of what I said yesterday?"

    "Absolutely." I said, brutally honest.

    "What do you want?"

    "Context please, so that I can fix whatever is wrong with you," I replied.

    "There is nothing wrong with me." he said and then muttered in a low voice, "...its fine, I think you are ready anyways."

    "Huh?"

    *Fwoosh!!*

    !!!

    Giyu was suddenly in front of me and even though I saw him, I only noticed him when it was nearly toote.

    He was not fast by any means, Sanemi or Jigoro was leagues above the speed Giyu had just disyed but he nearly got me.

    How?

    It was due to his technique. He had approached me in a perfectly linear path so my eyes didn''t notice that he was getting closer.

    When something is moving towards you in a perfect linear/straight path, the increase in size is so gradual that your eyes often miss it.

    Why do cars have red lights on thier back? It was so that you wouldn''t crash into it when the car suddenly stopped. Because when you drive on a straight road and the car in front of you suddenly stops, it''s extremely difficult to see that it stopped or that you were getting closer and closer to crashing it since you were driving towards it in a linear path.

    The same principle applies here. Giyu ran up to me in a perfectly linear line so my unprepared eyes nearly missed him.

    <i>"Water Breathing : First Form!!"</i>

    <strong>"Water Surface sh!"</strong>

    My eyes saw no hesitation in his muscles as he exploded into action. His sword swung at me with the finesse of a painter. His de left a trail of water in its path and I felt a cold shiver wash over me.

    He was serious.

    I moved away quickly and Giyu cut the giant tree behind me. The tree fell to the ground, sending tremors into the earth. My eyes looked at the stump of the tree and noticed its crystal smooth top. That was a show of how clean his cuts were.

    I swallowed the lump in my throat and I was forced to take a stance.

    What the actual fuck?

    "If you don''t want to train fine."

    He was going at his own pace and I was abandoned to pick up the pieces to make sense of what was going on. Why did he suddenly attack?

    "This is a test Seiji, don''t fail me." saying so, Giyu blurred and rushed at me.

    ..

    ..

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 Chapter 43: Seiji vs Giyu

    <h4>Chapter 43: Seiji vs Giyu</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    "Alright, if you wanna talk let''s talk."

    "?" Giyu titled his head in confusion but he quickly discarded what I said.

    He rushed at me as I did the same. We shed our swords in the middle and sparks ignited due to steel grinding on steel.

    We exchanged swings and engaged in a terrifying disy of swordsmanship. Our de whizzed through the air, slicing the atmosphere like butter before they met each other in an immediate halt.

    I must admit, Giyu was probably the best swordsman I have fought in the Demon yer Corps. His technique was refined and each stroke spoke of years upon years of training.

    But that amounts to nothing in front of me.

    My eyes released an eerie glow as I perceived the transparent world. My vision changed and I saw things humans were not meant to see. Different levels of X-ray ovepped in my vision, I saw the real world in slow motion, I saw Giyu stripped of his skin so that I could observe his muscles, and I also perceived even deeper and I saw Giyu with only his bones.

    All these images ovepped in my mind as I chose to focus on whatever I desired, whichever I needed. The turth of the world wasid bare in front of my eyes.

    <strong><i>*Cling!!*</i></strong>

    <strong><i>*Cling!!*</i></strong>

    With each attack exchanged, Giyu realized just how futile it was to fight me in a sword match. I blocked high-levelbinations with a simple stroke of my de.

    There is always a pattern in how people move. It''s ingrained in their body as much as memories were ingrained in their brain. I saw every action Giyu had taken and every movement he trained to take. It was written on his body, on the shape of his muscles, on the size of his tendons.

    The situation was even worse for Giyu because I had seen him fight on multiple asions. His fighting style was like a song to me, one I could follow and sing along with.

    At each passing moment, I was always five steps ahead.

    <i>"Water Breathing : Seventh Form." </i>

    Giyu stopped his futile efforts and prompted to a breathing style. He breathed in quick session and changed the grip on his sword.

    <strong>"Piercing Rain Drop."</strong>

    Out of all the breathing forms in Water Breathing, the seventh form was the fastest.

    Giyu took a single step forward and started stabbing from different ces. His arm turned into a snake and blurred as I saw the sharp end of the dee at me from different directions.

    Not only was it fast but it was based on the same concept as before. The sword came in a perfectly linear path, so you never knew when the sword got close to you or when it impaled you.

    Stabs rained on me like raindrops from the sky.

    The perfect counter was to step back and move out of range. I had the advantage when it came to reach since I had a long sword so it was the best option. But I did not take a single step back because I knew that was what Giyu wanted me to do.

    Like I said, five steps ahead. I know what he was nning, his bodynguage already told me.

    So instead, I nted my feet on the ground and held my position. The piercing de came from different ces as if Giyu suddenly grew twelve more arms. It was hypnotizing.

    Yet I did not try to dodge the iing attacks that promised to skewer me. I calmly pulled up my sword and everything just stopped.

    <strong><i>*Ting!!!*</i></strong>

    The tiniest tip of Giyu''s sword was blocked perfectly by the sharp edge of my de. It was an impossible conclusion since both had such a minuscule surface area but against all odds, they shed perfectly.

    I saw Giyu''s pupils dte in shock.

    This would not work if either of us didn''t have the perfect technique. Giyu''s perfect linear stab put all the force at the tip so I was able to stop him in an instant.

    We held the position for a while as Giyu knew the moment he pulled his sword back, I would take the opening to cut him. So he pushed forward instead.

    Sparks ignited and Giyu made the slightest change in the angle of his sword. That caused the perfect collision to copse and the stab came at me again. But I easily stopped it by twisting my sword and blocking it with the t side.

    More sparks came to life as the tip of his de grind against mine.

    Finally, Giyu leapt back and also used our sh to push himself.

    We both locked eyes and stayed still for a moment before Giyu nodded in acknowledgement of my skills.

    But then things changed as I felt the favour of the battle change in a single breath.

    A single breath that Giyu took.

    My eyes widen.

    <i>"Water Breathing : Eleventh Form."</i>

    He knew it was useless to engage in useless confrontations so he chose to move to the climax instantly. There was no built up, there was no warning. It just happened.

    ...

    A huge gush of water erupted from the ground Giyu was standing on and it spread in every direction. Suddenly, the ground became a raging ocean with violent waves surrounding us.

    I looked around, amazed and horrified at what this implied.

    I''ve never seen this before but I knew exactly what it was.

    And then the dreaded words fell.

    <strong>"Dead Calm."</strong>

    The waves under our feet stopped in an instant, reced by a still body of water. Everything grew quiet, even my deaf ears realized that.

    The moment stilled.

    I looked towards Giyu and my breath stopped.

    He was not there.

    I could see him but he was not there.

    What.

    the.

    Fuck.

    My eyes saw him, my vision did not change, I could see his lungs expand as he took in breaths. I could see his heartbeat as it pumped out blood and I could see how the air around him interacted with his physical body.

    Yet my mind was convinced that he was not there. It was convinced that he was not real.

    The bestparison was looking at a television. You could see the movement and everything else yet your mind knew that it was not real. If you saw a lion on the screen and even if the lion ran to you, you know it was not real so you won''t react.

    That was exactly what was happening. I saw Giyu but my mind deemed him to be an illusion.

    ...

    ...

    ''Selfless state.''

    It was a state of being that a person can achieve after acquiring thier demon yer mark. In this state, the userpletely erased their fighting spirit, their will to fight, hatred, anger, bloodlust, malevolence, drive and animosity. Once in this state, the user achieves the ultimate focus and tranquillity.

    Theirplete erasure of fighting spirit and emotions turned them into something akin to trees or nts themselves. It was extremely difficult to sense them.

    It was said to be only achievable after having a Demon yer Mark but Giyu was able to achieve the selfless state using the eleventh form which he created.

    "It''s over." said the image of Giyu as he came at me with such elegance and tranquillity that he did not appear moving at all.

    It was then that I noticed another aspect of the eleventh form.

    Laminar flow. It was a type of fluid flow where the liquid flowed smoothly without any disturbance and it did not look like it was moving at all. You can observe this phenomenon in water flowing out of a pipe or a tap.

    They were flowing but they flowed so smoothly that they looked like they were not moving at all.

    Giyu''s body moved in the same way. My eyes helped me see the movement but anyone else would not be able to see him through thier eyes. It would seem like they were cut by invisible des.

    How can one breathing form be so overpowered? I asked myself. It was almost like a domain expansion.

    Giyu finally reached me and swung his sword at me. My mind and my eyes shed. My eyes still told the truth but my mind refused to believe it.

    But atst, I was able to convince my body to move. I tilted my head to the side and Giyu''s sword - which was going to cut my cheek only made a small scratch.

    I lept away in an instant.

    Blood. I felt blood flowing from my cheek.

    What a strange feeling. I rarely bled.

    "You never fail to amaze me Seiji." Giyu said and without any hurry in his movement yet also without wasting any time, he ran towards me again.

    Usually, my eyes and my mind worked together in perfect synch. But this time, since my mind refused to acknowledge Giyu''s presence, there was ag in the connection.

    It was not much. It was only a few milliseconds but those moments of hesitance were vital in a battle like ours.

    I lept away again. And then again. And then again. I was running away basically.

    Giyu was as calm as ever. He was not frustrated, he was not angry, he was not anything. He was void of such things, he was literally like an object or a body of water.

    On the other hand, I felt myriad of emotions brewing inside me.

    I was going to lose.

    ..

    ..

    But then a sudden thirst to prove myself emerged in my heart. When Giyu was at his calmest, I found myself burning with passion and will.

    I suppose this was the me breathing side of me acting up.

    As Rengoku would put it, my heart was set aze.

    An idea struck me.

    I nted my feet on the ground and lowered my centre of gravity. I was done running away.

    My eyes observed Giyu''s serene self once more. He was running towards me like a perfect flowing water. I tired my best to predict his movement as far as I could. I based my prediction on his earlier attacks and on thenguage of his body.

    Then after the prediction was done...

    I closed my eyes.

    My greatest gift was gone. I found myself in a world of darkness and silence.

    In that darkness, the sh between my eyes and my mind was gone. In that darkness, i moved my body based on the prediction I''ve made.

    I attacked the future.

    <i>"Water Breathing : First Form."</i> I whispered.

    <strong>"Water Surface sh."</strong>

    This was it..

    <strong>Adapt. </strong>

    I swing my sword. I could not see but I attacked based on my prediction.

    Then I felt my sword cut through flesh and I knew I had seeded. I opened my eyes and red blood filled my vision.

    <strong><i>*Sinnngg~*</i></strong>

    Everything returned to normal.

    ..

    ..

    Eyes wide in shock, I looked at Giyu who also seemed just as surprised as me. But his expression quickly changed as he smiled softly.

    Then he fell on his back.

    "...."

    Did I just kill him?

    "Giyu!!" I yelled and immediately crouched down near him. I tore open his clothes to look at the cut I made on his chest.

    Luckily, it was not a deep cut. The sh did not even fully cut through the skin.

    I released a huge sigh. I acted on my prediction so it was a little off. I cut him a little deeper than I nned but he was still safe.

    "I''m so sorry. I got carried away." I apologized immediately.

    "It''s okay. I let my guard down thinking you wouldn''t be able to fight back." Giyu said.

    "I guess you won." he said and released a satisfied sigh. He looked like a boulder had been lifted off his shoulder.

    "Who the fuck cares, you are bleeding," I said and picked him up from the ground so that I could carry him back to the vige.

    "We are never doing that again. Never."

    ..

    ..

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    Author : So it''s double Chapter since I don''t like to leave my readers on cliff, especially on the same cliff twice.

    But for the price, you will not get Chapter tomorrow. (Stones can change mind)

    ...

    <strong>Read two weeks worth of advanced Chapter on my patreon!!</strong>

 Chapter 44: Fixing Giyu

    <h4>Chapter 44: Fixing Giyu</h4>

    Author : Double Chapter cause I''m so fucking nice.

    /////////////////

    [Seiji''s POV]

    We went back to the house again. After cleaning Giyu''s wound and determining that it did not need stitching, I wrapped bandages around his torso.

    Then I let him rest on the futon while I leaned on the wall and stood in the corner of the room.

    There was silence in the room until it was broken by Giyu. He started giving me the context I was asking for.

    "I never did pass the final selection," Giyu confessed.

    "There was a boy, his name a Sabito. His family got killed by demons the same as me and we grew up together under the guidance of Urokodaki. We quickly became friends and after years of training, we took the final selection together." he paused and his eyes became unfocused, as if he was looking back into the past.

    "I was weak. I was pathetic. I was immediately wounded by the first demon I encountered. On the other hand, Sabito was strong and he had a heart full of justice. He saved me and everyone else who participated in the final selection. In the end, everyone passed except Sabito himself. He died that day."

    "You see, I passed out immediately after my first encounter and Sabito had to protect me throughout the week. In the end, that cost him his life. Although I survived for seven days in the mountain and therefore passed the exam, I didn''t kill a single demon. So could you really say I passed? "

    "...." I did notment and simply stared at his figure and the vulnerability of his eyes.

    "It should''ve been me who died that day. Someone like me isn''t worthy of being the Water Hashira. I don''t even deserve to stand next to the likes of you and the other Hashiras."

    They were heavy wordsing from him - someone I considered to be one of the best Hashira. It was sad how much people could hide inside themselves.

    Giyu truly believed that it would''ve been better for the world if he was the one who died that day. He felt like he robbed the world of a genius like Sabito who could truly make a difference due to his weakness.

    He also developed an inferiorityplex since that day.

    The reason why he trained so hard and why he never stopped working was topensate the world for the lives he had stolen. He tried to fill in the imaginary status of Sabito who he truly believed would''ve been a greater man if he was still alive.

    "So you see, Seiji. I want you to take the mantle of the Water Hashira." he said and a single tear fell from his eye. It made my heart ache that the first emotion I saw took over his face was not joy but raw sadness.

    "I don''t deserve it."

    ...

    ...

    Bullshit.

    If what I knew from my past life and what I''ve seen in the past two weeks were anything to go by, there was no one else more deserving of the title.

    But he didn''t believe that. What can I do to conceive him?

    I racked my brain, trying to remember what Tanjiro said when he experienced the same moment. I clearly remember him saying something to Giyu that ultimately resolved everything.

    It was just one phase. But that was enough to remind Giyu of what was important and move forward from the past.

    What was it?

    "Life is all about moving forward." I said suddenly.

    "...." Giyu looked at me in confusion, "..what?"

    Shit, that was not it.

    "I will answer your questionter but first, tell me if these lines remind you of anything or give you shbacks."

    That was what happened in the anime. Tanjiro said something to Giyu which reminded him of what Sabito said to him in the past. Then poof, things were resolved.

    The only problem was that I can''t remember what Tanjiro said.

    "Pain is a wound, and wounds heal."

    "....."

    Nope. How about this...

    "To ovee tribtions is to be stronger. "

    "..."

    Still no?

    "It''s not about the people we lost but the people we save."

    "....."

    "The deaths of ourrades have meanings because we the living refuse to forget them."

    "...."

    "The ones who die have no regrets because they entrust their will to the living."

    .. Nope that''s from attack on titan.

    "What are you doing really, Seiji?" Giyu finally asked.

    Goddanm it. I can''t remember the damn line.

    Forget it, I''ll just say what''s on my mind.

    ...

    "I''m saying that no one gives a shit about your sad story except you." I said. Was that too harsh?

    Giyu had a visible reaction as he recoiled back. Yeah, I could imagine it was not a reply you would expect after pouring your heart out to someone.

    But it must be said.

    "Do you know you are the only one who cares? Do you think Sabito would ever regret sacrificing his life for you? How can you be so selfish."

    "Sabito gave his life for you because you are worthy, Tomioka. He entrusted everything to you and it is your duty to live on and pass down thier will and memory. You can''t just escape their trust and brood about how unworthy you are. You have to live strong for them and cherish the life they sacrificed themselves for."

    There, I said it.

    I saw his eyes go wide and his hand came to hold his cheek. I was uncertain whether or not what I said was good or bad.

    But the silence was too awkward so I decided to give him some alone time.

    "I''ll make dinner." I said and went out of the room.

    ..

    ..

    ////////////////////

    [3rd POV]

    <strong><i>*p!*</i></strong>

    "Don''t you ever say that you should''ve died again! The next time you say something like that, we are through. How can you even say something so selfish?"

    The stinging pain from the p Sabito gave him, Giyu could still remember it so vividly to this day.

    "Your sister knew what she was doing when she sacrificed her life to save you. So don''t you ever insult her choice or her memory again by saying something like that. You have to keep living, and pass on the future your sister gave you."

    That was a conversation he had with Sabito a long time ago and what Seiji said reminded him of it.

    ''How can I forget something like that when it was so important?''

    "I''m sorry Sabito. I''m sorry big sister Tsutako. Forgive me." Giyu said with tears falling from his eyes.

    It took two friends to get that idea inside his thick skull. But now he knows.

    It didn''t matter what he felt because this was bigger than himself. Even if he thinks he is unworthy, he must keep on fighting for them and pass down a better future just as they did for him.

    He owned them that.

    He wanted to quit being a Hashira just because he was feeling bad about himself? Oh how truly selfish he was.

    Now he knew better.

    ''Thank you, Seiji, thank you Sabito.''

    ''For being my friend.''

    ..

    The next morning, thier journey together came to an end. Giyu''s Kasugai crow flew around in the sky and informed him about his next mission.

    "Giyu Tomioka! You are to hold an investigation in the vige of Kamatsuka! Kaw!! Kaw!! Giyu Tomioka! You are to hold an investigation in the vige of Kamatsuka! Kaw!! Kaw!!"

    "Thank you for what you said yesterday. I couldn''t even put it into words how much it meant to me." Giyu said with a bow.

    "It''s okay dude, I''m d I could help." Seiji said with a t voice that sounded exactly like someone who had not heard thier voice in a long time.

    There was no emotion in his voice. It was only a cheap imitation of the contraction of the throat box.

    Giyu smiled softly and gazed at the purple eyes of Seiji. He didn''t like those eyes at first solely because it felt like they could see through everything but now he gazed upon them fondly. It was one of the only ways tomunicate with his friends. He had to make sure those eyes were looking at him before he spoke.

    "Farewell then, until we meet again."

    "Until we meet again, Water Hashira." Seiji added kindly and this time, Giyu did not feel any insecurity because he had finally epted the title.

    The Water Hashira.

    ''That''s me.'' he thought to himself.

    And then they separated. They wererades fighting for the same cause but their respective journeys led them to different paths.

    Giyu felt lighter than ever as he ran through the forests. Because for the first time in his life, he did not hate himself.

    And he swung his sword, not for the sake ofpensating but with a purpose.

    All of which were possible only because of a certain purple-haired, purple-eyed, deaf boy.

    ..

    ..

    ..

    [IMAGE]

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    Author : Time skip starts from the next Chapter. As you all have voted, it willst around 5 Chapters with some details about what happened in those time skips.

    Thanks for reading.

 Chapter 45: Time skip (1)

    <h4>Chapter 45: Time skip (1)</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    (1 month passed)

    My journey continued after I separated from Giyu. It was weird at first - not having apanion in my missions - but Raven made sure I was never lonely.

    What I did while I was on missions was training Water Breathing like crazy. I wanted to master it to perfection like Giyu does since it was a style that best suited my fighting style.

    I mostly used Water Breathing while I slew demons as well and with each passing day, I was getting better and better.

    During this time, I also ran into Rengoku again much to my absolute joy. He was as high-spirited as thest time I''d seen him and he was incredibly to see me too.

    He congratted me on my quick ascension to the rank of Hashira and expressed his admiration. My eyes saw not a hint of envy or jealousy on his face even though he clearly wanted to climb the rank as well, which made me like him more.

    Rengoku himself was making progress in climbing the ranks as he had be ''Kanoe'' rank. My eyes could see that he was getting stronger than thest time we met as well.

    We grabbed food and drink and spent the whole day chatting. We shared stories of our travels and he was especially curious about how I climbed the rank so quickly and how his father was during Hashira meetings.

    He also has had many adventures that have made him grow in both strength and character. I was d he had a rtively safe time but I also warned him about the strength of the Lower Moons and although I knew he wouldn''t take the advice, I told him to prioritize his safety if he encountered one.

    He simplyughed and did not promise anything.

    We stuck together for as long as we could and we trained a lot together. I helped him refine his sword skills and he shared his unwavering motivation with me. I was d to have met my friend again.

    In the end, we parted ways and nned to keep in touch using our Kusagai crows to send letters.

    Other than meeting Rengoku, nothing significant happened during the month.

    ..

    ////////////////

    (2 monthter)

    A Hashira meeting was called and every pir gathered in the headquarters. No one waste or absent.

    I had never attended a Hashira meeting before so I was quite excited at the prospect. The meeting basically consists of briefings and statistical reports.

    Each Hashira shared their experience in their missions and every significant encounter they have had. Some of them were,

    1. Shinjuro encountered a lower moon but it managed to escape before he could y it.

    2. Kanae reported about a demon that had a rather troublesome blood demon art, spreading diseases. She brought up the importance of medicine and vines in the Demon Salyer Corp and asked Ubuyashiki to give her resources to improve the medical teams of the Flower Mansion.

    3. Gyomei brought up an issue of the increasing groups of demons. With the emergence of four Hashiras - Kanae, Giyu, Sanemi and me - the demons were being hunted more than ever and they resorted to living more in groupspared to the past years. He said this could be dangerous for the lower rank demon yers so he proposed the idea of more group missions instead of individual missions for thier safety.

    Other than these three, the rest of the Hashiras did not have important things to share.

    Then we went over the statistics. There were a total of 21 deaths in the Demon yer Corps which was a massive loss for just three months. There had been an increase in the death rates and the cause could be directly traced back to what Gyomei had said.

    There was also a report on all of the demons yed by the Hashiras and the amount of missionspleted. Suffice it to say, I was the one with the most missionspleted while Sanemi was the one with the most kill count.

    The moment that was revealed, I immediately felt a spark of rivalry with Sanemi. We both had the advantage, he had his special blood which can attract demons and I had my eyes which allowed me to easilyplete missions by locating demons.

    Then Ubuyashiki gave us a briefing on the activities of the demon. He showed us a map with all of the demon sightings and we traced thier movement. It was there that each of the Hashira was assigned territories which we needed to keep an eye on. Plus, any lower-rank demon yers who need assistance in that area will call upon us for help.

    I was assigned the eastern regions as they had the most viges.

    Many other minor things were also discussed in the meeting and the whole thing took nearly a day.

    ..

    ///////////////

    [1 monthter]

    I returned to the Flower Mansion for this month''s break. Shinobu was in the mansion much to my delight and funnily enough, she was still not a demon yer yet as she missed thetest final selection.

    "How''ve you been Shibi?" I asked as her face lit up upon seeing me.

    "I''ve been well." she said with a barely restraint voice. She immediately grabbed my hand after that and pulled me inside.

    "Why did you not visit again sooner? Come on, I have many things to show you!!" she said excitedly.

    Apparently, she had been making great progress in her research of Demon poison. She said it was all due to my advice that she even thought of developing it.

    Then there was also her sword, which she had modified by chipping off almost the entire body of the edges, leaving only the sharp tip.

    She immediately asked me for a spar which I entertained. She asked me my opinion on her newly created fighting style which heavily relied on stabbing and she shared her vision with me. She would have a personalised sword that would allow her to apply poison to her de.

    She had lots of ideas. Just coating the sword with poison would not work as that would be almost useless and would chase away the demons with the smell of wisteria. So she had to be creative in its design.

    A sword whose tip acted as a syringe, a sword with storage for poison at the tip, and a sword that had a small pipe running along the body were some of the ideas she had.

    I also proposed some ideas like using a rapier, hoping to give her some inspiration.

    So for the next two days, we spent time together on such matters. We would also go out at night, just the two of us, under the moon.

    It would''ve been romantic if not for our reason for going out. To haunt and experiment on demons.

    To test her poison, we haunted demons together and used them asb rats.

    I spent all four days of my break doing such things before I had to leave again.

    ..

    /////////////////

    [2 monthster]

    I spent this time mastering my breathing styles. I felt like I had perfected Water Breathing so I began trying to learn the eleventh form of Water Breathing.

    For a whole two months, there was absolutely no progress in learning the eleventh form but I did not give up. I never expected learning such an overpowered skill to be easy anyway.

    I could perfectly replicate theminar flow and the breathing patterns but what I struggled with was achieving the selfless state. It was almost impossible to bear no hatred, animosity or hostility when fighting against demons.

    It was clear that I would need to face some traumas and fix myself mentally to learn the form but I believe I could find a loophole with the help of my eyes. There had to be some tricks other than having to stop myself from hating the demons.

    Because honestly, I don''t think I will ever not hate them.

    I visited Rengoku and Giyu during this time to have bro moments but other than that, it was filled with missions, training my breathing styles and trying to learn the eleventh form of Water Breathing.

    ..

    ..

    In no time, a total of 6 months have passed.

    .

    .

    .

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    Is it boring?

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 Chapter 46: Time skip (2)

    <h4>Chapter 46: Time skip (2)</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    (1 monthter)

    "Come on~ Literally what else can you do?" I asked as I followed behind the Wind Hashira as he angrily walked along the dirt road.

    "Anything other than what you want me to do!!" he seethed by himself as he took huge, forceful steps which were a contrast to all the elegant and probably soundless steps that other Hashrias usually take.

    "Why wouldn''t you just teach me? You have no excuse, lil bro."

    "How about this, it''s because you''re not worthy all right, How about that?" He said, "And don''t call me lil bro!! "

    "Trust me, that doesn''t sound as cool as it sounds in your head. You lost to me, remember?" I said and I could see him visibly vibrate as he marched forward, faster.

    "Speaking of which, don''t you remember the bet we made before our fight? The loser does whatever the winner says." I said and he paused.

    Then turned towards me, "Don''t fucking try to gaslight me, you little twerp!!"

    I sighed and whispered to myself, "...if you''re already this dumb, why aren''t you just dumb all the way?"

    "I fucking heard that!! Ahragahitttahhh!!!" he stomped his feet three times before turning back and walking towards our destination again with quick steps.

    He couldn''t do anything. Because right now, under the order of Lord Ubuyashiki, we werepanions on the same mission.

    I did not know if it was luck or if it was the meticulous n of some higher being but I was paired with Sanemi just when I needed. I had gotten extremely good at using all of the other breathing styles I knew except Wind Breathing so I wanted to improve on that.

    I had copied Wind Breathing from Sanemi during our fight but those were only two forms - the first form and the fourth form - along with the conceptual pattern of Wind Breathing and constant breathing.

    But there were still more than half that I needed to learn.

    It has been nearly a day since we met up but I still could not convince him to teach me Wind Breathing. We were on a mission so I didn''t expect him to slow down just to teach me but he could talk about the concept and show me the different forms now and then and it would be enough for me.

    Then we would use the demons we encountered as training dummies and I would learn the breathing style in no time. At least that''s how I learned from Giyu.

    But no, Sanemi refused to even entertain the idea.

    I would convince him eventually though.

    We continued our journey to the first destination of our mission and we reached it the next morning, around three hours away from sunrise.

    Our destination this whole time was the location of groups of demons found by one of the lower ranks.

    We cleared the hideout of demons during the three hours before sunrise but unfortunately, we were unable to y all of them as some sessfully escaped us.

    After that, we ate and rested the entire morning before we continued our journey atte noon.

    The mission we were assigned was a longsting one. It was basically to clear all of the demon hideouts that had been located so far, both by the scouts and by the lower ranks.

    The mission was assigned to us because we were both known for our ability toplete missions quickly and this particr mission needed to bepleted as quickly as possible to avoid more deaths.

    Also, it was because Sanemi knew Wind Breathing which was incredible against groups of demons and so did I, at least I was decent in Wind Breathing.

    The mission was expected tost for a few weeks at least if not a month.

    "You have to teach me Wind Breathing. It is vital for our mission and it will allow us to y all of the demons next time. This is no time to feed your ego, if I learn it, it will only be the benefit of the Demon yer Corps as a whole." I said, still following behind him because he refused to walk side by side with me.

    I think he considered walking side by side to be a show of kinship and equality, you know ''We are walk together, shoulder to shoulder'' kind of thing.

    So far, he was only letting me walk behind him.

    "You are deaf so you never heard your own voice but let me tell you, your voice is annoying as hell!! So stop talking before you piss me off!!" I saw him say by looking at the contraction of his throat.

    Well, he looks pretty pissed off already. So I refuse to stop.

    "Come on, put away your pride and I will put away mine." I said and paused a short while before saying again.

    "Please, teach me."

    "....."

    "....."

    And....he walked off.

    Honestly, how troublesome.

    "Just to let you know, I can also teach you a lot about swordsmanship because currently, your skills are shit." I said. His skills were shittier than even the weakest Hashira because most of his demon-ying life, he used different means to y demons.

    I think I''ve read somewhere that Sanemi was ying demons since before he even knew about the nichirin des of the Demon yer Corps. He would use a variety of weapons and traps to y them.

    "I don''t need to learn anything from you." was his cold reply.

    ..

    ..

    In the end, I never was able to convince Sanemi to teach me.....at least that''s what he wanted me to think to save his own stupid pride.

    But in reality, I convinced him!! He never verbally epted but that same night, he lured demons towards us using his blood and he slew every demon that appeared with breathing forms, regardless of how weak they were.

    Normally, it would only take a simple sh to kill them but he used his breathing forms to y them. And not just one form either but multiple forms of the Wind Breathing.

    He never epted it but I could see that he was giving me the chance to copy him. He knew I could copy him since I used the forms I knew to clear the first hideoutst time.

    So in the end, Sanemi became my teacher without ever bing my teacher.

    Honestly, what a fucking tsundere.

    ..

    /////////////////////////

    (1 monthter)

    A month was more than enough for me to fully learn Wind Breathing. There were lots of demons to practice on and I used mostly Wind Breathing during our mission.

    I think I managed to form a unique bond with Sanemi during this time.

    "Oh fucking finally! The mission finally ends!! That means no more sassy weird-eyed boy following me around like a shadow!" Eh, maybe not.

    Sanemi cheered as we walked away from the demon hideout. It was thest of our mission. It took us a month since more locations were discovered during the mission but we finally destroyed every known hideout.

    "I''ll miss you too buddy."

    "Deaf boy, that''s not what I said," he said while ring at me.

    We were walking side by side.

    You may already notice but he was a lot tamer than a month ago. Our rtionship grew in a weird way I never expected. I didn''t know if we could be called friends or not but...

    "I think he loves me now."

    "Don''t make me kill you right at the end." he said, his re intensified.

    Oops, but not really. I meant to say that out loud.

    Well, maybe he was yet to fall in love with me but at least he was tolerating me now. I think that''s the most you could get from a tsundere like Sanemi.

    "Let''s go get some spicy ramen to celebrate." I said, knowing full well Sanemi could not do spice at all. He may be hot-headed but he had weakness to hot food.

    "I''m not hungry." he said, refusing to admit that he couldn''t do spicy food.

    "You mean, you can''t eat spicy food?"

    "That''s not what I said!! How do you keep mishearing what I said when you are deaf!!" He yelled.

    "Oh, don''t worry. Then let''s go get red bean mochi and other sweet foods. I don''t like it but you can eat all of them like a little girl." I said.

    Interesting fact, Sanemi has a sweet tooth and his favourite food was red bean mochi. He also liked ohagi (rice ball with red bean paste) and other sweet food.

    But such was the pride of the Wind Hashria that just because Ipared liking sweet food to being a little girl, he would never eat them in my presence

    "Fine!! Let''s go get spicy ramen." he said and walked forward to lead the way, trying to act enthusiastic and pretend that he was not weak against spice.

    Heh, I''m cruel, aren''t I?

    Well, I never imed to be perfect. Seeing him force-eating spicy food was such an entertaining sight that I couldn''t miss it in this world with limited entertainment.

    Hmm, to be nice. I will grab a few red bean-paste rice balls for him.

    ..

    ..

    In a blink of an eye, two months passed,

    ..

    ..

    [Awesome Image]

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Author : This Chapter is a two-month time skip. That means 1 year and 4 months worth of Timskip still remains.

 Chapter 47: Time skip (3)

    <h4>Chapter 47: Time skip (3)</h4>

    Author : Double Chapter.

    /////////

    [Seiji''s POV]

    (1 monthter)

    I went to the Flower Mansion to take a break and to have a medical check-up. While going on missions, I never sustained an injury other than asional overexertion or muscle fatigue, so this medical check-up was for my general health than anything.

    Other than my high blood pressure, there was nothing wrong with my health. Though Kanae told me to get more sleep as I was going through puberty.

    Speaking of puberty, it was finally in full force and what can I say except, it was weird as fuck.

    The most noteworthy change in my body was regarding my dick. Yes, you heard that right, my dick. What was noteworthy exactly you ask? Well...

    My dick was ginormous.

    I think.

    At least it was the biggest it had ever been in both of my lives. I thought it wouldn''t be that big, maybe even smaller than in my past life, because Japanese or Asians in general were not known to have huge cocks. At least that''s what I''ve heard.

    But I was genuinely surprised. I wouldn''t share the exact measurement because that''s only for my future wife to know but know that your boy was blessed in this regard.

    I personally thought it was really cool.

    Another thing worth mentioning was my explosion in height. I was 5''5 feet less than a year ago but today, I stood proudly at 5''9 feet. I was already taller than most people here.

    My eyes allowed me to follow the changes in my body in detail so although I couldn''t hear it, my voice got deeper along with the growth of myrynx.

    But much to my dismay, I have been having no luck in growing my hair. I couldn''t grow a moustache for the life of me so my dream of having a small beard like a goatee seemed to be moving further and further away.

    Yet I was only close to 15, so I still had hope.

    My growth also came with an increase in strength. With the right diet and careful/scientific exercise with the help of my eyes, I was growing the perfect muscles.

    And I think that''s where the positive ends. Puberty was a first for me even including my past life but everything went well. It was messy in many regards, wet dreams are a pain, hormone imbnce was a bitch and e made me want to cut my face.

    But all in all, I was managing nicely.

    I just couldn''t wait to grow my hair.

    I spent nearly a week in the Flower Mansion and this time, Shinobu was sadly not around most of the time.

    I just spent the days helping Kanae and constantly refusing her proposal for a spar and teaching me Flower Breathing.

    Please Kanae, I respect you.

    ...

    //////////////////

    (1 monthter)

    I finally mastered Wind Breathing as much as I could. Like I said before, Wind Breathing was simr to Thunder Breathing in the sense that they were opposite to my fighting style so mastering it took a while.

    During this month, I finally had the privilege of visiting the Swordsmith vige. I was blindfolded and guided - not carried - by a female scout from the Demon yer Corp.

    For the record, the blindfold did absolutely nothing as I used my eyes to see through it. Therefore, I knew exactly where the Swordsmith Vige was located.

    Travelling took a day through terrible terrains and ces not essible to normal humans but in the end, we reached the ce without a problem.

    The Swordsmith vige was located between tall mountains which were all somehow surrounded by Wisteria trees but in a way that did not make it obvious. There were also heavy guards starting from about 10 kilometres away from the vige.

    It was located near ake from which the vigers fish and ess water.

    When I came into the vige, I immediately visited my old man Hatori and he was extremely d to see me. He immediately asked me if I hade to retrieve the katana I gave him but Iughed and told him no.

    Hatori repaired any ws in my Odachi and praised me for my ability to maintain the sword. He weed me as a guest and we finally had time to have proper conversations during this time.

    At one point, I brought up my idea of having a bow and arrow and we went on a long discussion about it. How would a bow and arrow help me?

    At first, it might seem like apletely ridiculous proposal since demons required beheading to kill them fully. But with the poison Shinobu was developing, it would be more than possible to kill a demon with an arrow.

    But still, the cons might outweigh the pros.

    The only thing I knew was I definitely could kill weaker demons from kilometres away without having to run to them one after another. It can also be helpful when dealing with demons who have the ability to escape by teleporting a certain distance, like Gyyoko upper moon five.

    Also, there were times when I failed to reach demons before they killed civilians. In those times, I wish I could have some form of projectile attack.

    I spent a total of three days in the Swordsmith vige. I used the time to rest and enjoy the hot springs. I also picked up some smithing skills with my absolutely broken eyes.

    My eyes were helpful in making swords as well and I could see the best metals and also find out parts that contain impurities and adjust wrong alignments.

    All in all, my visit to the Swordsmith vige was productive and the time was well spent.

    ...

    ////////////////

    (2 monthster)

    A Hashira meeting was called again and everyone else attended like usual except for Shinjuro. The reasons for his absence were unknown but the other Hashrias were clearly upset.

    But the meetingmenced like usual. It started with a statistical report where it was said that we lost a total of only 12 members of the Demon yer Corps.

    Ubuyashiki thanked us and said it was all of our hard work that his children were safe. I and the others could not help but feel a sense of pride. We had much to improve upon but it was great knowing that we were making progress.

    They also released the performance of the Hashiras again with me being the one with the mostpleted missions and Gyomei having the most kill counts this time. Suffice it to say, Sanemi was pissed that he was not on top.

    There was also a sharing among the Hashiras again about their encounters as they reported things that they thought were important. I usually remained silent during this time because I stillcked the insight they had.

    Killing demons andpleting missions were what I was good at. Strategic thinking and proposing ideas to improve the organisation as a whole were things I was really not good at. You can''t be good at everything I guess.

    One interesting thing discussed during the meeting was the end of ''Demon Tribes''.

    Yeah, the year when demons got together into different groups as a new survival strategy to counter the emergence of multiple Hashiras was called the year of demonic tribes.

    And it has finallye to an end. The demons realized that working together was not helping them, instead, it allowed us to y them easier as they gathered in one ce. So they stopped.

    The sighting of demons in groups plummeted and we decided to allow more individual missions to the lower ranks again.

    Also, another lower moon had fallen at the might of Gyomei, the Stone Hashria. Ubuyashiki expressed his gratitude to the strongest Demon yer.

    With all of those and some more, the meeting came to an end.

    ..

    ...

    ...

    Four months have passed.

    [IMAGE]

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Auhtor : 1 year timeskip left to go. I will finish them in two Chapters.

 Chapter 48: Time skip (4)

    <h4>Chapter 48: Time skip (4)</h4>

    [Seiji''s POv]

    [2 month passed]

    I have deemed it to be impossible for me to learn the eleventh form of Water Breathing. I did everything correctly, I followed the right breathing pattern, and I could perfectly imitate Giyu''s movement.

    But what I could not copy was his selfless state. I did not know how he did it, but it was impossible for me topletely erase my fighting spirit.

    There had to be at least something in you while fighting, it could be hate, it could be excitement, hostility, fear or any other emotions. It was impossible to not feel anything, at least that''s what I think.

    If you did not feel anything, what was even the point of fighting altogether? What makes you move against the enemy? How could you harm something without at least feeling anything?

    It was psychopathic behaviour.

    Eventually, I came to the conclusion that Giyu was able to fight even after erasing all his fighting spirit due to his immense sense of duty. It was a sense of duty that came from his traumas.

    It made him move and get the job done even when he was not feeling anything, like a robot that was programmed toplete a task no matter what.

    <strong>''Dead Calm.''</strong>

    That was the name of the form. I guess I had to ept that I was not the only one who was incredibly special. Giyu had something in him that I could not replicate even with my eyes and all my genius.

    Hopefully, though, I will be able to achieve the selfless state normally if I ever awaken my Demon yer mark.

    Just for the record, I had absolutely no intention of ever awakening my Demon yer mark. The reason was pretty obvious, I didn''t want to die at the young age of 25.

    So that meant I had to be significantly stronger than the rest. I would have no unreasonable powerup in the middle of the fight so I always had to be superior to my enemies.

    The training continued. My swordsmanship was impable but there were always new ways to improve.

    I changed my training style a bit and focused on one breathing style for a week, and then I focused on another in the second week and so on.

    Demons were never-ending. You truly realized that when you were ughtering them every single day.

    It really did not matter how much we kill, they would always multiply. To stop this war, we need to kill the demons from the root which was Muzan Kibutsuji.

    Then again, that seemed even more impossible.

    So I trained and train and train and train. I got stronger and stronger and stronger. My techniques got more and more refined, and my skills increased day by day.

    My experience stacked up to build me up as a warrior. Each error and mistake shaped me to be a killing machine as pain moulded me into the bane of demons.

    Not only that, I was also naturally growing stronger as I aged. I was certain that I was easily the second strongest Hashria by now, only below Gyomei because he was just built differently.

    As I grew taller, I stopped strapping my sword on my back. Instead, I constantly carried my sword in one hand. This helped me draw my de faster and also provided me with a non-lethal weapon as I used my sheathed sword as a blunt weapon.

    I gained the habit after I had to carry supplies on my back. Then I realised it was much better when I was constantly carrying my sword, sheathed or not, instead of strapping then on my back.

    So most of the time, you would see me carrying a long-ass sword in one hand, sometimes using it as a cane as I hunt down demons.

    ..

    //////////////////

    [1 month passed]

    I took it easy during this month. I spent the time travelling across Japan, constantly keeping an eye out for that one home in the forest where Tanjiro lived but still, no sess.

    I visited Rengoku in his home again and I spent some time there.

    We trained together and I also learned that Shinjuro''s depression was getting worse. He was officially a bum, a shameful shell of his former glory. All he cared about these days wereining and drinking wine, just like how he was portrayed in the anime.

    He barelypleted missions and refused to attend Hashira meetings.

    It was honestly a sad sight to see. I was considering asking him for a spar or at least asking for teachings to improve my me Breathing but as he was now, it was not possible.

    He refused to even teach his own son, telling him that he would never be as good as people like me no matter how hard Rengoku trained.

    I stayed with Rengoku for a few days. We trained together and cooked giant meals which we enjoyed after each training session. I also got to meet his cute little brother who thought I was literally the coolest guy ever.

    Hahaha, it was nice to have a young admirer. They were so innocent. It made me want to be better to not disappoint them.

    After leaving, I visited Giyu and then Sanemi. I ended up helping them in thier missions as well and asking both of them to spar with me.

    Of course, we only used thier respective breathing styles while sparring and in the end, I won both sparring sessions. Rather easily.

    I spent one whole month doing such things.

    ...

    /////////////////

    [1 monthter]

    "Gyomei Himejima, please take me under your wings." I said and did a 90-degree bow to probably the only human stronger than me.

    I''ve learned me Breathing, Thunder Breathing, Water Breathing and Wind Breathing. Now it was finally time to learn thest breathing out of the five major breathing styles which was also known as the strongest breathing style.

    If I was Thanos collecting the infinity stones, this would be the final stone.

    "I''ll be honoured, Seiji." Gyomei replied as a small stream of tears fell from his eyes.

    So, that''s it? I asked myself. It was easier than I thought.

    I was expecting some challenge like Sanemi but I didn''t know Gyomei was chill like that. Nevertheless, I smiled and thanked him.

    I had been dying learning Stone Breathing because I wanted to grow physically first so that I couldplete the training Gyomei would give me. But now I have grown enough.

    Standing at the height of 5''10 feet, my body was filled withpact muscles that made sure that I was no longer inferior to any of the Hashrias in terms of strength.

    "Take care of me." I said with a nod.

    "Same to you." Gyomei replied.

    And so, my training in Stone Breathing began as I went under the wings of Gyomei Himejima.

    ...

    /////////////////////

    [2 monthster]

    Water Breathing taught me to be formless and shapeless like water. Adapt to your enemy and find a way through them, whether it be flowing over them, around them, or under them.

    But then Stone Breathing''s like, Nah.

    Stone Breathing taught me to stay true to myself and never falter. I was not meant to change or adapt to my enemies, instead, I should crush them all with unyielding force.

    Be an unstoppable force and an immovable object.

    I could notprehend for the life of me how these two breathing styles even derived from the same Breathing.

    Stone breathing emphasised strength and endurance. But unlike Thunder breathing or Wind Breathing, it did not focus on bursts of stregth instead, it focused on continuous application of strength.

    It also emphasised on momentum - that is, utilizing the momentum of each strike so that as the battle went on, I would be stronger and stronger andst in a drawn-out battle. I should be like a boulder rolling down a mountain, gaining more force the longer I went on.

    The training started much like how it started for Tanjiro, I had to push a giant boulder - even bigger than Tanjiro''s - and learn to stay under a weight waterfall.

    The waterfall training was meant to build my endurance and also sharpen my persistence which was what Stone Breathing was all about.

    The boulder-pushing training was meant to teach me the concept of constant application of force. Basically, I did not have to have the burst of stregth to move the boulder. If I stayed persistent and applied force on the boulder, over time that would build up and naturally move the boulder.

    While pushing the boulder, I learned that it''s not about using a single burst of energy or power, but maintaining a steady and continuous exertion of force. This was akin to the idea of endurance and persistence��constantly applying pressure, rather than stopping and starting, ensures steady progress.

    This part of the training was the most tricky one and it took me nearly a month toplete them. But after that was done, the rest of the training was a breeze.

    There were no forms I could copy from Stone Breathing as it required the use of weapons other than a sword. But Gyomei took his time teaching me about the basic concept of Stone Breathing and also showed me examples of the forms that I could copy.

    He even referred to a Stone Hashira in the past who used a giant ymore to help me. In the end, other than the constant breathing of Stone Breathing, I had to recreate the forms to fit me.

    But with all my mastery over breathing styles as a whole, I was able to create forms for Stone Breathing pretty easily.

    After two months, I learned everything i could from Gyomei. Stone Breathing proved to be the hardest breathing style I''d ever learn.

    I think this one would take me years to fully master.

    But for now, I could say that I had learned all of the five major breathing styles.

    ..

    ..

    Hmm, the idea of beating Muzan Kibutsuji still felt as impossible as ever. I thought it be a little different after I learned all the breathing styles but nope.

    Well, like all the past MC''s before me had said,

    <strong>More power.</strong>

    Six months passed

    [IjoynE]

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Author : Bro, I''m binging Megumi Waifu Catalog ''Potential Man'' and haven''t written shit. I don''t think I will be able to do so until I finish all existing Chapters.

    It''s been a while since I found a fanfic that caught my whole attention like this so I just wanted to share my joy.

    500 stones and get another Chapter. The next will be thest time skip, I really want to get this over with and go straight to Mitsuri arc.

    <strong>Join my patreon to read two weeks ahead. </strong>

    <strong>Patreon : Emmanuel_Capricorn. </strong>

 Chapter 49: Time skip (5)

    <h4>Chapter 49: Time skip (5)</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    You know, I had been focusing on demons too much. I deemed them to be the vilest creatures in the world, the source of all evil.

    In the process, I had forgotten that humans could be just as evil if not more than demons. After all, every demon was once a human. So would it not be more correct to say...

    That humans were the source of evil?

    ...

    I was in a town located in the east. It was the ce where people from rural viges came to trade. It was the boiling point of the economy in this region.

    I watched as a little girl was dragged on a leash like a dog by a bald man. Her eyes were devoid of life. There was no sparkle of youth in her eyes although she was but a child.

    Her hair was messy and unkept, her body was small and malnutrition - she looked like she was seven even though my eyes told me she was eleven years old.

    My eyes saw everything. I saw all of the abuse the little child had endured till now. There were fractured bones that never fully healed and bruises that were still purple.

    Fuck, I did not want to describe it any more.

    I ran up to the man.

    "Hey, what do you think you are doing to the little girl." I asked, nicely. Not because of ack of anger but due to an overwhelming amount of it.

    Maybe it was something in my eyes that forced the truth out of him, or maybe it was because the drunk man couldn''t care less. But the man said.

    "She''s my ve, her parents sold her."

    A ve huh? At this age, there was still the practice of ves in the rural areas.

    "She''s not reacting to anything anymore, you see..." he said and his hand went across the child''s face with a loud smack.

    The girl''s head turned and her lips immediately started bleeding. But she did not even release the tiniest scream of pain.

    "She''s broken. I am going to sell her to the prostitution house."

    I did not move a single muscle and simply stared at the little girl. When he mentioned prostitution, I used my X-ray on the little girl again.

    The absence of her hymen made my already cold blood colder.

    I knelt down in front of the little girl. I stared at her light purple eyes which were eerily simr to mine.

    My eyes failed to read her. I could even read Giyu''s stoic face so that meant the girl was truly not feeling anything anymore. Like the guy said, she was broken.

    I untied the leash on her body and pushed her aside.

    "Hey!! What do you think you''re doing!!"

    ...and finally, something snaps.

    My sheathed sword found its way to the man''s jaw, disorienting him and dropping him to the ground. And then I started beating him in the most painful way possible.

    For the first time in my life, my eyes searched for the most painful ways I could harm a human. It was something I often did with demons but never on a human.

    I searched for soft tissues, ces where there were most nerves. I started destroying his body. I hit his thighs, I hit the soles of his foot, I crushed his testicles and beat at every possible ce where he wouldn''t pass out or die.

    The people around quickly formed a crowd around us as people who never bat an eye seeing an abused child started telling me to stop.

    But no one walked forward to stop me. I think its something about my eyes that made them freeze whenever they tried to approach.

    I looked at the humans around me as I would demons because, at that moment, I couldn''t tell the difference.

    Blood sttered, pieces of flesh flew off and bones cracked and protruded out of the skin. Yet the man was still conscious because I forced him to be.

    He squealed like a pig, incoherent because I had long since broken his jaw. I tortured him for as long as I could before I stopped.

    ...there was no longer a way I could torture him. If I continued, he would either no longer feel it or it would only free the man of his pain by killing him.

    I turned my head to look at the small girl who watched everything happen. I searched for an emotion, at least a small satisfaction or fear on her face but I found none. She was simply void.

    Then I looked around me, by now there were many people crowing around me, whispering to themselves. Were these really the people we were protecting against the demon? I don''t want to protect them.

    When I promised to take the title of Hashira and promised to protect the weak from demons, I did not mean to protect these people.

    I finally rest my eyes on the man grovelling on the ground again and I drew my de.

    "....."

    "....."

    I sheathed my de again. I took money from my pocket and threw most of it at his disfigured form.

    "Get well soon." I said.

    Because I''m going toe again. Death was too good for him.

    I grabbed the child by her hand and dragged her away from the town.

    ...

    //////////////////

    [2 monthster]

    For the next few days after I found her, I took care of the child. I dropped every mission I had and only focused on her.

    I cleaned her body, I tended to her wounds from the medical knowledge I''d learned from Shinobu and I fed her with all the foods she could eat.

    But even after days passed, the girl still remained broken. She was like a soulless flesh in the form of a girl. It would take time for her to heal from all that she''d been through.

    She also never did things without amand. She was moulded to act like a ve. Even if she was starving she wouldn''t eat until I said so. The same goes for sleeping, talking, going to the toilet etc. Unless I told her to, she wouldn''t do anything.

    She couldn''t decide anything for herself.

    I also learned many things about the girl in the past few days. Like for example, her name was Kanao and her parents sold her when she was only four years old.

    I made her retell everything that had happened to her so far. Luckily, she was not raped or sexually sold like I initially thought, her hymen probably broke during many of the beatings she had to endure.

    After caring for her for a few weeks and helping her in any way I could, I brought her to the Flower Mansion - the ce she rightfully belonged.

    If you didn''t know, she was Kanao, the student under Shinobu which we saw in the anime of Demon Salyer. She was also the love interest of the main character Tanjiro.

    She was meant to be found by Kanae but it seemed I encountered her first.

    I brought her to the Flower Mansion and entrusted her into the hands of the Kocho sisters. I was by no means someone who could take care of a child. I was constantly travelling and had no home, but the Flower Mansion always had either of the sisters due to thier job so they would be better at taking care of a child.

    So I decided to follow the canon and let her be raised by the Kocho sisters. It was for her own good.

    But when I was about to leave her, she ran up to me and grabbed my haori - just like she had done during the weeks I had been taking care of her.

    I looked at her and I saw that she did not want me to leave. It was the first emotion I saw on her face, the first thought I read off her, and itpletely melted me.

    So in the end, I stayed with her in the Flower Mansion for two months. I stayed with her until she wasfortable amongst the Kocho sisters.

    I was also able to teach her many things from then on. The progress was slow but the girl was healing, both in mind, spirit and body.

    Her small stature was slowly filled with healthy fats and muscle and after two months, she looked like a normal child.

    But after two months passed, I had to leave again. But this time, she had gotten along with the sisters and she felt safe with them.

    So I bid her farewell.

    And also, I ended up giving her myst name when we were creating documents for her.

    So she was Kanao Shigan.

    She ended up being my little sister I guess.

    (Consider it a small change. In the canon, Kanae gave her the name Kanao Kocho as the girl had no name)

    ...

    ...

    ///////////////////

    [4 monthster]

    The next four months were filled with constant training as I increased my mastery over every single breathing style.

    Not only that, but I also started creating new forms of breathing by mixing the breathing styles.

    Although some breathing styles could not be mixed due to their pr opposite nature, I was sessful in most of them.

    Technically, I was creating a new breathing style bybining them but I did not count it as such. I would develop my own breathing styleter on.

    I spent the months training, visiting the Flower Mansion and doing missions. A Hashira meeting was also called again and other than the fact that I was assigned a new territory, nothing significant happened.

    In the blink of an eye, time passed. And it had been a total of two years since I became a Hashira.

    Today, I turned 16 years old.

    At 16, I stood at 6 feet tall with a new air of maturity. Two years was a long time and I had grown in both body and character.

    Also, after developing new breathing forms which were a mix of two breathing styles, I was now the strongest among the Hashiras.

    It was not official yet but if my eyes were to be truthful, I was indeed the strongest.

    I think I grew well during these past two years.

    ...

    [IMAGE]

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Author: Finally, that''s the end of the time skip.

    I really wanted to explore the Kanao arc for a few Chapters but it would''ve just added useless content as her character would not have much significance in the plot. If you like to know more, I can add her POV that recounts what happened in a little detail.

    We will dive into mixed breathingter on.

    Also, note that the information given during the time skips is notplete. I may refer to something that happened in the past two years which are not mentioned in these time skip Chapters but know that just because they are not mentioned, doesn''t mean it did not happen.

    Thanks for reading.

 Chapter 50: 16th Birthday

    <h4>Chapter 50: 16th Birthday</h4>

    [3rd POV]

    (The Flower Mansion)

    "I spy with my little eyes, something dirty and in the air." Seiji said to the little girl sitting between his legs.

    A small smile tugged on his face as the little girl turned her head in search of what Seiji just described. It did not take long for the girl''s moving head to stop in one direction and she pointed at something flying in the air.

    It was a fly in the distance.

    "That is correct." Seiji said and rewarded the little girl by patting her head. Kanao melted in his touch and praise, her eyes sparkled with joy even though she did not know how to smile.

    They were sitting on the veranda of the Flower Mansion while gazing at the garden outside. The ce had quickly be thier favourite ce to hang out.

    "Now, next one." Seiji hummed and then looked around at the garden.

    "Oh, you need to do this one quickly. I spy with my little eye, something with six legs."

    Kanao''s purple eyes zed over in focus before she quickly spotted something that fit the description. She pointed towards it again.

    It was the ant on a falling leaf.

    "Correct again. Amazing, you have such good eyes Kanao." he praised her and she bit her tongue in joy. She wanted to smile but years of being hit for smiling made her body incapable.

    Kanae Kocho watched all of this from a distance. She did not even realise that she had been watching for nearly an hour now.

    At first, it was the insane disy of superior eyesight that attracted her attention. But it was the wholesome moment of bonding between Seiji and Kanao that made her stay.

    They were so cute together.

    It had been six months since Seiji hade to their doorstep and asked if they could take care of the little girl, exining to them how he met her and how she needed help. He said he was not qualified to take care of her and that they would be better for the job of raising her.

    But if what she was seeing was anything to go by, she''d say he was the perfect fit for the role. They looked like father and daughter, especially with thier simr eye colour and thier incredible eyesight.

    ''He''d make a great father.'' Kanae thought to herself with a fond smile.

    Seiji Shigan, he was just a child when she first met him. But in only two years, the boy had be a handsome young man, grown and reliable.

    Was it somon for boys to change this much after going through puberty? He was only a few months older than her younger sister but he was already someone she could depend on. She frequently asked for his help whenever she was facing troubles in her mission.

    Not only her but the other Hashrias as well. Seiji was the Hashria with the quickest mission session rate. For some reason, he preferred roaming around Japan instead of staying in his territory, so he was the main ally the other Hashiras would call using thier Kusagai crows if they ever needed an extra hand in thier mission.

    In just a few years that he had been in the Demon yer Corp, he had be the single most important factor in the organisation. Even more so than Gyomei, since it was not often that they needed such firepower.

    It was his incredible efficiency that set him apart.

    There was the Water Hashira, the Wind Hashira, the Stone Hashira, the me Hashira etc. But since Seiji had no singr breathing style, he was often simply referred to as Hashira no Hashira, or ''The Pir of Pirs''

    "Sis, you are staring again." A voice suddenly snapped Kanae out of her musing. She closed her eyes and her lips tugged a teasing smile before she turned back to look at Shinobu.

    "Was I? I didn''t realise. Seeing them both together is just too sweet." she said.

    "That''s the same excuse you usedst time. You stare at him even when he is alone." Shinobu said.

    "You know, you constantly tease me about how I am in love with Seiji but aren''t you actually the one who''s in love with him?" Shinobu said, quirking a grin.

    "Ufufufu, trying to tease me? That won''t work." Kanae said and flicked her little sister on the forehead.

    "Why are you here Shinobu? Is the preparation finished?" she asked.

    Shinbu rubbed her forehead and said, "Yes. We just need to do the finishing touches and you need to distract him for a bit before leading him to the hall."

    "Won''t be hard considering how he is naturally distracted by you." Shinobu pouted and looked at her chest which was still just a budding flower before looking at her sister''s chest which had already blossomed.

    Oh, Seiji had a preference alright. And he made it painfully obvious for everyone since his eyes were his everything.

    "I''ll do my best." Kanae said and they both walked towards Seiji.

    "Okay Kanao, enough ying with big brother, it''s time to study." Shinobu called out.

    Kanao looked up to ask for confirmation and after Seiji gave a nod, she robotically stood up and ran to Shinobu. There was no whining or protest that you''d often find in a girl her age.

    Her past made it so that she followed orders naturally.

    Shinobu grabbed Kanoa by the hand and they both walked away from the veranda, leaving only Seiji and Kanae together.

    She walked towards Seiji and she sat down beside him. She was a little too close, much to his fluster and her amusement.

    "Ummm, what brings you here Lady Kanae."

    "Nothing in particr, just wanted to enjoy the view in yourpany. Also, I told you not to call me Lady." she said, "I feel like it creates an invisible wall between us. We are close enough to drop the formality, are we not? Or was that just on my part." she slightly pushed her small shoulder on his bigger frame.

    "Of course Kanae. I feel close to you as well." he said, his face stone cold. He must believe that his face didn''t give away anything.

    But after two years of knowing him, Kanae could read him well. Although his face was stoic, his ears hidden between strands of purple hair were turning red at the tip when he spoke.

    That''s his way of blushing.

    She''d never told him about it because it was adorable when he thought he didn''t give away his true emotions.

    "Anyways, what do you think about the new flowers I nted in the garden?"

    "The camellias? They are beautiful."

    "Ohh, you know about them?"

    "A little, the camellia blooms in early spring and winter. They are said to be a symbol of elegance and love." Seiji said the few things he knew, maybe hoping it would impress the onee-san.

    Which he did.

    "Wow, I didn''t expect that. Usually, boys are absolutely clueless when ites to flowers."

    "Well, I am a self-proimed admirer of beauty so I know a lot about beautiful things, which most flowers are."

    "Really? Then do you know about those?" Kanae asked and pointed towards a flowerbed beside the pond.

    "Poeeny."

    ''Peony'' she corrected him in her mind.

    Another thing she found absolutely adorable was how he was unable to pronounce certain things. Most of which were words that rely on the tone to convey the meaning.

    Even with his eyes, his deafness still made him disabled in some ways.

    "You know them! They are very rare and I was lucky enough to get them from this one vige during my missionst year."

    The two of them sat together and chatted about the flowers in the garden for a few minutes. Kanae was d to find someone knowledgeable about flowers. Although Shinobu liked flowers, she was more interested in butterflies.

    "Oh, I nearly forgot. I have something to show you." Kanae said, her main objective nearly slipped her mind during the conversation.

    Seiji stood up first and offered his hand. She stared for a bit before she took it, her smaller hand perfectly fit in his bigger hand.

    Then with ease, he pulled her entire weight off the floor. She was caught off guard and stumbled forward to his chest.

    Once a smaller boy, now he stood at 6 feet, easily towering over her.

    She quickly turned around, "Follow me." she said, hiding the red in her cheeks.

    They both walked together to the hall and they paused when they reached the front door. Seiji tilted his head, wondering why they suddenly stopped.

    And then the door was mmed open.

    "Happy Birthday!!!"

    The hall was decorated with flowers and balloons. There was a giant cake in the middle and the people inside sang happy birthday in unison.

    All of the Hashiras had gathered today along with all of the friends Seiji had made so far, including Rengoku. The people working in the Mansions were also there along with people Seiji had saved in the past.

    It was not in Japanese culture to celebrate birthdays. But it was Seiji, affected by his past life culture, who started the trend of celebrating birthdays by wishing and giving gifts to his fellow Hashiras when it was thier birthday.

    And today, everyone decided to celebrate his birthday to return the favour. He just turned 16, which was the age of adulthood in samurai culture.

    "What a beautiful day this is." Gyomei said with tears falling from his white eyes and a big birthday cone on his head.

    "Happy Birthday Seiji." Giyu said with a smile.

    "Don''t misunderstand, Giyu forced me." was Sanemi''s excuse even though he was the one who blew all the balloons used to decorate the hall.

    "Let''s set our hearts aze in celebration!!" Rengoku said, standing beside his father who came because he was promised free wine.

    "Happy Birthday!!!" naturally, Tengen was the loudest of them all. Pretty sure he used his breathing style to make his voice even louder.

    Seiji stood there, frozen for a moment before a bright smile stretched across his face. He pushed away his desire to say, ''You guys were so fucking obvious. I saw iting from a mile away''.

    Instead, he gave them the appropriate reaction of surprise for thier effort.

    But the joy he felt in his heart could not have been truer.

    .

    .

    .

    [Pretty Image of Kanae]

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Author : I think I''ve cultivated really cute readers this time around, and I''m not saying that just because you guys didn''t 1 star spam thisbook like what happened to myst two books.

    I genuinely enjoy yourments. My favorite time is now reading the Chapter and seeing your paragraphments. You guys are funny.

    It might not seem like much but it''s a great motivation for me. I really enjoy them. I enjoy the funnyments, the pictures, the questions, and the arguments you have.

    Thanks for reading and please, keep up thements. The interaction is why webovel is still today, my favourite literaturemunity.

    ..

    Patreon : Emmanuel_Capricorn

 Chapter 51: Marriage?

    <h4>Chapter 51: Marriage?</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    So it''s been two months again since I turned 16. The Demon yer Corps decided to throw a huge party for my birthday since I was officially an adult in samurai culture. And if you didn''t know, demon yers were samurai who y demons.

    After my birthday, I immediately received a letter from Ubuyashiki, telling me that he was sorry to miss the birthday celebration. And in the same letter, he wrote that I could take a vacation for as long as I needed.

    I was confused at first because how the fuck did he know I was going to ask for a vacation?

    For those who had forgotten, let me refresh your memories. At the age of 16, I was finally permitted to im my inheritance! It was why I took the exams during the training arc remember?

    So I was nning to ask for a break so that I could settle the documents. But Ubuyashiki somehow knew it beforehand and granted me permission.

    Honestly, it was a little creepy.

    Anyway, it has been two months since then and I had finally settled everything. I was now the rightful owner of huge acres ofnd and every savings my brother and father - who were both high-ranking military officers - had was finally mine.

    I was filthy rich now. Well, I was rich before since being a Hashira andpleting as many missions as I did paid quite well.

    But now, I was not just rich, I was filthy rich.

    "Seiji, its time for breakfast!" I looked through the walls and saw my aunt call for me. In the next second, she realized how stupid she was for calling a deaf person and she came to my room.

    It has been two years, so of course that would slip her mind.

    She slid open the door to my room and said, "Its time for breakfast Seiji."

    "Coming." I said and got up. On the floor were beautiful paintings I had made just this morning alone.

    Could you have guessed that having special eyes and perfect movement allowed you to create masterpieces? I didn''t know it until I tried.

    I went out of my room and joined both my uncle and aunt on the table. We all ate the food while having a small conversation between eating.

    Things were just as it used to be.

    I had been staying with them for months now since, you know, anything involving the government officials took an extremely long time. If the inheritance did not have sentimental value or was extremely valuable, I wouldn''t even bother iming it due to the hassle.

    I never told them specifically that I was only here to im my inheritance, They must''ve thought that I was finally back.

    "Seiji, what is your thought on marriage?" I saw my uncle say.

    ''Finally talking about a topic other than politics? Sure, I can tolerate this one.''

    "Marriage is cool." I said while putting a boiled egg in my mouth.

    ''Protein!!''

    "What is your opinion on you getting married?" he asked me again.

    I nearly scoffed. Marrying? I dared not even think of that in my line of profession. I hope I don''t but I could die any fucking moment. It would only take one encounter with the top three demons of the upper moon or Muzan.

    Then I''m cooked.

    I was strong but not on their level just yet.

    But marriage? That was the dream and one I would hopefully get to experience. I was not given a family in my past life and the one I was born into in this life got taken away from me.

    So why not make a new family? After everything was over, I hope I could make a big family.

    "That''s the dream." I said with a shrug.

    My uncle and aunt both looked at each other and smiled. I did not know why but I suddenly had a bad feeling.

    "What?" I asked before putting another boiled egg in my mouth.

    "We found a girl."

    Pause.

    And then..

    I spat out the egg in my mouth and started choking on their words.

    My uncle quickly passed me water and I downed the thing in a few seconds. After that, I took a deep breath and said.

    "What do you mean you found a girl?"

    "We found a girl you can marry. The father is an old friend of mine and his daughter is exactly the same age as you and she is looking for a husband."

    "Aren''t I a little too young?" I asked with a strained face.

    "Nonsense, it''s the perfect age. She can already marry byw at the age of 15 while you will be able to marry next year. It''s the perfect time for an engagement."

    I sighed and rubbed my forehead.

    "What makes you guys even think of doing such things? That too without my consent."

    "Well, I apologize if we were being too hasty, after all, you just returned. But you are already more than capable of marrying. You have imed your inheritance so you havend and house. Not only that, you have the money and you said you also had a high-paying job. Plus, you are handsome and you are educated. There is no reason for us to think otherwise." My aunt said.

    "If you want, we can stop." my uncle said.

    ''Yes.''

    "And wait until next year."

    ''No!!''

    Well, I could understand where they wereing from. It was Japan and traditionally, if you were financially stable and had a home, itsmon sense that you would marry next. And most marriages were arranged with the parents setting up the couple.

    They were excited to take the role of my parents that way and find a good girl for me. I understand that. But sadly, I couldn''tply with thier desire. Not by a long shot.

    "I''m sorry, mother, father." I said, calling them with the name I should have been calling since they adopted me.

    "But I can''t marry yet. Heck, I don''t know if I will ever be able to marry. I can''t tell you the reason why but I am not ready to love someone like that. I''m not ready to have a family again." I said seriously and I could see that my words had effect on them.

    I couldn''t have a family again. Not until I eradicate every single one of those demons. Not until I made sure they would never rob me of my treasures again.

    Not until I made sure I could protect my love.

    "..I see. I understand my boy." my uncle said with a firm smile while my aunt wiped a tear from the emotions she felt when I called her mom.

    "And we''re sorry to push the topic suddenly on you before asking your opinion on it. Its fine, we will cancel everything." my uncle said and my heart was finally at peace again.

    After that, we continued eating our food. The atmosphere was a lot lighter than before as we all had smiles on our faces.

    "Even though we decided to cancel the engagement, we still need to meet them to show respect. It would be an insult if we suddenly told them we cancelled it. Can you do that for me?" My uncle asked and I nodded.

    "Good. Well, the girl''s name is Mitsuri Kanroji-"

    <strong><i>*m!!*</i></strong>

    I mmed my hands on the table, making all of the dishes jump from the force before they scattered and fell. I stood up in an instant.

    "Did you just say, Mitsuri?"

    "Y-Yes, her name''s Mitsuri Kanroji." my uncle replied

    "Dear respected father, please next time, start with that. You nearly made memit the biggest fumble in history." I said and wiped my lips.

    Then I turned around and headed towards the door.

    "Where are you going Seiji?"

    "Where else? To my wife''s house." I said and raised my arm like I was the luckiest man in the world.

    "I''m getting married."

    "What! But you said-"

    "Sorry, I don''t hear what I said because I''m deaf."

    My aunt ran up to me and grabbed my hand. "Let''s not get too hasty Seiji! You still need to wait a year to even legally marry."

    "Then we just have to do it illegally because I''m ready." I said, my voice had never been firmer.

    After the name of the girl dropped, the situation had taken aplete turn.

    ...

    ...

    ...

    [First picture of Mitsuri!!!]

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Author : Stones, bruv.

    And check out, ''Hogwarts : Please Graduate soon'' which is third rank in powerstones. The guy use AI to get powerstones to get his tranted work high in the rankings. You can see the proof by looking at his top fans

    Report him please if you can. This is seriously disgusting work.

    <strong><i>Join my Patreon to read ahead. </i></strong>

    <strong><i>Emmanuel : Capricorn</i></strong>

 Chapter 52: Mitsuri Kanroji

    <h4>Chapter 52: Mitsuri Kanroji</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    I ain''t fumbling this one. No way. Traumas be damned.

    Do you remember that guy who rejected Mitsuri? You know, the one with circle spectacles who had the whole inteing together just to hate on him and call him an idiot?

    Yeah, I ain''t going to be like that guy. No chance I was going to fumble that badly.

    In all seriousness, Mitsuri Kanroji was my waifu even in my past life. So the chance of meeting her was already incredible but having the chance to get married to her? I will just have to crown myself with the title of a fanfiction protagonist because there is no other way I could get this lucky.

    Even if I did not end up marrying her, I wanted to see her just once. I was a deep admirer of beauty so I really wanted to see for myself just how beautiful she was and find out if she couldpare with girls like the Kocho sisters.

    Not only that, I was curious to know how her body would look like since she was known to have supernatural strength since birth.

    So all in all, I was excited to meet her.

    But...

    "They live in Tokyo?" I said while having shbacks of thest time I was in Tokyo.

    I encountered Muzan Kibutsuji thest time I was there and I promised myself to never visit the city again. The experience was unforgettable as it was the closest I had been to death.

    "In the Azusa Ward to be specific." my uncle said with a nod.

    "Is there any problem?"

    "No." I shrugged. The part of me that was a simp for Mitsuri easily won against the part of me that feared Muzan.

    "When should we go?" I asked and both my aunt and uncle looked at me weirdly.

    "You are awfully excited about this so suddenly. Fine, if you want we can go today itself."

    And so, the three of us headed towards the Azusa Ward of Tokyo after we finished our breakfast. Our visit would be a surprise for them since my uncle didn''t know I would be so enthusiastic and therefore did not tell them.

    It took us the whole morning and the early afternoon to reach the Ward. My uncle and aunt were not young anymore so the journey took some time even though we took carriages in most part of the journey.

    Late in the afternoon, we reached the Azusa Ward and came upon the Kanroji''s household. The house was decently big with a hugepound surrounding their home. It was obvious that their family was well off.

    We entered thepound and looked around at all the flowers and trees. It reminded me of the garden back in the Flower Mansion. There was also a small, artificial stream with a red bridge over it to make the whole ce authentic. I immediately recognized that as the ce where Mitsuri was rejected many times.

    The servants greeted us warmly and immediately went to inform the master. It did not take long for the head of the family - daddy Kanroji - toe out and wee us.

    "What an unexpected surprise! Thank you for epting my invitation anding so quickly." Kenji Kanroji said.

    "Sorry for intruding out of the blue but my son could not wait to meet your daughter." my uncle replied.

    "Is that so, thank you for your kindness Seiji. I''ve heard great things about you and I appreciate you going along with the arrangement of us old men." Kenji said, with a small bow and I bowed even lower to show respect.

    "Come, let me give you a proper wee my friend." Kenji said and led us to the house.

    He and my uncle engaged in small talks as we walked. He also showed us around thepound for a bit before he brought us inside.

    "I''m sure you all must be tired froming all the way here. Allow us to host you for dinner, I will tell the cook to make more portions." Kenji said as we sat down in the living room.

    "That''d be wonderful." my uncleughed kindly.

    Soon, other members of the family came to the living room and we introduced ourselves. I learned that Kenji and his wife had six children with Mitsuri being the middle child.

    Their older children were already married and were living in the samepound but at different houses. The mother of the household was an elegant olderdy with beauty marks under her eyes and oddly enough, she reminded me of my mother.

    My uncle and Kenji engaged in a conversation where I also participated as the main topic was about me. My aunt on the other hand was entertained by Kenji''s wife Junko as they left to look at the flowers in the garden.

    Junko, as the mistress of the household also had to supervise the servants cooking and working. So that left only us three dudes to talk.

    "So Seiji, I heard that you are a master of Kendo and you won even at national level Tell me, have you ever considered opening a Dojo?" Kenji asked.

    Ahh, my most feared question.

    My n for the future.

    There was no n for me. It was honestly hard to n for the future when I was not sure I would even survive past 25. It was a weird situation.

    If things went ording to the canon story, Muzan Kibutsuji would die in the final battle which would take ce when I was 19. If we win and I survive, maybe I would consider opening a Dojo.

    I could teach not only swordsmanship but also breathing styles to preserve the tradition of demon yers. I have learned all five major breathing styles so I could definitely do that.

    Also, maybe I should preserve the history of demons and demon yers so that the sacrifices everyone had made would not be forgotten. It would be better than bing fictional characters in Zenitsu''s story.

    It didn''t even have to be officially recognized, it could just be a myth with enough evidence for people to believe in. That''d be interesting.

    Anyway, to the question, I replied with an answer I had made many years ago. I was a kendo master, which was something Japanese people respected greatly due to the Samurai culture which had notpletely died out yet.

    I was also educated. And coupled with my family''s legacy as military officers, I said I nned to do the same. My achievements in kendo tournaments and my family''s connection would make it easy for me to thrive there.

    It was a great n, I would surely look like a boy with a good future ahead even though in reality, I was not sure I even had a future.

    I nned on surviving and saving everyone but I was also not delusional.

    The conversation went on as the two dudes kept zing at me, but I was bing quite impatient because I hadn''t met the person whom I hade all the way to see.

    ''Where is she?'' I asked in my mind. It had been an hour since we arrived.

    "Excuse me, but can you tell me where the toilet is?" I asked out of the blue.

    "Uhh, sure. Its that way." Kenji said and point to the left, "Go past the corridor and turn left."

    "Thank you." I said and got up before walking away.

    I allowed my head to turn and look around the house. My eyes released a glow as I used my X-ray vision to scan the entire house.

    I walked through the corridor and then I suddenly stopped when I finally saw the person I was searching for. But I saw her in a state I never expected so I paused in surprise.

    "....."

    Then I changed my path from the toilet to the room where I found her. In a few seconds, I stood in front of the dark room where she was in.

    I slid open the door.

    "Wah!~" I heard a yelp of surprise.

    I looked at the young woman with ck hair and beauty marks under both her eyes. I was not really focused on her appearance, instead, my attention was on her expression and the situation.

    "What are you doing?'' I asked.

    My usual stoic voice might have sounded colder to her because she flinched back like a criminal being caughtmitting a crime.

    "I-I.." she stuttered as she looked at her own hands which were ck from dye.

    What I saw was not the bubbly perfect waifu that we saw in the anime. It was not the sweet and confident girl that I expected.

    It should''ve been obvious. That girl did not exist yet. That was four years in the future.

    What I got was something much more raw and real.

    A girl trying to be something she''s not because that''s the only way she thought she''d fit in.

    "Hello. I''m your future husband and I want to know..." I said and walked closer to her.

    "What are you doing?"

    ..

    ..

    [IMAGE]

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    Join my patreon to read ahead.

    Emmanuel_Capricorn

 Chapter 53: Is this love?

    <h4>Chapter 53: Is this love?</h4>

    [3rd POV]

    She was different. She was always different from the others.

    But she didn''t know how scary that was until she turned 15 when she faced her first rejection. That day, she learned that to be different was to be not normal.

    And to not be normal was to not fit in.

    "I don''t think this can work, you are just too strange. You have no softness or gentleness ady should possess. You are like a gori. My hand hurts when you hold it." was what her first fiance said to her before cancelling the arranged engagement.

    He said a lot, but maybe he wouldn''t have said so much if he knew how much each word hurt her. Her heart bled behind a brittle smile and that was when she realized the deep sorrow that came with rejection.

    He didn''t want her.

    But who could me him? After all, men wanted a weak woman they could protect and provide for. They wanted a woman with a healing touch of love and care. They wanted a woman who was modest. They wanted a dignified nobledy.

    All of which she was not.

    She was a woman stronger than any man she had ever encountered. Her touch could crush rocks, they were not soft or healing. She was not modest, her generous bosoms and butt made her look like a shameless seductress. She was loud and ate a lot, the opposite of what a nobledy should be.

    She was everything she shouldn''t be and that made her sad.

    Mitsuri had been intrigued by romance and love ever since she was little. She had read many books and listened to stories about love and romance. Her dream was to find love someday and be a wife.

    She wanted to dedicate herself to a man she loved who would treasure her like the most precious jewel. She wanted to fall in love with a man who was stronger than her, someone who could protect her from anything in the world. That was the dream of her youthful self.

    But as she got older, she learned that her fantasy would nevere true, all because she was different. But that''s okay, she told herself. She could still find love.

    But s she was apparently not fit for the love she was searching for.

    From a young age, Mitsuri learned that love was the most important thing in the world. To love was to be human. It was the meaning behind everything in life. It could be love for an art, love for a concept or love for other people. She thought it was the most beautiful thing in the world.

    Yet even amongst all else, romantic love, the love between husband and wife was what she wanted the most. After all, familial love made sense, friendship also made sense.

    But two strangers loving each other to the point of being able to sacrifice everything they had? Two unrted people deciding to forever be together because they thought they couldn''t live without the other person? That sounded so silly. It was illogical. It was beautiful and Mitsuri wanted it.

    But..

    "Mother, do you think I will ever be able to find a husband?" she asked after her fifth rejection.

    "Oh sweetie, I''m sure you will meet a man one day who would love you just as you are. Like me and your father do." her mother assured her.

    Misturi stayed silent as if epting her mother''s words but deep down, she didn''t believe her.

    So she decided to do everything she could to fit into the idealdy. She started dyeing her hair ck and wore unttering clothes. She also started starving herself, both to weaken her body and to behave like a properdy.

    She changed herself to be a girl men would like. She was willing to kill her true self if it meant finding love.

    It might sound stupid to others but it was not stupid for the future love Hashira. Everyone was born with a purpose, hers just happened to be love.

    But even after she changed herself, she was still getting rejected. Her suitors were still able to see past her mask.

    ''Be normal. Fit in.'' was what she told herself daily.

    She was chasing the wrong thing in her youthful nativity. It was not love that she was pursuing, at most, it was merely approval.

    Love was true. So even if she was epted, it would only be a cheap imitation of love.

    ...

    That day, Mitsuri had another guest. It was a new suitor, one that her father talked highly about. The boy was her age and ording to her father, he was the perfect fit for her.

    But there was one problem. They came to the house unannounced so Mitsuri had no time to dye her hair ck or to change her clothes.

    She had to hide in her room as she quickly changed her clothes and started smearing ck paint on her bright hair. At one point she used to love her pink and green hair, they were happy and colourful but no suitors liked it. They didn''t want a wife that stood out too much. They wanted a girl with the beauty of the moon, not the big bright sun.

    But while she was busy dyeing her hair, the door to her room suddenly slid open and she was caught red-handed, or should she say ck-handed?

    There he was, her next suitor. One that would reject her soon enough with how things were going.

    He was handsome, remarkably so. It was something she noticed immediately when she spied on him as they came to her house.

    But at the moment, her mind did not even register that. Her eyes froze when they greeted his bright purple ones.

    Those eyes saw everything.

    Everyone felt ufortable when those eyes - which seemingly felt like they could see through every secret - fell upon them. It was especially severe for Mitusri who was full of secret insecurities.

    She felt like all of her ws wereid bare to him. She couldn''t hide anything, her mask crumbled.

    Fear started creeping up her heart. It was a fear that a criminal would experience if they were caughtmitting a crime.

    "What are you doing?" he asked and she fliched back.

    His voice was cold, he was mean. She supposed it was natural since she was trying to catfish him.

    "I-I.." words got stuck in her throat. There was a clot of nervousness stopping them froming out.

    How could she possibly speak under the gaze of those eyes? They saw through everything. He had seen her true self.

    "Hello. I''m your future husband and I want to know what you are doing." he said and walked close to her.

    ''Wait what?'' her breath hitched. That was when she noticed that there was no repulsion in his eyes even though he had seen through her.

    They were just really mean but there was nothing else. No disappointment, no repulsion.

    There was no rejection.

    "I was just....dyeing my hair." she said, the nervousness melting like ice in summer.

    "But why would you do that?" he asked, "Your hair is pink and green, it''s an exotic colour."

    Then his lips curved ever so slightly, "It''s beautiful."

    What? Her hair was beautiful? That''s the first time someone said that to her. Her cheeks couldn''t help but burn for some reason.

    Her heart started racing. It was racing due to fear and embarrassment. Her stomach was doing summersaults in her belly.

    ''Is this...love?'' she thought to herself. What she was feeling was awfully simr to what she had read in the past.

    Just then, her father and another man came to the scene. She looked at her father and saw his face fall as if realizing the situation. His expression showed that he thought they were done for.

    "What is the meaning of this?" the man asked.

    "Oh, nothing uncle. It''s just that Mitusuri has something on her hair. It should be fine after she washes it off." the boy said and turned around.

    "Sorry to disturb you, we will wait in the living room." the boy said before he pushed at the man and they both returned to the living room.

    Mitsuri and her father watched them leave with wide eyes before they both looked at each other. They were both equally surprised as the anticipated rejection never came.

    A realization struck them in the silence. Their guests were okay with Mitsuri''s appearance.

    Kenji smiled at his daughter, "Go clean your hair quickly ande to the living room." he said in excitement.

    Mitsuri nodded and ran to the bathroom to clean her hair. After which she went to the living room to greet the guests and her suitor.

    During all this, Mitsuri''s heart just won''t stop beating like an engine. Her cheeks blushed and her eyes sparkled.

    Had she finally found someone who wouldn''t reject her?

    Would she find love this time?

    .

    .

    .

    [THE image]

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Author : It''s really hard to capture her character. This is the same problem I faced with Shinobu. They are different from how we saw them in the anime as they had not gone through thier respective character development.

    Tell me your thoughts while stoning me.

 Chapter 54: New objective

    <h4>Chapter 54: New objective</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    Pink.

    It was pink.

    Not just any pink, it was bubble gum pink, the colour you would expect on Barbies and angels.

    Obviously, I was talking about her muscles, I don''t know where your dirty little mind had gone but I was referring to every fibre of muscles in her body.

    Although, I could assure you that she was pink there as well, considering how her body was mostly the colour of pink.

    There are two types of muscles in the human body. I''ve said this before, they are fast twitch muscles and slow twitch muscles.

    Fast twitch muscles were white and slow twitch muscles were red. But there was also another muscle type which was the colour of pink. Normally, you would never find this in the human body or mammals in general.

    The only creatures I knew had pink muscles were fishes. They require incredible strength to swim with the heavy resistance of water so they have pink muscles.

    Pink muscle was thebination of red and white muscle - slow twitch and fast twitch muscle. They were a mix of the two, the best of both worlds.

    And apparently, Mitsuri''s muscles were made entirely of said pink muscles because obviously she was just built differently.

    Not only that, her muscles were eight times denser than normal.

    Her body was different from the extraordinary bodies I had encountered. Rengoku whose body was bred to be a swordsman, Tengen''s body was built for speed, Gyomei was simply a superior human.

    But Mitsuri was even more extraordinary than that. It was simply alien, something which I never even thought was possible.

    It was simply divine.

    I shifted my focus to her outer appearance and my X-ray stopped. Her facial features were delicate and cute. Much to my surprise, her beauty wasparable to that of Kanae''s.

    I saidparable because thier beauty was fundamentally different from the other so there was no way to tell who was prettier. Kanae possessed an elegant beauty with sharp features that effortlessly exuded sensuality. She was like the moon.

    On the other hand, Mitsuri had delicate features with adorable shapes. She gave off the feeling that she should be protected. Her beauty was blinding, noticeable to anyone who looked at her general direction, unlike Kanae who got more beautiful as you looked at the detail of her face. She was like the sun.

    Suffice to say, I was not disappointed.

    The only thing left to do was try and tear my eyes away from her because I think I''ve been staring for too long.

    My thoughts were cut short when I felt my uncle pinch me on my thighs. I blinked and returned to reality. It was then that I noticed Mitsuri shifting ufortably in her ce.

    I understood my mistake immediately. Although the subject of my analysis never realised the abilities of my eyes, humans felt instinctively ufortable when they were so thoroughly observed.

    They couldn''t pinpoint why but most people had told me I have creepy eyes.

    And it was really not smart to stare too much at the girl who had many insecurities.

    Which was incredibly stupid by the way, how the fuck was a beauty like her insecure? I never thought I would see the expression she currently had on her face.

    It was one of the downsides of meeting these beloved characters too soon. They had not gone through the things they were meant to go through so they had not grown yet.

    "I''m sorry. I was just enchanted by your beauty." I said with a straight face. I didn''t mince my words.

    Much to my amusement, Mitsuri started getting extremely red. I could see steam rising from her head.

    She was adorable.

    "Are you sure it''s not because of the unusual hair colour that you were staring at her? Don''t be afraid to be honest, many of the previous suitors hadined about her hair." Kenji said, causing her daughter to stop blushing as she remembered some bad memories.

    Way to ruin my rizz daddy Kanroji. My rizz was already horrible but you ruined even that.

    "No, I have no problem with her hair and instead find them pretty. I actually have a friend with hair just as colourful as hers." I said, the image of Rengoku shed in my mind.

    "Oh, is that so? Good to hear." Kenji said with a smile.

    After that, silence fell between us. Mitsuri was way too shy while my social skill level was not high enough to start a conversation with a pretty girl like her. Our respective parents were all too amused as they watched us.

    "Now that Mitsuri is finally here, why don''t you two get to know each other?" Kenji said, "Mitsuri dear, why don''t you show Seiji around the garden?"

    "Okay." she squeaked out before standing up. She gestured to follow me and I did.

    We walked out of the house, leaving the two men to themselves. I followed Mitsuri to their garden and we slowly walked beside each other.

    That was until we walked across the red bridge above the stream. She suddenly stopped and when I noticed, I turned back to look at her.

    "I want to apologize for what happened back there." she said and bowed down so low that I was impressed by her flexibility.

    "It was nothing worth apologizing for."

    "No!" she shook her head, "Although you were okay with my unusual hair, I tried to deceive you by dyeing my hair. I''m so sorry."

    It was really not a big deal considering people dye their hair all the time. Even older women did it to hide their silver hair or because they didn''t like their natural hair colour. It was why dye existed in the first ce.

    But I guess it was the intention that counts.

    I nodded, "I ept your apology."

    She wore a blue kimono with flower patterns on it. The setting sun cast a warm orange hue over us but the world was as bright as day when I looked at her.

    Her exotic pink and green hair danced to the tune of the breeze and when she gave me a bright smile, it was almost a bit too much - like someone suddenly injecting honey and syrup into your bloodstream.

    Too sweet.

    I looked away.

    Let''s see. I need an objective here, don''t I? Or else I would not be able to interact with her properly. I''ve already done it for Giyu so let''s do this again.

    Let me change Mitsuri earlier than in canon and speed up her character development.

    The objective was to make her realize that she was enough and she didn''t need to change. There were people who would ept her as she was and even treasure her because of her uniqueness.

    Honestly, that sounded like a problem every teenager had faced at least once in their life. Mitsuri really was the most normal one among the Demon yer cast, wasn''t she?

    "Are you hungry Mitsuri?"

    "Eh?"

    It was a question I already knew the answer to. My eyes told me that she was starving herself. Her body was not getting the appropriate nutrients that it needed.

    Her body needed food even more than the few beggars we encountered whileing here.

    "Why don''t we go to a restaurant to get something to eat?" I asked her again.

    "But we are going to have dinner soon," she said with a puzzled look.

    I shook my head. If my uncle and aunt were present, they might judge her. I wanted her to eat as much as she could so it was better to take her to a restaurant.

    "I want to eat with you. Only the two of us." I said and she blinked cutely before blushing.

    "Okay," she said and then we both left the Kanrojipound and headed to a restaurant in the town.

    ...

    ...

    ///////////////////

    <strong><i>*m!*</i></strong>

    "And that is all your order, sir. Thank you foring to us." the chef said with a tired smile. Sweats travelled down his aged face.

    Omurice, pork cutlets, miso soup, rice, fish, onigiri, sakura mochi etc, All kinds of foods were on the table which were meant for a family.

    All the foods looked like they were meant for 20 people while only Mitsuri and I sat opposite each other.

    "...are you going to eat all of this?" Mitsuri asked me with a gulp. I was deaf but I felt like I could hear her stomach growling.

    "We are going to eat all this," I said.

    "We?"

    "Yes, ''we''. I have special eyes that can see things, so I know you are hungry and your body needs the food." I said.

    "....." she did not say anything, just looking at the food on the table.

    "Why are you hesitating? The reason you were holding back was because you were afraid that your suitor wouldn''t like it right?" I said, "Well worry not, I am actually really attracted to girls who can eat lots of food."

    "Really?" she asked.

    "Really," I said and picked up a Sakura mochi with my chopsticks and brought it close to her mouth.

    I remember in the anime that the reason why her hair turned pink and green was because she was eating too many Sakura mochi. It was her favourite food.

    Finally, she took the food in her mouth and she never stopped after that.

    Meanwhile, I simply enjoyed the incredible sight of a rather small girl eating food meant for 20 men. It was astonishing, especially with my eyes that could see everything that happened inside.

    I was going to teach her that it was okay to be herself. She didn''t need to change, the world can change instead.

    ..

    ..

    ..

    [IMAGE]

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Author : Extra Chapter if we reach 500 chaptees today.

 Chapter 55: Helping a Waifu

    <h4>Chapter 55: Helping a Waifu</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    Holy shit it''s all gone.

    Call me dramatic but I know you would react the same way after witnessing a girl finishing the amount of food meant for 20 people all by herself.

    It was bullshit, like many other things in this world of Shounen anime.

    How the fuck did she weigh 56 kg with muscles 8 times denser than normal?(All canon btw) How the fuck did her body digest all those food so quickly? Where the fuck did those energy go?

    Honestly, I got over such illogical observations a long time ago. This world was different from my past life, their logic could not bepared. That much should be obvious when there was a demon king who looked like Michael Jackson and got his power from a flower.

    But still, this was one of the rare asions when I was shocked.

    Her body was just a fucking mystery even with my eyes. It did not followmon logic. How the fuck can it do that, why the fuck was it so beautiful?

    I wanted to explore it.

    Mitsuri blushed a deep shade of red while looking down at the ground. She had finallye to her senses after finishing all the food.

    She released a cute little burp after which she immediately covered her lips. Even though I told her she could eat as much as she wanted, there was guilt and shame on her face.

    You know what, maybe the gods gave me all the wealth I had just so that I could provide for this little glutton wrapped in a fluff of cuteness.(AN : I am always two steps ahead)

    "You finished it all," I said, maybe my voice came out more bewildered than expected because she shrunk even smaller and nodded.

    "That''s amazing. You ate it all." I said as genuineughter rolled off my throat. It was rare that I wouldugh.

    Mitsuri seemed to realize that too even though she''d only known me for a few hours. Her big round eyes gawked at me like they were looking at the strangest sight.

    "I didn''t even get to eat anything."

    "!!!" she inclined her head, "I am so sorry!!!"

    "Don''t sweat it. We still have dinner waiting for us anyway." I said. I couldn''t even order more because the shop literally served us everything they had.

    This was also why there were no onlookers to gawk at Mitsuri like she was an animal in the zoo. I made sure to send all possible distractions away before letting her indulge in her food.

    "Let''s return," I said and we both left the restaurant.

    We returned to the Kanrojipound just in time for dinner and believe it or not, Mitsuri was still able to eat a normal portion of food after all that.

    Dinner was a joyous affair. My uncle and Kenji were old friends and that was evident. With the two men of the family getting along, the rest of the members did too.

    Stories about when Mitsuri and I were young were shared. Misturi''s parents especially had a lot of things to talk about and many tales to tell. She was kind of like the odd one in the family (in a good way). Her parents said she was nothing like her other siblings so she had plenty of fun stories.

    My uncle and aunt also shared stories of how I grew up. Mine were not as humorous or fun as Mitsuri''s but they were remarkable achievements. As a reincarnated person and a prodigy, I was extremely mature for my age when I was young and achieved many impressive feats.

    I was a little sad that my uncle and aunt did not have a funny story to share about me. At that time, I wasser-focused on getting stronger so I sacrificed my childhood. I barely even spent time with them.

    But even with all that, they were always so kind and understanding. They didn''t ask anything in return - while I was suspicious of them and chalked their kindness to them wanting my inheritance - they never stopped loving me.

    But here I was, still calling them uncle and aunt even in my mind. Forget addressing them as mother and father, I haven''t even acknowledged their names.

    I was bitter. My suspicions, thinking I was smarter than everyone else and the barrier I erected around me were just a way for me to cope because truthfully, I never wanted to love again at that time.

    I didn''t want to have a family again, because the pain I felt when it was taken from me was too much, too unbearable.

    I didn''t want heaven if it meant risking hell. I just wanted, to be fine.

    But those fears were slowly dying as strength grew in its ce. As I was gaining the power to protect my family and ensure it was not taken from me again, the barriers slowly crumbled away.

    So I hoped in the future, we could get even closer.

    ....

    Anyway, after dinner, we stayed for a little while longer and the important question was imposed upon me.

    "So Seiji, what do you think of my daughter? Did you get along well?" Kenji asked the question.

    Although my parents had arranged the meeting, it was still ultimately my decision whether I was engaged with Mitsuri or not. Kenji was asking for an answer to that.

    If I didn''t like her, I would say something like praising her daughter or say things like how I wanted to get to know her better. I shouldn''t outright say that I didn''t want to marry her as that would be a great insult.

    Basically, if I didn''t say I wanted her as a wife, it would be the same as rejection. Anything other than confirmation would be taken as rejection.

    So what did I say?

    "She''d make a lovely wife."

    I was not sure where I was going with this or whether I truly wanted to spend the rest of my life with Mitsuri, but I left that for 20-year-old me - who by that time would have probably ended the demon war or died trying.

    But the reactions I got from Mitsuri and her parents made me d I epted. Mitsuri herself had a small and earnest smile with tears of joy while her parents were truly d to find someone who did not reject thier daughter instantly.

    After that, we left the Kanroji household. Since it was toote to go home, we went to an inn nearby where we all spent the night.

    The next morning we went home. Although the engagement was seemingly done, we were not rushing it. I was not even legally able to marry yet, so marriage was still a thing in the far future.

    All in all, it was a great experience.

    ..

    ..

    //////////////////

    (The next day)

    I think this was the first time I had ever been on a proper date.

    Shinobu and I would go out at night to hunt and experiment on demons while Kanae and I had gone on a joint mission on more than one asion but those were not dates.

    Mitsuri and I were currently walking around thepound. We had just returned from the market and now we were taking a peaceful stroll in the garden.

    She had gotten noticeablyfortable around me but she was still guarded and hesitant to be her true cheery self. I was able to get a glimpse of it but at the moment she was still hiding in fear of rejection.

    While we were walking past the huge stacking boulders near the stream, an idea suddenly struck me. I stopped walking and looked at the stones.

    "Seiji?"

    "Mitsuri, do you think you are stronger than me?" I asked suddenly and she blinked in surprise.

    "What makes you say that?"

    "No reason. I was just curious." I said.

    "You are a man...of course, you''d be stronger than me," she said but my eyes see through her lies easily.

    Now it was not just a matter of helping her. The fact that she thought I was weaker genuinely rubbed my ego the wrong way. Let''s show her that she was not the only one with special talent.

    I went ahead to one of the smaller boulders. It was around the size of a car wheel and would probably weigh around close to a hundred kilograms. I picked it up with ease and put it over my head.

    "ahh." Mitsuri gasped softly in surprise.

    I put down the stone in front of her and said, "Now you try."

    She was hesitant at first but seeing how I easily picked the stone up, she thought it would not be a problem if she did the same. She didn''t know that the stone was already heavy enough that no normal man would even be able to lift it.

    She picked it up and also put it above her head. I was genuinely surprised at the ease with which she threw the weight up. My eyes glowed purple as I watched her pink muscles produce raw strength like it was thier sole purpose.

    "That was good. But how about this one." I said before grabbing another boulder, a bigger one this time and lifting it up again with no effort.

    Muscles trained with the eyes of the transparent world since when I was a child were nothing less of perfection. It won''t lose to her pink muscles.

    ...

    ''Or maybe it will.'' I thought to myself when I saw her easily throw up the weight again.

    For some reason, I found that extremely hot. Did I have a thing for strong women? I couldn''t help but imagine a child between us, what if he inherited my eyes and talent with her body? Wouldn''t he basically be the seconding of Yoriichi?

    If I didn''t end Muzan, he probably would.

    Anyway, Mitsuri and I entered a contest of strength. Although hesitant at first, Mitsuri became increasinglypetitive as I was able to match her strength with no real struggle on my part.

    In the end, I was the winner. Although she had an incredible body, she had never trained in her life while I had trained for more than half my life. Plus I did a lot of training with boulders during my training with Gyomei.

    I was not exactly normal either so it was natural for her to lose.

    "Haaa...haa....haaa...." Mitsuri''sboured breath came with smoke. Her cheeks were flushed red and sweat covered her body.

    Although part of it was because she was tired from all the lifting, most of it was because oddly enough, she was very turned on at the moment. Her eyes shone with lust as she looked up at me from the ground she sat on.

    I don''t think she even realised what she was feeling. And I probably wouldn''t too if not for my eyes that saw everything.

    ''So she has a strength fetish?'' I made a mental note in my head while scratching my cheeks helplessly.

    I sat down beside her and waited for her to calm down, which she eventually did after ten minutes.

    ...

    "You are very different from other girls, you know that right?" I said suddenly. The mind was clear after a good workout so she immediately perked up, her brain processed my words quickly.

    "...Yes."

    "Do you know how you are different?" I asked.

    She stayed silent for a few seconds before she confessed with eyes looking down, "No other girls are as strong as me nor do they eat as much as I do."

    "Unlike them, I am not elegant. I am notdylike," she said with sad eyes.

    "Are you sad about that?" I asked and she nodded.

    "Well, you shouldn''t be." I said, "It means that you are special and all of the people who rejected you are merely envious."

    "You don''t have to change and pretend to be someone you are not Mitsuri. Do you want to live your whole life as someone you are not?"

    "No. I don''t want that." she said after a thoughtful silence.

    "Then stop pretending." I said, "You know, I was told that I would meet you two days ago, but I don''t think I''ve really met you."

    "I promise you, after you start being true to yourself, you will find that there are people in this world who will not only ept you but love you for who you really are."

    "Really?" her voice was shaky and I could see tears forming in her eyes.

    "Yes. There are your parents and also.." I said and pointed at myself, "..there is this guy."

    It was not a lie. Although I met her only a few days ago, I have known her since my past life. I absolutely loved her character when I watched the anime. Her bright personality and bubbly attitude were a huge contrast to the tragic themes of the anime.

    Even in an intense fight against the upper moons, she was unapologetically being herself. While everyone fought out of hatred and revenge, she was the only one fighting because of her love for her friends and the demon yer corps.

    I was always attracted to that, probably because I was so hateful.

    "Thank you," she whispered softly as her tears finally flowed down her eyes like a dam. Then she lunged at me and her arms tightly wrapped around my torso, knocking the breath out of me.

    "Thank you so much!!" she said and cried in my chest.

    It was easier than I expected. I wonder how much she needed to hear those words.

    "No problem Mitsuri." I said and patted her head.

    She continued bawling her eyes out and she hugged me even tighter. But her giant balloon breast acted as a cushion so I was not hurt even with her insane squeezing strength.

    It felt amazing.

    I''ll take this as my reward.

    ..

    ..

    [IMAGE]

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Author: Although I would''ve loved to stretch this development for around three Chapters or so, I''m afraid it would be boring to some people so I did it in a single Chapter.

    In the end, I find no reason to stretch something the canon covered in a few pages too much. After all, it''s not even the main plot.

    Thanks for reading

    <strong><i>Join my patreon to read ahead : Emmanuel_Capricorn</i></strong>

 Chapter 56: End of vacation

    <h4>Chapter 56: End of vacation</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    (1 monthter)

    "Seiji!!!"

    Mitsuri called out while she ran up to me with the smilest smile on her face. Her eyes met mine but I didn''t meet hers.

    Instead, my eyes were locked on something else.

    Ever heard of jiggle physics? Well, that shit was even more magnificent in an anime world. My eyes could not focus anywhere else.

    God, I love gravity.

    But you know what''s even better? When it was in slow motion.

    God, I love my eyes.

    She reached me after a few seconds because I refused to move from my spot. Forget running up to her, I had to resist the urge to create distance so that I could enjoy the sight a little longer.

    "Did I keep you waiting for long?" she was able to ask without missing a breath even after running up to me.

    "Nope, you are right on time. As always."

    I said and she tilted her head to the side before pushing out her chest, making them jiggle again and appear bigger.

    I think she knew I liked them.

    There she stood in front of me, Mitsuri Kanroji, in all her glory. Without a mask, without a lie. It took a month but atst, I got to meet her.

    And she was beautiful.

    She wore a long ck skirt with a white top and a haori over her dress. She was dressed in a very modern fashion, which was a trend these days in cities like Tokyo. But she wore it because it was easier to movepared to a kimono and it felt morefortable.

    Her hair was bright exotic pink with green ends that seemed to shine alongside the sun. Coupled with her bubbly attitude and her dress, she attracted many eyes. But she did not shrink under those gazes and only smiled at mine.

    "What are we going to do today Seiji?" she asked with excitement in her eyes.

    We have been going on many dates this month to get to know each other better so there was not much that we haven''t done. Be it going to parks, trying out different restaurants or riding a train, we''ve done most of the things that could be done in the city.

    So today, I thought of something unique.

    "We are going to the mountains," I said and Mitsuri blinked her emerald eyes, unsure if that was exciting or not.

    In the end, she seemed toe to the conclusion that anything with me would be fun so she grinned. "Let''s go then!!"

    She said before pulling me forward and leading me somewhere as if she knew where we would be going. I kept myself from telling her that we were going in the opposite direction.

    In the bustling city of Tokyo, Mitsuri led me through the streets for a while until she eventually stopped and turned back with a blushing face.

    "Um...the mountain is this way...right?"

    I chuckled which only made her more embarrassed.

    ...

    We left the city of Tokyo and went to the mountains. I have been there before and I cleared a small path through the forest when I nned this date.

    The only problem was the hiking which was not really a problem for us with our superior physique. We didn''t even break a sweat.

    I led her to beautiful ces in the forest like a flower garden, a small pond or ces with beautiful sceneries. All of which I knew because I liked beautiful ces.

    It was a great experience for Mitsuri who was a city girl and spent her life in urban areas. We even encountered a few animals while we hiked up the mountain; a friendly deer, timid rabbits and a cute little fox.

    She was enjoying the date. The only time I saw her smile wider was when we were on a food tour where we tried every bakery in the city of Tokyo.

    We spent the entire afternoon in the mountains, enjoying the istion and peace that the city could not provide. It was just the two of us, and Mitsuri seemed to be very conscious about that considering she blushed a lot today than other days.

    In the end, we finally reached the peak of the highest mountain where a pic basket awaited us. There were food and other things that I left yesterday and were protected by yours truly Raven from other animals while I was away.

    Then Mitsuri proceeded to flex her cooking skills by making food with the items and ingredients. As someone who liked eating, she was great at making food.

    We sat down in afortable spot and enjoyed our time while eating. We stayed like that for nearly an hour before the sun finally began to set. It was the end of the day and the beginning of my favourite time.

    Sunset.

    We enjoyed the sunset together. The sun sank into the horizon, giving thest warmth of sunshine in the colour of thick honey and the promise of rising once more.

    The sun which had shone so brightly finally rested behind the mountains, signifying the end of another day which can never be reimed.

    Darkness descended to the world but only for a moment as countless stars took the ce of the sun in the sky. They glittered like gems in the sky, finally getting the time to shine after being outshined by the sun.

    They seemed to bepeting for the spotlight as they spread infinitely in the endless expanse above. The moon hung in the air, its gentle ray recing the sun''s.

    The transition between day and night, the blue sky and the ck sky, was an incredible scene that I never got tired of witnessing.

    "It''s beautiful," Mitsuri said, her green eyes were able to reflect the beauty of the sky.

    "it is." I agreed.

    "Thank you for bringing me here."

    I smiled. She was always so grateful for every good thing that happened to her. It was one of her greatest traits.

    We peacefully sat under the night until Raven suddenly flew towards me and sat on my head. I was surprised since she had not done this ever since I was on vacation.

    But then what she told me shifted my entire mood in an instant.

    ''Demon.''

    ...

    "Seiji?" Mitsuri instantly called my name when she felt the sudden shift in my mood but I did not respond.

    My eyes started glowing purple as I turned my neck to look in the direction where the demon wasing from. My eyes pierced through the thick jungle and skipped the distance before locking on the body of the disgusting creature.

    The demon did not know why but he flinched when my eyesnded on him. A foreboding emerged in his vile heart but he was too stupid to heed the warning his instincts were no doubt giving him.

    He continued making his way towards us.

    "Seiji? What happened?" she asked while nudging my shoulder, "You''re making me scared."

    She was a very emphatic girl so even though she did not know what was happening, she could feel it through me.

    "It''s nothing, don''t worry," I said and got up from the nket on the floor. Then I made my way to a tree and grabbed my sword which was propped against it.

    I knew something like this could happen so I left my sword here yesterday.

    I felt moreplete when I had the sword in my hand than when I did not. By then Mitsuri hade up to me so I told her to stay behind me.

    Even before a minute passed, the demon reached us. He walked out of the forest and came to the clearing.

    "Well, well, well, what do we have here?" the demon said while licking his lips.

    The demon was around 7 feet tall with a very muscr body. His eyes werepletely red and demonic and he had three horns on his head.

    I could tell at a nce that he was stronger than ordinary demons. If I had to guess, he was the demon that ruled over the territory of Tokyo. Strong demons had their own hunting grounds and territories after all, just like top predators.

    "If it is not a couple having a romantic time in the mountains alone..." the demon said in evil amusement, "..not knowing that they just served themselves on a silver tter."

    "Seiji.."Mitsuri whispered, her body trembled and she lightly tugged at my haori. "...what is that?"

    She was scared and understandably so. She had never seen a demon in her life and the one before us was especially intimidating with his hulking stature.

    "That''s a demon." I said, "Don''t worry, it won''t hurt you while I''m here."

    Her body stopped trembling and I could see her heart calming down after my words. Whatever it was that stood before us, my words were enough tofort her.

    That was incredibly adorable. I thought in my mind and I couldn''t help but smile.

    I never smiled genuinely in the presence of a demon before. She always made me do the most shocking things with no effort whatsoever.

    "Oh~ you know about demons. That makes me wonder.." he started and his voice got incredibly low. I could see the vibration, "...why you are not running away?''

    Silence hung in the air after his words fell. A chilling breeze blew upon us.

    Then I broke the silence, "I pity you."

    "Huh?" he mumbled, confused.

    Then I grabbed the hilt of my sword and stepped one foot forward to get into a stance. I did not exin my sentence but I thought in my mind, how unfortunate he was to encounter a Hashira while he was on vacation.

    He truly had bad luck. But I suppose that''s karma.

    "Wait, that sword.." he said and his eyes shook with rage and veins popped around his eyes, "Are you a demon yer?!"

    I took a breath as insane volumes of air filled my lungs. Then I exhaled in a pattern that was unlike any singr style of the five major breathing styles that I have learned.

    The pattern was a mix between two breathing styles.

    My body cut through the air, faster than the speed of sound. My attack had no sound because it could not catch up to me. I was too fast for the demon to notice me.

    Wind Breahting and Thunder Breathing were the fastest breathing styles. When mixed together, I was able to attain speed, unlike anything the demon had ever seen. I was easily faster than even the Sound Hashira.

    My de swung at an even faster speed. Discarding air resistance, my de bit into the demon before it could even think.

    In the next instant, I was behind the demon and time resumed like normal.

    A loud explosion of sound followed but the sound was so high-pitched that it was impossible to hear with the human ears. But the animals living in the mountain all reacted to the sound.

    The demon''s face split into three before his entire head slid off his neck. Soon after, his body also started falling apart as it was cut into a hundred pieces by the wind des.

    It was the speed of Thunder Breathing First Form : Thunderp and sh mixed with the violent waves of Wind Breathing Seventh Form : Gale, Sudden wave.

    The result was a catastrophe that happened in less than a second.

    "Haaaa...." I released a sigh and sheathed my sword after the demon was reduced to dust.

    It has been three months since I took the vacation after my 16th birthday. I guess this was the universe''s way of telling me that I needed to return.

    It''s time to end my vacation.

    And...

    "I guess I have a little exining to do." I said and turned to Mitsuri who was....not terrified at all. Her cheeks were flushed red and her breath was haggard and she was..excited?

    But most importantly...

    ''Why is she looking at me like that?''

    ..

    ..

    ..

    [IMAGE]

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Chapter 57: Breaking the news to Mitsuri

    <h4>Chapter 57: Breaking the news to Mitsuri</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    "I guess I have a little exining to do." I said but then I stopped when I saw the state she was in. Her eyes had a primal glint in them, her cheeks flushed and her breath came out needy.

    A quick nce at her with the transparent world and I saw her womb throbbing and her walls clenched.

    Is she...

    No..

    ''She is fucking turned on right now. Holy shit, like girl, I know you have a fetish for strong men but what the hell is this?'' I thought while looking at her.

    But then again, maybe it''s not so strange considering one of her main reasons for joining the Demon yer Corp was to find a husband - a man stronger than her.

    And what was in front of her was the strongest Hashira so I couldn''t fault her.

    "Are you okay?" I asked,cing fake concern in my voice. I like her hot and bothered to be honest since it was due to me anyway.

    "Ah." she gasped and came back to reality. A massive blush found her cheeks and her innocence won over her fetish.

    "I''m okay," she muttered, gathering her bearings. She shook her head and thest thought of indecency left her head as questions reced them.

    "Seiji, what was that?"

    "That was a demon," I answered.

    "A demon? Like from folktales and books?"

    "They are simr, except demons are real, as you just saw," I said and gave aforting smile when I saw fear emerge on her face.

    "Don''t be afraid, there are people like me - the Demon yers - who protect society from these demons."

    Her pretty eyes locked with mine and I could see thoughts swirling behind them as she processed my words.

    She tore her eyes away and looked at the ce where the demon previouslyy - sliced into many pieces - but it was no longer there.

    She gulped, "I trust you." was her final reply.

    Adorable. Why is she so adorable?

    I walked forward and gave her a hug. She was surprised at first before she melted in my embrace and her arms snaked around my body to hug me back.

    "Let''s return, your parents would be worried by now." I said. And it was not really appropriate for a woman to stay with a man after the sun was down, even if they were engaged. It could even destroy their reputation.

    If we suddenly broke the engagement, she would have a harder time finding a suitor just because she was with a man even after the sun fell. It''s just the culture. Japanese put purity in high regard, especially for women, it was the greatest virtue she could have.

    We walked down the mountain and I used the time to answer her question and exin the hidden war that had been ongoing for hundreds of years now.

    The war between demons and demon yers.

    I exined to her what demons were, how the sun''s rays were deadly to them and how they needed the flesh of humans to survive.

    "Why human flesh though? Can''t they just eat animals like us?" she asked. It was a genuine question that made me hum in thought.

    Probably because they are still part human and thier body need human flesh in particr for sustenance. Thier stomachs could also be only attuned to digesting human flesh.

    Or most likely, humans just taste better than any other meat and it could increase thier strength as well.

    She was intrigued by the demon yers as well.

    "Demons can regenerate and heal from most weapons except ones that are made from a special ore called Scarlet ore, which is found on the top of mountains absorbing sunlight.

    "You want to see it?" I said and put my sword forward. She became flustered instantly.

    "No..no..I-Its okay." she said.

    It was considered a show of great respect and trust if a Samurai allowed you to touch and see his sword. It was considered a part of thier soul and it meant the Samurai allowed you to see thier soul. It was an act that showed a close rtion, an intimate one especially if it was to a woman.

    I didn''t really care about those though. After the Meiji restoration, such traditions were stopped but since that was recent, it still exists today.

    "Here, it''s okay, I don''t mind." I said with a smile and shoved it in her hand so she could take a look. It was not that I took the culture seriously but she did, and I wanted to see her blush more.

    She carefully examined my odachi in her hand. Even with her limited knowledge, she could feel that it was a masterpiece, a weapon above the rest.

    "It''s heavy," shemented.

    Was it? I''ve been using it since I was 13 years old so I go used to the weight. The muscle structure of my body also developed to carry and swing the long de so at this point, it felt like normal katana to me.

    After that, she carefully returned the sword to me.

    "So this demon yer...are they strong?" she asked me.

    "Yes, they are strong. Extremely so whenpared to normal people, the Hashiras are able to do feats no ordinary man would believe in thier life." I said.

    "Increadible." she said, "...are they even stronger than you?"

    I paused my steps and Mitsuri did too after she noticed. She looked back, a little worried that I might not like her question for whatever reason. I only shed her a smile.

    I always wanted to do this.

    "No. Afterall..." I said,

    "I am the strongest."

    "...."

    "Pftt, that sounds sillier than I thought." I said with a chuckle. She seemed to be impressed though, and she believed me.

    Not that it was a lie. With my mixed breathing, I could now speedbliz even the likes of Gyomei.

    "Let''s hurry." I said.

    "Coming!!"

    ..

    /////////////////

    I''m a coward. Did you ever notice?

    Almost all of the connections and bonds I have formed in this life was with characters I have known in the past. I was not brave enough to form deep connections with people I was not aware of, real people whom I never knew as a character.

    Because thest time I bonded with random people - my family - I lost them and I had never mourn harder for a loss.

    That''s why I''m afraid now.

    The characters I knew from my past life - I was aware of their future somewhat. I knew when they would die, when they would be in danger and I also knew they were strong (most of them being Hashrias or future Hashiras). This decreased the risk of me losing them significantly.

    It was one of the reasons why I never formed a close rtionship with my aunt and uncle. They were weak and I had no clue about what would happen to them in the future. There was too much risk in loving them too much.

    On the flip side, this was why I easily formed a connection with Mitsuri. She was strong, and a future Hashira. She only died at the end of the canon story so there was a low risk for loving her. She shouldn''t die randomly. She was strong, I was here and fate was on her side.

    But now I found myself questioning this mindset.

    What if my existence had changed the future too much at this point? What if her survival was not certain anymore?

    ...

    I''m not sure I want Mitsuri to be a Demon yer.

    It was a strange change in my mindset because I had every intention of being the one to introduce her to the Demon yer Corp. She viewed it as a family in the canon, a ce that epts and values her. The thought of bringing her with me after I returned even crossed my mind.

    But now I was against it.

    It was strange because I had no problem with Rengoku being a Demon yer and a Hashiras even knowing it would lead to his death, and I consider him my best friend.

    Did this overprotectiveness stem from the fact that I viewed her as a wife already and wanted to protect her? I''m not sure.

    But all thoughts aside, I think it''s time to end all this.

    I need to leave now, I have duties to fulfil.

    So I broke the news to my uncle and aunt first. They were initially surprised but it did not take them long to ept the fact that I was not done with my travels.

    I was sure that Mitsuri''s parents wouldn''t have a problem as well since I couldn''t even marry legally yet. But the main problem lies in Mitsuri.

    How would she take the news?

    So today, I called her to a restaurant that had great dessert.

    Let''s see how this goes.

    ..

    ..

    [IMAGE]

    ______________________________________________________________________________________________

    Author : No, I was not on a vacation. I''m a workaholic that won''t rest until the doctor literally prescribed him to. At least 6 hours of sleep, he said.

    If you are curious, I''m in the drama club as the leader and the main director/scriptwriter and we just had apetition, which we nailed btw.

    I was busy with that for three whole days.

    Anyway, triple update to make up to you guys. Thank you for worrying about me.

 Chapter 58: A hopeless romantic

    <h4>Chapter 58: A hopeless romantic</h4>

    [3rd POV]

    (Mitsuri)

    Mitsuri was a hopeless romantic all her life.

    She dreamed of love, she hoped for love and so she had a great expectation for love and how it would feel like.

    So would you believe me if I said it was better than she ever expected?

    Because it was.

    To love someone romantically was vastly different and exactly how she imagined it would be.

    Love was not butterflies in her stomach, it was her stomach doing summersaults.

    Love was not being wless to earn it, it was being loved despite the ws.

    Love was not about looking perfect, it was the perfect way she was seen.

    Love was not about who is stronger, it''s the safety she found in his arms.

    It was not a soft caress like she hoped but a violent pull, one that left her breathless but alive despite theck of air.

    Love was...beautiful. More than she''d ever hoped it would be.

    A month ago, she wouldn''t believe it. She wouldn''t believe that she would be so fulfilled, she wouldn''t believe how perfect she felt now even when she was far from it.

    She tried to be like other girls. She tried to fit in. She was dyeing her hair ck and ate less to be weaker and appear more elegant. She was trying to hide all the aspects he loved about her.

    Such a silly thing.

    He liked her. No like he really really likes her. Not the horrible disguise that she was putting on, just her.

    And that was more liberating than she could put into words.

    It was different from her family''s love. Her father and mother loved her as a daughter, her siblings loved her as a sister. Even if someone else had taken her ce, and another was born instead of her, they would still love that person the same because she would still be their daughter and sister.

    But his love was different.

    He loved her because she was herself.

    Knowing that, she felt enough. Knowing that, she realised she didn''t need to fit in.

    Who cares about other people? Who cares about other men? Only he was everything and more.

    This mindset was quite different from her canon counterpart where she wasfortable with her own skin and found a ce in the demon yer corps. But the oue was the same - her being true to herself - so Seiji did not even notice.

    ...

    "Or does he even love me back?" her legs which had been kicking came to a stop and her jolly mood suddenly shattered like ss with that single question.

    She had the habit of getting ahead of herself and living in her own delusions. So, did Seiji love her back or not?

    "At least, he must love me a little right?" she said while looking up at the ceiling as shey on her bed (futon).

    It had been a month and he had not rejected her yet. He had also invited her more frequently to dates and from what he said, he was happy with the engagement.

    That should imply that he definitely loves her back, right? At least he must love her a little.

    She was delusional sometimes but she was not so out of touch with reality that she would expect him to love her as much as she did or as quickly as she did.

    Because as it was already said, Mitsuri was a hopeless romantic all her life. Falling for him was about the easiest thing she''d ever done - as if she was born to do so.

    But she hoped he loved her back even just a little, Like how he loves a puppy, or is that too much because he really loves puppies - she noticed.

    "I don''t know! I don''t know!" she said, rolling around the bed, the emotions in her heart demanded action.

    She looked like she''d gone mad. But I guess that''s what happens when a girl experiences her first love. It was like the first seed on a fertile, virgin soil.

    Right then, Mitsuri heard something knock at her door. She was surprised at first, and a little scared. But when she heard repeated knocking/pecking sounds, she left her bed and slid open the door.

    "Eh, Raven?" she was surprised to see the ck sparrow in the middle of the night.

    The bird gave her a dead stare as if it was not too amused at her existence. Mitsuri felt like she had wronged the bird somehow by her mere presence in this world.

    Then she noticed the letter the bird had on her feet. She beamed a smile, it was probably Seiji. There was ack ofmunication in this world so he would often send Raven to give letters.

    Usually, the letter would contain the time and ce where they would meet for a date so Mitsuri took the letter and eagerly opened it.

    She was not disappointed as she saw a time and ce for a meeting tomorrow.

    "Tomorrow, but we had a date today?" she said in surprise before a wide smile took over her face.

    They only went on dates for two to three times a week. This was the first time they would meet two days in a row.

    Did he really miss her that much already? Did he want to see her again so soon? Such thoughts swirled in her mind.

    The bird''s eyes got more dead when it saw Mitsuri''s smile. She turned around and quickly flew away from the happy girl.

    "Oh~ he really loves me." she said and held the letter near her heart.

    Now she had to sleep quickly so that tomorrow coulde sooner.

    ..

    //////////////////

    (The next day)

    "I have to leave."

    "eh?''

    "I know this is sudden but there is no better way to say it."

    ''Chotto fucking matte, please!!

    "I''ll miss you."

    Miss her? She''ll probably die.

    "I n on leaving today so this will probably be thest time we see each other for a while."

    "EHHHHHH!!!"

    .

    .

    .

    [IMAGE]

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Author : This is a small chap but update will being up again soon. Stay tuned.

    Really hard to write female characters so this take the same effort as other Chapters.

    You know writing action is way easier.

    I miss my ''ALWTA'' days.

    I was absolutely unhinged back then, only knowing how to write yandere. LOL

 Chapter 59: Last date

    <h4>Chapter 59: Last date</h4>

    Author : Double Chapter and this one will be thest of Mitsuri arc so enjoy.

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    [Seiji''s POV]

    We were in a cafe, or ''kissaten'' as it was called here. Many cafes were emerging all around Japan due to the Western influence and this was just one of them.

    Mitsuri sat across from me and she was enjoying her caste. She cupped her cheek with one hand while using a fork to feed herself with the other.

    She would also give me a melodious hum of satisfaction which I truly wished I could hear, but I could tell it was pretty just from the vibrations.

    Caste was expensive as hell for no reason and she wanted ten. But seeing her eat like that was worth every yen.

    "Is it good?"

    "Hmmm, Hmmm!!" she replied with a nod as her mouth was stuffed with the sponge cake but she gave me a radiant smile that was just as loud as any yell of affirmation would be.

    I returned a small smile and sipped my tea. I enjoyed watching her eat because she was beautiful but she didn''t show any difort because she had gotten used to my staring.

    We enjoyed the early rays of the morning sun in the cafe. But by the time the sun had fully risen, it was time to drop the bad news to her.

    "Mitsuri, the reason why I called you here was because I wanted to tell you something." I began and I watched every movement of her face to read her reaction.

    "Hmm?"

    "I have to leave."

    "Eh."

    Her face just froze. I could not read her at all because all her facial expressions just froze like ice.

    "I know this is sudden but there is no better way to say it," I said but still, I saw no reaction from her. Even her heartpletely halted its beat.

    "I''ll miss you."

    "..."

    "I n on leaving today so this will probably be thest time we see each other for a while," I said and finally, she exploded.

    "EHHHHHHHHH!!!"

    I was deaf but even I knew that was loud.

    "What? Leaving? Why? W-Where-" She mmed against the table and stood up before bombarding questions at me but I put a finger on her lips to silence her.

    I also pushed her boobs to stop them from jiggling because I did not want to be distracted by them while we were on a serious topic.

    "Settle down please, it won''t make much of a difference if you scream," I said. She took a deep breath and settled back into her seat.

    She leaned forward, using her boobs as a pillow while she brought her face close to mine. Maybe she hoped to seek answers behind my eyes with how intently she was looking at me.

    "Why?"

    That was the most important question to her. I could see cracks of vulnerability on her face when she asked. She probably wondered if she did something wrong or if I was fed up with her.

    It was nothing like that, I made sure to show that with gentle eyes.

    "Remember what I told you yesterday?" she nodded, "I am a Demon yer and the strongest amongst them, which means I am important."

    "I have been taking a break for three months now. It is time for me to return to my duty." I said.

    "....I see." she said and withdrew from my face.

    A silence settled between us and I allowed her to process what was said, the little that was said.

    In only just a month, our rtionship had seen much growth. Her because I was the one who helped her get over her issues and me because I knew her and liked her from my previous life.

    Our time together was unlike the time I spent with Kanae, Shinobu or any other person because when we hung out, we did it solely to get to know each other and to enjoy the other''spany. There were no jobs or missions in between.

    "When will youe back?" she finally asked after some time.

    "I''ll visit frequently." I replied, "It''s not like we won''t see each other again, only that the time between our meetings will be longer."

    The area around the city was under my territory anyway so it wouldn''t be much trouble to visit her monthly when we get breaks.

    "..there isn''t anything much I can do is there?" she finally said with a helpless smile. It saddens me to see her so down.

    "I''m afraid not," I said and reached out to pat her head. Her hair was soft and fluffy like a weird mix between silk and cotton.

    "It''s okay. Like you said, we''ll meet again," she said, more to herself than to me.

    I knew she had a lot more things to say which she pushed down because she was not brave enough to say it. Her beating heart, her throat contraction and her breath told me so.

    But she was afraid of annoying me by being too clingy and she felt that it was not in her ce to tell me what to do when we were just fiance.

    A part of me wanted to bring her with me, but more of me wanted her to stay and be safe. I was here now and I could work to cover everything she would''ve contributed if she became a Hashira. She didn''t need to be in danger, she didn''t need to fight when she didn''t like fighting.

    "Enough of this heavy mood. This will be ourst date for a while so let''s enjoy it." I said and she joined my enthusiasm not long after.

    "Yeah!! Let''s go have the best time ever!"

    And so, we left the cafe to start the date. Since we wanted to enjoy ourselves as much as possible, we did what both of us liked.

    Cloth shopping!!

    And I''ll cut anyone who says it''s gay. If you remember, I was quite a fashion enthusiast since I appreciated appearance and beauty.

    This was also not just any cloth shopping, it was kimono shopping.

    We went to the most popr shopping district which was known for its kimono, both handmade and machine-made. They had everything from in colours to the most colourful ones, ranging from dirt cheap ones to noble luxurious ones.

    We both tried many different kimonos and asked each other for opinions. Mitsuri was into the colourful ones with patterns while I preferred in ones with nifty designs and the right measurements.

    Because in my opinion, no matter how beautiful it was, as long as it did not fit you perfectly andpliment your shape, it was only a disappointment. A rainbow vomit if I were honest.

    To my eyes, such imperfection was triggering and the opposite of beauty and elegance.

    "Why don''t you try this?" I said, showing her a pink kimono with could patterns, "Pink suits you."

    "Okay!" she said before taking it and running to the changing room. When she came out again, I had a thoughtful look.

    I was facing a problem.

    She looked good in absolutely everything. It didn''t matter what kimono she wore, she looked extremely beautiful.

    Clothes were meant to make you beautiful, but she made clothes beautiful instead.

    Her body had the perfect proportions, she was built like a hentai heroine. Small shoulders, generous breasts, and then she had a small waist and wide child-bearing hips that created the famous hourss figure.

    That''s not all, as your gaze lowered, you would be met with thick supple thighs and a perfect rear the shape of a heart. It makes me want to write a wish fulfilment fanfiction ''That time I got reincarnated as Mitsuri''s favourite chair''

    "We''ll take that too," I said to the owner of the store.

    "That too? Why don''t you just buy the whole store at this point hahaha!!" sheughed while she held a mountain of kimono.

    I simply stared at her, contemting.

    "Wait, seriously?"

    In the end, Mitsuri convinced me not to buy the store. She picked two kimonos that she liked and said she didn''t need more.

    I ended up buying one for myself as well, plus a new haori which was not fully white but had purple cubic patterns for decoration.

    After we were done shopping we went to a Kabuki theatre to watch a y. I proposed to watch a normal y but Mitsuri, being the sweetheart that she was said she preferred to watch a shadow y.

    She chose this while keeping my deafness in mind. There was no dialogue in shadow y and it relied on visual storytelling so she thought it would be a better experience for me.

    We watched the shadow y, enjoying ourselves with the story of two couples who got separated by the horrors of war. I was worried that it might have a tragic ending and make her not only sad butpare our situation with the story but luckily, they both survived and married and lived happily after the war.

    Finally, we ended the date with how we began, food. We visited a total of six restaurants where we both ordered a normal quantity of food.

    We created this perfect strategy in our earlier dates. We get to try the foods of different restaurants while not attracting any unwanted attention from the sheer amount of food we consume. Well, mostly Mitsuri but I ate well above the standard as well.

    After the end, I walked Mitsuri to her home. We also indulged in the absolute debauchery of unprotected hand-holding as we walked.

    "Why are you looking at me so intently silly?" Miitsuri asked while we walked in the calm of the evening.

    "I was just wondering...where all the food went. Your stomach remainspletely t." I said while looking at her belly.

    She blushed deep red much to my amusement but then her eyes shone with a hint of mischief and the desire to get back at me.

    "I don''t know, maybe here?" she said and suddenly shoved her boobs up. But much to her disappointment, my face was stone cold, call me Alex Pierra.

    ...or maybe not because she had a teasing smile on her face, much like Kanae. Impossible!! My face would never betray me!

    "You''re so cute when you blush," she said and I was genuinely caught off guard. Was she, verbally teasing me back? She never did that. Was it because we won''t see each other for a while?

    Nevertheless, "Who''s blushing? I''m not blushing."

    The proof was in her eyes. When I looked at my reflection in her emerald eyes, my face was absolutely stoic.

    She smiled wider and pinched my ear. Only when her fingers touched my ears did I notice how cold her fingers were. Or were my ears heating up? They are, aren''t they?

    Don''t tell me people could see me blush from my ears all this time? What am I, a fucking tsundere waifu?

    I covered my ears instantly, causing her to giggle.

    "Har har, very funny," I said, keeping my hands on my ears. Maybe I should grow my hair just to hide it?

    A few minutes passed and we reached the Kanrojipound. God, why did her house have to be so close? I wouldn''t mind if it was still a couple hundred miles away.

    "Well, this is it," she said and folded her arms behind her back. She turned around and faced me.

    "Goodbye, Seiji."

    "Goodbye Mitsuri."

    She smiled and waited for a few seconds longer than necessary as if she were waiting for something.

    I knew what she was waiting for, and I was hoping for it too. But my dumbass remained rooted in ce like a whole tree.

    She released a breath she didn''t know she was holding...nothing happened.

    ''Come on, aren''t you gonna do it?'' my mind questioned me.

    "Byee.." she whispered and turned around. Then she walked away.

    "...."

    Before she left an arm''s reach, I grabbed her hand and gave a small tug. She released a cute yelp and spun around tond on my chest.

    The moment she looked up, I leaned down and gave her a small peck on her lips.

    It was brief, it was soft and a little wet. It was perfect.

    ''I fucking did it!! ''

    Mitsuri quickly turned beet red in my arms and I know this was out of the script but I leaned in and gave her another peck on her lips.

    This time, I felt it more clearly. Her lips were warm and they were like the most tender petal of a flower.

    Finally, I released her.

    "I''ll see you again soon," I said and my shamelessness suddenly ran out. I had used up all of my courage and the few I borrowed from God knows where.

    So with the speed of the fastest Hashira, I fled the scene like a criminal who had justmitted a crime.

    It was my first kiss.

    ..

    I would regret running away yearster because that was not cool at all. But we all had our first kiss at some point, right? So you guys should understand me.

    It was nerve-wracking, on par with peeking at Muzan Kibutsuji.

    ..

    ..

    ..

    [MUST SEE IMAGE!!!!]

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    Important note : The reason Seiji''s romantic development with Mitsuri is much quicker than Kanae and Shinobu is that the Kocho sisters never made any advances on him. Shinobu liked thier friendship and never really made a move other than secretly crushing on him. Kanae is at the stage of denial where she holds herself back from loving her sister''s crush/ best friend.

    On the other hand, Mitsuri is all in on it. Sheid her feelings bare for Seiji to see, without holding back. She knows what she wants, she wants to love and to be loved. In the anime too, we see her trying everything she could to change just so she would find love and a husband. It is also both thier first love and experience so things develop quickly.

    Mitsuri is the Love Hashira for a reason. The Kocho sisters would need to up their game if they don''t want him to be snatched by Mitsuri.

 Chapter 60: The return of the Main Character

    <h4>Chapter 60: The return of the Main Character</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    At the crack of dawn, I left the city of Tokyo with a small smile and a heavy heart. I thought I would never say this but I was going to miss the city, even with the high possibility of Muzan Kitbutsuji living in it.

    Because I had people I was going to miss.

    After gaining enough power and bing the strongest Demon yer, my rtionship with my aunt and uncle became deeper on my part as I finally had the courage to do so.

    Not only that, I had a fiance, and it was not just any girl but Mitsuri fucking Kanroji.

    Suffice it to say, I would be returning after a month or two.

    I took my time travelling through the thick temperate forest of Japan. I did not want to tire myself because I needed to adjust my body to a new sleeping schedule where night was day and day was night. If I tire myself too much, I''ll be sleepy at night.

    Raven was on top of my head, she seemed to be in a good mood due to the fact that it was just the two of us again. I swear she acts more like a cat than a bird sometimes.

    After I was miles away from the city, a kasugai crow finally flew above me. I had a small smile on my face, I was itching to slice some demon up after the long vacation.

    When you describe me as a character, I hope you remember the deep passion I have for my job. A really really deep passion.

    I read the movement of the crow''s throat to understand the mission. Raven also tranted it to me with morse code and I made sure there was no mimunication.

    "No individual mission? That''s unfortunate." I said while processing the retail of the mission.

    The North huh, that ce was wet and had leeches this time around. Ew.

    "Wait, Kanae is going after a lower moon?" I said, trying to push down the chilling premonition that immediately invaded my mind.

    Nothing bad would happen. I warned her so.

    It seems like the Demon yer Corps was having a rough time with their most important pir going on a break. So much so that they would send their healer on an investigation mission - which normally takes very long. I could imagine the amount of missions piling up since I was no longer speedrunning through them.

    ''Well, it''s good to disappear like this sometimes. It makes people appreciate your presence when they see the consequences of your absence.'' I thought to myself as I changed the direction of my travel to the far north.

    ''Am I allowed to think like that when said consequence could mean the loss of many lives?'' I thought while humming.

    "How much of what I do is due to my job/duty, how much of it is a product of hate? How much of me is a genuinely good person who wants people to stop dying?" I asked myself in silence.

    One thing about being an adolescent was that you started to ask questions with no answers in an attempt to find your identity and know yourself. Am I a good person or am I a bad person?

    I entertained such thoughts while travelling to the north. It has been some time since Ist saw Kanae, I hope she is doing okay. That woman is a ticking time bomb but I don''t want to worry too much and raise red gs.

    Unconsciously, I quickened my steps, breaking my perfect movement to cover the distance faster and more efficiently.

    ..

    ..

    ////////////////////

    After travelling for more than half a day, I finally reached the Aomori region. By that time, the sun had long since set and demons began crawling out of their hell hole.

    I stood atop a ridge and observed the horizon. I was not enjoying the scenery, instead, my eyes carefully observed every little thing in the forest. My vision zoomed in and zoomed out through different areas.

    I could see squirrels fighting for nuts on the right side of the forest, I saw a mother bird vomiting worms and feeding her chicks in the centre, I saw a snake stalking its prey on the ground, I saw leaves falling due to the wind and I saw fishes dancing in a small pond.

    My eyes were many times more powerful than the eyes of hawks and eagles. Although processing all the information from such a wide range could be exhausting, I pushed myself.

    After ten or so minutes standing on that ridge, I finally saw a Kasugai crow in the furthest part of the horizon. The small flower decorating its head was all I needed to realize whom that crow belonged to.

    "Kanae." I said. The crow was flying around in search of assistance. It was not an emergency, but it showed that Kanae needed help.

    How many times had it been like this? I asked myself while readying myself to take action.

    I had been getting Kanae out of a sticky situation more times than I could count. This mainly had to do with the fact that she was supposed to die around this year. I was more focused on her, making sure she was safe.

    <i>"Thunder Breathing : First Form." </i>I crouched down and loaded my leg like a spring.

    <strong>"Thunderp and sh, twenty percent output, fifty fold."</strong>

    I burst out like a terrible hurricane and used my modified first form for a total of fifty steps. My speed was not at maximum but my muscles were less strained as a result.

    It was a new application of the first form I invented. I could cover up to 30 kilometres at incredible speed using this technique.

    I used the branches of the trees to propel myself forward, my feet never touched the ground. After talking fifty steps with Thunder Breathing, I found myself in apletely different area altogether.

    The kasugai crow was much closer on the horizon and with my eyes, I could finally see the situation that needed assistance.

    My eyes narrowed, ignoring the distance while I looked upon the scene kilometres away as if I was there myself.

    I sighed in relief when I saw Kanae struggling to fight against a group of demons led by a lower moon. The situation was grave but it was nothingpared to what I feared the most.

    "Flower Breathing is horrible against a group of enemies," I said while shaking my head. Although her life was not in danger, I suppose I should help her.

    I pulled out my sword from the sheath and grabbed at the long hilt. I brought my sword above my shoulder which waspletely different from how it was meant to be held.

    I was holding the odachi like a spear.

    Why?

    Because I was going to use it as such.

    My pupils shrank as I stopped focusing on one area. It was like a mix between unblurring the background and zooming out in a camera.

    Instead of zooming in on one area and seeing the details, my eyes started calcting the distance, the movement of the wind and the exact angle which I needed to hit my target.

    My brain processed the information andmanded my body to execute a calcted action. I did not even do this intentionally, it was all unconscious. Like how you unconsciously calcte the trajectory, speed and other factors of an object before you catch it.

    It was what any human could do, but I pushed the limit to a frightening degree.

    <i>"Esoteric Art : Breathing Styles."</i>

    <strong>"Thunder Wind Breathing : Unerring Lance."</strong>

    The muscles in my arm exploded, producing the sound of thunder due to the sheer release of sudden force. I threw my de like a spear, its edge sliced through the atmosphere and travelled to the target with incredible uracy.

    It took a few seconds before my sword plunged itself right between the groups of demons and Kanae. They all paused for a moment to observe the strange sword that came out of nowhere.

    Oops. I was aiming for the boss. I guess no matter how overpowered my eyes were, it was not enough to hit a target from kilometres away with a sword thrown like a Lance.

    But that was enough because I saw Kanae''s lips curve in a small smile and the demons shrunk when they took a closer look at the sword.

    I used Thunder Breathing to reach them as quickly as possible.

    ..

    ..

    [IMAGE]

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    Author : No one seemed to like the idea of Seiji using arrows even though I thought it''d be cool asf. But still, he will throw his sword.

    ..

    Join my patreon to support the book and read ahead!!

    Patreon : Emmanuel_Capricorn

 Chapter 61: Main Character’s Aura

    <h4>Chapter 61: Main Character''s Aura</h4>

    [3rd POV]

    (Kanae Kocho)

    "Fuck!"

    Such profanity rarely left the pretty lips of Kanae Kocho. But if one looked at the situation she was in, they would no doubt understand her and say her curse was justified.

    And what exactly was the situation she found herself in?

    Well, she was surrounded by a few dozen or so high-level demons. That alone would give any Hashira a run for their money but to make matters worse, there was a lower moon leading them.

    Fortunately for her, the lower moon was ranked fifth, which meant that the demon was one of the weakest even among the lower moon demons. She knew this from the kanji number 5 (��) etched in his left eye.

    Nevertheless, it was a very problematic situation that she found herself in.

    "You have no hope of getting out of this alive. You will die and I will feast on your corpse before I bring your head to ''him''." the lower moon said while watching from a safe distance. The demon was a coward.

    "And he will reward me with his blood for a job well done." the lower moon said with ecstasy. Was it normal for demons to get hard when revealing their evil n? she thought to herself when she saw the tent in his pants.

    She wanted to bleach her eyes when she saw that.

    She moved with the grace of a dancer and the elegance of a painter while dodging the attacksing from all the demons around her. The sound of her sword fending them off was the only thing rining in the surroundings other than the nasty growls of the demons.

    She was tired.

    She had been investigating the demon for almost a week now and it was filled with exhausting work because the demon was smart and deliberately destroying her mentally before ambushing her.

    Honestly, Kanae wondered how Seiji did all those investigation missions so easily. When he was active, they never had to worry about such jobs.

    "Stop moving damnit!!" one demon screamed and lunged at her with reckless abandon. She smiled seeing that.

    Finally, it was the opening she was waiting for. It was a mistake from the enemy which she nned to take full advantage of.

    <i>"Flower Breathing : Fourth Form." </i>the world turned pink and flowers starteding to life.

    <strong>"Crimson Hanagoromo." </strong>her de became a beautiful flower that curved and twisted in itself. The demon tried to block her sh but it simply curved into the opening and sliced his head off.

    The ssh of demonic blood and the trail of her de creates the image of a blooming flower. The demons nearby paused as a sweet smell assaulted their senses. They were momentarily awed by the scene, Kanae at that moment looked like an angel.

    She smiled. She can manage this.

    <i>"Flower Breathing : Fifth Form."</i> her arm became loose, dangling like a new nt, a young flower. That was until it burst into action and painted beautiful curves of nine shes.

    Flowers bloomed, and her movement was poetry in motion, the best of grace. In one single instance when demons drew breath, nine heads fell. Blood sttered violently but strangely enough, not a drop touched her, as if the world was careful to not stain her beauty.

    It was violence at its most beautiful.

    Beauty at its most cruel.

    <strong>"Peonies of futility." </strong>she whispered before the demons dissipated.

    ..

    ..

    "What the hell are you guys doing!! Go!! Attack her before she kills anyone else!!" The lower moon was the first to escape from the trance.

    Kanae exhaled sharply, blowing her bangs up before she engaged against the demons once more. After that, there was no more opening she could take advantage of.

    Flower Breathing relied a lot on the eyes of the user. In a sense, it was basically Seiji''s normal fighting style but watered down.

    The user fought best when they could focus on one enemy instead of multiple since they didn''t have special eyes like Seiji who could process and focus on multiple opponents at once.

    A pair of eyes could only focus on one enemy at a time.

    So with no more openings, Kanae was slowly pushed back.

    The lower moon also joined the fight a few times which made her defeat even quicker. But the lower moon never engaged in a long fight, fearing that she might have a trump card.

    ...which she did.

    ''Do I really need to use that?'' she thought to herself. She was referring to the final form of Flower Breathing that could enhance the user''s eyes so that they could see in slow motion.

    However, the technique could cause the rupture of blood vessels in the eyes and cause partial blindness so it was a risky technique that she preferred not to use.

    If she used it, she would no doubt win this confrontation or at least assure her survival. But she was still hesitant to do so, hoping she would find a better way out of this.

    ''Seiji...'' the image of a purple boy appeared in her mind and she immediately became flustered and embarrassed. She almost lost focus and allowed a demon to sh at her.

    It was understandable, after all, it was shameful that she was hoping for help from him even though she was supposed to be his senior.

    She couldn''t help it. If someone was always there to have your back for so many times, you would naturally start relying on it.

    And Seiji had always been there for her. Every single time some trouble emerged in her life, he was there to save her.

    This was because Seiji - knowing that Kanae would be in danger soon ording to canon - was fully focused on her. Whenever she was on a mission, he would also remain close to her and immediately rush to her when she was in need, fearing that it would be her end.

    He did this to other Hashiras too but he gave his everything when it came to her.

    This had been happening for almost a year now, ever since she turned 17. Which was the year when she would encounter Douma and die ording to the canon timeline.

    It was this exact care that Seiji showed which made her eventually fall for him. Which by the way, she still hadn''t epted yet.

    It was impossible for a virgin girl to not fall in love when a man showed her such care and attention. For no particr reason as well from Kanae''s perspective. She was fine till the fourth time he helped her but from then on, he slowly grew in her heart.

    Such protectiveness really tickled her femininity. There was no way else to put it.

    ...

    She shook her head, dispersing all thoughts because the ws of one demon came too close to her liking. It was lucky that they didn''t have tricky blood demon art.

    She took a sharp breath and leapt back to create distance. She brought her sword close to her chest and her posture changed.

    A sudden stillness fell in the air and even the demons stopped.

    Every instinct collectively screamed out, danger.

    Kanae blinked. She was just about to use the final form of Flower Breathing but was left confused, the breathing technique never had such weight before. Was it really her?

    No. It couldn''t be her because she felt the danger too, like something stronger than all of thembined was watching them.

    ..

    It was then that they heard a sharp whistle. It was the sound of a de cutting through the atmosphere like butter. Unbothered by thews of physics, it flew straight at them.

    Thunder followed.

    <strong><i>*BOOOOOOM!!!!!*</i></strong>

    Then a long sword, the colour of purple nted itself on the ground, separating Kanae from the groups of demons.

    The ground shook and the force stirred up a cloud of smoke. But even when the dust settled, no one moved an inch. Even the demons stopped.

    It was as if the de had created an invisible line separating Kanae from the demon. The two groups were in different dimensions entirely.

    The demons were evil and violent, yet even they didn''t dare cross the invisible line. They stared at the sword which was nted on the ground.

    ''Evil Demon'' the demon''s read the kanji on the sword. The letters seem to call out to them.

    ''Destroyer.''

    "...."

    "That''s...another Hashira!" the lower moon gasped and looked in every direction rapidly, afraid that someone would ambush him too.

    "It''s a long sword. It''s purple." one of the demons said and shrunk back in fear.

    Demons were as smart as any human. The only difference was that they were more aggressive and they had supernatural powers.

    So like any human society, rumours also spread amongst the demons. Everyone knew whose de that was. The long katana and the purple colour made it unique from every other sword.

    Seiji Shigan. He was the most dangerous Hashira because he had no weakness, unlike the others. He also had the ability to pinpoint any ticks used by demons.

    Terrorizing a vige used to be the most efficient way to live for a demon and only the very top demons were able to enjoy this privilege. But now, no one ever wanted to do it. No one wanted to control or terrorize a vige.

    Because if you did, the purple Hashira woulde to your vige, find out instantly any tricks or maniption you used and he would hunt you in the daylight. You cannot hide.

    Hiding was not the best way to survive anymore, running was. Your best survival was trying to run from the now fastest Hashria.

    Because you couldn''t hide from the purple Hashira.

    And it was said that the Hashira was the most brutal demon yer of all. They said it was because he was deaf and he couldn''t hear you begging, screaming, or crying. He was absolutely ruthless.

    The cruellest one is the Deaf Hashira.

    Beware of the Deaf Hashira.

    Run from the Purple.

    The Sun is kinder than the long sword.

    At least, that''s how the rumours went.

    So they knew him, they knew Seiji Shigan. Of course, they would know him, after all, he hadpleted more missions than most of the Hahsiras that ever existed in just two years. Such a massacre would not go unnoticed by the demons.

    "He is still far away. He is kilometres away!!" the lower moon suddenly eximed after checking the scent in the air.

    "Kill that btich quickly!!" the lower moonmanded.

    After hesitating once more, the demons attacked Kanae again but this time, they were not able to push her back anymore.

    Their spirit was already beaten and they fought with eyes on their back, fearing that the purple one would reach them by now. Their main concern was on escape routes instead of the Kanae.

    On the other hand, Kanae fought with everything she could, without conserving energy to prolong the fight because she knew Seiji would reach her soon.

    Half a minute passed.

    "Wait!! How is he already this close!" the lower moon suddenly said after catching a scent in the air again. Seiji used Thunder Breathing so he easily covered the distance.

    Now the lower moon was panicked, "Run!!"

    They turned around and were about to run and escape from different directions but it was all toote.

    Because by the time they decided to run...

    ...the hilt of the long sword already found a hand.

    <i>"Esoteric Art : Breathing Styles." </i>a cold whisper. The only sound.

    <strong><i>"Storm Breathing (Water+Wind+Thunder) : First Form."</i></strong>

    <strong>"Tempest Fury."</strong>

    ...

    Maybe it would''ve been better to die by the beautiful flower breathing because what came next was the most violent way a demon could die.

    Their body sttered throughout the forest, torn apart, blown apart before everything else was ripped and minced.

    ..

    ..

    ..

    [Demon Image and please add waifu image JONTY]

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    Author : Although it''s monday, I can''t do extra Chapter because I have been doing double update for thest two days. But I still want stones andUGLIf we somehow reach 1000 stones I will do the impossible and cough out extra Chapter.

    <strong><i>Join my patreon to read ahead : Emmanuel_Capricorn</i></strong>

 Chapter 62: Master of Breathing Styles

    <h4>Chapter 62: Master of Breathing Styles</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    My arm stung after throwing my sword. You could imagine how taxing it would be, to use Thunder Breathing and Wind Breathing simultaneously when Thunder Breathing alone strained the body.

    If I were not such a bullshit character then it would''ve been impossible for anyone.

    You have to remember that no one could learn sun breathing because it was really stressful for the body, so Yoriichi had to teach the early Hashiras a watered-down version of sun breathing and help them shape their style.

    In a way, one breathing style was all the human body should be able to take.

    But I was an anomaly due to my body which was trained perfectly since I was young and because of my impable mastery over breathing styles - mixing breathing styles was like using twonguages in one sentence.

    Still, even I had limits. My current limit was using two breathing styles at once. Of course, this was still more taxing to the body than normal breathing so I mostly used it to finish my opponents instantly.

    Fortunately, I was constantly improving my technique and my body was also growing stronger so I pushed this limit day by day. Eventually, I hope to be able to use all breathing styles at once.

    "Still won''t stop after being warned huh?" I said with mirthless chuckles while looking at the scene kilometres away.

    I inhaled sharply

    Raven flew off my head and I lowered my body, locking my joints like a spring. Purple lighting crackled around my body, and the ground caved in due to the weight of my raw strength.

    Then I exploded out with the speed of lighting and the intensi<strong>ty of Thunder.</strong>

    <strong>"Thunder p and sh, ten fold."</strong>

    Although I just spammed the technique before, I forced my body to do it once more. I would count this as my monthly leg day.

    In just half a minute, I reached the ce where the fighting took ce. The demons immediately turned around to flee but it was all toote.

    Should''ve taken the warning when they had the chance.

    The world was in slow motion from my perspective as I carefully inspected the situation. The lower moon was ranked 5 and with a nce, I could tell that he was weak - much weaker than the one I yed before I became Hashira.

    The rest of the demons were also nothing in my eyes. They could be a threat to middle to lower-ranked Demon yers but in front of a Hashria, they were canon fodders.

    They were ants.

    Seeing that, I deemed it to be safe enough to train myself. If they posed a real threat, I would''ve been more cautious but they did not.

    So let''s do this, let''s use three breathing styles all at once.

    An important lesson I learned about mixed breathing was that there were some breathing styles that were impossible to mix. This was because of their opposite nature.

    For example, if you tried to use two breathing styles at once, you could use; Thunder Breathing and Wind Breathing, Thunder Breathing and me Breathing, Wind Breathing and me Breathing.

    But you could not use me Breathing and Water Breathing or Water Breathing and Wind Breathing. They just hadpletely different concepts behind them.

    So you could say there were some breathing styles you could use together and some others that you could not, no matter how skilled you were.

    But, this changed when you use three breathing styles at once. At this point, you could use any breathing styles you want and mix them together.

    So it was possible to use Water Breathing, WInd Breathing and Thunder Breathing together even though Wind Breathing and Water Breathing opposed each other.

    This was because Thunder Breathing acted as a bridge that connected them.

    Wind Breathing was explosive, violent and chaotic.

    Water Breathing was about precision, adaptability and uracy. Then there was Thunder Breathing which was a mix between both, it was an explosion but also controlled and precise. If you remember, what made Thunder Breathing so fast was that you explode out but concentrating on a single point and linear path.

    Therefore it acted as a bridge between the twopletely opposite breathing styles.

    <i>"Esoteric Art : Breathing Styles."</i> I whispered while the demons fled.

    I actually had a name for this. Water Breathing, Wind Breathing and Thunder Breathing all together.

    <strong><i>"Storm Breathing : First Form."</i></strong>

    <strong>"Tempest Fury."</strong>

    My arm exploded to action as every fibre of the muscles in my arm worked together to produce raw strength in a single instance - Thunder Breathing.

    A shockwave erupted and a small hurricane formed from my swing. Wind des came to life and ripped apart flesh and bones - Wind Breathing.

    My arm did not lose uracy even when it moved with such force. The kic energy of my swing was controlled and I hit only what I wanted, the demons. Even the wind des only hit the demons, nothing else, not even a mosquito was not harmed in my attack - Water Breathing.

    <strong><i>*BOOOOOOOM!!!*</i></strong>

    A violent gust of wind turned the demons into mashed flesh and they sttered around the forest. But none of the mess came to my direction.

    "...."

    "...."

    I remained silent and stood in my ce. Not because I was trying to act cool but because my body was genuinely stuck. I kid you not, using three breathing at once was not kind to the body.

    I only used one attack and I felt like I just worked out the entire day. This was why I would never use it against a serious opponent yet, it was too ineffective and cripplled my body.

    The human body has limits.

    I exhaled all of the air in my lungs and finally, I could feel my body again. Although fatigued, I could move.

    I turned around to lock eyes with Kanae who had awe and wonder in her eyes. My male ego was pleased to impress a pretty girl like her, which by the way was one of the reasons why I did what I did. Training myself was the main reason though.

    "Long time no see," I said.

    But she did not respond and shifted her eyes to somewhere else. Rude!!

    "Behind you." she said, I read the movement of herrynx so I moved before her words fully left her mouth.

    I drew my de, sharp and in perfect condition, and sliced behind me. I could see behind me from the reflection of my de so my de easily found the neck of the lower moon.

    The sharp edge of my sword bit into his flesh. I did not even put much force as his own momentum pushed against the de and sliced off his head.

    His body crashed on my back, blood stained my clothes before he fell. But his decapitated head fell in front of me andnded near my foot.

    It gave me the chance to stare down at his pathetic state before he disappeared. Luckily, his blood stain also turned into dust.

    Heh, if Giyu could one-shot lower moon five, so can I.

    ...

    "How did you do that? Do you have eyes behind your back?" Kanae asked me.

    She just saw me use three breathing styles all at once and wanted to know how I was aware of what was happening behind me. She has priorities all right. Like some of you,ining about the logic behind my deafness when literally there are much stranger things that define logic here.

    "There is a reason why I always kept my de in pristine condition." I said, "I could see him from the reflection when I drew my de."

    "Oh." she nodded with a realisation. Then she fully stood up and gave me a beautiful smile that was just enough.

    "Wee back Seiji. Please don''t leave us for so long again, things were difficult without you," she said.

    "Next time I go on a vacation, I''ll have already killed the demon king." I said, causing her tough, not knowing that I was dead serious.

    "You saved me again huh, how many times did that make?"

    I shrugged, "I''m not counting but a few times."

    "I can''t thank you enough. I''m not sure if there even is anything I can do to repay you." she said while tilting her head.

    "You don''t need to repay me anything, you give me free healthcare. That is more than enough." I said. If only she knew how much that meant to me.

    "But.." I said and crossed my arms and said sternly like a father scolding his daughter.

    "You took an investigation mission by yourself huh? I thought I told you not to do that."

    "Uh,,,,," she was lost for words, "Sorry?"

    How do I exin to someone that they will die soon so they need to be careful and take my words seriously?

    "Wait, can you even do that? Why should I follow your words like a little girl? What are you, my husband?" she asked me in return but soon lost her heat under my narrowed eyes.

    ''Is that what it would take to make her listen to me?''

    "In my defence, the Demon yer Corps was short on manpower. Although I''m ashamed we found out this way, you were doing three Hashira''s worth of missions so your absence meant the same as the absence of three Hashiras suddenly. I needed to step up or people would continue dying" she said.

    That was reasonable. If not for the fact that she would die andst time I checked, the dead helps no one.

    Well, now that I was back, hopefully, nothing bad would happen. I have done so much that the butterfly effect would probably change the future of Kanae by now.

    It''s just that I wanted to make sure, at least until she turned 18. Maybe then I would rx a bit.

    I sighed, "That''s fine, now that I''m back please avoid dangerous missions okay?" I said. Investigation missions were dangerous specifically because you had no information beforehand. You could be tracking a random demon or the Demon King himself without even knowing.

    A normal ying mission where the demon was already identified was much saferpared to it.

    A short silence followed (actually it is always silent for me but ykwim) before I broke the silence by asking..

    "Wanna catch a bite?"

    It''s literally midnight. What a dumbass question.

    "Sure!" she said and shed a smile.

    Okay, maybe it was not a dumbass question. She seemed happy with the idea, enthusiastic even.

    "Let''s go."

    And so we did.

    Soon after, the fact that there would be no restaurant open during the night hit me so we literally had to catch a bite.

    At first, I hunted and tried to kill a rabbit for food but Kanae stopped me, saying that it was too cute to eat. Then I went after a wild pig but she said it was too dirty and ugly to be eaten. Talk about being spoiled.

    Finally, we found a deer and it was eptable to the Flower Hashira.

    ..

    ..

    ..

    [IMAGE]

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    Read advanced Chapter on my patreon : Emmanuel_Capricorn

 Chapter 63: The Love Hashira

    <h4>Chapter 63: The Love Hashira</h4>

    [3rd POV]

    (Mitsuri Kanroji)

    A day without him felt wrong, like a meal without salt if she had to describe the feeling.

    It was truly odd she felt that way when she had been living 16 years without him. It was only a month ago when they met but she felt like she''d known him her whole life.

    And she missed him, as if she had known him her whole life.

    "It''s been years..." she whispered while gazing up at the blue sky, like she saw him do often. She imagined that anywhere he was, he would look up at the sky too and at this moment, they would be seeing the same scene.

    "There you go again, lost in thought. It''s only been a week." her mother said while stitching patterns on a nket.

    ''A week that feels like years.'' she thought in her mind.

    "He said he would return after a month did he not? Stop thinking about him and he will be back in no time." her mother said.

    "...."

    How the heck was she supposed to not think about him? Trying not to think about him in itself was thinking about him.

    "Come, help me with this." her mother finally said and Mitsuri dragged herself up from the veranda and sat down beside her mother.

    "Hold this for me, and cut the threads." her mother said and Mitsuri moved absentmindedly. Her body was doing the task but her mind was not on the same task.

    She couldn''t help but worry.

    Demons. Those nasty beings that feed on humans and lurk in the night. Seiji told her that they were stronger than humans and the Demon yer Corp was the only shield protecting innocent lives from the demons.

    Seiji himself was in the Demon yer Corps. No one knew but he was fighting battles to protect everyone.

    He was not like those soldiers who killed other humans in wars, he was genuinely protecting humanity. Even though he was not rewarded with medals or fame, he did it for his family who were killed by demons. He fought to make sure no one would face the same tragedy that he did.

    Mitsuri really admired him.

    But she couldn''t help but worry at the same time. What if he got hurt while fighting against those demons? What if he....she didn''t even want to finish that line of thought.

    ''I should be with him.'' the thought suddenly invaded her mind and wouldn''t leave.

    She was supposed to be his wife, was she not? And the duty of a wife was to always support their husband. Should she really be staying still like this?

    .....

    "You are gifted Mitsuri, you are incredible." Seiji once told her while he was teaching her some fighting moves so that she could protect herself.

    He said that all her life, she was forced to hide her strength so he wanted her to release all those shackles and freely use them.

    He said she should know the limits of her body. He said it was a crime for her to not know what her body was capable of.

    "You always say that...do you really think so?" she said while looking at herself. Seiji was strong, many times stronger than herself especially when he used his strange breathing, so she did not have to hold back when she was with him.

    That also made her feel that she might not be that special.

    "Absolutely. I am certain that you can be stronger than most people with a little bit of training," he said with a are smile.

    ....

    She remembers this interaction. Does that not mean that she could be a Demon yer and fight alongside him if she trained?

    Maybe then she would be more helpful than just staying here.

    ''But he told me to wait for hi..'' she thought in her mind. Her mind was telling her that Seiji did not want her to do it. Maybe because he was so protective of her and did not want her to ever be in danger.

    Yet her heart was telling her to do it. There was a strange calling to the idea of being a Demon yer as if she was born for it.

    In the end, Mitsuri was one to follow her heart instead of her mind.

    She suddenly stood up, spooking her mother, and she yelled out.

    "I have decided!!" she said with sparkling eyes.

    "What is it Mitsuri?"

    "I have decided to go to him and always stay by his side!"

    "What? You don''t mean-" her mother asked but Mitsuri was already gone. She ran around the house and into her room.

    She quickly packed everything she would need. Her mother could only watch in confusion before her father joined.

    "What''s going on dear?"

    "I''m not sure myself. I''m still figuring it out." the mother replied.

    The old couple stood still and watched as their daughter ran around the house, collecting odd things and packing a bag. A few minutester, she stopped in front of them.

    "Mother! Father! I have decided to go to Seiji." Mitsuri said with determination.

    "Calm down dear, are you sure this is a good idea? Do you even know where he is?" her father asked. All they knew was that Seiji would travel around Japan due to things rted to his job.

    "Yes!" She lied. But she could figure that outter.

    "That still doesn''t mean that you should just leave so suddenly." her mother said sternly.

    "I''m sorry mother and father but I need to do this. My heart is telling me so," she said and quickly fasten her bag behind her.

    "Goodbye! Love you!" she said and ran out of the house. She was too fast for her parents to say anything.

    "That girl...honestly.." her mother said with a helpless shake of her head.

    "Hahaha, this reminds me of when she was young." her fatherughed. It was not the first time Mitsuri tried to run away from home. But that was only when she was a child and during her early teens when she was getting rejected.

    "Aren''t you going to run after her?" her mother asked to which they both looked down at his belly. He had been putting weights in his older years, he was not as fast as he used to be so there was no way he would catch up to her.

    "Don''t worry, what''s the worse that could happen?" the father asked.

    "Are you insane? What if she encountered bad men?" her mother said, leaving the father confused.

    "I don''t want us to pay for other''s medical bills again." she rified and the father nodded. Last time Mitsuri was bullied for her hair and cat called, a single swing sent a man flying and he broke many bones.

    "I''ll send a servant to follow her." the father said and immediately left for the courtyard.

    ...

    ////////////////

    Mitsuri stood on the outskirts of the city. She looked at all of the different roads leading to different ces and she did not know which one to chose.

    Maybe she should''ve nned better before she ran off. Now she did not know what to do.

    "Should I just return? Maybe I should ask Seiji''s parents and try again tomorrow." she said with a sigh. A blush appeared on her cheeks due to embarrassment as well.

    She was not really the type to think things through. She was a bit of a muscle head.

    She was about to return when a crow suddenlynded on the branch of a tree nearby. And much to her shock, the crow started speaking in a very deep andmanding voice.

    "Miss Kanroji. I was going to respect Seiji''s wishes and not intrude in your life but I see that you havee to a decision." the crow said while staring straight into her soul.

    Honestly, Misturi wanted to scream. But a part of her was fascinated.

    "How do you know me?" she asked.

    "We know a lot of people, miss Kanroji. My master is constantly in search of new talents, there was no way we would''ve missed someone as special as you." the crow said.

    "Let me ask you one thing Miss Kanroji. Do you want to be a Demon yer and fight beside your fiance Seiji Shigan?"

    Mitsuri blinked, equally creeped out and impressed that the crow knew so much. But the answer was obvious, it came from the heart.

    "Yes!"

    She felt like the crow smiled at her answer

    "Then follow me." saying so, the crow took to the sky and Mitsuri followed after him

    And so, Mitsuri set off to chase after her love.

    ..

    ..

    ..

    [MUST SEE IMAGE!!!!!! ]

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    Stones.

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    <strong><i>Emmanuel_Capricorn</i></strong>

 Chapter 64: Fighting the Kocho sisters

    <h4>Chapter 64: Fighting the Kocho sisters</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    ''This is ridiculous.''

    <strong><i>*Thud!*</i></strong>

    My back hit the ground in a thud of humiliation and defeat. I looked up and saw Kanae looking down on me with sweat falling down her fair face which was glowing pink due to her body temperature.

    I thought I would be able to win against her since I now had a fiance and someone I like. With the newmitment, I thought I would fare better and seeing her bare body would no longer throw me off.

    But no, a horny man was still a horny man, no matter if he was engaged or had a wife. It''s just how we were created, how we evolved.

    At the age of 16, I discovered that I might be a scumbag.

    "Are you okay?" she asked, concern on her face.

    ''The strongest Hashira, losing due to the allure of a woman. Just great.'' I thought and pushed myself off the ground.

    Simr to me, Kanae was stronger when fighting against humans and in one on one. Even if she was weaker than other Hashiras, in a duel she was just as strong so I could not quite beat her without using my eyes.

    Well, I could but without my eyes, my attacks would lose their uracy and I could harm her. Imagine I use mixed breathing without my eyes, I would obliterate her without even intending to do so.

    And God forbid I won''t harm a single strand of her hair.

    "Thank you for the spar, I think I''m fine now," I said. I challenged her to a spar, saying that I needed to wash off the sluggish stain on my skills due to the long vacation.

    "It''s the least I can do," Kanae replied with a small smile.

    "You know, you are losing a ton of aura whenever you lose to her." a voice suddenly came from the veranda of the flower mansion. I turned my head and saw Shinobu sitting there.

    My eyes did not immediately go to her face though, they firstnded on her chest as I thought about how much things could change in just a few months.

    Thest time I saw them, they were humble B-cup. But now they were proud and confident D-cup. They were not as big as Kanae''s but her small stature made them more pronounced.

    Still, both of them lose to Mitsuri in this aspect. My future wife was the final boss of tits.

    "Not sigma at all," Shinobu said while shaking her head as I contemted if it really was a good idea to teach her about brain rot words.

    "Don''t say it like that Shinobu, he is clearly holding back against me. If he really wanted to, he can defeat me anytime." Kanae replied in my stead.

    "That''s what I''m saying, it''s a simp activity."

    "Shibi, are you still mad that I didn''t get you anything from Tokyo?" I asked and she turned her head with a pout.

    "Not really,"

    She was definitely still upset about that. I mean, I totally forgot that she asked for something when I left. It was my bad.

    Just then, Kanao ran up to me with water in her hand. Her face was still stoic and she remained silent but I could read the emotions on her face now because she had them.

    "Thank you Kanao," I said with a smile and took the water from her before taking huge gulps.

    After I was done, I wiped my lips and said, "Now that that is done, how about you show me your new insect-breathing style Shibi? I heard that you are quickly climbing up the ranks with it."

    "Only if you let me coat the tip of my sword with a paralysis poison," she said with a closed-eyed smile that looked extremely gentle.

    I was going to ask why but I was confident that she wouldn''t be able to evennd a single scratch on me, so I said.

    "Sure,"

    She beamed a harmless smile beforeing up to me on the open ground. Meanwhile, Kanae picked up the silent Kanao like a teddy bear and went to the veranda. She plopped Kanao on herp and they both watched us from a safe distance.

    "Ready?" I asked with a smile. My eyes glowed purple as I took a quick nce at every single inch of her being.

    All truths were revealed. The information I got from a nce was akin to someone who spent weeks studying her.

    The change in her fighting and breathing style resulted in a change in her body. Her new techniques were imprinted on her.

    Her frontal delts (shoulders) were incredibly developed, and so was her triceps. They were denser and many times more powerful than two years ago which hints at her fighting style heavily relying on stabbing.

    Her hamstrings and the tendons in her legs were strong as well, telling me that she could lunge at me with incredible speed or she could jump extremely high.

    Her forearms were a little different from other swordsmen. They were more attuned to gripping a sword than being dexterous in handling a sword.

    All these unique features of her body told me how she was different from the average swordsman. They also told me her full capacity, how strong she could stab, how much force she could produce and how long she should be able tost in an all-out battle. I still did not know how she was going to put together these stats but I was now aware of the overall capability of her body.

    I could also see how she trained, and the history of her physique. My mind was already predicting how she would move and fight.

    My ears turned red and I blushed due to other things I had seen. Ahem, but it was not time to delve into that.

    Another thing that caught my attention was her sword which was the exact replica of her canon counterpart. Even with my influence, it seemed that remained the same.

    I could see that her sword was crafted by a master and had a unique design. There was a small tube inside her sword that could inject poison into the enemy. So she was not just coating the tip of her sword with poison.

    Even though I saw it, I was not fully aware of how that worked.

    "Here Ie!!" Shinobu said before she disappeared.

    She was actually faster than I expected. I realized that I had not taken into ount how truly small and light she was.

    But such speed was not enough to even quicken my heartbeat.

    She lunged at me while stabbing her sword. I mirrored her movement and stabbed my odachi forward and in a split second, the tip of my sword connected with the tip of her sword.

    A shockwave exploded and her movement paused in an instant.

    <strong><i>*Boom!!*</i></strong>

    It was the same block I used against Giyu but unlike him, Shinobu did not seem shocked. She expected such incredible feats from me so she was not surprised.

    She quickly pulled back her sword and then her arm blurred. Multiple stabs came at me, aiming at different vital points in my body. The sheer speed made the air sing a chilling tune.

    ''Impressive.''

    <i>"Water Breathing : Seventh form,"</i> I said and my body moved with grace and ease. My mastery over Water Breathing was such that movement flowed through my body without even much intention. Almost like pressing a button and my body automatically moving on its own.

    <strong>"Piercing Rain Drop,"</strong>

    I matched every stab that came my way. Water not only adapts but it often mirrors. It had the capacity to be anything. As the saying goes, if you put water into a cup it bes the cup.

    Sparks flew as the tiniest tips of our de connected multiple times in a show of superhuman precision. We were more precise and urate than even any machine invented.

    <i>"Insect Breathing : First form," </i>she whispered and the exchange stopped.

    <strong>"Butterfly dance!"</strong>

    I saw butterflies emerge from her long haori. She pushed herself off the ground and leapt above me.

    She looked like a fairy with the butterflies around her.

    I followed her until the sun blinded me. When she saw that I was blinded and her position was in line with the sun, she delivered a stab but this time, she twisted her de.

    I tried to block her with the t side of my sword but the tip of her de twisted and changed trajectory. Without much effort, I tilted my head and the sword flushed past my ear. It was close enough to even cut parts of my purple hair.

    Shended behind me and pulled back her sword with extreme force. I was confused at first until the tip of her de - which was like a hook due to the thinner body - hooked against my de and she pulled my sword down.

    !!!!

    She created an opening. I didn''t use my eyes so I was pleasantly surprised.

    Then her sword came at me, faster than ever before. It aimed straight at my chest for arger target. She didn''t need to leave a fatal wound, a scratch was all she needed due to her poison.

    My eyes allowed me to naturally perceive the action in slow motion but with my sword being pulled down, I could not block. I had no time to dodge either due to the speed of her stab.

    Was I going to lose?

    ..

    ..

    Absolutely not.

    I was not like those MCs in anime who got beaten by waifus no matter how strong they were. Being reincarnated and living the fanfiction life was all about destroying the tradition. I already lost to Kanae so ain''t no way I was going to lose against Shinobu too.

    My hand moved at the speed of sound - like a whip - and I caught her de. The body of her sword was thin and had no sharp edges so I could grab it with no problem.

    "I''m d to see that you finally found your own path," I said with a genuine smile.

    She pushed and pulled at her sword to get it out of my iron grip but she failed. So she returned my smile with a harmless one.

    "It was only possible due to your help," she said before tapping her foot on the ground. A sharp de emerged from the top of her sandals and she kicked at me.

    But I easily stopped it with my foot. I already saw all her hidden weapons when I took a nce at her before the fight.

    "That''s dangerous, and adorable at the same time," I said and I could see veins popping on her forehead.

    She didn''t like it when I treated her like a little girl. She was a very small girl so naturally, she hated being treated like so.

    In the end, she sighed and admitted defeat.

    I heard Kanao pping for me and I looked at her with a fond smile. Her face was void of expression but I saw her eyes shining.

    "You did well Shinobu. You have improved a lot." Kanae said to which Shinobu nodded, proud of herself.

    Just then, a Kasugai crow flew above us andnded on the roof of the house.

    <i>"Kanae Kocho, Seiji Shigan. Master Ubuyashiki summons you for a Hashira meeting!!"</i>

    ..

    ..

    ..

    [With this treasure, I summon the fellow goat reader, divine illustrator JONTY_]

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    <strong>Emmanuel_Capricorn</strong>

 Chapter 65: Hashira meeting rhymes with drama

    <h4>Chapter 65: Hashira meeting rhymes with drama</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    "I am happy to see you all safe and healthy today." Kagaya Ubuyashiki said while all of us knelt down in front of his veranda.

    He was barely sitting up on his futon, clearly the disease was getting worse.

    "We are d to see you healthy as well!!" All of them said in unison except me of course, because I was the main edgy character who bowed down to no one.

    ...

    Kidding. It''s just because of my ears and I still had trouble matching the intensity of these samurai traditions. Not to mention Ubuyashi was not actually healthy, I know with my eyes.

    "Rise up my children, it is unsightly to see the pirs kneel to a sick man like me. I told you, you don''t need to do so." Ubuyashiki said softly.

    That just made us want to do it even more though. The man really deserved some respect, especially after giving me that long vacation, (Yeah, I''m that easy to bribe).

    We all rose and stood in front of him. He looked at all of us with a fond smile, like a father gazing proudly at his children.

    All of the Hashiras were here except for the Fire Hashira, Shinjuro Kyojiro. But it was not a surprise since he had been missing the Hashira meetings frequently.

    "Seiji," he called me and I responded.

    "It''s good to have you back my boy," he said with a smile. I knew how hard it was for him to talk so I was happy that he spared me a few words personally.

    "Thank you, I''m happy to be back as well." I said.

    "I was d to hear that you were able to settle your inheritance and spend time with your family." he said. He knew all these things because I would send him letters monthly while I was away, asking how the Demon yer Corp was doing and reporting on what I encountered or what I''d aplished.

    Like that demon I yed in Tokyo for example.

    "And congrattions on your engagement."

    "Thank you."

    "...."

    "...."

    That got a few raised eyebrows from my fellow Hashiras but most of them just shrugged it off. After all, it was not rare for a boy my age (with parents) to be engaged to a girl. It was one of the privileges of having a good family and not being an orphan.

    Well most of them at least, because one person absolutely exploded in shock.

    "WHAT!!!!"

    It was Kanae.

    I was deaf but I could hear the surprise in her voice. I turned to look at her and saw the absolute shock - and horror? - on her face.

    "What do you mean engagement?"

    "Ah, Seiji''s parents arranged an engagement for him while he stayed with them." Ubuyashiki exined.

    "You mean like, like...with a girl?" she asked.

    Now what the fuck does that mean? Do I not look straight? Why would I be engaged with a man?

    "I suppose." Ubuyashiki chuckled.

    Then her head snapped towards me, I was caught off guard by the intensity of her eyes.

    "And you epted?"

    Why did I feel like Imitted a crime?

    "Yes?"

    "So, you are going to get married with this girl?"

    "...Hopefully? If I live long enough for that."

    I had absolutely no clue why but a hurt look painted her pretty face. It was not like when she got hit during training or by a demon. It was like someone stabbed her in the chest.

    "Why.." she said, I could hear her voice quiver almost, "Why didn''t you tell me?"

    Okay, hold the fuck on. I need to do a very deep analysis of my life to understand the context of this situation.

    Because the way she was reacting almost made it seem like she was in love with me. There was no other way to exin such a reaction.

    But that waspletely insane!!

    Was she in love with me?

    It was impossible to tell because of her teasing nature. It was hard to tell when she was flirting or when she was teasing me. Because of this, even if she actually had feelings for me I would''ve chalked it up to her messing with me.

    Or, was she not teasing me all this time?

    Was I being like those dense main characters even though I despised them? I thought I was different, especially with my eyes.

    I knew Mitsuri loved me, I knew Shinobu had a small crush on me. I was aware of these things because I could see deeper with my eyes.

    But what about Kanae? Did I also notice her feelings but I just ignored them thinking she was just teasing me?

    Now I waspletely confused. My mind went into a loop as thoughts buzzed in my head like bees.

    "I''m sorry," I was not sure what I was apologizing for. But the look in her eyes made my heart feel like it should apologize.

    After my words fell, I finally noticed that all eyes were on us two. Every Hashira present was silent as they observed the small drama with rapt attention.

    Kanae too quickly took notice of this and she quickly hid her feelings, shelving them away behind her closed eyed smile that looked yful.

    "Ara~ What are you apologizing for? I was just surprised that''s all," she said and covered her mouth with her haori while she giggled.

    "I always thought of you as my little brother. It felt like yesterday when you became a Hashira as a child. Itpletely caught me off guard to hear you take such a drastic step in life." she said.

    "I guess you are all grown now."

    "...."

    Okay....now I feel dumb.

    But my eyes saw it so clearly. Was this just an act? Did I misunderstand it? Or was my misunderstanding a misunderstanding?

    Come on, I was an absolute amateur in love. I did not have experience in both lives. It was unfair to give me such aplicated situation.

    After she said that, the others nodded their head, finding it reasonable why she was so surprised. But strangely enough, tears started falling from Gyomei and he sobbed silently.

    "Why are you suddenly crying again!?" Sanemi asked.

    "Nothing." Gyomie answered and looked up to the sky, "Nothing at all."

    But he just cried harder. He definitely knew something we didn''t.

    "Okay everyone, let us begin today''s Hashira meeting," Ubuyashiki said and the meeting started.

    The Hashira meeting proceeded like usual. There were no strange things happening, even Kanae actedpletely normal.

    The only difference was that the statistics this time were horriblepared to other times. It was a direct consequence of my absence.

    It couldn''t be stressed enough how valuable I was inpleting missions. With my eyes, I could do an investigation mission that would take other Hashiras weeks, in less than a day.

    That meant that no other Hashrias had to do an investigation mission and waste their time. They could focus their efforts on other things.

    It could be seen that I really lived up to my title of the ''Pir of Pirs.''

    The meeting took less time than usual as we were able toplete it at noon. One of the main reason was that Ubuyashiki was sick and could not talk for too long.

    In the end, he had to end the meeting to take his medicine and rest up. He told us to spend the remaining time with each other as it was not often that we would gather in one ce.

    And all of us were happy to be given the time as well. Giyu immediately came up to me after the meeting, asking me about how my vacation was and about my engagement.

    Tengen soon joined in, calling himself the master in the way of being a good husband. He presented the fact that he could keep three wives happy as proof of his qualifications.

    He offered to teach me some tricks and advice which I seriously considered.

    I was not sure but I think Gyomei was listening to our conversation from far away. He had crazy good hearing so he need note close to hear us.

    But all that came to an end when Sanemi walked up to me and yelled.

    "Seiji!! I challenge you to a duel!"

    There he goes.

    "Let''s fight!!"

    He always challenged me to duels and he lost worse with each time. I sighed, a little tired of constantly beating him up at this point.

    I tried to discourage him by beating him really badly once (I only used Wind Breathing) but Sanemi was anything but a quitter. He was like David Goggins if he had anger issues and Asian.

    But seeing him walk up to me, I suddenly had an idea.

    I did not want to fight him but there was someone I wanted to fight.

    All this time, I had called myself the strongest Hashira but it was not official yet. So let''s make that official

    "I will deal with youter." I said, Hashirama style, before turning towards Gyomei.

    "Big Brother Gyomei!! I challenge you to a duel!!"

    "Hey, asshole!! I challenged you first!" Sanemi raged behind me.

    Gyomei turned his body to face me. His crying face had now grown firm like a stone and he said.

    "We shouldn''t be fighting amongst ourselves. One of us could get hurt," he joined his hands in prayer.

    By ''one of us could get hurt'', he meant I could get hurt. He was aware of how strong he was and for the longest part of his life, he had lived in fear of his own strength.

    I would never get him to ept officially.

    So I pulled out my sword and held it in a way that the blunt side was facing forward. Then in a gust of wind, I disappeared from my ce which was in the middle of Tengen and Giyu.

    Their eyes widen in surprise but I ammitted to my decision.

    In the blink of an eye, I was in front of Gyomei. Not only that, my feet were above the ground and I swung the blunt side of my de down at him in a perfect arc.

    His hand moved in a blur and he stopped my de with his n. Veins popped out in his hand as the weight of my attack pushed down on him.

    The ground he stood on caved in. A cobweb of cracks formed around his feet and a violent shockwave followed.

    "Please ept my request. I insist." I said with a grin, eyes glowing purple.

    ...

    "...If you say so."

    Raw stregth exploded.

    <strong><i>*BOOOOOOM!!!*</i></strong>

    ..

    ..

    [IMG]

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Author : For some reason, many reviews are not appearing. Maybe because you use cursenguage or just Webnovel glitching again. I go the profiles of my top fans to stalk them like usual and I saw them review my book, which I never appeared to me.

    So apologies if you don''t see your reviews on the book. Just know I never delete reviews.

    <strong><i>Don''t join my patreon, it still sucks and it''s a scam. Hopefully though, it would be good to join tomorrow. </i></strong>

    <strong><i>Emmanuel_Capricorn</i></strong>

 Chapter 66: Seiji vs Gyomei

    <h4>Chapter 66: Seiji vs Gyomei</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    Imagine seeing a disastering from a mile away.

    Imagine having all the time in the world to think of a way to fight against said disaster.

    Imagine preparing a n and acting perfectly on it.

    Imagine the disaster holding back.

    But then.

    Imagine being sent flying away after all that.

    Imagine all your efforts being crushed by overwhelming strength.

    Imagine seeing a disaster from a mile away and still being absolutely crushed by it.

    It did not matter if you saw iting from a mile away. It did not matter if you could predict it perfectly or if the world was in slow motion.

    You still got sted away to kingdome.

    Might makes it right and raw strength bends logic.

    ...

    ...

    If you were still imagining all these in your head, then lucky you. Because truthfully, I was not as lucky.

    <strong><i>*BOOOOM!!!*</i></strong>

    ''Holy shit!!'' I thought in my mind while being sent flying away like a ragdoll by a simple palm strike from Gyomei.

    It was one thing to know strength, and another to feel strength.

    I knew how strong Gyomei was, I trained with him and my eyes told me exactly how strong he was. But to feel that strength being used against me was like being sent to a new dimension.

    I knew he could push boulders weighing 10 tons. But that was starkly different when you were pushed with the force of 10 tons.

    The difference between knowledge and experience had never been clearer to me.

    ''But would you lose?'' a voice asked me in my head.

    ''Nah, this meme is seriously overused at this point.'' I replied while doing flips in the air to disperse the sheer kic energy flowing through my body.

    Then Inded with a soft thud.

    The shockwave caused by his strike was noticed by everyone as they all moved back and gave us room for the uing battle.

    "I understand Seiji. You are at that age where you want to test your strength and see how you stand against someone you consider the strongest. But you have to understand that this is meaningless. We are all allies and we are equally strong in our own ways." Gyomei said while joining his hands in prayer. He also spoke like a monk.

    I smiled.

    Although the way he spoke was humble, there was an underlying pride and confidence you would expect from the strongest human alive.

    You can''t lie to me, I''m deaf and I see the truth.

    He was still treating me like a kid who merely wanted to test myself against him. The thought that I could have surpassed him never really crossed his mind.

    This was exactly why I wanted to do this.

    My eyes can see the truth of the world and the truth is, I was already stronger than Gyomei. So this was not fighting to me.

    There was no such thing as fighting to me in the first ce. This was not a fight, this was not a battle or a duel.

    This was just me, speaking the truth to everyone and telling them that I was the strongest.

    This was not a conversation, this was not a debate. It was an announcement.

    <i>"Esoteric Art : Breathing Styles."</i>

    <strong>"me Wind Breathing : Inferno."</strong>

    My whole body was encased in raging mes and green des of wind wrapped around me. Fire and wind went together like bread and butter.

    The intensity of me Breathing and the violent nature of Wind Breathing. A mix between these two resulted in a catastrophic style of fighting.

    It was a breathing style with the greatest destructive ability.

    Gyomei was the mountain I wanted to crush.

    My body exploded out, ferocious and violent. The air seemed to vibrate due to sheer potency as I drilled through the atmosphere.

    There was no need to aim, no use for uracy. I was going to shred everything that was in front of me. I was going to raze the mountain to the ground.

    Gyomei nted his feet firmly on the ground when he heard the unstoppable force behind me. Then he took a deep breath that stripped the air around him.

    <i>"Stone Breathing : Third Form,"</i>

    Gyomei, a mountain in my eyes suddenly became something else. He no longer gave off the feeling of a mountain that was giant with no purpose.

    I saw the image of a great fortress behind him that stood with the sole purpose of stopping any attack. He had be an immovable object.

    <strong>"Stone Skin!!"</strong>

    He tugged at the chain of his weapon with great force. The il and the axe at both ends of his chain moved at the speed of sound and rotated around him.

    They were so fast that the human eye wouldn''t be able to see them. Such heavy objects moving at such speed simply did not make sense.

    But I pushed forward with more intensity, the mes around me wrapped into bright red mes as I crashed into the living fortress.

    And thus, an unstoppable force met an immovable object.

    Have you ever wondered what would happen in such a case?

    Well...

    <strong><i>*BOOOOOOOOOM!!!*</i></strong>

    There was a loud explosion that shook the entire vicinity,

    Then everything except the two suffered the consequences of the sh. The pavement of the Demon yer Headquater ripped apart like a new asphalt road.

    Cobweb of cracks scarred the earth, imprinting a literal image of power that the earth couldn''t hold. The air exploded and the wind fled from the sh in the form of a hurricane.

    Gyomei''s white eyes widened and I could see surprise in those blind orbs.

    It was not a single sh. My arm blurred and with incredible speed, I shed at Gyomei from different directions. The Stone Hashira was not as fast but with the help of his axe and i, he was able to keep up with me.

    A cloud of dust and pebbles rose and our weapons created bright sparks with every connection they made. We remained at a standstill for a few seconds until Gyomei took a step back.

    The fortress faltered.

    But that single step gave a new footing to him. Bulbous veins popped out from his body and raw strength flooded out from each of his swings.

    The attacks forced me to stop my attack because I saw that the force behind them was enough to bend my sword.

    ...

    Gyomei heaved a huge sigh while his clothes fell apart. They were ripped by the wind des produced by my sword.

    His clothes came off to reveal his godly physique. His huge muscles looked like they were carved from stone.

    But on his body, you could see cuts. They were not enough to prate his skin but enough to leave a mark, a scratch.

    "You manage to use two breathings at once," Gyomei said with a heavy voice. The other Hashiras let out a collective gasp and they turned towards me.

    They could not see the effects of breathing styles and they did not have eyes to see the pattern of my breathing. So all this time, they were not aware of my ability.

    But Gyomei could hear my breath and he saw the world with a different perspective that allowed him to observe things on a deeper level.

    "Indeed. It''s nice no?" I asked with a smile.

    "It is truly an impressive feat. And what you used just now was..." he questioned.

    "me Breathing and Wind Breathing," I answered.

    He nodded.

    "You have be a master of breathing style itself." he dered, "But that won''t be enough to move me. I had stood against fiercer force, I had burdened worse."

    Then he took the initiative this time. He took a powerful step forward, sending shockwaves which I assumed helped him feel the world around him.

    Like a bat using echolocation.

    He was slow, the slowest amongst us Hashiras. But one didn''t need to be fast when they had such weight behind every move. They would crush anything regardless.

    Inevitable need not hurry.

    <i>"Stone Breathing : Second Form,"</i> he dered loudly and boldly. He tossed his spiky ball into the air before stepping on the chain to bring it down with the speed of a meteorite.

    <strong>"Upper Smash!"</strong>

    He might be slow but his weapon was anything but. They moved like a whip, easily breaking the sound barrier.

    I moved away just enough that the il missed me and left a crater on the ground. He did the same with his axe, throwing it in the air before stepping on the chain to bring it down with incredible speed.

    The ground broke under his attack.

    But I remained unharmed.

    Even if I was weaker than him, I wouldn''t lose. I could predict his attacks, he would never be able to catch me.

    I shot forward at the speed of sound, I hoped the sonic boom messed with his hearing even if just for a bit.

    <i>"Thunder Breathing : Third Form." </i>I unleashed multiple shes at him from all directions. Lighting crackled around me with each swing I took.

    <strong>"Thunder Swarm."</strong>

    The Stone Hashira met me head-on. He was more than capable of matching one breathing style at a time. My incredible speed was matched by his overwhelming strength as we shed in different ces.

    My eyes observed his joints and muscles to predict his movement, giving me enough time to deal with his attacks even if each of them weighed a ton.

    But with each sh, I noticed that he was slowly overpowering me, like a boulder rolling off a mountain, he was gaining strength and momentum.

    It was repetitive action, the main concept behind Gyomei''s strength. By applying persistent force against an object, you could move mountains. I learned it so I knew it.

    I would lose my advantage in a drawn-out battle.

    So with a great leap, I created distance.

    <i>"Thunder Stone Breathing : Arc of Ruin."</i>

    I dered and the muscles on my arm erged visibly, ready to produce inhumane stregth even at the cost of great fatigue.

    The sheer strength of Stone Breathing mixed with the explosive power of Thunder Breathing.

    I pulled back my de as far as I could and when Inded on the ground, I swung my sword. The force behind my swing was so strong that it sliced anything that was in front of me.

    My long de sliced through the air, and not a single noise sounded. But the strength behind my de was such that Gyomei could feel the attacking.

    He brought up his chain to block the attack but it might as well be paper in front of my de. His iron chain was cut into two and he was forced to bend down his gigantic frame to escape the wind de that followed.

    <strong><i>*FWOOOSH!!!*</i></strong>

    The ground cracked, ripped apart by the sheer potency of my wind de that went on until it left a giant sh mark on one of the houses.

    That was supposed to end this fight but I suppose Gyomei was too experienced to be taken out just like that.

    But still, forcing him to dodge was an aplishment.

    He shed me a smile with beads of sweat falling from the side of his face.

    He was not shocked, humiliated or angry when he was forced to dodge. He simply had a proud smile on his face. The kind of smile my big brother would have when I beat him in a board game.

    <i>"Stone Breathing : Fourth From." </i>He said and the suction of air was strong enough to move my hair.

    <strong>"Volcanic Rock, Rapid Conquest,"</strong>

    I said this before, but Gyomei was a mountain.

    And that mountain just exploded like a volcanic eruption. My eyes widened as every fibre of his body pulled themselves together until I thought they would snap due to the strain.

    Humans could not use 100% of their muscle mass. Their body could not take it. Their bones would break and their tendons would snap.

    Even I could only use 100% of my muscle power briefly with the help of Thunder Breathing.

    But right now, Gyomei was doing just that. Yet his bones were not crushed, and his tendons did not snap. He was fine.

    His body was heating up to a ridiculous degree and his sweat evaporated, producing steam. He was like a real volcano that was erupting.

    The sheer power and energy around him seem to shake the air itself.

    That..I was not expecting that at all. Even my eyes could not have predicted this oue because it was just impossible.

    He grabbed the broken chains with both hands. I could barely predict his movement because all of his muscles were working and tensing up.

    I knew I had to end this in an instant.

    <i>"Esoteric Art : Breathing Styles!!"</i> I prepared my body to surpass its limit as well.

    <strong>"Storm Breathing : Lighting Wave,"</strong>

    The speed of Thunder Breathing. The uracy of Water Breathing. The force of Wind Breathing.

    All of these boiled down into a single move. My body left an afterimage and before anything could react, I blitzed past Gyomei and stopped at the other side.

    The sound created by the attack was so high-pitched that no one except Gyomei could hear it. The frequency of the vibration from the sound caused every ss nearly to shatter in an instant.

    ...

    ...

    ...

    Gyomei halted in his ce and after a single second, the prayer beads he wore on his neck broke and fell off.

    The prayer beads hit the ground one by one but other than that, he was unharmed. I made sure he was so.

    I remained in my ce. Not to look cool - even though it was - but because I literally could not move after using three breathings at once. My body still could not handle it.

    On the other hand, Gyomei stood up straight and he dered.

    "I lost."

    If I wanted to, I could''ve cut off his head at that moment.

    And thus, at the age of 16, I officially became the strongest Hashira.

    To be honest, it took more effort than I thought it would.

    ..

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Alternative title : Blind man vs Deaf man : The battle of disability.

    Gyomei : This Stone Hashira humbly demand stones for his fight, amithaba.

    [IMAGE]

    ..

    <i>Author: Yeah, there is no way to list out all of Seiji''s special movements. Fighting is like a conversation, he could literally adapt to anything he faced so all these forms are too many to list out.</i>

    <i>And even if we did, he could create a new form on the fly because he is just that OP.</i>

    <i>And regarding his power level. He is already at the samebat power as Upper Moon 3 but he would lose because of the demon OP regeneration.</i>

    <i>But with Combat powers alone, he can even overwhelm them except Muzan and Kokushibo.</i>

    <strong><i>It''s finally the perfect time to join my patreon!! Join today!!</i></strong>

    <strong><i>Emmanuel_Capricorn</i></strong>

 Chapter 68: Two girls that love the same heart

    <h4>Chapter 68: Two girls that love the same heart</h4>

    Author : Double Chapter but you ain''t getting tomorrow.

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------

    [3rd POV]

    It can''t be.

    How can this be?

    Kanae Kocho pressed her heart which was beating wildly in the confines of her chest. It felt like it wanted to break out of its prison and run away from her.

    Because it was hurting.

    Why was it hurting?

    "Congrattions on your engagement."

    Ah, was it really because of that? Was her heart really hurting because he was engaged with another girl?

    She told herself she didn''t have feelings for him. Her mind convinced her heart that it was not in love.

    But now, her heart was in pain and it called her mind a liar.

    Liar, you love him. Liar, you want him.

    Why did you lie?

    It was because her sister was also in love with him. She thought it wouldn''t do good if she loved the same man as Shinobu.

    She also thought it was inappropriate to have feelings for someone younger than her, someone she first knew as a young boy.

    But people rarely have a choice in who they love, do they? And the heart wants what the heart can''t have.

    She loves him, it''s clear now.

    She just couldn''t believe that it took losing him to finally realise that. It was like realising how much you needed the sun after night came.

    She realised it toote and that''s why it hurts.

    Everything that happened next was a blur. Her whole being was upied with the emotions she had been ignoring all this time.

    She was barely aware even when the fight between Seiji and Gyomei took ce. She only snapped out of her daze when she saw him hurt with her sharp and medically trained eyes.

    She immediately ran up to him and analysed his body. He was bruised in some ces and his final attack had managed to cause damage to his own body.

    But there were no other injuries.

    ''Thank God.''

    "Thank you," he said and gave her a small smile.

    She did not know whether she liked him stoic or expressive. When he didn''t smile, it nagged at her heart but when he did, it increased her blood pressure.

    She simply mirrored his smile and ran off as quickly as possible.

    When did she start loving him? Was it when he hit puberty and grew into a handsome young man? Was it when he helped her save patients with his special eyes? Was it when he saved Kanao and she saw his kindness?

    Or was it during the many times he saved her, when he was always there when she needed someone?

    She didn''t know. She had been ignoring any feelings that emerged. Only now when those feelings burst out did she even realise she had feelings for him.

    Honestly, it was stupid of her. How immature.

    It was her mistake.

    ..

    ..

    ...

    ....Or was it?

    That was a question that appeared in her mind as she was waiting for him outside of the house while Seiji met Ubuyashiki.

    Why was she acting like everything was over? She just realised that she loved him and at the very next moment, she was supposed to destroy her love?

    Who decided that?

    A random girl whom he met a couple of months ago? She didn''t think so.

    Kanae had dedicated herself to others all her life. She dedicated herself to her sister, she sacrificed all her time and effort to save others as a doctor and risked her life every day to protect the weak.

    So this time, she thinks she deserves to be selfish just a little.

    She made the mistake of following her mind and staying passive with her feelings. Now she was going to follow her heart and act upon her feelings.

    Seiji was engaged, sure, but it couldn''t be that serious yet, there was not enough time to be so. That meant she still had time to show her feelings, a simple engagement could alwasy be broken again.

    She also apologised to her sister. If she did not act on it, Seiji was going to fall into another girl''s hand anyway.

    So she decided to no longer ignore her feelings anymore.

    She loves him. She wants him.

    And she sure as hell was going to try and make him feel the same way.

    ..

    ..

    ..

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (In another location)

    Mitsuri suddenly stopped eating her food as her womanly instincts felt a threat.

    "Hmmm? Do you not like the food?" asked a woman who wore the standard Demon yer uniform with a katana strapped on her waist.

    "Eh?" Mitsuri snapped out of it and immediately said, "Nonono, It''s nothing like that, the food is delicious."

    "I know I''m not nearly as good at cookingpared to ying demons. So by all means, don''t be shy to say if you don''t like it."

    "I told you, it''s not like that." Mitsuri said, "I just suddenly had a weird feeling."

    It was logical. After all, the threat of an onee-san with maximum ara ara~ vibe going after your man was a threat, even to the likes of Mitsuri Kanroji.

    She was currently under the wings of a female demon yer at the rank of Hinoe. She had been staying with her for a day, waiting for further instructions from the master of the Demon yer Corps.

    During this time, Mitsuri had learned much about demon yers and the ongoing war between humans and demons.

    She also got to see first-hand how incredible Demon yers actually were. The girl beside her, Satsuki, was one of the strongest female demon yers who was a Water Breath user.

    Mitsuri got to see her in battle first-hand and was surprised to find out that Satsuki was many times stronger than she was when she fought.

    That truly opened Mitsuri''s eyes. She never thought she''d see a woman stronger than her before. She thought it was impossible.

    ..

    "Satsuki, what did you say your rank was again?" Mitsuri asked after a long stretch of silence.

    The middle-aged woman thought about it for a while before saying with pride, "I am at the rank of Hinoe. The only ranks above me are Kinoto and Kinoe."

    There were only a handful of people who were at the rank of Hinoe so she had every reason to be proud of her rank.

    "I see, that''s incredible," Mitsuri said while looking up at the sky. She was not used to camping outside as a city girl but one thing she liked about it was the perpetual incredible views.

    "Do you know a Demon yer by the name of Seiji Shigan?" Mitsuri asked. Her fiance was always on her mind but she suddenly missed him even more with the weird premonition in her heart.

    "!!!!!"

    "I thought you were new to the Demon yer Corps, so how did you know his name?" Satsuki asked before she answered her own question, "Oh, did he save you once?"

    "Eh, yes, kinda," Mitsuri answered. He indeed saved her from a demon that night in the mountains. She did not want to borate more because she was still a bit shy.

    "So, what rank will he bepared to you?"

    "People like Seiji Shigan are notparable to me. They are called the Hashiras," she answered.

    Mitsuri creased her eyebrows. She said there were only two ranks above her, Knoto and Kinoe, so does that mean Seiji was a rank below her?

    "Does that mean he is ranked below you?"

    Satsuki blinked before sheughed, "Hahaha, no, not like that. It''s quite the opposite, Seiji Shigan is too strong to be in the Demon yer ranks."

    "?"

    "People like him are called Hashira, otherwise known as pirs. They are the pirs that support the Demon yer Corp as a whole, currently, there are only six active pirs," she exined.

    "The person who saved you, Seiji Shigan is especially special even among the pirs. He is said to be the single most important factor in the organisation due to his sheer efficiency, often referred to as the ''pir of pirs''."

    Mitsuri was left speechless.

    "Does that mean he is strong?"

    "Of course. He is probably the strongest." she answered, "Each of the Hashria is different from us normal human beings. They are the people who deal with the strongest demons."

    Mitsuri remembered the night when Seiji told her he was the strongest. She blushed when she realized that there was no bluff in his words.

    It was not that she didn''t believe him then but this was anotheryer of proof of his words.

    But in the midst of the admiration she felt, there was also a bubbling nervousness. She would have to work extremely hard to be able to fight alongside him.

    He was at the very top and to always be beside him, she would need to reach there too.

    Whatever the case may be, Mitsuri was determined. And she believed that with her love, everything was possible.

    "Can you tell me, how can I be a Hashria like him?"

    "Aiming tall aren''t we?" Satsuki chuckled but thought none of it. But she continued the conversation anyway while they ate the food.

    ..

    ..

    ..

    [I need help with this one. JONTY_ I choose you!!! Post IMAGE!! ]

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Author : I will make a habit of doing it like this. Bigger Chapters give immersion to the story than uploading in chops.

 Chapter 68: Two girls that love the same heart

    <h4>Chapter 68: Two girls that love the same heart</h4>

    Author : Double Chapter but you ain''t getting tomorrow.

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------

    [3rd POV]

    It can''t be.

    How can this be?

    Kanae Kocho pressed her heart which was beating wildly in the confines of her chest. It felt like it wanted to break out of its prison and run away from her.

    Because it was hurting.

    Why was it hurting?

    "Congrattions on your engagement."

    Ah, was it really because of that? Was her heart really hurting because he was engaged with another girl?

    She told herself she didn''t have feelings for him. Her mind convinced her heart that it was not in love.

    But now, her heart was in pain and it called her mind a liar.

    Liar, you love him. Liar, you want him.

    Why did you lie?

    It was because her sister was also in love with him. She thought it wouldn''t do good if she loved the same man as Shinobu.

    She also thought it was inappropriate to have feelings for someone younger than her, someone she first knew as a young boy.

    But people rarely have a choice in who they love, do they? And the heart wants what the heart can''t have.

    She loves him, it''s clear now.

    She just couldn''t believe that it took losing him to finally realise that. It was like realising how much you needed the sun after night came.

    She realised it toote and that''s why it hurts.

    Everything that happened next was a blur. Her whole being was upied with the emotions she had been ignoring all this time.

    She was barely aware even when the fight between Seiji and Gyomei took ce. She only snapped out of her daze when she saw him hurt with her sharp and medically trained eyes.

    She immediately ran up to him and analysed his body. He was bruised in some ces and his final attack had managed to cause damage to his own body.

    But there were no other injuries.

    ''Thank God.''

    "Thank you," he said and gave her a small smile.

    She did not know whether she liked him stoic or expressive. When he didn''t smile, it nagged at her heart but when he did, it increased her blood pressure.

    She simply mirrored his smile and ran off as quickly as possible.

    When did she start loving him? Was it when he hit puberty and grew into a handsome young man? Was it when he helped her save patients with his special eyes? Was it when he saved Kanao and she saw his kindness?

    Or was it during the many times he saved her, when he was always there when she needed someone?

    She didn''t know. She had been ignoring any feelings that emerged. Only now when those feelings burst out did she even realise she had feelings for him.

    Honestly, it was stupid of her. How immature.

    It was her mistake.

    ..

    ..

    ...

    ....Or was it?

    That was a question that appeared in her mind as she was waiting for him outside of the house while Seiji met Ubuyashiki.

    Why was she acting like everything was over? She just realised that she loved him and at the very next moment, she was supposed to destroy her love?

    Who decided that?

    A random girl whom he met a couple of months ago? She didn''t think so.

    Kanae had dedicated herself to others all her life. She dedicated herself to her sister, she sacrificed all her time and effort to save others as a doctor and risked her life every day to protect the weak.

    So this time, she thinks she deserves to be selfish just a little.

    She made the mistake of following her mind and staying passive with her feelings. Now she was going to follow her heart and act upon her feelings.

    Seiji was engaged, sure, but it couldn''t be that serious yet, there was not enough time to be so. That meant she still had time to show her feelings, a simple engagement could alwasy be broken again.

    She also apologised to her sister. If she did not act on it, Seiji was going to fall into another girl''s hand anyway.

    So she decided to no longer ignore her feelings anymore.

    She loves him. She wants him.

    And she sure as hell was going to try and make him feel the same way.

    ..

    ..

    ..

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (In another location)

    Mitsuri suddenly stopped eating her food as her womanly instincts felt a threat.

    "Hmmm? Do you not like the food?" asked a woman who wore the standard Demon yer uniform with a katana strapped on her waist.

    "Eh?" Mitsuri snapped out of it and immediately said, "Nonono, It''s nothing like that, the food is delicious."

    "I know I''m not nearly as good at cookingpared to ying demons. So by all means, don''t be shy to say if you don''t like it."

    "I told you, it''s not like that." Mitsuri said, "I just suddenly had a weird feeling."

    It was logical. After all, the threat of an onee-san with maximum ara ara~ vibe going after your man was a threat, even to the likes of Mitsuri Kanroji.

    She was currently under the wings of a female demon yer at the rank of Hinoe. She had been staying with her for a day, waiting for further instructions from the master of the Demon yer Corps.

    During this time, Mitsuri had learned much about demon yers and the ongoing war between humans and demons.

    She also got to see first-hand how incredible Demon yers actually were. The girl beside her, Satsuki, was one of the strongest female demon yers who was a Water Breath user.

    Mitsuri got to see her in battle first-hand and was surprised to find out that Satsuki was many times stronger than she was when she fought.

    That truly opened Mitsuri''s eyes. She never thought she''d see a woman stronger than her before. She thought it was impossible.

    ..

    "Satsuki, what did you say your rank was again?" Mitsuri asked after a long stretch of silence.

    The middle-aged woman thought about it for a while before saying with pride, "I am at the rank of Hinoe. The only ranks above me are Kinoto and Kinoe."

    There were only a handful of people who were at the rank of Hinoe so she had every reason to be proud of her rank.

    "I see, that''s incredible," Mitsuri said while looking up at the sky. She was not used to camping outside as a city girl but one thing she liked about it was the perpetual incredible views.

    "Do you know a Demon yer by the name of Seiji Shigan?" Mitsuri asked. Her fiance was always on her mind but she suddenly missed him even more with the weird premonition in her heart.

    "!!!!!"

    "I thought you were new to the Demon yer Corps, so how did you know his name?" Satsuki asked before she answered her own question, "Oh, did he save you once?"

    "Eh, yes, kinda," Mitsuri answered. He indeed saved her from a demon that night in the mountains. She did not want to borate more because she was still a bit shy.

    "So, what rank will he bepared to you?"

    "People like Seiji Shigan are notparable to me. They are called the Hashiras," she answered.

    Mitsuri creased her eyebrows. She said there were only two ranks above her, Knoto and Kinoe, so does that mean Seiji was a rank below her?

    "Does that mean he is ranked below you?"

    Satsuki blinked before sheughed, "Hahaha, no, not like that. It''s quite the opposite, Seiji Shigan is too strong to be in the Demon yer ranks."

    "?"

    "People like him are called Hashira, otherwise known as pirs. They are the pirs that support the Demon yer Corp as a whole, currently, there are only six active pirs," she exined.

    "The person who saved you, Seiji Shigan is especially special even among the pirs. He is said to be the single most important factor in the organisation due to his sheer efficiency, often referred to as the ''pir of pirs''."

    Mitsuri was left speechless.

    "Does that mean he is strong?"

    "Of course. He is probably the strongest." she answered, "Each of the Hashria is different from us normal human beings. They are the people who deal with the strongest demons."

    Mitsuri remembered the night when Seiji told her he was the strongest. She blushed when she realized that there was no bluff in his words.

    It was not that she didn''t believe him then but this was anotheryer of proof of his words.

    But in the midst of the admiration she felt, there was also a bubbling nervousness. She would have to work extremely hard to be able to fight alongside him.

    He was at the very top and to always be beside him, she would need to reach there too.

    Whatever the case may be, Mitsuri was determined. And she believed that with her love, everything was possible.

    "Can you tell me, how can I be a Hashria like him?"

    "Aiming tall aren''t we?" Satsuki chuckled but thought none of it. But she continued the conversation anyway while they ate the food.

    ..

    ..

    ..

    [I need help with this one. JONTY_ I choose you!!! Post IMAGE!! ]

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Author : I will make a habit of doing it like this. Bigger Chapters give immersion to the story than uploading in chops.

 Chapter 69: Emergency!!

    <h4>Chapter 69: Emergency!!</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    Okay, guys, it''s an emergency.

    I repeat it''s a fucking emergency.

    What''s the emergency you asked?

    "Here, let me feed you," Kanae said, taking my bowl of rice before she extended her hand to feed me.

    ''It is her, she is the emergency.''

    "You know, I can feed myself now," I said with a strained smile and she gave me a no-nonsense look.

    "I insist," she said like a mother.

    Mommy?

    What else could I do except open my mouth obediently? After that, a small smile crept on her face.

    I swallowed the rice with an audible gulp before moving a bit away from her. But then she mirrored my movement and hopped closer to me like a small rabbit.

    "How is it?"

    It''s fucking rice. How the fuck else would it taste like?

    "It''s good," I said.

    Yeah, well, the suspicion was true.

    Kanae was in love with me. Or at least, she was acting like a high school girl in love and she was trying to make me fall for her.

    And she was horrible at it.

    You''d expect an onee-san like her to be extremely experienced and well-versed in the battles of love but nope, Kanae Kocho was horrible in trying to make me fall for her.

    Obviously, it was because she had never been in love before. It was her first time as much as it was mine.

    This was aplete contrast with her ara ara~ vibe and you know what...

    It was absolutely fucking adorable.

    Like Oh. Ma. Gawd. did you really put red camellia on the table and say you put them there for me? (Red camellia symbolizes love and longing in flowernguage)

    I was aware of her feelings and knew what she was trying to do. She was so bad at it that even a dense harem isekai MC would be able to get the hint.

    But it was more effective than simply following the tradition and woo me very expertly. I couldn''t help but gush inwardly how adorable she was.

    It has only been a day since we had the Hashira meeting and I think she changed when she heard about my engagement with Mitsuri.

    Whatever feelings she had for me seemed to be dragged out to the surface when she heard about the engagement and realize that she was going to lose me.

    To be honest, I was still in the process of digesting that information.

    Kanae was in love with him?

    You mean the girl who always treated me as a younger brother and constantly teased me as if I was a little kid, was in love with me?

    You mean the girl whom I had been peeking at for over two years in every spar we had was trying to earn my affection?

    When? How? Why?

    To say that I was sad and conflicted because I was already engaged with Mitsuri would be a big fat lie. Instead, I could only feel ttered and happy with the situation.

    Does that make me a scumbag?

    "You are zoning out Seiji, focus on the food." Kanae snapped me out of my thoughts. "Here, say ahhhh,"

    I didn''t say ahhh like she asked.

    Instead, I opened my mouth widely in a hippopotamus ahh way to assert dominance.

    She just giggled and continued feeding me.

    Did you notice that I was more unhinged than usual? Yeah, that was because I did not know how to react to her feelings.

    I''ll be the first one to admit that I didn''t get bitches in my past life. I was not ugly or a loser by any means but I was 13 years old and no woman wanted to take the risk of loving me.

    So this was the first time I had the affection of two girls at once. And I did not want to reject either of them and they meant a lot to me.

    On another hand, I was not a believer of harem like Tengen Uzui. I believe in true love. I think true love was special and could only happen once with one person in your life.

    So I was in this weird dilemma where I focused only on the positive side and ignored the drama for the future me to face.

    "You are pampering me a lot today. Is there something you want to ask?" I yed the dense main character role. I hid the fact that my eyes could see everything she wanted to hide.

    "No reason. Is it really so strange that I care for my patient?" she asked.

    When there were literally patients with broken limbs in the infirmary and you chose to feed me, then yes, it was a little strange.

    "I guess not," I said and let her continue to do as she liked.

    She continued feeding me until I finished my meal and I felt like my stomach couldn''t hold any more.

    Would it be wrong for me to y dumb and simply enjoy her affection?

    Actually, don''t answer that because I was going to do just that anyways.

    "Can I get ap pillow?"

    "....."

    A wise man once said you miss a 100% of the shots you don''t take.

    So I will take a shot at every opportunity I have.

    "..."

    "..."

    "Sure, "

    Fortune indeed favours the brave.

    ///////////////

    The soft sensation of her flesh against my cheek was everything I thought I needed in life. It was warm and I could smell her, she smelled like flowers.

    "Seiji, what kind of woman do you like?" Kanae asked while nudging me to look at her.

    I looked up at her and her face was almost entirely hidden by her melons even though she was leaning forward. Her eyes seemed genuinely curious to know the answer so I thought about it for a few seconds.

    "The kind of woman that loves me," I said in the end.

    She smiled, "Of course, she will love you. But I meant more in terms of physical attributes,"

    Is she really asking me the legendary boobs or butt question which was a vital question always asked between middle school boys?

    Well, there were many physical attributes of women that attracted men. There was the pretty face, the boobs, the ass, the thighs, the legs, the feet etc.

    I could say any of them and Kanae Kocho should be happy because she was blessed in every single aspect of them. Such was the stunning beauty of the flower Hashira.

    But personally, my favourite was the one thing that raised men.

    Boobs.

    So yes, I was a boob-man.

    "I like them cute and with a nice pair of boobs." I said.

    "Boobs huh," She said thoughtfully while looking at hers before her lips curved in self-satisfaction.

    "What about you? What type of man do you like Kanae, both physically and in terms of character." I asked her in return.

    She hummed and thought about my question for a while before she said.

    "I would prefer someone taller than me, not too scary looking and with kind eyes. And in terms of character...." she trailed off before casting a nce at me.

    Then she covered my eyes with both hands and said, "You,"

    My X-ray eyes froze and I felt my ears start to heat up so I hid them. She took her soft hands away and with a smile, she said.

    "Someone strong, reliable and loves flowers I guess."

    ",,,okay."

    We spent another hour just staying like that and having small talk which ranged from what happened while I was away to how Kanao was progressing in her life. She said she was busy following Shinobu around and helping the patients.

    She never asked me about what happened in Tokyo or about my engagement though. I wonder if she was not interested or too afraid to ask.

    But in the end, all great things muste to a bitter end.

    And mine came in the form of Raven and a Kusagai crow.

    Raven flew towards me andnded on my chest and a Kusagai crow flew overhead, dictating a mission for me. Although I loved my job, I think I loveying on Kanae''sp more.

    <i>"Seiji Shigan!! Seiji Shigan!! You must travel to Mizuhara vige which was recently visited by a demon!! Investigate and hunt down this demon."</i>

    Duty calls I guess.

    "I guess you have to go now," Kanae whispered softly. "Stay safe in your mission Seiji."

    "You too Kanae. And remember what I tell you, please only take normal ying missions and be extremely careful."

    "I''ll keep that in mind,"

    ...

    ...

    [IMAGE]

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Don''t forget the stones.

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 Chapter 70: Karma

    <h4>Chapter 70: Karma</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    I left the Flower Mansion the next morning after spending more time with Kanae and Kanao. Unfortunately, Shinobu was in her grinding phase so we rarely had time to interact these days. The spar we had a few days ago was a rare asion.

    I travelled towards the Mizuhara Vige. The vige was known for its huge production of rice and I went there to take rations for the Demon yer Corp before.

    I had eidetic memory so I was able to trace my way to the vige without being guided by a Kasugai crow.

    The vige was not far away and with my incredible speed, I was able to reach it before the afternoon rolled around.

    When I entered the vige, I was immediately met with a gloomy atmosphere. The ce was quiet as if it was abandoned.

    A quick scan of the whole vige told me that most people had locked themselves inside their houses and they were mourning for the people they lost.

    I walked around the vige and I talked to the first person I met and asked him in detail about what happened to the vige.

    "A total of three families, including the head of the town had been brutally annihted. It could not have been a criminal because nothing was stolen and we found no corpse of the dead. Many of us assume that it was an attack from a monster or a wild animal but..."

    "But what?" I asked.

    "But the only two survivors of the massacre, twin kids, they keep screaming it was a demon, an oni." the man said and from his face, I could tell that he believed them.

    "Have they not asked for more details?"

    "That''s the thing. Both of them had gone deaf after the attack,"

    The world stilled. My heart turned into lead in my chest and it weighs heavy and cold.

    ...

    ...

    "Where can I meet them?"

    "I don''t think you should meet them but they are in the vige hospital." the man said and I nodded my head in thanks.

    I walked away and headed towards the hospital immediately which was quite neat. Most viges didn''t have hospitals but I guess Mizuhara was not just any vige with its rice production.

    "Calm down," I said out loud while gripping my chest.

    This was familiar. It was all too familiar.

    ...

    /////////////////

    It was not only familiar.

    It was exactly the same.

    "A demon with the appearance of an old man. He had a hunched back and his body was full of wrinkles like it was dposing. There was a mark in his left eye, Kanji and his scream robbed me of my hearing."

    The image of the demon brought out my darkest memories. A demon with the appearance of an old man, holding down my naked sister as he devoured her.

    "A Kanji in his eyes?" I asked before writing my question down on a piece of paper and letting the boy read it.

    "Yes!! There was a mark on his left eye,"

    A lower moon huh, that was surprising but at the same time not. It was stated in the anime that the ranks of the lower moon kept on changing while the upper moon remained constant.

    So it was logical that the demon who attacked my family that night had now be a lower moon.

    "Thank you for your help kid," I said and gave a pat to the eight-year-old child.

    Just like he spared me, the old demon spared him and his twin brother too. I did not know why but that demon seemed to spare children, maybe in a weird twisted way that was beyond his moral code.

    It had been a total of three days since the attack. The memory must still be new to the kid, I did not want to make him remember but it couldn''t be helped. I remember being pissed that everyone kept asking me about it when it happened to me.

    "Are you going to fight that demon mister?" the kid asked me with his big eyes with dark bags.

    I paused. Then I smiled.

    I took up the notebook and pencil again and wrote my answer.

    Fighting was not the right word. He was not worth fighting.

    Instead, I will do something far crueller.

    "I am just going to talk to him. I will let him know all of the pain he has caused to you and everyone he has ever encountered,"

    After that, I got up from the bed and left the room.

    Everything was quiet as I walked out of the hospital and out of the vige. The people looked at me but they only saw a stoic face which they could not read.

    But after I left the vige, when I was all alone in the forest. My facade broke and bloodlust rolled off my body, chasing away the insects, birds and any other being with sentience.

    "Well, well, well, it all came back full circle." I chuckled at the ridiculousness of it all.

    I thought the old demon was some small fry and that he would''ve probably died at this point. But it seemed not only was he alive, but he had gotten even stronger.

    "Thank god you are alive. Thank you," I said and the emotions in my chest forced tears out of my eyes.

    Then the purple orbs in my eyes started giving off a deep glow as I activated the transparent world at its full capacity and more.

    I gazed upon the forest and the world bore her naked truth to me. I could see visions of the past with the help of the sheer details my eyes were able to see.

    I saw a footprint of a deer and from the depth alone, I was able to deduce the size and weight of said animal and how it stepped on it.

    The scene yed in my mind as if reality rewinded.

    I could tell the speed at which it moved, where it stopped and sniffed the air, which de of grass he ate and so on.

    It was like in the movies when a detective checked a crime scene and constructed what happened in his mind.

    But unlike them, what was happening to me was not limited to one ce but to the whole world around me.

    I felt a buzz in my brain and my eyes worked like never before. This was the first time I had aplished such feats.

    My eyes really were more than the transparent world at this point, I was sure. It was evolving as I aged and gained experience.

    Maybe it was simr to the sharingan with how they were responding to my hate. I thought to myself.

    But I did not spare any time to linger on such thoughts. I walked around the forest, looking at the smallest detail of everything as my mind constructed scenes of what happened an hour before, three hours before, a day before...

    Three days before.

    Until eventually, I found a clue.

    Dried blood on the leaves. It could''ve been the blood of any animal, impossible to distinguish but my eyes were able to do so. I looked closely at the blood, focusing my entire being on it.

    From the dryness and the mix of water, I could tell that it was a few days old. Then from the size and shape of the red blood cells, I could tell that it was the blood of a human.

    Most animals hadrger cells than humans and those cells had nuclei. Human red blood cells were circr and without a nucleus. So it was not difficult for my eyes to differentiate them.

    Then I changed my gaze to the direction of the blood and I saw broken twigs and nts, making a trail. From those things, I deduced the size of the creature passing through and it fit the size of the old demon I remembered.

    I could vividly imagine the demon going through this forest after it had a good meal. His white hair drenched in blood left droplets of blood.

    "Found you," I said and my eyes glowed brighter and my tears had turned red due to the overuse of my eyes.

    It was going to be a wonderful reunion after 9 years.

    ..

    ..

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    [3rd POV]

    Lower Moon demon ranked second.

    Onryoku.

    He has the appearance of an old man with a hunched back. He had a balding head with sparse white hair falling from his head and skin that was wrinkled more than an old rag.

    He was a demon who travelled around Japan, always moving. He would sneak into viges and ughter whoever he wanted and eat them before continuing his journey.

    Well, to call it a journey would be incorrect because he had no destination. Instead, he felt safer when he never stayed in the same ce. He was at ease when he was always running away.

    Running from who exactly?

    He was running away from his Karma.

    ..

    He was one of the oldest demons in existence. It could be said that from his travels, he knew thendscapes of Japan like the back of his hand.

    That was why he never even had to hide, no one could find him.

    But today, it was different.

    Someone finally found him.

    "Hummmmmm~ Hummmmmm~" A rhythmic humming noise left his mouth. He sent out sound waves that the human ears couldn''t hear, they were ultrasound.

    Then from the sound waves that reflected back to his ears, he could make a mental map of the surroundings in his head. It was echolocation, a special ability that animals like bats and dolphins could use.

    And just like before, everything was fine except the human that was following his tail a little while way back was still there.

    The demon had been changing his direction and tried his best to escape because he did not want conflict unless he was hungry.

    But the human kept on following him. The man did not try to catch up to him and was seemingly satisfied with just following his trail.

    Onryoku has had enough of ying cat and mouse.

    ''It''s been four days since I ate myst meal anyways, I could use a snack.'' he thought to himself, not taking the human as a threat.

    He should''ve been more afraid and took the human seriously. Maybe then he would realize that he was being hunted.

    Onryoku looked at the moon and determined that sunrise was still hours away. He could kill the follower and enjoy eating the human for as long as he wanted.

    He picked up the best ambush ce and hid behind arge rock with deep cover. He stayed hidden and waited for his prey.

    ...

    A few minutester, the human finally stopped. The man was a few meters away from the boulder where he was hiding.

    "Finally, I caught you." the man said as if he could see through the boulder.

    Realizing that he had been discovered, Onryoku jumped out from his hiding spot andnded on top of the boulder. He took a look at the human and he was shocked, to say the least.

    Purple eyes locked on him immediately. They had blood flowing out of them which the man quickly wiped away.

    ''I''ve seen those eyes before but where?'' Onryoku asked himself thoughtfully.

    Then he saw the long sword carried by the young man in his left hand. He had already expected the human to be a Demon yer from the way he was being tracked so it was no surprise.

    The man slowly pulled out his sword and Onryoku was finally hit with a surprise.

    <i>''Evil Demon.''</i>

    <i>''Destroyer''</i>

    A Hashira?

    No, that longsword and the colour purple.

    It was him.

    "I have so many things to tell you.."

    And so, Karma finally caught up to the demon who always ran.

    ...

    ...

    [IMAGE]

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    Author : Next Chaptering soon so throw stones!!

 Chapter 71: Vengeance

    <h4>Chapter 71: Vengeance</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    "I have so many things to tell you..." my breath hitched, there were so many things I wanted to say so they clogged my throat.

    In the end, the biggest and most honest sentence came out of my lips.

    <strong>"I hate you so much,"</strong>

    My hatred was so intense that it felt like swallowingva. His mere existence - the fact that he stood in the same reality as me, incited so much resentment that I wanted to tear this reality like a child throwing a tantrum.

    ''This is not me. This cannot be me.'' the sanest part of me screamed in the corner of my mind.

    I was not funny, I was not nice, I was not good. I was nothing I thought I was at the moment. It felt like all the challenges I had gone through, all the character development I had, they were all meaningless.

    At that moment when he was in my direct line of sight, I still felt like the little boy who just lost everything.

    I was so petty, I was so bitter and so hateful. I wanted to burn this world of fiction to ashes just for having someone like him. In my mind, I did not want to live in a world stained by this vermin.

    Words couldn''t describe my feelings, and I seethed.

    I hate that he made me this hateful so I hated him more. It became this endless cycle where my spite and hate doubled infinitely, again and again and again.

    Confronted by traumas I had been ignoring all this time, I was surprised to see what I had turned into. Was this really me? Was I this cynical and malevolent deep down?

    I thought I was a better person. I thought I was kinder.

    "It''s all because of you," I said with a face void of emotion. My voice was even more hollow.

    Because at this point, facial expressions could not mirror the emotions in my heart and they just gave up. But my eyes were a window to my soul so they were glowing in ominous light.

    The old demon narrowed his nasty eyes at me. He had seemed toe to the conclusion that I waspletely insane.

    "I know you," he said, "They say to be wary of you,"

    Then he opened his mouth and released a sonic scream that shook the earth. The vibrations washed over me, rattling my bones but it did no other damage.

    "...."

    "...."

    His attack had no effect on me.

    "You are deaf," he said. "That''s fine."

    He opened his mouth again and I predicated his next action. He was going to release a sonic scream again but this time, it would produce intense shockwaves that could rip apart the ground and destroy boulders.

    But he never got to that part because....

    <strong>"Thunderp and sh,"</strong>

    I appeared in front of him in an instant. Instant was too quick for him to react. Instant was too fast for him to think of counterattacks. But it was also enough for him to despair and just enough for fear to engulf his whole body as I plunged my sword into his mouth.

    I drove my long de down his throat and sliced open his voice box and his vocal chords which was where the shrilling screams were produced.

    Then I pushed my knee against his chest, driving all of the momentum I had into his ribs. His chest caved in and air was knocked out of his lungs.

    A sonic boom exploded and he was sent flying away.

    <strong><i>*BOOOM!!!*</i></strong>

    His body crashed and shattered against many trees. His bones bent in the wrong ways and tendons snapped when he crashed so violently against the ground.

    I''ve said it before but I was not here to fight.

    This was not a moment where the main character faced his trauma and fought bravely against the enemy who hurt him in the past. It was not an inspiring moment where he overcame challenges and finally grew as a person.

    This was just me, hating on someone with my entire being like the little child I am deep inside.

    I have not moved an inch. I haven''t grown a single day.

    <i>"Wind Breathing : First form," </i>I dashed forward with the violence of a storm.

    <strong>"Whirldwind Cutter,"</strong>

    I shed continuously in a horizontal cyclonic pattern. Sharp wind des encased my body and I shot forward like a tornado.

    Everything was cut in my path. The trees were cut down and so were the rocks and the bushes. I literally carved out a path leading to the demon.

    Even with his regeneration, he had no time to healpletely. By the time he was about to get up, his body was finely minced into tiny little pieces.

    But I sliced him only with the wind des so they did not inflict the damage a direct cut from the nichirin de would have. So he slowly came together again under me.

    When his face fully formed, I could finally see the terror in his demonic eyes. Yet he was nowhere near as terrified as I was that night.

    They said an eye for an eye, I disagree. For an eye, I wanted everything.

    It was not about letting him experience the same pain I did. It was about letting him experience worse.

    "You don''t remember, do you?" I said while waiting for him to fully regenerate. "That night when you ughtered my family right before my eyes and left me with their remains - your leftover meal,"

    It was understandable. What was the saying again? A hammer doesn''t remember the nails but the nail remembers the hammer.

    After his legs regenerated, he immediately pushed himself off the ground to flee. He was fast - he was as fast as you would expect a demon running for his life to be.

    I watched him run like I watched him leave my house back then.

    The two different scenes merged in my mind.

    I lept into the air, jumping high above even the tallest trees.

    <strong><i>"Thunder Wind Breathing : Unerring Lance,"</i></strong> I threw my sword with speed far surpassing sound. A sonic boom erupted and it nailed the demon on the ground with a terrible explosion.

    Inded on the ground and made my way towards the demon. He was trying to take out my sword which pinned him to the ground but his hand burnt when he grabbed my nichirin de.

    The ores which were used to make the nichirin swords were like sr batteries. They absorbed sunlight.

    When I reached him, I took a moment to appreciate his helplessness. The memories of when I tried to crawl helplessly to my sister merged with the scene.

    He was screaming helplessly too. I wished I could hear his screams. I really wished I could.

    I grabbed the hilt of my sword and pulled it out.

    Immediately the demon jumped at me. He realized he couldn''t run so he decided to attack me with everything he had.

    I saw everything he tried to do as if I could see the future. But before anything happened, I cut off both his arms with a swift stroke of my de.

    <i>"Water Breathing : First Form," </i>his nned attacks were stopped before they could happen<strong>, "Water Surface sh,"</strong>

    He staggered back, blood spurting out of the stump of his limbs.

    ..

    I hated how easily I was able to cut him. It did not hurt enough.

    I looked at my pristine sword and after a single second of hesitation, I smashed my sword against a stone nearby. I hit the rock with my de in such a way that the sharp edge was chipped away.

    I cringed while doing so. Due to my eyes, I always wanted things to be perfect and beautiful.

    But all that was discarded as I chipped my sword like how Inosuke did. By then, the demon had already healed and he was just standing still.

    Running doesn''t work, and fighting doesn''t work. So he did nothing.

    <i>"Fire Breathing : Second Form,"</i>

    I picked what I thought would hurt the most.

    <strong>"Scorching Sun."</strong>

    ..

    ..

    Words couldn''t describe how much I hated him. So I let my actions describe my hate. After all, they said actions speak louder than words.

    I wanted him to know. I wanted to feel.

    What that child felt on that night.

    ..

    ..

    ..

    [Must see image (The child)]

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Author : I''m thinking one more Chapter. I wanna tie up this part in one ho.

 Chapter 72: Professional hater

    <h4>Chapter 72: Professional hater</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    Hatred was bitter.

    Like medicine.

    And like medicine, although bitter, it makes you feel better afterwards.

    I didn''t know who it was that propagated the idea that hate was a way to destroy oneself and revenge only left a person more hollow than before, but I knew that they were liars.

    Or maybe they were notpletely true because that statement didn''t apply to me.

    "Please....n-no moree-ee~" a slushy mess of flesh and bone said to me.

    "What is love?~ Baby don''t hurt me, don''t hurt me, no more~" I sang in return, with a smile that showed the weight that had been lifted off my chest.

    Did you know that I was never fond of songs because I was deaf? I had to put my hand on a speaker and feel the vibration to get close to appreciating songs, like Miles from Baby Driver. But obviously, I knew about songs like ''Rick Roll'' and ''Baby Don''t Hurt Me'' because of the memes.

    The sun had already begun peeking out from the mountains at this point but I put the old demon in a shade to keep him from disintegrating.

    "Why are you being so dramatic? You act as if you have been exposed to the cruellest torture for a whole night." I said with a chuckle. I extended my hand and allowed a few drops of blood to fall from the cut in my palm.

    "Come on, drink up and heal, I think I nearly got the hang of Beast Breathing by repeatedly grinding you into a paste," I said but the spoiled fruit-looking ahh demon remained unresponsive.

    At this point, I was not really annoyed. I had my fill of violence. I could not imagine a way to inflict more pain on him.

    My hatred by no means had run out. It was just that I no longer had beef with this specific demon. I knew that although he was the one who killed my parents, he was just a pawn of the ultimate cause of their deaths.

    For example, an earthquake happened and a b of concrete crushed a man. It was the b of concrete that directly killed him but the main reason behind it was the earthquake.

    Simrly, it was demons in general and Muzan Kibutsuji that were the main cause.

    I kept on poking the demon with my sword while deep in thought until the sun had risen high enough to finally put an end to the demon. After the existence of the vermin was finally removed from the world, I took a deep breath.

    A breath of fresh air that I did not share with that stain. It felt more refreshing than usual - like the world suddenly had an AC.

    For a long time, I used to think that hate led a man nowhere but self-destruction. As I said, we''ve all seen Naruto and we all know where hatred led the Uchihas.

    But you know what? My 16-year-old self believes that hate can indeed lead a man where he wants and give him fulfilment, the same as love does.

    And revenge was sweet, it was not empty. If you felt empty after enacting revenge, you probably didn''t do it enough.

    So I''ll keep on being a hater without an once of apology.

    I didn''t have to be a kind-hearted soul who healed with the power of love and forgiveness. I would heal my trauma with the bitterness of hate and revenge.

    If I realized that my belief was stupid and wrong by the time I matured more in my 30s. Then.....I''ll leave that to future me. Sucks to be him.

    But then again, what 30-year-old man did not have to deal with the consequences of their younger self? You do stupid things in your teenage years and deal with the consequences as a middle-aged man, that''s how it usually goes for most people.

    Well, enough about justifying how I was going to be a professional hater. I think it would do me good to finally check up on Mitsuri and visit Rengoku while doing so.

    I need my love Hashira to dilute all the spite and hate in me.

    ...

    ////////////////////

    ...

    "Seiji!!!"

    Her pink hair was dancing to the tunes of the wind while she ran up to me with the enthusiasm of a child on a Christmas morning.

    She wore a Keigoki - a white long-sleeved shirt with ck pants - which told me that she was in the middle of training.

    Her signature big tits were bobbing up and down when she ran up to me as if they were happily greeting me.

    Yet no matter how much her sexy body attracted a perverted man like me, my gaze was glued to her smile. Was it strange that her smile was the one that made my heart skip a beat?

    She looked so happy. It was a privilege, I told myself, that someone was that happy for my mere existence. It made me appreciate life.

    The rest of the world fades away and my incredible eyesight only saw her.

    ....that was probably why I didn''t see himing.

    "Seiji!!" a voice with more vibrations - which meant that it was deeper and more masculine - called out to me and the fact that I could see the vibrations meant that it was close.

    I felt a rush of wind on my skin and a hard chest (obviously not Mitsuri''s) smashed on my stomach and tackled me to the ground.

    We fell.

    "Hahahahahaha!!" I opened my eyes to see Rengokuughing above me.

    "You disappeared for three months and suddenly sent your fiance to train under me? You sure are a character, my friend," he eximed.

    Not the waifu I was expecting but okay.

    Then Mitsuri finally reached me with tears of joy running down her face. She threw herself on top of me, pressing her whole body against mine.

    My arms immediately wrapped around her as if that was their natural state. Finally, a soft chest pressed against mine and I closed my eyes to feel her warmth.

    She was saying things but I didn''t see them. I only said.

    "I miss you too,"

    ....

    After the heartfelt reunion, we went inside Rengoku''s house. For the record, this was not his father''s house. He had his own home which he bought due to my suggestion, I admitted that I might beat up his father in one of his drunken episodes.

    If we fought, he wouldn''t know whose side to take so he bought the house.

    Now Mitsuri was sitting beside me, her head leaning on my shoulder while I sipped tea. Rengoku was in the kitchen for a while before he came out with some snacks and a tea of his own.

    "So, how have you been?" he asked me while settling down opposite to me.

    "Better than ever before," I said and paused, thinking about what happenedst night.

    Finally, I gave a genuine smile, "I killed the demon that ate my family,"

    Rengoku nearly choked on his tea and Mitsuri froze.

    "Pardon?"

    "I killed the old demon who attacked and devoured my family that night. Well, technically he died from the sun but I tortured him the entire night," I repeated myself calmly like I wasmenting on the weather.

    "That is...quite a heavy statement," he said thoughtfully and rubbed his chin, "I''m lost for words,"

    "There''s no need for words, I''m okay," I said and Mitsuri held my hand with concern. "I thought I would never see him again so it was a pleasant surprise. My experience actually made me face my past and allowed me to have a new perspective so everything turned out for the better, "

    From now on, when I wake up in the middle of the night due to having a nightmare, I will findfort. When the scene of my sister getting devoured alive yed in my mind, the scene of the same demon grovelling like a worm under me would also y alongside it.

    It was not a cure but it soothe the pain.

    Not only that, I epted the fact that I was spiteful and that revenge satisfied me. I was a professional hater.

    I looked between Rengoku and Mitsuri with a hidden smile. Maybe it was because they were opposites to me that I liked them so much. They were everything I was not. If they were in my shoes, they would probably forgive and fight to make sure nothing like that happened to anyone else.

    "What about you Rengoku, anything happened in these three months?"

    "Nothing noteworthy like yours. I trained a lot andpleted some assignments,"

    "What rank are you now?" I asked.

    "Kinoto,"

    "Oh," I blinked. "So you are only one rank away from being a Hashira now,"

    Rengoku was not speedrunning being a Hashira like me nor was he a genius with overpowered eyes. So his growth was more steady and slow. But it still came as a surprise that he moved up the ranks so quickly.

    "Yeah. I hope to fight alongside you soon, shoulder to shoulder!" he said with a wide grin.

    "I never consider you to be below me Rengoku, you were always my equal," I said and heughed, not wanting to argue.

    "What about you Mitsuri? You''ve been awfully quiet?" I said and she lowered her head when I looked at her.

    What''s with her?

    "A-are you mad at me?" she suddenly asked under my gaze.

    It took me a while to even realize why she would think I would be mad at her - that''s how much I was not mad.

    "You told me to stay at home and wait for you. But I disobeyed your words and came after you," she said in a soft tone that was not her at all.

    "Would I make for a bad wife?" she looked up at me, big emerald eyes glittering with tears.

    I nearly forgot that this was the 1920s in Japan. Wives were expected to listen to their husbands and not go against their words. Even though I assumed that she could make her own decisions, she might think that I would be mad at her for it.

    My arms immediately wrapped around her small waist which was seemingly shaped to be held by a man and pulled her even closer to me. She blushed, and I liked that her guilty face was reced with a bashful one.

    "Of course, I''m not mad silly," I kissed her forehead, "Instead, I''m deeply d that you wanted to help me and remain by my side,"

    She gave me a smile full of relief.

    "Now tell me what happened to you so far," I said and moved away from her because I saw that Rengoku was looking away,

    It was not appropriate to be too intimate in thepany of others, Japanese culture.

    "Well...it happened one day when I decided to run away from home toe to you. Then I realized I didn''t know where you were but that was when this ck crow with a scary voice came..." Mitsuri started and retold her experience so far.

    I listened to her with great attention. For a deaf man, you''d be surprised that I made for a good listener.

    We also discussed about how she was going to train. I told them my n of making her learn fire breathing with Rengoku first and then her bing my tsuguko after she became a Demon yer.

    I enjoyed thepany of two of the most positive people in the whole world. You couldn''t help but feel like the world was sunshine and rainbow when you were with them.

    Not that they were naive or delusional by any means.

    Rengoku just gave off this reliable aura that nothing bad would happen when I was around him. Even though I knew he was many levels weaker than me, his bravery and courage made me feel at ease.

    Then there was Mitsuri. My eyes saw the naked truth of the world, in all its cruelty and tragedy. But when I was with her, I would look at the world through the reflection of her emerald eyes and it was beautiful.

    The world she saw was beautiful and when I was with her, she allowed me to see glimpses of her world.

    It inspired me to make the world as beautiful as she saw it.

    And it goes without mentioning, we ate a lot of food as well. Rengoku and Mitsuri were great cooks so I ate a week''s worth.

    It was fun and precious time - every second I spent with the people I love.

    It was also another reason to hate the demons.

    I won''t let them take this away from me.

    Like that one ghost said, hatred was born in order to protect love.

    ..

    ..

    [IMAGE]

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Author :That will be all for the week. Thanks for reading.

    And please everyone, keep sending me AI generated pic of Seiji if you can.

 Chapter 73: Forebonding

    <h4>Chapter 73: Forebonding</h4>

    [3rd POV]

    "Seiji is WHAT!!!!"

    Even Kanao who was a few rooms away studying showed a reaction. She hopped in her ce like a timid rabbit and her face was genuinely shocked.

    "Keep it down will you," Kanae said and put a hand on Shinobu''s mouth. "Shhhh."

    Shinobu kept eye contact with her sister and she took long and controlled breaths before she finally calmed down. Kanae removed her hand and then Shinobu immediately asked her the biggest question in her mind.

    "Seiji is engaged?! With who?"

    "That''s the thing, I don''t know."

    "Wait, when did you even learn about this?"

    "In the Hashira meeting we had four days ago. Master Ubuyashiki congratted him on his engagement and it was only then that I found out," Kanae said.

    "So that means it''s true," Shinobu said, her voiceced with emotions, "That bastard, why didn''t he tell me?"

    "I was initially upset about it as well but then I realised that he had no reason to tell us," Kanae said brutally, slightly offending Shinobu who thought they were close enough with Seiji to be informed of these things.

    "It''s his private affairs and from what I observed, it seemed like he did not have much attachment to the person he is engaged to," Kanae said thoughtfully.

    "You mean, he only epted it to honour his parents or something?"

    "Exactly,"

    "But how can you be sure? You don''t even know who he is engaged to,"

    "I don''t."

    "Why didn''t you ask him about the details?" Shinobu asked with eyes narrowed in confusion.

    Kanae remained silent for a while before she released a sigh, "Because I was afraid."

    That only made Shinobu confused.

    "The thing is Shinobu..."

    There was a dramatic pause. The two sisters were alone in their shared room and there was no other sound disturbing them. The silence was loud.

    "I''m in love with Seiji as well,"

    "....."

    "....."

    There was an awkward moment where the two sisters just stared at each other. Kanae was scanning her younger sister''s face to find any reaction but Shinbu''s face was just deadpan.

    Then Shinbu finally closed her eyes and gave a harmless smile. It was her signature smile we saw in the anime.

    "Don''t tell me that''s the punch line after all the build-up,"

    "Eh?" Kanae blinked dumbly.

    "Seriously? Did you only realise that you loved him four days ago?"

    "Ehhhh!!! Wait a minute, you knew?!" Kanae asked, now she was the one who lostposure.

    It was a justified thought. Imagine seeing someone who was more aware of your feelings than you. How out of touch with your emotions do you have to be for such a thing to happen?

    It was embarrassing, very much so because she was the older sister.

    "H-How did you know?"

    Kanae had been ignoring her feelings for Seiji all this time due to her morals. But just because she ignored them doesn''t mean that those feelings were not there. In fact, they were always there and people could see it in her behaviour even though she herself was unaware of it.

    "I wouldn''t say I knew it but I kind of expected it, so it came as no surprise," Shinobu shrugged. It was like seeing dark clouds in the sky, you were not surprised it rained.

    "I also have feelings for him so it was easy enough to notice how you looked at him. You see him in the same light as I saw him. You would stare at him for a long time without even realising it and often times when he was away on a mission, you would look at the traces he left in the mansion and smile fondly, remembering him." Shinobu said and Kanae at this point was too embarrassed so she stopped her.

    "But love huh," Shinobu smiled, "Gezz, big sis, that''s a heavy word,"

    Even she would not be so bold as to im she loved Seiji. She knew that she liked him but there was a big difference between simply liking someone and loving them.

    Kanae remained silent after thement. There was not a doubt in her mind even after that. She loved him, it was beyond just liking someone.

    The difference in their feelings came from the fact that Kanae was given much more attention and saved many times by Seiji. Meanwhile, he would only train and spend time hunting demons with Shinobu.

    "This sucks. I feel like I''m losing something even though it was never mine," Shinobu said and flopped on her futon.

    Kanae remained in her ce and watched her sister in silence. Shinobu took a pillow and covered her face but otherwise, she made no furtherments.

    Seeing that, she silently made her way outside of the room and when she slid the door closed she released a sigh of relief.

    ...

    She was relieved that Shinobu''s feelings for Seiji seemed to be way lesser than hers. Her sister already seemed to be giving up and was in the process of getting over him.

    That was good.

    She always thought that her sister''s feelings were the same or even more than hers but she learned today that it was not true, amongst other things she learned.

    Now thest thread of hesitance snapped.

    She smiled a knowing smile, a hopeful smile.

    ..

    ..

    ///////////////////

    [3rd POV]

    "Hey, I heard from some lower demons that there is a beautiful girl in the demon yer corps who uses flower breathing," a white-haired demon with blood on his lips said to another demon who was kneeling before him.

    The white-haired demon had rainbow-coloured eyes that seemed to see everything in this world as amusement, something he could toy with. He was lying on his side and his right hand held the ample thigh of a beautiful woman.

    "They say she has the beauty of a fairy, moving with grace and elegance while she yed demons,"

    "Lord Doma, you must be talking about Kanae Kocho, the flower Hashira," the demon kneeling down said. He was a demon yer who chose to be a demon due to his greed for immortality.

    The Upper Moon 2, Doma, had kept him around him at his whims. He would ask trivial questions he had about the Demon yer Corps and humans in general.

    Which vige had the most beautiful girls, how life as a Demon yer was, where and how the nichirin des were made and like the question he asked now, who was the beautiful woman in the Demon yer corp?

    "She is the greatest healer of the Demon yer Corp and she is indeed a beautiful woman, the best I''ve seen myself," the demon said.

    Doma hummed and looked at the human leg he was holding. It had the soft flesh of a beautiful woman, it was a delicacy.

    "I wonder, what she tastes like..." he whispered.

    He thought about it for a moment and his desire seemed to mix well with their master''s wish which was the eradication of the Demon yer Corp. Killing their healer should dramatically weaken them right?

    "Can you get her to me?" Doma asked with an innocent smile like a close friend asking you to treat them to food.

    "Ah," the demon gulped, "Well, she rarely leaves the Flower mansion since she is the main doctor. But often times she would go to viges that have been infected by diseases that spread naturally or due to the blood demon art of a demon,"

    Domu tilted his head to the side, his smile was still the same but it suddenly looked less friendly.

    "Why are you talking so much, can you do it or not?" a killing intent so chilling washed over the lower demon.

    "I-I can! I can!!" the demon yelled as the killing intent faded.

    "It will take some time but I can do it with my blood demon art."

    "That''s great then!!" Doma said with a friendly grin, "But don''t make me wait too long, lest I kill you in my boredom,"

    The demon was lost for words. After a long silence, he simply said.

    "I understand."

    ....

    Seiji had thought all this time that Kanae encountered Doma due to a weird twist of fate and misfortune.

    He thought that his existence alone and the fact that he warned Kanae many times would be able to change this fate.

    But turns out, that it was never an encounter of chance that Kanae met Doma.

    She was targeted.

    "Huh, I am oddly excited about this," Domamented while looking at his arm which trembled slightly.

    But was it really excitement that he felt? Doma who was so detached from emotions and often said to be emotionless did not know better.

    Was it excitement or was it fear that stemmed from the bad premonition in his heart?

    Every supernatural part of him, instincts, spells, and each individual cell, yelling, SCREAMING at him.

    Don''t do it.

    ..

    [IMAGE]

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Double release

 Chapter 74: Steroid Breathing

    <h4>Chapter 74: Steroid Breathing</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    After we had a nice conversation while drinking tea, Rengoku decided to resume his training. He left me and Mitsuri alone so that we could spend time together but instead of doing so, I brought Mitsuri outside to train her.

    If she was going to be a demon yer, I would make sure that she was the strongest that she could be. It would not only be a huge help to humanity but most importantly, it would keep her safe.

    "I''m going to teach you a breathing style I created myself. It is not aplete breathing style so think of it as training wheels," I said. She had stars in her eyes that told me that she was excited to learn whatever it was I was going to teach her.

    She was excited but she raised her hand in question.

    I smiled seeing her that, "It''s only the two of us Mitsuri, you don''t have to raise your hand," I told her, "What is it?"

    "Umm, what is a breathing style?"

    A realization struck me like lightning and I robotically turned my head to Rengoku who was engrossed in his own physical training.

    That guy had not even told her what breathing styles were. Was it really a good idea to leave her with him?

    I helplessly shook my head and exined, "Breathing styles are the main tools of a demon yer. By mastering certain breathing patterns and training your lungs to maximize your intake of oxygen, you can achieve supernatural strength,"

    I paused, "Do you understand?"

    "...Yes," she tilted her head.

    She didn''t understand.

    Well, I guess we would have to start with the very basic of the basics. Not that I wasining, teaching her was not a chore at all. She was mine after all, it was the same as training myself.

    "Well, let''s sit down and practice first shall we," I said and we both sat down in a lotus position. We were facing each other and I grabbed her hand with one hand and I pushed my other hand on her chest.

    At first, my hand sank into her soft bosom and she blushed but they stopped when I pressed on her ribs. I acted professionally even though it demanded great self-control.

    I felt the rhythmic expansion and contraction of her chest.

    My eyes glow purple and I used an X-ray to see her pink healthy lungs. Like the rest of her body, her lungs were exceptionallyrge and powerful.

    With my eyes and her already insane body, it would not be hard to teach her the basics at all. In fact, it would not be hard to get her to the level of a Hashira.

    "What I''m about to teach you - like I said - is a breathing style that I created a long time ago. It is the easiest breathing to learn and also the most effective constant breathing," I said and started guiding her through the breathing patterns.

    "It''s called, steroid breathing,"

    Steroid breathing allows your body to fully utilize your muscle capacity and also promotes quick regeneration and growth of the muscles. It was a breathing style that depended heavily on the user''s body.

    If your body was strong and you were gically blessed, steroid breathing would work better on you. Like the substance it was named after, it was an enhancement to your body.

    So the stronger your body, the stronger the enhancement.

    Now imagine the enhancement on someone as special as Mitsuri who had pink muscles that were also 8 times denser than regr humans.

    That would be a female version of Gyomei.

    And so, I started cooking up a monster in the form of a cute waifu. The result of my effort would not be visible so soon but it was the beginning.

    Also, I could rest easy knowing that Steroid Breathing would live on.

    ....

    We spent the entire day training together. Mitsuri was not acting spoiled or anything with me, instead she was quite the opposite.

    She was trying her hardest, she put more effort into training with me than she had ever done while she was training with Rengoku - he told me. She did not want to disappoint me so she tried her very best.

    That meant progress was quick.

    I could see her lungs with my eyes and I could guide her in detail to learn the breathing pattern. When she faced problems or had trouble learning, I would help her by pushing at her chest and forcing the air out of her lungs in the correct pattern.

    That was a great help to her as she could feel what the correct way was - she only had to imitate.

    She learned Steroid Breathing in no time. Now if she just learned constant breathing, it would greatly aid her in her training and recovery.

    Hopefully, she doesn''t grow a beard or something.

    I would only be able to coach her for a day so I wrote manuals that she could follow and gifted them to her. At the end of our training, it was already dark and we went inside the house, cleaned ourselves and quickly went to bed.

    I slept with Mitsuri, much to her giddy joy and embarrassment. I did nothing lewd to her or anything even though she would offer not an ounce of resistance if I pushed myself on her.

    I didn''t know why or how I did that either.

    I guess when you were certain that something was yours, you did not immediately devour it. Instead, you cherish it because you are certain that no one will take it away from you.

    But I remember just holding her tightly in my arms and I had one of the best sleep I''d ever had.

    I woke up early the next morning before the sun had even risen. Rengoku had also already woken up but Mitsuri was still sleeping peacefully.

    I silently got all of my gear and clothes together and with a final kiss on the sleeping Mitsuri, I decided to leave. My next destination was the swordsmith vige where I would fix my sword.

    "You''re leaving? Don''t you think you should say goodbye to her?" Rengoku asked when I was about to open the door.

    "No, she''s better off sleeping," besides, she said she hated goodbyes because it gave her the feeling that we wouldn''t see each other again.

    "Where are you headed to? Another mission?"

    "I will go to the swordsmith vige to get my sword fixed," I said and pulled out my chipped sword for him to see. His face immediately turned into shock.

    I internally cringed as well when I saw the wed state of my sword. I always kept it in a pristine and perfect condition, just like myself and my clothes.

    Perfect movement also allowed me to make sure I never chipped my sword or damaged it so this was a shocking sight indeed.

    "What happened?" he asked.

    "It''s from the other night when I ran into that demon," I answered, looking away from the ugly sword.

    "....."

    "You look like you have something to say," I said when I saw the look on his face. I was great at reading people so I knew.

    ".. It''s just, my friend," Rengoku started, his vibrant yellow eyes - like raging fire - locked on mine with concern.

    "Please take care of yourself. And make sure no matter what you feel, never let your emotions change you," he said.

    "I will keep that in mind,"

    "Don''t be like my father," he said and that finally pierced his words to my heart.

    His father was a man who was controlled and changed by the deep sorrow and sadness he had inside. He became hateful, he became a victim of his trauma and emotions.

    I took another look at my sword - a by-product of my hate for that old demon. My rage and hatred had made me do things that I would never do otherwise.

    "..."

    "Thank you," I shed a smile at Rengoku. "You are a great friend,"

    "Hahahaha!!" heughed, but making sure it was not too loud. "I try to be,"

    He seemed proud that I appreciated his advice, unlike his father who would throw hands for it. Of course, seeing that, he had to add more.

    "Keep your heart aze Seiji, be warm to your friends and burn your enemies. And make sure you don''t burn yourself,"

    "Ya ya ya, too much and it''s corny. You can keep your ancestors'' motto to yourself," I said, slid open the door and left. It was not the first time that he said those phrases, those were written in the me Breathing manual.

    I could imagine himughing behind me as I left with a new light in my eyes.

    Heh, I still had a lot to learn huh?

    The journey was just starting.

    ..

    ..

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    [Seiji''s POV]

    I reached the swordsmith vige in under a day. The terrain was rough and since it was meant to be in a hidden location, there were many secret routes that I had to tread but I was able to reach the swordsmith vige with zero trouble.

    I did not waste time and gave my sword to Hanzo who was absolutely shocked when he saw the state it was in. But since it was my first time and I had a good record of maintaining my sword, he did not scold me.

    Instead, he gave me my old Odachi and said to wait a few days for my sword to be repaired. It was the sword of a Hashira which was made with the best of the best quality, so even repairing it would take some time.

    "I''m sorry for the inconvenience," I said with a bow.

    "Don''t worry about it, these things happen. But make sure you be careful next time," he said and immediately went to his workshop to fix my sword.

    Having aplished my task, I left the swordsmith vige. Although I regret not enjoying the hot springs, I had no time to waste anymore.

    With Raven sitting on top of my head, I immediately started getting assignments. I travelled towards the east and cleared any mission that popped up in that direction.

    In just two nights, I was able to y a total of eight demons andplete five assignments. I was not called the most efficient Hashira for nothing.

    My eyes which underwent an upgrade while I was tracking the old demon were now even more effective inpleting missions. A single nce around the forest and I could easily track any demon.

    But on the third day, I slept in the morning and when noon arrived, I continued my travel. I was in the territory of the Water Hashira and just like I hoped, I ran into Giyu while he was on patrol.

    A day patrol mostly consisted of the Hashira checking the surroundings to see if there were any traces of a demon left the previous night.

    I met with Giyu and we decided to go to a restaurant nearby to have lunch. We ordered miso ramen and enjoyed the meal together.

    "I heard that you killed a lower moon again. Thank you for your work," Giyu said before slurping on his noodles.

    By the way, it was good manners to slurp the noodles loudly in Japan because it told the chef that you were enjoying them.

    I could not hear it but I imagined this to be an annoying tradition for most people.

    "It was my pleasure to ughter them, " I admitted with a shrug while enjoying the soup, "What about you? I heard that you took a new Tsuguko again,"

    One difference my existence made was that Giyu was nowfortable in his identity as a Hashira. So he had taken quite a number of Tsukugo even though he had taken none in the anime.

    Giyu gave me a nod.

    "How long?" I asked with knowing eyes.

    "He spent two months with me before he created his own breathing style and left," Giyu said, trying to remain stoic but I could see that he was depressed.

    He had been taking many Tsuguko and tried to train them to be his sessor but they all left one way or another. Most of them just created their own breathing style instead of mastering Water Breathing.

    That was the problem with Water Breathing. It was so versatile that many ended up creating a different variation. Most of the unique breathing styles were derived from water breathing like, flower breathing, insect breathing, oil breathing, ice breathing etc.

    "I was hopeful this time because the candidate was very talented. But in the end, he branched out from the Water Breathing line," Giyu said.

    "Really? What was his name?"

    "Obanai Iguro. He created the Serpent breathing,"

    I paused for a second before swallowing my soup loudly, "Obanai? Like the kid with two eye colours?"

    "Yes, and don''t call him a kid Seiji, he is older than you," he replied.

    "How did you know him anyway?" he asked.

    "Met him in one of my missions," I said and he nodded, epting my answer.

    That was an interesting piece of news. I never thought that Obanai would be a Tsuguko of Giyu at any point in his life.

    I remember in the anime that they had some beef.

    "Wait, did you two even get along?" I asked and Giyu was hesitant to answer at first before he said.

    "I got along with him,"

    Iughed, that was such a sad sentence, Why would nobody be friends with my good boy Giyu? He was so nice!!

    Well, maybe his facial expression needed some work. He was too aloof, no one other than me could read him at all.

    "So, what rank is he in now?"

    "Tsuchinoe," Giyu answered.

    Interesting, he should need at least one more year before bing Hashira. But I couldn''t wait to meet him, hopefully, he didn''t crush on Mitsuri as he did in canon, lest I crush him.

    We enjoyed the rest of our lunch before we separated again. A friend we may be but we had our own duties and responsibility.

    The next day, my sword was finally finished and Hanzo came to deliver it to me.

    And so the life of the Steroid Hashira continued.

    Two months passed

    ..

    ..

    [IMAGE]

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    Author : Don''t forget to give me stones. I got a whole cold so this week updates are uncertain but I''ll try my best.

    <strong><i>Patreon : Emmanuel_Capricorn. We got Seiji video edits and shits now so check it out.</i></strong>

 Chapter 75: Scumbags

    <h4>Chapter 75: Scumbags</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    (2 monthster)

    "That looks good on you,"

    Hello, I am a scumbag. You can beat me anytime if you are capable and make sure to tell your daughters to stay away from me.

    "Does it? I was not sure dark blue would suit me." Kanae said with a small smile that looked more genuine than wider smiles.

    Her dark hair fell gracefully from her head, they reflected the silver light of the moon. They had a curly nature, unique in thier own right and luscious.

    She wore a dark blue Yukata that perfectly entuated her curves, revealing her wless shape. Yet she did not look slutty, she looked divine, like no man was deserving of her.

    The scent of flowers would hit my nose whenever the breeze came. It was not any perfume, it was just her natural scent. She was so pristine and her beauty almost seemed fantastical.

    As a person who perceived much of the world with sight alone, I could only stare at her like a fool. She had the beauty of a thousand sunsets.

    She twirled around to give me a good look, she basked under my eyes. She was a flower and my gaze was water, she grew more confident and beautiful the longer she got my attention.

    "I was right, you look stunning," I said again.

    In the two months that have passed, Kanae continued to pursue me. I knew what she doing, and I knew what she wanted, but I didn''t stop her. I allowed her to work her magic on me and now I was enchanted.

    I continued ying the dense protagonist because I didn''t want to lose that feeling. The feeling of being loved and needed.

    And now, we were on a date. Well, none of us had acknowledged that it was a date or courtship but we were going to a festival together. There was no other way to describe what was happening between us.

    "You look handsome too," she said, returning mypliment and I looked at the reflection in her eyes and saw what she was seeing.

    A man with purple hair that covered his ears. He looked more mature than his age due to rigorous training and the hardship he had been through.

    A handsome face framed two remarkable purple eyes that looked godly. He stood at the height of six feet and he wore a purple Yukata with flower patterns.

    That was me.

    ...

    Only me.

    That was the only thing her eyes saw, they did not reflect anything else.

    "Let''s go, we want to reach the festival before it gets too crowded,"

    It was early August and we were celebrating the Summer Festivals. We gave the excuse that we were on a joint mission to guard the people at the festival so we had nothing to distract us at the moment.

    It was just me and her.

    Kanae grabbed my hand with her soft hands. It was strange for a swordman to have such soft hands but I didn''t question it.

    I let her drag me to where she wanted. I let her do as she pleased like I had been letting her do these past two months.

    We went to the town which was decorated with many lights andnterns. The ce was full of life as the residents and many others from neighbouring viges hade to celebrate the Summer Festivals.

    Some came to set up food stalls and games while others just came to enjoy the festivals. Familiesughed and yed games while couples walked around hand in hand.

    We were amongst the couples.

    We enjoyed the evening as much as we could. The festival was already beautiful and memorable but what made it even more precious was that we had each other to share the moment.

    I was able to fulfil my duty as a man and bought anything Kanae could ever want. I bought her apple candies and we tried many of the foods that were on the food stall.

    We also yed the games there.

    "How are you so good at this?" Kanae asked me with a giggle when she saw me scooping out four goldfish in a row with the paper spoon.

    It was the result of Water Breathing and perfect movement.

    But I said, "It''s because you are watching me and I have to impress you,"

    Sheughed. It made me happy that I could make herugh. Seeing herugh made me feel better than if I were the oneughing.

    "That makes no sense," she said to herself.

    I could read everything that came out of her lips and even the words that only reached her throat. Because since the beginning, I had never truly looked away from her. My eyes were addicted to her.

    "You have no idea what a man can do to impress a beautiful woman," I said, "And I''m with the most beautiful woman,"

    She smiled with red on her cheeks.

    Did you think that was corny? Well, I''d probably think that too but here''s a secret, there was nothing corny in love.

    Whatever you said, even if it was the most recycled flirting sentence on the inte would sound like the most romantic thing ever.

    Because a woman in love makes everything perfect. Even if you said the corniest shit ever, her mind would perceive that on the same level as Shakespeare''s masterpiece.

    People often misunderstood and called love blind but it was not. Instead, it just made everything seem perfect. It fixed all ws.

    It did not matter to her the words I said. It was me who said it and she loved me. And that just made her love every word I said.

    "Do you want to try it?" I asked and she said yes.

    She took a new paper spoon and tried to catch but she failed miserably. She tried many more times but she failed each time. In the end, I had to hold her hand and guide her so that she could catch some for herself as well.

    I didn''t know if she was pretending to be bad for this specific situation but I didn''t think about it. I let her guide me in every situation.

    We caught fourteen fish, leaving the stall owner depressed. She said they would be perfect to live in the pond of the flower mansion.

    As we left, I tossed some money to the owner topensate for his loss. He seemed to appreciate that.

    We moved from stall to stall, the night was all ours and we spent it together.

    "Do you want to buy the masks?" she asked.

    And hide your pretty face? "No," I replied.

    Atst, when midnight came we went to the top of a hill. The main event of the Summer Festival was always the fireworks and we decided to pick a quiet and peaceful ce to enjoy it.

    We were in high elevation and the colourful town could be seen below. When midnight struck, the first and most powerful firework took to the sky and exploded in a mesmerizing burst of colour.

    Then the rest of the fireworks followed.

    On that night, even the moon and the stars did not have the spotlight as the bright fireworks overshadowed them with their bright explosion and beauty. But still, it was the woman sitting next to me that made my heart skip a beat.

    Kanae put her hand on top of mine and we enjoyed the moment until the end.

    When thest firework died in the sky, Kanae turned towards me. Her face was tense and her palm felt a little sweaty on mine.

    The time hase.

    I knew she would not invite me to the festival just to go on a date. The n in her mind was always to confess to me by the end of the festival.

    Sadly, it would also be the end for us.

    Because when she directly confessed to me, I would no longer be able to y the dense protagonist. I would have to confront her feelings and give my answer.

    My rejection.

    ...

    I told you right, I was a scumbag.

    I acted dumb for as long as I could because I wanted to enjoy her love longer without having toplicate things.

    I was taking advantage of her. I was giving her false hope. It would''ve been better to just reject her feelings from the start.

    But I let her try her best only to reject her in the end.

    "Seiji..." she began and my eyes released a glow due to nervousness. I slowed down my perception as much as I could to dy the inevitable.

    Because I really really like her too. I have known her for three years now and she is one of the most important people in my life.

    But her love came toote. Maybe if she loved me before I met Mitsuri, I would dly fall for her. I would love her with all my heart.

    That was not possible now. It was all toote for that.

    The idea of having a harem constantly gued my mind during these two months but I threw away the idea. These girls were special, they deserved to be loved wholeheartedly by someone.

    They deserve a man who would love them with all his heart. A man who would only love them.

    They didn''t deserve to be one of two.

    They did not deserve half a heart, half the love.

    Neither Mitsuri nor Kanae.

    "Seiji, I- I- " she hesitated for a long time.

    ...

    ...

    In the end, she just gave up, she stopped. A tear fell down her eyes and she smiled. I just stared at beauty in pain, a sunset hidden by clouds.

    "I think it''s time to leave now," she said instead.

    She knew it. She felt it.

    The rejection that she was going to get. Maybe it was my eyes or something about my body which was trembling in nervousness. But she knew I was going to reject her so she didn''t''t confess.

    She stood up first and offered her hand. I stared at her in wonder before I reached for her hand.

    She pulled me up but she put too much strength. I stumbled forward and her face was buried on my chest. She closed her eyes and took in my scent.

    It was then that a single firework exploded in the sky again. It was the brightest firework of the night. I turned my head to look and that was when she said it.

    "I love you,"

    She didn''t mean for me to see it. But I did.

    Because like I said, my eyes had never left her. I saw what she said in the furthest corner of my vision.

    Why? The question rang in my mind.

    She hugged my arm and buried it between her boobs. It was an act she realised I liked very much during the past two months.

    Yet I couldn''t even enjoy the sensation. She leaned her head on my shoulder and acted like nothing had ever happened. She returned right back to a girl trying to win a man''s heart.

    Why Kanae...

    Why did you allow me to y dumb again? Because I am not going to admit I saw that.

    Why are you so stubborn? You know now that I would reject you in the end.

    Why do you keep loving me? It''s starting to hurt me too.

    Why are you making this difficult for both of us?

    ..

    ..

    A scumbag.

    Kanae was a scumbag too, just like me.

    She knew she was hurting her sister, she knew that I was in an engagement. She knew that she was making it difficult for me too.

    But she wanted to keep on loving me, just like I wanted her to keep on being loved.

    I guess we were both.

    Scumbags.

    .

    .

    [IMAGE]

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    Author : This Chapter has a little more drama than usual. Teenagers in love always lead to drama, Seiji is 16 and Kanae is 18 and neither has experience.

    But don''t worry, I know what I''m doing with the romance and harem. I won''t mess up, 87% sure.

    500 stones for extra Chapter. Don''t forget to vote

 Chapter 76: Canon start

    <h4>Chapter 76: Canon start</h4>

    Author : I just wanted to mention that the timelines are a little different. Even though I tried to follow cannon as much as possible, I had to make some changes.

    For example, Mitsuri should have justpleted her final selection in the canon timeline but in this one, she is still just training.

    And obviously Kanae is still alive.

    /////////////////////

    [3rd POV]

    In the end, she couldn''t go through with it.

    After all that effort, a single ce at him evaporated all the courage she had built up for months.

    He was preparing a rejection, she realized halfway into her confession. She hated that he was a nk sheet and any emotion that was strong enough to surface on his face was so obvious to read.

    And what did she do?

    She never confessed. You could not reject someone when they didn''t even confess.

    But why would she do that? Why would she continue pursuing a heart that was ready to reject her? That was a foolish decision, she was smarter than that.

    Well....she didn''t know either. Just ask her heart why it loved him. She was just a victim of her heart like many girls were.

    During the past two months, she came to learn about his engagement in a little more detail. You wouldn''t be able to imagine how heavy her heart was when she learned that not only did Seiji like this fiance, but he was more than okay with the engagement.

    Maybe she should''ve given up then. Instead of acting like a bitch that tried to seduce an engaged man, instead of trying to steal a heart that was already owned.

    But a voice in her heart said, ''A little more.''

    ''A little more effort.''

    ''A little more time.''

    ''A little more love.''

    After a little more, she would finally confess her feelings even if her reward would be rejection. Then she would let the world move on. Personally, she might never move on but at least she would let him go then.

    She knew the danger her job presented, people die all the time while doing missions. So if she were ever to face such an end, she wanted to go out without regret.

    And she wanted to squeeze everything out of her life.

    "Heh~ I thought they would die but look who is alive and swimming," Seiji said while crouching beside the pond of the Flower Mansion. He was looking at the goldfish they had caughtst night like a small excited child.

    Kanae looked at the goldfish swimming around in their new home with sad eyes.

    ''A little more.'' a voice in her heart sounded again.

    ''I want a little more of his scent.''

    ''I want a little more of his touch,''

    ''I want a little more of his love.''

    For a woman who spent all her life helping people and giving without asking for anything in return, it was okay if she was a little greedy this time right?

    She couldn''t have the whole thing but...

    Please.

    Just a little more.

    "Whaaaaa!!" *Ssh!!*

    Seiji fell into the small pond because he was trying to follow a certain goldfish swimming in the pond.

    ...

    Actually, the strongest Hashira would never slip like that and make a mistake. But Kanae realized that she must''ve looked sad while she was deep in thought.

    He was doing that silly thing to cheer her up and distract her from the sorrow of her own thoughts.

    Honestly, he was so obvious when you knew him well. That was one of her favourite things about him. He was so obvious even though he believed that he was clever.

    His eyes never missed anything, but the eyes of a woman in love didn''t either.

    To reward his effort, she allowed herself to release a peal of giggles. She was not actuallyughing at his wet self but at his cute attempt to cheer her.

    And he just sat there, half his body submerged and stared at her smile.

    ''A little more Seiji.''

    ''Let''s y dumb for a little more.''

    ..

    ..

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    [Seiji''s POV]

    (A week after the festival date)

    Enough of this sad and K-drama bullshit!! Look at this cool shit instead!!

    "Storm Breathing : Second Form,"

    Could you imagine, how fucked the demon in front of me was? He was probably as weak as Tanjiro''s first demon whom he killed with an axe too.

    Talk about going overboard.

    But I had absolutely zero remorse for the battle looking ahh demon. I was racist like that.

    It was his karma that he met Seiji ''The Steroid Hashira - professional hater - racist - too deaf to hear you beg'' Shigan.

    There was absolutely no sound while I dashed past the demon. Only when the technique was done and I had obliterated my opponent did sound gather up the courage to scream.

    *BOOOOM!!!!*

    "Lightning Wave," I said out loud while standing still in my ce due to fatigue.

    I admit it was a little goofy that I became a statue whenever I used Storm Breathing but I was spamming it exactly for that reason. After using it enough, my body would grow stronger and adapt to my strength.

    There was no one to disturb me because I made sure there were no threats before pulling off this move. After a few seconds, my body came out of its locked state and I breathed a sigh of relief.

    Then raven flew down from the tree andnded on my head.

    "Thank you for looking out for me," I said with a smile. She was in charge of protecting me while I was in my vulnerable state after using Storm breathing.

    How would she protect me you ask?

    "Well, her job is to fly in front of the enemy and present herself as a quick snack before they attack me-OW!" Raven pecked me on my head and it hurt like you wouldn''t believe.

    "Alright, I was joking," I said, "You are the main course meal before they attack - ow ow ow OW!!"

    And she bestows my joke with multiple pecks on the head. I swear a lower demon could die from this thing.

    Just then, a Kasugai crow appeared overhead and delivered a message. That put a stop to my punishment of dao pecks so I sighed in relief.

    "Seiji Shigan!! Seiji Shigan!! You are called for an emergency Hashira meeting!! You are called for an emergency Hashira meeting!!"

    Well, that didn''t sound good at all.

    It had only been a few days since west had the Hashira meeting. But now an emergency meeting was called. I hope nothing bad has happened and it was only just about to happen.

    Because I would rather take an iing disaster than a disaster that already struck.

    ..

    ..

    ////////////////

    When I reached the Demon yer Corp headquarters, everyone had already gathered. I was the furthest away and also thest one to be informed because of my speed.

    I was pleasantly surprised when I reached the meeting ground though. There was someone extra today, someone who was not a Hashira yet.

    "Rengoku?" the name spilled out of my mouth and everyone turned to look at me.

    "Ah, Seiji," Ubuyashiki gave me a gentle smile, "You''re finally here, we''ve been waiting for you,"

    I went to my fellow Hashira and stood beside them. Rengoku was on his knee a few meters away from us. I posed a question.

    "What''s going on?"

    "We will get to that in a minute my boy," Ubuyashiki replied, "With the pir of pirs here, let us finally start the emergency Hashira meeting,"

    After that, a pregnant silence fell over the headquarters.

    "We have discovered many bombs nted in Tokyo and it is also highly possible that one of the twelve Kizuki is in the city,"

    Oh, that sounded bad.

    Wait, this feels familiar.

    I racked my brain for a few seconds before the answer finally came to mind. My suspicion was correct, I have read this before.

    It was the start of Rengoku''s manga.

    I smiled, I guess it was finally time for my friend to cross the threshold and be a Hashira.

    ..

    [IMAGE : JONTY is having trouble irl and won''t be on the inte for a while. But he asked everyone to continue posting image in his stead. Let us not forget the legend of this book]

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    <strong>Perfect time to join the pstreon. I am going to do mass release tomorrow and Seiji vs Doma is in full force!!! </strong>

    <strong>Patreon : Emmanuel_Capricron</strong>

 Chapter 77: Be Careful

    <h4>Chapter 77: Be Careful</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    The sun was sailing towards the middle of the sky, it waste in the morning. Under the heat of the sun, a gentle breeze would frequently blow at us, giving us respite.

    The smell of flowers lingered in the wind, summer was when most flowers bloomed.

    The headquarters was also full of greens and flowers that gave the scene a natural beauty. All the Hashiras stood in front of the house while Ubuyashiki sat on the veranda and informed us of the main reason why we had gathered.

    To summarize, there was a high possibility that one of the twelve Kizuki was in Tokyo and from the nted bombs people had discovered (the police actually), it seemed the demon was nning something devious.

    Like they always did, that''s why I would drive them to extinction.

    Anyways, he also told us that Rengoku was stepping up in ce of his father Shinjuro. The me Pir would rarely attend Hashira meetings or take missions, and his behaviour was no longer eptable.

    Which was why Rengoku had stepped up in his father''s ce.

    Ubuyashiki dered that Shinjuro was finally removed from the Pirs. Shinjuro had retired, or more like he was fired.

    And the seat of the me Hashria was open for the taking.

    Unlike what happened in the manga, Sanemi did not start a fight with Rengoku because they had met before through me. And even if they hadn''t met before, Sanemi would not bully him knowing that Rengoku was my friend.

    We followed everything Ubuyashilki was saying until he said.

    "Which is why I decided to give the mission to Rengoku. It will be a chance for him to prove whether he is worthy of bing a Hashira,"

    That left every Hashira speechless, except me of course.

    They were wondering if their Master had gone crazy. The mission of ying one of the twelve kizuki was hard enough but it was said that he nted bombs all around Tokyo and was nning something.

    The mission involved many risks and put the lives of the civilians at risk. These types of missions would only be handed to the top Hashiras like Gyomei, me or Tengen.

    But Ubuyashiki wanted to give the mission to Rengoku. Someone who was not even a Hashira. It was insanity!!

    "What!! But master, what if he is incapable ofpleting the mission!!" Sanemi yelled out everyone''s thoughts.

    "I understand your concern Sanemi, and if he failed, it would be a great misjudgement on my part," Ubuyashiki said, shutting down all other arguments by taking the responsibility.

    No one (except me) trusted Rengoku toplete the mission, but they trusted Ubuyashiki with all their heart.

    "So you believe that he is already at the level of a Hashira? Or is it an intuition master?" Gyomei asked seriously.

    "Indeed, Rengoku is already at the level of a Hashira. This will merely be a confirmation," he answered with a soft nod.

    "Then I trust your decision,"

    Meanwhile, Rengoku was looking at Ubuyashiki like an idol. I could almost read his mind. It would go something like, ''Oh my god, he trusts me with all his heart even when everyone is doubting me. I can''t fail him!!''

    Then that would add to his shounen protagonist aura and his plot armour would thicken.

    "Besides, I can''t have anyone leave their patrolling territory. Tokyo had always been under the protection of the me Hashira so Rengoku will be fulfilling his duty," Ubuyashiki said.

    "I swear I will not fail you Lord Ubuyashiki!!" Rengoku said and bowed gratefully.

    That dictated the end of the meeting and everyone dispersed with varying degrees of emotions about the whole thing.

    I, however, remained in my ce and after everyone left, I went near Ubuyashiki.

    "Do you have anything to ask, Seiji?"

    "I was just wondering what made you so confident that Rengoku can pull this off," I said. I was honestly trying to verify if he really had the ability of foresight or not.

    My eyes could see the truth of the world. And I knew that when he said that it would be fine if Rengoku took the mission, there was no hint of doubt in his mind. He truly believed that.

    Someone could say the sun will rise tomorrow and even that would be less confident.

    Ubuyashiki was either absolutely insane or he was hiding something big.

    "Oh, and you want to know why?" he asked and I nodded.

    "You should know the answer to that right?" he said again and I froze.

    Yes, I knew that Rengoiku would pull this off too. But I knew it because I read the manga in my past life.

    My eyes widen, ''Don''t tell me that all this time, he is also a...''

    "You are going to be there after all" he said and that put my crazy mind at a standstill.

    "Ah," I opened my mouth but no words came out.

    Indeed, I was going to be there in Tokyo because no matter how clearly I remembered the manga, there was a chance that Rengoku could die due to the butterfly effect.

    So I would definitely be there to make sure he was safe.

    And most importantly...

    I had to make sure that Mitsuri was safe because she was going to fight there too and finally invent the love breathing.

    "That''s how I know that everything will be fine," he said.

    I see, so he was not a reincarnation but he was just extremely smart. It would be an insane plot twist though, if he was also a reincarnator. A plot twist many people would not appreciate I''m sure.

    "I see. Thank you," I said, and I finally left the headquarters.

    After I left thepound, I ran behind Rengoku to wish him luck on his mission. I was not good at giving motivational speeches but I said I believed in him.

    At least, that should add to the length of his shback - that every Shounen protagonist had - making him a little stronger.

    ...

    ...

    ...

    ////////////////////////

    (One dayter)

    I stood atop the highest building in Tokyo which was a tower. I looked down at the city and my purple eyes released a smoky glow as I scanned the entire visible part of the city.

    "And that makes it seveny four," I said and finally stopped focusing on my eyes too much, it was quite taxing.

    There were 74 bombs nted all around Tokyo and I had located them all in just a few minutes. I was the most efficient Demon yer for a reason. Whatever tricks the demons had, I could see through them all.

    My gaze travelled to the centre of the city where Rengoku was, surrounded by a couple dozen other demon yers whom he was leading. One of them was my cute and bubbly Mitsuri.

    From the looks of it, they were discussing their n.

    "Okay, I''ll have you move in groups of two, as nned. If you find the demon, call me by crow and prioritize evacuation and the safety of the citizens!" I read Rengoku''s lips from afar, and then I stopped.

    I turned my head to the left and looked at the building a few hundred feet away from them. On top of the roof was a demon-wearing western styled sleek ck jacket and pants with a sailor captain hat.

    He was holding a rifle, aiming carefully at Rengoku and his team. My eyes glowed purple as I tracked the direction his rifle was aiming at.

    "...."

    He was aiming right at Mitsuri.

    I was nning on not interfering and letting Rengoku and the rest have their moment to shine and grow but not at the risk of their safety. It seemed I had to do something.

    <i>"Thunder Wind Breathing,"</i>

    The fastest breathing styles in the worldbined to create something even faster. I easily travelled faster than the speed of sound for a moment so there was no sound that foretold my approach.

    The demon aimed his rifle carefully for a few more seconds before he pulled the trigger.

    But I had timed my appearance perfectly so when he took the shot, I put my feet on the rifle and pushed it away slightly. The literal centimetre disruption at the aim caused the bullet to miss Mitsuri.

    <strong><i>*Shoot!!*</i></strong>

    The demon was startled.

    "!!!!!"

    But he did not make a move. It knew instinctively that I could end him on my whims. Nothing he did would matter.

    "Be careful, you nearly hit someone important," I said and he trembled slightly.

    My feet remained on his rifle but he made no attempt to move it away. I stared at him for a long time, debating on what I should do next.

    "You are lucky that you have use." I told him, "You can have your revenge but never aim at the girl again,"

    Then my body turned into an afterimage and I quickly left. Just then, Rengoku had reached the location of the demon and a fight broke out between the lower moon and him.

    ..

    Oh, this will be fun.

    [IMAGE]

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    Author : Double Update.

    I suggest reading the Rengoku manga. It is literally only two Chapters.

 Chapter 78: Contagious main character aura

    <h4>Chapter 78: Contagious main character aura</h4>

    [3rd POV]

    Hairo, the new lower moon demon ranked two.

    A long time ago, when he had just be a demon, he was unfortunate enough to encounter the me Pir Shinjuro Rengoku in one of his drunk patrol.

    On that night, he was stripped of his pride and honour. The me Hashira not only cut him down with ease even in his intoxicated state but he humiliated him.

    "You, pathetic creature," the voice of the drunk man still echoed in his mind.

    That night, the me Hashira cut apart his body and spirit. His physical body healed because of his demonic nature but his spirit never did.

    So for years, he had been umting strength, waiting for the day he would enact his revenge.

    And now it was time.

    Hairo aimed his rifle at the man who traumatized him that day, or at least that''s what he thought. In actuality, he mistook Rengoku Kyojiro to be Shinjuro, thinking the son was the father.

    But even if he knew, it wouldn''t matter. The demon was out for blood.

    "But killing him now would be too easy. I want to see him suffer," Hairo said and changed his aim to the pink haired girl beside him.

    From both Rengoku and Mitsuir''s bright and unique hair, he assumed that they must be close. So he decides to kill her first.

    Grave mistake.

    Because the moment he pulled the trigger, something appeared beside him. It came without sound, without warning.

    *Shoot!!*

    He missed.

    ...

    Hairo didn''t move a single inch after that. He couldn''t, and even if he could, he wouldn''t dare.

    Purple eyes looked down at him, and the intensity of those eyes dwarfed every bit of hatred the demon had inside him.

    It was like a fire being swallowed by a bigger fire. The hatred those eyes had for him easily swallowed the hatred Hairo had for the me Hashira.

    The killing intent and dangering from those eyes were so great that he had already imagined himself dying a thousand times over.

    No, those eyes killed him a thousand times. There was no action but the thing had already seen through every weakness of his existence and found infinite ways to exploit them.

    "Be careful, you nearly hit someone important," It talked.

    No.

    He talked.

    It was a man.

    But even with the new information he got, Hairo dared not even take a single breath. Those purple eyes reminded him of the demon he met when he was made the second rank of the lower moon.

    The first rank of the upper moon.

    Those eyes gave off the same feeling. The way they seemed to pierce his very soul, the way they seemed to pick out each w in his existence and judged him like a God.

    The human beside him was eerily simr to that demon.

    "You are lucky that you have use," the man said, "You can have your revenge but never aim at the girl again,"

    The killing intent subsided and Hairo finally had the courage to look. But when he did, his left eye started trembling before endless tear streamed down.

    ''Huh?'' he was confused. It was not him.

    The eye cried on its own, the left eye that bore the mark of the lower moon 2. A hazy memory shed in his mind, the memory of a purple swordsman standing above him while he cried for mercy on deaf ears.

    ....

    That was not him.

    It was the memory of the previous lower moon 2. The man in front of him was the same Demon yer that killed the previous Lower Moon 2, Onryoku.

    His left eye continued crying until the tears turned to blood. But by then, the man was already gone. He immediately felt a heavy weight lifted off his shoulder.

    But he could not put down his guard because the fight was just beginning.

    <i>"me Breathing : FIrst Form,"</i>

    Rengoku who located the demon by tracing the direction of the bullet finally reached him. His mouth sucked in the air around as his de burned like fire.

    <strong>"Unkowing Fire!!"</strong>

    Hairo shifted his focus to Rengoku. He would have this revenge for now. But he would also remember this night like he remembered the night he met Shinjuro.

    He will have his revenge against those purple eyes someday too.

    "Pathetic!!" Hario screamed and lunged at Rengoku with his guns and bombs.

    ..

    ..

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    [Seiji''s POV]

    Making sure that no civilians were near the bombs? Check.

    Making sure I had a good view of the demon so I could kill him anytime? Check.

    Seeing that there was no threat around Mitsuri? Check.

    Making sure Rengoku could handle the situation? Also Check.

    Now its time to bring out the popcorn and enjoy the show. It was one thing to see the characters butpletely another to witness the story unfolding in real life.

    The attack on Tokyo was dumb if you really thought about it. It was nned and done by a demon with mental issues who was blinded by anger and had an unhealthy thirst for revenge. So it was far from perfect.

    For example, the fact that the demon was acting alone was incredibly stupid. Lower Moon usually had underlings working for them but this one worked alone.

    It might have to do with the fact that his blood demon art was Umbrakinesis and he could create shadow wolves using that. The shadow wolves were the only thing that posed a threat to the people because the demon himself was upied with Rengoku.

    I watched the fight between Rengoku and Hairo from afar but close enough to act right away. Things were quite different from how it went in the manga.

    In this fight, Rengoku was overpowering the lower moon with ease. Rengoku was a lot stronger than his canon counterpart due to my existence. Having me as a friend had given him motivation the original Rengoku never had.

    I also helped him get stronger by pointing out the ws in his techniques with my eyes whenever we trained together. Those simple things went a mile in refining his techniques as well.

    "What''s going ON!! How are you doing this!! A swordsman can''t beat a gun!!" I saw Hairo scream while Rengoku pursued him like a possessed man.

    "You will harm no one, no more," Rengoku dered.

    Then the demon released multiple hand grenades from his shadow. That caused a giant explosion that not only knocked away Rengoku but blew up the demon himself.

    The demon quickly regenerated but Rengoku was faster to get up on his feet.

    <i>"me Breathing : Esoteric Art," </i>

    My eyes saw a burst of fighting spirit erupt from Rengoku like an active volcano. The fire spread all around and shimmered in an intense glow.

    Then he burst forward with unstoppable momentum, the ground quaked with each step. My eyes could see Rengoku turning into a raging fire dragon that came like a meteorite to the enemy.

    <strong>"Ninth Form : Purgatory!!"</strong>

    The lower moon never really stood a chance. He did not even have time to pull out his ultimate move like he did in the manga.

    My eyes glowed purple as I imprinted Rengoku''s Esoteric art in my mind. That would make a fine addition to my collection.

    You know, there''s a reason why me and Thanos were purple.

    A wide smile stretched my face while looking at that scene. No one, not even you, would be able to imagine the euphoric joy I felt at that moment.

    Why?

    Because my existence had indeed changed the course of fate. I did not even have to interfere directly, my influence and my action had caused a ripple effect that made Rengoku easily defeat Hairo, Lower Moon 2.

    And that would keep on repeating itself.

    Even when facing against Akazan or Muzan, we would not win due to a twist of luck. I would deny all the sacrifices that were made.

    I would give this story a happy ending.

    I was hopeful.

    And hope was the first step to sess.

    ..

    ..

    [IMAGE]

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    Author : You guys are entitled to three Chapters but I want to use the opportunity to ask for stones.

    400 stones and I upload the next Chapter.

 Chapter 79: Love Breathing

    <h4>Chapter 79: Love Breathing</h4>

    [3rd POV]

    (Mitsuri Kanroki)

    It''s been nearly three months since she started training to be a Demon yer.

    She was trained by Rengoku and Seiji with as much care and attention as possible. So her progress had been incredibly fast.

    In the canon story, it took her 6 months toplete the final selection but this time, she could''ve done it in three months.

    Seiji had even been thoughtful enough to take her out to hunt weak demons so she was not totally inexperienced in the regards to demon ying. But this was the first time she had witnessed such a scene.

    "HELP ME!!!!"

    "RUN!!! RUN!!!! EVERYONE GET AWAY FROM THE EXPLOSIONS!!!"

    "Go to the West side of the city!! Just leave everything behind!!"

    People screamed in terror. They pushed each other and ran to protect their own safety. In times of danger, people often showed their true nature and she learned today that most people were selfish.

    Her heart shrunk in her chest. It felt heavier, it felt denser,

    She turned her head towards the top of the building where she had just heard a massive explosion. Her superior body could instinctively sense the demon on top of that.

    The enemy was strong. She had not encountered few demons but this was the first time she saw a lower moon. So she was a little shaken.

    Demons are the predators of human beings. She was prey, so of course her heart was filled with fear. It was like a deer in the presence of a lion.

    "Mister Rengoku," She whispered, in concern.

    Rengoku was strong, but she feared that he would get hurt in the face of the inhumane creature. She tried to bury her concern at the deepest part of her heart and turned towards somece else.

    To the direction that was screaming for help.

    "I''ming!!" she yelled loudly before running towards the voice.

    When she reached there, she saw a mother and a child being surrounded by three shadow wolves. The first thing that came to her mind was saving them.

    And so she moved.

    <i>"me Breathing : Third Form,"</i> she said out loud because it helped her concentrate.

    <strong>"Balzing Universe!!"</strong> She yelled and dashed towards one of the shadow wolves before it could notice her.

    Her sword caught on a small yellowish fire and she delivered a vertical sh at the wolf but...

    "What?!"

    It did nothing. Her sword was stopped by the dark body of the shadow wolf, all the impact had been absorbed and the creature remained unharmed.

    That was not all, she could not pull away. Her sword was stuck - being sucked in by the shadow of the wolves like a ck hole.

    <strong><i>*Grrrrrr!!!*</i></strong>

    The wolf growled and shifted its focus on her. The other two shadow wolves on the other hand were still focused on the mother and child.

    "You are a dog but.." Mitsuri cried out, "You are not cute at all!!" And she used to think that all dogs were cute because they were Seiji''s favourite animal.

    ..

    She couldn''t do it after all.

    At the beginning of her training, she was hopeful that she would be able to cultivate her stregth as long as she put in effort.

    Her body was special and talented, it could absorb sword techniques like a sponge and her sharp instincts made her a scary opponent in battle, fighting was almost second nature. She also had enough strength and endurance to rival any of the top ranks in the Demon yer Corps.

    But there was one problem, a very vital problem.

    It had something to do with her greatest advantage which was her body. It was both a blessing and a curse.

    She said it before but she was incredibly strong since birth, but due to her special body, breathing styles did not work well with her.

    She had a problem learning Breathing Styles because her body was too special. Breathing Styles at the end of the day were made for a normal human body, not for someone like her whose body was eight times denser and only had pink muscles.

    Maybe Sun Breathing would''ve been good for her powerful body but normal breathing styles tailored for mortal men? It did not work well.

    They were created to help normal human being to achieve supernatural strength but she already had that, so you could see where the problem lies.

    It was almost limiting instead.

    The only breathing style that helped her was Steroid Breathing which Seiji had taught her. me Breathing, no matter how much she tried, was just not suitable for her.

    "NOOO!! DON''T TAKE MY SON!!" the mother cried while hugging her child. Mitsuri watched all this with wide eyes that was shaking with worry and helplessness.

    She had to do something. No.

    She had to save them.

    In her most desperate time, Seiji suddenly appeared in her mind. The conversation she had with him a month prior shed before her.

    //////////////

    "Maybe I am not suited to be a Demon yer after all," Mitsuri said in a defeated tone after failing to execute the first technique of me breathing for the hundredth time.

    Seiji only huffed and chuckled, "Yeah right." he said sarcastically.

    "You have only been training for a month, don''t give up too easily. Remember it took me almost seven years to be a Demon yer,"

    "But I don''t know what I''m doing wrong," Mitsuri whined, "I see myself making progress in every other aspect other than the most important one!!" which was breathing style.

    "Well.." he exined patiently, "You are unique Mitsuri, special even. Of course, the conventional style would not suit you."

    "Then what should I do?"

    "Other than trying a few more years?" Seiji said and she pouted. She wanted to fight alongside him as soon as possible. He told her that she would be his Tsugoku after she became a Demon yer. She couldn''t wait a year!!

    "When you learn how to fight the battles yourself, you will ovee all your problems," he said and she tilted her head in confusion. So he continued.

    "Don''t fight with the sword, don''t fight with your breathing style, fight with what you have been blessed with. Like I did," he said and got close to her.

    He whispered, "The thing is, we both are specialpared to other people. To fight with a sword, to fight with a breathing style are for the mundane,"

    Then he suddenly pulled back with a mischievous grin, "When you realize that, you will find out that you can trust your gift. You will learn that all these are just shackles and you will make your own path,"

    Mitsuri just sat there, not fullyprehending his words but remembering them nheless because she knew Seiji rarely spoke nonsense.

    ..

    /////////////

    Mitsuri closed her eyes, remembering his words. Then she threw away all of the techniques and the breathing styles she had learned until now.

    ''I want to help them!!'' she screamed in her mind.

    <strong><i>*BOOOOOM!!!*</i></strong>

    Her body moved to fulfil her desire, her powerful body, her blessing.

    What she could not cut using me breathing, she was easily able to destroy using the sheer strength of her body. When she opened her eyes again, she found herself standing in front of the mother and child,

    "I was able to cut it." she said, awed with what she had achieved in the heat of the moment, "But why though?"

    She tired to remember how she was able to be so much stronger. Then she realized that her heart was beating rapidly in her chest before it happened.

    ''My heart,'' she grabbed her chest.

    ''And my body,'' she released a huge breath.

    ....

    "Stay back kid, big sister will drive these bad dogs away!!" she eximed and her heartbeat increased sharply.

    The wolves growled at her for a few seconds before lunging forward.

    ''Fight with yourself, not with the sword,'' she told herself. Then she exploded out with raw strength. Her body moved with great flexibility as she sliced through the wolves like cake.

    Her heart pounded in her chest.

    She stood up straight while the two wolves disintegrated after being cut. "Thank you Seiji," she mouthed with a smile.

    Her body, her gift. When her heart pounded in her chest, she was able to utilize her powerful body to its utmost potential. This was the blessing that was better than any sword.

    She did not need further enhancement or techniques to be powerful, she just needed to learn how to utilize her gift as best as she could, like how Seiji utilized his eyes.

    "Rapid heartbeats huh." she said to herself while wondering how she could increase her heartbeat even more.

    In a few seconds, she smiled because she found the answer.

    What was it that would get her heart racing like an engine every single time? The answer was Seiji. The thought of him made her heart pound rapidly in her chest.

    *Grrrrr!!!*

    More shadow wolves surrounded her but she just closed her eyes, put her hand on her heart and recalled the first time she met Seiji.

    She remembered how he caught her while she was dying her hair and most importantly, she recalled how he epted the engagement. Her heart felt like they were about to burst at that moment.

    He had changed her so much. Love had changed her so much.

    He taught her how to ept herself, his love for her showed her how to love herself. He had made her stronger, he made her happier.

    ...

    The shadow wolves lunghed at her from all direction.

    Her lips curved in a smile, <i>"Love Breathing : First Form,"</i>

    She fought with her heart. In the end, that was her greatest blessing, even more so then her strong body.

    Because it was with her heart that she was able to love him, it was her heart that he loved. That, was the most important thing in the world.

    More than anything else.

    <strong>"First Love,"</strong>

    ..

    ..

    [IMAGE]

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    Author : I''m not sure what I cooked here either. I follow the canon.

    I can''t wait for you guys to read the next Chapter. Patreon members should know why. ????

    <strong>Speaking of which, check out my Patreon. There are cool Seiji esits there for public, meaning it''s free. </strong>

    <strong>Patreon : Emmanuel_Capricorn</strong>

 Chapter 80: Upper Moon

    <h4>Chapter 80: Upper Moon</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    The whole thing came to an end.

    It was easy and it was safe.

    It was a direct consequence of my existence.

    <strong><i>*Woosh!!*</i></strong>

    I immediately disappeared in a gust of wind after everything was over and each character had gone through their respective character development.

    My arms scooped up the surprised Mitsuri and held her tight. I twirled around while she tired to make sense of what just happened.

    "You did it!!!" I yelled andughed, simr to how Rengoku would often do.

    "WHaaa~!"

    I smushed her with love like the adorable creature she was - she always activated my cute aggression. I had seen everything that transpired today and I was filled with immense pride for her.

    After realizing it was me, Mitsuri did not question anything else andughed alongside me, my joy seemingly infecting her. How I was suddenly here, why I was so happy or anything else was not a priority in her mind, I was happy so she was happy. It couldn''t get simpler than that.

    "You did it!" I said with a smile.

    "I did? I did!!" she yelled, matching my energy,

    Finally, I stopped spinning around and put her down on the ground. The surrounding people looked at us oddly. After all, an attack just happened with multiple explosions going off everywhere yet here we were, like a happy couple.

    I couldn''t care less about them but I did scan the surroundings while I spun. There was still chaos and people were still panicked but they should calm down soon.

    "Good job Mitsuri, for finding your own path and saving everyone," Iplimented her. She smiled and melted under my approval.

    "It is your uniqueness that saved everyone. So next time, be proud for being different, not ashamed," I said and she nodded again, now with tears in her eyes.

    She came up and hugged me again for a second time, her face buried deeply in my chest. I smoothened the back of her hair and have a kiss on her head.

    "Thank you," she said and I could hear her through the vibrations on my chest.

    She would''ve found herself anyway even without my help, I knew that from the anime. So although I was d, I did not feel like I deserved the gratitude.

    We stayed like that for a long time while the city settled into calm. The firefighters and the police took care of the aftermath of the attack. My eye still remained vignt though, observing everything closely,

    I saw Rengokue up to me, and by the time he reached us, I had already noted down every injury he sustained better than any modern machinery would have done.

    Unlike in the manga, he did not pass out after the fight because it was not really a tough fight for him. He was already strong enough to take care of the lower moons without much difficulty or risk.

    "Good job ying that Demon," I said.

    "Hahahahahahaha!!! No demons can withstand the fire of righteousness!!" he said, "And you don''t have to worry about me! Other than bursting my eardrums, I suffered no fatal injuries!"

    "I can see that," I said. He seemed to be even louder than before, and he was attracting the eyes of every civilian in the vicinity, probably due to his damaged eardrums.

    "I guess you are finally one of us now," I said, "Hashira," I gave him a small bow of respect.

    His eyes turned wide for a moment before a happy realisation hit his face. He smiled widely and looked to the sky, taking in the moment of his victory.

    "I guess I am," he said and looked at me, "Comrade,"

    He had never called me arade since I became a Hashira. So I was pleasantly surprised when I saw his lips move to produce that word. What else could I do except nod in acknowledgement?

    Mitusri pushed herself away from me but when she noticed that my shirt was wet from her tears, she panicked, saying she was sorry for ruining my clothes and tried to wipe them away.

    "Don''t worry about it," I said and stopped her.

    "Now that the fight is over, shall we all get food to celebrate our victory?" I said, "My treat!"

    "You read my thoughts Seiji!" Rengoku eximed while Misturi nodded with stars in her eyes and a watering mouth.

    "Wait! What about us!!" one of the Demon yers who fought under Rengoku asked. There were a few other swordsmen behind him too.

    "You all can join us," I said and they cheered.

    The rest of the evening was spent on a good note. Except it was hard as fuck to find a restaurant that opened after the attack had happened.

    ...

    ////////////////////

    (The Next Day)

    "Do you Rengoku Kyojiro, ept the title of Hashira and promise to be a pir that supports the Demon yer Corps?"

    Every Hashira witnessed Ubuyashiki crowning Rengoku with the title of Hashira, Most of us were d to wee a new ally but some were more than just d, they were happy and proud, like me.

    The sun was zing in the sky with a new hope, humanity had found yet another protector, a pir.

    "I do," Rengoku replied while kneeling down in front of Ubuyashiki.

    "The title of Hashira is proof of your stregth. Do you promise to use this strength to protect the weak?"

    "I promise,"

    "Then rise, me Hashira," Ubuyashiki dered and after taking a breath, Rengoku stood up, tall and proud, strong and brave.

    "Stand strong, and never falter," Ubuyashiki ordered.

    With that, the other Hashiras started cheering for Rengoku who turned around, now donning a new Haori, the one we saw in the anime.

    A white Haori with me patterns at the end. It was the haori passed down in their family, inherited by every me Hashira.

    And so, at the age of 17, Rengoku Kyojiro became the me Hashira and reced his father. It was the rise of a warrior who would change the course of the Demon War, an inspiration to all.

    ..

    ..

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    [Seiji''s POV]

    You know, things have been going well for a long time now.

    Maybe it was going too well.

    And you know what they said, life was a cruel mistress, ites at you when you were least prepared.

    Happiness and good times eventuallye to an end.

    After the celebration of Rengoku''s promotion was over, we all attended to our duties again. We got our assignments and this time, even Kanae got an assignment.

    It was about helping a certain vige that was infected by a strange disease.

    "Don''t be such a worrywart Seiji, this is not even a ying mission. I just have to go to the vige and provide medical help, that''s all," she said with an amused smile when I asked her what her assignment was.

    Maybe I should''ve stopped her then....

    Heh, who am I kidding? I never saw iting.

    When all things are going well, life finds a way to stab you. And it stabs you in the most painful ce.

    ....

    "That is....." the words escaped my mouth as my eyes - wide with shock and fear - saw the Kasugai crow of Kanae flying towards me.

    It was covered in blood that was not its own.

    <strong><i>*BOOOOOOM!!!*</i></strong>

    Thunder roared in the darkness of the night as I blitzed through the forest like a natural cmity. It never crossed my mind that Kane''s encounter with Douma was not just an encounter of chance.

    It was because of my blind faith in what I knew from my past life. A false confidence that came from things always going ording to my n.

    The words I read from the kasugai crow rang in my mind like a chilling breeze in winter.

    ''Upper Moon''

    ..

    ..

    [IMAGE]

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Author : Don''t worry, I cooked.... well at least the patreon members assured me I did.

    <strong><i>Join my patreon to read two weeks ahead. This arc is already done eating very there so check it out. </i></strong>

    <strong><i>Patreon : Emmanuel_Capricorn</i></strong>

 Chapter 81: Right on time

    <h4>Chapter 81: Right on time</h4>

    [3rd POV]

    (Kanae Kocho)

    It hurts.

    It hurts so much.

    "Shall I save you from your pain and suffering?" a disgustingly chippy voice said to her while she was on her knees.

    "Breathing alone hurts, doesn''t it? Your lungs arepletely frozen and ruptured," the demon had a wide smile on his face while looking down at her.

    "Come on, beg me," the demon with rainbow eyes said and pulled her hair. He forced her to look at him while he smiled a religious smile, "Beg me to send you to paradise,"

    <i>"Worship me,"</i>

    It hurts.

    Everything hurts.

    Kanae felt her consciousness slipping away and she recalled the series of events that led to this. It was like her life shing before her eyes.

    At first, it was like any other assignment. A vige needed help as many people died from an unknown disease. These kinds of things were moremon than you would expect in the rural areas of Japan during the 1900s. A vige with a hospital or a doctor was rare.

    So as a medical expert, Kanae set out to the vige to help them. It took her only a day and a deep inspection of the patients to realize that the disease was the work of a demon.

    At that moment, she realized that she should leave. Seiji had warned her too many times to continue the mission recklessly and she wanted to respect the worries of the man she loved.

    She would return home, report her findings and maybe set out again with more help to kill the demon.

    But all ns died soon after. It was toote.

    It was not only the disease that gued the vige. There was a deep mind controlling in the vige as well. And this was no ordinary work of a blood demon art, instead, it was a mind control on a deeper scale.

    A cult.

    The whole vige was a cult. They called themselves the Eternal Paradise Faith.

    It was a cult led by the demon who now tortured her for his amusement.

    She could not escape the vige anymore and that brought her face to face with the demon who seemed to orchestrate the whole thing just to capture her.

    ....

    The air was cold and heavy, an ordinary civilian would not be able to take even one breath with such heavy air. Kanae looked upon the rainbow eyes of the demon and the number ''2'' written on the demon''s face inflicted endless despair in her heart, despair heavier than the air.

    "Come on, pray to me~" the demon looked so kind. There was no guilt or self-awareness on his face, he genuinely believed that he was a god and that he was being benevolent.

    Kanae spat at the demon, or at least that''s what she tried to do. But what came out was crimson blood that sttered on the demon''s face.

    The smile on the demon froze like ice before he violently pushed Kanae''s head, smashing her face on the floor. Then he pulled her hair and threw her to the other side of the room.

    <strong><i>*BOOOOM!!*</i></strong>

    Numb.

    Everything was numb, there was no longer pain.

    And that scared Kanae more than when she was in pain. Because as much as pain was ufortable, it was a sign that you are still hanging onto life. Feeling pain means that your body is still fighting and working to keep on surviving.

    But numbness means your body is not working as it should be anymore. It was giving up in front of the threat it deemed to be impossible to escape.

    She was dying from theck of air.

    She crawled away from the ce, searching for air that was fit to inhale. Luckily, she found venttion and she crawled under it.

    She took in a deep breath and her body came back to life. She felt agonizing pain once more but she was d to wee the old friend.

    Yes, she was still alive.

    "You truly are an admirable creature. Your desire to survive makes me want to shed a tear," the demon said.

    The room they were in was the main room of the cult. It was marred with many sh marks and spiky icicles that spoke of the battle that just took ce.

    Kanae fought, for a long time she fought against the demon that yed with her like a toy. But as the battle went on, the cold air froze her lungs and made her incapable of fighting.

    "Then how about letting me go?~" she said with a shaky smile. She wouldn''t allow to show her weakness to the demon and give him the satisfaction.

    "No, I don''t think so. I want you to be part of my paradise," he said and raised his hand. Then he gestured to one of the walls that had a cupboard.

    On it, you could see the skulls of the women he had devoured. They were stunning beauties while they were living and captured Doma''s attention. Now he put their skulls on the cupboard as some kind of trophy. He even maintained them neatly.

    "You are the most twisted demon I ever encountered," Kanae remarked while looking at the skulls.

    "I prefer the word benevolent," he said and before he could finish, Kanae blurred towards him. She thrust her sword as hard as she could and as fast as she could, but the demon stepped to the side with ease.

    When Kane stopped a few metres away, she copsed on the ground with many cut marks on her body. The demon not only dodged but manage to cut her in the exchange,

    She didn''t even see him move.

    "I''m sorry, I was not through with those cuts," Doma said and unfurled his fan made of des, his weapon of choice.

    "You are still living and hence, suffering,"

    ...

    Maybe this was where she was going to die. She hoped it was not but the situation seemed impossible to survive.

    She was going to die here.

    Even if her Kasugai crow found a Demon yer nearby, what could they do? It was the upper moon that she was up against. It would only increase the number of causalities.

    Tears started falling from her eyes but they only worked to hurt her eyes. Her tears froze due to the freezing temperatures of the air.

    The best thing she could do now was go out fighting with all she had.

    And so, she took in a huge breath that forced her frozen lungs to work. The adrenalin in her veins caused the temperature of her body to rise and fight against the biting cold.

    <i>"Flower Breathing : Final Form,"</i>

    Kanae fought with all her might for the final time.

    ...

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    [Seiji''s POV]

    I ran.

    I ran.

    And I ran some more.

    <strong><i>*BOOOM!!!*</i></strong>

    <strong><i>*BOOOM!!*</i></strong>

    <strong><i>*BOOOM!!!*</i></strong>

    <strong><i>*BOOOM!!*</i></strong>

    The earth quaked with each step I took.

    <i>"Thunder Breathing : First Form!!"</i>

    More. More.

    Faster.

    Even faster.

    <i>"Thunderp and sh : Two hundred fold!!"</i>

    <strong><i>*BOOOM!!!*</i></strong>

    <strong><i>*BOOOM!!*</i></strong>

    I ran until my leg waspletely destroyed. The muscles in my left leg had been exhausted and torn beyond belief. Yet I kept on running.

    Even the Kasugai crow flying overhead couldn''t catch up with me. Even Raven wasgging far behind. It was fortunate that I was curious enough to ask where Kanae would be heading for the mission. With my eidetic memory, it was not hard to find my way around the thick jungles and run towards where she was.

    I used Thunderp and sh two hundred times. With it, I was able to cover nearly 10 kilometres. The forest was ravaged and I left a trail of destruction in my wake.

    I did not use my right leg however as I would need that for the uing fight. But my left leg, I destroyedpletely. I was not sure if it would be able to healter on.

    But that did not bother me in the slightest when survival was not certain. I was going straight towards Doma who was upper moon 2, I didn''t have the privilege to worry about how my legs would heal when I could die in this fight.

    The only thing I was certain of was that Kanae was not going to die.

    I''d tear down the sky before she died.

    Finally, I reached the vige in the middle of the night. It was eerily quiet with the vigers gathering near the entrance of the vige.

    I did a quick scan of the surroundings and also located Kanae. My eyes saw her fighting against the upper moon and with a quick calction, I determined that I had enough time to reach her before the fight ended.

    Doma was ying with her, and although that made me burn with rage, it meant I had time. So I stopped.

    "Haaa....Haaaa.....Haaaa..." The air around me churned as I used Constant Breathing, healing breath. I also looked down at my left leg and scanned the injury.

    It was bad. Just by looking at it, a surgeon might give up.

    I cut off two branches from a tree and swiftly chipped them down to be straight. I took off my haori and cut it into ropes before tying the sticks on my left leg to support my weight and straighten it. Like a makeshift cast.

    Could you believe that? One of my legs waspletely fucked up right before the most important battle of my life. If my life was a story, I wouldin to the author and give him hell for nerfing me like this.

    "I put my faith in you, shounen powerup," I said aloud, trying to calm my roaring heart. I was doing my best to calm down before rushing in.

    Being blinded by my rage would not do me good in this situation. It would only tire me more and cloud my thought process. So I did everything I could to calm myself down, controlling my thoughts.

    Cracking jokes.

    But inside, my heart fell due to the sheer emotions weighing it down.

    "Let''s go," I quickly made my way into the vige.

    Luckily, I spent weeks training with Jigoro (Former Thunder Hashira) and he had lost a leg in battle. So I could copy his movements and implement them to my own.

    When I entered the vige, I was immediately stopped by a mob.

    Many of the vigers had gathered around, holding weapons like a sickle, axe, machete etc. They seemed to be guarding the ce to make sure no one entered the vige.

    My eyes saw a demon amongst them as well.

    "Look!! He is an intruder trying to disturb our lord while he is busy with his apostle!! Stop him!"

    The vigers screamed in unison.

    ...

    ...

    It was a small group gathered to stop any help from reaching Kanae. They did it after a Kasugai crow escaped from them to call reinforcement.

    I was trying so hard to remain calm.

    But my emotions got the better of me. Anger, desperation, immense frustration and then hate.

    They were cultist under Doma, they had no sin except being brainwashed since they were born. They probably didn''t deserve it.

    But I killed them all.

    I''m sorry. I couldn''t waste any more time to knock them out.

    I ran out of kindness.

    <i>"Thunder Stone Breathing : Arc of Ruin,"</i>

    My de mowed them all down with a single sh, the demons hiding between the mob included. The wind de produced from my sword cleaved everything.

    Bisected bodies decorated the ground, crimson blood hid the natural brown of the earth. Their death was swift and merciless.

    It''d probably haunt me for the rest of my life, but I''d rather that than Kanae''s death haunt me for the rest of my life.

    They were unimportant.

    So I burst towards the centre of the vige where there was a temple. My eyes locked on the smiling demon who made me do all these things.

    Oh, how I hate him.

    But on the bright side...

    <strong><i>*BOOOM!!*</i></strong>

    ..

    I got there just in time.

    ..

    [IMAGE]

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    <i>Author : 500 stones and extra Chapter</i>

    <i>Good luck</i>

    <strong><i>Or join my patreon to read ahead!! </i></strong>

    <strong><i>Patreon : Emmamuel_Capricorn</i></strong>

 Chapter 82: Doma vs Seiji, begin

    <h4>Chapter 82: Doma vs Seiji, begin</h4>

    Author : You know what? Forget the stones. I made a promise to a certain Brazilian so here is a mass release of the whole arc.

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    [3rd POV]

    She was losing strength. She knows.

    She was getting weaker and weaker. He knows it.

    This fight was merely a y done for the amusement of the demon. They both knew it.

    ''I am going to die here.'' Kanae concluded in her mind when she felt her body starting to get slower and her adrenaline ran out.

    The chilling cold returned to her, weighing down on her body and making her go numb once more. They were slowly dragging her closer and closer to the brink of death.

    "What a sad sight this is, your own body is failing you~" Domamented and parried any attacks that came his way with one hand.

    "Why not just ept your fate and give in to my kindness? I assure you, there will no longer be a pain in paradise," the demon said before swinging his war fan to create a gust of cold air that sent her flying to the opposite of the room.

    When the fact that she was really going to die now sank in, her life shed before her eyes. It started with her dear little sister, Shinobu, then it shifted to Kanao, then her friends at the Flower Mansion, her fellow Hashira, Gyomei who saved her and then Master Ubuyashiki etc.

    All of those people shed in her mind. Time seemed to wait for her as she relieved the memories of a lifetime in an instant.

    And then finally, he appeared in her mind. She shed a tear for this one because it came with regret. That was why he was thest one.

    Seiji appeared in her mind and never left.

    She felt immense regret in her heart. She should''ve confessed to him on that night, and now she was never going to get the chance again.

    That was her only regret.

    ''I love you.'' three words that she wished to could say to the deaf man. How silly.

    She propped up her body with thest of her strength and leaned on the wall. Now, she could only watch as Doma slowly approached her with an ecstatic smile. A drug addict smiles.

    The demon waspletely insane.

    "Seijiiii.." his name left her lips and the sound of his name brought a smile to her face even in such a situation.

    He must be busy with his mission now, located directly opposite to hers. She wished he was here somehow, not to save her like he had done a million times but to see him onest time.

    And confess.

    ....

    <strong><i>*Bzzzzzz*</i></strong>

    Doma stoppeding forward and Kanae froze when they saw a spark of lighting between them. It was the weirdest thing, Kanae wondered if it was a hallucination.

    A chilling sensation washed over them as well, much more for Doma. It was like a deep foreboding. The spark of lighting was a prophet that foretold aing disaster.

    Not three secondster, Thunder erupted and tore through the building. Everything was ripped apart due to the violent force.

    At that moment, Kanae saw hope and Doma saw a powerful threat.

    The foundation of the building shook violently with the appearance of the Purple Swordsman. Hisck of reaction due to the loud sound hints at his deafness and his pristine sword was a signature that all demons were now familiar with.

    Not a secondter, Seiji brought up his sword and his robotic voice dered.

    <i>"Wind Breathing : Fourth Form."</i>

    He swung his long de towards the roof of the building. The rush of wind and hurricanes produced by his attack ripped apart the building.

    <strong>"Rising Storm Dust,"</strong>

    <strong><i>*BOOOOOOOM!!!*</i></strong>

    A loud shockwave oppressed the area. The Temple of the Eternal Paradise Faith waspletely ripped apart and shredded under the power of the wind. The full moon in the sky was revealed as the roof copsed.

    Seiji ran towards Kanae and stopped any debris from hitting her.

    After another shockwave, the building was destroyedpletely.

    Kanae felt life return to her body and she also took in a deep and needed breath. Her previous injuries seemed not too grave anymore with him around.

    It was because of this that she fell so deeply in love with him.

    The demon king could stand in front of her but under his protective presence, all fears were dispelled.

    She knew she was saved once more.

    ...

    ...

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    [Seiji''s POV]

    Lighting Breathing to split the building in half so that it could copse more easily.

    Then Wind Breathing not only destroys the building but blows all of the cold air away and allows the air to be breathable once more.

    I brought the battle into the open because Doma''s blood demon art worked better in tight spaces. His ability to freeze the surrounding temperature would be harder to use in the open air, especially with a Wind Breath user.

    And theck of a roof would allow the sun to shine upon the demon the moment it rose. Even if I could not defeat him, I needed to keep him upied until sunrise and I would win.

    These actions were nned in a few seconds before I reached them so it was not perfect. But I hoped this would turn the battle in my favour.

    ...

    "My my my~ What do we have here? If it isn''t the famous Hashira?" Doma slowly walked out from the smoke with a shit-eating grin on his face.

    The situation seemed to amuse him even more.

    "I hate your face more than I thought I would," I spat out. I cursed my eyes because they would remember his face forever.

    I looked away from the disgusting living flesh and turned to Kanae. I quickly scanned her body and the injury she sustained.

    She had many wounds and she was beyond exhaustion but there was nothing fatal. Her lungs were the ones that were most damaged.

    "Maybe being so pretty is not ideal, you even attract demons," I joked. Maybe it was a bad attempt but I only had a second to make it so please don''t judge me.

    She smiled, if she was not so injured she''d giggle sweetly like she always did with my bad jokes.

    But at least she was not scared, and that was all that mattered.

    !!!!!

    Right then, I quickly turned around and shed two spikes made of ice before they could skewer me. I saw theming from the reflection of her eyes.

    "Eh~ You dodge that? I thought you were deaf?" Doma asked aloud before he struck a thinking pose. "Are you like Lord Kokushibo? Do you have a 360-degree vision?"

    I remained silent and simply observed every cell in his body. From his bodynguage, the contents of his stomach, his muscle construction, from the pattern of his breath and heartbeat, I used every single piece of information to expose his weakness.

    My eyes saw his stregth, his weakness.

    "Your eyes," hemented, a bit serious this time.

    "You think you can beat me," he smiled widely after that, "How interesting. I''m so d you decided toe here, you make things a whole lot more interesting,"

    "....."

    "Tell me, how do you n to beat me?"

    And so I did.

    I told him.

    <strong><i>*BOOOOOM!!!*</i></strong>

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 Chapter 83: Doma vs Seiji (1)

    <h4>Chapter 83: Doma vs Seiji (1)</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    I moved faster than the speed of sound. A statement that would be iprehensible to the ordinary because it was an impossible feat, a shore to fantasy.

    To normal eyes, I literally disappeared from my position and appeared behind the demon in the span of an instant. My movement was graceful and soft so there was no explosion of force. It was a consequence of perfect movement.

    There was no shockwave, every newton of force worked to propel me forward at incredible speed. No wasted energy, no nothing.

    My damaged leg dragged me down but only for the briefest millisecond.

    ...

    Blood spilled out from Doma''s neck and he grabbed it with his pale hand. His face showed no amount of surprise because the feats he witnessed were beyond expectation.

    "You are..." he started when his neck healed. "..awfully fast,"

    Now it was my time to bleed. A small cut appeared on my forehead and a drop of crimson blood bleed out. He actually aimed for my eyes but I moved my head in time so he only left a scratch on my forehead.

    I turned my body to face him fully once more and we both took a moment to observe each other strength.

    Kanae was left defenseless at the moment but she was safe. The brief exchange made it clear to us both that the battle was closer than anticipated. The moment he went after Kanae would make an opening for me to end him forever.

    I almost wanted him to go after her.

    "I guess there are all those stories about you for a reason, purple one," hemented and unfurled his war fan.

    Then he disappeared.

    I followed the next moment.

    A loud vibration - akin to a firing machine gun - resounded in the middle, followed by bright sparks that indicate metal hitting metal.

    Then we returned to our previous position. I stood in front of Kanae and he stopped opposite us, meters away.

    In this sh, I remained unharmed.

    But it was a different case for Doma. The half portion of his neck was cut and his hand swiftly slid off his arm. A copious amount of blood decorated the floor.

    "My my..." he said and blood came out from his lips, "I better take you seriously if I don''t want to die,"

    I took a deep breath after that, my instincts screaming at me louder than ever. Would you believe me if I told you that he was as fast as me? I wouldn''t believe it if I didn''t experience it myself.

    The only reason I had the advantage in our brief sh was my eyes. I could predict his attacks and movements even before he himself thought of them. And with each sh, I got to know more and more about him.

    That was why I allowed him to dictate the pace of the battle. The longer we fight, the better for me. I was not only learning more about his battle pattern and fighting style. Dragging the fight meant that sunrise was getting closer.

    "Tell me more," I said and pointed my long sword at him. My eyes released a purple glow and I read him like a book.

    What attacks was his body most used to? Where was his weakness? Which foot did he move first before he moved? Did he inhale or exhale before an attack? How many times did he blink in our sh? Which side was he better at protecting? What did his eyes reflect? How long was his reach? How dangerous was each move?.....

    I went to the very basics of fighting once more.

    Fighting was not fighting, To me, it was a conversation.

    Make him talk, listen, and reply perfectly.

    Listen to his actions, do not aim for his weakness, instead, you should adapt and be his weakness.

    <strong><i>*WHOOSH!!!*</i></strong>

    A swing of his war fan made the air scream. My eyes saw the particles of ice in the air that would no doubt freeze my lungs if I inhaled them. The temperature around us plummeted, it became so cold that I could feel it in my joints.

    His shit-eating smile returned once more.

    I quickly took the remaining of my haori and threw it to Kanae. She used it not only to cover her body but to cover her nose so that she could breathe amid the cold air.

    "Let''s y," he invited me.

    I saw it, I saw our simrities. We were both simr in the sense that fighting was not fighting to us.

    For him, fighting was more like ying. After all what kind of God fight with mortals?

    To him, fighting was a fun game to y. A game where he could not lose.

    A game that I quickly adapted to.

    <i>"me Wind Breathing," </i>I became his weakness.

    My leg hurts when I put bodyweight on it but through sheer will and adrenaline, I moved perfectly. A gust of hot air revolved around me, my body heat rose rapidly due to fire breathing.

    We blurred.

    <strong>"Inferno!!"</strong>

    I saw mes folding around me, battling the cold air with me. Doma lunged at me, matching the intensity of my charge. His golden war fan shone with a dangerous light.

    <strong><i>"Blood Demon Art : Barren Hanging Garden"</i></strong>

    A series of 10 sessive fan attacks generated ice shards that came at me mercilessly. They shed with my sword and the sound produced a piercing shockwave that sent goosebumps through my body.

    They were heavy, his attacks were so damn heavy, An elegant swing of those fans had the weight of a ton. The vibration of my sword rattles my bones, numbing my arms.

    Yet I was not in trouble.

    My sword wrapped in golden mes sliced at his head. Doma leaned back his head to the limit, breaking the bones of his neck but ultimately dodging a direct hit. But the whirlwind in my swing ripped his face off, exposing muscle and bone.

    No matter how dangerous his attacks were. They lost a lot of their danger when he told me before he attacked.

    I saw it.

    I saw the moisture collecting and freezing in the air. I saw the quick draw of his breath with each swing, and I saw the wiggle of every muscle fibre in his body. They told me everything he was going to do.

    His eyes widened, and I allowed that information to stay in my mind a little longer than every other information processed.

    He lept.

    Or at least his body told me he was going to.

    So I did a half spit to lower my body and I cut off his legs clean off. Then I sted past him in a rush of wind that inflicted massive pressure on his body, almost tearing away at his skin.

    <strong><i>"Blood Demon Art : Freezing Cloud!"</i></strong>

    He bent his body in an impossible manner. You''d have to be boneless to make such a manoeuvre when you had no legs but that was what the demon did. Then he swung his fan and sent a gust of cold winds at me.

    To be more specific, he was aiming to freeze my eyes. He tried to same thing with Kanao in the manga.

    The freezing air with many frozen particles came at me.

    I smiled.

    <i>"Wind Breathing : Fourth Form," </i>I slid to a stop and turned my body to face the iing clouds.

    <strong>"Rising Storm!!"</strong>

    I swung my giant sword as hard as I could. The air was forcefully turned into a whirlwind and I unleashed chaos in the atmosphere. The hurricane fought against the iing cold winds, sting them away.

    That was not all, the wind des continued their journey to Doma, ripping everything else in their way. The demon healed his limbs and his face in but one instant and he lunged at me.

    I also did the same and blitzed towards him.

    Our arms blurred and we entered into a battle of skills. He was a genius, his techniques with his war fans were far more refined than I would otherwise expect.

    Yet when it came to techniques, I had no rival. I was technique God.

    My eyes read each attack before it happened. My predictions and visions of the present collided and my brain worked overtime to keep up with all the information.

    Each time his fan connected with my sword, they made a puncture in the atmosphere, releasing a shockwave that worked to destroy the cold air in the atmosphere.

    Our movements became faster and faster, he tried to overpower me and wait for the time my humanity would catch up to me. Humans get tired, demons don''t.

    But years of training and perfect movement allowed me to go toe to toe with his endurance. There was no wasted energy in my movement and the momentum of each sh was used perfectly to set up the other.

    My eyes saw the transfer of kic energy between us and manipted that transfer so efficiently that I moved like a machine, and not human.

    "You are by far, the strongest human I''ve ever fought!!" Doma dered as he tried to close the distance between us but I didn''t allow it.

    My long sword served its purpose and kept the distance between myself and my enemy. He was far enough that I could see his whole body.

    "Yo-Blerh"

    As I said before, he tried to close the distance between us and that cost him his jaw. Every angle that he tried to take, every opening he sought, he only met the sharp end of my de.

    I was winning. If we were both human then I could say I was many times superior to him. But demons had advantages that more than made up for our difference in skill.

    He regenerated his jaw instantly and this time, he backed away.

    ...

    He thought I would follow him and take advantage of the opening by plunging my de into his heart. Then he would use his fan to chip away at my sword. The length of my reach was bing too annoying for him so he wanted to take it away.

    But his n never came to reality. They died a n.

    His body told me what he was trying to do already. The way he moved his arms apart to reveal an opening in his chest, the way he changed the grip on his fan to attack close ranged.

    Too obvious.

    Instead, I gave the perfect reply.

    <i>"Thunder Stone Breathing : </i><strong>Arc of Ruin,"</strong>

    I held my sword with both hands and swung with all the strength my arms could muster. The air vibrated and a high-pitched sound ruptured the ice particles.

    Explode like Thunder. Be strong like Stone.

    Employ all the muscle fibres in your arm, generating every drop of raw strength. And do that again and again and again with every second of your swing, stacking up your power through the concept of repetitive action.

    I did not even have to hit my opponent. My de was able to cut everything standing in its direction,

    Doma tried to block the iing attack with his two Golden War fans but they were sliced through with ease. No resistance evolved from an attempt, all was cut.

    Doma''s body was chopped in half. In his futile attempt to destroy my weapon, I destroyed his and turned him into a kit-kat.

    His body fell to the ground with a thud, his eyes wide.

    The exchange came to a stop. I remained standing and he fell, not once, but twice.

    I heaved my sword on my shoulder. My arms felt like jelly so such a minor action felt difficult at the moment. I gave a smile, a shit-eating grin that was like his.

    "White hair, pretty eyes, yful and cut into two. The simrity is too much, is that you Gojo?" I joked in amusement.

    He had done that to my Kanae right? y around while she was writhing on the floor.

    His upper body looked at me. His smile was no longer to be seen.

    ..

    "Maa, maaa, how unbefitting of an upper moon," he said with a sigh. In a burst of flesh, he regenerated his lower half and all the clothes with it.

    That''s fucking weird. How the fuck did he regenerate clothes?

    Even more weird, his lower body also regenerated but with ice. The bisected body turned into a puppet as they both rose together.

    I guess things are getting serious now.

    I took in a deep breath and ready myself to talk once more.

    ..

    ..

    ...

    [IMAGE]

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    Next Chapter iing

 Chapter 84: Doma vs Seiji (2)

    <h4>Chapter 84: Doma vs Seiji (2)</h4>

    [Seiji''s POV]

    Doma was a powerful demon by himself.

    But by no means was that his greatest strength. His true power lies in his blood demon art - his ability to create clones of himself to be specific.

    In the manga, it was shown that he could create at least six ice clones of himself. And each one of these clones was as powerful as him.

    That means he could increased his overall power six times, anytime he wants.

    "Do you like it? It''s an ice clone of myself," Doma said, but there was no smile on his face. "And it can use all of the techniques I use,"

    I allowed my eyes to observe the ice clone carefully and the discovery I made caused me to frown deeply. It was made entirely of ice, which meant that I would have a much harder time predicting it''s movement since it was not made of flesh and bone.

    These things had always been one of my weaknesses, blood demon art, spells that did not even try to follow the logic of this world.

    "You''re eyes are powerful, I''ll admit. But you can''t see everything, can you?" Doma said and the ice clone lept into the air. It sent a barrage of ice spikes towards me which I destroyed with my sword.

    But the fragments of the ice were still sharp enough to leave scratches on my skin. The ice clone thennded behind me. I shifted my position to see him but then Doma blitzed towards me.

    <strong><i>*Cling!!*</i></strong>

    My de met his demonic ws and they created sparks when Doma pushed against me. My injuired leg faltered and I was pushed back.

    "No matter how simr you are to him, you are only a human. Your vision is limited to 180��," he said, his lips began curving once more.

    He was right.

    I saw the ice clone rushing at me from the shiny reflection of my de. I used Thunder Breathing to explode in raw stregth. I forced Doma away with a swing of my sword and I barely had enough time to duck under the horizontal attack of the ice clone. His arms had a sharp edge - like a de.

    Then it started.

    A battle where I was constantly on the edge of dying. Doma with the help of his ice clone yook full advantage of my limited vision and attacked me from different directions at once.

    This was a weakness I always knew I had yet couldn''t find a solution to. My enemy was exploiting it to the fullest.

    I was always stronger in a one vs one fight but when two entities attacked me at the same time and it became two vs one, I learned the limit of my eyes real quick.

    I had two eyes yet I could only focus on one thing. The fight was a blur of speed even from my perspective. I took turns fighting against the two.

    I predicted the attacks of Doma like before while giving more attention to the ice clone which I had trouble predicting. Perfect movement allowed me to fight efficiently and barely keep up with theing onught.

    The air vibrated due to the exchange of blows. On long sword blurred to fend off four attacks. Doma use both his hands and the clone used both arms to attack

    Sometimes I would use my elbow or kicks to continue. I would kick at Doma''s knees when he was going to step forward, I elbowed the ice holem at the blunt part of it''s arm before swining again at Doma.

    Everything happened in a sh yet the calcted moves I made in the gap between instances could only be described as a miracle.

    But even that was not enough.

    <strong><i>*SWOOSH!!*</i></strong>

    I did a flip in the air to create distance and dodge four attacksing at me. I realized then that when I was in the air, looking down, I could see them both.

    In an instant, I came up with a strategy. I started leaping in the air, the moment my feet made contact with the ground was the only one time when my feet touched the ground. That way, I was able to fend off attakcsing at me easier.

    Although it aerial fight was limiting, as long as I could see the attacksing, I thought I would able to manage it.

    I used their attacksing up to split me ad a way to remain in the air as well. Doing my best to survive the onught.

    But that strategy did notst long.

    <i>"Blood Demon Art" x2</i>

    My eyes saw the gathering of moisture in the air. The water froze and formed an ice lotus that had intricate details. If I were not in the middle of battle, I would pause to admire its beauty.

    Then those lotus started spinning and grew sharp vines that easily moved at the speed of sound - like a whip. My eyes saw the way they sliced through the frigid air, one strike was enough to tear through flesh.

    <strong>"Lotus Vines!!" x2</strong>

    To make matters worse, his clone - the one I could hardly predict - used the exact same technique. Two upper moon-level attacks came at me while I was in the air. Time slowed down to a crawl and I saw the vines along with the sharp petals spinning my way.

    They were a spinning razor of cmity, spiralling towards me with the cold intent of murder.

    For the first time in my life, I was lost for words.

    There was no reply from me.

    The only thing I did was minimize the attack.

    The vines came at me, the air disced from their sheer speed created vibrations in the atmosphere. When they made contact with my flesh, it looked like I was made of cake. They sliced me up, leaving wounds from which blood splurt out like a waterfall.

    But that was the best oue. The other productions I made all tell a scene where I was chopped into pieces.

    I saw everything in slow motion, therefore the pain I felt was also slow and agonizing. The attacks left multiple sh marks on my body but none of them were enough to cut through bone.

    When Inded on the ground, I nearly slipped on my own blood. But I remained calm and strong, for I finally had the ability to fight back. I gripped my sword with both hands and with the strength of a dying man, I unleashed it.

    <i>"Storm Breathing : First Form,"</i>

    My body screamed at me, protesting against using such a tiring technique at the situation. They did not want to move, they wanted to run away and heal from the injuries I had sustained.

    But the will of my heart forced them to move and move they did. In a fight-or-flight situation, my body fought with everything it had.

    <strong>"Tempest Fury,"</strong>

    My arm exploded to action as every fibre of the muscles in my arm worked together to produce raw strength in a single instance - Thunder Breathing.

    A shockwave erupted and a small hurricane formed from my swing. Wind des came to life and ripped apart flesh, bones and ice - Wind Breathing.

    My arm did not lose uracy even when it moved with such force. The kic energy of my swing was controlled and I hit only what I wanted, Doma and his ice doll. There was no wasted force on anything else - Water Breathing.

    The end result was the highest calibre of man-made catastrophe. Everything in front of me was minced into pieces. The ice lotus and its vines were shredded, leaving no fragments and the same thing goes for the ice doll.

    <strong><i>*BOOOOOOM!!*</i></strong>

    Doma himself was ripped into pieces. But the thud of something falling made my heart waver - that did not finish him off.

    It was a risk, but one I thought it best to take. The fact that he was winning and even inflicted grave injuries upon me caused him to let his guard down. I took that chance and attacked with the best I had.

    Yet it was not enough.

    "Heh," I mouthed in despair.

    Doma''s eyes were demonic red. He was able to save his upper body from the attack - from his shoulder up. They were covered with imprable ice that shielded him from the wind des.

    But still, he took a while to regenerate. Yet I couldn''t take advantage of it because I was stuck in my ce. My body ached all over and refused to move.

    "You really are dangerous. Lord Muzan should be d that I end you today," Doma said while his body reconstracted itself, cell by cell.

    It was not fair. It was not fair that he could regenerate from such an injury so easily while I could not even move a muscle.

    I hate it. I hate it with every fibre of my being.

    Right then, a blur came at Doma while he was regenerating. But even though he was not fully healed, he was able to block the iing sh that came his way.

    "You are not forgetting about me, are you? I was the one you targeted in the first ce!" Kanae said, her eyes crying blood, a consequence of overusing the final form of flower breathing.

    "No, not at all. Quite the opposite," Doma said and with half legs, they started fighting once more.

    I couldn''t do anything else but watch as my body recovered from the aftermath of Storm Breathing. They engaged in a short exchange but as Doma regenerated, he quickly overpowered Kanae.

    She moved with the same calcting manner as I did. Her eyes working like mine but on smaller scale. She was like a weaker version of me to be honest.

    <strong><i>*BOOOM*</i></strong>

    So how could she possibly stand a chance?

    She was doing everything she could to hold on for longer, to give me a chance to recover. Her body was pushed beyond its limits and her eyes were slowly losing their light the longer she used her technique.

    "I''m done ying, its not fun anymore," Doma said and kicked Kanae at her abdomen, sending her flying away like a ragdoll. She manage to catch herself in the air and slid to a stop right beside me.

    "Kanae.." I called her.

    "I''m fine, don''t worry," she replied softly, with ragged breath.

    She was not fine. My eyes saw the extent of her injuries, I saw her lungs tearing at themselves with each breath she took, I saw her shattered bones, her torn muscles and ligaments.

    And I saw her blinding eyes. I don''t think she would be able to see normally after this battle.

    <strong><i>"Blood Demon Art : Ice Dolls,"</i></strong>

    Chilling words fell upon the battlefield. The wind picked up speed as moisture froze up, leaving the air so dry and cold that it was difficult to get even one breath.

    That was only the beginning of our despair as six ice clones started being constructed around us. In a matter of seconds, we were surrounded by the six ice dolls along with Doma who spread his arms dramatically.

    Like a God.

    This was it, this was the might of the upper moon 2. I was still not strong enough to take him, not nearly strong enough.

    "You will die here today, and I will take both of you to paradise," Doma said and smiled widely.

    A demon ying God. How revolting.

    <strong><i>"Blood Demon Art : Freezing Cloud," </i></strong>the moment those words left his lips. he and his six clones swung their arms, releasing cold winds that could freeze our bodies.

    Since we werepletely surrounded, there was nowhere to run.the fact that I made the battlefield an open ground no longer mattered with the clones present.

    The cold winds hit us like a blizzard, it was a blue smoke of chilling death. Our body temperature fell rapidly and each breath we took froze our lungs.

    We could not even see clearly anymore due to the blizzard, eyes felt like they were freezing up. Kanae fell against my body, my arms moved to grab her and I immediately covered her mouth and nose.

    The demon''sughter echoed at that moment. It felt like i could hear it, deep in my mind. Was it the delusion of a dying man, I was not sure.

    It was cold. Too cold to even form thoughts.

    ''I guess this is how I die, unable to even save one girl,'' the sane part of my mind said.

    Yet, there was also something else. Something in me was protesting with everything, it hated the demons and the situation to the very core.

    Nine years ago, I was helpless. And now, I was helpless once more.

    Was all my effort for useless? Was winning against the demons reserved for the main character alone?

    The frustration in my heart was enough to overshadow the cold air.

    I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it, I hate it.

    I hate it more than anything else. I hate it even more than I loved myself.

    ....

    Suddenly, I felt my body temperature increase rapidly and my heart came alive like an engine in my chest. It felt like it was expanding the size of my chest cavity with how wildly it was beating.

    I felt a surge of strength and energy throughout my body, it turned all my previous injuries and limits into an illusion. I felt stronger than I ever felt before.

    My eyes started glowing and I could finally see past the blizzard again. I locked eyes with Doma and I knew what was going on.

    I did not even have to look at myself to notice a mark appearing on my face.

    Fuck.

    Was this the only way to win? I did not want this. But what other choice did I have when I was pushed to the brink of death? It was either this or dying now.

    So I epted it. But with a promise that I would obliterate the creature that pushed me to such an extent.

    No. Not just him.

    I''ll drive them to extinction.

    "Kanae.." I called her name and hugged her close to my body. My eyes saw the effect of hypothermia and I started panicking. I started hating even more.

    How dare they try to take from me again?

    i wouldn''t allow it to happen again even at the cost of my life.

    With the newfound strength and demon yer mark, I could form coherent thoughts once more. And at that moment - when I was at the edge of life and death - enlightenment came.

    It was when man is left with no other choice that he came up with the best innovations.

    ...

    Adapt.

    Fighting was a conversation. My skills are my words andnguage, it was impossible to run out of options.

    The things I knew and the techniques I have learned so far were all copied from others. The best thing I had done wasbine them.

    But at that moment, I moved past thag threshold. I did not copy, I did not simplybine.

    I started creating somethingpletely new. Something that was not just abination of the techniques I''ve learned

    Or should I say I was re-creating it?

    Stone Breathing. Water Breathing. Thunder Breathing. me Breathing. Wind Breathing and even Steroid Breathing.

    I used the meanings and the concepts of each breathing styles to create something new. They were like words with different meanings and I started constructing an entirely new sentence from them.

    I did not splybine them. I broke them down to their most primitive state and built up the best version of them.

    And you know what? It fits like a puzzle.

    Somehow, the core concepts of all these breathing styles led to one beginning.

    <i>"Esoteric Art..." </i>

    No.

    <strong>"Sun Breathing,"</strong>

    It was the perfect beginning, the perfectnguage and the ultimate truth. It did not matter who you were, where you were from or when you lived.

    Across different identities, different continents, or different eras, the moment you reach perfection, you will find Sun Breathing.

    It did not matter how cold the air was anymore. My lungs sucked in the frigid air and I took a full breath. It did not hurt my lungs anymore, it not freeze anymore, it felt fine.

    I could see fireing from my mouth as I took in each breath. They were different from me Breathing, they were more intense and red.

    But even then, it was only a simple breath. I did not know enough to re-create the different forms of Sun Breathing. I only figured out the constant breathing of Sun Breathing.

    It was how Yoriichi would''ve inhaled.

    But as the foundation of all breathing styles, the breath I inhaled supported every style of breathing I knew. As I mentioned before, each breathing style has unique patterns to the way you breathe. But Sun Breathing could apply to all of them.

    I carried Kanae in my arms and using my right leg, I propelled myself forward.

    <strong>"Thunderp and sh!"</strong>

    I blitz past the ice clones and Doma. The demon''s shokced face was thest image I saw.

    In just a few seconds, I was many meters away from the battlefield. But ultimately, I stopped.

    Running away at my condition was a foolish decision. I was too injured to run far and Doma would inevitably catch up to me. So the better option was to end this fight now while I still had energy.

    I gentlyid Kanae on the ground underneath a tree. Raven flew towards me and I told her to protect her. I took another second to look at her face.

    She was the reason I was fighting. My love for her was the reason I hate.

    Then I stood up, turned around, and ran towards Doma again.

    With my sword shining under the moon, I inhaled a huge breath using Sun Breathing. The pattern of the breath fits every technique I had.

    <i>"Storm Breathing : Second Form,"</i>

    My body did not protest, instead, it roared with anticipation.At the cost of only living 25 years old, my body was able to achieve inhuman strength. I knew instinctively that I could use Storm Breathing as much as I wanted.

    ''Let me curse you.''

    <strong>"Lightning Wave!!"</strong> I yelled and I blitz towards Doma st the fastest speed I had moved yet.

    For a moment I let my body forget it''s injured state and fight with everything it had.

    ....

    ....

    [IMAGE]

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    Next Chapter iing

 Chapter 85: Doma vs Seiji (Final)

    <h4>Chapter 85: Doma vs Seiji (Final)</h4>

    [3rd POV]

    ''This can''t be human.''

    That was the only line of thought Doma was able to fit between calm and disaster. One moment the human was walking towards him and then he turned into a violent storm in the same stretch of moment.

    The ground shook due to the sheer force exploding on it. The air quivered and fled as the human storm-incarnate obliterated everything in an instant.

    ''I didn''t see it.''

    It was a scary thought for the Upper Moon 2. With the strength he now possessed, no entity should be able to move faster than he could see. Not Kokushiibo, and not even Muzan Kibutsuji.

    It was impossible.

    ...

    <strong><i>*BOOOOOOM!!!*</i></strong>

    And so, with his entire body other than his headpletely obliterated, Doma stared at the aftermath of the impossible. Purple lighting razed the ground and shed in a brilliant light that stunted the world.

    A violent wind ravaged the atmosphere, turning every molecule of air into a deadly de. Doma was not even able to witness how his ice clones were reduced to ice dust. It happened too fast.

    Yet all that violence and all that super speed were guided by perfect uracy. They were stitched together by a wave, a flow of water. Doma deduced that from the afterimage left by the human.

    No, he was no longer just a human to Doma.

    A Hashira.

    For the first time in his long life, Doma felt the weight of the title Hashira. He knew now, that he was facing against the pir of humanity.

    Finally, sound returned to the battlefield after seemingly gathering enough courage. The shockwaves that erupted from shattering sound barrierspletely ripped the topmostyer of the ground, exposing deeper earth.

    <strong><i>*Thud*</i></strong>

    Doma - currently only a head - fell to the ground with a thud. His head fell in the perfect position to stare at the back of the Hashira.

    His eyes told him that the enemy was only a human who was broken beyond belief. From all of the injuries Doma saw on the man, he should have fallen with a single touch. The enemy was weak and fragile, already past his breaking point.

    Yet Doma''s heart saw a different entity. His heart saw a fellow monster who had the capacity to end him - an equal. There was also a certain feeling in his heart which he could not describe. But that feeling stood out for Doma who usually never felt a tinge of emotion.

    ''What is it?'' he wondered.

    The feeling only intensified when the Hashira turned his head, eyes glowing purple - somehow looking even more demonic than his.

    It froze him for a moment.

    ...

    Speaking of heart, he should regenerate quickly. It was not fitting for someone like him to remain only a head.

    Being beheaded was fatal to most demons but for the top three of the upper moon, it was no longer enough to kill them.

    Doma unleashed his full potential and rapidly reconstructed his body in all its majestic glory from only a head. The Hashira simply watched while Doma fully regenerated.

    "Ah, thank you for waiting," Doma said with a yful smile, unfitting of the situation.

    "Stop doing that," A cold robotic voice came from the Hashira. Doma hated the way he talked, some words had the wrong pitch and tone. It sounded like an AI voice, an imitation.

    "Doing what?"

    "Stop acting like you have emotions," the Hashira said and his piercing eyes focused on Doma. "You feel nothing, you are no different than the ice dolls you create,"

    With the help of his purple eyes, he was able to see how Doma was imitating yful emotions even though he never really felt a thing.

    Doma was born apathetic. Ever since his birth, he had never experienced proper emotions. The best he could do was imagine the emotions and imitate what he had seen.

    ''The next emotion I should feel is anger, right? He is hitting a sore spot after all.'' Doma thought to himself. He had be immacte in acting emotions after centuries of studies.

    But weirdly enough, he did not feel like faking anger. There was this burning sensation in his heart which was the very first time Doma was feeling anything.

    "You living dead, you should''ve never existed," the Hashira spat out with a thick amount of hate in his awkward voice, "I''ll fix that,"

    Doma talked no more and started using his blood Demon Art. The feeling in his heart increased when he saw the enemy get into a stance, he was not sure but he suspected it was an emotion.

    He thinks it''s excitement!!

    <i>"Blood Demon Art!!" </i>

    The temperature in the air plummeted and the white smoke of frosty ice overwhelmed the surroundings. The world became numbing cold and on a summer night, winter came.

    <strong>"Rime �� Water Lily Bodhisattva"</strong>

    A gigantic icy Buddha materialized amidst the frigid air. The space around the statue seemed to distort due to the depressive cold. The winds were still, frozen at the moment as the Buddha was erected to its full glory.

    From the mouth of the Buddha came chilling white clouds that froze everything in its path. Spinning lotuses with sharp vines also came to life around the Buddha and they towered over the human.

    The Hashira watched all of it happen from a distance. Each breath he took released smoke in the arctic air, yet he remained unharmed. He was like an undying me, with the heat of a star in his lungs.

    His purple eyes pierced right through the frozen air.

    Doma grabbed the space in front of him and the Buddha followed his action. Then he took the action of tearing down space - the Buddha followed.

    The icy statue of a God, standing almost ten meters tall, came crashing towards the human with the weight of a mountain. The lotuses spun forward at incredible speed, aiming to rip him apart.

    In return, the Hashira only observed him with eyes colder than ice. Its calcting depth gave a terrifying chill to anyone who gazed upon them.

    At that moment, he created a new breathing style to perfectly counter against Doma. It was the same thing he had done for Sun Breathing

    The ice Buddha would require incredible raw strength to destroy so he took that aspect from Stone Breathing. The chilling clouds from the Buddha''s mouth demanded Wind Breathing to fight against them. And finally, he took the intensity of me Breathing to fight against the frigid temperature.

    These three styles were broken apart and rebuilt to create a new breathing style.

    <i>"Volcanic Breathing : First Form," </i>said the human before moving straight towards the giant Buddha.

    He lept in the air, higher than the ice buddha. The lotuses spun and changed trajectory to follow him but he paid them no heed. He brought his long sword high above his head and you could see an intense red cover his body and sword.

    <strong>"Molten Divide,"</strong>

    Under the stunned eyes of Doma, the ice Buddha instantly split into two and the shockwave from the sh destroyed every individual lotusing his way.

    That was not the end. Soon after, the earth split into two.

    <strong><i>*BOOOOOOOM!!*</i></strong>

    It was a ground-splitting attack with the intensity of an erupting volcano. The ground quaked as if the tectonic tes had shifted. Then an overwhelming wave of pressure crushed the vicinity mercilessly.

    It was not only an attack that equalled the Ice Buddha. It was an attack carefully crafted by someone to counter Doma''s attack perfectly.

    The Upper Moon never stood.a chance.

    The aftermath of the sh was a scene of broken ice and scarred earth. There was an oppressive silence in the air that seemed to choke Doma.

    The emotion in his heart increased.

    <strong><i>"Blood Demon Art : Crystalline Divine Child,"</i></strong>

    Doma immediately continued the battle. Something inside was urging him to attack even more intensely. He created miniature clones of himself once more and they attacked the Hashira all at once.

    But this time, it was no longer effective.

    The Hashira was way faster than the clones so they were never able to surround him to take advantage of his blind spot. He moved from one ce to another as they blurred around the battlefield and the vige.

    The exchange went on for quite some time. The sound of ice shing and breaking against steel filled the Vige. The houses in the vige were destroyed in loud destructive explosions. A cmity had struck the settlement.

    After this battle, the vige would not be habitable anymore.

    But through all this, Doma could not process anything anymore. It was all a blur of information.

    He remembered creating more ice clones every time they were destroyed. But he remained in his ce, aware of the battle yet not joining for some reason.

    There was something choking him from the inside. It stopped him from moving an inch towards the human.

    How odd, how very odd.

    Then in a loud ear-splitting explosion, the Hashira destroyed all six clones at once. He razed a path through the vige and immediately reached Doma.

    "Let''s end this now," he said, the imperfection of his speech still remained.

    Doma remained in his ce, he did not even try to make clones anymore since they were ineffective. With every intention of ending the battle himself, they stood opposite to each other.

    <i>"Blood Demon Art," </i>Doma readied his spell.

    In return, the Hashira said...

    <i>"Esoteric Art,"</i>

    <strong><i>"Water Breathing : Eleventh Form,"</i></strong>

    Water surged out from the Hashira and covered the entire surrounding. Doma felt like he was pulled into another dimension as he found himself in the middle of a waging ocean.

    But even after a while, the Water never calmed down. Instead, the waves became more and more violent.

    <strong>"Living''s Malice,"</strong>

    Right then, killing intent floods out like a raging tsunami. The intent of the malice and hatred was so strong that it transcended the psychic ne and manifested itself to the world. Not only could Doma feel it but he could experience his death multiple times.

    It froze him in his spot.

    The burning feeling in his heart, the emotion he felt finally became known at that moment. Since he never felt emotions before, he did not know what it was but now, he realized.

    It was not excitement.

    It was fear.

    He was afraid.

    Doma could not move at all. Every second he experienced his own death. The killing intent was so strong that even the breeze upon his skin felt like a deadly attack and he waspletely stunned.

    He was scared. He knew he should not be scared of the blowing wind or the sound of crickets but like a child with an irrational fear of ghosts, he trembled.

    Therefore, he never even saw the real attacking. When everything felt like they were trying to kill him, the real attack that was made to kill him waspletely hidden.

    This technique was theplete opposite of Giyu''s ''Dead Calm'' and his selfless state, yet they aplished the same task. Instead of erasing one''s presence by eliminating all hatred and intention, this technique amplified it.

    The killing intent and the hatred of the user were so powerful that theypletely corrupted the surroundings. Like conquerors haki, the intent materialized on the world and the victim felt like everything in the world was out to harm them.

    So they could never see the real attacking. They could not differentiate between a blowing wind and the shing of a sword.

    ...

    Even without his knowledge, Doma''s head was chopped off. His body fell to the ground and his bisected head soon followed.

    Doma was too stunned to even react.

    His eyes were wide, too overwhelmed by the emotion in his heart. In the following second, his head started turning into ash.

    He could''ve regenerated, an Upper Moon like him would not die by simply beheading. And yet he was dying.

    Why?

    It was because he dared not regenerate when those eyes were looking down at him. Being erased seemed to be the better alternative than continuing the battle.

    And so, Doma died not because of any de or attack but because he didn''t do anything.

    He was too overwhelmed by the first and thest emotion he ever felt in his long existence.

    <strong>Fear.</strong>

    ..

    ..

    ..

    [Colder than ice]

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    Author : Sorry, I had to re-write this Chapter because I killed Doma in a very dumb way. In all honesty, Seiji had no way of killing Doma other than waiting for sunrise. Remember it took wisteria poison 400 times stronger the amount to kill normal demons to bring down Doma.

    I don''t see anything other than sun breathing that can kill Doma.

    It felt off at first, how Seiji killed Doma. But I re-wrote the Chapter and this time, in Doma''s perspective to mention that he died not because he was killed, but literally because he was too afraid to heal.

    He killed himself basically. And this became realistic when we learned that Doma could not feel emotion so he did not know how else to react to the first emotion he felt which was fear.

    So, that''s how you kill Upper Moon 2 I guess.

    ..

    Also, Kudos to the reader whom I did not remember. He said something about selfish state which would be the opposite fo selfless state under the Chapter that said Seiji could never enter selfless state.

    I took his advice and created Living''s Malice, absolutely opposite of Dead Calm lol.

    So, that''s the end of the Doma arc. I hope I cooked up an eptable product.

    Thanks for reading and supporting me.

 Chapter 86 Its over

    Chapter 86 It''s over

    [Seiji''s POV]

    How do you kill the unkible?

    That was a question that gued my mind throughout the battle because I truly had no way to kill the Upper Moon 2. I didn''t have a red nichirin sword, I hadn''t learned the forms of Sun Breathing and I didn''t have wisteria poison.

    I could win the fight, I could win the battle, but I could not kill the enemy. I didn''t have the weapons to do so.

    So in every sense of the word, the Upper Moon 2 was unkible for me.

    How do you kill the unkible?

    In the end, the answer was childishly simple.

    You don''t.

    But here''s the twist. I could not kill him, but I could cause his death.

    It''s funny to you, isn''t it? But my adrenaline-pumped brain and my bloodthirsty mind thought it was absolutely genius at the time.

    So my eyes started searching for weakness. It did not find weakness in his demonic body that could regenerate infinitely. But they found a major w in his mind. His mind could not process emotions properly, itcked empathy.

    That''s where the idea came from. To attack the mind of the enemy instead of simply cutting his body again and again.

    I created ''Living''s Malice'', a unique version of Dead Calm - Selflessness State - to attack the psyche of my enemy. The result was just as I predicted.

    I pushed Doma''s mind into a state of absolute fear. The most ancient emotion that has been in living beings since the beginning of life.

    To put it simply, I made Domamit suicide.

    Like I said, I couldn''t kill the unkible but I could cause their death.

    To put it in an even more simpler term, I am just built different.

    ...

    "It''s over," I muttered out on the battlefield that had gonepletely silent.

    Doma was dead, and the fight was over.

    The moment those thoughts finally settled in my mind, my body gave in to the injuries. The great delusion of stregth I had been working withpletely shattered, leaving only pain and agony.

    I felt the Demon yer Mark on my face fade away and the heat in my body also turned lukewarm and then cold.

    I had never felt so drained and weak before. The sudden change from the absolute peak of power to the vulnerability of a baby caused my knees to falter and then bend.

    I fell to the ground.

    Forget about the wounds inflicted on me, the damage I inflicted upon myself from going beyond my limit hadpletely broken my body. It was phenomenal that I was alive, a miracle that I was still conscious.

    I gasped like a fish trying to breathe onnd. I tried to follow the pattern of Sun Breathing as urately as I could because I believed that was the only thing keeping me conscious.

    Then I started crawling towards the ce where I put Kanae. I struggled along every inch of the long journey but after a while, I reached her.

    I put arms around her and gathering every street I umted with during my journey, I pulled her on myp and held her close.

    I was in immense pain which made death attractive. But the feeble pounding of a heartbeat and weak breathing I felt from Kanae made every second of the pain worth it.

    I did it. I saved her.

    My vision was red and blurry from all the blood. I did not even have enough stregth to use my eyes on her to check her injuries so I simply held her tighter.

    But I knew I saved her.

    I was able to protect my treasure this time.

    After staying like that for a few minutes or so, the sun started rising on the horizon, casting a warm golden shine on the world. Under the protective brightness of the sun, I knew I was safe.

    So I pulled my head back and rested my body on the tree. I saw many Kasugai crows in the sky, I couldn''t hear them so I didn''t know, but they seemed to have been there for a while now.

    I closed my eyes, knowing that help was on its way.

    That was the finalfort and security I needed.

    I passed out into a death-like sleep, never to awaken again. The only way to wake me up would be a true love kiss.

    Kidding.

    A nice pair of boobs pressed against my body would also do.

    ..

    ..

    [IMAGE]

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    Author : Officially the shortest chapter I''ve written. Imagine I make my return with only this lol.

    Next chaptering soon.

    You can throw stones at me for disappearing longer than promised. Don''t worry I don''t mind.

    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and

    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!