Additional Chapter!
Thank this people (for smashing that three stones in this story) for this additional chapter to Saragakenji, Destroyer404, Trinity (Dont know if you were a same person but a lot of thanks!), Omega (Same I dont know if you were a same person but a lot of thanks!) and Nanashi97, for making this extra chapter possible.
Enjoy Reading!
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"Sun Breathing,Eighth Form: Soaring Flame Wheel."
Searing red light tore through the night, heat conjuring illusory solar flames. The blade seemed ablaze, its slender form flickering between reality and illusion.
Kokushibo's eyes widened, pupils contracting sharply, all six demon eyes filled with astonishment.
Another swordsman capable of wielding Sun Breathing!?
When it came to understanding Sun Breathing, no one in the world surpassed Kokushibo, other than the late Yoriichi himself!
Once known as Tsugikuni Michikatsu, the elder brother of Tsugikuni Yoriichi.
The swordsmanship the elder brother slaved to master, the younger brother effortlessly perfected.
The position the elder brother feared losing, the younger brother casually discarded.
Everything the elder brother coveted, the younger brother possessed.
Everything the elder brother feared losing, the younger brother didn't want.
A man beloved by the gods, doing nothing, was the greatest insult to those who strove.
Tsugikuni Michikatsu envied Yoriichi, a ceiling his fleeting life could never surpass, so he became a demon to hone his swordsmanship further.
His pride and envy forbade him from learning his brother's breathing or techniques, instead creating a breathing style to rival Sun Breathing: Moon Breathing, another primal breathing style.
When the sun sets, the moon becomes the brightest light.
Primal breathing styles demanded extreme physical aptitude and talent, requiring years of grueling training.
Yet in this era, two Sun Breathing inheritors emerged, both exuding an eerie aura.
This young man before him—Kokushibo couldn't see him as a swordsman at all. He looked like a noble son from a great clan.
Not a single callus on his hands, and you call him a swordsman!?
"Moon Breathing, Tenth Form: Piercing Slash, Radish Moon."
The demon blade slashed diagonally, purple light laced with spinning azure blood crescents, end-to-end, forming a massive lunar wheel in the air, condensing sharp moonlight that pierced the solar flames.
"It's already reached the level of sword aura?" Shiraki narrowed his eyes.
Other derivative breathing styles might lack effects, but primal Sun and Moon Breathing's advanced "forms" were fundamentally different from ordinary ones.
"Excellent, let's keep dancing!" Chuunibyou vibes bursting, Shiraki grinned, then paused, realizing.
Yup, this was definitely Sirin's fault!
Flames, almost tangible, surged from Shiraki's body, yet didn't burn his clothes. Wild power coursed, the blade flashing with dazzling brilliance.
Sun Breathing, Tenth Form: Radiant Grace!
A ferocious charge like a meteor's fall, his spinning body drove flames in a whirlwind.
The crimson blade struck Kokushibo's neck.
So tough!
Shiraki's brow twitched. Worthy of being Upper Rank One.
Kokushibo's eyes widened. This crimson blade, this searing heat at his neck…
He hadn't felt this in four hundred years!
To defeat Tsugikuni Yoriichi, Tsugikuni Michikatsu became the grotesque Kokushibo.
He sought to vanquish that being who shouldn't exist in this world!
That night, Kokushibo waited so long.
But Yoriichi stood there, gripping his hilt, never swinging the blade to sever his neck.
Yoriichi died.
Yes, Yoriichi defeated Kokushibo.
Yet he died.
With his final victory, he ended an undefeated life.
No one ever bested him—not a person, not a demon could scratch him.
Yoriichi died of natural old age.
And now…
Kokushibo deflected the flaming blade, a swath of flesh from neck to shoulder vanishing, like ash burned to nothing.
His six demon eyes fixed on Shiraki, as if seeing the solar flames encircling him, his gaze piercing past to the distant horizon.
An aged Yoriichi seemed to stand far off, watching them.
A dance, then?
Kokushibou's cold, wooden expression melted, white mist surging from his mouth and nose, his breathing like a beast's low growl, wounds slowly regenerating.
His blade transformed, the single edge sprouting three curved blades, resembling twisted, gnarled branches, its eerie length doubling.
"Come, then… inheritor of Sun Breathing!"
Gripping the evolved demon blade, Kokushibo twisted, power flowing from feet that cracked the ground, through legs, coiling through waist and torso, surging to shoulders, translating into arms that swung the terrifying blade.
If he couldn't truly defeat Yoriichi, he'd defeat his legacy!
Moon Breathing, Fourteenth Form: Calamity Shift, Sky-Full Slender Moon!
Sharp purple light flooded like a tidal wave, bewitching brilliance soaring skyward, the air shattering, all sounds merging into a roaring surge amid chaotic currents.
Spinning crescents flew, swelling and raging, further carving the unrecognizable ground, slicing everything in reach!
Kokushibo, in this moment, forgot Muzan entirely, absorbed in the battle before him.
Moon Breathing, Fifteenth Form: Moonrise, Massed Vanishing Moons!
Moon Breathing, Sixteenth Form: Moonbow, Lone Lingering Moon!
Crescents rose from the earth.
Crescents fell from the sky.
Dense blade lights erupted, from above, below, every direction, swelling to engulf everything around.
All visible was a purple blade curtain and azure crescents.
"Oh? Showing your true strength now?"
The sky of crescents exuded unmatched pressure. Shiraki slowly closed his eyes, then opened them!
Flower Breathing, Final Form: Equinox Vermilion Eye.
This wasn't a sword technique but a breathing method to push dynamic vision to its limit.
Sun Breathing, Twelveth Form: Flame Dance.
Solar flames whirled, tracing near-perfect arcs, shattering the darkest purple-blue crescents.
Shiraki faced the falling sky of slender moons, his scorching breathing fully dyeing the Nichirin Blade sun-red.
"Sun Breathing, Thirteenth Form—"
The so-called Form Thirteen was the continuous, seamless execution of Forms One through Twelve in a cycle, sustained indefinitely—the Thirteenth Form.
It sounded simple but was immensely difficult!
It demanded intense Sun Breathing and deep mastery of "forms."
Even in prior training, Kanae couldn't pull off Form Thirteen.
But in this battle with Upper Rank One, Kanae and Shiraki's grasp of forms grew at double speed. Under the pressure of a crescent sky, Shiraki achieved it.
He named it:
"Solar Blaze!"
Solar flames spread from the blade, illusory sunlight and fire surging, scorching winds tracing a clear sun wheel in the air.
It was the sun!
At this moment, the moon fell, and the sun rose!
"GAAAHHH—" Kokushibo roared, refusing to accept it!
He was ABSOLUTELY refusing to accept it!
He would never die to a Sun Breathing inheritor!
Yet, even as a demon, his body and sword honed over centuries into the hardest weapons, Shiraki synced with Kiana's power.
Ever heard of the Kaslana family?
Theresa swings half-ton Judas like a breeze!
Even partial syncing was enough, especially since Shiraki was half a Holy War Angel.
Solar Blaze annihilated crescents, the Nichirin Blade slamming into Kokushibou's nape, grinding through skin, pressing against bone, blood and flesh flying.
Kokushibo roared, veins bulging, arms seizing his head, trying to force it back onto his neck.
Why?
A mere human, why such strength!?
Kokushibo tried to regenerate, but Shiraki gave no chance.
"Perhaps to you, the sun and moon are lofty existences."
Shiraki swung, guiding Solar Blaze, severing Kokushibo's right arm.
"But in truth, the sun's volume is about 63.7 million times the moon's."
Another chunk of neck flesh was carved off, blood spurting as Kokushibou's body began to crumble.
"The moon's light, you see, comes from the sun. Moonlight is merely a faint reflection of sunlight."
With Shiraki's calm science lesson, Upper Rank One—Kokushibo.
Turned to ash!