Roar--!
The roar of a dragon echoed through the valley!
The deep blue water dragon, formed by the convergence of high-density water flow and sharp sword energy, carrying a terrifying force capable of tearing the sky apart, had already rushed towards my face!
In Sabito's eyes burned an unprecedented, fervent fighting spirit!
"Come on, Giyu!"
He roared, pouring the last of his strength into this one strike!
"Don't hold back! Let me see... just how big the gap is between us!!"
Faced with this most powerful attack, Giyu Tomioka's deadpan face finally showed a slight ripple.
He slowly raised his eyes.
Those icy blue eyes calmly watched the roaring water dragon approach.
The next second,
Clang--!
With a clear, ringing sound, a streak of azure light, as smooth as a mirror, swept across the sky!
Water Breathing - First Form - Water Surface Slash.
That's the most basic move, the first one every swordsman learning Water Breathing must master.
A perfectly ordinary horizontal slash.
However, this basic slash, in the hands of Giyu Tomioka, displayed a completely different, almost miraculous, terrifying power!
The azure blade seemed to embody the power of an entire great river!
Where the blade sliced through, the air itself seemed to scream as if it were about to explode!
A towering wave, visible to the naked eye, instantly formed around the edge of his blade and crashed fiercely into the oncoming water dragon!
Boom--!
The next second!
In everyone's eyes, which were shrunk to pinpoints in shock!
That menacing, deep blue water dragon, which seemed poised to devour the heavens and earth, crumbled the moment it encountered that seemingly ordinary pale blue water! It was as fragile as paper!
The azure slash encountered no resistance whatsoever, easily cleaving the water dragon formed by the convergence of sword energy and water flow in two from head to tail!
Then, that terrifying sword pressure, which no one could withstand, exploded with a loud bang!
The water dragon was instantly crushed by that violent force, turning into countless crystal-clear blue specks of light that flew everywhere.
The azure slash, after shattering the water dragon, showed no signs of diminishing power or slowing its momentum, continuing its trajectory towards the completely stunned figure behind it!
Puff--!
The Sabito felt as if it had been struck hard in the chest by an invisible, massive hammer weighing thousands of pounds!
A terrifying force that he couldn't possibly withstand transmitted through the blade!
The Nichirin Blade in his hand flew out instantly, soaring high into the air!
He was like a kite with a broken string, flying backwards in a disheveled manner, spitting out a mouthful of blood in mid-air, and crashing heavily to the ground more than ten meters away!
Quiet.
The entire training ground fell into a deathly silence once again.
Everyone stared blankly at the scene, their minds completely blank.
One... one move?
With just one move, the most basic Water Surface Slash, he crushed the newly crowned Water Hashira Sabito's all-or-nothing, devastating attack, man and weapon alike?
What the hell is this cheat code?!?!
"Asshole!!"
"So gorgeous!!"
However, while everyone was still in shock and couldn't get over it!
Two furious roars, brimming with fighting spirit, suddenly rang out!
A ball of blazing fire and a streak of dazzling silver light shot out simultaneously from the left and right sides of the field!
It's Shinjuro Rengoku, and Tengen Uzui!
They acted simultaneously!
Flame Breathing, Second Form: Rising Scorching Sun!
Sound Breathing - First Form - Boom!
Shinjuro Rengoku's sword, from bottom to top, brought forth a spiral of blazing flames that seemed capable of burning everything, shooting straight into the sky!
Meanwhile, Tengen Uzui leaped high into the air and slammed his two enormous Nichirin Blades down onto the ground with tremendous force!
In an instant, flames and lightning intertwined, and terrifying explosions and scorching sword energy simultaneously enveloped the solitary figure in the arena from two completely different angles!
Despite being attacked from both sides by two Pillar-level powerhouses, Giyu Tomioka's face remained expressionless.
With a light tap of his toes, his entire figure instantly became ethereal.
Water Breathing - Third Form - Flowing Dance.
His figure, like a ghost, flickered in and out of the gaps between the flames and the explosions.
Every movement was as graceful as dancing; every turn was perfectly timed, dodging all deadly attacks.
He's like a fish swimming freely in a rapid current; no matter how dangerous the surrounding environment, it won't hurt him at all.
After dodging several attacks, Giyu Tomioka suddenly stopped.
Then, the Nichirin Blade in his hand transformed into two incredibly fast, perfectly rotating blue light wheels!
Clang! Clang!
Two crisp metallic clanging sounds rang out almost simultaneously!
Shinjuro Rengoku and Tengen Uzui felt as if their swords had struck an absurdly hard, millennia-old ice!
An irresistible rotational force traveled along the blade!
The two of them couldn't control their bodies and were staggered by that force, crashing hard into each other!
"Bang!"
With a muffled thud, the two powerful pillars, like two rolling gourds, tumbled together in a sorry state. o(╯□╰)o
Seeing this absurd and hilarious scene unfolding on the field, Giyu Tomioka slowly sheathed his sword.
A flicker of boredom, which even he himself didn't notice, flashed in his icy blue eyes.
"Isn't this... too much of a bullying?"
A thought flashed through his mind.
"Should I tell them that I'm no longer a being from the same dimension as them?"
After a year, he has not only completely mastered that domain belonging to the strong— the Transparent World.
Furthermore, due to that special physique, he possessed power comparable to, or even surpassing, that of the Demon Slayer Mark Swordsman.
His current strength far surpasses what the mere title of Pillar can represent.
He looked up at his two colleagues, who were struggling to their feet, their faces filled with resentment and humiliation, and his good friend, who was still questioning the meaning of life, not far away. He sighed softly.
Why don't you understand?
A calm voice rang out in the empty Dojo, clearly reaching the ears of everyone present.
"I'm different from you..."
The words had barely left his mouth.
The faces of Shinjuro Rengoku and Tengen Uzui, which had been burning with fighting spirit, instantly froze.
They gritted their teeth, lowered their heads, clenched their fists so tightly that their nails even pierced their palms, yet they couldn't utter a single word in rebuttal.
Yes.
No the same.
In that brief encounter, they had already come to realize this cruel reality with crystal clarity.
The gap between them and Giyu Tomioka had widened to a point that was... utterly hopeless.
That's something that hard work and talent can't compensate for.
That's... an absolute chasm at the species level!
"Splash!"
Just when the atmosphere in the Dojo was so oppressive it was almost frozen.
A heavy, dragging sound of chains broke the deathly silence.
[The Stone Hashira] Gyomei Himejima, who had been silent until now, put down the prayer beads in his hand.
He slowly walked towards the center of the Dojo.
With each step his two-meter-tall, mountain-like body took, the ground trembled slightly.
The meteor hammer and hand axe he carried, crafted from fine steel, clashed repeatedly with his movements, producing a chilling sound.
A terrifying aura, as heavy as a mountain, rose from his body and slowly pressed down on Giyu Tomioka in the arena!
"Is this guy... about to make a move?!"
The three pillars, still lying paralyzed on the ground, simultaneously showed expressions of terror on their faces as they felt the suffocating pressure!
They knew that Gyomei Himejima was very strong, and had always been very strong.
"Mr. Himejima is about to make his move!"
A glimmer of hope rekindled in Shinjuro Rengoku's eyes!
"How much of Tomioka's strength can he force out?"
Without a doubt, in their view, the final winner of this battle will still be Giyu Tomioka.
However, as someone whose strength far surpasses theirs, Gyomei Himejima will surely be able to make that unfathomable monster reveal even more of its power!
Under everyone's gaze, Gyomei Himejima up to Giyu Tomioka.
Tears still streamed from his tightly closed eyes, but his usually compassionate face was now filled with an unprecedented solemnity and grimness!
"Namo Amitabha Buddha..."
He clasped his hands together, whispered a Buddhist chant, and then suddenly raised his head, his unseen eyes looking at the boy before him.
Tomioka.
"Let me see..."
"Your Transparent World!"