Blue Stone Town: The Fallacy of the Weak!

The fierce clash continued for half an hour.

The force of fists and blades tore the cherry petals to shreds.

The bluestone ground was covered in craters punched into it, along with deep footprints. The blade had carved white marks across the ground.

Sweat soaked Giyu's bangs, and every breath brought a dull ache to his chest from the impact.

Once again, Tetsusai's fist broke through Water Breathing's tightly woven defense.

His fist slammed into the middle of the sky-blue Nichirin Blade at a treacherous angle!

Clang!

A heavy, explosive crash rang out!

The blade hummed from the impact.

Giyu felt a tremendous force surge through the hilt. The skin between his thumb and forefinger split instantly, spraying blood.

The Nichirin Blade nearly flew from his grasp. He was hurled backward and slammed hard into a thick pillar at the edge of the training ground.

"Cough...!"

Pain ripped through his back, and his insides felt as though they had turned over. He couldn't help coughing up a mouthful of blood. The warm liquid ran from the corner of his mouth, leaving a stark red streak on his chin.

He knelt on one knee, gripping the hilt tightly with a trembling hand. Only by bracing his blade against the ground did he keep himself from falling.

His vision blurred, and his ears rang.

Giyu forced his head up and saw that Tetsusai hadn't pursued him. Instead, he stood several yards away, slowly withdrawing his fist with a strange expression on his face.

There was satisfaction in that expression, excitement, and even something that looked like admiration for his opponent.

"Heh heh..."

Tetsusai chuckled deeply. His laughter echoed across the empty training ground, shaking more cherry blossoms loose.

"What a thrill!"

"It's been a long time since I met... an opponent as satisfying as you!"

He took a few steps forward, studying Giyu with a burning gaze, his voice full of praise:

"The way you've trained your body, your fighting spirit, and those exquisite water sword techniques are all beyond what someone your age should possess! Even that near-instinctive judgment of yours is the same!"

Tetsusai tilted his head, his eyes full of curiosity:

"What... is your name?"

"Tell me your name, young swordsman."

"You... are worthy of being remembered by me."

Giyu panted heavily, the taste of blood accompanying every breath.

He knew that, as he was now, he was no match for this Lower Rank One.

His opponent might not even have used his true Blood Demon Art yet.

Strangely, though, his opponent had stopped.

Deep inside his body, a warm current was quietly stirring.

The pain of his wounds eased somewhat under its soothing influence.

Was this the special physique that unknown system had left him?

Besides making him highly attractive to demons, it had also given him astonishing regenerative powers.

I have to stall for time.

Kanzaburo had gone for help. He needed to hold out until reinforcements arrived, or... find a chance to strike back.

"Giyu Tomioka."

"Giyu... Tomioka."

Tetsusai repeated it and nodded, as though committing the name to memory.

He looked around the wrecked training ground and suddenly asked:

"Heh heh, I'm a little tired after fighting for so long."

"Giyu, you don't mind... listening to me reminisce about the past, do you?"

His tone sounded casual, as though they had just been sparring rather than fighting to the death.

Giyu didn't answer. He only tightened his grip on the hilt, regulated his breathing, and watched Tetsusai warily.

Listen to a demon "reminisce about the past"?

It was strange, but it was indeed a good chance to stall for time.

Tetsusai didn't seem to mind Giyu's silence. He raised his head toward the night sky, stained dark red by the lanterns, and gazed into the distance, as though recalling the past.

"It was probably... more than a hundred years ago."

He spoke slowly, his voice much lower, with less madness and more complexity,

"Back then, I wasn't a demon yet."

"I was just the master of a small dojo on the outskirts of Kyoto, an ordinary swordsman... obsessed with martial arts and longing to reach their pinnacle."

His gaze fell on his fists, which now gleamed with a metallic sheen and possessed astonishing strength.

"I trained my fists. I spent half my life training them. My style was fierce and forceful, always pursuing greater destructive power."

"I had plenty of disciples, but none of them understood me."

A trace of his old aloofness and obsession showed in Tetsusai's voice,

"They saw only the strength I used to smash stone slabs and break wooden posts. They never understood what I truly wanted when I punched at the moon alone late at night."

He looked at Giyu, and the fanatical light flashed in his eyes again, but this time it seemed to be aimed at more than just Giyu's flesh:

"Do you know?"

"To strip away all the flesh and see exactly how an opponent's muscles, bones, and meridians run."

"Every point where they exert force, every opening, laid out clearly before your eyes, as though the world had lifted a veil for you... They call it the Transparent World."

"That is the pinnacle of martial arts!"

"But I... no matter how hard I trained or pondered, it was always as though an impenetrable fog stood in my way."

"Worse still, I could feel my body growing old. My time... was running out."

For the first time, Tetsusai's voice revealed a profound, human fear.

"Just when I was most unwilling to accept it, I met that lord."

Tetsusai's face was full of reverence and longing,

"Upper Rank Three, Lord Akaza!"

"He was like the embodiment of martial arts: strong and pure, as devoted to battle as I was."

"He saw through my desire at a glance."

Tetsusai seemed to return to that moonlit bamboo grove, his voice trembling with excitement:

"He said to me:"

"'Do you want the Transparent World?'"

"'How could a human body and a fleeting life contain such a realm?'"

"'Become a demon! You'll have endless time to train and gain enlightenment!'"

"I didn't hesitate for a moment."

Tetsusai's tone was emphatic, even tinged with pride.

"Yes, I chose to become a demon of my own free will."

"I thought I had finally obtained the key to the pinnacle!"

"I would use my eternal life to pursue the limits of martial arts!"

Giyu listened silently, but deep in his ice-blue eyes, a chill gradually gathered.

Become a demon and sacrifice human lives to pursue these so-called "martial arts"?

It was completely opposed to the protection and convictions he understood.

Tetsusai's tone gradually changed. Other things began to mingle with his initial excitement and longing.

"When I first became a demon, I still followed some laughable rules."

"I slept during the day and came out at night, eating only wild beasts from the mountains. I kept punching and pondering day and night, thinking I could open that door through hard training."

He shook his head, his smile turning somewhat mocking.

"But I soon discovered I was wrong."

"Eating human flesh... made my strength grow far faster than training hard on my own!"

His eyes grew clouded, full of addiction to the pleasure of gaining strength:

"My punches grew fiercer, my speed greater, my senses so sharp I could hear insects beating their wings a hundred meters away... That feeling was wonderful!"

"It was much faster and easier than practicing techniques bit by bit."

Tetsusai spread his hands, as though displaying the strength he now possessed:

"Gradually, I no longer needed to get up before dawn to practice punching the air, or go over those 'inefficient' techniques again and again."

"All I had to do was follow the scent of blood, find food, and then... eat it."

"My strength grew day by day. That feeling of constantly growing stronger was intoxicating."

He looked at Giyu, nothing but naked greed and certainty in his eyes:

"You see, this is the law of the world—the weak are meat for the strong, and the strong reign supreme."

"Humans are weak, low on the food chain. It's only natural that they provide us with strength."

"I threw away those useless forms of martial arts and chose a more direct, more effective way to grow stronger."

"What's wrong with that?"

"So—"

Tetsusai took a step forward, demonic energy rising around him again, more violent than before.

"Food with potential like you is a treasure!"

"If I eat you, my strength will surely make another great leap!... I might even surpass the Lower Ranks and rise to a higher position!"

While Tetsusai spoke, Giyu's breathing gradually became steady and deep.

Under the influence of the warm current, most of his wounds had healed, and his strength was slowly returning.

But more importantly, Tetsusai's words had completely ignited the conviction in his heart.

He had actually twisted the spirit of martial arts into an excuse to satisfy his selfish desires?

The chill in his ice-blue eyes turned to killing intent.

"Demons eating humans..."

Giyu spoke slowly, his voice quiet, yet it pierced the silence like an icicle,

"Is always... wrong."

"'The weak are meat for the strong'?"

He raised his Nichirin Blade slightly, its tip pointing at Tetsusai, a resolute light flowing along the pattern on its edge.

"Then today, let me, the weak one, cut down the fallacy of you, the strong!"

The moment the words left his mouth, Giyu vanished!

His dark-blue figure trailed watery light as his sky-blue blade cut through the falling rain of cherry blossoms.

Bearing killing intent and conviction, it stabbed straight toward Tetsusai's chest!