There was an indescribable subtle atmosphere at the Kamado table.
Giyu Tomioka sat cross-legged upright, holding a bowl of steaming rice porridge in his hands.
Sitting opposite him Tanjiro Kamado, who was holding a rice bowl and staring straight at him with his innocent, wine-red eyes.
Not only could you see it, but Tanjiro's nose was also twitching in the air.
"Giyu- san."
Tanjiro finally couldn't help but speak, his tone full of genuine concern.
Did you have insomnia last night?
"You smell really strange this morning!!"
Giyu paused slightly in the hand holding the chopsticks.
He raised his eyelids and glanced at the boy in front of him, whose sense of smell was more acute than a ghost's.
What kind of monstrous structure does this kid's nose have?
Takeo, who was drinking soup nearby, almost spat out all the hot soup in his mouth onto Mao's face across from him.
"Cough cough!"
Takeo coughed violently while looking at Giyu with the eyes of someone looking at an alien.
"Dude with the poker face, you didn't cry yourself to sleep because you missed that older sister, did you? Is that why you're too ashamed to admit it?"
Faced with the relentless and direct attacks of these brats, Lord Water Hashira's rational defenses were severely challenged.
But he kept in mind his "taciturn" persona.
Giyu put down his chopsticks expressionlessly, his deep blue eyes sweeping over the two of them with an indifferent gaze.
"No."
He only uttered those two words, refusing to give even a single punctuation mark.
"But..."
Tanjiro also wanted to use his sense of smell to prove it.
"Have a meal."
Giyu interrupted him succinctly and picked up his bowl again.
Kie Kamado came over carrying a plate of roasted salted fish and couldn't help but cover her mouth and laugh so hard she bent over.
She gently smoothed things over, casually placing the fattest, most delicious grilled salted fish into Giyu's bowl.
"Eat more, Mr. Giyu. You still have a long day of training ahead of you."
Giyu silently lowered his head, looking at the salted fish in the bowl, and breathed a slight sigh of relief.
After breakfast, Giyu went to the backyard as usual.
The winter air was bitterly cold, but that had no effect on him.
He slowly raised his hand and grasped the dark blue Nichirin Blade at his waist.
In the past few days, he did not diligently study the movements of Sun Breathing as Tanjuro had imagined.
Because it's completely unnecessary.
With his Heaven-Defying Comprehension that surpassed the limits of ordinary people,
Just watching Tanjuro perform that blessing Kagura dance in the snowstorm, this supreme Breathing Style, lost for hundreds of years, was already etched into his soul.
There are no barriers to entry, and no bottlenecks whatsoever.
Whenever he wanted, he could unleash Dance even more perfect than the rising sun.
But what troubles him now is something else entirely.
While the extreme heat of the Sun Breathing can suppress the abnormal cell regeneration, Muzan still has the possibility of shattering and escaping.
Simply using "day" is insufficient in scope and lacks absolute coverage.
Giyu's brow furrowed slightly as he recalled the Upper Rank One Kokushibo.
During that battle, he had the chance to gain insight into the mysterious and unpredictable [Moon Breathing].
The Sun Breathing governs extreme destruction and high temperatures.
Moon Breathing provides absolute coverage and sharpness without any blind spots.
If these two powers, standing at the pinnacle of swordsmanship, could be fused into a single blade...
Giyu suddenly opened his eyes, gripped the hilt of the knife tightly with both hands, and lowered his body slightly.
He circulated the energy within his body.
A surge of intense heat rose through the meridians on the right side.
Meanwhile, a chilling aura spread through the meridians on the left side.
He forcibly combined two completely opposite forces into the Nichirin Blade in his hand.
"Buzz~"
The deep blue blade emitted a dull, mournful groan.
The left half of the blade instantly became covered in a dark blue frost, while the right half burned bright red.
"Sun and Moon Overlap!"
Giyu shouted inwardly, his arm muscles bulging to their limit. With a sudden swing, his Nichirin Blade traced an intersecting path through the air.
In an instant, the air seemed to emit a mournful wail, as if it could not bear the weight.
Extreme heat and extreme cold collided horribly at the tip of the blade.
"Boom--!"
A deafening explosion rang out in front of Giyu.
Two extremely repulsive forces can never be perfectly integrated.
The moment they left the blade, they tore and clashed with each other, instantly transforming into an uncontrollable, violent shockwave.
The shockwave shot out from the ground, carving a terrifying trench a hundred meters long into the earth.
The strong wind blew the stray hairs from Giyu's forehead.
He maintained his swinging stance, looking down at the knife in his hand.
The blade withstood the attack.
Giyu silently sheathed his Nichirin Blade, a hint of helplessness flashing across his face.
"However, the repulsive force of the attributes is too great, and the fusion is still unsatisfactory."
The two forces not only failed to achieve the effect of "1+1>2", but also lost their precise striking path due to mutual repulsion.
If this were used on Muzan, it might blow off half of his body, but it definitely wouldn't be able to precisely shred those hidden hearts.
Just then, a slow sound of footsteps came from the wooden corridor.
Tanjuro Kamado came out wearing a thick coat.
He had sensed Giyu practicing his swordsmanship from inside the house and was thinking of coming out to give the young swordsman some pointers, telling him the principles of Hinokami Kagura: "To have the sun in one's heart" and "to dispel the cold."
However, when Tanjuro walked to the backyard and saw what was happening before him, he froze completely.
He glanced at the gleaming Nichirin Blade in Giyu's hand, then at the terrifying ravine that ran through the entire backyard.
Tanjuro's gentle eyes widened slightly, his heart churning with turmoil.
Although the previous attack was clearly a product of a failed fusion, the lingering, tangible pressure in the air sent a deep shiver down Tanjuro's spine.
Tanjuro silently swallowed back the words of instruction he had intended to say.
He has absolutely no right to instruct this young man.
This isn't a person practicing swordsmanship; it's clearly a war god searching for a way to destroy the world!
Giyu noticed Tanjuro's arrival.
He turned his head, his expression as calm as if he hadn't been the one who had just blown up the backyard.
"Mr. Tanjuro."
Can the sun and the moon coexist?
Tanjuro looked into Giyu's earnest eyes, then shook his head with a wry smile.
"Mr. Tomioka, your current level of understanding has far surpassed what I can comprehend."
Tanjuro's tone was filled with genuine reverence.
"The sun's brilliance and the moon's desolation have always been relative. Perhaps you alone must find the key."
After hearing this, Giyu did not ask any further questions.
He lowered his head, sheathed his Nichirin Blade, and seemed lost in thought.
"Roar--!"
Suddenly, a roar shattered the morning's tranquility.
The terrifying energy fluctuations just now clearly alerted the creatures deep within Mount Kumotori.
"Snap--!"
A massive, blind bear, its size comparable to a small hill, charged wildly out of the forest.
The giant bear, its hibernation disturbed, its eyes red and its breath ragged, charged straight towards the backyard with a ferocious killing intent.
With each stomp of its thick bear paw, the snow trembled and fell in a flurry, like a heavy tank that had gone out of control.
"Ah! A bear!"
Takeo and Tanjiro, who had just peeked out of the house, turned pale with fright and screamed in terror.
Tanjuro's expression changed, and he instinctively tried to grab the axe beside him to protect the courtyard.
However, Giyu Tomioka, standing in the center of the courtyard, didn't even lift his eyelids.
He has already surpassed all Pillar-level beings, and his strength far exceeds that of Tanjuro.
Giyu casually picked up a small, ordinary pebble, no bigger than a fingernail, from the pile of shattered dirt.
He stared at the giant bear with its gaping, blood-red maw.
He flicked his finger lightly.
"Call out--!"
The tiny pebble broke the sound barrier the moment it left Giyu's fingertips, emitting a sharp, explosive sound like a sniper rifle bullet.
"Pfft!"
There was absolutely no suspense.
The pebble, like an armor-piercing bullet, pierced the bear's hard skull with unerring accuracy, drawing out a cloud of blood from the back of its head before disappearing into the depths of the distant snowfield.
"Boom!"
The giant bear's massive body slid forward several meters along the snow before finally coming to a steady stop at Giyu's feet.
One hit kills!!
Clean and efficient, without a trace of worldliness.
The backyard fell silent immediately.
Tanjiro dropped open, while Takeo rubbed his eyes, completely unable to believe what he was seeing.
How could a single pebble instantly kill a giant bear that resembled a mountain god?
Giyu brushed the dust off his fingertips, as if he had done something insignificant.
He turned his head and looked at the Kie Kamado was still standing on the wooden veranda holding a washbasin.
Water Hashira's tone remained as calm as ever, without the slightest ripple.
"Lady Kie."
Giyu pointed to the giant bear, as big as a small mountain, at his feet.
"A snack at lunchtime."