Kanae and Shinobu Kocho

"Ha ha ha, it seems you truly respect your master!"

Akaza laughed loudly. "There's no need to be modest. Among all the humans I've encountered, your swordsmanship is the strongest. No one can surpass you in pure swordsmanship!"

Makomo's master was a hundred times stronger than her?

Akaza naturally could not take such obvious words of humility and respect seriously. Leaving aside whether Makomo's master was truly stronger than her, even if he was, the difference could not be that great.

They were most likely about evenly matched.

Akaza understood clearly that strength had its limits. Swordsmanship like Makomo's was already the most flawless and supreme he had ever seen. He could not imagine any swordsmanship stronger than it. Perhaps none existed at all.

Perhaps Makomo's master knew Breathing Styles and could wield slightly greater strength alongside his swordsmanship, just like that Upper Rank One who possessed both Breathing Styles and a Blood Demon Art, but he could not be much stronger.

After all.

Humans had limits.

Only by abandoning humanity and becoming a demon could one break through those limits and obtain a stronger body and greater power.

"What perfect swordsmanship, what exquisite swordsmanship! Yet I feel sorrow, because such ultimate swordsmanship is disappearing!"

Akaza threw punch after punch as he battled Makomo fiercely. "You're so young, and you can maintain such a peak, but how many years can you keep it up?"

"Thirty years? Forty years?"

"Become a demon like me!"

"Then we can fight forever, and your perfect swordsmanship will not disappear! To cultivate such flawless swordsmanship, you are someone chosen by heaven. Don't let it fade away like this!"

Amid thunderous booms as the ground split apart, Akaza's fanatical voice rang out without end.

"Become... a demon?"

Makomo's gaze paused slightly. In an instant, scenes of