You'll Be Happy, Then

Under the silver moon, two figures unlike any ordinary humans stood tall.

After adjusting her condition, Yuko lightly drew the Demon Blade across her palm. A few drops of blood fell to the ground, and the dark-red blood slowly spread across the blade, transforming the snow-white, sacred sword into a true Demon Blade.

Yuko raised the dark-red Demon Blade and held it beside her cheek.

Yoriichi's expression shifted slightly, and his opening stance changed.

This rough opening stance was a Sword Style he had never seen before.

Yuko's concentration reached an unprecedented level. The frustration of being instantly defeated moments ago had been so overwhelming that she somewhat understood Kokushibo now.

Veins bulged on the back of Yuko's hand as she tightened her grip on the hilt.

"Brother, here I come."

The moment her voice fell, under Yoriichi's gaze through the Clear and Transparent World, the muscles in Yuko's legs contracted, and her body suddenly leaped high into the air.

Looking at the figure revealed beneath the moonlight, Yoriichi's expression became somewhat strange.

What kind of form was this?

Was it really this exaggerated?

The next moment, he understood.

"Snow Breathing: Tenth Form: Moonlit Snowfall!" Yuko twisted her body, and a white-violet aura spilled forth.

As Yuko's body turned, the blood-colored Demon Blade swept out a perfect arc through the air.

A huge blood-red full moon, its head and tail joined together, rippled through the air. Its diameter alone was a full six or seven meters.

Was this the Sword Style after being enhanced by the Blood Demon Art?

Yuko herself was astonished. She had never expected its range to increase to this extent.

In her human state, this form could reach only as far as the length of the blade at most. But now, its range had multiplied several times over.

Under Yoriichi's astonished gaze, it seemed as if the full moon in the sky had truly fallen and was crashing down toward him.

It wasn't over yet.

Yuko's body spun another full circle in midair.

"Snow Breathing: Tenth Form: Moonlit Snowfall: Double Strike!"

Two interlacing blood-red full moons crashed down.

Although the two had chosen a relatively open area for their battle, the enormous range of the Sword Style enhanced by the Blood Demon Art still brushed against the trees on both sides. They were instantly severed without the slightest resistance.

Faced with a sword technique beyond human comprehension, Yoriichi instinctively chose to evade.

Yoriichi took two steps back and looked up into the air. Behind the full moons that had yet to completely descend, Yuko's figure had disappeared.

Was she using the Sword Style to conceal her form?

This was different from the mist produced by Mist Breathing. Instead, she was borrowing a wide-ranging attack to force her enemy to focus entirely on it, concealing her next move.

But...

Yoriichi's keen senses drove him to spin around at top speed.

Not far behind him, Yuko's rapidly approaching figure entered his eyes.

The structure of Yuko's body appeared in his pupils without the slightest concealment.

That movement of her raised hand, and the control of her muscles...

Was this Scorching Bone Fla—no!

A ripple appeared in Yoriichi's expression.

"Snow Breathing: Ninth Form: Sun Flame Snow." A triumphant smile appeared at the corners of Yuko's lips. Blood-colored flames ignited in Yoriichi's eyes and rapidly closed in.

Yuko had actually developed this move for Kokushibo, who was familiar with Sun Breathing.

Since, with their realms equal, the two sides could rely only on their basic physical qualities, there was no way she could defeat Kokushibo in the state she had been in back then.

That was why she had created a Sword Style whose preliminary movements were almost identical to Sun Breathing: Sixth Form: Scorching Bone Flame Sun.

It was meant to make the opponent jump to conclusions and catch them off guard.

As the facts proved, it worked quite well.

It had fooled not only Kokushibo. Even Yoriichi had instinctively made the wrong judgment.

The eyes could not lie, but people could.

Just as the blade in Yuko's hand neared Yoriichi's neck, before Yoriichi had time to react, Yuko stopped her movement.

After all, Yoriichi could not regenerate after being beheaded.

Yet the instant she withdrew her strength, Yoriichi drew his blade.

So fast!

The movement had almost formed an afterimage in Yuko's eyes. The iron blade in Yoriichi's hand had already pressed down on her long sword.

The iron blade pinned down her long sword at an extremely tricky angle. Bright sparks flew as it scraped across the blade wrapped in her flames, and Yuko's pupils reflected the rapidly enlarging iron blade.

Too fast.

Even though her eyes could see it, her body could not evade.

A faint, searing pain came from her neck. As her severed head fell, Yuko desperately looked toward Yoriichi's figure.

That ordinary iron blade had somehow produced blood-colored flames resembling a Scarlet Blade under the friction of her Sword Style.

Her head struck the ground and rolled several times.

"Ptui, ptui."

The sound of Yuko spitting dirt from her mouth brought Yoriichi back from his daze.

Yoriichi hurriedly sheathed his long sword, picked up Yuko's head, and gently wiped the dirt from the corner of her mouth.

"Are you all right?"

"...I'm not." Yuko was beginning to question her life.

A move that had once nearly severed Kokushibo's neck had now been easily countered by Yoriichi.

The same understanding, but different reactions.

Kokushibo, I understand you now.

Seeing her dejected expression, Yoriichi knew she was fine.

He smiled and said, "That was an excellent Sword Style. I almost failed to react in time."

"Really?" Yuko looked at him suspiciously. "Really only almost? It wasn't more like 'a billion times'?"

"Really." Yoriichi was already used to sometimes not understanding what his younger sister was saying.

Besides, he was not lying.

Yuko's attack had genuinely amazed him.

That move just now had been a completely instinctive counterattack.

And instinctive counterattacks were often impossible to hold back.

Although it offered her a tiny bit of consolation, Yuko still let out a long sigh.

"Whew, this has dealt a serious blow to my confidence. It's extremely detrimental to my growth."

"..." Yoriichi was speechless.

The gold in Yuko's eyes gradually faded. She raised her head and stared blankly at Yoriichi with her wine-red eyes.

Yoriichi stood motionless.

Yuko suddenly tilted her head, as if confirming something. A slight change appeared in her expression.

Suddenly, she murmured, "Hmm, but it seems there is at least one area where I'm not completely without an advantage."

Yoriichi looked slightly puzzled.

Yuko raised her hand and gestured above their heads.

"Look, I'm taller than you now, right?"

Yoriichi was stunned for a moment. He looked over the top of Yuko's head and immediately fell silent.

Yoriichi was a little shorter than Kokushibo, so Yuko's height of 1.7 meters, plus her twenty-centimeter horns, did indeed make her slightly taller than him.

But...

It was completely useless.

As long as she was happy.

For some reason, Yoriichi did not want to continue chatting about this topic, so he changed the subject. "The Breathing Technique you used just now combined Sun Moon Breathing, right?"

Yuko nodded repeatedly and smiled. "Mm-hmm. Impressive, right?"

Yoriichi smiled along with her. "As expected of Yuko. You're truly talented."

This was genuinely impressive.

Combining all kinds of Breathing Techniques one by one was no simple matter.

Every Breathing Technique had a different breathing method, rhythm, and even style.

For example, the solidity of Stone Breathing, the gentleness of Water Breathing, the sharpness of Wind Breathing, and the passion of Flame Breathing...

To combine them one by one was not as simple as the elementary equation of one plus one equaling two.