Flying Slash!

Tachibana's body rippled with flashes of lightning, and in the blink of an eye, he vanished from where he stood.

At that moment, Kokushibo, who had been watching from the side, suddenly narrowed his eyes!

"What's this?"

"Perfect control over his body!"

"To think he's grasped the Transparent World at such a young age..."

A flicker of ferocity passed through Kokushibo's eyes.

"Boom!!"

Akaza's punch missed, its force striking the air before him and producing a thunderous boom as if it had hit something solid.

"Thunder Breathing: Fourth Form: Distant Thunder Modified!"

Blue-and-yellow currents of electricity flashed across Kujo Tachibana's Nichirin Sword.

Before Akaza could launch another attack, Kujo Tachibana, who had retreated far away, drew his sword and swung at him from more than ten meters away!

In an instant, an arc of lightning burst from the Nichirin Sword and shot toward Akaza with a howl.

At the sight of the lightning, Akaza's battle instincts, ingrained in his body long ago, warned him!

He absolutely must not let that lightning touch his body!

"Destructive Death: Air Type!"

Akaza opened his palm and suddenly clenched it!

He swung his fists and, in an instant, punched the air before him twice!

The air was compressed at incredible speed, and two fist-shaped shockwaves shot toward the arc of lightning Kujo Tachibana had unleashed, like bullets!

"Bang..."

The lightning didn't slow them down in the slightest!

Akaza's shockwaves scattered it outright, then continued onward toward Kujo Tachibana without losing momentum.

Kujo Tachibana wasn't disappointed when Akaza's shockwaves interrupted the Fourth Form: Distant Thunder Modified, a technique meant to restrain his opponent.

Instead, he watched the shockwaves rushing straight at him with keen interest.

He didn't dodge.

Kujo Tachibana wanted to test how powerful this kind of attack was.

After adjusting the angle of his strike,

Tachibana held his sword horizontally to block. With a precise movement, his Nichirin Sword met both shockwaves at once.

The two sides began to struggle for dominance!

To feel the true force of the shockwaves, Kujo Tachibana didn't use any technique to deflect their power.

He simply braced against the two blasts and was shoved several meters backward.

His legs scraped along the ground, leaving two clear tracks behind.

Looking at the marks his legs had carved into the ground, Kujo Tachibana couldn't help thinking in amazement:

This move is pretty interesting...

He used a special technique to gather and compress the air around his fists.

Then he built up force and launched the compressed air, creating a ranged attack.

And it was quite powerful, which meant little force was lost as the energy traveled.

Akaza really was a genius!

By comparison, the Demon Slayer Corps had to use Nichirin Swords to actually sever demons' necks.

So swordsmen in this world tended to develop straightforward, close-combat techniques for facing demons head-on...

Meanwhile, the demons, free of such constraints, had Blood Demon Arts that were more flamboyant than the last!

The Blood Demon Arts of other demons were somewhat like innate talents they were born with, and couldn't be copied.

But!

Akaza was different. This guy relied on physical technique, and part of his Blood Demon Art was pure martial skill!

It was just that Akaza's body was so strong, and his martial arts so refined, that his techniques seemed especially overbearing.

Kujo Tachibana could learn these skills too!

For now, though, there was only one move of Akaza's that he was interested in.

"Destructive Death: Air Type!"

Kujo Tachibana gazed at Akaza with shining eyes and said bluntly:

"That attack you just used—please do it a few more times!"

(Kujo Tachibana: Akaza, put a little more force into it! Come on, beat me up...)

Akaza looked at Kujo Tachibana in confusion, unable to make head or tail of what he meant.

Fortunately, our Lord Akaza was fairly tolerant of the strong, and didn't refuse Kujo Tachibana's request.

"Destructive Death: Air Type!"

"Destructive Death: Air Type!"

"Destructive Death: Air Type!"

"Destructive Death: Air Type!"

"Destructive Death: Air Type!"

"Destructive Death: Air Type!"

Kujo Tachibana closed his eyes. As he dodged the shockwaves Akaza sent his way, he focused completely on sensing the subtle changes inside Akaza's body.

Especially in his fingers.

Akaza's handiwork was so precise! (So freaking cool.)

After firing off six shots, even Akaza was starting to struggle.

The repeated bursts and stretches had torn most of the muscle fibers throughout his body.

If he were human, he'd probably be in a vegetative state by now.

And because of certain specialized techniques, even the hardest parts of Akaza's body—his fingers—were split with fine cracks.

(Akaza's fingers are black. In the anime, when he fought the Flame Hashira, the black parts of his fingers took the blade without sustaining much damage.)

Feeling the attacks suddenly stop, Kujo Tachibana opened his eyes with slight displeasure and looked at Akaza scornfully.

It was as if he were saying: Is that all you've got?

That deeply insulting look!

It immediately got Akaza fired up again, and his body's recovery speed noticeably increased...

"Destructive Death: Air Type!"

"Destructive Death: Air Type!"

"Destructive Death: Air Type!"

"I see!"

After feeling Akaza's handiwork more than a dozen times, Kujo Tachibana had finally figured out the special technique and force application behind the move.

Looking at Akaza, who seemed completely spent, Kujo Tachibana didn't take advantage of him while he was down. He simply stood quietly to one side with his Nichirin Sword in hand.

He began working out his new skill.

"Flying Slash!"

Watching the man and demon stop at the same time in perfect unspoken agreement, Kokushibo's expression darkened!

His veins began to bulge!

"What are you two doing?!"

"Take this seriously!"

Kokushibo could barely contain his urge to act.

He was going to kill both of them!

Perhaps Akaza had sensed what Kokushibo was thinking.

Before his muscles had fully grown back, he stamped his foot heavily against the ground and launched another attack in Kujo Tachibana's direction!

This time, though, Akaza didn't use Air Type...

"Destructive Death: End Style: Chaotic Blue Silver Afterglow!"

Well!

Akaza had used his trump card!

This form could be considered one of Akaza's innate talents after becoming a demon, a skill he had naturally awakened upon turning.

After deploying his Compass Needle, Akaza could conjure hundreds of light projectiles out of thin air and fire them in every direction at once, with himself at the center.

They were fast and tremendously powerful. In the manga, even Tomioka Giyu's "Water Breathing: Eleventh Form: Dead Calm" couldn't fully defend against them.

But Tanjiro, after entering the Transparent World, dodged them perfectly.

So this flashy move would be even less effective against Kujo Tachibana...

As he watched the projectiles fill the sky, Kujo Tachibana moved in advance to dodge the attacks about to hit him.

At the same time, he raised his Nichirin Sword and vibrated the blade in a small, controlled motion, following a precise rhythm!

The next second!

Kujo Tachibana swung his Nichirin Sword hard toward Akaza!

With a soft "shing...,"

a white, nearly transparent crescent-shaped slash shot from Kujo Tachibana's Nichirin Sword!

In an instant, it crossed more than ten meters and flew straight toward Akaza's neck!

Akaza's eyes were filled with shock!

He knew perfectly well where that move had come from.

Still, Akaza hadn't expected this human to master the force application technique of Air Type, along with the special technique that went with it, in such a short time.

The Flying Slash was about to hit him, leaving Akaza no time to think. He clenched both fists and held the backs of his hands tightly against his neck to protect it!

"Shhk..."

The Flying Slash flashed past.

Akaza's fists and head hit the ground together!