After getting a rough feel for this Upper Rank Three's strength,
Tengen Uzui judged that his opponent had undergone a qualitative improvement compared to when he was human.
He was still no match for Gyomei.
But without using a Breathing Style, his opponent's physical fitness was actually above his own at this moment.
The improvement brought by demonization was truly staggering.
But...
If he used a Breathing Style to strengthen his body, that was another story.
The next second,
Tengen Uzui's flamboyant, dazzling barrage of slashes
suppressed [Dark Blade]'s offensive.
That figure whose back had seemed invincible to him in childhood
no longer seemed so powerful now.
Those efficient slashes, once impossible to detect through killing intent or sound, were now full of openings in his eyes.
That vein-covered body, and that repeatedly enhanced speed,
were not as fast as he had imagined, either.
His father... was indeed a little stronger than the Upper Rank Five he had beheaded with a single slash earlier.
But only by so much.
"You've gotten old..."
Tengen Uzui suddenly spoke.
Immediately afterward, the two broad blades that had just been all flash and wild abandon suddenly fell silent.
The change was so abrupt
that even Seshū in front of him and Gen'nosuke beside them instinctively thought something had gone wrong with their ears.
In reality, however, Tengen Uzui had changed how he used his two specially made Nichirin Blades.
They became the supremely efficient, silent blades of an assassin, their speed breaking the sound barrier.
They stabbed toward the openings in Uzui Seshū's defenses.
[Sound Breathing: Total Concentration]
[Seventh Form: Soundless]
Had this Upper Rank not barely managed to unleash his Blood Demon Art at the last moment,
liquefying and deforming the targeted areas to evade the Nichirin Blades,
his fine son might well