Chapter 38: Infinity Train IV

Chapter 38: Infinity Train IV

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[Hybrid Style: Sun & Moon Dance]

Circulating the breath throughout his body in a specific pattern of motion, Ace seamlessly merged the graceful Lunar Flow Stance with the powerful strike of Solar Flare Strike.

By harnessing both techniques' unique breath circulation simultaneously, it accelerated his heart rate, flooding his whole body and brain with high amounts of oxygenated blood.

The result? Enhanced agility, strength, reaction speed, and cognitive processing—a state where it felt like time itself slowed down, enhancing all of his basic human abilities.

However, it came with its own equal repercussions. Overusing the brain and body simultaneously due to the technique would always leave one mentally and physically extremely exhausted..

Moreover, with the increased acceleration of blood throughout the body carries the risk of blood vessels rupturing and other internal injuries.

It's a technique that one would resort to only when going for the final blow. Even for Ace, it was something he can use only twice a day before falling unconscious, requiring a full day of rest for recovery.

This was also the reason Ace felt annoyed, having to use it on a lower moon. However, He had to finish things quickly here and join Rengoku.

With his enhanced abilities, dealing with the lower demons was not a difficult task, even if there were four of them.

They were not even able to react before all they could see was a glowing silvery-golden blade reaching near them.

All they could do was try to block it, but everything they did seemed futile as the glaive continued on its way, severing all of their bodies into multiple pieces.

This included their stone fists from 'Two,' spiked whips from 'Three,' the bloody claw from 'Four,' or the beastly jaw of 'Six.''

While still in his zone, Ace looked at the flesh tree where all of their life is stored, seeing Tanjiro and Inosuke giving him the opening he needed.

Focusing his mind on the exposed large white neck bone inside the tree, Ace did a small run-up. He pulled his left arm, turning his body counterclockwise, transferring the rotational force to his right arm and with full force, he threw his glaive at the target.

The glaive moved in an arc of golden light, piercing the tree right at the centre and utterly destroying the demon's neck.

Finally killing the demon at last.

.

.

.

.

Huff, Huff.

Ace knelt on one knee on the ground, breathing raggedly, trying to calm his racing heart. His whole body felt as if on fire as he sweated continuously.

He felt more drained after this single move than throughout the entire previous fight.

Taking slow, even breaths to calm his breathing, Ace slowly stood up and ran to the fallen demon to retrieve his glaive.

- x - X - x -

Enmu looked at his crumbling body as it slowly disappeared into the world without a trace.

'How could this happen?'

'I lost? Even after all the things I did.'

'I refuse! I am not going to die, no chance!'

'Yeah, it's ridiculous. How can I possibly die?'

'Yeah, it's all this human's fault because of him I couldn't even eat a single human!!'

'Now look at me! All the time and effort I put in!'

'And these pieces of shit couldn't even kill a single human with four of them combined who is not even a Hashira.'

'All my effort to fuse their hearts together with each other had led to waste.'

Enmu, to please his Demon Lord, had, for the first time, worked with his fellow Lower Moons and devised a plan to ensure the certain demise of the Hashira.

Using Kamanue's ability to fuse with living bodies as a base and Mukago's blood manipulation, along with Wakuraba's flesh manipulation for support, they were able to fuse their hearts together.

Through this fusion, they were able to use Kamanue, Mukago and Wakuraga blood demon art at the same time in sync to create extra bodies that could fight with equal amounts of their original strength and If one of these bodies perished, they could just form a new one without any delay.

The only flaw in their plan was the proximity requirement to control the bodies, which led to their decision to fuse their combined demon hearts with a tree inside the engine..

Enmu was growing more and more crazed from just thinking about all the things and work he had put in, and when he saw Tanjiro lying on the ground, his eyes went mad with hatred burning hotter than magma.

With the last part of his body that had not disappeared, he transformed it into a long, sharp knife and thrust it straight into Tanjiro's head, catching him off guard.

However, just as the knife was about to pierce him, a swift leg came and kicked the knife into oblivion.

"Huh?"

"Can't you just stay dead, ashole!" a mocking voice said.

He wanted to reply and tear this wretched human apart. He really wanted to, but he couldn't, as both his body and mind's last vestiges faded into nothingness.

- x - X - x -

"You okay, Tanjiro?" Ace asked.

"Huff, yeah, huff, I'm fine," Tanjiro said between his breaths.

"You recover; I am going to help Rengoku! There is one more demon in the attack, and it's an Upper Moon 3," Ace said in a hurry as he quickly left for the battle.

"U-Upper Moon 3?!" Tanjiro exclaimed in shock, realising there is one more demon, and it's even an Upper Moon.

Ace sprinted towards the battle area where Rengoku and Akaza were exchanging blow after blow with each other.

—Technique Development—

[Destructive Death: Compass Needle]

Deploying a compass underneath him with numbers from 1 to 10.

Akaza charged at Kyojiro with a punch straight to his head, but Rengoku countered it with his own charge and slashed Akaza's neck.

[Flame Breathing 1st form: Unknowing Fire ]

Akaza easily dodged the slash to his neck by jumping into the air and said, "Of all the Hashiras that have died by my hands, none of them were like you, but still, none of them accepted my offer."

"Why is that? I don't understand it!" Akaza punched the air several times so fast that several shockwaves launched themselves at Rengoku, while still in the air attacking him in several parts of his body.

"So I will again Kyojuro, Become Demon and we will reach the peak of Martial Arts together!!"

[Destructive Death: Air Style]

Seeing the air shockwaves closing in, Rengoku takes a sharp breath of air before spinning his swords in a circular motion at a fast pace, deflecting each shockwave away from him.

[Flame Breathing 4th form: Blooming Flame Undulation]

Rengoku looked at Akaza with conviction in his eyes and declared, "Never!!" Both of them charged at the same time at each other, deciding to engage in close combat.

Closing in on Akaza, Rengoku slashed at his neck, but Akaza punched the sword directly to deflect it before giving a roundhouse kick to Rengoku's head. Rengoku barely ducked his head to evade and thrust his sword onto the demon's neck. However, Akaza clasped the blade right before it could pierce him in the palm of his hands and gave a direct kick straight to Rengoku's stomach.

Anticipating the kick, Rengoku twisted his waist to dodge it, but the kick was fast enough to graze his stomach, tearing his shirt and leaving a small cut.

Seizing the opportunity, Rengoku pulled his sword back from Akaza hands and slashed it into Akaza's leg, slicing it apart before going for the neck. However, Akaza had already created some distance between them when he felt his leg separated.

"What a wonderful sword technique! And you are willing to let time wither it. Aren't you sad?" Akaza said.

"It's normal. That's what it means to be a human," Rengoku replied.

"Heh! You are foolish, too lost in your human identity rather than pursuing the peak."

Both of them with different ideologies clashed again. Akaza unleashed a barrage of extremely lethal and fast punches, each generating powerful shockwaves to create craters on the ground.

[Destructive Death: Disorder]

While Rengoku countered with multiple pinpoint slashes, each carrying enough power to manifest an aura of a tiger.

[Flame Breathing 5th form: Flame Tiger]

Boom.

The combination of both of their attacks clashing created a scene of destruction as the ground near them was filled with craters and slashes.

However, ultimately in the clash of exchanges, Rengoku proved to be the weaker one. He struggled to keep up with the barrage of punches and shockwaves.

His injuries began accumulating as he grew slower, unable to counter the punches. Soon, one was going to hit him straight in the body, and he wouldn't survive that.

Just as one of the punches was going to hit him in the head, something happened..

- x - X - x -

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