Selfless Breathing and the Item Kai need the most!

Kai threw the object hovering over his palm on the table from where he had picked it up.

"What else is there to discuss today?" he asked.

Rintaro fumbled around in his pockets and took out a diary. He opened it and scratched off the Project Parseltongue entry.

"Uh," the Character mumbled, pressing his brows together, "I have a doubt, Mr. Storm."

"What is it?"

"Why aren't you practicing your Breathing Style? Shouldn't every second matter from what we have learned from Shino… I mean Ms. Butterfly."

"I had this doubt in my mind as well," Petyr added.

Kai sighed.

It truly was a brilliant question.

Breathing Styles, by nature, depended on practicing the Breathing Arts.

The more one trained on them, the better they would become. All demon slayers knew it, and such had been taught to Kai by Shinobu, too.

So why Kai wasn't practicing this Breathing Art all the time, rather than allotting only an hour from his 3 hours long Identity Period?

The answer wasn't something complex.

It was because there was no point.

The Breathing Styles, as known to the Demon Slayers, depended on regulating their blood circulation, bringing out power from its flow and rhythm.

The more they practiced it, the better their grasp became over this regulation.

With time, they could maintain this state longer, to the point that the top Demon Slayers, the Hashiras, could even maintain it constantly.

Hence the name — Total Concentration Constant.

Kai's Selfless Breathing Style differed too much from these Breathing Styles, though.

The power behind the Selfless Breathing Style didn't just come from blood flow regulation, but it went even deeper. Even though Kai hadn't derived this Breathing Style from Sun Breathing, it wasn't like there wasn't a model behind its creation.

Twin-Saber Style: Forbidden Technique - Serpent God's Wrath!

This technique lets Kai squeeze out all power from his body and concentrate it on a singular part of his body, like limbs or throat.

This power originated from every strand of his muscles, his tendons, his bones, his flesh, and his will.

Selfless Breathing diffused this power throughout Kai's body, boosting his base stats, with no chances of aftereffects.

This was what gave Kai's breathing a distinct bloody look as though his figure was burning in Blood Flames.

This method of breathing brought Kai unimaginable power for a short time, but it also hindered further growth.

With his current Stats, Kai could only squeeze out his body's true potential for 30 minutes.

Increasing this duration for even one minute could very well turn out to be an impossible task.

It was such a difficult procedure that Kai believed even hundreds of years of Breathing wouldn't let him reach the Total Concentration Constant.

For now, he must take it slowly, Kai knew. Half an hour of Selfless Breathing wasn't something one could casually overlook.

Then there was the matter of Transformations.

Unlike Demon Slayers' Breathing Styles, which had Forms, i.e. the ways in which a swordsman was meant to use the sword, Kai's Transformations weren't so simple for one simple reason.

The Transformation had originated from Comprehension, not training and hours of practice.

…

Take the First Transformation of the Selfless Breathing Style — Three-Headed Vritra.

It was a result of Kai's Comprehension during his fight with Akaza and this Comprehension revolved around only one word — Destruction!

Men, Women, Animals, Beings, Mortal, or Divine… Destroy everything!

A monstrous frontal charge fused with raw power, annihilating everything in its path. Even Kai himself couldn't alter its direction or stop it midway.

The extra arms and heads that Kai gained in this Transformation weren't real, but they weren't virtual as well.

Kai's Comprehension used his Selfless Breathing Style to reforge his fighting spirit, his Will, giving it a Transformation.

This Transformation manifested in the real world as Three-Headed Vritra, gaining ethereal substance.

So, in a sense, it was both real and false; coexisting like a paradox.

…

Hence the word Transformation, not Form, as it was a transformation of Self. And it could only be done by first discarding it.

This was a ridiculously powerful use of the Breathing Style, but it had similar drawbacks as well.

One must not forget that it was a Comprehension that had birthed it.

No one could train to comprehend or gain epiphanies and understandings because they just desired it.

Comprehensions dawned spontaneously.

Kai had learned his First Transformation in the battle because he was already Comprehending Selfless Breathing Style then.

The next Comprehension might dawn on him in the next moment, or it might come after a thousand years. None could say.

There was even a chance that he might never learn it, and the Selfless Breathing Style would die with only one Transformation to it.

This was the sole reason for Kai to not force his training.

3 hours of Breathing wouldn't change anything, so he might as well take it slow.

Kai told all this to the Characters, and the shadow of doubt vanished from their faces.

As he saw them relaxing, Kai nodded inwardly. It was he who had instructed them to ask any question related to him and his plans whenever they wanted.

Not only did it let Kai double-check his thoughts, but it also let him advance in his Comprehension of Facelessness, letting his mind wander away from Darcie's life.

"Let's move on," Kai said, gesturing towards the diary.

Rintaro flipped the pages, and then his eyes gave out a brilliant glint, the red of the fire becoming redder in his pupils.

"Yes, this one we must deal with first," he declared. "Mr. Storm, you should buy several packs of condoms…"

"…"

A trace of Kai's bloodlust seeped out of his calm eyes, and Rintaro shuddered, scratching the point off.

The scientist mumbled something under his breath, and then said, "We need scientific types of equipment for our research, Mr. Storm, and the sooner the better. Then there's the matter of the Philosopher's Stone as well. All in all, we need Mission Credits. Lots of them."

Petyr chuckled at Rintaro's side.

"There's even a bigger problem, my lord," he said, slyly. "Let's inspect our situation and what we must get and do in the future.

"Daemonologie, In Forme of a Dialogue, and its whereabouts.

"The supposed alive, and hidden dagger, Herpo the Foul.

"Ancient Magical Script and Parseltongue.

"The matter with Philosopher's Stone and Eon Soul Dew.

"Heh! Let's not forget about the minister and her plans.

"Not to mention, our main objective of coming to this World, Wandlore, hasn't even begun yet.

"And now there's this, the mysterious map of unknown origins, and obviously related to the Darkest Magic and era."

Littlefinger's every word was like a strike of lightning, jolting Kai's thoughts.

He ran his hands through his long white hair and couldn't help but frown.

"There's a labyrinth made of the thickest and most poisonous mist around us, my lord," Petyr told Kai, continuing the thunderous barrage. "We have no way to know in which direction we must go.

"From here onwards, every step would have drastic consequences on our plans. We can't afford a single divergence from some irrelevant branch in his labyrinth. We need something to point us in the right direction. We need it now."

Kai looked into Littlefinger's eyes and he knew what this Character was trying to say.

He closed his eyes, drummed his fingers, and let himself think over this suggestion for a few seconds.

At last, he had to nod.

"What's going on?" Rintaro asked, his head turning from Kai to Petyr, and then back to Kai. "Am I missing something here?"

"Petyr is saying that it is the most appropriate time for us to get our hands over that Item," Kai whispered, looking into the crackling fire. "Or one can take it as — Now or Never."

Rintaro's mouth gaped. "You mean…"

Petyr chuckled slyly. "Yes, it's even more important than a pack of condoms," he japed.

Kai ignored the Herald of Chaos, his eyes burning deeper into the blazing hearth, and words came out of his mouth like tongues of fire.

"Jack Sparrow's Compass!"

***************

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