Upper Rank Three Arrives - Kai and Shinobu vs Akaza!

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Chapter Begins:

Kai fell like a raindrop, his eyes closed and his brows furrowed.

A rainy blur on the roof dashed towards him and caught him in its arms. Both the blurry figure and he landed outside the inn, a distant purple lightning bolt flashing on their faces.

Kai opened his eyes and found Shinobu looking at him.

I fell into the trap, he thought calmly. Shinobu told me that to leave the dream realm, one must kill oneself. She must have come out of the dream and killed the demon. Her timing just happened to match my suicide by exploding myself in the dream. Sigh!

It was clear that Kai had mixed up a lot of things, making assumptions and filling the gap of memories while he had been dreaming.

Because of the turmoil of emotions, he even failed to consider that he had blown himself up dozens of times within the dreams, so how could only the last explosion count as suicide?

For a long time, what happened within Kai's Inner World was bound to remain a mystery even to him.

"Is everyone in the inn OK?" Kai asked, propping himself up.

Shinobu observed Kai's eyes for a moment before nodding at him.

 "They all are in a deep sleep," she said, looking at the wooden box. "How did you kill — "

"…?"

But just as the Insect Hashira was about to ask the same question that Kai was thinking of, a meteor fell some hundred meters away from them, splitting the rocks.

Boom!

Shinobu's face paled instantly, and even Kai's pupil shuddered, sensing the dense killing intent and the power behind it.

He looked to his right, beyond the path leading to the distant town, and in the wide open, rocky field saw the demon crouching, looking at them.

Upper Rank Three demon!

The words exploded in Kai's mind.

He was the same demon that he had fought on the cliff.

Only later did Kai get to know from Shinobu that by the time he had arrived, she had already poisoned the demon, weakening him by a significant amount.

"Hashira!" Akaza shouted, his voice tearing through the hailstorm. "We meet again. And the traitor is with you, too. Haha! Splendid!"

Kai and Shinobu stood up, both unsheathing their swords.

The Insect Hashira, despite the heaviness on her face, giggled.

"Ara!" she exclaimed, smiling, maneuvering the stinger sword in her hand with uncanny expertise. "Someone would mistake us as friends if we were to meet a third time after this."

Unlike her sarcastic remarks, Kai knew the truth about their situation.

Shinobu was still not at her peak. Inside him, Selene was still sleeping. Kai was stronger than the Kai who had fought the Flame Hashira. Yes.

But was he strong enough to take down the Upper Rank Three demon?

Kai scowled at the prospects.

Her confession came unannounced, the storm slowing down to marvel at her fleeting voice.

"The moon is beautiful, isn't it?"

What moon? The entire sky was hidden by the thickest and darkest layer of clouds, filled with snaky bolts of lightning.

And between the eyes and those clouds was a storm; rain, hail, and sound, blinding the eyes and deafening the ears.

Who could see a moon at this time, even if it was there somewhere in the sky, trying to pry open the clouds with its pale moonlight?

But when Kai's eyes turned to face her, he found Shinobu looking at him, her tiny smile filled with gentleness.

Kai smiled back at her, taking a deep breath.

"It is," he nodded, the leftover sleepiness and broken dreams abandoning him finally. "It couldn't have been any more beautiful."

A devastating punch had already arrived near Kai's head.

"Weak should die first." Akaza's words reached their ears with a murderous outcome.

Kai didn't even flinch.

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

A new sound suddenly infused itself into the storm, like the cries of a thousand cicadas.

Those who had already awakened their Bankai didn't need to chant the Release Call of their Swords' Shikai, Shinobu had told Kai.

At this time, her sword, Higurashi, was already in its released state.

Shinobu stung, her sword piercing through and through the demon's arm before his fist could reach Kai's head and flung him far away.

Kai unsheathed the third sword, One Half of the Power Sword, slowly facing the distant demon.

Akaza's left hand had gotten sliced in half from its elbow to fingers by Shinobu, but in the very next moment, both parts attached themselves.

Even for Kai, a Contestant, this regeneration was mind-boggling.

Kai lifted his sword towards the sky, and a lightning bolt struck the tip of the sword. In the next moment, the sword became armor, covering his right arm, chest, and waist.

In the distance, Akaza looked at this scene with sheer fascination.

"You two seem to have decided to die," he said, taking a pose. "So here I come."

Blood Art - Technique Development…

Akaza's martial pose looked extremely domineering, and under his feet, a blue-colored light shone, creating a snowflake-shaped compass.

… Destructive Death!

Almost instantaneously, Kai sensed the demon could see through him, all his hidden tactics lying bare for him to see.

A grin surfaced on Kai's face.

"Would you like to dance with me?" he asked, his eyes planted on the demon.

Shinobu looked up at him. "Mmm-hmm."

No more words and the three of them vanished.

Insect Breathing - Dance of the Bee Sting…

Shinobu was like a purple stroke of the brush in the darkness, the buzz of insects becoming a screech in her wake.

… True Flutter!

Akaza's fists were wrapped in blue light, and he punched at the tip of the sword.

Suddenly, Kai appeared behind Shinobu, and the red jewel on his forehead rippled.

Akaza's entire figure slid towards the left as though he had just given up on defending, letting the sword pierce his chest.

Higurashi entered Akaza's chest with a bloody squelch!

But before the demon could even do something, Kai pulled back Shinobu and her sword using Telekinesis and hacked at him with Afro's Tachi.

Akaza punched with his left hand, and a shockwave deflected the sword.

His right punch landed on Kai's chest, sending him flying. But when Kai's feet left the ground, Shinobu's petite figure pounced on Akaza like a hidden weapon, once again piercing Akaza's chest, widening the already bloody puncture before backing up.

Akaza let out a shout and threw out several punches at Shinobu's retreating figure.

Technique…

The barrage of punches created shockwaves and lifted the Insect Hashira off her feet as she tried to parry them using her sword.

… Air Type!

Kai used Telekinesis to pull down Shinobu, making the shockwaves fly overhead. Then, he lifted his sword, Murasame, like a spear, and threw it at Akaza.

The cursed sword screeched as it went over Shinobu's head, cutting a few of her wet hair.

Akaza's eyes widened!

"Haha!" he outrageously laughed, perhaps sensing the deadliest feeling rising within him. "Disorder!"

The demon motioned his hands in a spiral and then threw them back, creating a tremendous shockwave.

Booommmmm!

It sent Murasame flying off its path, struck Shinobu, and then slammed her into Kai!

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AN:

— The moon is beautiful, isn't it? - an indirect way of saying I love you.

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