chapter 22

Chapter 22 - Michikatsu

"Who are you? Where are you taking him?" he asked with a dignified voice. His demeanor was confident and commanding. "He must be very powerful."

"Well, I think you shouldn't tell a stranger about your plans and identity," I said playfully. "You're not a demon, yet not entirely human either. Either way, I just need to kill you."

"First form of Moon Breathing: Dark Moon, Night Palace," a swift horizontal slash with a crescent shape approached me. I immediately dodged the blow upwards and jumped back at the same time. "Quick," I thought.

I immediately dropped the slayer in my hand, as he would be a nuisance during the fight. He may also die in the middle of the fight. I noticed that his Nichirin sword was purple.

He immediately sent several cuts in my direction as I defended them perfectly. "You've learned martial arts. You've reached perfection in some," he praised me.

"The same could be said of you. All of your strikes are quick and accurate. You're very talented," I replied.

"You don't know the meaning of talent if you think I'm talented," he answered oddly. "There is a bit of bitterness in your voice," I thought as I took a spear from my bone.

We both engaged in hand-to-hand combat as we exchanged blows. He swung his sword straight into my abdomen, I blocked it with my spear, turned, and aimed at his lower jaw. He leaned back and sent an upward blow in my direction. I easily avoided and sent a powerful blow from my spear.

He hurriedly defended it, but still went flying for the sheer force. He coughed up a lot of blood. "Argh," he groaned, but quickly recovered using his breath. He increased his focus by recognizing that I'm not a very easy target.

"Fifth Form: Spirit of the Moon, Calamitous Whirl," he sent several overlapping curved cuts, creating a rising vortex of sword blows. Instantly, many bones projected all over my body, producing a layer of bones that acted like armor.

After the vortex ended, I sent out the protruding bones as projectiles that spun rapidly. He avoided some and used his sword to deflect some. But two bones impaled his arms. "Impaled Porcupine," I announced my attack as many bones were produced from the two bones impaling his arm. Half of his left arm was full of bones, making it useless.

I didn't use digestive enzymes, as I didn't want to kill him yet. "Aargh Aargh," he screamed in pain as some tears fell from his eyes. He had trouble breathing.

"Aah aah aah," he immediately controlled his breathing and recovered a bit. I approached and used my spear to attack him repeatedly. While he had trouble defending. I sent some veins underground and tied them to his feet, sucking his strength. Soon he realized.

"Second Form: Moon Observation in Pearl Flower," he created a hail of cuts that defended him from my blows and cut the veins.

I couldn't retreat in time and noticed some scratches on my hand. Small amounts of blood flowed from it.

"The Nichirin blades hurt me. The burns annoy me a little. Your breathing style is very versatile. You have long-range attacks, short-range attacks for both attack and defense. The sun will rise soon. I'll end this quickly."

"What's your name?" I asked him.

He hesitated a little, but still answered.

"Michikatsu Tsugikuni."

"Well, Michikatsu, do you want to become something bigger than a human? Something that will give you more power?" I asked him in a seductive tone.

Based on my interaction with him, I deduced that he had a complicated and bitter relationship with someone. He also has intense jealousy of this person.

"Maybe I can use this to turn you into a vampire."

After the initial shock of hearing my words and some hesitation, he replied, "I refuse."

"Truly a loss," I was a bit disappointed, although I didn't expect success. I decided to end this fight by showing the difference between a human and a superior species, although one of his hands was already out of service.

Soon many bones projected from my body. I controlled them to form a circle in front of my body and began to spin them rapidly. Their speed was insane, as the trees around them were sucked into the vortex.

Vortex of Death.

Michikatsu was quickly sucked into the swirling vortex of death. He stabbed his sword into the ground, but couldn't free himself from the vortex.

"Fifth Form: Spirit of the Moon, Calamitous Whirl," he created several overlapping curved cuts, creating a rising vortex of sword blows.

Both vortexes denied each other as he freed himself from the vortex. But he was far from safe.

Six whip-like bones extended from my back. They were like spider legs, but at the same time different. The tips of the whip are very hard and sharp, while the other parts are soft and spongy.

This allows these whips to have greater mobility, while being sharper and able to cause damage.

All the whips attacked Michikatsu simultaneously.

Soon his body was full of holes. Whenever he tried to cut the whips, they became very soft, unable to cut them. He had trouble holding back the whip.

"Shit, shit. Sixth Form: Perpetual Night, Lonely Moon - Incessant," he releases a wild volley of crescent-shaped cuts several meters in front of him. All the trees and plants around him were devastated in pieces.

"Ninth Form: Bands of the Waning Moon," he unleashed a series of long-range vertical and horizontal crescent-shaped blows.

As I dodged and dodged the blows, I looked at the miserable state of the thunder demon slayer. There were many cutting marks on his already severely injured body.

"How is he still alive? But it's still quite cruel of Michikatsu to attack wildly when his companion is around" "Is that all you've got, Michikatsu?" I shouted in a mocking tone. Soon, I was shocked to notice that a flaming pattern formed on Michikatsu's forehead. It grew to cover half of his face and appeared to be burning. "Isn't that the same as Tanjiro had?" I thought confusingly. As if he was no longer human, he came in front of me at an insane speed. "First Form: Black Moon, Night Palace," his purple sword momentarily turned red as he delivered a huge horizontal blow. I blocked it with my spear, but then it broke into pieces and part of my flesh was cut. I realized that my regeneration had slowed down. 'That red blade slowed down my regeneration. I wonder why? And the mark is not common. It seems to give extraordinary powers to killers.' I immediately swung all my whips at insane speeds. But once again I was shocked to see that Michikatsu was dodging all my blows. Not a single blow hit him. 'It seems he's reading and predicting my attacks' "I finally reached the Transparent World," I heard his triumphant voice.

End of chapter