11. Fifth Form; Sea of Flames!!

The blue eyes stared down at Shiro, watching his every move, trying to infiltrate his mind. Shiro was strong, yes, but he hadn't ever fought properly against a mental ability.

He could feel something penetrate his mind as he looked into the eyes staring down at him and his body froze.

'No no no, dammit! Snap out of it!' he shouted to himself.

Visions flashed through his mind. They showed himself, in the forest near his master's cabin, stabbing his sword through his heart. These visions continued to replay themselves over and over like it was hypnotizing him.

Shiro's hand holding his sword slowly raised up and his other hand came to hold the hilt while directing the blade at his heart.

'Fuck! It's the eyes! I need to stop staring at them!'

A drop of sweat fell down his face as Shiro mentally fought with himself trying to regain control over his body.

The suicidal visions continued to assault his mind ruthlessly. It was trying to confuse him between what was real and what wasn't. Shiro kept chanting in his head;

'It's not real, it's just a trick. It's not real, just a trick. It's not real, just a trick...'

'C'mon Shiro!! You've still got shit to do here!! You can't fail now!'

Suddenly, it seemed that something in him was awakened and he felt his mind reconnect to the nerves of his body. The visions began to blur and Shiro took this opportunity to close his eyes.

The moment he did, the visions completely vanished, and his hands immediately directed the nichirin sword away from his body.

Cold sweat formed on his back as he thought about how close he was to committing suicide via mind manipulation.

"Now you've really pissed me off," Shiro growled angrily. Something in him snapped and he kicked off the ground before spinning in the air and slicing downwards.

"Undying Flame Breathing! Fifth Form; Sea of Flames!!"

It was an original form that Shiro created.

Similar to the Sun Breathing's Clear Blue Sky form, this one used a circular motion to cut through objects and flesh. However, the sea of flames also conjured real flames which spread out through the movement and enveloped everything within reach.

One thing to note, Shiro's flames only harmed demons and creatures of darkness. It is harmless to humans.

In his mind space, Enmu screamed in agony as the burning pain grew more and more unbearable. His body suffered from the onslaught of the blazing fire that was rapidly spreading on his flesh. Every inch of his body was tortured by the stinging pain.

Suddenly, he shouted.

"NOOO!"

And his head was cut off.

Somewhere in the basement, Shiro had found the neck bone of Enmu and had used a vertical slash to cut through it, effectively 'beheading' the demon.

The flames spread out to every corner of the building that was covered in flesh and proceeded to eat up every last bit of it until there was nothing left.

Once the flames died down and the Lower Moon demon disintegrated, Shiro let out a tired sigh and sheathed his sword.

The building was terribly damaged to the point the entire place needed a full renovation. The humans who would wake up tomorrow, or rather, in a couple of hours would think a hurricane just blew through here.

Shiro suddenly coughed and a bit of blood came out of his mouth.

Now that the adrenaline had disappeared, he felt the aches and pains on his body as well as a familiar burning pain in his lungs from using his breathing technique.

He let out a couple more coughs before quickly making himself scarce from the inn.

- - - -

[Ding! You have successfully killed a Lower Moon demon!]

[Ding! You have completed a quarter of the Side-Mission: Kill at least two Upper Moon demons, and two Lower Moon demons (1 / 4)]

[Rewards: 500 System Coins, All stats increase by 3]

Shiro sat on his futon scrolling through the translucent screen that was in front of him. He was currently in the process of resting. He had purchased and consumed a healing potion but that only healed his injuries. It didn't give him energy.

"Show my current stats," he ordered.

[Name: Shiro] [Age: 16] [Level: 40]

[Strength: 103] [Stamina: 105] [Flexibility: 103] [Intellect: 75] [Speed: 103]

[Skills: Hand-to-Hand Combat, Advanced Martial Arts, Advanced Swordsmanship] [Breathing Style: Breath of the Undying Flame > Four Forms> First Form: Way of the Flame, Second Form: Ashened Road to Harmony, Third Form: Scorching Hell, Fourth Form: Warm Hearth's Embrace, Fifth Form; Sea of Flames || Breath of the Sun > First Form: Enbu]

[Special Skills: Tracking (Active), Perception (Active)]

[Note: All stats increase by 5 during the use of Breathing Techinque]

"Hmm, not bad. Not bad at all," Shiro grinned. "To think I got so strong in such a short time...it's incredibly fascinating and shocking."

But Shiro knew he shouldn't be arrogant. He learned his lesson already and knew that he still needed to get stronger. The Upper Moons would be much tougher opponents to face and then there was Muzan himself.

"But my plan seems to be working. To think Muzan would send his Lower Moon Rank 1 after me...I feel honored," Shiro thought with a chuckle.

He was certain that Muzan felt that he was a small nuisance. He probably assumed that Enmu would be able to kill him but now that he is dead...

'I'll probably be promoted from a nuisance to a threat,' concluded Shiro with a mocking smile.

Shiro felt the tiredness from tonight's battle begin to seep into him and he closed the system interface before lying on the futon and pulling up the cover.

His window was open revealing the bright moon in the sky.

'Come to think of it, Tanjiro, Inosuke, and Zenitsu should be on their mission together. They should be headed to Mt. Natagumo soon where that other Lower Moon demon resides.'

Shiro hummed at the thought and sat up again. He grabbed a piece of paper and a pen with some ink. Then, he started writing something.

'Those Hashiras won't take well to Nezuko being a demon. I should probably head home for a bit and report to Ubayashiki. Hopefully, this letter arrives there before I do.'

- - - -

Asakusa, Tokyo.

A lady, or rather, a man dressed as a lady was sitting inside a house delicately reading something. All of a sudden, a report came to him delivered by a servant.

Placing down his book, the man opened it up and read it.

His formerly calm appearance contorted and he slammed the paper down on the table.

'Shiro, disciple of Minamoto Hiranaga...how irritating.'

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A/N: Taking a short break to stock up on more chapters. Will publish again next week.