Chapter 14: Rest In Peace
[Seiji's POV]
"What do you think you're looking at brat? I don't like your eyes, they give me the creeps." the hand demon said with a mock shiver.
It was a little tricky to read his lips since, well he didn't have one. But I was able to decipher what he was saying from the vibrations and the movement of his giant throat.
His form was an abomination, it was ugly put together. Its grotesque physical features felt like a psychopath created something even he would find revolting.
What a bad day to have eyes.
The scent of two-day-old corpses mixed with the stench of the demon made me want to puke. For the first time, I regretted training the sensitivity of my other senses.
I hate it.
I hate him.
"Not answering? Well, that's just fine." the hand demon said and the arms around his body moved. My eyes had some trouble keeping up with it because his body was so different from a human's.
Muscles started forming out of nothing and bones snapped into unpredictable directions and the blood flow was also unnatural. It did not feel like I was looking at a living thing, it felt like I was looking at water.
For the first time in a while, I could not read body language.
Fighting was not a conversation.
Actions talked but it was gibberish.
I guess I finally found a new weakness I always had. It was demons like him with no concrete form and were in an ever-changing state.
"I will make you SCREAM!!!" the demon yelled and then five hands shot towards me at ridiculous speed.
My eyes widened, and my brain tried to make sense of the hands that were somehow reaching out to me. They were still connected to the same body but they were elongating at incredible speed.
Nevertheless, the world was still moving in slow motion for me. I reacted quickly, without wasting a single movement. I spun the blade in my hand and with the swiftness of the wind, I cut all of his hands in different joining angles.
That was not the end though, from where I cut one hand, two took its place and they reached out to me. I was forced to move away so I rolled to the side and ran away as the hands followed me.
They were incredibly fast, I could see how the demon was controlling the hands and forcing them to push forward but it did not make sense. I conclude that it was his blood demon arts, something along the lines of flesh manipulation.
I placed one foot on the ground and turned towards the incoming hands, I counted thirteen. I took a deep breath and used my own breathing to enhance my physical stats.
Learning from what happened before, the demon did not reach for me blindly. Instead, his arms became whips, without bones, and they lashed at me from all directions.
But my enhanced body was more than capable of matching his speed so I parried the flurry of attacks that came my way. My arm became an afterimage as I parried fifty attacks in five seconds.
"You are strong, but not strong enough!!" the hand demon yelled. I was deaf yet the sharp gust of wind that came from his shout sent a tingle down my spine.
The hands morphed into one giant hand that was able to cast a shadow over my entire body. I leapt back and the hand slammed on my previous position, leaving a hand crater where I once stood.
Then the hand demon tried to be sneaky by sending his hands underground. I could see his barely hidden grin as the hand finally reached right under me. They popped out from the ground, trying to grab my feet but such attempts were honestly pathetic to my eyes.
I did a backflip and cut the hands with ease.
"Huh? You saw that coming. That's new." the hand demon said, My feet landed on the ground and I straightened my back and took a bold stance.
I was afraid of many things.
But an ugly piece of shit like him was not one of them.
"You got some pretty tricks up your sleave, and you look young." his eyes turned into slits, like the eyes of a playful cat.
"You have a bright future as a Demon Slayer. This will make it all the more satisfying!!" he screamed and he turned himself into a ball.
His hands wrapped tightly around his body. More arms started growing from his body and wrapped around him until he became a sphere like a ball.
"That's new." I said. I didn't know he could do that.
Then he rolled towards me at incredible speed. His body was huge so I had to push myself off the ground with all my strength.
I jumped above his rolling body, dodging him.
A hand shot out from his rolling body but I saw it. I swiftly cut it off before it reached me.
His body rolled into the forest and felled any trees that were on his way. The ground shook and a trail of dirt was left behind in the wake of his unorthodox attack.
"YOU CAN'T RUN NO MORE!!!" he screamed and then he rolled towards me again. He had gained enough momentum and he was even faster than before.
My eyes released a purple glow while I analyzed his body. I learned the pattern of his rotation and in a split second, I calculated where and when he would leave an opening.
A scene of the future played in my mind, and I was able to cut off his head in one clean strike.
I acted on that future.
I gripped the sword in my hand, it was getting brittle and would surely break if I did not land a clean slice. I took in huge gusts of air from my mouth and they turned into flames.
I felt my body heat up.
Here's a thing about learning breathing style with eyes like mine.
After you learn each form, you become familiar with them like you would with words. After learning the meaning of a word, you can use it in different sentences. Similarly, after you learned the concept of one form, you could apply it in different attacks.
"Flame Breathing, Esoteric Art : First Form."
My legs pushed me off like a bullet.
"Unerring Fire."
The timing was impeccable.
My eyes and my perfect movement allowed me to slice the demon right when his head was on top while he was still rolling rapidly.
The top of the ball - his head - was neatly chopped off. A trail of fire followed my perfect movement to create a mesmerizing display of light.
The demon's body immediately lost strength and it stopped contracting into a ball. His head fell on the ground with a thud, eyes widening to the limit in shock while he watched his own body stumbling into a pitiful fall.
"What happened?" he asked himself, his final words.
..
..
I released a long breath and I watched the nicirin blade break into pieces after my attack. I figured the old sword was not going to hold on for long, especially after executing my own technique.
Esoteric Art, it literally means secret or unique art.
A breathing user was able to accomplish such arts after fully mastering thier breathing style. They created thier own forms or versions of an attack. Rengoku's Flame Breathing ninth form and Giyu Water Breathing eleventh form was such an example.
However, I was able to shortcut that and create my own different forms of a breathing style after learning just one.
I was just special like that.
The 'Flame Breathing First Form : Unknowing Fire' was an attack in which the user dashes towards the enemy and delivers a horizontal slash at the enemy from a blind spot. It required great timing and situational awareness to attack the enemy's blind spot.
My own version of it, 'Esoteric Art First Form : Unerring Fire' was just that but even more deadly as I predicted the future with my eyes and then I attacked based on that future with impeccable timing.
The perfect movement also helped me achieve this as there was literally not even a millimetre of mistake in my attack. I attacked at the right place, at the right time, without flaw.
It was certain death.
I threw away the sword hilt on my hand and relaxed my body. The aftermath of an adrenaline dump was always exhausting.
I stood in my place for a minute before I walked to the dozen corpses the hand demon had stored for his meal.I swiftly checked their body and took their nichirin blade off thier dead bodies.
Then I spent the rest of the night digging a hole to bury thier bodies. By sunrise, I was able to bury all of them and after holding a short funeral and giving respect, I left the barren clearing.
I hoped they rest in peace, knowing that I had avenged thier death.
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