章 96: To be helpless

[Seiji's POV]

"Waaaaah! Whaaaah~" Daki sobbed like a little girl, "Why did you let him cut my head? It hurts it hurts~"

Gyutaro looked at the head of his little sister and his droopy eyes trembled with emotions. His love bred anger and hate in his heart as endless malice oozed out of his body.

Yet he didn't move.

His love and duty as a brother called for immediate action but his instincts as a warrior told him to stand down.

He knew instantly from one exchange that he stood no chance against me. He was strong, but only strong enough to know his helplessness against me.

"Ume...." he muttered as I grasped her hair tighter, causing her to moan in pain.

"Ume!!!!" he yelled and exploded in action.

In the end, love triumphs over everything - even fear and logic. My eyes narrowed and released an eerie glow while I watched him blitz towards me, both at the speed of a bullet and a turtle.

He was panicked and distressed so his movement did not have the finesse it usually had. He was madly running towards me, his action revealing more than it should upon my preying eyes.

I saw his weakness.

And I exploited it mercilessly.

I brought my sword out, without swinging it. I simply placed it at the level of his neck, so that if he continued without ducking, he would run into the blade and slice his own head off.

Then I waited - yes he was fast but I waited - until he appeared in front of me. His crimson sickle pulsed with a strange energy that corroded the air itself. The sharp end nearly found my head but my other arm reached up, bringing the head of Daki between me and the weapon.

!!!!!

I saw Gyutaro's eyes widen and he forced his own momentum to a stop. His body was crushed due to his own suppressed force and the ground opened up as a shockwave echoed.

*BOOOOM!!*

My blade bit an inch deep into Gyutaro's neck. His posture was in the middle of a swinging, stopping just a centimetre shy away from stabbing Daki.

In a contest of speed, Gyutaro was a coughing baby against a hydrogen bomb.

Both of them had wide eyes, they didn't look demonic, instead, they looked humane. They looked helpless.

The siblings met each other's gazes and they shared a silent moment of helplessness.

"This is too easy," I said, catching the attention of both siblings.

....

"Blood Demon art,"

I raised my eyebrow before my pupils dilated and I had to move my head to the side. A thin arc of sickly red blood came at me like a blade, aiming to nick at my neck. I knew they contained poison so I dodged it without letting it touch me.

Then I felt my arm went lighter. Gyutaro cut his sister's hair to release her from my grasp. All of it happened in a split second.

I could've easily stopped them but my lack of effort allowed them to escape.

Honestly, I thought they would stop a few distance away to recover and then they would both attack me. I thought we would continue the battle.

But nope.

Gyutaro held Daiki's head in his arms, leapt out of the deep crater and ran without even looking back.

"Oh," was the only thing that left my mouth as I watched them disappear.

It made sense to be honest. I had proven myself to be capable of slaying Upper Moon 2, and they just witnessed the proof of my achievements as well, so there was no way they would be willing to fight me.

Their ego as demons were not big enough to fill the power gap between us. There was no room for delusion and arrogance in front of my eyes.

I rubbed the back of my head with a wary smile before I jumped out of the crater as well. When I was on even ground, I crouched down low and loaded my body like a bow.

Sun Breathing.

I was still not able to use the forms but it was a huge boost in my overall strength. If I had used normal breathing styles, Gyutaro would've at least stood a chance against me.

If I had to explain it, I was halfway to being a Sun Breathing user. Imagine the Sun Breathing to be a working oven, I still only had the electricity to operate the oven but not the oven itself.

But that same electricity was strong and potent enough to operate the other appliances I had like the forms of different breathing styles.

And not only that, they worked better when they were fueled with Sun Breathing.

So I took a deep breath as the air I inhaled turned into yellow flames when they went into my lungs. Soon after, my eyes fully turned purple and purple lighting came alive around my body.

"Thunder Breathing : First Form,"

I turned into an afterimage and I shot towards the direction of Gyutaro and his sister. I moved at such incredible speed that I looked like a bolt of lightning to the naked eye.

In less than a second, I caught up to Gyutaro and I blitzed past him in a line of crackling purple.

He gritted his teeth when he saw me and then he stumbled.

No.

He looked down at his legs to realize that they had been cut clean off. He had no legs to step on, no feet to propel him forward. He immediately wrapped his arm around Daki to protect her and he fell.

His body grinds against the hard ground before he rolls to a stop. He gently laid his sister on the ground and he glared at me.

"You!!!" Gyutaro growled like a feral beast. His leg regenerated in an instant and he lunged at me.

"Leave us alone!!" he roared and then his arms blurred. His fight or flight instinct was switched to fight mode as fleeing was a failure.

I pulled my sword in front of me and got into a flowing stance. Gyutaro's arm blurred as he released multiple slashes towards me in all directions.

Not only that, a thin blade of blood flew at me at the speed of sound, trying to leave even the slightest scratch on my body because that would be enough.

The air cried and the friction from such a speed caused a flash of light, like fireworks.

"Water Breathing : Third Form,"

I made a move without flaw. I swung my sword in a fluid motion, each stroke of my blade was writing an essay of perfection. My eyes already showed me what was, what is and what will be.

I already saw the end of this clash - actions told me. So I moved with deep purpose and meaning, like tracing dotted lines to paint a perfect picture.

*VWOOOOOOOM*

Gytaro unleashed a continuous chain of attacks that was so quick that it could be stitched into one long attack. On the other hand, I flowed like a river following a predetermined line.

I did not strike back but I blocked every single attack that came my way. I was bending and filling up any openings like water.

The following sequence of action was so quick and Gyutaro's blood and sickle met my sword so frequently that the vibration made a roaring sound of metal hitting metal. It was the literal sound of the battle.

His rough sickle clashed against my perfect sword and the air ignited, creating endless sparks that lit up the surroundings.

The atmosphere churned as action after action faster than the speed of sound met in a relentless dance of violence.

"HAAAH!!" Gyutaro screamed, extending his arm too far in hopes of leaving a scratch.

That was all I needed. My blade hit the side of his sickle, pushing it away while he tried to pull back. That separated his arms, leaving his midsection wide open.

I bit down on my teeth and inhaled new volumes of air, the trail of water following every swing of my blade turned red and yellow before they became flames.

"Flame Breathing : Esoteric art,"

"Setting sun,"

I swing my blade in a downward arc that perfectly cuts Gyutaro's chest diagonally. A deep red mark appeared on his body before they burst into a bloody wound.

He paused, his arms were spread like a cross while his eyes were stubborn and angry. He took three steps back to catch himself from falling.

"Storm Breathing : Third Form,"

"Rain of Ruin,"

Before he could blink, Gyutaro was forced to bear endless attacks that came from different directions like rain in a violent storm.

The next thing he knew, more than half of his body was shredded into pieces. His arms were gone and so was every part of his body from chest down.

*Thund*

The remaining part of his body fell on the ground which was littered with a bloody paste that used to be his body.

.....

"Haaaa...haaaa.....haaaa...." Gyutaro breathed heavily while looking at the sky before he finally released a scream of pure hatred and frustration.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

Helpless.

After centuries, Gyutaro finally remembered the feeling of helplessness. It was the same thing countless of their victims felt, but now they were on the receiving end.

"Why, Why, Why, Why, WHY!!!" Gytaro screamed to the dark sky, as if angry with the Gods themselves.

I silently walked up to his fallen body before I grabbed him by his hair. Then I tossed him towards his sister who was still just a head and had witnessed everything.

"Stay like that, don't try anything or I will kill you both for real," I said.

To be completely honest, even I was surprised at how easy the fight was. It seemed that Sun Breathing and the Demon Slayer mark were not the only ways in which I grew from my battle with Doma.

My skills, my instincts and my combat power in general, had all taken a huge leap after the fight. I was leagues above what I was before the fight, even without the Demon Slayer mark and Sun Breathing.

Gyutaro's power was also not too great. Even Tengen who was poisoned and lost an arm was able to stand toe to toe with him. Naturally, as someone who was leagues above Tengen, it made sense why I had such an easy time.

The main danger Gyutaro posed was his poison. It was nigh impossible for anyone to fight him without suffering a scratch and that was all he needed to win.

Unfortunately, he met someone whom he could never hope to touch due to my eyes.

The siblings lay side by side, the one was just a head and the other only had his body from above the chest. They looked at each other and started arguing.

I was not Tanjiro so I couldn't care less.

Instead, I looked around in search of something. I had not beheaded them for a reason.

It took nearly a minute but my eyes finally saw the person I was searching for.

To the East, around 6 kilometres away was Lady Tamayo and her subordinate, they were running towards us with breakneck speed. They both had a talisman on their body to hide themselves but my eyes saw them with ease.

I knew they had their base in Tokyo so I was expecting them to come when they heard the commotion in the Entertainment district.

After all, it was kind of an open secret that there was a powerful demon that killed many Hashira in the past living in the entertainment district.

I appeared in front of the two demon siblings and I plunged my sword at the heart of Gyutaro, pinning him down on the ground. He was trying to get up and regenerate.

"Stay. Down."

His eyes became bloodshot red and he glared at me with endless malice. But ultimately, he stopped.

I would kill them after I made a deal with Tamayo. I wouldn't be able to harvest their blood otherwise because every part of a demon disintegrated after their death.