Capítulo 288: The Heart of a Demon!
Akaza's fist, sitting on his waist, shot forward, a blue halo covering it with a destructive shockwave.
It happened so fast that not even Shinobu, assisted by her Bankai, could react.
Akaza's punch landed on Shinobu's stomach, and a supersonic sound thundered in their surroundings.
A blue shockwave like a jet exploded out from Shinobu's back as though the demon's attack had passed right through her.
The Insect Hashira's figure got sent flying, rolling on the ground, accompanied by a bone-snapping sound.
Crack-kk!
Kai rushed towards her, putting himself in her path.
She slammed into him with the force of a ram. Kai gritted his teeth, his feet and tail grinding on the snow to curb the momentum.
When they stopped, Shinobu coughed out a bucketful of blood, and her stomach had turned blue, black, and green.
She was bleeding internally, Kai could tell.
This… wasn't an injury they could ignore.
"Get up, Hashira!" Akaza roared, now standing on the ground with the same martial pose as before. "I can feel the fire within you! Let it burn! Hahaha! Show me your greatness, Hashira! Show me how far you can make me go."
Shinobu grabbed Kai's shoulder and pushed herself up, her breath slow and broken.
She faced Kai and saw the concerned look in his eyes. "Ara!" she almost giggled, touching Kai's cheek. "I can still dance..."
… one last time… three more words followed her sentence like ghosts' whispering to each other.
Shinobu straightened herself, her eyes almost closed; her entire figure bloody and beaten.
Kai looked at her as she took a step, knowing well that her old injuries had resurfaced a long time ago.
There was a chance for them if she had been in her peak condition.
Now, with new and more hideous injuries piling over the old ones, it was a miracle she was even standing.
No wonder the Hashiras were known for their otherworldly willpower.
Even Kai was astonished and impressed. Her will to stand up and take that one step was already commendable in his eyes.
No matter how much and for how long she was to dance now, Kai knew she wouldn't live to hear the applause.
Kai sighed, seeing her taking another step.
His hand moved like a bolt of lightning.
Thud!
The butt of Afro's Tachi hilt struck Shinobu at the bottom-left part of her back.
Kai knew the weakest point of her body. And why wouldn't he? It was he who had healed her, to begin with.
Shinobu, stunned and stupefied, looked over her shoulder at Kai with her widened gaze.
His gentle smile was the last thing she saw before losing consciousness.
A purple mist exploded out of her, and her Bankai lost its form, returning to the appearance of the Stinger sword. Her old demon slayer uniform, now tattered and ruined, materialized as well.
Kai grasped her as she fell and laid her down on the snow, covering her with nothing but wind and rain.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" Akaza roared, his emotions churning wildly as he saw a strong opponent getting ambushed.
"You bloody fool! You weak! You shame of a demon!" he shouted, pointing at Kai. "I will flay you to the bones!"
Kai took several deep breaths, his ears ringing; his thoughts raging in his mind, and only known to him.
And then he burst out in a feat of laughter.
…
"Pfft! Hahaha!" Kai found it too funny. Now that the Facelessness 2nd Conversion had vanished, he couldn't help but laugh out loud, his crazy laughter intensifying with every next moment. "Shame of a demon?! Hahaha!"
Kai found it so funny that he grabbed his stomach and almost rolled to the ground.
"Tell me, Creature!" he demanded with a grin, pointing Murasame at Akaza. "What kind of pitiful demon submit to others, huh?! Look at you! You fucking pile of mutated meat and bones! You think you are a demon?! Do you even know what being a demon truly means?!"
"…?"
Despite the hailstorm roaring around them, the silence within the boundary of the blue snowflake over the ground was choking, to say the least.
And in this choking silence, Kai laughed outrageously, the smile on his face mocking and condemning.
Akaza was a battle-crazed demon who believed in the survival of the fittest — the idea that certain people became powerful in society because they were innately better.
He purposefully drew out fights to savor every moment of them, also complimenting his opponents when they unleashed powerful techniques or landed blows on him.
Akaza looked down on anybody he deemed weak, so much so that his skin would crawl at the sight of them.
However, he genuinely respected those who were strong in his eyes, demanding to know their names, and would not stop until he found out; he remembered all the names he's committed to memory as a tribute to their strength.
In a sense, there was little difference between him and Kai.
But this little difference was so deep that it only surfaced when Kai mocked Akaza.
To be berated by someone who he had already deemed weak and pathetic?! It didn't anger Akaza but he did regard Kai in a new light. How could a weak person muster the courage to mock a strong one?!
So it didn't come as a surprise when Akaza let go of his martial pose and asked with the world's voice, "What is a demon, then?"
It was a sincere question. Kai would never mock it.
His laugh vanished, and he looked up, walking towards Akaza with slow, but steady steps.
"What is a demon?" Kai repeated, the storm failing to bury his voice. "The essence of a demon lies in being demonic! A demon has his own demonic path, principles, and promises.
"There is no one above that path and no one below. A demon and his demonic path are one in the foundational essence. Being demonic is not about outrageous abilities and power. Hell, it doesn't even have a form.
"It's a feeling. You ask me, what is a demon?!"
Kai stopped and looked hard at Akaza, his gaze profound, and a thin smile playing on his lips.
"Then let me tell you!" his voice boomed. "I am a demon, and my path is demonic! Rest are bugs! All of them!
"You, your so-called king of demons, gods, and devils… all are nothing in my eyes!
"In this world, there is only things that's demonic…" Kai paused, his smile becoming a hideous grin. "… my Heart!"
Arrogance!
Kai's entire figure was beaming with a light of bloody arrogance.
Only one path was demonic— His. Only one thought was demonic— His. Only one heart was demonic— His.
Killing with benefits, Risks with Reasonings, and Family…
All these words brimmed with stupendous arrogance.
And only his arrogance was demonic.
"Hahaha!" Kai's demonic laugh oozed out of him like pus from rotten wounds. "You are not a demon, and you can never beat me. You know why?
"Because I represent the one thing you loathe the most. You loathe it as much as you desire it."
The bone plate on Akaza's chest moved up and down with angry breaths.
Even then, perhaps he was the only one among the Twelve Ranking Demons who dared to ask, "What is it?"
"Freedom." Kai spat the word on Akaza's face. "Even a shackled demon is more demonic than you, Creature!
"And you will never become a true demon! Because…
"… your heart lacks the most needed quality to walk on a demonic path!"
Then, like a blue ghost, Kai disappeared, melting into the rain.
**************
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