[Seiji's POV]
Water Breathing.
Oh boy oh boy do I like this one.
Where should I start? It was the perfect breathing for me. It would not be wrong to claim that this breathing style was handmade for me.
In fact, the concepts of many of the forms of Water Breathing were something I actively utilize in my fighting style.
For example, the ninth form : Splashing Water Flow, Turbulent was when the user reduces the landing time and surface area needed when taking each step. This was something I actively did with my perfect movement but it was a whole ass form in Water Breathing.
Then there was the third form : Flowing dance which is where the user predicts the movement and location of thier opponents and executes a perfect, predetermined movement which looks smooth like a dance or flowing water.
Again, it was something I heavily incorporated in my fighting style. My eyes predicted the enemies and I moved before it even happened.
Not only me but Giyu was also surprised to see how well Water Breathing fits me.
The so-called monthly break lasted for two days and during those times, I was fully focused on Water Breathing. In just two days, I was nearly able to learn everything about water Breathing.
Giyu proved himself to be a great teacher due to his unexpected enthusiasm. After he saw how well Water Breathing suited me and the speed of my learning, he became fully committed on teaching me.
My training also consisted of meditating near the river where I contemplated the nature of water and strived to become the element. The words of Bruce Lee were valuable even in another world.
Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. If you put it in a bottle it becomes the bottle and if you put it in a teacup it becomes the teacup.
Absolute adaptability was the core nature of water. With my eyes, I could see the weakness of my enemies and I could change my fighting style to match thier weakness. I did not need to have a concrete style, instead, I became whatever I needed to become to kill my enemies.
This concept not only applied to Water Breathing for me but to fighting as a whole. I did not limit myself to one breathing style, instead, I used any breathing style which best suited the situation and was the greatest weapon to the enemy.
If a demon had great regenerative power, I used Flame Breathing. If they had incredible speed, I used Thunder Breathing. If they were in groups, I used Wind Breathing.
I have no permanent shape. I was formless, yet I could instantly take the shape of my opponent's fear.
Fighting was a conversation, it was debate. You don't get into a conversation with limited words, you failed as a debtor if you followed the script. Instead, I adjusted in real time depending on what the opponent said to me. I strung together words with no purpose individually and crafted sentences that would silence the enemy.
Words were all of the things I have learned throughout my life and they were increasing day by day. I was able to combine them and create something new every single time with my understanding and my eyes.
That was my talent.
...
It went without saying that learning Water Breathing was extremely beneficial to me. It might not be a new concept like Thunder Breathing but it enlightened me.
Unfortunately, time was limited as two days quickly passed and we had to resume our normal mission.
My training had to stop.
..at least that's what I thought but luckily.
"Caw!! Caw!! Seiji Shigan!! Giyu Tomioka!! You two are to travel together to the West and clear the newly discovered Demon Hideout!! I repeat, Seiji Shigan!! Giyu Tomioka!! You two are to travel together to the West and clear the newly discovered Demon Hideout!"
"What a pleasant surprise," I said with a huge smile and turned towards Giyu.
He returned my look with a smile of his own. Like I said, he was unexpectedly into training me the past two days so he was happy that it could go on.
We quickly prepared our equipment and geared up for the mission. The three wives of Tengen whom by now I had got acquainted with, came to us to bid farewell.
"Stay safe in your mission. Lord Tenegen also wished you the best in your journey." Makio said with a smile on her face.
"Here, we made lunch that you can enjoy on your travels." Hinatsuru said and gave us a bento. It was thoughtful of her and I had come to enjoy her food.
"Thank you. But where is Tengen?"
"Well....the break ends today so he was a bit..preoccupied last night. He was tired so he slept in today." Sumo said with a wide glowing smile while Makio and Hinatsuri had blush on thier faces when mentioning last night.
"Thats fine I guess. Tell him to stay safe as well." I said and gave a respectful bow to the women.
Damn, I was both jealous and also felt kind of bad for Tengen. The guy with the most fast twitch muscle just had to have three wives, didn't he?
His wives were all shinobi and stronger than other women as well. But looking at their faces, they seem happy and satisfied.
Turly a chad.
And with that, we left the village of Noseki, It was time for my journey to continue but this time, I had a companion.
Truly, it was a miracle that we got such a mission at the perfect time. Maybe Lady Luck was finally smiling on me after taking my hearing and my family.
..
..
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[3rd POV]
(Hidden location : The Ubuyashiki Mansion)
"Are you sure that was a good decision? Wouldn't it have been better to send Gyomei since he is closer to the demon hideout? He will also be able to clear it by himself so we won't have to waste two Hashira." Lady Amane asked her husband who was looking out at their garden with a permanent smile.
"We won't win this war if we only think about the present Amane." he said with a gentle voice that came with a breeze.
All his ancestors made the best decisions in the present and never saw victory. He had to be different, he had to look ahead into the future because that was where victory lies. Tomorrow.
For today, survival was enough.
"We need to give a chance for Seiji to grow to his fullest potential. Even if that meant wasting resources now, I truly believe that it will all be worth it in the end."
"Is that really all there is to it?"
"Well.." Ubuyashiki trailed, "I might also want to extend thier time together. It has been long since Giyu met someone he could talk to. That child needs healing, both in mind and spirit after all he has been through. I think they will both help each other move forward."
"I see. I understand." Lady Amane said with a smile as she gazed at her husband with hidden admiration.
"They just need to do their best. The responsibilities on thier shoulders are heavy but I believe in my children." Ubuyashiki said as his hair danced with the wind.
His illness was getting worse.
Yet slowly but surely, he was building a better future.
The war and the curse will end in his lifetime.
..
..
[IMAGE]
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Author : Sorry for disappearing but real world got too real if you know what I mean.
Anyways, here is a double chapter even without stones.
Although stones are still appreciated and may or may not result in triple chapter.
[Seiji's POV]
(The demon hideout)
"Seiji! From the side!" Giyu yelled while slashing the heads demons around him.
'Already on it.'
"Wind Breathing : First form." I whipped my sword and it created a gust of wind. Then I took in huge volumes of air with my mouth before releasing it with great force.
"Dust Whirlwind Cutter."
I became a whirlwind of blades. A green tube made of wind energy covered my body as I minced everything in my path. I did not even aim for thier heads, I merely reduced them into scraps of meat.
Wind Breathing was the most violent Breathing Style. It had zero accuracy or fitness, which was why I had a difficult time getting used to it.
You just slash everything in your path like a tornado which ripped apart anything in its path.
There was no targeting weak points, there was no efficiency. You just slice everything into tiny pieces so that you hit the target.
It was very primal. the main concept was basically Nah, I'd slash. There was nothing else to it.
The Wind Breathing itself gave you an incredible burst of energy. It allowed you to explode with extreme force but unlike Thunder Breathing where you utilize that for linear speed, Wind Breathing lets you devastate everything in your surroundings.
It was great for slaying groups of demons.
The aftermath of my attack was blood and flesh raining down on me. I felt my eyes twitch as I was drenched in decaying blood of demons.
"I hate this breathing style." I murmured. I hate the style, I hate what it does and I hate its Hashira.
Then I whipped my sword to clean it from blood and looked towards the remaining demons. Although we had killed a couple dozen of them, there were at least 20 or so demons remaining.
Demons were like animals.
While the stronger ones with Blood Demon Art were able to survive by themselves and even have territories where they hunted, the lesser demons would form groups to survive.
The demons in this hideout were such lesser demons. They were not strong enough to survive on thier own so they worked together.
"Run." I said and the demons who were frozen in fear immediately scattered around to save thier horrible lives.
I could see Giyu on the opposite side of this abandoned mansion and he was also mowing down the demons like a well-oiled machine.
My eyes glowed purple in the dark as I scanned the environment, The position of each demon, the direction they were running to and the placement of objects in the mansion were immediately registered in my mind like a mental map.
I took into account all of the movements I saw around me, I determined their speed and where they would be by the time I reached them. I predicted around 4 seconds into the future.
Then I acted on that future.
"Water Breathing : Third Form."
"Flowing Dance."
I danced. My footsteps were perfect so it looked like I was sliding on the floor instead of taking steps. My movements were elegant and flawless as I left behind afterimage wherever I went.
I slashed - not directly at them but instead at the place where they would be in the future.
I string together different attacks and different sets of movements into one flowing motion. To the normal eye, it looked like a comic character in action where phantoms were drawn to signify movement.
My long blade left a trail of water as I cut off the demon's head from the most random angles.
Water could flow through a mountain, flow over the mountain, flow under the mountain or flow around the mountain. It took any path possible but in the end, it always went through. It could not be stopped.
Similarly, my blade found thier vulnerable necks no matter what they did. They could cover thier necks, move thier heads, duck under, or try to block.
But no matter what they did, they found themselves headless.
Time resumed and my blade cutting through the air made a sound akin to flowing water. In an instant, I chopped off the heads of thirteen different demons.
Thier world spun as thier heads fell to the ground. Thier last vision was of thier own headless bodies with my silhouette standing in the middle.
Goodbye and go to hell.
The world is better without you.
...
"Thirteen huh." I said and smiled, "That's a new record."
While I bask in my new accomplishment, Giyu finished off the remaining seven demons. And thus, the mission was complete.
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(A few hours later)
The old mansion finally caught on fire. The flames ranged and consumed the building, burning the remnant shadows of the demons along with the dark history of what happened there.
I could feel hot air blow past my cheeks, making it quite uncomfortable so I took a few steps back and stood beside Giyu.
"The mission is done." he said with a stone for a face. He neither looked pleased nor mad, he was just blank. As if he he was looking at a rock in the middle of a road.
I gazed at my reflection on my blade and I had a similar expression. But if one looked closely, they would see small hints of satisfaction in my eyes.
I stopped looking and sheath the sword on my back.
It has been a week and a half since I met Giyu Tomioka. The mission we were given took longer than expected since the demons were very adept at hiding.
Even I, with my cheat eyes, was having difficulties and we had to track them down for more than four days.
Giyu said these types of missions were mostly given to Gyomei since his perception of the world was different from ours so he could easily find demon hideouts.
But we did not do badly at all even compared to Gyomei. The demons were spread into many villages and they had fake hideouts to cover thier tracks which was quite tricky.
Demons were as smart as humans if not more. So what they had was a proper organisation that required to be destroyed from the root. And that took time.
But it was a good thing for me because it meant I got to learn more about Water Breathing and spend time with Giyu - who by the way, was absolutely adorable in character.
I wonder if this is what Rengoku felt when he was with me.
Giyu was introverted and appeared cold on the outside but deep down, he was a very kind soul who liked the company of others. He also had deep traumas and a massive inferiority complex but I mean, who doesn't have a few screws lost in thier head in our line of work?
The past week has been fruitful. We fought a lot of demons and even though they were weak, it allowed me to study Water Breathing by watching Giyu fight. Coupled with my own training and my innate affinity with the breathing style, Water Breathing quickly became the one I was most proficient with.
"The third form of Water Breathing that you executed back there was incredible." Giyu said suddenly, breaking the silence. Well, not really since I was deaf but you know what I mean.
"Thank you." I said with a smug smile that I failed to hide.
"Less than two weeks of training and you already became more proficient in it than me." Giyu admitted. To clarify, he was referring to the third form only. Water Breathing as a whole, I still had a long way to go before I became as good as him.
It was to be expected, I had a giant advantage on certain forms because of my eyes. The third form heavily relied on prediction and perfect flow of movement so I naturally excelled in it.
Other than that, I still had a long way to go until matched his mastery over Water Breathing.
Giyu was possibly the person who had the most mastery over thier breathing style. The only other competitor to that title was Shinjuro who had decades of experience
Just think about it. Almost all of the Hashiras in the anime had something special about them ; Mitsuri and Gyomei had superior bodies, Shinobu was a medical genius, Muichiro shared a bloodline with Yoriichi, Sanemi had his unique blood and Tengen had his shinobi background.
But then there was Giyu, who did not have such speciality other than his absolute mastery over his breathing style. But still, he was one of the strongest Hashira.
His mastery came from his trauma, pushing him to be the best he could be because he felt the need to fill up for his friend who died to save him.
He was so goated that he created the 11th form of Water Breathing which allowed him to tap into the selfless state without awakening his Demon Slayer mark.
So there was no debate, when it came to mastering thier respective breathing styles, Giyu was on top.
Therefore, even I would struggle to compete with that level of mastery.
'But would you lose?'
'Nah, I'd surpass.'
"Lets go. There is a village close by where we can rest." Giyu said and I nodded.
..
...
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(The next day)
"Water Breathing : First Form!!"
"Water Surface Slash!"
My eyes saw no hesitation in his muscles as he exploded into action. His sword swung at me with the finesse of a painter. His blade left a trail of water in its path and I felt a cold shiver wash over me.
He was serious.
I moved away quickly and Giyu cut the giant tree behind me. The tree fell to the ground, sending tremors into the earth. My eyes looked at the stump of the tree and noticed its crystal smooth top. That was a show of how clean his cuts were.
I swallowed the lump in my throat and I was forced to take a stance.
"This is a test Seiji, don't fail me." saying so, Giyu blurred and rushed at me.
...
You must be wondering how I found myself in such a situation.
Well...
Find out in the next chapter because this one is getting too long.
.
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[Important Image]
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