Chapter 65 Who Won?
(Tanjiro's POV)
Me and Akaza slowly walk toward each other and suddenly vanish in a blur. I swing my blade onto his body but he quickly use his arm to stop the blade. Pumping some air into one of my leg, I kick off the ground very hard fliping over him and causing a small crater on the ground at the same time.
While in midair, I perform one of my sword techniques, [ Breath Of The Sun Sixth Style Fire Chariot!! ] My blade begins to set ablaze and swing it on him again cutting off his arm in midair. Upon landing on the ground, I jump back a few feet while catching my breath. Hah... hah... My muscles are aching very bad right now. The see-through world time limit is also up... I have to face him with raw strength and skills.
(Akaza's POV)
Clicking my tongue in annoyance, I say, "Tch... You are quite annoying you little brat. You managed to cut off my arm but is still not enough to defeat nor kill me..." Something is off... My regeneration speed seems to slow down by a lot and the boy's battle spirit is back... Never mind... No time for thinking. I have to finish this quickly... I immediately plant one of my foot down onto the ground creating cracks on it and get into a defensive stance.
10 minutes until sunrise...
(Tanjiro's POV)
Hm? What the... Suddenly a strong wind blow toward me. A dark purple aura starts to surround Akaza and his once yellow with blue sclera coloured eyes turn to a menacing purple colour glowing under the night. Sweats begin to trail down my face making me uneasy. Suddenly he launches toward me faster than before. I immediately widen my eyes in shocked and try to block the full on assault from him.
[ Destructive Kill: War Style ] Punching in front of him, he creates large shockwaves after shockwaves that fly forward. I blocked some of them but some of them managed to hit me sending me flying a few feet back. I kneel down on the ground coughing out blood. Unexpectedly, another shockwave is coming towards me. Quickly getting up on my feet, I hold my blade in front of me trying to block it but the result is unsettling. When it made contact with my blade, my blade immediately snapped in half and the shockwave hit me in the stomach once again. Cough... cough... cough... My blade is broken... I can't efficiently utilise my breath style now... Can I even match him evenly... I won't last long if I keep blocking his attacks.
Inhaling a lot of air, I slowly stand up, [ Recovery Breath ] When I'm on my feet, I hold my broken blade up and take a offensive stance.
(Akaza's POV)
The brat is still alive huh? Well let's play a little longer...
"Oi, you can't keep up with me? You are very weak. You keep protecting the weak. Don't you feel that they are hindrance to you? You keep protecting them but in the end you're the one who will die. They are not worth it at all. The strong prey the weak." I mocked him. I pull my fists back ready to strike him down.
(Tanjiro's POV)
"What is the value of life to you?" I replied to him just a single simple sentence. He suddenly stays silent. He clenches his sharp teeth and veins begin to be visible on his face. He is very confused right now. He saw two ghostly figure standing on my left and right side. The two have the same marking as me but on of them is my father. There are times when I can't back down from someone, no matter what because there are people who don't have human hearts in this world. They irrationally take lives and cause pain without regretting it just like demons. And that kind of violence is something that I will never allow. My eyes begin to bleed. Blood also start to rush through my whole body causing an adrenaline. It temporary nullify the feeling of aches and pains. The breath that I exhale also slowly taking the shape of fire. The red demon slayer marking on my forehead spreads more touching my nose. Without wasting a second, I immediately rush toward Akaza.
[ Breath Of The Sun Eleventh Style Soaring Sun Haze!! ] The tip of my broken blade begins to waver. I do a horizontal burning slash aiming at his neck. He quickly leans back avoiding my slash but abruptly a slash wound appears on his neck.
(Akaza's POV)
What the... I thought I dodged his slash... this is interesting...
"Interesting!! Your blade waver and was able to cut me although I thought I dodged it! Show me more!!" I yelled in excitement.
I jump up into the air and release my technique, [ Destructive Kill: Crush Style Willow Of A Thousand Flashes ] I smash my fist onto the ground like a big boulder creating a area of shockwave and cracks appear all over the area of my technique.
(Tanjiro's POV)
I instantly make my hand's blood vessels circulate very fast making my blood's temperature high. The veins begin to turn red and my blade light up in raging blue flame.
[ Dance Of The Sun God Seventh Style Bone Burning Sun!! ] I do two wave motion slash creating two raging blue fire waves neutralizing the impact and shockwaves. I was able to do it. The training paid off! I was able to activate The Dance Of The Sun God at certain body part. It won't strain my body that much like last time. Kicking off the ground, I increased my speed to the limits.
[ Dance Of The Sun God Ninth Style Augmented Solar Halo Dragon Sun!! ] The fire on my blade explode into a fiery blue dragon. I keep rushing toward him while dodging every shockwaves that Akaza created.
5 minutes until sunrise...
(Akaza's POV)
How can this kid keep going?! His sword style just became more sharper than before. The strength of his strike also increased by a lot. Crap, if that hit me I'll be in serious trouble and the sun is almost up!
Immediately getting into a kata stance, I release my most powerful technique, [ Technique Deployment End Style Chaotic Blue Metal Afterglow ] My fists start to blur into existence. Incredibly strong and fast blows are created by my fists that attack from every direction at once almost randomly. Every blow has thin and sharp shockwaves.
(Tanjiro's POV)
When we clash, a huge explosion occurs that was bigger than the last battle. Dust and blue flames soar through the air and a burst of heat seems to spread all throughout the area. When it dies down, I was few feet behind Akaza. I sustain a few injuries and some broken ribs but nothing life threatening. In the other hand, Akaza was kneeling down on the ground. His arms are completely gone and burn marks were visible all over his body. Hah... hah... is not over yet... I still have to lob his head off...
"Inosuke!! Moveee!! Lob his head off before he recovers!!" I yelled at Inosuke.
2 minutes until sunrise...
(Inosuke's POV)
Hm? Right! What I am I doing! I couldn't help them! I can't just stand there and do nothing! I rush toward the demon and take in a deep breath, [ Breath Of The Beast First Style Pierce And Extract!! ] I thrust my blades toward him trying to stab his neck.
Suddenly the flame pillar appears beside me releasing his technique, [ Breath Of Flames First Style Sea Of Fire!! ] He dashes toward the demon while sending his blade down on him leaving a trail of raging fire behind him.
"Hashibira! Use all your strength on this demon! Lob his head off!!" yelled Rengoku.
(Tanjiro's POV)
My arms are under a heavy strain right now... I only can use one more sword technique. I have to help them.
[ Dance Of The Sun God Augmented Sun Waltz!! ] Launching myself toward Akaza with speed that surpasses a demon, I raise my blade high up and the blue flame on it becomes much more wilder. I swing down my blade aiming at his neck.
(Akaza's POV)
All the demon hunters managed to surround me. I still haven't recover finish... Is just very hard to regenerate after getting slashed by the boy's blade. Suddenly, I notice my fingers start to crumble. The dawn is coming! The sun will raise here! Need to get out of here... I inhale a large amount of air and let out a ear piercing roar. The ground begins to shake violently and all of the demon hunters were pushed back very far. Debris and dust were lifted up from the ground and away from me. Now to head to a place where the sun won't get me...! I dash toward a nearby forest before sunrise.
(Tanjiro's POV)
My arms slowly revert back to normal. A wave of fatigue hit my arms. They can't move right now... This is my limit. There's a drawback when I activate Dance Of The Sun God at one body part. The stress will accumulate more faster because I didn't evenly distribute the stress all throughout my body. Damn it! We almost got him! Inhaling some air that was taking a shape of fire, I grab my broken blade with my mouth and throw it toward Akaza. It pierces right through him.
"Don't run away! You coward!" I yelled at him.
(Akaza's POV)
What is that brat talking about? Doesn't he have some brains? I'm not running away from you demon hunters. I'm running away from the damn sun! When I meet him again, I will destroy him immediately... You are lucky Tanjiro... next time I won't have mercy on you... I continue running into the forest disappearing from his sight.
(Tanjiro's POV)
"The demon hunters will always fight you in the darkness of the night when it's advantageous for you!! We're humans in flesh and blood!! Wounds don't just simply close up!! And limbs we lost won't ever come back!! Don't run away you damn dolt!! We will always hunt demons until you guys perish from this beautiful world!!" I yelled until I'm out of breath. I kneel down in exhaustion and look up the sky. Rengoku looks at me and smile in relieve and was glad that there were no causalities at all.
"Good job, Kamado... You did well... Thank you for saving my life..." said Rengoku. I widen my eyes a bit and look at him.
He makes a hand gesture telling me to come over here. I nodded and walk toward him. We kneel down facing each other...
"Let's have a chat. I just remember some things when I saw the dreams of my past." he said in a gentle tone.
End