Previously.......
"Wake up! Kanao! Kanao! Wake up, Kanao! KANAO.....!!"
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Tanjiro shook the petite girl in effort to wake her up on top of calling her name over and over as well.
ALMOST AN HOUR AGO
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As Tanjiro and Kanao ran through the fortress, all of a sudden, the ceiling above them crashed, as a familiar demon came down from it and landed right in front of them.
The demon grinned widely and said, "It sure has been a while. I'm surprised you're still alive, being the weakling that you are."
Suddenly, the demon went in for a punch to Tanjiro as it shouted, "KAMADOOO TANJIROOO!!"
Tanjiro shouted back in rage as he also lifted his sword.
"AKAZAAAAA!!!"
As Akaza went in for the punch,
HINOKAMI KAGURA
FIRE WHEEL
Tanjiro leaped behind Akaza and spun in the air downward, releasing a sword attack in a circular motion aiming for the left arm and successfully severed it.
'I got him!! And I dodged his attack! This will work! I can fight!' Tanjiro said in his mind.
As Tanjiro turned around to face Akaza, he got swiftly attacked by the demon who had already regenerated his arm. But to Tanjiro's advantage, he narrowly avoided his attack by using,
HINOKAMI KAGURA
FAKE RAINBOW
and performed a high-speed twisting and rotating movement, thus creating afterimages and evaded the attack and also managed to slice Akaza across the face in the process. Akaza regenerated his cut while he stared blindly, stunned at Tanjiro's ability.
After having witnessed their small scuffle, Kanao stood there amazed at Tanjiro's techniques thinking of how his ability is equal to that of a Hashira's.
'This boy isn't weak, do not insult him.' Azaka recalled the final words spoken to him by Kyojuro.
He continued, "Kyojuro was right. I now accept that. You're not truly weak. I shall show my respect for you."
TECHNIQUE DEPLOYMENT DESTRUCTIVE DEATH
COMPASS NEEDLE
"Okay, let's get started. It's time for the feast." Akaza said as he smirked and truly acknowledged Tanjiro's strength.
Right after saying that, Akaza vanished from his place and appeared right behind Tanjiro.
He then went for a punch at his skull but before he could do so, his arm fell off, shocking both the demon and the teen.
It was Kanao who had severed the arm as she had used,
FLOWER BREATHING
THIRD FORM
SLASH OF THE LILY
to deliver a powerful vertical slash.
Akaza grinned widely seeing this.
"What is that technique? I have never seen it before." Akaza said as he maintained a distance from Kanao.
He continued, "Hey lady! You're strong. You're a Hashi-
He was cut off when Tanjiro appeared at his side and used,
HINOKAMI KAGURA
RAGING SUN
and unleashed two horizontal slashes aiming for the neck, but as he swung his sword, Akaza was gone.
Tanjiro suddenly realized the demon was right above him, ready to attack.
HINOKAMI KAGURA
FAKE RAINBOW
He quickly dodged the incoming attack by performing a high-speed twisting and rotating movement which created afterimages, thus resulting in Akaza to hit the floor instead shattering it in the process.
Suddenly, Kanao appeared behind him.
FLOWER BREATHING
FOURTH FORM
CRIMSON HANAGOROMO
She released a single graceful but powerful slash aimed at the demon's neck, only for the blow to miss and for the demon to appear behind her instead, about to punch the blade of the girl, but before he could do so, Tanjiro quickly appeared right next to the demon and sliced off his arm using,
WATER BREATHING
SECOND FORM
WATER WHEEL
However, Akaza's arm grew back nearly instantly and Tanjiro quickly attacked again.
HINOKAMI KAGURA
FLAME DANCE
He released a powerful two combo strike starting with a vertical slash and a horizontal one right after, only for Akaza to block it with two rapid punches, each strike causing a large shockwave as he used,
DESTRUCTIVE DEATH
TWO-LAYERED DEMON CORE
All of a sudden, Akaza noticed Kanao trying to slice his foot but before she could do so, he used,
DESTRUCTIVE DEATH
LEG TYPE
CROWN SPLITTER
and aimed for the girl's blade and tried to kick it. Kanao tried to parry with her blade and though she nearly came unscathed, Akaza's leg caught her nose slightly, causing her to bleed heavily from the sheer force.
She crouched down to soak up the pain, leading Tanjiro to face Akaza alone.
"ELEGANT!! THIS IS FINELY CRAFTED SWORDSMANSHIP! SPLENDID!"
Akaza complimented his opponent's skills.
"Have you really been in a fight before or are you just plain dumb to not realise that there isn't much talk in a fight? Plus, I hate talking during a fight." Tanjiro commented coldly to which the demon happily responded,
"Oh, okay. So you hate talking. BUT I LOVE TALKING!! SO I WILL KEEP ON TALKING AND TALKING!!"
He then used,
DESTRUCTIVE DEATH
LEG TYPE
EXPLOSIVE FLURRY
and released a flashing flurry of powerful straight kicks, each creating shockwaves to hit his blade handle and knocking the maroon haired boy away through several walls.
"TANJIROO!" Kanao who saw the impact, called to Tanjiro, only for Akaza to appear alongside her.
"Ahh. Someone special to you?" He asked in his usual cheerful tone.
Kanao instantly released a slashing attack that twisted and curved gracefully as she used,
FLOWER BREATHING
FOURTH FORM
CRIMSON HANAGOROMO
However, before the attack could even reach him, he was already at a distance from Kanao.
"Nice movements. I can see that you've trained so hard. I would lo-
He suddenly stopped as he turned around and punched but to his surprise, no one was there.
All of a sudden, he felt a burning sensation on his ankles and the next thing he knew, he dropped down on his knees.
Suddenly, Tanjiro appeared in front of the demon and readied to slice his neck but Akaza had already healed, so he quickly stood up and as he did so, tried to release an uppercut but Tanjiro, at the last second, dodged it by leaping backwards and quickly appeared right next to Kanao.
Akaza tilted his head slightly as he smiled. But in an annoying, dreadful sort of a way that you would see when someone has found you checkmated in chess, but you don't know where it is.
He then complimented his moves once again. "There you go again. Those amazing moves. You've trained so hard in a short span of time."
Tanjiro tried to say something but before he could do so, Akaza continued, "Let me praise you. But man, Kyojuro did an amazing job. You were nothing but a weakling lying down on the ground that night. BUT MY GOODNESS, LOOK AT YOU NOW!! Your growth makes my eyes pop out. I'm feeling pure happiness right now. My hearts leaping right now."
"Akaza. I already told yo-
He was cut off by Akaza when he said, "I'm glad Kyojuro died that night. He most likely wouldn't have been able to get any stronger than when I saw him then. And he had that dumb overview about wanting to stay a human."
Tanjiro hearing these words, remembered Kyojuro, Shinjuro and Senjuro.
He became enraged.
"What was that? You fucker. Shut it. Don't talk about Rengoku-San. You ass."
"Why though? I'm praising you guys here. Both you and Kyojuro."
"No. You're just badmouthing him. You just spit on everyone's face, regardless of who you're facing."
"Tanjiro. You're misunderstanding something. The only people I hate are weaklings. I spit on the faces of the weak. Yes, I'm repulsed by weaklings. They make me vomit. The laws of nature dictate that they will be eliminated."
Tanjiro shook his head, disagreeing at everything he said. He responded back,
"Everything you said is wrong. The fact that you're standing here right now is proof. Newborn babies are weaker than everyone else. They need someone to help them in order to live. You're the same, Akaza. You might not remember it but back when you were a baby, someone protected you, helped you. That's why you are here right now, alive."
Tanjiro then took a fighting stance and continued, "The strong should aid and protect the weak. And the weak will become strong and in turn, they will aid and protect the ones weaker than them. That's the law of nature. Akaza. Your way of thinking is unforgivable. I will not let you do as you please."
Hearing this, Akaza's expression changed to that of surprise. The kind of surprise you would experience when someone completely disagrees with what you said, despite knowing that you are correct.
'I understood instinctively that I couldn't accept this person.' Akaza said to himself as he observed Tanjiro carefully.
'He gives me an unpleasant feeling that gets me on my nerves, as if nails were scratching metal. The dissonance makes me want to throw up.'
Suddenly, Akaza realized something.
'I misunderstood something. In the beginning, I thought I was unhappy because he was weak.'
He then stared into Tanjiro's eyes.
'But it seems like this happiness isn't going away, despite him getting much stronger. It seems that everything from his eyes, voice and words, scrape at my entrails
from inside with a rasp.'
At that moment, someone grabbed Akaza's shoulder.
"In the beginning, everyone's a baby at everything they do. They get help from those around them, then remembered what happened."
"But don't compare yourself to other people. The opponent you're fighting will always be you yourself. What's important is to become stronger than where you were yesterday."
"You will become wonderful if you keep going for ten or twenty years. And next time, you will be the one helping people."
Angered, Akaza tried to punch behind him to hit the man, but striked nothing. As a bewildered Tanjiro saw Akaza punched the air suddenly, Akaza angrily muttered, "Tanjiro, you really are unpleasant."
Suddenly, Akaza used,
DESTRUCTIVE DEATH
CRUSHING TYPE
TEN-THOUSAND LEAVES FLASHING WILLOW
and ruptured the ground around him, with Tanjiro and Kanao just barely dodging the attack.
"Kanao! We gott-
He was cut off when Akaza quickly engaged the Demon Slayer from below and used his
DESTRUCTIVE DEATH
LEG TYPE
FLYING PLANET THOUSAND WHEELS
with Tanjiro taking the attack and vomiting as a result. Suddenly, Akaza sensed Kanao right behind him, so he released a flurry of powerful kicks and hit Kanao's blade with such power that she was sent blasting away through a wall.
"KANAOO!!" Tanjiro shouted but Akaza quickly used,
DESTRUCTIVE DEATH
AIR TYPE
and punched the empty air in front him, creating a shockwave from the pressure of his fists and then sent it flying towards Tanjiro.
HINOKAMI KAGURA
BURNING BONES SUMMER SUN
Tanjiro quickly released a circular slash which acted as a shield thus protecting himself from the attack.
He tried to reason as to how Akaza managed to nearly hit him with every move; all his strikes seeming to aim for his vital areas as accurately as a compass and his attacks seeming to be attracted to them as if they were being attracted by magnets.
He thought back to when the demon deployed his Technique Deployment: Compass Needle, but before he could figure it out, Tanjiro dodged to the side to escape an incoming kick.
HINOKAMI KAGURA
SOLAR HEAT HAZE
Tanjiro unleashed a horizontal slash covered in haze and aimed at Akaza's neck but he missed as he dodged the attack. But the next thing he knew, his neck was already cut half way through but he managed to heal the cut instantly.
However, the Upper Moon became curious as to how the tip managed to appear hazy before hitting him.
"HAHAHA! THAT'S A FUN TECHNIQUE! IT LOOKED LIKE THE BLADE REACHED ME AFTER I COMPLETELY DODGED IT."
He then released a flurry of punches which Tanjiro blocked skillfully using his sword.
He then attempted to slash Akaza as he used,
HINOKAMI KAGURA
FIRE WHEEL
but in a very unexpected way, Akaza caught the blade in his hands.
'FUCK! HE'S GONNA BREAK IT!!'
Tanjiro then headbutted the demon so hard that both of their forehead started to bleed. However, Akaza healed it instantly. He then smirked and exclaimed, "NICE HEADBUTT, MANN!"
'CRAP! HE'S STILL NOT LETTING GO! LET GO! LET GO! LET GO!'
At desperation, Tanjiro kicked Akaza's chin but he still didn't let the sword go.
'DAMN IT. HE'S STILL NOT LETTING GO!!'
All of a sudden, Akaza's hand got sliced off, freeing Tanjiro and his sword.
"KANAO!" Tanjiro called her as he was relieved that she was okay.
Kanao returned, angered.
"Now I am angry. First of all, you completely ignored me as if I was not here. Also, thanks to you blasting me away through a wall, there's a searing pain on my back. Great job, Akaza. You fucked up."
Akaza smiled in an annoying away hearing the girl and said, "You're different lady. Fine, I shall make an exception for you."
The fight is just getting started.
To be continued.......
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AUTHOR'S WORDS
Yo guys. I'm finally back from the deadddddd. So, first of all, I'm very very sorry for not updating for 7 WHOLE FUCKING DAYS.
With that said, I still don't know if I'm gonna be updating regularly like before cause I'm at my grandparents' house. I will go back home on 3rd January, 2022. So, BEFORE that, I MIGHT not update. I hope you understand.
ANYWAYS.
HAPPY NEW YEAR IN ADVANCE GUYSSSSSSS! HOW WAS YOUR YEAR? LET ME KNOW!
For me, 2021 has been really great! I found my love for writing and along my writing journey, I made GREAT friends and I'm very grateful for that.
And not only that, in my personal life as well, I got several great moments, so yeah.
Once again, I apologise for not updating for a week.
With that said, we shall meet again in the next chapter. Until then, stay safe and bye guyss. Love ya all.
2318 words.