The ground was covered with the marks of battle; broken trees, deep craters, and splattered blood everywhere. The air weighed down on the chest with the sharp scent of iron. Amidst this devastation, Gyokko stood upright, watching Akaza's body fly away before crashing into tree after tree.
Crash!… Crash!… Crash!
Each impact was music to his ears. His wide eyes gleamed with the spark of victory, and a crazed smile spread across his deformed face.
He approached slowly, dragging his feet through the muddy ground, with only one thought in his mind:
I have won.
Akaza lay sprawled on the ground, his body dripping with blood, his limbs motionless, and his chest barely moving. He looked as though he had lost all his strength, like a lifeless doll.
Gyokko raised his head upward, his eyes searching for the Upper Moon demon watching from afar, craving the look of acknowledgment he had long awaited.
"Did you see?! Did you see what I did?!" he shouted loudly, his voice shaking the place.
Inside, he kept repeating words he couldn't suppress:
"Upper Moon Three… Gyokko."
He savored the title as though it was sweeter than any blood he had ever drunk. He imagined the moment he would stand before Lord Muzan, receiving his praise, and seeing the respect of the other Upper Moons in their eyes.
A smile full of arrogance formed on his face as he stepped lightly toward Akaza's body.
"Finally… I am no longer the weakling at the bottom of the list. No one will dare mock me ever again."
His steps were deliberately slow, as if savoring the long moment of triumph. He approached until only a few steps separated him from Akaza.
He bent slightly, reaching his hand toward the fallen body. He wanted to see his eyes before tearing his head off. He wanted to catch that moment of realization of defeat before killing him.
"Surrender, Akaza… it's over for you." he said in a low voice, a mixture of euphoria and contempt.
He reached a meter away from him, his hand trembling with excitement. He had already imagined how he would place his foot on his crushed chest and declare a resounding victory before everyone.
But… before his fingers could touch Akaza's blood-soaked hair, he felt a sudden chill run down his spine. He froze for a moment, his gaze inspecting the still body.
And then it happened.
The place suddenly went silent, as if the world itself had stopped breathing. Gyokko, who was about to touch Akaza's fallen body, felt an icy shiver cut his spine in half. He didn't understand what was happening at first… but then he saw it.
A faint tremor began in Akaza's body. His fingers, motionless for minutes, moved slowly.
What is this feeling?! Gyokko felt his chest tighten. Even the sounds of the forest had completely vanished. There was nothing but a low hum, like the sounds of distant storms.
Then the winds began to move.
But they weren't normal winds. They circled around Akaza's body, then their strength escalated suddenly until they became like a storm. Dry branches and fallen leaves rose into the air as though something unseen was pulling them.
Gyokko unconsciously stepped back. The winds moved like snakes, coiling around Akaza and emitting a terrifying hiss before continuing to gather, until his body was at the center of a raging vortex.
Then a wave of energy burst forth, pushing everything within tens of meters away. The trees bent as though bowing to an indescribable force, and the small stones were hurled away at a speed enough to pierce bone.
Gyokko raised his hand to shield his face from the violent winds. But he couldn't stop his body from trembling.
Is this… Akaza himself?
The ground beneath Akaza's feet cracked, glowing blue lines appearing as though the earth was trying to escape from under him. His head was tilted forward, his blood-soaked hair fluttering as though the storm had erupted from him personally.
Then he slowly raised his head.
His eyes… were a hell devoid of any emotion.
As soon as he stood on his feet, he began brushing the dust off his shoulders as though he didn't care about anything. Even the Upper Moons who had been watching in boredom earlier couldn't help but shut their mouths.
The winds grew stronger, producing terrifying sounds, like horrifying screams. Even the strong surrounding trees began breaking one after another.
The air sliced through the skin. Just standing within Akaza's vicinity had become painful. Dust and debris circled around him, as though trying to cover the body of a beast emerging from its slumber.
For the first time, Gyokko felt his legs fail him. Every hair on his body stood on end, and his heart pounded at an unnatural speed.
What is this…?
Akaza was completely different. This was no longer the same power everyone knew about him. It was as though something dormant had awoken inside him.
His first steps were slow, but each step shook the ground beneath him. He wasn't just moving… he was crushing the place itself under the weight of his presence.
The smile on his face wasn't one of pride or victory… it was a smile devoid of any emotion except a terrifying desire to kill.
The winds continued to swirl around him, more and more,
And even though this terrifying power hadn't yet reached Douma's strength, nor the Upper Moon One, nor even Muzan…
It was enough to make anyone else in the entire domain tremble in fear.
He approached closer to Gyokko with heavy steps, and the world around him quaked with him. Darkness thickened in the place, and even the moon in the sky seemed to bow slightly to this force beyond reason.
In that moment… Akaza was no longer just an Upper Moon.
He was a natural disaster walking on two legs.
Gyokko didn't dare to move. His breathing became heavy, and sweat began dripping from his forehead, not from the heat… but from pure fear.
The air was unbearably heavy. The winds that had moved around Akaza since the moment of his awakening hadn't calmed, but had grown stronger, as if feeding his rage. The surrounding trees were uprooted one by one, leaves swirling in the air like flocks of terrified birds, and the dust made the sky dark as a moonless night.
Gyokko, who had been full of arrogance just minutes before, now felt only one thing: pure fear.
Akaza's insane smile was approaching him step by step. Each step was an earthquake shaking the ground, even small rocks jumped from their place as though fleeing from touching the ground his feet tread.
> "Retreat… retreat now!" his inner voice whispered, but his legs were frozen in place.
Akaza suddenly raised his head, and his glowing red eyes stared at Gyokko as if he were a helpless prey. In a fraction of a second… he disappeared.
BOOOOM!!!
Gyokko didn't realize what had happened until he felt Akaza's fist tear through the air beside him, striking the tree behind him and blowing it apart into shards like a bomb.
Gyokko recoiled backward quickly, his watery body moving like mercury, trying to get away from that beast. But Akaza was in front of him again, with no warning.
First punch!
Gyokko dodged by shifting his body, but the winds from the strike sliced part of his right arm clean off.
Second kick!
He blocked it with his watery shield, but the force of the kick shattered the shield completely and hurled him back into the stone wall behind him.
His body hit the wall with such force it embedded him into it like a twisted mural. Before he could catch his breath, Akaza was in front of him again. His fist pierced through the rocks and reached directly into Gyokko's chest.
> CRASH!!!
Gyokko felt his internal organs tear apart. He screamed hoarsely, but Akaza didn't stop. His other fist came down on his face.
BOM! BOM! BOM!
Relentless blows without pause, each one enough to destroy an entire demon. The ground quaked with every strike, rocks scattering like scraps of paper.
Gyokko tried to withdraw into his watery body, but Akaza followed him like a shadow. His fist grabbed Gyokko's twisted neck and yanked him upward before slamming him down to the ground with all his strength.
> The ground exploded from the impact.
But Akaza didn't give him a chance. He leapt into the air like a flaming arrow, his whole body tensed for the next strike.
Direct elbow strike!
It pierced the ground where Gyokko had been, sending a shockwave that lifted rocks from beneath the earth.
> "I surrender!" Gyokko screamed as he moved like water away from the impact site.
But Akaza had already vanished again.
No footsteps could be heard, but he was approaching at a speed beyond Gyokko's comprehension.
Suddenly he felt a hand grab his leg from behind. Before he could turn…
BOOM!!!
Akaza yanked his body with force and hurled him toward the nearest giant tree. The tree snapped in half instantly on impact. But it wasn't over… Akaza was already there. His fist pierced the tree trunk supporting Gyokko and nearly reached his heart.
> "I want to see how you'll make me kneel!" Akaza said in a low voice.
Gyokko's body trembled. Desperate, he unleashed hundreds of sharp fins in all directions. The air filled with those deadly blades, even the ground was shredded from their sheer number.
But Akaza didn't seem to care. His body moved through the fins like a phantom. Every blade that came near him was shattered by his fists before it could touch his skin. He moved so fast the winds followed his path like snakes, swirling and slicing the air with sharp sounds.
Then he reached Gyokko again.
Left fist to the abdomen!
His watery body was torn apart and scattered into the air. But Akaza wasn't done. His other hand grabbed Gyokko's head before he could reform himself.
Akaza lifted Gyokko's body into the air and crushed his grip on his head mercilessly.
> "Do you think after all the pain you caused my beloved body you can just surrender?!"
Gyokko's deformed face began to warp under the pressure. He screamed, trying to escape into his watery form, but Akaza's fists were like iron, refusing to release their prey.
Then he slammed him down to the ground with force.
CRASH!!!
The earth shook again.
Akaza didn't let him go. He kicked him with all his strength, sending his body crashing into the trunk of a massive tree. Before he could fall, Akaza followed, grabbed his leg, and smashed him into the ground as though he were a weapon.
BOM! BOM! BOM!
Each impact opened a new crater in the ground.
Gyokko screamed madly, his watery body beginning to lose form, scattering into shapeless liquid masses. But he tried, with the last of his remaining strength, to retaliate.
He unleashed his final attack: waves of sharp fins erupted from all directions. The ground and sky were filled with the blades of death.
But Akaza, standing in the middle of the storm, didn't retreat.
He roared a roar that shook the entire place, a roar no one had ever heard before.
The winds around him transformed into a full-blown hurricane.
Those sharp fins that had filled the sky? They were all torn apart in the air before they could reach his body. It was as if the sheer raw power surrounding him shattered everything in its path.
Gyokko froze in place, his face full of terror.
> "Damn it!"
BOOOOM!!!
He struck Gyokko directly in the chest. The shockwave from the blow was enough to clear the trees in a half-circle radius. The ground shattered under Akaza's feet, Gyokko's body compressed so hard that a wave of blood burst from every part of him.
He fell to the ground convulsing, his watery body disintegrating bit by bit.
But Akaza didn't attack him again. He stood there, breathing deeply, his crazed eyes locked onto the barely moving Gyokko.
> "I believe the battle has already been decided," said Douma as his fan hovered near Akaza's neck. But what came out of Akaza's mouth forced everyone to fall silent.
"I know where the plant Muzan needs is," Akaza said in a calm voice before pointing at Gyokko and adding:
"And I need him to get it."
---
I made this chapter long for you and I think I will try to make the chapters longer for you So I hope you support the novel.