80th District of the North Rukongai— —Zaraki District.
This area was already a place where ordinary people dared not enter. However, lawless individuals who loved to fight and kill would often come here to challenge the ruler who dominated the district.
But now, the situation in Zaraki had fundamentally changed. No matter how lawless they were, no one dared to take a single step into this area. The reason was simple: from a great distance, one could feel the entire district was enveloped by something powerful and terrifying. The fearsome energy surging within could be sensed from far away, and the air was filled with a terrible roar like collapsing mountains.
Just taking a few steps closer brought a crushing pressure, as if a mountain were pressing down on you. Ordinary souls wouldn't just be unable to enter; simply getting near the area would likely cause their spiritual forms to destabilize and dissipate into spirit particles.
One deafening boom followed another, blasting cascades of earth into the sky like a reverse waterfall.
Violent energy exploded outwards in all directions, while a cold light cut through everything, blooming like a brilliant silver flower. The continuous sound of clashing blades mixed with explosions, repeatedly detonating the air and dust. Time and again, storms of spiritual pressure would blow the dust away, only for it to rise and thicken in the next moment.
Two men, with starkly different styles but a shared enjoyment of battle, clashed here again and again, thinking of nothing else. They fought to kill each other, yet they reveled in being so evenly matched. They even wished this battle could last forever.
Suddenly, something shot through the thick dust and rose into the sky, standing still in the air above. It was the man with silver-white hair, his clothes now in tatters and covered in large patches of blood. Contrary to common practice, he held his sword in his left hand, his expression unchanging as he looked down at the swirling dust below.
Suddenly, a distorted black shadow appeared within the dust, as if something was chasing him from below.
Then he moved. In the blink of an eye, he had swung his sword dozens of times. Flashes of light, each over ten meters long, pierced through the dust, splitting it apart!
Only then could the pursuer be seen: it was the beast-like man, rocketing upwards. It wasn't just that it was difficult to dodge; he had no intention of dodging from the start. The beast-like man raised his sword and swung it directly at the flashes of light rushing toward him.
He shattered the unstoppable blades of light, but they were immediately followed by three more, and then countless others. Even a man as fearsome as him couldn't withstand such a continuous assault. The man with the saw-toothed blade was forced to a halt in his ascent, driven back to the ground by the relentless barrage of slashes.
At that moment, the man high in the sky calmly pointed his blade downwards. It looked as if he were about to simply drop his sword.
But it wasn't the sword that fell.
It was the man holding the sword.
A dark purple light pulsed on the blade. Man and sword plummeted from the sky together. The instant he landed, countless rock pillars, hardened and infused with the same dark purple energy, erupted from the ground!
The pillars, containing a violent and explosive power, shot towards the beast-like man who had just been knocked down by the slashes!
However, the beast-like man was unharmed by the pillars. He laughed heartily, swinging his sword and effortlessly shattering the pillars that came at him.
Shards of the rock pillars, which glittered with a dark purple light and looked like crystals at first glance, flew in all directions. The beast-like man had already passed through the shattered pillars and appeared before his silver-haired rival.
A slash that seemed powerful enough to split the world came down from above, without any flair or flourish!!
The sheer force of the blow stirred up a hurricane, yet this terrifying strike was steadily blocked by another, perfectly ordinary tachi. The immense force was redirected into the ground, causing it to boom and sink several centimeters as cracks spiderwebbed outwards.
But the man who had raised his tachi to block the blow did not waver in the slightest.
He looked up, his blue eyes meeting the demonic, terrifying grin of his opponent. A faint smile played on his own lips.
"Let's end it here."
He said it so casually. With a sudden burst of strength from the hand holding the sword, he sent the beast-like man, sword and all, flying backwards.
The beast-like man landed steadily on the ground. He didn't attack again. Instead, he casually rested his sword on his shoulder and asked the man who had made the declaration, "Oh? Giving up so early today? Don't tell me you're getting weaker." The霸气 (bàqì - dominant/authoritative) statement held a hint of provocation.
But the silver-haired man didn't attack again. In front of the opponent he had been trying to kill just a second ago, he calmly sheathed his tachi.
The beast-like man, shouldering his saw-toothed blade, frowned, watching the silver-haired man's actions with displeasure.
"What do you mean by that?"
"I mean, there's no point in us continuing to fight like this."
Having sheathed his sword, he pointed to himself, then to the beast-like man, and said in a calm but indisputable tone, "Haven't you noticed? Our fights now aren't like they were at the beginning, where a single mistake could be fatal. We've been fighting for a while now, and neither of us has gained a single new wound."
"..."
The beast-like man spat to the side with a dismissive sound.
"What's that supposed to mean? Speak plainly. Who can understand you when you talk like that!!"
"...What a beast, who understands nothing but fighting."
The silver-haired man pressed a hand to his forehead and shook his head, looking troubled. He had to put it in simpler terms.
"It means that through our constant fighting, we have both developed our powers to their current limits. At the same time, we've become completely familiar with each other's fighting styles. We know what kind of attack the other will launch and when. Although it looks intense, it's really no different from children play-fighting. Continuing like this is just a waste of time. It's meaningless."
"...Hey, come over here for a sec."
After a long silence, as if lost in thought, the beast-like man finally spoke again.
"What do you want?"
"Let me punch you in the head a few times, see if I can forget all this. If it works, I'll do it to myself afterwards."
"???"