A slightly nostalgic voice entered Kokushibou's mind, and he felt a suffocating pressure in his chest.
His face was filled with rage as he stared intently at Tsugikuni Yoriichi.
An impulse from deep within him almost completely shattered his rationality.
—Why!
—Why are you still alive!?
I… I definitely killed you!
His breathing was ragged, and his six eyes trembled violently as if in a seizure. Kokushibou tightly gripped the flesh-covered Nichirin blade hilt.
Creak—!
Yoriichi's casual strike seemed to transport him back to the blood moon night three hundred years ago.
The cutting wound on his neck from Sun Breathing was throbbing faintly.
Suddenly, the pain jolted him awake.
"You…"
With his Nichirin blade held upright in front of him, Kokushibou took a few deep breaths before his tone turned grim again.
His gaze was fixed solely on Yoriichi; neither Giyu Tomioka, the Water Hashira, nor Inosuke Hashibira mattered.
They were merely ants he could crush at will.
He only cared about…
"Yoriichi…"
A prolonged sound echoed all around. In the space of a breath, his Nichirin blade pointed forward:
"You… you bastard…"
"Three hundred years ago…"
"You… didn't die?"
Kokushibou knew this was impossible.
He clearly remembered the moment Yoriichi took his last breath and was cut in half at the waist by him. Such an injury would be fatal even for a demon.
A human…
Would surely die!
But…
"I died."
Yoriichi held his Zanpakuto, letting it hang by his side.
His calm eyes gazed at Kokushibou…
Even after not seeing him for ten years, there was still an undeniable sadness.
Kokushibou was stunned.
—Died?
—Then?
"That's right." Yoriichi nodded lightly, interrupting his thoughts.
"Just as you thought, my soul went to another world, the world of the dead… I was resurrected there."
Kokushibou's fingers trembled slightly.
He raised his arm.
His knuckles extended, pointing at Yoriichi.
His tone was heavy:
"So…"
"You crawled out of there…"
"Just to get revenge on me?"
"Yoriichi… this isn't the you from before. No, you aren't even yourself."
His words were somewhat contradictory because he couldn't detect any trace of a human scent on Tsugikuni Yoriichi.
It was somewhat similar to a demon, yet fundamentally different…
"Brother, how long ago was the me you knew?"
Yoriichi looked at him calmly, shaking his head slightly. His indifferent tone broke the silence between them:
"From the day you betrayed us and became a demon, I understood that creatures like demons must be eradicated."
"You killed the master, abandoned the Tsugikuni bloodline, and discarded your identity as a human. Why would you think that I am no longer myself?"
"If that's what you think, then, let me ask you…"
"Who are you?"
"I am Kokushibou." Kokushibou blurted out.
After speaking.
His breathing abruptly stopped.
No…
No, that's not right, I'm not Kokushibou, I'm Tsugikuni…
"Kokushibou, kill him!!"
Just as Kokushibou was questioning his own existence.
A sudden roar in his mind abruptly jolted him awake.
Kokushibou snapped back to reality.
All six of his grotesque eyes lifted simultaneously.
He gripped his Nichirin blade hilt tightly with both hands.
His breathing was laboured.
He looked at Tsugikuni Yoriichi, his voice heavy and cold:
"I'm sorry, Yoriichi, I don't care who you are."
"Today, I must slay you here!"
"The swordsmanship I have trained for four hundred years and honed to its peak was born for this very purpose!"
As his words fell.
Bang!
The ground caved in as he charged towards Tsugikuni Yoriichi with immense force.
The ghost-like figure was as fast as lightning; Giyu Tomioka could only see a blurry shadow.
In what felt like the blink of an eye, Kokushibou had already reached Tsugikuni Yoriichi.
Towards him…
He swung with all his might!
Instantly!
Countless crescent moons transformed into starlight, engulfing Yoriichi like a vast ocean!
Even from a distance.
Giyu Tomioka found it difficult to breathe. The pressure from the Upper Rank Demon had already knocked Inosuke unconscious nearby.
The immense demon aura could no longer be described as merely soaring; at this moment, he felt as if he were in an ocean of demon aura.
Countless cold, damp black currents felt like filthy insects, burrowing into his pores like maggots, ceaselessly eroding his internal organs.
A chill swept through his entire body.
Thump.
Kneeling on one knee, cold sweat faintly beading on his forehead, Giyu Tomioka's eyes were half-closed.
He managed to lean against a tree, gulping down oxygen, and only then did his condition slightly improve.
Observing their battle…
No.
This was no longer a battle, but a one-sided annihilation.
The Upper Rank One, who had caused him such difficulty, was before Tsugikuni Yoriichi.
No matter how heavy the Nichirin blade he swung.
No matter how many crescent moons he unleashed.
Tsugikuni Yoriichi casually parried them all.
It was as if he wasn't facing an Upper Rank Demon capable of slaughtering Hashira-level swordsmen, but an unthinking child.
The nichirin blade in his hand wasn't a nichirin blade, but an ordinary wooden stick…
Such a disparity…
Giyu Tomioka narrowed his eyes slightly.
Although his expression remained as calm as ever, the subtle changes in his demeanour indicated that he was already plunged into unspeakable horror.
His dynamic vision could barely keep up with their movements.
Is this the progenitor of Breathing Techniques?
—So strong!
…
"Yoriichi…"
Compared to Giyu Tomioka's complex emotions.
Kokushibou, in the midst of battle, facing Tsugikuni Yoriichi, whom he couldn't seem to break through, suddenly felt a surge of impatience and resentment.
All six of his eyes widened, his arm muscles bulged, and he exerted himself to the utmost to increase the speed and power of his swings.
Puff! Puff!
His clothes ripped, and he even disregarded the disintegration of flesh on his Nichirin blade as his swinging motions became blurs. Moon Breathing was unleashed at full power…
Several states layered on top of each other…
Yet in the end…
Still, no progress…
"This is impossible!"
"Yoriichi!"
"The gap between you and me shouldn't be this vast!"
Clang!
Sparks flew!
The disparity between ideal and reality plunged Kokushibou into an abyss. He shouted with all his might:
"Why do you think I painstakingly cultivated my swordsmanship for four hundred years!?
"I want to surpass you!!"
"Yoriichi!"
Clang!
The Nichirin blade was deflected. In the instant Kokushibou was distracted, a brilliant blaze, incredibly dazzling in the night, suddenly entered his eyes.
Rapidly expanding flames condensed and churned on the black nichirin blade tip!
Scalding hot flames burned and rose in the night!
His golden pupils contracted sharply!
Everything around was briefly illuminated.
Instantly!
Puff!
His chest was pierced!
Ignoring the need to parry, enduring the burning pain like the sun, Kokushibou spat out a mouthful of blood and decisively retreated.
Thud!
Dust flew from the ground. As soon as he stabilised himself, he saw Yoriichi shake the blood from his Nichirin blade, looking at him with an indifferent gaze, his tone casual:
"Brother, you're too fixated…"
"Four hundred years is nothing."
"If age mattered…"
"Kibutsuji Muzan wouldn't be hiding from me everywhere…"