"The weak?"
Tony raised an eyebrow and stepped forward confidently. As he slowly walked toward Akaza, his tone dripped with condescension. "There are always people in this world who think they're superior, but in reality, they're nothing more than ants in the eyes of others."
"Oh?"
Akaza's interest was piqued, a smile playing on his lips. "You mean in your eyes, I'm just an ant?"
"No."
"Hmm?"
Akaza looked slightly surprised.
"At best, you're just a harmful germ!"
The silence that followed was deafening.
Everyone stared at Tony in shock, not understanding why he would deliberately provoke Akaza at a time like this.
Akaza's head bowed, his expression obscured by shadows, making it impossible to discern his thoughts. Yet the chill emanating from his body sent shivers down everyone's spines.
Tony felt uneasy too, but considering Jarvis's calculations and his own plan, he could only steel himself and continue with a dismissive expression and tone. "What?
Do harmful germs also feel uncomfortable when they hear others' disdain?"
That's right—Tony was deliberately trying to provoke Akaza.
During the earlier fight, Jarvis had analyzed both Akaza and Kyojuro Rengoku's combat methods, clearly breaking down their moves, power generation techniques, attack timing, and even their personal habits.
But it was precisely because the analysis was so thorough that Tony could truly appreciate the strength of both fighters—and feel despair at their situation.
Yes, the answer was genuinely despairing.
Jarvis had told Tony that Akaza's techniques weren't impossibly superhuman—at least they didn't deviate from the principles of human biomechanics. But even when distracted in battle, Akaza could still execute the optimal response with each move.
Attack, defend, dodge...
Akaza always managed to make the most suitable choice at the most opportune moment. His combat skills had become second nature, allowing him to devise optimal responses without conscious thought. Furthermore, as an Upper Rank demon, he possessed immense physical strength, lightning-fast reflexes, extensive combat experience, and Blood Demon Arts that enhanced both his defense and lethality.
To deal with an enemy like this, you needed one of three things: overwhelming power to crush him outright, equally exquisite or superior skills to force him into revealing weaknesses, or absolute tactical genius to predict his moves multiple steps ahead and set traps that would lead to his defeat even when he made optimal choices.
With Jarvis's assistance, Tony's brain could decipher the opponent's moves and calculate his next move, and the one after that, and the one after that. Theoretically, he could force Akaza into a situation where even optimal choices would eventually lead to failure.
However, the Mark armor he was wearing—with its weapons malfunctioning—couldn't support executing such a strategy through raw performance alone.
So Tony decided to provoke him.
Only by enraging Akaza, causing him to lose his temper and make unwise choices, could Tony create an opening.
Akaza despised the weak, and Tony was clearly weak in his eyes. If someone weak provoked him with such contempt, even someone with the best temper would snap!
However, the result seemed different from what Tony had envisioned.
Although the increasingly frigid air around Akaza indicated the demon was furious, the expected scene of him losing control and attacking didn't materialize.
This gave Tony a bad feeling.
There were two different reactions when people got angry: one was to be blinded by rage and destroy the source of anger without thinking; the other was to keep the anger buried deep, channel it, and resolve the source of anger with strength beyond their usual level.
(Is this guy the latter type?)
(Did I accidentally buff the enemy instead?!)
Despite his unease and uncertainty, Tony steeled himself and continued walking step by step toward Akaza, uttering more contemptuous remarks in an attempt to thoroughly provoke him.
Closer... closer... closer...
As Tony approached Akaza, he could feel the rage that made him feel like he was falling into an ice cave. His heart pounded harder with each step.
Just as he was about to lose control of his fear and stop—or even turn and run—that powerful voice rang out once again.
"Mr. Stark, this is my fight! Please step back!"
Kyojuro Rengoku's voice trembled slightly, making one instinctively imagine him speaking while enduring severe injuries.
Although Tony was surprised Kyojuro had stopped him so quickly, he paused and looked over. Under the ruins of the broken wall, the man who burned like the sun stood with his sword. He was covered in blood and looked somewhat disheveled, but his straight back kept his aura undiminished—if anything, it was more vigorous than before, like embers before they burned out, radiating their last brilliant light.
"Kyojuro, you bastard..."
Akaza's icy aura momentarily froze, then dissipated.
He raised his head, looking at the Flame Hashira with an expression both complex and excited.
The next second, an uncontrollable surge of anger welled up within him. He stomped his foot and appeared in front of Tony, his right hand enveloped in an invisible wave of energy as he slammed down. At the same time, his voice rang out with indescribable fury. "You interrupted a battle between someone so strong and me with such determination. I won't be satisfied until I tear you to pieces and torture you to death!"
—Destructive Death: Air Type!
No one expected that Akaza—who'd seemed to have calmed down and ignored Tony's provocation just moments ago—would suddenly erupt.
This attack was too sudden and too fierce.
Akaza's strength was already above everyone else's, and attacking in anger under unexpected circumstances meant that even Kyojuro didn't react until the fist was almost touching the Mark armor's faceplate.
But at this distance, by the time they realized what was happening, it was too late to intervene.
However, just when everyone expected that the Mark armor's visor would barely be tough enough to block the attack, Tony seemed to have foreseen it. He moved his head to avoid the punch by a hair's breadth.
At the same time, he raised his left hand and grabbed Akaza's wrist, then drove his right fist hard into the demon's face.
BANG!
With a dull thud, Akaza's head snapped back, and blood splattered into the night sky.
The scene stunned everyone.
Although they didn't know Tony's exact capabilities, seeing him fail to help during Kyojuro and Akaza's prolonged battle had led them to subconsciously assume he couldn't intervene in a fight of this level.
It was precisely because of this assumption that Kyojuro had spoken up to stop Tony from continuing to provoke Akaza.
Yet facing this attack that no one had anticipated or been able to react to, Tony had not only reacted and dodged—he'd also grabbed his opponent and launched a counterattack.
Could it be this guy was playing dumb, waiting for everyone to fall into despair before showing off and saving the day?
Although everyone thought it unlikely under these circumstances, considering Tony's flamboyant and attention-seeking personality, it was indeed something he might do.
This just proved that preconceived notions could be deadly.
Tony had no idea what everyone was thinking, and even if he did, he wouldn't care.
What had seemed like a failed plan had taken a turn for the better thanks to Kyojuro's words. He was determined to seize the opportunity Kyojuro had given him and win this battle.
According to Jarvis's analysis, Akaza's physical strength alone wasn't greater than the Mark armor's—it was only through a combination of exquisite techniques and Blood Demon Arts that he could cause such enormous destruction.
Therefore, Tony cranked the Mark armor to maximum power, gripping Akaza's wrist tightly with one hand while relentlessly hammering his face with a series of punches and palm strikes.
"Disrupting the battle?"
"You think you're so special, huh?"
"You think you're so cool because you're a demon, huh?"
"How does it feel to be grabbed and beaten by someone you consider weak?"
"Are you still going to keep pestering him to turn into a demon?"
Tony continued taunting Akaza while beating him, trying to keep the demon locked in his rage-fueled state.
With his wrist grabbed, despite his superhuman reflexes and speed, Akaza couldn't dodge. His body was constantly bombarded by strikes, making it impossible to maintain his balance. No matter how many techniques he possessed, he couldn't fight back or escape—he could only endure Tony's attacks one after another.
A punch left Akaza bleeding profusely. A palm strike ruptured his internal organs.
However, such injuries were merely scratches to a demon. For Akaza of the Twelve Kizuki, they didn't even qualify as scratches.
Each time Tony successfully landed an attack, Akaza's injuries had already healed by the time he prepared for the next one.
Still, while the damage wasn't significant, it was extremely insulting.
Akaza's eyes grew colder, his anger reaching its peak. He was just waiting for Tony to show the slightest weakness so he could break free and utterly crush this foul-mouthed bastard.
No, I can't stand it anymore!
Hearing the increasingly vulgar and obscene insults, Akaza was filled with unbearable rage. He mustered all his strength in his right arm, preparing to tear it off and escape.
Unexpectedly, Tony saw through his intentions. He yanked Akaza back, secured him from behind in an arm lock, and shouted at the stunned Kyojuro, "Mr. Rengoku, cut off his head now! If that doesn't work, you can attack me too—I can escape from behind at any time!"
"...No wonder everyone praises you as a superhero. You're incredible!"
Kyojuro snapped out of his daze and couldn't help but express his admiration.
At the same time, he dragged his blade to his side, inhaled sharply, and exhaled forcefully. Hot liquid overflowed from the corner of his mouth.