Chapter 208: 208 ’Breath of the Moon
"Master Swordsman Tsukiguni Yoriichi! Engaging with Upper Moon One in combat!"
When such an order came from the mouths of the messenger crows and spread across the sky of Infinite City, everyone momentarily stopped their fighting.
"The Master Swordsman has made his move!"
All the members of the Demon Slayer Corps had this thought flash through their minds.
"Upper Moon One has made his move!"
All the demons changed color at this news.
The rumors of the Demon Slayer Corps’ Master Swordsman, who could easily kill Upper Moon demons and caused the phenomenon of an Upper Moon’s absence for the first time in a hundred years, battling the strongest of the Upper Moons, made this a battle that moved everyone.
In reality, however, the situation of the battle was not as intense as everyone, demons included, had imagined, like a clash of needlepoint against wheat awns, or sparks hitting Earth.
"Moon Breathing·Second Form·Moon Playing."
At the top of the palace-like altar, the strongest sword-demon under Kibutsuji Muzan burst forth from in front of a moon mural, charging forward while twisting his body, unleashing two blade winds.
Those twin blade winds carried numerous moon blades, slicing the ground as they swept towards Reiger, their force so fierce they seemed to be able to shred the palace into pieces.
Facing such a fierce and sharp Sword-storm, Reiger did not retreat but advanced instead; he stomped his foot, causing a burst of flames beneath him, and he dashed forward, back against the sun mural.
Then, Reiger directly took the sword in hand, along with the scabbard, swinging it like a blunt instrument towards the incoming blade winds.
"Clang!"
In the sound of metal clashing, Reiger deflected a blade wind, igniting bursting sparks.
"Clang clang clang clang——"
What followed was a series of intense clashing noises, all the blade winds and the crescent-like moon blades were deflected by the scabbard, now a blur in Reiger’s hand.
Reiger easily neutralized Kokushibou’s attack and in a flash, directly dashed towards Kokushibou.
"Moon Breathing·Third Form·Detestable Moon·Erosion."
Kokushibou immediately twisted his sword, producing moon blades on the blade’s edge and launched a flurry of slashes towards Reiger.
The flurry was fast; the sword itself was completely invisible, only two crescent-shaped blade winds could be seen along with numerous varying-sized moon blades bursting forth, slicing through the air and slashing towards Reiger.
However, in that instant, Reiger vanished, allowing the blade winds to only slice through the ground, cutting the floor open and sending numerous pieces of rubble flying.
".....!"
A loud alarm rang in Kokushibou’s mind, suddenly he squatted down, crouching to the ground.
"Whoosh!"
Almost at the same moment, the Sun Wheel Blade, still sheathed, whooshed past Kokushibou’s head, grazing his scalp, narrowly missing exploding his head on the spot.
"Not bad."
Reiger’s voice suddenly entered Kokushibou’s ears.
"Being able to dodge that strike proves your strength far surpasses the other Upper Moons. It’s no wonder you had already unlocked the Mark and Transparent World even before becoming a demon. I presume you also foresaw my next move through the Transparent World, right?"
Kokushibou’s commendatory words did not make Kokushibou feel honored.
"Moon Breathing·Sixth Style·Long Night Solitary Moon·Abyss."
Kokushibou immediately turned and swung his sword towards the spot behind him where Reiger stood.
It was a high-speed slash that surpassed all previous ones in speed and frequency.
The flurry of cuts crisscrossed, releasing multiple blade winds and simultaneously lifting up moon blades, enveloping Reiger completely in a tempest-like slashing assault, leaving no room for escape.
The spot where Reiger stood was instantly chopped into fragments; whether it was the floor or the pillars not far away, all were neatly sliced open.
"Rumble rumble..."
Inside the palace, a heavy rumbling sound rose.
The sound of the pillars collapsing and the floor breaking mixed together, causing the entire palace to shake, and dust rose from the open rooftop, as if struck by a natural disaster.
The ferocity of Kokushibou’s attack and the strength of his slashes were clearly evident.
The Moon Breathing he used was derived directly from Sun Breathing, just like the five basic breathing styles.
No, that’s not right, rather than saying Moon Breathing emerged from Sun Breathing, it’s more like a degraded version of it.
Because of the harsh conditions required to master Sun Breathing, Tsugikuni Michikatsu, being unable to bear the power of the sun when he was learning Sun Breathing from his younger brother Tsukiguni Yoriichi, had to create a degraded version of the breath technique.
This breathing technique was Moon Breathing.
The existence of Moon Breathing was exactly proof that Tsugikuni Michikatsu was not as gifted as Tsukiguni Yoriichi.
Even if the full moon is bright, how can it compete with the sun?
This degraded breath constantly reminded Tsugikuni Michikatsu that he was never equal to his brother, the chosen child, even though he later awakened the Mark and the Transparent World.
After all, Tsukiguni Yoriichi was born with a Mark and understood the Transparent World from childhood, a great achievement unmatched by anyone.
However, this does not mean Moon Breathing is weak.
On the contrary, precisely because it corresponds to the "sun" as the "moon", in terms of strength alone, Moon Breathing surpasses all the derived and branched breathing styles, including the five basic ones.
Its effect allows the release of a wide range of Sword Qi, with slashing always accompanied by countless moon blades, all its sword forms feature high attack speed and wide range, making their lethality extremely formidable.
Such a breathing technique, when wielded by Tsugikuni Michikatsu, had almost infinite power, not to mention that Tsugikuni Michikatsu had already activated the Marks and Transparent World.
Therefore, even before he became a demon, Tsugikuni Michikatsu was undeniably a Pillar-class Swordsman, and although not on par with the Bug-like Tsukiguni Yoriichi, he would not lose to any of the current Pillars.
Including Himejima Gyoumei, who was renowned as the ceiling and the strongest member of the current Demon Slayer Corps.
In Reiger’s view, Tsugikuni Michikatsu, before becoming a demon, should have had strength equivalent to a level 4 top rank, and compared to the current Himejima Gyoumei, who had also activated the Marks and Transparent World, he was certainly no less formidable.
In such circumstances, Tsugikuni Michikatsu abandoned his past, transformed into a demon, and became Kokushibou, one of the Upper Moons; his power undoubtedly reached a new level.
Now, hundreds of years had passed, and during these centuries, Kokushibou had devoured countless humans, and his power had grown immensely, reaching a true pinnacle.
Just as Reiger had speculated earlier, Kokushibou was level 5, completely beyond the other Upper Moon demons.
In this era without Tsukiguni Yoriichi, in terms of individual strength, aside from the thousand-year-old monster Kibutsuji Muzan, no one in the world could match Kokushibou.
In the original story, it was not without reason that Kokushibou alone managed to fight against the Marks-activated Shinazugawa Sanemi, and Himejima Gyoumei and Tokitou Muichirou, who both reached the Transparent World, killing one of them in the end.
If it were before he came to this world, when Reiger’s abilities had not yet reached the full SSS level and he hadn’t mastered the Sun Breathing technique, dealing with a demon equivalent to a first-level adventurer wouldn’t be easy without exerting some effort.
But now...
"Boom—!"
Amid a sword-storm fierce enough to slash a palace, Reiger, wrapped in flames, emerged unscathed and kicked Kokushibou, sending him flying.
"Spurt!"
Kokushibou immediately spurted out a mouthful of fresh blood as he smashed into a pillar, shattering it to pieces.
The fragments of the pillar fell down, instantly burying Kokushibou, causing him to disappear from Reiger’s sight.
However, Reiger did not stop attacking. Although he still hadn’t drawn his sword, he swung a slash toward the direction of the rubble.
"Boom!"
A fierce burst of flame instantly struck the rubble, blasting the stones into the air.
Kokushibou emerged from the midst of the rubble, rolling along with various sorts of broken stones and debris, and rolled a great distance.
"Cough, cough...."
The figure lying on the ground coughed up blood repeatedly, his body completely scorched to a char by the fierce flames.
"Damn it...."
Feeling unbearable intense pain, Kokushibou clenched his teeth and wobbily stood up from the ground, his eyes filled with solemnity and fury as he looked at Reiger.
The solemnity was because Reiger’s strength had far surpassed Kokushibou’s imagination.
He knew Reiger was strong, capable of easily defeating Upper Moons, but even beheading an Upper Moon demon in a blink was also something he could accomplish, thus Kokushibou did not feel powerless before Reiger.
In his view, strong as Reiger was, he himself might not necessarily lose; both of them could possibly be at a comparable level of strength.
Who would have thought that even facing him, Reiger acted so effortlessly. Such strength already began to terrify Kokushibou.
For a moment, he even thought it was truly his own brother standing before him.
That monstrously powerful being, could there truly be a second one in this world?
How could this be possible?
Kokushibou’s fury also arose from this.
Before Tsukiguni Yoriichi died, Kokushibou had actually seen him one last time.
It was during that meeting that Tsukiguni Yoriichi died, right in front of Kokushibou.
Before his death, that person still showed the mighty power of a demonic god, causing Kokushibou to feel the terror as he did at this moment.
Because of this, Kokushibou had long vowed never to lose to anyone in his life.
But now, in front of Reiger, not only did he become so dismal, completely overwhelmed, but the opponent did not even draw his sword.
"Are you looking down on me ...!?"
With all six of his eyes, Kokushibou glared intensely at Reiger.
Reiger glanced at Kokushibou with a calm expression.
"I just have some questions to ask you, that’s why I haven’t rushed to kill you," said Reiger.
His tone sounded not so much like he was fighting, but rather like he was completing a task.
"Where is the throne?"
This was all that Reiger was concerned about.
Yes, he had already lost interest in Kokushibou.
Previously, he had some expectations of this Upper Moon.
But it now seemed, Kokushibou was no match for him at all.
Therefore, the only target left for Reiger was Kibutsuji Muzan.