Chapter 209: 209 Moon Mourning
"......"
At that moment, Kokushibou fell silent.
However, with Kokushibou’s silence, the aura emanating from him became even more terrifying and astounding.
"Gurgle..."
Kokushibou slowly raised his blade, which suddenly issued a squirming sound and began to elongate and deform.
Before long, the blade in Kokushibou’s hand had completely transformed, turning into a huge sword with spikes growing on the blade, incredibly intimidating.
Clearly, the blade in Kokushibou’s hands was no ordinary blade.
It was a demonic blade forged from his own flesh and blood.
Kokushibou’s Blood Demon Art allowed him to transform his flesh into blades at will, and the generated blades could freely emit blade winds and moon blades similar to the Moon Breathing sword techniques; when combined with breathing techniques, the effect far exceeded ordinary Blood Demon Arts.
Thus, Kokushibou was known as the Demon Swordsman, not only because he was a ghoul who knew how to use breathing techniques but also because he himself was a sword, a blade. Every piece of flesh on him could turn into a blade. If the blade was damaged, it could regenerate instantly, and like this, as Kokushibou unleashed his power, it evolved into an exotic weapon with misplaced blades.
This meant that Kokushibou, in this state, was truly going all out.
Then, Kokushibou swung his sword.
"Moon Breathing·Seventh Form·Calamity Mirror·Moon Reflection!"
With Kokushibou’s slash, five slashing waves suddenly erupted, spreading fan-shaped along the ground, carrying arc-shaped shockwaves, attacking Reiger.
Reiger’s eyebrows slightly furrowed, his eyes beginning to emit a glowing light, causing him to misstep, his figure flickered, dodging each blade-less vacuum slash and numerous shock waves.
"Moon Breathing·Eighth Form·Moon Dragon Wheel Tail!"
Kokushibou, however, showed no signs of stopping his attack, continuing to swing the demonic blade, unleashing a tremendously ranged slash that could sweep away everything.
A giant moon blade attached to this massive slash, like a ribbon, fiercely slashed towards Reiger.
Facing such a broad slash, there was simply no escape on the ground. Even the stone pillars standing in front of Reiger were chopped down, collapsing with a thunderous crash, forcing Reiger to leap into the air, letting the ribbon-like massive slash graze under his feet, slashing towards the wall behind him.
"Boom!"
The wall shattered upon impact, breaking apart, turning into a pile of debris.
"Moon Breathing·Ninth Form: Moonfall Continuous!"
Kokushibou, relentless, swung countless intersecting slashes at Reiger, who had leapt into the air, turning the slashes into a series of intercrossing blade winds, sealing off all of Reiger’s retreat paths.
This trapped Reiger as if he were caught in the crisscross of tornadoes, completely surrounded by tornadoes, and a single careless move could grind him into minced meat, leaving no bones behind.
Therefore, Reiger stopped dodging.
"Sun Breathing·Land Form·Bone-Burning Sun."
Reiger, in mid-air, released a vortex-like flaming slash under the pincer attack of countless blade winds.
He still hadn’t drawn his sword, letting the sheath remain unsheathed, yet he used the sheath to perform the Sun Breathing sword form.
Such a divine technique proved that Reiger had also made progress over these past two months.
Constantly training in combat with the Pillars, Reiger not only gained a deeper understanding and insight into each sword form of the evolved Sun Breathing but had integrated all sword techniques.
Reiger had also completed the realm of Total Concentration: Constant.
Thus, even without drawing his sword, even if using just a stick or a sheath, Reiger could perform the forms of Sun Breathing, no longer confined to using a sword.
In such a situation, the vortex-like flaming slash met the slashing blade winds and collided with a great explosion in mid-air.
Reiger emerged from the explosion, landing back on the ground.
But, the instant Reiger landed, a figure was also closing in.
"Moon Breathing·Ten Forms·Face Piercing Slash·Luo Yue!"
Kokushibou, from a close range, unhesitatingly unleashed three revolving moon-ring shaped Sword Qi slashes.
The Sword Qi tore through the atmosphere and the ground, causing the spot where Reiger stood to suddenly crumble as if collapsing, drawing him into the violent moon of Sword Qi.
"Boom——"
Reiger immediately waved his sheath to meet it, exploding it as if to blast it, blocking the violent Sword Qi and raising a tremendous shockwave.
And Kokushibou, completely disregarding the raging shockwaves, rushed to Reiger’s face, swinging crescent-shaped slashes at him.
"Clang——Clang——Clang——Clang——Clang——"
Reiger calmly countered, deflecting all the incoming slashes.
Sparks and Qi Force burst forth around Reiger and Kokushibou, dazzling and intensely fierce.
Kokushibou then like this launched a fierce attack at Reiger, and spoke.
"That guy was just like you..."
Kokushibou made this sudden statement.
"He was just like you... his eyes always fixed ahead... as if gazing at some goal... some place he must reach... very dazzling... and also very hateful...!"
Kokushibou’s slashes grew fiercer, not only tearing up the ground and the air, but even the surrounding walls, the ceiling, and the rubble formed from crushed stone pillars were torn apart.
"I know what you’re looking at..."
"You are watching Lord Muzan... for you... that is the most worthy opponent to wield a sword against..."
"You are looking at the future of humanity... looking at a glorious path... a great ideal that anyone who sees will sincerely admire and venerate..."
"Indeed... you are great... and powerful..."
"But in your eyes... there is never me...!"
Kokushibou suddenly unleashed numerous massive crescent moon-shaped blade winds, turning the slashes into terrifying waves and storms engulfing everything, barraging Reiger.
Such an overwhelming Sword-storm again made it impossible for Reiger to escape.
Reiger’s figure was quickly swallowed, torn apart, and obliterated by the sword-storm, vanishing without a trace.
However, the next second, Reiger’s figure suddenly reappeared.
It appeared behind Kokushibou.
"Sun Breathing Fourth Form: Illusory Sun Rainbow."
Reiger whispered the reason.
"Illusory Sun Rainbow" — This was an evasive dance performed through high-speed twisting and turning, rendering the user like a mirage, a non-existent phantom. It allowed the user to dodge an enemy’s attack while slipping into their blind spot.
Reiger, like a flickering flame mirage, floated lightly behind Kokushibou, raised his scabbard, and struck.
"Clang—"
In a critical moment, Kokushibou, relying on his understanding of the Sun Breathing and thorough observation of the world, promptly turned around and blocked the strike with his demon’s blade.
The seemingly ordinary scabbard and the ferocious demon’s blade rubbed against each other, sending sparks flying explosively.
Kokushibou glared at Reiger with his six ghastly eyes and growled lowly.
"I am right here! Right before your eyes!"
"I am not an ant! Not a feeble weakling! Do I not even deserve to enter your field of vision...!?"
"You are so arrogant! So contemptuous! So despicable!"
Kokushibou roared at Reiger.
"Want to reach the throne? Want to find Lord Muzan?"
"Then defeat me first!"
"Defeat me—Kokushibou (Tsugikuni Michikatsu)!"
With that roar, an unprecedented terrifying sword Qi burst forth from Kokushibou.
"Moon Breathing Sixteen Forms Moon Rainbow: Lonely Moon!"
This was the ultimate form of Moon Breathing.
This was the strongest move in the sword techniques created by Kokushibou.
After centuries of relentless research and training in Moon Breathing, Kokushibou developed the Moon Breathing technique up to the sixteenth form, far surpassing all other Breathing styles.
Even the Sun Breathing, according to Tsukiguni Yoriichi, had only thirteen forms, yet Moon Breathing had sixteen, showing that Kokushibou’s research into his own created Breathing style was incomparable by ordinary standards.
He was not weak.
Just as he himself had said, he was not an ant, nor was he any weakling.
The fact that he could create a Breathing style like Moon Breathing and advance it to such a degree proved that Kokushibou himself was also a swordsmanship genius.
If it were another era, he would certainly have been a great Swordsman, a figure who would go down in history.
Unfortunately, this genius had the misfortune to encounter a monster.
And he encountered not one, but two.
"Boom!"
As Kokushibou’s final form descended from the sky, turning into several giant blade winds that shattered the ground and the entire palace, Reiger fiercely raised his head.
"Ting!"
In the clear sound of the blade’s singing, Reiger unsheathed his sword.
Flames burst forth around him.
High heat radiated from his body.
On the blade of the sword hailed as divine, the Sun Wheel Blade, red patterns emitting a sun-like glow wrapped around Reiger, turning him into a radiant sun.
Then, Reiger dashed forward, his form turning into radiant sun that directly evaporated the giant blade winds, burning through Kokushibou’s strike, and without him realizing, raced past his body.
"Sun Breathing Twelve Forms: Flame Dance..."
In a faint voice, Reiger’s sword traced nearly perfect circles, turning into two searing strikes that sliced through Kokushibou’s body.
"————"
Everything, in that moment, became silent.
Two figures fell in the shattered palace, landing simultaneously on the ground.
They stood back to back, one holding a blade of flames, the other wielding a demon blade, no longer speaking.
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
Two wall paintings suddenly fell from midair, one crashing down before Reiger, the other before Kokushibou.
One wall painting bore the image of the sun, while the other depicted the moon, just as the figures portrayed them, one radiating brilliant sunlight and the other exuding lonely moonlight.
"Click..."
Reiger slowly sheathed his sword, speaking indifferently.
"Are you satisfied now?"
This sentence did not elicit any response.
Kokushibou had already fallen silent.