Seeing the signs of dawn on the distant horizon, Akaza felt a surge of urgency but at the same time, he was enraged by Ryou's words. 'I need to kill this detestable human and get out of here.'
'I'll show him that humans are as weak as ants compared to demons.' Ignoring Kyojuro, Akaza locked his sight on Ryou.
Wasting no time, Akaza launched his attack, holding nothing back as he had with Kyojuro. 'Destructive Death: Disorder!'
He bolted toward Ryou, unleashing a barrage of shockwave-enhanced punches. His fists blurred with speed, each strike like a bullet fired from a gun, invisible to the naked eye.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Watching the punches coming at him, Ryou smiled. Hardening his fists with Tekkai, he met Akaza's blows head-on, matching his speed punch for punch. Within moments, the sheer power of Ryou's strikes shattered Akaza's fists into pieces.
With a final punch, Ryou struck Akaza square in the face, sending the Upper Moon Three demon flying backward. Half of Akaza's face was obliterated by the blow, but it regenerated instantly.
'How is this possible?' Akaza's eyes widened in disbelief. 'He's so strong, but why does this human show no aura, unlike Kyojuro? He's too powerful. This is not the time to be entangled with him; I need to escape.'
Akaza isn't a fool. He knew that if he stayed any longer, Ryou might hold him here until sunrise. Using the momentum from Ryou's punch, he turned his body in mid-air and sprinted toward the nearby trees, desperate to flee.
But as he turned, Ryou was already standing before him. "Don't even think about it. I told you—you're not leaving today."
'Wasn't he just behind me?' Akaza thought, an unknown terror creeping into his mind. 'There's something strange about this human.'
Ryou swung his sword casually, almost in a lazy manner. Akaza instinctively raised his arms to block, but in an instant, his hands were severed clean off.
--
Meanwhile, Tanjiro and Inosuke rushed over to help Kyojuro. "Rengoku-san, are you alright?" Tanjiro asked, concern obvious in his tone.
"Don't worry about me," Kyojuro replied, his gaze still fixed on the battle happening before them. "You're the one who should avoid moving around too much."
"What a monster. I thought he was weak, but he's ridiculously strong. One punch from him and my head would split open like a watermelon!" Inosuke exclaimed loudly, his eyes wide with amazement.
"Ryou-san is so strong! He can even fight an Upper Moon demon barehanded. Is it some kind of skill?" Tanjiro exclaimed, equally shocked by Ryou's strength.
Kyojuro laughed heartily. "Hahaha! What did you two think of Ryou? He's known as the strongest Demon Slayer. Even an Upper Moon One couldn't do anything to him!
But if he hadn't shown up today, I would have surely fallen at the Upper Moon's hand. His assumption was spot on!"
"Did Ryou-san anticipate that an Upper Moon would come today?" Tanjiro asked, surprised by Kyojuro's words.
"No, he guessed that a powerful demon might come after you," Kyojuro explained.
"What?" Tanjiro exclaimed, taken aback by the revelation.
---
Feeling the sunlight rising in the distance, every demonic cell in Akaza's body screamed for him to flee. There were even signs of Muzan's instincts trying to take over. Ryou's death was no longer his priority—it was survival.
A voice echoed in his mind, persistent and pressing, 'Live! Live! Escape the sun and survive! Hurry!'
With the threat of the sun looming closer and Ryou blocking his escape route, Akaza's irritation boiled over. He roared in fury, 'You damn human! Die! Destructive Death... Final Form: Blue Silver Chaotic Afterglow!'
Ryou squinted his eyes, sensing the sudden surge in Akaza's demonic aura. 'It should be is his ultimate technique... the final form of his Blood Demon Art.'
Driven by madness, Akaza unleashed an omnidirectional barrage of countless thin, razor-sharp shockwaves, nearly a hundred, all converging on Ryou from every angle.
Seeing the incoming shockwave punches, Ryou's body hardened with Tekkai as he drew his Nichirin sword. 'Eighth Form: Time Zone.'
Time seemed to slow down in Ryou's eyes as he effortlessly dodged Akaza's relentless barrage of punches.
In a flash, Ryou closed the distance, his movements a blur. With incredible speed, he slashed his sword multiple times, severing Akaza's arms and legs in a whirlwind of cuts.
To Akaza's horror, his severed limbs did not regenerate. It was as if some mysterious force was disrupting his demonic cells, preventing them from acting.
'Why... why is this happening?' Akaza's thoughts raced, and a rare trace of fear crossed his face.
'What are you doing, Akaza? Get out of there!' Muzan's voice suddenly echoed in his mind, intense and commanding.
With terror-filled eyes, Akaza struggled to move, but without his limbs, he could hardly do anything. He roared, "What did you do? You damn human!"
Ryou calmly walked over, his expression merciless. Without wasting any words, he drove his katana straight through Akaza's heart, impaling him to the ground. He said in a soft voice, "I'm trying to give you peace, but you don't have to thank me!"
Using a small vial, he collected some of Akaza's blood without anyone noticing. Being the Upper Moon Three, the concentration of Muzan's blood within him should be significantly higher.
With this blood, Tamayo's research could advance more rapidly.
As the sun's rays began to break through the horizon, their golden light advanced closer, inch by inch. Akaza's desperation intensified, as he screamed in despair.
"No!" His tone was filled with disbelief and fear of death. 'How can I fall here? I still haven't reached the peak of martial arts!'
At that moment, 'Enough, Hakuji. It's time for you to come to us.' A gentle and soft voice pierced through Akaza's desperation, stopping his struggle.
A fair-skinned young woman in a pink kimono appeared before him, her presence as delicate as a cherry blossom in spring. It was Koyuki, Akaza's fiancée from when he was still human.
'Who are you?' Akaza muttered, his mind confused and filled with sudden inexplicable longing.
As he looked into her serene eyes, fragments of memories began to surface in Akaza's mind. For the first time in centuries, he questioned himself: 'Why am I fighting? What am I fighting for?'
"NO! YOU BELONG TO ME, AKAZA! YOU WILL SURVIVE AND FIGHT FOR ME! GET OUT OF THERE!" Muzan's commanding voice boomed, trying to reassert his control over Akaza.
But then, something within Akaza snapped. The connection that once bound him to the Demon King severed, leaving him free.
With that connection lost, a flood of human memories returned to him. He remembered Koyuki—her laughter, her kindness, the love they had shared.
A deep sense of relief washed over him as her name and the memories of their time together blossomed in his mind like flowers in spring.
A soft hand reached out to caress his face, and Akaza's eyes widened as he looked down. The battlefield around him seemed to vanish, replaced by a peaceful, dreamlike landscape.
Koyuki stood before him, her soft eyes gazing deeply into his own, her smile warm and innocent.
"It's okay, Hakuji," she whispered, her voice gentle and soothing. Tears welled up in Akaza or Hakuji's eyes, spilling over as he fell to his knees. The sight of his lost love filled him with a sense of peace.
"Welcome home."
"Koyuki..." he uttered, his voice breaking with emotion as he gazed at her. He had no reason to keep fighting; now that she was here.
All he wanted now was to be with her, to find love in her embrace once again.
As the sun's rays fell on his body, Akaza stopped struggling and closed his eyes, surrendering to the sunlight. With memories of the love, his form disintegrated and vanished into the air.
In his final moments, the figures of Akaza and Koyuki appeared before Ryou as spirits. They exchanged one last look at Ryou with gratitude before their forms dissolved into the light.
"Such a wonderful and emotional world," Ryou thought, glimpsing their fading figures.
--
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