Looking at the howling slash coming toward him, Ren remained unmoved, his expression as calm as ever.
"Mere gravel; unworthy of my attention."
"Against the current me, I don't even need to use a combat technique to block an attack of this level."
With just the most ordinary horizontal slash, he easily neutralized the seven strikes that were sharp enough to slice through gold and jade.
The originally incredibly sharp slashes instantly turned into a gentle breeze, brushing against Ren's face.
Seeing his attack easily neutralized by Ren, the jealousy and rage in Kokushibo's heart climbed once again, followed immediately by even more terrifying slashes.
"Moon Breathing, Eighth Form: Moon Dragon Ringtail!"
Kokushibo swung his sword again, and a slash with massive momentum swept forward like a roaring evil dragon!
Even the surrounding air and light became distorted because of this fierce slash, causing the originally invisible sword energy to take on a dark purple outline, gradually becoming visible.
The moment Kokushibo made his move, Ren's body moved as well. He raised his Nichirin Heavy Sword high, exerted sudden force, and cleaved out a slash of heatwaves.
The scorching high temperature similarly twisted the air, giving the slash the pattern of flames, vivid and lifelike as burning fire. For a moment, red light radiated boundlessly, dazzling the eyes.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
As the cold and hot slashes collided in the air, a heaven-shaking, earth-shattering roar suddenly resounded between heaven and earth.
The intense shockwaves that erupted swept toward Ren and Kokushibo respectively, causing sand and stones to fly and smoke and dust to billow across the ground.
Feeling a headwind striking him, Kokushibo hurriedly retreated backward.
But Ren went a step further. With his body of flesh and blood, he braced against the shockwave, charged out with a stride, and sped toward Kokushibo.
Whoosh!
When the sky-filling dust settled, a point of cold light arrived first. Ren traversed the smoke like a soaring black dragon, thrusting his sword to attack Kokushibo. The biting sword edge headed straight for Kokushibo's throat!
"What?"
Seeing Ren attacking with the speed of thunder, Kokushibo was greatly shocked.
'He actually dared to forcibly charge over while bracing against a shockwave like that, this guy...'
Although the shockwave just now was very powerful, if he had forcibly charged into it, relying on a demon's regeneration ability, he would have been able to withstand it as well.
It was just that Kokushibo did not wish to get injured; he wanted to confront Ren in peak condition, so he chose to retreat.
However, Ren had forcibly charged in against that howling gale, and he did so as a human.
He lost!
In a contest of guts, he had completely and utterly lost!
Facing that intense shockwave, Ren, a human, dared to charge in regardless of his safety, while he, as Upper Rank One, second only to Muzan, actually chose to retreat...
Thinking of this, Kokushibo felt even more jealous, more angry, and more hysterical!
"Bastard! Are you not afraid of death? or do the brains of you chosen ones all think that no matter what opponent you meet, no matter what situation you face, the heavens will protect you?"
"What are you babbling about? I'm just thinking about killing you right here, at any cost!"
As soon as the words fell, Ren brandished his Crimson Blade, slashing toward Kokushibo's neck with the force to destroy dry weeds and rotten wood.
"Die, evil demon!"
"Don't push your luck, you brat! Since you recklessly charged up here, I'll send you to hell right now!"
"Moon Breathing, Ninth Form: Waning Moonswaths!"
At this moment, Kokushibo's killing intent was even more intense. Wielding his blade with both hands, he swung out wave after wave of dark purple slashes toward the front, attacking Ren from the bottom up.
This move was more like an upgraded version of Moon Dragon Ringtail. The power of every single slash was comparable to a strike of Moon Dragon Ringtail.
The tiny chaotic moon blades interspersed between the slashes killed their way toward Ren like a violent storm, resembling a giant meat grinder determined to mince him into ground meat.
Seeing Kokushibo swinging his blade to attack with boiling killing intent, Ren also hurriedly changed his move. He forcibly shifted his vertical slash into a horizontal slash and unleashed a Wind Combat Art to withstand Kokushibo's overwhelming, violent attack.
"Wind Combat Art: Crimson Blade - Fire Dance Whirlwind!"
Muscles bulged on Ren's arms, every single muscle appearing like an inflated balloon. The muscles of his whole body exerted force simultaneously; in that instant, the power that erupted was unimaginable.
Boom!
Just as those arcs of moon slashes struck, Ren swung his sword in a sweep. The scorching sword energy whipped up a tornado of flames that shot straight into the sky, and scalding heatwaves swept out in all directions.
Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!
When the oncoming moon arc slashes landed inside this flame tornado, it was like water droplets landing on a red-hot soldering iron; in the blink of an eye, they were instantly evaporated.
'This sword energy is truly scorching. Is this his ability? To actually be able to whip up a substantial storm of flames...'
Feeling that hot wind which reached hundreds of degrees, Kokushibo was even more shocked.
Meanwhile, after blocking Kokushibo's attack unscathed, Ren crossed that roaring flame storm without reducing his speed, charging straight at Kokushibo. The direction of the heavy sword's slash changed once again.
Like Pangu's divine axe descending from the heavens, it threatened to slice Kokushibo in two. This sword strike was heavy and powerful; an ordinary person absolutely could not block it.
"Don't look down on me!"
Kokushibo roared in anger. Ren had already rushed right in front of him; he didn't even have time to execute a sword technique. He could only wield his blade with both hands and brace himself to receive this domineering strike from Ren.
Bang!!!
In an instant, in merely a single instant!
The moment the two weapons engaged in close quarters, Kokushibo felt Ren's violent power, which was like that of a god. Under this monstrous strength, his entire body was shaken to the point of numbness.
'Susanoo...'
Kokushibo suddenly thought of the war god from Japanese legend.
At this very moment, Ren, holding the Nichirin Heavy Sword, was simply Susanoo holding the Sword of the Gathering Clouds of Heaven to slay Yamata no Orochi—his aura dominating, his fighting spirit surging to the heavens.
Crack...
In the contest of strength, Kokushibo was ultimately not Ren's match. The flesh blade in his hands was instantly severed, and even his right arm, which was swinging the sword, was cut off by the Crimson Blade. This time, his arm failed to regenerate quickly.
This was not surprising. After awakening the Demon Slayer Mark, Ren's strength was more than fifty times that of a normal person, with a single-hand grip strength exceeding two tons.
With the combined force of both hands, he could lift heavy objects weighing over six tons. One must know that the Monkey King's Golden Cudgel only weighed thirteen thousand five hundred jin, which is merely close to seven tons.
It would be a ghost story if Kokushibo could block this mountain-splitting, earth-cracking strike.
'I've been cut by his Crimson Blade. My arm cannot regenerate, and even Kyokokukamasari is...'
His sword, Kyokokukamasari, was forged from his own flesh and blood. After being severed by the Crimson Blade, it naturally could not regenerate within a short period either.
After inflicting heavy damage on Kokushibo, Ren charged out again. Kick him while he's down, take his life!
"Disappear for me!"
"You want to kill me? Keep dreaming! Blood Demon Art: Kyokokukamasari - Infinite!"
Forced into a desperate situation, Kokushibo finally used his Blood Demon Art. A series of squelching sounds rang out as countless sharp blades, identical to the Kyokokukamasari sword, suddenly grew out of his flesh and blood.
Furthermore, these sharp blades could release destructive slashes of immense power into the surroundings without even being swung.
And this was Kokushibo's third form!
The real battle was only just beginning now!
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]