Flame Breathing

Looking at the oppressive walls and door in front of me, I walk to the door of the gate. Getting closer, the fire emblem on the doors became clear and the material of the walls became apparent. Surprised at the choice of fire-resistant material for the walls, I knock on the door. With a loud crack, the doors slowly open to human width and reveals the host himself.

"I heard your knock my friend! Now, let us begin our training so as for you to become strong!" Rengoku shouts whilst staring over me.

Turning around with pazazz, Rengoku leads me in. In the middle of the compound, I stand in, I find a rather burnable household structure.

"Is that house fireproof?"

"Nope!" Rengoku instantly answers. "We have the house like that because of tradition and to make sure we properly control our strength so as to not burn it!"

Walking to the west side of the building, I find a multitude of training equipment to be used.

"Alright! Our first step to training will revolve around your body!" Rengoku begins. "Your current body is far too weak to be able to use Flame Breathing! If you were to use Flamer Breathing right now, your body would combust, and you would die!"

Receiving terrifying information from a smiling face, Rengoku continues by walking over to a pile of rocks.

Picking one up and hauling it over to me, he places it down and says, "I want you to carry this on your back and run around the Flame Compound!"

Looking up at the almost peaked sun and then back down at the rock, I figured something out. Rengoku doesn't know the meaning of slow-start training. Wondering how long I could last while carrying the rock in front of me, I lift it will all my strength before then placing it on my back.

Buckling against the weight, I move one step forward before the feelings of fatigue and hopelessness start to set in. However, under the oppressive eye of Rengoku, I don't give in and place my second foot down.

Drenched in my sweat and numb to the feeling of the rock, I look at my surroundings to find that I had only moved a fourth around Rengoku's Enclosure. Not having the ability to heave a sigh in my current situation, I continue my path. Halfway through, a sudden appearance of Rengoku occurs.

Crouched down, right next to me, with an even larger boulder on his back, Rengoku smiles largely and says, "Your willpower is rather impressive, but you can definitely do better than that! Just follow me!"

Saying that, Rengoku bypasses me easily and proceeds to run around his own compound. Doing the only plausible thing, I augment my breathing just a little bit better, allowing me to now move two steps every five seconds.

This improvement however didn't amount to much as soon, I heard, "On your left!" And then a Rengoku running past me.

Spurred on by his inhuman abilities, I continue at my current pace for the next two hours.

After that time, Rengoku finally allows me to rest. My body, tired and baked under the blazing sun, quickly falls to the ground, lifeless. Feeling myself start to be dragged, I am then thrown into an ice bath. Convulsing at the pain of my muscles, I sit in the ice bath for the next forty-five minutes before Rengoku takes me out and lets me rest for fifteen.

Feeling at peace with the world, my demon comes back and drags me away. Back out in the west side of the courtyard, Rengoku introduces one of his ways of training.

"This here is a rock pulley-system!" Rengoku states while slapping the sides of a metal frame. "You'll be hoisting two rocks with the ropes you see before you! Since this is my training, I'll be placing two burning flames next to you!"

Once again reminded of Rengoku's demeanor, I grab the ropes and try hoisting the rocks. On my first attempt, nothing comes to fruition. On my second attempt, I use all my strength and start lifting the rocks. My hands however start digging into the ropes and the strain of pulling the rope through an elevated metal frame made this exercise already atrocious.

However, one hour into my progress, Rengoku appears and present two standing torches. Lighting both, the heat coming from them sends my mind into a disarrayed state and nausea starts to set. With the addition of the flame, my progress slows to an almost complete stop and I'm only able to complete three within the next hour.

Being told by Rengoku to stop, I once again collapse to the ground, get hauled off to an ice-bath for forty-five minutes, and then I get to rest for fifteen. Amid my rest, Rengoku presents me with a weighted demon slayer uniform.

Putting it on, we then head back to the training area where Rengoku stands in front of a machine I've never seen before. Looking at it with multiple questions, Rengoku explains.

"This is the Flame Compounds flexibility manager! This will be used to improve your flexibility beyond what should be humanly possible! By wearing a weighted uniform, I am allowing for you to find your center of gravity no matter the situation you're in! As I like to say, each injury makes you weigh a thousand more!"

Hesitantly placing myself on the mechanism, I soon find that this workout is rather easier, if you subtract the fact that my bones almost broke multiple times and my limbs were stretched to the absolute maximum.

Continuing this for an hour, I am moved to an ice-bath, but instead of having a rest, we instead have lunch. Eating uncomfortably while sitting next to Rengoku, we then move on to the next exercise, which turned out to be something I know well.

Stepping into the open part of the training grounds, I begin to swing my sword, first starting with the basics and then moving on to more technical moves. While I moved, Rengoku watched me carefully before then giving me tips on how I can improve myself.

"Your sword swings are too rigid! Be one with the blade! Don't think of it as a tool, but as a part of your body which will be used to destroy the demons! Your problem seems to be the fact that you believe you will never be using this sword in the future as you'll be switching to a Nichirin Blade! But…, If you wield every weapon like an extension, then you shall progress!"

Understanding the message behind Rengoku's words, I set myself to pushing my senses to encompass my blade. With full exertion, I can only resonate with the hilt. Even with such a small portion encompassed, when I started to swing my blade, it flowed more smoothly.

Excited by this revelation, I continue to swing for the next hour. Dripping with sweat, Rengoku doesn't allow me an ice-bath, but does allow me to rest for thirty minutes before moving on to the next stage.

"Moving on, we shall be doing my blazing sun calorie-killer! Starting with our core, we'll then move into training your legs and lastly, we'll work your shoulders again! Let's go!"

Under the pure spirit of Rengoku, I start with watching Rengoku as he performs each set so that I can replicate accurately. Having my core and thighs burn like the fire of the sun, we finish after two hours.

Being thrown back in an ice bath and being allowed fifteen minutes of rest, we move into the final part of Rengoku's training. Gripping the handle of a wooden practice sword, Rengoku towers over me.

"As the finale to my training, we'll be doing muscle reinforcement and dodge training! Under my orders, you'll be doing either! You'll need to get accustomed to Hashira speed, so I'll train you this way!"

After stating that, Rengoku's figure blurs before the blade is now hung above his head, hurtling down towards my position.

"For today, we'll be focusing on only dodging!"

Feeling a spark of sadism in Rengoku's smile, I try for the next three hours to dodge each of his strikes, but I got hit most of the time. Managing to survive for the complete two hours, I realize that Rengoku was nowhere close to going full force.

Having my final ice bath for the day, Rengoku informed me about Flame Breathing and how I should conduct when I'm able to.

---

Flame Breathing is broken into eight forms which are:

1st form – Unknowing Fire – The user charges forward towards the opponent at high speeds and decapitates the opponent in one powerful slash so powerful that it generates enough friction and heat that it burns the flesh of the enemy.

2nd form – Rising Scorching Sun – The user releases an arching slash attack upwards.

3rd form – Blazing Universe – The user swings their blade downwards in an arc.

4th form – Blooming Fire Undulation – The user swings their blade in a circular motion that can defend them from all incoming attacks or decapitate multiple enemies at once.

5th form – Flame Tiger - The user unleashes a powerful series of sword slashes that takes form of a rampaging tiger engulfed in flames that charges towards the enemy at blinding speeds.

6th form – Fire that Pierces the Sky – The user dashes forward at an extremely low angle and then pierces their blade upwards into the neck of the opponent.

7th form – Blaze Release – The user holds their blade off to the side of them as they run towards the opponent at an insanely fast speed, creating enough friction and heat to make their blade covered in flames.

8th form – Underworld Eruption – The user stabs their Nichirin Blade into the ground which burns the terrain itself and causes fire to erupt out of the ground.

---

Rengoku then preformed each of these techniques one after the other without rest, and my eyes were full of stars.

Completing my training for the day, I eat dinner with Rengoku before returning to the Butterfly Mansion. Upon finding no one to greet me, I take a quick bath before heading off to sleep.

Continuing the same style of training for the next three weeks, the only thing that changes was that Rengoku was putting more force into muscle reinforcement and dodging.

At the end of the three months, Rengoku informed me that I could use the absolute basics of Flame Breathing. I still couldn't use any of its techniques, but I could start learning the Breathing pattern.

With the increase of heat and training size, I finally achieve Flame Breathing after another week. Amid all of this, I achieved something I never thought possible. This was sword intent.

Sword intent is an innate ability that allows a person to emit an aura from their sword that causes a targeted person to feel as though they've been cut.

Feeling giddy, Rengoku allows me to move on to using his techniques. For the first two weeks, I focused on conducting each technique without Flame Breathing before Rengoku judged me as being proficient enough to start using each technique with Flame Breathing. Using the entirety of the month, I reach a light form of mastery for Flame Breathing.

"It's rather unfortunate, but this is where we must part from one another!" Rengoku states. "You have reached the highest point of mastery that you currently can! If we go any further, then you'll combust!"

Startled at Rengoku's statement, I hesitantly start to head back to the Butterfly Mansion.

On my way out, I hear Rengoku say, "Keep moving forward young demon slayer, and you shall reach the stars eventually!"

Giving a 90 degree bow as a response, I leave. Upon opening the door to the Butterfly Mansion, I am immediately encompassed with a hug.

"I'm glad you survived." Kanae's muffled voice makes it to my ears.

Releasing me from her grip, Kanae says, "As much as I would like to celebrate the fact that you've returned, I've already received message of your next teacher."

Handing me a tiny scroll, Kanae continues. "I'm surprised that he's actually willing to teach you, he normally wouldn't ever get involved in something like this."

Questioning what she meant, I roll open the message and read that Muichiro Tokito, the Mist Hashira, has requested to teach me.

"Well, Tokito is expecting you tomorrow, so spend the rest of the day with us."

"Us?" I ask questionably before looking behind Kanae to find the waiting figures of the Butterfly Residents.

Remembering the kindness of the Butterfly Mansion, a smile is quick to adorn my face as I spend time explaining my experiences and reconnecting. Falling to sleep happily, I wake up early morning and begrudgingly proceed to the Mist Palace.