Kokushibo vs Seiji

[Seiji's POV]

The air shrieked.

*WOOOSHHHHH!!!*

I was a living hurricane.

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!*

A calamity was halted by the simple gesture of raising his weapon. My blade clashed against a demonic sword, and both found an equal.

My momentum raged at the surroundings. It shook the earth, felled the trees and boiled the atmosphere.

The competition was catastrophic, but it ended with an anticlimactic draw.

"Greetings Seiji Shigan, we meet again," Kokushibo said with an unfaltering smile.

I was suspended in the air as I continued applying immense pressure at Kokushibo. From his expression, it would seem he barely felt a thing.

Fucking monster.

"Unfortunately," I said with a sigh.

The end of our collision came with a shockwave that was visible to the naked eye. I was thrown back a few metres away out of my own will, whereas Kokushibo remained in place, only his feet were buried in the ground.

"It would seem the passing year served you well," he said as his eyes moved up and down my figure.

His six eyes would only stop when they locked onto my weakness, which was why they never did. In the end, two of them met my eyes while four others continued analysing me.

It was honestly really gross.

"I could say the same to you. Why do you have to get stronger?" I asked with an exasperated sigh, my eyes resting on his.

He narrowed at that. Normally, I would analyse my opponent and search for a weakness like he did.

But why would I search for something I already knew?

"Rest assured, I did not get stronger. It's hard to do that when you are at the limit of power," Kokushibo said while looking at his own fist. "What you see is a warrior regaining his prime."

I gave a small smile at that, genuinely pleased. Out of all the demons I've encountered so far, only Kokushibo had my respect. How could I not? He was the one who spared me in the name of honour.

"I'm honoured," I said.

"As you should be," he replied and fixed his posture.

Gone was the relaxed demon as the vibe shifted in an instant. His posture alone already rang multiple instincts inside me.

"The last year felt longer than the last century. Do not disappoint me now, Seiji Shigan," he said and brought his sword up to his face.

"Only regret awaits you. You should've killed me, Kokushibo," I said and brought my sword up to match his.

And then it began.

Neither of us took the initiative, no one made the first move. We predicted each other and moved at the same time.

Our blades vanished.

Not to our eyes, but to reason.

The collision resulted in thunder that made everything tremble.

*CRACK!!*

The ground behind me split apart like shattered glass. While the boulder beside Kokushibo, once unbothered, was now a thousand jagged pieces in midair. It was slashed cleanly before it even felt pressure.

Trees collapsed in our wake, their trunks severed before they realized they'd been cut. Leaves spun in confusion, scorched by friction, crumbling to ash before they touched the floor.

I twisted mid-air and slashed, not once, but thrice in under a blink. Kokushibo parried two and weaved past the third.

His sword moved like living flesh and his counter came at me from my blind spot. But I saw the attack coming from the reflection on my sword. The smallest tilt of my head made the blade swim past me.

The first leg of the battle was a contest in swordsmanship. The whole forest was our arena as we exchanged blow after blow, displaying the pinnacle of swordsmanship.

Techniques and skills weaved together to form endless patterns. We were inventing dozens of styles as we clashed our swords.

Such was a battle between two technique gods.

In our eyes, it was like we were telling each other the journey it took to reach the peak. He was driven by ambition, his sword refined by time and experience.

On the other hand, I was driven by hate, my sword sharpened by talent and sheer genius.

Each step gouged craters in the earth. Each slash turned wind into daggers. Mountains would've wept if they bore witness. But only the forest cried this time.

"You are just like him. This kind of talent, how do you expect us mortals to compete!!" Kokushibo said as he blew me away with wind blades.

There were dozens of moon blades hidden in the gale, for every blade that missed me, they mowed down a tree. The forest was quickly turning into an open field.

"Ever tried giving up?" I replied while doing flips in the air. I was dodging at one moment, but the same movement suddenly became an attack.

The blade cut part of his hair and grazed his cheek. With that, I had drawn first blood.

"I've tried everything..." he said, his eyes popping into more demonic form to accentuate his point. ",,,, except give up."

I smiled as I won the contest of pure swordsmanship skills. The attack that came next was a display of the difference between human and demon strength.

But what I lacked, I made up with another.

I changed the rhythm of my footsteps and disappeared before his attack could reach me. It blew apart a portion of the grove but missed me completely.

*BOOOOOOM!!!!*

He was onto me again before the dust could settle. The urgency of his attacks increased.

I ducked under a demonic sword and a wave of moon blades before I swept his legs. He jumped, landing on my blade with inhuman grace, then lunged straight for my throat.

I took an iron rod out from my belt and blocked the incoming attack. The clash this time released such force that the trees behind me bent backwards and snapped from the invisible wave.

I collected my sword and moved away as fast as I could. Kokushibo was on my tail immediately. What I achieved with perfect footwork, he did the same with raw demonic strength.

We exchanged attacks at blinding speed while being in constant movement through the forest. The friction from our swords seemed to create a circle around us.

Funny enough, I was the one moonwalking as we exchanged blows. I did not have to turn back as I had memorised the layout of the forest in a split second.

A dome of raw pressure exploded around us, dirt uprooting in every direction, air bursting like water under a dam. Entire chunks of the landscape lifted and fell like an avalanche caught in midair.

"This is getting dull," Kokushibo said between strikes.

"I agree," I replied, blade grinding against his. "Should we go to the next stage? I have much to show you."

He tried to twist his sword free with a flick and end the stalemate. But I let go before him, spun forward, and punched him straight in the jaw with the hilt.

The fight surged toward the riverbank nearby. The water boiled as we passed. The fish swam away and birds fled the scene like they'd sensed a calamity.

"Moon Breathing: Sixth Form," Kokushibo's voice made the air quiver.

I smiled. His eyes shook ever so slightly.

"Moon Breathing: Sixth Form," I echoed like a mirror and synchronised my movement with his.

We said the name of the form together and also brought the technique to life at the same time.

"Perpetual Night, Lonely Moon - Incessant."

Quite a mouthful to be honest, but understandable considering the sheer weight of the technique.

...

We both unleashed a continuous barrage of crescent-shaped slashes. The perfect collision of our blades created a roaring sound and silenced the silent night.

Water was splattered everywhere due to the shockwave and boiled into steam. In the blink of an eye, a portion of the river was dry.

..

..

[IMAGE]

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