[A/N: Leave a Comment, Review, and Follow this Story! We are going to reach 15k Words and enter the Ranking! More Importantly, GIVE THIS STORY MORE POWER!!]
--- Chapter 7 ---
Pak!
The sound of wood hitting wood reverberated in the backyard.
Kanae's wooden branch met with Tenma's bamboo spear.
'This boy!!!' Kanae's mind ran in excitement.
She wasn't wrong.
She WASN'T WRONG!
She could tell this boy was a monster.
A monster of his own.
Kanae held her wooden branch with two hands and pressed down even stronger, wanting to see Tenma's limit.
Tenma unexpectedly jumped and used the spear to leeway centrifugal force, launching a kick to her stomach.
Pa!
Kanae lowered her elbow and blocked his kick. She slammed her foot to the ground and transferred the force down.
The ground trembled slightly.
Of course, Tenma knew it wouldn't be this easy. In the simulation, he kept losing to Kanae until he went to Dragon Veins and experienced full-body metamorphosis.
Tenma loosened the grip on his spear and strengthened it a moment later, allowing him to detach it from Kanae's wooden branch. Then, he swung the spear down mid-air like a whip.
Kanae evaded with a side-step and took a few steps back for goodness, watching the spear hit the ground with a loud thud.
THUD!
Although the spear doesn't look dangerous, the 6-inch deep hole said otherwise.
"Kowai ne~!" Kanae said playfully, raising her eyebrow due to Tenma's physical prowess.
(A/N: Kowai ne means "Scary, huh?")
She didn't expect a young boy to be able to exert such force.
Is Tenma like that girl who recently joined the Demon Slayer Corps? To be blessed with innate strength, possessing more muscle mass than ordinary humans.
No, that can't be.
According to the chief, such an abnormal body constitution won't appear until another decade.
As Kanae was in deep thought, Tenma bounced with his bending bamboo and launched his young body at her like a leaping frog.
Kanae snapped out of her daze. She stared at the incoming Tenma and flicked her wooden branch, preparing to test him again.
Tenma thrust his spear confidently, and Kanae responded by swinging her wooden branch vertically, performing a rising slash.
Pak!
"Good, show me more, Tenma-kun!" Kanae giggled, watching the white-haired boy stop mid-air.
Tenma smiled, "I will."
He let go of his spear and landed on the ground, entering an unknown stance that Kanae didn't recognize.
Of course, there is no way Kanae knew about Gentle Fist or its effective range. After the bamboo spear fell and stabbed the ground, Tenma booted from his crouching and attacked Kanae.
[Gentle Fist - Eight Trigrams, 32 Palms!]
Tenma rained Kanae with palm attacks and struck some of her pressure points.
He's like an unexpected storm, catching Kanae off guard.
Kanae dodged skillfully but quickly found some part of her body had gone numb!
'Is this Tenma's Martial Arts?'
Meanwhile, Tenma couldn't help but scowl in annoyance. 'For the love of GOD! Locating Pressure Points on a moving target without Sharingan or Byakugan is a pain!'
Out of 32 palm attacks, 20 missed the intended Pressure Points, and six were deflected by Kanae, leaving the rest on sub-par spots.
Knowing Kanae, she would recover from numbness with her near-perfect body control.
Tenma couldn't waste a few seconds window of opportunity. He grabbed his bamboo spear swiftly and used Spear Breathing's 1st Form, Musou Ichiretsu!
His bamboo blurred, making the only watcher in the area gasp.
Tamako's eyes couldn't keep up with the fight. Kanae and Tenma moved beyond her sight.
And somehow, Tenma ended up thrusting his spear at Kanae's stomach.
Kanae breathed in, and her eyes sparkled.
"You gave me a surprise, Tenma-kun."
"Let this nee-chan teach you something interesting."
"Total Concentration!"
Kanae's numbness disappeared. When her lung expanded, her chest muscle contracted under Tenma's vision.
Kanae reacted swiftly and swung her wooden branch. But it was from over.
Then, she bombarded Tenma with a flurry of slashes.
Tenma calmly countered every slash. His Earthen Spear Art is 'already' maxed, which means his foundation is strong. His spear stance is solid, allowing him to react against Kanae's attacks.
Pak! Pak! Pak! Pak!
Tenma and Kanae traded one blow to another, feeling the wooden branch and bamboo spear in their heat up due to rapid friction.
"Tenma-kun, nee-chan is going to get a little serious now." Kanae smiled at him.
All of a sudden, Tenma felt cold in his neck. He instinctively dodged to the left and saw a wooden branch nearly ripping his skin.
He faked a cry, "Nee-chan is cruel. Aren't adults supposed to hold back against a child?"
"Well, nee-chan is only 14 this year. So, I'm not an adult yet~!" She winked at him playfully. "Hehe, so let's play some more, Tenma-kun~!"
Tenma cursed inwardly at her shamelessness.
After getting a little serious, Kanae's steps become entirely different, and her wooden branch moves faster than before.
At least three times the former speed!
"Sanrensei!" Tenma used Spear Breathing's 2nd Form, stabbing at three different points.
Kanae's eyes lit up as she responded with her move, "Flower Breathing, 1st Form..."
"Flower Petals."
Kanae performed a horizontal slash and successfully curved it twice to block Tenma's three-point attack.
PAK! PAK! PAK! Crack!
Tenma's spear shattered into three pieces.
Tenma looked at his broken spear dumbly and looked back at Kanae. He was speechless.
Kanae WAS NOT THIS FIERCE IN THE SIMULATION!
WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED??
Are you telling me Kanae in Simulation was a fraud???
[What adult used full power against a child?] Hestia mocked Tenma.
[Don't you remember this world wasn't an ordinary Demon Slayer World?]
[Since Demons are more powerful, so are the Demon Slayer]
[Also, the Limitless Path's Simulation is not 100% accurate as they revolved around you, Tenma]
[If not, you wouldn't meet Truck-kun and Muzan Jackson so "randomly" in the middle of the street. There is no 'clear' limit on how much you can interact and change one's destiny, but you're too weak to do that]
[This is the Destiny-Altering Sequence, this is the Limitless Path!]
'Okay, fine! Chill out, Tia!' Tenma suppressed his urge to curse this system.
He wanted to shout, 'Why don't you tell me sooner? But he knew this dark-hearted system would reply with. "You never asked." FUcking USelesS! ArrgGAH!'
His chest heaved a bit before calming down.
Kanae stared at Tenma in amusement.
She thought the boy was frustrated because his ultimate technique got blocked. His fuming looks like he would throw a tantrum at any given moment.
"How cute..." Yet Kanae found this little quirk adorable. He finally acts like a child now.
Well, Kanae couldn't be more wrong.
Kanae's lips curled into a faint smile as she lowered her wooden branch and asked, "Do you want to continue, Tenma-kun?"
"Haa..." Tanma sighed, ruffling his white hair.
"Yes, let's continue."
"Kaa-chan, can you throw me one of the bamboo spears?"
"Okay!" Tamako looked for the bamboo spears, trying to get the best one, and found them looked the same. She awkwardly picked the longest and clumsily threw it at Tenma.
Tenma caught the spear with his eyes still on Kanae and twirled it a few times casually.
It gained an eyebrow raise from Kanae.
'The angle of that throw is imperfect. Well, Tamako-san is a farmer. But it seemed Tenma's spatial awareness was also wide enough to react and catch it.' Kanae thought to herself.
'The distance between Tenma-kun and Tamako-san is ten meters...'
'Just what are you, Tenma-kun?'
'Ah, I can't. Thinking about it is so exciting!'
The more Kanae unveiled Tenma's talent, the more she found that she knew nothing about this white-haired boy.
He's like a bottomless surprise.
And women, especially Kanae, like mystery.
"Let's continue." Tenma somberly said.
"Hehe, okay." Kanae giggled in return.
Swoosh!
Tenma suddenly vanished from Kanae's vision.
Kanae looked around but found nothing. Her ears twitched as she swung her wooden branch upward, catching Tenma with his spear.
Pak!
Tenma disappeared again. His 'small' body was flickering in Kanae's field of vision, making it hard to discern which was tangible.
"1st Form, Flower Petals." Kanae performed her Breathing Style again. She slashed the air and only caught the edge of Tenma's sleeve, causing her to ponder.
"Total Concentration..."
"Sakura Drop Eyes."
Kanae's vision changed as the surrounding world slowed slightly. It was an imperfect technique she developed to lessen Flower Breathing's flaw, but she didn't expect to use it here. In a spar against a child!
Her pale violet eyes flickered, becoming pink a little.
"Fufu, Tenma-kun, a boy shouldn't be too mischievous..."
"Is that so?"
"It is."
PAK!
A wooden branch and a bamboo spear clashed suddenly.
"Then, let's finish this in one last attack, Kanae... Nee-chan."
Kanae felt a chill down her spine. Her lower half trembled when hearing Tenma's cold, apathetic voice.
She turned around and saw Tenme in a new stance, readying his spear in front as if he were going to throw it.
Kanae clenched her grip on the wooden branch, "Come!"
BAM!
Tenma ran with an explosive start.
[Spear Breathing - 4th Form, Shinkirou!]
Tenma turned into a silver blur and somehow formed the image of a silver wolf charging at Kanae with its mouth open.
Kanae's heart skipped a beat in excitement. The threat she felt from this attack is real.
She felt goosebumps just facing it.
However, It Is Still Too Green!
"Flower Breathing - 2nd Form, Mikage Ume!"
Crack! BANG!
Kanae took a few steps back, watching her wooden branch with a look of shock.
"Are, the branch. It broke..."
Meanwhile, Tenma is fifteen meters from Kanae, with his bamboo spear deep into a stone.
Kanae glanced back and sighed, "Tenma-kun, you're... Amazing."
"It's a draw."
'I wonder if Tenma-kun wants to Demon Slayer Corpse.'
'Well, I don't have to be hasty. I have more than enough time.'
'Maybe I should bring Shinobu next time, fufu~!'
On the other side, Tenma stared at his embedded spear and clenched his hand hard, "Damn it. I missed her?"
'I moved too fast. The eyes and body coordination is off.'
Kanae clapped her hand, "Well, well, well..."
"Tenma-kun. You passed~! Hooray~!"
"From now on, Nee-chan will teach you Martial Arts!"
"Are you ready?" Kanae had an 'I have new toys' look on her face.
Tenma raised his arm in defeat and replied wearily, "Hai, Nee-chan..."
"Hmm, that's not it. You may call me sensei when you learn from me."
"HAI, KANAE-SENSEI!"
"Good~!"
It was a draw, but Tenma felt he had lost BIG TIME.
And Kanae felt like she was winning a jackpot.