"Hahahaha! EXCELLENT!"
Akaza burst into laughter just as the pink flash hurtled toward him.
Technique Deployment!
He immediately activated his deployment technique, and the snowflake-shaped celestial compass glowing beneath his feet turned a bloody red.
And showing the utmost respect toward Marcus, he unleashed his ultimate technique:
End Style: Chaotic Blue Metal Afterglow!
This move, capable of releasing an omnidirectional burst of shock waves that seem to spring out of nowhere, possesses absolute lethality.
Fate dictated that Rengoku would never come to witness it, and it was precisely with this display of power that Akaza left Giyū on the brink of death.
BOOOM
A thunderous blast shook the area as the pink and the red collided, lighting up the night sky.
Rengoku, keeping his composure in the midst of the chaos, narrowed his eyes as he firmly gripped the hilt of his sword.
Sixty meters away, the situation was very different for the others.
Tanjiro, Inosuke, and Zenitsu, shielded behind the figures of Marcus and Rengoku, were unable to make out what was happening.
Even at that distance, the wind unleashed by the violence of Akaza's fists battered them with such force that they couldn't even open their eyes.
One… Two… Three… Ten… Fifty… One Hundred… One thousand thrusts!
Marcus's thrusts became more and more frantic.
Combining his Divine Speed with the Seventh Form he had obtained thanks to Shinobu, he managed to pierce Akaza's body with literally surgical precision.
With each contact, blood spurted and chunks of flesh flew in every direction under the relentless downpour of thrusts.
But Akaza didn't fall back a single step.
Standing firmly in place, he answered solely with the brute force of his punches.
Although his attack frequency didn't match Marcus's speed and most of his blows were intercepted, his persistence paid off: out of every ten strikes, one would land.
Marcus's face, chest, and abdomen began taking hits, but he was no longer focused on dodging.
Accompanied by the steady buzz of a bee, he managed to evade the brunt of the blows and used his Arrows to slightly redirect the trajectory of Akaza's fists, thereby protecting his vital points while continuing his offensive.
And he wasn't just fighting ferociously—he was fighting with overflowing emotion!
After more than five months of waiting, Tamayo's experiments had finally reached their final stage.
Maybe before long he would complete his own transformation!
Maybe this would be his last battle as a human!
That was precisely why he wanted to savor every second. He wanted to enjoy the frantic pulse you only feel when walking the edge between life and death.
For that reason, even though each one of Akaza's punches came with the crack of his own bones breaking, he stood firm, fighting to the death without giving an inch.
Without knowing how much time had passed, in the end it was Marcus, still human, who reached his limit. After taking a punch full in the chest, he was sent flying backward violently.
His face was completely swollen and several ribs were broken—so many that he'd already lost count. With his mouth overflowing with blood and his body on the brink of collapse, he stayed, in spite of everything, firmly on his feet.
Akaza was also still on his feet, and he looked down at his own body.
It was covered by, quite literally, a swarm of wounds so dense and clustered together that it resembled a honeycomb.
However, before the desperate gazes of Inosuke, Tanjiro, and Zenitsu, what they didn't want to see happened.
Akaza, with his face unrecognizable and not a single part of his anatomy intact, fully recovered in two seconds.
Despair!
That feeling took hold of them as silence fell over the place.
The Upper Moons… is this what it means to be one of them? How were they supposed to face a being like this…?
"I already told you…" Akaza took in the state Marcus was in deeply, with a look that reflected genuine regret. "Thrusts won't change anything."
However, Marcus simply smiled in a horrifying way. "That remains to be seen, doesn't it?" As he said this, he unsheathed his left sword.
With both blades extended, pink flames began to bloom and snake between the edges.
"One last move."
"Are you really sure you don't want to become a demon?" Akaza smiled at him with fascination. "You're the strongest human being I've ever seen. If you became one, I can't even imagine how powerful you'd end up being!"
"Cut the talking!"
"Sigh… Fine, I won't say any more." Sighing with regret, he fixed his eyes intensely on Marcus's face.
"Marcus… I won't forget you!"
"…"
Marcus inhaled deeply.
"Breath of Desire, Combination of First and Third Form…"
Swish
With a sharp burst of speed, he disappeared from everyone's sight. In an instant, he materialized five meters to the side of the demon.
Akaza was thrown off by his movement, until he noticed that the swords had transformed into two enormous blades over ten meters long.
"…BLOOM!"
Planting himself firmly, Marcus launched a frontal attack.
Moving his arms with rapid speed, crossing the swords.
The pink flashes of the blades traced a perfect, lethal X under the moonlight, concentrating all their power directly on the Demon's neck.
Raising his hands, Akaza intended to block it, but in that exact instant, his face contorted into an expression of bewilderment.
He felt that something strange had appeared inside his body.
Something was flowing through his veins… something that was slowing his movements.
He tried to lift his hand, but it was delayed, sluggish. He tried to breathe, and that was sluggish too.
Is it because of… the thrusts?... Those damn thrusts! Marcus had introduced something into his body.
"What the hell did you do to m—?"
Swish!
His head went flying.
The place fell into complete silence… before the Trio's cheers shattered the tension.
From up in the air, eyes opened impossibly wide, Akaza watched his own decapitated body.
And he looked over at Marcus… He was hunched over, gasping for breath with difficulty, his eyelids so swollen he could barely see.
A red, liquid rage flooded the whites of his eyes.
"POISON!"
In all his long existence, there were two things he detested above all else: poisons and stabs in the back.
Up until a moment ago he had even felt something resembling respect for Marcus. That style of his of pulling back after every cut, dancing out of reach like a hare. 'B-But… BUT THIS WAS DIFFERENT.'
He could feel it with unbearable clarity, how something foreign was coursing through his body. And it was even seeping into his head!
It absolutely had to be poison!
"YOU FUCKING POISONER!"
In a swift motion, his hands shot out like a flash to catch his own head as it fell, and he slammed it violently down against the severed neck.
"DID YOU SERIOUSLY THINK THAT WAS GOING TO BE ENOUGH TO KILL ME?!"
"…"
Watching him put his head back on like it was nothing, the Trio froze.
__________
Throw your stones, drop them ALL! 💎
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