Disclaimer: Demon Slayer is not mine. This fanfic is a translation.
Enjoy Reading!
---
Whoosh—!
"Snow?"
Akaza raised a hand to shield his eyes, squinting as he looked in confusion at the white mist surging toward him.
Within the mist were scattered cherry blossom petals, swirling wildly in the wind.
The glittering pink petals, glowing faintly, slipped through the gaps of his fingers, fluttered down slightly, and came to rest on the tip of Akaza's nose.
'No, this is… cherry blossoms?'
He fixed his gaze on the petals, his expression gradually growing puzzled.
"What's going on…!"
Akaza looked around in astonishment and took two steps back.
The night sky street from just moments ago, along with Tanjuro, who had been closing in on him, and the other monk—all of it had vanished without a trace.
He turned his head and glanced at his right arm.
Just a moment before, it had felt like someone was grabbing hold of him, stopping him from advancing.
But now...
What met his eyes was nothing but an endless mist.
And in the distance, deep within the mist, a massive, indistinct black shape crouched huddled on the ground, looming like a mountain peak.
An illusion? A Blood Demon Art?
Akaza snapped back to his senses, furrowing his brow. He clicked his tongue in annoyance as he looked around.
"I don't care what you are!"
"Stop trying to fool me!"
"My fight is just getting started!!" He gritted his teeth and shouted.
"Wake up!!"
As he yelled, he suddenly raised his clenched fist.
Thwack!
He drove his fist forcefully into his own temple as if piercing through it, sending blood spraying.
Crimson blood stained his eyeballs, and veins bulged on his forehead.
At the same time, his gaze darted around, hoping to see some change in his surroundings.
But even after he twisted his fist inside his head for a while, the scene before him didn't disperse.
'Impossible…'
Releasing his hand, now soaked in blood, Akaza's head rapidly regenerated, restoring its original form.
The compass under his feet was still active, yet he still couldn't sense any fighting spirit here.
"Could it be…"
After observing for a while, Akaza, who had found nothing, stood there blankly, letting his bloodstained hands drop to his sides:
"Is this… the Supreme Realm…?"
He clenched his fists, his mind filled with immense confusion.
Yes, in the instant before he entered this place, he had definitely stepped into the realm he had sought for centuries.
His sensory perception had expanded like never before, even surpassing the awareness granted by his compass.
And it was in that moment, as he looked up at Tanjuro, that he…
Entered this place.
Akaza sorted through his thoughts.
But.
Looking at the scenery around him, it was nothing like what he had vaguely sensed it would be; it was completely different, even unrelated.
Creak…
The massive black shape in the distance seemed to shift slightly.
The sound of decaying wood moving slowly reached him.
But it seemed the strength to support the movement was lacking.
Bang!!
The body suddenly slumped down, and the disturbed mist sent a gust of wind blowing toward him.
"Who's there!"
Akaza instantly went on guard. He tightened his fists, widened his stance, and assumed the posture of Destructive Kill, facing forward.
He held his breath and waited for a moment, but there was no further movement from ahead.
His brow furrowed slightly.
Staying this passive was not his style.
[]—Hakai Satsu – Kūshiki!—[]
He clenched both fists, poured his strength into them, and azure energy gathered sharply!
Bam! Bam!
Two compressed, bursting air currents tore through the mist, leaving two distinct trails.
The displaced mist followed the path of the Air Type strikes.
It swirled and spread to the sides, finally revealing the colossal entity hidden behind it.
Boom!!
Suddenly, golden lightning struck down behind it. The flash illuminated everything around for an instant.
The image of that thing gradually reflected in Akaza's golden, mirror-like eyes.
He froze, standing there stunned. His clenched fists loosened slightly and fell to his sides.
"This is…"
He murmured softly. "…What is this?"
His pupils trembled slightly.
Akaza lifted his head, barely able to encompass the creature's full form within his field of vision.
Before him was a coiled dragon, its body huddled into a colossal mountain, yet withered like tree roots.
Its malformed claws drooped limply, trembling as if blackened and rotten.
The reason for his doubt was that it didn't appear to be merely a dragon.
Beneath it, roots were embedded deep into the ground, twisting intricately like the veins of a tree.
Pale and rotten like decayed wood, greyish veins sprawled across its elongated body, and the gnarled roots beneath it were shriveled.
Loose cherry blossom petals continuously drifted down from the roots beneath it.
A dragon that bloomed with cherry blossoms.
Akaza was transfixed until his gaze fell upon the dragon's head, which drooped down, eyes closed, curled within the center of its body.
The withered cherry blossom dragon clutched a massive, shimmering green "seven-branched sword" in its curled claws, supporting its heavy head.
Following the seven-branched sword upward, beneath the Divine Dragon's tightly closed, withered eyelids…
…A tachi with a shattered blade, oozing crimson bloodlust, was embedded.
The antique hilt and the pitted, rust-stained exposed blade seemed to tell of its past experiences.
A long, unhealed scar beneath the Divine Dragon's eyelid appeared to be the work of this very sword.
Akaza observed for a long time, standing rooted to the spot. His brows twitched, and his gaze held an incredulous look as he stared at the Divine Dragon.
Dwarfed by its size, he was at most the size of one of the dragon's eyes.
His gaze lingered on the tachi embedded beneath the dragon's eye.
"…Has someone defeated something like this?"
Akaza's eyes were filled with an emotion called bewilderment:
"A demon? A human?"
This was completely beyond the realm of martial arts.
The events of tonight had shaken him to his core.
Whether it was witnessing two humans who had attained the Supreme Realm firsthand, or seeing this "dragon" that had already been defeated.
Everything, everything, shattered the worldview he was familiar with.
Akaza stood lost in thought.
His mind was already in complete disarray.
His lowered hands unconsciously clenched tightly, squeezing until they turned pale.
"…So that's it… No."
Akaza muttered to himself, shaking his head on the spot, his tone slowing:
"It must be this."
"I understand."
He pondered for a long time before slowly lifting his head. The confused expression vanished, replaced by the same excited gleam in his eyes as before.
Regarding why he had suddenly appeared here, Akaza had arrived at his own answer.
He looked at the colossal Divine Dragon with the sword embedded in its eye.
Probably, everyone who reaches the Supreme Realm sees something like this!
What he had called the "Supreme Realm" was merely the limit of martial arts as he perceived it.
Previously, he believed that upon reaching this level, he would stand at the pinnacle of everything.
But that wasn't the case. He lifted his head, his resolute gaze fixed on the Divine Dragon.
The scene before him...
...Was a direct reminder from his own heart of his own insignificance.
It was like a single, powerful punch that woke him up!
Because…
Creak…
Akaza clenched his fists, a smile curving at the corner of his lips. His pale silhouette beneath the colossal Divine Dragon seemed like a single grain of sand in the vast ocean.
His eyes shone with determination.
He suddenly spread his arms wide, a sense of clarity washing over him as if a barrier had been removed.
Martial arts have no end!
Even beyond the Supreme Realm, one must continue to climb! Become stronger!
"Haha!"
Having cleared his thoughts, Akaza felt incredibly liberated in that moment.
He looked left and right, but still found no way out.
"Even after all this, this illusion still hasn't faded?" Akaza muttered to himself, having already defined this place as an illusion to test one's spirit.
He turned his gaze towards the Divine Dragon in the distance.
Tap.
He stepped forward, leaping gracefully, and reached the vicinity of the Divine Dragon in a few bounds.
Following the seven-branched sword, which slanted down like a path, Akaza walked along its blade until he finally arrived beside the Divine Dragon's head.
Pat.
Driven by curiosity, Akaza pressed his palm against the Divine Dragon's eyelid.
"Groan…" A low rumble emanated from deep within the dragon's closed throat, the vibration transmitting into Akaza's palm.
!!!
"It's alive?!" Startled, Akaza withdrew his hand, his eyes filled with surprise.
Accustomed to relying on fighting spirit, he had assumed the Divine Dragon, lacking any such spirit, was already dead.
But it seemed merely weakened. The Divine Dragon's eyelid twitched faintly, a warning to the approaching Akaza.
After taking a step back and seeing no change in the scene around him, his gaze once again fell upon the crimson tachi embedded diagonally beneath the dragon's eye.
For reasons he couldn't pinpoint, Akaza felt a deep-seated aversion to anything related to "swords" or "blades."
Of course, if the wielder was strong enough, he could set aside that distaste and appreciate them.
Thus, he had been avoiding direct contact with this sword since earlier.
"This is probably the key to getting out of here."
Akaza stared at the tachi's black hilt, its pitted and scarred surface shocking to behold.
What kind of swordsman would wield such a blade.
Frowning, he reached out.
Pat.
He slowly tightened his grip around the tachi's hilt.
His arm tensed as he prepared to pull it from beneath the dragon's eye.
Swoosh!
A crimson aura instantly coiled around Akaza's hand, spreading and climbing relentlessly!
"What?!" Akaza's pupils constricted. A chill went through his scalp as he looked at the arm gripping the hilt.
He tried to pull his arm back, but—
Creak—
His arm, which had been healthy and muscular moments before, was visibly withering before his eyes!
His eyes widened in shock at the crimson tachi.
This sword is absorbing his life force!
As a demon, and Upper Rank Two at that, the speed of his regeneration couldn't even keep up with the rate at which this sword drained him!
The loss of life force was real. Akaza could clearly feel himself growing weaker!
Isn't he in an illusion?!
Various thoughts flashed through his mind.
Caught off guard, in an instant, Akaza's entire right arm, including the area near his chest, withered rapidly!
He leaned back, glancing at his right hand, now reduced to bone.
[]—Hakai Satsu!—[]
He tightened his left fist, channeling his remaining strength into it.
Bang!!
He slammed it violently into his own right side!
With a sharp sound of shattering bone, Akaza's body suddenly lightened as he wrenched himself free.
Stumbling, he leaned back and slumped onto the blade of the seven-branched sword. His heart still racing, he stared wide-eyed at the crimson tachi he hadn't managed to pull out.
The bones of his right arm dangled from the tachi's hilt, slowly turning to powder from the tip, scattering in the wind.
After absorbing the majority of Akaza's life force, the shattered, crimson tachi remained embedded in the Divine Dragon's eye, motionless.
Notably, as the crimson aura gradually withdrew from the skeletal remains of Akaza's right arm and clung to the tachi's blade, the Divine Dragon's eyelid trembled twice.
Two wisps of blood energy then surged from the blade, following the wound beneath the eye and flowing into the Divine Dragon's body.
Before he could ponder this.
"…Agh!" Akaza suddenly clutched his head with his remaining hand. Veins filled his blue sclera, and his pupils quaked.
His mind, something was intruding into his mind!
He gritted his teeth, his eye sockets trembling.
It was from the tachi embedded diagonally—the images transmitted!
Akaza's gaze grew dazed.
In his mind's eye, a figure was leaping, suspended in mid-air.
The figure wore tattered hemp cloth garments, raising a black katana high, having caught golden lightning with the blade while soaring through the air.
And diagonally below that leaping figure was the Divine Dragon, looking far more vigorous than now, swinging its seven-branched sword, its maw agape in a roar!
That figure, leaping high before the Divine Dragon!
He remembered!
Akaza's pupils contracted.
Tanjuro's features gradually overlapped in his mind with the side profile revealed by this figure.
His eyes widened. Akaza slowly released his hand from his head, staring blankly at the tachi embedded diagonally in the Divine Dragon's eye.
At this moment, he realized his earlier assumption about this illusion seemed to be wrong.
...
...
Meanwhile.
Swish! Swish!
"Namu… Is this alright…?"
Gyomei swung his flail, poised for battle at any moment. He glanced sideways at Tanjuro beside him.
"Wouldn't it be better to finish him off completely while we have the chance…?"
Tanjuro didn't speak, merely shaking his head slightly.
"Meow." On his shoulder, Chachamaru, still shaken, nestled against Tanjuro, purring.
After a series of life-and-death crises, Chachamaru's affection for Tanjuro had visibly increased, even surpassing her fondness for Yushiro.
Now, before the two of them stood Akaza, frozen in place, eyes wide. Half of his body was missing, slowly regenerating.
Just moments ago, when they had Akaza caught between them on the street and both sides anticipated an imminent clash, Akaza had suddenly stood rooted to the spot, displaying a series of abnormal behaviors.
These included, but weren't limited to, shouting, muttering to himself, suddenly self-harming, and half his body turning to ash for no apparent reason.
Tanjuro took the letters Chachamaru had brought, quickly scanning them with both hands.
Upon seeing phrases like "varies by individual" and "illusion," he promptly stopped Gyomei, who had been about to seize the opportunity to kill Akaza.
In Tanjuro's view, Akaza was likely experiencing the "illusion" from his time as a human.
This made the possibility of inducing his defection rise sharply.
After all, Tanjuro slowly put the letters away, looking at Akaza, whose face was etched with shock; Hakuji was a man who listened to his wife.
Meanwhile, beside Akaza, an ethereal figure invisible to the others was on the verge of tears, frantic with worry.
"Oh no…"
The young girl, clad in a pink kimono, her eyes brimming with tears, looked down, repeatedly trying to grasp Akaza's arm.
But her incorporeal hands passed through his solid arm each time.
Her voice choked with sobs, she stamped her foot lightly in distress.
"I had hold of him just a moment ago!"