Seeing his artworks being destroyed one by one and several of his prized pots shattered, Gyokko was enraged.
"Unforgivable! You lowly monkeys!"
Gyokko crawled out of the only remaining large pot, his body beginning to undergo violent distortion.
His original pot-shaped lower body degenerated, growing a snake tail covered in hard scales, and his hands turned into webbed claws.
Upper Rank five, complete form!
"You should feel honored to be able to force me to shed my skin and show this perfect posture."
Gyokko's arrogant declaration was still stuck in his throat when a sudden change occurred.
The starry night sky was completely swallowed by a thick, ink-like thundercloud in just a few seconds without warning.
The temperature rose sharply, the moisture in the air was instantly evaporated, and it was replaced by a hair-raising aura of destruction.
"What's going on? This strange air pressure..."
Mitsuri gripped her soft sword, stopped, and looked up at the sky.
Muichiro also frowned, this was definitely not a change that natural weather should have.
Gyokko's scales stood on end, an instinctive fear originating from the depths of Muzan's cells making him tremble uncontrollably.
He looked in horror toward the other end of the village—that was the position of Upper Rank four, Hantengu.
Boom!
A muffled thunderclap shattered the silence of the valley.
Immediately after, in the horrified eyes of the three, lightning crazily gathered in the depths of the clouds, and a giant beast made of pure thunder poked its head out, carrying a violent pressure that looked down on the world.
Its dazzling blue-white light illuminated the entire Swordsmith Village like daylight.
"What... what is that?!" Gyokko's voice changed pitch due to extreme fear, his eyeballs almost popping out of their sockets.
Although he considered himself a perfect work of art, in front of this pure natural punishment, his hard scales were as ridiculous as paper.
Was God angry?
Rumble!!!
The lightning turned into a pillar of light, crashing down on the other side of the village.
No words could describe the shock of that moment.
The earth shook crazily, and even though they were far away, the ground on the workshop side was shattered by the shockwave, creating terrifying cracks.
The gale mixed with the smell of scorched soil swept over, blowing Mitsuri and Muichiro back repeatedly, forcing them to stab their swords into the ground to barely steady themselves.
The blinding white light lasted for a few seconds, and when the world regained its color, half of the night sky still had ion halos left after the lightning raged.
"Gulp..."
Gyokko gulped, his body trembling uncontrollably.
He could clearly feel that shortly after that lightning strike fell, Hantengu's aura had disappeared.
Along with his several clones, they were wiped clean from this world, not leaving behind even a trace of fly ash.
"Dead? That old slippery Hantengu... was killed in one hit?!" Gyokko's brain went blank.
Run! Must run! There is a monster hidden in this village that cannot be measured by common sense!
Just as Gyokko gave birth to the intention to retreat and was preparing to burrow into the ground to escape, a female voice suddenly rang out behind him.
"So cool! This kind of wild and domineering lightning is definitely Yamada-san's move!"
Mitsuri held her heart with both hands, pink stars appearing in her eyes.
The earth-shattering pressure just now not only didn't make her afraid, but instead made this love-brained Hashira flush with excitement.
"Yamada-san must have already solved the bad guy over there! We can't fall behind either, Tokito-kun!" Mitsuri raised her soft sword, full of fighting spirit.
Muichiro listened to the name, and the image of the black-haired young man who caught his attack with one hand and mocked him for chopping wood appeared in his mind.
So, was that his true strength?
The power of natural disaster that could instantly evaporate even an Upper Rank...
Gyokko heard Mitsuri's words, his heart shocked.
That human? That monster who triggered the heavenly punishment is a human, and is heading this way?
"Don't joke! I am the noble Twelve Kizuki!" Gyokko roared in horror, his snake tail twisting crazily, desperately trying to drill into the mountains and forests.
However, a lazy voice drifted lightly onto the open space outside the workshop with the night wind.
"Why run? Stay, let me see what kind of artistic bacteria you have in your belly, you ugly monster."
Gyokko stiffened, turning his head mechanically.
Under the moonlight, a young man wearing a pure black haori, with one hand in his pocket, was walking unhurriedly along the mountain road.
Behind him followed Tanjiro carrying the wooden box, as well as Zenitsu and Inosuke, who were still trembling with weak legs from the Kirin just now.
Yamada stopped less than ten steps away from Gyokko. His black short hair fluttered slightly in the night wind.
Although those deep eyes did not activate the Sharingan, just standing there felt like an insurmountable mountain, completely sealing off all of Gyokko's escape routes.
"Meeting again, you two."
Yamada glanced at the admiring Mitsuri and the complex-looking Muichiro, and slowly drew the Kusanagi Sword from his waist.
"This dead fish with baby hands seemed quite wild just now? Don't mind if I intervene and steal the kill."
"Dead fish? Baby hands?"
Gyokko's face, already misaligned, twisted out of shape because of these few words.
What he hated most in his life was others belittling his appearance and his "art."
Even though he had just witnessed that Lightning Release that flattened a mountaintop, the fury of having his sore spot poked now forcibly suppressed his fear of Yamada.
"You vulgar, lowly, hairless monkey!"
The eyes on Gyokko's forehead and chin bulged simultaneously, covered in veins, and his snake tail thrashed wildly on the ground, smashing the hard bluestone slabs to pieces.
"How beautiful and divine this perfect form of mine, shed of its pot shell, is! The scales on my body are masterpieces harder than diamond! Since you are so eager to die, I will turn you into an ugly little fish for me to slaughter!"
Before the words had faded, Gyokko's thick snake tail coiled and compressed violently, then suddenly exerted force like a spring.
Blood Demon Art: Death Strangling Fish Scales!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Gyokko's figure disappeared from the spot instantly. Utilizing his scales, which were harder than diamond, and his powerful muscular explosive force, he performed irregular high-speed leaps between the trees, walls, and ground around the workshop. Every time he pushed off, he left a deep crater in place and triggered a sonic boom.
In the blink of an eye, the air was already filled with afterimages created by Gyokko's high-speed movement.
For an ordinary swordsman, this was like facing an inescapable, flawless net of death closing in from all directions, with no way to judge from which blind spot his main body would launch a fatal strike.
"So fast! I can't capture his movements at all!" Mitsuri gripped her sword, backing nervously against Muichiro, trying to find Gyokko's trail.
Muichiro also furrowed his brows. At this speed, even a Hashira could have their neck snapped in an instant if they were the slightest bit careless.
However, Yamada, standing in the center of the clearing, hadn't even changed his stance for drawing his sword. With one hand resting on the hilt at his waist, his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, where the six-pointed star and three tomoe intertwined, slowly rotated within his pitch-black pupils.
The jumping trajectory, which looked like mere afterimages to others, turned into clear red dotted lines in Yamada's field of vision. Every exertion of Gyokko's muscles and every angle of refraction upon landing were unreservedly analyzed and slowed down by his eyes.
***
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