Chapter 128: Hanami, Let’s Go
"Ember Insects!"
The beetles shot forward like bullets.
Each one bore a distorted human face, their folded bodies snapping open mid-flight as they screamed through the air toward Tanjiro. Heat and Cursed Energy gathered within them, swelling toward detonation.
Tanjiro's hand settled on the sword at his waist.
His gaze did not waver.
"Water Breathing, Third Form: Flowing Dance."
The sword left its sheath.
Water surged along the edge, rippling in a graceful arc. Tanjiro stepped through the swarm with movements as fluid as a winding stream, his body slipping between the insects while his sword passed through them in a single continuous dance.
A breath later, he stood beyond the swarm.
Behind him, every Ember Insect had been severed.
They exploded all at once.
Flames roared upward, briefly swallowing the arena in orange light.
Tanjiro did not look back.
His eyes remained fixed on the three Disaster Cursed Spirits ahead.
Mahito was still smiling.
"How interesting," he said, tilting his head. "There's actually water on the sword. That looks fun. Is that a Cursed Technique too?"
For some reason, Tanjiro's gaze settled more heavily on Mahito than on the others.
It was not because Mahito's Cursed Energy was the greatest.
It was instinct.
Or perhaps something engraved into the depths of his soul.
Tanjiro could feel the evil in him.
Not simple cruelty. Not hunger. Not even the arrogance of a monster that devoured humans because it was born to do so.
This was something worse.
An evil that toyed with life, twisted it, laughed at it, and found amusement in suffering.
In that instant, Mahito reminded Tanjiro of Muzan Kibutsuji.
No.
In some ways, he was even worse.
Tanjiro drew the second sword at his waist. The twin swords rested in his hands as his expression turned colder than the surface of the sea beneath them.
"What is so fun?"
His voice was quiet, but it carried through the arena.
"What do you find interesting? What do you think life is?"
The mark on his forehead emerged.
The Transparent World opened.
The presence he had restrained to the limit erupted, filling the colosseum with pressure so heavy it seemed to crush the air itself.
Water surged around both swords. The currents spiraled faster and faster, forming whirlpools that wrapped around his body.
Mahito's smile faded slightly.
The water accelerated.
Tanjiro moved.
"Water Breathing, Twelfth Form: Water Melody."
His figure shot forward.
Water coiled around him and took the shape of a roaring dragon, its body sweeping across the arena with impossible speed. In an instant, it reached Mahito.
The three Cursed Spirits barely had time to react.
Tanjiro and Mahito crossed.
Mahito's head flew into the air.
One strike.
Clean decapitation.
From the upper edge of the arena, Kenjaku watched the scene below. A flicker of interest passed through his eyes.
"How confident are you in taming that monster?"
Beside him, Sukuna sat casually on the ledge, one hand propping up his cheek.
His gaze never left Tanjiro.
"If I regain the power of all twenty fingers," Sukuna said in a low voice, "and fight at full strength, I might have a chance."
Kenjaku did not seem surprised.
After all, the existence below them was supposed to be the strongest Sword Master in history.
A moment later, Kenjaku smiled.
"Then how about this?"
Sukuna's eyes shifted toward him.
"I'll help you gather the fingers and give you a chance to gain Asuramaru's recognition," Kenjaku said. "In exchange, you tell me the complete nature of its Cursed Technique and help me complete my plan."
Sukuna stared at him for a while.
Then he smiled.
"Then let's make a Binding Vow."
While the two spoke above, Mahito's severed head landed on the arena floor.
Even then, he was still smiling.
Small legs grew from beneath his head, and it scurried back toward his body like some grotesque insect. The head climbed up, fused with the neck, and reattached itself without difficulty.
Mahito rolled his shoulders and laughed.
"That was a really impressive strike. I didn't even have time to react."
His smile stretched wider.
"But unfortunately, it's useless."
He tapped the side of his face.
"Your attacks don't work on me. The body follows the shape of the soul, and you can't touch my soul."
Tanjiro watched him in silence.
Then he returned one of the swords to its sheath.
The sword dissolved into black mist.
When the mist gathered again, the weapon that appeared at his waist was no longer the same.
It was a long, blood-red sword.
Arcana.
Tanjiro drew it.
The air around the sword seemed to darken.
Then he swung backhanded.
"Getsuga Tensho."
A black crescent slash tore across the arena.
This Getsuga Tensho carried Arcana's nature.
Mahito, confident from the previous exchange, did not dodge.
The black slash struck his shoulder and split it open.
At first, Mahito's smile did not change.
"I told you. It's useless. You are..."
His voice stopped.
Pain struck deeper than flesh.
It pierced the core of him.
Mahito's eyes widened, and his expression twisted for the first time. The wound on his shoulder was not merely damage to the body. Something had cut into the outline of his soul.
No.
What is this?
Was it the black slash?
Or that sword?
"Damn it!"
Jogo immediately noticed the change.
"Hanami, let's go!"
He released his full power.
Cursed Energy erupted from Jogo like molten rock. Lava surged across the arena, rising into a burning wave that rolled toward Tanjiro like a tsunami.
Behind him, Hanami raised an arm.
Plants formed from Cursed Energy burst from the ground around Tanjiro. Vines and tendrils lashed out, wrapping around his limbs, waist, and shoulders, attempting to restrain him in place.
Tanjiro's voice rang out.
"I'm counting on you, Asuramaru!"
Asuramaru's reply came without hesitation.
"Then let them see what the strongest truly is."
Demonization.
Ittō Shura.
Both activated at once.
A demon horn grew from Tanjiro's forehead. His eyes shifted to pale purple, and strange markings spread along the side of his face. The pressure radiating from him climbed again, sharper and more suffocating than before.
The vines tightened around him.
The next instant, they shattered.
Tanjiro stepped forward with both swords in hand.
Before him, lava surged.
Behind him, the air trembled.
"Hinokami Kagura: Heaven-Soaring Dragon Flash!"
Wind.
Thunder.
Flame.
Three Breathing Styles erupted together and fused into a single impossible movement.
Tanjiro vanished.
The sound of thunder cracked through the arena.
The wave of lava split straight down the middle.
Beyond it, Hanami had no time to react.
Tanjiro appeared before him with both swords already in motion.
Several slashes flashed.
Hanami's body was cut into pieces.
Raging flames ignited across the severed remains.
The sight left everyone watching in stunned silence.
Tanjiro turned.
The lava wave he had split had not vanished. On either side, it reshaped into two enormous hands of molten rock, clapping toward him from both directions.
Tanjiro raised Asuramaru.
Lightning burst from the sword.
"Chidori Sharp Spear."
A beam of lightning shot from the sword's tip, screaming with the sound of a thousand birds.
Wherever the lightning passed, the giant lava hands collapsed. Molten rock scattered across the arena floor, breaking apart before it could touch him.
Jogo stared.
At last, he understood.
This was not merely a monster stronger than them.
This was something that surpassed even Satoru Gojo.
He was not standing on the same level as the three of them.
Even so, Jogo did not retreat.
He crossed his hands.
"Domain Expansion: Coffin of the Iron Mountain!"
A black curtain spread.
The arena vanished beneath volcanic heat.
Within the Domain, Tanjiro stood in a world like the inside of a living volcano. Magma flowed across the ground. The air burned. Heat gathered with lethal certainty, ready to crush and incinerate anything trapped within.
Before the Domain could completely settle around him, Tanjiro raised his sword.
"Domain Expansion: Ashura Kannon."
An open Domain unfolded first.
It did not close.
It did not form a barrier.
It simply descended.
The vast presence of Ashura Kannon enveloped Jogo's Domain from the outside before it could fully establish itself.
A heartbeat later, countless swords struck the outer shell of Coffin of the Iron Mountain.
Cracks spread across the Domain.
Then it shattered.
Jogo collapsed to the ground, his Cursed Technique burned out. His body trembled as he panted heavily, forcing himself to raise his head.
In his vision, Tanjiro stood ahead.
Behind him rose a colossal sword, surrounded by countless other swords of varying sizes.
Then, from two smaller swords beside that great sword, two figures slowly emerged.
.....
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