CHAPTER 102: CHAPTER 102: BREATH OF THE MOON?

’A dark, underground chamber!’

Tengen’s face was deathly pale, his hands and feet trembling, his lips tinged purple. "Sosuke... I will kill you! What the hell did you feed me for lunch?!"

His rage mingled with a strange sense of relief, punctuated by sounds too unpleasant to describe. His already pale complexion grew even more pallid.

After cleaning himself up, he pulled up his pants and stood, turning to survey the pit he had dug.

As for the smell... after being exposed to it for so long, he barely noticed it anymore.

But the sight of it still made him nauseous.

Suppressing his murderous rage toward Sosuke, he crouched down and began burying the pit with soil.

’If I cover it with dirt, out of sight, out of mind. At least it won’t be so unbearable.’

But just as he was halfway through burying it, his stomach suddenly rumbled violently, twisting Tengen’s face in agony.

Resigned, he pulled down his pants and squatted, his face alternating between green and white. "Kill him... kill him... I must kill him!"

Ever since eating that damned rice ball at noon, he hadn’t moved an inch.

And it wasn’t just that he couldn’t move; he had to keep digging new pits to contain this filth.

What had once been a perfectly good cellar for hiding had now become a cesspool.

Tengen felt completely drained, his hands and legs weak, on the verge of collapse.

Suddenly, a sound seemed to reach his ears, jolting him to full alertness. "Something’s happening outside!"

He abruptly suppressed whatever he had been halfway through, gritted his teeth, and tried to stand up. But in the next instant, an overwhelming force dragged him back down into a crouch.

As he clenched his jaw against the surging sensation, he couldn’t help but curse, "Fine, fine! You screw me over like this, and now someone outside is going to kill you for me! Just wait, just wait! If he fails, I’ll finish you off myself when I get out of here!"

___

Blood streamed down the wound on Sosuke’s arm, tracing the length of his hammer before dripping onto the ground.

Sosuke’s gaze remained fixed on the woman across from him—or rather, the female Demon.

Though her appearance was indistinguishable from a human’s, her speed and the ferocity of her strikes filled Sosuke with dread.

Since her arrival, he had landed only a single blow—his initial hammer strike. In contrast, his own body was now riddled with countless wounds, large and small.

As the battle dragged on, Sosuke’s confusion deepened.

Kanae’s disappearance was one mystery, though he hoped to extract an answer from the Demon before him.

More perplexing was why neither Jigoro nor Zenitsu, nor even Tengen underground, had detected their prolonged clash. This defied all logic!

If he couldn’t feel the undeniable reality of his surroundings, he might have suspected he had been dragged into a special dimension by some Blood Demon Art.

But the final question... the final question weighed most heavily on Sosuke’s mind.

If Tengen hadn’t noticed their earlier skirmishes, there might have been other explanations.

By this point, Sosuke had led the Demon to the sword-forging shed, which had been nearly demolished in their battle.

Yet Tengen, still underground, hadn’t heard a thing?

’Impossible!’

Sosuke suspected the Demon had sensed Tengen’s presence and lured him elsewhere, leaving him no time to focus on anything else.

With this thought, Sosuke watched the Demon slowly approach, its bone-white blade glinting in the dim light, and let out a soft breath.

He regulated his breathing, tensing his mind while relaxing his muscles.

His gaze remained fixed on the Demon’s every movement, daring not to relax for a moment.

The Demon tilted its head, studying Sosuke, then sighed. "As I thought, your swordsmanship lacks beauty. It’s as crude as a child’s clumsy tricks."

"Oh?" Sosuke replied casually, buying time to recover. "So you’ve witnessed truly beautiful swordsmanship?"

"Of course!"

The Demon grinned suddenly. "Would you like to see it?"

What could Sosuke say?

If the Demon had hidden reserves of power, unleashing them now would make no difference compared to unleashing them later, right?

The Demon seemed flustered. "Lord Kokushibo wouldn’t be angry, would he? Well, then..."

In the next instant, she lunged forward. Her left hand gripped the blade, drawing it in a swift, fluid motion.

"Breath of the Moon—First Form: Dark Moon - Evening Palace!" she cried.

Sosuke’s expression darkened.

’Breath of the Moon?’

’Kokushibo’s breathing style?!’

’Is this Demon his disciple?’

His mind raced as he leaped backward, narrowly evading the strike.

He knew that Breath of the Moon Sword Forms often carried crescent-shaped miniature blade winds. Even if he dodged the main slash, he could still be injured by these smaller projectiles.

Yet after evading, he paused in surprise.

Nothing!

The strike felt like an ordinary slash. There was none of the characteristic sensation of a breathing technique, nor any special properties.

Sosuke’s astonishment lasted only a moment. The next instant, the Demon shouted, "Breath of the Moon—Third Form: Loathsome Moon, Chains!"

’Here it comes again!’

The whirling blade closed the distance in the blink of an eye.

Sosuke had already harbored doubts about the previous strike. Now, observing this so-called Third Form, he realized it was far less powerful than her earlier, nameless attacks!

She was currently executing a crude imitation of the technique, a mere shell of its true form.

Though her cries were fierce, the attack lacked any breathing technique characteristics and failed to unleash the true power of the Sword Form.

In an instant, Sosuke’s gaze pierced through the gaps in her swordsmanship. He immediately stepped forward, his great hammer swinging in a sudden, violent arc.

Sun Breathing—Second Form: Straight Forging of Heaven and Earth!

The hammer crashed through the crisscrossing sword shadows, striking the Demon squarely in the face.

With a thunderous impact, the Demon flipped backward, her head nearly flattened by the blow.

Sosuke showed no signs of relenting. After such a prolonged struggle, finally gaining even a sliver of advantage, how could he afford to relax?

His breathing shifted abruptly...

Sun Breathing—First Form: Gale Sun!