Demon Slayer : The Silent Journey

Chapter 83: Doma vs Seiji (1)

[Seiji's POV]

I moved faster than the speed of sound. A statement that would be incomprehensible to the ordinary because it was an impossible feat, a shore to fantasy.

To normal eyes, I literally disappeared from my position and appeared behind the demon in the span of an instant. My movement was graceful and soft so there was no explosion of force. It was a consequence of perfect movement.

There was no shockwave, every newton of force worked to propel me forward at incredible speed. No wasted energy, no nothing.

My damaged leg dragged me down but only for the briefest millisecond.

...

Blood spilled out from Doma's neck and he grabbed it with his pale hand. His face showed no amount of surprise because the feats he witnessed were beyond expectation.

"You are..." he started when his neck healed. "..awfully fast,"

Now it was my time to bleed. A small cut appeared on my forehead and a drop of crimson blood bleed out. He actually aimed for my eyes but I moved my head in time so he only left a scratch on my forehead.

I turned my body to face him fully once more and we both took a moment to observe each other strength.

Kanae was left defenseless at the moment but she was safe. The brief exchange made it clear to us both that the battle was closer than anticipated. The moment he went after Kanae would make an opening for me to end him forever.

I almost wanted him to go after her.

"I guess there are all those stories about you for a reason, purple one," he commented and unfurled his war fan.

Then he disappeared.

I followed the next moment.

A loud vibration - akin to a firing machine gun - resounded in the middle, followed by bright sparks that indicate metal hitting metal.

Then we returned to our previous position. I stood in front of Kanae and he stopped opposite us, meters away.

In this clash, I remained unharmed.

But it was a different case for Doma. The half portion of his neck was cut and his hand swiftly slid off his arm. A copious amount of blood decorated the floor.

"My my..." he said and blood came out from his lips, "I better take you seriously if I don't want to die,"

I took a deep breath after that, my instincts screaming at me louder than ever. Would you believe me if I told you that he was as fast as me? I wouldn't believe it if I didn't experience it myself.

The only reason I had the advantage in our brief clash was my eyes. I could predict his attacks and movements even before he himself thought of them. And with each clash, I got to know more and more about him.

That was why I allowed him to dictate the pace of the battle. The longer we fight, the better for me. I was not only learning more about his battle pattern and fighting style. Dragging the fight meant that sunrise was getting closer.

"Tell me more," I said and pointed my long sword at him. My eyes released a purple glow and I read him like a book.

What attacks was his body most used to? Where was his weakness? Which foot did he move first before he moved? Did he inhale or exhale before an attack? How many times did he blink in our clash? Which side was he better at protecting? What did his eyes reflect? How long was his reach? How dangerous was each move?.....

I went to the very basics of fighting once more.

Fighting was not fighting, To me, it was a conversation.

Make him talk, listen, and reply perfectly.

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Listen to his actions, do not aim for his weakness, instead, you should adapt and become his weakness.

*WHOOSH!!!*

A swing of his war fan made the air scream. My eyes saw the particles of ice in the air that would no doubt freeze my lungs if I inhaled them. The temperature around us plummeted, it became so cold that I could feel it in my joints.

His shit-eating smile returned once more.

I quickly took the remaining of my haori and threw it to Kanae. She used it not only to cover her body but to cover her nose so that she could breathe amid the cold air.

"Let's play," he invited me.

I saw it, I saw our similarities. We were both similar in the sense that fighting was not fighting to us.

For him, fighting was more like playing. After all what kind of God fight with mortals?

To him, fighting was a fun game to play. A game where he could not lose.

A game that I quickly adapted to.

"Flame Wind Breathing," I became his weakness.

My leg hurts when I put bodyweight on it but through sheer will and adrenaline, I moved perfectly. A gust of hot air revolved around me, my body heat rose rapidly due to fire breathing.

We blurred.

"Inferno!!"

I saw flames folding around me, battling the cold air with me. Doma lunged at me, matching the intensity of my charge. His golden war fan shone with a dangerous light.

"Blood Demon Art : Barren Hanging Garden"

A series of 10 successive fan attacks generated ice shards that came at me mercilessly. They clashed with my sword and the sound produced a piercing shockwave that sent goosebumps through my body.

They were heavy, his attacks were so damn heavy, An elegant swing of those fans had the weight of a ton. The vibration of my sword rattles my bones, numbing my arms.

Yet I was not in trouble.

My sword wrapped in golden flames sliced at his head. Doma leaned back his head to the limit, breaking the bones of his neck but ultimately dodging a direct hit. But the whirlwind in my swing ripped his face off, exposing muscle and bone.

No matter how dangerous his attacks were. They lost a lot of their danger when he told me before he attacked.

I saw it.

I saw the moisture collecting and freezing in the air. I saw the quick draw of his breath with each swing, and I saw the wiggle of every muscle fibre in his body. They told me everything he was going to do.

His eyes widened, and I allowed that information to stay in my mind a little longer than every other information processed.

He lept.

Or at least his body told me he was going to.

So I did a half spit to lower my body and I cut off his legs clean off. Then I blasted past him in a rush of wind that inflicted massive pressure on his body, almost tearing away at his skin.

"Blood Demon Art : Freezing Cloud!"

He bent his body in an impossible manner. You'd have to be boneless to make such a manoeuvre when you had no legs but that was what the demon did. Then he swung his fan and sent a gust of cold winds at me.

To be more specific, he was aiming to freeze my eyes. He tried to same thing with Kanao in the manga.

The freezing air with many frozen particles came at me.

I smiled.

"Wind Breathing : Fourth Form," I slid to a stop and turned my body to face the incoming clouds.

"Rising Storm!!"

I swung my giant sword as hard as I could. The air was forcefully turned into a whirlwind and I unleashed chaos in the atmosphere. The hurricane fought against the incoming cold winds, blasting them away.

That was not all, the wind blades continued their journey to Doma, ripping everything else in their way. The demon healed his limbs and his face in but one instant and he lunged at me.

I also did the same and blitzed towards him.

Our arms blurred and we entered into a battle of skills. He was a genius, his techniques with his war fans were far more refined than I would otherwise expect.

Yet when it came to techniques, I had no rival. I was technique God.

My eyes read each attack before it happened. My predictions and visions of the present collided and my brain worked overtime to keep up with all the information.

Each time his fan connected with my sword, they made a puncture in the atmosphere, releasing a shockwave that worked to destroy the cold air in the atmosphere.

Our movements became faster and faster, he tried to overpower me and wait for the time my humanity would catch up to me. Humans get tired, demons don't.

But years of training and perfect movement allowed me to go toe to toe with his endurance. There was no wasted energy in my movement and the momentum of each clash was used perfectly to set up the other.

My eyes saw the transfer of kinetic energy between us and manipulated that transfer so efficiently that I moved like a machine, and not human.

"You are by far, the strongest human I've ever fought!!" Doma declared as he tried to close the distance between us but I didn't allow it.

My long sword served its purpose and kept the distance between myself and my enemy. He was far enough that I could see his whole body.

"Yo-Blerh"

As I said before, he tried to close the distance between us and that cost him his jaw. Every angle that he tried to take, every opening he sought, he only met the sharp end of my blade.

I was winning. If we were both human then I could say I was many times superior to him. But demons had advantages that more than made up for our difference in skill.

He regenerated his jaw instantly and this time, he backed away.

...

He thought I would follow him and take advantage of the opening by plunging my blade into his heart. Then he would use his fan to chip away at my sword. The length of my reach was becoming too annoying for him so he wanted to take it away.

But his plan never came to reality. They died a plan.

His body told me what he was trying to do already. The way he moved his arms apart to reveal an opening in his chest, the way he changed the grip on his fan to attack close ranged.

Too obvious.

Instead, I gave the perfect reply.

"Thunder Stone Breathing : Arc of Ruin,"

I held my sword with both hands and swung with all the strength my arms could muster. The air vibrated and a high-pitched sound ruptured the ice particles.

Explode like Thunder. Be strong like Stone.

Employ all the muscle fibres in your arm, generating every drop of raw strength. And do that again and again and again with every second of your swing, stacking up your power through the concept of repetitive action.

I did not even have to hit my opponent. My blade was able to cut everything standing in its direction,

Doma tried to block the incoming attack with his two Golden War fans but they were sliced through with ease. No resistance evolved from an attempt, all was cut.

Doma's body was chopped in half. In his futile attempt to destroy my weapon, I destroyed his and turned him into a kit-kat.

His body fell to the ground with a thud, his eyes wide.

The exchange came to a stop. I remained standing and he fell, not once, but twice.

I heaved my sword on my shoulder. My arms felt like jelly so such a minor action felt difficult at the moment. I gave a smile, a shit-eating grin that was like his.

"White hair, pretty eyes, playful and cut into two. The similarity is too much, is that you Gojo?" I joked in amusement.

He had done that to my Kanae right? Play around while she was writhing on the floor.

His upper body looked at me. His smile was no longer to be seen.

..

"Maa, maaa, how unbefitting of an upper moon," he said with a sigh. In a burst of flesh, he regenerated his lower half and all the clothes with it.

That's fucking weird. How the fuck did he regenerate clothes?

Even more weird, his lower body also regenerated but with ice. The bisected body turned into a puppet as they both rose together.

I guess things are getting serious now.

I took in a deep breath and ready myself to talk once more.

..

..

...

[IMAGE]

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Next Chapter incoming