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Kai observed the tall stature of the Flame Hashira.
Kyojuro Rengoku had an athletic build and had an air of great optimism about him that Kai could even feel with hundreds of meters of distance between them.
That meant using Advance Emotions Manipulation to suck out his happiness was a foregone conclusion. This Ability wouldn't work on him, Kai knew it for a fact.
The top-class Demon Slayer was panting, with a wide smile plastered on his face. His golden eyes seemed to be ever-opened, and locked on Kai.
It didn't take long for Kai to guess that the eccentric Hashira had swum down the entire river, looking for his signs.
No wonder he found Kai. It was the only way, to begin with.
Rengoku's gaze went beyond Kai, landing on the wooden box on Kai's back and the hut behind him, and then he suddenly burst out in a feat of laughter.
"Hahaha!" Rengoku guffawed, folding his hands over his chest. "She fights on despite her disadvantageous physique! She deserves my respect!"
Kai smiled back, knowing well that Rengoku was talking about Shinobu.
"She is strong, I agree," he replied. "I know you are here for them, Kyojuro Rengoku. But I am afraid I can't let you have them. At least not for the next three weeks."
Rengoku's laugh vanished, but the smile on his face persisted. "You are poisoned!" he declared.
"You cannot regenerate!" Rengoku shouted, his eyes wide open like a statue.
"Not as well as other demons." Kai kept agreeing as if they were just chatting, catching up like two old friends.
"You are not my match!" Rengoku proclaimed.
Kai grinned, with a touch of madness about his smile. "Now, now," he mumbled, unsheathing the Item, One half of the Power Sword. "That is yet to be seen, Rengoku."
"Hahaha!" Rengoku laughed, throwing out his hands and putting them over his waist. "Those two are my juniors, demon! I will protect them with my life!"
Kai took a deep breath and nodded. "I am sure you will, Flame Hashira," he said. "And I will do the same..."
There would be no reasoning with the Demon Slayers, Kai knew.
Even after the two Resonances, if Kai hadn't put away Shinobu's sword, she would have already attacked him at the cost of her life. This was some other level of brainwashing, backed by just reasons and past sufferings.
No Demon Slayer would let him have Nezuko to himself for an entire month.
Not until he would give them solid proof. Turning back into a human would do the trick, probably, Kai knew. But dare he take that chance, with the 18th-floor monsters watching him?
They weren't as clueless as the lower floor's Contestants. If Kai were to transform into his human self in front of them, then they would become suspicious.
And their suspicion meant destruction for Kai.
He couldn't have that.
Kai raised the sword in his hand towards the black sky, shimmering with billions of stars, and thunder fell.
A blue bolt of lightning fell from the cloudless sky over the sword's tip, and the cordite sword broke down, becoming silver-green armor.
The armor covered Kai's right hand, and his chest and waist.
One half of the Power Sword ignored the first HP damage below 20, and reduced the first damage over 20 by 10 every 60 seconds. It also granted him an energy field with 1-meter radius, which impeded and deflected all physical attacks.
It was an undeniable source of defense against opponents that were more powerful than Kai, he knew. But it also had two weaknesses.
First, upon striking by a mighty impact, like that of Queen Xenomorph's tail, it would break down, reverting to its original state.
Second, the armor had a Time Limit of 5 minutes with a cooldown of 2 minutes.
It meant Kai must finish the fight within these 5 minutes, and that too without losing the armor.
Kai unsheathed his swords, with Afro's Tachi in his left hand and Murasame in his right.
Rengoku's smile flickered at seeing the sudden appearance of Kai's armor.
"Those who bare their fangs at innocents," he said, his white cloak flailing without wind, "I and Kagutsuchi will burn them to ashes!"
Kai's eyes narrowed. Was there another Demon Slayer with him? But he had noticed no one.
It was then that Rengoku unsheathed his Katana.
An intense wave of heat assaulted Kai, burning his face.
It was a white fiery blade with a red edge. The sword looked as though the swordsmith had just taken it out of the hearth.
What is this?! Kai asked, baffled. Aphrodite didn't mention this to me. Nor did she say that Demon Slayers' swords have names. Something's wrong. Something's extremely wrong...
"State the name of your katanas, demon!" Rengoku demanded, smiling, his sword letting out a burst of actual flames now and then.
Kai's mouth became a thin line, and then he suddenly laughed. So what? he thought, his demonic laugh echoing far and wide. It's just another fight, another roadblock between me and the Peak of Absolute Power. Yes. Even if I die ascending this path... So what?
"This is Afro's Tachi," Kai introduced sincerely, flicking his left hand. "And this one here is Murasame. One nick from it, and you will die."
Even though Kai had decided against killing a human, this hadn't included the Hashiras.
Fighting against them, without going all out and without having the will to take their lives, would be a mistake, Kai knew.
"Is that so?" Rengoku said, taking a crouching stance. "Then I will just stay away from it..."
With a pop, he vanished.
Kai exhaled, his eyes narrowing to the size of the needle's tips.
The wind died, the buzz of rainforest melted into his bones, and the heat burning his entire moist body intensified.
Kai didn't have strength, but he had enough Agility and Stamina to hold himself against a Hashira.
Flame Breathing - Second Form...
Rengoku appeared in front of Kai and slashed upwards, his Katana covered in scorching flames.
... Rising Scorching Sun!
The Energy Field turned air into water for the Demon Slayer, resisting and impeding the insanely swift slash.
Kai let go of the Murasame in his hand, and under the shocked gaze of Rengoku, reached down to grab the burning sword.
Heat, unimaginable red-white heat, burned the cordite gauntlet on his hand black and blue.
An ear-splitting screech of steel cutting steel resounded, but the sword failed to cut the supreme material called Cordite.
There was mercy in Kai's eyes before the start of the fight.
Murasame whirled, and like a bullet, it got fired towards Rengoku's neck by Telekinesis. Some primal danger must have announced itself to the Demon Slayer.
"HAAAA!!!" Rengoku let out a powerful shout, his sword replying to his call instantly.
Heat exploded from it like never before, and Kai had to let go.
Rengoku vanished again, Murasame nicking nothing but empty air.
What insane reflexes! Kai felt amazed, recalling the sword back to him.
A blurry image of Rengoku, dozens of meters to his right, and running towards the hut, manifested itself in his mind. Kai was getting a hang of these images now, associating them with his Instincts.
Kai's katanas left his hands once more, getting stretched in the space as if some invisible being was using them as arrows.
Then, with the mind gem pulsing vibrantly, Kai fired them toward Rengoku.
Only now Rengoku appeared where Kai had thought he would. The two sabers cut off his path, but the Flame Hashira's smile widened as if this was something he had been aiming for.
Kai... had lost his katanas.
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