Chapter 289: The Demonic Attitude - Discarding Self !!!
Note: ~… xyz…~ represents memories
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Chapter Begins:
Kai's steps became a dash, his eyes planted dead on the creature in front of him.
He had been bleeding profusely before, with bones broken all over his body. Yet, with each step, his healing factor accelerated.
A grand fear was bubbling in his chest, nauseating him beyond measure.
Kai thrived on this very fear.
First, he not only let himself calm down, but he also actively fueled this fear using Emotions Manipulation. Then, using Fear Absorption, he devoured his own fear, exponentially enhancing his HP Regeneration Rate.
By the time the demons' eyes met, Kai had all but regained his HP.
Akaza appeared in front of him, his martial pose blooming with blue petals.
Kai hacked, and the Afro's Tachi landed on the bone armor. An intense vibration coursed through his left hand, making him lose his grip on the sword.
Afro's Tachi spun in circles, almost going out of Kai's reach.
He reached out with his mouth and bit on the sword's hilt, his teeth clenching the wood in a grinding grip. And then he hacked once more.
Whack!
The sword landed on Akaza's neck, bringing out a drop of blood.
Akaza's punch came at this time, covered in a blue shockwave. It landed on the silvery armor on Kai's chest, and his chest caved in, bones shattering under his flesh.
Crrrrkkkkkk!
Kai's eyes rolled in his head, profound darkness claiming his senses.
~… To achieve the State of Anatta, one must learn to discard, son…~
Kai's eyes snapped open with a bloody light.
He gritted his teeth and forcefully made himself stay awake. Murasame landed on Akaza, steel screeching against bone armor like a dying howl.
Akaza's second punch landed on Kai's chest.
…
Everything became silent for Kai, his pupils shaking like marbles rippling over water.
The grin came out of nowhere on his face.
A white mist, speckled with silvery dust, burst out of the ground behind Akaza and pounced on him.
A fatal danger must have roared in Akaza's mind, for Kai saw the blue pupils of the creature behind his bone helmet shake in apprehension.
However, in the very next moment, Akaza vanished and reappeared behind Selene.
This?! Kai could scarcely believe it. He can sense Selene's intangible presence?!
Akaza not only had sensed it but he also exploded with a mountainous Reiatsu, pinning Kai and Selene's misty form at a place.
No matter how the Ghost Basilisk struggled to diffuse, she failed.
Akaza put both his fists onto his waist, and then punched, sending out a fighter jet-like shockwave.
Boom!
The shockwave hit Selene first, making the silvery mist burst apart, and then it landed on Kai.
Kai felt as though a train had hit him, shattering his bones and rupturing his organs on the impact.
The blue-skinned demon was sent flying, his figure bumping, bouncing on the ground.
Akaza teleported above Kai, grabbed his tail, and then slammed him into the ground, making the snow, rocks, and rain explode.
Cough!
All the air was forced out of his lungs, and his heart slowed down.
~… Son, you must learn to discard the world…~
The wooden box on Kai's back finally gave in, despite the unreasonable assistance from the Systems.
Nezuko's tiny, sleeping figure got thrown out in the distance, and a timer of 30 minutes ticked like a death knell in the back of Kai's mind automatically.
Akaza ignored Nezuko and lifted Kai, his tail still in his hand, and slammed him into the ground once more.
Bang!
Then again.
Bang!!
Again and again.
Bang!!!
At the end of the 10th impact, the armor couldn't take anymore, and it shattered, becoming One half of the Sword.
Kai gulped down the Rare HP capsule and an Uncommon MP capsule he had hidden in his mouth.
With a bang, his injuries healed, his mind still lingering in the darkness.
Blue watery light shone around him, and Kai fired a Hydro Pump at Akaza's face with pinpoint accuracy.
They were just too near for the Skill to miss the creature.
But Akaza teleported away this time as well.
No. Kai suddenly realized the horrific truth. It wasn't Akaza who had teleported away, but him.
Only now did he understand that this Resurrección Dimension let the mutated Upper Rank Demon control the location of all living objects in this space above the blue snowflake.
Akaza appeared above Kai and punched, his fist covered in a blue shockwave. The thorn-like bone protrusions went deeper than the last time in Kai's stomach.
But, at this moment, there was no way for Akaza to teleport.
Kai grabbed Akaza's wrist, firing Afro's Tachi at him using Telekinesis.
Blood spurted out, and in the next moment, Akaza teleported away. However, Kai went along with him, his fingers digging deep into the bone gauntlet over Akaza's wrist.
Afro's Tachi couldn't have teleported with Kai, but at the last moment, he had again bitten on its hilt.
Kai threw his head to the right, slashing at Akaza's neck again.
From below, Murasame hacked at the creature's waist, landing on the bone armor.
"You!" Akaza breathed out furiously.
He didn't defend, letting the attacks hack at him as they pleased.
Instead, the demon's left hand landed on Kai's face and almost shattered his jaw. Once again, Akaza punched, and the thorn-like bones landed on Kai's right ear.
Kai's entire head buzzed, his vision becoming black. Half the HP he had regained instantly using the HP Capsule vanished like a mirage.
Finally, Kai's grip on Akaza's wrist loosened.
Akaza grabbed Kai's neck and threw him up in the air.
~… Discard the reasons…~
Akaza appeared above Kai, their figures looking tiny against the black, flashy background; a stray bolt of lightning thundered red somewhere.
The Upper Rank Three demon made a fist, and the air crackled around it.
"If you weren't so weak," Akaza whispered, "then I would have asked for your name."
…
When the punch landed, no sound originated from it.
Kai's bent figure left behind a snowy trail in the hailstorm and then struck the ground with the force of a cannon.
BOOM!
Akaza appeared like a bone ghost some hundred meters away from the pit that Kai's fallen figure had created.
Inside the pit, Kai was buried under the rubble of snow and twigs, his life abandoning him with the passing of every fraction of a moment.
~… Discard the thoughts…~
Forgotten memories kept bombarding his mind nonstop.
I am so hungry, mother, Kai complained under the bulging darkness. I am so cold.
~… Discard the emotions…~
Why am I here? Questions birthed in Kai's mind one after another. Who am I fighting? Why? Is dying so bad? I would just need to close my eyes, and it would be over. Yes. Perhaps I wouldn't feel so… cold then.
A face surfaced in Kai's mind, accompanying her smile.
~… Live…~ she said.
With a bang, Kai jumped out of the pit, his back straight, and his eyes barely open, but alive.
Cra-ckk!!
A tremendous wave of bloodlust exploded out of Kai, along with ethereal bolts of yellow lightning. The crackling thunder roared throughout the surroundings, overpowering the monstrous howls of the storm.
The Haki pinned down Akaza's powerful figure, making him widen his eyes in pure shock. His knees were trembling, the demon realized. He tried to teleport but miserably failed.
"What's this?!" Akaza looked at the dying blue-skinned demon. "What the hell is this?!!"
Kai outstretched his hands as he looked up towards the sky.
The sky looked not so dark to him. He felt every drop of the rain, every stray gust of wind, and the sound of the world.
"If the world wants me to die then I will discard it." Kai declared. "If my reasons hold me back, then I will discard them. If my thoughts are against me, then I will discard them. If my emotions are not in control, then I will discard them."
At this moment, a strange Comprehension dawned on him, the forgotten memories and realizations becoming a tune of transcendent epiphany.
Kai closed his eyes, and his Advance Twin-Saber Style, Advance Slither Steps, and, shockingly, Master Snake Instincts vanished, melting and fusing, becoming something much more hideous, suited only to him.
"If my Will is not demonic, then I will discard it as well," Kai told himself, cutting himself with Murasame. "But first, I will discard my Self.
"I will name this…"
Facelessness' 2nd Conversion let Kai assume a false Self.
Now, he was using this to discard the sense of Self itself.
His hair lengthened, becoming red, and cursed runic markings covered his broken figure.
A bronze-colored spartan helmet appeared on his head as his eyes became red and his sclera black, both covered in cursed runic marks.
"… Total Concentration Selfless Breathing."
Hisss!
Kai clenched his teeth and breathed out, a dense and abundant red-colored mist escaping his mouth in sheer joy.
His skin wriggled as if millions of worms were wriggling under it.
Afar, Akaza sensed the doom bubbling out from the depths of hell, and he roared.
"Ahhh!" He shouted, forcing himself to move, and then threw his hands back.
A tiny, blue-colored ball appeared in front of him, the air crackling, exploding around it.
His blue Reiatsu vanished, getting consumed by the ball at an alarming pace. However, the ball kept becoming smaller and smaller.
Blue Space Type…
Then, Akaza punched at the ball with both hands, the very space rippling around him.
… Cero!
A destructive blue jet of exploding Reiatsu got fired towards Kai, the earth-shattering under it like bits of old paper.
The bloody mist escaping Kai's mouth had now covered his entire figure.
It almost looked like he was burning with blood flames, his figure becoming illusory like the space above fire.
His arms shook, rippled, and flowed.
When they stopped, an illusion of four more arms seemed to have appeared below them, making the total six.
Above the arms, his head rippled along with them, leaving behind mirage-like silhouettes. And when the mirage disappeared, two more heads were hissing along with the original.
The bloody mist exploded, and Kai's doom-like figure charged towards the incoming blast of Cero.
…
Six swords roared in disgusting pleasure, their appearance as evil as the look in the eyes of the three heads.
When the swords met the Cero, the blue blast disintegrated like shards of mirror.
Kai was a wraith, who looked like he was slithering in slow motion. But in the eyes of an average person, he was only a blood point, ripping apart everything in his wake.
The entire Cero became nothing but specks of light and, under the rooted and widened gaze of Akaza, Kai passed right through him, landing a few meters behind the demon.
A dong sound echoed everywhere, like the ring of a giant bell, and the snowflake-like pattern on the ground shattered.
Akaza stood up straight and looked up at the sky, the storm, and the world's thundering hatred.
Behind him, Kai towered tall, covered in fuming blood flames.
"What is the most needed quality to walk on the Demonic Path?" Akaza asked, his words sincere.
A tongue of blood fire snapped towards Akaza and brought a word to him from Kai.
"Attitude."
"Attitude… Attitude…" Akaza repeated, and then he smiled. "What is your name?"
The Blood Demon turned around, his three heads trembling behind the bloody curtain, and he sent his name directly to Akaza's mind.
-/Kai Stormborn./-
Akaza nodded, and suddenly hundreds of bloody lines, thinner than paper, appeared on his body.
Selfless Breathing - First Transformation…
One moment the Demon was standing, and, in the other, he was a pile of several hundred pieces of flesh.
… Three-headed Vritra!!!
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AN: The number of Power Stones have fallen too low, despite the fanfic approaching 300 chapters. I have the ability to chunk out over 3 chapters a day, but, once again, I don't find the effort worth it.
Only one chapter from now on, excluding Patre0n (no changes to chapter publishing there).
If the readers want an extra chapter, please vote for it. I will be more than happy to give it to you guys.
Bonus Chapter Deal: +2 Chapters per 50 Power Stones [50 PS a day... literally, are they too much to ask for?!]