Even before Luke struck, Kokushibo was prepared. His blade flowed into motion and blocked Luke's slash.
Their tremendous strength collided. The stone slabs beneath Kokushibo's feet shattered and shot backward.
What shocked Kokushibo was that this slash carried more power than any of Luke's previous attacks. It bore down on him like a collapsing mountain, so overwhelming that even his force-dissipation technique could not fully neutralize it.
Fine cracks appeared in his bones from the blow, though they repaired themselves in an instant. The platform beneath him, however, was not nearly as resilient. Cracks rapidly spread across its surface before the entire thing collapsed.
The moment the platform crumbled, Kokushibo and Luke both leaped toward another platform to the side. Upon landing, Kokushibo immediately retreated several steps away from Luke. Once steady, he gripped his sword with both hands and stared at Luke grimly.
Luke did not rush him immediately. Standing sideways with Prison Demon in hand, he looked at Kokushibo with an amused smile. "Tell me, why are you trying to put distance between us?"
Kokushibo's expression froze. Just moments ago, he had accused Luke of fleeing, yet after jumping onto the same platform, he had instinctively backed away from Luke himself. That undoubtedly counted as "fleeing" too.
"Not enough conviction."
Luke bared his teeth in a grin that Kokushibo found utterly provocative. "You're not even as good as Akaza."
"Arrogant fool!"
Kokushibo roared and lunged forward. He drove Moon Breathing to its utmost limit and slashed ahead. Countless crescent blades burst forth, blanketing every corner of the area where Luke stood.
Boom—
A torrent of lightning surged upward, intercepting every one of Kokushibo's crescent slashes. At the same time, Luke used Flash Step to shift to the flank, then charged in and brought his blade down from Kokushibo's upper left.
From using the lightning torrent to block Moon Breathing's attacks to shifting and counterattacking, Luke moved so quickly that even Kokushibo was astonished. It was as if Luke was becoming increasingly accustomed to fighting at such speed, his changes in direction growing ever more agile.
The blisteringly fast counterattack left Kokushibo no time to defend. He could only dodge in haste.
The sound of a keen blade sinking through flesh and bone rang out. Blood sprayed, and an arm flew away.
Kokushibo hurriedly leaped up, planting his feet against the underside of a platform above as he regenerated his arm.
At that moment, the black-clad figure charging up at him from below seemed to overlap with a certain figure from his memories.
Damn you, Yoriichi Tsugikuni! Even dead, are you still going to haunt me?!
Kokushibo roared inwardly. Upside down, he swung his blade downward.
"Moon Breathing, Fourteenth Form: Catastrophe, Tenman Crescent Moon!"
Countless vortices of condensed moonlight pressed down in overlapping layers, seeking to shred the phantom before his eyes—and the ghost lodged within his memories.
Yet the figure charging from below was like a trapped dragon ascending to the heavens. Lightning violently scattered all the moonlight, and the blade pointed straight at his throat, just as it had on that night centuries ago.
The threat of death tensed his body and made his muscles and bones tremble. Yet it also made him even more unwilling to yield, drawing a furious roar from the depths of his soul.
Boom—
Blade met blade. Sparks from the clashing steel illuminated their eyes—one filled with complicated emotions and raging fury, the other with nothing but pure fighting spirit.
Their blades twisted against one another. Prison Demon slipped past Kokushibo's sword, grazed his arm, and severed his left arm once more.
Kokushibo regenerated almost instantly, then once again wielded his sword with both hands as he launched a counteroffensive against Luke.
The two fell through the air, both with nowhere to brace themselves. Yet strangely, their tremendous power did not knock them apart. As they descended, their blades clashed countless times, like an enormous incandescent lamp gradually flaring to life.
The instant they landed, their feet rooted into the ground. They simultaneously drew power from the earth and unleashed another pair of lethal slashes.
Amid an ear-splitting clang of steel, Luke and Kokushibo were both jolted backward. Yet Kokushibo did not give an inch, having driven his feet deep into the ground as he exerted force. Cracks spread beneath Luke's feet as well; he had used a special angle of force to arrest his backward momentum.
Then the exchange truly began—like torrential rain battering torrential rain, like a tsunami smashing headlong into a tsunami.
The high-speed slashes whipped up razor-sharp shockwaves, carving countless marks across the surrounding floor. A Demon that tried to intervene and ambush Luke was shredded by invisible blade aura before it could even approach.
At last, the platform could no longer withstand their power and exploded in midair.
Neither of them bothered to leap away. It was as if nothing else existed in their eyes but their opponent.
Two eyes met six. Fighting spirit and fury collided without end, just like the sparks cast off by their blades.
Crack—
During one devastating exchange, a crisp sound rang out. Empowered by Armament Haki, Prison Demon cleaved through Kokushibo's blade of condensed flesh and blood.
The sudden change gave Kokushibo no time to evade. Luke's slash cut from his right side to his waist, severing him cleanly in two.
Kokushibo truly possessed extraordinary combat experience. He instantly judged that trying to reconnect his body would expose a fatal opening for Luke to exploit, so he decisively abandoned his lower half.
He controlled his lower body and sent it kicking at Luke. Under his command of flesh, the broken half of his blade fused into the leg and stabbed toward Luke's chest. Meanwhile, his upper body rose into the air, intending to use the time Luke spent fending off his lower half to regenerate.
But Luke's next move astonished Kokushibo. In that instant, he seemed to understand that their talent for combat was not even on the same level. The man before him, like his younger brother, possessed a talent worthy of envy.
Luke did not deliberately evade. He did not even look at Kokushibo's lower half. Instead, his sword flow turned, slashing upward at Kokushibo's true body.
When masters exchanged blows, the slightest difference decided victory or defeat. Kokushibo had judged that Luke, as a human, would instinctively protect himself from injury. But Luke had overcome the human instinct to fear being hurt.
Luke did not answer the attack from Kokushibo's lower half. He chose to take the injury head-on in exchange for Kokushibo's life!
A black blade-light surged upward with lightning, like a golden river flowing against the heavens. It shattered Kokushibo's final line of defense while he had nowhere to brace himself, cut through the remaining half of the flesh blade, and swept toward his neck.
Prison Demon traced a graceful arc through the air, streaked with crimson blood. Kokushibo's head, meanwhile, continued flying upward from inertia.
Then the attack from his lower body arrived. From the perspective of Kokushibo's spinning head, Luke still had time to shift slightly aside, causing the blade on Kokushibo's leg to pierce his shoulder blade rather than strike any vital organ.
After landing, Luke watched Kokushibo's head fall through the air. He pulled the blade embedded in his shoulder free, drawing a small spray of blood, then tossed it aside. "You're the first person in this world to injure me."
Kokushibo's head fell to the ground, rolled several times, and came to a stop. All six eyes looked at Luke with complicated emotions. "Even after surpassing myself... I still could not reach your blade..."
Luke did not know whether those words were meant for him or for Yoriichi Tsugikuni. He stepped forward and spoke evenly. "You were already very strong."
Along with his words came Prison Demon, which crushed Kokushibo's head to pieces.
An orange treasure chest appeared beside Kokushibo's corpse. Luke picked it up and stored it away.
Kokushibo had been strong. Neither his stats nor his technique had any real shortcomings, and during the final stretch of their clash, he had clearly made a breakthrough. He was likely even stronger than Kokushibo in the original story. His performance had been impressive.
But he had underestimated Luke's ruthlessness. He was a lesson in what not to do. Since childhood, Luke had understood that one could never afford wishful thinking in a fight.
From Luke's perspective, Kokushibo's choice had been openly suicidal. As long as Luke dared to trade lives, Kokushibo was guaranteed to die. And since Luke was confident he could avoid a fatal wound, of course he would end the battle.
After all, his opponent was a Demon, with far more room for error. Dragging the battle out was not a good idea. Luke had decisively seized the opportunity to kill Kokushibo rather than evade and continue their drawn-out struggle.
Still, his final praise for Kokushibo had not been insincere. In terms of pure combat power, Luke felt that Kokushibo was somewhat stronger than Muzan. Especially during their final, tense, high-frequency exchange, Kokushibo had made almost no mistakes. That required an exceptionally high level of combat skill.
"Kokushibo... Even he lost..."
The sole surviving Explorer in the Infinity Castle let out a despairing voice. He could not understand how things had turned out this way.
This was clearly his first time entering a second-tier world. His first time gaining a bloodline. His first time choosing the advantaged faction in a faction war. So why? Why had it ended like this?
Swish—
As black blade-light rose and fell, his consciousness sank into darkness.
Luke swiftly cleared out the Infinity Castle, searching for Nakime. He had to find a way out, or he would be trapped here until he died.
The Explorers in Muzan's faction had not been without a chance to win. Fighters such as Kokushibo and Muzan had both been threats to Luke. If they had gathered from the beginning of the world and surrounded him as a group, he might truly have been unable to defeat them.
But they had an unreliable boss. They had failed to unite from the start, giving Luke two months to develop. His stats were now worlds apart from what they had been when he first entered this world.
The Infinity Castle was like a three-dimensional maze. Nakime had deliberately kept her location hidden, so even though Luke could move at near-sonic speed with Flash Step while in his Demon God state, he could not find her immediately.
Luke frowned and pondered for a moment before deciding to use his remaining Soul Source to cast Kidō. More than anything, he was worried about the battle outside. Though he had confidence in the nine Hashira he had strengthened, he could not be certain that Muzan, fighting desperately, would not take a few of them down with him.
Luke focused his mind and chanted in a low voice, "Heart of the south, eye of the north, fingertips of the west, heel of the east, carry the wind and gather, gather and disperse, dispel the rain! Binding Spell #58: [Summoning of the Tracking Sparrows]!"
When the chant ended, an invisible pillar of light shot into the sky. Luke's Spiritual Pressure instantly spread outward, filling the entire Infinity Castle like an enormous invisible net.
The purpose of this Binding Spell was to sense a target, track it, and pinpoint its location.
Very soon, through [Summoning of the Tracking Sparrows], Luke sensed Nakime's location. She was hiding in a room beyond one of the doors.
Once locked onto by his ability, it no longer mattered if Nakime changed locations. He would always be able to sense where she was.
Still, to prevent Nakime from using her spatial ability to relocate in advance, Luke casually walked toward the door and pretended to inspect a Demon corpse nearby.
The next instant, he activated Flash Step and burst forward at extreme speed, crashing through the door. Before Nakime could react, his blade flashed and severed her arm, leaving her unable to play her biwa and relocate.
Then Luke brought down another slash, cutting off both of Nakime's legs.
Nakime screamed and tried to flee, but without hands or feet, and with her wounds regenerating slowly under the effect of Luke's Prison Demon, she could only writhe pathetically toward the interior of the room. She instinctively feared this terrifying man.
Though she had not personally fought, she had used her spatial ability to assist the Demons. Yet in the end, she had watched Luke kill every last one of them, including the strongest, Kokushibo.
Even though Muzan had promoted her to Upper Rank Five, she was not a combat-oriented Demon. How could she possibly fight a killing machine like Luke?
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