Chapter 172 — Akaza Is Shocked!
"So fast!"
Akaza was shocked.
He hadn't even been able to react to Ren's movement.
When had he gotten there?
Ren's attack was aimed directly at Akaza's neck.
At the critical moment between life and death, Akaza lowered his head.
Ren's blade sliced straight through Akaza's mouth!
Slash!
Akaza poured his Blood Demon Art into his head.
In an instant, his head regenerated.
Waiting for him was Ren's second attack.
Akaza repeatedly resorted to self-mutilation, constantly dodging Ren's attempts to sever his neck.
Only then did Akaza realize that he could neither sense Ren's attacks nor detect Ren's location.
His Compass Needle had somehow stopped working!
How was this possible?!
Akaza was horrified.
He continuously used the Compass Needle to search for Ren's position.
But every attempt was futile.
As far as the compass was concerned, the strongest killing intent still came from Kyojuro.
Then Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke also arrived, and their killing intent was detected by Akaza as well.
But apart from them—
Akaza couldn't sense any other killing intent.
Especially Ren.
Akaza could only react when his opponent actually approached him.
He had never encountered anything like this before.
Then, a thought suddenly flashed through Akaza's mind.
The Supreme Realm?
Legend had it that long ago, when a martial artist reached the highest realm, they could clearly see every movement and attack of their opponent.
Not only could they conceal their own presence, they could even perceive the entire world.
In other words, before someone who had entered this supreme realm, nothing in the world could remain hidden.
Has Ren already reached that realm?
Akaza simply couldn't believe it.
He had been so arrogant moments ago.
Yet now, he suddenly felt a profound sense of defeat.
Ren was merely a human teenager.
How could someone his age possibly comprehend the power of the Transparent World?!
Akaza couldn't understand it.
"Akaza, what are you looking at?!"
"Dragon Breathing, Seventh Form — Instant Transformation!"
Ren's figure moved like a phantom, appearing at Akaza's left side in the blink of an eye.
It wasn't until the attack struck Akaza's neck that his newly regenerated eyes finally saw it!
Whoosh!
"Destructive Death: Leg Type — Flying Planet Thousand Wheels!"
Here, Akaza pulled a trick.
The moment he heard Ren's voice, he immediately activated his Blood Demon Art.
Akaza flipped through the air and unleashed a series of rapid, spinning kicks with both legs, darting around like meteors streaking across the night sky.
Ren swung his sword.
Again.
And again.
The meteor-like shockwaves were directly split in two by Ren's blade.
Both sides moved incredibly fast.
There was almost a strange beauty to their movements.
"This... this is unbelievable!"
Inosuke, who had been guarding the train, was completely dumbfounded.
He held both of his swords, originally intending to seize an opportunity to join the battle and show off.
Then he realized—
He didn't even have a chance to interfere.
He glanced at Kyojuro in the distance.
Then he noticed that Kyojuro had the exact same expression.
Tanjiro's face showed the same look.
They all appeared somewhat dazed.
It seemed none of them had expected the battle to become this intense.
Aside from the Flame Hashira, almost no one present could clearly see Ren's movements.
"Is this what a battle between Hashira looks like?!"
Tanjiro cried out excitedly.
This wasn't the first time he had witnessed a battle between Hashira.
From the moment Giyu Tomioka had demonstrated his strength on Mount Natagumo, Tanjiro had already developed some understanding of the power possessed by the Hashira.
He had even prepared himself mentally.
But all of those preparations were easily shattered by the battle unfolding before him.
He, Tanjiro, still couldn't keep up with Ren's speed.
He couldn't keep up with Akaza's speed either.
Yet Ren was constantly suppressing Akaza.
Akaza was also growing increasingly frustrated.
After accepting reality, he began launching indiscriminate attacks in every direction simply to protect himself.
Because he couldn't determine where Ren would appear.
So Akaza could only use the most basic method of attack—
Random attacks.
Then he would rely on his senses to confirm whether he had made contact.
"Destructive Death: Eight-Layered Core — Reversal!"
Originally, this technique consisted of eight consecutive powerful attacks from Akaza, converging on a single point from all directions.
But Akaza modified it.
Instead, he directly caused the energy waves to spread in every direction.
That way, he could sense Ren's position whenever one of the energy waves came into contact with him.
"Destructive Death: Final Form — Blue Silver Chaotic Afterglow!"
Akaza's ultimate technique.
He summoned the Compass Needle and, with himself at the center, instantly fired hundreds of projectiles in every direction.
Ren knew this technique.
The Final Form.
Akaza's ultimate attack.
It was incredibly fast and tremendously powerful.
Even Giyu Tomioka's Water Breathing, Eleventh Form — Dead Calm, couldn't completely defend against it.
Yet Tanjiro, after entering the Transparent World, had managed to evade it.
Ren also used the power of the Transparent World.
He dodged the projectiles one after another.
And within the range of Ren's attacks, he directly knocked down hundreds of them at close range!
Blazing flames once again erupted beneath the night sky.
Flames suddenly ignited along the blade dancing through the young man's hands, destroying more than half of the Blue Silver Chaotic Afterglow!
At this moment, Akaza was somewhat terrified.
Even Kokushibo wouldn't dare face his Final Form head-on!
That's right.
In Akaza's eyes, the strongest martial artist he had ever encountered was Kokushibo.
But even Kokushibo couldn't directly confront his Final Form.
He would use the abilities of the supreme realm to evade each attack individually.
But he absolutely couldn't neutralize all the attacks in such an exaggerated manner.
Much less knock every single one of them away!
That was something even Kokushibo couldn't accomplish.
Yet a Demon Slayer had done it!
The supreme realm truly was powerful.
And the supreme realm possessed by this Demon Slayer before him was even stronger than Kokushibo's.
No wonder his master wanted to capture Ren.
It was because Ren's power was simply too terrifying!
Only now did Akaza finally realize that he was fundamentally no match for Ren.
He had used his Final Form.
Yet his opponent had not only endured it, he had even managed to close the distance once again.
Akaza felt that he could neither win nor escape.
He realized that whether or not he could sense Ren no longer mattered.
It was merely a question of when death would arrive.
"Who exactly are you?"
Akaza couldn't help asking.
Ren calmly replied,
"The Dragon Hashira. Ren."
"No! How could a Hashira possibly possess such overwhelming strength? You're simply a peerless powerhouse."
"Thank you for the compliment. But there is no reward!"
"Wait!"
Akaza spoke somewhat frantically.
"Isn't encountering a powerful opponent supposed to be a fortunate thing?"
"So?"
"Then let me go this time?"
Akaza pleaded desperately.
"Give me another hundred years to train, and then we'll fight again. How about it?!"
"You little brat."
Ren nearly laughed from sheer exasperation.
Akaza's strength seemed to have increased over several hundred years.
But apparently, his brain had regressed just as much.