Loose black hair lengthened to his waist, concealing his face. The pupils beneath his bangs gradually turned a pitch dark, not letting a single trace of light through.
Red markings appeared on his cheeks, reflecting off the pale white stripes.
The flesh of his neck folded back, and numerous sinister eyes crowded the exposed flesh, wandering about.
His loose robes fluttered with the formless wind that emanated from his body.
An extremely dense, ominous aura enveloped all the demons.
The azure Nichirin Sword in his hand also changed due to his demonization. It was no longer azure, but appeared mottled and unstable, as if it were constantly changing color.
'It seems that after my strength increases too much, the demonization will have different changes.'
Lexon couldn't help but examine the Nichirin Sword in his hand, feeling a little strange.
'The state with the Mark open is a little stronger than my demonized state when I first met Muzan. Then what about now?'
'It should be excessively strong.'
He thought to himself, feeling the surging power and replenished stamina within his body.
The degree of strength amplification from demonization after each increase in power seemed to be different. It wasn't like the power obtained after a sign-in, which was fully mastered and allowed Lexon to clearly know his limits.
Therefore, the strength after demonization needed to be estimated...
This was also why Lexon would test his strength level by level. An opponent he could contend with while his Mark was open meant that he could easily crush them after activating his demonization.
That was why Lexon wasn't in a hurry to slay Nakime and cause the Infinity Castle to collapse.
After all, it was possible to kill Nakime with a single surprise slash...
If all the demons had ganged up on him when he was first pulled into the Infinity Castle, Lexon would have directly activated his demonization and killed Nakime first.
Under the astonished gazes of the many Upper Ranks, Lexon slowly lifted his mottled and unstable Nichirin Sword. The corners of his mouth curled up slightly, and he emitted an incomparably empty voice, "Now, this is the official round."
Under the deterrence of Lexon's ominous aura, for a moment, not a single Upper Rank made a move.
"Not coming?" Lexon's Nichirin Sword naturally drooped, and he took a step forward. "Then I will."
"Blood Demon Art: Flying Blood Sickles!"
With his words, two sharp bone sickles were thrown, stained with poisonous blood, and rushed towards Lexon with extreme wind pressure.
Lexon continued to advance slowly. The moment the bone sickles came rushing at him, he swung his sword twice at a speed completely invisible to the naked eye.
"Clink."
Two short sounds of objects breaking rang out.
Immediately after, the two bone sickles, now broken into four pieces, fell quietly to the ground.
"They broke..." Gyuutaro looked at the severed sickles on the ground, somewhat dazed.
'That was a full-power throw just now... and it was just that simple...'
'Originally, he had planned to change the trajectory of the sickles while the opponent was swinging his sword, to attack from a blind spot...'
But there was no such opportunity at all.
And Kokushibo, who was standing at the front, his face became even more solemn as he faced Lexon.
'I actually couldn't see the speed of his sword swing just now! I couldn't capture the trajectory of the swing. Even using the Transparent World to observe the trajectory of his body's veins and muscles was of no use... why is he so fast?'
Kokushibo didn't understand.
The arm he was using to hold Kyokoku Kamusari suddenly shook slightly.
'Am I trembling?'
The thought surfaced.
Unconsciously, a sword-wielding figure suddenly appeared in Kokushibo's mind...
A figure with black and red hair, a high ponytail, a red mark on his forehead, sun-flower paper earrings, wearing a red haori, and holding a black sword...
It was Yoriichi Tsugikuni.
Incomparably powerful.
From the two slashes the other had just made, Kokushibo had touched a feeling he had not felt for centuries.
The same feeling he would have when facing his younger brother, Yoriichi Tsugikuni.
"Technique Deployment, Destructive Death: Compass Needle!"
While Kokushibo was still lost in thought, Akaza had already deployed his technique.
The twelve-pointed snowflake formation appeared again.
Although the effect of the Compass Needle had already been nullified by Lexon's fighting spirit and would even bring the side effect of his attacks being deflected,
the final attack he was about to use was an all-encompassing strike! So even if it was deflected, it could still attack in all directions!
"Destructive Death: Final Form - Blue Silver Chaotic Afterglow!"
Akaza charged forward, his surging fighting spirit flaring, with a heaven-storming momentum, shockingly canceling out a portion of the pale-white fighting spirit Lexon was emitting!
While running, he recalled all the Compass Needles to himself. In an instant, countless extremely fast and violent silver projectiles burst forth from the fist shadows that appeared as he continuously swung his fists.
He brought all directions within his attack range! Even his demon allies were under attack!
This was Akaza's strongest attack! And also a desperate, all-out strike that would exhaust all his strength!
"Even so, it's a bit weak," the indifferent, empty voice rang out, and Lexon's figure suddenly flashed.
All the demons present felt as if the scene before them had a frame skipped.
Lexon's figure appeared beside Akaza and then disappeared, appearing in another location.
The sky full of silver projectiles suddenly dissipated. Akaza's charge did not stop, and as the strength supporting his body vanished, he smashed straight onto the ground.
"Lord Akaza?" Hantengu's "Fear" main body looked tremblingly at the body that had made no movement since hitting the ground.
"Lord Akaza, is he dead..." Doma's voice sounded.
The gazes of all the demons immediately shifted back to Lexon.
Lexon was seen holding his blood-soaked Nichirin Sword in one hand, and the ferocious face of Akaza's head in the other.
'Lord Akaza died just like that?'
The emotion of fear rose from the hearts of Hantengu, Daki, and Gyuutaro.
'Even Lord Kokushibo and Lord Doma couldn't stop it in time...'
"He died just like that?" Lexon also felt a trace of surprise, holding Akaza's head. In the story, Akaza was one of only three demons, besides Muzan Kibutsuji and Kokushibo, to have broken his limits.
Evolving to the point where even being beheaded by a Nichirin Sword could not cause death.
If it weren't for the fact that he had recalled all his human experiences before becoming a demon at the end and had come to terms with it, not wanting to live anymore, it was likely that Tanjiro and Giyu Tomioka, who were seriously injured from fighting him, would have met a terrible end.
'What was the reason he broke his limits again?'
'Was it his obsession with not wanting to fail and wanting to become stronger?'
'Could it be that because he already felt that he would definitely fail and would never be able to reach my level of strength, his obsession was not strong enough?'
Lexon deduced in his mind.
But it didn't matter. The reason he hadn't broken his limits was the fact that he was already dead.
Not far away, Akaza's headless corpse and the head in Lexon's hand had already turned to ash and dissipated, with no possibility of resurrection...
Lexon knew that Akaza was also a pitiful fellow with a tragic past.
As a human, his life had been full of ups and downs. His relatives had died, leaving only his seriously ill father. He had stolen to pay for medicine, but his father had eventually died anyway.
Later, he met a benefactor and found redemption.
He fell in love with his daughter. Before their wedding, he went to his deceased father's grave to pay his respects and share his good news. But upon returning, he found that both his benefactor and his fiancée had been poisoned and killed by a vicious person. He killed all the villains in a rage.
Afterward, while wandering aimlessly, he was turned into a demon by Muzan Kibutsuji and lost all his memories of when he was human.
All that was left was the obsession to become stronger and the will to not kill or eat women.
He was a tragic figure.
But Lexon would not let him go because of this.
It wasn't because Akaza had caused a lot of slaughter and was not innocent...
But because Lexon didn't care about these things.
He simply wanted to kill, so he killed.
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]