Chapter 14

{Japan Shoreline 3:00AM}

In a commanding tone, I said, "Upper Rank Five," gripping my onyx blade tightly, readying myself for the imminent battle.

As I confronted the disturbing demon, his sinister laughter echoed in the air. "And who might you be?" he taunted. With resolve, I replied, "Your end." Through my enhanced vision, courtesy of X-ray capabilities, I peered beyond his eerie exterior, and looked at his lower body hidden inside his vase unveiling a creature with features resembling both fish and snake, its body covered in blue glistening scales.

Summoning my inner strength, I roared, "Constellation Breathing First Form: Aries Ram!" trying to end this as quickly as possible. Channeling my power into the sand beneath me, I surged towards the djinn-like demon. Drawing nearer, I witnessed him conjure a new vase, unleashing a torrent of massive, writhing octopus tentacles with a chilling incantation, "Blood Demon Art: Octopus Vase Hell."

In a calculated motion, I executed an upward diagonal slash, severing the incoming assault. Swiftly, I redirected the blade, slicing downward and clearing the path of the tentacles. Anticipating the relentless onslaught, I executed a nimble sidestep, narrowly avoiding the rest of the wriggling tentacles.

The demon, undeterred, conjured yet another pot, bellowing, "Blood Demon Art: Thousand Needle Kill Fish!" From the vessel emerged three colossal orange colored goldfish,with slightly bloated stomachs. I peered into them with my X-ray vision and saw that their belly was full of steel needles. As their mouths opened, I braced for the impending storm.

Summoning my strength once more, I thundered, "Constellation Breathing Eleventh Form: Aquarius Rain Piercing!" The fish expelled a barrage of needles, hurtling towards me. With precision and speed, I positioned my onyx blade perpendicularly in front of me thrusting it trying to meet each needle. With each deft thrust, my movements quickened, managing to parry most of the needles but since I couldn't possibly keep up I decided to let some slip through that would only hit non vital spots or miss me completely. As I finished parrying the needles I went after the demon and slashed four times but I could only kill the three goldfish since he teleported into a vase around thrifty meters away from me.

The demon, in a frenzied state, after seeing me kill its goldfish summoned two more vases, cradled by the appendages on the sides of his head. With palpable rage, he exclaimed, "Blood Demon Art: Sharp Water Tendrils!" The vases erupted, releasing torrents of high-velocity water tendrils. They came at me from a lot of different angles but thanks to my X-ray vision I kept on dodging them and blocking them with my blade with ease and after a minute I even decided to use it as practice, I sheathed my onyx blade while the torrents were still attacking me and just focused on improving my reflexes and dodging skills with my X-ray vision on. It felt exhilarating facing a demon without a blade in hand even if it was a bit reckless .

My dodging of the water tendrils seemed to enrage the djinn-like demon even further. He dispersed his existing vases and promptly spawned an astounding twelve new ones, his voice resonating with escalating fury, "Blood Demon Art: Ten Thousand Gliding Slime Fish!" Witnessing the impending tide of fish with X-ray vision, I resolved to bring this battle to an end in one decisive strike.

Summoning every ounce of my strength, I thundered, "Constellation Breathing Second Form: Taurus Charge!" My hand gripped my sheathed white blade while my rear foot was anchored firmly in the sand, sending grains flying in a ten-meter radius. In an instant, I materialized before the djinn-like demon, I unsheathed the blade I was grabbing and executed a slashing motion aimed at his neck. To my amusement, my blade passed through, revealing the demon within the vase, shedding its outer form like a snake shedding its skin. It had a snake like tail with fish scales it still had the same white muscular upper body and face but this time he also had two big claws made out of scales .

The demon's laughter grew even more fervent, his voice tinged with a sinister glee. "Only two people have ever seen me in this form, and they are both dead." I maintained my unwavering gaze on the demon, a stoic expression on my face. His frustration mounted. "Say someth—" I cut him off abruptly, my tone steady and resolute. "Why are you so emotional? You aren't thinking clearly. Either way, you're making my job easier. So now, die."

"I am not going to di—" He couldn't finish his sentence as I materialized before him, swiftly and precisely, severing one of his arms with a single fluid motion. "Shut up," I interjected, my voice devoid of emotion. His fury intensified, disregarding my earlier warning. With a surge of his demonic power, he regenerated his arm and then propelled himself through the sand with lifting up an enormous amount of sand with his impressive speed. Had I not unlocked my X-ray vision, his maneuver might have proved actually difficult to counter. He circled around me, attempting to build momentum, then lunged with his left claw extended toward my face. I sidestepped to the left allowing me to evade the attack, and I countered, aiming for his neck but sadly I was too slow. Through nimble contortions, he maneuvered his serpentine form to elude my strike.

Determined to conclude this, I thundered, "Constellation Breathing Fourth Form: Cancer Pincer Attack!" Drawing my second blade, I dodged the demon's second strike at my body, dodging to the right and swiftly impaling his head and brain with my onyx blade sword and anchoring him into the sand. With a calculated motion, I used my white blade to sever his head from his body, I kicked the demon's body away so he wouldn't be able to reconnect his head sending it flying two meters away.

The demon after seeing me kick away his body erupted into frenzied panic, his voice a frantic chant repeating the same word all the time"Beheaded, beheaded, beheaded, beheaded..." Observing that he was not disintegrating as expected, but instead attempting to regenerate, I remarked coolly, "Interesting, you can still regenerate." Seizing the blade embedded in the demon's head, I wielded both nichirin swords, and slashed, relentlessly reducing the once-formidable Fifth Upper Moon to minuscule fragments, finally ending his malevolent existence.

The first upper rank in over 100 years had finally died and my debt and promises had finally been repaid and completed. Now it was time to do what I should have done when I killed lower moon 3 time to become a Hashira.

The Constellation Hashira that has a nice ring to it. I sheathed both my blades in their place fixed my clothes and went back towards the village to get some much needed rest.