51 Chapter 51: One Down, One More to Go

Chapter 51: One Down, One More to Go

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Hinatsuru, Suma, and Makio, observing the battle from a distance, gaped in awe at the intensity of the fight.

"He's crazy strong!" Suma exclaimed, clearly taken aback.

"No wonder he was so confident," added Makio.

"He's even more powerful than Tengen-sama," Hinatsuru remarked.

Suma and Makio both nodded in agreement.

"Think the demon's done for?" Makio inquired.

"Ofcourse? Didn't you see her getting beheaded?" Suma retorted, clearly deeming Makio's question as somewhat foolish.

"No, I don't think so. Ace-sama still hasn't budged from his spot. Clearly he is waiting for something." Hinatsuru observed.

Wahhhrrrggg

Suddenly a guttural, intense roar filled with anger and resentment filled with space almost knocking them out.

"What was that?!" Suma stammered, her body shaking as she covered her ears with her hands.

"I-I don't know! It almost burst my eardrums," Makio exclaimed.

"Girls, look!! There! On 3rd Street," Hinatsuru pointed in a direction.

Turning their gaze, they witnessed an ugly demon with bizarre body proportions running wildly, clutching two scythes in its hands.

"I will kill you! I will kill you!"

"How dare you touch my sister!! I will kill you!!"

Gyutaro screamed bloody murder as he charged frenziedly toward Ace, wielding two dark green scythes in both hands.

"Here comes the brother! Need to stay away from that poison though; I don't have a Nezuko here," Ace mumbled under his breath.

"You finally came, and here I thought you'd still hide. Just for your information, I did more than just touch. Hehe," Ace taunted, diverting his attention to himself. If he didn't, the ruin of the whole village would be a small matter.

"You!!!" Gyutaro screamed.

The already blazing anger seemed to burst out like a volcano, as Gyutaro sprinted towards him.

Launching himself like a rocket and creating a crater in the land, Gyutaro spun both scythes in hand, slashing into Ace with the intent to tear him apart.

Ace, spotting the incoming attack, grinned with excitement. He twirled his glaive in both hands and leaped towards the charging Gyutaro.

Both of them met in midair as both of their weapons clashed producing a deafening clash. The force of their meeting sent shockwaves through the air, creating a momentary standstill as the battle crackled with tension.

Gyutaro, fueled by rage, pushed harder, attempting to overpower Ace, while Ace, calm and collected, skillfully countered each strike with calculated precision in the midair.

Despite Gyutaro's relentless efforts, he couldn't land a single hit on Ace. The horror deepened as Gyutaro realized his own injuries were increasing with time, and the worst part was, they weren't healing.

But what terrified him most wasn't the inability to regenerate, but the excruciating pain emanating from each wound. It was so horrific that it overpowered even his intense hate and rage for the human standing before him.

"What are you?" Gyutaro asked in fear as his chest was split open from Ace's slash.

"One who tasted your sister," Ace taunted, slashing at Gyutaro's neck to bring an end to him.

As Gyutaro saw the glaive coming to finish him, he felt his body petrified. Helplessly, he could only watch as the blade neared his head. But Suddenly, something broke within him, and an unadulterated rage surged from his heart, overcoming the pain. His eyes grew red, and his body became hot.

'I can't die like this.' A primordial thought resounded in his mind.

His body suddenly bloated before he...

'What's happening?' Ace thought, his combat intuition warning him. He quickly backed away, but it seemed he was almost a little too late as Gyutaro's body suddenly.

Exploded.

The explosion engulfed the vicinity in a chaotic burst of slashes of energy, destroying neraby houses and leaving debris and a cloud of smoke in its wake.

Ace swiftly shielded himself from the blast by countering the slashes at the core of the explosion, redirecting them towards the sky.

'Damn! That's almost the level of Gyutaro's final attack in the anime. If I hadn't countered and redirected them quickly, the entire village would have been destroyed,' Ace thought.

As the dust settled, he cautiously surveyed the aftermath. Gyutaro's form was nowhere to be seen, replaced by the remnants of the explosive burst.

Fortunately, he had already instructed Hinatsuru to evacuate the people from nearby houses.

But not finding Gyutaro in the debris, Ace opened his Ethereal Eyes for a moment, scanning his surroundings.

'Oh, that's where you're hiding!' He quickly located the place Gyutaro was hiding and sprinted towards it.

Reaching the debris of a house, He slashed at it, removing the wood around, and soon found Gyutaro's body.

He looked miserable, with only half of his body regenerated, and everything below his waist missing.

Ace gazed at him, briefly considering offering some last words, but ultimately shook off the notion. It felt hypocritical, so without uttering a word, he slashed at Gyutaro's neck and beheaded him.

Or... that would have happened if not for the sudden lethal stream of bloody water attacking him with precise aim at his heart.

Ace had to swiftly dodge the attack; otherwise, his heart would have been obliterated.

"Ooh! That was close, almost got me!" Ace said, looking at Daki, who had reached Gyutaro and taken his body away, creating some distance between them.

"You are so vicious!" Daki spat out, hate evident on her face as she glanced at Ace and the condition of her brother.

"Funny coming from a Demon! And how are you even alive? I'm certain you shouldn't have survived after being cut by my glaive. Even your shared biology wouldn't have saved you!" Ace retorted.

"Do you think I will answer you, human?" Daki spat out in anger.

"Leave it then. Do you think I wouldn't know if you don't tell me?" Ace said, undeterred.

Then suddenly Daki cut her own hand, releasing a fountain of blood and letting it fall on her brother, increasing his body's regeneration speed to double.

Ace let it happen, curious to see what other tricks they had. 'Something surely happened after my fight against Akaza. Otherwise, Akaza would have displayed some bizarre ability like them,' he thought.

Quickly, Gyutaro's body fully regenerated, returning to its initial state. Daki then took one of his scythes, and it swiftly started melting into greenish water before being absorbed into her body, causing the dark bluish heavy water hovering around her to take on a greenish taint.

'That water is now poisonous,' Ace thought, coming to a quick conclusion.

"You would regret ever giving us a chance," Daki said, fixing him with a penetrating gaze.

Through the telepathic link with her brother, she added, Be careful of him, Brother. He is still hiding his strength, and he wasn't even injured once during the fight.

Yes.

Then both of them dashed at Ace simultaneously in a burst of speed. In the middle of the sprint, Daki's body started transitioning between water and flesh, leaving a poisonous trail.

Reaching Ace first, Gyutaro hacked at him with his scythe. Ace easily parried the attack, but then he saw Daki clawing at his stomach with her hand. He quickly twisted his wrist to turn the shaft around, blocking her claw, but...

Her claw suddenly turned into water just before making contact with his glaive, passing right through it and reforming back into a claw, and continuing its advance towards his stomach.

'What the fuck,' Ace thought, quickly bending his body to dodge the attack and jumping back to create some distance.

'Why is there a low-grade Obito here!' Ace thought, observing her ability.

"Is that how you survived my attack? You transformed your neck just before I could slice it?" Ace asked.

"Yeah, so what!" Daki retorted in an angry tone. She was particularly enraged because this was her life-saving ability, and she could only use it three times in her life. She had already used it once before to kill a Hashira, and now, because of him, she had to use it again. Now, she only had two hours to finish him before her ability was deactivated.

Her ability's name was AquaForm Shifting.

Ace said, chuckling. "Tch. Tch. Why so angry? I was just aski–." He couldn't finish his sentence as he quickly jumped into the air, dodging sharp spikes made of greenish-blue water.

While still in the air, several dozens of water spears in high pressure were launched at him, which he countered by spinning his glaive at high speed, destroying them before they could touch.

Due to their property as heavy water, they didn't splash much of their poisonous content, but it did shake his body since those spears felt as hard as rocks when destroyed.

Not giving him enough time, Gyutaro attacked his back as soon as he landed on the ground with his large scythe, releasing multiple sharp and durable scythe-shaped blades of solidified blood.

[Blood Manipulation: Flying Blood Scythes]

At the same time, Daki too released dozens of pressurised streams of poisonous heavy water towards his front.

[Obi Sash Manipulation]

[Sub-Heavy Water Manipulation]

'They are coordinating seamlessly with their attacks. Most likely they are telepathically linked,' Ace thought, observing the incoming attacks from both of them.

'Time to get serious, I think,' Ace thought before turning his back, completely ignoring the incoming streams of heavy pressurized water aimed at puncturing holes in his body, and faced the hardened blood slashes.

Clenching the grip over his weapon, Ace focused his gaze on Gyutaro's slashes, calculating their trajectory, shape, size, and direction in an instant before muttering.

[Natural Ways: Lunar Flow Stance]

His body and glaive moved simultaneously, deflecting the first blood slash and redirecting it to his back, causing it to collide with one of the water streams and effectively destroying them. In the next moment, all of Gyutaro's slashes were redirected to counter Daki's attack.

"You! Why don't you die!!!" Gyutaro screamed in frustration at his display.

But that was all it needed for him. Due to the screaming, he left a gap in his continuous attack of slashes, and using that moment, Ace dashed at him, seizing the opportunity to slash at him in a horizontal line.

"Noooo, Brother!" Daki shouted, seeing Ace dashing at her brother. Quickly, she used all the heavy water she had, and rushed towards them in a small wave to give Gyutaro a chance to dodge.

But alas, her efforts were in vain because nothing was going to stop Ace. He didn't even give Gyutaro the chance to forcefully detonate himself.

In a clean and precise slice, Ace separated Gyutaro's head from his body.

BAAM!!

Then, in the next moment, a wave of heavy water hit both him and Gyutaro's decapitated body, launching them into the nearby houses and destroying at least 50 metres of area around her.

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.

.

.

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Daki walked into the area of destruction with shaky steps, her fingers trembling with each step. Reaching the spot, she quickly used her Heavy Water Manipulation to remove the debris. There, she located her brother's decapitated and dispersing head.

Quickly taking the head and cradling it in her arms she held it tightly. But with each passing second, she felt something breaking in her body and then as her brother 's head completely dispersed she felt something crack as her telepathic connection to him was completely broken.

He was completely dead.

Daki didn't scream or cry at her brother's death; only her face became more and more frosty.

"Come out! I know you aren't dead with just that," she said coldly.

Ace raised his eyebrows at her reaction, then came out from the place he was watching.

"You are more calm-headed than I thought. I expected at least a cry of grief," Ace said, observing the frosty glare she gave him.

Rather than replying to his questions, she seemed to be lost in her own thoughts. "It has been my mistake! I should have never thought of sparing you."

"Maybe it was due to your blood or my greed, I let you in my bed," she said. Then, looking into his eyes, she continued, "It was my greatest mistake. I should have poisoned you at the first contact you made with me," she said with clear regret.

"Maybe then my brother would not have died."

"But now, my whole thoughts are filled with you, so be ready for what's to come," she said as a blood-red third eye suddenly opened in her forehead.

[Blood Manipulation: Third Eye]

She had gained her brother's blood manipulation ability or at least a part of it.

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