7 Chapter 7 : 7th Stance

Finally up the mountain peak, Takeo could see everything below him. The forest was so vast with many different animals running around.

Whilst he was caught up in the scenery, Master Kenzō quickly brought him back to his previous focus, "Since you can't use Flame Breathing, due to your lungs having to take in too much air that you can't handle. We'll have to expand your lung capacity. The technique I'll have to teach you first is known as Total Concentration Breathing. This technique allows oxygen to reach every cell in the user's body, increasing your blood circulation and heart rate, making you even stronger than before".

'Finally. With this surely I'll get even stronger....but I really just want to use a sword', he thought, staring at Master Kenzō blade on his waist.

"What did I tell you Takeo, Patience! I know you want to use the blade, but wait", he stated once more, which made Takeo sad but he knew he'd use one soon.

"Yes Master! I understand!", he shouted with a smile to show his Master he wasn't discouraged with the denial.

"Good. Now as I was saying, I will teach you how to use Total Concentration Breathing. But just know, because we are at the highest point on this mountain, the concentration of air is less...making it harder to learn, but better in the long term", "Now I want you to take a really deep breath, inhale as much as you can, until your face is about to turn red and then exhale very slowly. This will increase your heart rate, which will also increase blood circulation, especially in such a location as this, and it'll expand your lungs to allow oxygen to reach every cell in your body", Master Kenzō stated, overloading Takeo with information.

"Do you understand Takeo?", Master Kenzō asked.

'This will defiantly help me become stronger, but then what is Total Concentration: Constant', he contemplated before he replied to Master Kenzō.

"Yes Master! But I have a question...what is Total Concentration: Constant?", he asked, before he scratched the back of his head.

'To think he's even heard of that...', Master Kenzō thought, before he said...

"Total Concentration : Constant is a breathing technique that is maintained throughout the whole of the day. Even whilst asleep, advanced Demon Slayers maintain this state. Remember...there is an immense difference in strength, speed, and stamina between someone who can maintain Total Concentration Breathing at all times and someone who cannot. This was what I was going to teach you when you were older, but it seems you had already heard of it. How do you know about this technique?", Master Kenzō interrogated Takeo whilst he was slowly getting closer to him.

"Eh! I...I heard it one day...", Takeo retorted whilst sweat rolled down his forehead.

"What day? Who mentioned it?", Master Kenzō continued interrogating Takeo.

'Why is he questioning me so aggressively? Is the technique a secret?...Anyways I need to divert his attention away somehow', Takeo quickly thought.

"...The day I was born, my mother was killed in-front of me...I told you earlier, she was killed by a demon, I never knew my father, he died before I was born, that day I was saved by a Demon Slayer, and he mentioned it before I went unconscious", Takeo muttered lowly, diverting the attention away further by shedding a tear...

'This doesn't feel right, but I can't tell him anything more', Takeo thought.

There was pure silence afterwards, Takeo couldn't see Master Kenzō's expression because he was looking down at the ground...

After a couple of seconds, Takeo slowly lifted his head to see his Master's reaction, but before he could, suddenly ....he was pulled into a hug.

'It's warm', he thought, before he imagined his parents in his past life...the sadness and grief of losing them rolled back out, as he began to cry in his masters arms.

"I told you men don't cry Takeo...", Master Kenzō said in a low voice, before Takeo replied whilst he was still crying, "I promis- I wont anymor- master".

But contradictory to his statement...Master Kenzō also shed a tear for his student quietly as he thought about his own past, seeing himself in this little student of his....but the wind quickly dried it up.

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Far away, elsewhere inside a volcano, a demon chained to the wall, littered in burn marks and sword wounds laid there, sleeping as it tried to save it's energy. But something strange happened, this demon had been trapped in this volcano for countless years because of it's gruesome killings. Somehow, after surviving in such a harsh condition, the demon began to get stronger.....

The blistering lava was beginning to prove nothing against him, but he was chained with wisteria and so had no way to escape. In his eyes were a blazing fury, he had been trapped here because of one of his own, a demon like him by the name of Muzan Kibutsuji. 'That bastard....when I see him I'll kill him!!', he thought. He'd been betrayed and captured by the Demon Slayer's. 'I'd have survived if they didn't send that old bastard! To think he could the Flame-Thunder Breathing Style...when I see either of those bastards I'll slaughter them', he thought, before he shouted.

"ARGHHH!!!!".

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Walking the street in Japan at night, a man wearing a black suit and a fedora, felt a chill throughout his whole body...he'd never experienced this before, 'Fear?', he thought. 'No that's impossible, nobody can beat me, except....', he contemplated, before he thought about an old man using Thunder and Flame at once, a man with red hair, and a demon like him.

'They're all dead. Nobody can beat me'.

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5 minutes later, Takeo continued to train and took a big deep breath, before he exhaled slowly. He repeated it multiple times, his heart began to beat faster after some time. Not long after, he felt even stronger than ever before. But he still continued to train diligently.