Was it really necessary to mention the word "kill"?
And "I won't kill him"… does that mean he's planning to leave him crippled?
Tanjiro was stunned.
…Why?
They're clearly disciples of the same master… WHY DO THEY CLASH THE MOMENT THEY SEE EACH OTHER?!
His gaze darted back and forth between them like a kid caught in the middle of his parents' fight.
He coaxed the one on his left, pleaded with the one on his right, spinning around like a top.
But it was obvious that neither of them had the slightest intention of stopping.
Finally, acting out of pure desperation, he drew his own sword.
"I'm sorry, Senpai Giyū… But Marcus's experiment is crucial for Nezuko! I can't just sit back and watch you destroy it!"
"Heh." Marcus smirked maliciously, "You hear that, stone-face? Looks like your little brother just declared war on you. Rough, huh? And here I was thinking I was the unpopular one around here."
Giyū didn't show the slightest reaction. "Better to be unpopular than to earn our master's displeasure."
Marcus's smile vanished in an instant. "Tanjiro, get out of the way! I don't want this asshole's blood splattering on you!"
"Take Nezuko and go." Giyū, in his usual flat tone, "This battle is beyond you."
"…"
Tanjiro clenched his teeth. He had begged them… he had reasoned with them… he had screamed at them.
And both of them kept talking to him like he was some kind of nuisance.
He snapped.
"CAN YOU LISTEN TO ME EVEN ONCE IN YOUR LIVES?! YOU PAIR OF STUBBORN JACKASSES!!"
But ignoring his shouts, an invisible force flung him through the air, and two voices rang out in unison:
"Desire Breathing, First Form, Valkyrie!"
"Water Breathing, Eleventh Form: Dead Calm."
A massive pink sword, thirty meters long, took shape and came crashing down in a vertical slash toward Giyū.
But…
That colossal blade, the very same one once capable of wounding Muzan's arms… silently dissolved three meters from Giyū's head.
No crash. No impact. Just a faint pink trail floating in the air, as if nothing had happened.
"An... An Eleventh Form?!" Tanjiro, who had landed next to Nezuko after being flung aside, was left slack-jawed.
Water Breathing… had an Eleventh Form?
And not only did it exist — it had canceled out Valkyrie like blowing out a candle! Marcus's technique with the greatest destructive power, wiped away without the slightest effort.
This… is a Pillar?
It would be a lie to say that Marcus's heart didn't shudder.
Ever since his encounter with Nezuko, [Valkyrie] had become his proudest technique. And now… it hadn't even touched a single hair on that asshole's head.
What the hell is Dead Calm? Some kind of conceptual invincibility?
But those questions evaporated… Giyū attacked.
"Water Breathing, First Form: Water Surface Slash."
The blade of that sword was wrapped in currents of water… No! They were rivers! Entire rivers swirling around the edge!
Marcus's eyelid twitched.
THIS ISN'T THE GODDAMN WATER BREATHING!
Facing the vastness of the ocean, Marcus didn't hesitate, and with one sharp pull, he drew his second sword.
With both swords in hand, he took a deep breath, and the pink mist surrounding him immediately retracted.
"Desire Breathing, Fifth Form: Crimson Curtain!"
He swung his swords at an impossible speed.
Pale pink flashes traced arcs around Marcus — one, two, ten, a hundred — until the air currents generated by the blades turned into a circular curtain of light that enveloped him completely, shielding him inside like the curtain of a theater.
"You think you're the only one with a defensive technique?!"
In the midst of Marcus's shout, Giyū's sword smashed ferociously against the Curtain.
Clang, clang, clang…
A metallic clatter, like hammer against anvil, rang out without pause. The blades clashed a dozen times in an instant, but out of all those exchanges, Giyū had only thrown a single slash.
Everything else was the [Crimson Curtain]
The technique worked like this: through quick, rhythmic cuts, Marcus channeled Desire Breathing to weave a pink barrier around himself.
Each light cut intercepted and wore down the opponent's force, like a wave breaking against a reef — it doesn't stop it all at once, it breaks it down little by little.
It was the ability he had obtained from Pearl, the expert in defense and capture, and the only Form in his entire arsenal that also served as a shield.
Watching the waterfall come crashing down on Marcus, yet he stayed completely still and even turned the situation around. He even forced Giyū to step back with the final blow.
Tanjiro's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
"?"
Giyū, forced to retreat, recovered his balance. And on that impassive face appeared something Tanjiro would never have expected to see: a slight confusion.
He looked at his own sword, and then looked at the pink curtain still floating around Marcus.
"Defensive technique."
"I already told you, deaf-ass!"
Marcus couldn't help but smile through clenched teeth. "What's the matter, did you think you were the only one with cards up your sleeve?"
And he had every right to brag. The vast majority of his Forms were purely offensive or movement-based. Defensive techniques, in his entire repertoire, he barely had one… But the ones he had were enough.
"…"
After the surprise, Giyū didn't respond — he simply resumed his stance.
And this time, he didn't attack right away.
Instead, he shifted his gaze between Marcus and Rui.
Then he moved.
"Water Breathing, Second Form: Water Wheel"
His entire body spun like a top, launching from the flank a slash that dragged a furious whirlpool along with it.
Marcus planted his feet on the ground without giving up a single inch, and extended both swords out to his sides.
"Crimson Curtain!"
The pink barrier blazed again and absorbed the full impact, dismantling the Water Wheel before it could complete its spin.
"Third Form: Flowing Dance!"
Giyū's silhouette multiplied into afterimages, launching thrusts from every imaginable angle.
"Crimson Curtain!"
The barrier answered seamlessly, intercepting each attack with precision.
"Fourth Form: Striking Tide!"
"Crimson Curtain!"
"Eighth Form: Waterfall Basin!"
"Crimson Curtain!"
…..
Giyū changed direction seven or eight times in a row, switching between five or six different Forms.
And all of them were blocked.
Tanjiro watched from the side, completely dazzled. He had no idea that Water Breathing hid so many variations… nor that Marcus's defense was so absolutely impenetrable.
But reality was very different from what it seemed.
On the inside, Marcus was silently swallowing bitterness. His sight — or more precisely, his Arrows — was committed to keeping Rui pinned in place.
And on top of that, this was a critical moment: the devices were still extracting, filtering and collecting the essential blood, and he couldn't interrupt the process.
That meant that, against attacks from the rear or the flanks, he had no way to turn his head and anticipate them. He could only hold on blindly, trusting in the Crimson Curtain's full coverage.
And then Giyū stopped.
He sheathed his sword with a clean motion and assumed an upright stance.
His gaze went first to Marcus, then to Rui, still floating motionless, and back to Marcus.
In those dark blue eyes flashed something Marcus didn't want to see: understanding.
"I don't know how you managed to control that demon… But doing it has its limitations, that much is certain."
"…"
Just as he'd expected… he figured it out. Marcus felt a bitter pang, but well, he couldn't expect any less from a Hashira.
Of course he was going tofigure it out.
He just gripped the hilts a little tighter.
Seeing his reaction, Giyū nodded.
"Your silence says it all. While you're keeping him under control… you can't move."
"…"
______
Giyū vs Marcus… whose side are you on? 😏
If you enjoyed the chapter, you know what to do:
FLOOD IT WITH POWER STONES!
The goal? If we hit it today… I'll drop another chapter. 💗
Comment below 👇 Giyū or Marcus? What'll happen to Nezuko?
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