The dust slowly cleared.
The entire battlefield had fallen silent.
The terrified Mist Breathing user was frozen in place, unable to move.
The demon stared ahead.
Everyone else did too.
Standing between the demon and the young swordsman...
...was me.
The moonlight reflected off my katana.
No...
It wasn't reflecting.
It was almost as if the blade was absorbing the moonlight itself.
The sword had become a deep, endless black.
Nobody spoke.
Even the demon's smile disappeared.
I slowly took a deep breath.
"Nature Breathing..."
Green energy flowed around my body.
"Fifth Form..."
"Hurricane."
BOOM!
The ground exploded beneath my feet as I dashed forward.
The demon barely had time to react.
SLASH!
My katana sliced clean through his body.
For a split second...
He was cut perfectly in half.
The two halves crashed onto the ground.
"I got him!" Tobisa shouted. He went to fetch the mist breathing user.
But before anyone could celebrate...
The two halves began crawling back together.
His flesh stitched itself back together.
Within seconds...
He was standing again.
"He regenerated..." Marie whispered.
The demon grinned.
"Nice try."
I tightened my grip on the katana.
"Sixth Form..."
"Nature Wheel!"
I spun toward him, my blade surrounded by a green ribbon of energy.
The attack came from every direction.
SLASH!
Once again...
The demon was cut into two pieces.
This time, he regenerated more slowly.
I could see him struggling.
Good.
That meant I was actually hurting him.
But the problem was that demon's don't fell pain.
The demon growled.
"You little human..."
The eye in the middle of his forehead suddenly opened.
A strange red glow appeared inside it.
I immediately recognized what was happening.
"Blood Demon Art..."
The demon smiled.
"Blood Shot!"
Hundreds of tiny drops of blood shot toward me like bullets.
They were unbelievably fast.
I barely managed to jump aside.
BOOM!
The blood pierced straight through the trees behind me.
I turned around for a second.
Every tree had massive holes punched through its trunk.
"...Damn."
"He's deadly."
The demon fired another volley.
I rolled across the ground.
Another.
I ducked underneath it.
Another.
I barely escaped as the blood bullets ripped apart the rocks beside me.
"If even one of those hits me..."
I didn't even want to finish the thought.
I took another deep breath.
"Fifth Form..."
"Hurricane!"
The wind exploded around me as I rushed toward him once more.
The demon fired again.
I zigzagged between every blood bullet.
Closer.
Closer.
Almost there.
At the last second—
"First Form..."
"Growth Bamboo Thrust!"
My body shot forward like an arrow.
THUD!
The tip of my katana drove into the demon's chest and pinned him against a massive tree.
The entire tree shook from the impact.
The demon's eyes widened.
"...He's fast."
Much faster than before.
He struggled to free himself.
Then...
He smiled.
Not a normal smile.
A terrifying one.
"...Blood Demon Art."
My heart skipped a beat.
I knew that expression.
I knew exactly what he was about to do.
"No..."
His body began swelling.
Cracks of red light spread across his skin.
"...Blood Bomb."
For the first time since the battle began...
I wasn't confident.
If this attack landed...
There was a one hundred percent chance...
I would die.