Demon Slayer: A New Enemy

Chapter 22

Tanjiro grabbed the wooden sword and both of them stood a few meters away from each other. The two faced one another and entered their fighting stances. Kanao and Muichiro sat as far away but not as far so they can see the fight.

Tanjiro went on the offensive first and rushed forwar and delivered a vertical slash. "Dance of the Fire God: Dance!" A fiery burst came out and goes to slice his sword.

"Moon Breathing, Second Form: Pearl Flowers Moongazing!" A variety of several slashes defended him from the vertical slash. Tanjiro immediately dodged the crescent blades, during the attack.

He goes next, going for the attack. "Moon Breathing, Seventh Form: Mirror of Misfortune- Moonlit!" He generates a multi-directional frontal assault that proceeds to move towards Tanjiro.

"Dance of the Fire God: Raging Sun!" Tanjiro releases two horizontal slashes to defend him from the assault. "Concentrate your breathing, me!" He said to himself and relaxes a bit, allowing more blood flow around his body. He charges towards him. "Dance of the Fire God: Sunflower Thrust!" He goes for the thrust attack with quick speed.

"Moon Breathing, Fifth, Form: Moon Spirit Calamitous Eddy!" A series of curved slashes layered on one another. A stream of crescent blades emerge and defended him from the thrust attack. "Good job on maintaining your breathing." He thought.

Tanjiro backed away from his attack. "Dance of the Fire God: Dragon Sun Halo Head Dance!" He moves with such insane speed, in order to deliver a fast strike towards him.

Michikatsu takes notice of this. "Moon Breathing, Second Form: Pear Flowers Moongazing!" He used his defensive form twice. But the attack cuts through the crescent blades.

He switches to a different attack. "Moon Breathing, Fourteenth Form: Catastrophe- Tenman Crescent Moon!" A vortex of chaotic crescent blades emerge when he swings his sword.

Tanjiro was close that he can't dodge through all the blades. "Dance of the Fire God: Burning Bones, Summer Sun!" He unleashes a circular slash, and defends himself from the blades.

"Impressive evasive move there, Tanjiro." He complemented him, and he went for the offensive strike again. "Moon Breathing, Sixth Form: Perpetual Night, Lonely Moon- Incessant!" A wild barrage of slashes emerge it was heading very fast towards him.

This was a close proximity attack, that Tanjiro can't dodge them all. He uses a quick move. "Dance of the Fire God: Fake Rainbow!" He moves with such speed, that afterimages are formed. The slashes then hit the afterimages instead of Tanjiro.

He then comes up behind him and delivers a final attack. "Dance of the Fire God: Solar Heat Haze!" Tanjiro's sword is covered in a haze that fails to hit. Michikatsu was thrown off guard slightly and notices the real strike. He then uses his sword to defend him. The two blades both break into halves.

This concludes the duel. Tanjiro was seemingly exhausted and tried to relax. Meanwhile, the old guy maintained himself as if nothing even happened, with the exception of very minor wounds.

"I'm impressed by your defense and offense at the same time. The only thing you need to master is your speed and tactical intellect. But you did a good job, even I was caught off guard for a moment there." He then helped him stand up.

Kanao and Muichiro helped him walk and he regains his strength a bit. After a minute or so, he was okay and regained his stamina and endurance. He turned to look at the old man and saw him not even bruised. "How are you still fine after all that?" He asked with confusion.

"I maybe old and living on borrowed time, but my tactical knowhow after all these years never disappeared." He answered, which made a lot of sense.

"I almost forgot how to breathe from this breathtaking duel. That was so fast, I almost kept up with you guys and your techniques." Kanao chuckled. "Good thing, Muichiro was there to remind me to breathe."

The two boys went inside to get some water. Kanao looked around and saw Michikatsu doing nothing. But upon closer look, he's doing the total concentration breathing on his own. She didn't mind him and he didn't mind her. Kanao went back inside to where Tanjiro is.

"Tanjiro, how are you doing right now?" Kanao asked him.

Muichiro looked at the two and stealthfully left the two to their thing. "I'm good. That was a good battle. I want to practice some more soon." An optimistic Tanjiro replied.

"Let's do a duel together, when we go back to the Mansion, sounds good?" She asked him and sat next to him. He nodded and it was a great idea.