|•| 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙵𝚛𝚊𝚐𝚒𝚕𝚎 𝚂𝚕𝚊𝚢𝚎𝚛 |•| 𝕂𝕟𝕪 𝔽𝕒𝕟𝕗𝕚𝕔𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟

XXXXXII

    "Sure. Sorry.", Sanemi did what Gyomei told him to do and staggered to a wall to stitch up his open wounds.

   "Himejima-san, I'll go help Shinazugawa-san. Muichiro-san, can you still fight?", Kiyomi whispered.

   "Yes, I'll fight till we've defeated Muzan.", Muichiro replied.

   "M'kay, good luck!", Kiyomi glared at Kokushibo once more before running to Sanemi's aid.

   'Kokushibo... Kill her.', Someone spoke in Kokushibo's mind.

  'Isn't she.. okay, Muzan-sama.', Kokushibo thought before running towards Kiyomi, surprising and confusing Gyomei and Muichiro.

   "Kiyomi-san! Look out!", Muichiro called out.

   Kiyomi looked behind her and saw Kokushibo. She managed to block Kokushibo's incoming attack with her two closed fans.

   "Why are you coming for me?!", Kiyomi said.

   "Muzan-sama said to kill you...", Kokushibo replied calmly.

   "Aren't you trying to kill us all?!", Kiyomi deadpanned.

   "I will.. kill you first..", he replied again before swinging his sword to Kiyomi's neck, almost cutting it off, but Kiyomi managed to duck in time.
  
    She then kicked Kokushibo on his stomach, pushing him back not too far from her.

   'I.. gotta help.. Sanemi!', Kiyomi thought while panting.

   'I know!', She ran behind Gyomei and activated Yushiro's blood demon art, making her invisible.

   "Himejima-san, Muichiro-san, please be careful with fighting him, he's very strong..", Kiyomi whispered before secretly running to Sanemi once again.

   'Where did she go..?', Kokushibo thought while trying to find Kiyomi's form, but there was no sign of her.

   Gyomei started to swing his chain very fast before throwing the spiky iron ball towards Kokushibo, but he immediately dodged it, only making the wooden floor break.

   "Breath of the Moon-", Just as Kokushibo was about to unleash an attack, Gyomei suddenly cut him off by throwing his other weapon, the axe, towards his neck. Of course, Kokushibo managed to dodge it again, and tried to attack once more.

   "Breath of the moon-""Breath of Rock, Second form: Celestial Surface Smash", Gyomei attacked first, stepping on the chain, making the spiky iron ball head towards Kokushibo's head.

    Kokushibo managed to dodge it in time, but Gyomei didn't waste time and immediately wrapped his chains around Kokushibo's neck. Just as the chains were about to choke him, Kokushibo took his sword and tried to cut the chains.

    'I can't break these chains!!', Kokushibo thought, struggling to cut the chains with his sword. He just gave up on breaking the chains and crouched down, with little strands of his hair cut.

   'The chain, axe, and iron ball are all made of pure iron. This is an extremely high-grade weapon. This sword is made from my flesh, so it'll probably burn itself out on his sword before I can cut it.', Kokushibo thought as he observed Gyomei's weapon, 'Iron that absorbed sunlight to this extent wasn't even discovered during the Sengoku era, when swordsmith techniques were at their golden age. But indeed... It's best to go within its striking range...'

    As Kokushibo was about to slice Gyomei's neck, he quickly disappeared and reappeared behind him, throwing his axe towards Kokushibo, cutting a little bit of his yukata. Gyomei attacked again, swinging his spiky iron ball towards Kokushibo's head, in which he dodged.

   Kokushibo tried to swing his sword to attack Gyomei, but chains suddenly wrapped around the blade of his sword. He tried taking it out of the chains' grasp, but his sword snapped into two. Gyomei took this as a chance and unleashed an attack, but Kokushibo still tried to attack with his half sword.

   "Breath of the Moon, Second form:",

   "Breath of Rock, Forth form:",

   "Moonlit Pearl Flowers"

   "Rhyolite: Rapid Conquest"

    They attacked at the same time, with Kokushibo's sword growing back, and only Gyomei having a big cut across his face.

   "Everything that breaks... will regenerate right away... attacks.. are useless... Pitiful... human", Kokushibo blankly said as he looked at Gyomei, looking visibly tired but was not giving up yet.

   Gyomei exhaled, "I... wanted to save this for when I face Muzan... But if I fail here I'll end up back where I started..", Kokushibo got confused until he saw Gyomei's arms that started to have marks.

  "I'VE GOT NOTHING TO LOSE IN USING IT HERE!!"

    My first update in months TvT

  See you guys in the next chapter!!