Demon Slayer : The Silent Journey

Chapter 43: Seiji vs Giyu

[Seiji's POV]

"Alright, if you wanna talk let's talk."

"?" Giyu titled his head in confusion but he quickly discarded what I said.

He rushed at me as I did the same. We clashed our swords in the middle and sparks ignited due to steel grinding on steel.

We exchanged swings and engaged in a terrifying display of swordsmanship. Our blade whizzed through the air, slicing the atmosphere like butter before they met each other in an immediate halt.

I must admit, Giyu was probably the best swordsman I have fought in the Demon Slayer Corps. His technique was refined and each stroke spoke of years upon years of training.

But that amounts to nothing in front of me.

My eyes released an eerie glow as I perceived the transparent world. My vision changed and I saw things humans were not meant to see. Different levels of X-ray overlapped in my vision, I saw the real world in slow motion, I saw Giyu stripped of his skin so that I could observe his muscles, and I also perceived even deeper and I saw Giyu with only his bones.

All these images overlapped in my mind as I chose to focus on whatever I desired, whichever I needed. The turth of the world was laid bare in front of my eyes.

*Cling!!*

*Cling!!*

With each attack exchanged, Giyu realized just how futile it was to fight me in a sword match. I blocked high-level combinations with a simple stroke of my blade.

There is always a pattern in how people move. It's ingrained in their body as much as memories were ingrained in their brain. I saw every action Giyu had taken and every movement he trained to take. It was written on his body, on the shape of his muscles, on the size of his tendons.

The situation was even worse for Giyu because I had seen him fight on multiple occasions. His fighting style was like a song to me, one I could follow and sing along with.

At each passing moment, I was always five steps ahead.

"Water Breathing : Seventh Form."

Giyu stopped his futile efforts and prompted to a breathing style. He breathed in quick succession and changed the grip on his sword.

"Piercing Rain Drop."

Out of all the breathing forms in Water Breathing, the seventh form was the fastest.

Giyu took a single step forward and started stabbing from different places. His arm turned into a snake and blurred as I saw the sharp end of the blade come at me from different directions.

Not only was it fast but it was based on the same concept as before. The sword came in a perfectly linear path, so you never knew when the sword got close to you or when it impaled you.

Stabs rained on me like raindrops from the sky.

The perfect counter was to step back and move out of range. I had the advantage when it came to reach since I had a long sword so it was the best option. But I did not take a single step back because I knew that was what Giyu wanted me to do.

Like I said, five steps ahead. I know what he was planning, his body language already told me.

So instead, I planted my feet on the ground and held my position. The piercing blade came from different places as if Giyu suddenly grew twelve more arms. It was hypnotizing.

Yet I did not try to dodge the incoming attacks that promised to skewer me. I calmly pulled up my sword and everything just stopped.

*Ting!!!*

The tiniest tip of Giyu's sword was blocked perfectly by the sharp edge of my blade. It was an impossible conclusion since both had such a minuscule surface area but against all odds, they clashed perfectly.

I saw Giyu's pupils dilate in shock.

This would not work if either of us didn't have the perfect technique. Giyu's perfect linear stab put all the force at the tip so I was able to stop him in an instant.

We held the position for a while as Giyu knew the moment he pulled his sword back, I would take the opening to cut him. So he pushed forward instead.

Sparks ignited and Giyu made the slightest change in the angle of his sword. That caused the perfect collision to collapse and the stab came at me again. But I easily stopped it by twisting my sword and blocking it with the flat side.

More sparks came to life as the tip of his blade grind against mine.

Finally, Giyu leapt back and also used our clash to push himself.

We both locked eyes and stayed still for a moment before Giyu nodded in acknowledgement of my skills.

But then things changed as I felt the favour of the battle change in a single breath.

A single breath that Giyu took.

My eyes widen.

"Water Breathing : Eleventh Form."

He knew it was useless to engage in useless confrontations so he chose to move to the climax instantly. There was no built up, there was no warning. It just happened.

...

A huge gush of water erupted from the ground Giyu was standing on and it spread in every direction. Suddenly, the ground became a raging ocean with violent waves surrounding us.

I looked around, amazed and horrified at what this implied.

I've never seen this before but I knew exactly what it was.

And then the dreaded words fell.

"Dead Calm."

The waves under our feet stopped in an instant, replaced by a still body of water. Everything grew quiet, even my deaf ears realized that.

The moment stilled.

I looked towards Giyu and my breath stopped.

He was not there.

I could see him but he was not there.

What.

the.

Fuck.

My eyes saw him, my vision did not change, I could see his lungs expand as he took in breaths. I could see his heartbeat as it pumped out blood and I could see how the air around him interacted with his physical body.

Yet my mind was convinced that he was not there. It was convinced that he was not real.

The best comparison was looking at a television. You could see the movement and everything else yet your mind knew that it was not real. If you saw a lion on the screen and even if the lion ran to you, you know it was not real so you won't react.

That was exactly what was happening. I saw Giyu but my mind deemed him to be an illusion.

...

...

'Selfless state.'

It was a state of being that a person can achieve after acquiring thier demon slayer mark. In this state, the user completely erased their fighting spirit, their will to fight, hatred, anger, bloodlust, malevolence, drive and animosity. Once in this state, the user achieves the ultimate focus and tranquillity.

Their complete erasure of fighting spirit and emotions turned them into something akin to trees or plants themselves. It was extremely difficult to sense them.

It was said to be only achievable after having a Demon Slayer Mark but Giyu was able to achieve the selfless state using the eleventh form which he created.

"It's over." said the image of Giyu as he came at me with such elegance and tranquillity that he did not appear moving at all.

It was then that I noticed another aspect of the eleventh form.

Laminar flow. It was a type of fluid flow where the liquid flowed smoothly without any disturbance and it did not look like it was moving at all. You can observe this phenomenon in water flowing out of a pipe or a tap.

They were flowing but they flowed so smoothly that they looked like they were not moving at all.

Giyu's body moved in the same way. My eyes helped me see the movement but anyone else would not be able to see him through thier eyes. It would seem like they were cut by invisible blades.

How can one breathing form be so overpowered? I asked myself. It was almost like a domain expansion.

Giyu finally reached me and swung his sword at me. My mind and my eyes clashed. My eyes still told the truth but my mind refused to believe it.

But at last, I was able to convince my body to move. I tilted my head to the side and Giyu's sword - which was going to cut my cheek only made a small scratch.

I lept away in an instant.

Blood. I felt blood flowing from my cheek.

What a strange feeling. I rarely bled.

"You never fail to amaze me Seiji." Giyu said and without any hurry in his movement yet also without wasting any time, he ran towards me again.

Usually, my eyes and my mind worked together in perfect synch. But this time, since my mind refused to acknowledge Giyu's presence, there was a lag in the connection.

It was not much. It was only a few milliseconds but those moments of hesitance were vital in a battle like ours.

I lept away again. And then again. And then again. I was running away basically.

Giyu was as calm as ever. He was not frustrated, he was not angry, he was not anything. He was void of such things, he was literally like an object or a body of water.

On the other hand, I felt myriad of emotions brewing inside me.

I was going to lose.

..

..

But then a sudden thirst to prove myself emerged in my heart. When Giyu was at his calmest, I found myself burning with passion and will.

I suppose this was the flame breathing side of me acting up.

As Rengoku would put it, my heart was set ablaze.

An idea struck me.

I planted my feet on the ground and lowered my centre of gravity. I was done running away.

My eyes observed Giyu's serene self once more. He was running towards me like a perfect flowing water. I tired my best to predict his movement as far as I could. I based my prediction on his earlier attacks and on the language of his body.

Then after the prediction was done...

I closed my eyes.

My greatest gift was gone. I found myself in a world of darkness and silence.

In that darkness, the clash between my eyes and my mind was gone. In that darkness, i moved my body based on the prediction I've made.

I attacked the future.

"Water Breathing : First Form." I whispered.

"Water Surface Slash."

This was it..

Adapt.

I swing my sword. I could not see but I attacked based on my prediction.

Then I felt my sword cut through flesh and I knew I had succeeded. I opened my eyes and red blood filled my vision.

*Sinnngg~*

Everything returned to normal.

..

..

Eyes wide in shock, I looked at Giyu who also seemed just as surprised as me. But his expression quickly changed as he smiled softly.

Then he fell on his back.

"...."

Did I just kill him?

"Giyu!!" I yelled and immediately crouched down near him. I tore open his clothes to look at the cut I made on his chest.

Luckily, it was not a deep cut. The slash did not even fully cut through the skin.

I released a huge sigh. I acted on my prediction so it was a little off. I cut him a little deeper than I planned but he was still safe.

"I'm so sorry. I got carried away." I apologized immediately.

"It's okay. I let my guard down thinking you wouldn't be able to fight back." Giyu said.

"I guess you won." he said and released a satisfied sigh. He looked like a boulder had been lifted off his shoulder.

"Who the fuck cares, you are bleeding," I said and picked him up from the ground so that I could carry him back to the village.

"We are never doing that again. Never."

..

..

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Author : So it's double Chapter since I don't like to leave my readers on cliff, especially on the same cliff twice.

But for the price, you will not get Chapter tomorrow. (Stones can change mind)

...

Read two weeks worth of advanced Chapter on my patreon!!