Just as Rengoku was about to lose sight of his target, a streak of sword light suddenly tore across the sky and lit up the dark forest.
Vincent Fox appeared like a bolt of lightning.
The Nichirin Blade in his hand carved out a terrifying arc of light and cleaved straight through Akaza's legs.
"You think I would let you run?"
Vincent stood with his sword in hand, watching calmly as the legless Akaza tumbled across the ground.
"You…"
Akaza opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but in the face of overwhelming strength, any words felt hollow.
He forced his regeneration to full speed, and new legs sprouted in an instant.
Breathing hard, he stared at the man standing in front of him.
"To reach this level with a mere mortal body… if you become a demon, your strength will climb even higher."
Even panicking, Akaza still did not forget to extend his invitation.
Vincent frowned in irritation.
"You talk too much."
The next second, he moved.
His blade flashed coldly, lighting up the fear frozen on Akaza's face. A thin red line appeared across Akaza's neck, followed by a fountain of blood.
Thud.
His head rolled across the ground, eyes wide in disbelief.
Rengoku let out a long breath of relief. The way he looked at Vincent shifted from admiration to deep respect.
But the scene that followed left him completely stunned.
Akaza's headless body did not crumble into ash like other demons.
Instead, it lurched forward and attacked Vincent again.
"Destructive Death, Extinguishing Jutsu!"
A violent explosion erupted from the stump of Akaza's neck, surging toward Vincent like a tidal wave.
Sensing the sudden surge of killing intent, Vincent stepped in and threw a punch.
Serious Punch.
The pressure from his fist alone collided with the explosion and stopped it ten meters away.
Then that same shockwave split apart Akaza's attack as if parting a river.
The force of the punch shredded the exploding blast from the middle, scattering it to both sides.
With the Extinguishing Jutsu torn apart, the remaining shockwave slammed straight into Akaza's headless body.
Boom.
Akaza's body blew apart, chunks of flesh scattering in every direction.
"He is still not dead?"
Rengoku stared at Akaza's lifeless head on the ground, pupils shaking.
This was the first time he had ever seen a demon survive decapitation.
Not only was Akaza still alive, his power had somehow risen.
"There."
Vincent's voice was calm as he turned and charged deeper into the woods.
Akaza's body had been blasted into pieces just now.
If he could live without a head, Vincent did not believe this level of damage would be enough to kill him.
Seeing Vincent vanish from sight in a blur, Rengoku let out a sigh and chased after him.
"Wait!"
Inosuke and the others instinctively wanted to follow as well, but Rengoku's sharp shout cut them off.
"A battle like that can kill you with the aftershocks alone. Stay where you are and await orders."
The three of them froze and stopped in their tracks.
A moment later, Rengoku's figure turned into a whirling tornado of flames and disappeared from the area.
Up ahead, Vincent's back gradually came into view.
Thinking back to the fight he had just watched, Rengoku's lips twisted into a bitter smile.
He had said the others would die if they approached, but in his heart he knew, he was no more qualified to join that fight than they were.
Have the Hashira really fallen this far?
He shook his head, pushing the thought away, and arrived behind Vincent in a wave of scorching heat.
"Is it over?" Rengoku asked quietly.
Vincent shook his head and motioned for him to look ahead.
Out of the smoke and dust, a figure slowly walked forward.
Akaza.
His monstrous regeneration had already restored most of his body.
Even his head had grown back.
"Damn…"
Rengoku sucked in a cold breath.
"What a terrifying regeneration."
He was shocked all over again.
Half a body left and he could still grow back.
And in just the short time it took Rengoku to catch up, Akaza had practically returned to his original form.
A wave of helplessness washed through Rengoku's chest.
With regeneration like this, and with decapitation no longer a fatal weakness, what were they supposed to use to kill him?
Akaza clenched his fists, quickly adapting to his reborn body.
"Incredible. I did not expect that fighting you would let me break through. Now my head is no longer a weak point. As long as even a fragment of my flesh remains, I can regenerate."
He looked at Vincent with renewed confidence.
"How are you going to beat me now?"
Vincent's expression stayed relaxed.
Ultra Instinct was still active, his speed and power pushed to their absolute limit.
His strikes still had a faint pause to them, but even so, it was more than enough to deal with Akaza.
"Simple," he said lightly. "I just will not leave you a single scrap of flesh."
He lifted his Nichirin Blade. It was still stained with Akaza's blood.
A flick of his wrist sent the blood flying, leaving the blade clean once more.
Then Vincent moved.
He flashed in front of Akaza in an instant.
He was so fast that Akaza's mind had not even finished reacting.
Steel flashed.
Vincent's first strike took both of Akaza's arms.
Flesh started writhing immediately, trying to regrow.
Akaza's body shot backward in retreat.
Vincent was faster.
He appeared behind him in a blink and cut off his escape with a sharp kick.
His sword stabbed and slashed, leaving several gaping holes in Akaza's torso.
Any one of those wounds would have been fatal on a human.
For Upper Rank Three, they were barely scratches.
His arms were lopped off again, but Akaza remained calm.
"But no matter how fast you are, my body will just keep regenerating. That is what it means to be a demon."
As he spoke, the holes across his body began to close.
Vincent's eyes sharpened. His blade flashed again and again.
Every time a wound was about to knit shut, he split it open once more.
Steel rose and fell.
In the next instant, Akaza was cut cleanly in half at the waist.
Two more, three more strokes.
Akaza was chopped into eight separate pieces.
"Destructive Death, Demon Core: Eightfold Heart!"
Akaza forcibly jammed his shattered body back together, strings of flesh connecting the pieces as he launched eight crushing blows in different directions.
Vincent twisted his body, once again slipping through the gaps in Akaza's attacks.
Cold light flashed.
Akaza was diced into eight bloody chunks again.
"You bastard… stop it!"
Panic finally crept into Akaza's voice.
He had just realized his regeneration was no longer able to keep up with Vincent's rate of destruction.
"Destructive Death, Final Style: Azure Silver Shattered Afterglow!"
The snowflake Compass Needle spread again beneath his feet, blue light billowing upward like steam.
In an instant, hundreds of ki projectiles erupted from Akaza's body, blasting outward in every direction.
Such dense firepower, at such close range.
Akaza's eyes gleamed with cruel confidence.
This would definitely injure Vincent.
Vincent's gaze stayed cold.
Armament Haki, activate.
A thin layer of inky blackness flowed over his Nichirin Blade, turning it into a black sword.
At the same time, his body drifted lightly, weaving through the storm of incoming attacks.
----------------------------------------------------
The deeper he goes, the more the truth unravels. Don't wait read ahead and witness Vincent's rise before the world catches up!
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