Nezuko's sharp fangs gleamed beneath the moonlight, the single demon horn jutting from her forehead casting a sinister shadow across her face. Crimson traced through the willow-like patterns spreading across the exposed white skin beneath her torn kimono. Her eyes, bloodshot and burning with hatred, locked onto Lucien with the desire to tear him into pieces.
"You killed my brother."
Her voice trembled with fury.
"Sanemi, Kyojuro, Uzui Tengen, even the short one, and Mitsuri were all killed by you!"
Giyu Tomioka's demonized face remained eerily calm, but his voice carried the weight of judgment.
"Mitsuri liked you very much, yet you killed her."
Beside him, Obanai Iguro's mismatched golden and green eyes blazed with killing intent.
Lucien merely exhaled softly, the corner of his mouth twitching upward.
"You think you've got me cornered?"
Anger simmered beneath his words, yet he laughed anyway. Steam rose from his body, wrapping him in swirling heat. Bands of five-colored light rippled from his skin, and his severed arms and deep wounds began to regenerate, though far too slowly for comfort.
Obanai sneered as he sensed the drop in Lucien's aura.
"You fought that demon for so long, suffered heavy injuries, and then you took hits from all three of us. Your stamina is nearly gone. Even your regeneration is slowing."
Lucien's expression hardened. He spat out blood, straightened his back, and a small green bean materialized before him.
A senzu bean.
He had obtained it with luck points after killing Sanji. He had never used it, but now he had no choice.
"In terms of value, this thing is a life. And you three scoundrels made me waste it at a time like this. You deserve to die."
Giyu and Obanai did not know what the item was, but intuition screamed danger.
"Stop him now!"
"Boom!"
Nezuko launched forward, leaving a three-meter crater where she had just stood.
But she was too late.
The senzu bean touched Lucien's tongue, and in an instant, the five-colored radiance intensified. His arms regenerated at an impossible speed, his wounds sealed themselves shut, and stamina and life force surged back into his body.
By the time Nezuko appeared before him, Lucien's body had already returned to peak condition.
Nezuko's left foot crushed the earth beneath her, stones rising into the air. Her right foot whipped forward like a dragon bursting from the sea, tearing through the air as it hurled toward Lucien.
Golden lightning crackled across Lucien's skin. His expression chilled. His right leg hardened, turning red with searing heat before he met Nezuko's white leg head-on.
The impact detonated the air. Rolling shockwaves swept outward as the ground buckled under their feet, cracks splitting across ten meters while debris spiraled upward.
Nezuko groaned, then her entire right leg exploded.
Lucien's kick was merciless, shattering the limb before continuing directly into her waist. Blood burst from her mouth and nose as her body skidded violently across the ground, carving a deep trench before finally crashing into the distance.
"Water Breathing."
"Serpent Breathing."
Giyu and Obanai lunged in synchronization. A water dragon and a massive serpent spiraled toward Lucien, their blades aiming to sever him.
Lucien summoned a pair of kukri and blocked, his feet sinking into the shattered earth as detonations erupted behind him.
"Puff…"
Two hardened spikes suddenly jutted from the ground beneath his feet, piercing straight through Giyu's and Obanai's hearts.
Blood spurted from their mouths. Their eyes widened in disbelief.
"Crack…"
Their chests caved in. The two Pillars were sent flying, their bodies bouncing and sliding across the ruined battlefield until they finally stopped more than thirty meters away.
Giyu survived only because he had become a demon.
Obanai, however, was still human. His pierced heart left him unable to fight, and Lucien's earlier kick had crushed his chest so severely that shattered ribs pierced through his back.
High above, Nezuko darted through the sky, her right foot dripping blood. She descended with murderous intent, aiming to crush Lucien's skull.
Lucien's right hand hardened and snapped up to seize her ankle. He prepared to slam her into the earth, but Nezuko's exploding blood detonated around her foot. Black smoke and flames surged.
Lucien retreated a step as she tore herself free. She twisted midair and lashed out again with a blazing kick.
Lucien blocked with his left arm. The strength behind her strike forced his feet into the ground and dragged him backward.
He steadied himself, shaking away the black smoke as he stared coldly at her.
Her kicks were powerful, each one igniting explosions.
This was her Blood Demon Art, Exploding Blood.
"Bang!"
Nezuko landed and immediately fired herself forward like a cannonball, her blood-soaked right foot whipping toward him.
Lucien did not flinch.
Just before she reached him, a twenty-meter Celestial dragon manifested behind him. With a sharp incantation, he thrust his palm forward.
"Great Might Heavenly Dragon."
A piercing dragon roar shook the entire forest. Nezuko's leg detonated instantly, flames bursting outward. Lucien pushed forward with unrelenting force, pulverizing the remaining limb before striking her chest.
"Puff…"
Blood sprayed from her mouth. Cracks spiderwebbed across her body, multiplying until her form could no longer hold together.
She exploded into fragments.
Lucien knew she wouldn't die so easily.
He quickly located half of Nezuko's head still regenerating and vanished.
"Water Breathing, Eleventh Form, Dead Calm."
The world fell silent. Lucien felt the pressure of the deep ocean constricting around him.
Giyu appeared before him, walking as if on still water, his blade gliding toward Lucien's neck like a ripple.
"Clang…"
Lucien hardened his neck, sparks scattering.
A kukri appeared in his hand. Lucien twisted free and slashed toward Giyu's throat.
Giyu tried to retreat, but Lucien did not allow it.
Lightning wrapped around Lucien's body, and in a flash, he appeared behind Giyu.
A geyser of blood erupted. Giyu's Nichirin Blade shattered, and a crimson line spread across his neck before his head flew free.
Lucien's expression remained emotionless as he stepped on Giyu's fallen head and plunged his burning red kukri into it. The heat scorched his cells, burning them to ash. The pain contorted Giyu's demonized face before the flames consumed him completely.
A quiet whistle of air preceded another attack.
Nezuko had regenerated again, though her aura was weaker by more than half. A white leg flew toward him.
Lucien calmly extended his right hand, hardened with Haki, and caught her ankle. He slammed her into the ground.
"Bang bang bang bang bang!"
Five brutal impacts shook the area, cracks spreading outward in sharp lines. Nezuko lay limp, blood spilling from her wounds.
Her kimono was shredded, exposing her delicate curves, the pale territory of her legs, and the soft lines of her body, yet Lucien's eyes held nothing but lethal coldness.
If he had not consumed the senzu bean, he would have died here.
He had once loved Nezuko deeply, to the bone. Now that love twisted into something darker, a desire to tear her apart and merge her flesh with his own.
Giyu's headless body crumbled into ash beneath him.
Lucien dragged Nezuko by the ankle as if she were a lifeless doll, pulling her across the ground toward the fallen Obanai.
Obanai's breathing was shallow, his chest hollowed, yet he still clung to life.
Lucien ended it. His blade cut across Obanai's neck, splitting his head cleanly. Only then did the Serpent Pillar finally die.
After confirming the deaths of Giyu Tomioka and Obanai Iguro, Lucien leaped into the air. Gripping the unconscious Nezuko, he shot across the battlefield, transforming into streaking lightning before disappearing entirely.
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