The night was hazy, with the constant chirping of insects in the mountains, and an occasional breeze stirring the heart.
Beneath the bright crescent moon, two figures stood in confrontation.
Yoriichi held an ordinary iron blade, calmly looking at the person before him: "Let's try out your current strength first."
Mizuki nodded slightly: "Mm, I also want to know the difference between me and my brother."
As soon as her voice fell, Mizuki slowly drew a bloody, fleshy long blade from her palm.
She casually twirled the blade, flicking off the bloodstains.
The silvery-white blade emitted a sacred glow under the moonlight.
However, the slightly eerie aura on its blade constantly reminded others that this was a demon blade.
This long blade was similar in style to the nichirin blade Mizuki used before, but the characteristics of the blade itself were slightly different.
The most special part was the blade edge; the pure white blade was almost flawless, without even a blade pattern, as perfect as a bright mirror.
And in terms of hardness alone, the demon blade born from Mizuki's flesh far surpassed ordinary iron blades.
Only a nichirin blade could cut it.
But the premise for a nichirin blade to cut it was that the opponent must be a strong individual capable of severing her neck.
Mizuki slowly assumed a starting stance, a faint white mist exhaling from her mouth: "Brother, please have no reservations, use your full strength."
Yoriichi was not using a nichirin blade, but a simple iron blade, which could not cause actual harm to demons.
Even if the opponent was Yoriichi, it wouldn't work.
A clever cook cannot make a meal without rice; even Yoriichi couldn't kill a demon with an iron blade.
Of course, a demon's regeneration isn't truly infinite; each regeneration consumes stamina and requires food to replenish. If too much stamina is consumed, the regeneration speed will slow down.
If a demon were to truly encounter Yoriichi with an ordinary samurai sword, there would likely only be two outcomes.
One, being cut by Yoriichi until they doubt life itself, and then dawn breaks.
Two, being cut by Yoriichi until they completely lose their regenerative ability.
But no matter what, wielding an iron blade, even Yoriichi couldn't inflict effective damage on her in a short time.
Most importantly, an iron blade cannot form a scarlet blade.
A nichirin blade can form a scarlet blade through grip strength because of the special raw materials of the nichirin blade itself. It uses scarlet crimson sand iron and scarlet crimson ore, which grow on high mountains closest to the sun, absorbing ample sunlight and possessing the sun's energy.
The principle of the scarlet blade is to activate the sun's energy within the nichirin blade through grip strength.
Yoriichi understood this principle, so he nodded slightly.
"Then, I'm coming."
Mizuki took a deep breath, and the Transparent World unfolded before her eyes.
"Snow Breathing, Seventh Form: Snow - A Fissure of Light!"
An extremely fast white flash streaked across, like a delicate silver thread pulled through the air, utterly graceful.
The breathing of the lungs, the movement of the muscles, observing his next move.
Mizuki watched Yoriichi's body with focused eyes.
In Mizuki's opinion, the Transparent World was the most valuable of the three-piece set.
Even in other anime, the ability to see through the human body would not be too bad.
Knowing the gap between herself and Yoriichi, Mizuki held nothing back, launching a full-power attack.
The snow-white blade shot straight for Yoriichi's neck.
This was a habit formed during demon hunting; even after becoming a demon and her enemies changing to humans, she couldn't help but think of beheading.
The white thread drew a graceful curve in mid-air. This was Yoriichi's first experience with the ultimate Snow Breathing.
Ever since Mizuki was injured, Snow Breathing had largely been lost, as no one could learn it, and its difficulty was on par with Sun Breathing.
Yoriichi had only occasionally seen Mizuki secretly practicing it, but it couldn't compare to now.
A beautiful Breathing Technique, a beautiful Sword Form.
But it was far more than just pretty; the sharp killing intent almost stung Yoriichi's skin.
Like the biting cold of ice and snow.
This was Snow Breathing.
The snow-white thread sliced past Yoriichi's neck, and their blurred figures crossed.
After one strike.
Mizuki stared in astonishment at her own headless back, holding the demon blade.
Before her head hit the ground, Yoriichi reached out and gently cupped it, then carefully placed it back on her body.
The entire process looked a bit eerie.
Mizuki opened her mouth and said expressionlessly: "...That's a bit of a blow to me."
Although she knew she would definitely be crushed, it still hurt when it actually happened.
Yoriichi: "..."
Someone insisted on pestering him to teach her, after all.
Yoriichi said with some discomfort: "Are you alright?"
Although he couldn't cause substantial damage, the pain of being beheaded was unavoidable.
If Mizuki hadn't repeatedly asked, he definitely wouldn't have been able to do it.
Mizuki looked up at him and said gloomily: "It was too fast, I didn't feel any pain at all."
Yoriichi smiled: "That's good then."
Mizuki pouted.
It was not good at all.
If she could feel pain, she would be happier, because the gap wouldn't be so huge.
Not even knowing she was beheaded only proved that there was a dimensional gap between them.
Yoriichi: "Again?"
Mizuki took a deep breath: "Yes, this time I'll be serious."
Yoriichi nodded slightly, and they both returned to their original positions.
Mizuki held the snow-white demon blade, her wine-red eyes slightly closed, and gently exhaled a long breath.
The next moment, she suddenly opened her eyes, and golden outlines mixed with some deep, dark concentric pupils appeared in her eyes. Slightly grotesque veins surfaced around the corners of her eyes, a pair of demon horns resembling dragon horns sprouted from her forehead, and her jet-black fingernails also lengthened slightly.
Her originally wine-red hair visibly turned snow-white.
Seeing Mizuki in this state, Yoriichi couldn't help but be lost in thought; he shared Mizuki's opinion.
That she didn't quite look like it.
Not like an ugly demon, but rather like a deity.
Silver moonlight slanted down through the branches of the dense forest, gently falling upon Mizuki's snow-white hair, as if draped in a faint silver veil.
Her snow-colored long hair, coupled with the pair of demon horns on her head resembling dragon horns, would make anyone passing by and seeing this scene never mistake her for a demon.
Mizuki quietly felt her body's state. Strictly speaking, this was her first full Demonization. Earlier at the inn, she was a bit distracted because she worried someone might come in.
In this state, her physical abilities after Demonization had improved significantly.
It was almost several times what it was when she was human, and she knew very well that this ability could continue to improve. Since she became a demon, she hadn't eaten anyone. If she were to eat people... Mizuki quickly shook her head; these damn muzan cells were starting to affect her inner self.