Chapter Twenty: Sun Breathing?
『RYON』
Enjoy~~
The old wooden tower shook down to its very foundations.
The shaking was not caused by the fierce winds sweeping across Mount Kumotori, but by the immense weight of the gigantic icy Bodhisattva Statue that Doma had summoned.
The statue filled the entire balcony. Its face bore an eerily calm and gentle expression, while dozens of massive ice arms extended from its back—each one capable of crushing a small house with a single blow.
Yukihara Ren stood before it, looking like a tiny insect compared to this frozen entity. Blood dripped from his body onto the wood, and the vapor of his breath rose thickly into the air.
"What a beautiful sight, isn't it?" Doma said as he stood atop the statue's shoulder, looking down with an arrogant smile. "I usually save this technique for very special guests… or for those who seriously annoy me. And you, little boy, managed to be both."
Ren did not reply. He did not have the luxury to speak.
Inside his mind, his thoughts were spinning at a frantic speed.
I boosted my stats… My speed is now beyond the speed of sound, and my strength is enough to cut steel. But… this thing is too big. And its attack range is enormous.
One of the statue's arms moved.
Despite its size, it was not slow.
It was a flash.
Boom!
The floor where Ren had been standing was shattered a split second later. Ren leapt into the air, but another arm was already waiting in his path, as if Doma had predicted his movement.
"Storm Breathing, Third Form!"
Ren swung his sword in a circular defensive motion, trying to block the gigantic icy palm.
The crimson blade collided with the ice.
It felt as if a speeding train had slammed into him. His bones rattled, and the exhausted muscles in his arms tore. The ice cracked slightly, but the force sent Ren flying backward. He smashed through the balcony railing and fell toward the forest below.
"Oh? Is that it?" Doma asked with boredom.
Before he could finish his sentence, a red streak shot up from between the trees.
Ren ran straight up the tower's vertical wall, ignoring gravity, his eyes glowing with that terrifying crimson light.
"I'm not done yet!" Ren shouted.
He leapt back into the arena, and the partial Transparent World skill activated at full power.
He could see the flow of energy within the ice statue. He could see the weak connection points.
Focus… focus… Be like water, be like wind… no—be the storm!
Ren charged into the barrage of attacks. He danced between the massive arms, severing a finger here, shattering a wrist there. His movements evolved with every passing second.
Each time he narrowly escaped death, his body remembered Yoriichi's movements.
[System Alert: Synchronization with the template is increasing.]
[Current percentage: 18%… 19%…]
Doma noticed.
The boy was no longer fighting randomly. His movements were efficient. No wasted energy. No unnecessary actions. Even his breathing had changed.
"This boy…" Doma narrowed his eyes as an unpleasant sensation crept into his gut. "He's evolving during the fight? That's impossible for a human."
Doma decided to end it.
"Demonic Blood Art: Scattered Vine Lotus."
A storm of razor-sharp ice shards exploded outward from the statue's body, covering every angle and escape route.
There was no way out.
Ren tried to defend himself, but there were too many.
One ice shard pierced his left thigh.
Another carved deeply into his cheek.
A third stabbed through his right shoulder—the arm holding the sword.
"Ghh!" Ren let out a muffled cry and dropped to one knee.
The cold.
The cold was worse than the pain. It spread through his veins, extinguishing the adrenaline, slowing his heart.
Doma descended from the statue and walked slowly toward Ren, who struggled to stand using his sword for support.
"Pitiful," Doma said in a tone of fake sympathy. "Look at you. Your weak human body can't endure it. Your lungs are freezing, aren't they? That's the difference between us, Ren. We are eternal, and you are nothing more than fleeting moments."
Doma extended his hand, forming a long ice dagger in his grip.
"I'll take your head now. I'll keep it in my collection as a memento of the bravest child I've ever met."
Ren looked down at the ground. His vision blurred.
Am I going to die here?
After all that training? After getting the system? Am I going to die at the hands of this clown?
Suddenly, a memory that was not his flooded his mind.
He saw the world through someone else's eyes.
A man wearing a red kimono stood before a demon with multiple arms and an overwhelming presence—Muzan. The man was not afraid. He felt sorrow… and duty.
"This world is beautiful… but as long as demons like you exist, it will never know peace."
Yoriichi's voice echoed in Ren's head.
Yoriichi's emotions merged with Ren's.
Ren's hatred for Doma—especially after being brought to the brink of death.
And Yoriichi's desire to cleanse the world.
The fusion of the two souls created a spark.
Deep within Ren's heart, where the cold was trying to stop his pulse, a small flame ignited.
[System Alert: Danger level has reached maximum.]
[Alert: Emotions have fully synchronized with the template.]
[Current percentage: 20%… 22%… 25%!]
Ren felt heat.
Not normal body heat.
It was like standing before an open furnace.
The heat of the sun.
The ice covering Ren's wounds began to melt—no, to evaporate.
Doma stopped. "Hmm?"
He noticed the thick steam rising from the kneeling boy's body.
"What's this?" Doma wondered. "Are you trying to burn yourself to die warmly?"
Ren slowly raised his head.
Doma involuntarily took a step back.
The eyes—
They were not just red.
They were the eyes of a beast. The eyes of someone looking at a dead thing.
"Storm Breathing…" Ren whispered hoarsely—then stopped.
He shook his head, as if rejecting a wrong idea.
"No…"
Wind was not enough to melt this ice.
Lightning was not enough to shatter this mountain.
What he needed was the source. The origin.
Ren recalled Yoriichi's movements from the memories. The way he breathed. The way his blood flowed.
[Achievement: Original Mode Unlocked.]
[Learned: Sun Breathing (Hinokami Kagura) – Level 1.]
Ren took a deep breath.
It was no longer cold or painful.
It was scorching.
Flames erupted around Ren—not the orange flames of Rengoku's Flame Breathing.
They were golden-red flames, glowing like the edge of the sun during an eclipse.
Ren's sword changed color.
From dull crimson, it transformed into a blazing deep red, as if it had just been pulled from the heart of a volcano.
"What… what is this energy?!" Doma shouted, and for the first time, cold sweat appeared on his forehead.
Doma's cells screamed.
The blood of Muzan flowing through him trembled in terror. Cellular memory awakened.
That's it! The red blade! The swordsman with the earrings!
"Impossible!" Doma screamed, his smile completely gone. "Die!"
Doma commanded the Bodhisattva Statue to crush Ren with all its arms at once—a total annihilation strike.
Ren stood, no longer feeling pain.
"Sun Breathing…"
Ren moved.
This time, he did not disappear.
He became a continuous band of flame.
"…First Dance!"
Shing!
A single sharp sound cut through the chaos.
Ren passed straight through the statue's combined attack.
Behind him, something unbelievable happened.
The massive ice arms—hard as diamond—were not merely cut.
They melted at the points of impact.
The giant arms collapsed and turned into steaming hot water before they even touched the ground.
Ren stood behind the statue, his back to Doma.
The flames around his sword slowly faded, leaving behind a dim red afterglow.
Ren turned around slowly.
His body was covered in wounds, blood staining half his face, his uniform torn—but his stance was pure dignity.
He looked at Doma, who stood frozen in place, his multicolored eyes wide with shock and genuine fear.
Ren took a single step toward him.
It was a heavy step, the sound of his foot on the scorched wood echoing clearly.
"You said we're nothing but fleeting moments, didn't you?" Ren said calmly, his voice more terrifying than any scream.
He raised his glowing sword and pointed it at Doma's neck.
Ren smiled—but it was not his usual mocking smile.
It was Yoriichi's sorrowful, confident smile.
He looked at Doma with emerald eyes burning with rings of fire—eyes that conveyed a single, unmistakable message, one Doma read deep within his immortal soul:
"It's over. Your immortality, your arrogance, and this ice… your fate has been decided, and death will come by my hand."
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End of Chapter Twenty.