[@Lewascan2][@TimelessParagon][@Digmata][@JrVader][@13org] Let’s just get out alive - Hinotora [color=f7941d][/color] Summary: The Battle of the “Strongest”, Ryunosuke v Ryoshu ensues, as Mirage Hashira Kairi and Tsugoku Hinotora also involve themselves in the clash. [center][h1]Collab Part 2: Torn[/h1][/center] [hr] The explosive aftermath left Ryunosuke in a state of hiding his pain under the pressure he just experienced. He recalled having to dodge all those thorns, as its erratically omnidirectional hits would've killed him at one point. Ryunosuke didn't say a thing as each movement was crucial to the fight, he cannot die here. Steeling himself to his resolution – the Transparent World Vision granted him the reaction time to keep up with the onslaught. However, it wasn't enough, the more evasion is done, the faster his stamina is depleted. Ryunosuke mustered his lungs to perform a state of constant flux of recovery breathing & even though he received minor hits, he didn't show any signs of flinching. [I]Hinokami Kagura: Fake Rainbow.[/I] he said in his mind, his speed, agility & dexterity were all nimble, he applied Kairi’s method of Mirage Breathing, having only seen it once & since Sun Breathing alongside the Moon was the precursor to all Breathing Styles, doing it was a walk in the park. [I]Sun Breathing, 13th Form: Dance of The Sun God!”[/I] he uttered to himself once more & delivered omnidirectional flames of the sun against the BDA of Ryoshu with the final form of the traditional Sun Breathing. The sheer power of the Sun Hashira, melted the cement floor like as if lava, melted it and an immense heat, radiating brilliant mixture of magenta and blue flames, like the summer sky. [hr] [color=f7941d][i]Hooooooolllyyy shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitt!!!!![/i][/color] Hinotora screamed internally, squinting her eyes against the solar glare of the Sun Hashira’s attack, as her fingers desperately dug more tightly into melting tarmac to avoid being blown straight off the building. A sharp inhale and exhale expelled a film of flames to partially blunt the force of the omnidirectional attack. [color=f7941d][i]Fifth Flame Form: Flame Tiger![/i][/color] But even so, tempered flesh sizzled under the heat with a crackle akin to meat on a grill, as the Tsugoku grit her teeth and intensified the depth of her breathing, filling her cells with energy and dredging it back up just as fast to heal her scalded flesh back a bit tougher than before. Of course, thanks to her Phoenix Breathing Style, her body was already quite resistant to extreme temperatures, but this was her first time being exposed to something as immensely powerful as Sun Breathing. And needless to say, the experience was certainly raising the bar. As Ryunosuke’s attack finally died down, Hinotora quickly sheathed her sword in order to free up her right hand to also grasp at the melting roofing, giving her some leverage to wrench the fingers of her other hand free of the mess they had gripped into with a sharp but quiet hiss of discomfort. Now clinging by her other hand, she silently shook out her rather more scalded hand, waiting for the feeling to come back to it with her Recovery Breathing. [color=f7941d][i]What a reckless attack…![/i][/color] she mused internally, even as she acknowledged the probable necessity of it given the Upper Moon’s own assault. [color=f7941d][i]Doesn’t he have any concern for how much attention that might draw… or for collateral damage? Well, I suppose I can’t really blame him. The demon was the first to escalate to that scale…[/i][/color] Despite herself, Hinotora could help but be a bit begrudgingly dazzled. It was her first time witnessing Sun Breathing in its full glory, and she could say with certainty that she would be searing the sight into her memories to pick at later. [color=f7941d][i]Well… I suppose I can’t complain too much…[/i][/color] She smiled lopsidedly, as she finished shaking out her left hand and hauled herself back up enough to see the rest of the roof. [color=f7941d][i]I did ask to be shown the ‘realm of the Strongest’, after all…[/i][/color] Yet… despite that mighty and impressive show of power, when Hinotora focused her gaze back on the battlefield, she felt a certain unease grow in her gut. [hr] “Excuse me? What the heck were you sayin’! Cuz I didn't hear any of that. If you're looking to kill cockroaches, the RentoKil HQ is right behind you, that building over there.” Ryunosuke smirked with full confidence despite all the pain he's feeling. “Are you a Demon Lord or Pest Control?” The onslaught only tore his kimono off, and that left him shirtless, with only his sarashi underwraps, covering his chest, Ryunosuke felt his stamina, exhausted. “If that was supposed to be your best, you've only torn my clothes off, it's not even enough to kill an infant.” Ryunosuke gloated and went with his mocking more. The Demon Slayer Mark was deactivated as it was clear that it ate a lot of his stamina, as his body’s filled with battle scars that he just breathed away with Total Concentration, as the wounds closed, preserving whatever he got left. “I don't even need my mark to beat you.” [hr] [color=f7941d][i]That’s a lie.[/i][/color] The thought crystalized with a certainty that unnerved Hinotora. All of a sudden, the tiny ugly curdling in the pit of her gut became ominously realized with a sudden growing understanding of the situation’s reality. It was an all too familiar sensation that struck her now, as she peered at the seemingly outwardly unphased Sun Hashira. And yet, the longer she looked at him, the more she picked at the small details in his mein… [color=f7941d][i]It’s a bluff...[/i][/color] She dared not voice the thought aloud, primarily for fear of the Upper Moon also picking up on what she had, even as her eyes widened with a fresh shot of adrenaline, a chill crawling down her spine despite the steaming air. With her enhanced senses laser-focused on Ryunosuke’s now exposed physique, the Doctor in her paid far more attention to her physical state than the words tumbling arrogantly out of his mouth. The beading of sweat on his skin… The subtle heave of his shoulders and hitch in his breath between words, quiet gasps that pitched his voice in a way just slightly [i]off[/i] from steadiness… And most poignantly of all… the deactivation of his Demon Slayer Mark… It all pointed to one dreadful conclusion. [color=f7941d][i]But how is this possible…? The battle’s barely even begun, so how is he already running out of steam?![/i][/color] Hinotora scowled in a combination of disbelief and frustration, as the answer stared her right in the face. With a kind of dreadful, terrible certainty, she suddenly realized [i]exactly[/i] why the Sun Hashira, the man hailed as the “Strongest” of the living Demon Slayers, was truly in danger of losing his life in this battle, the reason why Takaya had given her the task of helping him. And the worst part of it all was… [color=f7941d][i]It makes too much sense. Fuck me, that makes way too much sense! He's so powerful that his opponents usually die before he ever has to waste as much energy as he already has! All this time, he’s been riding along on raw power, counting on his opponents to fold immediately, rather than giving him an actual challenge! He’s like a body-builder, focusing on raw muscle at the expense of cardio! This guy-![/i][/color] Hinotora’s teeth grit so tightly that they might have broken had she even an ounce less restraint. [color=f7941d][i]He’s never actually experienced what it means to face a true worthy opponent, has he?! Or else, this flaw of his should have been obvious long ago![/i][/color] She was going to have to intervene, Hinotora realized. Far sooner than she would have liked, she was going to have to get involved. Unless something changed the tide in Ryunosuke’s favor [i]fast[/i], the Demon Lord unleashing another attack of that scale would absolutely necessitate her interference. If this battle became a game of stamina, then Ryunosuke was already on the backfoot. Even if he managed to buy himself time to, well, [i]breathe[/i] in both a literal and metaphorical sense, that he had already been forced to stop using his Demon Slayer Mark did not say promising things for the longevity of his performance. Hinotora was borderline incredulous to see such a glaring flaw in the man lauded by so many as the pinnacle of Demon Slayers. The worst part to her was that it was a [i]foundational[/i] flaw too. One of the first things any Demon Slayer learned about fighting demons was that they should [i]never[/i] let it become a battle of stamina, because a demon would always win. [color=f7941d][i]That’s part of why I developed the Phoenix Style, wasn’t it? To take away that advantage, to give a human the ability to compete with demons and avoid being simply outlasted. For me, that kind of strategy is fairly viable, but for almost anyone else? It’s nothing but irresponsibly reckless! And you’re telling me the so-called “Strongest” has such a glaring weakness?! How was this never addressed?! Could he truly be so arrogant?![/i][/color] Her grip tightening on the still hot concrete of the rooftop’s edge, Hinotora resisted the urge to edge up a bit further, wary of attracting the Demon Lord’s attention just yet, as she braced her feet against the wall below, body tensed like a spring and ready to act. She resisted the urge to play her own hand further, even as she reevaluated her options and decided that the element of surprise was still worth preserving. [color=f7941d][i]Come on, you blowhard. You always act like you think the sun shines out of your ass, so don’t you dare go down that easy! Surely there’s more to what makes you worthy of the title of Hashira than the bullshit of a Slayer Mark![/i][/color] Even so, she couldn’t help but glance at her watch in trepidation, lips pursing tensely at the glare of [i]8:30[/i] through the lens. Well… that just about settled the likely unfeasibility of dragging this battle out till sunrise as a win condition. Given that the sun had barely even finished [i]setting[/i] at this time, a battle till sunrise with an Upper Moon would be akin to asking the impossible from even the Demon Slayer Corps’ strongest. It was the sort of legendary feat only attributable to the likes of the late Moon Hashira, and while Hinotora was at least confident in her ability to maintain her core stamina for that long, she didn’t anticipate the idea of spending the next twelve hours straight enduring the assault of an Upper Moon level demon without taking some kind of unacceptable injuries along the way. In other words, there was no other option but to somehow finish this fight before the sun rose! [hr] [I]Ryoshu..Ryoshu. I did not send you to be a playmate of Tsugikuni Yoriichi's descendant, nevertheless, you have my gratitude for this impulsive display, the last Sun Hashira before Kamado Ryunosuke was a lot more challenging. Go back to the Daikaku Shrine, seize the Blue Spider Lilies, if you can't, you might as well kidnap Daikaku Kōshin. No…bring me Daikaku Kōshin. Do not entertain insects. I want Intel on how exactly they are mass producing them.[/I] The Demon King of Takamagahara, the sole progenitor of the Blood Moon Demons, resonated within Ryoshu, having seen his prized subordinate, Tsugikuni Michikatsu, the Demon King asserted with urgency towards their objective. [I]The Blue Spider Lily.[/I] Michikatsu reminisced on how even Muzan, his former Master, was so desperate to find it, that in itself is the shared longing for perfection that he ought to achieve. [I]Prioritizing objectives. If one fails to set sight on their ambition, then it's nothing more than fiction. Entertaining one's vanity will lead one's path astray. Do you understand that Ryoshu?[/I] Michikatsu disengaged telepathic blood. While his words were reprimanding, it was also empowering. [I]If word got out in the Criminal Underworld of Demons about the Daikaku Shrine and its vast coveted items, many other Progenitors would challenge my standing.[/I] Michikatsu thought to himself. Progenitor. A term used by Devils aka Demon Kings, a Progenitor is someone who amasses their own demonic race, and as such, if a Progenitor dies, that demonic bloodline ends with them. [hr] A sudden shift in the air and Kairi paused a little, realizing that she is no longer dealing with the hypothetical archer alone. The sight of rainbow-like flames gave her pause as the swordplay felt familiar, intimately familiar. Did he come up with the breathing style independently? Or he just skimmed her notes and used it as inspiration. It seems she needs to turn things up a notch. [color=pink]‘Not here though.’[/color] her mind chided as she used her first breathing to disappear before everyone’s eye. It is subtle as she makes her way to the demon’s blindspots maintaining a respectable distance that she can reach in an instant. Let everyone be distracted with the epic battles and techniques, she will land the decisive strike in a single swing. She didn’t like using her peers as bait but a shinobi uses all tricks in her sleeves, no matter how detestable or unsavory. She will draw the line at letting them die though.