stonecrandall Chapter 10 What does it mean to break through defenses at the speed of light?
Chapter 10 What does it mean to break through defenses at the speed of light?
Tokyo, Yoshiwara.
This is a paradise known as the "City of Night." Illuminated by thousands of red lanterns, it exudes a cloyingly sweet fragrance.
The courtesans, dressed in heavy kimonos and wearing tall hosiery, swayed gracefully through the narrow streets.
However, the soil of Yoshiwara contains the bones of countless women.
They wither away amidst prosperity and rot in darkness, and these sins unknown to anyone are the perfect breeding ground for evil spirits.
Kyogoku-ya, one of the top brothels in the red-light district.
At that moment, cracking sounds were coming from the most luxurious bedroom.
"Ugly. So ugly. How can such an ugly thing have the courage to live in this world?"
Daki, or rather, the top courtesan known as "Waki-hime" at this moment, was sitting elegantly in front of her dressing mirror.
Before her, a young maid knelt on the ground, her body trembling violently, her forehead hitting the floor with a dull thud.
The maid had a deep, bone-revealing cut on her cheek, and blood was trickling down her pale skin.
"My lord... please forgive me... I didn't mean to..."
"Forgive me?" Daki turned her head sharply, her once beautiful eyes instantly turning bloodshot and becoming like those of a wild beast.
She extended her slender, inhuman fingers and precisely pinched the maid's chin, her nails digging deep into the flesh.
"Your terrified eyes are so ugly they make me want to vomit. In this room, I am the only beautiful one, the only noble one! And you, you are nothing but a worthless defective thing, less than a speck of dust!"
She suddenly raised her hand, and several invisible ribbons were pulled out of thin air with a piercing bang, sending the maid flying and crashing heavily against the screen.
The sound of the screen shattering was particularly startling in the quiet night.
As Daki looked at the maid curled up in the pool of blood, her previously distorted expression gradually relaxed, revealing a morbid sense of pleasure.
She has a great fondness for destroying beautiful things, or rather, destroying anything that makes her unhappy.
However, as the maid stumbled away, Daki's brain, which had been burning with rage, gradually cooled down.
She suddenly stopped adjusting her hairpins and held her breath.
It's too quiet.
The Kyogoku-ya now stands as quiet as a tomb.
Normally, even at this time, the outer corridor should be filled with the noise of guests, the playing of the shamisen, and the fawning laughter of the madam.
But now, all sounds have disappeared; even the chirping of insects on a summer night seems to have been cut off with a single stroke.
As the "Upper Moon Sixth" who has been lurking here for a hundred years, Daki possesses a beast-like intuition.
"Is the news that that good-for-nothing Akaza was killed really true?" she murmured, her heart beginning to pound uneasily.
Normally, she would have scoffed at the brute who only knew how to practice boxing, but just now, she sensed that the shadow hanging over Yoshiwara had changed.
This was not a coincidence; it was a premeditated hunt targeting her.
"I've been discovered?" She suddenly stood up, her original human skin rapidly cracking open and transforming into a ghostly body covered in bizarre patterns, with several pink ribbons dancing wildly behind her like tentacles.
"Want to hunt me down? Let's see who hunts whom!"
Just as she was trying to break through the window and retreat to the crisscrossing underground lair of Yoshiwara, a figure suddenly appeared in the shadows in the corner of the room.
"Running so fast, are you afraid of being opened? Upper Moon Six."
A voice carrying a smile suddenly rang out.
As the particle effects that made him invisible disappeared, Pei Qi slowly emerged from the shadows.
His leisurely demeanor suggested he was strolling in his own backyard, rather than facing a demon capable of annihilating a city.
"You...human?" Daki's pupils suddenly contracted.
As a ghost, she didn't even sense the other person's presence for that instant.
She didn't realize there was someone standing there until the other person spoke.
This almost eerie ability to lurk made the hairs on her entire body stand on end.
"A passing demon hunter, roughly equivalent to the Demon Slayer Corps, but with similar duties: to exterminate monsters like you."
Pei Qi raised an eyebrow, his gaze sweeping over Duo Ji's exaggerated ribbons, and his tone became sarcastic.
"But is this the Upper Moon's taste? He's dressed like a madman who just stormed out of a tailor shop. Muzan's aesthetic sense really did completely drop out a thousand years ago."
"How dare you... address that lord by his name!" Daki instantly broke down.
To her, Muzan was a god, an absolute faith. Pei Qi's nonchalant mockery enraged her more than a direct stab.
"Don't get excited, the worst is yet to come." Pei Qi's lips curled into a smile as he precisely stepped on the red line of Duo Ji's self-esteem, relentlessly unleashing his attacks.
"I heard that Upper Moon Six is a brother and sister? Then what are you now? A brat who only knows how to destroy the house when separated from his brother? Or are you just an extra appendix on that powerful body, only good for yelling?"
"I'll tear your mouth apart! I'll turn you into the lowest, most degrading ribbon to use as a footrest!"
Doki completely lost her mind. Several ribbons, whistling sharply and carrying enough force to cut through granite, simultaneously attacked Pei Qi from four angles.
"Lies don't hurt, the truth is the sharpest knife. Doesn't your anger and shame prove I'm right?"
Pei Qi had been waiting for this moment.
Despite the attack that was enough to block his retreat, Pei Qi's body exhibited a sense of lightness.
He did not use any breathing techniques, and his footwork was not fancy.
Just as the ribbon was about to touch his skin, he would turn slightly to the side at a very small angle, or take a gliding step on flat ground.
"Too slow." Pei Qi continued to be sarcastic as he weaved through the ribbons fluttering around the room. "Is this the attack of the Upper Moon? Compared to the efficiency of the fully automatic monster spawner in my backyard, this is practically a slow-motion replay."
He casually pulled out a seemingly ordinary raw stone from his backpack, but he launched it with an extremely tricky technique, precisely striking Daki's joint.
Although it didn't cause much damage, the humiliation of being looked down upon drove Daki almost insane.
The two chased each other, leaping off the top floor of Kyogoku-ya and speeding across the rooftops of Yoshiwara.
Daki discovered that no matter how fast she sped up, no matter how frantically she waved the ribbons, the black figure in front of her could always maintain a distance that was "just within reach, but always one centimeter short".
"Halt! You lowly insect!"
Daki was completely unaware that she was moving away from the most bustling crowds in Yoshiwara.
Pei Qi led her across several canals and rushed into an undeveloped wasteland on the edge of Yoshiwara.
There are no buildings here, the view is extremely open, and the ground is covered with smooth gravel...