SWISH—

“Khk.”

At the same time as he flung his throwing knives, Silver Moon twisted his body and barely avoided the first strike, but he could not respond to the force aura that Killing Moon sent flying right after.

The smoke bomb he had detonated to hide his body had instead ended up masking the opponent’s attack.

But the fact that the opponent could not be seen was the same for Killing Moon as well.

Whether he had poured out the force aura at random or not, he had not managed to inflict a fatal wound.

Silver Moon hurriedly hid his body behind a large boulder.

A deep gash was carved from his left shoulder blade all the way down toward his chest.

TAP, TADAK—

Silver Moon, pressed for time, pressed his blood points to try to stop the bleeding. However—

SSSSSSS....

From within the wound, his internal energy seethed as if rejecting hemostasis.

It was Killing Moon’s qi.

‘...Soul-Breaking Severance Sword...?’

Soul-Breaking Severance Sword.

A Blood Art passed down to Pawol, the twelfth killer among Blood Demon’s twelve killers.

Its destructive power was not great, but if it inflicted a wound on the opponent’s body, Blood Qi seeped into that wound and blocked hemostasis and recovery, in the end driving the opponent to death by blood loss—a tricky Blood Art.

Yet after Pawol died, there had been no successor, so it should have remained a Blood Art without an owner, and yet—?

“It is the Soul-Breaking Severance Sword. Someone like you would have recognized it, I’m sure?”

From within the thick smoke, Killing Moon’s voice could be heard.

Knowing that his attack had wounded Silver Moon, his voice was now noticeably more relaxed.

“When I said to the Cult Master that I wanted to obtain Pawol’s Blood Art, he handed it over without hesitation. The Cult Master must know. Just what kind of power will be ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) born when my Blood Art and Pawol’s Blood Art are combined!”

Asura Remaining-Blood Axe.

When the most aggressive and domineering Blood Art among the Blood Arts of the twelve Moons was combined with the Soul-Breaking Severance Sword, which prevented the treatment of wounds—

It completed, in the truest sense, a Blood Art devoted solely to killing, just like Killing Moon’s name.

“I have always been curious.”

From within the smoke, the sound of Killing Moon’s footsteps could be heard as he walked.

Silver Moon once again took out three Throwing Tags and wedged them between his fingers.

“What your Blood Art is. Just how powerful the Blood Art of the Cult Master’s trusted hound would be...!”

Silver Moon’s gaze lowered.

For a brief moment, he gauged the presence of Killing Moon drawing closer.

SWISH SWISH SWISH—!

“Graaahk—!”

The Throwing Tags Silver Moon sent flying at shin height struck home and drove precisely into Killing Moon’s calf.

As Silver Moon had predicted, Killing Moon had moved toward the tree he had fallen from to retrieve the axe he had thrown.

“So you’re there!”

SWISH—!

Without even pulling out the Throwing Tag embedded in his calf, Killing Moon hurled his axe toward the direction the Throwing Tag had flown from.

However—

THUD—!

The axe merely buried itself in an innocent tree and failed to find Silver Moon.

The moment Killing Moon moved to retrieve the axe he had thrown—

SWISH SWISH SWISH—!

Six more Throwing Tags flew toward him.

CLANG CLANG CLANG—! THUNK!

Killing Moon blocked four of the Throwing Tags.

But the remaining two grazed his shoulder and flank and flew past.

“Khk—!”

The sharp blades of the Throwing Tags tore his skin open and shredded it.

Perhaps deciding that he could not catch Silver Moon with axes alone after two such exchanges, Killing Moon likewise pulled out hidden weapons from his breast.

The hidden weapons, as thick as a ring finger and pointed at the tip, were, unlike the Throwing Tags Silver Moon used, thick and heavy.

If Silver Moon’s Throwing Tags were hidden weapons that sliced flesh sharply and then flew on to bury themselves, Killing Moon’s hidden weapons were ones specialized in piercing clean through the opponent.

FWIIT— FWEEEET— FWEEEEEET—

Killing Moon hurled his hidden weapons toward the direction the Throwing Tags had flown from just before.

With a sound like they were tearing through the air, unlike the Throwing Tags, the hidden weapons flew and then soon—THUD THUD THUD—!—punched through the trees that had been standing there.

“Where are you! Don’t hide, come out!”

SWISH— SWISH SWISH—

Once again, Throwing Tags came flying.

Killing Moon did not even avoid the Throwing Tags that flew in and lodged into his body, and hurled his hidden weapons toward the direction the Throwing Tags had come from.

SWISH— SWISH SWISH—

THUD THUD THUD—!

Within the smoke, two different kinds of hidden weapons flew savagely back and forth.

The fight between the Great Blood Cult’s foremost killer and its foremost murder-maniac aimed solely at each other’s lives.

Amid the flying hidden weapons, Killing Moon’s flushed gaze chased after the faint traces of his prey.

At some point, three Throwing Tags had lodged into his arms, legs, and flank, but he paid them not the slightest mind as he pursued Silver Moon.

THUD— THWACK—!

Silver Moon likewise could not avoid every one of the hidden weapons Killing Moon sent flying.

He avoided only the fatal blows; the powerful hidden weapons and the qi wrapped around them grazed him, and the number of shallow wounds on his body grew as well.

The scent of blood grew progressively thicker, and his speed was visibly slowing.

“I’ll kill you!”

Killing Moon’s expression as he threw his hidden weapons was by now fully soaked in madness.

And so, right around the time the smoke from the Smoke Bomb Silver Moon had detonated thinned out—

WHOOOSH—

A black silhouette burst out of the smoke and charged toward Killing Moon.

Killing Moon, as if he had been waiting for this, drew out the axes he had stuck into both his thighs.

And then—

CLANG—! CLANG CLANG CLANG! CLANG!

Axes and blades clashed fiercely.

Silver Moon’s weapons were two short blades.

CLANG— CLANG CLANG— KAAANG—!

The collisions between short blades and axes sparked small bursts of fire within the smoke that had yet to fully clear.

“Blood Art! Reveal your Blood Art!!” 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Completely submerged in madness, Killing Moon swung his axes like a lunatic.

Whether his own axes got nicked or not, he did not care in the slightest; he only poured out attacks meant to kill Silver Moon.

For Silver Moon as well, blocking every last attack pouring in without pattern was not easy.

The sharp edges of the axes added more and more shallow wounds to Silver Moon’s body, and gradually his black clothes grew wet with blood.

“Khahaha! Hahahahaha! Let’s see the Blood Art of the bastard who monopolizes the Cult Master’s love! Blood Art! Use your Blood Art, hurry!”

CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG—!

The exchange of attacks between the two grew steadily faster and fiercer.

Killers were experts at cutting off an opponent’s life in a single stroke; they were not existences accustomed to prolonged combat.

And that was something no two people knew better than them, both of whom had been raised as killers under Blood Demon.

CLANG CLANG CLANG—! CLANG CLANG!

The two of them traded attacks in a fierce exchange.

It felt as though the neck-and-neck battle would not end until one of them collapsed from exhaustion.

WHOOOOOSH—!

Seeing Silver Moon draw up his Blood Qi, Killing Moon’s lips curled even deeper.

‘Stupid bastard!’

The Soul-Breaking Severance Sword Art was a Blood Art that left Blood Qi in the wounds inflicted on the opponent, driving them to death by blood loss.

However, there was one more ability hidden in the Soul-Breaking Severance Sword Art.

If the opponent, ignoring their wounds, drew up their cultivation at once, that cultivation would collide with the qi lodged in the wounds, and the Blood Qi would dig even deeper into the wounds.

Killing Moon had infused Blood Qi into his hidden weapons the same way he did when wielding the Soul-Breaking Severance Sword Art.

Which meant, in other words, that all the wounds spread across Silver Moon’s body were under the influence of the Soul-Breaking Severance Sword.

‘To charge in like that knowing nothing!’

Wasn’t it truly, profoundly stupid!

On the surface, it looked as if he was pressing forward, but in truth he was stepping toward the abyss on his own!

CLANG CLANG—! CLANG CLANG! KAAANG—!

Killing Moon stepped back and, pretending to struggle to keep up, accepted those foolish attacks.

So that, drunk on his own sense of victory, Silver Moon would draw up even more cultivation, Killing Moon let himself be pushed back just as he pleased.

CLANG— CLANG CLANG! KANG!

Dozens more exchanges passed, and just as Killing Moon was thinking that Silver Moon’s movements had slowed even more—

RRRRRRUMBLE—

As Killing Moon had expected, Silver Moon drew up his qi in a single surge.

Killing Moon was certain that this would be Silver Moon’s final, ultimate attack.

“You said you were curious what kind of Blood Art I use, did you?”

“!”

A strange light flared in Killing Moon’s eyes.

At last!

At last he was trying to use the Blood Art bestowed on him by the Cult Master!

His worry that the fight might end without him ever seeing Second Moon’s Blood Art had been proven laughable.

Silver Moon was drawing up his last strength to deploy his Blood Art.

The qi Silver Moon was drawing up began to condense into his right hand.

‘I’ll watch closely!’

Seeing the crimson-black qi swirling around Silver Moon’s right hand, Killing Moon crossed his axes in front of his body.

“I...”

Silver Moon discarded the short blade he had been holding in his right hand.

The fact that he even threw away his weapon only heightened Killing Moon’s anticipation.

And in that moment—

“do not use Blood Arts...!”

WHOOSH—

Silver Moon thrust his qi-filled fist toward Killing Moon.

It was, in the most literal sense, one fist.

A single punch driven out with strength, with no adornment, no complex form.

KABOOOM—!!

“!!”

Killing Moon received that punch, into which Silver Moon had poured his entire strength, head-on.

It was fortunate he had managed to block it with his axes in the moment Silver Moon threw the punch; the hand and arm gripping his axes tingled all at once from the force of the blow.

The attack was so honest and simple that it was hard to believe it had come from a killer, and Killing Moon let out a short “Ha!” of laughter without realizing it.

The fact that Silver Moon, in the end, had not used a Blood Art was also absurd beyond belief.

SHHHH—

As Killing Moon was shoved back by Silver Moon’s strength, a smirk he could not hide spread across his lips.

Whatever the case, Silver Moon was finished now.

Having drawn up that much cultivation, even if Killing Moon did nothing in particular, the wounds he already had would take him to death.

‘No, I should be the one to take that bastard’s breath with my own hands....’

Just as those thoughts were continuing—

THUNK—!

“!”

A sharp sensation bloomed in his chest.

Killing Moon’s body went rigid.

He rolled his eyes downward and looked at his own chest.

A well-forged sword was piercing straight through his chest.

‘...Come to think of it....’

Where... was it...?

The bastard’s sword...?

Killing Moon followed the sword that was skewering his chest and turned his head.

But all he could see was a not-so-thick tree with his back pressed against it.

The sword had pierced through the tree, and only its blade stuck out on the other side.

“Y-you... since... when....”

GURK—

A clump of dark red blood spilled out from Killing Moon’s lips.

STEP—

Silver Moon walked toward Killing Moon’s front.

Killing Moon barely managed to lift his head and face Silver Moon.

In that moment, Killing Moon’s gaze shook violently.