[Seiji's POV]
'What am I missing?'
It was a question I've asked myself more tis than I could count during my one-year training.
I started my training arc strong. Obsessed with killing Kokushibo, I trained in the style of Moon Breathing. I learned it from from my mory, replaying my first fight with him again and again until I could move like him and fight like him.
It was not just for the sake of imitation either, I was trying to beco Kokushibo himself so that I could find out what his weakness was. And I was successful for the most part.
I beca a human version of him, I mastered Moon Breathing as I did with every other Breathing Style.
After that ca the discovery of what it ant to be a real swordsman. I realized that I could not be limited to forms, I could not be limited to the enhancent of breathing styles alone. I had to be powerful in every inch of my body and sharpen every little skill until they beca deadly techniques of their own.
I created Ice Breathing, which was arguably the most complete breathing style in the world. It was on par with Sun Breathing in its sheer genius and technical complexity.
Ice Breathing did not focus only on the expansion of lungs or breathing patterns, it also focused on simple footwork, casual swings, theoretical techniques and even balance.
It was also the only Breathing Style that could manifest its own elent. Its effects were not just imaginary, the ice was real.
That sounded like the final power-up didn't it? The conclusion to my evolution as a Demon Slayer. t was the pinnacle of what could be achieved in this universe.
Other swordsn literally beca demons for their Breathing Style to be on the level of Ice Breathing.
But by that point, I was only three months into my one-year training, and I felt imnsely unsatisfied.
There was sothing missing in .
Sothing so huge that it made feel like a half-finished puzzle. It made Ice Breathing feel insignificant.
But what was it?
"What am I missing?" the words echoed in the silence of the night.
More than once, I suspected that it was the supernatural that was missing. Perhaps it was my own humanity that was holding back.
If I were to beco a demon or sothing similar using the Blue Spider Lily, maybe then I would feel complete.
Maybe then I would be able to dog-walk my enemies like I wish I could.
If I was already this strong as a human, imagine a demon version of . The Blood Demon Art that would co with my demonification would only be overkill, like strapping a nuclear on a nuclear missile.
But I didn't go that far. No, I refused to stoop that low. I would not beco what I wish to kill, I believed I was stronger than that.
What would be the point of everything if it ant losing myself? I had people I loved, and more importantly, I had people who loved .
To step away from Yoriichi's legacy and to carve my own path was so much easier said than done.
So I paused, like most warriors do at so point in their life.
I stopped trying to force innovation and allowed creativity to take its ti.
I started again from the beginning, like a complete nobody who wanted to beco the strongest swordsman in the world.
I went as far as recalling my past life knowledge to search for inspiration in people I thought were fictional.
Who were the greatest swordsn in fiction that I know of? Dracule Mihawk, Kenshin Himura, Sasaki Kojiro, Atomic Samurai, and even Ichigo.
I looked at these figures to guide . I spent the next month wandering around and gave myself an opportunity to simply observe the world around .
To find what could be, you need to know what was.
Eventually, it happened.
And it t happened in the most unexpected way.
...
I had put away my things on the ground before I engaged in a fight with so demons I found in the dark forest. But when I returned after killing the demons, I found one of my things broken.
A glass container lay shattered on the dirt as dical spills spilt out.
"That's interesting," I said to myself.
It was interesting because it was not my intention to break the glass, quite the opposite actually. At this point, I had such high mastery over my sword and techniques that I rarely destroyed things during a fight. Even when I go full force, I never cause collateral damage to the surroundings.
But here, the glass container which I specifically put away for safety was broken.
"It must be due to Thunder Wind Breathing," I said while scratching my head. Indeed, I used Thunder Wind Breathing during the battle. It might sound overkill but I was training it.
And the demon probably deserved it.
It was the fastest Breathing Style and my sheer speed created a high-pitched sound that could shatter glass in the vicinity. It even chases away animals.
That was not new by any ans, but at that mont, I found it to be awfully interesting.
So I played with it for a bit.
I took the largest fragnt of the shattered glass and tried to break it using the sound of my speed. It was harder than anticipated but after ten minutes, I was able to shatter the glass without touching it.
Crack!!
I never took the ti to understand how breaking glass with sound worked, but under close observation, I found that the glass shattered when the vibration released by my sword matched the natural vibration of the glass.
That made realize sothing.
Vibration.
Sound was vibration.
And I could see vibrations, which ans I could see sound. Although I was deaf, sound itself was still very much a part of my life.
I just saw it instead of hearing it.
"Of course, I have been doing that all my life, haven't I?" I said to myself.
How else would I be able to communicate with others if not for my ability to see sound? Although I was deaf, it beca almost impossible to tell that I could not hear.
It started with reading lips, then reading the movent of the throat and then the vibration of the vocal cords. Eventually, I was able to understand what people were saying just by looking at the vibrations that ca out of their mouths when they spoke.
I had been unconsciously training the ability to see vibrations all my life.
I looked away from the shattered glass on the ground and looked at my surroundings. My eyes released a glow of realisation and it was like I was seeing the world with different eyes.
Not literally. More like I was just now noticing so things that I'd seen all this ti yet ignored. Exactly like how one ignores the things he sees in his peripheral vision.
It was not the first ti I saw it but it was the first ti I cared enough to notice. Everything in my surroundings had a natural vibration. A rhythm that they released just by simply existing.
My eyes caught a giant boulder in the distance. I walked towards it while observing its natural frequency. The atoms in the rock were constantly moving, causing the vibration.
It was very different from that of glass. While glass had one single frequency, the boulder was complicated and had different frequencies at different layers.
"I wonder..." I said while standing in front of the rock almost twice my size.
I picked up a small rock and started beating my sword to create a vibration similar to that of the boulder. It took forever but at that point, I was too invested to just give up.
The night passed, and the sun rose. It was already past noon when I was finally able to match the natural frequency of the boulder.
After that, I proceeded to stab the boulder with my vibrating sword and there was zero resistance. But the mont my sword plunged into the boulder, it reacted violently.
BOOOM!!
The boulder shattered with a simple poke, just like how the glass shattered. The sword I was holding in my hand shattered too.
I smiled, it was just like I expected.
It took too much ti and effort. It would be easier for to cut a mountain normally than to cut a simple boulder this way.
But the prospect of my new discovery gave ideas. I was searching for sothing different and new and this was exactly what I hoped for.
So for the next few weeks, I focused on my new discovery.
And even I could never expect where that would lead .
"Back to you," I said while looking at the boulder in front of . I used my newly acquired iron rod to beat my weapon and tune its vibration to the frequency I wanted.
It only took a few minutes to do so. It was much easier to tune a sword when you knew what to do. It was like a normal person and a musician tuning a guitar. The normal man might take days or years to tune a guitar correctly without help, while the musician could do it in a few seconds.
After I was done, I drew a line on the boulder with my vibrating sword but the frequency was unlike last ti.
This ti, the vibration was more controlled and I aid at the molecular level. Shattering the boulder-like glass was no longer my intention. What I tried to do was vibrate my blade just enough to separate the internal bonds of the rock along a precise cut.
I drew a line, and then the boulder split in half.
It was as easy as that.
Everything has a rhythm – a natural frequency at which it vibrates at the molecular level. And if you know that and use it to your advantage, then you could cut anything.
I guess I've found it.
It was only just the beginning but I saw the endless potential of this simple concept. It was a new path to grow that was completely my own.
Yoriichi built a whole power system from breathing. I was about to do the sa with sound.
How ironic.
The deaf weaponizes sound.
...
[IMAGE]
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