In the backyard

Akaza can be seen holding Saigai tightly by the neck, causing her to hardly breathe, her feet slightly raised from the ground

"Speak Woman! Where is he!!"

But even in this situation, despite how close to death she currently is, she just looked at him indifferently refusing to talk

But then, at this moment and before anyone could react, the sound of a sword unsheathing sounded followed by a sword trail in the air

*Swish*

Followed by this sound Akaza's hand holding Saigai suddenly got cut from the forearm, then this slash was followed by a quick side kick into Akaza's abdomen which sent him flying

The impact was so strong it caused him to hit the ground and then crash into the estate's wall

"Are you okay?"

Looking at the Lorien who suddenly appeared saving her just now, Saigai didn't look happy at all, rather she tried to warn Lorien her voice full of panic

"It's not a human! It's a demon! run!"

After all, Saigai didn't know anything about Lorien's strength, all she knew was that he was a genius in martial arts and swordsmanship, but she didn't think that he'll be a match for a demon from the legends

Looking at the panicked Saigai, the first thing Lorien did was touch the hand that was still clenching Saigai's neck even after the other half was cut

[Dream/Reality]: Erase

The moment his ability was activated the hand instantly disappeared as if it was never there

Looking at the somewhat disheveled and panicked Saigai Lorien wanted to calm her down, but he knew that it wasn't time for that as he had a bigger issue to face and there was not enough time

So after making sure she was okay, he turned his attention towards Akaza's direction as he spoke to her in a calm voice

"It's okay, just leave this place, if you stay here you'll just be a burden"

Hearing this she froze for a moment before quickly reacting and running out of the backyard while looking reluctantly in Lorien's direction

Seeing Saigai leave safely Lorien could finally focus on his target

*Step*

*Step*

Looking at Akaza who was intact and with his hand fully recovered Lorien couldn't help but frown as he looked at the normal katana he created just now

'Hmm...This won't do'

[Reality]: Nishirin blade

Suddenly the normal katana in his hand blurred for a moment before completely transforming into a new sword from the inside out

Actually, Lorien doesn't need a nishirin blade as his ability is more than enough to easily kill Akaza, after all being a demon doesn't give him immunity from direct erasure (getting turned into a dream)

But Lorien wasnt about to do this, after all this is the first demon he actually met, moreover it's actually someone he's seen in the anime

This felt a bit weird for Lorien, it's similar to the feeling you get when you first meet a celebrity in real life

But this feeling only laster for a moment before getting thrown aside by Lorien, after all this is real life, and no matter how much he liked or disliked said characters in the anime, it has nothing to do with reality

Right now Akaza attacked Saigai and he could probably guess that his real target is himself, so its obvious that they are already enemies

Thinking of this a cold smile appeared on Lorien's face

'Just in time for me to test my abilities...'

While Lorien was observing Akaza, the opponent was doing the same

'I Cant feel his presence? My compass isn't detecting anything, I can see him yet I can't feel his battle spirit, it's as if he doesn't exist'

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

But yet, Akaza was quickly able to restore his focus

'This is a first..., but on the battlefield, you have to always be ready for all unexpected changes'

"Moreover..."

Akaza couldn't help but feel excited as it's been a long time since he found a worthy opponent

So without saying anything Akaza rushed toward Lorien like a cannonball throwing a left punch

This punch was very quick, yet Lorien was able to react quite easily, and before it could impact him he slashed up with his sword instantly cutting off Akaza's left hand, completely defusing the attack

Lorien quickly counter-attacked with a quick kick but this time Akaza evaded it by jumping back a few meters away

The demon flipped a couple of times in the air before landing safely on his feet, even his cut off arm completely regenerated before landing

After this small 'examination', Akaza's interest level spiked as he said his face full of excitement and pure joy

"Hahaha! You are strong! Are you a Demon Slayer?"

But Lorien just shook his head and responded

"Lorien, a umm....traveler?"

"I'm Akaza, Why don't you become a demon! So we can battle forever"

But Lorien shook his head indifferently, refusing without a second thought, his determination was obvious to all

"I See"

Noticing this Akaza was a bit disappointed but then he quickly rushed towards Lorien attacking without hesitation

"Then DIE!!"

This time the attack was more ferocious than earlier, but even then, Lorien still blocked it easily

*Boom*

Akaza wasnt done yet as he started attacking relentlessly, his movement like flowing water, attacking with both hands and sometimes using his feet trying to land a complete hit on Lorien

But sadly all those attacks were for naught as no matter how much Akaza tried to land a hit, it was useless

Every strike he threw Lorien was able to react easily and counterattack in the most perfect way possible, every counterattack was lethal

If it weren't for Akaza's quick regeneration and him sacrificing a limb from time to time to defend his neck, he would have probably lost

Both parties clashed at incredible speeds, Saigai who got out of the way but still watched them from afar refusing to leave Lorien alone, wasn't able to see anything other than two blurry figures appearing and disappearing from time to time

But then, Akaza abruptly jumped back into the air as he shouted

"Destructive Breath: Air Type"

*Bang!*

Punching the air a shock wave permeated toward Lorien who didn't even bother to defend

[Reality]: No shockwave

And as soon as the shockwave touched Lorien's body it disappeared as if it was nothing but a light breeze

"Huh?"

This wasn't something Akaza expected, he couldn't even understand what happened

'Why did my attack disappear?'

But even while pondering Akaza didnt pause for a moment as he attacked again

His style of combat was very brutal as he didn't even care about injury as he could easily regenerate which made it a bit annoying for Lorien

With his hand shining a light blue Akaza punched over and over again, amplifying his destructive power using his blood demon art

This blood demon art called Destructive Breath allows Akaza to manipulate shockwaves

Akaza uses it in combination with his Soryu Style Martial Arts to attack from a distance and amplify the damage he does

Another part of his ability is the 'Compass Needle' technique, which is essentially a form of advanced extrasensory perception that enables him to sense a person's will to fight

Akaza uses this information to instinctively aim for their vitals and weak points, determine their strength at a glance, predict where and how his opponents will attack, sense their location and enhance the lethality and accuracy of his attacks...

But sadly for Akaza, the 'Compass Needle' technique is completely useless for Lorien as he couldn't sense his presence at all which caused him to be slightly disoriented throwing his senses into a chaotic state

As for the reason it's useless, it's mainly because of Lorien's Ability [Dream/Reality]

After awakening said Ability and it transforming his body, it made him intune with dreams and reality

Only those who are very attuned to those fluctuations or have an absurd sensory ability able to perceive even the fluctuations in dreams and reality can sense him

Otherwise, it's the perfect camouflage that Lorien didnt even know he had, moreover this 'camouflage' becomes stronger when he uses his abilities actively

*Crack*

Suddenly as the two were clashing, Lorien's Sword cracked, causing Akaza's attack to continue on its way toward Lorien's face unimpeded

"DIEEE!!!!"

But then something he didn't expect happened, the attack he thought will end this battle phased through Lorien as if he was hitting air

[Dreams]: Traveling Dreams

This ability has nothing to do with combat, it's the ability Lorien uses to enter dreams and travel in them as he likes, that's its true purpose

It does this by transforming Lorien's body from a state of 'Reality/Existence' to that of a 'Dream/Non-Existence'

But when used by Lorien here in combat its use is similar to a Logia devil fruit ability, just more shameless as Haki probably couldn't touch him either

Completely ignoring Akaza who jumped back a couple of meters back after his attack failed to observe the situation

Lorien looked at the broken sword in his hand with a frown

'He kept attacking the same location...I didn't notice it earlier in combat as it was too hidden'

'In terms of physical strength I am slightly stronger than him, but he seems to have better control over his body strength, I can only use 80% of my body strength while he can use 100% or even explode with more which caused us to be equal

In terms of pure skills I am above him, but he has much more combat experience than me, and with his desperate attack methods he's also able to make up for the skills part'

Just as Lorien was thinking about the past few clashes Akaza looked at Lorien with an enthusiastic look

"What was that! a special ability?"

"It's really a pity to kill you now, come on, become a demon, you can gain immortality so we can fight forever..."

But Lorien completely ignored him as he continued to ponder

'I now know how strong I am compared to others in this world'

With his small 'test' ending Lorien's 'Aura' shifted as the 'reality' around him started 'shaking'

Meanwhile, Akaza who was still trying to convince Lorien to become a demon suddenly stopped talking as his eyes shrank greatly

'What is this??'

It suddenly felt as if the world itself had malice towards him, as if everything around him wanted to kill him

This was completely different from anything he had ever felt before

But not waiting for him to think about it, he suddenly heard Lorien speak

"Playtime over, let's end this"