Chapter 44: Transparent World. Mecha Debut!

Dark Alloy Armor, arm!

A ripple surged through the surrounding space; components of the [Dark Alloy Armor] materialized sequentially and attached to Zero’s body, completing the arming.

KANG!

Zero, now fully armored, slammed his fists together with a thunderous crash.

“Let’s begin—the mad battle time!”

On the high platform, Kibutsuji Muzan once again saw Zero transformed into this humanoid monster, and a terrible premonition stirred within him.

He shouted urgently: “Use your full strength! Eliminate him immediately!”

SHUAI!

Zero’s figure vanished from his spot in the blink of an eye.

Clutching the first and second forms of the [Dark Alloy Four Forms], he charged straight toward the Four Demons of Joy, Anger, Sorrow, and Pleasure.

He had a persistent feeling these four little ones were not as simple as they seemed, so he targeted them first.

“Damn it!”

Blood Demon Art. Thunder…

PUSCHI!

Before the Demon of Anger could unleash his Blood Demon Art, his head was severed; immediately after, the Demons of Sorrow and Pleasure were also beheaded.

The Demon of Joy, leveraging his flight advantage, launched a sonic attack from midair.

Blood Demon Art. Wild Roar!

HONG!

A deafening sonic wave slammed toward Zero’s back, but before it could reach him, he dodged away.

Then, while the Demon of Joy was still unprepared, Zero hurled his second form like a boomerang—it flew out and returned.

The Demon of Joy tried to attack again, but then his vision flipped upside down—he finally realized his head had been cut off.

All of this happened in mere breaths.

“Become a demon and fight alongside me! Hahaha…”

Destruction Art. Shattered Form. Ten Thousand Leaves Fluttering Willow!

Inosuke lunged forward, leaping high into the air and bringing down a devastating downward punch.

Zero sidestepped and leapt away, evading the blow.

Inosuke’s attack missed, leaving only the ground cracked in patterns like leaf veins.

Moon Breathing. Eighth Form. Moon Dragon Tail Wheel!

As Zero prepared to strike again, his combat instinct sensed a violent attack coming from behind.

A massive horizontal slash swept toward him—fast, and accompanied by countless giant crescent blades.

He crossed his first and second forms, spun, and blocked; the armor’s surface bore faint white scratches.

His gaze swept toward Kurohime, and he realized he looked different.

His upper body was bare, his aura immensely stronger—even rivaling Kibutsuji Muzan’s!

His blade had transformed into a grotesque, irregular edge.

No time to ponder—he charged forward, raised his blade, and swept it horizontally toward Kurohime’s neck.

Kurohime, awakened with the scar pattern and the Transparent World, showed no panic; he swung his grotesque blade and unleashed his technique.

Moon Breathing, Fourteenth Form: Violent Transformation, Full Moon!

With his grotesque blade, he unleashed countless massive sickle-shaped wind blades, as if shattering everything before him, accompanied by a storm of giant crescent blades.

“This attack is overwhelming!” Facing the swarm of crescent blades, Zero charged straight through the center.

Though that spot held many blade currents, it was relatively weaker.

With his armor’s defense, he could definitely get through!

But reality did not match Zero’s expectation.

Kurohime seemed to have predicted Zero’s trajectory and switched techniques instantly.

Moon Breathing. Ninth Form. Descending Moon. Linked Faces!

His grotesque blade struck the air with chaotic, intersecting invisible slashes, generating multiple crossing wind blades and countless crescent blades, sealing off Zero’s path forward!

With so many crescent blades, Zero could only halt and retreat.

Blood Demon Art. Dark Winter Ice Pillars!

Blood Demon Art. Eightfold Belt Slash!

Blood Demon Art. Flying Blood Scythe!

Blood Demon Art. Thunder Kill!

As Zero retreated, ice pillars and dense lightning rained down from behind and above him.

On his left, eight belts formed a net in midair and descended, as if slicing the opponent into pieces.

On his right, countless thin, blood-blade strikes—poisoned and relentless—locked him in place.

“Don’t panic. Stay calm! No matter how dense the attack, there’s always a flaw!”

Even now, Zero remained calm, accelerating his thoughts.

He knew clearly—if he lost his composure, he wouldn’t just face a dead end—he’d face death.

“My eyes are not ordinary! If I focus deeply, sharpen my vision to its peak, I’ll find the flaw!”

“What is this?!” Suddenly, everything before Zero became crystal clear.

He saw the bodily structure of each Upper Moon demon—bones, organs, blood vessels, blood flow…

HONG! HONG! HONG! HONG!

All four attacks struck, exploding into black smoke; the ground where Zero stood shattered like a spiderweb, forming a shallow crater.

“It hurts!” The female demon among the sibling demons suddenly felt her belts severed entirely, the cut edges burning with intense pain.

But seeing Zero dead, her irritation vanished; the severed belts were merely the last desperate flailing of a dying man.

What a pity—a handsome man like that.

She turned to gaze at Kibutsuji Muzan on the high platform, her eyes filled with adoration.

Kibutsuji Muzan paid no attention; his gaze remained locked on the black smoke.

He remembered clearly: none of the Upper Moons possessed a Blood Demon Art that produced black smoke. Then where did this smoke come from?

That terrible premonition grew stronger.

Inosuke, seeing this, felt only regret; his Luo Zhen beneath his feet had lost all sense of Zero’s presence.

Under such an assault, no human could survive—not even a Pillar.

“What a shame…” Inosuke thought.

Suddenly, Kibutsuji Muzan saw a flicker of red light within the black smoke.

PANG!

A massive cannon blast erupted, shooting a beam of energy forward.

Kibutsuji Muzan barely dodged, but the one behind him—Meiyo—was not so lucky.

The energy blast obliterated her and the shamisen in her arms into fragments.

Though she could regenerate, she was now shattered into pieces, and regeneration was painfully slow.

The shockwave from the cannon blast scattered the surrounding black smoke, revealing the truth.

!!!

The demons saw Zero standing there, unharmed.

Most stunned was Inosuke—his Luo Zhen detected no trace of Zero, not even a whisper of battle aura.

Zero stood just ahead of him, yet if he had to describe it, it was as if a plain, insignificant plant stood before him.

“This… this… impossible! This cannot be! He… he has entered the Supreme Realm!” Inosuke never imagined this white-haired demon hunter had, under such circumstances, stepped into the Supreme Realm he had longed for.

At this moment, Zero held the [Dark Alloy Annihilation Cannon Sniper], his armor disarmed and stored within the [Nanotech Space].

The many attacks had damaged the armor slightly, but not severely—inserting a [Power Crystal] would auto-repair it.

Earlier, Zero had entered a strange state—his mind became transparent, clear.

In this state, he sensed his excess senses shut down, leaving only combat perception.

His opponents’ bodies appeared as if transparent.

His own movement speed, attack prediction, and evasion all improved dramatically.

He could clearly see the blood flow in his opponent’s lungs, and his own muscle contractions became instantly perceptible.

Combined with accelerated perception, the four attacks appeared slow.

The black smoke? Zero had released a smoke bomb; within it, he swiftly severed the belts and found a flaw to evade part of the assault.

After the attacks ended, while the smoke still lingered, he disarmed his armor, retrieved the [Dark Alloy Annihilation Cannon Sniper], and fired “Concentrated Detonation.”

Though he missed Kibutsuji Muzan, he severely wounded Meiyo.

He also noticed the Four Demons of Joy, Anger, Sorrow, and Pleasure had vanished, replaced by a young demon with five thunder drums inscribed with “Hate” on his back, holding an S-shaped drumstick.

Behind him waited dozens of wooden dragons.

“Unpleasant! Utterly unpleasant! Evil ones, die and atone!”

DONG! DONG!

The Demon of Hate rapidly struck twice the thunder drums on his back; two of the wooden dragons spat forth massive lightning attacks and countless giant shockwaves.

Blood Demon Art. Thunder Kill!

Blood Demon Art. Piercing Thrust!

To Zero, all these attacks appeared slowed down several-fold.

“So slow...”

His form flashed at extreme speed, weaving through dense lightning.

He dodged the lightning strikes, then executed a sliding tackle, slipping through the gaps in the massive shockwave.

Yet at that moment, a wooden dragon surged up beneath him, jaws wide, ready to swallow him whole.

This was exactly as Zero had anticipated—he planted his mechanical left hand on the dragon’s snout and lifted himself and the dragon into the air together!

He rotated the barrel of his cannon rifle toward the dragon’s mouth and fired “Concentrated Explosion,” reducing it instantly to splinters.

But the matter was far from over.

Behind the Demon of Hatred, more wooden dragons erupted into the air one after another, attacking Zero.

Facing the relentless onslaught of wooden dragons, Zero twisted his body to evade, then used their bodies as stepping points to leap and rebound.

He continuously pulled out several flashbangs from his Nanospace, and while running and leaping, he pulled the pins with his teeth and hurled them in different directions.

Kibutsuji Muzan assumed these were some strange explosive devices and slashed at them with his grotesque blade, sending out a slash of air—only to find...

Pfft!

The flashbangs split open, unleashing blinding white light that seared his three pairs of eyes, turning his entire vision into a blinding white void.

Upon closer inspection, one could even see tears streaming from his corners.

Akaza kicked one flashbang straight toward Douma—only for Douma to be blinded as well, seeing nothing but white.

As for the Demon of Hatred, he had already commanded the wooden dragon to swallow the flashbang, thus escaping unscathed.

“Despicable, vile villain!”

Blood Demon Art. Infinite Sin Tree!

He struck both drums behind him simultaneously with his drumsticks, summoning countless massive wooden dragons writhing and sweeping everything away.

If Zero landed, he would be crushed by the rolling dragons.

On the other side, Kibutsuji Muzan had lost patience. Five Upper Moon demons had failed to capture a single human—and were even beginning to fall behind.

Nine tubular whips erupted from his back, lashing out with intent to pulverize Zero into dust!

Moon Breathing. Sixteenth Form: Moon Rainbow—Solitary Moon!

After regaining his sight, Kibutsuji Muzan swung his grotesque blade, sending down multiple colossal blade winds that shattered the earth, accompanied by countless crescent-shaped blades raining down.

Blood Demon Art. Crystal Offspring!

Blood Demon Art. Mist Ice: Lotus Bodhisattva!

Douma recovered at this moment and created five miniature ice dolls, each capable of performing the same Blood Demon Arts as his true body.

And one colossal ice figure, shaped like a Bodhisattva seated in prayer with hands clasped.

Blood Demon Art. Overwhelming Sonic Wave!

The Demon of Hatred gathered energy within his mouth and unleashed a supersonic roar capable of effortlessly shattering a human body.

Destruction Kill: Void Form!

This was Akaza’s long-range technique: he punched the empty air with his fist, moving so fast it was nearly invisible.

Blood Demon Art: Flying Blood Scythe!

The male sibling demon swung his blood scythe, sending forth numerous crimson slashes from nearby, each capable of changing direction at his will to encircle Zero from all sides.

Surrounded by attacks from every direction, this was a death trap.

Yet Zero remained expressionless—even a sly, sinister smile curled on his lips.

Kibutsuji Muzan could not understand: how could Zero still smile, facing such an encircling assault!?

What was his confidence based on?

But Kibutsuji Muzan soon got his answer.

“Battle Mech, activate!”

Hum!

Intense ripples erupted around Zero—two colossal mechanical arms extended from the void, shielding him within.

With a thunderous roar, a massive battle mech, composed of dark red and black, appeared before the demons.

Every attack struck the mech’s armor—but left no effect, only faint white scratches that vanished moments later.

Seeing this ten-meter-tall steel monster, feeling the chilling aura radiating from it,

a sense of fear took root in the demons’ hearts, as if they beheld mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

The battle mech opened its arms, revealing Zero safely inside.

Zero stood atop the mech’s palm, raising his cannon rifle once more and firing “Concentrated Explosion” at Mukyo.

Mukyo, still in the midst of regeneration, was blasted into fragments once again.

The reason was simple: since Mukyo controlled the Infinite Castle, destroy her—render her temporarily unable to operate it.

Next, he would make Kibutsuji Muzan and the Upper Moons understand what true madness meant!

He retracted the cannon rifle into his Nanospace and entered the cockpit within the mech’s chest.

【Scanning identity...】

【Scan complete. Identity confirmed.】

【Time Patrol Officer—Zero, welcome back.】

“Initiate 【Overload Operation】! Target: Destroy the Infinite Castle!”

【Initiation complete!】

Overload Operation: Greatly enhances the mech’s combat capabilities across all fronts, but consumes energy at the fastest possible rate.

Zero was glad he had, during equipment preparation, stocked the mech with hundreds of 【Energy Crystals】 as a precaution.

Now it seemed caution was not a bad thing.

“Kibutsuji Muzan—are you ready to bear my wrath?!”

…………