Meanwhile, Gyutaro also seemed agitated.
He continuously scraped his body with his nails, creating one bloody gash after another. His body trembled as his eyes fixed on Byakuya.
Gyutaro said, "Don't you feel anything?"
"What are you referring to?" Byakuya scoffed, then added, "Is it the poison on your scythe? Sorry, it doesn't work on me."
Gyutaro stated, "That is a specially formulated potent poison. Not even the Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps could remain unaffected."
"Perhaps because I'm not a Hashira?" Byakuya replied. "Therefore, your poison is useless against me!"
Byakuya had long sensed the poison on Gyutaro's scythe but had simply ignored it.
Moreover, there was nothing to worry about. With his Poison-Poison Fruit, any poison was ineffective against Byakuya.
Gyutaro declared, "It seems we can't do anything to each other."
"I don't think so," Byakuya said, looking around. "Your sister, that demon named Daki, seems to be hiding?"
Gyutaro's expression remained unchanged, but instinctively, he began scratching his body again with his nails, revealing his anxiety.
Byakuya continued, "Although I'm curious why she, as Upper Rank Six, is so weak, she did explicitly state that she was Upper Rank Six, and there was a number in her eyes..."
As Byakuya spoke, he slowly paced.
"Meaning, you are Upper Rank Six, and your sister is also Upper Rank Six. Upper Rank Six isn't a single person, but two individuals," Byakuya narrowed his eyes. "So, if there are two Upper Rank Sixes, wouldn't you need to cut off both your heads to kill you?"
Gyutaro's face finally changed. He suddenly shouted, "Hide, don't come out!"
Byakuya curled his lips. Gyutaro's shout was tantamount to admitting that his guess was correct.
To kill Upper Rank Six, both Gyutaro and Daki's heads had to be severed.
However, Gyutaro wasn't necessarily foolish. Byakuya would have intended to test this theory regardless of whether Gyutaro shouted, as having two Upper Rank Sixes felt inherently problematic.
At the same time...
Gyutaro brandished his scythe and charged towards Byakuya again.
Gyutaro now displayed a reckless, life-defying attitude. No matter how Byakuya slashed him, as long as Daki's head wasn't cut off simultaneously, he wouldn't die!
"Ah!"
Gyutaro roared, slashing his own chest with his scythe. Immediately, a large amount of blood sprayed out, transforming into sharp blood scythes that attacked Byakuya.
Rumble, rumble!
As Byakuya leaped, the roof was instantly shattered.
Byakuya fell back to the ground from the roof, looking at Gyutaro with a smile and saying, "Finding your sister is easy."
The moment Byakuya finished speaking, he suddenly lifted his leg and stomped down hard on the ground.
Boom!
A deafening roar erupted.
The ground was pulverized by Byakuya's stomp, and simultaneously...
Zzzzz!
A sharp electrical crackle sounded, and countless currents surged from under Byakuya's feet, spreading in all directions.
Azure arcs of electricity swept across the ground and houses.
In the blink of an eye, a section of the surrounding buildings was engulfed in Byakuya's electrical field.
Streams of current raged, flickering and continuously destroying the ground and houses, and then...
Rumble, rumble, rumble...
Due to the electricity, many surrounding houses caught fire and exploded.
And at this moment...
With a bang.
Daki burst out from the roof of a house.
The instant Daki emerged, a current from behind struck, tearing open a section of the roof and then soaring into the sky.
Byakuya grinned at Gyutaro, "Found her!"
Gyutaro's face contorted again, and he shouted towards Daki, "Run, run far away!"
As he shouted, Gyutaro began running in the opposite direction of Daki.
The requirement of severing both heads simultaneously applied not only to Gyutaro but also to Daki.
Without Gyutaro's head being severed at the same time, Daki's head, even if decapitated, would regenerate and she would not die.
Therefore, as long as the two created distance between them, Byakuya would be unable to kill them.
Because if Byakuya killed one and returned to kill the other, the first one would have already reattached its head. Even if Byakuya took the severed head, it wouldn't matter.
Reattaching their heads simply sped up their regeneration. Even without their original heads, they could regrow them.
This ability was one of the reasons Gyutaro and Daki held the position of Upper Rank Six.
Only by severing both their heads in an extremely short and nearly simultaneous period could they be killed.
"So, in simple terms, it's about being fast enough," Byakuya said, looking in Daki's direction. "Right?"
The moment Byakuya spoke, his body suddenly transformed into a bolt of lightning and darted towards Daki.
In the blink of an eye, Byakuya caught up to the fleeing Daki.
Upon seeing this, Daki immediately released her obi, crossing it in front of her.
But...
It was useless!
Byakuya raised his blade, Rai-geki Noma, and swung it down at Daki.
In front of Rai-geki Noma, wreathed in lightning, Daki's obi was as fragile as paper and was easily sliced apart by Byakuya.
Then...
With a thud!
Accompanied by the sound of flesh tearing, Byakuya followed through with a sword strike to Daki's neck, severing her head. He then reached out, grabbed Daki's hair, and held the head aloft.
Seeing this, Gyutaro began to flee without hesitation.
Run, run, run...
As long as he ran far enough, Daki would be fine.
As long as Byakuya couldn't cut off his head in time, Daki would recover.
The best way to protect Daki now was to run.
And coincidentally, this was what Gyutaro excelled at; he could run very well and very fast.
Then...
The moment Gyutaro tensed his body to leap forward...
"Where do you think you're going?"
Byakuya's voice rang out in front of Gyutaro.
As Gyutaro looked up in surprise, he found Byakuya blocking his path.
In mere moments, after severing Daki's head, Byakuya had returned to stand before Gyutaro.
A sword was raised and fell!
A flash of lightning streaked!
Against the backdrop of the night, the lightning was incredibly dazzling, brilliant, and bright...
And cold!
Gyutaro's eyes widened as he felt his head separate from his body.
He watched as his body toppled to the ground, crashing heavily onto the earth.
...