Hantengu vs. Akaza: Is Zohakuten powerful enough to challenge Akaza?
Hantengu vs. Akaza: Is Zohakuten powerful enough to challenge Akaza?
Would Hantengu's strongest version, Zohakuten, be powerful enough to challenge Akaza? Let's find out. But before that, a spoiler warning is in order. Now let's look at the powers of our two suitors individually.
Contents
I. Character Profiles
1. Hantengu
One of the twelve Kizuki and Upper Moons, Hantengu is the Upper Moon 4 demon who was given the task of destroying the Blacksmith Village with Gyokko. He fights against and , Genya Shinazugawa and in the Swordsmith Village Arc.
Blood Demon Art
Hantengu's Blood Demon Art, Emotion Manifestation grants him the ability to split into four clones of himself, all containing some emotional aspect. The clones are younger versions of himself and each has control of a specific elemental power. When Hantengu is sliced, clones manifest through each slice.
However, Hantengu only has the ability to manifest four emotion clones. Once all four are manifested, he cannot manifest new clones, but the rest of the clones manifest as the clones of the four emotions, but with decreasing powers.
Hangentu himself is the personification of his fear. And Hangentu's four emotional clones are Sekido, Karaku, Aizetsu, and Urogi. They represent rage, pleasure, sorrow and joy respectively. Each of them holds a particular power. Sekido's power is electrokinesis, Karaku's aerokinesis, Aizetsu's spear throw, and Urogi's power is Sonic Scream.
After splitting into four emotional clones, Hantengu transforms into a small version of himself, called Urami. Urami is the size of a rat, allowing him to stay hidden while his clones fight. However, Urami is neither weak nor powerless. He has an incredibly strong neck that even a normal neck cannot cut and breaks in half instead. Not only that, he can also use the powers of the four emotional clones.
Hantengu also has another special power in which Sekido can absorb the rest of the three clones and become a younger, more powerful version known as Zohakuten. This new combined clone is stronger than the others and can use the abilities of all four clones as well as its own Blood Demon Art: Wood Manipulation.
Weaknesses
- Cutting off the heads of all four emotional clones at the same time increases the time it takes for them to regenerate.
- Cutting off Urami's head will end Hantengu.
2. He comes
One of the most powerful characters in the series, Akaza is the demon Upper Moon 3. He serves as a secondary antagonist in the Infinity Train Arc where he fights and ultimately kills the Flame. Akaza later fights his final battle against Tanjiro.
Blood Demon Art
Akaza's bloodthirsty demon art is called Destructive Death, which is heavily influenced by the Soryu style, the martial arts he practiced as a human. Using his Blood Demon Art, he can create powerful shockwaves by performing various Soryu-style poses. The shockwaves are powerful enough for people to fly under their force alone.
The true destructive power of this ability lies in Akaza's mastery of Soryu-style martial arts and superior hand-to-hand combat skills. It doesn't matter if his opponent fights with a weapon, Akaza's martial arts skills and powerful shockwaves are enough to dominate powerful enemies.
Akaza can also sense his opponent's fighting spirit with his special Compass Needle technique. He uses this knowledge not only to assess his enemy, but also to keep an eye on their position to avoid being surprised.
Through Destructive Death, Akaza implements a number of techniques, including:
- Air Type
- Disorder
- Compass Needle
- Annihilation Type
- Leg Type: Crown Splitter
- Leg Type: Explosive Flurry
- Leg Type: Flying Planet Thousand Wheels
- Eight-Layered Demon Core
- Crushing Type: Ten Thousand Leaves Flashing Willow
- Final Form: Blue Silver Chaotic Afterglow
Weaknesses
- By entirely repressing one's fighting spirit, one can hide their location from Akaza to stage a surprise attack.
II. Hantengu versus He comes
Although their rank in the Kizuki Twelve makes it seem like their powers are comparable, with Hantengu being Upper Moon 4 and Akaza being Upper Moon 3, the truth is that there is a huge difference between their power levels. Akaza is faster, more agile and physically stronger than Hantengu, and has better regenerative abilities.
Even though Hantengu splits into his emotional clones, Akaza is more than capable of handling them. But he will surely encounter difficulties in this task. The four together could team up to defeat Akaza, but with his Blood Demon Art, he could decapitate them all at once.
Additionally, he could also slice off Urami's head with his shockwave. Ordinary Nichirin blades cannot cut Urami's neck, but with breathing techniques one could accomplish the task. Blood Demon Art is also effective in this, evident when Tanjiro nearly decapitates Urami with his Nichirin blade imbued with Nezuko's Blood Demon Art.
With Akaza's speed and efficiency, he would pass through Urami before Zohakuten could arise.
III. Zohakuten vs. Akaza: Is Zohakuten powerful enough to challenge Akaza?
Zohakuten is the most powerful form of Hantengu, which only manifests when Urami, the small version of Hantengu, finds himself facing danger.
In this case, Sekido absorbs the other emotion clones and dyes his skin to become Zohakuten. This version of Hantengu appears the youngest and is the most powerful with wood manipulation like his Blood Demon Art.
Zohakuten can implement his wood manipulation in several ways, including manifesting giant wooden dragons. He can also use the Blood Demon Arts of the four emotion clones. But even then, Zohakuten won't be powerful enough to challenge Akaza.
The Upper Moon 3 Demon has overwhelming speed and strength at his side. His Blood Demon Art may seem simple but it is powerful enough to kill a Hashira as powerful as Rengoku.
In fact, Akaza kills Rengoku so quickly that Flame Hashira doesn't even have a chance to awaken his Demon Slayer Mark. Even in his final battle against Tanjiro and Giyu, where Tanjiro has mastered his Hinokami Kagura and Giyu has awakened his Demon Slayer Mark, Akaza manages to overpower them.
The same cannot be said for Zohakuten, who suffers a defeat at the hands of Mitsuri after she awakens her demon slayer mark. After looking at the storyline objectively, it becomes clear that while Zohakuten is incredibly strong, he is still no match for Akaza.
Conclusion
As we see in the discussion above, although Hantengu and his strongest version, Zohakuten, are one of the strongest characters in the series, Akaza is still a level above him. This is why if there was a Hantengu versus Akaza fight, Akaza would prove to be the winner.
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