Tamayo lowered her gaze slightly.
"I was too abrupt," she said softly. "I failed to consider his feelings."
At her side, Yushiro nearly crushed his own teeth from clenching so hard.
Why should Lady Tamayo be the one apologizing?
But before that irritation could go any further, Tanjiro finally asked the question that had been weighing on his heart from the very beginning.
"Miss Tamayo... is there really a way to turn a demon back into a human?"
The mont he spoke, the room seed to quiet.
This was not just curiosity.
This was the one answer that could determine Nezuko's future.
Tamayo t his eyes and answered without hesitation.
"I believe there is."
Her voice was calm, but absolute.
"Every illness has its treatnt. Every wound has a way to heal. Even if such a thod does not yet exist, I firmly believe that one day demons can be turned back into humans."
Tanjiro's hands tightened slightly at his sides.
Then Tamayo continued.
"However, before that day cos, I need two things from you."
Tanjiro straightened at once, listening with complete focus.
"The first is permission to study your sister's blood," Tamayo said. "The second is for you to collect, whenever possible, the blood of demons with a high concentration of Muzan's blood."
Tanjiro did not even need ti to think.
"No problem," he said imdiately. "You can leave it to ."
At that exact mont, Alex, who had been listening from inside the sword, felt sothing shift.
Two presences.
Two demonic scents.
They were approaching fast.
Without delay, he warned Tanjiro.
"Be careful. Two demons are coming straight here. They've already found this place."
Tanjiro's expression changed instantly.
"What?"
Tamayo was still processing the sudden tension when Tanjiro turned to her and said urgently, "Miss Tamayo, demons have found this place!"
Tamayo's face tightened.
"Quickly. Follow to the basent."
She turned at once and moved to lead the way.
But the mont she pushed open the door—
The attack ca.
The outer wall exploded inward with a deafening crash, showering the room with splinters and dust. Two vividly colored temari balls shot through the opening like cannon fire, tearing through the room with savage force.
They smashed apart furniture, ripped through wooden beams, and churned the air into a storm of debris.
Yushiro threw himself in front of Tamayo without hesitation, shielding her with his body.
Tanjiro did the sa for Nezuko, covering her as the projectiles roared past.
Only after the two spinning balls tore out the other side of the room and vanished into the night did the dust begin to settle.
Through the haze, Tanjiro and the others reappeared.
Alex's voice ca sharp and imdiate.
"Tanjiro, what are you waiting for? Draw and kill them!"
Tanjiro exhaled once and forced himself calm.
Then he reached for Asuramaru.
Steel rang as the sword left its sheath.
He gripped it in both hands and fixed his eyes on the two wildly returning temari balls as they curved through the air again.
This ti, perhaps because of the enhancent he had received earlier, his vision felt clearer than before. He could track them. Follow their movent. See their arcs.
One of them veered toward Yushiro's side.
Tanjiro stepped in and slashed.
The ball split cleanly in two.
A burst of blood mist exploded from its center before the halves dissolved into nothing.
The second followed a heartbeat later.
It too was cut apart and vanished.
Outside the mansion stood the two demons Muzan had sent.
One was a monk-like demon in robes, prayer beads hanging around his neck, his head cropped short. His eyes remained closed, but in the palms of his hands were two grotesque eyeballs staring outward.
The other was a female demon with short hair and a yellow kimono. At first glance, she looked almost ordinary.
Almost.
The female demon sensed the destruction of her two temari at once. Her gaze shifted toward Tanjiro in the ruined room, wary and cold.
After a brief look, she was the first to speak.
"So you're the Demon Slayer with the hanafuda earrings."
Tanjiro needed no explanation.
These two had been sent by Muzan.
Given the situation, he did not waste ti.
Without taking his eyes off the enemy, he said, "Miss Tamayo, get out of here. I'll handle this!"
Tamayo answered just as quickly.
"Don't worry about us. Focus on the fight."
Tanjiro nodded and stepped forward, sword in hand, about to leave the room—
Then Alex cut in again.
"Have Yushiro lend you his sight. Let the three of them handle the woman for now. You go kill the one hiding in the rear first."
Tanjiro did not question him.
"Mr. Yushiro!" he called imdiately. "Please lend your vision. Leave that female demon to the three of you for now!"
Yushiro's expression shifted.
He had not expected Tanjiro to know about his Blood Demon Art, much less call on it so directly. But there was no ti to dwell on that now.
He pulled out a slip of talisman paper at once and slapped it onto Tanjiro's forehead.
A faint glow flashed.
A strange pattern spread across the paper.
Tanjiro did not feel anything dramatic happen to his body. Even so, he trusted that sothing had changed and stepped out into the night without hesitation.
The female demon's face twisted.
Then, under everyone's gaze, she tore away her upper kimono, leaving only a tight underlayer.
From both sides of her torso, four thick arms burst outward like a monstrous spider's limbs.
In each hand, another temari ford.
"Ready to die by my hands?" she hissed.
She threw all the balls at once.
But now, in Tanjiro's altered vision, sothing new appeared.
Arrows.
Strange directional arrows clung to the temari in flight, revealing their movent paths as clearly as marks painted across the air.
At the sa ti, Alex located the other demon.
"It's in the tree," he snapped. "Kill that one first!"
"Got it!"
Tanjiro shifted Asuramaru into one hand and ignored the incoming temari. His body wove sharply to the side, slipping between their paths as he burst toward the grove where the hidden scent was strongest.
The female demon imdiately tried to cut him off.
But Nezuko and Yushiro moved to intercept her before she could.
Tanjiro did not look back.
With a few swift steps, he reached the tree.
Then he leaped.
Gripping the sword in both hands again, he twisted his body in midair.
"Water Breathing, Second Form: Water Wheel!"
A crescent of flowing water tore across the night.
The monk demon reacted fast enough to dodge, but only just.
The tree trunk behind him was sliced clean through, severed by the arc of water. Splinters and sawdust exploded everywhere, scattering over his robes and skin.
He landed with a grimace of disgust.
"My clothes are filthy now."
Even as he spoke, Tanjiro had already followed through, dropping after him and driving forward with another slash aid straight at his neck.
The speed of it caught the demon off guard.
For the first ti, his composure broke.
Just as the sword was about to cut through, he thrust up his right hand. The eye embedded in his palm snapped open.
A red arrow shot from it.
It struck Tanjiro square in the chest.
The two forces collided at once.
Tanjiro's slash landed, carving an extrely deep gash into the demon's neck.
At the sa ti, the arrow's force hurled Tanjiro away, violently wrenching his body off course midair.
Blood began running down the monk demon's neck, soaking into his prayer beads and staining the front of his robes.
He bared his teeth in fury.
"You stained my robe with blood," he spat. "You really do deserve to die."
anwhile, Tanjiro was already falling through the air, montum dragging him downward at a dangerous angle.
Alex did not waste a second.
"Use your sword form to shift your position," he warned. "Break the force. Redirect it. Or use the arrow's push to make your technique even stronger."
As he spoke, he released a small burst of Demon Power into Tanjiro's body, giving him an extra push right when he needed it most.
.....
[If you don't want to wait for the next update, read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon.]
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