"Deal with the female demon first," Alex warned. "The other three Twelve Kizuki are almost here."
The presences closing in from the forest were growing clearer by the second.
Tanjiro understood at once.
There was no more room to drag this out.
His fingers tightened around Asuramaru. Power surged through his legs.
"Water Breathing—Third Form: Flowing Dance!"
He vanished into motion.
Like water slipping between stones, Tanjiro crossed the distance in a single breath. The moonlight caught the arc of his sword for the briefest instant.
The female demon's head left her shoulders before she even understood what had happened.
Rui did not try to save her.
Instead, the mont Tanjiro committed to the strike, Rui's fingers twitched.
Threads cut through the air.
Several of them scored across Tanjiro's body, opening bloody wounds along his arms and side. Pain flashed through him, but Alex imdiately poured Demon Power through the sword, sealing the injuries almost as quickly as they appeared.
Rui watched the wounds close.
"So it's true," he murmured. "Even without becoming a demon, you can recover quickly."
It seed Muzan's information had not been exaggerated.
Then Alex's voice sharpened.
"They're here."
Tanjiro turned, nerves pulled taut.
A small figure stepped out from between the trees.
She looked like a white-haired little girl, with two beast-like horns protruding from her head. Her blood-red eyes glead in the darkness, and the characters engraved within them revealed her rank.
Lower Rank Four.
Mukago.
She tilted her head, studying Tanjiro with bright, almost playful curiosity.
"So this is the Demon Slayer Lord Muzan wants dead?"
The words had barely left her mouth when another figure erged behind her.
This one looked like a middle-aged man, unkempt and stubbled, with black cracks crawling across his face like shattered porcelain. His expression was lifeless, and his voice fell heavy as a funeral bell.
"Rui," he said. "Why haven't you killed this Demon Slayer yet?"
Lower Rank Two.
Rokuro.
Rui did not even look at him.
His gaze remained fixed on Tanjiro.
Right now, nothing else mattered to him. Not Muzan's orders. Not the presence of the other Lower Ranks. Not even the death of his so-called family.
He only wanted one thing.
He wanted Tanjiro to take back those words.
Tanjiro's nose twitched.
The pungent scent in the air still interfered with his sense of sll, blurring the direction of one remaining presence.
Fortunately, he had Alex.
"One more," Alex said. "Third tree to your left. Hiding."
Tanjiro turned slightly.
There, among the branches, he caught the faint outline of a blurred figure.
He was surrounded.
Four mbers of the Twelve Kizuki had gathered around him.
Yet Alex did not sound even slightly alard.
In truth, he did not take these Lower Ranks too seriously. If a demonized Tanjiro could not win, escaping would still be possible. And if that failed, Alex himself still had cards to play.
This battle could be fought.
Since Alex had not told him to run, Tanjiro naturally assud he had a chance.
He lowered his stance, Asuramaru held ready.
The demons noticed.
Even Mukago's smile turned a little strange.
Surrounded by four Twelve Kizuki, this boy still had no intention of fleeing.
Was he brave?
Or simply insane?
"Everyone stay back," Rui said, his voice cold. "He's mine."
He attacked first.
Blood-red threads lashed out like a storm, slicing through the air with a deadly whistle.
Mukago giggled from the side, resting her chin on one hand.
"Hmm… I'm not sure about that."
The ground beneath her feet split open.
A dark green vine several ters tall burst upward, twisting like a living serpent. At its tip grew a huge flower bud, swollen and grotesque. The vine coiled through the air and rushed toward Tanjiro from another direction.
The other two demons did not move yet.
They watched.
Observed.
Waited.
Tanjiro frowned.
Threads from the front. Vines from the side.
He gripped the sword tighter.
"Water Breathing—Fourth Form: Striking Tide!"
He stepped forward and swung.
Water surged with his movent, sword strikes overlapping like waves crashing against rock. Rui's threads were severed into countless pieces. The flower bud charging from the side was cut halfway through, green fluid spilling into the air.
But just as Tanjiro completed the motion—
A wooden rope shot out from the trees behind him.
It looped around his neck.
The force yanked him backward.
The tree behind him twisted and opened like a trap, its branches bending into shackles ant to bind him completely. If he was dragged in, he would lose all room to move.
Tanjiro raised his sword to cut the rope.
At that exact mont, the demon hiding in the shadows made his move.
A shuriken cut through the darkness and buried itself in Tanjiro's left arm.
Dark green liquid spread from the wound.
The flesh around it withered rapidly, drying and shrinking until it looked like a corpse left beneath the sun.
For any ordinary swordsman, that would have been fatal.
Unfortunately for them, Tanjiro was not alone.
Alex's Demon Power surged.
The withered flesh regenerated.
At the last possible mont, Tanjiro slashed the wooden rope around his neck and tore free.
He landed hard, breathing heavily.
That was close.
Too close.
And he understood it clearly.
With his current strength alone, he could not win this.
If they caught him once, they could catch him again.
"Asuramaru," Tanjiro said through gritted teeth, "lend all your power."
Alex's voice was calm, almost pleased.
"Then let it be as you wish. Release your desires and wipe them all out."
Demonization activated.
Demon Power flooded Tanjiro's body.
Pale purple markings crawled across one side of his face, spreading like a curse. One of his eyes shifted into that sa eerie purple, and the entire atmosphere around him changed.
This ti, he could maintain the state for four minutes.
Kamanue's contribution had not been wasted.
Tanjiro raised his head and looked at the four demons.
A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
"Let's begin the second round."
The four Lower Ranks imdiately beca serious.
They all knew about this state.
Kamanue had been slaughtered after Tanjiro entered it.
Mukago moved first.
Three more vines burst from beneath her feet. The flower buds at their tips blood open, revealing dense clusters of round fruits packed inside like strange seeds.
"Blood Demon Art—Yam Flower Explosion!"
The fruits fired out in a barrage.
They shot through the air like bullets, punching through nearby tree trunks as thick as a man's waist. The vines moved as though they had minds of their own, twisting, aiming, and firing from different angles.
Tanjiro moved faster.
So fast the vines could not lock onto him.
Rui imdiately raised both hands.
Threads spread across the air, forming a giant web that descended over the battlefield, sealing off Tanjiro's path.
Tanjiro turned and cut it apart with a single strike.
But Rui had already prepared his next attack.
His fingers wove into a string figure.
"Blood Demon Art—Murderous Eye Basket."
Blood-red threads erupted from beneath Tanjiro's feet.
They rose in all directions, crossing over one another, forming a cage that surrounded him completely.
Tanjiro swung Asuramaru, cutting through the cage.
The other demons took that opening.
Fruit bullets tore through the air.
Over a dozen shuriken flew in from the shadows.
Two wooden shackles burst from the ground and locked around Tanjiro's legs.
There was nowhere to dodge.
The attacks converged from every angle.
At the last mont, Tanjiro managed only to cut apart Rui's web.
His vision blurred.
Is this it?
Am I going to die?
I'm sorry, Asuramaru…
I let you down.
The barrage struck.
Dust exploded across the forest, swallowing everything.
Inside the sword, Alex's tension reached its peak.
If Tanjiro failed to comprehend the Hinokami Kagura here, then Alex would have to heal him the instant those attacks landed.
As long as he did not die instantly, Alex could save him.
He had absolute confidence in that.
Even so, this was a gamble.
A huge one.
"It's over," Rui said.
His voice carried certainty.
Mukago blinked, then smiled sweetly.
"So who gets credit for killing him?"
"Lord Muzan will decide," Rokuro replied, arms folded, his expression grave and unmoved.
From the shadows, the final demon finally revealed himself.
He looked like a young boy, with three ugly scars across his face, the kind left by shuriken. The number in his eyes identified him.
Lower Rank Three.
Wakuraba.
Unlike the others, he did not relax.
An instinctive unease crawled up his spine.
It was a sensation he rembered from his ti as a ninja—an instinct sharpened by countless brushes with death.
Sothing was wrong.
A mont before the attacks had landed, Tanjiro had fallen into mory.
He saw himself as a child again.
The courtyard of his ho.
Nezuko's laughter.
The warmth of his family.
His father sat nearby, frail and thin, yet his eyes were gentle as he watched them play.
"Tanjirou," his father said softly, "you must breathe. Adjust your breathing until you beco one with the Fire God."
The scene changed.
Night.
Snow.
The forest.
His father danced in the ravine, each movent calm and precise, each step flowing into the next with quiet dignity.
The Hinokami Kagura.
The dance was not just sothing Tanjiro had watched.
It was carved into him.
Every movent.
Every breath.
Every shift of the body.
It felt as if he himself were dancing.
His father's voice echoed again.
"There is a proper way to breathe. If you breathe correctly, you will not tire. Even the cold will leave you."
The mory trembled.
"Tanjirou. This Kagura and these earrings must be passed down. Do not let them be severed. We made a promise."
The voice faded.
Tanjiro's eyes opened.
Within the cloud of dust, a red light flared.
Then scorching flas blood.
.....
[If you don't want to wait for the next update, read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon.]
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