“You call that unpleasant? That’s my line, foolish demon slayer.”
The blood demon frowned as he spoke.
“That speed of yours is unmistakably that of a Hashira. But don’t get cocky. I have killed a Wind Hashira in the past. I’m more than capable of killing a Hashira like you.”
He went on with a sneer.
“The preparations are complete. Boy, if you turn around and leave now, I’ll spare your life. I’m in an excellent mood today.”
“In just a little while, I’ll gain tremendous power. Power worthy of becoming Upper Rank, no doubt.”
“Shut up.”
Tatsuo answered quietly.
“What did you say…?”
“I said shut your mouth. None of that is even remotely interesting, and every time you open that filthy hole in your face, it feels like the stench of rot is pouring out. It’s disgusting.”
“You ignorant, inferior human—how dare you say such things!!”
The blood demon roared, veins bulging in his neck.
[Blood Demon Art - Bloodwood Root]
With the blood demon’s cry, his right hand raised toward the sky, palm open, and the ground split apart as massive crimson tree roots burst into view.
“I’ll punch holes through your entire body!”
At that shout, the giant roots surged toward Tatsuo.
Each root was as thick as two burly men put together, and they looked to be dozens of feet long.
Tatsuo raised his sword into position and swung at the incoming roots.
There was a metallic clash as blade and root collided.
The root deflected by the sword slammed into the ground, gouging deep furrows through the earth with a thunderous boom.
“You thought you could cut them that easily? Foolish mistake! Each of these roots is harder than steel, boy!”
As the blood demon shouted and swung his right arm, the roots moved in unison.
‘Harder than the blood demon I first fought, Katame.’
After joining the Demon Slayers and gathering various bits of information, Tatsuo had learned that the blood demon he had first hunted had held the position of Lower Rank Two among the Twelve Kizuki.
The roots produced by this blood demon’s Blood Demon Art were even tougher than Katame’s body had been after using his own art to reinforce himself.
‘So he didn’t get the position of Lower Rank Two for nothing.’
He deflected the next wave of falling roots as well, but none of them were cut apart; they were merely knocked aside.
Before long, the roots that had been sent flying came surging back at Tatsuo once more.
Standing his ground, Tatsuo met every incoming root head-on and knocked them away.
But no matter how many times he did, the result was the same, so he abandoned blocking and chose to evade instead, moving at high speed.
“Heh… so now all you can do is run? Demon slayer!”
The blood demon mocked him and kept swinging his right arm.
Roots pierced through the place Tatsuo had just been.
It was an attack powerful enough to punch small holes into the cavern floor, yet Tatsuo’s expression remained calm, not the least bit tense.
In fact, there was something about it that felt off.
‘Even if I want to focus on the fight, I can’t because of this disgusting feeling.’
What Tatsuo felt now, because of Shuya Koki’s death, was not anger or hatred, but disgust.
Koki’s death had little to do with him.
As a member of the Demon Slayers, he could die anywhere, anytime, and aside from their first mission together, they had barely interacted at all.
Besides, Tatsuo had never really experienced intense emotions like rage or hatred in his life, so it was not something that concerned him.
But the blood demon’s attitude disgusted him.
Shuya Koki was a strong man Tatsuo had acknowledged, and the body and will forged through his effort deserved respect.
Yet that ridiculous blood demon had not shown it. A brat who couldn’t even properly gauge the difference in strength between himself and others was acting as if he were the strong one.
That the one who had defeated the strong man Tatsuo acknowledged was something like this only made his disgust rise higher.
‘I’ve decided. From this point on, this is no longer a battle.’
Tatsuo’s grip on his sword tightened.
The feet of the high-speed runner came to a stop. Then came the shadow above him.
“You’ve stopped moving! Are you out of stamina?”
Looking up, he saw a massive root preparing to strike down.
He kicked off the ground at once and leapt into the air, letting the root smash into the earth below.
It was a perfect dodge, but as if that had been the blood demon’s true aim all along, four waiting roots were already poised to attack from front, back, left, and right.
‘He forced me into the air with the first attack so I wouldn’t be able to avoid the follow-ups.’
Watching the roots flying toward him, Tatsuo thought to himself.
‘Is this root the reason he’s so confident in his own skill? It is certainly thick, and it’s soaked in that red hue. It is hard.’
“It’s over, boy!”
The blood demon declared his victory with certainty.
‘But.’
[Heaven-Splitting Breathing Sixth Form - Ganyeolnongwol: Dark Sky]
Just before the roots could reach him, Tatsuo’s sword flashed and his body spun once in midair.
As he rotated, countless slashes, too fast to see, swept out in all directions and crashed into the roots. Unable to withstand the barrage, the roots were instantly chopped into multiple pieces and burst apart.
‘It’s not like I can’t cut them.’
Tatsuo used one of the shattered pieces of wood in midair as a foothold and lunged at the blood demon with his sword raised.
In an instant, he closed the distance and severed the blood demon’s right arm in a single stroke before landing.
The blood demon still seemed unable to react, staring in shock at the fragments of his own root attack.
“You can’t even feel it? How foolish. To your side.”
“!!!”
Only after Tatsuo spoke did the blood demon finally look at his severed arm, but he still seemed unable to grasp what was happening.
Tatsuo’s kick followed without pause, and the blood demon was struck head-on, unable even to defend himself, before being sent flying into the cavern wall.
A cloud of dust rose, then slowly cleared to reveal the blood demon’s figure.
In his left hand, he was still holding the book, but his other arm was gone.
Blood demons recover faster than ordinary humans, and the stronger they become, the faster that regeneration grows.
Once a blood demon reaches the level of the Twelve Kizuki, even wounds other than a severed neck should heal in an instant.
But the blood demon whose right arm Tatsuo had cut off was not regenerating at all.
Rather than healing, cracks were spreading from the severed edge as if the wound itself were widening, gnawing away at the blood demon’s body.
The blood demon’s pupils shook wildly as he stared at his injury.
“I’ve decided. Blood demon, what I’m about to do is not a battle with you. It is only an execution.”
Within the dark underground cavern, Tatsuo’s golden eyes gleamed.
“I will not ask your name, and you will never learn mine. You are not worth that much.”
When he finished speaking, Tatsuo moved again at high speed and appeared before the blood demon.
Before long, Tatsuo had seized the blood demon’s head with his left hand. He drew his arm back, then drove him hard into the wall, smashing his head in once more.
With a heavy crash, the wall split with a large crack and the cavern trembled.
Releasing the blood demon’s head, Tatsuo stepped back and immediately raised his sword with one hand, taking a thrusting stance.
“Die, blood demon.”
[Heaven-Splitting Breathing Second Form - Heavenly Body Piercing Strike]
Tatsuo’s attack, as if it would pierce straight through the heavens, surged toward the blood demon.
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