Just before Tatsuo’s attack could land, the book in the blood demon’s left hand flared with a blinding red light.
[Blood Scripture - Blood Hair Shield]
A single drop of blood burst from the book.
That drop flew over the blood demon’s head, then spread out as if unfolding from there, forming a transparent crimson spherical barrier.
In the blink of an eye, Tatsuo’s attack collided with the barrier.
It couldn’t fully withstand the two-hit technique of a thrust followed by a downward slash, and the shield was torn apart almost immediately. But its performance was impressive enough that no large wound appeared on the blood demon’s neck.
“So that was your hidden card.”
Tatsuo’s eyes shifted to the blood demon’s book.
Red haze continued to billow from it, and clusters of glowing characters drifted around it like living things.
The barrier made from the blood that had spilled out of that book.
Even though his own attack had torn through it, its strength was on a completely different level from the tree roots the demon had been using until now.
Even if it was a technique focused on defense, Tatsuo was certain that no blood demon relying on its own power alone could produce something like this.
**
“T-this… Hichikyu is getting pushed back this badly?!”
Lower Rank Two, Hichikyu, looked at his right arm, which had already regenerated.
“What in the world is that guy? That monster-like skill, and that attack that tears open the wound and keeps hurting you as it cuts. I’ve never even heard of anything like it!”
Hichikyu tightened his grip on the book in his hand.
“If it hadn’t been for this Blood Scripture, I would have definitely died from that last attack.”
Hichikyu glared at Tatsuo.
After his previous attack had been blocked, Tatsuo had stopped pressing forward and was now studying him as if measuring his strength.
“Why did things end up like this!”
For Hichikyu, it had been an ordinary day.
He had been gathering the materials for the ritual as usual, and at last he had secured all the basic ingredients for the ceremony he had been planning for decades.
The first requirement for the ritual was materials. The next was time and a place where it could be performed without interruption.
So after collecting everything he needed, Hichikyu had dug a tunnel underground and created a massive cavern to serve as the site.
But perhaps because he had pushed himself too hard with the ritual’s start so close at hand, three blood demon hunters who had followed his trail had come to this place.
It wasn’t a serious problem. They couldn’t beat him. Their fate was already decided.
Execution.
Of course, execution.
Right after he cleanly bisected the third one with a root attack, another blood demon hunter burst into the cavern.
He had thought that if this was going to happen, he should have prepared the ritual slowly even if it took time, and faced the newcomer.
The first thing that felt off was the man’s speed.
Perhaps because he had let his guard down, he lost track of the hunter’s movements.
Before he knew it, the man had reached the blood demon hunter he had cut down.
That was when he identified the man’s identity.
At that speed, there was no doubt. He was a Hashira.
It didn’t matter. In the past, he had used hostages before, but in the end he had killed a Wind Hashira.
For that feat, Lord Muzan had rewarded him with a substantial amount of blood, and he was certain his current power had already surpassed Ubuyashiki Amane, the former Lower Rank One.
The reason he hadn’t challenged for a rank exchange was simple: it was a hassle.
Once the ritual was successfully completed, he would challenge an Upper Rank blood demon for a rank exchange and rise to that seat in one stroke.
That was why wasting time trying to steal Lower Rank One through a rank exchange was pointless.
Honestly, even dealing with this Hashira now felt like a waste of time.
The blood demon hunter moved at terrifying speed, dodging his attacks, but it seemed he couldn’t cut through his Blood Demon Art.
As long as he was human, there would inevitably come a limit to his stamina.
And in the end, when the man came to a stop, apparently reaching that limit, Hichikyu swung his roots at him.
The man dodged into the air, but that was exactly what Hichikyu wanted.
He would finish him off immediately with the four roots he had already kept waiting.
That was when things began to go wrong.
All of a sudden, the man spun once in midair and cut down every one of his attacks.
In the brief moment Hichikyu was thrown off balance, a voice came from beside him.
The strange events kept coming. By the time he came to his senses, one of his arms had already been cut off and was flying away.
Then pain hit him, and his body was slammed into the wall.
His severed arm was not regenerating. If anything, only the pain was intensifying.
He shut his eyes for a moment against the agony, then opened them again to find the man’s hand right in front of him.
Then his hair was grabbed and he was smashed into the wall again. Since becoming a blood demon, this was the first humiliation of its kind in his life.
The man seemed to be going for the kill, because he raised his sword at him.
The instant the blade flashed, Hichikyu sensed death.
Blood demons had the same survival instinct as ordinary humans.
No, their desire to survive could even be said to be stronger.
He did not want to die. The ritual he had spent so many years researching and creating.
He had spent decades gathering sacrifices for it.
There was only one step left. He could not accept a future where he died pointlessly at the hands of a blood demon hunter here.
Responding to Hichikyu’s will, the Blood Scripture in his hand reacted.
One of Hichikyu’s Blood Demon Arts, the Blood Scripture, was a technique that allowed him to store the various Blood Demon Arts he had created and activate them instantly.
But when Hichikyu had killed the Wind Hashira in the past and received Lord Muzan’s reward, Muzan had taken notice of the Blood Scripture and become interested in it.
The Blood Scripture had been growing stronger on its own, without even its owner realizing it.
Its development was so advanced it almost seemed to possess a will of its own.
Thinking it might make a useful experiment, Muzan had secretly infused even more of his blood into the Blood Scripture.
As a result, when its master’s life was put in danger, the Blood Scripture activated a Blood Demon Art on its own and saved its master’s life.
**
[Blood Scripture - Torrential Blood Wave]
Hichikyu’s scripture blazed with light and unleashed a new Blood Demon Art.
A drop of blood broke away from the floating characters, then swelled larger and larger until it became a massive orb of blood.
The orb burst, and a tidal wave of blood crashed down over Tatsuo like a flood.
Tatsuo kicked off the ground and leapt back at once.
The wave that swallowed the place he had been standing melted the surrounding rocks as it passed.
The wide-ranging flood kept expanding, as if it meant to swallow the entire cavern.
“So you won’t even allow me to dodge.”
Tatsuo gripped his sword with both hands.
“Then I’ll just cut through it all and let it flow past.”
He drew one foot back and took his stance, his eyes locked on the wave of blood rushing toward him.
[Heaven-Splitting Breathing, Fourth Form - Tear the Heavens asunder]
He swung the sword held in both hands with such force it seemed ready to tear the sky around him apart.
The blood wave that touched the blade was swallowed up as if being sucked into a crack in the earth.
Tatsuo blocked the entire attack without taking a scratch, but the surrounding environment was another matter.
The cavern was reduced to a wasteland, as though a tsunami had swept through it. Dust began to billow everywhere.
With a single swing of Tatsuo’s sword, the wind pressure scattered the dust, revealing the blood demon, fully regenerated.
Before long, his scripture had slipped from his hand and was floating in the air.
“Whatever happens, this too is Lord Muzan’s blessing!”
[Blood Demon Art - Bloodwood Root]
Tree roots began bursting up wildly around the shouting demon.
“I’ll kill you for sure!”
[Blood Scripture - Hundred Blood Light Orbs]
Dozens of characters rose into the air from Hichikyu’s scripture.
With a faint shimmer, the floating characters immediately began pouring out blood-colored beads.
The roots moved in response.
Tatsuo reacted by either cutting them apart at high speed or dodging them altogether.
The blood orbs that fell where Tatsuo had been exploded with sharp blasts, punching holes in the ground, and through those openings roots would suddenly burst up from below.
“So you mean to keep me from closing in with sheer numbers.”
Tatsuo looked around and thought.
When a root suddenly lunged to crush him, he swung his sword at impossible speed and shredded it to pieces.
Then, through the gap created by the shattered root, a hail of blood orbs came pouring down. Tatsuo seized the opening.
In an instant, he found a gap between the orbs and charged through it.
With a single leap, Tatsuo reached Hichikyu’s face and swung his sword.
[Blood Scripture - Blood Hair Shield]
But the scripture’s barrier stopped the blade before it could reach Hichikyu’s neck.
“A barrier that appeared out of nowhere. So that book really is the problem. But it doesn’t matter.”
[Blood Scripture - Torrential Blood Wave]
The wave of blood crashed over Tatsuo.
Since Tatsuo had been swinging his sword above Hichikyu, the blood wave naturally began pouring upward from below.
Tatsuo blocked the attack with his blade and shot upward into the air.
[Heaven-Splitting Breathing, First Form - Split the Sky]
Tatsuo’s horizontal slash split the blood wave apart and made it vanish.
By then, countless blood orbs and roots had surrounded Tatsuo in midair.
“Looks like your ability to learn is lacking.”
This time, he did not bother cutting down every attack around him.
He simply planted a foot on one of the roots behind him.
Kicking off the root and charging forward, Tatsuo began spinning his body diagonally at high speed.
[Heaven-Splitting Breathing, Eighth Form - Falling Heaven]
Spinning so fast that not even afterimages could be seen, Tatsuo charged straight through the barrier and Hichikyu’s body, slicing him diagonally in two as he passed.
“To fall for the same trick again… your combat sense is truly terrible.”
Tatsuo said, looking down at Hichikyu.
“Grrk! Don’t get full of yourself…! If only the ritual had been completed, someone like you…!!”
Hichikyu, cut from his right shoulder blade to his left waist, braced himself on the ground with his left hand and spoke.
“A ritual, you say? What kind of ritual are you talking about?”
“A ritual to strengthen this body… Count yourself lucky! You won because you met me before I could perform it. If not, the one lying dead here would be you!!”
Hichikyu spat blood as he spoke. The cracks created by Tatsuo’s attack were still interfering with his healing and hurting him further.
“That sounds to me like if the ritual succeeds, you think you’ll be able to beat me.”
“Of course!! This body has spent decades…!”
“Then go ahead and try it. That ritual.”
“...What?”
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