Boom!!!
Hearing the explosion coming from not far behind them, Tanjirou and the other person immediately stopped and looked back.
"It's Mr. Uzui..." Tanjirou looked at the rising smoke in the distance, filled with shock and uncertainty.
It was in the direction of Kyogoku House.
Inosuke was startled: "Is there a demon over there?!"
Tanjirou turned back and said, "Inosuke, I'll leave Miss Hinatsuru to you. I'm going to help Mr. Uzui right now."
After speaking, he rushed back without daring to stop for even a moment.
"Huh? Me?!?" Tanjirou's decisiveness stunned Inosuke. Before he could even retort, Tanjirou had vanished, shrinking to the size of a sesame seed.
"Damn it!!!" Inosuke shouted furiously, "Just you wait!"
...On the other side, facing the rapidly incoming kunai, Kokushibou casually swung his sword and knocked them down.
His intimidating eyes scanned the dust cloud, as if searching for the enemy's position.
In a sudden moment, the dust cloud behind him parted, and Uzui Tengen, wielding twin blades, slashed down towards Kokushibou's unsuspecting neck.
The kunai were just a feint; this was the real killing blow!
The blade approached within half a meter of the neck, yet Uzui Tengen dared not relax even slightly.
This monster was different from the other demons he had encountered before; he absolutely could not afford any carelessness.
However... just as the blade was about to fall onto Kokushibou's neck, from Uzui Tengen's perspective, Kokushibou's figure suddenly vanished in an instant.
Inertia carried Uzui Tengen's figure to where Kokushibou had been standing, and he remained frozen in his slashing posture.
Gone... If he had reacted the moment he appeared, he wouldn't have been so shocked.
But just now, his sword was only a hair's breadth from the demon's neck... It was no exaggeration to say that his sword was only a fraction away from touching Kokushibou's neck, yet in that fraction, Kokushibou completely vanished from his line of sight.
It was as if... he had teleported.
Uzui Tengen ranked mid-to-low among the Demon Slayer Corps Hashira in terms of strength, but in arm strength, he was only inferior to the Stone Hashira, Himejima Gyomei.
And his speed was the fastest among the Hashira.
Yet the monster before him had defeated him in the very area he excelled at.
He completely failed to see how the opponent vanished from his sight.
"Is communication impossible?"
The voice, still devoid of any emotion, sounded behind him, yet Uzui Tengen hadn't noticed when the opponent had moved.
Or when he had reached his back.
Uzui Tengen attempted to use the same trick again; several bombs were already clenched in his hand.
The moment his nerves tensed, the bombs slipped from Uzui Tengen's fingers and fell below him.
Boom!!
The instant the explosion occurred, Uzui Tengen burst with speed, using the cover of the blast to escape.
But precisely at the moment of the explosion, a figure broke through the dust cloud, its blade unsheathed at some unknown point. The demon blade covered in eyeballs made Uzui Tengen's scalp crawl.
No, he was no match for this monster.
He needed to find a way to stall... The moment this thought arose, Kokushibou stepped out of the dust cloud and swung his demon blade in a phantom slash forward.
Uzui Tengen was pondering how to break free when, accompanying the descent of Kokushibou's blade, an indescribable, spine-tingling intuition instantly swept over his entire body.
Should I dodge... but... from such a distance, what is this guy trying to do?
The next moment.
"Moon Breathing, First Form: Dark Moon - Evening Palace."
A crescent slash, mixed with countless tiny crescent moons, instantly erupted from the blade and rapidly closed in on Uzui Tengen with unimaginable speed.
It's a Breathing Technique?!!
Too fast!
Even though the distance is so great!!!
Uzui Tengen's pupils trembled violently. In this critical moment, he tilted his body... *Tear*... A severed arm was tossed high into the air.
The powerful crescent slash dispersed the dust cloud, and Kokushibou remained stationary.
He said flatly: "You dodged it? Not bad."
"The slash just now was executed with the intention of cutting you in half."
Uzui Tengen knelt down. The intense pain from his severed arm swept over his body, and dense cold sweat instantly covered his forehead.
Is this guy... serious?
A compliment given like charity.
It was like being crushed three-zero in a match, and then the post-game speech praised you for playing well.
Is dodging your attack something worth praising?
Uzui Tengen really wanted to say something like that to retort, but unfortunately... the gap in combat strength was too large.
Moreover, sacrificing an arm, and from such a distance, hardly counted as dodging.
From the start of the battle until now, combined with the monster's slow, deliberate tone and posture, it had barely been two minutes, if that.
What a joke.
How is he supposed to fight this kind of monster?
Kokushibou stood still, holding his sword, and spoke in a steady tone: "One last time, where is Mizuki?"
Uzui Tengen clenched his jaw. Even with the slimmest chance of victory, he had to retort, "Who knows? That woman isn't without..."
Uzui Tengen's body suddenly stiffened. Behind him, a purplish-black figure loomed.
"Is that so? Then your existence is unnecessary."
Kokushibou's slow, deliberate tone was like a constantly hanging guillotine, wearing down a person's will.
Uzui Tengen struggled to turn his head, attempting a final, desperate struggle.
But, the long sword in Kokushibou's hand was raised high, and then brought down.
A clean, sharp strike, demonstrating the absolute disparity in strength between the two sides.
I can't dodge it!
Uzui Tengen's pupils reflected the rapidly enlarging blade... "Mr. Uzui!!"
At this critical moment, a voice suddenly rang out.
"Sun Breathing, First Form: Circle Haze!"
Hearing that voice, Kokushibou's sword-holding hand froze for an instant, and he turned his head to look behind him.
The figure of a boy with a Demon Slayer Mark on his forehead and sun-patterned earrings, charging toward him with a black sword wrapped in orange-red flames, came into view.
The boy's figure gradually overlapped with a distant figure from his memory; even the location of the Demon Slayer Mark was identical.
Sure enough, even after several centuries... I still really hate you... Yoriichi.
"idiot!!!" Seeing Tanjirou's figure, Uzui Tengen felt sorrow instead of joy, terror appearing in his eyes. He shouted desperately at Tanjirou, "Who told you to come back!"
You'll die!!!
However, the arrow was already on the string; Tanjirou would absolutely not stand by and watch his comrade die.
Kokushibou turning around also caught Tanjirou's attention. It seemed... this demon resembled Miss Mizuki... If not for the difference in height and position, the moment he saw the back of the figure, he genuinely would have mistaken him for Miss Mizuki.
Who?
This guy.
Tanjirou lunged forward toward Kokushibou, his orange-red blade aiming straight for Kokushibou's neck.
The height difference of nearly thirty centimeters forced Tanjirou to fully extend his arm.
Please!
I must succeed!
Under Tanjirou's almost prayerful gaze, Kokushibou calmly raised his arm.
And then.
Along the blade's path, he applied slight pressure with his fingers and pinched the rapidly approaching blade.
The orange-red flames suddenly extinguished.
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