The snow had stopped, and the moon hung high.
Shinjuro Rengoku crouched in the shadows of the forest nearest the estate. His breath froze into mist, but his heart was a furnace. His eyes, bright as burning coals, watched the manor for any sign of movement.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Suddenly, Shinjuro's sharp ears caught the sound of chaos erupting within the walls. The once-silent night was filled with the frantic clanging of gongs, rushing footsteps, and the shrill screams of women.
"Move! Everyone! To the dungeon! Block the gates!" "Useless trash! If that brat isn't caught, you're all dead!" "Send a squad to the west corridor! We can't stop that man!!" "The Snake Goddess will kill us all! Use the bows! The muskets! Use everything!!!"
Shinjuro wondered: Is this a complication? Or is it Tatsuya's plan? The panic sounded too real to be a feint.
He stayed in position, but his spirit cheered: Go on, Tatsuya! You've certainly stirred the nest. Now, show me what you've found!
Inside the estate, Tatsuya was sprinting with Obanai on his back. Even with the extra weight, he was a blur. Thunder Breathing accelerated his pace, trailing gold-red sparks in his wake.
Obanai gripped Tatsuya's shoulders, the freezing wind stinging his face. His eyes watered from the sheer velocity.
"Slower... slow down!!!"
Hiss... hiss-hiss!! The white snake, Kaburamaru, was wrapped tight around Obanai's neck, its tail fluttering in the wind while its eyes spun in dizzying circles.
They hadn't snuck out through a secret exit. Tatsuya had simply used his blade to smash through the dungeon's structural camouflage, creating a massive explosion of sound as their signal for the breakout.
"There! Catch them!"
A sentry in a guard tower spotted them. The alarm bell rang out, echoing through the valley.
Tatsuya ran head-first into two leather-armored guards wielding spears. They roared and lunged. Tatsuya's gaze remained ice-cold. He didn't even draw his sword. He ducked, sliding between them, and swung his scabbard in two precise, rapid strikes.
THUD! THUD!
The sounds overlapped. The scabbard struck the guards' necks with such force that they collapsed instantly, eyes rolling back in their heads.
A group of panicked servants appeared in a side corridor. Tatsuya ignored them, passing like a gust of wind and leaving them standing in a daze.
"Stop him! Stop the monster!"
At a corner, a middle-aged woman in a lavish kimono, her jewelry clattering, appeared. Her face was a mask of hysteria and rage as she pointed a finger at them.
Tatsuya didn't stop. As he passed her, he clenched his free left fist and launched it like a cannonball.
Oof!
Tatsuya's heavy fist slammed mercilessly into her abdomen with a sickening thud!
"GAHHH—!"
A scream of agony instantly replaced her screeching. The woman collapsed like she had been de-boned, clutching her stomach as she curled into a ball on the floor. Drenched in sweat and tears, she was instantly incapacitated, left only to groan in pain.
"Nice hit! You hit her good, Tatsuya!" Obanai pounded Tatsuya's shoulder, as if he had thrown the punch himself.
Having "physically pacified" this member of the Iguro clan, Tatsuya didn't slow down. He sprinted through the corridors, heading straight for the main courtyard.
"Ring the bell! The big one! Lord Snake Goddess! Lord Snake Goddess, help us!"
On a high observation deck, an elderly woman in the most lavish silks was bordering on madness, screaming at the guards below. "Catch that freak! Or the Goddess will kill us all!"
More guards swarmed from every direction, but they found to their horror that the swordsman carrying the boy was impossibly fast and brutally precise. Anyone in his way was either knocked flat by a frontal blow or effortlessly bypassed and struck unconscious from behind.
Tatsuya's goal was clear—the massive front gates of the estate!
That was the point closest to the woods where Shinjuro Rengoku was hidden. Once they cleared the gates, the signal flare could bloom in the night sky without obstruction, allowing the Flame Hashira to provide support via the shortest route.
"Come on, Snake Demon... show yourself!"
Tatsuya sprinted through the courtyard, ignoring the hysterical shouts behind him. He crossed the plaza, the cold stone slabs a blur beneath his feet. He gripped his Nichirin Sword, ready to slash the lock and lead Obanai out of this hellhole.
But just before his blade could ignite with lightning—
The cacophony behind him went dead silent. A bone-chilling cold, capable of freezing the very blood in one's veins, swept across the plaza without warning.
This chill was sharper and more biting than the mid-winter wind. it carried an inhuman, pure malice that seized Tatsuya's heart.
Crap! Tatsuya's internal alarm went off like a siren. He felt like prey being stared down by a viper. He aborted his strike, coiling his body like a tight spring as he pivoted, shielding Obanai behind his back. He gripped his hilt with his right hand and snatched the heavy signal flare with his left.
He turned around slowly, with extreme caution.
At the other end of the plaza, dozens of meters away, a massive, twisted figure had appeared out of nowhere.
It was a half-human, half-snake monstrosity. Its upper body retained a vaguely human silhouette, but its skin was covered in scales that glinted with a cold, metallic sheen. Its muscles were knotted and bulging like jagged rocks. Its lower half was a terrifyingly thick serpent tail—at least as wide as a grown man's torso—coiled on the cold stone, grinding against the ground.
Sparse scales covered its face. A pair of slitted pupils glowed with a cruel, greedy, inhuman red light, locking onto Tatsuya and Obanai. A crimson, forked tongue flickered like a poisoned whip from its fanged mouth, letting out a skin-crawling hissing sound.
A wave of bloody, putrid terror crashed over Tatsuya's shoulders, so heavy it nearly choked him. This was the aura of a creature that had devoured over six hundred infants and accumulated centuries of malice. The sheer pressure far surpassed any demon Tatsuya had ever faced. Beside this Snake Demon, the "Shima" demon felt like a shadow.
"So you finally showed up... Snake Demon!" Tatsuya's voice was low, carrying an unprecedented gravity.
The wealthy old woman who had been commanding from the balcony was now nothing more than a bloody lower half standing stiffly in the wind, her severed spine sizzling with blood-foam in the cold air. Her upper body was held casually in the demon's withered claw before being tossed aside like trash, joining the pile of broken guards and servants.
The Snake Demon slowly rotated its scaled head. Its vertical pupils swept across the carnage. It licked its fangs and let out a raspy, sandpaper-like chuckle:
"Hehehe... my most precious snack almost escaped... you useless waste of space..." Its voice was cold and detached. "...I suppose it is time for a change in leadership."
"All of them... dead in the time it took to draw a breath?" A chill ran down Tatsuya's spine. The demon's speed and power were beyond his perception.
He knew one thing: he could not turn his back to slash the gate. Exposing his rear to a monster of this level, even for a split second, would mean instant decapitation for both him and Obanai.
Tatsuya slowly lowered the trembling Obanai from his back, gently pushing the boy behind him.
"When the fight starts," Tatsuya whispered rapidly, "run for the gate according to plan! If I don't have time to open it for you..." He paused. "...find the most hidden corner you can and hide! Protect yourself!"
He took a deep breath, forcing down his shock. He adjusted his grip on the sword, pointing the tip at the demon. "Honestly... why do I keep running into these freaks? Or are you all just born this way?"
He was mocking it, but his eyes burned with a cold, analytical fire. He knew the Flame Hashira's support was heartbeats away—escaping alone would be easy, but Obanai would die. He had to intercept the first wave. No matter what, he had to hold the line until Shinjuro arrived!
Just as the demon's pupils contracted and its massive tail began to coil for a strike—
SHING—!!!
Tatsuya whipped his left hand out from his robes. He triggered the signal flare with everything he had. A brilliant streak of light, trailing a long tail of fire, tore through the night sky like a falling star!
"Hiss—calling for your master before the first strike, little brat?"
The Snake Demon's massive body left an afterimage. It tore through the air with speed faster than the eye could follow, bringing a suffocating stench as it lunged for them!
Too fast! I can't let it get close!
Tatsuya's reaction was faster than thought. He swung his Nichirin Sword horizontally, the gold-red lightning on the blade exploding into a massive, searing pillar of thunder!
"Thunder Breathing, Fifth Form: Heat Lightning!"
The blinding bolt of high-temperature thunder slammed into the ground between Tatsuya and the demon, completely blocking the path to Obanai. The violent heat and impact created a temporary barrier, halting the demon's momentum for a fraction of a second.
Almost simultaneously, Tatsuya became a condensed streak of golden lightning. Against a monster like this, passive defense was a death sentence. He had to take the initiative!
"Thunderclap and Flash!"
The blade aimed for the demon's throat, its tip whistling with a high-pitched scream.
"Hiss—straight lines won't touch me!"
The Snake Demon chuckled. It had anticipated the high-speed thrust. Its tail, thick as a support beam and covered in iron-hard scales, swept in from the side with devastating force, perfectly intercepting Tatsuya's path!
Tatsuya forcibly aborted the lunge. Sparks exploded at his feet as he pivoted his Breathing into a variation!
"Thunderclap and Flash—Six Fold!"
His blade turned in a blur, narrowly grazing the tail. Sparks flew as he sheared off several scales. He flashed around the demon, two golden streaks attacking its torso and the base of its tail!
Clang! Clang! The demon's reflexes were monstrous. It parried with scaled fists and its tail. Tatsuya's blade cut through the scales, but the wounds regenerated almost instantly.
"Cutting the scales is useless—!"
Tatsuya blurred into his fourth and fifth flashes, aiming for the joints and neck, but the demon blocked them all with ease. For the sixth flash, Tatsuya poured everything into a single golden line, thrusting for an opening under the demon's arm! However—
The demon's inhuman pupils had already locked onto the trajectory. A claw caught Tatsuya's blade mid-air, gripping the steel like a vice. The sword wouldn't budge!
"He read me!" Tatsuya's heart hammered. Within seconds of starting, he was in a dead end!
"Caught you, little gnat!" The demon grinned. Its massive tail coiled from behind, aiming to crush Tatsuya's waist. One squeeze, and his organs would be pulp.
Tatsuya was spent, his momentum gone, his sword trapped. He had no room to dodge.
Just as the cold scales touched his uniform—
BOOM—!!!
A torrent of fire, bright as a falling sun, burst from the estate gates! The sound was a deafening explosion of heat that turned the snow to steam instantly!
"Flame Breathing, First Form: Unknowing Fire!"
Shinjuro Rengoku's figure merged with the current of flames, looking like a burning meteor. He slammed directly into the demon's massive flank!
"Slayer Tatsuya, magnificent work! I'll take it from here—!!!"
In a swirl of fire, a severed tail flew through the air. Shinjuro Rengoku stood tall, his blade glowing.
"The Flame Hashira—Shinjuro Rengoku!"