After nightfall, the northwestern town fell into utter silence.
"How desolate."
A voice full of disdain broke the stillness.
Inosuke walked down the empty street. The Demon Slayer uniform he'd just received had already been "customized" by him—
every standard button removed and replaced with pure gold ones.
At his waist hung two outrageously shaped swords, and over his shoulders he wore a haori embroidered with gold thread.
He looked less like a rookie Demon Slayer and more like a yakuza prince inspecting his turf.
"Inosuke-kun, please don't let your guard down."
Tanjiro followed closely behind with the wooden box on his back, his nose twitching constantly, expression grave.
"There's a very strong demon scent in the air here… and more than one."
"I know, Gonpachiro."
Inosuke lazily waved his iron fan.
"Three rats. They stink, but they're not strong."
Of course, he already knew who the boss here was.
The Swamp Demon—
a split-bodied freak that could move freely through an alternate swamp space, with a severe fetishistic obsession.
"Three?"
Tanjiro froze.
"Inosuke-kun, you already know?"
"Instinct."
Inosuke tapped his own skin. In such a quiet environment, his superhuman tactile sense was at its peak.
"The airflow underground is wrong. Something's burrowing through the dirt, like rats."
As they spoke, suppressed sobbing suddenly came from ahead.
A young man sat slumped by the roadside, face hollow, clutching a torn piece of cloth in his hand.
Kazumi.
The pitiful man who had just lost his fiancée.
Tanjiro rushed over immediately, full of concern, gently asking what had happened.
Inosuke, on the other hand, strolled over at his own pace and looked down at Kazumi.
"Hey, Crybaby."
He tapped Kazumi's shoulder with his fan.
"Heard your fiancée disappeared?"
Kazumi looked up, eyes bloodshot, and nodded blankly.
"Want to find her?"
Inosuke tilted his head.
"Or… at least get her belongings back?"
He pulled a gold coin from his sleeve and flipped it deftly between his fingers.
"The Demon Slayer Corps works for free, but I don't.
My appearance fee is expensive."
"Inosuke-kun!"
Tanjiro was genuinely upset for once.
"How can you talk about money at a time like this?!
Kazumi-san is already suffering so much!"
"Can suffering fill your stomach? Can it kill demons?"
Inosuke sneered.
"Because he's suffering, he needs a deal. Only after paying a price will he believe we're professionals—believe we're reliable—and then he'll have a reason to keep living."
He turned back to Kazumi, his tone eerily similar to the way his father preached to followers.
"So, sir—if I kill the monster that ate people,
and bring back your fiancée… or her belongings…
what are you willing to give?"
Kazumi froze.
Looking at this beautiful yet sinister boy, it felt like grabbing onto the last straw of hope.
"As long as… as long as you find Riko… I'll give anything!
Even my life!"
"Your life? Forget it. Not worth much."
Inosuke clicked his tongue.
"After it's done, just give me however much money you have."
"Deal!"
Kazumi answered without hesitation.
"Good."
Inosuke nodded in satisfaction and slipped the gold coin back into his sleeve.
"From now on, you're my client.
Anyone who touches my client is smashing my reputation."
Before the words finished, his skin suddenly prickled—the ground trembled without warning.
"They're here."
Inosuke's eyes sharpened.
At the instant the demon emerged, his left iron fan snapped open and lunged forward.
Psh!
The ground suddenly turned into black sludge. A pale arm shot out, grabbing at a passing girl.
"Like hell!"
Inosuke's fan slammed down with a howling gust of wind.
Smack!
The serrated edge scraped off a layer of demon flesh, freezing the arm for an instant.
"Gonpachiro! Cut it!"
Inosuke roared.
Tanjiro reacted instantly, his Nichirin blade flashing with rippling water.
Water Breathing, First Form — Water Surface Slash!
But the Swamp Demon was slippery—just before the blade touched, it shrank back into the swamp like an eel, leaving only a black stain behind.
"Tch. Slippery."
Inosuke withdrew his fan, watching the swamp entrance fade.
"Definitely rats."
"It went underground!"
Tanjiro stared anxiously at the ground.
"What do we do? We can't hit it from up here!"
"Who says we can't?"
Inosuke's lips curled into a cruel grin.
He walked to the still-wet swamp mark and slowly drew his twin swords.
"If it likes hiding in mud… then I'll flip the ground itself."
Inosuke inhaled deeply, chest swelling, pushing his Ice Spirit Physique to its limit.
Gripping the blades in reverse, he stabbed both swords straight into the black sludge.
"Freeze…!"
BOOM!
Terrifying cold poured down the blades and surged underground.
He couldn't yet create massive ice lotuses like Doma—but using his swords as conduits to flood a semi-liquid swamp space with cold was easy.
Crack crack crack!
Frost spread across the ground. The soft earth hardened like steel.
Underground, the three Swamp Demons felt the mire rapidly chill—then freeze solid.
"What's happening?! It's freezing!"
"What kind of blades does that brat have?!"
"I can't move! We have to get out!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
With three explosions, the ground burst open nearby.
Three identical Swamp Demons—distinguished only by the number of horns on their heads—scrambled out, covered in ice shards, teeth chattering.
"They came out?"
Inosuke pulled his blades free, shaking off mud and ice.
He looked at them and smiled viciously.
"This is your swamp?"
He scoffed.
"Not even as good as my dad's foot-washing water."
"You arrogant brat!"
The three-horned demon roared.
"You dare insult our Blood Demon Art?! I'll chew your bones one by one!"
"Chew my bones?"
Inosuke rolled his neck, joints cracking.
"Gonpachiro, the one-horn and two-horn ones are yours."
"Got it!"
Tanjiro set down the box.
"Nezuko, protect them!"
Nezuko jumped out, standing guard over Kazumi and the rescued girl, eyes fierce.
"Big mouth with three horns…"
Inosuke raised his blade and pointed it straight at the leader.
"You're mine."
The battle exploded.
The three-horned demon lunged from a blind angle, claws flashing toward Inosuke's neck.
"Die!"
"Too slow."
Inosuke didn't dodge. His inhuman flexibility bent his body backward into a grotesque arc, avoiding the claws as his twin blades swung upward like snapping crocodile jaws.
Total Concentration — Ice Breathing, Second Form: Shattering Ice Fangs!
Zzzrrrk!
The serrated blades bit down, locking onto the demon's arms.
"Got you."
Inosuke hung upside-down, grinning at the demon, emerald eyes full of mockery.
"Your bones are softer than I expected."
"What?!"
The demon panicked, trying to pull free—but the more it struggled, the deeper the serrations hooked.
"Trying to run?"
Inosuke snapped upright like a spring, spinning with the demon in midair.
"Weren't you so cocky just now?!"
Boom!
He kicked the demon's stomach and flung it to the ground, then landed immediately, slamming both knees onto its shoulders.
"Lesson time.
When you talk to me, trash like you doesn't get to say whatever it wants."
He reversed his grip on the indigo serrated blade and gestured at the demon's mouth.
"You said you'd chew my bones, right?
Then I'll saw your mouth apart first."
Slash!
He sliced off the demon's jaw.
"Aaaagh—!"
The demon screamed, blood spraying everywhere.
"Not done yet."
Inosuke's eyes were icy. His hands moved in a blur—
ears sliced off, fingers severed, tendons cut.
This wasn't simple cruelty. This was a lesson learned in the Eternal Paradise Cult:
For villains, fear is more effective than death.
He wanted this demon to feel despair worse than that of the girls it had eaten.
Nearby, Tanjiro struggled against the other two demons, barely keeping up with their hit-and-run swamp attacks.
"Inosuke-kun! Stop playing around and help!"
"Tch. Useless."
Inosuke glanced at the three-horned demon, now a limbless stump writhing on the ground.
"So boring. Too weak."
He stepped on its head.
"Remember my name.
Eternal Paradise Cult's young master—Hashibira Inosuke.
Mention Doma in hell and you might get a discount."
Crunch!
The serrated blade pierced down, crushing the demon's head.
Seeing their leader brutally killed, the remaining two demons panicked and tried to escape underground.
"Running?"
Inosuke sneered, pulling out his iron fans.
Total Concentration!
Muscles bulging, he hurled both fans like boomerangs.
Self-Created Technique — Twin Fans: Whirling Severance!
Whoooosh!
The green iron fans carved perfect arcs through the air and sliced straight into the half-open swamp portals.
"Aaah!"
"My legs!"
The demons were severed mid-escape, stuck halfway out.
"Gonpachiro! Now!"
"Yes!"
Tanjiro surged forward like flowing water.
Water Breathing, Second Form — Water Wheel!
Two heads fell. The battle ended.
Inosuke retrieved his fans, wiped off the blood, and pinned them back to his chest.
He kicked through the dispersing ashes, scattering colorful hairpins and keepsakes—the victims' belongings.
"Here.
What you wanted."
Kazumi burst into tears, staring at the boy who had just been so brutally merciless.
"Th-thank you…!"
"No need."
Inosuke held out his hand.
"Pay the fee.
Also, my fan chipped while saving you—repair costs count too."
Tanjiro: "…"
Kazumi: "…"
"Inosuke-kun!"
Tanjiro couldn't help complaining.
"Do you really have to be this business-minded right now?!"
"Shut up, Gonpachiro."
Inosuke stuffed the money into his sleeve shamelessly.
"If I don't have money, how do I maintain my blades? Buy meat?
How do I…"
He glanced at Nezuko behind Tanjiro, gnawing dumbly on her bamboo muzzle.
"…feed you two broke freeloaders?"
Tanjiro blinked, then smiled warmly.
"Alright, alright, whatever you say.
So… what are we eating tonight?"
"Tempura! Fried shrimp tempura!"
Inosuke instantly switched from tyrant mode to foodie mode, eyes sparkling.
"And the most expensive place! You're paying!"
"Eh?! But all my money's with you…"
"That's my money! Your money is my money, my money is my money!"
"Then where did Tanjiro's money go?!"
"Gonpachiro's money is also my money!"
"..."
The boys' arguing voices faded into the snowy night.
Meanwhile, Inosuke subtly touched the pouch hidden in his clothes.
During the fight, he'd felt a gaze on him.
"So… someone's already watching, huh."
He smiled inwardly.
Next stop—Asakusa.
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