"Flame Breathing · Esoteric Art · Ninth Form · Rengoku!"
"Destructive Death · Annihilation Style!!!"
Fueled by extreme fury, Akaza's shattered body regenerated almost instantly. Faced with the three of them closing in, he didn't waste a single thought—he charged straight at the strongest among them: Rengoku Kyojuro.
BOOM!!!
A thunderous explosion erupted across the wasteland as Rengoku and Akaza collided head-on.
The immense shockwave blasted the two boys who tried to assist straight off their feet, sending them flying several meters away. Everything they had just accomplished was rendered meaningless in the face of this overwhelming clash.
A rain of blood.
At this level, Inosuke and Tanjiro were utterly powerless to intervene.
"Hahahahaha! Not bad! That fighting spirit is impressive!" Akaza laughed wildly, his fists drenched in blood—Rengoku's blood.
Yet behind that laughter, his golden eyes were filled with chaos and brutality.
"But it's still not enough! Kyojuro! Your human body can't withstand this kind of impact! Become a demon! Only by becoming a demon can you gain endless time to hone your martial arts!"
"UMM! I refuse!" Rengoku roared, swinging his Nichirin Blade again and severing the arm reaching for his chest.
"So stubborn…" Akaza's arm regenerated in an instant.
As he stared at the man before him—gravely injured, yet still standing firm like an unyielding mountain—Doma's smiling face suddenly flashed through Akaza's mind.
And that little brat named Inosuke.
"Whether it's you… or that nauseating Eternal Paradise Cult brat!"
"They both irritate me beyond measure!"
"Flame Breathing · Fifth Form · Flame Tiger!"
With another earth-shaking roar, a massive flaming tiger lunged forward, snapping viciously at Akaza's throat.
This time, Akaza didn't dodge.
Even the faint enjoyment he once took in battle vanished, replaced by suffocating, murderous savagery.
"Too weak, Kyojuro! Is this your limit without a demon's body?!"
Akaza bellowed as Destructive Death · Annihilation Style erupted in full. The punch carried pressure powerful enough to shatter the air itself, smashing the Flame Tiger's head apart before slamming, without restraint, into Rengoku's chest.
CRACK!
A bone-chilling fracture rang out.
Rengoku was sent flying like a kite with snapped strings, crashing heavily into the train wreckage. Blood and flesh carved a tragic arc through the air.
Blood streamed from his left eye socket from the collision. The agony of broken ribs made every breath feel like swallowing red-hot coals.
Yet the fingers gripping his sword were still dug into the hilt—he didn't even notice his nails cracking.
"It's useless, useless! A human body is as fragile as paper before a demon!"
Akaza laughed madly as he emerged from the smoke. The half of his face that had been scorched by the Flame Tiger was already fully restored, without even a scar.
In contrast, Rengoku Kyojuro still stood tall before the two boys—but his white haori was soaked completely crimson.
The earth beneath his feet had turned dark red with blood.
"Rengoku-san!" Tanjiro cried, trying to rush forward, only to be stopped by Rengoku's firm hand.
This was absolute despair—a chasm between human and demon that could not be crossed.
The Compass Needle beneath Akaza spun wildly. Blue fighting spirit poured down like a crushing tide as he raised his fist, voice cold and final:
"Since you refuse to become the perfect demon—then take your so-called 'protection' and die with it!!!"
Akaza stomped down hard.
"Destructive Death · Annihilation Style!"
Another Annihilation Style—no probing, no restraint. A true killing blow.
The terrifying shockwave blasted out like a compressed air cannon. Rengoku crossed his blade to block, but was still hurled backward, slamming into the train wreckage and coughing up a mouthful of blood.
"Rengoku-san!" Tanjiro tried to move, only to realize his legs had gone completely limp.
"Don't come closer!"
Rengoku propped himself up with his sword, staggering back to his feet.
"As a Hashira—if I can't even protect my juniors, what right do I have to wield a blade?!"
"Die!"
Akaza had lost all patience. He wanted to end this fight, then crush that brat who kept calling him "basketball," and finally silence the noise in his head.
Technique Expansion · Destructive Death · Final Style · Azure Silver Chaotic Shards!
Hundreds of light bullets, each capable of pulverizing diamond, poured down like a meteor shower, blanketing the entire area.
An indiscriminate massacre—meant to erase Rengoku Kyojuro and the two boys behind him in one stroke.
"It's over…
Nezuko…"
Tanjiro stared blankly at the rain of light, instinctively raising his sword in front of him.
Inosuke froze as well. His serrated blades were already chipped, and the ice within his body had been completely drained when he froze the Compass Needle.
"So this is it…?" Inosuke looked at the falling lights.
"My money's not spent yet… my underlings haven't paid back their debts…
I haven't changed yet…!"
At that very instant—
"Bzzzz—!"
A sound like a thousand birds crying rang through the air. A golden bolt of lightning, moving faster than the eye could follow, forcibly cut into this dead end.
"Thunder Breathing · First Form · Thunderclap and Flash · Sixfold!"
The blond boy who had been cowering in the back, crying at every turn, now had his eyes closed, golden lightning wrapping around his body.
Asleep—guided purely by instinct—he became a streak of lightning, weaving through the storm of light bullets.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
A rapid series of metallic impacts rang out as Zenitsu forcibly deflected several fatal projectiles meant for Rengoku!
The next second, he was blasted away, foam spilling from his mouth—but that single, crucial second gave Rengoku a chance to breathe.
"Bwah—!"
Zenitsu crashed beside Inosuke, eyes rolled back as he muttered in his sleep:
"Grandpa…
I didn't run away…
I protected the pretty lady…"
Inosuke stared at the useless crybaby who usually clung to others' legs—now someone who had risked his life without hesitation.
His heart clenched violently.
"Damn it…
Damn it…!"
"What kind of big brother gets protected by his little brother?!"
Inosuke forced himself up with his serrated blade. Blood ran from his forehead into his eyes, turning the world crimson.
He looked at Rengoku, still trying to swing his sword in a pool of blood.
At Zenitsu, unconscious.
At Tanjiro, completely spent.
And then at Akaza—still roaring, preparing another assault.
A fear and fury he had never known before grew wildly inside him.
Fear? Yes—fear.
Not of death.
But of loss.
Of losing everything.
His memories suddenly replayed like a spinning lantern.
The memories of the original timeline flooded in.
The first time—his biological mother, Kotoha, throwing him off a cliff to save him, only to be devoured by Doma.
"Inosuke… live…"
The second time—the wild boar mother who raised him, dying from hunters' arrows to protect him.
She couldn't speak, but that warm embrace before death was his entire childhood.
The third time—the old man who taught him to speak, who loved him silently, and then vanished without a word.
The fourth time—Shinobu Kocho, always wearing a fake smile, quick to anger, yet gentle when bandaging his wounds.
She turned herself into poison in the Infinity Castle to kill Doma—the human who felt most like a mother to him.
The fifth time…
This life.
The life where he had finally made it this far.
Finally kept Kotoha alive.
Finally made friends.
Finally made that deranged bastard Doma feel even a shred of emotion.
And now—
It was happening again.
Rengoku, this big idiot, was about to die—he hadn't even treated him to a meal yet. The hundred-billion gold guard fee would be gone.
Tanjiro, that bleeding-heart fool, would die—the most obedient little brother he had.
Zenitsu, that coward, would die—his free labor.
"What kind of joke is this…
How is this allowed—how is this allowed to be worse than before?!"
Inosuke lowered his head. His voice was hoarse, tinged with sobs—and a madness that chilled the soul.
"I've already lost four times…"
He raised his head sharply. The shrewdness and greed in his emerald eyes vanished, replaced by a resolve called protection.
"This time! I don't want to lose anything anymore!"
"You want to kill my money trees? My underlings? Ask me first if I allow it!"
Inhale—exhale.
Inosuke's chest heaved violently. Lung Capacity Enhancement was driven beyond its limit—past what his alveoli could withstand.
His blood began to boil—the Demon King's blood igniting.
The cold within him condensed—the Ice Spirit physique roaring.
"AAAAAAAH—!!!"
Inosuke let out a shrill, furious roar.
He reversed his grip on the serrated blade in his left hand. The edge was instantly coated in thick, ancient frost, white as eternal ice.
Breath of Ice—full output.
And his right hand…
He remembered the dance Tanjiro performed in the snowy night.
That warm firelight, as if it could drive away all cold.
"Burn for me…
BURN!!!"
He forcibly drew out a faint frequency of Sun Breathing within his body, using the rampaging demon blood to ignite it.
Boom!
No orthodox flame appeared on the blade—instead, an eerie crimson-black bloodfire erupted.
Left hand—extreme cold.
Right hand—extreme heat.
The opposing forces tore through his body, pain so intense it felt like he was splitting apart—but he didn't care.
"Owl! Can you still move?!"
Inosuke roared, not caring if Rengoku heard him, as he shot forward like a red-and-white meteor, charging Akaza without hesitation.
Akaza was about to deliver the final blow to Rengoku when an extremely bizarre presence surged behind him—half freezing, half scorching.
"What is that?!" Akaza turned and threw a punch.
Bang!
Fist and twin blades collided.
No technique—only sheer desperation.
"GET THE HELL BACK!!!"
Inosuke's eyes were bloodshot. His left ice blade locked Akaza's wrist in place, freezing cold pouring in violently, while his right bloodflame blade hacked wildly at Akaza's neck like a rabid dog.
Hiss—!
Steam exploded from the clash of ice and fire. Akaza was shocked—the boy's wild, unstructured strikes carried a red flame that burned like the sun!
"This brat—why is his technique so disgusting?!"
Akaza tried to break free, but Inosuke clung to him like a leech. Even with broken ribs, even coughing blood, he refused to let go.
"Rengoku! Move!" Inosuke roared through a mouthful of blood.
Rengoku Kyojuro looked at the boy fighting desperately to protect everyone.
The flame in his heart reignited.
"UMM! Understood, Inosuke boy!"
Flame Breathing · Esoteric Art · Ninth Form · Rengoku!
Burning away the last of his strength, Rengoku became a roaring fire dragon. With Inosuke holding Akaza in place, he slammed forward with everything he had.
BOOOOM—!!!
The ground was torn apart. Half of Akaza's body was obliterated.
"AAAAAH!" Akaza screamed as he was blasted backward.
At that moment, the first ray of sunlight finally pierced through the clouds, illuminating his face.
"Sunlight?!" Akaza's pupils shrank.
"Damn it… damn you, Demon Slayer Corps… damn you, brat…
Doma!!!"
Clutching his burning wounds, Akaza shot Inosuke one last venomous look.
That brat… that gaze… why did it look so familiar…?
For an instant, the vague silhouette in Akaza's mind overlapped with the boy before him, desperately protecting his companions.
"Protection… huh…"
Akaza clutched his head and let out a pained growl.
He didn't dare linger. No matter how unwilling he was, he could only turn and flee into the shadowed forest.
"Huff… huff…"
Inosuke stood still. His twin blades clattered to the ground.
His brocade haori was reduced to rags. His hands were charred black from enduring the extreme clash.
He looked toward where Akaza had fled, tried to curse him—only to make a strangled, goose-like sound.
His body went limp, falling backward.
"Inosuke boy!"
A pair of warm hands caught him—it was Rengoku.
"Well? Dead or not?"
Inosuke weakly opened his eyes, staring at Rengoku's blood-covered yet energetic face.
"If I'm dead… remember to give me the inheritance… and that cloak too…
If I'm not dead… you still owe me a hundred billion gold guard fee…"
"Hahahahaha!" Rengoku burst into laughter, tears streaming down his face.
"Don't worry! Thanks to you—we survived!"
"And… I didn't lose anything either!"
Rengoku held the awkward boy tightly, looking at Tanjiro and Zenitsu crying as they crawled over. The sun rose, golden light bathing all four of them.
This time—
No regrets.
Only four living, noisy, painfully vivid lives.
...
Deep in the forest, the fleeing Akaza leaned against a tree, gasping for breath.
His mind was in chaos.
"Why… when I saw that brat risking his life for his companions… did my heart hurt so much?"
A single tear slipped inexplicably from the corner of Upper Rank Three's eye.
The memory chains named Hakuji finally cracked open—just a little.
...
[Ding! Detected: Host has successfully altered Rengoku Kyojuro's fate and pioneered a new Breathing style prototype.]
[Style Classification: Rime-Sun Breathing]
[Notice: This style is original to the host. Risks unknown. Upper limit unknown. Use with caution.]
[System Reward: Two minutes of demonization per day, ignoring sunlight.]
[Evaluation: Humanity's hymn is a hymn of courage. Keep training—this is only the beginning.]
In the depths of sleep, the long-unheard system notification sounded once more.
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