"I'm sorry, Mr. Tanjuro."
Giyu sighed silently in his heart, a trace of guilt flashing in his deep blue eyes.
He recalled the man's dying words.
That was a promise between men, as heavy as Mount Tai.
However, as the Water Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps, as a swordsman who slays demons, he cannot let personal feelings push the entire world into the abyss of destruction!
If someone has to be this cruel executioner, then let him bear all the infamy!
At this moment, killing intent completely replaced hesitation.
"Step back!"
Giyu suddenly turned his head and let out a low roar at the Kamado Family members behind him who were still trying to rush up.
"Cover your eyes and don't open them no matter what you hear!"
"Mr. Giyu! Please don't kill him! He's my brother!"
Nezuko cried until her voice was hoarse.
"Shut up!"
Giyu's voice was extremely cold, devoid of any human warmth.
"He is no longer your family; he is a demon that will devour you!"
Before he could finish speaking, Giyu suddenly turned around.
Tanjiro charged forward again, accompanied by a surging wave of energy.
This time, Giyu did not choose to dodge.
"Ha... ignorance is bliss!!"
Giyu took a deep breath, his eyes fixed on Tanjiro charging towards him.
His right hand clenched tightly, and the veins on his arm bulged out like writhing dragons.
"Sizzle--!"
Almost in the blink of an eye, the deep blue blade turned bright red, radiating a high temperature powerful enough to distort the air!
Activate the Red Nichirin Blade at will!
This is the source of the Demon Slayer Corps' current top-tier combat power!
"Sun Breathing - Eighth Form - Solar Heat Haze!"
Giyu met Tanjiro's ferocious fist head-on with a powerful, unstoppable flying slash.
The Red Nichirin Blade traced a perfect crescent-shaped fiery trajectory through the air, carrying an overbearing divine might that could incinerate everything, before slamming into Tanjiro's chest!
"Sizzle--!"
Tanjiro's incredibly strong body was like a fragile piece of tofu in front of the Red Nichirin Blade.
"Aaaaaah--!"
Tanjiro was thrown backward as if he had been hit head-on by a high-speed train, flying dozens of meters away before crashing heavily into a huge snow crater.
A horrifying, deep knife wound, revealing bone, was clearly visible on his chest!
If it were a regular Nichirin Blade, such a wound would heal in just two or three seconds for a demon that has reached the [Upper Hashira] level.
But this is Red Nichirin Blade!
The edge of that deep wound was coated with extreme heat, which was frantically burning the demon cells in his body.
Large plumes of white smoke billowed from Tanjiro's chest, accompanied by the smell of burnt meat, severing any possibility of his regeneration.
Tanjiro lay in the snow pit, his body convulsing in pain, his hands and feet scratching at the ground, but he couldn't get up no matter what.
He completely lost the ability to resist.
"Tanjiro!!"
Seeing her eldest son in such a miserable state, Kie Kamado could no longer control her emotions and broke down.
She broke free from Takeo's grasp and scrambled towards the snow pit.
"Stop!"
Giyu flashed forward and stood firmly in front of Kie.
He held the crimson Red Nichirin Blade, still radiating intense heat, his eyes showing no emotion.
"Don't go near him!! The burning sensation of the Red Nichirin Blade will drive the demon completely mad; if you get close, he'll tear you to pieces!!"
In that brief moment of their struggle...
On the distant horizon, a dazzling golden hue finally appeared.
The long and cruel night has finally come to an end.
The sun is coming out.
The first rays of dawn pierced through the thick clouds of Mount Kumotori, shining precisely into the snow pit.
This light, which should have brought warmth and hope, became the most deadly poison for Tanjiro, who was trapped in the pit.
"Ahhh--!"
The moment the sunlight touched his skin, Tanjiro let out a howl ten times more miserable than when he was struck by the Red Nichirin Blade.
He rolled around frantically in the snow.
His skin, exposed to sunlight, instantly ulcerated and blistered, and large amounts of black smoke gushed out from every pore of his body.
The scene was extremely gruesome, as if his entire body would turn into a pile of black ash under the scorching sun at any moment.
"No! God! Please, spare my child! Whatever punishment you have, take it upon me!"
Kie cried her heart out, her legs gave way, and she knelt at Giyu's feet.
She frantically pounded the snow, oblivious to the fact that her hands were turning red from the cold.
Nezuko and her younger siblings were so frightened that they huddled together and cried.
Hearing the heart-wrenching cries behind him, even Giyu's usually expressionless face twitched slightly.
But reason told him that he had to make things clear and shatter their unrealistic fantasies.
"Madam, accept reality."
Giyu, holding the knife in one hand, remained firmly in front of him, blocking the way.
"The demon's cellular structure has a fatal flaw!!"
"No matter how exaggerated their regenerative abilities are, or what fancy Blood Demon Art they can unleash."
"The sun is their absolute nemesis!!"
Giyu watched the plume of black smoke churning wildly in the snow.
"No ghost can survive under the sun!!"
Even the arrogant Muzan Kibutsuji, when exposed to the sun, could only scurry into the sewers like a rat.
"So, he's beyond saving!!"
"Besides turning to ashes, there is no other way..."
Giyu was only halfway through his sentence.
Suddenly, his voice caught in his throat.
Those usually calm, deep blue eyes suddenly shrank to the size of pinpoints.
That expressionless face, which wouldn't change even if the sky were to fall, suddenly showed an incredulous look, as if it had seen a ghost!
It was just a few dozen meters in front of him.
Tanjiro, who was originally rolling around in the snow and screaming in agony, was now in the snow.
It stopped rolling.
The screams also stopped.
The black smoke emanating from Tanjiro's body began to thin at a visible speed, and finally disappeared completely!
"What kind of international joke is this?!"
Giyu felt as if a million alpacas were stampeding through his mind!
Tanjiro's previously festering skin began to regrow and heal.
Even the fatal stab wound on his chest, Giyu by Red Nichirin Blade, scabbed over and fell off within a few breaths, restoring its smooth, pristine appearance!
The sunlight shone on him, but it could no longer cause him the slightest harm!
He... overcame the sunlight?!
Giyu stood frozen in place, forgetting even to maintain his grip on the crimson Red Nichirin Blade in his hand. The blade was slowly fading from red, returning to its original deep blue.
Seeing this, Kie Kamado's face instantly changed from despair to ecstasy.
"Tanjiro! Tanjiro's alright! He's not afraid of the sun anymore!"
Kie was so excited that her voice trembled as she struggled to stand up and rush over.
"Back off! Everyone back off! No one is allowed to come near him!"
Giyu suddenly snapped out of his daze and pulled Kie behind him.
Because within the [Transparent World]'s perspective, Giyu saw a scene that sent chills down his spine.
Tanjiro did overcome the sunlight, but he did not turn back into a human.
On the contrary, the energy within his body is undergoing a more irrational and frenzied transformation!
If he was still at the level of a [Upper Hashira] just now...
Now, his aura is visibly increasing.
Upper Hashira - Limit!
Extreme Hashira
Extreme position, extreme limit!
Finally, it steadily reached the level of a [Super Hashira], a level that would make all Demon Slayer Corps swordsmen despair!
This aura was so strong that it even distorted the wind direction in the surrounding air.
Just then, Tanjiro, who had been lying on the snow, slowly stood up.
He lowered his head slightly, and his long, dark red hair was somewhat dazzling in the sunlight.
"Tanjiro... you recognize your mother, don't you?"
Kie called out in a trembling voice from behind Giyu.
Tanjiro slowly raised his head.
The moment Yi Yong saw his face, cold sweat instantly broke out on his palm Giyu gripped the knife.
What eyes they were!
Her once clear and gentle wine-red eyes have completely disappeared.
Instead, there were a pair of blood-red vertical pupils.
In those eyes,
It carried an extreme, pure indifference.
It was as if they were looking at a tiny speck of dust on the roadside!
This isn't Tanjiro at all!
Second Personality!
A completely unfamiliar new personality has awakened within this body!
"Mother?"
Tanjiro tilted his head, a mocking smile curving his thin lips.
His voice had a chillingly magnetic quality.
"Insects should act like insects. Who gave you the audacity to look me in the eye with such a disgusting term?"
Tanjiro casually patted his tattered clothes, as if brushing away some dirt.
"So noisy!!"
"If you make that awful noise again, I'll rip your tongues out one by one and feed them to the wild dogs in the mountains."
These cold and heartless words struck Kie and her younger siblings like a thunderbolt, leaving them stunned and speechless, even forgetting to cry.
Their eldest son, who always gently patted their heads, their brother who swore to protect them, actually said such things to them!!
Giyu stepped forward, completely blocking the Kamado Family from his sight.
"Stop wasting your breath on them."
Giyu stared expressionlessly at the monster before him.
"Your opponent is me."
Tanjiro's dark red vertical pupils slowly turned and landed on Giyu.
"Oh?!"
Tanjiro scoffed, his eyes full of disdain.
"You just slashed me, and you seem to have developed some ridiculous illusion."
Tanjiro slowly raised his right hand.
As he raised his hand, the temperature in the surrounding space suddenly began to rise at an unreasonable speed.
The originally biting cold wind suddenly became even hotter than the scorching heat of midsummer.
Do you think you know anything about fire?
Tanjiro grinned cruelly, revealing his sharp, white teeth.
"Let me teach you what the real sun is."
"Blood Demon Art - Heat Haze."
As his deep voice faded...
"Boom--!"
A dense, almost dripping red flame erupted from Tanjiro's body without warning!
The crimson flames spread wildly from his feet to the ground in all directions!
Where the flames passed,
The snow was instantly evaporated into a cloud of white vapor!
In the blink of an eye,
Centered on Tanjiro, the snow-covered area within a radius of 10,000 meters was transformed into a blood-red sea of lava fire by this Blood Demon Art!
The once snow-covered winter forests now seem to have fallen directly into the crater of a volcano at the very bottom of hell!
The surrounding trees transformed into towering pillars of fire.
"This is a huge problem!!"
Giyu Tomioka stared intently at the churning lava field.
Thank you "Dianzi" for the Inspiration Capsule x2! ⌯ᵔᗜᵔ⌯ಣ
Thank you "username96108782" for the Inspiration Capsule X1! ૮₍ ྀི∩៸៸៸∩ ྀི₎ა
May these two great figures live forever! •͈ᴗ⁃͈ ✧
I'll add another chapter! ^⎚˕⎚^