The Hashira's Judgment: An Evil Soul Descends!

"Tick-tock."

The sound of a drop of water falling onto the water's surface.

When Tanjiro opened his eyes again, he found that he did not feel the emptiness of death.

What came into view was a crimson space that resembled the deepest part of hell.

The sky was dark red, and beneath your feet was not soil, but a terrifying, slowly flowing lava field.

"Am I... am I dead?"

Tanjiro stared blankly at his hands, discovering that his body was completely unharmed, without even a scratch.

"Is this hell? But I've never eaten anyone, so why am I going to hell?"

The eldest son's grievances were like a river flowing backwards.

He recalled how that white-haired man had pinned him to the ground and brutally rubbed him against the ground outside. To obey Mr. Giyu's orders, he hadn't uttered a sound, but in the end, he still had his head chopped off.

Just as he was about to squat down by the lava and draw a circle to lament the injustice of fate...

A voice filled with extreme arrogance came from above his head.

"Can you stop acting like such a coward? You're making me lose all face."

That voice... it sounds exactly like his own, just with a... domineering CEO filter added!

Tanjiro suddenly raised his head.

In mid-air, a figure was lounging lazily on a colossal throne carved from black lava.

It was a face exactly like his!

However, their temperaments are completely opposite!

That "self" had long, dark red hair that reached her waist, flowing wildly like a waterfall.

His eyes were blood-red vertical pupils, like those of a wild beast, carrying an absolute indifference that regarded all things in the world as ants.

What's most eye-catching is the crimson flame magic mark on his forehead!

He sat casually on the throne, resting his chin on his hand, looking down at Tanjiro below.

"Who... who are you?!"

Tanjiro was so frightened that he took two steps back.

"Who I am?"

He let out a sneer, floated down from the throne, and landed lightly on the surface of the scalding lava.

"I am the god who was suppressed by your weak body, yet who endowed you with the ability to overcome sunlight and possess infinite power!!"

The Demon Tanjiro walked up to him.

Tanjiro's sensitive nose twitched twice involuntarily in the air.

Tanjiro was stunned.

"Why?"

Tanjiro tilted his head, looking at the arrogant demon in front of him, and tentatively asked:

"But... I can't smell any murderous malice in you."

Not only did he not mean any harm, Tanjiro could even smell a strong aura of protectiveness and irritability emanating from this arrogant guy!

It's like a hot-tempered older brother who sees his younger brother being bullied by thugs outside. Although he scolds his brother for being useless, he's actually already picking up a brick and preparing to flatten the entire thug's family!

"Are you... are you angry?"

Tanjiro blinked.

"And... is it because I was hit by that white-haired guy outside that you're so angry?"

This precise and direct rebuttal caused Demon Tanjiro's arrogant face to freeze for half a second.

Shut up! You hopeless idiot!

The Demon Tanjiro, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, instantly bristled. He grabbed Tanjiro by the collar, lifted him up, and roared viciously:

"Who the hell is angry for you?!"

"I just feel like my body has been used as a punching bag and my clothes have been dirtied. This seriously damages my dignity as Perfect Lifeform!!"

The Demon Tanjiro threw him to the ground and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Listen up, you piece of trash."

A sinister smirk curled at the corner of Demon Tanjiro's lips.

"That woman's Demon Transformation Medicine suppressed my cannibalistic instincts, but it couldn't erase the genes of a god!"

"I have no interest in human flesh and blood for the time being!"

"My only interest right now is to go out and beat that damn white-haired guy into Boar's Head that even his own mother wouldn't recognize!"

"Now, hand over control of your body to me."

The Demon Tanjiro extended his hand, his tone extremely seductive.

"Half a minute! Within half a minute, I'll help you get back all that anger, with interest!"

To be honest, after being beaten so badly, and even having my head chopped off, it would be a lie to say I wasn't angry.

If we could send this incredibly powerful second personality out to beat up that snarky Shinazugawa, it sounds... kind of satisfying, doesn't it?

But!

Just as Tanjiro was about to nod, the expressionless face of Giyu Tomioka rang in Tanjiro's mind like an alarm bell.

"Dame!"

Tanjiro shook his head violently, his eyes instantly becoming incredibly clear.

"I will never give my body to you!"

Tanjiro loudly refused,

"Mr. Giyu warned me never to be tempted by evil spirits! If I let you out, I will break the proof that I am human!"

"I'd rather be beheaded here than disobey Mr. Giyu's teachings!"

This righteous and resolute refusal plunged the Demon Tanjiro into a brief silence.

He looked at the stubborn mortal before him, a hint of utter speechlessness flashing in his blood-red vertical pupils.

"You're really... hopelessly stupid."

Demon Tanjiro sighed, suddenly abandoning his manic expression, and instead curled his lips into a sinister, fox-like smile.

"Since you keep treating that expressionless Water Hashira's words as gospel, then let me ask you..."

The Demon Tanjiro leaned closer to Tanjiro's face and lowered his voice.

"Why do you think I was able to wake up at this time?"

"You really think that Oyakata-sama and that expressionless Water Hashira wanted you to prove your innocence by getting beaten up?"

Demon Tanjiro scoffed, as if looking at a fool who had been sold out and was still helping the seller count the money.

"Don't be naive! Those two guys are complete mad gamblers! They saw right through the nature of this power within you."

"They know very well that shedding a few tears won't cut it from the Nine Pillars' prejudice! Only the most extreme violence can shut them up!"

"What were the exact words of the last order that guy named Giyu Tomioka gave you outside?"

Tanjiro paused for a moment, then obediently recited it aloud:

"Mr. Giyu said: 'No matter what... no resistance is allowed.'"

"Bingo!!"

Demon Tanjiro snapped his fingers, his smile growing even brighter.

"Did you hear that?! He said—'No resistance allowed!'"

But what are you doing right now?

The Demon Tanjiro pressed closer and closer.

"You are now desperately resisting my takeover of your body! You are using your mental strength to fiercely resist my awakening!"

The Demon Tanjiro spread his hands, making an innocent expression:

"Think about it carefully. Aren't your actions completely contrary to the tactical instructions given by your most respected Mr. Giyu?!"

"Boom--!"

These words exploded in Tanjiro Kamado's simple mind!

The brain's CPU began operating at full overload.

"Yes... Mr. Giyu said, 'Don't resist.'"

"But I am now resisting the takeover by the demons... If I resist, I will be disobeying Mr. Giyu's orders!"

"Etc!"

Tanjiro's thoughts suddenly got stuck in a vicious cycle!

"Mr. Giyu is so smart, how could he not have predicted that I would awaken my second personality?!"

"Could it be that..."

Tanjiro gasped sharply, automatically bestowing upon Giyu the aura of a "wise man"!

"Could it be that when Giyu told me 'not to resist,' he didn't actually mean I shouldn't resist Shinazugawa's fists... but rather that I shouldn't resist the awakening of my second personality?!"

After achieving this logical consistency

The struggle on Tanjiro's face vanished instantly.

He suddenly raised his head and looked at the Demon Tanjiro before him with a gaze full of dedication.

"I see!"

Tanjiro nodded solemnly, took a step back, and gestured for him to proceed.

"Mr. Giyu's tactics are absolutely correct! Since this is Mr. Giyu's arrangement, I will not resist! Control of my body is now yours!"

"..."

Demon Tanjiro looked at the silly main personality in front of him, whose eyes were full of stars and even had a bit of adoration.

The arrogant and domineering demon was now so shocked that he couldn't speak for a long time.

"You fucking... you're so stupid it makes my heart ache."

Demon Tanjiro covered his face speechlessly and let out a long sigh.

"Forget it!! Sharing a brain with an idiot is an insult to my intelligence!!"

"In short, I'm taking over this body!"

The moment the words left his mouth, his entire crimson Sea of Consciousness erupted into a frenzy!

In the real world, in the garden of Ubuyashiki.

"Haha! See that? Once your head is chopped off, even a ghost that's not afraid of the sun is doomed to die!"

Sanemi Shinazugawa remained standing beside Tanjiro's headless corpse, mocking him arrogantly.

However, just as everyone was immersed in grief or shock...

Standing at the very back of the crowd, [Stone Hashira] Gyomei Himejima suddenly opened his blind eyes, which had been constantly filled with tears!

"Namo Amitabha Buddha--!"

At that moment, every hair on Gyomei's body stood on end!

In his Transparent World, inside the headless corpse that had completely lost its vital signs, a heart like a nuclear reactor was restarting at an extremely fast frequency!

"Get back! Shinazugawa! That thing... it's not dead at all!!"

Gyomei let out a terrified roar, his forehead instantly covered in cold sweat the size of soybeans.

"What?!"

Sanemi paused for a moment.

[Sound Hashira] Tengen Uzui also pointed at the corpse on the ground in horror and shouted:

"Not flashy at all! Look everyone! Why hasn't that headless corpse turned to ashes?!"

Everyone stared intently.

The demon's body, which should have quickly turned to ash after being decapitated by the Nichirin Blade, not only did not dissipate, but instead began to tremble violently!

At the severed neck, numerous dark red fleshy buds, like frenzied vines, were frantically intertwining and reorganizing at an irrational speed!

"This... how is this possible?!"

Sanemi's pupils instantly shrank to the size of pinpoints.

A chilling sense of crisis, a feeling of impending death, instantly gripped his heart.

His instinct was to raise the knife and strike again.

But it's too late!

"Shinazugawa! Get out of the way!"

Gyomei didn't hesitate to throw out the huge meteor hammer chain in his hand!

"Splash!"

At the critical moment, the thick steel chain tightly wrapped around Sanemi's waist.

Gyomei unleashed terrifying arm strength, pulling him backward dozens of meters!

The very next instant Sanemi was dragged away from his spot!

"Boom--!"

Without any warning!

A thick, crimson pillar of fire, several meters in diameter, shot straight into the sky from the headless corpse!

The temperature of this pillar of fire was outrageously high. The rolling heat waves and unparalleled domineering aura transformed into tangible shockwaves that spread wildly in all directions!

"Snap! Snap!"

The Wisteria trees that had grown for a hundred years in the Ubuyashiki garden were uprooted by the violent heat wave and instantly burned to charcoal in mid-air!

"Scatter! Activate defensive formation!"

The remaining Pillars were forced back by the terrifying shockwave, drawing their Nichirin Blades and standing in front of themselves in horror.

The flames raged for a good ten seconds before gradually dissipating.

When the dust and heat subsided.

In the center of the courtyard, a huge, deep pit had been burned into the bluestone slab.

And in the center of that deep pit.

A tall, slender figure stood quietly under the blazing midday sun.

He was reborn!!

Moreover, it was done in a perfect manner that instilled despair in all humans and demons.

Her long, dark red hair, reaching her waist, danced wildly in the wind like burning flames in the sunlight.

Those red, vertical pupils, filled with both bestiality and absolute indifference, resembled those of an ancient demon god who looked down upon the world.

On his forehead, the materialized flame mark representing divine curse and power emanated a chilling, eerie light.

[Tanjiro the Demon] has descended upon the world!

"Click click click..."

The Demon Tanjiro casually twisted his newly grown neck, producing a crisp sound of bones grinding together.

He raised his hand and patted his tattered clothes with some disdain.

"This dress cost me a lot of money."

Tanjiro didn't even glance at the nine Pillars who were on high alert.

Instead, he stepped through the crowd and focused his red, vertical pupils precisely on Giyu Tomioka, whose hands were still tucked into his sleeves.

Their eyes met in mid-air.