Time flew by amidst the monotonous swinging of the sword.
Before we knew it, it was already afternoon.
"Ninety-eight..."
"Ninety-nine..."
"One hundred!!"
"Bang!"
Tanjiro's legs buckled, and he immediately knelt on one knee.
The entire afternoon of practicing in the air not only allowed him to thoroughly etch the twelve sword techniques of Sun Breathing into his muscle memory, but also...
It also gave his lungs a taste of what it means to feel "burning" pain.
"Tread."
A soft footstep stopped in front of him.
Giyu Tomioka casually held his dark blue Nichirin Blade, looking down at Tanjiro was trembling all over.
"A swing in the air is just to let your muscles remember the trajectory."
Giyu's voice sounded particularly cold in the chilly air:
"Practice makes perfect; real-world experience is the only true test of whether you're slacking off."
"Stand up."
"Draw your sword and attack with the Breathing Style and sword skills you learned today!!"
"Use all your strength, with the determination to kill me!!"
"If you can force me to take even half a step back, you'll pass today's training."
Hearing this statement from Versailles, which sounded like he was saying, "I can beat you even with my hands and feet tied up," was quite a shock.
If it were anyone else, they would definitely feel deeply humiliated.
But Tanjiro wouldn't!!
He knew very well that Mr. Giyu was using the most rigorous real combat to squeeze out his potential!
Yes! Please guide me!
Tanjiro bit his tongue, using the pain to forcefully dispel the soreness in his muscles.
He staggered to his feet and gripped the hilt of the knife with both hands.
"Total Concentration-- "
Tanjiro compressed the oxygen in his lungs at a frenzied frequency and ignited it!
As his breathing deepened, the scar on his forehead felt faintly hot.
"Sun Breathing - First Form - Dance!"
Tanjiro roared,
He stomped his feet on the ground, his whole body turning into a red afterimage, gathering all his strength into this one slash, and fiercely cleaved down towards Giyu's face!
This fiery strike tore through the air with a sharp, whooshing sound!
In contrast, consider Giyu Tomioka.
His expressionless face remained completely calm.
He simply raised his right hand casually, and with an incredible angle, his wrist... he gently flipped it.
"Clang--!"
Giyu's blade struck Tanjiro's weakest point precisely!
"Why?!"
Tanjiro felt an irresistible force surge through his arms along with his Nichirin Blade!
His wrist suddenly went numb, and a tearing pain shot through the web of his hand!
"Whoosh!"
The Nichirin Blade he had gripped tightly all afternoon suddenly slipped from his hand, spinning more than a dozen times in mid-air.
"Hiss--"
It was inserted into the frozen soil more than ten meters away.
"Bang."
Tanjiro himself lost his balance and fell to the ground with a thud.
???
From the moment Tanjiro launched his imposing charge to the moment he dropped his Nichirin Blade and collapsed to his seat, the entire process took less than a second!
Giyu Tomioka, however, did not move his feet even a millimeter, and his Nichirin Blade remained steadily suspended in mid-air.
"This..."
Tanjiro stared blankly at his still trembling hands, his mind a complete blank.
An unprecedented sense of frustration welled up in his heart.
"Progress... is too slow."
Tanjiro murmured bitterly to himself.
"I clearly gave it my all, I clearly managed to draw out the flames of the Sun Breathing technique."
"But... even Giyu -san, who didn't use any Breathing Style, couldn't force him back even half a step..."
"This gap is so obvious... How long do I have to train before I can truly have the power to protect everyone?"
"At this snail's pace, how am I supposed to kill Muzan? I'm not even as good as one of Muzan's underlings..."
Tanjiro slowly lowered his head, his chin almost touching his chest.
If an artist were present at this moment, they would definitely have drawn a pair of droopy puppy ears for him, along with a lifeless tail.
And opposite him,
For once, Giyu Tomioka's deep blue eyes furrowed slightly.
"Oh no, his eyes have dimmed."
"Although I had anticipated he would be hit hard, this lifeless, depressed mood was still..."
"According to the Cultivator's manual, it is essential to provide timely encouragement when a disciple falls into self-doubt."
Water Hashira's brain began its search.
"How did Master Urokodaki used to comfort his frustrated students? By rubbing their heads? Or by lecturing them with grand principles? That's too complicated, and it's easy to say the wrong thing."
"If Sabito, that hot-blooded idiot, were here, he'd definitely yell, 'If you're a man, stand up and keep swinging your sword!'... No, that's too manic!!"
"What if... it was Kanae?"
Suddenly, in a very inopportune moment, that stunningly beautiful face with a gentle smile flashed through Giyu's mind.
["Kanae will definitely hug him and say some sweet things like, 'You've done a great job, don't be discouraged.'"]
Giyu's face twitched slightly.
"So, what should I say?"
There was a full ten seconds of silence and a pause.
Giyu Tomioka finally spoke.
He retrieved his Nichirin Blade.
With his hands behind his back, he cleared his throat, trying to adopt a gentle tone, and managed to utter a sentence:
"That..."
Don't be discouraged, at least... you still have a lot of room for improvement!
"..."
"..."
A cold wind swept across the training ground.
Tanjiro suddenly raised his head, looking at the serious-looking man in front of him with a face full of black lines.
His lips twitched violently.
"Mr. Giyu! Are you really trying to comfort me?!"
It was dusk.
The setting sun dyed the snow- Mount Sagiri a blood-red hue.
Giyu's critical hit left Tanjiro speechless, but the kid's inherent resilience was truly terrifying.
Instead of being discouraged, he was instead ignited by an almost frenzied competitive spirit.
"Call--"
Tanjiro took a deep breath, pushed himself up from his knees, and stood up!
He ran over and pulled the Nichirin Blade stuck in the frozen ground.
The confusion in his eyes had vanished, replaced by determination.
"Mr. Giyu!"
Tanjiro gripped his swords with both hands, stared at the cold, aloof man standing in the setting sun, and loudly pleaded:
"Fight me again!"
"This time... I will use all my strength! I will spare no expense to make you take a step back!"
Hearing this challenge, which sounded like a declaration...
Giyu tilted his head slightly, a barely perceptible hint of admiration flashing in his deep blue eyes.
I'm available anytime.
However--
Just when Giyu thought Tanjiro would use Sun Breathing to charge at him again, as before...
Tanjiro then made an unexpected move.
He didn't attack immediately, but instead... slowly closed his eyes.
"Since conventional methods cannot bridge this gap..."
Tanjiro silently said to himself:
"Then we have no choice but to... borrow that forbidden power!"
Consciousness and mental space.
[Demon Tanjiro] was lying on a leather sofa, humming an unknown, strange tune, and drawing circles in the air with his fingers.
Suddenly, the space rippled.
Tanjiro landed steadily in front of the sofa.
"Yo--"
The evil spirit didn't even bother to lift its eyelids; it was obvious who had come.
"What? Did that expressionless guy outside beat you up so badly you started questioning your existence, so you came back inside looking for psychological comfort?"
The demon yawned, its tone extremely nasty.
"I warned you before, even if you begged and cried, I absolutely wouldn't..."
Please!
Before the Demon Consciousness could finish spewing its sarcastic insults...
Tanjiro gave a crisp, decisive... 90-degree bow!
"Lend me your power!!"
Tanjiro's voice echoed in the space of consciousness.
"I must adapt to more intense battles! If I can't even force Giyu's basic defenses back, how can I kill Muzan? How can I protect Nezuko and my mother!"
"I know this is dangerous, but please, lend me your power!"
"..."
The demon froze instantly as it lay on the sofa.
His blood-red vertical pupils widened suddenly, like a madman who had seen an alien.
"Whoosh!"
The demon sprang up from the sofa, staring at Tanjiro, who was still bowing, with the look of someone who was looking at a madman.
"Are you fucking... really courting death?!"
He let out an incredulous roar, so powerful that his voice cracked from the intensity of his emotions.
"Are you deaf?! I just explained to you how dangerous this force is!"
He paced back and forth on the obsidian floor, clutching his long, dark red hair in both hands.
"Do you want to be kicked around like a football by that deadpan guy?!"
Tanjiro slowly raised his head.
I believe in my own will!
Tanjiro said, enunciating each word clearly.
"I will never let hunger consume me! I will never turn into a mad dog!"
"And..."
Tanjiro stared directly into those blood-red, vertical pupils, his tone carrying an undeniable sincerity:
I believe in you! Because we are one!
"You wouldn't want to see this body remain so weak, constantly being pinned to the ground and unilaterally crushed, would you?"
The Demon Consciousness: "..."