The evil spirit was choked and speechless for a long time.
He looked into those eyes, so clear they were nauseating, and clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"This is a damn sanctimonious idiot... he's a hopeless madman!"
The evil spirit cursed wildly in its heart.
But--,
For some reason, seeing that this weakling actually dared to ask him for power, a strange, secret excitement rose in his heart.
"What a pain in the ass!"
The demon walked back to the sofa.
He extended his right hand and held up five fingers.
"Listen up! You overconfident fool!"
The Demon Consciousness's gaze became extremely dangerous.
I'll only lend you five percent!
Not a single drop more! Five percent is on the verge of exploding!
The demon approached Tanjiro, its blood-red vertical pupils fixed on him, issuing a final ultimatum:
"When using this power, if the thought of 'wanting to eat meat' even flashes through your mind!"
"Immediately! Right now! Sever your mental link with me!"
"Make a deal!"
Tanjiro answered loudly without hesitation.
In the real world, at the special training ground.
A gentle breeze blew by, stirring up a few snowflakes from the ground.
"Boom--!"
The instant he opened his eyes,
A chilling aura suddenly descended upon the snow-covered land of the Mount Sagiri!
A chilling blood-red halo suddenly appeared around the edge of Tanjiro's originally clear, wine-red pupils!
A dark red, high-level Demon Aura, mixed with the Sun Breathing, surged forth from Tanjiro's body without reservation!
"Sizzle--!"
Under the impact of this terrifying aura,
The hard frozen ground beneath Tanjiro's feet cracked open like a spider web, with him at the center!
Even the temperature of the surrounding air soared instantly to a point where breathing felt scorching!
"Oh?"
Standing opposite him, Giyu Tomioka looked at the boy whose aura had undergone a complete transformation.
Is this a crude fusion of Demon Aura and Breathing Style?
"This is finally getting interesting!!"
"Hopefully I can hold on for a few more minutes, and not wear myself out too quickly."
"Mr. Giyu! I'm going in!"
"Bang!"
Tanjiro stomped his feet on the cracked, frozen ground, creating a small sonic boom!
That's too fast!
Having borrowed 5% of the demon's power, Tanjiro's muscle explosiveness and nerve reflex speed are more than ten times faster than in his previous pure human state!
"Sun Breathing: Mirage Sun Rainbow!"
Tanjiro's figure transformed into five or six afterimages enveloped in crimson Heat Haze in mid-air, completely surrounding Giyu Tomioka from all directions at tricky angles!
Half of that Nichirin Blade was pure golden-red flames, and the other half was a dark red, violent demonic Demon Aura.
The two intertwined and fiercely slashed down towards Giyu's neck, waist, and legs!
Faced with this terrifying trap coming from all sides.
Giyu Tomioka flicked his wrist slightly.
"Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!"
A series of rapid metallic clanging sounds exploded in mid-air!
Every collision produces a dazzling burst of sparks!
Giyu solely on his terrifying dynamic vision, managed to parry Tanjiro's barrage of Mirage Sun Rainbow, which resembled a violent storm!
"Your strength has indeed increased to a whole new level. The enhancement from the Demon Blood has made your muscle fibers more resilient."
Giyu parried the powerful blow, enough to shatter boulders, with one hand.
They even had the leisure to give tactical instructions in a calm tone:
"However, you rely too much on brute force!! In actual combat, you already have a hole in your right rib!!"
"Adjust your breathing and continue."
"Hateful!"
Tanjiro's fighting spirit was ignited.
In the next few minutes, the training ground was completely transformed into a raging Rengoku.
Tanjiro, as if possessed, unleashed all the sword techniques of the Sun Breathing without reservation.
"Blazing Sun Red Mirror!"
"Burning Bones, Summer Sun!"
"Solar Heat Haze!"
The ancient trees surrounding the training ground, so thick that it would take two people to hug them, burst into flames and collapsed one after another in the aftershocks of their battle.
The hard ground was plowed into shocking deep trenches.
However--
No matter how wild or dense Tanjiro's attacks were.
Giyu Tomioka has always been like a wall of sighs standing amidst raging waves.
He only defends, he doesn't counter-attack.
He didn't take a single step back, not even an inch!
All the attacks were effortlessly thwarted by him.
"Huff... huff!!"
Three minutes passed.
Even with the Demon Consciousness,
However, under such extreme pressure, Tanjiro's stamina began to show signs of running out.
"Has it reached its limit???"
Tanjiro's vision began to blur.
A hunger that felt like it could melt his stomach began to gnaw at the edges of his nerves.
"Could it be... that even with borrowed power, it's still impossible to force Mr. Giyu to take a single step back?"
A strong sense of resentment welled up inside me.
Suddenly, a series of images flashed through his mind like a revolving lantern.
It was in the wooden cabin on Mount Sagiri, where Nezuko, the younger sister, was holding ginger soup, her face beaming with a smile.
That was the gentle caress of my mother's Kie;
That was the warm, cheerful laughter of Takeo, Delia, and Shigeru surrounding him.
"Brother! Come back soon!"
"I will definitely protect everyone!"
"Yes... I still need to protect everyone! I still need to kill Muzan!"
"If I give up in a place like this, what kind of eldest son am I?!"
Boom--!
At this moment, Tanjiro's will exploded like gasoline poured into a raging fire!
"Ahhh--!"
"Give me—merge!!"
He brutally fused the Demon Aura within his body with the flames of the Sun Breathing onto the Nichirin Blade in a manner that could be described as self-destructive!
The flames on the blade transformed from golden-red to a deep, dark gold at that moment!
"Sun Breathing: Solar Heat Haze-- "
Tanjiro's blade traced a strange arc in mid-air.
It looked like the blade was going to strike Giyu's left shoulder, but the tip of the blade created a visual refraction, like a mirage!
And this was merely a feint!
Just as Giyu was instinctively preparing to block the Solar Heat Haze,
"--The setting Setting Sun Flash Step by!!"
This was absolutely a stroke of genius!
Tanjiro was instantly hanging upside down in mid-air.
The Nichirin Blade, wreathed in dark golden flames, evaded Giyu's parry with incredible speed.
From bottom to top, it ruthlessly swung at Giyu's unsuspecting wrist!
The elegance of that sword strike was absolutely stunning!
The speed, the force, and the angle were all incredible, making it arguably Tanjiro's strongest peak to date!
"Um?!"
Faced with this unexpected move that exceeded Tanjiro's own limits.
For the first time ever, a look of amazement flashed in Giyu Tomioka's deep blue, lifeless eyes!
Without using Breathing Style, relying solely on basic swordsmanship...
Giyu realized that his sword's trajectory was no longer sufficient to completely block Tanjiro's upward trajectory!
"Clang--!"
The two Nichirin Blade collided violently.
But this time,
Giyu's sword did not perfectly block Tanjiro's point of attack as it had before.
A terrifying force poured onto Giyu's blade.
To dissipate this cleverness,
Giyu Tomioka's feet, as if rooted to the earth, finally—
"Creak."
It rubbed itself backward and took half a step back!
The wind has stopped.
Tanjiro was panting heavily.
He remained in the position of having just landed with his sword, sweat dripping down his face.
He stared blankly at the footprint left by Giyu, which had taken half a step backward.
"I... I did it?"
And opposite him,
Giyu Tomioka withdrew his half-step back.
He looked at the swaying boy before him,
A faint hint of appreciation appeared on that expressionless face.
"That sword strike just now."
Giyu's voice rang out in the cool night wind, carrying an unwavering certainty:
"Very beautiful."
"It's really... beautiful."
To receive such straightforward praise from this Water Hashira Lord is harder than climbing to heaven.
"Hey-hey..."
Tanjiro's lips curled into a silly grin.
However.
The smile lasted for less than a second.
"Tick-tock!!"
A crystal-clear drop of liquid slid from Tanjiro's lips and dripped onto the snow.
Immediately afterwards,
A pure, bestial vertical pupil, like a virus, instantly devoured his reason!
The explosive power that pushed the limits finally brought about the most devastating backlash!
The defenses of reason crumbled instantly in the face of hunger!
"Holy crap! You idiot! Stop it! Your brain's going to explode from your instincts! Cut the link right now!"
Deep within the Sea of Consciousness, the evil spirit let out a furious roar.
But at this moment, Tanjiro was completely deaf to any sound.
"I'm so hungry!!"
He emitted indistinct, beastly howls, and his once neat human teeth began to grow longer.
He even threw his Nichirin Blade to the ground.
With all four limbs on the ground, like a completely maddened hungry wolf, it opened its blood-red maw and pounced directly at Giyu's neck!
Completely out of control!!
"Have you reached your limit?"
Faced with this "mad dog" that suddenly launched an attack.
The hint of admiration in Giyu's eyes vanished instantly.
Instead, there is a coldness like that of ancient ice.
The tentative, leisurely pursuit has come to an end.
"Whoosh--!"
Giyu's figure vanished from the spot like a ghost the instant Tanjiro lunged at him!
Shrinking the Earth to an Inch!
When he reappeared, it was as if he had teleported, cutting into Tanjiro's chaotic blind spot.
He gripped the scabbard with his other hand.
"Bang!"
The scabbard struck Tanjiro hard on the back of the neck like a blunt object!
Tanjiro's lunge was frozen in mid-air.
His pupils rolled upwards, the whites of his eyes filling his entire eye sockets, and the violent Demon Aura emanating from him instantly dissipated like a punctured balloon under this forced shutdown.
"Thump."
Tanjiro was like a lump of mud.
He collapsed onto the cold snow and lost consciousness completely.
A cold wind blew by.
The training ground fell silent once more.
Click.
Giyu Tomioka sheathed his Nichirin Blade.
He looked down at the boy who had fainted in the snow, his expressionless face showing no emotion.