Sanemi lowered his head, looking at her expressionlessly...
Behind them, the two panting demons finally caught up, their scarlet eyes gleaming with bloodlust.
"Hehehe! Run! Why did you stop?! There's even a white-haired snack delivered right to our door--"
"Noisy--"
"Swish! Swish!"
Two three-foot-wide cyan wind blades suddenly appeared out of thin air!
Before the savage grins on the two demons could even freeze, their bodies were cleaved in two by the two wind blades!
Instant kill!
This couldn't even be called a fight; it was merely a casual flick of the wrist, like swatting away a fly!
However, after slaying the demon, the murderous aura emanating from Sanemi not only did not diminish in the slightest, but instead surged wildly upwards!
He slowly lowered his head, staring at the blond brat who was still sprawled at his feet like a maggot.
[Incredible bone density, powerful heart and lung function... the explosive energy hidden within this body clearly indicates a rare and promising individual!]
["But--"]
["What is he doing?! Clinging to my leg, snot and tears streaming down his face, scared out of his wits by two lowly fry?!"]
Sanemi's entire face was so black it looked like ink could drip from it!
In the Demon Slayer Corps, Giyu Tomioka may always have a deadpan expression, but he never hesitates to kill demons.
Tanjiro, despite possessing the blood of a demon, dares to fight to the death against powerful enemies;
Even that idiot with the Boar's Head, knowing he was outmatched, still dared to bare his fangs and charge forward desperately!
Only this thing in front of me!
As a Demon Slayer Corps trainee wielding Nichirin Blade and having entered the Final Selection, he shamelessly displayed such a spineless attitude when facing man-eating demons!
This is not only a desecration of his own life, but also a dragging into an abyss of no return once he steps onto the battlefield!
"Hey, you bastard."
Sanemi's voice was filled with intense disgust and contempt:
"I'm asking you, is that knife hanging on your waist for cutting watermelons, or is it hanging behind your back as a tail?!"
Zenitsu cautiously raised his tear-streaked face, meeting Sanemi's bloodshot, savage eyes:
"Hiccup... B-Big brother... Ghosts are so scary... The knife is so heavy... I can't pull it out..."
"Can't pull it out? Haha! Can't pull it out?!"
Sanemi, enraged, laughed instead.
He suddenly raised his foot and kicked Zenitsu half a meter away, then stomped on Zenitsu's Nichirin Blade at his waist, grinding the scabbard deep into the frozen ground!
"Which blind, idiotic Cultivator could possibly produce such a disgraceful, spineless coward like you?!"
"Your master's brain is filled with rotten shit, isn't it?! Huh?!"
"You're incompetent enough to survive on the battlefield, so you send out trash like you, who can't even stand properly, to feed the evil spirits?!"
"What a waste of the Demon Slayer Corps' resources! An insult to this uniform! A disgrace to this Nichirin Blade!"
"If that old, brain-dead master dared to stand in front of me right now, I'd chop off both his legs and hang him from a tree for three days and three nights! So he wouldn't continue to teach disgusting worms like you!!"
Every word is piercing to the heart!
However--
Zenitsu's tears, which had been flowing, stopped mysteriously in that instant.
In my mind, it was as if a bronze mirror had suddenly shattered!
The image of that short, grumpy old man—the former Rumble Hashira, Jigoro Kuwajima— with his wooden cane, an ugly scar on his left cheek, and who chased him around the mountains with a bamboo sword every day, appeared vividly before Zenitsu's eyes at that moment.
"Zenitsu! Even if you only know one move, it doesn't matter! Hone it to the absolute pinnacle!"
"Whether you cry or run away, you must never give up! Because you are my proudest disciple!"
To help him pay off the enormous debt he had been swindled out of by a woman, the limping old man took out his life savings;
To push him to succeed, the old man, despite his frail body, accompanied him as he fell and got up again and again on Momoyama!
Zenitsu can tolerate being called a coward, he can tolerate being called a wimp, and even if the whole world laughs at him for being a piece of trash, he can roll on the ground and pretend he didn't hear it.
But--
Only the grandfather who gave him a second life and loved him like his own grandson...
Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely no one is allowed to use such language to insult us!!
"Tick-tock."
A drop of bright red blood slid down Zenitsu's lips.
The cowardice and fear that had filled his eyes evaporated completely in that instant, and endless blood vessels surged deep within his pupils!
"What did you say?!"
"Huh? Didn't you hear me? I said your teacher was a blind good-for-nothing—"
"Shut your stinking mouth!!"
To Sanemi's slightly astonished gaze, this boy, who had just been like a dead dog, suddenly unleashed power beyond his limits!
He suddenly sprang up from the mud, pulling his Nichirin Blade out with incredible force!
With both hands gripping the sword, veins bulging on his forehead, and blood gushing from the corners of his eyes, he ruthlessly slashed at Sanemi's neck!
This strike was delivered without any Breathing Style or preparation!
"The momentum is good, but unfortunately... it's meaningless!"
Sanemi's gaze remained icy.
The opening created by anger is far too great for a Pillar-level swordsman.
With a barely perceptible half-inch turn of his body, he flicked his right wrist, and the blue Nichirin Blade drew an arc in the air, avoiding all fatal points. The blade left a deep, bone-revealing gash on Zenitsu's left shoulder!
At the same time, Sanemi reversed the blade, and the heavy hilt, carrying immense force, slammed into Zenitsu's forehead!
"Bang--!"
"Well..."
Zenitsu's bloodshot eyes instantly cleared, his pupils rolled upwards rapidly, his vision went black, and he fell straight backward.
And in the instant he fell, a crystal-clear snot bubble comically emerged from his nostril!
Smack!
"..."
Inosuke Hashibira, covered in dust and blood, had just crawled out of the rubble and stood frozen in place.
[Huh?! Wasn't this little chick charging so hard? How come it didn't even last a second before pooping a huge pile?!]
Sanemi, standing still, shook the blood off his sword and looked at Zenitsu, who lay unconscious at his feet, his eyes filled with undisguised disappointment.
"Although he possesses some reckless courage to challenge the strong, such a fool whose mind and strength are completely mismatched would only be a dessert in the mouth of demons on a real battlefield."
"Once the selection is over, go find the Master immediately and completely cancel this kid's qualification. Let him go back to his hometown and farm!"
"This is good for the Demon Slayer Corps, good for his brain-dead master, and even better for his own life!"
Sanemi shook his head indifferently, not even bothering to glance at Zenitsu on the ground, and walked towards Inosuke, who was still in a daze not far away, carrying his blue Nichirin Blade.
However--
Just as Sanemi took his first step, the instant his heel touched the ground!
"Pop."
A soft, crisp sound, almost carried away by the night breeze, quietly spread through the silent forest.
That was... the sound of a snot bubble popping on Zenitsu's nose.