Cleared the Mountain

Tsugikuni Kuuga turned back coolly and said, "Boys! Wasn't my timing perfect?"

Sabito had just opened his mouth to say something when he fell from the air. Giyu Tomioka had already reached the bottom of Hand Demon and caught Sabito with his body. The impact sent both of them rolling away.

It hurt a little, but that was still better than dying. Giyu Tomioka smiled for once.

Tsugikuni Kuuga landed steadily, turned around, and pointed his Nichirin Blade at Hand Demon. "Hello! Your Wisteria Tea has arrived. Want a little sun-powered scraping therapy with it?"

"You brat, you deserve to die!" Hand Demon snarled.

Urokodaki's disciples had been about to die by his hand, only for some brat to suddenly appear and ruin everything. How could that not enrage him?

"I didn't even provoke you. Why do you want me dead?" Tsugikuni Kuuga complained.

"You—"

Hand Demon was so furious he could not speak. He simply attacked. Five combined arms smashed toward Tsugikuni Kuuga at once. A Tai Chi Bagua appeared beneath Kuuga's feet, and he dodged the attack with movements that resembled a dance.

Tsugikuni Kuuga had begun to understand. The Twelve Forms of Sun-Breathing, linked together, were originally a dance. Within the Tai Chi Bagua, he could instead comprehend that dance more quickly.

No matter how many arms Hand Demon sent out, they could not touch Tsugikuni Kuuga in the slightest. He felt that this brat was even stronger than Urokodaki's disciples.

Tsugikuni Kuuga gathered strength in his right foot, gripped his blade, and charged straight at Hand Demon. Nearly all of Hand Demon's arms rushed toward him.

The arms wrapped tightly around Tsugikuni Kuuga like a cage. But before long, flames burst through the prison of arms.

Tsugikuni Kuuga directly unleashed Sun-Breathing: Fourth Form - Mirage Sun Rainbow. His body twisted and spun at high speed, and every arm that tried to approach him turned to ash.

Watching Tsugikuni Kuuga charge at him with unstoppable force, Hand Demon briefly suspected that he was a Hashira who had snuck in.

Tsugikuni Kuuga's final horizontal slash completely severed the arms blocking his path.

Hand Demon gave up resisting and swiftly turned to flee into the forest behind him. Tsugikuni Kuuga used Mirage Sun Rainbow again, the further boost in speed greatly shortening the distance between them.

"Little demon, don't run! Am I going to kill you?" Tsugikuni Kuuga said with a grin.

Hand Demon thought, Like hell I believe that! This guy is scarier than a demon! Run, or I'm definitely dead today.

Using the trees as footholds, Tsugikuni Kuuga shot straight toward Hand Demon. The final distance between them vanished.

Seeing that he could not escape, Hand Demon decided to make one last gamble. He gathered all his arms into a massive arm two meters thick and smashed it down at Tsugikuni Kuuga as he charged over.

But who would have thought that Tsugikuni Kuuga could flip himself over even while flying through the air? The arm brushed past his face, and the blade of compressed air it created sliced his cheek open.

Tsugikuni Kuuga plunged his blade into the arm to stabilize himself, then pulled hard with his right hand and climbed onto it.

"I didn't expect you to be this eager to die. You even sent me a road. Then please die!"

Still complaining, Tsugikuni Kuuga ran along the arm toward Hand Demon. He remembered that Hand Demon clearly had not possessed this move. What was going on today? Had the world changed because of his arrival?

Tsugikuni Kuuga did not care about that now. Killing Hand Demon was the top priority. He leaped into the air, then used Sun-Breathing: Tenth Form - Brilliant Grace Light to sever Hand Demon's head.

Tsugikuni Kuuga landed smoothly and sheathed his blade, every movement completed in one fluid motion. By the time he turned around, more than half of Hand Demon's head had already vanished.

"Why?"

"Why?"

"Why?"

Hand Demon questioned himself over and over, wondering why he had died at the hands of someone who had suddenly appeared.

Tsugikuni Kuuga could not be as gentle as Tanjiro, but he still replied, "Because your sins are too great. Sooner or later, someone would have killed you. Even if it wasn't me, it would have been someone else. Don't become a demon in your next life!"

By the time Tsugikuni Kuuga finished speaking, Hand Demon had disappeared. He looked at the two Water Breathing users in the distance, a smile rising on his lips. Yes, they had not died. That meant he could change all of this.

Tsugikuni Kuuga waved at Sabito and the others, shouting, "Are you guys okay?!"

"We're fine!" Sabito replied with a smile.

Before long, the three found an open area. The sun had risen as well, and they could finally get some proper rest.

Tsugikuni Kuuga lay on the grass with a foxtail clamped between his lips, humming a little tune. He could not have been happier.

Sabito walked over and bowed. Tsugikuni Kuuga had intended to stop him, but after thinking about it, he let it be. With Sabito's personality, he would not have been able to stop him anyway.

"Great kindness needs no thanks. If you ever need anything, call, and I'll come!" Sabito promised solemnly.

Tsugikuni Kuuga got to his feet, threw an arm around Sabito, and said with a smile, "Come on! We're brothers. Why make it so serious?"

"Hahaha! Fine!" Sabito laughed heartily.

Tsugikuni Kuuga released Sabito and walked over to Giyu Tomioka. Throwing an arm over his shoulder, he wore a shameless grin. "Giyu, give me a smile, will you?"

Giyu said nothing. Instead, he gripped the Tsuka, his face cold. "Don't touch my face. I can smile."

Tsugikuni Kuuga pushed Giyu's half-drawn blade back into its sheath. For some reason, teasing Giyu was just fun.

Giyu Tomioka really did smile at Tsugikuni Kuuga. However, Kuuga never wanted to see that smile a second time in his life. Sure enough, cold and aloof Giyu was the coolest.

Seeing Tsugikuni Kuuga's expression, Sabito laughed. It really was something worth appreciating!

Time quickly reached the final day. Tsugikuni Kuuga's group could now swagger through Mount Fujikasane, since Hand Demon had been the only real threat.

"Oh right, today is the last day of our demon-killing competition!" Tsugikuni Kuuga reminded them.

"Yeah. I wonder how many demons are left!" Sabito agreed.

All across Mount Fujikasane, screams rang out throughout the day. This time, however, the demons were the ones screaming. Since the Demon Slayer Corps selection began, this was the first batch of demons to be hunted down by humans.

Thanks to Tsugikuni Kuuga and the others, every demon on Mount Fujikasane had been wiped out. Thus, aside from the dead Kaikatsu and the person he had gotten killed, everyone else in this selection survived.

In three days, they had raised the survival rate of the entire selection through their own efforts.

The selection ended just like that. When the Flame Hashira saw person after person emerge from the mountain, even he was somewhat stunned.

These people looked as though they had gone on a trip. Hardly anyone had died, and Tsugikuni Kuuga's group was the last to emerge.

Tsugikuni Kuuga shouted, "Sabito, I took down twenty-five in total, while you only took down twenty. Giyu never really wanted to play, so he only killed five! That means I won!"

"If there had been more than fifty demons on the mountain, I wouldn't have lost! I won't lose to you next time. Let's see who becomes a Hashira first!" Sabito said, somewhat unwilling to concede.

"Sure!"

That damned competitive spirit!

Listening to their outrageous words, the Flame Hashira did not know what to say for a moment. From the sound of it, all the demons had been killed?