Five Elements Seal!

Uchiha Hikari had already coated her palm with a layer of Chakra when she reached out to catch the ball. Even so, she still felt a slight sting of pain, which showed that the force behind the temari was indeed considerable.

But that was all.

There was no need to use Mangekyo Eye Techniques against an opponent of this level.

As her words fell.

Uchiha Hikari's figure suddenly vanished from where she stood. As the temari fell, she rapidly closed in on Susamaru, casually batting aside one temari thrown at her before tilting her body to dodge another. Finally, she launched herself forward with a quick step and unleashed a clean, decisive double spinning kick!

Bang! Bang!

Uchiha Hikari first struck Susamaru with a left roundhouse kick, sending her staggering, then swept out with her right leg and kicked her flying far away!

Boom!

Susamaru's body slammed heavily into a large tree. The two pairs of arms she had used to block the flying kick were faintly fractured, but they soon healed at a visible speed.

Thud, thud—

Two landing sounds rang out at the same time.

The first was Uchiha Hikari dropping from midair after completing her double kick, bending her knees slightly to absorb the impact.

The other was the temari she had caught and released earlier, which finally hit the ground and bounced lightly.

"Average reaction speed, average physical strength, regeneration ability... not bad."

Uchiha Hikari gave her assessment again.

Her careless attitude stunned Susamaru for a moment before she flew into a rage. "Where did this human brat come from? How dare you look down on me, one of the Twelve Kizuki... Then I'll get serious too!"

Sensing Susamaru's rising aura, the injured Tamayo shouted from afar, "Little girl, you can't kill demons this way. Only a demon slayer's Nichirin Blade..."

"Fire Release..."

Ignoring Tamayo's warning, Uchiha Hikari formed a hand seal.

Of course, she knew that demons in the Demon Slayer World possessed tremendous vitality. They were virtually unaffected by anything except sunlight and Nichirin Blades. Even wisteria, commonly believed to restrain demons, only made them loathe it, and would require an enormous dose to be lethal. But...

What if they were burned into ashes by flames?

Rat—Ox—Dog—Horse—Monkey—Boar...

As Uchiha Hikari began forming seals, Susamaru gathered all six temari together. After briefly charging up, she swung them forward in one burst!

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—

The series of tearing sounds exploded like firecrackers!

At that moment, Uchiha Hikari raised one hand to her lips and gently exhaled.

"Great Fire Annihilation!!"

Chakra surged, and a crimson streak of flame swept forth!

Then, in the blink of an eye, it transformed into a tidal wave of fire that shot into the sky! The brilliant blaze not only illuminated the ruined courtyard, but also dyed the surrounding night sky scarlet!

At that moment, everyone present widened their eyes.

Five temari were swallowed by the flames. Their fierce momentum vanished in an instant as they rapidly turned to ash within the fire. Susamaru likewise revealed a terrified expression, backing away as she instinctively raised all three pairs of arms to shield her neck. Before she could even complete the motion, her entire body was engulfed by the raging flames and vanished in an instant!

"...Huh?"

Tamayo was dumbfounded.

Yushiro, Nezuko, and Tanjiro, who had just rushed over after eating half a Senzu Bean, were all frozen in place as well.

Only after about half a minute did the blazing flames begin to shrink and show signs of dying out.

When the fire finally dispersed, a charred human-shaped figure remained where it had stood.

That was right, a "human-shaped figure." Nearly the demon's entire body had been burned to slag, leaving only the head, tightly wrapped by six arms, barely recognizable. The remaining flesh was almost completely ruined, and with every gust of wind, it broke apart into clumps of drifting ash.

"...S-So amazing!"

Yushiro swallowed hard and stared at Uchiha Hikari's profile in disbelief. "Lady Tamayo, is that girl... really human?!"

As far as he knew, only Blood Demon Arts could possibly create fire from thin air like that.

Tanjiro, who had hurried over while supporting himself against the wall, also widened his eyes. The shock on his face was no less than Tamayo's and the others'. "That demon... was burned to death just like that?"

A brief silence followed.

Then—

"No..."

Uchiha Hikari slowly shook her head. "She's still alive. Her regeneration is just extremely slow..."

After testing her with both taijutsu and ninjutsu, she now had a rough understanding of the strength of demons in the Demon Slayer World.

How should she put it...

A demon's physical ability and reaction speed were indeed far superior to those of ordinary humans. But compared to ninja... they were at most around the level of a Chunin, and one who did not specialize in taijutsu at that.

Of course, the demon before her was not truly one of the Twelve Kizuki, but a minor lackey casually transformed by Muzan Kibutsuji. The actual Twelve Kizuki might be stronger.

And some demons' Blood Demon Arts were indeed extremely bizarre, somewhat similar to Death Controlling Possessed Blood from the Naruto world. Their strength could not be judged through raw power alone. Uchiha Hikari herself was not afraid, but if Bulma was coming later, she would need to be a little more careful.

Still...

A demon's regeneration was truly extraordinary.

The Great Fire Annihilation Uchiha Hikari had just unleashed was enough to kill an ordinary Jonin, yet Susamaru had not completely died. Though her presence was as weak as a candle flame in the wind, it still flickered bit by bit, trying to reignite.

That vitality was already nearly comparable to Impure World Reincarnation.

As for whether it surpassed the recovery ability Uchiha Hikari had obtained through her wish... that was hard to say. After all, she did not dare test the limits of her own regeneration that way. If she actually burned herself to death, there would be no one to argue with.

"Interesting."

"With regeneration like this, she'll make a perfectly suitable test subject for Yachihoko..."

As the flames went out, after another minute or two, the charred humanoid mass wriggled a few times.

Then fresh flesh began growing bit by bit, gradually restoring its original human shape...

"That lady, please use your Nichirin Blade to kill her now! Otherwise, she'll recover soon!" Tamayo shouted anxiously.

Tanjiro instinctively wanted to rush forward, but Uchiha Hikari raised a hand and stopped him. "Don't rush. Wait a little longer."

"?"

Although he did not understand what Uchiha Hikari intended to do, Tanjiro obediently stopped and held back his sister Nezuko, who wanted to rush in and finish Susamaru off.

As for Tamayo and Yushiro, though they were anxious, they were not fighters. Moreover, having witnessed Uchiha Hikari's formidable strength, they could only restrain themselves and watch from afar.

More than ten minutes passed.

Susamaru's form had finally recovered by less than half, and her original appearance was basically recognizable. However, she was noticeably smaller than before, as if she had become a child of around ten years old.

And by then, her regeneration had visibly slowed down.

"Is this the limit for an ordinary demon?"

"Does she need to eat people to replenish her energy before she can continue regenerating?"

Uchiha Hikari figured she would not learn anything more from her. In a flash, she appeared before Susamaru and lightly pressed a Sealing Technique she had prepared in advance onto her. "Self-Exerting Curse Binding Seal!"

Black runes crawled across the charred humanoid figure, binding her tightly.

With nearly all her strength exhausted from restoring her body, she could not even struggle.

Then Uchiha Hikari took out a scroll. Her fingers flew as Chakra-formed runes lit up at her fingertips and spread outward. "Five Elements Seal!"

Both Sealing Techniques were ones she had recently learned from Minato Namikaze. Though she was still not entirely proficient with them, they were more than enough to deal with the half-crippled Susamaru. With the two techniques combined, she smoothly sealed Susamaru into the scroll.

As the runes on the paper flickered a few times, the demon's figure completely vanished from the spot. Only a faint lingering presence remained in the air before the cool night breeze scattered it away.

Uchiha Hikari put away the scroll and slowly stood up.

"First one."