Unexpected

Water Breathing, Second Form: Water Wheel!

The horizontal azure blade light swept through the extending arms at tremendous speed, each strike fierce and sharp as a torrential downpour.

For a moment, scarlet blood splashed all over Kurozawa.

Having grown larger and thicker, the extending arms had instead lost their steel-like hardness, and Kurozawa severed them one by one.

Yet even as he cut them apart, the demon's powerful regenerative abilities quickly restored the severed arms.

At the summit of Mount Fujikasane, amid dense, thick arms, blade shadows whirled as severed limbs littered the ground.

It looked as though Kurozawa had firmly gained the upper hand.

But Kurozawa knew that dragging the battle out like this would not benefit him in the slightest.

The severed limbs on the ground soon turned to ash and merged back into the Hand Demon's body, becoming arms again as they reached for him.

"Swordsman, your blade is quite sharp."

"Cutting off my arms hurts so much, it hurts so much."

Within the Hand Demon's gigantic body hid a cautious and vicious soul. Though it possessed a formidable physique, its true body never approached Kurozawa, relying only on its extending arms to attack him.

Moreover, the few steel-like arms wrapped around the Hand Demon's neck had not moved from beginning to end.

It understood a swordsman's methods and protected its neck well.

"But hehehehe, how much strength do you have left?"

"My hands will seize your body, tear off your limbs, crush your bones, and make you howl in endless agony until you die."

The Hand Demon remained unhurried, as if watching prey struggle desperately in a spiderweb, constantly using words to disrupt Kurozawa.

"Let me think about how to kill you."

Beneath the countless blade shadows, not a single arm could enter the space around Kurozawa's body.

His brows furrowed slightly. Ignoring the Hand Demon's words, he analyzed the current battle.

The Hand Demon could not actually do anything to him. Kurozawa's physique surpassed that of most swordsmen, and his endurance was enough to keep fighting until dawn.

But Kurozawa's own offensive power was somewhat lacking. His Nichirin Blade could cut through the extending arms, but it seemed unable to penetrate the arms protecting the Hand Demon's neck and sever its head.

For demons, as long as their heads remained intact, they were invincible.

"I'll try Constant Flux. My limit is seven rotations. That should be enough."

In the original story, Tanjiro had killed the Hand Demon with Surface Slash by relying on his talent for seeing a demon's weakness—the Thread of Severance. Before the Thread of Severance appeared, Tanjiro had been suppressed and forced to struggle bitterly.

Kurozawa could not see the Thread of Severance. He could only break through the Hand Demon's defenses with brute force.

The highest form of Water Breathing—Kurozawa refused to believe the Hand Demon could withstand it.

Boom! Kurozawa stomped heavily on the ground, twisting his waist through a wide arc.

Two thick arms came clawing toward him with howling force, their huge palms spread wide as they tried to seize Kurozawa from both sides.

Water Breathing, Tenth Form: Constant Flux! Azure blade light appeared like a strip of silk. Kurozawa spun, severing both palms in half.

At the same time, Kurozawa leaped up, stepped onto another arm, twisted his waist once more, and surged forward at high speed as azure blade light flashed out.

The remaining force from severing the palms was gathered into this strike, making it even more powerful.

Slash! Another arm broke apart.

Second rotation! The power of his slash increased once more.

That was Constant Flux. As long as it began, and as long as the body could keep going, it could accumulate power without limit, eventually becoming a powerful sword form capable of cutting through anything.

However, even Sakonji Urokodaki could only manage nine rotations. The body could not withstand it; with every rotation that gathered power, the burden on the body increased.

Though Kurozawa's physique was sturdier than Sakonji Urokodaki's, his technique was far inferior, so he could only manage seven rotations.

At this point, the Hand Demon also realized that Kurozawa was using a high-powered sword form. It stopped attacking and drew in its arms, trying to prevent Kurozawa from getting closer.

"Useless, useless." The Hand Demon's giggling continued as palms opened one after another, trying to crush Kurozawa to death.

But Kurozawa's slashes were extraordinarily fierce, and for a moment, the Hand Demon could not stop him.

Its grotesque ability was terrifying, but its attacks were too scattered.

Within a few breaths, Kurozawa spun three more times and closed to within three meters of the Hand Demon.

By then, the blade light drawn by Constant Flux during his rotations had become so sharp that it was dazzling.

The Hand Demon began to panic.

It sensed Kurozawa's increasingly powerful slashes. It could not defend against them; the Hand Demon knew the limits of its own defenses.

Four or five arms twisted together into two gigantic arms two meters in diameter and slammed viciously toward Kurozawa.

Sixth rotation!

The azure blade shadows condensed as though solid, instantly shredding the arms over two meters thick into chunks of flesh.

Kurozawa's breathing remained steady, but his wrists trembled faintly, as though bearing enormous pressure.

If not for Kurozawa's sturdy physique, he would have long since lost control of his Nichirin Blade and sent it flying from his hand.

"Die!"

Looking at the enormous head within arm's reach, Kurozawa's face broke into a triumphant smile.

Potential Points, here I come! The Nichirin Blade, trembling violently and nearly slipping from his grasp, carried a beautiful yet deadly gleam as it slashed viciously toward Hand Demon's neck.

Fear rose in Hand Demon's eyes as it frantically retreated. But its massive body was too cumbersome; it simply could not escape the Nichirin Blade's range.

In a daze, Kurozawa's figure overlapped with a memory, becoming a cold swordsman wearing a Tengu Mask and a light-blue haori.

Decades had passed, yet even now, Hand Demon could not forget that snowy night when it had lost its identity as a hunter and become the prey.

That night, it had fled desperately, but the swordsman behind it had followed like a shadow. No matter which direction it tried to escape, he blocked its way. It begged for mercy, but the swordsman said nothing. Compared to it, he seemed more like a silent, life-reaping evil ghost, steadily closing in.

In the end, a brilliant blue flash of the blade robbed Hand Demon of consciousness. When it awoke again, it was already on Mount Fujikasane.

It was because of that bone-deep terror that Hand Demon had remembered this hatred all these years. But in this instant, it recalled the fear of being dominated by a Demon Hunter Swordsman.

"Urokodaki!"

It let out a crazed roar laced with fear, calling out the name of Kurozawa's master as its eyes widened.

Kurozawa likewise said nothing. With a single slash, the blade sank into Hand Demon's neck as though cutting tofu, without the difficult resistance from before.

However, just as he was about to sever Hand Demon's head, Kurozawa heard an ominous sound.

Crack!

It was the sound of metal breaking.

The pressure his wrist had been bearing abruptly vanished.

The Nichirin Blade had broken.

Fuck! Kurozawa's pupils shrank to pinpoints as he cursed inwardly.

The Nichirin Blade had not broken because Hand Demon's neck was too hard. Rather, it had grown too old. The power accumulated by Constant Flux had exceeded what the blade could withstand, causing it to snap at the final moment.

The front half of the blade remained lodged in Hand Demon's neck. Clutching the hilt, Kurozawa landed with the force of his remaining spin, his feet stamping a series of deep prints into the ground.

This is bad. I broke the Nichirin Blade that Master had treasured for decades, the one he regarded as his wife and daughter.

Kurozawa looked at the broken blade and sucked in a sharp breath.

Meanwhile, Hand Demon blinked its wide eyes.

The death it had expected never came. Confused, it lowered its head to inspect itself while more than a dozen arms hurriedly felt around its neck and head.

After confirming that its head had not fallen off, Hand Demon took a long while to recover from its lingering terror. Then it glared viciously at the troubled-looking swordsman before it.