The First Pillar Shows Its Might

"This is the first time Nii-san has praised you..."

"Tanjiro, you must prove yourself!"

Tanjiro had never felt such a surge of motivation as he did in this moment.

Dohi's attempt to provoke him had failed, leaving the demon with nowhere to vent his pent-up frustration. He shrieked viciously, "Fine! I'll snap his neck and rip out his heart right in front of you!"

Since there was no way around it, he wouldn't bother trying!

Dohi swore that he would make this human who looked down on him pay the price for his arrogance!

"Whoosh!" Dohi stomped on the floorboards, leaving a pair of deep footprints behind.

He lunged toward Tanjiro with incredible speed.

Roy kept his hands in his pockets, his eyes fixed with [Focus] that never wavered, and said softly, "Left."

Tanjiro gripped the axe in his hands and, without a second thought, swung it in an upward diagonal strike!

Starting from the waist and moving diagonally upward, the blade sliced open Dohi's chest!

A splitting headache nearly tore through Dohi's consciousness... but he was a ruthless one. He knew he couldn't retreat now; if he let Roy keep calling out his attack routes, he would end up dead or crippled sooner or later!

And so—

Dohi risked further injury to activate his Blood Demon Art!

"Blood Demon Art—Head Binding Rope!"

Dohi used his rapidly regenerating muscles to clamp down on the axe, preventing Tanjiro from pulling it free. He whipped his head violently, and his hair instantly surged, twisting into several "hemp ropes" that lashed out toward Tanjiro's neck, attempting to strangle him!

"Watch his hair."

Roy saw it clearly. This wasn't just some "Blood Demon Art," but the regeneration ability inherent to every demon.

Dohi was clever; by accelerating his hair growth, he launched a surprise attack. Anyone unfamiliar with demons would never see it coming, making it almost inevitable to fall for the trap.

"Nii-san... you said it too late." In the blink of an eye, Tanjiro was bound like a rice dumpling by Dohi's long hair.

In truth, it wasn't that Roy was too slow, but that Tanjiro had been caught off guard and his reaction had lagged...

Tanjiro's face, still retaining a hint of baby fat, was visibly turning blue... He blinked his eyes frantically at Roy...

Then, as Dohi tightened his grip, Tanjiro kicked out painfully toward the demon's chest!

Kicking the cripple in his bad leg—Tanjiro had found a clever solution in the face of danger.

Alas, bolstered by demon blood, Dohi's regeneration speed was simply too fast. The axe embedded in his chest clattered to the ground, and the wound healed in the blink of an eye.

"Hehehe... feel the pain, human!" Dohi grabbed Tanjiro by the throat and lifted him into mid-air. Through the wind and snow, he sneered at Roy: "I told you... I would make you pay for looking down on me!"

"Ugh..." Tanjiro struggled in agony. This time, his intense pride would not allow him to beg Roy for help.

"What a stubborn guy, even more than a donkey..." Roy leaned against a large tree, ignoring Dohi's posturing, and said to Tanjiro with a mix of frustration and expectation: "If you can't use your hands or feet, does that mean you can't counterattack?"

"Are your head... and your teeth... just for show?"

"Bite him! Headbutt him!"

!

A thunderclap on a clear day!

Tanjiro suddenly realized... "That's right, don't I still have my head?"

And so, our Head Pillar finally remembered his loyal forehead. Just as he had in the original story, he lowered his head and slammed it forward!

"Thud—"

One could almost hear the sound of a skull cracking...

Dohi, caught off guard by this blow, lost consciousness in an instant and slumped toward the ground, dazed...

The hair binding Tanjiro loosened. As soon as the boy landed, he seized the opportunity, grabbed the axe, and brought it down with a chop...

"Roll, roll, roll..." The head was severed from the body...

Tanjiro collapsed onto the ground, unable to even hold the axe steady. He gasped for air, turned his head toward Roy, and grinned...

"Nii-san, it's over..."

The foolish little brother smiled happily. He had finally proven himself; he was no longer the coward who could only hide behind a tree and rely on his big brother for protection...

But, humans are creatures who lose their heads when they get cocky.

The incident of popping champagne halfway through the race and crashing is a tale as old as time.

Wobbling... a figure stood upright, appearing behind Tanjiro and blocking the snow above his head...

Tanjiro stiffly raised his head, only to be met by a pair of sharp demon claws...

"Demons can't be killed by ordinary blades..." Roy's words from in front of the blacksmith shop that afternoon surfaced in his mind. Only then did Tanjiro realize that simply cutting off a demon's head wasn't enough!

"That's why finishing the job is a good habit..."

"Whoosh—" Stepping with "Shadow Step," a dashing figure moved with a speed the naked eye could barely track, flashing out like lightning...

Under Tanjiro's horrified gaze—

With a single move, Snake Awakening, Roy tore through the headless corpse of Dohi and ripped out his heart!

Thump... The fresh heart was still beating...

The sun earrings Roy wore swayed in the wind and snow as he looked down at Tanjiro, "Is this what you call the end?"

Tanjiro whispered, "I'm sorry."

He lowered his head, his face flushing as red as a monkey's backside...

Roy let out a cold snort and clenched his palm, crushing Dohi's heart into dust before saying, "If all you can do is apologize, then don't bother following me anymore."

Deprived of its heart, Dohi's body slammed heavily into the ground, kicking up a spray of snow...

It was precisely this desperate, half-baked sneak attack that bought him a sliver of time, allowing his head to sprout arms and scuttle away, fleeing in the opposite direction of the Kamado brothers...

That guy is too ruthless!

He must be a Hashira!

Only a Hashira could possess such terrifying strength!

Demons and the Demon Slayer Corps had been locked in conflict for over a thousand years; both sides possessed a deep understanding of one another.

Dohi had known that a retired Water Hashira lived on Mount Sagiri, just over the mountain. It wasn't that he hadn't been afraid, but hearing that the man had run into some trouble years ago, he had felt safe enough to "fish" for prey in this place of "darkness under the lamp"...

Who could have guessed that his luck would be so rotten today that he'd hook a Hashira!

Whoosh... whoosh... Dohi used his hands as feet, crawling at breakneck speed, when he suddenly heard a gust of wind behind him. He glanced back instinctively... and that one look was all it took...

Tanjiro raised his axe, pinning the two arms that had just sprouted from the head. He had caught up, striking after the fact, and with a swing of his arm, he nailed the demon to a large tree!

Rustle... rustle...

Accumulated snow fell from the branches, landing on Tanjiro's head...

Tanjiro didn't even notice; he picked up a rock from the ground, secretly feeling vexed...

This demon is too cunning... he can still run even without a body...

Brother was right after all. I shouldn't have been careless, and I certainly shouldn't have celebrated too early...

Tanjiro raised the rock above his head...

He knew Roy was watching, so his hand paused in mid-air, yet he hesitated to bring it down...

As it turned out, Dohi had shifted into a new face, wailing at him with desperate, tearful accusations: "Do you think anyone actually wants to be a demon?"

"I had a perfectly good life as a human! I only became a demon because this damned world forced my hand!"

"It was Yamada Konosuke who failed to cook the green beans properly and poisoned the guests! Why should I be the one to take the fall?"

"He even bribed the magistrate to force a confession out of me... and even after I confessed, he paid off the jailers to take my life!"

"You... and you... tell me, what was I supposed to do?"

"Just because I'm an honest man, does that mean I deserve to have a blade pointed at my throat?"