"This is the first time Nii-san has ever praised you..."
"Tanjiro, show him what you're made of!"
Tanjiro had never felt so fired up in his life.
Dohi's attempt to provoke him had failed, and he was seething with nowhere to vent his frustration. He snarled viciously, "Fine! I'll break his neck right in front of you and rip out his heart and guts!"
If there was no way around him, then he'd go straight through him!
Dohi swore he'd make this human who looked down on him pay for his arrogance!
"Whoosh!" Dohi stomped on the floor, leaving a pair of deep footprints where he'd stood.
He lunged at Tanjiro at tremendous speed.
Roy kept his hands in his pockets, the [Gyo] in his eyes steady and unbroken. He said quietly, "Left."
Tanjiro tightened his grip on the axe and, without a second thought, swung it up from the left!
The blade slashed diagonally upward from his waist, cutting across Dohi's chest!
The intense pain nearly shattered Dohi's awareness... But he was ruthless, too. He knew he couldn't retreat now. If Roy kept calling out the direction of his attacks, he'd end up crippled even if he didn't die!
So—
Dohi endured the wound and unleashed his Blood Demon Art!
"Blood Demon Art—Head Binding Rope!"
Dohi used his rapidly healing muscles to trap the axe, preventing Tanjiro from pulling it free. Then he jerked his head, and his hair instantly grew long, twisting into several "ropes" that whipped toward Tanjiro's neck, trying to strangle him!
"Watch his hair."
Roy saw it clearly. This wasn't a "Blood Demon Art," but an ability every demon possessed—regeneration.
Dohi was clever. By making his hair grow faster, he launched an unexpected sneak attack. Anyone who didn't know about demons would have little chance of anticipating it, making a hit almost inevitable.
"Nii-san... You said that too late." In the blink of an eye, Dohi's long hair had bundled Tanjiro up like a dumpling.
Actually, Roy hadn't been too late. Tanjiro had simply been caught off guard and reacted too slowly...
The baby fat still clinging to Tanjiro's face was visibly about to swell up again... He frantically blinked at Roy...
Then Dohi gave the hair a hard tug. In agony, Tanjiro kicked at Dohi's chest!
He aimed for the bad leg, the one that had left Dohi limping. In that desperate moment, Tanjiro had a flash of inspiration.
Unfortunately, thanks to the power of demon blood, Dohi regenerated far too quickly. The axe embedded in his chest clattered to the ground, and in the blink of an eye, the wound had healed.
"Geh heh heh heh... Suffer, human!" Dohi grabbed Tanjiro by the neck and lifted him into the air. Through the snowstorm, he grinned at Roy. "I told you... I'd make you pay for looking down on me!"
"Ugh..." Tanjiro struggled in pain, but this time his fierce pride wouldn't let him ask Roy for help.
"What a mule-headed idiot..." Roy leaned against a large tree, completely ignoring Dohi's triumphant display. He scolded Tanjiro, frustrated with him. "Just because you can't use your arms or legs, does that mean you can't fight back?"
"Your head... your teeth... are they just for decoration?"
"Bite him! Ram him!"
!
Like thunder out of a clear sky!
Tanjiro suddenly came to his senses... That's right, I still have my head!
Then our Head Pillar finally remembered his faithful forehead. Just as in the original, he lowered his head and slammed it into Dohi!
"Thud—"
It sounded as if a skull had cracked...
Caught completely off guard, Dohi lost consciousness in an instant and toppled toward the ground, dazed and reeling...
The hair binding Tanjiro loosened. As soon as the boy hit the ground, he seized his chance, picked up his axe, and brought it down...
"Gurururu..." The head and body separated...
Then Tanjiro slumped to the ground, too exhausted to hold on to the axe. He gasped for breath and turned to Roy, breaking into a grin...
"Nii-san, it's over..."
The foolish little brother smiled so happily. He'd finally proved himself. He was no longer the coward who could only hide behind a tree and rely on his big brother to protect him...
But people got carried away when they were pleased with themselves.
People had been popping champagne halfway through the race only to crash and burn since time immemorial.
Swaying unsteadily... A figure rose upright behind Tanjiro, blocking the snow above his head...
Tanjiro stiffly raised his head. A pair of sharp demon claws greeted him...
"Demons can't be killed with ordinary swords..." Roy's words from earlier that afternoon, outside the blacksmith's shop, resurfaced in his mind. Only then did Tanjiro realize that simply cutting off a demon's head wasn't enough!
"That's why finishing them off is a good habit..."
"Whoosh—" With a step of [Shadow Step], a dashing figure shot forward at a speed the eye could barely follow...
As Tanjiro watched in terror—
With a single "Snake Awakening," Roy tore through Dohi's headless body and ripped out his heart!
"Thump..." The still-beating heart pulsed in his hand...
The sun earrings Roy wore swayed in the wind and snow. He looked down at Tanjiro. "You said it was over?"
Tanjiro said softly, "Sorry."
He lowered his head, his face turning red as a monkey's rump...
Roy gave a cold snort and clenched his hand, crushing Dohi's heart into ash. Only then did he say, "If all you can do is apologize, you don't need to follow me anymore."
Without his heart to sustain him, Dohi's body slammed heavily into the ground, sending up a spray of snow...
That barely successful sneak attack had bought him a little time, enough for his head to grow arms. He crawled away unnoticed, heading in the opposite direction from the Kamado brothers...
"That guy's brutal!"
"He must be a Hashira!"
"Only a Hashira could be that powerful!"
The demons and the Demon Slayer Corps had fought one another for a thousand years. Each side knew the other well.
Dohi knew that a retired Water Hashira lived on Mount Sagiri, just across the mountain. It wasn't that he'd never been afraid, but he'd heard that the other man had run into some trouble a few years earlier. That had reassured him enough to fish for "prey" in this spot, hidden in plain sight...
Who would've thought he'd have the bad luck to hook a Hashira today!
"Whoosh... whoosh..." Dohi scrambled along on his hands, moving at a frantic pace. Suddenly, he heard a rush of wind behind him. He glanced back without thinking... and that glance was all it took...
Tanjiro had picked up his axe and pinned down the two arms Dohi had just grown. Catching up from behind, he swung and nailed Dohi to a large tree!
"Rustle... rustle..."
Snow tumbled from the branches, landing on Tanjiro's head...
Tanjiro didn't notice. He picked up a rock from the ground, bitterly regretting his mistake...
"This demon is too crafty... He can still run even without a body..."
"Nii-san was right after all. I shouldn't have let my guard down, and I definitely shouldn't have celebrated too soon..."
Tanjiro raised the rock over his head...
He knew Roy was watching. His hand hung in the air, but he couldn't bring it down...
By then, Dohi had taken on a different face. He shouted at Tanjiro, his voice hoarse with anguish. "You think anyone wants to become a demon?"
"I had a perfectly good life as a human! I became a demon because this damned world forced me to!"
"It was Yamada Konosuke who killed the customers by failing to cook the beans properly! Why should I take the blame?"
"He even bribed the authorities to force me to confess... And even after I'd confessed, he paid off the guards to kill me!"
"You... and you... Tell me, what could I do?"
"Just because I'm an honest man, does that mean I deserve to have a blade pointed at me?"
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