Sabito gritted his teeth in fury. His eyes were filled with anger and sorrow as he stared at the Hand Demon, as though his entire world were collapsing before him.
Those eleven masks—each one represented a life that had passed, a keepsake left behind by one of his senior brothers or sisters.
The Hand Demon's smug expression sickened him. He roared like thunder, "I'll kill you! I'll make sure you never find peace, even in death!"
"Bastard!"
Sabito clenched the Nichirin Blade in his hand. His nails dug deeply into his palm, blood seeping between his fingers, yet he felt no pain.
He finally understood why his master had tried so hard to keep them back. Urokodaki feared losing another disciple. He did not want his own mistakes to cost another student their life.
Every time he lost a disciple, it cut his master to the heart, but Final Selection was just that cruel.
Like a crazed beast, Sabito roared and charged at the Hand Demon. In an instant, countless dark green arms swept toward him, blotting out the sky overhead.
"Water Breathing: Tenth Form: Constant Flow!"
He spun and twisted like a swimming dragon, every rotation driving the surrounding air into wave-like cutting winds that dragged the grotesque arms in and ground them to pieces.
His Nichirin Blade became a flash of cold light, crashing toward the Hand Demon with the force of a raging tide.
In an instant, severed limbs rained down amid a shower of blood. Yet the Hand Demon's regenerative ability far exceeded Sabito's expectations; its arms always regenerated the moment they were cut off.
This thing was different from other Demons. It had eaten far too many people. If not for its own shortcomings, it would have gained a Blood Demon Art long ago.
As it fought, the Hand Demon bragged about how it had tortured and killed Urokodaki's disciples, trying to throw Sabito's mind into disarray.
"I remember the last little brat was someone who loved to smile. So I tore her mouth apart first. Her screams sounded much better than her laughter, hee hee hee!"
"Shut up!"
"Bastard!"
Sabito's rage surged even higher, disrupting his breathing rhythm. The Hand Demon seized the opening and threw a punch at his head.
"Water Breathing: Eighth Form: Waterfall Basin!"
A calm voice rang out. Giyu blocked the attack. His eyes were bloodshot, and he too was furious over what had happened to his senior brothers and sisters, but he had not lost his composure.
Sabito and Giyu, these two close friends—one was brimming with justice, hated evil, but tended to be reckless; the other was quiet and reserved, his heart as still as water.
Just like the sea, which could hold both raging storms and warm sunny days.
"Sabito, calm down. It's trying to provoke you!" Giyu spoke one of his rare long sentences. In his heart, Sabito's life was far more important than his own.
But geniuses had their pride. With anger clouding his mind, Sabito did not take in a word and charged forward once more.
With his reason dulled, flaws appeared in his footwork. Yet with Giyu there, those flaws could be ignored entirely.
That was where Giyu's strength lay. He could always calmly assess the situation before coordinating his moves with his companion.
The two pushed forward relentlessly, drawing closer and closer to the Hand Demon's main body. Revenge was right before their eyes, and Sabito grew even more aggressive, pulling away from Giyu.
At last, a gap appeared in the pair's flawless coordination. At the same time, two extra arms suddenly appeared on the battlefield. The Hand Demon had held something back, waiting precisely for this moment.
Giyu swiftly cut down one of them, but just as he prepared to protect Sabito, he heard a crack—the sound of metal breaking. His Nichirin Blade had snapped.
In his desperation, he used his body to block the Hand Demon's attack. Watching his close friend get hurled away, Sabito's mind went blank.
Just then, Hiruma entered the battlefield with a smile. He caught Giyu and swiftly sliced open his palm, squeezing his blood into Giyu's mouth.
Nearly unconscious, Giyu tasted the salty tang of blood. Through his blurred vision, he saw Sabito fighting in the distance and Hiruma feeding him blood.
Hiruma carried Giyu away from the battlefield, his voice filled with confidence and trust.
"Sabito, Giyu will be fine. My blood can heal wounds!"
"New grudges and old debts—let's settle them all together!"
The moment he finished speaking, Sabito's gaze became incomparably firm and bright. He slashed down the Hand Demon's incoming arm and said,
"Leave the rest to me!"
"Thanks!"
At that moment, Sabito's state of mind underwent tremendous growth. For a swordsman pursuing the way of the blade, such a change was crucial.
He dodged the Hand Demon's attacks while adjusting his breathing. At last, his powerful self had returned.
This time, even without his close friend's support, he could still stand on his own.
Hiruma carried Giyu to the side. In the instant he had saved Giyu, a thought had flashed through his mind: he could simply kill the Hand Demon.
But after reconsidering, he decided against it. It would be pointless, after all—at least, it would do nothing to help Sabito and Giyu grow.
Giyu's inner knot stemmed from his dead sister and his dead close friend. Now that Sabito would not die, he would not develop that knot.
Later, Hiruma could talk him through it and do his best to help Giyu escape the guilt and emotional shadow left by his sister's death.
As for Sabito, it seemed he had already grown.
This time, the Water Breathing duo who left Mount Fujikasane would be in their most perfect state.
With his arms folded across his chest, Hiruma leaned against a tree and quietly watched Sabito take his revenge, feeling quite pleased.
What he needed to do was help the Demon Slayer Corps' future Hashira grow as much as possible. After all, taking down Muzan was too great an undertaking for him alone.
Justice had to be delivered to Muzan through a proper group beating.
Suddenly, an ear-piercing shriek tore through the night sky. It sounded like sharp claws scraping frantically across a blackboard, painfully grating on the ears.
The one who made that sound was the Hand Demon. Having survived for so long, it naturally had a backup plan. It might not need to use it, but it had to have one.
No one was more unwilling than the Hand Demon. It truly hoped it would never need to use this backup plan in its life.
Who would have thought that red-haired brat would ruin everything today? It hated Hiruma to the core.
As the roar ended, ten pairs of scarlet eyes lit up in the forest. Then ten Demons rushed out from all directions, swarming toward Sabito.
Having ruled Mount Fujikasane for decades, the Hand Demon had naturally subdued a few underlings. The Demons hunted by Hiruma's group of five were all those unwilling to submit to it.
It had to be said that if it had not been trapped on Mount Fujikasane, that scumbag boss would have cleaned house himself. After all, selfish as he was, Muzan would never allow his subordinates to form little cliques.
Mount Fujikasane had trapped the Hand Demon, but it had also saved its life.
The ten Demons that rushed out blocked Sabito, while the Hand Demon fled madly toward the forest behind it.
"Damn it!"
"You bastard, stop right there!"
Watching from afar, Hiruma shook his head helplessly. The Hand Demon was quite crafty, but he could not let it escape.
It had to die today, and it had to die at the hands of Urokodaki's disciples.
"They just want to get revenge. Why stir things up? You really know how to make trouble for me. Sigh!"
He took a step forward, his right hand gripping his sword hilt. His brows curved with amusement, his tone lazy, but his eyes gleamed with killing intent.
The smug Hand Demon even remembered to glance back. It decided it would hide well for the next few days. One day, it would still be able to tear apart Urokodaki's disciples.
Unfortunately for it, its gaze met Hiruma's brilliant golden eyes. Hiruma glared at it, wearing a smile that did not reach his eyes, like something out of a nightmare.
"Way Breathing Thunder Form: Kirin!"
PS: There will be two more chapters tonight. Three updates today.
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