Truth

"Shut up! I'm going to chop you into eight pieces!" Xia glared furiously. It had done nothing, yet it had been insulted for no reason. It was already furious, especially since that bastard was deliberately rubbing salt into its wounds.

Hiruma stopped yelling and patted his backside at Xia, taunting it with a smug grin.

"Come on, come on. Do you still think you're one of the Twelve Kizuki?"

His words did little damage, but the humiliation was immense. Steel Sickle snapped.

"Bastard, you're courting death!"

It ripped off its own right arm. Instead of blood spraying out, a brand-new arm rapidly grew from the stump, regenerating at a visible speed.

It gripped both ends of the torn-off arm with its hands and pulled hard. The severed limb actually began changing shape like putty.

In the blink of an eye, Steel Sickle held a massive white scythe longer than its own body.

Its eyes gleamed viciously, its features twisted together. It wanted nothing more than to fly over and slice Hiruma to pieces, but an invisible wall seemed to surround the island, preventing it from leaving.

Suddenly, its other two heads slowly lifted.

To everyone's surprise, they bore kind, gentle faces—a man and a woman.

The instant Anxia Niaozi saw those two faces clearly, her mind went blank. Endless grief surged into her heart. They were her parents, who had vanished five years ago.

"Dad!"

"Mom!"

Her body trembled uncontrollably as tears burst from her eyes like a breached dam, blurring her vision. Ignoring the raging seawater around her, she took a step toward the island without hesitation.

At that moment, she had only one thought—get closer to her parents. Closer still.

"No!" Giyu yanked Tsutako back. Those were Demons, not her parents.

"I want to see my mom and dad! Don't stop me!"

"Don't stop me!"

Tsutako struggled wildly, sobbing her heart out. For five years, she had endured too much loneliness. Countless times, she had jolted awake from nightmares, only to find her parents absent from her side.

But she was merely an ordinary person. There was no way she could break free from Giyu's grasp.

"Tsuta... Tsutako... run... Quickly... Never... come back!"

The mouths on the Anxia couple's heads opened and closed faintly. Their voices were weak beyond measure, yet though broken and intermittent, they were utterly resolute.

Steel Sickle cursed impatiently, "It's been five years! Why haven't you two died already? Damn it, I've had enough of this!"

Five years ago, it had devoured two humans. Swallowing humans whole was its hobby. Who would have thought that the couple's consciousnesses would not dissipate, but instead seize partial control of its body?

For the past five years, Steel Sickle had been fighting against the couple's consciousnesses. Otherwise, the Fish Scale Village residents would never have had the chance to make an agreement with it five years ago—it would have slaughtered the entire village.

But unfortunately, the Anxia couple's consciousnesses had reached their limit. Especially after seeing their daughter, the obsession in their hearts faded, and they could no longer contend with the Demon's will.

The couple's love for their daughter had forcibly trapped a former Lower Rank Demon in place for five years.

"Tsutako, run!"

"Live on!"

Even at death's door, the couple still could not let go of their precious daughter. But their time had come.

"HAHAHAHA!"

Sensing that the shackles that had bound it for five years had vanished, Steel Sickle held its forehead with one hand and laughed maniacally without end. Its withered arm trembled along with its laughter.

Still laughing, it tore off the other two heads. Yet it had gained its clone Blood Demon Art by devouring those two humans.

Its laughter intertwined with Tsutako's crying, echoing endlessly through the cave.

At this very moment, supreme joy and supreme sorrow played out side by side.

The next instant, the laughter stopped abruptly. Steel Sickle extended its shriveled claws, so brittle they looked ready to break, and aimed them at Hiruma's group of three. A crazed smile hung on its face as it clenched its hand.

"Die!"

The two syllables leaped from its throat. In an instant, the water surrounding the raft boiled, bubbling violently.

The next moment, one pale figure after another with fish heads and human bodies leaped from the water. There were so many of them that they densely blanketed the sky, leaving Hiruma and the others nowhere to escape.

Blood Demon Art: Prison Brawl.

Steel Sickle could turn parts of its body into clones. It had accumulated these clones over the years. The Anxia couple had suppressed it in the past, but now it felt terrifyingly powerful.

The raft began rocking violently, on the verge of capsizing at any moment. Hiruma swayed with the raft as he swung his blade.

In merely a few breaths, he had already swung nearly a hundred times. Every strike carried blazing flames, forming scarlet blade winds that shot out in every direction. His body was also shrouded in a faint blood-red fighting aura.

From afar, with Hiruma at the center, countless blazing blade winds formed the burning feathers on the outspread wings of a great bird.

Way Breathing: Fire Form: Vermilion Bird.

A clear bird cry could vaguely be heard. The Vermilion Bird broke through the white cage, each blade wind precisely cutting down a clone.

Giyu, meanwhile, leaped into the seawater without hesitation. The raft was still some distance from the isolated island—it needed propulsion.

Yet beside Anxia Niaozi, who was nearly collapsing, Giyu's calm, waterlike voice echoed.

"Watch closely. I'll avenge you."

Giyu did not know why he said that. Seeing Tsutako cry made his heart ache as well, as though he were seeing his sister crying long ago.

He did not want her to cry. Then he would avenge her.

Beneath the water's surface, Giyu held his sword horizontally. Water Breathing: Sixth Form: Twisting Whirlpool activated. He spun with all his strength, creating a massive waterspout.

The force generated by the waterspout not only shredded the fish-headed, human-bodied monsters swimming nearby, but also propelled the raft toward the isolated island.

After doing all that, Giyu stepped on a clone's head and leaped from the water. More than a dozen others followed beneath his feet, but he paid them no heed, because he absolutely trusted Hiruma.

Sure enough, a flash of lightning streaked past, and a gigantic Qilin swallowed the clones beneath Giyu's feet in a single bite.

Then the two of them landed on the rapidly advancing raft almost at the same time. No words were needed; their coordination was flawless.

Steel Sickle looked utterly incredulous, and a grave expression appeared on its gaunt face.

Were these two Pillars?

No, no, no!

They weren't!

It immediately dismissed the thought and tightened its grip on its scythe. The clones were too weak; no matter how many there were, they were useless. It still had to rely on itself.

I can kill those two. Steel Sickle encouraged itself.

The raft landed steadily on shore. Slumped atop it, Anxia Niaozi watched the two young men charge at the Demon with blades in hand—charge at her enemies. Giyu's words echoed beside her ears.

Watch closely. I'll avenge you.

She stubbornly wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and stared unblinkingly at Giyu Tomioka's back, murmuring,

"I'm watching. Avenge me. Thank you!"

Just then, more than a dozen clones burst from the water behind Tsutako. They bared their fangs and claws as they attacked her, but even so, her gaze never left Giyu Tomioka.

She wanted to watch him avenge her. Even if she died, she would have no regrets.