Haruto raced along the mountain path. With his mind fully focused, he easily drove his lungs into action and entered Total Concentration.
Bullet comments flooded his vision.
[Mass widowhood event up ahead!]
[Sabi-to-]
[Aaaah, I'll kill you!]
[If Sabito hadn't killed practically every demon on the mountain, he wouldn't have died from exhaustion and a broken sword...]
[Once Sabito dies, everyone else in his batch gets a free pass!]
Was he going to die... that boy in the fox mask?
Did everything the bullet comments said have to happen?
But the history they talked about was what Haruto was living through right now. To the present, history wasn't set in stone. It could be changed!
From afar, he spotted a streak of blue swordlight dancing among dark green demon claws.
In the world those comments came from, would Haruto race over to save him?
His toes pushed off the ground. In a fleeting daze, Haruto remembered how Sabito had raced to his rescue the last time he died at the Hand Demon's hands.
Only this time, their roles seemed to have reversed.
Just a hair's breadth away, Sabito twisted through the air and reached the Hand Demon in an instant.
After that outpouring of swordlight, what rang out wasn't the clean sound of a demon's head being severed, but...
Clang-
Sabito's sword snapped!
At that critical moment, Haruto failed to notice that the bullet comments had vanished from his sight. He stamped hard against the ground, hot breath jetting from his nostrils.
Flames trailed from his blade as he unleashed Unknowing Fire with unstoppable momentum.
The demon hand reaching for Sabito's head was severed at its base with a single slash!
Sabito froze for only an instant before reacting. He pushed off the Hand Demon's body with his toes, landed behind him, and held his broken sword out in front.
One in front, one behind; one blazing flame, one clear water. The two boys had all but surrounded the enormous demon!
Haruto's expression remained calm, his stance graceful and almost otherworldly. In truth, his soul was already starting to leave his body.
The sensation of the Hand Demon punching through his chest had been far too real. Even the sight of those vicious, sinister eyes made him shudder.
"Oh dear, what a pity. I was so close."
The Hand Demon's eyes rolled, sizing up the two boys in turn.
"Fox boy, what are you going to block my attacks with now?"
Those yellow eyes rolled around as the Hand Demon lowered his head and let out a sly laugh. "Hehehehehe... that Urokodaki doesn't just give his students 'disaster-bringing masks.' Even the swords he gives them are this flimsy. Hehehehe."
Haruto blinked in confusion. He had no idea who Urokodaki was, but judging by how pale Sabito had gone with rage, he must have been someone important to him.
"Shut up." The white-haired boy raised his head, his gaze lowered. "Human feelings... would a demon even understand them?"
There was no pity in those mist-blue eyes, only pure disgust and indifference.
Those words suddenly made the Hand Demon's pupils contract.
He remembered. He remembered again!
When that damned Sakonji Urokodaki had captured him, the eyes behind that great Tengu Mask had been just as cold!
"Graaaargh-!"
He suddenly went berserk, dozens of hands pounding the ground at his sides. "Damn you, Urokodaki! Damn you, Urokodaki! Damn you, Urokodaki! Damn you, Urokodaki! It's been forty years! Why won't you stop haunting me?!"
The Hand Demon stopped looking at Sabito. With a shrill roar, he sent several demon hands surging toward the white-haired boy at once!
Kill him! Kill him!
Gouge out those eyes that look just like Urokodaki's and swallow them, just like those fox boys!
"Watch out!"
Sabito's urgent cry overlapped with the voice in Haruto's memory. Haruto lifted his eyes, the blade in his hand gleaming.
What set this big guy off? What did I just say? I didn't even say anything!
He wasn't hitting Sabito this hard. Is he targeting me?
Haruto struggled to fend off the Hand Demon's attacks. Fortunately, while his use of his Breathing Style was terrible, his swordsmanship was exceptional.
His darting figure stirred up dead leaves as he swung his Nichirin Blade, severing several more arms.
"Boy, just cutting off my arms won't defeat me-"
Haruto panted a few times. His limbs were gradually growing sore and weak.
Was he really that useless? It always felt as though Flame Breathing rejected his body. No matter how well he trained himself physically, he could never maintain his concentration for long.
Sabi... huh? Sabito's gone?
Did he run away?
Probably not. Haruto could sense the presence of another swordsman nearby.
...Which meant he had concealed himself and was ready to launch a killing strike at any moment.
Haruto regulated his breathing to ease the soreness. An idea struck him, and he immediately went on the offensive against the Hand Demon.
His footwork was exceptionally nimble. Mr. Shinjuro had once remarked that, had Haruto not been born in an age like this, he would have made an outstanding swordsman.
But in an age when demons ate people, excellent swordsmanship alone was useless.
Without properly combining it with a Breathing Style, he could never become an outstanding demon-slaying swordsman.
Sooner or later, misfortune would descend upon him.
Haruto ducked beneath an incoming demon hand and pressed his thin lips together.
The Hand Demon's eyes rolled. In his sight, those cold eyes drew closer and closer.
Come on! Come here!
Urokodaki!
Hurry up and die inside my belly!
Those yellow eyes abruptly narrowed. He had found it!
This brat's opening!
The Hand Demon had no time to think further. Every one of his arms surged toward the white-haired brat.
I'll tear this bastard to pieces, then gouge out his eyes and rip out his tongue!
Human feelings... it's all bullshit!
But then.
A sudden sense of danger welled up inside the Hand Demon.
Where did that fox boy go?!
The thought had barely appeared in his head when a low murmur reached his ears.
"Water Breathing, Fourth Form..."
Sabito suddenly appeared behind him, broken blade in hand, his movements as light as the water flowing along his sword.
Impossible! His sword's already broken!
He couldn't cut off my head with a whole sword, let alone a broken one!
"Striking Tide!"
A ripple of azure light swept past his head, and the Hand Demon felt the world turn upside down.
He'd cut it off!
Before the Hand Demon's eyes, his enormous body began crumbling into ash.
The hand he had launched at the white-haired boy did strike home. Haruto took a solid punch and fluttered to the ground like a bird struck by a plane, letting out a low cry. "Damn!"
He struggled to keep his features from contorting and let out a long sigh of relief as he watched the smoking Hand Demon.
Finally killed him...
Sabito landed lightly on the ground and looked at him with concern. "Are you all right?"
The boy with long, peach-pink hair frowned. Just as the earlier bullet comments had said, he really was a gentle kid.
"I'm all right for now..."
Haruto recovered his breath, his ears twitching. To his surprise, he heard the Hand Demon's half-disintegrated head muttering to himself.
"I can't accept this. I can't accept this..."
"I gave up so much to become strong..."
"That damned Urokodaki. It's all his fault."
"And the one who turned me into a demon... because of him, I even ate my brother..."
Those vicious yellow eyes suddenly widened.
"...Brother?"
Haruto watched him coldly.
"White-haired brat, you were wrong."
As though he had remembered something, huge tears rolled from the Hand Demon's eyes.
"Demons were once human. How could demons not understand human feelings...
Brother, please wait for me. Hold my hand..."
Before you continue