The demon raced through the dense forest, moving so fast it almost left afterimages.
No matter how they changed direction or used the terrain for cover, those irritating specks of ghostly green light-the Scoutflies-stayed doggedly behind them, neither too close nor too far. Their buzzing wings sounded like a death knell.
"Damn it! These braindead bugs!" the demon raged.
"Kill them! We have to kill them!" a shrill voice screeched in agreement, fear turning into savagery.
A vicious gleam flashed in its distorted eyes. The demon slammed to a halt, its massive, misshapen body plowing a deep trench through the ground as it whipped around!
It would unleash an area-effect Blood Demon Art and wipe out these annoying pests!
The instant it turned-
The demon froze. Its Blood Demon Art never went off.
"That fucking hurts! What was that? These braindead bugs bite, too?!" the demon cried out in sudden pain.
No, it wasn't the bugs. Something else had pierced its shoulder.
A dark shape shot from the shadows of the thick canopy faster than the eye could follow-the sharp Clutch Claw, thrown with deadly precision by the Sapphire Star!
Shlkk-
The fine steel claws struck with tremendous force, biting deep into its twisted, bulging shoulder blade!
"Fuck! The Demon Slayer's braindead, too! What weird shit is she using now?!"
The demon roared in pain and furious alarm, shrieking as it tried to pull off the Clutch Claw.
It felt an irresistible force pulling through the hook. That terrifying woman was using the Clutch Claw to launch herself straight at it!
The Clutch Claw had buried itself deep between the bones. Shaking it loose wouldn't be so easy.
The shrill voice cried, "Shake it off! Hurry!"
The coarse voice snapped, "Shut up, you braindead moron! Fuck! Break off, damn it!!"
With a stomach-churning tearing sound, the demon ripped off its own shoulder. A huge chunk of flesh, broken bone, and tissue flew toward the Sapphire Star.
With her anchor gone, the Sapphire Star inevitably lost her balance as she hurtled through the air.
She twisted at the waist, forcibly adjusting her posture in midair to dodge the disgusting flesh flying toward her, then drew her blade and slammed it into the spot where the demon had stood!
She hit nothing. That didn't surprise the Sapphire Star. Today's demon clearly wouldn't be as easy to deal with as the others.
Through the lingering dust and the spreading stench of blood, she got her first clear look at the demon's true form:
A massive, misshapen body covered in thick stitch marks that looked like crawling centipedes.
Deathly pale skin, deep purple muscle tissue, and countless black iron rings piercing the flesh, riveting those mismatched pieces together!
In the middle of its torso, a huge mouth opened and closed on its belly, constantly drooling thick saliva.
Its head-
A grotesquely twisted face covered in cracks and burns, with eerie dark blue tattooed stripes crawling across it.
Three eyes of different sizes, with mismatched pupils, sat in jarring positions near its forehead, cheek, and jaw, each branded with distorted, blood-red writing:
Lower Rank
Six
Three
An evil monstrosity forcibly fused together, assembled against nature!
"Ugh!! Gross, gross, so gross!" Even the well-traveled Sapphire Star frowned, goose bumps springing up all over her.
The Hand Demon had already been a freak show. This demon took it to a whole new level.
Disgusting tissue fluid kept seeping from every stitched seam. Flesh writhed frantically at the severed shoulder, tugging at the detached arm.
The Sapphire Star felt as though a Nergigante were crawling all over her. She itched everywhere and wanted nothing more than to go straight to Yukumo Village for a bath and scrub herself clean.
"Well, aren't you a unique little... thing... Are you Lower Rank Six or Three?" she couldn't help asking.
"Moron! Don't lump me in with that useless Six! I'm Lower Rank Three!" the hideous head roared coarsely, the eye marked "Three" on its forehead blazing with malice.
"Byōga! Stop insulting me! You think I want to be stuck with you?!" Another shrill voice came from the very same mouth, the eye marked "Six" brimming with hurt.
Seriously, guys? Demons get split personalities, too? Are all you Twelve Kizuki this gifted?
"When I took down Lower Rank Four... she looked a lot cuter than you guys. What's with you..." she quipped casually.
Those words were like a spark hitting a powder keg!
The demon's bickering stopped instantly. Both eyes locked onto the Sapphire Star, blazing with deep-seated hatred!
"It was you, you braindead bitch!" Byōga's voice roared like an abyss. "Because you killed that coward! That lord... that's why we were put through this torture!"
The moment he finished, the stitched monster hurled its massive body at her, countless tentacles and clouds of mist bursting from its seams.
"Well, well. A puny Lower Rank Nine with such terrible manners, calling everyone braindead. Didn't your mother teach you not to insult people?" The Sapphire Star's gaze sharpened as she lowered her center of gravity.
"Or don't you have a mother?"
"Your whole family's Nine! I'm Three! Don't add that bastard Six!" Byōga roared.
The instant the demon rushed within reach, the Sapphire Star caught a tiny opening in its windup-Foresight Slash!
At the same instant, the massive Fatalis Demolisher swung around with the momentum, its edge slashing hard into the demon's abdomen. The tough hide covering its stitches tore open, and the huge mouth on its belly hissed in pain!
"This monster's flesh is a lot tougher. Feels pretty sticky, too..." The sensation of cutting through glue made the Sapphire Star instinctively recoil in disgust.
"Aaaargh!" The searing pain drove the demon into an even greater frenzy. Its blood-red eyes marked "Six" and "Three" lit up with an eerie glow.
Inside the torn wound, countless crimson buds of flesh wriggled and intertwined, stitching it shut in an instant.
"Stitching yourself together to speed up regeneration? No wonder you're such a cheating little rat!" the Sapphire Star said disdainfully.
The demon kicked off the ground, swiftly leaping onto a giant tree, then plunged viciously down like a meteor from above and behind the Sapphire Star.
The Sapphire Star unleashed another superhuman Foresight Slash, drawing back half a step and narrowly avoiding the brunt of the demon's descending pounce!
At the same time, she used her momentum to spin her body and the Fatalis Demolisher at high speed once more!
This time, the blade's glow was no longer white, but tinged with a heavy yellow.
Shlkk!!
The strike landed squarely at the base of one of the demon's more intact arms. The crunch of shattering bone carried solidly through the blade.
"Gagagaga!" The demon let out something between a cackle and a scream.
At the enormous gash, dark purple tendons rapidly stretched and contracted as though alive. A huge volume of fluid sprayed from the wound, splattering everywhere. Flesh buds and tissue fluid instantly wrapped around the severed limb like powerful glue, restoring its movement.
"Ewww!!! Could you stop doing all this disgusting shit?!" The Sapphire Star nimbly dodged the flying liquid. If any of that stuff stuck to her, her arm might end up spinning faster than a windmill.
"An opening!" Taking advantage of the Sapphire Star's moment of revulsion, the demon shook the tissue fluid from its body and charged on its many legs, releasing an even thicker mist.
"I'll disgust you to death! Can't see shit now, can you? Hahahaha! Do you even know what the Twelve Kizuki are?!"
Byōga remembered that day.
That lord was furious. That braindead Koyuki had gotten her head cut off as easily as some helpless nobody, and he'd summoned us all to the Infinity Castle.
He definitely favored Five, and that bootlicker One. It made me sick!
"You worthless scraps are only fit to be dealt with as scraps..."
The moment he said that, enormous bone spikes pierced my body. Wonderful! Blood! Blood from our lord!
He hadn't abandoned us. He'd even given us his precious blood. But, my lord, you've given me too much! I can't take any more!
My bones were cracking and popping. My organs seemed to come alive, trying to squirm out of me. Please, my lord, no...
Even now, remembering that day filled Byōga with terror-but also reverence for that lord.
"An undying body, eternal life... and the strongest Blood Demon Art!" The demon opened its mouth wide.
"What, abs-me, flow-breathing? What gibberish are you spouting..." The Sapphire Star calmly rummaged through her pockets without dodging.
The next second-
"Igni Sign!" Flames erupted from the Sapphire Star's hand.
"Aaaah! Fire!" The lunging demon had no way to dodge. The flames instantly scorched its eyes, and the crusted tissue fluid rapidly receded as though melting. Its severed arm lost its support and fell away from its body.
"Hehe, a visitor from another world came to my hometown once. He was really strong, just not great at surviving falls. He left me this little thing. It's practically made for dealing with you. Hehehe~" The Sapphire Star put away the Igni Sign in satisfaction. It had been Geralt's gift to Astera back then.
Then she gripped her blade in one hand.
"Sakura Spirit Blade!" She hooked the demon on the ground with her Clutch Claw and hurtled toward it.
She didn't care whether she'd reached red spirit gauge yet. With an opening this good, she'd go in whether her gauge was red or yellow!
That was what a proper Long Sword warrior did!
Looking cool meant a massive attack boost!
With an elegant spin, she closed to within a step of the demon.
Clang-
A teeth-grating sound rang out. The Sapphire Star watched in surprise as the demon flew away along the direction of her spirit slash.
"Seriously? Tell me how the hell you flew off like that!" The Sapphire Star was deeply annoyed, wondering whether this demon was cheating, too.
The demon slammed into a tree and used it to stop, the mouth on its belly panting heavily.
It held half a Nichirin Blade in its hand.
Just before the blow would have struck-
Kamanué had pleaded anxiously with Byōga, "Please, let him out! I don't want to die with you!"
"Ugh... Fusing with a useless bastard like you is the greatest humiliation of my life..." Byōga sighed, reaching a tentacle toward the mouth on his torso and pulling out the half of a Nichirin Blade lodged inside.
Once the Nichirin Blade was removed, the demon's belly mouth became far more active. The instant the Sapphire Star's Sakura Spirit Blade reached it, it adjusted its position, bit down on the tip, and let the attack fling it away.
The demon stood up. Flesh buds sprouted from its freshly severed arm again, but this time they weren't stitching it together as before. This was genuine regeneration. The stitched wounds across its body were also scabbing over at a visible pace.
"A form change? You do look a lot less offensive now."
The Sapphire Star flicked her blade, disgustedly shaking the lingering fluid from its tip as she watched the demon before her, its presence utterly changed.
The demon's belly mouth was noticeably larger than before, and its skin had turned from deathly pale to crimson.
It tore away the iron rings that had held its body together one by one, then slowly stretched its limbs with a series of cracks and pops. The eyes marked "Three" and "Six" on its head dimmed, and a large split opened in its chest, sprouting a new eye.
Written unmistakably across that eye was "Two"!
"Red belly mouth? Who the hell are you?" The Sapphire Star grew wary.
If the auras of those two small fry had belonged to a fused Lower Rank Six and Lower Rank Three, did the Lower Rank Two marking now appearing on this demon mean that more demons had been stitched into its body?
Lower Rank Five and Four were already dead. Lower Rank Two, Three, and Six were all here before her. Then where was the last one, Lower Rank One?
"First, my name isn't Red Belly Mouth. I am Lower Rank Two... Oh, no... Forgive my slip of the tongue..." The demon bowed deeply to the Sapphire Star, seemingly sincere in his apology for misspeaking.
"We are Lower Rank Six, Kamanué; Lower Rank Three, Byōga; and Lower Rank Two, Rokuro. It is an honor to meet you, beautiful young lady. I apologize on behalf of my two foolish younger brothers. As you said, their conduct was far too cowardly and vile. Even I couldn't bear to watch." The demon discarded the final iron stitching ring and gave a satisfied hum.
"To make amends, allow me to spar with you next, beautiful young lady~" With that, Lower Rank Two's eye flashed, and his figure vanished instantly!
The Sapphire Star hurriedly turned, drawing her blade into a spirit slash in the same motion. The demon grabbed the blade with both hands and used it to vault over her.
"So cold. That hurts..." Rokuro looked at the frost forming on his hands. Even though the edge hadn't cut him, the cold had invaded both hands.
Rokuro clenched hard. His palms shattered with a crack, spraying black blood and ice, then immediately regenerated into intact hands.
"Absolutely ruthless. Mutilating yourself, then regenerating? Pretty fast, too..." the Sapphire Star remarked.
"But a Lower Rank is still a Lower Rank. I thought you'd show me something more impressive, and all you did was play leapfrog?"
The eye on Rokuro's chest widened, then his polite voice returned. "You're right. I failed to entertain you, miss. In that case, I won't be going easy on you anymore!"