Big Brother

"What could you do even if you knew?"

The demon paused for an instant, a flicker of irritation crossing its eyes at having its secret exposed.

It leaned down, engulfing Kanae in its enormous shadow.

"Once Mu kills you, what will it matter if Mu's nest has been discovered?"

Yet the young swordswoman was not cowed by its presence. Instead, she felt a little relieved.

She had not said those things merely to provoke it.

Beneath her fringe, her gaze swept discreetly over the bushes behind the demon. Another swordsman was still there, one who had not yet lost the ability to move.

Kojiro Kondo.

The demon's kick had sent him flying, breaking several ribs and leaving him sprawled on the ground. But he was still conscious, gripping his Nichirin Blade tightly as he stared toward them.

He was, after all, a [Kanoto]-rank swordsman.

He had completed a Cultivator's grueling training and the Final Selection, and had slain demons on his own.

The pain, his injuries, and their desperate situation had not made him abandon hope.

In truth, every word Kanae had spoken had been an instruction meant for him.

[The missing people are still alive.]

[Kojiro, please! Find them and get them out.]

[Leave this to me.]

Though they had known each other for less than a day, their shared humanity allowed them to communicate with a glance.

Naturally, the demon before her noticed none of this.

Both its hands thrust forward, attacking Kanae with complete confidence in its hard, uncuttable body.

The young swordswoman did not retreat either. Gritting her teeth, she swung her blade and met its attacks head-on.

Meanwhile, the badly injured swordsman endured the agonizing pain.

Once Kanae had drawn the demon's attention and lured it away, he crawled off close to the ground, driven by astonishing determination.

Only after he vanished into the shadows of the dense forest did Kanae change her fighting strategy.

She wanted to keep the demon occupied for longer.

Abandoning all thoughts of an aggressive assault, she pushed Flower Breathing's agility to its limits.

When the demon sacrificed power for swift attacks meant simply to land a hit, she raised her sword to parry and counter, retreating as she fought.

When faced with heavy blows she could not block, she spun with their momentum rather than meeting its strength directly.

Like a flower petal adrift in a storm, she danced between the demon's claws and the trunks of the dense forest.

Now fluttering, now whirling.

Her blade clashed repeatedly with the demon's iron claws, scattering dazzling sparks.

But Kanae was only human.

Her defense could not be flawless. As time passed, her haori grew increasingly tattered, and several wounds opened across her body, blood steadily seeping from them.

Yet her eyes remained calm.

This demon clearly noticed that I changed my strategy.

But it keeps attacking recklessly like this...

I'm waiting for Kojiro to rescue the missing people, and for the reinforcements the Kasugai Crow went to summon.

But what is it waiting for?

Is it simply stupid?

Or is it waiting for me to exhaust myself?

Just as Kanae was pondering this, a commotion broke out among the distant trees!

The loggers' startled cries mingled with a swordsman's furious shouts and the sound of wood being violently smashed apart.

The rescue worked!

The demon froze for a moment, then realized what had happened and flew into a rage.

Its attacks suddenly grew even more frenzied.

Though the pressure on Kanae doubled, she finally felt a measure of relief.

At least the people had been rescued.

Soon, Kojiro emerged from behind a pile of logs, fighting as he retreated and protecting seven or eight terrified loggers with gaunt, sallow faces.

Several Wooden Hounds created through Blood Demon Art kept lunging at them.

"Watch out!"

Dodging a heavy punch from the demon, the girl abruptly sprinted toward the group.

She swung her sword, but the flash of her blade came a moment too late.

An old man bringing up the rear was knocked down by a Wooden Hound, and his scream was abruptly cut short.

"Bastard!"

Kojiro's eyes blazed with anguish, but he was powerless to save him.

He looked at the trembling blade in his hand, then at the people surrounded by terror.

Those helpless eyes reminded him of the little sister he had failed to protect so many years ago.

After joining forces with Kanae to kill and drive back the vicious hounds, he stood back-to-back with her, facing the hounds among the trees.

They had to defeat this demon and its hounds while protecting every ordinary person there.

A trace of despair finally rose in the swordsman's heart.

"Ma'am!" He could not help asking the young swordswoman, "How much longer... until reinforcements arrive?"

Kanae said nothing.

She did not know either.

As though it had developed a taste for toying with them, the demon did not rush to resume fighting. Instead, it approached them slowly, step by step.

Seeing this, Kojiro drew a deep breath, his eyes hardening with resolve.

Last time, I couldn't protect the person I wanted to keep safe. This time, at least I can buy her a little time.

Come to think of it, if my little sister hadn't died, she would have been about the same age.

Kojiro was just about to step forward.

But the young swordswoman moved in front of him, blocking his path with her body.

"Head south, Kojiro," she said calmly. "Don't look back."

"But..."

"That is an order from a [Tsuchinoe]-rank swordswoman."

He still hesitated, but Kanae's next words helped him make up his mind.

"With your current strength, Kojiro, you won't buy us any time. You'll only get yourself killed."

She gave the terrified people and the bloodied swordsman a reassuring smile.

"So please, live on, and grow stronger in the future."

Kojiro's eyes reddened. Turning around, he shouted to the civilians, "Go! I'll cover you! Hurry!"

As it watched Kanae remain behind to cover their retreat,

a faint smile actually appeared on the demon's hollow face.

"Mu finds that a truly touching choice, Little Butterfly."

"But there's no harm in letting them run for a while. After all, you can't stop Mu..."

A moment earlier, the demon had been angry that they had rescued its food.

But after thinking it over, it decided that this game of cat and mouse was rather entertaining.

After having its vicious hounds surround every route of escape behind Kanae, it said slowly, "You don't actually think you can defeat Mu, do you?"

Kanae

was just about to answer.

But then she heard slow, heavy footsteps coming from deep within the forest.

The air grew even more suffocating.

Sweat kept trickling down Kanae's forehead.

How could this be...

"You're wasting food again, little brother," an even coarser, raspier voice said. "You shouldn't have let a swordsman discover Luo's nest."

How could there be two?!

A tree trunk was shoved over with brute force, and a larger, more powerfully built demon slowly emerged from the shadows.

Its skin had a rough texture resembling granite, and on its shoulder rested a grotesque, enormous axe made from a single solid slab of something like hard obsidian.

Its gaze fixed directly on Kanae.

"One piece of food isn't enough for Luo."

"It's all right, big brother. Let them run for a while first. A little exercise will keep them healthy," the thin demon said with a smile. "After all, fresh, healthy human flesh tastes the best."

"Isn't that right, Little Butterfly?"

"You're waiting for reinforcements, aren't you? But now it seems... Mu's reinforcements arrived a little sooner."

Kanae's heart sank to rock bottom.