What Was That About the Twelve Kizuki?

The nature of the battle had changed completely.

In the fight before, Kanae had still held some confidence that she could kill her opponent if she put her life on the line.

But once it became two against one, the situation became hopeless.

The thin demon abandoned any thought of fighting her at close range. Instead, it kept making spears grow from the tree trunks at a distance, then hurled them at Kanae one after another.

Meanwhile, the newly arrived, burly demon swung its terrifying stone axe, launching a brutal frontal assault through sheer strength.

Kanae knew that if she met it head-on, she probably would not survive even a single blow.

Yet the thin demon always timed its ranged harassment to fill the gaps between the burly demon's attacks. Forget fighting back.

She could barely even maneuver to dodge.

What made her feel even more suffocated were the two demons' Blood Demon Arts.

Both possessed similar abilities, allowing them to mimic materials they touched and greatly enhance their bodies' strength and hardness.

Even sword techniques performed with Total Concentration could not turn this one-sided battle around.

When she attacked the older brother, it easily smashed her blade aside with its stone axe.

The recoil split the webbing between her thumb and forefinger in an instant.

When she tried to block a hard wooden spear shot at her flank by the younger brother, the older one exploited the opening and kicked her in the abdomen, sending her flying and tumbling across the ground.

And when she finally broke through the older brother's blockade and swung at the younger one, it dodged with a mocking laugh, showing no intention of fighting her directly.

Blood stained the petal-like flashes of her blade red, until at last her dance came to a halt.

Kanae propped herself up on her Nichirin Blade, gasping for breath.

This is bad... even my vision is starting to blur.

"Big brother, leave this Little Butterfly to me. I'll take my time playing with her."

The thin demon laughed sinisterly. "Don't let that runaway 'food' actually get away."

No, this monster is going after those innocent people!

With the two demons splitting up, the pressure on her would drop sharply, but things would be different for Kojiro.

He and those ordinary people had no chance of holding out against this burly demon!

"I can still fight!"

Putting her Breathing Style into action again, Kanae forced herself upright and assumed a sword stance.

The burly demon grinned viciously. "Like I care."

With agility utterly at odds with its massive frame, it suddenly darted around Kanae and chased after the fleeing civilians!

"Stop!"

Kanae's eyes widened. She tried to intercept it, but a swarm of wooden spears and wooden hounds from the thin demon entangled her.

By the time she drove them back with her blade, the burly demon had already vanished into the woods.

Damn it!

Clenching her teeth so hard they nearly shattered, Kanae swung her Nichirin Blade and unleashed a ferocious storm of flowers.

She rushed straight into the thin demon at a speed she had never reached before.

In a single instant, a dense barrage of slashes covered its body in bloody wounds.

"Such gentle slashes won't kill me!"

In just a breath or two, its muscles writhed, restoring every wound.

Against a demon, anything short of beheading was useless.

Kanae understood that, of course.

So!

Flower Breathing, please, for Kojiro and the others, turn once more.

Her heart grew still.

And her body began to respond.

A faint light glimmered in Kanae's eyes.

It was a sign that her Breathing Style was being driven to its fullest.

[Total Concentration!]

[Flower Breathing]

[Seventh Form: Fleeting Blossom-Crimson Cherry]

She lowered her body, aiming her sword tip at the demon's neck.

For that instant, Kanae seemed to become a flower bud on the verge of blooming.

Step forward!

Thrust!

In that instant, her body and blade became a straight crimson streak, like a cherry blossom branch stretching swiftly through the wind.

It was derived from Water Breathing's Drop Ripple Thrust.

Discarding every unnecessary movement, it concentrated all her strength and focus into a single point to deliver one thrust at a speed beyond what the eye could follow.

This strike had already surpassed Kanae's true level of swordsmanship.

It was too fast.

So fast that the demon had not even noticed Kanae strike before her blade pierced its throat.

Its steel-hard body failed to impede the Nichirin Blade in the slightest.

A thrust, then a diagonal slash.

The sword technique should have flowed seamlessly, but it faltered.

The prolonged battle, her injuries, the demon's excessively hard body, her naturally weaker muscles as a woman...

All those factors accumulated, ultimately preventing Kanae from fully completing her technique.

She severed only most of its neck.

"?!"

The demon belatedly reacted, holding its head in place as it leaped dozens of paces backward.

Its eyes widened as it watched Kanae warily, as though she were some fierce beast that devoured demons.

I almost got beheaded by this Little Butterfly?!

Muscle fibers and bones writhed, swiftly filling the cut the Nichirin Blade had left in its neck.

Within mere seconds, it was completely restored.

For a monster like this, unless its neck was fully severed by a Nichirin Blade, the attack meant nothing.

Kanae leaned on her sword, her mind utterly blank.

That slash beyond her limits had left her barely able to maintain her breathing.

She had no strength left to pursue it and finish the job.

"Little Butterfly! I'm done playing with you!"

The metallic sheen on the demon's body deepened again, while the surrounding tree trunks and branches gradually twisted with its fury, finally becoming even more wooden hounds.

"I'm going to eat you now. Then next year, I'll become one of the Twelve Kizuki!"

Despair coiled around Kanae's heart like icy vines, nearly choking her.

Her sword hand trembled from exhaustion and searing pain.

Though she had barely managed to catch her breath.

Kanae no longer had any confidence that she could defeat her opponent.

Could this... really be the end for me?

I'm sorry, Shinobu...

But at that very moment.

A voice carrying a hint of delight came from the distance.

"What did you say?! The Twelve Kizuki!"

Whoosh!!!

A piercing whistle tore through the air like ripping cloth, rapidly approaching from high above at a terrifying speed!

But it was no arrow. It was a rapidly descending-

Person!

A figure wreathed in raging electrical currents crashed down between Kanae and the demon like a falling thunderbolt.

The shock wave overturned dirt and shattered wood, forcing both the girl and the demon to instinctively narrow their eyes.

As the dust settled slightly, the newcomer bent his knees to absorb the impact, then slowly straightened.

Over his loose uniform, he carried a pack hung with all manner of strange things, like a traveling peddler.

There was an odd fox mask, a yellow-green cord knotted around his belt, a hanging sake gourd, and even half a hammer sticking out of his pack...

But most eye-catching of all were the three differently colored Nichirin Blades at his waist.

The Little Butterfly's reinforcements arrived this quickly?

And a three-sword swordsman, too. He looks like he might have some skill.

The demon grew somewhat wary.

Kanae's delight was tempered by a growing concern.

A Thunder Breathing swordsman, hmm... and a three-sword style I've never heard of.

Is he a new recruit?

If he's ranked [Tsuchinoe (5)]-no, even if his strength is at least [Tsuchinoto (6)], I'm confident we could work together to turn this around.

But a swordsman I've never heard of...

At most, he's only [Mizunoe] or [Mizunoto].

There can be no other outcome besides him throwing his life away alongside mine.

"Though I'm very grateful for your help, this demon is far too powerful. Please, you should run..."

Yet the newcomer showed no intention of speaking with her.

He raised his head, his gaze passing over her blood-soaked, swaying figure, then seemed to look at something above her head.

Then he turned his gaze back to the demon before him, his face still expressionless.

He merely rolled his neck slightly.

He rested a hand on one of the Nichirin Blades at his waist, producing a faint clack.

"Hey, what was that you just said about the Twelve Kizuki?"