Disgrace to His Master's Lineage, Killing Intent Unleashed

The Hand Demon's question echoed across the clearing.

But it needed no answer.

It was simply savoring its prey's terror before death, reveling in its own boasting.

"Let me think..."

One of the Hand Demon's arms scratched its enormous head with sharp nails, producing a grating sound that set teeth on edge.

"I must have eaten thirteen of Kuwajima's disciples by now, right?"

Its voice brimmed with a childlike delight, innocent and cruel.

"Every single one, I tore apart little by little as they cried and screamed for mercy."

"Ah, yes. The one I remember best was a little girl wearing a Fox Mask. She was very strong, and her bones were hard, too. A first-rate snack."

The Hand Demon extended countless arms, waving them excitedly in the air as it mimicked the disciples' dying screams and struggles.

"Help!"

"Master!"

"I don't want to die!"

Each imitation was like a poisoned dagger, stabbing unerringly into Sasuke's heart.

His body did not move.

His expression remained icy.

But inside him, the Chakra that had been as calm as a deep pool had already erupted into towering waves.

The image of his family lying in pools of blood.

Master Kuwajima's stern yet caring face.

Zenitsu's tearful face, cowardly yet genuine.

These images frantically intertwined and overlapped with the Hand Demon's piercing imitations in his mind.

In the end, every emotion, every memory converged into an unprecedented, utterly pure... intent to kill.

An icy, tangible killing intent erupted from Sasuke.

Even the temperature of the surrounding air seemed to plunge several degrees.

Even the Hand Demon's excited boasting faltered.

For the first time, an emotion called "astonishment" appeared in its enormous single eye.

From the boy before it, it sensed a terrifying presence that made even its heart quake.

That was not the fighting spirit of a Demon Slayer Corps member, mingled with anger and fear.

It was something loftier and purer-absolute contempt and coldness, like a god looking down upon ants.

"Oh?"

After its brief astonishment, the Hand Demon grew enraged.

It felt that its dignity had been challenged.

"What a terrifying look, brat!"

"Do you think looking at me like that will keep you alive?!"

It roared, and the hundreds of arms on its body surged like floodwaters bursting through a dam, reaching for Sasuke from every direction, blotting out the sky.

Some lunged straight at him, some burst out of the ground, and others flanked him from both sides.

An impenetrable web of death woven from flesh and blood instantly enveloped Sasuke.

Yet, faced with an attack that would drive any swordsman to despair.

Sasuke merely raised his head slowly.

In his right eye, two black tomoe spun furiously.

"Shut up."

His icy voice seemed to come from the Nine Hells.

"Inferior creature."

The instant those words fell.

His figure vanished.

Through its enormous single eye, the Hand Demon saw only a streak of black lightning charging fearlessly into the all-encompassing net it had laid.

No retreat.

No dodging.

Only the most direct frontal breakthrough.

In the vision of the Two-Tomoe Sharingan, every inch of movement, every trajectory of those hundreds of seemingly frenzied arms became slow and clear.

Riddled with openings.

Like a butterfly weaving through flowers and around trees, Sasuke darted at high speed through the gaps between the arms.

The pitch-black Wakizashi in his hand became streaks of deadly, cold light.

With every flash, several arms were severed.

The Hand Demon could not even make out his movements. It could only feel its arms being frantically severed and dismembered at an unprecedented speed.

A grotesque rain of flesh and blood, made up of severed arms, fell over the clearing.

Before Sasuke, the Death Cage it took such pride in was as flimsy as paper.