In the alley.
The air seemed to freeze.
Tanjiro looked at his sister, who shielded a human behind her and bared her fangs at the demons, his eyes brimming with tears.
Kazumi stared at the petite yet utterly dependable figure standing in front of him, his mind blank.
The two remaining Swamp Demons stared at their companion's head, which had been burst apart by a single kick, and fell into a brief stupor.
A traitor?
This female demon was actually helping humans?
"You... how dare you..."
The demon confronting Tanjiro let out a furious roar.
And Sasuke.
He remained where he stood, his two-tomoe Sharingan locked firmly on Nezuko.
Inside him, a storm raged.
A demon protecting humans.
Those words struck like a heavy hammer, pounding again and again at his heart, long frozen over by hatred.
He saw the pure demonic aura around Nezuko, untainted by even a trace of bloodshed.
He saw the flames of familial anger in her eyes.
In the way she protected Kazumi, he even saw a hint of...
The way his mother had once been.
Absurd.
Sasuke's nails dug deep into his palms.
"Roar!"
The demon's roar broke his train of thought.
The two enraged Swamp Demons no longer held back.
They sank into the black swamp beneath their feet at the same time, preparing to launch their next attack.
"Nezuko! Protect that man!"
Tanjiro reacted first. He shouted to his sister, then focused all his attention on his opponent.
He knew that this companion before him, though powerful, still seemed to be hesitating because of Nezuko.
Now he had to handle this himself.
The scents were gone.
The scents of both demons vanished into the swamp at the same time.
They could appear anywhere!
At this rate, there was no way to defend against them.
Tanjiro's mind raced.
If he couldn't fight them on the surface, he would force them out!
He drew a sharp, deep breath, and a searing pain burned through his lungs.
"Water Breathing!"
He plunged the tip of his Nichirin Blade into the thick swamp beside his feet.
"Second Form, Modified! Horizontal Water Wheel!"
With a fierce shout, he spun his entire body rapidly in place, using his sword as the axis.
The blade thrust into the swamp acted like a giant mixer.
In an instant, the once-calm swamp churned into a violently spinning black vortex.
"Thump! Thump!"
Two muffled impacts rang out.
The two Swamp Demons, which had intended to lie in ambush, were flung unceremoniously out of the swamp by the immense centrifugal force.
They swayed in place like drunks, unable to steady themselves at all.
An opening!
Tanjiro was about to press the attack.
But just then, a figure faster than him moved.
Sasuke.
The instant he saw Tanjiro force the two demons out with that remarkably inventive method, he understood his intent.
What a naive fellow.
But surprisingly effective.
Sasuke's gaze regained its usual chill.
He could think about the female demon later.
His first priority now was to eliminate the threats before him.
Bzzzt...
A faint electrical crackle sounded beneath his feet.
He coated both feet with a trace of lightning-nature chakra.
The next second.
His figure vanished from where he stood.
Tanjiro saw a blur, and a bolt of black lightning had already plunged into the fray.
So fast!
The two Swamp Demons that had just been flung out had no time to react.
One demon's right arm suddenly came off at the shoulder.
A wound deep enough to expose bone opened across the other demon's left leg.
"Swish! Swish! Swish!"
Like a tireless phantom, Sasuke moved at high speed around the two demons, still dizzy from the swirling water.
Every swing of the pitch-black wakizashi in his hand precisely drew a spray of black blood.
He did not slash at their necks.
Because he knew these were only clones.
He was simply stripping away their ability to move in the most efficient way possible.
Severing the tendons in their wrists, slicing through those in their ankles.
Leaving them unable to attack or dive back into the swamp.
Tanjiro stood rooted in place, staring dumbfounded at the scene before him.
He saw it.
The boy named Uesugi Sasuke toyed with two powerful demons, using speed and skill that Tanjiro could not begin to comprehend.
That was not a fight.
It was one-sided torment.
"Aaaaargh!"
The two Swamp Demons roared in pain and fury.
They wanted to fight back, but every time they raised a hand, that bolt of black lightning anticipated it, then opened fresh wounds from an even trickier angle.
They wanted to escape, but whenever they approached the swamp, the sword-wielding boy drove them back with even greater speed.
Tanjiro's vortex restricted their ability to hide.
And Sasuke's speed cut off every avenue of survival.
A strange, unspoken coordination quietly formed between the two boys who had met for the first time.
One controlled the field.
The other dealt damage.
In that instant, the situation was completely reversed.
Before you continue