The Hand Demon

"Nice work." Rokuya stepped forward, generous with his praise. "Your movements were clean, and your breathing rhythm didn't falter. But next time you attack, keep your footing steadier. If that demon had been a little stronger, the recoil might have sent you flying."

"Mm-hmm, I'll remember!" At Rokuya's praise, Kanae's smile grew more radiant than the blooming wisteria.

"All right, warm-up's over." Rokuya clapped his hands and looked toward the deeper darkness of Mount Fujikasane. "Time for the main course."

The two continued weaving through the woods. Over the next three hours, they encountered five more waves of demon attacks.

Without exception, Rokuya split up the battlefield with extreme brutality, then used his absurd passive, "single-target damage increased by 50%," to finish the demons with one slash each, as easily as chopping vegetables. Kanae never even got a chance to draw her sword. She could only follow behind as a quiet cheerleader and point the way for Rokuya.

Ding! Killed a lesser demon and saved an exam participant. Gained 40 gratitude points!

Ding! Killed a lesser demon and saved an exam participant. Gained 60 gratitude points!

With the system's repeated notifications, Rokuya's gratitude points, depleted from activating Demon Form, finally began to recover a little.

"This is outrageous! Why are they all worthless small fry?" Rokuya kicked a demon's head away like a soccer ball, complaining with displeasure written all over his face. "Not a single one can even give me a little exercise. At this rate, I'm going to die of boredom."

Kanae didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Everyone else on this mountain was fighting for their lives, constantly on edge, but this fellow treated it like a market where he had come to stock up.

Just as Rokuya was about to venture farther in, he abruptly stopped in his tracks.

Kanae wasn't paying attention and bumped straight into his broad back. Rubbing her sore nose, she asked, "Rokuya, what's wrong?"

Rokuya didn't answer. He lowered his head slightly, his languid gaze turning utterly cold in an instant. An almost tangible killing intent erupted uncontrollably from his body, startling the crows in the surrounding trees into flying toward the night sky with frantic caws.

"Such a strong smell of blood..." Rokuya's voice was terrifyingly low. "And a nauseating stench of rot..."

Thud-thud-thud-

The ground began trembling rhythmically, as though some enormous monster was approaching.

Deep in the woods, the darkness seemed to be pushed aside by something. With the heavy footsteps, the surrounding trees toppled one after another, snapping with sharp cracks.

"Wh-what is that?!" Kanae covered her mouth, undisguised terror showing in her eyes.

In the moonlight, an enormous, hideous, misshapen monster slowly came into their view.

It could no longer even be called a "person." Its enormous body resembled a mountain of flesh, covered from head to toe in countless thick arms. Those arms writhed around its body like a huge tangle of venomous snakes. Between them, distorted faces were faintly visible, as though the souls it had devoured were wailing.

And at its very front, on a huge, ugly face, sat a fox mask with half of it broken away.

"A fox mask..."

The instant he saw that mask, images flashed through Rokuya's mind like lightning: Sakonji Urokodaki's sorrowful face hidden beneath his Tengu Mask, Sabito's stubborn, defiant expression, Makomo's gentle smile when she gave him the Omamori, and Giyu Tomioka's request, bizarre though it was, filled with concern for his companions.

Urokodaki had said that many of the excellent disciples he had taught had died on Mount Fujikasane.

So this was the beast responsible!

"Hee-hee-hee... More adorable little mice have come right to my door..."

The Hand Demon's enormous body stopped thirty meters from them, countless arms waving through the air as its nauseating voice echoed through the mountain woods.

"Another of Urokodaki's disciples? You have the same disgusting smell as him..." The Hand Demon's enormous eyes fixed on Rokuya as it let out a bone-chilling cackle. "You know what? Urokodaki's disciples are my favorite food! Those fox masks mark them for death! I've already eaten thirteen. You're the fourteenth!"

"Urokodaki's disciples... My goodness, how long has this demon been alive?" Kanae's face was pale, and even her sword hand was trembling slightly. The pressure it exerted was on an entirely different level from those small fry earlier. It was already incredibly close to a Lower Rank of the Twelve Kizuki!

"Kanae."

Rokuya's voice was surprisingly calm, as calm as the deathly still sea before a storm.

"Get back. Whatever happens, don't come near."

"But Rokuya, it looks dangerous!" Kanae cried anxiously.

"Do as I say!" Rokuya turned his head slightly. The cold silver light flashing in his eyes made Kanae's breath catch. She instinctively stepped back several paces, for she had never felt such pure, savage killing intent from Rokuya before.

"Eaten thirteen..."

Rokuya turned back toward that nauseating mountain of flesh. His right hand slowly closed around the sword hilt at his waist, his thumb pressing against the guard.

"You know something, you beast?"

With a clear scrape of metal, the pitch-black blade slid from its sheath inch by inch, reflecting the bone-chilling moonlight. Rokuya lowered his center of gravity, his leg muscles drawing as taut as a bowstring about to snap.

"I have a flaw. I'm fiercely protective of my own."

"I said that not even King Yama could take anyone under my protection."

Boom!

A savage silver-blue Magic Energy Aura erupted skyward from Rokuya like a volcano. The wisteria trees within ten meters were instantly shattered by its terrifying force. Golden lightning coursed wildly through the Magic Energy Aura, illuminating Rokuya like a god of slaughter from hell.

"So die."

The silver-blue Magic Energy Aura swept across the entire area like raging waves. Rokuya held the heavy katana that had been forged on a rush order, and the earth beneath his feet cracked inch by inch, unable to withstand the pressure.

Boom-

Violent waves of air surged outward from him, and even the falling leaves in midair were shredded to powder by that fierce killing intent. Amid the interwoven golden lightning and silver aura, Rokuya's face was as cold and stern as a Shura deity who had walked through blood from the deepest hell.

Under that overwhelming presence, the Hand Demon's mountain of flesh actually shrank back half a step on instinct. Beneath the broken fox mask on its face, several bloodshot eyes rolled wildly, glinting with mingled terror and brutality.

"Die, you hideous reject." Rokuya bent his knees slightly, every muscle in his body tensing to its limit.

Thunder Breathing's special Breathing Style worked furiously through his lungs, oxygen surging into his blood like ignited fuel. Veins bulged on the back of his sword hand. Just as he was about to shatter the ground beneath his feet and charge with an all-out Thunder Breathing: Modified Extreme Blade Flash, cleaving the disgusting monster and the woods behind it in two-

"D-don't come any closer! Run! Run!"