The demon looked somewhat like the four clones from earlier, but the pressure he radiated was on an entirely different level.
Tanjiro's eyes widened as he felt the suffocating aura emanating from him.
"Are you... a fusion of those four clones?"
Zohakuten stared coldly at Tanjiro, his eyes devoid of emotion.
"You villains who bully the weak are utterly unforgivable. Naturally, I must punish every last one of you."
Zohakuten's words struck Tanjiro as absurd. The demons were the ones killing people, yet he accused them of being villains with complete self-righteousness.
Zohakuten gave Tanjiro no chance to argue. He raised the drumstick in his hand and struck the drums behind his back hard.
A tremendous boom rang through the night sky. The ground began shaking violently.
Several incredibly thick wooden dragons burst from underground. Opening their spike-lined jaws, they charged straight at Tanjiro with a deafening howl of wind.
The wooden dragons were enormous and extremely fast. Tanjiro had only just turned to block and had no time to dodge an attack that covered every direction.
The wooden dragons' jaws were about to swallow him whole.
At that very instant, a streak of pink light and a blade's gleam interwoven with petals swept in from the side.
"Love Breathing, Third Form: Catlove Shower!"
Mitsuri's flexible sword darted rapidly through the air, precisely severing the lower jaws of the two leading wooden dragons.
"Flower Breathing, Fifth Form: Peonies of Futility!"
Kanae's sword tip struck nine times in rapid succession, breaking the wooden dragon flanking them from the other side into several chunks of wood.
The two landed firmly in front of Tanjiro, shielding him behind them.
Genya hurried over right behind them, his gun aimed straight at Zohakuten.
The four stood shoulder to shoulder, facing this newly formed demon whose