I don't need your thanks

There were no extraneous targets!

"Well done, Kanae." Rokuya's voice was terrifyingly low, yet his tone carried a chilling frenzy.

His eyes blazed fully to life at that moment.

It was the utmost desire to kill.

"Now."

Rokuya slowly lowered the hilt, his entire presence undergoing a tremendous change in that instant. If he had been a savage beast chained up and struggling violently before, now those chains had snapped.

Boom!

The ground beneath his feet exploded into a deep crater over three meters across. The tremendous reaction force propelled him through the sound barrier, a white sonic boom cloud bursting in the air.

Too fast!

So fast that even the rampaging Hand Demon saw only a silver-blue aurora piercing heaven and earth.

"No-" The Hand Demon's few remaining eyes fixed on that approaching light of death, fear from the depths of its soul overwhelming it completely. It desperately tried to retract its arms to block again, but it was already too late.

In Rokuya's vision, everything in the world seemed to slow down.

He saw neither the arms flying everywhere nor the two swordsmen screaming in terror.

On his retinas, there was only the Hand Demon's ugly neck, only that single "target."

[System assessment: only a single hostile target exists within attack range.]

[Single-Target Critical Strike Rule triggered!]

Rokuya gripped the hilt with both hands, pouring every last bit of the arcane aura and golden lightning within him into the blade like a volcanic eruption. The heavy katana groaned under the strain, only to be enveloped by even more violent power.

"Thunder Breathing, modified: double Extreme Blade Flash!"

"Slash!"

The first strike rose from below, cutting into the scales beneath the Hand Demon's neck with flawless precision.

Shhk-

It met no resistance. The Arcana Armor's fifty percent additional damage, combined with a defense-ignoring double-damage critical strike, made the cut as effortless as slicing through rotten tofu.

The Hand Demon's tough neck, supposedly impervious even to a Nichirin Blade, was ripped open by that strike, leaving a horrific gash half a meter deep.

But Rokuya did not pause for even a moment. Using the momentum of the first strike, he forcibly twisted his body in midair and reversed the blade.

The second strike crashed down from above like a silver-blue full moon, bearing the might to destroy everything!

Swish-

The blade swept through the Hand Demon's neck without the slightest resistance, even cutting a visible vacuum rift through the air.

Time seemed to stop at that moment.

An expression of extreme terror remained frozen on the Hand Demon's battered fox mask. Its mouth hung slightly open, as though it still wanted to say something.

"I... I actually... got beheaded? How is that possible... my neck is harder than rock..."

A thin line of blood slowly appeared around its neck.

Then tremendous pressure erupted like floodwater bursting through a dam.

Pfft-

A fountain of foul black blood shot skyward. Under the immense pressure, the Hand Demon's millstone-sized head flew more than ten meters into the air, tracing a wretched arc beneath the pallid moonlight.

Its massive headless body stood rigid for two seconds, then collapsed like unsupported sludge, crashing down hard enough to shake the entire grove.

The Hand Demon's head slammed into the dirt dozens of meters away and rolled several times.

Its eyes had not yet lost all signs of life, and they stared fixedly at the silver-haired boy slowly descending from midair.

"Why... my arms... I still had so many... why couldn't I block even one strike..." The Hand Demon's voice became like a leaking bellows, filled with resentment and despair. "Big brother... I'm so scared... it's so dark... is it finally over?"

[Ding, received the Hand Demon's gratitude. Gained 100 Gratitude Points.]

Rokuya landed on one knee, planting the heavy katana against the ground with a clang. Without so much as a glance at the dissolving head, he coldly spat out a few words:

"Shut up. I don't need your gratitude."

He did not need to hear this monster's tragic past. All he knew was that it had eaten people and nearly killed someone he wanted to protect, so it had to die-the more thoroughly, the better.

Along with Rokuya's merciless words, the Hand Demon's head and its mountain of flesh began burning fiercely. Gray-white ashes drifted through the night breeze like snowflakes. The souls it had devoured seemed to find release at that moment, turning into specks of light that vanished into the night sky.

As the Hand Demon dissolved, the arms clutching the two swordsmen also turned to ash.

Two thuds sounded.

The two young swordsmen, who had thought death was certain, fell heavily onto the dirt.

They stared blankly at the ashes drifting through the sky, watching the arrogant monster that had treated them as food vanish just like that. For a moment, their minds stopped working entirely.

Only when a wave of intense weakness hit did the silver-blue arcane aura around Rokuya recede like the tide. His previously upright body swayed slightly, and he dropped onto his backside.

"Hah... hah..." Rokuya gasped for breath, his chest heaving violently.

He felt the walls of his stomach grinding furiously against each other. A hunger that almost seemed ready to devour him from within instantly swept through his entire body.

"This is killing me... that ultimate move packs a punch, but no human could handle this kind of drain." Rokuya gave a bitter chuckle, his forehead covered in cold sweat.

That strike, precise down to the millimeter, had not only drained his stamina but pushed his mental energy to its absolute limit. Had it strayed even slightly, those two unlucky fellows really would have been cleaved in half.

"Rokuya!"

A startled cry, thick with tears, came from the distance.

Kanae stumbled and scrambled over, paying no heed to the wound on her arm that was still bleeding, and threw herself down beside Rokuya.

"How are you? Are you hurt anywhere? When it hit you just now, did it break any bones?" Kanae's eyes were red, tears falling like beads from a broken string. Her usually gentle eyes were now filled with heartache and self-reproach.

Her hands trembled as she tried to examine Rokuya's left shoulder, but she was afraid of hurting him and did not know what to do.

Seeing this girl, usually as gentle as water, crying her eyes out over him, Rokuya felt his hunger-driven irritation miraculously settle.

Enduring the ache in his shoulder, he managed to raise his right hand and gently rub Kanae's soft black hair.

"What are you crying for? I'm fine, aren't I?" Rokuya forced a somewhat weak smile, though his tone retained that swagger that made someone want to punch him. "Trash like that thought it could hurt me? But... that move you pulled just now really was beautiful. If you hadn't drawn its attention, I really would've had trouble finding an opening to strike."

At Rokuya's praise, Kanae's body gave a sudden shudder.

Looking at Rokuya's pale yet still stern face, she finally felt the weight lift from her heart. She suddenly threw herself into his arms and hugged him tightly.

"Thank goodness... thank goodness you're all right..." Kanae buried her face against Rokuya's chest, her voice muffled and filled with relief at having survived.

Rokuya stiffened. Feeling the softness in his arms and smelling that faint wisteria fragrance, he gave a dry cough but did not push her away, merely looking elsewhere with some awkwardness.

(The stats feel a little off. The reader retention rate is a bit low. Could it be that my writing isn't good enough?)