"Smack!"
With another crisp, clean strike, the Wooden Sword in Giyu's hands was knocked to the ground again. Cracks had already appeared in its blade.
"Again."
Kanzaki Kumo's voice remained cold.
But Giyu merely stood there glaring at Kanzaki Kumo, refusing to repeat the motion he had already performed countless times.
By now, the anger in his eyes had overtaken their lifelessness.
"What? Giving up already? Angry already? Your sister gave her life to save someone like you?"
"Don't you dare insult my sister!"
His sister's death was the most painful scar in Giyu's heart. Kanzaki Kumo tore it open with his contemptuous tone, finally making Giyu snap completely. He did not even stop to think about how the other boy knew about his past. He simply raised his fists and charged.
"Fighting with your fists? Did you learn your Breathing Style and swordsmanship for nothing?!" Facing a Giyu Tomioka who had nearly lost all reason, Kanzaki Kumo easily dodged his attacks and countered with the Wooden Sword in his hand.
When Giyu punched, he struck the back of his hand. When Giyu kicked, he slapped his knee or thigh, keeping the force at a level that hurt without causing serious injury.
Finally, he smacked Giyu on the head with his sword, sending him toppling to the ground, while freeing one hand to signal Sabito and Makomo to stay calm.
Giyu had not passed out as he lay facedown. He dug both hands into the ground, slowly clenching them as his body trembled incessantly. Standing closest to him, Kanzaki Kumo could hear a hint of sobbing in his breathing.
"Hey, is that all you've got? Your sister gave her life for a piece of trash like this?"
Kanzaki Kumo continued to relentlessly provoke Giyu.
The instant Kanzaki Kumo stepped a little closer, Giyu rolled sideways and flung the handful of sand he had grabbed at Kanzaki Kumo's face. His other hand landed right where his Wooden Sword had fallen earlier, and he sprang up as he seized the hilt.
He used his Breathing Style, unleashing the strike in Water Breathing best suited to his current situation.
"Water Breathing, Second Form: Water Wheel!"
Kanzaki Kumo was somewhat surprised by this sequence of movements. Though he could have dodged the sand, he wanted to see Giyu's next attack, so he simply closed his eyes and turned his head slightly, rendering the handful of sand ineffective. At the same time, the sound of a Wooden Sword cutting through the air reached him from overhead.
All Kanzaki Kumo could do at that moment was raise his head and open his eyes. His powerful vision let him see Giyu's bloodshot, tear-filled eyes, the bulging veins on the hands gripping his sword hilt, and his somewhat contorted expression.
At the same time, he clearly saw the weakness in Giyu's move.
Then Kanzaki Kumo raised his Wooden Sword with a calm gaze. But in that same instant, his breathing changed too.
"Water Breathing, Seventh Form: Drop Ripple Thrust!"
"Smack!"
"Crack!"
Though Kanzaki Kumo attacked later, his strike arrived first, hitting the weakest point of Giyu's attack as it descended-the cracks in his Wooden Sword.
That strike snapped the Wooden Sword in Giyu's hands outright.
At the same time, Giyu felt a tremendous force surge through the broken Wooden Sword in his hands, flinging him away as he hung in midair with nothing to brace against.
"Thud!"
Giyu slammed onto his back, his eyes hollow.
He remained in that position, tears streaming endlessly from the corners of his eyes.
I'm still just as useless... That was the voice tightly ensnaring Giyu's heart at that moment.
Seeing Giyu on the verge of withdrawing even further into himself, Kanzaki Kumo turned and gave Sabito a look.
Kanzaki Kumo: Time for you to do your part. Go on, I choose you!
Sabito: M-me?
"Kanzaki Kumo! You've gone too far!" Sabito got into character in just one second. Or rather, after watching Giyu get bullied the entire time, he already had anger bottled up inside him and did not need to act at all.
After shouting at Kanzaki Kumo with a mixture of genuine and feigned anger, he quickly ran to Giyu's side and crouched to check on him.
"Giyu, are you all right?" Sabito called out in concern as he examined Giyu's injuries. When he discovered that the worst injury on his entire body was a bump on his head from his fall out of the air just now, he inwardly sighed in relief.
Giyu Tomioka's expression was numb, his eyes hollow. He let Sabito move him around like a doll.
Only after Sabito called to him a few more times did Giyu's eyes refocus on his face. After meeting his gaze for a while, he said in a low voice, "Just leave me alone... I'm nothing but trash..."
With that, Giyu returned to his earlier just let me die like this state.
Seeing Giyu give up on himself like this, the anger Sabito had just vented flared right back up. The method Kanzaki Kumo had told him about last night flashed through his mind, and without another word, he slapped him.
"Smack!"
The sound was exceptionally crisp. Even Kanzaki Kumo, watching from the sidelines, instinctively covered his face. Looking at the handprint clearly emerging on Giyu's cheek, Sabito had really put some force into that slap.
Makomo finally could not hold back and tried to step forward, but Kanzaki Kumo immediately caught her. When she tried to say something, he merely gave her a look telling her to stay calm.
She turned to look at Sakonji Urokodaki as well. Seeing that the old man was also silently watching Sabito and Giyu, she could only remain where she was, watching her two junior fellow disciples with concern.
Giyu was now holding his cheek, staring at Sabito in utter disbelief. Even his tears had stopped flowing.
Kanzaki Kumo: What does just the right amount of force look like-stunned without brain damage? This.
"Did your sister save you with her life just so you could give up on yourself here and go die?!"
Sabito shouted himself hoarse.
Perhaps it was because he saw in Giyu a path he had once nearly taken himself.
Among those who joined the Demon Slayer Corps, how many had no tragic past? Many had personally witnessed their loved ones dying before their eyes. This was also why the Demon Slayer Corps' Swordsmen were willing to risk their lives fighting Demons.
Naturally, Sabito had experienced something similar. Having his loved ones killed before his eyes while he was powerless to do anything-he knew that feeling too. He had even nearly given up on himself just like Giyu.
But he had pulled himself together in time and done everything he could to learn his Breathing Style, all so he would not be so powerless in the future.
"If you're not strong enough, train! Learn! Give it everything you've got! Don't sit here thinking you can end it all by dying!"
After shouting, Sabito stood up and stopped looking at the stunned Giyu. But as he turned away, he could not help saying quietly, "At least let your sister know she didn't sacrifice herself for nothing. The one she saved was the little brother she loved most and was proudest of, not a piece of trash."
Giyu remained lying on the ground, holding his cheek in a daze. But the lifeless air surrounding him had vanished, and something new seemed to be sprouting.
Kanzaki Kumo noticed that Sabito's eyes were a little red too. As for why he could see Sabito's eyes, it was naturally because Sabito was walking straight toward him.
When Sabito stopped in front of Kanzaki Kumo, he punched him in the chest without a word.
But the seemingly heavy punch lost its force at the last moment, touching Kanzaki Kumo lightly.
"Thank you." Sabito still thanked him with deeply mixed feelings, then walked aside and began training on his own.
Although Kanzaki Kumo's method had been somewhat brutal and had even nearly plunged Giyu into utter despair, judging by the current outcome, it had worked fairly well.
It just left him feeling a little unhappy.
Makomo also gave Kanzaki Kumo a conflicted look, then glanced at Giyu, who had sat up but was still staring blankly. Not knowing what to say, she could only walk aside and continue training.
She knew too that what Giyu needed now was some quiet time alone.
Sakonji Urokodaki also stepped forward and patted Kanzaki Kumo on the shoulder. He gave him a long look, then walked aside without a word to guide Makomo and Sabito in their training.
Before you continue