Water Breathing: Twelfth Form

Giyu Tomioka walked through Mount Fujikasane, but the face beneath his mask was not as calm as usual.

Although he did not understand why Mr. Yoriichi knew so much about the situation on Mount Fujikasane and had brought him here with such conviction to slay the demon that had killed Sabito.

Giyu Tomioka was willing to believe Mr. Yoriichi, and even more willing to believe that he could encounter the demon that had harmed Sabito here!

Sabito, Makomo...

Giyu Tomioka silently recited those children's names in his heart.

Over the years, he had kept in touch with his teacher Urokodaki through letters.

He therefore knew very well that none of the children Urokodaki had trained over those years had left Mount Fujikasane alive.

Although Urokodaki had not said much in his letters, Giyu Tomioka knew that his teacher was suffering and had already begun to doubt himself.

After all, with Urokodaki's personality, he would only suspect that something was wrong with his own training.

That he was unworthy of being a trainer.

Giyu Tomioka had thought more than once about how he could stop Urokodaki from doubting himself.

Perhaps the only solution was to encounter a boy with enough talent and courage and recommend him to Urokodaki.

Perhaps only by finding someone like that and having him successfully pass the selection on Mount Fujikasane could he restore Urokodaki's confidence.

But Mr. Yoriichi's words today had made Giyu Tomioka realize there was another possibility!

Just then, Giyu Tomioka suddenly stopped.

He could sense tremors coming from a distance, as though an enormous creature was moving through the forest.

Not only did its footsteps make the ground tremble slightly, but there were also sounds of its body scraping against tree trunks and snapping branches.

Giyu Tomioka froze for a moment.

This was Mount Fujikasane, a place that merely provided a selection test for swordsmen who had just earned their trainers' approval.

The swordsmen did not even need to kill a certain number of demons. They only needed to survive here for seven days.

And the demons here had all been captured in various places by Hashira or other swordsmen and thrown here.

With no food and wisteria covering the perimeter, the demons here should not have been very strong.

Yet merely from feeling the ground shake and hearing those sounds, Giyu Tomioka had already pictured a colossal creature in his mind.

Why was there a demon like this on Mount Fujikasane?

So what Mr. Yoriichi said was true!

Giyu Tomioka suddenly heard something cutting through the air.

Two large hands with dark red nails shot toward him, trailing long appendages that could, for the moment, be called arms.

Giyu Tomioka leaped back in time to evade the attack, his eyes fixed straight ahead.

Before him, a demon with dark blue-green skin and a multitude of arms slowly emerged from the forest.

Clearly, this was the Hand Demon!

The demon was staring intently at the fox-shaped Disaster-Averting Mask on Giyu Tomioka's face.

His dark golden pupils, marked with black crosses, suddenly contracted.

"I never imagined I'd see such an adorable little fox outside the Demon Slayer Corps' selection."

"Hey, fox boy, what year of the Meiji era is it now?"

Rather than answering the Hand Demon directly, Giyu Tomioka asked a question of his own.

"Were you captured and brought here by Mr. Urokodaki?"

The words "Mr. Urokodaki" seemed to flip a switch in the Hand Demon, instantly twisting his expression into something hideous.

The arms on his body clawed at him frantically, even tearing open numerous wounds.

"Don't mention that man in front of me!"

"He was the one who captured me and locked me up here for over forty years!"

But a moment later, the Hand Demon suddenly let out an eerie chuckle, his eyes curving into crescents as he laughed.

"But I found my own fun here, too."

"Hiding away and secretly eating the swordsmen taking part in the selection."

"And most importantly, of course, eating every last one of Urokodaki's students!"

Beneath his mask, Giyu Tomioka's breathing abruptly grew heavy.

The Hand Demon paid it no mind and merely continued his eerie laughter.

"Let me think. Of all those students of Urokodaki's I ate, those two little ones left the deepest impression."

"One had unusually flesh-colored hair, and the other was a little girl wearing a kimono patterned with flowers."

"Tsk, you students of Urokodaki's really are easy to recognize, every one of you wearing a Disaster-Averting Mask he carved."

"Every time I eat one of those masked little ones, I think about how Urokodaki would never imagine that the Disaster-Averting Masks he carves only bring disaster instead. Hahaha!"

By then, the Hand Demon had also noticed how unusually heavy the breathing of the person before him had become, and his laughter grew even more delighted.

"Yes, that's the anger!"

"When I told that little girl that Urokodaki's masks brought disaster and got his students killed, she was just as angry as you."

"Tsk, she was small and slight to begin with, and not very strong, just very fast."

"But once she got angry, her movements turned stiff."

"To keep her from escaping, I tore off her arms and legs first, then took my time eating her."

At that, one of the Hand Demon's arms patted his belly.

"Come in here and reunite with Urokodaki's students."

"I'd really like to know what kind of expres... Urokodaki will have when he finds out another of his students has disappeared."

The Hand Demon's voice suddenly stopped.

He stared in utter terror at Giyu Tomioka, who had drawn his blade.

The words "Destroyer of Demons" were clearly engraved on that Nichirin Blade!

The only people who could have those words engraved on their blades were... Hashira!

He was a Hashira, so why had he come to Mount Fujikasane?!!

The Hand Demon whimpered, and the arms on his body rapidly extended downward, as though he had instantly grown many more legs, helping him turn and flee.

But Giyu Tomioka was faster!

He still remembered how Mr. Urokodaki had spoken of water's calmness and steadiness while teaching him Water Breathing.

And so, combining Mr. Urokodaki's teachings with his own experiences, Giyu Tomioka had developed Water Breathing's eleventh sword form-

[Water Breathing: Eleventh Form: Dead Calm]

This sword form was originally intended to establish a domain around himself that neutralized his opponent's Blood Demon Art.

But at that very moment, Giyu Tomioka charged straight ahead with that "domain"!

The Hand Demon's extended arms instantly shriveled and withered.

Having lost the support of his arms, the Hand Demon immediately collapsed in a heap.

He instinctively covered his neck tightly with his remaining arms.

Giyu Tomioka took off his mask.

His refined, handsome face had actually twisted into something hideous with rage!

Driven by that extreme fury, Giyu Tomioka swung the Nichirin Blade in his hand.

At that moment, Lin Yoriichi's words suddenly surfaced in his mind.

"Water can be more than calm and steady. It can also become a torrent, surging with fury!"

A new sword form vividly emerged in Giyu Tomioka's mind.

The blade raised high in his hand stirred up a surging wave that rushed toward the Hand Demon's neck!

[Water Breathing: Twelfth Form: Torrent]