Muichiro Tokito continued:
"Something's been bothering me for a while now. This pot isn't very symmetrical."
"Looks like it's warped."
"What lousy craftsmanship."
At those words, Gyokko completely lost it!
His eyes filled with bloodshot veins, and the two mouths where his eyes should have been stuck out their tongues in fury:
"What I make is art! How could there be anything wrong with it!"
"Your eyeballs must be broken!"
"I'll gouge them out right now!"
But before Gyokko finished speaking, a man in extraordinarily lavish clothes and accessories charged forward:
Sound Breathing, First Form: Roar
Accompanied by a thunderous explosion, Tengen Uzui unleashed a slash.
Yet the instant before Tengen Uzui could strike Gyokko, the latter's body twisted violently as though defying the laws of nature, changing direction.
Blood Demon Art: Killer Fish Scales
Using the scales covering his body, Gyokko managed to change direction just before the blade struck his neck, darting upward.
Tengen Uzui's strike ultimately only tore a large hole through his chest.
Gyokko seized the opportunity to reach out, lunging for Tengen Uzui's head!
God Hand
Tengen Uzui jerked his head backward, successfully evading Gyokko's attack.
But one of the jeweled chains beside his forehead touched Gyokko's outstretched palm and turned into a live fish in the blink of an eye!
This was another of Gyokko's abilities.
When he activated God Hand, anything his hands touched would turn into fish.
Seeing that his attack had failed, Gyokko wasted no time and immediately tried to leap back into his pot to relocate.
He had initially left a pot in the forest simply out of habit.
Gyokko had even casually left several more pots along the way here.
They were meant to let him move quickly, but he had never expected them to prove so useful at a time like this.
Now that he had confirmed the Swordsmith Village's location, he had completed the initial part of the task that lord had assigned him.
Although Gyokko still had no idea why all these Hashira had gathered here.
But so what if they outnumbered him?
At worst, he could bring in the other Upper Ranks and wipe these bastards out, especially that brat with absolutely no sense of aesthetics!
"That disgusting creature is trying to escape!"
Shinobu Kocho immediately called out at the sight.
The others all launched attacks.
But now that Gyokko had revealed his true form, the effects of Blood Demon Art: Killer Fish Scales made him incredibly slippery, allowing him to twist away from a considerable number of attacks in an extremely short time!
Gyokko immediately grew smug:
"Don't think you can keep me here with those weapons!"
"Unless your weapons can move like snakes or whips..."
Serpent Breathing, Fifth Form: Winding Serpent
Obanai Iguro suddenly lunged forward, his Nichirin Blade's slashing path winding like a snake!
The pupils of the eyes on Gyokko's forehead and at his mouth abruptly contracted!
Why did this guy's attacks actually move like a snake?!
Obanai Iguro instantly severed both of Gyokko's arms, leaving numerous wounds deep enough to expose bone across his body.
Intense pain washed over Gyokko's nerves like a tide, yet a trace of delight arose in his heart.
These wounds were severe, but his speed hadn't been affected much.
As long as he could escape... no, relocate, he could...
Love Breathing, Fifth Form: Swaying Love, Wildclaw
The pink blade unleashed a multitude of slashes around Gyokko in almost an instant.
When he saw that her Nichirin Blade really was like a whip, Gyokko was utterly dumbfounded.
It was one thing for that other guy's slashes to wind like a snake.
Why did someone actually have a Nichirin Blade that was like a whip?!
He watched as her slashes filled every space around him where he could dodge.
If even one hit him, it would inevitably lead to a whole string of slashes and would certainly affect his speed!
Gyokko's body suddenly sprang forward, and he deliberately retracted the scales below his waist.
Squelch-
Under Mitsuri Kanroji's astonished gaze, Gyokko deliberately threw himself into her attack.
The next moment, Mitsuri Kanroji's slashes shredded Gyokko's snake-tailed lower body.
He had outright abandoned his lower half!
Then Gyokko finally managed to relocate through a porcelain pot he had left earlier.
"Hah... hah..."
Gyokko appeared in the woods, curled up inside his pot, struggling for breath.
Even though his face had long since been altered beyond recognition, terror and fury were still visible on it.
"I'm an Upper Rank, yet those Demon Slayers reduced me to this!"
"Those bastards deserve to die! Die!"
"Especially that loathsome brat who spouts nonsense and has something wrong with his eyes. He has to die!"
"Right now, I..."
Gyokko's muttering stopped.
After being surrounded and attacked by so many Hashira, he was seriously injured.
Although the immensely powerful regenerative abilities of an Upper Rank Demon had left Gyokko looking almost fully recovered on the surface.
Weakness and hunger surged up in their wake.
Driven by weakness and hunger, his desire to eat a human grew stronger than ever before.
"I want to eat someone so badly. Even those swordsmiths with their awful-tasting flesh would do..."
"Of course, a tender little child would be best..."
Just as that thought arose, Gyokko suddenly heard footsteps.
He quietly peered out of his pot and saw a child wearing a mask painted with two thick black eyebrows striding toward him.
At the sight, delight immediately filled Gyokko's heart.
Copious drool also streamed from the mouths where his eyes should have been!
He controlled the porcelain pot he was hiding in, gently rocking it a few times.
The movement immediately caught the masked little boy's attention.
The little boy walked over and said with some surprise:
"Why is there a pot here? Who left it here?"
Normally, Gyokko liked to keep waiting patiently where he was.
He would wait until the person came closer and leaned over to look inside the porcelain pot.
Only then would he suddenly reach out, drag them into the pot, and eat them.
But in his hunger, Gyokko no longer wanted to play that game.
Right now, Gyokko only wanted to eat this little boy immediately.
So he suddenly thrust his body out of the pot and grabbed straight for the little boy.
Yet just then, Gyokko heard a man's surprised voice from behind the little boy:
"What a peculiar little... thing!"
The next moment, a dark red blade abruptly appeared before Gyokko's eyes...