Master Blacksmith in Demon Slayer

He only wanted to tear apart the human who had managed to knock him flying, then devour him whole.

Bang, crack!

In the midst of that fury, the Heavenly Crafting Hammer struck the ogre's right arm first. A dull thud, followed immediately by the crisp snap of shattering bone.

Rage turned to shock, then immense force flooded into his body. The entire ogre shot backward like a cannonball, whoosh, and slammed hard into the temple's massive pillar.

For an instant, dust billowed up, only to be doused at once by the rain. Tiles fell from above. Tetsu no Sosuke quickly hugged the Sword Case to his chest and retreated two steps to dodge the falling debris.

He looked around. Where was the ogre?

"That hurts..."

A faint voice came from beneath the pillar.

Following the sound, even the perpetrator couldn't bear to look.

Pretty rough. Beaten all out of shape.

Tetsu no Sosuke stared in shock at his own hand, then at the ogre under the pillar: "Did I do that?"

The ogre's face went black. Who else would it be, me?

His body writhed and twisted, bones popping as they realigned. Struggling to stand, he said coldly, "How dare you treat me like this..."

As he spoke, his foot slipped, and with a thud, he knelt.

Forehead pressed to the ground, he still snarled viciously, "I'll eat you... I'll definitely eat you!!!!"

He jerked his head up, wanting that damned human to see his ferocious eyes.

But when he looked up, all he saw was a hammer descending from the sky!

"Justice from above!!!"

Author's note: Please vote~~~~~

Chapter 16: Hammering the Ogre!

The hammer slammed into the ogre's head. Blood splattered everywhere in an instant.

Tetsu no Sosuke panted heavily, staring at the ogre's head beneath the hammer.

Ferocious eyes or whatever—he had no desire to see them.

He had no experience fighting ogres, but he'd watched plenty of anime!

He knew ordinary weapons couldn't kill this kind of monster. So no matter how pitiful the thing looked, he couldn't give it a single moment to recover.

And just then, the creature's legs gave out, and it slipped to the ground. No hesitation.

He swung the Heavenly Crafting Hammer in a full arc and brought it down hard.

Come to think of it, this Heavenly Crafting Hammer had fallen into his hands, and its first use wasn't for forging iron, but for smashing an ogre's skull. Truly a twist of fate.

"Hiss... haah..."

Rough breaths escaped the ogre's mouth. This one blow couldn't kill him.

Worse, his head was already slowly regenerating.

His bloodshot eyes seemed ready to bleed. Beneath the hammer, his skull glared at Tetsu no Sosuke: "Damned human... I will definitely..."

Can't kill him after all!

Tetsu no Sosuke didn't want to hear a single word he said. He raised the hammer, swung it in a full arc, and struck again.

All the ogre's unfinished words were smashed back down his throat.

"I'll eat you bit by bit..."

"I'll kill you..."

"Damn it!"

Tetsu no Sosuke turned into an emotionless ogre-head-hammering machine. No matter what the ogre said, if it opened its mouth, he hit it.

"Can you stop hitting me?"

"You can't kill me anyway..."

"Let's make peace. I won't eat you. I'll leave, alright?"

After a while, the ogre quieted down.

Tetsu no Sosuke snapped out of his emotionless hammering-machine state. He looked down—half the ogre's head was gone.

Just a pool of blood, a mouth black and blue, a forked tongue dangling to the side. It looked like it was on its last legs.

"Dead?"

A flicker of doubt crossed his mind, but he immediately shook his head: "His body's still there. He's not dead! At most, he's unconscious!"

Beating an ogre unconscious with a hammer—Tetsu no Sosuke didn't know if there was any precedent for that.

The rain still poured. Tetsu no Sosuke looked at the ogre on the ground: "No good. I have to think of something before he wakes up."

There was a way. Use the blade in the Sword Case to cut off the ogre's head.

But some inexplicable stubbornness kept him from using that blade. After all, it was for her... Using it before that felt somehow wrong.