"We're the villains?"
Tanjiro rushed over, completely baffled by the Hatred Demon's words. "What are you talking about?"
The Hatred Demon's face twisted with fury as it spat, "You're vicious beyond words, nothing but beasts!"
"You attacked that 'tiny little demon' you could hold in your palm. Bullying the weak! You monsters are the real savages, the true fiends!"
"A-Are you kidding me?" Tanjiro's shock hardened into anger. "Just your stench alone… you've eaten hundreds of people, haven't you? And you dare talk like you're the victim?"
"You're the real demons!"
"What have you done? Don't you know what you've done?"
"To those hundreds of innocent people, what did you do to them? Do you really think you don't have to pay? That you don't have to repay lives with your own?"
"Twisted to the core. I won't forgive you!" Tanjiro's eyes burned. "I'm going to cut off your head!"
"Then try," the Hatred Demon snarled.
It struck the wooden drum on its back, the one carved with characters.
Boom!
A heavy thud rang out, and the coiling wooden dragon moved like it had received an order. It lunged straight at them, roaring like a living beast, jaws wide as if it meant to swallow them whole.
Tanjiro's heart clenched. His Nichirin Blade ignited instantly.
Hinokami Kagura, Circular Dance!
A beautiful arc of flame swept out, carving a huge gash into the wooden dragon.
Fire spread along the wound, preventing it from regenerating.
But the dragon did not stop.
It slammed into Tanjiro head-on.
Tanjiro went flying, every bone in his body feeling like it had been pulverized.
"Tanjiro!"
A woman's voice rang out.
Tanjiro was caught securely in a warm embrace.
"Ms. Kanroji!" Tanjiro recognized her instantly, blurting out in surprise.
"I'm lucky," Mitsuri Kanroji said softly. "My mission was nearby. I already cut down the demon that slipped into the village. Now I'll handle this one."
She gently placed Tanjiro into Nezuko's arms.
At the same time, Mitsuri drew her blade.
Her Nichirin Sword had been forged by the swordsmith village chief himself, light and incredibly thin.
So thin that its blade could bend and coil like silk, striking with impossible angles and unpredictable reach.
The wooden dragon charged again.
Mitsuri flicked her sword once.
In a single motion, the dragon was shredded into pieces.
The moment the dragon was destroyed, the Hatred Demon noticed.
Both hands began pounding the drum on its back.
The ground trembled again.
"Blood Demon Art: Infinite Karma Tree!"
In an instant, more than a dozen wooden dragons burst forth, roaring as they aimed at the group, ready to rip them apart.
The other wooden dragon, the one Vincent Fox had been dealing with, had already been completely smashed.
Vincent's Nichirin Blade was battered, its edge full of ugly chips, but his flames were no joke.
They even had a suppressing effect on the wooden dragons.
In moments, they were reduced to charcoal.
Now that even more dragons were spawning, everyone realized the truth at the same time.
Chopping wood would never end.
The only way out was to kill the demon controlling the Blood Demon Art.
"Ms. Kanroji!" Vincent shouted. "I'll handle the wood. You take his head!"
With that, Vincent charged straight at the massive wooden dragons.
He dropped his weight, planted his stance, and loaded up a punch.
Boom!
The shockwave whipped the flames into a frenzy, igniting every wooden dragon at once.
At the same time, Vincent's punch tore through the trees, splintering them into a storm of flying debris and opening a path for Mitsuri.
Mitsuri moved like lightning.
She slipped through the gap Vincent created, and her coiling blade wrapped around the Hatred Demon's neck in an instant.
"If we cut off the head, everything ends!"
Mitsuri spoke as her grip tightened.
The neck, hard as iron, split easily under her thin, flexible blade.
The head fell.
"Whew, that's finally done," Mitsuri said, then winked over her shoulder at Vincent. "Nice assist, Vincent Fox."
"Huh? What are you talking about?"
"Run!" Vincent roared, already lunging forward. "That one isn't the real body!"
Mitsuri turned her head at the same moment.
A wave of sound exploded from the Hatred Demon's mouth.
"So this is bad… I misjudged it."
Mitsuri murmured under her breath. She knew she could not dodge in time and raised both arms to block.
A violent sonic blast swallowed her whole, slipping through every gap.
"Enough with the screaming!"
Right as Mitsuri's strength started to fail, Vincent arrived.
One punch.
The Hatred Demon's shrieking head was smashed into fragments.
Brains splattered across the floor.
Vincent hooked an arm around Mitsuri's waist and retreated in a blur.
"Mitsuri, are you hurt?"
Mitsuri looked stunned for a second, but she'd tensed her entire body the moment the attack hit.
She had taken minimal damage.
"I'm fine," she said quickly. "Go find the real one. Looks like they can't move anymore…"
"And we're about the same age, so you don't have to call me…"
She didn't finish.
Vincent's figure was already gone, shooting forward like a cannon.
"Good luck, junior!"
The sun was rising.
The tiny demon was getting faster and faster.
"Don't even think about running!"
Vincent exploded with speed and caught up instantly.
He swung again, striking the neck.
The blade snapped on impact, just like before.
"In that case," Vincent said coldly, "I'll take you out into the sunlight."
He accelerated even more and cut off the demon's path.
"Bullying the weak!" the tiny demon screeched. "That's all you do, bully the weak!"
"You claim you're righteous, and now you're this cruel to me. Demon Slayers, you're all garbage!"
The tiny demon's body swelled rapidly, forming two massive hands that lunged for Vincent.
"Die! All of you!"
The huge hands clenched, trying to crush Vincent to pieces.
"Contradicting yourself," Vincent said quietly. "You're the one who should die."
He met the grip head-on.
His hands tore the demon's hands apart like paper.
Flames surged over the shredded flesh, preventing regeneration.
Hantengu fled again.
But he was nowhere near fast enough.
Vincent caught up in an instant.
A heavy punch slammed into the back of Hantengu's head.
It burst apart.
"Not the real body?"
Vincent's gaze dropped to the tongue on the ground, carved with the character for "Hate."
Byakugan.
A pale film covered Vincent's eyes, and his vision pierced straight through Hantengu's body.
"So you hid it in the heart?" Vincent said, voice icy. "Pathetic."
He moved without hesitation.
To Vincent, Hantengu's speed was like a snail crawling.
Vincent's hand drove straight through the demon's chest.
He grabbed and ripped.
A bloody heart was torn free.
The grotesque sight left the nearby swordsmiths who had come to watch completely stunned.
Vincent crushed the heart in his fist.
It exploded into gore.
All that remained was a blood-soaked figure no bigger than a rat.
Hantengu.
This time, it was the true body.
Vincent did not slow down.
His left palm came down hard.
Splurt.
Blood sprayed outward.
Hantengu was smashed into a puddle of meat paste.
----------------------------------------------------
The deeper he goes, the more the truth unravels. Don't wait read ahead and witness Vincent's rise before the world catches up!
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