The master and his two apprentices gathered around the table, staring at the center. There lay Hantengu, no larger than a rat, looking half-dead.
Zenitsu scratched his head, feeling that this wretched appearance really didn't live up to the title of Upper Moon Four.
"Is this Hantengu? Upper Moon Four? One of the most powerful demons in existence? Just this?"
Horitake casually rapped his knuckles against Zenitsu's head, scolding him:
"'Just this'? Have you forgotten how you were so scared you almost pissed yourself facing Hantengu's clones just moments ago? If I hadn't arrived in time, would you be acting this relaxed right now?"
After knocking some sense into Zenitsu, Horitake looked down at Hantengu on the table and spoke seriously:
"No matter what you say, Hantengu is an Upper Moon. He is no simple character. This guy loves to play the victim, and he is a master at it.
"Although his current half-dead state is nine out of ten times caused by the beating I gave him, we cannot rule out the possibility that he is feigning weakness.
"Believe it or not, the moment our supervision slips—if we give him even the slightest chance—he will immediately find a way to escape."
Zenitsu clutched his throbbing head, grimacing in pain.
Jigoro, however, expressed deep agreement with Horitake's words.
"Indeed. None of the Upper Moons are simpletons. Even if he looks like he's about to die, we cannot lower our guard.
"Horitake, although you've decided not to kill him but to capture him alive, how do you intend to handle him?"
"That's simple." Horitake began to roll up his sleeves. "I have to perform surgery on him first."
"Surgery?" Jigoro and Zenitsu asked in unison.
"I need to remove the curse Muzan placed inside Hantengu's body."
"Curse?"
Zenitsu looked completely bewildered; it was the first time he had heard the term.
Jigoro, however, understood immediately. And with that understanding came a wave of lingering fear and relief.
The little old man knew exactly how the curse worked, and that was precisely why he was afraid.
In his haste to capture Hantengu alive, he had overlooked several crucial details.
Muzan could monitor a demon's current situation through the curse. It wasn't impossible for him to even see everything the demon saw through their eyes.
As Upper Moon Four, Hantengu was one of the demons most loyal to Muzan. Muzan certainly placed importance on him and might check in on his condition at any time.
They had been so focused on capturing Hantengu that they ignored the curse inside him.
If Muzan decided on a whim to check Hantengu's status...
Good heavens! Wouldn't their location and strength be completely exposed to Muzan?!
This was the source of Jigoro's fear.
At this moment, Jigoro felt a mix of guilt and self-reproach.
In his youth, he was the Roaring Hashira, the backbone of the Demon Slayer Corps. He had never made a misjudgment or a major blunder in his life.
How could he, in his old age, overlook such an important matter?!
Was he really getting too old? was his brain failing him?
Fortunately, his eldest disciple was there to catch the mistake and think things through!
Thinking this, Jigoro looked at Horitake with relief. That was exactly why the old man felt fortunate.
"Sigh... To think I forgot such a critical thing. I really am old and useless.
"Horitake, this is no simple task. This matter is of the utmost importance. Can you really remove the curse inside Hantengu? That is Muzan's curse, after all. That is an Upper Moon's curse.
"If you aren't confident, let's just take him far away from Mount Momoyama and secretly behead him. That would be cleaner and avoid alerting the enemy!"
By now, Horitake had finished rolling up his sleeves, his face beaming with confidence.
"Don't worry, old man. It's not like you don't know—I was the one who cleared the curse from Oyakata-sama's body. A mere curse on Hantengu is nothing to me!"
Jigoro thought about it and realized he was right.
"Alright then. Horitake, proceed with caution."
After speaking, Jigoro pulled Zenitsu back a fair distance, leaving enough space for Horitake.
Horitake prepared to start. Jigoro and Zenitsu watched him with a mix of anticipation and nervousness.
Looking at the rat-sized Hantengu, Horitake actually felt that this surgery might be a bit tricky.
With the body being so small, the operation would be difficult to maneuver.
He activated his Spirit Vision to inspect Hantengu's physical condition.
Hantengu's current state could be described in one phrase: riddled with holes.
Horitake was surprised to find many familiar injuries inside Hantengu's body.
The sternum was cracked—this seemed to be the injury caused when Horitake first kicked Sekido (Anger) flying.
The right eye had a faint, dark bruise—this was likely from when Horitake punched Karaku (Pleasure), giving him a panda eye.
The cartilage in the nose was completely shattered—that had to be from when Horitake smashed Zohakuten's nose with his knee.
The wounds on the back resembled the cuts Horitake inflicted on Urogi's (Joy) wings using Chidori.
The injury on the shoulder looked exactly like the wound Horitake left on Zohakuten's shoulder using a feather.
The metacarpal bones were broken cleanly, appearing to stem from when Horitake sliced off half of Zohakuten's hand.
The severe internal trauma to the abdomen and organs seemed to be because Sekido had his guts ripped out by Horitake.
The full-body swelling was likely from the countless times Horitake kicked Aizetsu (Sorrow).
The large patches of peeled skin on the back matched where Urogi's feathers had been plucked out.
And finally, the injury running from head to crotch—a complete vertical cross-section of bone and flesh—was clearly from the Thunderous Half-Moon Slash that sliced Zohakuten in half at the very end.
Horitake counted these injuries with amazement.
He was surprised to discover that the damage he inflicted on the clones had ultimately all fed back into Hantengu's main body!
In other words, the injuries on the Coward right now were the aggregate of every single wound suffered by his five great clones!
Good lord, how damaged was he?!
Put it this way:
If not for the layer of skin still wrapping Hantengu together, his internal body would have long since crumbled into a pile of rotten meat.
Right now, if one were to tear open Hantengu's skin, the mashed flesh, organs, and bones inside would pour out all at once—just like the filling flows out when you break open a soup dumpling.
And precisely because he saw this state through his Spirit Vision, Horitake could now confirm that Hantengu's wretched condition was not an act. It was real.
He was truly injured to the absolute limit. If not for the vitality of a demon keeping him suspended in existence, he would have died long ago!
It made Horitake feel almost hesitant to lay a hand on him.
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