Yae surged forward, blue static crackling around her body as she dashed toward Tsunanami. With her Nichirin Sword wreathed in blue lightning, she unleashed a flurry of rapid slashes aimed directly at the demon's lower leg.
Under normal circumstances, such a barrage would have easily severed it.
But these were far from normal circumstances.
The corpulent Sumo Demon sensed her intent immediately and let out a low grunt, activating his Blood Demon Art.
Instantly, the flesh on his lower leg began to swell and expand violently. The relatively slender calf ballooned, growing thicker and broader than his own thigh! Because of this, Yae's blade bit deeply into the fat, failing to sever the leg and dealing almost negligible damage.
Yae stared at the grotesquely thickened limb, blinking in stunned disbelief.
"How is this possible?!"
Before she could even process it, Tsunanami lashed out, kicking with the swollen, pillar-like leg.
Yae raised her arms to block just in time, but the sheer, overwhelming force sent her flying backward!
From the distance, Horitake observed the clash, a contemplative look crossing his features as he began to piece the puzzle together.
He had deduced the nature of the demon's Blood Demon Art.
As a demon, even Tsunanami's adipose tissue possessed immense density and lethality. But on top of that, he possessed the ability to manipulate his own flesh, shifting and expanding it at will—granting him absolute, impenetrable defenses while simultaneously amplifying his offensive power.
It was a rather fascinating Blood Demon Art.
With that shifting mass of blubber, he was practically immune to fatal blows from slayers of their caliber.
The three of them are in quite a pickle, Horitake thought. Then, his gaze drifted over to Zenitsu.
The moment he saw the boy, his expression soured once again. He glared at the slacking boy and barked out, his voice laced with venomous fury:
"Zenitsu! What exactly do you think you're doing!? Are you just going to hide over there and slack off?! Tanjiro and Yae are in the middle of a life-or-death battle, and you have the nerve to spectate? It's pathetic! If you don't want me to kick you into the fray myself, you better get in there right now!"
Terrified by his senior's scolding, the blond boy nearly jumped out of his skin.
With no other choice—and his back effectively against the wall—Zenitsu let out a despairing sigh. Gathering every ounce of courage he could muster, he unleashed the only technique he had ever truly mastered:
"Thunder Breathing, First Form: Thunderclap and Flash!"
Although it was the only technique the boy knew, it was a move he had honed to absolute near-perfection.
A thunderous crack echoed through the clearing. In the blink of an eye, a streak of lightning tore across the distance, depositing Zenitsu directly in front of the towering demon.
To be fair, Tsunanami had been caught entirely off guard by the sheer velocity of the strike. His mind simply couldn't keep up with the speed.
Capitalizing on this, Zenitsu's blade, shimmering with brilliant electric current, struck with precision. Having analyzed the failures of Tanjiro and Yae, the boy had formulated his own tactical approach. He realized that no matter how terrifying the demon was, he couldn't possibly protect his eyeballs with layers of fat!
As it turned out, Zenitsu's tactical intuition was spot on.
With a single, lightning-fast horizontal slash, Zenitsu sliced cleanly through the demon's eyes!
Clutching his ruined, bleeding sockets, Tsunanami let out a deafening roar of agony. Blinded and driven mad by the blinding pain, the demon began to flail wildly, his massive, heavy arms thrashing in a chaotic frenzy.
Zenitsu, ever the expert at reading the tides of battle, immediately disengaged. Having secured his success, he retreated to a safe distance, untouched by the demon's erratic flailing.
In the background, Tanjiro and Yae exchanged complex glances.
They had been the first to charge. They had fought with everything they had, yet they had failed to inflict a single meaningful wound. Meanwhile, Zenitsu had been slacking off the entire time, only engaging because Horitake had forced him to—and he had delivered a crippling blow on his very first attempt!
It was a cruel, poetic irony. Those who fought with desperate, unyielding fervour received no reward, while the slacker took all the glory!
(This is, in no way, a commentary on real-world situations. Absolutely not!)
Regardless of the irony, the window of opportunity was open. Zenitsu shouted to the others as he fell back:
"His eyes are regenerating! Attack him now while you have the chance!"
Awakened from their shock, Tanjiro and Yae surged forward simultaneously. They flanked the blinded demon, their Nichirin Swords raised high, aiming twin strikes at his neck. Neither held anything back, unleashing their strongest techniques.
"Water Breathing, Fourth Form: Striking Tide!"
"Thunder Breathing, Fifth Form: Heat Lightning!"
Tanjiro's blade moved in a torrential, fluid dance, a multi-hit strike that sought to carve deeper into the flesh with every rising wave. Yae's strike was a display of pure, devastating power, her blade enveloped in superheated, crackling lightning, aiming to burn and sever in a single stroke.
They didn't even need to sever the neck completely; if they could each cut halfway through, it would spell the end for the demon.
Yet, once again, they had severely underestimated the adaptability of Tsunanami's flesh.
Sensing the encroaching lethality, Tsunanami activated his Blood Demon Art. The rolls of fat around his neck didn't just multiply and expand—their density spiked to an unimaginable degree, turning his neck into an armored fortress.
Despite the brilliance of their techniques, their blades sank only a few inches into the blubber before grinding to a halt. Their attacks had failed entirely.
Having learned from their previous mistakes, both slayers immediately pulled back to disengage and escape.
But Tsunanami wasn't about to let them go.
Though his eyes had yet to fully heal, his decades of demonic battle experience allowed him to pinpoint their locations. As their blades were briefly wedged in his dense flesh, he clamped his massive, sausage-like hands onto their Nichirin Swords!
The hearts of both Tanjiro and Yae plummeted into their stomachs.
Oh no!
Tsunanami yanked their swords with brutal, terrifying strength, pulling the two slayers violently inward. Unwilling to relinquish their weapons, Tanjiro and Yae were dragged into a collision, slamming hard into one another directly in front of the demon. They crumpled to the earth, battered and dizzy.
As Tsunanami carelessly discarded their weapons and his vision finally cleared, a murderous, demonic rage washed over his face as he stared down at the two trembling slayers.
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