It's so dark.
Haruto was in a daze, listening intently, and seemed to hear a flurry of hurried footsteps.
Am I not dead?
No, the body lying on the ground was clearly mine, long dead, with even the blood that flowed from my chest already congealed.
Not far away, Kanae's chest still had a faint rise and fall; she was trying to maintain Constant Concentration, waiting for someone to arrive.
The sun rose, and the wooden house, torn apart by the sword glints and ice lotuses during the battle, could no longer block the sunlight streaming in.
Perhaps that's why Kanae wasn't eaten by Douma.
The footsteps drew closer, and Kochou Shinobu appeared in the backlit doorway, letting out a sharp cry of lament when she saw her dying sister at the entrance, then looking towards Haruto amidst the wreckage inside, and even that short, mournful cry vanished from her throat.
"Sister... Haruto-san?"
Unbeknownst to her, her eyes were filled with tears.
The white-haired swordsman lay on his back, face up, his expression peaceful as if he were only asleep.
All the blood in his body, after the heart, that pump, stopped, gushed from his chest, forming a pool of dark red blood beneath him.
Shinobu had been at Butterfly Mansion for so long, she had never seen such a large amount of bleeding.
Kochou Shinobu dared not approach that side.
Just the day before, he was putting a bowl on her head at the dinner table, telling her to get more food; just before leaving, he was blaming Giyuu-san and Mr. Sabito for not accompanying him back to Mt. Sagiri; he was... he was such a vibrant, living person, why is he lying there now, with his chest no longer rising and falling?
Kochou Shinobu held Kanae tightly, sobbing into her neck: "Sister, sister, I'll take you back, we'll heal your wounds first..."
Shinobu's tears fell into Kanae's collar, bringing her a difficult warmth.
"Shinobu..." Kanae couldn't even manage a smile. She gently turned her head to glance at Haruto's body, only bitterness remaining on her lips.
Even Haruto-san couldn't escape dying at the hands of an Upper Rank?
Then what about Shinobu?
She... left alone in the world, what would she do?
Kanae knew she was going to die. Blood had already filled her abdominal cavity; if not for a lingering will to see Shinobu, she might have died on the cold floor long ago.
She could only use all her strength to lift her hand, touching Kochou Shinobu's cheek with cold fingertips.
"Shinobu... listen to your sister, leave the Demon Slayer Corps..."
The faint light in those pink eyes gradually faded, leaving only a death-like silence.
The girl sitting on the floor curled up dazedly, feeling her blood freeze amidst the cold bodies... In the early morning on Mt. Sagiri, Haruto's eyelids trembled as he awoke from a state of exhaustion.
He raised his hand and touched his neck; there seemed to be a lingering sensation of being grazed by an iron fan.
A trace of blood had not fully receded, and the skin's 裂縫 slowly closed under his fingertips.
Cold, sharp, piercing pain.
Compared to the first time Douma gouged out his heart, or the second time he was decapitated... his death must have been even more gruesome.
This was the first time he had died twice and rewound twice against an enemy; the residual scars from the second rewind told him that continuous rewinding would leave scars.
If his neck were cut again, and he rewound back to Mt. Sagiri, how many scars would remain?
Would his entire head fall onto the bed? Would the wound still be able to rewind then?
If his head fell on the bed, anyone who walked in would be startled, ha ha ha.
In an instant, so many thoughts flashed through Haruto's mind.
Hoo... In the last confrontation with Douma, he arrived early and prevented Kanae from being severely wounded by Douma. But even two Pillars working together couldn't kill Douma; this demon's Blood Demon Art was outrageously plentiful.
The two of them besieged him for a long time, but Douma still easily cut off their heads one after another.
Looking at the situation, even if he started calling for help now, summoning all the Pillars he knew, the result would only be increased casualties.
Could it be.
Haruto stood up, hesitantly opened the storage cabinet on the wall, and took out a tightly wrapped vial of medicine.
Crimson liquid flowed in the vial, making Haruto's scalp tingle just by looking at it.
This was a medicine from Tamayo, with only a tiny bit of Genya's blood added, researched by Tamayo to be the least harmful to the human body, and naturally, also the least effective.
"If you want to transform your physique, you must gradually become familiar with the destructive effects this medicine has on the body."
Haruto recalled Tamayo's words in his mind, sighed, and put the medicine into his pocket.
"Clang clang!"
Blade and iron fan clashed, sending out a shower of sparks.
Douma's figure was light; he flipped and dodged Haruto's horizontal slash.
"Oh my, you missed But honestly, even if you hit me, I'd recover in a breath. That's the difference between humans and demons, you know"
He looked at Haruto enthusiastically: "How about drinking my blood and becoming a powerful demon like me?"
"Flower Breathing, Sixth Form: Whirling Peach!"
Petals flew around his side; Kanae's blade interrupted Douma's sales pitch.
"You want to too? You should join too~"
Blood Demon Art: Scattering Lotuses!
Douma shook the fan in his hand, and large, glistening ice fragments flew out from it, accompanied by a large amount of freezing powder.
Kanae immediately retreated; she had learned of the terror of these freezing powders from Haruto's reminder and naturally dared not touch even a trace.
Kanae's attack gave Haruto a chance to breathe; he quietly retreated and pulled the vial from his pocket.
Pulling out the cork, Haruto no longer hesitated, tilting his head back and pouring the medicine into his mouth.
The texture was sticky, the taste like rusty traditional Chinese medicine, almost instantly numbing the back of his tongue.
"Hoo... hoo..."
A burning sensation scorched from his throat all the way to his chest, as if he hadn't drunk a vial of medicine, but a one-pound bottle of strong liquor.
"Eh? What are you drinking?" Douma quickly noticed his small action. He tilted his head, skillfully dodged Kanae's attack, and approached Haruto: "What a bitter smell~"
Kanae watched Haruto nervously; clever as she was, she naturally recognized Tamayo's medicine bottle!
And what was in the medicine bottle, she could almost guess with a slight thought!
Haruto-san... The effect of that small vial of medicine exceeded Haruto's imagination. Veins bulged on his arms and forehead, as if countless cells in his body were dying and regenerating.
But... would this make him age very quickly?
He exhaled a long breath through his nose, dispelling the freezing powders that had been swirling in front of his nostrils.
Haruto quickly raised his arm and gave the approaching Douma an elbow strike.
"Bang!"
Douma, hit squarely, was stunned: "Huh, did your speed increase?"
Blood Demon Art: Withered Garden Hanging Snow!
He quickly wielded his fan, and the metal fan, shimmering with cold light, struck Haruto, carrying frost.
"Flower Breathing, Second Form: Honorable Shadow Plum!"
Kanae, from behind, quickly intervened, and plum-blossom-like sword light scattered in all directions, rapidly dismantling Douma's Blood Demon Art.
Haruto looked at his palm, and in the next second, he fiercely thrust the blue-purple blade through his left hand.
The blade pierced through his palm, reaching the guard.
Blood surged from his palm, but it didn't flow down in streams; instead, it was suppressed by the Breathing Technique like a living thing, adhering to the surface of the blade!
"Breath of the Stars, Fifth Form..."
Haruto spread his hands, pulling the blade from his palm as if drawing a bow, and as the tip of the blade left his palm for the last time, the wound began to heal rapidly.
"Blood Sacrifice."
He suddenly looked up, a raging tide churning in his mist-blue eyes, with several blood vessels intertwined within, making the white-haired swordsman's demeanor become frenzie