Chapter 43: Why Risk Your Life Like This?
The success of the first form was like a potent shot of adrenaline, stabbing ruthlessly into Tatsu's body.
The pleasure of breaking taboos and reversing Yin and Yang...
...was enough to drive any creature mad, and even as a "demon," he was no exception.
At this moment, every cell in his body was roaring.
There was both the agonizing pain of being scorched by solar energy and the thrill of being reborn.
"I can be... even stronger."
Tatsu looked down at the peach-colored nichirin sword in his hand, which was already slightly hot to the touch.
He could feel that domineering power known as "Sun Breathing" surging through the hilt, brutally washing through his meridians.
The first form was only the beginning.
If he didn't take advantage of the lingering warmth of this realization...
...and break through his shackles in one go...
...he didn't know how long he would have to wait to find this feeling again.
"Whew—"
Tatsu adjusted his breathing once more.
This time, the air he inhaled seemed to carry sparks, and a burning sting flared in his lungs.
"Tatsu?"
Beside him, Kanae Kocho sensed something was wrong.
She keenly noticed that the aura on Tatsu's body was undergoing a violent change; that sense of restlessness that had been suppressed...
...was surging back up like a tide.
"Wait! Your body..."
Kanae wanted to speak up to stop him, but it was already too late.
Tatsu moved.
This time, it wasn't a simple slash, but a rotation.
His body suddenly leaned back, his spine like a fully drawn bow.
Immediately after, his waist and abdomen suddenly exerted force, and his whole body spun like a top.
Carrying the nichirin sword in his hand, he drew a perfect circle in the silent spring night.
Sun Breathing, Second Form: Clear Azure Sky.
This move was supposed to be as clear and lofty as a cloudless blue sky, symbolizing the noble spirit that sweeps away all gloom.
However, when performed by Tatsu, it completely changed its appearance.
"Rumble—!!!"
If the flames of the first form were a trickling stream...
...then at this moment, what erupted from the nichirin sword was a bursting dam, an erupting volcano!
The crimson-gold flames instantly surged, turning into a giant wheel of fire that enveloped Tatsu entirely.
The surrounding air was instantly sucked dry, and withered leaves turned to ash before they even hit the ground.
But this power was too strong.
It was so strong that it exceeded the limits of what Tatsu's "demon body" could withstand.
"Ugh!"
Tatsu let out a muffled groan, and in that instant, his hands that were tightly gripping the hilt underwent a terrifying change.
His palms—those originally pale, slender palms—actually began to... spontaneously combust!
It wasn't a burn from external flames, but from within, from the depths of his bone marrow, golden flames erupted.
That was the power of the sun purifying "filth."
To Sun Breathing, Tatsu, as a demon, was himself the greatest "filth."
"Sizzle, sizzle—crack! Crack!"
Accompanied by the ear-piercing sound of bursting, the flesh on Tatsu's palms withered and blackened at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Then, it drifted away as ash.
Finger bones cracked under the high temperature, and meridians snapped within the flames.
Agony!
A pain that surpassed being cut a thousand times, a pain that surpassed the tearing of the soul...
...surged frantically through the nerves of his arms into Tatsu's brain.
"Stop! Stop it, Tatsu!"
Kanae's pupils suddenly constricted, and her normally gentle and quiet face was now filled with horror.
She could clearly feel that Tatsu was "collapsing."
If he didn't stop, the flames would travel up his arms, burn his entire body, and reduce him completely to nothingness.
"No..."
Tatsu gritted his teeth, blood seeping from his gums, while a mad and stubborn light flickered in his crimson eyes.
"I can't stop..."
Even though his hands were about to lose all sensation...
...even though the hilt of the nichirin sword was already embedded in his charred bones, he still held on for dear life.
Why?
Why risk his life like this?
He already had an immortal body.
He could have hidden in a dark corner like other demons, barely surviving...
...or lived a stable life under Kanae's protection.
But Tatsu knew in his heart.
That kind of stability was fake, a fragile illusion like a bubble.
He was a demon.
Kanae was a Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps.
These two identities were destined to be natural enemies, existences as incompatible as fire and water.
The current peace was only because the Demon Slayer Corps hadn't discovered his existence yet.
But a fire cannot be wrapped in paper forever.
Muzan Kibutsuji would purge traitors, and the Demon Slayer Corps was hunting demons all over the world.
In this cruel world, without absolute strength, all beautiful visions were just castles in the air.
Images flashed through Tatsu's mind.
He saw a day in the future where, because his identity was exposed, the blades of countless demon hunters were pointed at him.
He saw that because she sheltered him, the gentle, flower-like Kanae...
...was accused by her comrades, treated as a traitor, and even... executed.
Those tragic fantasies were like poisoned steel needles, stabbing ruthlessly into his heart.
"I don't want that ending!"
Tatsu roared in his heart, his desire to survive and protect from deep within his soul completely exploding.
"I want to become strong... strong enough to ignore the rules, strong enough to break fate!"
"If this body cannot contain the sun, then I'll remodel it!"
"If this bloodline fears the sunlight, then I'll conquer it!"
"Spin for me!!!"
Tatsu frantically channeled the energy within his body.
It was the countless human foods he had eaten before—rice balls, grilled fish, tempura...
Those ordinary foods had been converted into pure energy in his body.
At this moment, they were filling the gaps consumed by the flames at any cost.
However, willpower could not completely defy the laws of physics.
Just as the nichirin sword was about to reach its highest point.
"Crack."
A crisp snapping sound.
Tatsu's wrists finally couldn't withstand that terrifying high temperature and backlash, completely carbonizing and snapping.
"Clang!"
The peach-colored nichirin sword lost its support and, carrying the unspent flames...
...fell heavily onto the leaf-covered soil, instantly igniting a small patch of withered grass.
And even more terrifyingly, the crimson-gold flames attached to his severed wrists did not go out because the sword had left his hands.
They were like living vipers, following Tatsu's charred forearms...
...spreading frantically toward his elbows and shoulders.
That was the lingering power of Sun Breathing.
It wanted to completely purify this demon who dared to steal the power of a god!
"Tatsu!!!"
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