Kanao's petite figure was sent flying backward even faster than she had arrived, crashing headfirst into the empty house beside the clearing.
Tanjirou, holding his Nichirin Blade, leaned slightly as his body, constrained by the surrounding blood threads, couldn't move freely. He stared dumbfounded at the spot where Kanao had been flung away.
Tanjirou's expression straightened. He exhaled and muttered, "Sun Breathing..."
The Nichirin Blade, wreathed in flames, struck the blood threads. Just like Kanao's strike, it could only force the threads to deform, but it couldn't sever even a single one.
Taking advantage of the blood threads' deformation, Tanjirou flipped and jumped out of their enclosure, warily watching the threads circling in place. A bead of sweat trickled down his temple.
"...You've got to be kidding me."
They're actually this tough.
When he fought Rui back then, the threads formed by Rui's Blood Demon Art could still be cut. But now, facing Young Miss Mizuki's Blood Demon Art, he was completely helpless.
Kochou Shinobu also showed surprise. Was this the new ability Mizuki gained through her Awakening?
Not even Kanao could cut them.
She admitted that she couldn't match Kanao in strength, and the same went for overall ability.
In other words, she couldn't rely on cutting to break Mizuki's Blood Demon Art either.
Could they only dodge?
Mizuki nodded, quite satisfied with her Blood Demon Art.
Actually, it wasn't that Tanjirou and the others couldn't cut them at all; it was just that the blood regenerated too quickly. Unless they could sever them instantly, any moment of stalemate allowed them to recover rapidly.
Furthermore, these blood threads were extremely resilient. Relying solely on brute force made them very difficult to defeat from this angle.
"Go." Mizuki waved her hand casually, and the mass of blood threads circling in place immediately took direction, striking toward everyone like a slender swimming snake.
Everyone quickly dodged.
Kochou Shinobu narrowed her eyes. Her figure flickered, dancing like a butterfly, using superb footwork to evade the blood threads' attack and rushing toward Mizuki.
Kochou Shinobu thought this as her peripheral vision caught the blood threads she had left behind.
"The speed isn't particularly fast. Perhaps avoiding its strong points would be better."
Just dodging the blood threads' attacks was exhausting. Defeating Mizuki under these circumstances was virtually impossible.
Unless there was a better way to restrain these blood threads.
But these blood threads relied on Mizuki's blood. If Mizuki was willing to bleed, the coverage area would likely be unimaginable.
Coupled with Mizuki's nearly immortal Physique, being on the opposing side truly led to despair.
Compared to Kochou Shinobu, who was publicly recognized as having the fastest burst speed in the Demon Slayer Corps, the others did not possess the same nimble footwork to evade the blood threads instantly.
Tanjirou was frantically dodging the blood threads' attacks, utterly overwhelmed with anxiety.
It was completely different from Rui's.
Even if you temporarily evade these blood threads, they quickly entangle you like living creatures.
Too troublesome.
"Let me handle it!" Shinazugawa Genya's voice rang out.
To Tanjirou's shocked gaze, he actually grabbed a blood thread with one hand and shoved it into his mouth.
"Oh?" Mizuki let out a slight sound of surprise.
Was it because the source of the power was her?
That's why he wasn't affected.
Mizuki immediately focused her mind and temporarily severed Genya's connection with herself.
"Ack!" Shinazugawa Genya suddenly felt like he was chewing on razor blades, and blood immediately spurted from his mouth.
Kochou Shinobu elegantly danced around the blood threads, her Nichirin Blade aimed straight at Mizuki in a thrusting posture.
Mizuki found it slightly amusing: "Shinobu, such a straightforward attack won't hurt me."
While chatting and laughing, she simply shifted her foot slightly to the side, completely unconcerned about Kochou Shinobu's attack.
Kochou Shinobu advanced calmly right in front of Mizuki. When the distance reached a certain limit, Kochou Shinobu suddenly smiled.
"Mizuki really underestimated me."
Mizuki's eyes widened slightly. She saw that the Nichirin Blade, which she had slightly deflected and which grazed past her cheek, was emitting a peculiar fragrance.
Kochou Shinobu's Nichirin Blade was forged using a special technique. The blade was incomplete, adhering more closely to the specifications of a rapier than a standard Katana.
This was to facilitate injecting poison from the hilt into the tip of the blade.
A poison capable of affecting Demons.
Most of the medicinal agents were researched based on the wisteria flower.
Because the wisteria flower was the only thing besides sunlight that inflicted substantial damage on Demons.
Regardless of the type of poison, almost all of them were developed around the wisteria flower.
And for Mizuki, who had overcome sunlight, her only true weakness was this wisteria flower poison.
As the strange fragrance entered her nose, Mizuki's vision blurred for an instant.
She was actually affected.
Even the blood threads she was controlling seemed to have drunk bad liquor, swaying precariously in mid-air, looking as if they might fall at any moment.
As expected, they were directly controlled by Mizuki.
Kochou Shinobu keenly noticed this detail.
This meant that the only way to break these blood threads was to force Mizuki to be unable to spare the mental capacity to control them.
It was like playing a game while watching a movie—it was difficult to focus on both simultaneously.
But what Kochou Shinobu hadn't expected was that Mizuki recovered completely in barely two breaths' time.
"So fast!" Kochou Shinobu's pupils contracted slightly.
She had been directly involved in Mizuki's body modification, so she was quite familiar with Mizuki's Physique.
She knew that Mizuki was currently strong to an incredible degree.
Even so, she was still astonished by Mizuki's ability to decompose poison.
It only took two breaths. In a real fight, this speed would only be faster.
The poison could only affect her for an instant.
That was truly despair-inducing.
Although it was only a momentary lapse, Tanjirou and the others still relied on that brief window to break through the blood threads' blockade and stand beside Kochou Shinobu.
"Sun Breathing..."
"Flower Breathing..."
"..." Shinazugawa Genya remained silent, focusing only on drawing his blade.
He couldn't help it; he didn't know any Breathing Technique.
All he could do was blindly slash.
Straightforwardly, he raised his Nichirin Blade high and slashed toward Mizuki's neck.
"Hoh~" Mizuki's lips curled into a slight smile. She softly said, "Aren't you going to look beneath your feet?"
The group ignored Mizuki, rushing straight toward her, but... "What?!" It felt as if someone had reached out and tripped them, or as if they had run into a large rock.
Their bodies suddenly pitched forward, tumbling toward the ground.
As his body tilted, Tanjirou's eyes contracted slightly, and he saw clearly what had tripped their legs.
It was... transparent... ice.
The ground was actually covered by a thick layer of ice, and even their shins were coated in it.
When did this happen?
Tanjirou's scalp tingled; he hadn't noticed it at all.
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