"Well, well, not thirty-five people. Thirty-seven."
"You bastard!!"
Beninuma's tone remained flippant, but its body had already begun inching back toward the water's edge, clearly ready to flee at any moment.
It did have some strength, but the reason it could roam from place to place committing massacres and still escape unscathed was not because it liked fighting head-on. When the situation turned bad, running was what it did best.
Devouring thirty-seven people in one go this time was pure luck. It had just happened to encounter a village in the middle of a festival, where more than half the villagers were dead drunk. That had allowed it to feast to its heart's content.
By that count, it had eaten over fifty people in these past years. Did that mean its task was complete? If only it could find that lord and beg for a bit of blood as a reward…
"Hey! Work together with us! Kill this Demon! We can't let it escape!"
"That's right! If it fully digests all that flesh and blood energy, it'll only become more troublesome. We have to kill it here!"
The three Demon Slayers were fired up, gripping their blades as they prepared to surround Beninuma.
"There's no need for that."
Asuka's voice was cold and hoarse, carrying a distant, rejecting indifference.
"This is my fight. I'll handle it myself."
"What did you say?!" The short-haired slayer couldn't help shouting, his face filled with disbelief and anger. "Do you think this is some kind of game? Do you have any idea what a Demon that's eaten dozens of people—"
"Rintaro!" the leading young man snapped, stopping him and signaling with his eyes toward Beninuma.
He had already noticed it. Beninuma's steps were slowly shifting toward the stream, ready to bolt at any second. And the boy's gaze was locked onto those movements.
"He noticed… so he's worried the Demon will flee if it gets startled…" The young man frowned deeply, worry flickering in his eyes as he looked at Asuka. "…This is way too reckless. How can someone deal with a Demon like this alone…"
Indeed, Asuka had seen through Beninuma's intention to escape. If everyone rushed in together, it would never stand and fight.
To keep it here, he would have to use his own life as bait.
"Hehehe… looks like the kids are having a disagreement? How wonderful… truly wonderful!"
Beninuma let out a delighted laugh and suddenly clapped its claws together.
"Blood Demon Art: Thousand Needle Prison!"
Buzz—whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The dark red fungal carpet still covering the ground suddenly began to boil violently.
Countless sharp blood spikes formed from viscous bloody sludge erupted without warning from beneath Asuka and the three slayers' feet!
And beyond that, countless more blood spikes were rapidly taking shape, ready to rain down like a crimson storm!
The leading young man reacted instantly. "Second Form: Water Wheel!"
His Nichirin Blade swung out as waves surged forth.
In an instant, he cleaved apart countless blood spikes, carving out a foothold for himself. But he could barely protect himself, unable to spare any attention for his companions.
The short-haired slayer, Rintaro, cut down several blood spikes, but one particularly vicious spike grazed his arm. His movements stalled at once. Another female slayer cried out as she narrowly avoided the attack, forced into a miserable retreat.
As for Asuka, the fungal carpet around his feet had already been cleared away. Yet as the one closest to Beninuma, he was bearing the fiercest assault of all!
Asuka snapped his Asauchi, and emerald ring-shaped wind blades exploded outward from his position once more!
A violent cyclone shot skyward, shredding dozens of blood spikes aimed at his body in an instant and blowing them away. But there were simply too many spikes, spread over too wide an area!
Thud! Thud!
Two swift blood spikes pierced through gaps in the wind blades and stabbed deeply into his body!
"Tch…" Asuka staggered as blood instantly stained his clothes. The tremendous impact nearly sent him crashing to the ground.
Seeing Asuka injured, anxiety flashed through the leading slayer's eyes. He desperately cut down blood spikes coming from other directions, trying to rush over to help.
"Don't come!"
Asuka straightened through the pain and roared with terrifying force, freezing the would-be helpers in place.
Even Beninuma was stunned for a moment, before breaking into twisted laughter. "Hahaha! Good, very good! I was planning to run, but I didn't expect to meet such a stubborn little brat! You must be delicious!"
Its hands danced again as even more blood spikes formed within the fungal carpet.
Asuka ignored the reactions of the three behind him. All of his focus sank into the Asauchi in his hands.
[...Call my name...]
"...Not yet!"
He felt the Asauchi's emotions, but he did not act on its guidance.
His lungs, pierced by the Blood Demon Art, now felt like red-hot branding irons. Every breath brought tearing pain.
Yet Asuka inhaled even deeper, even harder!
"Total Concentration…"
All the surrounding wind began to tremble, greedily drawn into Asuka's body. Emerald wind vortices spun wildly around him, compressing and shrieking with piercing cries!
Within the cyclone was also a gray-black surge of savage power, drawn from even deeper within his soul!
"Oh? Going all out?" Beninuma sensed the sudden spike of danger radiating from Asuka. Its pupils shrank as it dropped some of its mockery.
Controlling the countless blood spikes on the fungal carpet, it sent them all surging skyward in an instant, like venomous snakes poised to strike, all aimed at Asuka's body!
"Die! Brat!"
"Breath of Wind: Eighth Form…"
Asuka's figure flickered as he shot forward like an arrow loosed from the bow!
In that instant, he ignored the sticky pull of the fungal carpet beneath his feet, ignored the blood flowing from his wounds, ignored the countless blood spikes stabbing toward him!
There was only one target—
Beninuma's head!
"… Primary Gale Slash!"
Whoom—boom!!!
A violently raging hurricane erupted across the ground!
Asuka transformed into a furious black-and-green tornado, surging forward with earth-rending momentum, unleashing spinning slashes without pause as he closed in on Beninuma!
Bang bang bang—!
Every blood spike that touched this raging wind drill was instantly pulverized! For the first time, shock appeared on Beninuma's face!
It realized things had gone wrong. True to its nature, it immediately gathered all its power, preparing to leap into the stream and escape as a dark current!
But it was too late!
A flash of blade light!
The violent wind drill caught up to Beninuma's fleeing form in an instant, tearing apart the flesh-and-blood armor covering its body like rotten wood. Bone-deep agony surged through every cell!
"Gaaah—!!!"
Demons struck by the Breath of Wind suffer extreme torment, for those who practice it are driven by pure hatred of evil, intent on torturing Demons to death.
And on top of that, Asuka's Breath of Wind carried his own terrifying spiritual pressure, a power that devoured and crushed everything. It forced Beninuma to unleash the most miserable scream of its entire existence, sending chills down the spines of the three Demon Slayers in the distance.
Horrifying gashes rapidly surfaced across its pale neck.
Asuka knew that to kill a Demon quickly, breathing techniques alone were not enough. His Asauchi, unreleased, was merely a somewhat special spiritual blade. If he failed to finish it cleanly, trouble could follow.
So while Beninuma was completely unable to resist, Asuka drew his old Nichirin Blade once more and, borrowing the remaining force of the Eighth Form, slashed at its shattered neck!
Slash!
Asuka appeared several meters behind Beninuma, his back to it, flicking the filthy blood from his blade.
Hiss…
The line of blood on Beninuma's neck finally tore completely open, and its head slowly slid from its shoulders.
The instant the head hit the ground, its body began to decompose like a lit candle, rapidly dissolving into thick black smoke and a stench of scorching decay before vanishing entirely.
Even as it turned to ash, it never imagined it would die so suddenly, at the hands of a nameless nobody.
Blade sheathed.
Only Asuka's indifferent silhouette remained in the field.