"Owls are truly a very magical creature..."
Under the darkness of night, footsteps accompanied by that strange rustling sound suddenly rang out. A light female voice abruptly appeared behind the two demon hunters.
"They very much enjoy hunting at night, alone enjoying that bloody hunting pleasure, so...
The two of you wandering about on the streets so late at night—could it be, for the same purpose?"
Every hair on their bodies standing on end, the two demon hunters on the rooftop turned almost simultaneously toward the direction of this voice.
Under the darkness of night, a beautiful young woman stood quietly on the street below them, tilting her head and smiling as she gazed at them.
The young woman's skin was pale as paper, her snow-white long hair uncombed, casually draped behind her.
Her kimono was somewhat disheveled—not only did the sleeves hang past her fingertips, but one side of the collar had slipped down her neck, revealing half of her rounded shoulder.
The young woman's bearing showed no dignity or modesty whatsoever; her entire body exuded an air of casual carelessness.
"Huh? What's wrong? Was it not funny?"
Seeing the two on the rooftop completely unresponsive, a trace of regret immediately appeared on the young woman's exquisite face.
"That's truly regrettable. I was expecting you to have more dramatic reactions..."
From any angle, the young woman before them did not appear to be a normal human.
And when the two on the rooftop looked at the arm by the young woman's side, they saw that in her hand, she was dragging what seemed like a tattered cloth bag.
That strange "rustling sound" they had heard earlier was precisely the abnormal noise made by this "tattered cloth bag" rubbing against the ground.
No, no, that wasn't a tattered cloth bag...
It was their companion Yamada, who had never returned to meet them!
"Yamada?!"
"Yamada? So that was his name?"
Mitsuba suddenly realized upon hearing this, and a trace of apology immediately appeared on her face.
"Sorry, when I had just woken up earlier, he appeared beside me, looking like he very much wanted to kill me. My brain was a bit unclear at the time, so I accidentally killed him...
Truly regrettable. If I had known earlier that he still had companions, I should have asked first before killing."
As her words fell, Mitsuba casually tossed Yamada's corpse before the two.
The appearance of Yamada's corpse was very strange. Though he should have been someone who died not long ago, his entire body was withered and wrinkled as if he had been dead for thousands of years.
As if some force had instantly drained all the flesh and blood from within his body.
"You bastard!!"
Seeing their former companion die so tragically before their eyes, in their fury there was no extraneous dialogue. The two on the rooftop immediately swung their blades and charged toward Mitsuba.
Their blades were respectively wrapped in pale blue water currents and pale green air currents, the two attacking Mitsuba's upper and lower body simultaneously.
"These are the techniques of Water Breathing and Wind Breathing?"
Leaning back to precisely avoid the Water Breathing swordsman's horizontal slash, Mitsuba simultaneously raised her leg, firmly stepping on the Wind Breathing swordsman's Nichirin Blade at the bottom of her foot.
"So you truly are demon hunters..."
Looking down at the Wind Breathing swordsman by her foot whose face was full of shock and couldn't pull out his blade, Mitsuba subconsciously raised her hand to rub her chin, thinking seriously.
"Strange, I had never heard of demons appearing in my city before. Could you have come looking for me?
Mm... this probably isn't right either, since I had also just woken up. It's impossible for you to have obtained my intelligence so quickly.
Then, it must be Lord Muzan.
I suppose when Lord Muzan came over last night, he injured some other people again for some strange reason, which attracted your attention..."
Having reached an answer, Mitsuba lightly sighed.
"This won't do. After all, this is my town, and the people here were once my subjects.
I can't control others, but at least for the people in this town, I still hope they can all be safe and sound.
When I see Lord Muzan again later, I must properly talk to him about this..."
"Water Breathing: First Form—Water Surface Slash!"
A sudden gust of wind rose behind her. That Water Breathing swordsman who had missed Mitsuba turned his body and swung his blade again toward Mitsuba's neck.
Facing this attack from behind, Mitsuba showed no intention of dodging whatsoever.
One foot remained steadily stepping on the Wind Breathing swordsman's Nichirin Blade, while one hand slowly raised, grasping toward the blade wrapped in water currents coming from behind.
What?!
In the next instant, the water currents abruptly ceased, and the blade's edge was forcibly stopped.
Mitsuba had used that seemingly slender and delicate palm to bare-handedly catch this slash from the Water Breathing swordsman.
Her movement was relaxed and leisurely—her palm didn't even break skin!
Slowly turning her head to look at the Water Breathing swordsman behind her, looking at his suddenly contracted pupils, a brilliant smile appeared on Mitsuba's face, but her words were quite venomous.
"Sir, did you not eat?"
Not responding to Mitsuba's mockery, after extreme shock the Water Breathing swordsman gritted his teeth and instantly applied more force, trying to pull the Nichirin Blade from her hand.
However, no matter how much strength he used, Mitsuba's palm remained completely unmoving.
That blade edge which had been unstoppable in the past was clutched in her hand, as if it had become a tree branch commonly seen by the roadside—unable to even cut her palm.
...How was this possible?
Two Class A swordsmen—one's blade stepped on at the bottom of her foot, the other's blade clutched in her hand.
The two were thus easily subdued by Mitsuba with that absolutely crushing strength.
"Could this... be your Blood Demon Art?"
His expression disbelieving, the Water Breathing swordsman looked at Mitsuba close before him and finally couldn't help but ask his first question.
Having been a demon hunter for so many years, this was the first time he had encountered a situation where a Nichirin Blade couldn't even cut through the opponent's palm.
This was impossible.
The materials used to forge Nichirin Blades were taken from Scarlet Crimson Ore from Sunlight Mountain, which had been exposed to abundant sunlight and was rich in solar energy.
Nichirin Blades forged from this ore had always been the absolute weapon against demons.
How could there possibly be a demon that could hard-resist a Nichirin Blade's edge completely unharmed?
This was absolutely impossible!
Could this female demon before him be using some special Blood Demon Art?
Mitsuba was first stunned upon hearing this, then curved her eyes and smiled like a flower:
"Please rest assured—with your strength, you are not worthy of making me use my Blood Demon Art."
Another sentence full of mockery.
This female demon before them—she seemed to particularly enjoy using this seemingly refined and polite manner to speak those especially heart-piercing mockeries?
"I merely possess a relatively large amount of Lord Muzan's blood, and therefore appear slightly stronger.
Ah... however, I have heard that not everyone in this world can tolerate so much of Lord Muzan's blood.
From this perspective, a demon like me—could I also be considered exceptionally talented in the aspect of being a demon?"
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