Chapter 55: If I run away, what will you do?
"Wind Breathing, Sixth Form: Black Wind Mountain Mist!"
Sanemi Shinazugawa's eyes were bloodshot, and the veins on his forehead bulged like coiling dragons.
He poured his extreme rage over his colleague's "fall," and his deep-seated hatred for demons, into this single strike without reservation.
The surrounding trees, which had just sprouted new buds in spring, emitted shrill cracking sounds under this violent wind pressure.
Wood chips and soil flew everywhere, mixing together to form a suffocating curtain of death, sealing off all of Kanae Kocho's escape routes.
Facing this earth-shattering blow, Kanae Kocho did not retreat.
In her gentle, water-like purple eyes, only determination remained.
"I must..."
Kanae bit her lower lip hard, blood trickling down the corner of her mouth,
"Protect him!"
Just as she assumed the starting stance of Flower Breathing, at the critical moment when the violent black wind was about to tear through her slender body,
"Sun Breathing, First Form: Dance!"
A low, hoarse voice suddenly exploded in the ears of Sanemi Shinazugawa and Kanae Kocho!
Immediately after, a circular flame slash, as brilliant as the scorching sun, cut forcefully into that violent black wind.
"Boom!!!"
Fire and Wind collided in mid-air, erupting with a deafening roar.
Violent shockwaves swept wildly in all directions, sending fallen leaves and soil on the ground flying several feet high.
The biting cold wind of the spring night was, in this moment, baked by the scorching heatwave until it felt as hot as midsummer.
In Kanae's trembling pupils, a familiar yet slightly slender back, like an insurmountable mountain, stood firmly in front of her.
It was Tatsu!
At this moment, white steam was rising from Tatsu's entire body, which was the residue from the wisteria poison in his body being forcibly evaporated by the high temperature of Sun Breathing.
He was panting heavily, each breath exhaling scorching white mist.
And in his hand, he was gripping a uniquely shaped nichirin sword.
The blade of that sword was extremely slender, and at the tip of the blade, there was a prominent barb.
That was Kocho Shinobu's nichirin sword!
"Clang!"
Another ear-piercing sound of metal clashing rang out.
Tatsu gripped the slender nichirin sword tightly with both hands, the barb at the tip of the blade locking precisely onto the edge of Sanemi Shinazugawa's thick nichirin sword.
Relying on the terrifying power unleashed by Sun Breathing and the formidable arm strength of a demon, Tatsu forcibly held off this lethal 'Black Wind Mountain Mist'!
"What?!"
Sanemi Shinazugawa's pupils constricted, a flash of disbelief crossing his eyes.
He had never expected that this demon, who looked so weak, could actually unleash such terrifying power to block his all-out killing blow.
Tatsu took a deep breath, the muscles on his arms bulging suddenly, veins popping out.
"Get... back!"
Accompanied by a suppressed low roar, Tatsu exerted force suddenly.
The scorching blade pushed forward fiercely, and a huge reaction force erupted instantly.
Sanemi Shinazugawa only felt an irresistible, overwhelming force surging from the blade, and his body uncontrollably slid backward.
His feet plowed two deep gullies into the muddy spring soil, and he retreated seven or eight meters before barely stabilizing his figure.
Kanae Kocho stared blankly at Tatsu, who was standing in front of her, her gaze falling involuntarily on the slender, barbed nichirin sword in his hand.
That is... Shinobu's sword?
She turned her head abruptly, looking towards the clearing on the right, following the direction from which Tatsu had just charged.
On that stretch of grass, devastated by the aftermath of the battle, a Haori with a butterfly pattern lay quietly on the ground.
And the owner of the Haori—Kocho Shinobu—was lying there silently with her eyes closed, life or death unknown.
"Shinobu?!"
Kanae's voice was instantly filled with uncontrollable trembling and fear.
Her mind went blank, buzzing with a loud sound.
She was just about to turn her head, her lips trembling as she said those two words to Tatsu: "Tatsu..."
"Kanae, don't worry."
Tatsu did not turn back.
"I only knocked your sister unconscious."
"I struck the back of her neck with the back of the blade, controlling my strength, so I didn't hurt her at all."
At that critical moment just now, the instant he used Sun Breathing to regain his ability to move, he had dodged Kocho Shinobu's fatal thrust.
Facing Kocho Shinobu's relentless pursuit of toxins, Tatsu knew he absolutely could not get entangled with her.
Utilizing his dynamic vision, which far exceeded that of a human, he captured a tiny flaw in Shinobu's movement technique, then, with a distorted posture that was almost self-mutilating, he took the hit from Shinobu's blade as it grazed his shoulder, taking the opportunity to close in and delivering a precise hand strike to the back of Shinobu's neck, seizing her nichirin sword in the process, and then rushing over without stopping to rescue Kanae.
Hearing Tatsu's words, the heart that had been in Kanae's throat finally fell back into her chest.
She knew Tatsu would not lie to her; this boy, even after becoming a demon, still treated this world with gentleness, and would never kill her sister.
However, Sanemi Shinazugawa on the other side also saw Kocho Shinobu lying on the ground.
After a brief moment of astonishment, the expression on Sanemi Shinazugawa's face twisted instantly, a complex emotion mixed with rage, hatred, and frustration at incompetence, completely occupying his scarred face.
"Trash!"
"So weak, yet you dare to boast about wanting to kill demons?"
"And you got knocked out; you are simply a disgrace to the Demon Slayer Corps!"
Sanemi Shinazugawa's eyes stared fixedly at Kocho Shinobu on the ground, and then turned fiercely towards Kanae and Tatsu.
"With such weak resolve, holding such a toy sword that can't kill demons, you dare to go to the battlefield; sooner or later, you will die in a ditch!"
"And be eaten by demons until not even your bones are left!"
"You stupid sisters, what do you take demon hunting for? Playing house?!"
"Enough! Sanemi!"
Kanae wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, stepped forward, and stood side by side with Tatsu.
"Shinobu is not trash!"
"She has a stronger will than anyone else!"
Subsequently, Kanae turned her head to look at Tatsu beside her.
Looking at the boy's body, which was trembling slightly with veins bulging from forcibly stimulating Sun Breathing, a trace of anxiety flashed in her eyes.
"Since you have already defeated my sister and taken her sword, why haven't you run away yet?"
Kanae's voice carried a hint of reproach,
"The sky is about to brighten,"
"Don't you know what the sun means for you?"
"Leave quickly! I can help you hold Sanemi back!"
"As long as you escape into the deep mountains, as long as you survive..."
"Run away?"
Tatsu turned his head slightly, looking at Kanae's face, which was stained with soil and blood, yet still beautiful and holy.
He suddenly smiled.
In that smile, there was no fear of death, only a sense of relief and determination.
"If I run away, what will you do?"
"Harboring a demon, covering for a demon's escape, and even drawing your sword against your colleague for this."
"If I really left you alone here today,"
"you would be taken back to the Demon Slayer Corps headquarters to face the judgment of the Hashira Meeting."
"You would lose your status as the Flower Hashira and be treated as a traitor,"
"and even... be executed."
Tatsu took a deep breath.
He stared straight at the murderous Sanemi Shinazugawa in front of him and said word by word:
"Running away, I cannot do it."
"Although I, Tatsu, have become a demon, I have not yet lost my bottom line as a human."
"Leaving the girl who protected me alone in hell while I live on for the sake of survival—I absolutely cannot do such a thing!"
"Besides..."
Tatsu's eyes were flashing with burning fighting spirit,
"Two against one, it's not that we don't have a chance."
"Kanae, didn't we agree?"
"To face all of this together."
"To prove together that humans and demons can coexist peacefully!"
Listening to this confession from Tatsu, and looking at the clear eyes of the boy, which had not changed even after turning into an Asura, Kanae was stunned.
A warm current instantly flooded her entire body.
In this cruel world filled with despair and slaughter, her seemingly naive and ridiculous dream of "human-demon coexistence" had actually received a response.
Even if the one responding to her was a demon.
Her eyes became moist again, but this time, Kanae did not let the tears fall.
She took a deep breath of the air, which carried a hint of earthy scent in the spring night, and a curve of stunning beauty hooked at the corner of her mouth.
"Alright."
Kanae gripped the nichirin sword tightly with both hands, the pink light on the blade shining brightly at this moment, like cherry blossoms blooming in the dark night,
"We will face it together!"
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