Chapter 85: Lower Rank? Such trash, I can finish it off with one slash now.
"My brother is already dead..."
Masashi's eyes were bloodshot, and tears streamed down instantly.
"When my brother was eaten, it was right in front of me...
The sound of bones shattering, the warmth of the blood splattered on my face...
Every night when I close my eyes, those images are all I see.
How can I retreat to logistics?
How can I hide in the back with peace of mind, watching others risk their lives?"
Masashi leaned forward abruptly; lacking arms for support, he nearly face-planted onto the table.
"My arms are gone; I can no longer wield a sword, but I still have this life.
My flesh, my bones—they are my final weapons!
I will let that demon called Tatsu eat me.
I will use this body soaked in wisteria poison to dissolve him completely from the inside.
Even if I die, I will drag him down to hell with me!"
During this time, he forcibly dragged his broken body, clinging stubbornly behind other Demon Slayer Corps members who were out searching for the Flower Hashira Kanae Kocho and the demon Tatsu.
At first, seeing his tragic state without arms, those members, out of sympathy and a desire to protect a comrade, firmly refused to let him follow and even tried to force him back to the headquarters.
But Masashi bit down on that green nichirin sword with his mouth, and with a look that said, 'If you don't let me go, I'll die right in front of you,' he forced the members to compromise.
"Maru,"
Masashi calmed his breathing slightly,
"How is the task I asked you to handle going?
Have you found any news about that demon called Tatsu?"
His body could not hold on much longer. Injecting wisteria poison to the limit every day, his internal organs were rapidly failing. He had to find that demon before he collapsed completely.
Maru looked at its master's face, which was twisted in pain, and a trace of sadness flashed in its dark, black eyes.
It let its wings droop powerlessly and shook its little head gently.
"No... caw... no news."
Maru's voice was low and filled with guilt,
"They are hidden too deep... The Demon Slayer Corps' intelligence network... cannot find the trail of Lady Flower Hashira and that demon... caw..."
Upon hearing this, Masashi's body leaned weakly against the wooden pillar behind him.
He tilted his head back, looking at the pitch-black ceiling, his chapped lips moving slightly.
"Is that so... still haven't found them..."
Masashi closed his eyes, feeling the destructive poison coursing wantonly through his body,
"It's okay... I will wait, I will keep looking... until I take my final breath..."
Time passed like sand through fingers, and half a month vanished in the blink of an eye.
The night sky was clear, and a pale waning moon hung high in the sky, casting cold moonlight over this dense forest.
However, deep within this forest, a blinding, sun-like flame was leaping and flickering frantically, accompanied by the crashing sounds of trees falling.
Tatsu was standing in a clearing that had been forcibly cleared out, holding a nichirin sword in his hand.
"Sun Breathing, First Form: Dance!"
His feet smashed the rock beneath him, and his entire body shot out like a bowstring pulled to its limit.
The nichirin sword in his hand was instantly enveloped in a layer of dazzling crimson flames, and as his body rotated, it carved a perfect, scorching arc of fire through the air, like the sun itself.
"Boom!"
The crimson flame sword light slashed fiercely into a tree in front of him that was thick enough for three people to wrap their arms around.
Accompanied by a deafening explosion, the ancient tree was instantly severed at the waist; the cut was charred black, and a raging fire broke out.
"Hiss—"
Tatsu gasped.
He looked down and saw that the pale skin of his right hand, which held the sword, now looked as if it had been thrown into a steel furnace, displaying a terrifying charcoal color.
"Sun Breathing, Second Form: Clear Blue Sky!"
Tatsu endured the pain that felt like it was tearing his soul apart, gritted his teeth, and swung the nichirin sword again.
He had to keep practicing; he had to overcome this power.
The flames soared into the sky like an angry dragon, illuminating the night sky for dozens of meters around as bright as day.
Tatsu's body flipped rapidly in mid-air.
His super-regenerative ability as a demon was pushed to its limit at this moment.
Just as the charred skin fell off, new granulation tissue would frantically squirm and grow out, only to be immediately burned away by the incredibly overbearing Sun Breathing within his body.
Destruction and rebirth formed a cycle within him.
Two months. It had been exactly two months since he began practicing Sun Breathing.
During these two months, whenever he had time, he would frantically practice Sun Breathing.
He was so desperate to overcome sunlight.
He did not want to spend his whole life hiding in the dark like a rat; he wanted to hold Kanae's hand and walk openly under the sun, to feel the warm breeze, and to see the blooming sunflowers.
However, reality gave him a harsh slap in the face.
"Hoo... hoo..."
After a full hour of high-intensity training, Tatsu finally stopped.
He propped himself up with the nichirin sword on the ground, knelt on one knee, and panted heavily.
He was drenched in sweat, his skin flushed an unnatural red all over, and wisps of white steam were even rising from the top of his head.
"It's not working... still not working..."
Tatsu looked at his hands, which were slowly healing but still bore traces of severe burns, and a strong sense of powerlessness rose in his heart.
After two months of desperate training, he felt more and more that relying on a demon's physique to forcibly use Sun Breathing was simply a paradox.
At most, he could now perform all the forms of Sun Breathing consecutively from start to finish once.
If he exceeded this limit, the regeneration speed belonging to the demon within him would fall far behind the destruction speed of the Sun Breathing's solar fire.
If he forcibly performed it a second time, his cells would be completely incinerated in an instant, and he would be burned to death in that terrifying internal combustion, turning into a pile of ashes scattered by the wind.
"It seems that relying on practicing Sun Breathing to overcome the fatal weakness of sunlight is truly unreliable."
Tatsu stood up and looked up at the waning moon in the night sky.
"I still need to find time to go to Tanjiro's house again and search carefully to see if there are any clues about the blue spider lily."
He put away the nichirin sword, sheathed it back at his waist, and turned to walk towards the small town outside the forest.
"I wonder if Kanae and Shinobu have gone to play in the streets and have returned yet."
Tatsu murmured softly.
Kanae, that woman who was gentle to the core.
Tatsu would never forget the endless tolerance and love in her eyes when she gently called out the name "Tatsu."
She was his only redemption in this cold and cruel world.
As for Kocho Shinobu...
"Moshi moshi, Tatsu-san, you still have that disgusting demon look today. I really want to add some special wisteria poison to your food; I guarantee it will let you ascend to heaven without any pain."
With the image of Shinobu smiling while saying such hair-raising words appearing in his mind, Tatsu shook his head helplessly and walked through the dark forest.
His five senses were far superior to ordinary people; the surrounding chirping of insects and the sound of wind blowing through fallen leaves were clearly transmitted to his ears.
Suddenly, Tatsu's footsteps paused slightly.
"Hmm?"
It was a fierce sound of blades clashing, accompanied by the roaring of trees being broken by immense force, as well as faint roars and screams.
The sound came from deep within the forest, about a few kilometers away from him.
"A battle?"
Tatsu raised his eyebrows slightly.
In the dead of night in this desolate mountain wilderness, there couldn't be anyone else here having such a fierce conflict besides the Demon Slayer Corps and demons.
Transparent World, activate!
In an instant, the world before Tatsu's eyes changed.
The surrounding dense trees, rough rocks, and even the dust in the air became completely transparent.
His vision penetrated the heavy forest obstacles without any hindrance, locking directly onto the direction from which the sound came.
In the view of the Transparent World, he clearly saw that on a clearing a few kilometers away, there was an energy source emitting strong malice.
"This level of concentration..."
"Probably just a Lower Rank level."
Tatsu retracted his gaze from the Transparent World.
If it were two months ago, facing a Twelve Kizuki of the Lower Rank level, he might not have been able to win.
But now, after two months of training, his physical fitness, reaction speed, and control over power had already reached an extremely terrifying realm.
"Lower Rank?"
Tatsu gripped the hilt of his sword at his waist,
"Such trash, I can finish it off with one slash now."
"Bang!"
The ground beneath Tatsu's feet instantly exploded into a deep pit, and he sped off in the direction of the fighting sounds.
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