"Insect Breathing: Dance of the Bee Sting — True Flutter!"
Taking advantage of Akaza's momentary paralysis, Shinobu Kocho launched her strongest and fastest thrust, aiming straight for his skull.
Only by piercing through Akaza's cranium and injecting a large amount of wisteria poison into his brain could Shinobu hope to kill him.
As Akaza felt the stiffness and searing pain in his body, he looked down at his leg and realized that the small wounds he thought had healed were now rotting away in large patches.
Before his very eyes, his blood vessels were turning black. The poison, spread by his intense movements, had already traveled from his legs to his heart.
Yet when it first entered his system, he hadn't noticed anything strange. The poison had numbed his senses at the start, only erupting with full force once it reached his heart.
But even faced with the deadly speed of the Bee Fangs, Akaza remained calm. In fact, he chuckled.
"Insect Hashira? A fascinating attack. And a fascinating poison."
"I, Akaza, acknowledge you as a worthy opponent!"
...…
Just after killing Ma Gui, Kawanishi saw flames rising from the town center, accompanied by a chorus of screams. His heart sank—the other three demons had begun their rampage.
Clutching the Black Cutter tightly, Kawanishi dashed toward the source of the screams.
Soon, over a dozen townspeople—men and women alike—were fleeing frantically in his direction.
Kawanishi quickly hid in the shadow of a nearby building and called out, "Go east! There are no demons in the east—run!"
Someone shouted back to him from the darkness, "What about you? Come with us—those demons are terrifying!"
Kawanishi replied, "No, just go. Don't slow me down. I'm with the Demon Slayer Corps—you don't need to worry about me."
With that reassurance, the group fled eastward, shouting as they ran, "If anyone can hear us, head east! There are no man-eating demons that way..."
Then, as if suddenly remembering something, one of them called back, "Sir, may we know your name? Thank you!"
My name?
Kawanishi answered, "Black Fang of Demon Slayer Corps, Black Fang."
Without waiting for a response, Kawanishi stepped from the shadows, turned his back on the fleeing townspeople, and ran toward the direction of the demons.
The crowd looked on with gratitude. In that moment, his figure illuminated by firelight seemed larger than life. They would never forget that silhouette.
After running past a dozen buildings, Kawanishi came to a sudden halt.
Before him stood a demon with a snake-like, boneless body, coiled around a man's neck.
Its jaw stretched impossibly wide—until half its face became a massive, gaping maw filled with rows of jagged, file-like teeth.
Beneath its fangs was a young boy, crying—Yushisoke. Despite facing death, Yushisoke showed no fear. He didn't look at the terrifying serpent demon, but instead cast his gaze to the ground.
There lay the body of old man Nagatani, his neck twisted unnaturally—clearly dead.
Kawanishi's eyes burned with rage. That bastard!
"Black Fang: Scorching Feather!"
Brilliant, blazing white wings burst open. With a powerful flap, three burning feathers shot straight toward the serpent demon's head.
Faced with the threat, the demon recoiled just in time, dodging the flaming feathers—but also failed to bite down on Yoshisuke.
In the next instant, Black Fang's wings beat furiously, propelling Kawanishi forward at top speed. Dozens of meters vanished in a blink.
The serpent demon only felt its neck tighten and vision go dark as Kawanishi's hand clamped around its throat, yanking it away from Yoshisuke.
Because the demon had been coiled around the boy, Kawanishi hadn't dared to swing the Black Cutter outright. Instead, he grabbed the demon by the neck to tear it off Yoshisuke first.
The moment he pulled it free, his wings flapped downward, lifting him two feet into the air. Then he pressed downward, slamming the demon's body into the ground with brute force.
"What… are you doing…?" the serpent demon gurgled, coughing up blood.
It had seen the delicate-looking boy and had eagerly prepared to devour him before continuing its slaughter—never expecting someone to barge in at the last moment.
The demon had actually noticed Kawanishi, but since he looked like a demon himself, it hadn't taken him seriously—and was now paying the price.
Enraged, the demon writhed under Kawanishi's grip.
But because the Black Cutter was too long and the demon was too close, Kawanishi couldn't swing it properly.
So he pushed the weapon behind him, then gripped the demon's thin neck with one hand and grasped the axe by the lower shaft near the blade with the other. With a brutal downward chop, he tried to decapitate it.
The serpent demon thrashed wildly, but the hand clamped around its throat was as hard and unyielding as iron—there was no escape.
Desperate to avoid being beheaded, the demon spat out its two sharpest fangs. Their blue-black tips gleamed with lethal poison.
The venomous fangs struck with frightening speed, piercing Kawanishi's right hand near the axe blade. His hand went numb, and the entire arm lost strength—the Black Cutter slipped from his grasp, landing beside the demon.
Seeing the venom land, the serpent demon struggled even harder. Its neck suddenly extended and twisted halfway around, its maw opening wide to bite down on Kawanishi's left hand.
A sharp pain flared as the demon's fangs sank through muscle and skin, biting into his arm bone.
Kawanishi's eyes practically ignited with fury.
This demon had murdered that poor old man Nagatani and now tried to devour a boy barely a few years old—utterly savage and unforgivable.
"Black Fang: Heavenward Blade!"
The Heavenward Blade—the same powerful move he used to kill Black Fang. It forged a three-meter-long, blazing white blade from tightly packed, steel-hard feathers.
The serpent demon's eyes gleamed with a wicked light. It didn't dodge or flinch—instead, it used the fangs embedded in Kawanishi's arm to inject wave after wave of venom straight into his bloodstream.
"No rush. Once the poison kicks in, I win..."
"Even if you decapitate me, it's not a Nichirin Blade—I'm not afraid."
Realizing the demon wasn't letting go or trying to escape, Kawanishi gave a cruel grin. The Heavenward Blade flared wide, then swept horizontally—cutting through both his own arm and the demon's neck.
The serpent demon's head flew high into the air, its eyes filled with shock.
"This feeling… Am I… dying?"
"No! No! How could you kill me?!"
"..."
What surprised Kawanishi was that unlike Black Fang and Ma Gui, who showed some humanity at the end and welcomed death as release, this demon died filled with spite and madness.
Its voice carried hatred, fear of death, and deep resentment toward Kawanishi.
Amid this swirl of negativity, the serpent demon slowly crumbled into black-red ash.
This time, as before, Black Fang felt no urge to devour it…
(End of Chapter)
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