"That's not how it works."
Zenitsu spoke softly, his voice steady.
"Just because someone did something you hated doesn't mean you get to do the same thing back to them."
"Don't act so self-important."
Daki's eyes went cold.
"When someone makes me miserable, I pay them back a hundredfold."
"If I've suffered, then I'll claw my happiness out of someone else's pain."
"That's how demons do things."
"Anyone who dares judge us, I've killed so many I can't even count!"
Gyutaro's grin sharpened.
"You're no different."
"Get ready to have your throat torn open!"
The instant he said it, Vincent Fox felt a surge of killing intent, thick enough to choke the air.
Tengen's movements stalled for a fraction of a second too, his gaze turning razor-serious.
"Disgusting aura."
Tengen's voice lowered.
"You've butchered a lot of people."
In the next blink, Gyutaro was already in front of him.
His sickle plunged downward, aiming to punch straight through Tengen's jaw and up into his skull.
"I've eaten fifteen Hashira like you."
"You'll be the sixteenth."
Tengen's eyes widened.
He twisted with everything he had, barely slipping past the fatal strike.
Even so, the blade grazed his cheek, carving a vicious gash.
Above them, the ceiling shattered.
Countless sashes shot down like spears.
"Same old trick."
Vincent snorted.
His Nichirin Blade swept, hooking every sash together in one motion, then pinning them hard into the ground with a single, brutal thrust.
He released the sword.
His fist ignited, flames coating his knuckles as he drove straight at Gyutaro.
"No weapon?"
Gyutaro laughed, lifting his sickles.
"You think you can hurt me with your bare hands?"
"With a brain like that, you're supposed to be someone's successor? What a joke."
"I'll chop off both your arms, then take my time tearing you apart."
"You're going to be disappointed."
Armament Haki crawled over Vincent's fist.
His defense jumped to a completely different level.
Boom!
Fist met sickle.
A thunderous explosion cracked through the street.
"What the hell kind of defense is that?!"
Gyutaro's arms scorched under the heat.
His sickle was knocked clean out of his grasp by that single punch.
"I told you."
Vincent's voice stayed calm.
"You'll be disappointed."
His left fist, already fully wreathed in flame, fired like a cannon.
Serious Punch.
Boom!
Even as Gyutaro tried to twist away, half his body was blown off.
Tengen, standing a short distance away, stared in disbelief.
That power.
That defense.
Hard-blocking that mantis-demon's weapon without taking damage.
Even the Stone Hashira wouldn't look like this.
"Tch… annoying brat."
Gyutaro's face twisted.
"You're that tough? Killing you is going to be a hassle."
He flexed, and the destroyed half of his body regenerated in an instant.
"But that defense has to have a limit."
"Let's see if you can block my Blood Demon Art."
His smile turned vicious.
"My blood will crawl into your pores, straight to your heart."
His hands contorted.
A massive spray of blood burst out.
"Full Blood Scythes!"
A storm of blood blades screamed toward Vincent, swallowing him whole.
Gyutaro's eyes flashed with triumph.
Then a tongue of fire shot out from within the blood storm.
A split second later, the night lit up like day.
Boom!
All that blood evaporated into red mist.
"What?!"
Up on the roof, Inosuke and Zenitsu were locked in with Daki, whose strength was climbing higher and higher.
They severed her sashes, only for more to launch out again.
The two kept shifting positions, but cuts still opened across their bodies, one after another.
"Her sashes and those blood blades are flying in together. What kind of monster is this?!"
"And those blood blades… just looking at them feels deadly!"
"It's like one graze and you're finished!"
They were driven back again and again, unable to close the distance.
"Sleepyhead! Use your speed and cut off Worm Girl's head already!"
"You idiot, you think I don't want to?! I can't break through!"
No matter how they shouted at each other, they still couldn't get in.
On the street below, Vincent launched at Gyutaro again.
"You're still coming?!"
Gyutaro raised both sickles in a hurry.
Vincent's fist swelled in his vision.
In the next instant, Vincent was already in front of him.
He sank his hips, coiled his stance, and drove forward.
Serious Punch.
Boom!
Another monstrous explosion.
Gyutaro was sent flying.
He smashed through wall after wall, vanishing into a spray of splintered timber and stone.
Rubble collapsed over him.
A moment later, Gyutaro rose from the ruins.
His eyes narrowed as he looked down at his weapons.
Both sickles were spiderwebbed with cracks.
"So even my blades are splitting…"
"What a terrifying kid."
That kind of brute force.
If someone like this became a demon…
He might not be far below an Upper Rank One nobody had ever even seen.
Gyutaro's hands started to tremble.
Tengen felt his own blood run cold.
The poison was creeping closer and closer to his heart.
His limbs were slowing, numbness spreading.
Watching Vincent and Gyutaro trade blows, Tengen realized something that hit like a punch.
He couldn't even jump in.
Not anymore.
"My body's weakened this badly… If I step in, I'll just drag him down."
His gaze swept around.
Then he saw the two still struggling on the rooftop.
"In that case…"
"Before the poison fully hits, taking out that demon woman should be easy."
Tengen glanced once at Vincent, who was completely overwhelming Gyutaro, then made his decision.
He sprinted toward the roof.
"Sound Breathing, Fifth Form!"
"String Performance!"
Elsewhere, Tanjiro forced himself up through agony that felt like his body was being ripped apart.
"So my body still can't handle the backlash of switching breathing styles…"
He stumbled into the ruins, frantic, searching for the wooden box he'd left behind.
"Nezuko… Nezuko, where are you?!"
He shoved broken stones aside, desperately digging.
Then his nose twitched.
A smell crawled into his lungs, nauseating, rotten-sweet and wrong.
"This is… another demon."
"So there really is a second one."
"This demonic aura is far thicker…"
"That's the real Upper Rank."
Tanjiro's hands shook as he searched even faster.
Finally, he found it.
The battered wooden box, crushed under debris.
He tore it open.
Nezuko, shrunken small, was trembling inside.
"Thank goodness."
Tanjiro pulled her into his arms.
"Nezuko, stay here."
"Tengen is fighting the demon. I have to get back."
He took two steps, then stopped.
He turned and looked at her again, eyes tight with fear and determination.
"Nezuko… if I don't come back, wait here."
"I already sent word to the Master. A Hashira will come soon."
Then Tanjiro turned and ran.
"I don't know if I'll be any help…"
"But we have to hold on."
----------------------------------------------------
The deeper he goes, the more the truth unravels. Don't wait read ahead and witness Vincent's rise before the world catches up!
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