Bang!
The iron hammer slammed into the demon's head with brutal force, sending blood splattering everywhere.
Sosuke stood panting heavily, staring at the demon's crushed skull beneath the hammer's head.
He had no interest in seeing any "malevolent gaze" or anything of the sort.
Though he lacked real combat experience against demons, he had watched plenty of anime!
He knew that ordinary weapons were useless against these creatures, so no matter how pathetic this demon looked, he couldn't afford to give it any chance to recover.
Since the demon had conveniently slipped and fallen, there was no need for hesitation.
Wielding the Heavenly Artisan's Forging Hammer, Sosuke swung it in a wide arc and delivered a crushing blow.
It was ironic that the first time the Heavenly Artisan's Forging Hammer fell into his hands, he wasn't using it to hammer iron, but to hammer a demon's head. Truly, fate had a twisted sense of humor.
"Hiss... Ho..."
A savage breath escaped the demon's mouth. One hammer blow clearly hadn't killed it.
Worse, its head was gradually regenerating.
Crimson eyes seemed to bleed as the demon glared up at Tetsu no Sosuke from beneath the hammer. "Damn you, human... I will absolutely..."
As expected, it can't be killed!
Sosuke didn't want to hear another word. He raised the hammer and swung again with all his might.
He hammered the demon's unfinished words back down its throat.
"I'll devour you piece by piece..."
Bang!
"I'll kill you..."
Bang!
"Damn you!"
Bang!
Sosuke transformed into an emotionless hammer-wielding machine. He didn't care what the demon said; if it dared to open its mouth, he'd smash it shut.
"Stop hitting me, okay?"
Bang!
"You can't kill me anyway..."
Bang!
"Let's make peace! I won't eat you anymore. Can't I just leave?"
Bang!
"I'll call you daddy "
Bang!
As the relentless hammering continued, the demon finally fell silent.
Sosuke snapped out of his emotionless, hammer-wielding frenzy. He glanced down and saw that half of the demon's head had been smashed to pieces.
All that remained was a pool of blood, a bluish-black mouth, and a forked tongue lolling limply to one side, making it look as if the creature was on the verge of death.
"Is he dead?"
A momentary doubt flickered in his mind, but he immediately shook his head. "Its body is still intact. It's not dead! At most, it's just unconscious!"
Sosuke wondered if anyone had ever managed to hammer a demon unconscious before.
The torrential rain continued to pour down. He glanced at the demon on the ground. "No, I need to figure something out before it regains consciousness."
There was a simple solution: use the sword from his Sword Box to sever the demon's head.
Yet an inexplicable reluctance held him back. That sword was meant for her... Using it before then would feel wrong.
"Tie him up, hang him from a tree, and let the sunrise tomorrow turn him to ash!"
This was a viable method. He remembered reading in the manga that one of the Nine Pillars had used this technique to deal with demons before joining the Demon Slayer Corps.
"Rope, rope..."
He frantically searched for rope, but the moment his gaze shifted away from the demon, the creature sprang to life. Its crimson-stained claws, sharp as daggers, lunged for Sosuke's throat.
The demon's grotesque maw, filled with fangs and a forked tongue, snapped viciously at Sosuke's head.
Sosuke's pupils constricted sharply.
'I've been tricked!'
The demon had been feigning unconsciousness. Whether he reached for his sword or searched for rope, the moment Sosuke's attention wavered, the creature would strike.
'Am I... going to die?'
The moment stretched into an eternity.
The charging demon, its razor-sharp claws, its grotesque fangs, the fetid stench of its breath—all coalesced into what seemed like the final image of his life.
Thump-thump!
Heartbeat!
The moment consciousness surged back, a sharp glint flashed in Sosuke's eyes.
His blood boiled instantly, his heart pounding like a war drum.
His right hand, clenched tightly around the Heavenly Artisan's Forging Hammer, swung violently!
'Sun Breathing—First Form: Gale Sun!'
This technique, originally used for hammering iron, flooded his mind. His right hand transformed into a tempest, a whirlwind of strikes accompanied by the scorching heat of the sun!
As if flames flowed through the air, countless hammer shadows, wreathed in fire, crashed mindlessly into the Demon.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Each hammer strike erupted in a spray of blood.
Focusing his Total Concentration Breathing, Sosuke precisely controlled the hammer's impact points.
First the Demon Claw, then the head, followed by the body—under the Gale Sun's relentless hammering, the Demon was pounded as if it were iron on an anvil.
In the span of a breath, the Demon was riddled with holes, its bones shattered, its body reduced to a limp, cotton-like mass.
Staggering backward, it could no longer cross the threshold.
At that moment, Sosuke's breathing abruptly shifted—from the tempestuous Gale Sun to a steady, mountain-like rhythm.
'Sun Breathing—Second Form: Name Pending!' (he doesn't have a name for it yet)
With overwhelming force and pinpoint accuracy, Sosuke's Heavenly Artisan's Forging Hammer struck the Demon's head in a straight, downward blow.
Thud!
A sickening sound echoed as the Demon's skull was driven straight into its chest cavity.
A torrent of blood erupted from the shattered body.
The Demon froze instantly, utterly paralyzed.
Sosuke glared at the creature, his breath ragged.
He still hadn't settled on a name for his Second Form, and the sudden shift from the First Form had drained a significant amount of his stamina.
But now... was not the time to rest.
Seizing the opportunity while the Demon was immobilized, Sosuke frantically searched for rope. Finding none, his eyes fell upon vines dangling through holes in the roof.
'I wonder if these will hold...'
Doubt lingered in his mind, but his movements remained swift and decisive.
He drew a short knife from his waist, originally intended for cutting through thorns and weeds while traveling through the mountains.
Now, it proved equally effective for severing the vines.
After cutting a length of vine, he wrapped it tightly around the momentarily immobilized Demon, binding it from head to toe. Lacking any knowledge of intricate ropework techniques, he crudely and savagely bound the Demon into a cocoon-like bundle. He had initially planned to leave the head exposed, but when the Demon's head was hammered into its chest cavity, he abandoned the idea, figuring the creature wouldn't be able to struggle free anytime soon.
With the task completed, he dragged the Demon to the temple entrance and hung it there.
By tomorrow morning, as the sun rose, the creature would vanish like smoke with the dawn.
Only after finishing all this did Sosuke feel his limbs grow weak. He staggered back a few steps and collapsed onto the ground, panting heavily.