"Scrambling through the body" wasn't an exaggeration for how Horitake's lightning behaved inside a demon.
His first experiment revealed immediate problems.
The main issue was control. Once his lightning entered a demon's body, it inevitably damaged their internal structure.
Wherever the sky thunder struck—muscles, blood vessels, bones, heart, liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys—it scorched everything.
Worse, his lightning was uniquely devastating to demons, leaving wounds they couldn't heal.
The first demon didn't even last until Horitake located its curse—it was electrocuted to death!
Its corpse was gruesome: charred in multiple spots, eyes rolled back, mouth foaming, twitching from residual electricity even after death.
Horitake stared at the wretched remains, silent.
Is this what people on the electric chair looked like?
If he tried dispelling Ubuyashiki's curse without practice, the result… Ugh, unthinkable. He'd probably be hunted by the entire Demon Slayer Corps.
Mitsuri, watching nearby, grimaced at the sight.
In short, the first demon was a write-off due to Horitake's inexperience and overly intense lightning.
He quickly captured a second demon and tried again.
This time, he was cautious, using minimal, gentle lightning.
The demon still writhed in agony, but the damage was less severe. It lasted longer.
Just as Horitake located the curse, though, the demon succumbed and died.
Second demon: scrapped.
No matter—it was an improvement.
He captured a third demon and continued.
Even more careful, Horitake reduced the lightning's damage further. The demon twitched but suffered less harm.
With Spirit Vision, he found the curse and directed his lightning to attack it.
To his surprise, the black curse, meeting his purple lightning, reacted like it had met its nemesis, fleeing wildly through the demon's body.
Horitake wasn't about to let it escape, chasing it with his lightning.
The curse, part of the demon, had the home-field advantage, darting swiftly and nimbly.
His lightning, inherently harmful to demons, struggled in this foreign terrain.
To catch the curse, Horitake had to increase the lightning's intensity and speed, which killed the demon before he could succeed.
Learning from this, he pressed on, experimenting with the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh demons…
By the tenth, Horitake realized he couldn't continue like this.
The curse darted freely in the demon's body, and chasing it with lightning caused mounting damage. The curse wasn't caught, but the demon died first.
If this were Ubuyashiki? His frail body wouldn't last long at all.
He needed a new approach.
After some thought, Horitake had an idea. He captured the eleventh demon and resumed.
This time, he chased the curse with lightning but changed his tactic.
The curse, a black gaseous mass, was fluid in form.
Horitake shaped his lightning into a thin, snake-like strand, allowing it to coil around and encircle the curse!
Haha, success!
On the eleventh try, he trapped the curse with his lightning snake.
The rest was simple. The snake formed a lightning cage, containing the curse while zapping it away!
Sky thunder was indeed the bane of evil, capable of eroding curses.
But a new problem arose.
Even with the curse contained, Horitake couldn't destroy it outright.
Zapping the curse also damaged the demon's body.
His face darkened as he realized this.
Even knowing it was bad, he had no choice. He obliterated the curse with a surge of lightning!
The curse was gone, but the demon's body couldn't withstand the damage and died.
Eleventh experiment: failure.
Not a total loss—he'd eradicated the curse, even if the demon perished.
But this wouldn't do!
If he dispelled Ubuyashiki's curse this way, killing him in the process, what was the point?
He kept capturing demons, kept experimenting.
The twelfth demon arrived, and he tried again.
Determined, Horitake believed his last attempt was too hasty. This time, he'd go slow, careful…
He controlled the lightning meticulously, rotating it to erode the curse gradually, hoping to minimize damage.
But it was a paradox.
Whether he eroded the curse slowly or all at once, the demon's body suffered. It was unavoidable—his lightning was inside the demon!
It was like two warriors battling on a field. Could you expect them to fight without wrecking the terrain?
Whether the fight was quick or prolonged, the battlefield took irreparable damage.
This time, Horitake slowly dissolved the curse, but the demon's body couldn't handle the lightning's prolonged exposure and died.
Twelfth experiment: failure!
Frustrated, Horitake kept going, experimenting on the thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth demons…
By the twenty-sixth, he faced reality: he couldn't dispel a curse without harming the body.
Back to square one—eroding the curse meant damaging the host.
During this period, Horitake grew moody, at a loss, his temper flaring.
Mitsuri, by his side, grew worried.
Unable to help technically, she offered comfort and encouragement to lift his spirits.
Thanks to her support, Horitake rallied, rethinking his approach.
How could he dispel a curse without harming the body?
Could he have both the fish and the bear's paw?
If not, he'd need a new perspective.
Then, in a flash of inspiration, it hit him!
Why am I fixated on dispelling the curse?
He didn't have to destroy it!
If he could control the curse, why not wrap it in lightning and extract it from the body?
That way, the curse would be gone, and the body would take minimal damage—problem solved!
Ecstatic, Horitake nearly hugged Mitsuri and kissed her in his excitement!
Thankfully, he caught himself.
Their closeness allowed hugs, but a kiss would be too forward.
He settled for a quick embrace, eagerly explaining his breakthrough to Mitsuri.
--+--
T/N: Although I'm an inexperienced Editor, I do have a Patreon account! Although it seems like I don't have many supporters right now, my webnovel will be released in full every day, and the advanced chapters will be uploaded to Patreon.
It may not be worth it now, but who knows, it might be different in the future. Who knows!
patreon.com/DaoistRoeoNQ
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