"Huh—"
Enmu's neck was gripped tightly by the crimson-haired swordsman before him, and he could only produce meaningless, strangled sounds of pain.
His eyes widened in disbelief. Could it be that this man had resisted his Blood Demon Art the moment he opened the lid of the lunch box? He had clearly seen with his own eyes that this swordsman and another one—an owl-eyed fellow—had fallen asleep at the table.
Why?
Why could this man realize he was inside a dream?
Why was he able to strangle him even before he fully woke up?
Why did he even know his name?!
A single thought remained in Enmu's mind—
Damn it!
Hayashi's palms tightened. Just remembering the earlier scene disgusted him.
Disguising an eyeball as a boiled egg and hiding it in a lunch box? What kind of twisted imagination was that?!
Thankfully, he had set aside that box and swapped for another. Otherwise, even if it had only been in a dream, the mere act of eating it would've made him sick.
Glancing around, he saw Rengoku Kyojuro collapsed on the table, clearly asleep. The old shopkeeper and her granddaughter were also in comas. In front of Rengoku, the lunch box lay open—its contents untouched, the egg-eye still in place.
Good. Just like himself, Kyojuro must have fallen asleep instantly upon seeing it.
Reassured, Hayashi tightened his grip even further.
But then—Enmu's expression changed. The fear faded, replaced by a grotesque smile. Hayashi's heart skipped.
Shit. I've been strangling him this hard, and he's actually enjoying it…?
Suddenly, Enmu raised his hand. On the back of it, a mouth split open and whispered:
"Go to sleep!"
[Blood Demon Art: Whisper of Forced Sleep and Hypnosis]
Hayashi's grip faltered for an instant. Enmu's face lit up with joy. Yes! Despite this swordsman's absurd willpower—breaking free from the dream and even finding him—he would now be dragged back under. And at such close range, even if he broke free again…
Swish!
A brilliant blade flash, burning with the radiance of the sun, cleaved Enmu's neck cleanly in an instant.
[Breath of the Sun – First Form: Round Dance!]
Enmu's severed head rolled to the floor. His eyes bulged, filled with shock and incomprehension.
Why?
He had just watched this man fall asleep again—so why could he still wield his sword?!
Hayashi opened his eyes slowly. Enmu's fading consciousness trembled at his next words:
"Have you ever heard of Cao Cao from the Three Kingdoms?"
Enmu froze. Of course he had. Ever since the Edo period, Romance of the Three Kingdoms had been popular in Japan. In the Meiji era, prints and plays had spread widely. He knew the name, but why bring it up now?
Hayashi smirked darkly.
"You ask me how I did it? Simple—just like Cao Cao…
I kill people in my dreams."
He released his grip and let the headless body crumple. But his brow furrowed—
The slash had been far too effortless. There was none of the familiar resistance he had felt when severing the necks of other Lower Moons.
Especially for someone like Enmu, a Lower Rank of the Twelve Kizuki…
Even at this point, he had not received any extra blood infusion from Muzan Kibutsuji as in the original timeline.
But his neck still shouldn't feel so loose.
Moreover, his restoration level remained stuck at 51%, and no system reward came for killing the demon.
Sure enough, although Enmu's severed head on the ground had already begun to dissipate, that eerie smile lingered:
"I don't understand why you can kill people inside dreams, but the one you just killed wasn't my true body."
"As for where my real body is—hehe, take your time searching!"
Hayashi clenched his teeth, resisting the urge to immediately scour the carriage. Instead, he first checked on Rengoku Kyojuro and the others.
At this moment, neither Rengoku, nor the grandmother and her young granddaughter had fully awakened.
Obviously, Enmu's core body wasn't far—it was just hidden in some impossible-to-find place.
Truly, this was the most troublesome demon Hayashi had encountered since arriving in this world.
In terms of pure combat strength, this Lower Moon wasn't even close to Upper Moon One, Kokushibo, and might not even match Upper Moon Three, Akaza, or Lower Moon survivors like Rokuro and Kamanue.
But this Blood Demon Art—forcing victims into dreams and projecting false bodies—was maddeningly difficult to deal with.
Just like the first time he had fallen into the dream: if not for the fact that Enmu's illusions mirrored almost exactly the plot of the original story Hayashi had read, creating that strong déjà vu and sense of wrongness, he might not have broken free so quickly.
As for strangling or even beheading Enmu inside the dream? That was no problem for Hayashi.
After all, in the original tale even Rengoku Kyojuro, while trapped in slumber, could still crush an illusory enemy's throat with sheer instinct. Compared to that, Hayashi had more tools. He was, after all, cosplaying the legendary swordsman Tsugikuni Yoriichi.
With that thought, Hayashi reached into his robes and drew out a peculiar knife—an item entrusted to him earlier by Lady Tamayo.
Back when he faced Kyōgai, the former Lower Moon Six with drums embedded in his body, Hayashi had considered using this blade.
But Kyōgai was too weak; the opportunity wasn't worth it.
Against Kokushibo, the nearly headless monstrosity gave him no chance to strike.
Now, however, Hayashi realized another brilliant use for this knife.
He twirled it lightly in his fingers, lips curling into a playful smile.
"It's decided then—your turn, Chachamaru."
With a swift motion, he drove the knife into Enmu's dissipating remains. As blood seeped into the hilt, a cat's cry echoed through the air.
"Meow—!"
On the second cry, Hayashi saw Chachamaru appear, carrying a small pouch strapped to her back.
He crouched down and affectionately scratched the top of her head.
But instead of immediately slipping the blood-filled blade into her pouch, Hayashi pointed toward the remains of the demon's false body.
"Track that scent for me, and lead me to where the real body is hiding."
Visit patreon.com/ShiroTL for more chapters.