"Hmph, a broken axe!"
The demon touched the rapidly wriggling wound on its neck. Seeing that the newcomer wasn't a demon slayer wielding a nichirin blade, its initial shock instantly turned into a savage, brutal sneer.
"Another annoying little bug! Since you're so eager to die, I'll start with you!"
Tanjiro had initially attacked directly at its neck, making it mistakenly believe that the Demon Slayer Corps was attacking with a nichirin blade, which caused it to retreat in shock.
Upon realizing it was just an ordinary woodcutting axe, its fear was instantly replaced by furious embarrassment.
Before its words even finished, its figure transformed into a bluish-gray lightning bolt, instantly closing the distance to Tanjiro! Its demon claw, like an iron clamp, precisely gripped Tanjiro's throat, slamming him hard to the ground!
"Ugh!"
Tanjiro was caught off guard. The intense feeling of suffocation caused the woodcutting axe in his hand to slip, preventing him from swinging it at the demon again.
Just then, Nezuko, who had been suppressing her bloodlust and looking towards the shrine, suddenly trembled! She forcibly overcame her innate bloodthirsty instinct.
It seemed her brother's peril had awakened a deeper instinct within her; she forcibly turned her head.
She charged forward and delivered a solid kick directly to the demon's head!
That grotesque demon head was actually kicked clean off its neck, tumbling and landing in the mud a distance away!
The demon's headless body suddenly stiffened, and the demon claw gripping Tanjiro also loosened, allowing Tanjiro to break free from its grasp.
An opportunity!
Luo En's gaze instantly locked onto the demon head rolling on the ground, still cursing, and the woodcutting axe that had slipped from Tanjiro's hand.
He watched Tanjiro sit there, dazed, with no further action.
So, without the slightest hesitation, he stumbled forward, grabbed the heavy woodcutting axe, and, using the momentum of his charge, threw the axe with all his remaining strength towards that demon head!
Pfft!
The axe blade precisely pinned the still-cursing head firmly to the ground!
"Its… its head can still move after being chopped off?!"
Tanjiro had just recovered from his suffocation when he saw the headless demon body once again brandishing its sharp claws, reaching for him, his face filled with shock.
Nezuko stepped forward again, kicking the headless demon body several meters away.
But the demon body seemed to have fixated on its target, ignoring Luo En and its own pinned head, and instead furiously attacked Nezuko!
Seeing Nezuko under attack, even though he was unarmed, he still lunged forward without hesitation, using his body to collide with the demon's body.
On the other side, beneath the pinned demon head, flesh wriggled, and a pair of tiny, baby-like arms grew out at a visible speed!
They frantically clawed at the ground, digging at the mud, trying to pull the head free from its confinement!
"Dream on!"
Luo En fumbled around nearby and found a heavy stone. He rushed to the head, ignored the wildly flailing small hands and the vicious curses coming from the head's mouth, swung the stone, and smashed it several times onto the back of the axe!
"Thud! Thud!"
The heavy blows drove the axe blade deeper into the mud, trapping the skull, pinning it more securely!
Then, ignoring the demon's curses and the wildly grabbing small hands, he picked up the stone and began to smash it fiercely onto the pinned, still-cursing demon head!
Luo En knew this wouldn't truly kill the demon, but each heavy blow would bring intense pain and shock, enough to make it unable to find a way to break free.
After an unknown amount of time, just as Luo En's arm was aching from smashing, a dull thud of a heavy object falling echoed from a distance.
Almost simultaneously, the pinned demon head in front of him suddenly spewed a mouthful of black blood, completely slumped, and its cursing ceased abruptly.
Luo En felt a wave of relief, stumbled back two steps from exhaustion, and leaned against a tree, gasping for air.
"…It's done!"
It seemed either the body falling off the cliff had severely impacted this side, or the distance was too great, and the body and head had completely severed their connection.
But seeing this situation, Luo En also knew that Tanjiro had probably dealt with the demon's body.
Soon after, Tanjiro returned, supporting Nezuko. Seeing the temporarily unconscious demon head and the exhausted Luo En, he also breathed a sigh of relief.
Tanjiro's gaze fell on the demon head, a complex emotion flashing in his eyes.
He stepped forward and slowly drew the short blade he carried for self-defense at his waist.
Tanjiro's hand gripping the blade tightened, then loosened, then tightened again. His breathing became rapid and heavy due to his internal struggle.
His kind nature made him feel a huge psychological burden about ending a "life"—even if it was a demon.
Watching Tanjiro's pained and conflicted expression, Luo En leaned against the tree and spoke in a hoarse voice:
"It's useless… Your short blade, like that axe, can't kill it."
Tanjiro suddenly looked up at him, his eyes full of confusion:
"Then… what should I do?"
Luo En raised his head, looked at the sky still shrouded in darkness, and gently exhaled a white mist tinged with blood.
"Wait."
"Wait for the sun to rise."
The forest before dawn was bone-chillingly cold.
Tanjiro's voice broke the pre-dawn silence, carrying an uncontrollable tremor:
"Can we only… wait for the sun to rise?"
His tone held hesitation, and even a hint of reluctance at the thought of the demon being burned to ashes by the sunlight.
"Isn't there a way for him to be free without suffering, to be released at once?"
"Don't show them mercy."
Luo En's voice was hoarse and cold, as if tempered by ice.
"When you pity it, think of those it tore apart. It wouldn't pity them. And, no matter what you think in your heart, at least right now you don't have that kind of thing in your hand!"
Before his words finished, an old man wearing a red tengu mask quietly approached them. His expression was unclear, but his scrutinizing gaze constantly swept over them.
It's him… Urokodaki Sakonji. The moment Luo En saw this old man, coupled with the current plot, he basically confirmed his identity.
Urokodaki Sakonji, like Tanjiro, possessed a keen, special sense of smell, able to discern people's emotions through scent and also distinguish demons disguised as humans.
Watching the old man, who was only discovered when he came close to them, Luo En couldn't help but marvel that he was indeed the former Water Hashira; even in his old age, his strength was not weak.
Urokodaki Sakonji's gaze first fell on Luo En, his voice calm and unwavering:
"You know about creatures like demons, and you understand the sun's effect on them. Have you ever encountered a demon?"
Luo En met his scrutinizing gaze and responded frankly:
"I suppose so! I've heard rumors, and I've witnessed some tragedies firsthand."
Luo En responded ambiguously, but he didn't mix in any lies, as he had indeed 'seen' demons, albeit through a screen.
This statement didn't make Urokodaki Sakonji's special nose detect the scent of a lie, so he nodded, didn't press further, and turned his gaze to Tanjiro.
Tanjiro looked at the suddenly appearing old man and asked:
"Excuse me, do… do you have a way to kill him directly?"
"Don't ask others."
Urokodaki's tone suddenly became stern.
"Why don't you use your own mind to think?"
Tanjiro was startled by the reprimand. He looked again at the demon head pinned to the ground, and the idea of smashing it completely with a stone came to mind.
But that kindness, stemming from his very core, prevented him from inflicting such cruelty on a life about to turn to ash.
The hesitant and compassionate aura emanating from him caused Urokodaki's brows to furrow slightly beneath his mask.
It made him feel that this child recommended by Giyu… was too weak.