"Hmph, a useless 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 quickly turned into a brutal, sneering grin.
"Another annoying little bug. Since you're so eager to die, I'll start with you."
Initially, Tanjiro had aimed for its neck, making it mistakenly believe a Demon Slayer was attacking with a nichirin blade, which caused its shocked retreat.
Upon realizing it was just an ordinary woodcutting axe, its fear was instantly replaced by furious indignation.
Before its words even finished, its figure transformed into a bluish-grey lightning bolt, instantly closing the distance to Tanjiro. Its claws, like iron pincers, accurately clamped onto Tanjiro's throat, slamming him violently to the ground.
"Ugh!"
Tanjiro was caught off guard, and the intense feeling of suffocation made the woodcutting axe slip from his hand, preventing him from swinging it at the demon again.
Just then, Nezuko, who had been suppressing her bloodthirsty urges 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, rushed over and landed a solid kick on the demon's head.
That grotesque demonic 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 claws gripping Tanjiro loosened, allowing Tanjiro to break free from its grasp.
An opportunity!
Ryoma's gaze instantly locked onto the demonic head, still cursing on the ground, and the woodcutting axe that had slipped from Tanjiro's hand.
He watched Tanjiro sit there, stunned, without making another move.
So, without hesitation, he stumbled forward, picked up the heavy woodcutting axe, and, using the momentum of his charge and all his remaining strength, hurled the axe savagely at the demon's head.
Pfft!
The axe blade precisely pinned the still-cursing head firmly to the ground.
"A head… a head can still move even after being chopped off?!"
Tanjiro had just recovered from the suffocation when he saw the headless body once again brandishing its sharp claws, reaching for him, his face filled with shock.
Nezuko stepped forward again, kicking the headless body several meters away. But the body seemed to have fixated on its target, ignoring Ryoma and its own pinned head, and instead furiously attacked Nezuko.
Seeing Nezuko under attack, despite being unarmed, Tanjiro still unhesitatingly lunged forward, using his body to collide with the demon's body.
On the other side, beneath the pinned demon head, flesh writhed, 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!"
Ryoma fumbled around nearby and found a heavy stone. He rushed to the head, ignoring the wildly flailing small hands and the vicious curses from the head's mouth. He swung the stone and slammed it several times onto the back of the axe.
Thud... Thud...
The heavy blows drove the axe blade deeper into the mud, wedging it against the skull, pinning it even more securely.
Then, ignoring the demon's curses and its wildly grasping small hands, he picked up the stone and began to smash it fiercely onto the pinned, still-cursing demon head.
Ryoma knew this wouldn't truly kill the demon, but each heavy blow would inflict intense pain and shock, enough to incapacitate it from trying to break free.
After an unknown amount of time, just as Ryoma's arm grew sore 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 abruptly ceased.
Ryoma felt a wave of relief, stumbled back two steps from exhaustion, and leaned against a tree, gasping for breath.
"…It worked."
It seemed either the body's severe injuries from falling off the cliff had affected this side, or the distance was too great, and the body and head had lost connection.
But seeing this situation, Ryoma knew that Tanjiro had likely dealt with the demon's body.
A short while later, Tanjiro returned, supporting Nezuko. Seeing the temporarily unconscious demon head and the exhausted Ryoma, he 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 becoming short and heavy due to his inner 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, Ryoma leaned against the tree and spoke in a hoarse voice, "It's useless. Your short blade, like that axe, can't kill it."
Tanjiro looked up at him, his eyes full of confusion. "Then… what should I do?"
Ryoma raised his head, looked at the sky still shrouded in darkness, and exhaled a light 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 also a hint of reluctance at the thought of the demon being burned alive to ashes by the sunlight.
"Is there no way to let it go without suffering, to end it in one go?"
"Don't have pity for them."
Ryoma's voice was hoarse and cold, as if tempered by ice.
"When you pity it, think of the people it tore apart. It wouldn't pity them. And, no matter what you think, at least you don't have that kind of thing in your hand right now."
Before his words finished, an old man wearing a red tengu mask approached them silently. His expression was unclear, but his scrutinizing gaze constantly swept over them.
It's him… Urokodaki Sakonji.
The moment Ryoma 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, allowing him to discern human emotions through scent and distinguish demons disguised as humans.
Watching the old man, who was only discovered when he was close to them, Ryoma couldn't help but marvel that he was indeed the former Water Hashira. Even in his old age, his strength was not low.
Sakonji's gaze first fell on Ryoma, his voice calm as still water. "You know about creatures like demons, and you understand the sun's effect on them. Have you ever encountered a demon?"
Ryoma met the scrutinizing gaze and responded candidly, "You could say that. I've heard rumors, and I've seen some tragedies with my own eyes."
Ryoma responded ambiguously, but without any falsehoods, as he had indeed seen demons, albeit through a screen.
This statement didn't make Sakonji's special nose detect the scent of a lie. He nodded, didn't press further, and turned his gaze to Tanjiro.
Tanjiro looked at the suddenly appearing old man and asked, "Excuse me, sir… do you have a way to kill him directly?"
"Don't ask others." Sakonji'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 considered the idea of smashing it with a stone.
But that innate kindness, stemming from his very core, prevented him from inflicting such cruelty on a life that was about to turn to ash.
The hesitant and compassionate aura emanating from him caused Sakonji's brows to furrow slightly beneath his mask.
It made him feel that this child recommended by Giyu… was too weak.