The moment Tanjiro was hit, Alex released Demon Power into his body without hesitation.
The bloody holes torn through Tanjiro's flesh began knitting themselves back together at a pace visible to the naked eye. Warmth surged through his limbs, pushing back the pain before it could fully settle in.
Even while keeping his eyes locked on the enemy, Tanjiro still managed to say, "Thank you for healing me, Asuramaru!"
Alex did not answer.
He simply kept watching.
Across from them, the female demon saw the blood-riddled wounds closing and, for the first time, her expression twisted in disbelief.
Even so, she forced a sickly smile onto her face.
"It hurts, doesn't it?" she said, voice dripping with malice. "Being pierced by my blood must hurt terribly. But don't worry. You won't be suffering much longer."
Her grin widened.
"At this rate, you'll bleed dry first."
As she spoke, she swung her arms again, scattering more blood into the air. The droplets accelerated like bullets and screamed toward Tanjiro from every angle.
This time, Tanjiro did not hesitate.
"Water Breathing, Sixth Form: Whirlpool!"
Water exploded from the blade.
A swirling torrent wrapped around his body like a vortex, intercepting the incoming blood and dragging it into the current. Once caught inside the rotating water, the blood lost the terrifying force it had displayed before.
Tanjiro did not stop moving.
With the whirlpool still fading around him, he shifted his grip to one hand and burst forward.
The female demon's face stiffened.
What was wrong with this boy?
He had been pierced clean through in several places by her Blood Demon Art. A normal human should have been weakening by the second. Yet not only was he still standing, he was charging straight at her as if nothing had happened.
At this point, even she could not help but feel a moment of confusion.
Who was the demon here?
Still, she forced herself to stay calm.
No matter how strange he was, he had to be losing blood. He had to be reaching his limit.
Clawing her own forearms with her nails, she ripped them open and snapped both arms outward.
A cross-shaped slash of blood tore through the air.
Tanjiro narrowly dodged it.
And in that brief exchange, his thoughts sharpened.
He had already begun to understand the pattern of her Blood Demon Art.
Once the blood left her body, she could accelerate it violently.
But its direction was fixed.
After release, she could not freely change its course.
There was more.
The farther away he stayed, the wider the spread and the harder it was to predict. But the closer he got, the denser her attacks became—and the easier it was to read and avoid them.
So the answer was simple.
Close the distance.
The instant that thought settled, Tanjiro pushed off the ground and charged.
The female demon's composure cracked.
She flung blood wildly as she screamed, "Don't come any closer! Stay back!"
But Tanjiro's eyes never wavered.
He shifted, weaved, and drove forward through the barrage. More blood struck him along the way, opening fresh holes in his clothes and skin—but each wound was immediately met by Alex's healing.
Step by step, the gap between them shrank.
The closer Tanjiro came, the less room her attacks had to spread.
He dodged more cleanly.
She grew more frantic.
At last, terror began to show plainly on her face.
"Stop! I said stop getting closer!"
In panic, she slashed both arms outward and launched two more attacks at once.
Tanjiro was already in front of her.
He jumped, narrowly avoiding the horizontal blood slash. For a fraction of a second, he hung suspended in midair—
And the female demon grinned savagely.
She fired again.
A vertical slash of blood shot upward toward him.
"Hehe... die!"
From her point of view, the kill was certain.
A body in midair had nowhere to brace, nowhere to step, nowhere to turn.
But Tanjiro gritted his teeth and twisted violently in the air, narrowly slipping past the strike.
At the same time, he changed his grip and drove the sword forward.
"Water Breathing, Seventh Form: Drop Ripple Thrust!"
There was no flourish to it.
No wide arc. No dramatic torrent.
Just a single thrust.
The blade pierced straight through the female demon's throat as smoothly as if it had entered still water without resistance.
Tanjiro's eyes sharpened.
He was about to turn the blade sideways and sever her head—
But the female demon had no intention of dying quietly.
Even with a sword through her throat, she forced her hands upward, trying to trigger her Blood Demon Art one last time.
There was no room for retreat.
No room for caution.
Tanjiro put all his strength into wrenching the blade sideways.
At the same moment, the female demon's throat convulsed.
Alex sensed it instantly.
Something was wrong.
"Tanjiro!" he shouted. "Watch out—the blood in her throat!"
The warning landed just in time.
The female demon let out a hideous laugh.
"Die, Demon Slayer!"
A mass of blood had gathered inside her mouth.
Using her ability to compress and accelerate it, she fired it straight at him from point-blank range.
At this distance, it should have been impossible to dodge.
But because of Alex's warning—and because Tanjiro had already been braced for some final struggle—he jerked his head aside at the critical instant.
The blood shot past his cheek.
And his blade finished its arc.
Her head flew from her shoulders.
Tanjiro completed the motion in midair, carving a half-circle with the blade before dropping back to the ground.
The female demon's severed head hit the earth with wide, horrified eyes.
"How... how is that possible...?"
She never got an answer.
Both head and body began crumbling into ash, breaking apart in the moonlight.
Then, from beside Tanjiro, came a soft meow.
He turned.
A calico cat had appeared at some point behind him.
It stared up at him with wide, bright eyes. Beneath its neck hung a paper talisman, and one glance at the markings was enough to make it obvious whose handiwork it was.
Yushiro's.
The cat also wore a tiny backpack.
Tanjiro crouched down, opened it, and found a note along with a strange folding knife tucked inside.
He unfolded the note and read it.
"This cat will handle blood delivery from now on. Open the folding knife and stab it into a demon's body. It will automatically collect and store the blood."
"Afterward, put it back in the bag."
Tanjiro looked at the knife in his hand.
It resembled a folding blade, but the body of it was more like a tube.
He glanced at the remains of the three demons. By now, only a portion of the female demon's body had not yet fully dispersed.
Without wasting time, he stabbed the tool into it.
At once, the remaining blood began rushing into the tube, drawn in by pressure until it was neatly contained inside.
And just then, Alex's Feedback activated again.
Strength flowed through Tanjiro's body once more.
He felt himself improve all around—his muscles, his stamina, even the length of time he could maintain his Breathing Style.
This boost was even greater than the ones before.
Alex found that perfectly normal.
After all, that female demon had been genuinely dangerous. She was strong, cunning, and full of nasty little tricks. If not for Alex's warnings and healing, Tanjiro might well have died there tonight.
Even if he had somehow won, he would not have escaped without terrible injuries.
Fortunately, they had won.
And because they had won, Tanjiro had been strengthened again through Feedback.
If he met a demon of that level another time, he would not be forced into such a miserable fight again.
Inside the blade, Alex found the outcome extremely satisfying.
As long as the Twelve Kizuki did not show up too soon, he could keep doing this over and over.
A demon appears.
Tanjiro kills it.
They get stronger.
Simple.
Safe.
Efficient.
At this rate, by the time they finally stood before Muzan, killing him might be easy.
Or perhaps...
Alex's thoughts took a darker turn.
Maybe killing Muzan right away would be a waste.
Maybe it would be better to cripple him first, lock him up somewhere, and slash him a few times whenever the mood struck.
After all, reliable sources of Emotion Points did not come around every day.
.....
[If you don't want to wait for the next update, read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon.]
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