Just as Tanjiro reached that conclusion, Alex's voice cut through his thoughts.
"Don't get careless. Have you already forgotten the female demon from yesterday?"
Those words struck Tanjiro like cold water.
The memory returned immediately.
That female demon had schemed against him until the very last moment, even using the blood inside her throat for a final attack. If Alex had not warned him, he might have died.
And this demon before him was a former Lower Rank of the Twelve Kizuki.
There was no way he would be less dangerous.
Perhaps everything Kyogai had shown so far was meant to lower his guard.
The thought sent a chill down Tanjiro's spine.
"That was close," he said inwardly. "Thank you for reminding me. You really are a huge help."
"Enough talking," Alex replied irritably. "I'll strengthen you. Use your head."
As he spoke, Demon Power flowed from Asuramaru into Tanjiro's body, enhancing him from head to toe.
"Right!"
Tanjiro tightened both hands around the sword and charged toward Kyogai in the corridor again.
Halfway there, the room suddenly flipped forward.
The floor vanished beneath his feet.
Tanjiro's body dropped.
At almost the same moment, Kyogai struck the drum on his abdomen.
Three invisible slashes tore through the air toward him.
Tanjiro twisted to the side and drove his sword into the floor, using it to stabilize himself in mid-fall. His mind worked frantically, searching for a way through Kyogai's rhythm.
Kyogai's patience finally snapped.
"Why won't you insects die obediently?!"
He spread his arms wide.
"High-Speed Drumming!"
Tanjiro's eyes narrowed.
He can go even faster?
The thought had barely formed before Kyogai's hands became a blur.
Drumbeats thundered through the mansion in rapid succession.
The room turned into a nightmare.
Walls became floors. Floors became ceilings. The entire space spun and flipped like a box tumbling downhill, while invisible slashes ripped through the confined room from every direction.
Tanjiro dodged desperately.
One wrong step would mean being torn apart.
And yet, in that chaos, an answer finally appeared in his mind.
There was only one technique for this.
Inside Asuramaru, Alex understood what Tanjiro was planning and increased the Demon Power output at once.
The drumming slowed.
The room finally stopped spinning.
Scattered across the floor were sheets of paper covered in Kyogai's writing.
Tanjiro landed lightly between them, careful not to step on a single page.
That small movement made Kyogai freeze.
The frenzy in his expression eased, if only for a breath.
Tanjiro seized that opening.
He inhaled deeply and shifted Asuramaru into one hand, the muscles in his legs coiling.
"Total Concentration. Water Breathing, Ninth Form: Splashing Water Flow, Turbulent!"
His feet tapped against the floor.
Water splashed beneath him.
Ripple after ripple spread across the room, and Tanjiro stepped over them as though they were solid ground. His speed increased sharply, his body gliding through the chamber in a broken, unpredictable rhythm.
In the blink of an eye, he was already in front of Kyogai.
Then Tanjiro spoke.
"Your Blood Demon Art is truly powerful."
Kyogai froze.
For a demon who had craved recognition to the point of madness, those words struck deeper than any sword.
And in that single instant, Tanjiro swung.
Asuramaru cut cleanly through Kyogai's neck.
Inside the sword, Alex fell silent.
For a moment, he genuinely did not know what to say.
Call Tanjiro honest, and he would walk right up to an enemy and announce, "I'm here to kill you."
Call him simple, and he would strike directly at the most vulnerable place in someone's heart, then take the chance to end the battle.
Alex was speechless.
Of course, someone else was even more speechless.
[Ding! Negative emotions detected from Demon King Muzan Kibutsuji. Obtained 1,000 Emotion Points!]
Alex's mood improved instantly.
Thank you, Boss Muzan, for the thousand-point tip. How generous.
Outside, Kyogai's severed head fell to the floor.
As his body began to collapse, he looked at Tanjiro's back and asked in a faint voice, "Was... was my Blood Demon Art truly strong?"
Tanjiro turned back and answered with complete seriousness.
"It was strong. But I cannot forgive you for killing people."
"Is that so...?"
Kyogai's voice softened.
For the first time, he seemed to receive what he had always wanted.
Recognition.
With that final comfort, he accepted the end with something almost like relief.
As Tanjiro came back to himself, a familiar meow sounded near his feet.
He looked down and, sure enough, saw the calico cat again.
"You're here too."
This time, Tanjiro handled things much more skillfully. He took the folding blood-collection knife from the cat's small backpack and stabbed it into Kyogai's fading body.
Once it had absorbed enough blood, he folded it away and placed it back.
"I'll leave this to you again."
The cat licked its paw, meowed once, and vanished from sight.
Only after Kyogai had completely crumbled away did the system notification sound inside Alex's mind.
[Ding! Negative emotions detected from Man-Eating Demon Kyogai. Obtained 1,000 Emotion Points!]
[Obtained 500 Demon Power. Thirty percent will be fed back to the Sword Master.]
The instant the message ended, Tanjiro dropped to one knee.
Veins stood out on his forehead.
Yet his expression was not pain.
It was exhilaration.
Demon Power surged through every part of his body—limbs, bones, muscles, organs—strengthening him comprehensively from within. The enhancement was far greater than before, lifting his physical ability by several levels in one breath.
Tanjiro nearly cried out from the sensation.
When the strengthening finally ended, he slowly sheathed Asuramaru and bowed his head with sincere gratitude.
"Thank you, Asuramaru. I've become stronger again."
Alex's reply was flat.
"Don't let joy cloud your judgment. Your goal is revenge, isn't it? If this small amount of strength makes your will waver, I won't hold back."
Tanjiro's expression grew solemn.
"I will never abandon my convictions."
"You'd better not."
With that, Alex fell silent.
The room had only just returned to calm when the window at the back suddenly exploded inward.
A figure burst through from outside.
Spinning through the air, he launched a flying kick straight toward Tanjiro.
The attack came too abruptly.
Tanjiro's expression shifted, and he barely managed to raise both arms in time to block.
The kick slammed into him with heavy force.
But this time, Tanjiro did not get blown away.
Instead, through sheer strength, he forcibly pushed the attacker back.
The figure was sent flying and landed several steps away.
Tanjiro lowered his arms, feeling a faint numbness spread through them.
"Who are you?" he demanded. "Why did you attack me?"
The figure spread his arms wide after landing.
In both hands, he held jagged Nichirin swords.
Behind the boar-head mask, he burst into wild laughter.
"Hahahaha! That's the first time anyone's pushed me back like that!"
Then his gaze locked onto the box on Tanjiro's back.
"There's a demon in there, isn't there?! Move! I'm going to kill it!"
Tanjiro's face tightened at once.
"Wait. Let me explain. The one in the box is my sister. She doesn't eat people, so—"
"Who cares?!"
The boar-headed swordsman cut him off without the slightest interest.
"You talk too much! It's annoying! If you won't move, I'll beat you until you do!"
Before attacking, he stabbed his swords into the floor, then dropped low and charged at Tanjiro with beastlike speed.
Tanjiro did not back down.
The two clashed in the room, shifting from sword range into a fierce hand-to-hand struggle.
Inside Asuramaru, Alex recognized him immediately.
Inosuke Hashibira.
One of the main trio had finally arrived.
With Zenitsu already inside the mansion as well, the young squad was now assembled.
And that meant the story was moving toward its next important stage.
Sooner or later, they would likely meet Kagaya Ubuyashiki.
That was where Alex's true opportunity would begin.
The groundwork had already been laid.
If the Demon Slayer Corps worked for him from the front, and Muzan continued tipping him from the back...
Wasn't that wonderful?
.....
[If you don't want to wait for the next update, read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon.]
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