Inside the room, Tanjiro and Inosuke moved like two wild beasts trapped in the same cage.
Fists snapped through the air. Feet swept low. Shoulders slammed, palms collided, and every exchange echoed against the walls with dull, heavy impacts.
Inosuke fought with feral instinct. His movements were strange, flexible, and unpredictable, like an animal that had learned how to stand on two legs but refused to abandon its claws.
But Tanjiro held the advantage.
After several rounds of Feedback from Asuramaru, his body had already been strengthened far beyond what it had once been. In raw power alone, Inosuke could no longer compare to him.
Another clash sent Inosuke staggering back.
His hands had gone numb.
"You..." he growled through his boar mask. "You're strong!"
Tanjiro remained calm and tried again. "Can we stop now? Please listen to me."
"Absolutely not!" Inosuke roared without hesitation. "I'm not listening! I have to defeat you!"
He lunged again, throwing himself forward with all the reckless force of a charging beast.
Facing him for the first time, Tanjiro did not feel like he was fighting a person.
It felt more like trying to subdue a wild animal.
From within Asuramaru, Alex finally spoke.
"Just knock him out. Otherwise, this will never end."
Tanjiro hesitated. "Isn't that a bit too much?"
Inosuke answered the question for him by attacking again, relentless and completely unwilling to talk.
With no better option, Tanjiro sighed inwardly.
"All right. I suppose I have to."
As Inosuke rushed in, Tanjiro waited for the right moment, dropped low, and swept his leg toward Inosuke's ankles.
Inosuke immediately jumped.
But that was exactly what Tanjiro had been waiting for.
Before Inosuke could land, Tanjiro had already turned and risen. He reached out with both hands. Inosuke reacted just as quickly, raising his own palms to block.
Their hands locked together.
For a split second, both of them froze in a contest of strength.
Alex's amused voice sounded in Tanjiro's mind.
"Headbutt him."
Tanjiro did not hesitate.
He drove his forehead forward.
Inosuke, unwilling to lose even in something as stupid as this, lunged forward with his own head.
Inside the sword, Alex could only admire the courage.
The last person who dared to compete with Tanjiro in a headbutt probably had grass growing over his grave by now.
The result was decided before impact.
Thud!
The sound was solid enough to make anyone listening wince.
The two separated.
Inosuke staggered backward. Even his boar-head mask slipped off and fell to the floor, revealing a surprisingly delicate face beneath it. Blood trickled from his forehead, and his eyes unfocused for a moment.
His head felt like it had been split open.
His vision swam.
Tanjiro, on the other hand, stood perfectly steady.
He was not entirely unaffected, perhaps.
But he might as well have been.
"Can you calm down now?" Tanjiro asked with righteous concern.
Inosuke swayed on his feet, still stubborn to the core.
"No! I have to defeat you! Hit me with another headbutt! Come on!"
Unfortunately, while his mouth was still fighting, his body had already surrendered.
Tanjiro stared at the blood running down his forehead and became genuinely worried.
"Are you all right? You should sit down and let me take a look."
Inosuke ignored the concern completely. His mind was fixed on only one thing—continuing the fight.
"Shut up, Forehead Boy," he rasped. "Remember my name. I am Hashibira Inosuke! Now hit me with another—"
Before he could finish, his body froze.
Under Tanjiro's gaze, Inosuke's eyes rolled back.
Then he fell straight onto his back.
His body twitched, and white foam leaked from his mouth.
At that exact moment, Zenitsu happened to arrive at the doorway and witnessed the entire scene.
His face twisted into horror.
"Ah?! Tanjiro, did you kill him?!"
Tanjiro turned around and saw Zenitsu standing there, with a young boy in a yellow kimono beside him.
"It's not like that, Zenitsu," Tanjiro quickly explained. "I only knocked him out."
"For real?"
Zenitsu approached with extreme caution, as if Inosuke might leap up and bite him. After confirming that the boar-headed lunatic was still alive, he finally exhaled.
"This guy is from the Demon Slayer Corps too," Zenitsu muttered gloomily. "He's just a hothead. He was the first to arrive at Final Selection and the first to leave. I didn't think we'd run into him here."
Tanjiro had already guessed that much.
After all, Inosuke carried two Nichirin swords.
"All right, Zenitsu," Tanjiro said. "The demon here has been slain. Let's bury the people who died first."
Zenitsu's expression brightened at once.
"Eh? You already killed the demon? I knew you were the most reliable!"
Tanjiro did not linger on the praise.
Together, they carried the unconscious Inosuke, gathered the remains of the dead, and led the only survivor out of the mansion.
Outside, they dug graves near the estate and buried the bodies one by one.
No one knew how long it had been before Inosuke finally woke.
He sat up, saw the fresh grave mounds before him, then noticed Tanjiro and the others nearby.
Without even taking a moment to recover, he jumped to his feet and stormed straight toward Tanjiro.
"Come settle this with me!"
Only after reaching him did Inosuke seem to notice what they were doing.
He pointed at them and demanded, "What are you guys doing?!"
Tanjiro turned his head and answered kindly, "We're burying the dead. You should help too. But if your injury still hurts, don't force yourself."
Inosuke froze.
Then his temper exploded.
To him, that sounded like Tanjiro was looking down on him.
"Hah?! Stop underestimating me! I'll bury a hundred people just to show you!"
Zenitsu stared at him in disbelief.
There really had to be something wrong with this guy.
Still, with Inosuke now awake and shouting, the burial work went faster.
The group worked together, digging graves and laying the dead to rest.
During that time, Alex spoke to Tanjiro from within Asuramaru.
"Tanjiro, through my Feedback, your body has already surpassed the limits of an ordinary human. Normal training won't be very effective for you anymore."
Tanjiro, who was still digging, immediately grew serious.
"Then how should I become stronger from now on? Do I need to keep hunting demons?"
Alex was tempted to answer yes.
Very tempted.
After all, killing demons meant Demon Power, Emotion Points, and continued growth.
But after a brief pause, he changed course.
"I'm glad you have the determination for revenge, but blind slaughter will only improve your physique. Your swordsmanship and Breathing Style are the keys to truly becoming stronger."
"Swordsmanship and Breathing Style..." Tanjiro repeated quietly.
Then he asked with sincere humility, "Please teach me, Asuramaru."
"Fine."
Alex organized what he remembered and began explaining.
"Tanjiro, right now, your mastery of Water Breathing only reaches the level of being able to use it in battle. Your next step is different."
Tanjiro listened intently, afraid of missing a single word.
"You need to maintain your Breathing Style all day and all night without interruption."
Tanjiro's eyes widened.
"All day?"
"Yes," Alex said. "The longer you can keep the Breathing Style active, the stronger your basic physical ability will become."
He paused, then continued.
"This is called Total Concentration Breathing: Constant."
Tanjiro's grip on the shovel tightened slightly.
He understood immediately how difficult that would be.
To maintain the rhythm of a Breathing Style during combat was already exhausting. Keeping it active while walking, resting, eating, speaking—even sleeping—was on an entirely different level.
But he did not reject it.
He only listened more carefully.
"And now," Alex said, his tone lowering slightly, "comes the important part."
Tanjiro straightened at once.
"When a Breathing Style is mastered to a certain degree, it may awaken a corresponding mark on the body. That is called the Demon Slayer Mark."
Tanjiro's breath caught.
"Once the Mark appears, your strength will rise dramatically. But it comes at a cost. It places an immense burden on the body."
Alex's voice grew calm and serious.
"Those who awaken it later in life generally do not live past the age of twenty-five."
.....
[If you don't want to wait for the next update, read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon.]
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