The woman finally put away that helpless expression.
She stood up slowly, the hem of her kimono dragging a wet trail on the ground, all of which was blood.
In the dark corner behind her, several human organs were scattered all over the ground, with jagged cuts still bleeding.
“How boring.”
The woman sighed, her tone shifting from sweet and syrupy to cold.
“I originally wanted to let you die a bit more comfortably.”
She raised her hand, her nails growing longer and sharper at a speed visible to the naked eye, their color shifting from light red to deep black.
Her slit pupils contracted in the moonlight, and the curve of her mouth completely broke free from the structural limitations of a human face, stretching all the way to her ears.
This was no ordinary demon.
Uchiha Bing felt a slight threat from her.
This fellow was more than a tier stronger than those small fries on Fujikasane Mountain, probably comparable to the Hand Demon, or perhaps even stronger.
This was an unknown demon, and he had no idea what her Blood Demon Art was like.
Uchiha Bing did not act rashly, but the woman opposite him moved.
Her speed was faster than any demon on Fujikasane Mountain, five black claws tearing through the air straight for his throat.
Uchiha Bing did not block.
He sidestepped to let the claws pass, his soles adhered to the wall with Chakra, and he stepped onto the wall in two strides, using the momentum to flip through the air and land a few steps behind her.
The woman turned around, a trace of surprise flashing in her slit pupils.
She lunged forward again, even faster.
Her nails scraped across the wall, sending stone chips flying and leaving deep claw marks.
Uchiha Bing retreated continuously, every step synchronized with her attacks, backing away with precise timing.
But this was a dead end; he couldn’t keep retreating forever, as the end of the alley was a wall.
The woman clearly noticed this as well, and her offensive grew faster and faster, forcing Uchiha Bing into a dead corner.
Her claws grazed past his cheek, and he smelled a sweet, cloying scent—poison, or a paralyzing drug?
Neither mattered, as long as he wasn’t touched.
Uchiha Bing’s back finally hit the wall.
The woman smiled.
“The game of hide-and-seek has come to an end, little boy.”
With nowhere left to retreat, Uchiha Bing finally drew his blade.
A blue flash of water swept past, and the female demon raised her hand to block.
Her nails and the blade collided with a crisp sound like clashing metal.
Another notch was added to the edge of the blade, but the fiend’s five claws were severed at the root.
Uchiha Bing stood holding his blade, his breathing steady, not rushing in the slightest.
Relying on his exceptional eyesight, he found a flaw on this woman.
Before every attack, her left shoulder would move first; the speed of her left hand was faster than her right, but the muscles of her left shoulder were tenser than her right, causing her right hand to lag half a beat behind when her left hand struck.
This female demon was left-handed.
The slash he used earlier to cut off her nails had cut right in at the moment after her left-hand nails missed their thrust and before her right hand had time to rise.
He had already found the assurance of victory.
As long as he played it steady and took advantage of the stiffness between the female demon’s left and right hands, his probability of winning was very high.
However, the woman suddenly straightened her body and slowly retracted her nails, restoring them to normal finger length.
She tilted her head to look at him, the killing intent already gone from her eyes.
“It seems our strengths are about matched.
Right now you can’t kill me, and I can’t kill you.
How about you just pretend you never saw me today?” she said.
Uchiha Bing did not reply.
“You’re still young.
Judging by your appearance, you’re only eleven or twelve, right?
You have plenty of time to enjoy the beauty of life, so why risk your life fighting to the death with an old demon who has lived for nearly a hundred years?”
She swept her scattered long hair behind her ears, revealing that young and pretty face once again.
“The Demon Slayer Corps is really going downhill; they actually let a kid your age out to kill demons.”
“You talk too much,” Uchiha Bing finally spoke.
The woman chuckled.
“I just find it interesting.
I’ve been lurking in this alley for three days and killed four Demon Slayer Corps Members.
You’re the first one who managed to force me to get serious.
Leave your name, little boy, I’ll rememb—”
Halfway through her sentence, she suddenly stopped.
Her pupils shrank violently, the smile on her face vanished instantly, and she abruptly turned her head to look toward the entrance of the alley.
Because of his positioning, Uchiha Bing naturally saw someone at the alley entrance a step before she did.
However, to actually dare to turn their back to him—they truly must have a death wish.
Facing the opening presented by the female demon’s back, Uchiha Bing rushed up and struck with a single slash. Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
Water Breathing — First Form: Water Surface Slash.
The blue blade light swept through the darkness, drawing an extremely thin white line that flashed past the woman’s neck.
The woman’s head fell to the ground, rolled twice, and only stopped when it hit the wall.
Her eyes were still rolling, looking at Uchiha Bing, her lips twitching as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, she said nothing at all, and her entire body turned to ashes along with her severed neck.
[Killed Fiend (Elite), Influence Value +300]
[Current Influence Value: 1750]
This slash was truly neat and clean.
Sheathing his blade, Uchiha Bing looked toward the newcomer.
The moonlight shone upon him, allowing Uchiha Bing to see his face clearly.
This was a young man, looking to be just over twenty years old, with his black hair tied into a ponytail at the back of his head.
The corners of his eyes tilted slightly upward, and his gaze was as cold as a knife.
A nichirin blade hung at his waist with a pitch-black scabbard, its hilt wrapped in white cloth.
This man stood at the entrance of the alley with his arms crossed over his chest; just by looking at his standing posture, one could tell he was terrifyingly strong.
Uchiha Bing recognized this person.
Tomioka Giyu, successor of Water Breathing, current Water Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps.
The most outstanding disciple under Sakonji Urokodaki, and Kamado Tanjiro’s fellow apprentice.
He was also the cold man who finished an entire season’s worth of lines in front of Tanjiro upon his very first appearance in the original work.
No wonder that demon died so easily.
A Hashira’s aura was completely different from an ordinary member’s; that suffocating sense of pressure was enough to make any fiend’s scalp tingle.
Uchiha Bing sized up Tomioka Giyu, and Tomioka Giyu was looking at him as well.
He was holding a second-hand nichirin blade and wearing the Demon Slayer Corps uniform, yet he lacked the scabbard and ID tag that a formal member should have.
A Mizunoto-rank swordsman without a formal nichirin blade, single-handedly sparring with a fairly strong fiend in an alley, uninjured, breathing steadily, and even seizing the opportunity to counterkill when pushed into a corner—this was not the performance a regular rookie should have.
“You’re a rookie,” Tomioka Giyu said, his tone very flat, not a question.
“Yes.”
“Came from Fujikasane Mountain?”
“Right.”
“Name.”
“Uchiha Bing.”
Tomioka Giyu remained silent for a few seconds.
This name clearly had no corresponding match in his mind—not a disciple under Urokodaki, not a Tsuguko of any Hashira, nor a name from the list of rookies previously circulated within the Demon Slayer Corps.