Human greed is far more terrifying than a demon's primal instincts.
The scene before her was undeniable proof of that statement. Kanae Kocho let out a soft, melancholic sigh, though she refused to be completely swayed by Tetsuya's rhetoric. "You cannot lump the two together."
The ugliness of humanity was indeed an unforgivable sin, but demons eating humans was equally inexcusable!
'She's tough,' Tetsuya cursed inwardly. For a girl who looked like she was barely a teenager, her mental fortitude was remarkably mature; she was way harder to fool than Akaza.
But, of course, his main goal was simply to stall for time.
"Now that you've seen all this, what do you think?" Tetsuya asked, his voice low and serious. "I have never eaten a human. And I didn't kill these men to eat them, either!"
Kanae stared deeply into his eyes, her intuition guiding her to a rough conclusion. He wasn't lying.
"What happened...?"
With Tetsuya incapacitated by the potent poison, John Deere had finally managed to break free from the Sharingan's Genjutsu. His gaze swept the room, the overwhelming metallic stench of blood assaulting his nostrils.
Intense waves of terror bubbled up inside him. However, as a seasoned gunman who had survived countless shootouts, John knew better than anyone that the more dangerous the situation, the more he needed to keep a cool head.
Taking in the sight of the demon boy half-kneeling on the floor and the young girl standing nearby with a long sword, John instantly grasped the dynamic of the room.
"Respected Demon Slayer miss, it is a pleasure to meet you. I am John Deere, the president of the Black Dragon Syndicate," he introduced himself, his Japanese heavily accented and stuttering.
Kanae shifted her gaze toward the warehouse. "Is this your doing?"
Following her line of sight to their human trafficking and narcotics operation, John's heart skipped a beat. 'Of all the things for this Demon Slayer to see, it had to be that!'
'Damn it, your job is to kill demons! Why are you sticking your nose in other people's business?!' he thought furiously.
"Please don't misunderstand, miss! These are our guests," John forced a panicked explanation. "They simply wished to experience Western culture and customs!"
"Heh... heheh!"
Tetsuya kept his head bowed, a low, mocking scoff escaping his lips.
That openly derisive laughter instantly ignited John's fury. "You damned demon!" he roared. "This is all your fault! We are a legitimate, licensed business!"
Even as he yelled, John took closer note of the situation. Kanae was clutching her bleeding abdomen, and the demon was completely immobilized.
A flicker of twisted joy lit up the depths of John's eyes. 'So they took each other out! What perfect timing.'
"Miss Demon Slayer, leave this wretched beast to me! Please, rest assured, I will make him beg for death!" John declared smoothly. He began inching backward, slowly reaching for the rifle lying on the floor.
The gentle smile completely vanished from Kanae's face, replaced by a flash of icy hostility in her beautiful eyes.
Taking advantage of others in their weakest moments, behaving with utterly despicable greed—that was all she saw in John Deere.
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Looking purely at the results, those men had indeed been slaughtered by Tetsuya. But by wiping out a gang of ruthless criminals, he had technically punished evil and protected the weak.
The motive behind the killing mattered.
Other demons were driven entirely by their base instinct to consume human flesh; the two situations simply couldn't be compared.
Compared to the demon boy kneeling on the floor, the man standing right in front of her was far closer to the true monsters Kanae usually hunted.
"What are you going to do?" Tetsuya asked, a cold smirk curling his lips as he looked at Kanae. In his head, he was furiously counting down. Forty more seconds. Just forty more seconds until he completely purged the poison from his system.
These were the longest forty seconds of his entire life!
Kanae remained silent.
John crouched down, his fingers finally brushing against the cold steel of the rifle. An ecstatic thrill shot through him. 'As long as I have the gun, both the demon and the slayer are dead meat!'
"I'll be the one to kill him!"
Kanae lunged forward, her swift movement crossing the short distance instantly. She swung her Nichirin Sword, the razor-sharp blade cleanly decapitating John Deere before he could even lift the gun.
His severed head flew high into the air. The world spun upside down as his eyes darted around in absolute terror. 'So fast... I didn't even have time to react.'
Thud!
John's head landed heavily on the floor, his mouth moving to produce a faint, barely audible sound. "You..."
Before he could finish the thought, the last breath left his lungs.
Even in the very last second of his life, the mafia boss could have never imagined that he wouldn't die at the hands of a demon, but rather by the blade of a Demon Slayer.
Using her Nichirin Sword as a crutch, Kanae leaned heavily against the hilt to support her failing body. A radiant, brilliant smile bloomed across her breathtaking face, as vivid and beautiful as a field of spring flowers. She let out a soft, troubled chuckle. "Oh my... it seems I've become a 'demon' too."
Tetsuya blinked, thoroughly stunned. Her captivating, sorrowful smile reflected in his pupils, leaving him completely mesmerized for a moment.
"If only... we could become friends..."
Kanae's voice grew weaker and weaker until her eyes slowly fluttered shut. She collapsed onto the floor, losing consciousness completely.
At that exact moment, Tetsuya finally finished purging the last traces of the Wisteria poison. His strength rushing back into his limbs, he slowly pushed himself up to a stand.
"What a troublesome woman."
Stepping forward, he looked down at her with complicated eyes, the killing intent in his heart receding significantly. 'Actually wanting to be friends with a demon... what a ridiculously naïve, out-of-the-box idea.'
Slipping one arm under her legs and the other beneath her neck, Tetsuya scooped her light, delicate body into a bridal carry. With a light leap, he cleared the high courtyard wall.
The intense gunfire had long since woken the entire town, but no one dared step inside the syndicate's compound to investigate. Ordinary civilians knew better than to get involved in brutal gang shootouts or sudden mafia incidents.
Instead, a large crowd of residents had gathered on the outer perimeter to watch.
Not wanting to risk exposure, Tetsuya kept to the shadows, sprinting wildly through the alleys and streets until he carried the unconscious Kanae back to his own home.
Swiftly locking the door behind him, he gently laid Kanae down on the bed and fetched a medical kit.
Right before leaving the syndicate headquarters, Tetsuya had casually swiped his hand over John Deere's severed head to harvest his soul. Since mafia members frequently sustained gunshot wounds in their line of work and rarely went to hospitals, they usually treated themselves, meaning they possessed a solid grasp of field medicine.
Soul Manipulation: Puppeteer!
Tetsuya decisively assimilated John Deere's knowledge and techniques, instantly acquiring expert experience in treating gunshot wounds.
Taking a pair of scissors, he carefully cut away the fabric of Kanae's uniform, exposing her porcelain skin. The area was heavily stained with blood, and a gruesome bullet hole marked the right side of her abdomen. Surprisingly, very little blood was actively flowing from the wound.
'Is this the power of a Breathing Style?' Tetsuya marveled. An ordinary person would have bled to death by now. The Demon Slayer Corps' unique Breathing Styles allowed them to control the flow of their own blood by manipulating the oxygen they inhaled.
By simply restricting the blood flow around the gunshot wound, she was able to effectively stop the bleeding.
Hashira-level swordsmen had all mastered the "Total Concentration: Constant" state, etching the technique so deeply into their bones that their bodies automatically maintained the breathing rhythm even while they were asleep or unconscious.
Hiss!
As Tetsuya applied alcohol to disinfect her skin, the sharp, stinging pain jerked Kanae awake. She drew in a sharp breath of cold air.
"I need to take the bullet out now. There are no anesthetics, so if you don't want to die, you'll have to grit your teeth and bear it," Tetsuya stated flatly, sanitizing his hands and picking up the sterilized surgical tools.
"Thank you..."
Despite the cold sweat soaking her body and the complete lack of color in her cheeks, Kanae offered him a sweet, enduring smile.