UGB Chapter 4 The Chase
Chapter 4 The Chase
At this moment, as Giyu Tomioka looked at the scene before him, his hand holding the knife wavered slightly.
All of this stemmed from the strange scene that occurred when he arrived and encountered this demonized boy.
At that time, he and Shinobu Kocho were ordered by their lord to go to the vicinity to slay evil spirits.
When his kasugata crow sent him a message saying that traces of a demon had been found on the mountain, he discussed with Shinobu Kocho that he would go up the mountain to exterminate the demon, and then go to the village to kill the evil demons in the village together with Shinobu Kocho.
However, when he hurried up the mountain, he realized that he was still too late.
Kibutsuji Muzan, only the demon who can turn people into demons has appeared here.
If I had arrived earlier, this boy and his family could have avoided this tragedy.
But it was all because I arrived too late.
When he saw the boy, now transformed into a demon, get up from the ground and look at his mother.
Giyu Tomioka could only fulfill his duty and kill him so that he would stop harming his family after becoming a demon.
This was the only thing he could do!
But when he raised his Nichirin Blade and used Water Breathing First Form...
The attack that came from behind, which should have been impossible to dodge, was dodged by the boy.
At that moment, Giyu Tomioka realized something was wrong. This boy seemed to have been transformed by Muzan into an even more powerful demon.
Even the lower moon demons of the Twelve Demon Moons cannot dodge his attacks.
Moreover, he was just a boy who had just turned into a demon.
Questions filled his mind.
"Huh? He dodged it? An Upper Moon demon? No, no, he doesn't see numbers, but..."
Just as Giyu Tomioka was analyzing the boy in front of him.
Tanjiro's neck, which had been severed by Giyu Tomioka after he turned into a demon, miraculously regenerated quickly.
This scene was as impactful to Giyu Tomioka as encountering a high-ranking Lower Moon demon.
"Regenerating so quickly?"
Giyu Tomioka was shocked by Tanjiro's regeneration speed, and even his calm and indifferent eyes became somewhat surprised.
[There are no numbers in his eyes, nor are there any markings for the waxing and waning moons. Is this boy the new Twelve Demon Moons?]
Giyu Tomioka immediately dared not be careless. Holding his Nichirin Blade in both hands, he stared intently at Tanjiro after he turned into a demon, ready to kill him the moment Tanjiro launched his attack.
But in his eyes, the demonized Tanjiro was just staring straight at him, neither running away nor attacking, but just constantly sniffing something.
[Huh? Is it going to activate Blood Demon Art? How is that possible?]
Tanjiro's subtle movements after his demon transformation were magnified infinitely in the eyes of Giyu Tomioka, a Pillar-level powerhouse.
His instinctive reaction led him to believe that Tanjiro was about to unleash the Blood Demon Art.
But he couldn't quite believe that a boy who had just been turned into a demon could unleash the Blood Demon Art.
However, what he didn't know was that Tanjiro was using his heightened sense of smell to interpret his inner thoughts.
The tenderness, self-blame, and regret mixed within the resolute killing intent clearly lingered at the tip of my nose.
At the same time, he looked down at his hands.
Its fingernails were sharp as claws, and its body had inexplicably grown larger. Four fangs pierced its lips, and saliva dripped from the tips of its teeth, leaving wet spots on the wooden floor.
What he found even more irresistible was the strong aroma of his family's blood.
The cloying sweetness, like a venomous snake, burrowed into his nostrils, constantly tearing at his reason and awakening the ghost's primal craving for flesh and blood.
He clenched his teeth, a low sob escaping his throat, his scarlet pupils struggling violently between instinct and the last vestiges of humanity.
Giyu Tomioka frowned as he watched this scene.
[Hmm? Is he... resisting?]
However, the next second, Tanjiro let out a roar, turned around abruptly, and crashed headfirst into the wooden railing by the window.
Amidst the flying sawdust, he broke through the window like a wild beast and ran wildly into the vast snowstorm, leaving behind a trail of bloody footprints of varying depths.
Giyu Tomioka paused for half a second, his gaze sweeping over the gruesome pool of blood and corpses inside the room, his fingertips unconsciously tightening around his Nichirin Blade.
A complex emotion flashed across his eyes, then turned into resolute determination.
Without further hesitation, he drew his sword and strode through the snow, his cold figure like a blue lightning bolt, chasing after Tanjiro in the direction he had fled.
As he followed closely behind Tanjiro, watching Tanjiro run wildly as if out of control, he knew that at this moment, the boy had completely turned into a demon.
"Water Breathing, Third Form, Flowing Dance!"
A calm voice fell amidst the wind and snow, and Giyu Tomioka's figure suddenly transformed into a nimble blue shadow.
Like a rushing stream, she traversed the snowfield with light steps, yet carrying an undeniable sense of pressure, instantly closing the distance between herself and Tanjiro.
The azure slash, like layers of waves, carried an unstoppable momentum as it struck Tanjiro in the back.
Tanjiro had already caught the suddenly accelerating breath behind him thanks to his amplified sense of smell.
His ghostly instincts allowed him to react beyond the limits of an ordinary ghost; his body almost instinctively lunged to the side, barely avoiding the fatal blow.
However, the difference in strength between the Pillar and the newborn demon was ultimately too great, and the ferocity of this attack far exceeded that of the last one.
The moment the blade grazed his arm, blood splattered, and half of his arm fell to the ground with a dull thud, quickly covered by the falling snowflakes.
Tanjiro let out a painful roar, his scarlet pupils churning with violence and agony, yet he dared not stop for a moment, clutching his wound and continuing to run wildly, his remaining rationality screaming.
[We can't stop, we can't hurt anyone... He's not a bad person, this person isn't a bad person!]
Giyu Tomioka was stunned once again; this was the second time he had dodged his attack.
What kind of monster is this boy?
After a brief moment of surprise, he gripped his Nichirin Blade tightly again, a resolute glint in his eyes.
A new demon with an incredibly fast regeneration rate, whose future potential rivals that of the Twelve Demon Moons, must not be allowed to escape; this is his responsibility as a Pillar.
Just as he was about to launch the next attack, he saw Tanjiro, who had been swaying as he ran away because of his severed arm, suddenly stop.
Giyu Tomioka felt a chill run down his spine and stared intently at his back.
Tanjiro simply tilted his head slightly, raised his nose, and sniffed hard in the direction of the mountain road, as if he had caught some crucial scent.
The next second, he suddenly turned around.
The severed arm regenerated in an instant, almost imperceptibly fast, its skin and flesh retracting to reveal its original state.
This regeneration speed far surpasses that of any Lower Moon demon he has ever seen!
"What?!"
Giyu Tomioka gasped in shock; the boy's strangeness was beyond his comprehension.
Before he could think further, the Nichirin Blade once again shimmered with a deep blue light.
"Water Breathing, First Form: Water Surface Slash!"
The slash was aimed straight at Tanjiro's neck, but just as the blade was about to touch his skin, the boy's figure mysteriously vanished from the spot.
The next second, it appeared on the snow several meters away, its scarlet pupils staring coldly at him, its body surrounded by a faint smell of blood and the chill of the wind and snow.
Just as Giyu Tomioka was in shock, a heart-wrenching girl's voice came from the direction of the wooden house.
Giyu Tomioka was shocked. "Oh no, there are still people alive?"