[No, it can't be this easy. Decapitating an Upper Rank is never this simple. There has to be a catch!]
Sure enough, in the next fraction of a second, Hantengu's severed head split into two entirely new demons. One bore a face of pure, radiating fury, while the other simply grinned playfully at the group.
"I'll take the one in the back!" Tanjiro shouted, gripping his Nichirin Sword as he charged toward Sekido. "We just need to cut off their heads simultaneously to destroy them!"
Muichiro acted on this information immediately, lunging toward the demon in front of him. Karaku merely laughed, casually swinging the leaf-shaped fan in his hand. A violent blast of wind erupted, sweeping Muichiro off his feet with overwhelming force.
The pillar was sent hurtling through the air, his body tumbling uncontrollably backward. The scenery flashed past him in a blur, and he could only watch helplessly as he was blown further and further away from Tanjiro and Aoi.
"Muichiro!" Aoi cried out. Watching the only Hashira on the field get blown away made her heart sink into her boots.
"Gwahahaha! How amusing! That little bean really flew far, didn't he!" Karaku squatted on a ceiling beam, laughing so hard he was bent double as he watched Muichiro vanish into the distance.
"Wouldn't you agree? Sekido."
Sekido, clutching his khakkhara staff, spoke with pure irritation. "There is absolutely nothing amusing about this. I feel nothing but rage!"
"And being lumped together with you makes me even angrier, Karaku!"
Karaku licked his lips. "Is that so? Well, I'm quite happy to be separated from you, too!"
Tanjiro silently tightened his grip on his sword as he faced the two demons. Do we have to cut their necks simultaneously again to kill them?
Aoi grit her teeth, her voice carrying a barely perceptible tremor. "We have to gamble on it, Tanjiro!"
As if he'd just heard a hilarious joke, Karaku hopped down from the beam, twirling his fan in his palm. "Did you hear that, Sekido? These two brats actually think they can cut off our heads!"
Sekido's face darkened instantly, veins throbbing on the hand clutching his staff. He slammed the religious staff onto the floor with a deafening crash. A massive surge of electricity erupted from the staff, and sizzling blue light instantly spiderwebbed across half the room.
[Electricity? This guy has a blood demon art like that, too!]
Aoi's heart lurched. She instinctively tried to take a half-step back, but the currents managed to reach her feet, sending a wave of numbness through her that nearly made her collapse.
She quickly conjured vines to stand upon, using them to dodge Sekido's subsequent electrical discharges. Seeing Tanjiro on the verge of losing consciousness from the shock, Aoi immediately yanked him onto the vines beside her.
"How is this possible?" Karaku looked at them, completely perplexed. "Sekido's attack isn't affecting you anymore?"
[Thank goodness these vines are dry. The insulation is strong enough!]
Aoi let out a breath of relief, stepping forward to shield Tanjiro behind her. She lifted her eyes to face the bewildered Karaku, a cold smirk playing on her lips. "It seems your collective knowledge base isn't even as advanced as us 'two brats'."
At those words, a flash of genuine interest sparked in Karaku's eyes as he looked at Aoi. "You really are quite interesting. You're the first human who has ever dared to speak to me like that! How fascinating!"
In the next blink of an eye, Aoi felt herself wrapped tightly in his arms. Karaku's tongue, shockingly cold, swept across her earlobe. His tone was light, yet laced with extreme danger. "Why don't you come with me instead? It'll be much more exciting than staying with these weaklings."
"You bastard! Are you trying to be disgusting?!" Aoi's skin crawled, and her stomach did a violent flip. She savagely swung her Nichirin Sword up, burying the blade deep into his arm.
Karaku let out a sharp grunt of pain, but his grip on her didn't loosen in the slightest. Instead, he leaned closer to her ear and chuckled softly. "Such a fiery temper. I like you even more now."
[Help me! I've encountered a masochist!]
"Let go of her!" a furious roar boomed from the rooftop, followed immediately by two thunderous gunshots.
With the loud blasts, the heads of Sekido and Karaku were violently blown off by the immense impact.
Aoi's pupils shrank. She wrenched herself free from Karaku's weakening grasp, staggering backward. She looked up at the roof to find Genya Shinazugawa!
And he was holding a shotgun!
Karaku's severed head actually burst out laughing. "Hahaha! This is the first time I've seen an attack like that! How fascinating! This is so fun!"
Genya leapt down from the roof, holding his sword in one hand and his gun in the other. He moved with incredible speed to finish decapitating Karaku.
He was too fast for Tanjiro to stop him. "Genya, don't!"
"He's letting us cut his neck on purpose! It's making them split into new demons!"
The moment Karaku's severed head hit the floor, a new demon was born from it.
"They split! They split again!" Aoi felt a wave of dizziness wash over her, and her grip on her Nichirin Sword tightened non-stop.
Sekido's headless corpse wasn't finished either. Black smoke hissed and sizzled from the wound on his neck, and a new head rapidly grew back.
Looking at the four demons facing them, Aoi felt her head spin. How are we supposed to fight this?!
Tanjiro tried his hardest to calm his racing mind. Don't panic. Don't panic. There has to be a way to kill these demons. I have to analyze this carefully!
Tanjiro's gaze swept across the demons in front of him, and he suddenly realized one was missing. "Where did the other one go?"
In the next fraction of a second, Aoi's terrified scream rang out from the air above him.
Aoi was close to tears as she realized she was being carried through the air by a demon. Seriously, what is wrong with these demons! Why does every single one of them keep targeting me!
This demon was indeed the one who had vanished moments before.
"What does this guy even want?" Aoi panicked internally, but she didn't dare move her Nichirin Sword recklessly—she was terrified of accidentally stabbing herself, and even more terrified that this demon might panic and just drop her. If she fell from this height, she'd be lucky to escape with permanent disability.
"This is so exciting, isn't it?" Urogi looked down at Aoi in his arms, his fingertips gently brushing through the strands of hair that were matted with cold sweat. His tone carried an almost innocent excitement. "Look at how lively their fight is down there. Who do you think will win in the end?"
"Let go of me!" Aoi, having reached her absolute limit, savagely brought her Nichirin Sword down onto Urogi's arm.
Urogi merely tilted his head, acting as if he found her struggle amusing. "See? You can't beat me." Urogi chuckled softly, tightening his grip on Aoi slightly. He leaned his head down, pressing close to her ear, his voice soft and delicate, yet carrying a bone-chilling coldness. "Why don't you... play a little game with me instead?"
On the ground below, Tanjiro was frantic with worry. He launched himself into the air, aiming a strike at Urogi in the sky, but was violently slammed back to the ground by Sekido's staff. As the electricity exploded through him, Tanjiro let out a strangled groan and spat out a mouthful of blood.
"Tanjiro!" seeing this, Aoi struggled even harder.
Urogi frowned slightly as she scratched at him, but he didn't get angry. Instead, he looked down at her, a playful glint flashing in his eyes. "You're worried about that weakling? He looks so pathetic."
Before he could finish his sentence, an attack shrouded in rushing water slammed violently into Urogi's back.
Urogi let out a shriek of pain, and his grip on Aoi failed instantly.
Aoi felt a nauseating weightlessness as she began to plummet through the air. She instinctively squeezed her eyes shut, her heart leaping into her throat. This time... I'm going to smash into a million pieces.