Sukuna had set the fire because he found the wisteria flowers too annoying to deal with.
Though demons feared sunlight, he didn't think they would be killed by a small fire like this.
Seeing this, the two demons showed not fear of the blaze, but uncontrollable excitement.
"What an idiot! He's burning the wisteria!" one demon shouted excitedly.
The other demon charged immediately, dashing straight through the gap the fire had burned in the wisteria, not caring about the raging flames.
After all, to demons, wisteria was far more deadly than fire.
Bursting through the flames, he roared at Sukuna.
"I'm going to eat you right now, to celebrate my freedom!"
The other demon snapped out of it and immediately tried to cut him off from the other side, taking the shortest route.
"Shut up! He's my prey!"
"Quit yapping! First come, first served!"
Sukuna casually raised his hand and fired a Dismantle, severing the front demon's legs.
Thinking this would be enough to restrict the demon's movement, Sukuna watched as the demon grabbed his severed legs and pressed them back onto the wounds.
In just a few breaths, the legs had regenerated under the demon's powerful healing ability, looking as if they had never been injured—they had even grown back slightly longer.
Sukuna realized. Indeed, the demons' regeneration ability would make it convenient for him to collect the blood needed for the Bath. However, it also meant getting them to cooperate would be difficult.
"So that's how it is. How Troublesome..."
At that moment, Sukuna once again missed having Uraume by his side. If he were here, he could freeze and restrain the demons with his Cursed Technique, and Sukuna wouldn't have to worry about these things.
The demons, for their part, were puzzled by the slashes Sukuna had just unleashed, but they trusted what their noses told them—the scent of a human coming from Sukuna.
Prolonged starvation made it impossible to suppress their craving for human flesh, even overriding their concerns about how dangerous Sukuna might be.
The demon attacking from the other side, unharmed by Sukuna's previous slash, extended scythe-like blades from both arms and muttered excitedly.
"Kill you! Kill you! Kill you!"
He lunged madly at Sukuna, who stood there thinking, aiming to decapitate him.
But Sukuna swung his Nichirin Blade and severed the demon's arms, blood spurting out.
"Ah!"
The demon's pained reaction struck Sukuna as odd.
But observing how the wounds on the demon's arms were having difficulty healing effectively, he connected it to the Nichirin Blade in his hand.
Normally, for an existence like a demon with superhuman regeneration and physical strength far beyond ordinary people, ranged attacks would be the safer option.
Wielding a sword against a demon was considerably risky. Yet the demon slayers still used swords as their primary method, which could only mean one thing: the key to killing demons lay in the blade.
The sword he held must have a special effect against demons, driving those people to engage in close-quarters combat.
The best proof for him was how desperately Tomioka and Urokodaki had swung their blades at him.
To confirm his hypothesis, Sukuna experimented on the other demon.
Ignoring the demon's self-absorbed rambling, Sukuna carefully observed the effects of the Nichirin Blade's slashes on the demon's body.
It further confirmed his theory. Indeed, after being struck by the Nichirin Blade, the demon's regeneration was visibly affected and became far less effective.
He understood now. No wonder those people could fight demons. It wasn't just the mysterious power helping them, but the sword as well.
Only after both demons had been given a thorough pummeling did they wake from their craving for human flesh and realize how bizarre this swordsman before them was.
Illuminated by the surrounding flames, the two demons looked up at Sukuna as if he were a demon god.
Two demons were far from enough to complete the Bath. Sukuna asked them.
"Are there other demons further up?"
"...Two pairs of eyes... are you a demon...? No, your smell... is..."
Before the demon could finish muttering to himself, Sukuna stabbed him through the head with his blade.
"I didn't give you permission to ask questions."
The other demon, watching the pathetic creature dissolve under Sukuna's sword, immediately felt the fear of death.
"Y-Yes! There are other demons up there, ones the Demon Slayer Corps caught and imprisoned!"
"Are the other demons all the same calibre as you?"
"N-No, there are others. One of them is special. Since being locked up here, he's already eaten thirteen people!"
"Eating thirteen people makes him a special one?"
Sukuna repeated it thoughtfully.
But the demon heard Sukuna's tone as if asking, why didn't you explain clearly without me having to ask?
"The more people we eat, the stronger we become. So he's the strongest demon on this mountain!"
"Thirteen is the most? How many have you eaten?"
"I've eaten two..."
Even under these circumstances, the demon's face showed a hint of embarrassment, and Sukuna gave him a pitying look.
Knowing the level of a demon who had eaten two people, Sukuna became curious about how strong a demon who had eaten many people might be.
If a demon who had eaten thirteen people could be imprisoned here, how strong would one who had eaten fifty or a hundred be? Or even one who had eaten thousands or tens of thousands?
Thinking this over, Sukuna picked up the demon with one hand and walked deeper into Fujikasane Mountain.
...
The flames rising from Fujikasane Mountain became a beacon for the approaching Hashira.
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