The hate demon looked like an oversized version of Hantengu, with the same massive red tumor on its head.
"Ghh!!" The hate demon opened its mouth, baring the sharp fangs on both sides of its gums. Its crimson tongue, marked with the kanji for "hate," twisted in pain. It wrapped its remaining arm around its own neck, trying to block Ivan's slash.
This wasn't even Hantengu's strongest form.
If Sekido, Aizetsu, Urogi, and Karaku hadn't been cut down one by one, those four splits would have fused together and given birth to Zohakuten — the one who embodied joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure all at once.
Zohakuten wasn't weak. He possessed every ability of the four emotion demons and could also unleash Blood Demon Arts tied to wood.
That was exactly why Hantengu had earned the rank of Upper Rank Four.
Without Zohakuten, Hantengu would have been lucky to reach Upper Rank Six.
"You can't block this."
Ivan swung his glowing Nichirin Blade in a horizontal slash. In that instant, a spray of bright red blood followed the blade tip and scattered into the night sky.
At the same time, the hate demon standing frozen in place went stiff. Its jaw twitched like it wanted to say something.
A night breeze blew past.
Pshhhk!
A horrific gash suddenly opened across the surface of its arm. Blood exploded out like a burst pipe.
Then the hate demon's head and half its arm slowly slid off at an angle and dropped into the thick pool of blood.
"Dead…? Upper Rank Four is actually dead?" Kaname, flying overhead, stared in shock. It could hardly believe its own eyes. Ever since the Upper Ranks were established, there hadn't been a single casualty in hundreds of years. Their strength was on another level from the Hashira. And now it had just watched one of them die right in front of it.
The shock was so strong that Kaname even forgot to flap its wings and nearly fell out of the sky.
"Haa… I finally made it."
Kyojuro Rengoku arrived with sweat beading across his forehead, breathing a little hard. Guided by Kaname, he had reached the battlefield at last.
He seemed to be a step too late.
"It's over?" Kyojuro's thick eyebrows furrowed. His dense, fluffy yellow hair had fiery red tips that looked like dancing flames under the night sky. Very eye-catching.
He wore a haori with flame patterns at the ends over a brown Demon Slayer uniform.
"Not yet."
Ivan suddenly raised his blade and drove the glowing red tip straight into the hate demon's corpse, right where the heart should be. A sharp scream rang out as a tiny demon no bigger than a fist was skewered and pulled out.
Seeing that playing dead hadn't worked, the real body of Hantengu — the coward form — quickly scrambled up from the ground. It dropped to its knees in front of Ivan and started kowtowing frantically.
"Please spare my life, my lord! I really don't want to die!"
When the coward form looked up, its wrinkled old-man face was full of tears. It looked genuinely pitiful.
Even Kyojuro Rengoku, who had just walked over, felt a twinge of sympathy.
"Yeah, you can run." Ivan sheathed his blade and spoke calmly.
The coward form's eyes lit up with wild joy. What an idiot! He's actually letting me go just because he feels sorry for me?
Even though he was secretly thrilled, the coward form kept the miserable expression on his face. He kowtowed several more times, crying and sniffling. "I will never forget your kindness, Lord Ivan. If I ever get the chance, I swear I'll repay you."
Then he stood up, wiped his tears, and started limping away into the distance.
"We can't just let him leave like that…" Kyojuro had already drawn his Nichirin Blade.
Before he could finish, Ivan moved faster. A flash of the blade cut clean across the coward form's neck. Hantengu didn't even have time to react before his head was sliced off. With a dull thud, the head that had been secretly smiling in relief flew off and landed among a pile of rubble.
"Did I say you could leave?" Ivan had only said he could "run." He never said he wouldn't kill him.
[Upper Rank Four, Hantengu… Dead!]
"You…" Kyojuro quickly understood the word trap Ivan had set. He shook his head in silence.
He didn't agree with Ivan's method. In his eyes, if you were going to kill someone, you should do it cleanly. There was no need to give them a sliver of hope and then crush it. That kind of thing was too cruel. It didn't feel like something a Demon Slayer would do.
The atmosphere had turned a little heavy.
Kaname quickly jumped in to smooth things over. "Lord Ivan, as long as you're fine, that's what matters. Lord Kyojuro was sent by headquarters to support you."
"Let's head back." Ivan started to sheathe his long blade, then noticed several cracks running along the edge. With a sharp crack, he crushed the Nichirin Blade into pieces in his hand. "Tell your headquarters to prepare a new one for me."
Once a blade got damaged, the feel was ruined. He didn't want to swing at Muzan next time only for Muzan's head to stay attached while his sword snapped instead.
On the way back, Kyojuro seemed to have already moved past what happened earlier.
He wasn't the type to hold grudges anyway. Besides, very few people who became Hashira were completely normal.
There was the Mist Hashira, Muichiro Tokito, who lost his memories and emotions together. And the Water Hashira, Giyu Tomioka, who barely spoke and constantly got misunderstood. Oh, and the Wind Hashira, who cursed anyone and their mother.. let's forget about him.
Kyojuro could tolerate their flaws, so he wasn't about to get hung up on Ivan's methods.
"I'm really sorry. I arrived too late," Kyojuro said seriously, bowing his head in apology.
"It's fine."
Ivan didn't care either way. His goal had already been achieved.
After this mess, Muzan probably wouldn't show his face for a while. Still, the bait was still out there. As long as Muzan wanted the blue spider lily, they were bound to meet again someday.
When that day came, Muzan wouldn't make a move unless he was certain of victory. He would probably gather every Upper Rank first.
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Read 12 Advance Chapters—P@t- Captain69