Holding the Nichirin sword, Ryou played with it by spinning it around before swinging the sword to counter the incoming hair-tendril attack.
The female demon's head, which had been kicked away by him, returned with the help of her hair. In no time, she reattached her head to her neck.
The demon had a look of terror on her face. In fact, she was scared senseless when her head was lopped off and thought she had died for sure.
"You! I am going to kill you." The female demon roared with a crazed expression, emanating a terrifying pressure that intimidated the two Demon Slayers.
As a demon with inhuman abilities, she felt humiliated when her head was chopped off and enraged by the fact that she was frightened by a mere human.
Unfazed by the ominous aura released by the Demon, Ryou pointed the Nichirin sword at the demon and uttered, "Come!"
Without any hesitation, the female demon dashed forward at extreme speed while her hair tendrils moved erratically and shot at him from various directions.
'Second Form: Current of the ocean' Facing the attacks, Ryou took a step back and swung his sword in a circular motion.
The sword swing looked serene without any effect but when the sword finished the full circle there was a sudden heaviness in the air.
The next moment, a water vortex resembling an ocean whirlpool arose and spread outward, obliterating the demon's attack and everything in its path.
Within a 25-meter radius, the powerful whirlpool ravaged everything, but the female demon managed to escape with just a few sword cuts, which healed almost instantly.
"What a powerful sword style!" Hoshiko exclaimed.
"He's strong!" Suzuki commented.
Ryou looked at the demon and thought, 'My strength and skills are lacking. This move could have decapitated the demon if I were slightly more powerful.'
The demon's hair was extremely resilient, acting as a shield to block incoming attacks and recovering almost instantly.
After clashing with the demon, he could tell that the female demon hadn't reached the stage of using Blood Demon Arts. Her strength was somewhere between that of an ordinary demon and a special demon with abilities.
'Crack!'
Applying pressure to his feet, Ryou rushed towards the demon. 'First Form: Wind Slash' He slashed his sword which generated a wind blade that cut the Demon's tendrils with ease.
But, Ryou didn't use this opportunity to finish off the demon. He battled the demon with other forms present in his breathing style.
"Why didn't he behead the demon? He could have killed it just now?" Hoshiko asked with his fist clenched.
"He's using the Demon to improve his breathing style," Suzuki remarked, at a loss for words.
The demon used her inhuman strength, speed, and reflexes to attack Ryou with the intent to kill, but he moved like a nimble monkey, evading every strike.
Ryou parried her attacks with fast reflexes and swift sword movements. As he continued to dominate the battle, the female demon began to wonder if he was truly human.
The battle raged on for an hour, yet the female demon noticed that the human showed no signs of exhaustion, and she hadn't landed a single vital blow.
"Is he really human? How can he fight for so long without any weariness?" Hoshiko, the demon slayer, gaped in astonishment.
"Did you notice the breathing style he uses?" Suzuki asked.
"Yes. His breathing style is unusual; it incorporates elements of Wind, Water, Fire, Earth, and some other style I can't identify," Hoshiko replied.
On the other side, the female demon felt as though she was being toyed with. She was used to playing with humans, not the other way around.
"I am going to kill you! I am going to kill you," she screamed, losing her sanity to anger. She shot her tendrils with sharp tips madly, her rage enhanced her abilities and further amplified the speed of her attacks.
Accustomed to the demon's strength and speed, Ryou effortlessly dodged her assaults. 'I have played enough. It's time to finish this.'
'Eighth Form: Time Zone' Time came still in Ryou's eyes as his senses and speed rose to the limit.
By the time the demon reacted, Ryou had walked past her while a cut mark appeared on her neck. The next second, her head slid from her body and fell to the ground.
'Ah! I can finally go and meet my husband' Slowly, the demon's entire body crumpled to dust and disappeared in the wind.
From the outside, it would seem as if Ryou is a monster with endless stamina who can fight a demon for a long period of time. But, only he knew his state.
His entire body was exhausted to the limit, drained of physical energy. Maintaining Nature Breathing during the battle was far more difficult than he had anticipated.
He was stronger than the demon, but it was just an ordinary one. He needed to train more and increase his strength further.
Tossing the Nichirin sword back to Suzuki, Ryou leaped high into the air and disappeared into the darkness of the night.
"Wait... Tell us your name!" Hoshiko shouted, but there was no reply. "Who is he? He didn't even tell us his name."
"It doesn't matter. We'll report everything that happened as it is," Suzuki said.
--
Ryou ran for some time before stopping at a secluded place. He hadn't conversed with the demon slayers because he wasn't ready to join the Demon Slayer Corps yet.
After ensuring no one was nearby, he relaxed and checked the system panel. As soon as he killed the demon, the system notified him.
[~ Name: Ryou
Race: Ordinary Human
Skill: Nature Breathing - Unranked [4/5]+
Demon Points: 1 ~]
[~ Achievement: First Demon Kill
Reward: One Lucky Draw + Activation of system functions ~]
"System, what functions have been activated?" Ryou asked.
"First, Demon Points! Now, you can earn demon points by hunting demons. You can use them to advance your skills. For your information: by killing an Ordinary Demon, you will earn a '1' Demon Point. Special Demons - 2 Points. Lower Moon - 5 Points. Upper Moon - 10 Points."
"Second, the Task function is officially active. From now on, the system will issue tasks randomly, which you can complete to earn rewards."