Crack!
Silver lightning exploded between heaven and earth.
Aoki, running for his life, abruptly halted, drawing his longbow taut. Under the lightning's glare, the arrow's tip shimmered faintly with blue light.
The last arrow, the final poison arrow.
Boom!
The arrow sliced through the air.
Less than five meters apart, Kazuhiko had no escape.
He didn't attempt to dodge, allowing the arrow to pierce his head. In an instant, he lunged at Aoki, swinging his arm like a javelin, aiming for Aoki's face.
Swift! Menacing! Precise!
"Die, die! Just die obediently! Humans are nothing but food for demons!"
His eyes gleamed with bloodlust.
Despite the poison weakening his strength, he dismissed its effects.
He had witnessed firsthand how defenseless humans were against demons.
As the razor-sharp claws closed in, Aoki stood unwavering, then suddenly leaned back.
The claws flashed with icy glints, narrowly missing his face.
In that split second, Aoki released his grip on the longbow and drew his hunting knife in reverse.
With a swift motion, the hunting knife whistled through the air, tracing a graceful arc.
Puff!
Blood sprayed as the knife severed Kazuhiko's right arm at the elbow.
Regaining balance, Aoki lunged forward, his hunting knife poised like a lethal wind towards Kazuhiko's neck.
Startled, Kazuhiko staggered backwards.
But he was too slow. The blade sliced deeply into his throat, gushing blood.
For a human, such an injury outside of a hospital would be fatal.
But Kazuhiko was a demon. The wound on his neck swiftly closed, and his severed arm began to regenerate.
"Ah!"
Aoki's eyes blazed with fury. He pressed forward with relentless determination, slashing furiously with his hunting knife.
He couldn't allow Kazuhiko to recover!
Fighting demoms in a battle of strength and endurance was a path to self-destruction!
Kazuhiko staggered under Aoki's relentless assault, retreating with each strike. Wounds accumulated on his body, and his healing slowed.
"How... How did his strength suddenly increase so much?"
Kazuhik's face twisted with shock and confusion.
Moments ago in the house, this man seemed feeble, vulnerable enough to be dispatched with ease.
What had changed in the past few minutes?
Distracted for a moment, Kazuhiko was caught off guard, pierced again from shoulder to rib, nearly cleaved in two.
The intense pain contorted his expression, freezing him momentarily as his regenerated right hand thrust into Aoki's left chest like lightning.
Even if his strength increased, what did it matter?
The frail human body could never match a demon's.
Injuries could pile up, but one opportune strike could turn the tide.
"Hide?"
The thought flickered in Aoki's mind but was swiftly suppressed.
His apparent advantage stemmed solely from "blood boiling".
Sensing time slipping away, he knew once the effects waned, leaving him weakened, he'd be easy prey.
No more delay!
The battle had to end, no matter the cost!
Madness flared in Aoki's eyes. Facing Kazuhiko's assault, he leaned slightly.
Puff!
Kazuhiko's claws pierced Aoki's chest, perilously close to his heart.
But Aoki's resolve hardened, his gaze locking onto Kazuhiko.
"Die!"
Aoki bellowed, seizing Kazuhiko's arm with his left and wielding the hunting knife with lightning speed in his right.
Puff!
The monstrous head flew free.
Still, Aoki didn't relent. He pivoted, evading Kazuhiko's grasp, and hurled the hunting knife as a hidden projectile.
Puff!
Bang!
The knife rammed into Kazuhiko's head from the side, pinning it hard to a massive tree.
"Asshole! How dare you? I'll kill you!"
Kazuhiko remained defiant, cursing Aoki as the headless body flailed towards him.
But he was blind.
Aoki easily dodged, circled around, and delivered a forceful kick to Kazuhiko's knee pit.
Plop!
The headless body knelt down immediately.
Aoki followed with another kick to the back, knocking Kazuhiko flat on the ground. He then grabbed a nearby stone and brought it down hard.
Crack.
The right knee shattered, eliciting a scream from the head nailed to the tree.
Without hesitation, Aoki raised his arm again.
Thighs, arms, heart...
One after another...
Suddenly, Aoki's body convulsed, the stone slipping from his hand as his face drained of color.
"Blood boiling" had ended!
Strength ebbed away like a receding tide, replaced by searing pain that swept over him.
He groaned, sweat pouring down his face in torrents.
Pain!
It was unbearable!
Aoki glanced down.
He couldn't tell how much blood he had lost; half his body was stained crimson.
"I need to act quickly, or it'll bleed out."
Using torn cloth, Aoki bandaged his wound.
Kazuhiko's body was in a ruin, yet his muscles twitched involuntarily.
The head on the tree ceased its struggles, eyes closed as if unconscious.
That was it.
Without a Nichirin sword, decapitating a demon was the only way to kill it outright. Come sunrise, everything would vanish with the first light.
Aoki fell silent.
Gone was the man who had succumbed to cannibalism. Kazuhiko was beyond redemption.
His thoughts drifted momentarily, scenes flashing before his eyes.
From the deerskin boots in a strange forest where he lay near death, to his master teaching him patiently—archery, traps, tracking prey.
The final scene surfaced: his master's regretful sigh after suggesting a date with Takina, only to be rejected.
Aoki cleared his mind.
"I never imagined this was the world of Demon Slayer. Once I'm healed, I'll seek out the Demon Slayer Corps and learn the breathing technique!"
"As a demon, It was defeated by a mere human!"
An unfamiliar voice tinged with anger suddenly broke the silence.
A chill gripped Aoki as he realized.
Unseen before, a black-haired youth appeared by the tree where Kazuhiko head was impaled.
Clad in a fitted black suit with a pristine white shirt, his face ghostly pale, plum-red eyes devoid of emotion.
He raised Kazuhiko head.
Kazuhiko awoke, terror etched on his face. "I'm sorry! Please, please give me another chance!"
The youth glanced at him, indifferent.
Bang!
Despair engulfed Kazuhiko as his head exploded, blood and flesh scattering.
His body dissolved into black smoke, dissipating into the air.
The youth turned to Aoki.
A chill ran down Aoki's spine as the name surfaced in his mind.
Muzan Kibutsuji!
The first and strongest demon!
He was also the master who initiated Kazuhiko Aomura's transformation into a demon!