The moment Ali uttered his last word, Tsuda's eyes transformed into the slit eyes of a snake, gleaming with a cold, reptilian menace. The floor beneath Ali's chair suddenly cracked, and Ali leapt back, gripping his spear just as massive fangs tore through the wooden planks. A giant head of a white python emerged from the floor, its size so immense that it could easily swallow Ali whole.
As the snake's head loomed closer, Tsuda placed her hands on its glistening white scales, and without warning, began to merge with the beast. Her body melded into the snake until she was completely enveloped by it, becoming one with the monstrous creature. Ali, now on the other side of the room, moved slowly backward, his eyes locked on the giant python as it continued to reveal more of its colossal body, slithering out of the floor with a menacing grace.
Ali found himself back at the entrance of the inn, eyeing the massive head of the python.
'A giant snake, huh? This'll be fun' he thought, leaping high into the air to evade the snake's snapping jaws. As he descended, Ali drove his knee into the snake's midsection.
BOOM
The snake hissed in panic as Ali's powerful strike shattered some of its white scales, causing it to whip its tail furiously in his direction. Ali blocked the strike with his spear but was still sent flying backward, landing safely on the main road of the town.
The main road was deserted at this late hour, but the commotion was sure to draw people out of their homes soon. The snake slithered swiftly toward Ali and struck again. He dodged to the side and placed his left hand on the snake's scales. 'This is some impressive demon art. The snake is tough and massive', jumping back to avoid another powerful tail swipe. 'But it's slow and limited in its moves. Not bad, but let's end this before people start coming out.' As Ali contemplated this, he created some distance between himself and the snake.
Standing still, he waited for the snake to approach. As its massive head drew closer, a black wisp of smoke emanated from Ali's hand, swirling around his spear, coating it in a dark hue with glimpses of its brilliant purple edge shining through. The snake attempted the same attack it had tried twice before, only for Ali to easily dodge once again. This time, he sidestepped and raised the spear with one arm. The snake, too slow and cumbersome to evade, couldn't avoid the spear as it came slicing down.
SLICE
The spear cleanly severed the snake's head from its neck, and the force of the strike was so powerful that the closed shop behind it also bore a massive gash in its wall. Green blood spurted out of the snake's neck as its head rolled down the main road.
Ali approached the thrashing body of the snake, but as he got close, two more white snakes suddenly emerged from the massive neck. These smaller snakes, though each half the size of the original, were dispatched with swift, deadly precision as Ali swung his spear again, obliterating both and turning the giant snake's body into a gruesome scene of green, mangled flesh.
Ali placed his hand on the snake's massive body and began moving slowly down its length, trying to locate Tsuda and finish her off. He relied on his enhanced senses of touch and hearing to detect her presence, feeling his way down until he reached the midsection, where he sensed a slight movement and heard a frantic heartbeat.
"Found you."
Two normal-sized white pythons emerged from the snake's body and lunged at his hand, but Ali was quicker, catching them both and squeezing the life out of them before tossing them aside. Then, without using his breathing technique, he slashed the midsection with his spear, tearing it open and allowing Tsuda, covered in green slime, to fall to the ground from the snake's stomach.
"HAH HAH HAAA, PLEASE leave me alone, I'll do anything, please!"
Tsuda begged, breathing heavily and pleading for her life from this monstrous slayer. A small crowd had begun to gather, stunned by the sight of the giant white snake lying dead in their town and the woman they once knew, Tsuda, covered in green ooze, on her knees before the foreigner holding his menacing black spear over her head.
"You'll do anything, you said?" Ali asked with a hint of interest, giving the demon a glimmer of hope for survival.
Tsuda looked up at him with her snake-like eyes and eagerly replied, "YES, YES! Whatever you want, I'll DO-"
BOOM
Before Tsuda could finish her sentence, Ali struck down with his spear, completely obliterating the demon's head and reducing the rest of her body to pieces scattered across the main road.
His tall black spear sank into the ground with ease, standing there as if satisfied with its grim meal.
The crowd of locals and travellers stood in shock at the scene, their astonishment deepening as Tsuda's body, along with the remains of her giant snakes, began to disintegrate into ash.
W000000000000000
Ali placed two fingers in his mouth and let out a loud whistle, listening until he heard an eagle's call in response. He waited until he saw his eagle's massive wings and extended his arm for the bird to land.
"The demon is dead. Go and get me another mission from HQ. I'll be waiting on top of the cliff from before," Ali commanded as the eagle took off to report and fetch him a new assignment.
Watching the eagle fly away, Ali pulled his spear from the ground, leaving a large hole in the main road.
The snake's body was almost completely gone now, along with its creator. He swung the spear swiftly to shake off the green blood before holstering it on his back and walking toward the entrance of the town to leave quickly. He had no desire to deal with the crowd and the aftermath.
'She was weak, but I still gained something from this encounter. Let's see—the jump I did using my breathing style left me too high in the air. I should use less force next time. Transferring the energy from my body to the weapon worked as expected, but the strength of the strike was less than what I wanted. It seems some power is lost during the transfer from my body to the spear. I need to work on that. The next demon better be stronger, or I might have to go after Muzan' Ali thought as he crossed the field of grass under the moonlight, heading back to the cliff
Back in the town, people were murmuring to each other about what they had just witnessed, while others were shouting about the damage to their properties caused by the fight. Unbeknownst to them, a red-haired demon with intricate markings stood on the roof of Tsuda's inn, his forehead veined and tense with rage.
"This pathetic weakling dies at the hands of a demon slayer just when I come to gather information," Akaza, the third-ranked Upper Moon, clenched his fist in anger before releasing it.
He spotted a young man who had come out of his house earlier, drawn by the noise of Ali's fight.
Akaza looked at him and thought, 'At the very least, I should kill the demon slayer who did this, or else Lord Muzan will not forgive me.' With that, Akaza disappeared into the night.
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