Narrator POV.
Isagi took a step into the warehouse and narrowed his eyes, already anticipating what was coming. The danger sensor activated instantly—an electric sensation ran through his body seconds before the demon slammed into the ground with brutal force.
The shadows in the place began to move, sliding across the floor like black serpents stretching toward him. Isagi instinctively stepped back, having no intention of letting those things touch him.
The air grew heavier, saturated with a dark energy that seemed to absorb the light itself. From within the shadows, black spikes emerged—sharp projectiles that shot straight toward him.
—(Fuck… this bastard controls shadows). —Isagi thought as he dodged with fluid, agile movements, bending his body in an almost inhuman way.
Danger Sensor + Yuji Itadori's physical abilities + cursed energy reinforcement equaled superhuman agility and equally superhuman reaction speed.
The spikes slammed into the walls, leaving cracks and deep marks in the concrete. Isagi spun around and locked his gaze on the demon, which was already charging toward him at full speed.
Isagi raised his katana to the right, above his head, concentrating cursed energy into the blade, and executed four consecutive vertical slashes, descending with devastating force.
The cuts were fast, precise, and symmetrical, resembling the claws of a wild beast. The attacks landed cleanly. The demon roared in pain, its body trembling as two of its horns were severed and jets of greenish blood splattered across the floor.
Isagi flashed a victorious smile—but it vanished instantly when a sharp-tipped tail pierced straight through his abdomen with a wet, tearing sound. His eyes widened.
—(Damn… I got turned into a donut like Rengoku and Ace). —he thought ironically, staring in disbelief at the blood-soaked tip protruding from his body.
The pain was real. A scorching burn surged through his torso, forcing him to grit his teeth. But when the demon pulled its tail back, the wound began to close rapidly, flesh regenerating at an incredible speed.
His breathing was ragged, yet his smile returned. The momentary pain had been truly… awful. He didn't like it at all—only a masochist would enjoy and willingly let themselves be hurt even with this kind of regeneration. Even so, Isagi smiled, because he preferred laughing over thinking about the pain.
—You didn't count on my health insurance.
Then, the smell of blood spread throughout the warehouse, an intoxicating mixture that saturated the air. The demon froze for a moment, its nostrils flaring, its eyes losing their rational focus.
Isagi's Marechi Blood was beginning to take effect.
The monster stopped growling in hatred and began breathing heavily, drooling, with a single thought dominating its twisted mind:
Consume that blood.
Its muscles tensed, its body trembling with craving, and within seconds, the demon went from hunter to a beast driven mad by desire.
The demon, completely unhinged and intoxicated by euphoria, roared like a savage animal. The moment it caught the scent of Isagi's blood, it lost all reason, lunging at him with crazed eyes and saliva dripping from its mouth.
It was pure instinct: hunger, desire, and madness fused into a single murderous impulse.
Isagi watched the scene without blinking, his expression hardening. He had no intention of becoming anyone's lunch. He inhaled deeply, filling his lungs with air, as his muscles tensed and a dark aura enveloped the blade still resting inside his katana's sheath.
He remembered something he had read about Miwa, the jujutsu sorcerer: she concentrated cursed energy inside the scabbard and then performed a single draw—a fast, precise, devastating attack.
But Isagi wasn't going to copy it word for word. He would combine it with his breathing, blending technique, instinct, and brute force. And cursed energy—so that the Wind Breathing would be as strong and as real as possible. Because canonically, the "elemental effects" seen when a demon slayer used a breathing style weren't actually real.
So Isagi compensated for Wind Breathing's lack of actual wind creation with overwhelming brute strength and cursed energy, making the "wind element" of his breathing as lethal as possible.
His voice echoed with calm determination:
—Wind Breathing: Seventh Form… —he said as the demon closed in, desperate for his blood.
His gaze sharpened. —Gale: Sudden Gust.
At the very last moment before impact, Isagi leapt, an explosion of air erupting beneath his feet. His katana left the sheath with a sharp whistle, and at the same time, cursed energy burst forth in a devastating vortex.
The result was immediate: a hurricane-like blast was born from his sword, spinning violently in all directions.
The demon was completely shredded, slashes carving through its body from every possible angle. The pressure of the wind was so intense that it lifted dust, debris, and chunks of the floor, creating a miniature storm inside the warehouse.
The air filled with jets of black blood, falling like thick, sticky rain. The demon's body convulsed, torn apart by the force of the attack, as Isagi descended from the air.
With surgical precision, he landed directly on the monster's head and, at the same time, drove his katana down with all the accumulated force, piercing the skull and burying the blade completely.
The silence that followed was abrupt, broken only by the dripping of blood and the metallic hum of vibrating steel. Isagi, still standing atop the corpse, released a light exhale and said with a tired smile:
—That was… for temporarily turning me into a donut.
Isagi stepped down from the demon's corpse with a long sigh, letting the adrenaline of battle slowly fade.
—Well… I learned two things today —he said with a half-smile as he looked at his abdomen—. First, the regeneration I got actually works. And second… it still hurts like hell.
He touched his stomach, now completely healed, without a trace of the wound that minutes ago had nearly split him in half. A shiver ran down his spine as he remembered the sensation. He quickly shook his head, refusing to dwell on it.
—I think I'll take care of the people in this place now —he murmured, scanning his surroundings with a tired but determined look.
[Ding]
[Congratulations! You have slain the Shadow Demon]
[Rewards: Shadow Skill — "Shadow Storage": allows you to store objects within your shadow. +1 Special-Grade Item Box]
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End of the chapter.