As the shouting rang out, Himejima Gyomei, who had already been awakened by the children's commotion, rushed toward the building where they were staying.
Blind since birth, Gyomei had developed his hearing and sense of touch to extraordinary levels thanks to his natural talent. He could even distinguish people by their aura. On normal days, if one ignored his completely white eyes, it was almost impossible to tell that he was blind.
This was also why the head priest and the other monks trusted him enough to leave the children under his care.
At the same time, the final wisp of smoke from the demon-repelling incense in the room finally dissipated.
Kanzaki Kumo immediately shouted,
"Sayo! Hanaka! Come back! Stay away from the door!"
But before he could finish speaking, the two little girls closest to the wooden door had only just begun to turn their heads—
CRASH!
The wooden door exploded into splinters.
The girls were instantly blown backward as fragments of wood, some as thick as a baby's forearm, pierced into their arms and thighs.
"Ah… I didn't expect that brat to actually destroy the incense burner the demons hate so much."
Standing outside the house, the demon revealed a cruel grin as it looked at the terrified children inside.
They had all scrambled into the corners of the room, huddling together and trembling.
Only then did Kanzaki Kumo clearly see the demon's appearance.
The phrase green-faced and fanged was no exaggeration.
Its skin was dark green. A red horn, shaped like a carrot, grew from each temple. In the dim light, its twisted grin looked even more horrifying.
The sharp teeth exposed in its smile—and the foul, bloody stench from its breath—made it unmistakably clear.
This thing was not human.
It was a man-eating demon.
Just as the demon stepped forward, preparing to enter the house, a shout suddenly came from the side.
"Monster! Don't you dare harm the children!"
---
When Gyomei arrived outside the children's quarters, he immediately sensed an extremely filthy and malicious presence.
That creature had just smashed the wooden door apart.
At the same time, the frightened cries of more than a dozen children reached his ears.
"Monster! Don't you dare harm the children!"
Realizing the danger, Gyomei slammed his foot down.
His towering body—nearly two meters tall—shot forward like a cannonball, kicking up a cloud of dust as he rushed at the demon.
The demon barely had time to turn its head before it saw a massive fist—almost as large as its own head—rushing toward its face.
The next moment—
Its vision spun wildly as its body flew backward through the air.
Gyomei's full-force punch had sent the demon's head flying clean off.
Even Gyomei himself froze in surprise for a moment.
He had always known that his strength and physique were unusual. Because of that, he constantly restrained his power when interacting with others.
As a result, he had never truly understood the full extent of his own strength.
Kanzaki Kumo was equally stunned.
From the memories he had regained from his previous life, he knew that Gyomei would eventually become incredibly powerful.
But right now, Gyomei wasn't even twenty years old yet.
And the food in the temple barely kept them from starving.
In other words, Gyomei had lived in a state of long-term malnutrition for years.
Yet even so—
A single punch from him had knocked the head off a demon whose physical strength far exceeded that of a normal adult.
It could only be said that he truly lived up to his future reputation—the man who would one day wield a massive flail like an attack helicopter.
His strength was absolutely monstrous.
However—
Demons could not be killed by ordinary means.
The headless body still moved.
"Mr. Himejima! Behind you!"
Kanzaki Kumo's shout snapped Gyomei back to reality.
He heard the sound of air being torn apart behind him and immediately rolled forward to dodge.
But he was still a step too slow.
Because the demon had temporarily lost its vision after being decapitated, Gyomei's tall stature had become a disadvantage.
The demon's claws tore across his back.
Though the wound wasn't deep, it still drew blood.
The pain made Gyomei grunt softly as he quickly turned to face the headless demon.
According to his perception, it was clearly a humanoid creature.
Yet even after losing its head, it was still able to move normally.
Its claws were razor-sharp—just a slight graze was enough to cut flesh.
Even more troubling—
If his senses were correct, the demon's head was regenerating at a speed visible to the naked eye.
What Gyomei didn't know was that the demon was just as shocked.
A human had knocked its head off with a single punch.
For a brief moment, it honestly couldn't tell who the real demon was.
"This kind of monster can't be killed like this—it needs sunlight. For now, we have to restrict its movements!"
Kanzaki Kumo's voice suddenly broke the tense silence.
"Brat!"
The demon, whose mouth had already regenerated, let out a threatening growl at him.
It knew perfectly well that sunlight was its fatal weakness.
What it hadn't expected was for a mere child to know it as well.
After all, information about demons rarely circulated among ordinary people.
Even the man who had just punched its head off had been stunned when he realized decapitation wasn't enough to kill it.
But the demon hadn't come here to fight.
It had come to eat.
While regenerating its head, it tried to find a way to bypass Gyomei and snatch one or two children.
Gyomei's punch had already convinced it that a direct fight was a bad idea.
The only reason it hadn't fled yet was because demons were notoriously hard to kill.
But it couldn't stay for long.
Even though it was only midnight—still hours before dawn—it knew that an organization existed in this world specifically for hunting demons.
The Demon Slayer Corps.
Their Nichirin Blades could kill demons even without sunlight.
For a newly turned demon like itself, that organization was a nightmare.
But while the demon was still thinking—
Gyomei had already taken action after hearing Kanzaki Kumo's reminder.
How do you restrain a monster that won't die even after its head is cut off?
A normal person might think of ropes or iron cages.
But Gyomei was not a normal person.
His method was simple.
Break the demon's limbs, body, and head again and again—until sunrise.
THUD!
CRACK!
"Damn human—!"
"Ahh—!"
"I'll kill you!!"
"I—"
BAM!
Accompanied by dull thuds and the demon's furious screams, Gyomei began his own unique method of "movement restriction."
The overwhelming difference in strength turned the demon into a punching bag.
Its limbs were shattered the moment they regenerated.
Its head was smashed off the instant it grew back.
Gyomei's terrifying power even caused the ground beneath them to sink slightly, forming a shallow pit.
The prayer beads he normally wore around his wrist had long since scattered across the ground.
Seeing this, Kanzaki Kumo quickly stopped the children who were trying to rush forward and "help."
Instead, he moved toward the two injured girls.
After a brief check, he discovered that although their injuries looked severe, the wooden splinters hadn't pierced any major arteries.
For the moment, their lives weren't in danger.
Since he had no medical knowledge, Kanzaki Kumo didn't dare move them recklessly, fearing it might cause further damage.
He could only turn his attention back to Gyomei.
Although Gyomei had completely overwhelmed the demon in terms of strength—
After being beaten repeatedly, the demon's beastlike instincts and madness had begun to surface.
Relying on its powerful regeneration, it began trading injuries with Gyomei.
For a brief moment, it even showed signs of breaking free from Gyomei's suppression.