"So, you can use a Blood Demon Art that only burns demons... and makes injuries so hard to heal? How incredibly infuriating." Daki's icy voice rang out from behind Tanjiro. She glared venomously at Nezuko in his arms.
Aoi Kazama's pupils contracted as she looked at the source of the voice. "Ume..."
Daki's footsteps halted. She spun her head toward Aoi, a look of distinct annoyance on her face. "Who exactly are you calling out to? Who is this 'Ume'? Also, I forbid you from looking at me with those eyes!"
A sash belt tore through the air from behind Daki, hurtling straight for Aoi's face. It moved so fast it barely left a blur.
Aoi dodged to the side. The sash grazed her neck, its sharp edge slicing the skin and leaving a thin, narrow scratch of blood.
Just as Daki was about to unleash a follow-up attack, Uzui Tengen appeared in the nick of time. In the next instant, the sashes surrounding Daki were violently severed. Her head fell right along with them.
Clutching her own severed head, Daki glared up at Uzui. "You must be a Hashira, right? Showing up on your own like this? Well, that saves me a lot of trouble."
Uzui ignored her entirely. Instead, he squatted in front of Tanjiro, looking with an absolutely furious expression at Nezuko in his arms. "You made such big, impressive promises in front of the Master! Why did things turn out like this? Why has she gone berserk and demonized so 'flamboyantly'?"
Aoi was utterly speechless. Is he seriously choosing this exact moment to lecture someone?
It seemed he was unaware of Gyutaro's existence. Aoi glanced at Daki, then turned to warn Uzui. "Uzui-san, there is another demon here. It's hidden inside her body."
Daki was stunned. She roared furiously at Aoi, "Who do you think you are?! How could you know that?!"
Uzui's eyes widened in understanding. "So that's it. No wonder this demon is so weak. Turns out, there's a stronger demon hiding inside her body."
Hearing this, Daki began to tremble violently. The veins on her arms rose up as she clutched her head. Her once exquisite face was now contorted in a horrifying mask of rage. "Weak? You dare call me weak?!" she screamed. "I am Upper Rank Six! A member of the Upper Ranks personally acknowledged by Lord Muzan!"
"Then why is your head cut off? You are truly weak." Uzui logic-shamed her with a dismissive glance. "By the way, Tanjiro, the most urgent matter is to calm down your sister. Don't let her cause any more chaos."
Ignored once again, Daki burst into tears. "I really am Upper Rank Six! I really am!"
Aoi looked at her and couldn't help but sigh. Even as a demon, Ume is still just a big crybaby.
"Tanjiro, take Nezuko out first. Pacify her," Aoi said.
Tanjiro nodded vigorously, held Nezuko tight, and immediately turned to leave.
Uzui watched the decapitated Daki continue her sobbing tantrum and tightened his grip on his blades. It seemed the other demon residing within her would not be weak.
"Onii-chan!" Daki screamed and wailed. The head in her arms struggled toward the black mist swirling at her neck stump. Her crying was full of a petulant, yet violent whine. "They bullied me! They called me weak! Come out and teach them a lesson!"
Uzui didn't dare waste a second. He used his Breathing Style to slash at Daki, but his strike hit nothing but air.
A gaunt, skeletal man erupted from the black mist at Daki's neck. He consoled her while helping to reattach her head. "Don't cry, don't cry. Isn't it just getting your head cut off? We'll just put it back on."
Gyutaro stood up to face the two Slayers. He stared at Uzui, speaking in a dry, gravelly voice. "Eh~ You've got it really good, haven't you? So happy... great skin, good-looking... and you have such a pretty wife."
"Whoa! I am not his wife! I don't have that! Don't you dare spread such nonsense!" Aoi hurried to wave her hands in frantic denial.
Gyutaro was momentarily stunned, not expecting Aoi to rebut his envious rant.
"Even so... it makes me incredibly jealous!" He scratched at his face, his fingernails leaving deep blood marks on his skin. "So... could you please just die?"
"Onii-chan, there are others, too! They all bullied me! One even used fire to burn me! I want them all dead! I worked so hard, I worked so hard all by myself, and now they're all getting in my way." Daki wailed in a tone of supreme grievance.
"You're absolutely right. Truly unforgivable." Gyutaro's voice dropped low, his dry tone thick with malice.
Countless blades of blood erupted toward Uzui. His gaze turned cold. He pushed off the ground with immense force, his body shooting backward like an arrow. At the same time, he gripped both blades. Sound Breathing, Fifth Form: String Performance was unleashed instantly.
His Nichirin Blades shattered all the approaching blood blades. Where the fragmented blood blades fell to the ground, they hissed and corroded small pits into the wood.
"Tch. A poisoned Blood Demon Art? How utterly despicable," Uzui muttered, his gaze growing sharper. "However, a technique of this level still won't harm me!"
Gyutaro stood on the opposite side, carrying Daki. Aoi looked at the two demons. "Gyutaro... do you still remember me?"
Gyutaro was taken aback by the question. He scratched at his face, then looked as though he had remembered something. "Ah~ It's you."
Aoi's eyes lit up.
"The woman who vanished into thin air right in front of me that day."
Well, that was a bust.
Gyutaro slowly continued, "You are very special. Not like anyone I've met before."
"Special?" Aoi's lips twitched in a self-mocking smile. "Special enough that you want to kill me on sight?"
Gyutaro tilted his head. His skeletal fingers absentmindedly rubbed his chin, a playful glint flashing in his cloudy eyes. "Well, I wasn't really interested before. But now—" His gaze scanned the unhealed blood scratch on Aoi's neck, then fell on Uzui, who was poised to strike. "Anyone who dares to bully my sister must die."
Before his voice even finished hanging in the air, Gyutaro vanished from the spot.
"Wood Breathing, First Form: Sprouting Slash!"
A shimmering, pale-green halo erupted around Aoi. The air current of new buds emerging in palm jump. From the gaps in the floorboards at her feet, countless fine vines erupted, lashing out like chains to coil around Gyutaro's ankles.
Gyutaro's movements halted for a microsecond. He lowered his head to look at the vines wrapping around his ankles. With a casual flick of his skeletal fingers, the vines snapped.
But from the fractured cuts, thicker branches instantly sprouted, their thorny tips piercing his skin.
"Ah la la... you really are interesting."
"Onii-chan!" Daki screamed from his back, sending dozens of sashes whipping violently against the branches. "Hurry up and tear all these annoying things to pieces!"
Meanwhile, Uzui pushed off the ground with explosive force, his body launching forward like an arrow. His twin blades rotated in his palms as he slashed viciously toward Gyutaro's exposed back—
"Your opponent is me!"