A special thank you to all my patrons:
—Cain, Jacob Mooe, HADES, Varun Madhu, Gonzalo Sumalavia, kevin Williams, merp., Jose Carrillo, Derek M, DancingMonkey65, Joseph, Jose Sierra, AR3S, Nuro.
You can read 30 chapters ahead of everyone on p@treon.
P@TREON - [email protected]/lessaservantofcosmos
(just replace the "@" with "a")
ps: Please support me on P@treon. I can really use your help!
—————————————————————
The dust settled.
Gyūtarō stood at the edge of the battlefield, holding Daki, whose body was half charred black.
Uzui and Obanai, equally disheveled and covered in grime, blocked their path ahead.
Tap, tap, tap…
The sound of wooden geta clacking against the ground echoed as Kaito made his way through the debris-strewn path, walking unhurriedly.
"I say, you two," he spoke, using his unfolded fan to cover his mouth and nose, casting a helpless glance at Uzui and Obanai. "Are you also trying to test my abilities like them? During the earlier battle, you never used the paper talismans I gifted you."
"Apologies!" Uzui laughed. "We're just so accustomed to fighting with our Nichirin Blades that we forgot about them for a moment."
"Right," Obanai nodded in agreement.
"Don't feed me such lame excuses!"
Kaito rolled his eyes inelegantly.
"So-called demon slaying should involve using every means possible, shouldn't it? Or do you still cling to some so-called swordsman's pride?"
"…"
Uzui, who had been using gunpowder bombs all along, chuckled awkwardly.
Kaito didn't press them further and shifted his gaze to the two demons.
"Even after unleashing transcendent power at the last moment, you still couldn't gain a clear advantage," he remarked lightly. "It seems you've already realized the fact that you cannot win."
"Wahhhhhh… Sob sob sob… Are we going to die here?"
Daki leaned against Gyūtarō's chest, crying miserably. Upon hearing his words, she burst into even louder sobs.
"No! I don't want to die… Think of something! Big brother!! Wahhhhhh…"
"You're really noisy, my foolish little sister." Gyūtarō looked down into her eyes.
"But… but… I don't want to die…" Daki pouted, completely disregarding everything else.
"After all the trouble… hic… because of Lord Doma's death… Lord Muzan bestowed more blood upon us… Why… Why did it turn out like this…"
"I said stop making a racket!" Gyūtarō gritted his teeth and raised his head. "We haven't lost yet!!"
"Hic!?" Daki looked up at him in shock.
"Since Lord Muzan already knows the situation here," Gyūtarō suddenly turned to look at Kaito, "how could he not take measures?"
"Oh?" Kaito raised an eyebrow. "Reinforcements, perhaps?"
"Who knows?" Gyūtarō grinned maliciously. "Especially you, you freak who came out of nowhere. Lord Muzan will study you thoroughly!"
"Enough talk." Uzui raised his dual blades, exchanging a glance with Obanai.
"Let's execute them now!"
Obanai likewise lifted his Nichirin Blade.
"Heh heh heh…" Gyūtarō suddenly let out a strange laugh. "It's already too late."
Shoom!!
A sound like tearing paper echoed as a fist abruptly pierced through Kaito's chest.
"What?"
Kaito looked down in shock at the fist protruding from his body.
"So it's you, the one Lord Muzan wants."
A demon with peach-red short hair and golden eyes engraved with "Upper Moon" and "Three" revealed himself from behind Kaito, having successfully ambushed him.
He wore an open magenta short coat, his body covered in deep blue tattoos, with blood-red nails.
At this moment, his face bore an expression of boredom as he discontentedly remarked, "Too weak, your body. A battle like this holds no fun at all!"
"Mr. Kaito!!!"
"Bastard!!"
Uzui and Obanai, who were about to slay Daki and Gyūtarō, halted their movements, their eyes wide with shock.
"I told you it was too late, heh." Seizing the opportunity, Gyūtarō carried Daki and swiftly moved behind the newly appeared Upper Moon Three.
"Well now, how careless of me."
Kaito suddenly lifted his head, twisting his neck to look at the Upper Moon Three behind him.
"Upper Moon Three?" he asked with a gentle smile. "Are you the reinforcement sent by Kibutsuji Muzan?"
"What exactly are you?!" Upper Moon Three stared back at him in surprise.
"Such rudeness in your words!"
Kaito's body shimmered with spiritual light as several chains of spiritual energy instantly shot out from within him, coiling around Upper Moon Three's right arm that had pierced through his chest.
Upper Moon Three suddenly swung his left hand, delivering several heavy punches at an extremely high speed.
The explosive force of the punches erupted consecutively, instantly shattering Kaito's body into pieces.
"Hey!!" Daki screamed. "You destroyed what Lord Muzan wanted!!"
"Can't be helped. This weird guy was just too fragile." Upper Moon Three also looked somewhat stunned at the flesh and blood scattering everywhere.
"Don't you have any idea how powerful your fists are?!" Daki shouted hysterically. "If Lord Muzan blames us, it'll be all your fault!!"
Upper Moon Three glanced helplessly at Uzui and Obanai. "You two are Pillars, right? In that case, I'll just kill you and then apologize to Lord Muzan!"
Uzui and Obanai finally snapped out of their daze at the sight of the scattered flesh and blood.
"You bastard!" Uzui's face darkened, veins bulging on his forehead. "You killed our onmyōji! Now we have no way to explain this to our master!!"
"We can worry about explaining to our master later, Tengen." Obanai was calmer, his expression grave as he remained on guard.
Uzui quickly composed himself and nodded. "Without his support, the two of us will have to fight to the death."
"What luck," Obanai said coldly. "Encountering two Upper Moon demons in a single day."
"Ahh," Uzui agreed. "The other comrades will be jealous to death!"
"Tsk tsk." Kaito's figure abruptly appeared in front of the two of them.
"You two," he said, turning back to look at them. "You didn't even feel a bit sad for me!"
"You…"
The two immediately looked forward and saw that the scattered flesh and blood had turned into a ground full of paper scraps.
"So, what exactly are you?" Upper Moon Three also looked over curiously.
"Ah!!!!! Aaaaaaaaaah!!!" Daki's shrill scream erupted once again.
"He… he he he… He has no shadow! He's a ghost!!"
"…"
Everyone present simultaneously fell silent with exasperated expressions.
"I say, miss," Kaito said helplessly. "Technically speaking, you're the ghost here!"
"Then what are you?!" Daki shouted angrily.
"Hmm…"
Kaito thought for a moment, then said uncertainly, "A spirit?"
"That's still a ghost!!!!" Daki completely lost it.