Tanjiro coughed violently, forced the searing pain down, then stood to face the Upper Rank Six siblings alongside Charles.
Flexing his wrists, Charles said, "Like I said before, we have to sever both necks at the same time to truly kill them. Let's each take one."
Tanjiro bit his lip. "Brother Charles, I want to try!"
Charles knew exactly what Tanjiro meant. The original plan was for Charles to take the stronger Gyutaro while Tanjiro handled the weaker Daki.
In the fight just now, Tanjiro had only managed to cut off Daki's head by sheer luck. Training time had been too short; on raw strength alone, he couldn't confidently behead Daki by himself.
But Tanjiro wanted to switch opponents and face Gyutaro. It wasn't childish bravado.
After fighting Daki, he understood how powerful an Upper Rank demon was—and Daki was the weakest among them.
Tanjiro also knew that if it were Charles, he could kill all the Upper Ranks alone; even Muzan might not be his match.
But Tanjiro couldn't in good conscience leave everything to Charles.
He knew he was far from strong enough and had to get stronger. Even if it was only to help a little in the fight, he was willing to put in a hundred times the effort.
Charles had already told him how to grow stronger.
What he needed was a battle that would force him past his limits.
Daki couldn't put that kind of pressure on him; only Gyutaro could.
Seeing the earnest look in Tanjiro's eyes, Charles smiled. "Since you've decided, let's do it.
But don't go dying on me. Your sisters are still waiting for you."
With that, Charles flashed to Daki and sent her flying with a sweeping kick.
Gyutaro swung a sickle down but didn't so much as brush Charles's hem. As Charles dashed after the airborne Daki, Tanjiro stepped in to block Gyutaro's path.
Charles easily caught up to Daki, light flaring in his hand and condensing into the blade of his War Saint.
Spoiled though she was by her brother, Daki's strength was still far beyond a Lower Rank's.
Several sashes shot from her back. Two stabbed into the ground to brace her, and four shot straight at Charles.
The War Saint spun in Charles's hands, its trailing flames forming a firewheel that shredded every sash.
Holding the blade inverted in a classic divine statue posture, Charles stepped in and slapped his palm into Daki's abdomen.
A ring of flame rippled out from the impact point. Her eyes rolled up and she spewed a mouthful of blood.
Just then, a slit opened on Daki's forehead, and an eye marked with "Six" snapped open to stare at Charles.
Elsewhere, Gyutaro closed one eye to observe and control his sister's body.
Under his control, Daki's movements finally looked decent. Well… at least Charles wouldn't be quite so bored.
The gaping hole in her abdomen healed rapidly, and a dozen sashes exploded out, slashing madly at Charles.
His inhalation boomed like thunder, and his great blade came down.
A red waning moon appeared, severing every sash. Charles pushed forward on the opening.
Veins bulged across Daki's face as she conjured more sashes and attacked from all directions.
The ground and surrounding buildings were sliced to ribbons, but Charles only curled his lip.
Attacks that spread power that thin looked impressive, but to him they were riddled with openings.
The War Saint's edge traced a line across the ground. Gripping the hilt in both hands, Charles swung.
The just-over-two-meter blade turned into a raging fire dragon that coiled around him with a thunderous roar.
At the roar, all incoming sashes shattered and crumbled to black ash in the air.
After this period of tempering, Charles had completed his own Breathing and fused in the martial arts he'd learned at Divine Dragon Temple.
All that remained was to integrate his mana system, and his new combat form would be complete.
Even just the finished Breathing alone was more than enough for Daki.
The flaming dragon returned to blade form. Charles drew a sweeping arc and chopped straight for Daki.
A violent gust shrieked behind him. He twisted at the waist and split a flying blood blade with a cut.
Gyutaro was still frozen mid-swing, while Tanjiro on the opposite side was already covered in wounds.
Gyutaro was strong. As a human, he'd worked as a debt collector, often crossing blades with others.
Even when outnumbered and outsized, he was the one who came out on top.
As a demon, his sickles had become even more fearsome.
Charles had, of course, prepared antidotes so Tanjiro wouldn't die from a mere scratch by the sickle's lethal poison, but Gyutaro's speed and strength still pinned him down.
In just a few exchanges, more than thirty cuts crisscrossed Tanjiro's body, the deepest nearly cleaving open his chest.
Never mind killing Gyutaro—he hadn't even prevented him from aiding Daki. He'd been the one to propose switching opponents, yet he was the one holding them back.
Tanjiro gripped his blade and began silently raising his body temperature.
With Charles's guidance, he had discovered early that as his Breathing's efficiency rose, his body temperature would climb.
Then his senses sharpened, and his strength grew.
Earlier, when he cut off Daki's head, his temperature had surged to an unprecedented level.
So he began consciously raising it, pushing his Breathing harder.
It was, undeniably, agonizing. It felt as if everything from his nasal passages to his lungs were on fire, as if every muscle and bone were being crushed.
His training was still lacking. He hadn't even achieved Constant yet and was already scaling Breathing's limits. The pain was the price.
But Tanjiro endured. Though he wanted to roll on the ground and scream, he didn't break his Breathing or slacken his forms.
As his Breathing pushed past some invisible threshold, his body suddenly relaxed.
The world seemed to slow. Gyutaro's motion to swing at Charles looked like slow motion.
From the burn scar on Tanjiro's forehead, flame-like markings spread.
The sudden surge of his aura drew Gyutaro's attention at once. The dark-red Mark also stirred Muzan's cellular memory within him.
But unlike Daki, he didn't blank out; he attacked immediately.
"Blood Demon Art: Flying Blood Scythes!"
Gyutaro hurled a storm of blood blades, as if to mince Tanjiro.
Tanjiro simply raised his Nichirin and swung with utter calm.
"Hinokami Kagura: Sun Halo Dragon: Head Dance!"
The fire dragon writhed through and shattered every blood blade. Its head arrived right before Gyutaro.
And the black blade, wreathed in flame, chopped straight for Gyutaro's neck.
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