Seeing that his Nichirin blade hadn't taken Daki's head in a single strike, Vincent Fox showed almost no reaction.
"Flame!"
Boom!
Fire surged along the blade in an instant, then coiled outward like a living thing and latched onto Daki's body.
The flames roared, radiating a terrifying heat, wrapping straight around her head.
Blood mixed with rendered fat, crackling and popping in the blaze.
"Ah! You bastard!"
Daki shot backward in a blur, ripping at her own scalp as she fled. With a harsh tear, she peeled off a layer of skin and flesh in one savage motion, pulling away burning tissue and blood together.
The fire immediately crawled onto her arm, about to spread further.
Faced with the clingy, unrelenting flames, Daki made a ruthless choice.
Her arm snapped off at the shoulder.
Dragging her mangled body, she burst into a speed beyond anything she'd shown before and vanished from their sight in an instant.
"Vincent Fox, don't let her get away!"
Tanjiro shouted anxiously, yanking his Nichirin blade free as he prepared to chase.
Vincent Fox shook his head and stepped in front of him.
"It's not just Zenitsu," he said calmly. "Tengen's three wives, and a lot of other people, were probably imprisoned the same way."
He pointed at the sash fragments left on the ground, then checked Koinatsu's neck.
Her heartbeat was faint, but it was there.
Only then did Vincent Fox relax.
"If Daki dies right now, everyone sealed inside her sashes might turn to ash with her. That loss would be too big."
"Then what do we do?"
Tanjiro's eyes were filled with panic.
Daki had lived here for a long time. Without even thinking, you could tell she must have trapped countless people.
"We save them before she can do anything," Vincent Fox said lightly, like it was obvious.
"As long as we cut off the sashes with their faces on them, intact, they'll be fine."
"Then we have to move," Tanjiro said urgently. "That demon will definitely eat people to regain strength!"
He carried Koinatsu to a nearby shop and settled her inside.
"Okay," Vincent Fox replied.
Then he shot off at full speed in a single direction.
Tanjiro followed, nose twitching hard, tracking the lingering stench of demonic aura.
"Vincent Fox, this way!"
Tanjiro pointed sharply.
"Mm!"
Vincent Fox nodded and accelerated again.
Tanjiro chased with everything he had, the two of them cutting through the streets like arrows.
Then they both halted.
"…Strange. The scent is gone."
They scanned the area.
Tanjiro inhaled hard again and again, but his mind told him the truth with brutal clarity.
The demonic aura had vanished here, as if it had been erased from the world.
"Vincent Fox… we lost her!"
Tanjiro looked to him, desperate.
"No demonic aura?" Vincent Fox murmured, then nodded as if something clicked.
Tanjiro, however, was too anxious to think.
"Could she have gone back to Kyogoku House? Vincent Fox, we should hurry!"
Vincent Fox shook his head.
"I already sent word. Tengen should be there. Daki wouldn't be suicidal enough to walk into that."
As he spoke, Vincent Fox lifted his Nichirin blade and began tapping the ground with it.
Thud. Thud.
Metal against stone.
The sound that came back was wrong. Hollow.
"That's it," Vincent Fox said quietly, sheathing his sword.
Serious Punch.
His fist slammed into the street.
Cracks exploded outward in every direction, ripping through the pavement like a spreading web.
In an instant, the tiles across half the road shattered. From above, it looked like a gigantic spiderweb carved into the ground.
Vincent Fox slowly drew his fist back.
The street had been punched through.
A faint orange glow spilled up from below, along with the unmistakable sound of fighting.
"This is it. Get in. Inosuke and the others already made it," Vincent Fox said in a low voice.
Then he punched again.
The hole widened to nearly two meters across.
The fighting sounds below became clearer.
Vincent Fox jumped in first.
Tanjiro followed immediately.
Torches lined the underground passage.
The walls were stained dark with old blood.
"Ugh… it reeks!"
Tanjiro covered his nose instinctively.
The stench of rot and decay was so heavy it made his stomach twist.
"Stay close," Vincent Fox warned. "From the sound of it, Inosuke's about to break."
Vincent Fox sprinted toward the noise.
Tanjiro rushed after him.
The deeper they went, the thicker the stench of blood and spoiled flesh became, until it felt like it coated the back of the throat.
Finally, they saw it.
"Hinokami Kagura!"
Tanjiro's breath flared, heat curling off his mouth as he charged.
"Circular Dance!"
A dazzling ring of flame spun around him as he slashed into the crisscrossing sashes.
The sashes began to dissolve, and a figure with a small blond braid fell out of them.
Tanjiro saw him and, instead of thinking he looked ugly, felt a strange warmth of familiarity.
"Zenitsu!"
He caught him and lifted him up.
Zenitsu was… asleep.
Bang!
A heavy impact echoed.
Vincent Fox moved instantly, catching Inosuke as he flew backward through the air.
"Bastard!"
Inosuke spat blood and struggled to charge again.
Vincent Fox looked deeper into the cavern and saw two women still fighting.
"Tengen will come!" someone cried. "Hold on!"
Another woman with black hair was sobbing as she drove kunai into incoming sashes, pinning them to the wall with brute force. The handles sank into stone.
"I can't hold much longer! I'm going to die!" she wailed. "Tell Lord Tengen… Suma will always love him…"
She was ruthless.
Vincent Fox's gaze snapped back to Inosuke.
"Inosuke, did you get everyone out?"
"Of course!" Inosuke declared, chest puffing even as blood ran from his mouth. "Lord Inosuke is invincible! But those sashes regenerate! They're a pain!"
Then he looked at Vincent Fox, eyes burning.
"You're here, so it's fine now. Protect the women on the ground. Lord Inosuke is going in!"
"That bitch hit Lord Inosuke into this sorry state. If I don't rip off an arm or a leg, how am I supposed to live with myself?"
Vincent Fox ignored the rest of Inosuke's rant. His right hand rested on the hilt of his sword.
"If everyone's been rescued," he said quietly, "then this gets simple."
He drew in a slow breath.
The air he exhaled came out heavy, almost frozen, like it carried weight.
Vincent Fox stepped back once.
Closed his eyes.
And faced Daki, whose body was still regenerating.
"You really chased me down?" Daki roared. "Fine! Once I eat them, you're dead!"
Sashes erupted from her body again.
But this time, they weren't aimed at Vincent Fox.
They shot straight toward the helpless civilians on the ground.
"No!"
Inosuke bellowed.
He'd been too busy talking. He hadn't guarded against the demon's cruelty.
The sashes were inches away from the women.
Then Vincent Fox disappeared.
A straight, razor thin line of sword light split the underground space from end to end.
The force of it carved blade marks into the walls.
Vincent Fox flashed past and reappeared behind Daki.
Thud. Thud.
The sashes fell in pieces, writhing on the ground like severed worms.
Daki's eyes went wide, shock swallowing her whole.
"S… so fast…"
----------------------------------------------------
The deeper he goes, the more the truth unravels. Don't wait read ahead and witness Vincent's rise before the world catches up!
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