Water Breathing, Second Form: Water Wheel!
The horizontal slash of the deep blue blade swept across the extending arms at incredible speed, each strike fierce and sharp, like a sudden downpour.
In an instant, crimson blood splattered all over Kurozawa.
Because the extending arms had become larger and thicker, they had lost that steel-like hardness and were being severed one by one by Kurozawa.
But at the same time he cut them off, the Demon's powerful physical regeneration quickly restored the severed limbs.
On the summit of Mount Fujikasane, amidst dense, thick arms, blade shadows danced, and severed limbs lay scattered.
It looked like Kurozawa had the clear upper hand.
But Kurozawa knew that if this entanglement continued, it wouldn't benefit him at all.
The severed limbs on the ground quickly turned into ash and melted back into the Hand Demon's body, transforming back into arms to grab at him again.
"Swordsman, your blade is very sharp."
"Cutting off my arms, oh, it hurts, it hurts so much."
Hidden within the Hand Demon's gigantic body was a cautious and malicious soul. Despite its powerful physique, its main body never got close to Kurozawa, relying only on its extending arms to attack him.
Furthermore, from beginning to end, the few steel-like arms wrapped around the Hand Demon's neck hadn't moved.
It understood the methods of a Swordsman and protected its neck very well.
"But, hehehehehe, how much strength do you have?"
"My hands will grab your body, tear off your limbs, crush your bones, and make you wail and die in endless pain."
The Hand Demon was unhurried, seemingly watching a struggling prey caught in a spider web, constantly using words to disrupt Kurozawa.
"Let me think about how to kill you..."
Beneath the swirling blade shadows, within the radius of Kurozawa's body, not a single arm could get close.
He slightly furrowed his brow, ignoring the Hand Demon's words, and analyzed the current battle situation.
The Hand Demon couldn't really do anything to him. Kurozawa's physique was stronger than most Swordsmen, and his stamina was enough to fight it until dawn.
However, Kurozawa's own offense was a bit lacking. The Nichirin Blade could cut off the extending arms, but it seemed unable to penetrate the neck guard arms of the Hand Demon and sever its head.
For a Demon, as long as its head couldn't be cut off, it was in an invincible position.
"Let's try Constant Flux. My limit is seven rotations, that should be enough."
In the original work, Tanjiro was able to kill the Hand Demon with Surface Slash because of his innate talent for discerning the weak points of Demons, the Thread of Severance. Before the Thread of Severance appeared, Tanjiro was constantly being beaten down and struggling in the fight.
Kurozawa didn't possess the Thread of Severance and could only break through the Hand Demon's defense with brute force.
Kurozawa didn't believe the Hand Demon could defend against the highest Sword Form of Water Breathing.
Boom! Stomping heavily on the ground, Kurozawa twisted his waist significantly.
Two thick arms, carrying strong winds, grabbed at him, their palms wide open, trying to grasp Kurozawa from both left and right.
Water Breathing, Tenth Form: Constant Flux! A ribbon-like deep blue blade light appeared. Kurozawa turned around and cut these two palms in half.
At the same time, Kurozawa leaped up, stepped on another arm, twisted his waist again, and moved forward rapidly, slashing out with the deep blue blade light.
The residual power from cutting off the palms was gathered into this single strike, making its power even stronger.
Chh! Another arm was severed.
Second Rotation! The power of the slash increased again.
Constant Flux was like this; once it started and the body could keep going, it could infinitely accumulate energy, ultimately becoming a powerful Sword Form that could cut through anything.
However, Sakonji Urokodaki could only perform nine rotations; his body couldn't handle it. Each rotation that accumulated power increased the burden on the body.
Although Kurozawa's physique was stronger than Sakonji Urokodaki's, his technique was far inferior, so he could only manage seven rotations.
By this time, the Hand Demon also realized that Kurozawa was using a high-power Sword Form and stopped attacking, withdrawing its arms to try and prevent Kurozawa from getting closer.
"It's useless, it's useless..." The Hand Demon's cackling continued. Hand after hand opened, attempting to crush Kurozawa.
But Kurozawa's slashes were incredibly fierce, and for a moment, the Hand Demon couldn't stop him.
Its abnormal ability was terrifying, but its attacks were too scattered.
In a few breaths, Kurozawa spun three more times, getting within three meters of the Hand Demon.
And at this point, the blade light pulled out during the rotations of Constant Flux had become so sharp it was dazzlingly bright.
The Hand Demon started to panic a little.
It felt Kurozawa's constantly amplifying, sharp slashes and knew it couldn't defend against them. The Hand Demon understood its defensive limit.
Four or five arms twisted into two-meter diameter giant arms and slammed fiercely into Kurozawa.
Sixth Rotation!
The condensed deep blue blade shadow was almost tangible, instantly shredding the two-meter-thick arms into minced meat.
At this moment, Kurozawa's breathing was still steady, but it could be seen that his wrists were trembling slightly, as if bearing immense pressure.
If Kurozawa's physique hadn't been strong, he would have long since lost control of the Nichirin Blade at this point, letting it fly out of his hand.
"Die!"
Looking at the massive head right before him, Kurozawa's face showed the joy of harvest.
Potential Points, here I come! Trembling rapidly, the Nichirin Blade, almost slipping from his grasp, carried a beautiful yet deadly gleam as it fiercely slashed towards the Hand Demon's neck.
Fear surfaced in the Hand Demon's eyes, and it desperately retreated, but its enormous body was clumsy and couldn't escape the Nichirin Blade's range.
In a daze, Kurozawa's figure overlapped with a memory, transforming into a cold swordsman wearing a Tengu Mask and a light blue haori.
Decades had passed, and even now, the Hand Demon couldn't forget that night of heavy snow when it lost its identity as the hunter and became the hunted.
That night, it fled frantically, but the swordsman behind it was like a shadow, always intercepting it no matter which direction it tried to escape. It begged for mercy, but the swordsman remained silent, appearing more like a silent, soul-reaping Demon than itself, simply closing in step by step.
Eventually, with a flash of azure blade light, the Hand Demon lost consciousness, and when it woke up again, it was inside Mount Fujikasane.
Because of that unforgettable terror, the Hand Demon held onto this hatred. But at this moment, it recalled the fear of being dominated by a Demon Hunter Swordsman.
"Urokodaki!"
It let out a frantic roar mixed with fear, calling out the name of Kurozawa's master, while its eyes widened.
Kurozawa also remained silent. With a single strike, the blade sank into the Hand Demon's neck as easily as cutting tofu, without the previous feeling of resistance.
However, just as he was about to decapitate the Hand Demon, Kurozawa heard an ominous sound.
Crack!
It was the sound of metal breaking.
The pressure on his wrist suddenly vanished.
The Nichirin Blade had broken.
Holy crap! Kurozawa's pupils instantly contracted to pinpricks, and he cursed internally.
The Nichirin Blade's break wasn't due to the Hand Demon's tough neck; it was because the blade was old. The accumulated power from Constant Flux was too much for the blade to bear, causing it to break at the last moment.
The front half of the blade remained in the Hand Demon's neck. Kurozawa, holding the hilt, landed on the ground with the remaining momentum from his spin, leaving deep footprints with each step.
This is bad. I broke the Nichirin Blade that Master cherished for decades, treating it like his wife and daughter.
Kurozawa gasped, looking at the broken Nichirin Blade.
Meanwhile, on the other side, the Hand Demon blinked its widened eyes.
The expected death hadn't arrived. It looked down at itself in confusion, while dozens of arms frantically felt its neck and head.
After realizing its head hadn't fallen off, the Hand Demon only recovered after a while, still shaken, and glared fiercely at the swordsman before it with a worried expression.
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