A new demon was growing out of the demon's body, and everyone instinctively felt that this demon was far stronger than the one they had been fighting until now.
Tengen immediately went for the kill before the demon could fully emerge, but his attack hit nothing. When he turned back, the demon had already fully emerged and was attaching his sister's head back to her body, consoling her like she was a child.
"Come on, there's no use crying. Can't you even reattach your own head by yourself?" he said, patting her head as she kept crying. "You sure aren't the sharpest tool in the shed, are you?"
Meanwhile, everyone else watching was shocked. The speed at which this new demon dodged Tengen's attack was unreal. They could be sure he was Upper Moon Six. But why didn't she die when her head was cut off? How did he come out of her? Did that mean he was the main unit? If they killed him, would both of them die?
Right then, Akira landed near them and put Erika down, and said, "Alright, we entered phase two."
Selena telepathically said, "No, it should be phase 3 actually".
Suddenly, Tengen attacked the demon again, but this time the demon counterattacked, producing two sickles. In the exchange, the demon was unharmed, but Tengen's head was slightly scratched.
"Oh, you stopped my attack, didn't you? Even though I was going for the kill. Good for you, man," the demon said, like he was impressed.
Daki, noticing Erika, cried, "Oni-chan! She's the one who bullied me! Even though I worked so hard, I've really been giving it my all! All by myself, and she still beat me up!"
Hearing this childlike line, Akira involuntarily let out a giggle, which made the brother demon notice him. He looked at Akira's handsome face and said, "Oh, that face of yours... nice. Your skin, too, not a blemish, birthmark, or scar to be seen, huh? And you have some meat on your bones, too. I can't gain weight no matter what. You must get tons of attention from the ladies, don't you?"
Akira said, "Well, yeah, it is inevitable. I always attract attention, you know. Though it's kinda getting hard for me too, sigh, I can't go anywhere freely, but I guess that's the burden I have to bear for being born too handsome." He exaggeratedly struck a pose as if he were burdened by his overwhelming handsomeness.
The demon sneered, "That's unforgivable. God must have given you a lot, huh, but I will exact it from him because that's my way. I'll exact it by making you suffer when you die, because my name is Gyutaro."
The demon Gyutaro screamed in rage as blood started to flow from his body, covering his sickle.
"Blood Demon Art — Flying Blood Sickles!"
Gyutaro released multiple sharp and durable sickle-shaped blades of solidified blood by swinging his sickles.
Akira had already retrieved his Demon Slayer sword from his inventory and swung at him. Since he knew he couldn't cut these blood attacks easily, and with everyone else nearby, this attack could hurt them all too.
So Akira turned his huge blade to the flat side, and he swung it so fast, at the speed of sound, that it created a small sonic boom. The wind pressure struck Gyutaro's blood sickles, along with Gyutaro himself, and sent him flying.
Akira had basically used his huge sword as a fan. Sure, normal swords couldn't do that, but his Demon Slayer could.
Gyutaro, who was sent flying, crashed into his sister Daki, who was behind him. The impact launched both of them, and they smashed through several buildings in the process.
Akira lowered his sword slightly. "Now that we have bought ourselves some time to talk, we need to cut off their heads at the same time to kill them."
Tengen, who was a bit intrigued, asked, "How did you know that?"
Akira replied, "As I told you before, my eyes are special. Oh, by the way, you're poisoned."
Tengen said calmly, "I know, but I can still fight."
Akira nodded. "Okay. You and I will take on the brother, and the rest of you take on the sister. What do you say?"
Everyone nodded.
Suddenly, multiple obi attacked them from long range. All of them deflected the attacks, and then blood sickles came flying at Akira. He used his huge sword again, performing the same wind-pressure attack to push them back.
From the wreckage, Daki and Gyutaro emerged, but only Gyutaro was walking, while Daki sat on his back.
Gyutaro sneered. "The thing about us is that we're two people in one."
Akira grinned. "Cool, a perfect combo, one does long-range attacks, the other handles close-quarters, and has fast movement. Not bad."
He turned to Erika and asked excitedly, "Erika, climb on my back; we'll do the same and fight fire with fire."
"Not in a million years. Don't joke around," Erika snapped.
Akira sighed and muttered, "But I was serious, though."
Gyutaro's expression twisted. "Huh! This really pisses me off. You're good-looking, popular with ladies, and on top of that, you're full of swagger. You're different, aren't you? Not like any of the Hashira I've killed. You must've been special since the day you were born, a chosen talent, right? That makes me so jealous! I need you to die as soon as possible!"
Akira replied with theatrical nonchalance, "Well, you're not wrong. I was born better than everyone." He glanced at them as he spoke. "From the way you're talking, I can see both of you must've had a really hard life. Unfortunately, the world isn't fair. Some people always get better things than others, and some have horrible things happen to some of them too, but that doesn't give you the right to do those horrible things to others, right?"
"You are wrong about that," both Daki and Gyutaro said in unison. Their voices hardened. They continued, "The horrible things done to us… the things that made us suffer… we do them back to others and collect on those debts. We can never make up for our own misfortune unless we collect it from the blessed, because that's the way we live our lives!"
As they spoke, Gyutaro closed one eye. From Daki's forehead, a third eye opened. Together they declared, "We have killed all who wronged us. Now we're going to slash your windpipes just like we did to others!"
Multiple magenta obi burst from Daki's back and lunged forward as Gyutaro charged at Akira.
Akira rushed in and aimed to sever Gyutaro's neck, but Gyutaro ducked, and Daki leapt aside. Before they could recover, a small bomb detonated near Daki and sent her flying.
At that instant, Zenitsu struck her, muttering "Thunder Breathing, First Form: Thunderclap and Flash", and the momentum launched both Daki and Zenitsu skyward. They landed on a rooftop; Inosuke, Tanjiro, and Erika followed suit.
Erika called out, "I don't have a Nichirin blade, so I can't kill her. I'll cover you so you guys can cut off her head."
Everyone agreed.
Daki snarled, "You think you can beat me like before? Now that my brother is awake, I can show my true powers!" She unleashed a storm of obi slashes.
Meanwhile, Akira and Tengen attacked Gyutaro from opposite sides. Gyutaro grinned and said, "Blood demon art — rotating circular slashesflying blood scythes". He extended both arms and unleashed concentric waves of sharp, solidified blood by rupturing his veins, aiming them at Akira and Tengen. Both blocked the attack, but it shoved them back.
"I'm not done yet." Gyutaro roared, adding more blood to the assault until the waves swelled and surged forward. It was too much, and both Tengen and Akira were cut in multiple places.
Gyutaro hissed, "You see, my blood is poisonous. That means you're both poisoned now."
Tengen retorted, "I'm a shinobi; poison doesn't work on me."
Akira shrugged. "Believe me, I've seen more powerful poisons. A weak one like this won't work on me."
They steadied themselves to counterattack, but long-range obi slashes rained from behind, which they parried, while Gyutaro pressed his assault.
Akira called out, "Guys, can you keep her occupied?"
Erika's strained reply came through, "We're trying, but she's grown stronger and keeps spawning more obi. I can't block them all." She focused on Daki's barrage, which had changed drastically from before. There are more obi, and her attacks are stronger and more accurate than before, too.
Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke were desperately trying to get closer to Daki, but there were simply too many obi slashes flying at them from every direction.
Erika's two ribbons weren't enough to block them all. She was completely overwhelmed.
To be honest, for Erika, something about her own movements felt off; she couldn't fight like she did before, when she'd beaten Daki into the ground. Back then, she had been furious, letting instinct and bloodlust take over. But now, calmer, she couldn't find that same rhythm again.
Her gaze turned toward Akira.
He was now spinning his enormous sword, the Demon Slayer, with a grin on his face, shouting, "Genshin Impact: Charged Attack!" as he turned and spun like a baybalde and slammed at Gyutaro.
Erika blinked, unsure whether he was actually serious or just… playing around. Knowing Akira, it could easily be either. His strength was immense, and it wouldn't be surprising if he hadn't even started fighting seriously yet.
As she looked around at the devastation surrounding her, the collapsing buildings, the wounded civilians, the cries of fear and pain echoing through the street, Everyone was fighting for their life, but Akira was fighting for fun, without caring too much about others.
But she also knew it was not Akira's fault, in these few days since they reunited, she realised that Akira is a bit different from others, but she also knew it was the fault of the people who created him in his previous life without most emotions, so she knew he didn't see random person he didn't know that important, and wouldn't care too much if they are hurt or died.
But so many people are getting hurt now, and it didn't feel like he cared about it. She wanted to set him straight, or at least make up for his mistakes, but she is not as strong as him, and she always hesitates to fight others and use her full vampiric abilities to fight, but she can't remain weak, as she has to become strong and fight without hesitation.
She clenched her fists. "I have to change… not just for myself or Akira's sake," she whispered. "I also need to protect all these people, the ones I couldn't protect before."
Her breath trembled. "So, I won't hesitate anymore."
In that instant, something inside her shifted as if something familiar awakened within her.
Her blue eyes shifted back to crimson, glowing with intensity. And as if answering to her new resolve, two additional ribbons materialized from each of her hands, weaving into existence like threads of red light.
Now, six ribbons floated around her, as if they had a will of their own, glowing faintly as if resonating with her resolve.
Selena, who was watching this from her crystal throne back in her castle, was a bit surprised, muttering, "No way… she's already undergoing Device Reconstruction?"
Erika, with her glowing crimson eyes, said, "I will end this fight." As she prepared to continue her attack with her newfound resolve.