"This brat's Blood Demon Art seems to be a long-range attack method. I can't let him widen the distance; I need to get in close."
Black Fang's body lowered and lowered again, forming an eerie posture that was almost flat against the ground. Then his legs kicked off, scattering chunks of stone.
His whole figure shot out like an arrow from a bowstring, skimming along the ground toward Kamado Asaki.
The moment Black Fang moved, Asaki understood his intent. He retreated sharply and, in the cramped space of the bear cave, began circling in combat with Black Fang.
At a thought from Asaki, the massive blazing white wings on his back spread wide, then suddenly fanned forward.
Dozens of blazing feathers, the moment they left the wings, turned into energy feathers forged from pure white light—sharp, fierce, and carrying sunlight energy that made Black Fang's heart lurch.
But while Black Fang's heart lurched, he didn't feel fear.
"No matter how bizarre your Blood Demon Art is, if it doesn't hit me, it's useless."
"Even if one or two hit, you think they can kill me outright?"
Moving low to the ground, Black Fang became like a boneless venomous snake, twisting in strange motions to avoid almost all the blazing feathers.
Only one feather struck his shoulder, searing him as if burned by a branding iron, his face twisting in pain as he cried out. But the injury itself wasn't severe.
The rest of the blazing feathers lodged in the ground, then slowly faded into nothingness.
Asaki stayed silent. From the moment he attacked with the feathers, Black Fang had guessed that he possessed this kind of ranged ability.
And Black Fang's snake-like ground-hugging movement cut down the effectiveness of the feathers drastically. Out of more than sixty feathers, only one hit him, and even that missed a vital spot.
Black Fang had lived for decades as a Demon. At first, he had looked down on Asaki and been caught off-guard by his sneak attack. But afterward, he had utterly overpowered him, smashing his face into the wall again and again.
Now that Black Fang was taking him seriously, even with a Blood Demon Art that restrained Demons, Asaki was still under immense pressure.
"The Scorching feathers restrain Demons well, but the consumption is huge."
"So hungry… feels like countless worms and ants are gnawing inside my stomach…"
Turning into a Demon consumed energy. Healing the body consumed energy. Using a Blood Demon Art consumed the most of all.
And Asaki—up until now—hadn't eaten a single bite of flesh…
When he first gained the Blood Demon Art, he'd been so excited he'd temporarily forgotten the exhaustion in his body.
But when the excitement faded, only bone-deep weakness remained.
The fact that he could fight Black Fang to this extent was purely from sheer willpower.
Asaki remembered what Tanjuro told him before he died: "Asaki, whether it's Tanjiro or anyone else, I'm entrusting them to you. As the eldest brother, you must take good care of them."
Yeah… Tanjiro's still alive. I still need to take care of him. I can't lose consciousness. I have to fight.
Asaki drew in a sharp breath. "Hinokami Kagura!"
He didn't know if it was because his body structure had changed, or if it was always like this.
But when using Hinokami Kagura now, his whole body was wracked with unbearable pain, as if every muscle fiber was twisting and snapping, as if he were being thrown into a torch and burned alive.
Yet in exchange, he gained overwhelming strength and speed, and a soaring battle spirit.
Maybe Hinokami Kagura was forcing out his potential… it was just that his body couldn't easily endure it.
The blazing white wings fanned. They couldn't make Asaki fly, but they greatly boosted his speed as he charged straight at Black Fang.
He leapt up, feathers fanning wildly upward to push him down with extra force. Using the momentum of the drop, Asaki's leg came down like a battle axe aimed at Black Fang's skull.
Close combat didn't scare Asaki.
"This needs to end quickly."
Black Fang's eyes lit up. He slammed a hand against the ground, shaking loose a crater, then twisted up and to the side to avoid Asaki's crushing kick.
Boom
Asaki's leg smashed into the ground, cracking it instantly, spiderweb fissures spreading more than two meters from the impact point.
Black Fang's cleaver slashed at Asaki's right leg. Asaki didn't dodge—his fingertips shot out sharp claws that raked for Black Fang's shoulder.
Shhk!
The claws pierced Black Fang's shoulder and ripped violently, tearing his left arm clean off.
But at the same time, Black Fang's cleaver hacked clean through Asaki's right leg, making him stumble and nearly fall to his knees. He had to brace against the ground with his right wing to steady himself.
Without hesitation, Black Fang yanked his cleaver back from the leg and swung it at Asaki's waist. Asaki caught the blade with one hand, ignoring the blood pouring from his palm, while his other claw shot for Black Fang's eye.
Black Fang turned his head to avoid it, but one eyeball was still pierced through…
Fighting between Demons was brutal—blood and severed limbs flying together.
Bodies quickly became tattered, and just as quickly regenerated.
Both Demons wanted to end it fast, and both began trading injuries for injuries. Now it was just a question of who would collapse first.
Asaki's face grew darker, his endurance fraying, until he snapped in fury. "Bastard, if the feathers didn't drain so much energy, and if I hadn't wasted too many just now letting you dodge them, you think I'd be stuck trading blows with you like this? I'd have torn your head off already."
Black Fang laughed wildly. "Brat, just learned a Blood Demon Art, and you already burn through it recklessly. You think you're that tough?"
"Why won't you eat humans? They taste amazing. Smell that corpse in the cave—the aroma's incredible."
"As a Demon, you still dream of turning human? You can't go back, hahaha!"
Asaki bared his fangs, ripping a huge chunk of meat from Black Fang's arm before spitting it to the side. At the same time, Black Fang's blade sliced open Asaki's stomach, exposing the organs beneath his skin.
But neither of them felt pain now. They only attacked wildly, aiming to inflict as much damage as possible.
Even while fighting, Black Fang sneered. "Don't think humans are noble, and don't think Demons are inherently vile and low."
"In the ocean, tiger sharks ruthlessly hunt seals, seals hunt penguins and tear open their bellies to play with them before eating them alive, and penguins do the same to small fish."
"Humans are no different—cruel, merciless, cutting open prey's bellies, even roasting them alive for food."
"Demons are simply to humans what tiger sharks are to seals. Eating humans is natural law. It's survival of the fittest. It's evolution."
"Once you've become a Demon, follow your species' instincts. If you don't eat humans, you're just some half-breed freak. Humans won't accept you, and Demons will try to kill you. You'll never be human again, hahaha."
Black Fang was trying to shake Asaki's will. In a fight this deadlocked, whoever faltered first would immediately fall behind.
And what Black Fang said wasn't baseless—it was logic he believed in himself, and that gave his words strong weight.
Asaki stayed silent. What Black Fang said wasn't without reason.
But… there was one part he got wrong.
(End of Chapter)
***
Read More On P@treon // Kryzt