Chapter 43: Kanae Kocho
The battlefield fell into a rare, stunned silence. The demons were frozen in fear, having just seen their comrade get obliterated into ash. Hirano Katsumi's body twitched twice, then went still.
[You have killed the security officer Hirano Katsumi. You have gained 50 Dimensional Points.]
[Milestone Update: Genocider (10/100)]
Kanae Kocho was also frozen in place. While she didn't understand what "JoJo" meant, the man's wild, berserk fighting style and the merciless way he had killed Hirano had sent a massive shock through her.
"Who… are you…?" she asked, slowly coming back to her senses. She looked at the collapsed body of the security officer, knowing that tonight's events could probably never be explained. The officers from the nearby towns would likely turn hostile toward the Demon Slayer Corps because of their colleague's death. And that Minister… he would surely use this to slander them. The Master would be implicated again.
"What in the world have you done?!" Kanae glared at Kaito, her voice filled with anger.
Kaito ignored the woman who couldn't fully commit to a battle. She was kind and beautiful, but she was not a qualified killer. Concerns like identity and politics were things to be considered only after the slaughter was over.
He felt his own state becoming unstable. A sharp, hidden pain was growing in his lower abdomen. This was something that had never happened before when he entered this state. But he didn't let it show. Instead, the unrestrained smile on his face grew wider.
He swept his gaze over the remaining demons. The next moment, he stomped his foot.
BOOM!
He activated [Niko Style - Fire Kata - Raging Fire] again.
His figure was a blur of brutal motion. He instantly appeared in front of the nearest demon. Seeing him charge, the demon opened its mouth wide, its neck stretching as its jaw unhinged to an impossible angle, and it lunged to bite him.
Without even looking, Kaito's head bent at a bizarre angle, dodging the bite. His left hand was already glowing with the power of Ripple Overdrive.
Squelch!
It was as smooth as a hot knife slicing through butter. Kaito's hand, formed into a blade, swiped casually through the air. The demon's elongated neck, along with its head, was cleanly severed and immediately began to dissolve.
[You have killed a man-eating demon. You have gained 10 Dimensional Points.]
[Milestone Update: Demon Hunter (12/20)]
In his current state, Kaito's speed and strength completely overwhelmed the ordinary demons. He estimated that with his enhancements, his actual stats were probably above 20.
He was like a demon hunting demons. With a series of violent, ground-shattering stomps, the man-eaters fell one after another.
Kanae watched the terrifying man, her heart pounding. This scene… it was even more terrifying than the strongest Hashira, the Stone Hashira, Gyomei Himejima. The sheer, absolute violence born from pure physical strength and speed made her tremble.
[You have killed a man-eating demon. You have gained 15 Dimensional Points.]
…
[You have killed 20 man-eating demons in this world. Milestone: Demon Hunter has been completed. Equip?]
[Demon Hunter - You have completely mastered the vital points of man-eating demons. Your attacks will now deal additional damage to them.]
"This guy isn't right! Run!"
The last few demons, either because they had troublesome Blood Demon Arts or had managed to flee to a safe distance, now scrambled into the forest and vanished.
Kaito wanted to give chase, but the hidden pain in his abdomen had become extremely intense. He gasped for breath as his body rapidly shrank back to its normal size, his muscles beginning to spasm violently. The sharp pain, originating in his abdomen, was now spreading throughout the rest of his body.
Kaito's face quickly grew pale. He calmly took out a scroll, tore it open, and slapped it onto his stomach. A green chakra flared to life, and its potent life energy swiftly flowed into his body. The intense pain immediately began to subside.
"Hey, your arm is injured. Let me take a look at it," a voice said.
It was Kanae. Although she thought Kaito was a madman, he was undeniably a human being. And, objectively speaking, he had saved her and the few surviving members of her squad.
At that moment, the other swordsmen in the black Demon Slayer uniforms were helping each other to their feet and walking over. They had lost two members, one was critically injured, and the other two had minor wounds. They all looked at Kaito with a mixture of awe and terror. His demon-slaying prowess had been a welcome surprise, but the way he had mercilessly killed the troublesome security officer had also frightened them. They were deeply unsettled by the raw wildness he exuded.
One of the younger slayers was helping the dazed girl, whose face was so numb with shock she couldn't even form an expression of fear, over to Kanae's side.
Kaito now recognized the woman before him—with her butterfly-patterned haori, butterfly-shaped hair clip, black hair, and purple eyes—as Kanae Kocho from the Demon Slayer story. This meant that the timeline of this derivative world was not after the start of the main story. At this point in time, Tanjiro's family had not yet met their tragic fate.
And… Kaito also realized that this world was far more dangerous than he had anticipated. The demons, which mostly appeared alone in the original story, were attacking in hordes here. And then there was the Hand Demon, which the Nexus had identified as a [Lower Rank Candidate].
Seeing that Kaito didn't answer her, Kanae didn't get angry. Her nature was a gentle one, and she held a deep compassion for both humans and the demons who were once human.
"Sir… before I picked up this sword, my family were doctors," she said, her voice soft. She could see that Kaito's right arm was severely damaged. Numerous capillaries were ruptured, the muscles were heavily contused, and several of his fingers were twisted, as if from a terrifying impact. But when he was treating himself, he had clutched his abdomen. Clearly, he had other injuries as well.
"It is still night. Let us go to the old Mt. Fujikasane site to take shelter first. There may be a Lower Rank demon in this area."
Kanae took the hand of the blank-eyed girl and, without waiting for an answer, began to lead her group, including Kaito, away. She was already giving orders to her squad members to be on the lookout for other signs of battle. From her words, Kaito gathered that she had been drawn here by the sounds of fighting in the first place, searching for anyone who was battling demons on the mountain.
The sharp pain in Kaito's abdomen had lessened, and his thoughts were becoming clear again. He realized that this, too, was likely part of the Nexus's design for the Reincarnators. If the team had just stayed put and defended their position instead of scattering, they could have held out long enough for the Demon Slayer Corps—specifically, a healing-capable Hashira like Kanae—to arrive as reinforcements. That would have been enough to ensure the survivors made it through the night. Furthermore, the Hand Demon had been a stationary boss at the top of the mountain; they wouldn't have run into it if they hadn't run off in different directions.
Tsk. So this is the Nexus, he thought. It never gives you an impossible mission, but it also never lets you have it too easy.
It was just that the Reincarnators in his group couldn't maintain a team formation in the face of danger. The two high-mobility members had fled immediately. Kaito, with his overwhelming bloodlust, had chased the demons too deep into the mountain alone. The whereabouts of the others were unknown.
They arrived at a grove where the wisteria flowers were especially thick. The Demon Slayers all sighed in relief. But in the next moment, several figures suddenly appeared, making even Kanae tense up.
The Professor and her group stared at Kaito. Though he was injured, he was still in one piece. Their expressions were a mixture of shock and disbelief. If they remembered correctly, this madman had charged off alone, chasing a pack of demons deep into the forest…
"Yo," Kaito greeted them with a grin. "So you're not dead yet."
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Guys We cross the 1300 power stone goal and as promise here the bonus chapter
Next goal 1400 power stone,come on guys you'll can do it, good luck.
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