"The wisteria flowers planted from the foot to the mountainside are only meant to trap you, not us."
"The scent emitted by the wisteria flowers is what you loathe, and the toxins can also destroy your physical structure."
Kiyokawa Izumi explained calmly.
All of this was to stall for time and let the toxins take effect. Having awakened at noon, he hadn't just idly sat until nightfall.
When it comes to extracting toxins, ten thousand of him couldn't compare to the Insect Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps; after all, Shinobu is a professional.
He hadn't actually done much, just extracted some sap to soak the blade. Would it be useful? What kind of effect would it have? He didn't know either. But as the saying goes, doing something is better than doing nothing.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it!"
That indifferent, cat-and-mouse attitude had vanished; the Hand Demon was now on the brink of fury.
"Do you think this little bit of poison can kill me?"
"After eating so many people, would I be killed by this tiny amount of poison?"
Countless arms burst from the ground as the unscrupulous Hand Demon launched a sneak attack on Kiyokawa Izumi.
No one can defend against attacks coming from the ground!
But Kiyokawa Izumi was a transmigrator. He knew what abilities this fellow had and had been guarding against this move all along.
Perhaps he didn't have the jumping power of the protagonist, Tanjirou. But he had his own advantages.
The moment they burst from the soil was indeed fast, and ordinary people would certainly find it difficult to react. But under the gaze of those eyes he possessed, Kiyokawa Izumi simply gripped his nichirin blade calmly and struck second—but arrived first; in just a moment, eight or nine arms fell to the ground one after another.
The Hand Demon was startled, looking at Kiyokawa Izumi in disbelief.
How could his reaction speed be so fast? How is that possible?
Was it those eyes? Those eyes, like those of a malevolent spirit, even felt ominous to it.
'Perhaps…'
A thought flickered in the Hand Demon's mind, and it stopped launching meaningless attacks.
The toxins it had absorbed were indeed insufficient to kill it.
Kiyokawa Izumi should be the one who was anxious now. Once it recovered, everything he had done would become a futile effort. The blade would dull, and continuous fighting would lead to exhaustion; having realized this, the Hand Demon was not in the least bit of a hurry.
'So the first trump card I revealed was useless after all, tsk.'
'Is it waiting for me to attack?'
'Does it think I don't know its neck is very hard?'
Kiyokawa Izumi was actually hesitating whether or not to give it a try. But if the nichirin blade were to break, he would surely die. Could he do it? Could he cut through the Hand Demon's neck?
At this moment, he truly did hesitate.
But at this point, the arrow was on the string and had to be shot. No matter what, he had to try. He couldn't afford a battle of attrition with this guy, nor could he manage to fight until dawn.
Kiyokawa Izumi exhaled slightly, his muscles tensing as his legs suddenly exerted force, crossing the distance of less than twenty meters almost in the blink of an eye.
The Hand Demon deliberately tempted him to strike its neck, and Kiyokawa Izumi chose to play along with its scheme.
The surrounding arm attacks were clearly half-hearted; after only two were severed, they all retreated. Both the human and the demon had their own calculations.
When Kiyokawa Izumi arrived before the Hand Demon, he feinted and circled to its side. He jumped, soaring into the air.
The Hand Demon's height was far beyond what any adult male could compare to. Even though the act of jumping was extremely dangerous, Kiyokawa Izumi had no choice but to do it.
'Water Breathing, First Form: Water Surface Slash!'
Without flashy techniques or redundant movements, this strike carried his determination and the weight of his entire body as it slashed diagonally toward the Hand Demon's neck.
The breathing rhythm remained unchanged; a massive amount of oxygen was inhaled into the lungs and then diffused into the blood. Dilated blood vessels and tensed muscles exploded with power, as veins bulged beneath the skin.
This strike seemed to carry the outcry of his entire being, venting the resentment of having inexplicably transmigrated.
From the corner of his eye, he seemed to see a smile on the Hand Demon's twisted face, as if its plot had succeeded.
However, luck was on Kiyokawa Izumi's side after all.
The Breathing Technique that he hadn't been able to master for the longest time was finally attained.
"Breathing Technique (?) mastered."
Accompanied by a soulless electronic voice, the lingering obsession of the original host seemed to dissipate slightly.
The straight slash cutting through the air caused a dull boom. The blade sliced through the arms covering the Hand Demon's neck as easily as cutting through tofu.
'How is that possible?'
A look of panic appeared on the Hand Demon's face.
And in the next second, the situation changed abruptly.
The Hand Demon's neck was indeed unimaginably hard. Although the blade had cut into it, it failed to sever it cleanly. This strike was already Kiyokawa Izumi's current limit.
He hadn't even dared to imagine that he could master the Breathing Technique at this moment and successfully execute the First Form.
But reality seemed to be playing a cruel joke on him.
You, who have done your utmost, are not the Tanjirou who would later participate in the Selection and cleanly sever the Hand Demon's neck.
At this moment, several arms suddenly sprouted from the Hand Demon's shoulder sockets, lunging toward the airborne Kiyokawa Izumi like fierce serpents.
'After giving it my all to reach this point, is it still not enough?'
Looking at the triumphant, mocking expression on the Hand Demon's face, Kiyokawa Izumi seemed at his wit's end.