Chapter 3: Chew Him to Pieces — Bakudatsu
In just a few seconds, the demon's severed leg fused back together. It staggered upright, barely steady.
Its eyes bulged with rage, blood-red vertical pupils looking ready to drip crimson.
As a demon, ordinary injuries couldn't kill it. Even if its neck were sliced open by mundane blades, it could struggle, regenerate, and restore itself to a whole body once more.
But this kind of recovery had limits.
Every meal of flesh brought not only pleasure and satisfaction—but power.
And restoring its body consumed that power.
It wasn't a great demon that regularly feasted on humans, much less something comparable to the legendary Demon Moons. The flesh-energy within it was scarce to begin with.
Regenerating severed limbs again and again weakened it, dulled its strength, and reduced its hunting efficiency.
How could it not be furious?
This damn little brat—again and again—getting in my way!
Asuka's repeated resistance finally ignited its full savagery.
It charged without restraint, a rampaging mass of violence, slamming into the still-fleeing Asuka like a living cannon.
BOOM—!!
Blood surged up Asuka's throat.
His organs felt like they'd been violently displaced. He spat out a mouthful of blood, his bones screaming as though they were about to shatter.
His body was hurled forward, crashing hard into the snow. The ground beneath him was gouged into a shallow trench of red.
He tried to rise—
Pain exploded through his shoulder.
SPLURT—!
The demon was already upon him. A claw had punched straight through his shoulder, skewering him in place.
"I told you," the demon snarled, grinning viciously,
"I'd tear you apart—one bite at a time!"
Dizziness washed over Asuka. The demon's laughter roared in his ears as warm blood poured freely from his body, staining the snow beneath him.
…Still too reckless.
Gratitude. Repaying kindness.
How laughable…
Snowflakes drifted down onto his face. Time itself seemed to slow.
Is this it?
Dying like those nameless corpses in Rukongai—rotting by filthy gutters, dissolving into spirit particles?
Like travelers frozen stiff and gnawed clean by wild dogs?
Like the old man… his throat torn open by a monster, eyes wide, lifeless, abandoned in the cold snow…
…
No.
NO—ABSOLUTELY NOT!!
A violent, unwilling, furious voice exploded inside Asuka's mind—
fiercer than any fight over moldy bread,
madder than swinging blood-soaked fists while being beaten to the ground.
"I can't die here!"
"I have to live! My debts aren't settled yet! The people I have to kill—I haven't killed them yet!"
"All this humiliation… I'll repay it a hundredfold to that bespectacled freak! I'll make every one of those high-and-mighty bastards taste it!"
Feeling the prey on its claw thrashing violently, the demon's interest was rekindled. It mocked him playfully.
"Oh my, oh my—only now you learn fear?"
"Yes, that's it. Struggle. Thrash around!"
"Like a dying stray dog!"
"Hh… hh…"
A hoarse, broken snarl tore from Asuka's throat—low, feral, like a beast on the brink of death. His grip on the battered blade tightened further and further, fingernails digging into flesh until blood slowly ran down the hilt.
"It's over, brat!"
The demon opened its jaws wide, dragging Asuka closer, preparing to savor him—starting with the head.
"…Chew…"
"What?"
The low growl brushed against the demon's ear. It hesitated for a split second—and then suddenly felt the weight vanish from its grasp.
Huh?
Before it could even process the thought, it glanced sideways—
Its arm was gone.
"AAAAA—!!"
SPLASH!!
A column of blood erupted as the demon let out a scream far more horrific than before.
Asuka had somehow squeezed out the very last fragment of strength within him—
and severed the demon's claw in one decisive strike!
He crashed to the ground. Half a still-twitching demon claw remained lodged in his shoulder, yet he felt none of it.
Instead, he spread his stance, twisting his body into a distorted posture, fingers clawing down onto the blood-soaked blade in his hands as if gripping it with his entire soul.
"Damn you, you little bastard! I'll grind you into paste!!"
The demon abandoned all restraint.
It would no longer savor this human—this cockroach that refused to die and kept injuring it.
To avoid any further mishaps—regrettable as it was—it would reduce Asuka to minced flesh!
The claws howled downward, aimed straight at Asuka's crown!
So fast they left five blurred black afterimages in the air.
Yet—
To Asuka, everything had slowed to a crawl.
I will live.
No matter how ugly. No matter how wretched.
Even if you're immortal.
Even if you're a god.
I'll still tear a chunk of flesh from you with my teeth!
A voice from the deepest part of his soul—intertwined with the strange trembling hum of the blade in his hands—burst forth like the first thunder that split heaven and earth, forced out through bloodstained teeth:
"Chew and devour—
BAKUDATSU!"
BUUUUM—!!
The longsword exploded with blinding light the instant its true name was spoken!
A surge of blood-red and iron-gray energy roared outward, overflowing with primal, violent, feral rage!
A completely new power flooded Asuka's body, making him shudder—
as if the blade had become part of him.
An extra arm.
A newly born body.
Only now did he remember—
This was no broken sword.
It was the weapon that bespectacled monster had forced upon him—
An Asauchi.
The light swallowed Asuka's sword arm whole, racing wildly along the blade!
The demon's killing claw froze the instant it touched the edge of that raging radiance—
as if it had slammed into an invisible wall, unable to advance even an inch!
SSSSSS—!!
The sound of flesh being seared rang out.
The demon's expression twisted in horror. It yanked its claw back, stumbling several steps away in pain, desperately widening the distance between them.
For the first time—
Fear appeared in those blood-red vertical pupils.
The fear meant only for prey.
The light came fast.
And vanished just as quickly.
Wind carrying snow and grit swept through.
When the brilliance faded, Asuka was revealed—half-kneeling in the snow.
He was still drenched in blood. The wound through his shoulder remained a horrifying cavity—but the demon's claw was gone.
His clothing had changed.
The thin cotton coat had become a torn black kimono jacket and loose trousers.
And the blade in his hand—
Had transformed completely.
The rusted longsword was gone.
In its place was a massive, gray-black serrated cleaver, its surface gleaming with an eerie metallic sheen.
Jagged, uneven, canine-shaped teeth lined the blade, wide and heavy, radiating brute strength and savage menace.
Just staring at the cold gleam of its edge, one could almost hear the low, distant whimpering of a pack of dogs—
A suffocating pressure surged forth, like being surrounded by countless starving strays.
"Y-you… what are you?!"
The demon clutched its injured claw in terror, its voice stripped of all prior arrogance.
To its horror, its flesh wasn't healing properly.
The burning sensation wasn't fire—but something far worse.
A tearing pain that reached straight into the soul.
As if starving wolves were biting, ripping, biting again—
it could feel its life force draining away, regeneration slowed to a crawl.
This human… is a demon.
This is a Blood Demon Art…
Such thoughts burst forth from the demon's limited understanding.
Asuka slowly lifted his head.
Blood still stained his body. The wound on his shoulder was gruesome.
But his eyes—
They were brighter than ever.
"Return the debt…"
he said quietly,
"of the old man's blood."