"Is that all you've got?" Ivan lifted his right leg and stepped into Giyu's Dead Calm domain.
The next second, a slash mark appeared on his neck as Giyu pulled his sword back with a blank expression.
Ivan smiled and raised his right hand to his forehead. The cut on his neck slowly faded until it disappeared completely.
"Couldn't even cut off his head! My attack only scratched his skin. How is that possible? Is the gap between my strength and Muzan's really that big?" Giyu's sword hand trembled slightly. It felt like he had just struck not a human body, but an unbreakable piece of steel.
"Impressive breathing technique. Can you teach me?" Ivan lowered his hand and looked at Giyu with curious eyes.
"You want to learn Water Breathing?"
Giyu, who had been waiting for Muzan's counterattack, looked surprised for once. The usually stoic man frowned slightly. "You're not Muzan. Who the hell are you?"
Muzan's arrogance meant he would never bother learning a breathing technique created by humans. In reality, Muzan's talent for it was terrible. After trying a few times, he had given up.
Yet this guy was asking to learn a breathing technique. It looked like he had never even touched one before. Who was he? No demon scent on him and no Upper or Lower Rank markings in his eyes.
Human? But how could a human withstand his slash?
No matter how many questions swirled in his mind, Giyu's face stayed calm. After a few seconds, he spoke. "I won't teach you. Leave."
"Muzan? I've been looking for him. Do you know where he is? And…"
Ivan's gaze turned ice cold in an instant. His figure vanished again. The snowflakes drifting from the sky slowed down dozens of times in his eyes. The only thing Tanjiro and the others could see were footprints slowly appearing on the snow.
"I'm not asking. I'm telling you." Ivan grabbed Giyu by the throat and lifted him up.
As Ivan's five fingers slowly tightened, Giyu's breathing quickly became labored. But he still didn't give in. "I won't teach the breathing technique to someone with twisted intentions. A person like that is no different from a demon."
"You were the one who attacked me first. And you are calling me twisted?"
Seeing that Giyu was a tough nut and continuing would just waste time, Ivan released his right hand and walked toward Tanjiro.
Freed from the grip, Giyu dropped to one knee in the snow, breathing heavily. The freezing air burned his lungs, but he didn't slow down.
Only now was he certain the man in front of him wasn't Muzan. If it had been Muzan, he would never have let a Demon Slayer member live.
"W-What do you want?" Seeing Ivan's target was Nezuko, Tanjiro immediately spread his arms and stood in front of her.
"Don't get the wrong idea. I'm just curious about her ability to grow and shrink."
Since Ivan hadn't fused Stormfront's powers yet, his analysis function was still available. His target this time was Nezuko.
"Please, let my sister go. She's innocent. Please don't take her from me. She's the only family I have left." Facing an enemy he couldn't fight, Tanjiro knelt in the snow in pain and helplessness.
He pressed both palms to the ground, almost bowing at a full ninety degrees to Ivan.
This was the most respectful bow in Japanese tradition, usually only used when begging.
"Please. I'm begging you." Tanjiro's voice cracked with tears. Hot tears rolled down from the corners of his eyes.
Tanjiro's display of weakness made Giyu grit his teeth in anger. He couldn't help roaring, "Don't let others control your life and death! Don't beg so pathetically! If begging worked, your family wouldn't have been killed…"
Under Giyu's furious roar, Tanjiro slowly straightened his back.
At the same time, Giyu prayed in his heart for Tanjiro not to lose hope and not to keep crying. He wanted to see Tanjiro turn that unforgiving, powerful, and pure anger in his heart into unbreakable fighting spirit. Because he understood that in this hopeless world, only strength could protect what you wanted to protect.
"Let go of my sister!"
Giyu's words clearly had an effect.
Tanjiro realized that weakness alone couldn't protect his family. He needed power. He needed the courage to fight back!
He grabbed the axe beside him and hurled it at Ivan with a whistle.
Too bad the gap in strength between him and Ivan couldn't be closed by simple anger. The moment the axe blade hit Ivan's shoulder, it bounced off and landed motionless in the snow.
"I already said don't get the wrong idea. I'm actually a good person. If that guy hadn't attacked me first, I wouldn't have fought back." Ivan squatted down in front of the now-shrunken Nezuko and pinched her chubby little cheek.
[No ability parsed]
This wasn't the first time Ivan had run into this situation. Clearly Nezuko's demon transformation wasn't complete yet, so he couldn't parse any ability from her.
"Alright, name your terms. I only want the breathing technique in your hands."
Ivan held Nezuko in his arms and murmured softly, "She really is cutest when she's small."
"Mmm mmm." Nezuko instinctively tried to bite Ivan's finger when he brought it near her mouth.
Seeing this, Giyu warned in a low voice, "There might still be some of Muzan's blood left in her body. If she bites you and breaks the skin, you could get infected."
"It's fine. If she wants to bite something, let her. She can't break my skin anyway." Ivan's lips curved up slightly.
"Can you please give Nezuko back to me?"
Ivan completely ignored Tanjiro's plea.
"Ah ah ah." Nezuko sensed Tanjiro getting closer and started struggling in Ivan's arms. She reached out with her chubby little arms like lotus roots, trying to grab him.
"Want to come with me? I can help you get revenge," Ivan said with a smile.
"For safety's sake, it's better to cover her mouth."
Giyu took out a short bamboo tube and stuck it in Nezuko's mouth.
"My finger worked just fine. It was just a little unhygienic." Ivan reluctantly pulled his finger back.
"You know Kibutsuji Muzan?" Giyu's observation made him realize the man in front of him seemed to really like children. Someone like that usually wasn't purely evil. More likely he was somewhere in between good and bad.
He wasn't far off. Right now Ivan's mindset was pretty similar to Homelander's. He wanted to be free. Unrestrained.
"I know him, but he probably doesn't know me. And he wouldn't want to know me."
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Read 12 Advance Chapters—P@t- Captain69