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Takeo casually picked a tree and sat down on a thick branch, resting his cheek in his palm as he scanned the surroundings.
Part of the reason he'd split up with Iori was that he genuinely didn't like working in teams—but the other reason was that he didn't want her to rely too heavily on him.
Truth be told, his strength far surpassed Iori's. Even though she had the skill to pass the Final Selection, if she stuck by his side the entire time, the whole test would lose its purpose.
Back when they faced the demon disguised as a grieving mother, Iori had been clearly inexperienced. That was likely her first real encounter with a demon, and she hadn't yet learned how to handle them properly.
She needed more experience fighting demons—and Mount Fujikasane was the perfect place to gain it.
"But for me… this place is pointless."
Takeo sat cross-legged on the branch, peering down through the foliage.
One… two… three…
Five demons in total prowled nearby, their scents vivid and unmistakable to his sharpened senses.
But none of them were strong.
Compared to the woman demon he had faced before, these were a joke.
Forget her—even the water demon from back then was leagues above these creatures.
As expected of demons captured alive by Demon Slayer swordsmen and thrown here as fodder for trainees. These demons weren't a test at all—not for someone like Takeo.
What really troubled Takeo more than the test itself was figuring out how he was supposed to get any proper sleep during these seven days.
"AAAHHHHHH!!!"
A sharp, piercing scream suddenly rang out in Takeo's ears.
The moment that scream echoed through the forest, the five demons lurking nearby all turned toward the direction it came from and rushed off.
Some poor examinee had clearly been attacked—and their scream was loud and full of terror.
That kind of desperate cry was like a dinner bell for the demons, immediately drawing their attention. Trapped on Mount Fujikasane year-round, rarely given a chance to feast on fresh human flesh, the demons saw the participating swordsmen as both a threat and a buffet.
Especially those who screamed.
That meant they weren't much of a threat—and thus perfect prey.
"…I really don't feel like moving. But whatever. I've got time to kill anyway."
Takeo wasn't exactly the type to go out of his way to help others. If it didn't happen directly in front of him, he rarely felt any real drive to intervene.
On the other hand, if something did happen right in front of him, Takeo wasn't the type to turn a blind eye.
And since he had the ability—and he was free at the moment—he figured helping out wasn't a big deal.
If something was within his power, then doing what he could was better than seeing a corpse later and feeling some half-hearted regret.
Moving faster than the demons racing through the forest below, Takeo reached the source of the scream ahead of them.
Down below, near a clear riverbank, a young man in a brown kimono was sitting on the ground, frantically scooting backwards in terror.
In front of him stood a demon with a horn growing out of the upper left side of its forehead. It was drooling as it slowly licked its claws.
At the demon's feet lay the man's Nichirin sword—knocked from his hands during the fight.
The situation was obvious: the man had encountered the demon, tried to fight, but was quickly overwhelmed and disarmed. He was now moments away from being devoured.
"Hehehe, I'm gonna eat good tonight."
The horned demon chuckled, saliva dripping from its fanged mouth.
Several more demons that had followed the scream arrived shortly after. They instinctively moved to block off the man's retreat, oddly without quarreling amongst themselves.
Which made sense—
Fighting over food would only let it escape. Better to catch the prey first—then squabble over who got to eat what.
"D-Don't come any closer!! No! Stay away!!"
The man was crying now, swinging the sheath of his sword in a panic, as if it could offer any protection.
But he knew it—and so did the demons—if nothing changed, he was dead.
And then, something changed.
"Wind Breathing, Fifth Form—"
A blade gleamed beneath the moonlight, descending from above. It swept through the air surrounded by emerald-green wind blades, which surged to their peak in an instant—cleanly severing the heads of the three demons closest to the man.
"—Cold Mountain Wind of Autumn."
Takeo's figure landed smoothly amid the now-headless corpses, his Nichirin sword still extended from the slash.
The three demon heads arced into the air, and before hitting the ground, disintegrated into ash.
"What—?! When did he get here?!"
The remaining demons recoiled in alarm. It was immediately clear: this human wasn't the same as the frightened man on the ground. Not at all.
Instantly slaying three demons—this wasn't something a normal swordsman could do!
There was a monster among the participants!
Every demon present realized it immediately. And in the blink of an eye, they made a decision: flee in different directions.
How to hide, how to ambush weaker swordsmen, how to survive—these were lessons learned over years of living in Mount Fujikasane.
Scatter. Even a monster could only chase one at a time. As long as he picked just one target, the rest could escape.
Live one more day—that was enough.
The demons bolted in different directions, hoping their strategy would work.
Takeo, standing at the center of the chaos, paused.
Chasing all of them one by one… would be annoying. But watching them scatter, an idea surfaced in his mind.
"Splitting up, huh? Perfect. I've been working on something lately… Might be time to give it a try."
Takeo hadn't figured out a full Breathing Technique of his own just yet. But over the past few days, he had started modifying the ones he knew, reshaping them to better fit his style.
And one of those modified forms—just so happened to suit this exact scenario.
"Wind Breathing, First Form – Modified—"
A swirl of green wind flowed with Takeo's breath. With a low stance, he pressed his right foot hard against the ground—then vanished from sight in an instant!
A wild cyclone tore through behind him, slicing like a spinning tornado. At its tip, the piercing blade shot forward, aiming straight at the back of one of the fleeing demons!
Perfect, he chose someone else!
The remaining two demons felt a rush of relief at the same time.
But they celebrated too soon.
The whirlwind didn't stop after beheading the first demon. Mid-flight, it twisted, redirecting its momentum toward another fleeing demon—dragging Takeo's body along the path of wind!
"So fast—!"
The ambushed demon's pupils shrank to pinpoints as he caught a glimpse of Takeo speeding toward him.
He tried to dodge, tried to counter—but the wind was faster than either his reflexes or thoughts.
In the blink of an eye, the slash blew past him as well, moving on again toward the final target.
"Is it my turn now...? He changed direction twice—in just a second... and we hadn't even run that far yet..."
The last remaining horned demon stared at the oncoming gust of wind, his heart consumed by terror.
His mind moved faster than his body, allowing him to process countless thoughts in mere moments—but that only made him more keenly aware of the death sweeping toward him.
In what felt like a single instant—no more than two or three seconds—this monster, this red-haired boy who had appeared from nowhere, had crossed three different directions, each more than ten meters apart, beheaded two demons, and was now about to slay the final one.
Why would such a monster be in a place like this…? Shouldn't someone like that be promoted straight into the Demon Slayer Corps?
No—wait.
The horned demon suddenly remembered. There had been another monster like this before.
Someone who treated demon hunting like a sport. During the Final Selection, they had slaughtered nearly every demon in the mountain within just a few nights.
Only a handful survived—and the horned demon had heard that tale from those survivors.
So now… another one like that has appeared…?
Slash—
The demon's thoughts ended there.
The gust of wind swept past him, leaving a long trail etched into the earth where the air had been sliced apart.
Takeo's red-haired figure now stood behind the horned demon, who had already begun to turn, too late to do anything. Standing still, almost as if savoring the moment, Takeo softly uttered the name of his new technique:
"—Dust Whirlwind: Chain Slash."
This was the modified technique Takeo had developed, evolved from the First Form of Wind Breathing.
By harnessing the force of a violent whirlwind, he could instantaneously shift direction, executing a rapid series of slashes across scattered enemies in a short burst of movement.
Modified Wind Breathing - Dust Whirlwind: Chain Slash.
That was the name of the technique.
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