Haruto focused intently on dealing with Nure-onna.
The girl with the snake tail had a noticeable increase in speed; compared to her previous predicament in the cramped room, Nure-onna was much more dangerous now.
This was more like the strength of someone who had consumed an entire hot spring full of humans.
"Wham!" Her long snake tail whipped towards him. Haruto raised his nichirin blade to block, but the immense force knocked him and his blade to the ground.
He quickly got up, performing a somersault to the side, clumsily dodging the attack before countless strands of hair could pierce his body.
"Haruto?!" Tomioka Giyu couldn't help but glance over, but his opponent was even more troublesome, with eight writhing tentacles constantly nullifying his Water Breathing.
"Focus on your opponent!"
Haruto shouted loudly. He nimbly dodged Nure-onna's long tail attack again, stomping heavily on a rock beside him, and leaped high into the air like a pouncing eagle.
The long hair that had flown towards him and been dodged became an aid to his advance. His toes tapped on the taut, hard strands of hair as he sprinted towards Nure-onna.
"Clang, clang, clang, clang!" The needle-like black hair attacks were blocked by his blade, and Haruto finally closed in on Nure-onna again.
Sensing a threat to her life, Nure-onna immediately thrashed her body, truly transforming into a giant snake!
"Swish!" The flame-laced blade severed one of her arms, and the strong smell of blood diffused through the air.
"Roar!" The Ushi-oni, who was fighting Tomioka Giyu, roared, no longer even bothering with the swordsman who had cut off its octopus leg, and instead wriggled quickly towards Haruto.
"What's going on?!"
Haruto retreated rapidly, dodging the suction-cupped tentacles.
Unexpectedly, the Ushi-oni did not continue to attack him, but instead used its tentacles to pick up Nure-onna's arm, which had fallen into the sea, and began to chew on it loudly.
The crunching sounds were incessant, reminding Haruto of his own last moments, when he had been stuffed into its mouth.
The two swordsmen got a temporary reprieve. They exchanged glances, shoulder to shoulder, both unsure of what had happened.
"I said! Enough!" Nure-onna suddenly erupted in rage, looking at the Ushi-oni eating like a starving wolf. Her waterfall-like black hair suddenly changed direction, aiming at the Ushi-oni like a volley of arrows.
The sound of 'thud, thud, thud' was incessant. The Ushi-oni was riddled with holes, and its blue blood stained the sea an even deeper blue.
"Ouch, ouch, ouch!" The Ushi-oni roared, using its tentacles to chop off the hairs, wanting to pierce Nure-onna's chest with its tentacles, just like it killed all its prey.
But on that huge bull's head, those two massive bull eyes merely spun wildly.
They're not going to fight?
Haruto was a little disappointed, but now was indeed a good opportunity. He nudged Giyuu with his shoulder, and the latter indicated he understood.
Blue water ripples and red flames emerged from the two blades respectively, and the swordsmen charged at the demons again.
"First, let's deal with these bugs!" Nure-onna shrieked, and a new arm instantly grew from her severed wound.
That white-haired boy, enveloped in flames, had already arrived before her.
She knew a demon's weakness was its head, so she quickly retracted her hair, firmly protecting her neck.
"Strike a snake at its seven inches!"
Who knew Haruto would yell, and as his blade flowed, he actually swung towards Nure-onna's abdomen!
The black hair surged again to wrap around her abdomen.
"So fickle." Haruto chuckled lightly, rotating the hilt of his blade in his palm: "Although I am not a woman, I am just as fickle..."
Relying on his powerful physical control, his body twisted to the extreme in mid-air, rising sharply from what was originally a downward plunge.
By the time Nure-onna reacted with lightning speed, Haruto's face was directly in front of her, raising a sneer.
"Flame Breathing, Third Form: Blazing Universe!"
Just one strike, cutting from top to bottom.
The blade brought a curved flame, and in Nure-onna's shocked and angry eyes, her head flew high, crashed onto the jagged rocks of the shore, and then rolled into the sea.
Haruto, who had decapitated Nure-onna with one strike, did not relax. After quickly landing, he immediately jumped back. The next instant, an incoming octopus tentacle pierced the spot where he had originally landed.
Tomioka Giyu pressed forward, his nichirin blade stirring up layers of ripples.
Haruto used his footwork to propel his entire body into a leap, his long blade emitting a series of hums.
"Water Breathing, First Form: Water Surface Slash!"
"Flame Breathing, First Form: Unknowing Fire!"
As the young swordsmen crossed paths, their two nichirin blades intersected, and fire and water merged together.
In the last moment before the Ushi-oni's head flew off, a venomous tentacle heavily struck Haruto's chest.
"Pfft!"
He heard the sound of his sternum breaking, then flew backward, crashing onto the soft sand.
The massive bull's head flew off, burning along with the octopus's body.
Phew... finally dealt with it... "Mr. Takanashi!" A not-so-familiar voice called out in his ear.
The invasion of the toxin made his vision darken. Haruto struggled to lift his head and saw a young man with a center-parted hairstyle sliding on his knees to help him up.
Is his name... Murata?
Haruto closed his eyes and passed out... Darkness.
Before him was boundless darkness.
What's going on? Did I die again?
Haruto was a little confused. Could it be that after this death, he couldn't rewind time anymore?
Fortunately, the confusion didn't last long, as familiar bullet comments flew across his vision.
[Demon Slayer's ancestral flashback, hahaha]
[Didn't expect to see a flashback in a side story.]
[So did the white-haired husband die or not?]
I want to know too, hey!
A pillar of light suddenly appeared in the pitch-black space. In the pillar of light was a very young-looking man.
"Give up, Keita!" An old man was yelling at him loudly: "The Hino family will never marry into the Kudai family! Unless I die, you will never be able to marry Mihoko Kudai!"
The light and shadow shifted. He appeared by the sea, dressed in a kimono and wooden clogs, stumbling a few steps forward: "Mihoko?"
What appeared before him was a young girl, long dead, washed ashore by the waves.
The girl was pure and beautiful in appearance, with a face identical to Nure-onna's.
"Mihoko..."
Keita trembled, knelt on the ground, and embraced Mihoko, crying out in grief: "Lord God, why do you treat us this way?!"
He didn't know how long he cried, until tears of blood flowed from his eyes, and a gentle laugh echoed in his ear.
"Oh my, what a lovely little girl."
[It really is you! Douma!]
[Douma, come out and get some sun!]
[The boss's number one scumbag demon!]
Keita looked up, and a handsome man in a Western-style kimono suddenly appeared before him.
He had rainbow-colored eyes, white-oak colored hair, a gentle expression, and a soft way of speaking, which easily made Keita lower his guard.
"Do you want to become a member of the Eternal Paradise Faith?"
The handsome man ignored Keita and instead reached out to the dead Mihoko: "Silence means yes, you know~"
His fingernails were sharp, cutting his own palm, and a few drops of blood floated towards Mihoko's mouth.
"As for you..."
He turned to look at the trembling Keita, thought for a moment, then grabbed his neck and threw him into the sea.
"Just die completely, don't become a hindrance to my followers."
He hummed something softly, feeling very pleased.
"Oh my, I've saved another beautiful child..."