Her body spun—again and again.
With each turn and movement, she built up the force of the technique, stacking momentum until it culminated in a single, devastating blow!
At the final moment, Iori grasped the essence of the Tenth Form. Her body surged through the dust-filled air, and from the flow of water spinning with her Nichirin sword, a long, serpentine water dragon took shape—rushing straight toward the Dust Demon!
From the outside, it looked like she was trying to block his escape.
"Damn it!! You think you can stop me, woman?!"
The Dust Demon turned around and whipped up a massive cloud of dust to blind her vision—but Iori had already closed her eyes.
She had long since locked onto where she needed to strike. The target was so large that she didn't need her eyes to confirm it.
Her spinning form tore through the air, and the water dragon burst through the swirling dust like it was nothing. As it surged toward him, the Dust Demon panicked—his dust surged even faster, aiming to retreat into the wall behind him!
That red-haired brat's strength was too terrifying. The Dust Demon didn't dare trust the protective shell around his neck to hold against an attack like that—he had to flee first, and figure things out later.
What he hadn't expected… was that Iori's burst of speed would surpass even his own!
She reached the wall before the Dust Demon could!
The blade, wrapped in the roaring head of a water dragon, was raised high—and came crashing down toward the Dust Demon!
—No!
The Dust Demon couldn't dodge in time. He watched in horror as the blade came down on him—but in the very next second, he heard a sharp crack.
"..."
The Nichirin sword passed by his body and slammed into the rock wall beside him, shattering it.
As the Dust Demon let out a sigh of relief, he couldn't help but sneer:
"What are you swinging at?!"
"As you can see…" Iori smiled, stepping forward to grab him by the collar. With her other hand, she drove the sword deeper into the already-broken wall."—I'm breaking the wall."
"?"
The Dust Demon froze.
It was only then that he realized—Iori hadn't missed.
Her target was...
Shhhhhh—
The sound of trickling water began to flow from the cracked wall. At first it was just a small stream, but within a second, the flow swelled, and then—huge chunks of the wall began to collapse.
In just a few seconds, the accumulated water behind the wall broke through completely!
The Dust Demon finally realized: Iori's real target had been the underground waterway behind the rock.
A normally dry underground river had filled with rainwater from last night's storm—and she had just unleashed it.
The rock wall the Dust Demon had constructed seemed to have originally been part of the underground river. When the water flow was low, it didn't matter—but now, with the increased current, the wall had blocked off one side, causing the water to build up more and more.
Now that Iori had shattered it, the pent-up flood immediately found an outlet.
In just a moment, it broke through the wall and surged in, engulfing both of them!
"You damn woman!! Are you trying to die too?!"
The Dust Demon was swallowed by the flood, and patches of his body darkened—places where the dust clinging to him had been soaked and saturated by the water.
He roared furiously at Iori, who clung tightly to him. His sharp claws gripped her wrists, trying to fling her off.
But Iori's hands were like iron chains—locked onto him with unshakable strength, not moving an inch no matter how violently he struggled.
"Ah, Fuua~~"
Taking a deep breath, Iori—after having done all this—finally shouted toward the direction of Takeo's voice:
"—Ta~~ke~~o~~!! Over! Here!!"
Just like the first time they met, Iori called out to Takeo—not as a cry for help…
But as a signal.
And, as always, Takeo didn't disappoint her.In fact, Takeo had never once disappointed anyone.
As long as he was there, people could feel at ease—because in the end, he would kill the demon.
Just like when Iori first met Takeo.
A rushing wind howled through the cave, carrying with it the faint echo of a wolf's cry. Takeo's figure tore through the darkness like a flash of white lightning.
That white lightning was surrounded by the shadow of a wolf—like a starving beast lunging at its prey. In the blink of an eye, it reached the Dust Demon!
—No! It's too fast!!
The Dust Demon, who had tried to turn his body into dust and phase into the wall, suddenly realized—because of the water—he couldn't.
The moisture had soaked his entire body, preventing the transformation. To phase into the wall, he needed to make contact with it using his arm.
But it was too late.
All he could do was use the last of his strength to reinforce the protection around his neck!
It would be fine—it had to be fine!
No one could cut through it!
Not even the strongest of the demon slayers from yesterday could break his neck defense—their blades had snapped against it. This brat wouldn't be able to either!
Clang—!
The sound of a blade being deflected rang in his ears. The demon's heart lifted in joy.
As expected—he couldn't cut through it! In that case, it would soon be his turn to attack. That arrogant brat who dared to look down on him—he'd make sure to—
Wolf Breathing… Fifth Form—
A low, heavy voice—laced with anger and a trace of killing intent—escaped from the red-haired boy's lips.
The Dust Demon froze. Then, in the next instant, he felt an overwhelming barrage of strikes hit both sides of his neck at once!
Sho-sho-sho-sho-swoosh!
It was as if multiple identical slashes had overlapped at a single point—raining down simultaneously on his neck from both sides!
He had no time to react. Two Nichirin swords slashed through his neck from left and right—cleanly severing his head!
Wait… two swords?!
The Dust Demon suddenly realized something. He turned his gaze toward Iori—
And saw that, at some point, the sword that had been in Iori's hand was now in the red-haired boy's.
Takeo was now wielding two blades!
—Eightfold Fang!!
The boy roared like a howling wolf, his twin Nichirin swords crisscrossing in a lethal arc—sending the demon's head flying through the air.
This time, it wasn't a clone.It was the real body.
Beheaded…?
I… who was about to become one of the Twelve Kizuki… actually had my head cut off by someone?!
"No, no, no—impossible!!! Damn it!! Why?! Why did you do this?! You executioner! You murderer!! I… I just wanted to make those who looked down on me pay!! Why did you stop me!!!"
The Dust Demon's severed head floated in the water, his voice shrill with impotent rage.
Iori, now being held in Takeo's arms, barely managed to open her eyes.
She looked toward the demon's head, drifting with the current, slowly dissolving.
And softly, she said:
"No one… looked down on you… From beginning to end… that was just… what you believed…"
"..." The Dust Demon's half-disintegrated face froze in place.
Perhaps it was because he was close to death that his memories returned. For the first time in a long while, he remembered who he had been—and how he had ended up like this.
Yes.
He remembered it all.
He remembered being scolded by his parents for doing something wrong… being reprimanded by the parents of the girl he liked after pushing her over… running away from home over trivial things—and eventually… becoming a demon.
Because he didn't want to admit he was at fault, he had convinced himself from the beginning that it was others who looked down on him.
His parents looked down on him.
The girl he liked looked down on him.
Even after becoming a demon, he believed the other demons looked down on him.
But in truth, that wasn't the case.
What that girl said was right—From beginning to end, no one had looked down on him. It was only himself… who had always believed that they did.
It had always been like that.
The Dust Demon's head dissolved into nothing in the water.
Takeo didn't spare him a glance. The water around them was rising fast. He carried Iori on his back, heading for higher ground as quickly as possible, calling out to her the whole time:
"Hey!! Sakoma, don't pass out!! Hang in there!!"
"Ah… cough cough…"
Having slain the demon and spent all her strength, Iori answered softly near Takeo's ear.
She coughed a few times, expelling some of the dust from her lungs, and pressed her mouth close to his ear:
"…You… really are amazing…"
"Is now really the time to say that?"
"No, I'm just thinking… cough cough... if… I had talent like yours… maybe I wouldn't be in such a pathetic state right now…"
It was a heartfelt sentiment—genuine admiration and envy from Iori.
If she had the same talent and strength as Takeo, then maybe she could have killed the Dust Demon herself.
Maybe even… If she'd had that kind of talent and power from the beginning, her family wouldn't have died either.
_______
o(*￣▽￣*)ブRead 12 Advance chaps—P@treon: HornyFBI