Daki's words ceaselessly pricked Tanjirou's nerves; her utter disregard for life deeply enraged him.
Veins bulged on his forehead as he tightly gripped his nichirin blade and swung it, cutting.
Flames surged from the blade, severing all of the incredibly tough sashes.
Fragments of the sashes flew through the air, drifting past Tanjirou's eyes.
...
"Tanjirou, I've roughly understood the origin of Hinokami Kagura."
At dusk, on the training ground of the Demon Slayer Corps Headquarters, training had just finished, and Tanjirou was called over by Chiba Yo, who then spoke to him.
"During this mission, I accidentally learned some information about the past.
Hundreds of years ago, a senior named Yoriichi comprehended the very first Breathing Technique, which was Sun Breathing.
He relied on Sun Breathing to slay countless demons and nearly annihilated Kibutsuji Muzan.
Your Hinokami Kagura is exactly the same as the Sun Breathing Techniques of that senior Tsugikuni; back then, senior Tsugikuni connected those twelve sword forms to create the Thirteenth Form of Sun Breathing, defeating Muzan in one blow.
I think the Hinokami Kagura passed down through your family for generations might very well have been taught by that senior Tsugikuni.
And you, having received this legacy, will surely become as strong as that senior Tsugikuni in the future..."
...
Memories of the past emerged in his mind, while the screams of the injured people around him were incessant.
I'm sorry, Yo... I've let down your expectations... As a fellow user of Sun Breathing, my strength is so weak... That senior Tsugikuni nearly killed Muzan with Sun Breathing, and you, with Sun Breathing, became a Hashira in less than a month, slaying powerful demons and protecting countless humans.
Yet, I can't even protect the people right beside me; during the Infinity Train mission, I could only watch Mr. Rengoku's back...
I might not be able to be as strong as senior Tsugikuni and you; compared to you both, my strength is so weak, but...
As humans, there are always times when we absolutely cannot retreat!
There are still demons in this world without conscience, who will unreasonably take people's lives and feel it's only right, without an ounce of remorse...
I absolutely will not...
Landing on both feet, Tanjirou looked up at Daki standing on the rooftop, then pushed off the ground with his right foot, immediately soaring into the air, and in an instant, arrived before Daki.
Let them act as they please!
The nichirin blade, enveloped in flames, slashed towards Daki's neck; due to excessive anger, Tanjirou's eyes were bloodshot, appearing crimson, and at this moment, he resembled a demon seeking vengeance.
So fast... faster than before...
Daki was deeply shocked; after only a moment's hesitation, the flame-wrapped nichirin blade was already nearing her neck.
But after integrating all her sashes into her body, Daki's strength had also increased significantly; seeing this, she directly fell backward, the nichirin blade grazing her nose, the flames singeing a lock of her hair.
"Damn it! Go to hell!"
Daki, filled with immense rage, kicked Tanjirou in the chest.
However, she still underestimated Tanjirou's reaction speed; before Daki's foot could connect, Tanjirou's left hand had already grasped her calf.
"Ugly monster, let go of me!"
Daki shouted at Tanjirou, and four sashes simultaneously slashed towards Tanjirou's body, intending to cut him into pieces.
Sun Breathing, Third Form: Blazing Crimson Mirror
The nichirin blade was drawn back to his side and then slashed forward, a deep red arc of a cut continuously splitting all four sashes, then moving towards Daki's neck.
Damn it!
Daki panicked upon seeing this, struggling backward forcefully, narrowly dodging Tanjirou's slash, but a section of her calf broke off during the struggle and remained in Tanjirou's left hand.
Away from Tanjirou, Daki's calf quickly regenerated; such an injury was nothing to her, being a part of an Upper Rank.
"Lives that have already passed are destined not to return..."
Tanjirou slowly stood up, the roof tiles beneath his feet already shattered by his immense force; he held his nichirin blade on his shoulder with his right hand, holding Daki's severed calf in his left, his eyes blood red, veins bulging.
"Living people cannot regenerate like demons..."
His voice, suppressing anger, resounded; the surrounding screams made it impossible for Tanjirou to calm down, and he entered a strange state, as if all the pain in his body had vanished at that moment, completely unfelt.
Hmm?
Listening to Tanjirou's words, the veins on Daki's face also bulged crimson with anger, but at the same time, she felt somewhat confused.
These words... I seem to have heard them somewhere...
Lightly touching her face, Daki felt these words were strangely familiar.
"Why do you plunder? Why do you trample lives?"
Dropping the severed leg from his left hand, Tanjirou looked at Daki and asked.
Upon hearing these two sentences, Daki was surprised to find a memory not belonging to her surfacing in her mind.
...
"What's so interesting? What's so funny? What do you take life for?"
...
A samurai-like man, with a strange flame-shaped Breath Styles / Marks on his forehead, and hanafuda earrings identical to those of the young man before her.
The man stood before her, as if looking down at her.
This is... the person Muzan-sama said he wanted to eliminate last time...
Because they were too similar, Daki mistook Yoriichi in her memory at that moment for Chiba Yo.
These images... are they Muzan-sama's memories?
"Why forget?"
"Why forget?"
Two voices sounded from her ears and mind respectively, overlapping.
Disappear!
Daki shook her head vigorously, making these images vanish from her mind; now, only Tanjirou's voice remained.
"Weren't you once human? You should have struggled through pain, too..."
Tanjirou said to Daki.
He didn't understand why they, who were once human, would now persecute humans without any sense of guilt.
However, Tanjirou's words were interrupted by Daki before he could finish.
"Blah blah blah, you're so annoying! Who remembers that old crap! I'm a demon now, no matter how much you nag, it has nothing to do with me!
Demons don't age! They don't need to earn money to support themselves! They don't get sick! They don't die! They don't lose anything!
And demons are both beautiful and powerful! Of course, they can do whatever they want!!" Daki bared her teeth and shouted at Tanjirou, not being swayed by his words in the slightest.
That little girl who was beaten and scolded, abandoned at birth, froze and starved every day, and was finally burned alive, was already locked away in the deepest part of her memory.
She would starve, she had no money to support herself, she would get sick, she would die, she lost her memories, her past...