‹Demon Slayer Nezuko› : A Kimetsu no Yaiba Story

Chapter 16: Sunrise

Recap of last chapter:

Nezuko succeeds in slaying the Hand Demon on her second night in the Final Selection. At the same time, she seemed to have realised a newfound talent in her.

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Nezuko had felt a firm sensation in her katana as she swung through; unlike the forceful shocks of the blade getting repelled back against the stone-hard surface of the demon's neck that she had experienced previously, she could feel in her fingers the sensation of her blade entering its flesh and travelling through its thick neck all the way until it exited from the other side.

She gently landed onto the ground while cushioning the impact by bending her entire lower body. As she relaxed her posture, the greenish air particles and the flowing water streams that were surrounding her katana dissipated away.

Behind Nezuko, she heard a heavy reverberating sound as the Hand Demon's legs gave under its round, heavy body and collapsed onto the ground.

—From the top of its abominable torso, where its neck and head used to be, the demon's green flesh started to crumble into ash.

The head of the demon dropped to the ground and bounced on the dirt a few times, before it too started to crumble into ash.

Suddenly, an intense stabbing pain shot up through both of Nezuko's entire arms.

"................ugh...!!!"

As she grunted, she felt the muscles on her fingers and forearms constrict and tighten up on their own; unable to continue holding her weapon with her paralysed hands, she dropped her katana onto the ground.

Warping her expression in pain, she glanced at her arms with veins visibly popping up on their furface.

——This.... must be the drawback of using an unfamiliar technique that I haven't trained for.

Closing her eyes, Nezuko inhaled deeply, filled her lungs with air, and exhaled them out as much as possible. She repeated this a couple times —— using this application of Total Concentration Breathing, she relaxed her muscles all over her body.

After a while, she had recovered enough to be able to move her arms again.

Nezuko bent down and picked up her katana with her arm still trembling slightly, splattered what remained of the demon's blood onto the ground, then sheathed the blade to her side.

With her other hand, she reached over to her forehead where she was feeling numb pain and a warm liquid wetting the surface. When the demon's final counterattack destroyed her fox talisman mask, the wooden fragments had scraped the skin off her left forehead in a small patch.

She pressed down on the wound with her palm, then lowered her eyes sadly.

——I'm sorry, Urokodaki-san.... I broke the mask you've made for me.

——It's such a shame, when I matched with Sabito and Makomo....

While Nezuko was thinking that, a low groan sounded from somewhere behind her.

"..............damn it..... damn it.........."

Nezuko turned around.

The Hand Demon's severed head was lying sideways on the forest floor. Tears were rolling down from its beady yellow eyes as it continued to swear in a weak voice. From its neck where it was sliced by Nezuko, the demon's head was quickly burning away into ash.