CH. 18: Butterfly Hairpin?

After the warning, he swiftly drew his blade, viciously stabbing down at the ground beneath.

As if triggering some mechanism, the surroundings smoothly transformed!

The brightly lit scenery around them suddenly become pitch black. The surrounding buildings also turned into blooming cherry trees.

Even the ground beneath was covered by drifting petals.

Despite the picturesque scenery, the two instantly tensed up, prepared for battle!

With the bizarre situation, they were in no mood to appreciate anything.

Glancing up, kenshi saw that despite the pitch black sky, the moon is nowhere to be seen.

Suddenly, he noticed his clothes being tugged twice. Looking back, he saw Kanao was staring fixedly in a direction.

Following her gaze, he saw a gigantic cherry tree, and behind the tree a figure was hiding there secretly watching them.

"Sigh... still discovered..."

The figure sighed and walked out.

It was a man, bare-chested and wearing torn pants, He seemed vexed at being discovered.

He had yellow hair that reached his shoulders, and he looked handsome, with a six-pack and pale skin. He perfectly resembled a human.

But kenshi and Kanao immediately pointed their blades at him.

Because he made no attempt to conceal his presence. Despite currently looking like a human, the two instantly knew he was a demon!

At this time, he felt gazes coming from all around again, exactly the same as what he felt in mayor's residence!

"Why can't people be content?" The demon sighed. "Just killing that brat to report back would've been enough. Why must you dig to the bottom, trying to find the so-called mastermind? Don't you know this will get you killed quickly!"

His tone seemed regretful as he suddenly clapped his hands. "Blood demon arts - evolution - specialization - Hands of the Forest."

Ten enormous wooden hands burst out from the ground, surrounding him and Kanao.

"Any last words?" Seeing the two surrounded, the demon nonchalantly asked.

Kanao instantly became vigilant, kenshi wore a scrutinizing look. "Evolution? Specialization?"

"Oh, that?" The demon clapped his hands. "I just found the name Blood Demon Art unappealing. So just changed a bit.

The demon looked regretful. "Unfortunately my strength is still lacking to achieve such feat as evolution or I could've reached the level I was supposed to be..."

His eyes still showed longing.

Just to be safe, kenshi decided to ask more while slowly observing his surroundings. "So... you're the mastermind?"

"Calling me a mastermind is too unpleasant." The demon shrugged. "I singlehandedly contributed to the Sakurai Town's growth but in return, I only collected a bit of compensation!"

Kenshi don't know why but the Demon seems to be intent on giving him information, so why not try to ask more questions?

"Compensation? So all the vicious demon attacks in Sakurai Town were planned by you?"

"Not all, but the ones in recent years were related to me."

"You were the one monitoring us in the mayor's residence too?"

The demon suddenly showed a proud smile on his face.

"Yes! It's my blood demon art, all the Sakura trees around the Mayor's are my eyes, Your every move was in my grasp!"

"Impossible!" Kenshi immediately denied. "Blood Demon Arts can't be used in daylight!"

"That only applies to the demons with stupid brains." The demon corrected, a hint of disdain in his eyes. "Just hollow out and occupy the trees, using the foliage to block sunlight, then I can observe you with my split eyes. You're all too arrogant! Do you really think all demons are idiots like Muzan Kibutsuji?"

Kenshi deeply gazed at him. "To directly address Muzan Kibutsuji's name, looks like you've broken from his control already."

"Hmph! I'm destined to become the true demon king! You think someone like Muzan could still control me?" Disdain still filled the demon's eyes.

After this probing, kenshi was completely certain this fellow was not someone from the original plot.

If what he thought was indeed true, then there will be a lot of things that doesn't make sense.

After all, there was only three people that muzan can't control in the original story, Nezuko, Tomayo and Yushiro.

The demon infront of him was indeed an anomaly.

He had wanted to get more information. He still don't know why this demon is feeding him information, but all he can do is just be careful of whatever plan the demon was planning or maybe he was just stupid and overconfident.

"What's your name?" Kenshi suddenly asked.

This question made the demon pause. "Why ask that?"

"No reason. Just feel for certain respects, it's necessary to remember."

The demon laughed loudly. "Fine then! Since you say so, I'll tell you! I've discarded my human name. From now on call me

Godhikaru! Hahaha"

What kind of chuunibyou name is this... Kenshi's forehead sprouted black lines hearing it.

"Also isn't your technique a bit weird than a normal blood Demon art?" He couldn't help but ask seeing how massive the different types of branches are.

"You'll know soon enough!" Godhikaru sneered contemptuously. "I intended to let you return after letting you kill a demon to report back. Everyone gets what they need without interfering. But since you're so eager to die, don't blame me!"

He clapped his hands.

The ten giant hands that had been waiting immediately began twisting, smashing down at the two like swatting flies!

But before the palms hit the ground, kenshi and Kanao had already vanished, causing the hands to strike empty air.

"Flower Breathing Style - Fifth form: Peonies of futility."

"Insect Breathing - Style Modification: Dragonfly Dance Vision Hex!"

The two moved swiftly as blurs, rapidly severing the giant hands at the roots!

Although intimidating in appearance, the giant hands' strength, speed and toughness were only little stronger than the wooden demon kenshi had killed. No threat at all to the two of them for now.

With the hands cleared away, kenshi sheathed his sword aiming at the not-far Godhikaru.

"Insect Breathing - Style Modification: Bee Sting Waltz!

Kenshi instantly became a blur, his entire body's speed was pushed to the extreme.

But Godhikaru was long prepared, instantly leaping into midair.

Unable to change trajectory mid-charge, kenshi directly intended to collide with the demon.

"Flower Breathing - Fourth form: Crimson hanagoromo.

Kanao's attack came right after he jumped into the air, with slashes instantly chopping at the airborne demon.

But countless branches suddenly bulged and burst out from Godhikaru's chest, taking on kanao's attack. However, it didn't take much time for both of them to clear out all the branches.

Admisdt this fast exchange of blows, the branches that are cut off came crashing towards Kanao, which made her slightly falter while dodging them.

At this time, Godhikaru seized the chance to grab Kanao's pink blade. "Got you!"

A sword glowing light blue suddenly cleaved his neck from behind!

"Wrong! I got you!" Kenshi's voice rang out from afar.

Godhikaru fiercely looked back to see kenshi standing far on the ground. But his sword had extended over 5 meters, directly slashing his neck from a distance.

Kenshi immediately exerted his strength, smashing the demon down from midair, heavily crashing him into the ground.

Meanwhile, the blade also chopped off one third of his neck.

Godhikaru instantly panicked. His hands bulged out as he covered himself with countless branches, forcefully smashing the blade at his neck.

Kenshi suddenly felt a huge force stabbing on his sword, under the pressure, he suddenly lost control and the sword shattered into pieces on his neck, which led to the demon's escape.

Kenshi clicked his tongue, somewhat regretfully recalling the fragments with his mind before reassembling the sword good as new.

He still didn't have any stable contact with the evil spirit in the sword, so it was hard him to control it fully.

His mental strength was still lacking, so he couldn't maintain toughness and sharpness while extending the blade.

If he had the Hashira's level of strength, this thing would've been long dead!

While grasping his neck and panting, Godhikaru said resentfully. "Unfair! Too unfair! Not only are there two of you, you have that freakish weapon too!"

He then put his hands on the ground, creating dome with Sakura branches around him.

"What's unfair are you demons!" Kenshi retorted. "Not only is your recovery strong, you can use bizarre Blood Demon Arts too!"

"It's a specialized technique!" Godhikaru yelled.

"Fuck your specialized technique!" Kenshi looked at him like trash.

The demon winced from that gaze, but soon coldly laughed. "Don't think you've won! Do you really think I did nothing these past two years?"

He raised his hand. A cylinder wrapped in branches slowly emerged from the ground.

"To become the true demon king, I naturally need my own subordinates! This is my proudest work, the first human I turned into a demon!"

Under Godhikaru's introduction, the branches slowly shifted, revealing what was inside.

It was a girl...

The girl had her eyes closed, seemingly asleep.

Seeing her, kenshi's eyes widened. Because the girl wrapped in twisting branches was wearing the same Demon Slayer Corps uniform as them!

More importantly, nestled in the girl's lustrous black hair was a butterfly hairpin the size of a palm.

The style seemed identical to Shinobu's and Kanao's!