52. A Long Range Attack

"Why did I encounter this demon here?" 

At this point, the sun was gone, and darkness was slowly enveloping the sky. The stars were visible, and the only thing left was the faint sunlight still lingering on the horizon. 

But that's the case from the summit. In this place, it was as dark as night. And the demons were out again for their food hunt. 

Kotaro expected to encounter demons but never thought he would find a familiar face. Now that he thought a bit more rationally, it was natural. 

He was just two years away from the plot's start, and this Hand Demon was alive, only to be defeated later by the protagonist. It wasn't too odd for him to encounter it. 

Still… 

"He sure looks ugly—no, grotesque."

Even "ugly" is a compliment to describe this demon. Most demons look somewhat humanoid, cannibals though they are, yet still aesthetically pleasing. The Upper Rank Six… Look at her, beautiful enough to work as an Oiran. Though her brother looked bad, he still looked better than this demon, who was nothing but a blob of hands. 

"Kotaro-sama…" 

"Hmm? What is it, Mitsuri?"

Her call snapped Kotaro out of his thoughts. She slowly pointed toward the demon, who had been oblivious but was now locked onto them. 

"That… I think the demon heard us."

"Hm?"

Then Kotaro's eyes met the demon's, and its eyes seemed to laugh at them! 

Shit!

Thump! Thump!

The demon was so big that even one step made the ground tremble. Kotaro didn't say much and turned around, starting to run with Mitsuri. 

Afraid? No, he wanted to maintain some distance to be able to maneuver well against the demon. 

That demon was big, which increased its strength, but in return, its size also hampered its speed. But…

Shoot! 

The hands weren't for show! Instead of chasing with its legs, this demon preferred to hunt using its hands. Several hands shot out like bullets from some sort of gun, stretching toward them to catch them. 

"Mitsuri!" 

"Yes!"

Mitsuri instantly understood Kotaro's words. She took out her blade and, instead of escaping faster from those hands, dashed toward them. 

"Love Breathing: Second Form – Love Pangs!" 

In that instant, she ran through those hands, moving her blade so flexibly that it seemed as if she wielded a whip. It would have been more effective if she had a flexible blade like in the future, but still, all of those hands were sliced from multiple angles, cutting them into many pieces, and they fell even before reaching Kotaro.

"Good!"

Kotaro smirked as he twirled the iron staff using his shoulders and neck, which radiated golden sparks. The Hamon he infused into it was so intense that the silver sparks turned golden. Now, because the hands were cleanly sliced like tofu, he could see the demon's face.

And it was the perfect chance for him to use his long-range move.

Because of the inconvenience of wielding chains, Kotaro abandoned his idea of using them to fight demons. It was cool, and he had even thought of several moves using chains, but he later opted out and chose his second choice—the three-section staff, the Playful Cloud.

As a result of choosing the Playful Cloud, he lost the advantage of long-range. With a chain, he might have been able to touch a demon from afar and infuse Hamon to kill it. But Playful Cloud can't do that.

'I need a long-range attack.' 

So, in his mind, he decided to find a long-range attack. And what is a long-range attack with a staff? It's a throw.

But…

Playful Cloud is a three-section staff, connected by rings through the joints. The strength of the Playful Cloud as a three-section staff lies in its ability to generate high-speed combos, but it also has a disadvantage. Unlike a normal staff, it can't be thrown at the enemy to hit from afar. 

But that was the case for any other user. Kotaro has Hamon! When Hamon is infused, it can also harden objects, just like Lisa Lisa did with her muffler.

Kotaro can infuse his Hamon, harden the rings, turn the three sections into a complete single staff, and then…

Kotaro twirled the iron staff to gather momentum, infusing it with Hamon, which made it glow golden. Then, without any wasted motion, the staff was in front of him, with his foot behind it. 

"Hamon: Railgun!"

In that instant, even before the Hand Demon could figure it out, Kotaro kicked the iron staff, which blitzed through the night forest like a shooting star toward the demon's head. 

Swoosh!

"What!"

The Hand Demon was baffled, finding a golden staff with sparks shooting toward him, but he smirked!

"Idiot!"

Again, his hands aren't for show! 

All of the hands came out and formed a wall in front of the shooting staff, intending to block it. But Kotaro looked at it and muttered,

"Shoot it."

The staff was not just flying; it was also spinning like a bullet, and… 

Boom!

…it pierced through the hands, creating a hole in the middle and blasting the demon's head as if it were a watermelon, before smashing into a tree and stopping.

Kotaro slowly put his leg down and looked at the huge demon, which was slowly fading into ashes because its head had been blasted off using Hamon, making it unable to regenerate anymore. 

"Damn, that was cool."

===

A/N:

"Railgun" was inspired by "The God of High School."