CH. 21: Powerfull Then Muzan

The demon abruptly extended his right hand while still grasping his head in his left hand. His fingers began to elongate and stretch, transforming into needles that abruptly propelled forward towards Kenshi.

However, before they could reach him, Kanao's figure appeared in the middle as she cut off the approaching fingers.

"You again? Ahh damn it! Why do you guys hate me so much?" The demon screamed like a maniac.

"I hate you!" Kanao stared fixedly at him. "Because of you, my senior sister ended up in such a tragic state."

Godhikaru suddenly laughed, extremely crazily. But after laughing, he resentfully said, "You think I captured her alone?"

His head was already reattached to his neck. He suddenly waved his hand, transforming his fingers into vines that shot towards his left. Before even a second could pass, the vines dragged back a figure.

The demon caught the figure with his hand and lifted it into the air. It turned out to be Mayor Sakurai Kujiro!

Kenshi, who had managed to lift his body from the ground, looked at this scene. He was feeling an excruciating pain in his left leg but managed to stand using his sword to balance himself.

He looked at Kanao, who was breathing heavily. 'That pollen dust seems to have affected her. She doesn't have enough strength to cut down the demon's neck, or else she wouldn't be standing still.' He thought. Just as he was thinking about this, Kanao had already collapsed in front of him.

Kenshi lifted his head and looked at the demon. He wasn't very surprised to see the mayor. After all, Godhikaru had already said that he was the mastermind behind Sakurai Town's development.

Seeing himself suddenly dragged here, Mayor Kujiro glanced at the demon beside him and instantly trembled as he prostrated subserviently.

With all the commotion, people were running around as the town fell into chaos, but he knew how strong the demon was. So he came to watch how it would kill the two demon slayers. However, never did he ever expect things to turn out like this.

Patting the mayor, Godhikaru started speaking. "Let me tell you the truth! A year ago, my abilities weren't that strong yet. Your senior sister had almost killed me before. Thankfully, my loyal servant here pretended to be captured by me to help me take her down."

Hearing the demon's words, Kenshi's grip on his sword tightened.

The scumbag was actually this man...

'But why is this demon speaking so much? Before, it might've given us all that information just to make us believe we're talking to the real boss. But now...' Pausing, Kenshi looked into the demon's eyes. 'It just seems completely maniacal, shouting whatever it wants.'

Kenshi looked at his blade and noticed many cracks. 'Damn, I can't get it back to normal no matter how much I try. Maybe I need to talk to that evil spirit again.' Just as he focused his senses into the sword, a soothing voice sounded in his head.

"I can help. In fact, only I can help you, but there is a price." Kenshi heard the evil spirit's words and turned silent.

"Do you want to know what he was after? Why did a human succumb to a demon? Hahaha Immortality of course!" Godhikaru pulled open the mayor's collar, revealing black blood vessels spreading across his chest. "I placed my seeds within his body and specially controlled him, allowing him to maintain his human form while possessing a strong and healthy constitution! Look, hahaha, do you all understand now? Even Muzan can't do this. Do you understand how powerful I am compared to Muzan now?!"

After speaking all that, he revealed a hint of mockery. "Moreover, it's not just him. Most of Sakurai Town's high-class families have received my seeds! I used the temptations of immortality and riches plundered from killings to make them willingly become my servants, working for me, shielding me as I devour people, and even...they'll personally deliver some people to me. Of course...those delivered tend to be wealthy ones. When the rich die, their riches get divided up by them! Isn't that right?!"

Godhikaru laughed as he patted the mayor's shoulder.

The mayor glanced at the scarily composed Kenshi before straightening his back upon recalling his master beside him. "That's right! It's an honor for those people to be devoured by master!"

The demon provokingly looked at Kenshi. "Anything else you wanna say?"

"Nothing much to say," Kenshi's tone was very calm. "As for whether others live or die, I actually don't care. But my senior sister..."

He stared fixedly at the man and the demon before him. "You'll have to pay with your lives!"

The demon blade Sanjin in his hand extended. With fury in his eyes, Kenshi gripped his sword tightly.

His control over the sword became increasingly more effortless. The extended blade was also firmer and sharper than before.

Kenshi couldn't believe what happened next. He saw the demon trying to jump away or dodge the attack, but the demon blade Sanjin seemed to lock onto him.

It extended directly to the place where the demon was. With a direct slash in midair, Godhikaru's neck was sliced off!

All of a sudden, the world turned silent!

Kenshi's eyes widened because, just like the last time, the worm-like appendage appeared from the demon's neck and inserted itself into the head.

However, before the demon could do anything, Kenshi suddenly pulled down his hand. The extended demon blade Sanjin fell down from the sky onto the demon's body, dividing it into two halves.

"I helped you, the price must be paid," the soothing voice again sounded in his head. Kenshi blinked and said, "The body is yours. Devour it. If the demon is still alive, just kill it in the most painful way possible."

As though receiving its permission, the demon blade Sanjin suddenly started absorbing the demon's body.

That's right! The demon's body was hastily being devoured by the sword, the flesh disintegrated as it was consumed by the sword.

With the demon's death, the sakura trees around him suddenly withered and died too. The few hundred sakura trees within and around Sakurai Town also died together.

Kenshi looked at the system message that he had just received.

[Mission Accomplished. Rewards Issued.]

It confirmed that the demon was completely dead. He pulled back the blood-soaked sword. When he had asked for the help, the evil spirit had asked for the demon's body. Since Kenshi didn't have any choice, he agreed to it.

But now, seeing the demon's body vanish like that, he started having many doubts about the blade.

Mayor Sakurai Kujiro also blankly gazed at the dead sakura trees, unable to believe that the esteemed figure he had always revered and feared was just gone like that...

Suddenly, intense pain erupted in his chest, as if his organs were being hollowed out. His skin started becoming wrinkled, his entire being seeming decades older in an instant!

The mayor's hands trembled as he pulled open his collar. The attached black lines were already gone, but his originally burly body had also become emaciated, his ribs deeply sunken...

And it wasn't just him. All the townspeople implanted with the seeds also started painfully shrieking.

"No...no...my body..." The mayor shook his head in disbelief, swaying several steps back unsteadily before finally crashing onto the ground.

The thudding sound also caught Kenshi's attention.

"I almost forgot there was still a fish slipping through the net." Kenshi drew his sword and walked towards the mayor.