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Hunter x Hunter: The Sun Breathing Zoldyck - 21
🕑 Added 2025-10-04 14:12:33 +0000 UTCChapter 21: Trial by Fire X A Man-Eating World
'This is the first time he's praised me.'
Tanjiro's chest swelled with determination. 'I can do this. I have to prove myself.'
Dohihara's provocation had failed, and the frustration burned through him like wildfire. He snarled, baring jagged teeth. "Fine! I'll break his neck and rip out his heart right in front of you!"
Since he couldn't avoid this fight, he wouldn't run from it.
Dohihara stomped the ground. The impact left deep craters in the snow as he lunged at Tanjiro with blinding speed.
Roy kept his hands in his pockets, Gyo sharpening his vision. "Left side," he said calmly.
Without thinking, Tanjiro gripped his axe and swung left—a diagonal upward slash from the waist.
The blade tore through Dohihara's chest.
Pain exploded through the demon's body, nearly ripping his consciousness apart. But he was ruthless. Retreating now would be suicide—Roy would keep calling out his moves, and he'd be dismembered piece by piece.
So Dohihara pushed through the agony and activated his Blood Demon Art.
His rapidly healing muscles clamped down on the axe, trapping it. He shook his head violently. His hair grew impossibly fast, twisting into thick ropes that coiled around Tanjiro's neck like serpents.
"Watch out for his hair."
Roy saw it clearly—this wasn't a true Blood Demon Art, just accelerated regeneration. Clever. Most people unfamiliar with demons would never anticipate it.
"You—you said that too slow," Tanjiro choked out, his voice strangled as the hair tightened.
It wasn't that Roy was slow. Tanjiro had simply been caught off guard.
His face turned blue, veins bulging. He blinked frantically at Roy.
Then Dohihara yanked hard. Tanjiro's foot lashed out instinctively—right into the demon's chest cavity.
Targeting the weak spot. Even in crisis, Tanjiro's instincts were sharp.
Unfortunately, empowered by demon blood, Dohihara's regeneration was too fast. The embedded axe clattered to the ground. In seconds, the wound sealed shut.
"Feel the pain, human!" Dohihara hoisted Tanjiro into the air by his throat, grinning through the swirling snow. "I told you—you'd pay for underestimating me!"
Tanjiro struggled, gasping for air. This time, pride wouldn't let him call for help.
Roy leaned against a tree, utterly ignoring Dohihara's posturing. His voice was flat with frustration. "If you can't use your hands and feet, you can't fight back? Are your head and teeth just decorations? Bite him! Headbutt him!"
A thunderbolt of realization struck Tanjiro.
'Right—I still have my head!'
Then the Head Pillar remembered his most loyal weapon: his forehead. Just like in the original story, he lowered his head and rammed forward.
CRACK
The sound of a skull fracturing echoed through the shrine.
Caught completely off guard, Dohihara's eyes rolled back. His consciousness flickered. He dropped like a stone.
The hair binding Tanjiro loosened. The moment he hit the ground, Tanjiro seized his axe and swung down with everything he had.
The head separated cleanly, rolling once, twice, three times before stopping in the snow.
Tanjiro collapsed, sitting hard in the snow. His arms trembled. He couldn't hold the axe steady anymore. Gasping for breath, he turned toward Roy and grinned.
"It's over."
The foolish little brother smiled with pure joy. He'd finally proven himself—no longer the coward hiding behind trees, needing his big brother's protection.
But humans grow careless when proud. Celebrating at halftime has always been humanity's downfall.
Wobbling, a figure rose upright behind Tanjiro, blocking the wind and snow above his head.
Tanjiro stiffly raised his head. Sharp demon claws gleamed above him.
'Demons can't be killed with ordinary swords.' Roy's words from the blacksmith shop that afternoon surfaced in his mind. Only now did Tanjiro understand—just cutting off the head wasn't enough.
'Finishing blows are a good habit.'
"Swish—"
Using Shadow Step, a graceful figure flashed out at impossible speed.
Under Tanjiro's horrified gaze, Roy executed Snake Awakens in one fluid motion—breaking through Dohihara's headless body and ripping out his heart.
"Thump... thump..." The fresh heart still beat in his palm.
The sun earrings Roy wore swayed in the wind and snow. He looked down at Tanjiro. "This is what you call finished?"
Tanjiro's voice was small. "I'm sorry."
His face flushed red.
Roy snorted coldly, clenched his palm, and crushed Dohihara's heart to ash. "If all you can do is apologize, don't bother following me anymore."
Without the heart's support, Dohihara's body crashed heavily to the ground, throwing up clouds of snow.
Even this pathetic sneak attack had bought him precious seconds. His severed head had sprouted arms and was secretly crawling away from the Kamado brothers.
"That guy's too ruthless! He must be a Pillar! Only a Pillar could have that kind of strength!"
Demons and the Demon Slayer Corps had been fighting for thousands of years. Each side knew the other intimately.
Dohihara knew that just over one mountain, on Mount Sagiri, lived a retired Water Pillar. He'd been afraid at first—but hearing the man had fallen on hard times recently, he'd felt safe "fishing" in this blind spot.
Who would've thought he'd hook a Pillar today!
"Swish... swish..." Dohihara used his newly sprouted arms as legs, crawling at high speed.
Suddenly, wind whistled behind his ears. Instinctively, he glanced back.
Tanjiro raised his axe, catching the demon's arms mid-crawl. Arriving from behind, he'd already caught up.
With one powerful swing, he pinned Dohihara to a large tree.
"Rustle... rustle..." Snow fell from the branches, landing on Tanjiro's head.
Tanjiro didn't notice. He picked up a heavy stone from the ground, silently reproaching himself.
'This demon's too cunning. Even without a body, he can run. My brother was right. I shouldn't have been careless. I definitely shouldn't have celebrated too early.'
Tanjiro raised the stone above his head.
He knew Roy was watching. His hand paused mid-air. He couldn't bring it down.
Dohihara's expression had changed. His voice was hoarse, pleading. "Do you think anyone wants to be a demon? Why would I give up being human? Wasn't it this damned world that forced me!"
"It was Yamada Konosuke who didn't cook the beans properly and poisoned that customer—why should I take the blame? He bribed officials to force me to confess. And after I confessed, he bribed the jailers to kill me!"
Tears streamed down Dohihara's face. "You tell me—what could I do? Just because I'm an honest man, does that mean I deserve to have a blade pointed at me?"
