Isekai Mizuki S1 - A World With Demons

Chapter 72 - VS Sekido

This embodiment of Hantengu seemed quite angry. This one could manipulate lightning. He yelled in anger before getting to introduce himself. "My name is Sekido. That is all you need to know. I'll kill you now."

Tanjiro examined his tongue, which had a writing that read "Anger". "Are you the embodiment of that thing's anger?" Tanjiro asked. "Hmph. You seem to be quite observant of everything. Not many people cared about what my tongue read. No more wasting time. Let's do this," Sekido said, pulling out a Khakkhara staff. The demon took a battle stance, then swiped for the initiative.

Tanjiro immediately blocked his incoming thrust attack, and from there, it was constant swings and twirls of the staff. He was able to hold his own, however, and immediately got Sekido off of him upon using Water Dome. After the evasive, he followed up with a Fire Wheel, splitting his target's head in half with a single axe kick. 

"I don't even have my sword...! How am I going to kill him...?"  Tanjiro pondered, wondering how he can defeat the embodient of Hantengu's anger. "You're wondering how you can kill me without your sword, hm?" Sekido asked, aware of Tanjiro's question. "You can kill me, but not directly. If you want to kill me, you're going to have to kill the main vessel. In this case, the skeletal one. But I won't let you through. I'm going to defend that honest, poor being with my life," Sekido explained, ready to put his life on the line for his duty of guarding Hantengu, despite his anger.

Sekido then began to breath lightning out of his mouth, which hit an unaware Tanjiro, but didn't kill him. The latter wiped the blood from his mouth and charged in for a head-on attack. It was hand-to-hand combat at this point, occasionally with Sekido pulling out his Khakkhara staff to impale Tanjiro. "JUST... DIE... ALREADY... YOU BRAT...!" Sekido yelled, becoming visibly more angry.

"I will stand to fight for humanity for as long as I'm alive!" Tanjiro responded, determination in his voice as he punched a hole in Sekido's chest using Sunflower Thrust. "You've got pretty tight skills, kid. But this isn't my pinnacle. Not yet." he said, coating his body in lightning. He then began to move extremely fast around the area. People who could see the flashes thought of it as a beautiful light show, until Tanjiro interrupted with a kick to Sekido's abdomen, then kicked him upward, out of the crowd's sight. He followed him into another area.

When Sekido crashed to the ground, he spared not a moment as Tanjiro followed up, trying to crush his stomach. Fortunately for the demon, he was able to evade. "You're so persistent. Your pestilence will cease now!" he yelled, four large lightning bolts flying at Tanjiro. The attack was being resisted against, and Tanjiro sent it flying back with an air attack from Ayato's magic.

Lifting Winds (A swirl of air is gathered in the user's arm, then launched via the fist. This is most effective against attacks that aren't made of solid objects.)

The magic move backfired, but the counter was ineffective. "Oh yeah, I forgot to mention: Anything made of my flesh can't be hit with my electricity. In other words, you can't hurt me, neither can you shock my staff with my own attacks." Tanjiro thought about how he was going to beat him, and he remembered that he couldn't. "No, I don't need to kill him. I need to hold him off long enough for the others to defeat the actual body...!" 

The human boy grit his teeth, tightened his grip on the sword he held, and decided to use this moment to utilize the extra power Ayato and the others have given him. "You won't get past me. I will put you down!" Tanjiro said, twirling the fiery sword, then taking a battle stance.

"Tch... kids these days... so fuckin' stubborn. Fine, then. I guess I'll start trying!" Sekido yelled, small amounts of lightning coating his body. They leapt at each other, and the battle began for real.

To be continued...