Chapter 23: Astonished Giyu Tomioka

Amidst a chorus of exclamations, Tanjiro suddenly leapt up and hugged the waist of the youth holding the sword. The two entangled together and fell toward the snowy ground.

The youth's movements were extremely agile. While still in mid-air, he kicked Tanjiro, who was wrapped around his waist, away with one leg. He instantly regained balance and landed steadily on the ground.

"Who exactly are you, and why are you trying to kill my sister?!"

Clutching his chest and coughing, Tanjiro struggled to get up from the ground.

The youth looked at him coldly and said plainly, "I am Giyu Tomioka of the Demon Slayer Corps. Slaying demons is my mission."

Tanjiro insisted, "Nezuko is not a demon!"

Giyu Tomioka slowly walked toward the cart and said, "Even if she isn't now, she soon will be."

In his eyes, there seemed to be sympathy, and perhaps also anger, but even so, those eyes did not reveal the slightest emotion.

"Demons are monsters that eat human flesh and blood. Before she becomes such a monster, I have to kill her first."

"How can it be like this?! Nezuko would never eat people!"

Giyu Tomioka suddenly stopped walking. After a long while, he said, "If I had come half a day earlier, perhaps your sister wouldn't have become like this..."

"But... now, there is no way anymore."

Tanjiro closed his eyes and spoke painfully, "Nezuko... she's just injured, she... will be fine."

With sharp fangs, and wounds that were gradually healing, Tanjiro dared not open his eyes. If he saw these things, his heart would surely waver.

Giyu Tomioka said, "It's useless. No one who has turned into a demon has ever turned back. The way to heal your sister probably only demons know, but they definitely won't respect your request."

As he spoke, he raised the sword in his hand, and directly extended it toward Nezuko's neck, making a motion to cut.

"Don't!" Tanjiro roared.

"Of course, I won't respect your request either. In this world, the weak have no right to choose."

Giyu Tomioka's actions didn't stop because of Tanjiro's weak roar. He sympathized with this child, but only by doing this could he stir the anger in his heart, making him stronger.

He had already seen it, this was a weak child.

Once, he had been the same, watching helplessly as his companions died. That feeling was painful, but it helped him grow quickly and become stronger.

He wanted to use this as a lesson for this child. However, the price of this lesson was extremely heavy.

The sword had already begun to fall, he would not stop.

But just as the blade was about to touch Nezuko's skin, a black shadow flashed past his side.

"What?!" Giyu Tomioka turned his head sharply, and a glimmer of light flashed in front of his eyes, forcing him to block with his sword.

Clang!

The wide axe blade slid across his sword, sparking a string of sparks.

Giyu Tomioka showed a surprised expression and then kicked Tanjiro away. Ripples appeared in his previously calm blue eyes.

This child really shocked him. As a demon slayer, he had seen many people like Tanjiro, whose family members had turned into demons. Without exception, they were all weak idealists who had yet to recognize the cruelty of this world.

They would only hand over the power of life and death for themselves and those they wanted to protect to others.

In his eyes, this child was that kind of person. But why, in an instant, did his gaze become so fierce.

Tanjiro trembled as he slowly stood up from the ground.

"Jotaro-san once said, as the eldest son in the family, I must take up responsibility."

"I will never let you hurt my family! I will definitely find a way to cure Nezuko, and I will also find the demons who hurt her!"

Giyu Tomioka froze for a moment. Tanjiro's sharp, unwavering gaze made his heart tremble, and at the same time, this piercing gaze also stabbed at the most vulnerable part of his own heart.

'Why can he be this strong…'

If he himself had been that strong back then, maybe Sabito and Makomo wouldn't have died.

Giyu Tomioka felt somewhat ashamed, not even daring to look directly at those eyes anymore.

He said angrily, "Don't speak big words! The weak have no right to choose between taking or being taken!"

"Heal your sister? Find the enemy? Ridiculous! Laughable! With just that axe in your hand used to chop firewood?"

Tanjiro's body staggered as he slowly raised the axe in his hand.

"Axe or sword, even if I have nothing, I won't let you hurt Nezuko. You don't need to be fully prepared to protect someone!"

Giyu Tomioka was startled again. The hand holding the sword trembled involuntarily.

'What powerful willpower! Why can a child have such determination?'

"Come attack. As long as you can touch my body, I will spare your sister."

Giyu Tomioka was a good man. Tanjiro could tell that from his scent.

In the past, he could never have brought himself to swing an axe at someone like this. But in his mind appeared that proud and solitary figure.

No hesitation, even though his abdomen hurt, he didn't hesitate at all. Tanjiro still gritted his teeth and raised the axe to strike forward.

This decisiveness, this do-or-die spirit, was learned from that man.

"Your courage is admirable. But weak people can't change anything..."

This sentence was spoken lightly, perhaps to Tanjiro, or perhaps to himself.

Tanjiro leaped up, charging in fiercely. But in Giyu's eyes, his movement was extremely slow.

Giyu Tomioka shook his head and instantly swung his sword, cutting off the axe in Tanjiro's hand, and at the same time slapped his shoulder, pushing him to the ground.

"Without strength to match your courage, the result is only miserable defeat."

Tanjiro lay motionless on the ground, as if all his strength had been drained.

"But the wisdom inspired by courage can often help humans turn the tide of battle. Didn't you notice? The broken axe handle in your hand... didn't have the blade!"

Jotaro's calm voice came over, and on his stern face was a faint smile.

"Tanjiro, you've grown."

Giyu Tomioka looked at the two broken pieces of wood in astonishment. At the moment the axe blade flew past, he had already reacted and dodged the spinning blade with a simple side movement.

To actually do such a maneuver.

Pa!

The axe blade fell into the thick snow.

Tanjiro propped himself up from the ground with difficulty and smiled bitterly, saying, "It's a shame the axe still didn't touch him. I still can't be as precise as Jotaro-san. Even though Jotaro-san taught me during the hunt before..."

"No." Jotaro walked over slowly, "You've already succeeded."

"You touched a part of his body."

Star Platinum instantly emerged from his body and, at an incredible speed, caught a strand of hair flying in the air between its fingers.

It was exactly a strand of Giyu's hair that had been cut off by the axe blade.

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