"Yes, that's right—come and eat it."
Watching Kawanishi draw closer, Black Fang's expression showed satisfaction.
Kawanishi's eyes were crazed, locked onto the heart like he couldn't wait to snatch it and devour it.
Black Fang stepped forward, holding the heart out right in front of Kawanishi.
"Eat."
But suddenly, Kawanishi looked up, eyes filled with alarm.
Black Fang, who had been watching him closely, tensed.
"Is there a Demon Slayer hiding above?!"
Following Kawanishi's gaze, Black Fang snapped his head upward.
But to his surprise, there was nothing—no Demon Slayer, no shadow, not even a trace of movement in the cave ceiling.
"Why did that brat suddenly look up then?"
Still craning his neck, a doubt crept into Black Fang's mind—then realization hit.
"Damn! I've been tricked!"
Just as the thought struck him, he tried to move his body to defend.
But he was a step too late.
A sharp pain exploded in his chin. Kawanishi's blow landed hard, followed by a dull crunch of bone snapping.
Taking advantage of the moment, Kawanishi had thrown a brutal uppercut, his right fist smashing straight into Black Fang's jaw from below.
In a previous life, for the sake of survival, Kawanishi had boxed for a time—he'd taken beatings, but earned good money and learned a few things.
The jaw was one of the three most vulnerable spots on the human body.
The other two were the liver and the area behind the ears.
A strike to the jaw or behind the ear could make the brain foggy, even cause unconsciousness.
And a hard shot to the liver could lead to serious internal injury.
Even as a demon, those areas should still be relatively weak.
Kawanishi knew that, so he went straight for Black Fang's weak points.
The uppercut was savage, snapping Black Fang's head backward at an unnatural angle.
And with the power of a demon behind it, Kawanishi's punch shattered Black Fang's jaw. Bone shards even pierced through the skin.
Compared to their terrifying strength, a demon's physical defense was far less developed. Maybe because they could regenerate, their bodies didn't need armor in the first place…
Black Fang's vision went dark. His head spun, mind hazy. He tried to strike back—but he couldn't control his limbs.
Kawanishi, having landed the hit, followed up without mercy, hammering him with a flurry of attacks.
"Whew. That should do it for now."
After a ruthless combo, Kawanishi let out a long breath.
Then he kicked aside Black Fang's headless body, planning to check on the poor soul Black Fang had been devouring—and then figure out how to deal with the demon.
Killing a demon was no easy task.
But before he'd taken more than two steps, a furious voice came from behind.
"It's been a long time… since I felt pain like that."
"Getting my head blown off really hurts, you know!"
Kawanishi looked down—some red and white bits that had splattered on his clothes were already turning to ash and disappearing.
He turned back and saw Black Fang standing up again. At some point, the demon's headless body had already begun to regenerate, starting from the neck upward, the process visible to the naked eye.
As muscle and bone knit together, his jaw was the last to be restored.
Kawanishi's eyes narrowed. His heart sank with regret.
He had made a rookie mistake.
He knew demons had powerful regeneration—he himself had recovered from shattered fangs and injuries caused by the black-haired demon—but he hadn't known how fast it truly was.
He had assumed blowing up Black Fang's head would be a critical wound.
Even if a demon could heal from it, surely it would take time—after all, the brain was a vital organ.
But demons couldn't be judged by human standards.
In just a few breaths, Black Fang was moving as if nothing had happened.
He couldn't afford to make this mistake again.
Just crushing the head wasn't enough. At the very least, he had to obliterate the entire body.
Black Fang and Kawanishi charged at each other, clashing head-on.
"Kid, I don't know how long you've been a demon…"
"But I've been one for decades. And age—age is power for demons!"
Black Fang had never taken Kawanishi seriously. After all, demons were hard to kill, and Kawanishi was just a newborn.
That earlier ambush? A fluke.
Unless someone decapitated him with a Nichirin Blade, what did it matter if his head got smashed?
"Brat, you're just a newborn. You think you can take on me, Black Fang?"
Yet the moment they crossed fists, Black Fang grew irritated.
Kawanishi was slippery—like trying to catch an eel. No matter how fierce Black Fang's strikes, they kept missing.
He wasn't fast enough.
Meanwhile, Kawanishi was silently assessing Black Fang's strength and speed, trying to measure his enemy's power.
The black-haired demon who had struck him before moved faster than the eye could follow. In an instant, Kawanishi had been pierced through the cheek and lifted off the ground.
That demon… made Black Fang look like a joke.
Yet even he had knelt and died without resistance in front of that other man…
The gap in power was terrifying.
Black Fang was stronger and faster than Kawanishi—but not so overwhelmingly that it couldn't be managed.
Still, if things continued like this, Kawanishi knew he'd lose. Black Fang was gradually cornering him, narrowing his escape routes.
Sooner or later, there'd be nowhere left to dodge.
Kawanishi needed a turning point—something to shift the battle in his favor.
And he already had a plan.
At that moment, Black Fang struck, curling his fingers into claws and swiping at Kawanishi's heart.
Kawanishi, who had been dodging nimbly all along, suddenly slowed. His body stuttered a beat too late.
Black Fang's heart leapt. After all that annoying dodging, the brat had finally slipped up.
He preferred head-on combat anyway.
Not wanting to waste the opportunity, he poured all his strength into this one strike, determined to catch Kawanishi before he could dodge again.
His claws gleamed sharper, longer—tips flashing cold like blades.
And then Kawanishi smiled at him.
"Idiot. You fell for it again."
To Black Fang's surprise, Kawanishi didn't dodge at all.
Instead, he stepped forward—thrusting his chest directly into Black Fang's strike.
Shhk—
The claws pierced into flesh, a gush of blood following.
Kawanishi couldn't hold back a mouthful of blood, coughing it up.
(End of Chapter)