I'm in an American comic book, and all my teammates are main characters and bosses.

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Chapter 5 - Half-Heavenly Dog: Family members, does anyone understand?

In the dead of night, an old man who appeared to be around eighty-seven years old walked alone, leaning on a cane and moving with faltering steps. He kept his head down, glancing around from time to time, but quickly looking away, as if he were constantly afraid of being beaten or mistreated.

Where is the flower that Lord Muzan is looking for? I have absolutely no clue.

Extending his senses, Hantengu, his face concealed by a cloak, looked on with worry in his eyes. But at that moment, along with the extended senses, Hantengu, who was walking, paused slightly, then subconsciously raised his head and looked into the distance.

In the distance, under the bright moonlight, four figures walked merrily towards them. To be precise, only one person was cheerful, while the expressions of the two men and one woman behind him were quite different. The middle-aged man's face was full of indifference, and the girl behind him seemed to be pregnant. She walked not slowly, but not very fast either, while the man stayed by the girl's side the whole time.

What really intrigued Hantengu was the boy wearing the Demon Slayer Corps uniform.

It was the Demon Slayer Corps, wasn't it? He remembered; he'd eaten several already, and the taste of their flesh was far more delicious than that of ordinary people. It was just a pity he was full now and didn't have much of an appetite…

Now, the Demon Slayer Corps boy was running frantically behind the man in front. And the man in front? He was wearing a loose black leather jacket and a hunter's hat, and his steps were somewhat relaxed. Although he didn't seem like anything special, he easily leaped several meters with each step.

He seemed to be singing something, his words full of relaxation and ease—"The scenery is so beautiful in the dark, with red flowers and green grass~"

He hopped and skipped, seemingly carefree, but the boy behind him couldn't keep up and ran further and further away. In just a moment, before even Bantiangou could react to what was going on, the seemingly dissolute man was already beside him.

Then, Ron, with a smile, leaned close to the half-dog's cheek and asked with an expression of concern for a lonely old man:

"It's the dead of night, and the path is full of stones. You seem so cautious walking on this path, but if you look closely, you're also very calm and composed. Your cultivation must have reached the highest level. I wonder how many years you've been cultivating?"

Upon hearing Ron's words, Hantengu trembled slightly—though a Fourth Upper Moon demon, Hantengu, being cautious and often considering himself weak, lacked any sense of self-awareness befitting a strong being. Conversely, sensing Ron's seemingly ordinary aura, Hantengu still weakly replied:

"I'm only a little over 150 years old..."

"My God?! Over 150 years old?!" Ron exclaimed in surprise. "I'm ashamed to admit it, I'm only... well, I don't even know how old I am, after all, I don't know exactly how long I've been in that wretched place of Yharnam. But all things considered, it's been a few decades, right? But I still can't compare to you, senior, who managed to steal the sky and pass off the real thing as the real one—"

As he spoke, Half-Heaven Dog felt a chill run down his spine, a strong sense of crisis looming over him. He instinctively wanted to pull away and dodge, but just as he was about to leap up, he heard a seemingly casual yet malicious voice explode in his ear.

"I can tell you're not human at first glance!"

Then, he felt a chill on his neck, and then he realized that he had successfully jumped away, but only his body had jumped to the side, while his head was left in mid-air and then pinned to the ground by a short knife.

Eyes widened, the half-day dog ​​couldn't understand—

Why is this guy so relaxed and cheerful just a second ago, but then he draws his sword without hesitation the next? And why can't I even sense the slightest bit of killing intent?!

Seeing Ron's sudden attack, Tanjiro Kamado initially tried to stop him, not understanding why Ron would launch such a swift attack on a defenseless old man. However, Tanjiro quickly realized something was wrong.

Leaving aside the old man's swift leap in that instant, the cloak covering his head was shattered along with the slicing meat cleaver. A huge tumor grew on his head, with a pair of fleshy, reddish horns sprouting from either side. Although his severed head was pinned to the ground by the short sword, it still let out a piercing roar filled with terror.

"Who are you?! Why are you hurting me?!"

"Why would I hurt you? Why would you ask such a ridiculous question?"

After hearing what the half-day dog ​​said, Ron asked with a strange expression:

"Over 150 years old? You weren't born in this era. In your time as a human, what was wrong with a samurai testing his sword on any frail old man?"

Hearing Ron's words, Half-Heaven Dog opened his mouth, but said nothing. His eyes were filled with resentment and anger, unable to understand why he was being treated so unfairly.

Even before being turned into a demon by Muzan Kibutsuji, Hantengu's personality was already extremely twisted. He had been accustomed to lying since he was very young, and he would distort facts and explanations to make things work for his own advantage. He himself was unaware of how twisted his behavior was, because he genuinely believed that he was the victim and that no one in the world was more pitiful than himself.

That is why, even though he has become a demon and has devoured countless living people over the past hundred years, Hantengu still treats everyone around him as a bad person, trying to evoke sympathy and gain satisfaction from it.

Now, Ron's unreasonable behavior undoubtedly amplified Tanjiro's inner fear and resentment—then, to Tanjiro's incredulous gaze, the old man's head, which had been nailed to the ground, began to swell violently, and the decapitated corpse beside him also came back to life. Accompanied by writhing flesh, in an instant, two handsome young demons rose from the ground.

Looking at the demons, even though he already knew they were the enemy, Tanjiro Kamado still couldn't help but cry out in shock when he saw the numbers in their eyes:

"Upper Moon Four?!"

Having completed the induction test and gained a basic understanding of his mission, Tanjiro Kamado now knows that the Twelve Demon Moons represent the strongest demons besides the Demon King Muzan Kibutsuji. The Twelve Demon Moons are further divided into Upper Rank Six and Lower Rank Six demons. While this may not seem like much, the difference in strength between them is enormous. While Lower Rank demons can still be defeated by the combined efforts of the Demon Slayer Corps, Upper Rank demons have remained unchanged for hundreds of years!

And now, just traveling at night, I've already run into one?!

Somewhat bewildered and at a loss, Ron glanced at the two separate entities that had split from the main body of the tengu, his eyes showing little surprise, and calmly said, "Including the main body, you should have a total of five clones for combat, right?"

"Um?!"

Upon hearing Ron's words, the pent-up rage from the split skull of the Half-Heaven Dog let out a cold snort, and its gaze toward Ron was immediately filled with vigilance and hostility.

Hantengu's ability is splitting. Its main body is the Cowardly Demon, and when the Cowardly Demon is threatened, its other emotions emerge and protect it. The four split bodies mainly used in battle are named Accumulated Wrath, Cola, Empty Joy, and Sorrowful Despair. As for why it's said to be five, it's because there's also a Hate Demon form used to protect the main body, the Cowardly Demon, from harm.

But apart from the Demon King Muzan Kibutsuji, no one else, not even the Twelve Demon Moons, knew any of this information... But why is it that it is now being spoken so easily by this man in front of us?

Thinking to himself, the enraged demon, formed from the head of the half-tengu, with shoulder-length black hair, holding a staff, and the character for "rage" etched on its tongue, gritted its teeth and said, "Where did you find out?! Tell me! I might give you a quick death!"

"Give me a quick death? You think you can?" Ron grinned upon hearing the raging demon's words, then said to the wolf beside him, "He has four battle clones, how about two for each of us?"

Upon hearing this, Wolf merely glanced at Ji Nu, then silently nodded, drew the Karmaru from his waist, and slowly walked over, saying, "Alright."

As he spoke, Ron glanced to the side at the cola bottle formed from the body of a half-tengu:

"Stop waiting, call those two out too. They'll suffer less from getting stabbed for no reason."

Upon hearing Ron's words, the Cola Demon licked its lips, revealing a tongue engraved with the character for "cola," and, holding a maple leaf fan, said in a light voice, "You seem to know us quite well, so why don't you run away? No matter what, humans can't compare to demons!"

"You talk too much nonsense."

Looking at Cola, Ron chuckled. Then, in Cola's gaze, Ron, who had seemed quite relaxed, suddenly had a hint of bloodlust reflected in his eyes. The next moment, the dark figure disappeared from Cola's sight, turning into a blur. Cola felt a sense of crisis explode in his heart like a bomb. Without the slightest hesitation, Cola instinctively waved the maple leaf fan in his hand.

The next moment—whoosh!

The round fan fell, and the seemingly simple maple leaf fan instantly stirred up a surging storm. The heavy wind was even capable of directly blasting a house apart—it was more like an air cannon than wind!

But even with such a swift storm, the moment it touched that dark afterimage, Cola only felt a flash of dark light, and the next moment his nose was filled with a stench—a large amount of blood gushed from his neck. The sharp teeth of the meat saw not only tore apart the flesh at the cut end when it slit his throat, but also severed his bones and tendons in one fell swoop!

He didn't dodge; how did he get in front of me?!

Cola's eyes were filled with disbelief, but he quickly realized what was going on—there was no need to dodge; all he needed to do was shatter the air blasting out as he rushed over to cut off his neck!

Thinking this, Cola forcefully twisted his neck—no, it wasn't really twisting his neck anymore, because just a moment ago, his neck had been chopped to pieces by the meat saw. He was only doing this to simply turn his head.

Ron stood there calmly, holding the blood-stained meat saw in his hand, sometimes opening and sometimes closing it.

"I'm still a bit rusty; after all, it's been over twenty years since I last held this knife." Ron stroked the blade, which was covered in dark brown stains, and smiled at Cola in the moonlight.

"These sharp serrations can create numerous wounds the moment they pierce a beast's body, and destroy its internal tissues. By changing its form, it can even be used as a long-handled battle axe to directly chop or smash the beast's bones... It's just a pity that it's ultimately a tool for dealing with beasts. When it comes to dealing with humanoid creatures, Eileen's method is definitely more convenient."

Although he spoke with a smile, the shadow cast by the moonlight on Ron, as he wore a hat, completely obscured most of his face. He spoke calmly, in a perfectly peaceful tone, yet Cola could feel a chill creeping down her spine.

This guy is definitely not human, he absolutely cannot be human!

With cold sweat beading on his forehead, Cola stared intently at Ron before him. Even as an avatar born from the emotion of happiness, Cola's eyes were still filled with shock and anger.

Looking at Cola, Ron paused slightly while wiping the blade, then raised his head, his bloodshot eyes staring at Cola, a small crack appearing in the center of his pupils as they contracted and expanded.

"Your gaze is like that of someone staring at a wild beast. I'm familiar with that, but it's extremely rude."

Upon hearing this, Cola's eyes widened instantly. Then, his severed body suddenly exploded, transforming into two similar-looking boys. The former was muscular, had wings, and his hands and feet resembled bird claws. The character "喜" (happiness) was carved on the tip of his tongue.

The latter is even faster. Although its body is not as robust as the former's, its density is the highest among the four split entities. Its eyes are filled with sorrow, and it is bound with a shimenawa rope that represents the boundary of the gods. It holds a cross-shaped spear. Although it does not show its tongue like the other split entities, it is not difficult to tell from its temperament that this is a demon of utter despair amidst joy, anger, sorrow and happiness.

Seeing Cola actively split its physical body into two separate emotional clones, Ron also softened his gaze and said with a smile, "See, wouldn't it have been better if you had done this earlier? You only agreed to summon these two kids after being stabbed."

As he spoke, Ron glanced at the four ghosts, showing no sign of nervousness. Instead, he looked at the wolf beside him.

"You handle the one with the tin staff and the one with the cross-shaped spear; I'll take care of the rest, okay?"

(End of this chapter)