Want to read ahead? Join my Patreon for just $7 to get early access to all upcoming chapters!
> Patreon.com/NegativeTranslations
─────
Chapter 177: A Second Bloom
Butterfly Mansion.
Suyan stood perfectly still in the courtyard. An incredibly dangerous aura radiated from his body, and arcs of pitch-black lightning flickered erratically across his skin.
In the next fraction of a second, Suyan vanished from his spot.
He instantly reappeared on the far side of the courtyard.
It was like a literal bolt of lightning.
This wasn't teleportation or any kind of spatial manipulation; his physical movement speed was simply so fast that the naked eye couldn't track his trajectory.
Bzzt~
Suyan rubbed his fingers together, and instantly, a long chain of black lightning crackled into existence, writhing like a serpentine wave between his palms.
He stared down at the dark electricity and shook his head, slightly dissatisfied.
A full month had already passed since that chaotic, unforgettable night with the fused Kocho sisters.
Over the course of this month, Suyan had followed through on his plan. Using his Equivalent Exchange ability, he successfully traded away the Blood Demon Arts he stole from Hantengu's clones to his other Contracted partners.
Sekido's lightning-channeling Khakkhara went to Takagi Saya, who wielded the Manipulation-type Nen ability, Metal Tide.
Since she had absolute control over metal, she could effortlessly reshape the Khakkhara into any weapon form that suited her needs.
Aizetsu's Jumonji Yari, which could fire blasts of compressed air, was given to Miyamoto Rei, an Enhancement-type Nen user who had trained in spear martial arts since childhood.
Karaku's Uchiwa, the fan capable of generating devastating gales, was handed to Minami Rika, a Specialization-type user.
Rika's unique Specialization ability was called Straight Line of Destiny.
She could conjure a sniper rifle, and whenever she aimed through its scope, the fired bullet would completely ignore air resistance and gravity, traveling in an absolute, unbending straight line toward her target.
It was an entirely long-range combat style.
So, a fan that could violently blow away any enemies trying to close the distance was the perfect defensive synergy for her.
As for the strongest of them all, Zohakuten's Raijin Drums, Suyan had traded it to Marikawa Shizuka.
True, the busty school nurse was incredibly lazy.
She almost never engaged in any actual combat.
But as the very first woman he met after transmigrating, his first Contracted partner, and the first woman he had slept with, Suyan held a deep, undeniable favoritism toward her.
Giving her the Raijin Drums wasn't just to give her a foolproof method of self-defense; it was mostly just giving her a highly destructive toy to mess around with.
As for the final remaining art—Urogi's sonic mouth blast...
Suyan chose not to trade it to anyone.
Because the moment he considered it, a horrifying scenario popped into his head: what if he was sleeping with one of the girls, and in the heat of the moment, she accidentally triggered a sonic blast right next to his ear?
Just the thought of it made a cold sweat break out on his back.
As a result, among the original group of girls he Contracted in the Highschool of the Dead world, only Takagi Yuriko and Busujima Saeko remained without a Blood Demon Art.
Yuriko didn't have one because Suyan simply hadn't found an ability that suited her yet.
Saeko, on the other hand, didn't need one at all.
When it came to increasing her aura, Saeko had Reizan, a Conjured demonic blade that grew continuously stronger with every enemy she killed.
As for combat techniques, during her sparring match with the remnant soul of Yoriichi Tsugikuni, she had developed a brand-new Transmutation-type ability that allowed her to freely materialize and manipulate her own killing intent.
Saeko was the type of Nen user who had already found her absolute, perfect path. All she needed to do was steadily walk forward; slapping random extra abilities onto her might actually hinder her growth.
Aside from distributing the powers, Suyan's theory regarding the synergy of his two Nen abilities had been flawlessly proven.
Equivalent Exchange and his Contract ability formed a perfect, infinite loop.
After he permanently traded away Hantengu's Blood Demon Arts to the girls, he immediately utilized the symbiotic link of the Contract to synchronize and copy those exact same powers right back into his own arsenal.
He had taken a single set of abilities and forcefully duplicated them.
This maneuver was an absolute triple-win situation.
Win number one: His partners gained powerful new combat abilities.
Win number two: Suyan didn't lose any of his own powers, and whenever the girls trained and improved those abilities, Suyan automatically received the exact same proficiency boost through the Contract.
Win number three: Because of the steep 'payment' required by the Equivalent Exchange conditions, Suyan had successfully unlocked a massive wave of brand-new Defeat CGs with the newly empowered girls.
Of course, beyond constantly "fulfilling transaction conditions" with the girls and bullying Shinobu alongside Kanae, he had been quite productive.
Overall, Suyan's nightlife for the past month had been utterly spectacular.
But what about Kaigaku's Black Lightning Blood Demon Art?
Unfortunately, there was a strict limitation there.
Because Kaigaku was still alive, if Suyan ever got annoyed and killed him, it would technically violate the Exchange's terms, causing the Black Lightning ability to vanish permanently.
Strictly speaking, the Black Lightning didn't fully belong to Suyan yet.
Therefore, he couldn't use Equivalent Exchange to trade it to anyone else.
However, that didn't stop him from extensively training and mastering the Black Lightning himself.
The ability might disappear in the future, but the muscle memory, the application techniques, and the sheer mastery he developed absolutely would not.
Firstly, the more he used Black Lightning, the more his body adapted to channeling that specific type of energy.
Even if he did snap and kill Kaigaku, Suyan was confident that with enough practice, he could manually Transmute his aura into a similar lightning state entirely on his own.
Secondly, even if he couldn't replicate it manually, it wasn't exactly hard to find another lightning-based ability to steal via Equivalent Exchange in the future.
So, training with Black Lightning was far from a waste of time.
When he wasn't spending his nights "negotiating" with his Contracted partners or teaming up with Kanae to tease Shinobu, Suyan spent the majority of his daytime hours mastering his newly acquired Black Lightning.
Over the course of the month, he had achieved near-perfect proficiency.
By channeling the Black Lightning internally instead of just projecting it outward, Suyan managed to successfully simulate Killua's Godspeed ability from Hunter x Hunter.
When the dark electricity flooded his nervous system, it violently stimulated his cells, pushing his physical activity to extreme limits.
His movement speed instantly shattered his normal boundaries, becoming more than three times faster than his base state.
Yet, despite this massive boost, Suyan still felt a lingering sense of dissatisfaction. He couldn't shake the feeling that something crucial was missing.
What exactly is it lacking?
Suyan stared deeply at the crackling black sparks dancing across his palm, lost in thought.
Suddenly, a sphere of highly condensed Nen, violently sparking with crimson-red electricity, drifted down from the sky.
It slowly floated directly toward him.
"What the hell is this?"
Suyan eyed the approaching crimson anomaly with deep suspicion, muttering to himself, "Is one of the girls practicing an Emission-type ability in the courtyard?"
But he quickly dismissed that theory.
The more he looked at this ball of Nen, the more familiar it seemed.
Suddenly, it clicked.
Wait!
Wasn't this the exact same Nen sphere that generates when he successfully executes an Equivalent Exchange?
But aside from trading Hantengu's arts to Shizuka and the others, he hadn't used the ability at all recently!
So where did this come from?
Suyan scratched his head, completely stumped.
Well, overthinking it was pointless. He'd find out the moment he absorbed it.
Reaching out, he firmly grabbed the sparking sphere of crimson electricity.
As the Nen sank into his body, Suyan's eyes snapped open.
Brilliant arcs of crimson lightning flared wildly within his pupils.
A second later, he blurted out in disbelief, "Wait, it actually works like that?!"
As he spoke, violent bursts of red lightning erupted from his entire body. The sheer intensity mirrored the state he achieved with Black Lightning.
The only difference was that the dark, destructive electricity had been entirely replaced by a vibrant, bloody crimson.
----
Deep within a dark, desolate mansion, where not a single sliver of sunlight could penetrate.
A dark mass crouched in the corner, shifting and squirming erratically.
The pitch-black environment made it impossible to discern exactly what the shadow was doing.
The only clue was the sickening, wet sound echoing from the corner—the unmistakable, bone-chilling sound of a wild beast violently tearing into its prey.
A long while later.
The shadow finally stopped.
The figure slowly stood up, letting out a horrific symphony of loud cracks and pops.
It was the sickening sound of joints forcefully snapping back into place as the creature stretched its limbs.
Once upright, the silhouette began to shamble toward the faint glow of moonlight spilling through a cracked window.
The figure squinted, allowing its eyes to slowly adjust to the light.
As the illumination washed over his face, his identity was revealed.
If Suyan had been there, he would have instantly recognized the man. It was Kaigaku—the very same demon whose Blood Demon Art he had ruthlessly stolen a month ago.
While Suyan had spent the past month mastering his Black Lightning, Kaigaku certainly hadn't been idle.
Even though he had lost his Blood Demon Art, his foundational mastery of Thunder Breathing hadn't vanished.
Armed with his formidable breathing techniques and the vastly superior physical specs of a demon, Kaigaku was highly confident.
Even without a Blood Demon Art, he firmly believed his sheer combat power would rank among the very top of the Demon Slayer Corps' Hashira.
Initially, when Suyan injected him with Muzan's blood, forced his demonic transformation, and subsequently locked him inside a wooden box to rot...
He had felt genuine, overwhelming terror.
He had thrashed inside the wooden prison, tearing his own body to bloody shreds, only for his new demonic regeneration to stitch him back together.
Over and over again. An endless cycle of agony.
Just as he was teetering on the edge of total despair, night fell, and the wooden box miraculously opened on its own.
Once free, Kaigaku adapted to his new demonic identity with frightening speed.
He suppressed his lingering human disgust and began hunting people.
But it wasn't enough. Eating regular humans made him stronger, but the pace was agonizingly slow.
He absolutely refused to ever be as helpless as he was when facing Suyan. It was the exact same survival instinct that had driven him to flee from the demon as a child, sacrificing the orphans, and the same ambition that pushed him to join the lethal Demon Slayer Corps.
He wanted to be strong. He wanted to live. He wanted absolute control over his own destiny.
As a former Demon Slayer, he knew about the existence of "Marechi"—humans with rare blood types that provided demons with an exponential surge in power.
The Wind Hashira, Shinazugawa Sanemi, was one such existence.
But despite his overwhelming arrogance, Kaigaku wasn't stupid.
He didn't dare openly target the Demon Slayer Corps, nor did he want to risk drawing their attention.
Thankfully, as a former Corps member—and someone who had spent his life terrified of encountering the Stone Hashira, Himejima Gyomei—Kaigaku knew exactly how to evade their tracking networks.
So, he laid low, quietly consuming isolated humans while desperately hunting for a Marechi.
Until one night, he accidentally crossed paths with another demon attempting to steal his prey.
After effortlessly slaughtering the rival demon, Kaigaku impulsively took a bite out of its dissolving corpse.
To his utter shock, the surge of power he received was exponentially greater than eating a normal human.
Could it be that to me, other demons are basically the equivalent of Marechi?
Kaigaku wondered.
From that night on, he completely abandoned hunting humans. Instead, he resumed his old profession as a demon slayer.
Or rather, a demon eater.
After all, his stomach only had so much capacity. How much could he realistically eat in one night?
Furthermore, excessive human casualties in one area would inevitably summon the Demon Slayer Corps.
It was far too risky.
So, he meticulously concealed his demonic nature. He monitored the flight paths of Kasugai Crows and subtly squeezed information regarding demon sightings out of lower-ranked slayers he used to know.
Because he had always been a lone wolf with an arrogant, unapproachable personality, his sudden tendency to completely vanish during daylight hours raised absolutely zero red flags among the Corps.
This allowed him to systematically hunt down and devour a massive number of demons.
If he were still human, his staggering kill count over the past month would have easily qualified him to inherit the title of Thunder Hashira.
And then, today...
Right after swallowing the remains of his latest demonic victim, Kaigaku felt a violently intense sensation erupt from the very core of his being.
It was the exact same feeling he experienced the night Suyan forcefully transformed him.
He was awakening a new Blood Demon Art!
Kaigaku clenched his fists, veins bulging across his entire body. His face contorted, reflecting both the agonizing pain of the awakening and his deep, venomous hatred for Suyan.
It's here. An endless supply of power is overflowing from within me.
Soon, brilliant sparks of electricity began to arc wildly off his skin.
He had manifested a Blood Demon Art once again. But this time, the lightning wasn't black—it was a furious, blood-red crimson.
In this transcendent moment...
Kaigaku felt an absolute surge of confidence. His power had definitely reached the level of an Upper Rank.
If he just kept devouring other demons, he would continue to evolve. One day, he might even surpass Kibutsuji Muzan himself.
Perhaps it's time I start hunting the Lower Ranks.
Kaigaku plotted maliciously.
But in the very next fraction of a second...
Kaigaku felt his absolute control over the crimson lightning violently snap.
The red electricity surging around him began to violently dissipate.
A sickeningly familiar, repulsive sensation clawed its way up from the depths of his soul.
Kaigaku's face twisted into an expression of sheer horror. "Don't tell me—!"
His worst nightmare became reality.
The moment the words left his mouth, a sphere of highly condensed energy, sparking with his newly awakened crimson lightning, violently tore itself out of his chest.
Kaigaku lunged forward, desperately clawing at the air to grab it.
He caught nothing but empty space. The glowing sphere shot into the air and vanished from his sight in the blink of an eye.
Kaigaku collapsed to his knees. He raised a trembling hand toward the sky where the orb had vanished, letting out a bloodcurdling, agonizing shriek. "You bastard! NO!!! MY BLOOD DEMON ART!!!"
----
"This... this... this..."
Feeling the immense surge of power coursing through his veins, Suyan was momentarily stunned into incoherence.
He had genuinely believed Equivalent Exchange was a one-time transaction. He never imagined it operated on an endless subscription model!
This was completely beyond his wildest expectations.
Thanks for the Super Chat, Kaigaku bro.
Brother Kaigaku truly was a man of focus, commitment, and sheer will.
It hadn't even been that long. He had barely broken in the Black Lightning, and this absolute legend went and awakened a brand-new Blood Demon Art just to hand-deliver it to him?
"I see."
Suyan tested the limits of his newly acquired Red Lightning.
He finally understood what had been lacking during his Black Lightning training.
The Black Lightning possessed a highly corrosive, destructive attribute, granting it devastating offensive power.
However, channeling that highly volatile, destructive energy into his own nervous system to stimulate cell acceleration was incredibly inefficient and damaging.
In contrast, the newly acquired Red Lightning was fundamentally much gentler and easier to regulate.
Its raw destructive output might be slightly lower than the Black Lightning.
But when he channeled the Red Lightning internally, the speed multiplier instantly jumped from a maximum of three times to a staggering five times.
And as his proficiency improved and he continued to develop the technique, that multiplier would undoubtedly climb even higher.
This unexpected windfall completely solidified Suyan's overarching goal.
He absolutely had to capture Muzan alive, drain him dry, and use his blood to mass-produce demons specifically to harvest an endless supply of Blood Demon Arts.
Before today, he thought Equivalent Exchange was a strict one-for-one. If a human he transformed didn't immediately awaken an art, the demon blood was entirely wasted.
But now he knew the truth: as long as the initial transaction was established, even if he completely ignored the target afterward...
Any Blood Demon Art they awakened in the future would instantly be auto-harvested and sent directly to him, exactly like what just happened to Kaigaku.
The only issue was that releasing a horde of feral demons into the wild to feed on innocent people crossed his moral bottom line.
He wasn't overly sentimental about strangers, but intentionally unleashing a plague that would indirectly slaughter thousands would definitely weigh heavily on his conscience.
If only demons could get stronger by eating zombies...
Back in the Highschool of the Dead world, there were literal billions of zombies endlessly roaming the planet.
If he could establish that food chain, he wouldn't even need to travel to new worlds in the future. He could sit back and harvest infinite Blood Demon Arts for eternity.
Suyan let out a soft sigh.
Since Tamayo had successfully developed a drug to revert demons back into humans, surely with enough effort, she could engineer a way to shift their dietary requirements from human flesh to zombie flesh.
It was a shame, really.
The terms of his exchange with Miss Tamayo only granted him temporary ownership over her.
He had no authority to forcefully command her to undertake such a massive, agonizing research project.
Just as Suyan was deeply pondering how he might successfully persuade Tamayo, a delightfully cheerful voice rang out from nearby.
"Suyan-san~!"
However, the joyful greeting quickly devolved into complete panic. "Oh no, I can't stop—!"
Suyan slightly raised his head to look, but before he could even clearly identify the person...
Smack!
Two incredibly massive, soft slimes slammed directly into his face.
Suyan's vision instantly went completely dark.
Yes, he had once again been penalized for a charging foul by someone carrying two massive balls.
─────
Support this fanfict by leaving Positive Review, Comments, and Power Stones.
For Advance Chapters:
> Patreon.com/NegativeTranslations