I Became a Demon Sword and Traveled the Anime Worlds

Power surged through Joker's mutated body.

It was violent, intoxicating, and completely unlike anything he had ever felt before.

And once a person gained power, the first thing they wanted was always the same.

Revenge.

The Joker Monster looked at the two heroes in front of him. When his mutated vertical pupils landed on Satoru Suzuki, they turned icy.

"You still wanted to send me back to prison?"

His twisted lips stretched into a grotesque grin.

"None of you are leaving tonight. I'll finish every last one of you!"

The moment he finished speaking, he waved his hand.

A swarm of sharp blades shot out from beneath his cloak.

Compared to the throwing knives from before, these blades looked more like they had been crudely carved from bone, but their sharpness far surpassed steel.

Satoru had no time to think.

He immediately drew his sword and swung rapidly, knocking the bone blades out of the air one after another.

At the same time, his mind was still lingering on Joker's words.

Back to prison.

Hell.

What exactly had happened to him there?

Just as Satoru struck down the last bone blade, Joker was already in front of him.

His right arm swung toward a gap in Satoru's defense.

Satoru saw the attack, but his sword had not returned in time.

He could only take the blow head on.

The fist changed shape in midair.

In the next instant, it became a giant hammer and smashed into the right side of Satoru's chest.

A dull impact rang out.

Satoru groaned, and his body flew backward before crashing heavily onto the ruined grass.

Everything happened too fast.

Golden Ball and Natalie were caught completely off guard.

At this point, they could only hope reinforcements arrived soon.

Joker slowly walked toward Satoru.

Enduring the pain, Satoru forced himself up from the ground.

Inside the sword, Asuramaru checked his condition.

Five broken ribs.

Internal bleeding.

As for their current strength, before this, both of them had roughly been at low Demon level. But after swallowing the monster cell, Joker had risen all the way to high Demon level.

In simple terms, if Satoru fought normally, defeat was inevitable.

Outside, the Joker Monster approached with a bizarre smile.

Looking at the badly injured Satoru, he suddenly seemed to think of something interesting.

He clutched his stomach and laughed loudly.

"Weren't you acting so arrogant just now?!"

As he spoke, a bone blade appeared in his hand.

Without even looking back, he threw it behind him.

Several servants had been trying to use the chance to escape.

The bone blade stabbed into the ground right in front of them.

Joker sneered, "Whoever steps over that bone blade dies."

After saying that, he looked back at Satoru and laughed.

"I want you to feel my pain too."

His voice was playful and cruel.

"Choose, Hero."

"Will you kneel and kowtow to me, or will you watch me kill these people?"

He raised one hand and spread out five fingers.

"I'll give you five minutes. Once time runs out, I won't hesitate to kill every last one of them."

His grin widened.

"Choose, Lord Hero."

Faced with this choice, the old Satoru Suzuki might have knelt without hesitation.

But now, he asked in his heart, "Asuramaru, can you lend me your power?"

Asuramaru answered, "I can. But can you accept the price you must pay for that power?"

Satoru's answer was firm.

"As long as I can save them, I accept."

At most, it would only cost him his life.

"Then as you wish."

Asuramaru's voice was calm.

"Since you are the Sword Master."

With that, Asuramaru shared his power.

As Satoru's injuries began to heal, he nodded slightly and placed his hand on the hilt of his sword.

Then he began charging Battōzan.

But as time passed, the people he wanted to save could no longer withstand the pressure of death.

One by one, they began to blame him.

"Hero, please, I don't want to die yet!"

"Just kneel! Do it for us!"

"Why won't you kneel? Do you really want to watch us die?"

"Are you even a hero?"

"We can live if you just kneel!"

"For you, it's only kneeling. For us, it's death!"

The accusations and pleas kept ringing in his ears.

Satoru's gaze remained firm.

He was not shaken by their blame.

After all, he saved people for the justice in his own heart.

Behind him, Golden Ball could no longer endure it.

"Shut up, all of you!"

His voice was furious.

"Do you really think this Monster will let you go just because he kneels?!"

That was true.

But for people drowning in despair, even the faintest chance of survival was like the last straw. No matter how fragile it was, they would cling to it with everything they had.

That was human nature.

But Satoru Suzuki still believed that human nature also had goodness within it.

He ignored the curses and pleas.

He ignored Joker's mocking laughter.

Time continued to pass.

The final five minutes drew closer and closer to the end.

Under everyone's gaze, Satoru's knees began to bend slightly.

"Finally going to kneel?"

Joker's laughter became even more unrestrained.

"You had better hurry. There's less than a minute left. If you kneel after time is up, I won't accept it."

After becoming a Monster, Joker's sanity had become unstable, while his desires and negative emotions had been magnified without limit.

Behind Satoru, Golden Ball watched with a deep frown.

Damn Hero Association.

Why hasn't backup arrived yet?

Inside the villa, Natalie's heart was also heavy.

All she could do was silently pray.

On the ruined grass, Satoru lowered his head slightly.

His right leg bent further, as though his knees were being crushed by an invisible weight.

Curses and pleas filled his ears.

But his heart was calm like still water.

"Ten seconds left."

Joker even raised his hand and began counting down for him.

"Nine."

A finger folded.

"Eight."

Another finger bent.

"Seven."

Each number sounded like a funeral bell.

"Six."

"Five."

"Four."

"Three."

"Two."

The moment he counted to two, a slightly hunched elderly figure appeared at the entrance of the manor.

The newcomer was from the Hero Association.

The current third ranked S Class Hero.

Silver Fang, Bang.

When Bang saw the scene before him, he was about to strike immediately.

But in the next second, Joker's final count fell.

"One!"

Joker's eyes were full of mockery.

"Looks like you're nothing special after all. You gave up on saving people for the sake of your pride!"

As he spoke, the cloak on his back moved without wind.

The bone blades hidden beneath it glinted with chilling light, ready to fire and slaughter all the humans behind him.

At that very moment, Satoru Suzuki drew his sword.

Battōzan, charged to its absolute limit.

Burning Blood.

Ittō Shura.

In that instant, Asuramaru activated everything for him.

Three limit breaking powers converged into one strike.

In Satoru's eyes, time seemed to stop.

The world turned gray and white.

At that moment, he clearly felt a certain shackle inside his body.

But none of that mattered.

There was only one strike in his heart.

"Battōzan!"

A slash that surpassed his own limits.

Satoru's figure vanished.

In the next instant, the Joker Monster's head flew into the air.

Even after his head left his body, Joker did not immediately understand what had happened.

When he finally realized something was wrong, all he saw was the world spinning around him.

And below it, his own headless corpse.

"How..."

His thoughts faltered.

"Is that... my body?"

Before he could understand the answer, his consciousness vanished completely.

Others might not have seen the strike clearly.

But Bang, who had just rushed over, saw it perfectly.

His cloudy eyes widened in disbelief.