Chapter 101: A True Predator Never Looks Back!

The air was thick with the scent of fear and blood, a pungent reminder of the demon's presence. The girl, her eyes wide with terror, her body shaking like a leaf in a storm, pointed a trembling hand at the monstrous figure before her. "Demon... Demon!" she cried out, her voice barely above a whisper, yet it cut through the silence like a knife. "It's... it's that demon, he took my mother!"

Kyogai, the demon in question, turned slowly, his movements deliberate and menacing. His eyes, glowing with a malevolent light, fixed on the girl as he faced her fully, his ferocious and terrifying visage now fully revealed. The girl recoiled, her heart pounding against her chest, but something within her stirred—a spark of courage she didn't know she possessed. "G- ggive me back my mother!" she demanded, her voice gaining strength.

Kyogai's response was a grin, a grotesque stretching of his lips that revealed blood-stained teeth. "What if I say no?" he taunted, his voice a low growl that seemed to reverberate through the very ground beneath their feet.

It was then that Jon stepped forward, his demeanor calm, his voice indifferent yet carrying an undercurrent of deadly intent. "If you hand her over, and I might consider granting you a swift judgment," he said, his eyes locked on Kyogai's.

Kyogai paused, his grin faltering for a moment before he chuckled, a sound that was both amused and chilling. "What an interesting little human!" he remarked, his tone mocking.

From his bosom, Kyogai produced a hair ornament, delicate and beautiful, and held it out for them to see. Jon's eyes narrowed as he recognized the object, and he quickly glanced at the girl. Her trembling intensified, her eyes fixed on the hair ornament with a mixture of recognition and horror. "That's... my mother's..." she choked out, her voice breaking.

"Hahahah!"

Kyogai's laughter boomed, echoing ominously around them. "That woman had a special blood type. Of course, I had to indulge immediately. But don't worry," he sneered, "I'll send you to meet your mother soon enough!"

Jon's expression darkened, a storm brewing in his eyes. He turned to the girl, his voice soft yet firm. "I'll send you outside now. Wait there peacefully, I'll be out shortly." With a flick of his wrist, he summoned a teleportation portal with his hand movements and gently pushed the girl through it. As the portal closed behind her, Jon faced Kyogai once more.

"I was going to send you outside with a portal, let the sun scorch you to death," Jon said, his voice cold as ice. "But I've changed my mind. You must be judged by the Penance Stare, you must personally feel the pain you've inflicted on others!"

"!"

In an instant, the hellfire engulfed Jon's entire body, and before Kyogai stood the Ghost Rider, a fiery skeleton of vengeance and retribution. Kyogai's eyes widened in terror, a feeling he hadn't experienced in centuries. "Something's not right, what is that thing?! I need to get rid of him first!" he thought desperately.

But his decision came too late. As he reached for his drum to cast his Blood Demon Art, the Ghost Rider's chains of fire erupted into six strands, each one striking with the precision of a serpent at the six drums on Kyogai's body. The drums, the source of his demonic power, were pierced by the chains in a burst of sparks and smoke.

Aaaaaaaaaaaagh!

Kyogai's mind was a whirlwind of confusion and agony as the chains of the Ghost Rider not only destroyed his drums but also pierced through his flesh. The wounds were a stark anomaly in his demonic existence, gaping and raw, refusing to heal as his kind's injuries so often did with rapid ease.

"Why... why is this happening?" Kyogai's voice was a mix of disbelief and horror. "I am a demon, a demon moon, how can this be?!" His words were a desperate attempt to cling to the identity that had defined his existence, to the power he thought was absolute.

But as the Ghost Rider's figure loomed before him, the terrifying visage of a skull ablaze with eldritch fire, Kyogai's confidence began to crumble. "I'm hungry!" the Ghost Rider declared, a statement that seemed to resonate with the hunger for justice, for retribution.

With a strength that belied his skeletal frame, the Ghost Rider grabbed Kyogai and slammed him against the wall. The demon's back hit the stone with a force that would have shattered bones, had his body been human. Pinned with an iron grip, Kyogai found himself face to face with the embodiment of vengeance.

"Look into my eyes..." the Ghost Rider whispered, his voice soft yet carrying the weight of countless souls crying out for justice.

Kyogai, despite his demonic might, struggled in vain against the Ghost Rider's hold. "Let me go, you…..!" he roared, his voice echoing through the desolate space. "I am one of the Twelve Moons, a confidant of his, he won't let you off if you kill me!".

But the Ghost Rider was unmoved. "Your soul has been tainted by the blood of your victims..." he continued, his tone steady, his gaze unblinking.

In that moment, Kyogai's struggles ceased abruptly, his body going rigid as his eyes locked with the Ghost Rider's. The blood-red of his irises was swallowed by the reflection of an endless inferno, a fire that seemed to burn directly into his very being.

Within that fiery abyss, Kyogai was forced to witness the horrors of his own making. The scenes of his cannibalism, once a source of twisted pride, now played before him in a relentless loop. Each memory was a blade, each moment a fresh wound to his soul.

"Feel their pain..." the Ghost Rider intoned, his voice a whisper that carried the screams of the innocent.

The terror that had once filled the eyes of his victims now filled Kyogai's own. The despair they had felt in their final moments was now his to bear. The agony of their deaths, once a fleeting amusement, was now an eternal torment. The Penance Stare did not just show him these things; it made him live them, over and over, each time as if it were the first.

[Ding! Soul Sacrifice function used successfully, soul exchange completed, 200 penalty points awarded.]

The notification chimed in Jon's mind, an affirmation of his grim accomplishment.

Kyogai's eyes, once a vibrant, sinister red, were now void of life, hollow. His demonic form remained, a rare occurrence as most demons turned to dust upon death, but his soul was no more, consumed by the Penance Stare's unforgiving flames.

Jon's attention turned to the task at hand as he took out the syringe provided by Tamayo. He extracted Kyogai's blood, a sample that could hold the key to unraveling the mysteries of demonkind.

"Meow~!"

The sound was out of place in the aftermath of battle, a soft, innocent noise that seemed to pierce the heavy silence. Jon turned to see a small cat, a talisman emblazoned on its chest, a creation of Yushiro's Blood Demon Art. The cat, with its little pack, looked up at him with eyes that held no judgment, only a quiet curiosity.

"Can this cat deliver things to Tamayo?" Jon mused, recalling the narrative he had become a part of. In the original plot, this method was used by Tanjiro to transport demon blood to Tamayo for her research. It seemed he could do the same.

He crouched down, his hand gently stroking the cat's head, a moment of tenderness in a world that had seen too much violence. He then placed the syringe with Kyogai's blood into the cat's backpack. With a meow that seemed to acknowledge the gravity of its task, the cat turned and left, vanishing into a mist of blood as mysteriously as it had appeared.

Jon didn't linger on these thoughts for long. His gaze swept over the house, a structure that had been a sanctuary for demons. "This demon's house must have other demons living in it besides Kyogai. Can't waste food... no, can't let them continue to harm the innocents," he muttered to himself, his resolve hardening.

He reached into his inventory and retrieved an explosive device, one of many he had acquired from the Men in Black dimensional store in the Universal Emporium. With careful precision, he began to place them around the house, setting a trap that would ensure the destruction of any remaining demons within.

After placing three or four devices, strategically positioned to maximize the damage, Jon stepped back to survey his work. It was now high noon, the sun beating down with an intensity that was lethal to demonkind. Once the house was destroyed, any surviving demons would find no shelter from the scorching rays.

Jon's hand was steady as he pressed the button on the remote control, a small device that held his power as fuel, the hellfire. The mansion, once a grandiose structure hiding the darkest of the forest, was now nothing more than a tinderbox waiting for a spark.

Boooooooooooooooooooom!

The explosion was immediate, a deafening roar that tore through the silence of the day. Flames erupted skyward, a fiery blossom of destruction that consumed the mansion in an instant. The structure crumbled, its walls and secrets collapsing into a fiery grave.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Agggggggggggggggggggggghhh!

Then, the screams began—anguished, desperate cries that cut through the roar of the flames. They were the screams of demons, creatures of the night caught in the unforgiving light of day. The sunlight, a life-giving force for humans, was a deadly scourge for demons, and now it was their undoing.

[Ding! Side quest updated: Eliminate at least ten ordinary demons, current progress 3/10.]

The notifications chimed in rapid succession, a grim tally of the lives extinguished by Jon's hand. Each ding was a confirmation of a soul reaped.

[Ding! Side quest updated: Eliminate at least ten ordinary demons, current progress 4/10.]

[Ding! Side quest updated: Eliminate at least ten ordinary demons, current progress 5/10.]

[Ding! Side quest updated: Eliminate at least ten ordinary demons, current progress 6/10.]

[Ding! Soul Sacrifice function used successfully, soul exchange completed, 20 penalty points awarded.]

[Ding! Soul Sacrifice function used successfully, soul exchange completed, 20 penalty points awarded.]

Throughout it all, Jon walked and never once looked back. The saying goes, a true predator never looks back at his prey!

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