Giyu had already pushed his blade to its limit.
Water-blue sword light flashed again and again through the ruins, every swing carrying a resolve that refused to turn back.
Under such relentless, high-intensity swordplay, even he, one of the Demon Slayer Corps' powerful Hashira, could not keep going forever.
His breathing slowly began to fall out of rhythm. His arms trembled from time to time.
The torn wounds between his thumb and forefinger had long since gone numb, and blood dripped down the hilt of his sword, mixing with the ash scattered across the floor.
Even so, Giyu would not stop swinging.
Because behind him were the Master and the Kakushi—those support members who had no combat ability of their own.
He could not retreat.
He would never allow the nightmare-like figure before him, Shokyu, to get past him.
"Water Breathing, Third Form: Flowing Dance!"
Giyu's figure split into several afterimages, moving like a winding stream of water as he slashed at Shokyu from multiple angles at once.
With blinding speed, he created clone-like illusions, making it impossible for an enemy to judge the true direction of his attack.
But Shokyu did not even bother to look at Giyu's assault properly.
He merely waved his hand, and several hideous thorn whips shot out from behind him as if they had come alive, piercing through every afterimage with perfect accuracy—including Giyu's real body.
Pshk!
One thorn whip grazed past Giyu's ribs, tearing away a chunk of flesh.
Giyu let out a muffled grunt, his body staggering, but he forced himself to twist around and cut the whip apart with a single slash.
The severed thorn whip fell to the ground and melted into a puddle of blood.
But behind Shokyu, even more thorn whips had already grown out.
"Is that all you can do?" Shokyu's crimson eyes were full of mockery. "You can't even touch the edge of my clothes, yet you dare stand in my way?"
Giyu did not answer.
He did not have time to answer.
Because in the shadows behind Shōkyū, something began to squirm and gather once more.
Then, all at once, demon after demon crawled out of the darkness, roaring as they lunged toward him.
It was not just one or two.
There were over a dozen, then dozens more.
Those demons were not particularly strong. Most of them were only low-ranking demons, but there were far too many of them.
They poured endlessly out of the twisted, gate-like crack behind Shōkyū, drowning the entire stretch of ruins like a surging tide.
"Hehehe… The Gate of Yomi has already opened a crack."
Shokyu spread his arms, his face filled with pride.
"Do you see it? This is the power of Yomi! The power of a god! What can your Demon Slayer Corps possibly use to oppose a god?"
Giyu clenched his teeth.
The light of his Nichirin blade transformed into a blue sea, cutting down the demons that rushed at him one after another.
But every time he killed one, two more crawled out of the shadows.
They had no fear of death, throwing themselves forward one after another like wave upon wave crashing against his defense.
Giyu's stamina was draining rapidly.
More wounds opened across his body, and his breathing grew heavier and heavier.
A demon lunged at him from the side, its mouth full of sharp teeth biting down hard on Giyu's left arm.
He grunted and cut it down with a backhanded slash, but two more demons seized the opening and pounced onto his back.
"Get off!"
Water-blue sword light erupted, blasting every demon clinging to him away.
But Giyu's hand began to tremble uncontrollably again, and the scene before his eyes started to blur.
He knew he could not hold out much longer.
Shokyu looked at that figure struggling bitterly in the swarm of demons, his crimson eyes filled with boredom.
"How stubborn," Shokyu muttered. "But this is as far as you go."
He raised his hand, and a thorn whip shot out from his palm like a black arrow, stabbing straight toward Giyu's forehead.
It was too fast.
So fast it had reached the absolute limit.
Giyu saw it.
But his nearly exhausted body no longer allowed him to react in time.
He could only watch as the thorn whip grew larger and closer in his field of vision.
Clang!
A dazzling blade light descended from above and struck the thorn whip with perfect precision.
Sparks scattered everywhere.
The whip was cut apart and fell to the ground, melting into blood.
Tengen Uzui's body was still bleeding, but his towering frame stood perfectly straight.
His twin blades spun once in his hands, releasing a clear metallic hum.
Then he turned back with a grin, his handsome face brimming with confidence.
"Tomioka, you bastard. If you think the flamboyant me is going to let you die here that easily, you're dead wrong."
Giyu looked at the figure who had suddenly appeared, and a faint ripple passed through his eyes.
"Tengen."
"Yeah, yeah, I know you're not the type to say anything flamboyant." Tengen shrugged, his gaze sweeping over the demons that kept pouring out.
"But a fight doesn't need any extra words anyway. Come on! Let's show them the flashiness of the Demon Slayer Corps!"
Giyu tightened his grip on his sword, then nodded.
"No problem."
"Then let's go!" Tengen crossed his twin blades, the airflow of Sound Breathing circulating around him.
"First, we wipe out these small fry!"
The moment his words fell, both figures charged out at the same time.
"Sound Breathing, First Form: Roar!"
Tengen's blade light carried an explosive thunderous boom. With one slash, he blasted several demons in front of him into pieces.
The flamboyant sword light erupted in the darkness, brilliant as fireworks.
"Water Breathing, Fourth Form: Striking Tide!"
Giyu's blade light surged out like rolling waves, mincing the demons on the other side.
The two stood back-to-back, one on the left and the other on the right, one attacking and one defending.
Their coordination was seamless.
Water-blue sword light and flamboyant blade light intertwined, carving out a brief patch of clean ground amid the ruins.
Shokyu looked at the two figures, and a trace of surprise flashed through his crimson eyes.
"A little interesting," he said quietly.
Then he raised his hand, and even more thorn whips shot out from behind him.
Giyu and Tengen fought side by side, their blade lights crossing as they cut down the demons and severed Shōkyū's incoming thorn whips one after another.
But there were too many demons and too many whips.
Every demon they killed, every thorn whip they cut, delayed them by half a step.
And with every half-step they were delayed, even more demons and thorn whips surged toward them.
Tengen's left arm was torn open by a demon's claws, a strip of flesh ripped away.
He gave a muffled grunt, but his brows did not even twitch, and his twin blades only danced faster.
A thorn whip carved a wound down Giyu's leg so deep that bone could be seen.
He stumbled, but immediately steadied himself and cut the whip apart with one slash.
"Hey, Tomioka."
Tengen was panting heavily, but there was still a hint of teasing in his voice.
"You think we're going to die here?"
Giyu was silent for one second.
Then he said, "Yes."
Tengen froze for a moment before bursting into laughter.
"Hahaha! You really are something."
He tightened his grip on his twin blades, a trace of resolve flashing through his eyes.
"If we're really going to die, then we might as well die flamboyantly!"
The two charged out again, blade light and thorn whips colliding wildly in midair.
But the scales of victory were still tilting, little by little, toward Shōkyū.
Tengen's twin blades grew slower and slower and Giyu's sword light grew weaker and weaker.
Their wounds multiplied, their blood flowed less and less, and their stamina was almost completely exhausted.
Yet those demons still continued to pour endlessly out of the crack.
"It's about time this ended."
Shokyu's voice carried a note of impatience.
"You insects are getting annoying."
He spread his arms, and crimson light gathered in his palms.
That light grew brighter and brighter, as though it was about to swallow the entire space.
"Blood Demon Art: Yomi—"
Buzz!
A bluish-green blade light suddenly burst forth, forcibly interrupting Shokyu's Blood Demon Art!