The battle against demons was passionate and fierce, but it was also cruel.
In the dark depths of the Infinity Castle, sacrifice could happen at any moment.
A young Demon Slayer with freckles was surrounded by two demons.
His entire body was soaked in blood, yet he still stood tall.
His left arm had already been bitten off, and blood gushed from the wound, dyeing half his body red, but his right hand still gripped his Nichirin blade.
With one slash, he killed the demon in front of him.
At the same time, the claws of the demon behind him pierced through his chest.
Pain twisted across the young swordsman's face.
Using the last of his strength, he grabbed the claw that had pierced through him and held on with everything he had, locking the demon in place along with himself.
In the end, another Demon Slayer seized the opening and cut off the demon's head.
When the young swordsman collapsed, there was still a smile on his lips.
On the other side, a female Demon Slayer had her face torn open by a demon's claws.
Her flesh split, and blood sprayed out.
Her face went deathly pale in an instant, but she gritted her teeth and did not let out a single scream.
She covered the wound with one hand, drove her Nichirin blade into that demon's throat, then staggered forward and kept going.
An older member, clearly a full generation above most of the others, had already lost one arm.
Yet he gripped his Nichirin blade with his remaining right hand and resolutely stood in front of several younger swordsmen.
Every scene before Shinichi's eyes was shocking, tragic, and drenched in blood.
And what made it even more helpless was that, on a battlefield of life and death like this, the power of one person was limited.
Even a powerful Hashira could not save every Demon Slayer who was sacrificing themselves before him.
"Shinichi!"
A familiar voice rang out from the crowd.
Shinichi looked up and saw Tengen Uzui covered in blood.
The flamboyant jeweled headband on his forehead had been completely soaked red, and the showy attitude that always seemed to hang around him was gone.
Right now, he looked more like a wild beast, charging recklessly through the horde of demons.
The blades of his twin Nichirin swords were covered in cracks, and even the tips had snapped off, but Tengen's sword light was still razor-sharp.
Every slash killed several demons at once.
"Tengen!" Shinichi shouted. "Don't force yourself! You're burning through your own life force like this!"
"Then I'll burn through it!" Tengen spat out a mouthful of bloody foam with a grin.
Mixed in that blood were bits of flesh, though it was impossible to tell whether they belonged to him or the demons.
He cut the demon in front of him in half with one slash, then swung back and severed another demon's neck.
"For a flamboyant battle like this, it's absolutely worth it! I'm not dead yet! No way I'm letting these ugly bastards steal my spotlight! I'm the flashiest Sound Hashira there is!"
Behind Tengen, Giyu Tomioka followed closely.
The water-blue Nichirin blade in his hand moved like lightning, and every thrust accurately severed a demon's head.
The two of them charged forward without caring about the cost, and before long, they had reached the space in front of Shinichi.
Giyu turned his head to look at Shinichi and said seriously, "The two of us will open a path for you. That thing is yours, Shinichi. We'll give everything we have to get you as close as possible."
Tengen did not speak, but it was obvious he had made the same decision.
Between them and Shōkyū stood hundreds, perhaps thousands, of demons.
And beyond those demons was Shōkyū himself.
Shinichi looked at the two of them, then looked around at the Demon Slayers fighting desperately in every direction.
He watched them throw themselves into the demon horde one after another, unafraid of death, and an indescribable emotion surged in his chest.
It was not sadness.
It was not anger.
It was something deeper, something hotter.
He remembered what he had been like when he first joined the Demon Slayer Corps. He remembered every comrade he had met over the years.
From beginning to end, he had never been fighting alone.
And he was not fighting only for himself either!
"Shinichi!"
"Stop spacing out!" Tengen cut the demon in front of him in half and turned his head, roaring, "Keep up!"
"Water Breathing, Fourth Form: Striking Tide!"
Water-blue sword light surged forward like crashing waves, shredding more than a dozen demons ahead of them at once.
Giyu cleared the space on the left.
Shinichi took a deep breath and tightened his grip on his Nichirin blade.
Bluish-green light flowed along the sword, growing brighter and brighter, hotter and more intense.
The Transparent World, which he had only recently grasped, opened, and everything around him became incomparably clear.
The movement of every single demon entered his sight.
Life Breathing circulated to its limit, and the life force in his body surged like a great river.
Every inch of muscle was filled with power.
"I understand!" Shinichi stepped forward and followed Giyu and Tengen's pace. "Let's go together!"
The three of them advanced side by side, their blade lights crossing as they plunged straight into the demon horde.
"Water Breathing, Sixth Form: Whirlpool!"
"Sound Breathing, Fourth Form: Constant Resounding Slashes!"
"Forest Breathing, Seventh Form: Wood Dragon Soaring to Heaven!"
Three blade lights slashed out at the same time, killing dozens of demons ahead of them in one sweep.
Demon blood poured through the dark Infinity Castle like a waterfall.
"Everyone in the Demon Slayer Corps!" Tengen's voice exploded through the darkness like thunder.
"Open a path for Shinichi! Escort him through!"
The moment his voice fell, the Demon Slayers around them answered one after another.
"Kill them!!"
"Open a path for the Forest Hashira!"
"For the Demon Slayer Corps! For the Master!"
Their battle cries rose from every direction.
The Demon Slayers who had originally been fighting on their own now gathered together.
They no longer fought separately.
Instead, they moved like a giant pair of shears, closing in from both sides toward the center, determined to cut a path through the demon horde.
There were too many demons?
Then they would use their own flesh and blood to build a wall in the middle of that horde!
"Do you see this, Shōkyū?!"
Shinichi cut down the demon in front of him with one slash, pride ringing through his voice.
"This is the Demon Slayer Corps! These are the comrades I want to protect!"
Shōkyū looked at the bluish-green light drawing closer and closer.
A trace of wariness flashed through his crimson eyes, only to be swallowed by an even deeper killing intent.
"Ridiculous! So stupid it makes me sick!"
As he spoke, he spread his arms, and dark-golden light surged wildly around his body.
Countless thorn whips shot out from his back.
"What difference does it make if a swarm of insects protects you on the way here? You can't defeat me, not when I possess the power of Yomi! I'll send you to Yomi right now!"
Boom!
Shōkyū's body shot up from the ground and charged violently toward Shinichi.
Rip!
The sound of breaking the sound barrier exploded through the air.
In the next second, bluish-green blade light and dark-golden thorn whips collided fiercely in midair.
Boom!
Light burst apart, and the shockwave spread in every direction.
Tengen Uzui, Giyu Tomioka, the other Demon Slayers, and the countless demons farther out were all blasted away, forcibly clearing out an empty circle around them.
The thorn whips were cut apart and turned into blood as they fell.
The blade light scattered, but an even brighter slash had already lit up.
"Forest Breathing, First Form: Iron Birch Slash!"
The bluish-green blade light condensed into a straight edge, like a massive sword, cutting directly toward Shōkyū's head.
Shōkyū twisted aside to dodge, then swung his claws.
Five crimson claw marks tore through the air and raked toward Shinichi's chest.
Shinichi pulled his sword back to block. The claw marks crashed against the blade, bursting into a spray of sparks.
He was forced several steps back by the impact, but he immediately steadied himself and swung a backhanded slash toward Shōkyū's neck.
The two of them began a life-or-death duel within that empty circle.
They moved so quickly the naked eye could not follow them.
Bluish-green and crimson light exploded again and again, and every collision unleashed a terrifying shockwave.