Vincent gently patted Nezuko on the head, then pointed at the still sleeping Tanjiro.
As a demon herself, Nezuko immediately sensed the faint demonic aura clinging to Tanjiro and the others.
They had clearly fallen victim to a Blood Demon Art.
Nezuko hopped out of the box and started pushing at Tanjiro with both hands, shaking him over and over.
But Tanjiro was like someone in shock, locked in place, completely unwilling to wake up.
Vincent patted Nezuko's head again and gestured for her not to panic.
"You have to wake your brother up. If you don't… things are going to get very dangerous for all of them."
While he spoke, he slowly rose to his feet and walked toward the front of the train.
If he remembered correctly, Enmu's first manifested form should be in the carriage ahead.
In that front carriage, the conductor from before was kneeling on the floor, head bowed so low it almost touched the boards.
"Please. Let me see my family in my dreams again. I did everything you told me to. I just want to see them… just once more…"
There was no one in front of him.
But the conductor knew it.
That "godlike" man was everywhere.
Thud.
A pale hand landed on the floor in front of him, a mouth opening slowly on the back of it.
"Good work. Sleep."
With that one command, the conductor's body went limp and crumpled to the ground.
He had fallen into a deep, dreamless sleep.
Whether he would truly meet his family again in that dreamspace… depended entirely on Enmu's whim.
Behind him, the fingers of that demon hand began lazily to twist and curl.
Squatting in the shadows a few steps away were four boys and girls, waiting for their orders.
"Next, it's your turn. Remember, when you move in, try not to touch them directly. Because of the demonic aura on their bodies, even a brush of contact might be enough to make these Demon Slayer brats sense something is wrong…"
The mouth on the hand suddenly stopped talking.
A single eye opened on the back of it and swiveled to stare at the wooden door between the carriages.
"Someone woke up from the dream already? That was a little fast…"
Before it could finish the thought, the door exploded inward.
Wood chips flew in all directions as a lone figure appeared in the broken doorway between the two carriages.
"Enmu. Quite the trick you pulled."
Vincent already had his Nichirin blade drawn, his eyes cold as they locked onto the demon hand on the floor.
"But this is where it ends."
The moment the words left his mouth, he shot forward like an arrow loosed from the string.
"Do not harm Master Enmu!"
The four kids jumped up at once and threw themselves in front of the demon hand.
Each of them gripped an awl in shaking hands, jabbing the sharp tips toward Vincent.
"Master Enmu is going to give us good dreams. You bad people aren't allowed to come any closer!"
Vincent stopped in his tracks and looked at the four of them.
Enmu's mocking laughter echoed from somewhere behind them.
"Go on, Demon Slayer. Make a move. These are pure, fragile little humans. If you kill them, are you still any different from a demon?"
"You four. The moment that man moves, stab your own throats. Understand?"
At that order, the four of them turned their awls around without hesitation, the tips pressing directly against their own necks.
"Don't come any closer!"
They shouted as they pushed, sharp points digging in.
Even though they were aiming at themselves.
The awls pierced the skin in an instant and beads of red blood welled up.
Vincent looked at them, voice cold.
"So your big wish is just to have a nice dream?"
"In the end, a dream is still just a dream. Do you really plan to spend your whole life chasing something that isn't real?"
"Wake up, you fools."
His harsh words were like a slap. Even with their minds clouded by Enmu's control, something still stirred deep in their hearts.
For a brief moment, their hands froze.
Vincent seized the opening and moved in.
His palm and the flat of his blade struck the backs of their necks in quick succession.
One, two, three, four.
The kids dropped where they stood, knocked cleanly unconscious.
"Enmu, you really do manage to surprise me."
Vincent spoke quietly as flames crawled up along his Nichirin blade.
Then he brought it down in a vicious arc.
Whoosh.
The demon hand that housed Enmu's fragment was sliced neatly in two.
Fire devoured it in an instant, filling the carriage with the scorched stench of burning flesh.
"Hahaha, that was just a small piece of me. Surely you didn't think killing it would be enough to get rid of me?"
The disembodied voice cackled from within the flames.
"Naive Demon Slayer. Show me a little more of your strength."
Under Vincent's gaze, the demon hand crumbled to ash.
He flicked his sword, scattering the bone dust.
"Just wait."
He spoke softly, then walked to the window.
With a single punch, the glass shattered.
His body blurred, and Vincent leapt out into the night.
His Nichirin blade stabbed easily into the side of the train car. Using that as leverage, he swung himself up in one smooth motion and landed atop the roof.
He focused his gaze on the very front of the train.
Sure enough, a figure was standing above the engine.
"So you came after all, Demon Slayer?"
Enmu seemed to feel him and turned, looking back toward Vincent.
"But your companions are all still sound asleep."
He spread his arms wide as if to embrace the rushing cold wind.
"No matter how strong a Demon Slayer is, their power is driven by their heart, by their spirit."
"As long as I shatter their spiritual core, killing them is a trivial thing."
The stump of his left arm began to twitch and sprout fresh flesh.
Before Vincent's eyes, the limb regenerated completely.
"Your spiritual strength is… acceptable, I suppose. That must be how you forced yourself awake from the dreams I created."
"But no matter how strong a spirit is, in the end it is still as fragile as glass. Easy to break."
"As long as I put you back to sleep, it will only be a matter of time before I find your spiritual core and crush you completely."
…
Back in the carriage, the four hired kids suddenly rose to their feet like sleepwalking corpses.
Enmu had used their souls as strings and jerked them upright by force.
Clutching their heads as if they were splitting apart, they staggered toward the carriage where Tanjiro lay.
"This should be close enough…"
The pale faced boy in the lead tied off a length of rope and sat down beside Inosuke.
Once the ritual was complete, the four of them slipped into sleep again.
Their bodies slumped, but their minds entered the dreams of the Demon Slayers.
The small girl in front was assigned to Kyojuro Rengoku.
As she drifted off, her figure appeared at the gates of the Rengoku estate within his dream.
"So this is his dream…"
"Where is his spiritual core?"
Keeping low, she weaved through the inner courtyard, carefully avoiding the servants in the Rengoku residence as she searched.
Eventually, she came to a simple fence, where she could feel a faint, steady pulsing.
"This is it."
Without another word, the girl pulled out her awl and stabbed it forward.
Perhaps because Rengoku's spirit was so strong, even this basic step took enormous effort.
At long last, the spiritual barrier split open with a tear.
She stepped through without hesitation.
And froze in shock.
Kyojuro Rengoku's inner world was filled, from horizon to horizon, with roaring flames.
It was like stepping into hell itself.
"Where is the core… where is his spiritual core? Once I destroy it, I'll finally get the good dreams he promised me…"
For the chance at a single sweet dream, she was willing to trample someone else's soul.
She darted through the burning world in a panic.
At last, she found it.
A crystal sphere glowing faintly with warm red light.
----------------------------------------------------
The deeper he goes, the more the truth unravels. Don't wait read ahead and witness Vincent's rise before the world catches up!
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