As the crimson blade flashed before him, a thought raced through Gyokko's mind:
'Could this guy be a Pillar too?!'
The moment that thought crossed his mind, the world before Gyokko's eyes suddenly shifted.
In his own eyes, the small boy seemed to rapidly grow taller before him.
His body didn't seem to have registered what had happened.
As Gyokko's head fell to the ground, his arms remained raised, as if still reaching upward.
It looked as though he was checking to see if his head was still properly attached to his neck.
At that moment, yuki could almost imagine Gyokko's thoughts:
What just happened?
This is truly baffling!
Upon seeing this "uniquely shaped little thing," yuki quickly recognized his identity.
'Upper Moon Five, Gyokko'
However, after identifying Gyokko and beheading him with a single strike, yuki's expression grew even more peculiar.
He had now encountered four Upper-Rank Demons: Kokushibo, Akaza, Hantengu, and the Gyokko before him.
Among these Demons, Hantengu left the weakest impression, likely because he never revealed his true form.
The other three Upper-Rank Demons, however, had left a profound mark on yuki's memory:
"Almost Headless" Kokushibo, "Head-Taking Tyrant" Akaza,
and now, "Headless Wonder" Gyokko.
yuki remembered that in the original story, this guy had attacked the Swordsmith Village alongside Hantengu.
Now, it seemed that because of his presence, Upper Rank Four, Hantengu, had been summoned by Muzan to help Akaza escape.
Only Gyokko himself had attempted to attack the Swordsmith Village.
Moreover, yuki noticed that while Gyokko appeared unscathed on the surface, through the Transparent World's perspective, his body still bore numerous incompletely healed wounds.
At this realization, yuki's expression turned peculiar.
'Could it be that Gyokko first endured a beating from the Pillars?'
'And after barely escaping with his life, he ran into me...'
yuki could only think, Well done, Gyokko! Even in death, you remembered to deliver your head to me!
While pondering this, yuki didn't forget to ask Kotetsu:
"Are you alright? Did that thing hurt you?" yuki asked.
Kotetsu wore a mask, so his expression couldn't be seen directly. But his trembling voice betrayed the child's terror.
Despite his fear, Kotetsu forced himself to answer, his voice shaking: "I... I'm fine. Just got startled by that ugly demon."
Hearing this, Gyokko's severed head on the ground immediately began to shriek indignantly: "You little brat! What nonsense are you spouting?! My body is a perfect work of art! I—"
Gyokko's incessant clamor made Yuki's ears ache. He now understood why Muichiro had sliced Gyokko's head into fragments without hesitation.
yuki drew his sword again and, in an instant, reduced Gyokko to "Gyokko-chan."
He could feel his abilities had improved further. After obtaining Tsugikuni Yoriichi's sword, he not only gained the full Crimson Blade effect but also increased his Restoration Rate to 64%.
In fact, the moment his Restoration Rate surpassed 60%, yuki felt a qualitative shift within himself.
This improvement was difficult to describe directly.
If he had to put it into words, it was as if everything around him had become clearer.
His body felt refreshed, like he had just enjoyed a perfect night's sleep.
But after slaying Gyokko, yuki realized his earlier speculation about the Restoration Rate had come true.
Defeating an Upper-Rank Demon had only increased his Restoration Rate by 4%, bringing the total to 68%.
At this rate, even if he killed all the Upper-Rank Demons, he might not reach 90%.
After all, the Restoration Rate increase would likely diminish as he progressed.
However, this wasn't something yuki needed to worry about right now.
He retrieved the blood-drawing dagger Chachamaru had delivered earlier from his robes and stabbed it into Gyokko's corpse.
Two cat-like meows later, Chachamaru reappeared before yuki.
Kotetsu was startled by the sudden appearance of the small cat, but he couldn't resist reaching out to stroke Chachamaru's head.
After petting the cat for a while, Kotetsu's composure visibly steadied. He asked, "Mr. yuki, who is this little cat?"
yuki smiled but didn't answer directly.
The collaboration between Kagaya and Tamayo was no secret within the Demon Slayer Corps. Even Pillars like Shinobu had worked with Tamayo to develop medicines.
However, yuki hesitated to reveal this to Kotetsu, just as he had avoided explaining his uncanny resemblance to the Yoriichi Zero-Type automaton earlier.
Fortunately, Kotetsu was a remarkably perceptive child. Sensing yuki's reluctance to answer, he didn't press the matter further.
At yuki's prompting, Kotetsu mustered his courage and pulled the blood-drawing dagger from Gyokko's remains. He then tucked it into Chachamaru's backpack.
Inside the backpack, Kotetsu also discovered a folded note.
This time, Kotetsu didn't touch the note himself. Instead, he called yuki over and asked him to take it out.
yuki unfolded the note and discovered it was a message from Tamayo.
She explained that her research on yuki's blood had made some progress.
By fusing certain characteristics of demon blood with yuki's blood, they might be able to realize his vision.
Additionally, Tamayo requested that yuki visit Tokyo when he had time, as she needed his personal cooperation for further experiments.
While yuki was writing a reply to Tamayo, Kotetsu was playing with Chachamaru.
However, after Kotetsu and yuki saw Chachamaru off, Kotetsu looked at the few strands of hair remaining in his hand and said with a puzzled expression:
"I found some hair in this little cat's backpack."
Found some hair?
yuki was surprised by this revelation.
He took the hair from Kotetsu and examined it closely.
It was a short, fine strand of soft hair, clearly from Yushiro's head.
This discovery astonished yuki.
Do demons even lose hair?
Could it be that my last message, urging Yushiro to find a way to locate the Infinity Castle, drove him to overwork himself to the point of hair loss?
All He said was, "Yushiro, you wouldn't want Miss Tamayo to think you're incapable, would you?"
Could such a simple remark have had such a drastic effect?