"Steel Cannon!"
Mousse's voice came out hoarse, laced with terror. He hadn't seen clearly what had just happened either.
Just a moment ago, that man had been in a disadvantaged position, seemingly bent over to inspect the courtesan's corpse. Steel Cannon had already seized the opening, his attributes clearly superior—so how was it possible that Steel Cannon had been instantly counter-killed instead?
What was even more bizarre was that, in that fleeting instant, Mousse had vaguely glimpsed the man's blade. It didn't look like a Nichirin sword forged from Scarlet Crimson Iron Sand—yet after Steel Cannon's head was severed, his body didn't move at all.
Yes, that was the strangest part.
Steel Cannon's aura had vanished. Through the team channel, Mousse already knew Steel Cannon was dead. But as a demon, Steel Cannon's body hadn't begun to disintegrate—this was nothing like the effect of being slain by a Nichirin blade.
The shell remained…
but his soul seemed to have been cut down.
"Stop watching and move! Attack together—this isn't an ordinary Hashira!"
Mousse shouted at the top of his lungs. Their team had entered the Demon Slayer world together—six members in total—formulating a plan to ambush enemy Explorers and Hashira in Yoshiwara. He never imagined they'd run into such a freak of nature right out of the gate.
"Are you… a newly appointed Hashira?!"
Hinatsuru finally snapped out of her shock. She'd thought this was a dead end, yet the man beside her had slain a newly appointed Twelve Kizuki in a single exchange.
Kurosaki Rei didn't answer her question.
"Go contact your companions and evacuate the civilians. Yoshiwara is about to become a battlefield."
In a sense, the enemy wasn't wrong. He truly wasn't an ordinary Hashira—because he wasn't a Hashira at all.
Bang—bang—bang—
Amid the sounds of wooden floorboards being pierced and splinters flying, strips of patterned fabric shot down from the ceiling, stabbing toward Kurosaki Rei. This was Upper Rank Six, Daki's Blood Demon Art.
Faced with the razor-sharp sashes rushing at him, Kurosaki Rei dodged with minimal movements. The gusts lifted the hem of his jet-black Pure Black Nightmare coat; against the dim twilight outside, he looked like a night owl dancing in the dark.
"So early in the morning, disturbing my beauty sleep…
But looking closely, you're quite the handsome man…"
A languid voice drifted down from above, where the ceiling had been torn open.
In the hazy glow of lantern light stood a woman with frost-white hair, gazing down at Kurosaki Rei from above. She wore a finely tailored kimono embroidered with serene landscapes. Her skin was pale as congealed snow, complementing her white hair, while her emerald-green eyes shimmered—within them glowed the characters Upper Rank and Six.
Her slender brows lifted slightly, impatience and disdain mingling in her expression as she looked at the Demon Slayer below.
"…I wonder what you taste like~"
Seeing this, Mousse nearly cursed her out on the spot.
Do you have any idea what your own level is?
Without your brother, you're nothing—what makes you think you're stronger than us?
Didn't you see Steel Cannon get one-shot?! Call your brother out already!
Meanwhile, Hinatsuru had finally come fully to her senses. She understood that this battlefield was no place for her to intervene. Without hesitation, she dashed out of Kyogoku House to contact her two sisters and begin evacuating Yoshiwara's civilians.
As for the patrons and courtesans still inside—cruel as it was, she knew she couldn't save them all.
Once Yoshiwara became a battlefield between an Upper Rank demon and a Hashira, everyone would be in danger. She could only do her best to save as many as possible.
As a Demon Slayer, she wanted to save everyone—but she wasn't as naïve as the younger recruits.
She had two objectives now:
First, evacuate as many civilians as possible.
Second, deliver this information so the Demon Slayer Corps could dispatch Hashira-level reinforcements.
Aside from the first generation of swordsmen who pioneered Breathing Styles, the Corps had not slain an Upper Rank demon in centuries. That alone proved that Upper Ranks were not enemies a single Hashira could defeat.
And she had never seen that man before—he was likely a newly promoted Hashira. Sending him into such a situation right away… the odds were grim.
"I really don't understand that lord's thinking,"
Daki—Upper Rank Six—sneered, showing no pity whatsoever for Steel Cannon's death. In fact, she openly despised these demons who had invaded her territory.
"If my brother hadn't said that, since Lord Muzan approved the creation of new Twelve Kizuki, we shouldn't kill each other… I would've wrapped these idiots up in my sashes and left them to burn in the sun."
She licked her lips with her soft tongue.
"But it's only a Hashira. I've already eaten seven of them."
"Use your full power—now! This guy isn't simple!"
Mousse shouted again, desperately hinting for Daki to summon her brother, Gyutaro. In his heart, he cursed this brainless woman a thousand times over.
If it weren't for us, you'd already be ash in the sunlight!
Without our items, how long do you think you'd last?!
"Sounds like you've had it rough too,"
Kurosaki Rei said with a smile.
He didn't mind chatting for a bit—Hinatsuru and her sisters were evacuating the civilians, and on his side, the situation was already a guaranteed win.
The only risk was that his pause gave the enemy team time to assemble.
Kurosaki Rei hadn't informed any Demon Slayer Corps members of this operation. Not because he was reckless, but because he had confidence in his own strength—and no way to explain the source of his intelligence.
Besides, the battle at Yoshiwara was meant to be a lightning strike. Arrive late, and variables would multiply.
As for why he didn't secretly evacuate the civilians first before confronting the demons—that was unrealistic. Neither the patrons nor the courtesans of Yoshiwara would believe him. The Demon Slayer Corps wasn't a government-sanctioned organization and had no public credibility.
Most people wouldn't heed warnings from a stranger unless disaster was right in front of them.
The only thing he could do was end the battle as fast as possible and minimize casualties.
"Being pitied by the enemy really makes us look useless,"
A voice sounded behind Kurosaki Rei.
Across the street, a figure stood on a rooftop—a man in white robes, holding a longsword.
"Surrounded and still this calm… Steel Cannon didn't die unjustly."
Within Kurosaki Rei's perception, aside from Daki, five others had already encircled Kyogoku House. From Hinatsuru's perspective, this truly looked like a hopeless situation.
Kurosaki Rei closed his eyes, using a new trick he'd recently grasped during his spiritual pressure training to sense the human auras inside the building.
Then he took a deep breath.
Lowering his stance slightly, he gripped the hilt of Prison Demon in an iaijutsu posture.
"Together—kill him!"
As Mousse shouted, all five members of the enemy team lunged at Kurosaki Rei almost simultaneously.
The white-robed swordsman leapt down from across the street, striking toward Kurosaki Rei's back.
A sniper on a distant high point locked onto Kurosaki Rei's head.
Mousse, daggers coated in poison, waited for an opening.
On the left, the team's main tank, Steel Plate, smashed through the wall with brute force, shield raised like a charging war chariot.
The right wall exploded as well—blood-red light flaring from a Blood Demon Art cast by Morl, the team's former caster.
At the same time, Daki sent countless sashes raining down from above, stabbing toward Kurosaki Rei.
In that instant, time seemed to freeze.
Attacks converged from every direction, surrounding Kurosaki Rei like an ornate circular tableau.
From Kurosaki Rei's mouth, scorching steam burst forth, roaring like a steam whistle.
At the same moment, blinding golden lightning erupted around his body.
In the next instant, Kurosaki Rei vanished in a flash of lightning.
The famous blade was drawn—
Prison Demon unleashed!
The pitch-black blade traced a golden arc, like a thunderbolt descending from the heavens, cleaving through the structure and slicing Kyogoku House cleanly in half from the side!
When Kurosaki Rei's figure solidified again, he was already high above Kyogoku House.
Under the artificial night sky, the full moon framed his silhouette—
demonic blood scattering through the air.
🌟 The story is already written… waiting to be unleashed.
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