Surroundings suddenly quieted. Sharp mouthparts created dozens of wounds on my body.
Blood flowed out and merged with the surroundings. I thought somewhat gloomily—this guy actively devoured my blood. Was this Muzan's order?
The moment I was dragged in by this thing, I understood. Starting from attacking Cultivators, it seemed to be weakening the Demon Slayer Corps' reserve forces.
Actually, Muzan targeted me.
Those attacks were just to divert my attention. Make me think he still targeted the Demon Slayer Corps.
The demon devoured my blood and flesh. I immediately tried controlling it. But encountered powerful resistance.
Muzan must have given it a considerable amount of blood beforehand. Let it resist my control.
I tore open more wounds on my arm while advancing through this viscous flesh.
In the process of fighting for this demon's control, I obtained its senses. Noticed Kyojuro was hidden in its body.
At the same time, my vision seemed to intersect. Extended along the cars toward the distance. Saw—
Obanai and Mitsuri scattered in different cars. Serpent Breathing and Love Breathing's flexible and extensible combat techniques burst with amazing speed. Rapidly strangled those fleshy buds reaching toward passengers.
Shinazugawa was very close to me. He burned with fury. Wanted to tear this wriggling flesh to pieces. But encountered an unexpected enemy.
That was Akaza. When he appeared, he glanced obscurely toward the front car. Unhesitatingly attacked Shinazugawa.
No good. I had to stop this train first. Protecting passengers would waste too much of their stamina.
Thinking this, I tore off my left arm and fed it to this demon. Taking advantage of momentary superiority, I attacked Muzan's consciousness with full force.
After briefly suppressing this demon, this train finally could emergency brake and stop.
Obanai reacted quickly. Immediately destroyed the car. Started waking passengers to have them quickly disembark.
But I smelled an ominous scent. Carried the smell of fire rapidly heating in the cars.
Explosives!
This bastard!
No time to think more. To save everyone, only one last method remained.
I'd researched this method for many years. But never tried using it. But now there was no choice.
I grabbed the thing beside me. Bit down.
Drawn by the blood, it had to surge toward me. Along with those explosives hidden in the flesh. All absorbed into my body together.
I'd never absorbed so many foreign objects. Massive flesh packed my body. Exploding dynamite destroyed my limbs then regenerated at high speed.
Pressing down that demon's dying screams in my mind, I suddenly felt a strong urge to vomit. Couldn't help sprawling on the bare ground retching. Brain buzzing dully. Eyes darkening. Feeling waves of dizziness.
But fortunately, I remembered who I was. Also didn't develop bloodthirsty desires.
At most, just the intense discomfort of eating a huge pile of garbage.
"Lady Chihaya..."
My eyes still saw things somewhat blurred. Could only hear Kyojuro's voice in my ears. Probably he helped me up.
"Watch out—"
I felt someone else pounce and pin me down. A sharp whistling of blades sweeping past sounded in my ears.
After recovering from that ringing, hearing seemed to slowly return. I could hear several blade clashes. Also Mitsuri and Obanai's voices.
Kyojuro seemed to pick me up. Moved to another position and set me down. "Lady Chihaya, can you not see?"
"I need to recover a bit." I said. "What's the situation now?"
"Just now three Upper Ranks appeared. They tried attacking you. Were stopped by Shinazugawa and the others."
Kyojuro's voice was also somewhat weak. Probably suffered considerable torment these days after being captured.
Kokushibo and Doma also came?
This thought flashed through my mind. I said to him again: "They should... want to kill me."
Though my evolution speed wasn't as fast as Muzan's, there were benefits. Namely compared to him, I had fewer weaknesses.
I wasn't afraid of wisteria. Previously thick-skinned, never had anything I was allergic to. Poisons demons made were also ineffective on me.
So even Muzan—besides trying to assimilate me, he had no better means to kill me.
The only thing that could completely kill me was the sun.
That Lower Rank demon on the train was bait. Those explosives hidden in its body also contained highly corrosive things like sulfuric acid.
Though they wouldn't cause me fatal injuries, resisting their effects would indeed consume my strength.
They wanted to use this opportunity to expose me to sunlight.
"Is it almost dawn?"
"Yes." Kyojuro answered softly. "Please rest assured. With us here, we won't let them harm you."
Him saying this gave me a very bad feeling. I shook my head. Following the sound's position, grabbed the front of his clothes. "I'm not talking about that. You're the ones who need to be careful..."
"Kanroji!"
Before finishing, heard Obanai shout loudly. Fortunately, the next second came Mitsuri's vigorous voice: "I'm fine!"
Don't know if influenced by my anxious mood, my vision seemed to recover faster.
I closed my eyes then opened them. Saw clearly both sides in fierce battle not far away.
Three Hashira fighting three Upper Ranks—still seemed somewhat strained.
But their speed wasn't slow at all. Even had a vague feeling of accelerating. Movements also increasingly precise.
I looked carefully. Dimly saw something extra on Shinazugawa's face. That was... a Demon Slayer Mark?
At this time, looking at the clouds on the horizon, already dyed with spots of purple-red. The sun was almost climbing above the horizon.
I saw Doma in the distance suddenly glance this way. Alarm bells immediately rang.
"Kyojuro!"
I rushed over and exerted force. Threw him far away.
The next moment, a heavy blow came from behind. An ice spike pierced my chest. A massive iceberg rose from the ground. Carried me to a high place. Facing that slowly rising sun.
My first feeling was actually nostalgia.
Don't know how long since I'd watched a sunrise so directly. Dawn's glow dyed layer upon layer. Each cloud a different color. Finally appearing before my eyes was the fiery red sun.
"Lady Chihaya—"
When my skin started burning, heard someone shout themselves hoarse.
The iceberg Doma created with Blood Demon Art rapidly melted under the sun. I fell again.
Before shattering completely, several pairs of hands rushed over to catch me.
Immediately after, a piece of clothing covered me head-on.
I suspected they seemed to have taken off all the clothes they could. Possibly also snatched clothes from some passenger. Hurriedly covered me with different clothes.
Mitsuri opened her arms and held me in her embrace. Blocked sunlight from shining directly from the front.
"Lady Chihaya, are you alright? Is there anywhere uncomfortable?"
"Quick, move to a shaded place first!"
"Rengoku, how are your injuries?"
I heard them communicate rapidly. Mitsuri picked me up. Obanai carefully checked if clothes covered all my skin. Shinazugawa went to help Kyojuro.
A belated fatigue slowly surged up. I realized I needed rest. Following my body's will, closed my eyes and slept peacefully.
This time when I woke, I didn't need to worry about appearing in a sunless cage.
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