The sharp cry of the biwa rang out inside the manor.
Warm, yellow light spilled into the black room.
Behind Sanemi, a door had appeared in midair.
A demon sat beyond it.
White hair. Two horns jutting from her forehead. Red sclera. Violet irises etched with the characters for Lower Four. Symmetrical red markings ran across her face.
She looked through that unnatural door at Sanemi and Masachika.
What was this?
Sanemi's hands trembled around his sword. Not from fear—but because the strain on his body had passed the point where his arms could properly obey him.
There was another Lower Moon here?
Demons did not gather. Corps members almost never encountered situations like this. Let alone two Lower Moons in one place.
It was enough to make even veteran swordsmen go cold.
Nakime watched the legless Masachika and made no move to intervene herself.
"The lord has not yet arrived," she said lightly. "Let these two swordsmen be your appetizer. Every time you face a Hashira, you flee. The lord is displeased. This time, do not disappoint him."
The floating door shut.
Nakime vanished into the dark.
Then the demon behind that door landed on the floor.
The atmosphere inside the manor changed instantly. It was as if the whole structure had been submerged in something heavy and foul.
The door behind her remained open.
Its warm light illuminated a platform beyond, where two other demons knelt in silence.
Their eyes too bore the marks of the Twelve Kizuki.
Lower Rank Two.
Lower Rank Three.
So this was the gathering of the Lower Moons.
The demons who had already assembled.
They waited calmly for the two swordsmen to die, planning to offer them as tribute to appease the wrath of their king.
"Not a Hashira," said the horned, white-haired demon. "Then they can die."
Lower Rank Four—Mukago.
"Let's finish this quickly. What a mess. If Ubume dies like this, Lord Muzan will just get angry again."
Sanemi stood in front of Masachika, holding both his own sword and Masachika's.
He forced his body upright, even though every bone in him screamed as though shattering anew.
"Sanemi!" Masachika gave a bitter smile. "Go. If you go all out, this thing can't stop you. That biwa demon is just toying with us. She knew she couldn't attack you directly without you sensing it, so she left a crippled me here to drag you down. I'm bait. Get out!"
Sanemi said nothing.
He stood there like a statue in front of him.
Then suddenly he asked, "Masachika… do you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"The thunder outside."
"Boom—!"
The instant the words left his mouth, thunder crashed beyond the manor walls.
A gale rushed in through the hole in the building. The December wind was cold enough to pierce the bone.
Masachika had already lost so much blood that his thoughts were clouding over. He could feel the warmth draining from his body. He could barely stay conscious. He kept staring at Sanemi, repeating for him to run.
"Go, Sanemi… you have to listen to me. I'm your senior disciple…"
"You idiot." Sanemi's face did not move. "Try surviving before you start talking like that."
He planted both blades before him like a wrathful guardian king.
Then another bolt of lightning tore across the sky.
For an instant, stark white light illuminated the ruined manor.
Dark violet sparks crackled in the air.
Sanemi froze.
After the rumble faded—
Mukago's head flew from her shoulders.
Her eyes were still wide in shock.
Tiny threads of electricity danced around the severed neck.
Framed by the lightning-lit breach in the wall stood a woman, sword in hand, skirts flaring in the wind.
Without the slightest hesitation, she kicked off the ground and drove the dark red blade straight through the door.
The Thunder Hashira.
A single casual strike.
A Lower Moon dead in one blow.
Through the impossible doorway, in that vast maze of corridors, platforms, galleries, and hanging rooms, Sanemi saw her darting through the architecture at blinding speed. She learned the rhythm of the place almost instantly, using the forms of Thunder Breathing to cross the labyrinth.
Then she reached the platform where the remaining two Lower Moons knelt.
That platform was filled only with demons.
All of them members of the Twelve Kizuki.
"Damn you… woman…" Sanemi's voice cracked into something like a howl.
And yet when he saw her—
what flooded him was not panic but a strange, absolute relief.
As if no matter how terrifying the danger, she would somehow flatten it for you.
Lower Rank Two and Lower Rank Three collapsed headless a moment later, their bodies igniting into ash.
With the immediate threat gone, Sanemi's body at last gave up supporting him. He dropped heavily to the floor.
Looking up, he saw Sui standing amid the burning remains of the demons, casually glancing back at him through the doorway behind them.
She even raised a hand and waved.
Under any other circumstances, the sight of her—skirts stirring, the wind chime at her ear softly ringing—might have made the scene feel almost tranquil.
If not for the demons surrounding her.
"Swordswoman?" a tall man said, frowning. "You dare come in here?"
He was gaunt and sinister-faced. The characters for Lower Two were carved into his left eye. He wore a tattered military coat, ammunition belts wrapped around his waist, leather gloves on both hands. The smell of gunsmoke and blood clung to him like a second skin.
His narrowed eyes made him look sly; his wide grin made him look feral.
Lower Rank Two—Haigami.
"The hell is this? How did a Demon Slayer get inside Infinity Castle?" he demanded, raking a hand through his hair. His gaze lingered on the sword in Sui's hand. "Lately I already got annoyed hearing that some nameless brat managed to kill Rengoku. Tell me, are all your Hashira that pathetic? How does a Flame Hashira get killed by a nobody?"
Sui ignored him completely.
Her attention never left Nakime, seated far away atop the elevated platform.
That demon, too, seemed caught off guard by the fact that Sui had entered Infinity Castle without hesitation by using the open door.
Then, without warning, Sui drew.
"Thunder Breathing, First Form—Thunderclap and Flash!"
Lightning burst forward.
Gallery after gallery, corridor after corridor split apart under her advance as she shot straight toward Nakime.
Strum.
Doors slid closed. Hallways twisted. Countless rooms interposed themselves between them. By the time the force of the technique had run its course, Sui had only managed to destroy what stood directly ahead of her.
Nakime was still far away.
Still seated high above.
That monstrous single eye stared down at her.
She could not kill her.
Not like this.
Even if Sui could take Nakime's head in one swing, Infinity Castle itself made reaching her nearly impossible.
A spatial Blood Demon Art.
Only after entering it did one truly grasp how troublesome such a power was.
Nakime had to die.
Sui's second hand came to the hilt. She took a two-handed grip and cast aside her scabbard.
"You!" Haigami snarled, infuriated at being ignored.
Black shadows spread beneath him.
Gun barrels emerged, cold and gleaming.
When he had still been human, he had been a warrior who believed in the sword. But after being attacked by gun-wielding soldiers, hearing them sneer at his faith in martial skill, he had come to believe the opposite: no matter how great a blade, it could never surpass a gun.
Back when he had only been an ordinary demon, the Flame Hashira Rengoku Shinjuro had driven him to the brink. Since then Haigami had obsessed over one day taking revenge on Shinjuro—but before he ever could, he heard that some nameless child had killed the Flame Hashira instead.
The news had left him hollow.
Now Sui's arrival in Infinity Castle turned her into the focus of all that pent-up rage.
"Blood Demon Art—Shadow Wolf!"
Dozens of wolves crawled out of the darkness, rifles jutting from their jaws.
"Die, die, die! Die, all of you swordsmen! Outdated relics from a dead age!"
Surrounded by the gun-wolves, Haigami screamed himself hoarse.
"You're too loud."
Sui opened her eyes.
Haigami's laughter stopped.
Their gazes met.
And instantly every drop of blood in his demonic body froze.
Those were not human eyes.
Glacial blue swirled within them, with pupils like live coals.
And in those eyes—
he saw his own death.
"W-what is wrong with this woman?" Lower Rank Three tried to move and found he couldn't. Something like the weight of a mountain pressed down on him.
For one heartbeat, Infinity Castle fell still.
Hachiu moved soundlessly.
The heads of Lower Rank Two and Lower Rank Three slid from their bodies before either demon fully understood what had happened.
As their corpses began to burn into ash, Sui turned, followed through, and struck toward Nakime on the high platform.
And that was where the night's tale paused.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter116)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter82)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter144)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 118
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 111
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 80
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 112
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 80
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 74
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 48
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 50
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 47
Uma Musume: From Beginner 42
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