Crimson Sakura Village: Stone's Redemption!

The Kocho family's medical clinic had once been a symbol of Crimson Sakura Village's peace.

Now, it had become a display of hell.

Yeshu stood amid the blood, leisurely adjusting the white glove on his right hand.

His tailcoat was spotless, his hair perfectly groomed. If not for the lingering warmth on his fingertips and the bodies lying before him, he would have looked more like a fastidious gentleman.

"Human life is so fragile it's laughable."

He spoke softly, as though admiring a work of art.

His gaze swept over the man of the house. The man's neck was twisted at a grotesque angle, but his eyes were fixed on the top of the stairs. The light in them had gone out, leaving only a hollow, frozen worry.

"Even at the very last moment, he was still worried about what was upstairs... Such useless family bonds."

He raised a foot gracefully, stepped around the spreading pool of blood, and walked toward the woman of the house.

She had not quite breathed her last. Her body twitched faintly, one hand reaching futilely toward her husband as life poured in streams from the terrible wound in her abdomen.

"A mother's love? What a noble sentiment."

Yeshu crouched and brushed a pale finger through the disheveled hair on her forehead, almost gently. His touch was as tender as a lover's, but his voice was as cold as a serpent's flickering tongue.

"Pity that, to my palate, when mixed with fear and despair... it's merely a slightly richer seasoning."

He leaned down and drew a deep breath, almost intoxicated.

"Ah... this ultimate worry and reluctance to part with her children on the brink of death is truly... refreshing."

His perverse smile was reflected in the woman's unfocused eyes, and the last glimmer of light in them went out completely.

Yeshu rose, took out a fresh, snow-white handkerchief, and carefully wiped the flecks of blood from his fingertips. Then he tossed it away in disgust, letting it drift onto the woman's face.

"Now then, it's time to enjoy... the real main course."

He looked up at the wooden staircase leading to the second floor, greed and amusement glimmering in his purple-black eyes.

He could clearly "smell" two livelier, more tender presences upstairs, sweet and filled with fear and helplessness, like swaying flower buds in the darkness, giving off an enticing fragrance.

"Tap... tap... tap..."

His gleaming leather shoes stepped onto the stairs, unhurried, each footfall beating out a rhythm that made one's skin crawl.

"Cute little butterflies..."

He hummed a tuneless, gloomy little song, his voice dripping with tenderness.

"Uncle can smell you... Have you hidden yourselves well?"

"Uncle is very good at hide-and-seek... especially at finding the little things that have hidden themselves, one by one... and then..."

He stopped in the second-floor corridor, his gaze settling unerringly on the tightly shut door of the medicine storage room. His tongue slowly slid over his somewhat dry lips, and he smiled in eager anticipation.

"...Then gently pulling apart those fragile wings and tasting the freshest, tenderest juices."

Inside the storage room, the air seemed frozen solid.

Kanae Kocho leaned against the cold wall, feeling its chill seep through her thin clothes and into her bones, inch by inch.

She held her younger sister, Shinobu Kocho, with all her strength, her arms aching from the strain.

Shinobu's face was buried against her chest, her small body trembling like a leaf in a storm, her teeth sunk deep into her lower lip.

She did not dare cry. She even forced her sobs deep down in her throat, until her chest felt ready to burst.

Kanae's own heart hammered wildly, thumping so hard that her eardrums rang.

The brief struggle downstairs, her father's abruptly cut-off grunt, her mother's final cry, so piercing it scarcely sounded human...

Every sound was like a red-hot branding iron, searing her soul.

Bone-deep grief and overwhelming despair surged like the tide, each wave higher than the last, threatening to drown and suffocate her.

Dad... Mom...

Tears streamed uncontrollably down her face, blurring her vision in an instant.

She jerked up a hand and roughly wiped them away with her sleeve, rubbing her skin raw.

I can't cry! I can't make a sound!

Shinobu is watching, Shinobu is scared! I'm her big sister!

"Sis..."

Shinobu's nearly broken whisper came from her arms, trembling violently.

"Dad and Mom... are they... are they..."

"No!"

Kanae cut her off, keeping her voice extremely low, with a composure she herself could scarcely believe. She leaned close to Shinobu's ear and whispered hurriedly,

"Mom and Dad are strong... They'll be all right... Those bad people... will be chased away soon... Be good, Shinobu, don't be afraid. I'm here..."

It was such a feeble lie that even she could not believe it.

The thick smell of blood rising through the air, that cold, clinging aura of evil, and the footsteps and humming outside the door, growing clearer and closer, all proclaimed the cruelest reality.

Why?

Why did such things exist?

Why had those hideous "man-eating demons," whom she had encountered only in her father's solemn warnings and the illustrations in old journals, broken into their peaceful lives?

Why did they have to take away Dad, who always smiled so gently and stroked their heads with his broad hands?

Why did they have to take away Mom, who always spoke softly and mended their clothes by lamplight?

Gods... if you truly exist... please... anyone... save us... save Shinobu... I'm willing to pay any price...

Father... Mother... I'm sorry... I might... not be able to... I can't protect... Shinobu...

The vines of despair coiled around her and tightened, leaving her scarcely able to breathe.

Tears filled her pale pink eyes, but she held them wide open, staring unblinkingly at the thin wooden door. A nearly tragic resolve burned in them, the stubbornness of an eldest daughter.

The footsteps stopped.

Just outside the door.

"Found you."

That elegant voice, chilling to the bone, came from the other side of the door, right beside them.

A hand, pale and slender, its nails neatly trimmed, settled gently on the door. A shadow seeped through the crack.

Kanae abruptly held her breath. The blood in her body seemed to reverse its flow in an instant, turning icy cold.

She pressed Shinobu's head deeper against herself and closed her eyes, her long lashes trembling violently.

It's over! Everything's over!!

Just as the pale hand was about to push open the wooden door—

"Namo—Amitabha!!!!"

The deep, resonant Buddhist invocation exploded through the air like the tolling of an ancient bell!

Immediately afterward—

"Rumble!!!!!!!"

The entire brick-and-stone wall of the clinic facing the street burst inward, shattered, and collapsed in an instant, as though struck head-on by the hammer of an invisible giant god!

A figure that seemed capable of blotting out even the moonlight barreled into the space filled with despair and blood, bringing an overwhelming force and a piercing chill!

Yeshu's elegant, cat-playing-with-a-mouse smile froze and shattered in an instant!

He had not even had time to turn around fully when a pressure as heavy as a mountain suddenly descended, and a clenched, enormous fist rapidly expanded to fill his vision!

Its knuckles were pronounced, the fist as large as a boulder, carrying an utterly pure, crushing sense of power!

Fast! Too fast! Far faster than he'd expected!

"What?!!"

Yeshu only had time to cross his arms over his chest. Purple-black demonic energy surged instinctively, trying to form a shadow shield in front of him.

"Stone Breathing, First Form: Serpentinite Bipolar!!!"

The deep, commanding shout arrived at the same time as the massive fist!

"Bang—!!!!"

A tremendously muffled boom, like two mountains colliding, exploded inside the cramped clinic!

A visible ring of air blasted outward from the point of impact, sending the remaining furniture fragments flying in every direction!

Yeshu's hastily formed shadow shield shattered like paper. He felt as though his arms had been struck head-on by a battering ram charging at full speed. His bones cracked with a grating snap, and agony swept through him in an instant!

"Urgh—!!"

He grunted, his whole body flying backward like a stone hurled from a catapult!

Bang—! Crash—!

He smashed through the wall opposite the storage room and the corridor railing in succession, then slammed into the burning ruins of the street outside, kicking up a cloud of dust and sparks!

It all happened so fast, in the blink of an eye.

Nearly half the clinic's second floor had been torn apart by the aftermath of that single blow.

The violent shock and blast of air sent Kanae and Shinobu rolling backward into the inner wall, though the piled-up bags of medicinal herbs cushioned the impact.

Their ears rang, and dust filled their vision.

But when the dust cleared a little and the moonlight and distant firelight illuminated the wreckage once more, the sisters froze.

It was a monk.

His dark robes were somewhat old, and the brown haori over them fluttered gently in the night wind.

Around his neck hung a string of enormous prayer beads, each as large as a child's fist. In his left hand he held a long, thick chain attached to a heavy flail, and in his right, a broad, weighty axe with a cold gleam along its edge.

His face was hard to make out against the light; only the sharply defined lines of his profile could be seen, and... his tightly closed eyes.

He stood there in silence, yet he seemed to have shut all the noise, danger, and despair beyond his broad back.

That earthshaking blow just now seemed to have been no more than a casual flick of dust from his shoulder.

Kanae's heart was still racing, but an indescribable, solid sense of safety slowly enveloped her and her sister, along with the calm, earthlike aura about him.

Gyomei turned his head slightly, seeming to use his sightless "gaze" to check on the two tiny lives huddled and trembling in the corner behind him.

Without looking back, he spoke, his deep, resonant voice, carrying a strangely soothing power, ringing clearly through the silence of the ruins.

"Children, don't be afraid! Stay behind me."

"Cough... cough, cough, cough!!!"

In the ruins of the street, Yeshu struggled to his feet, coughing violently, each cough flecked with blood.

The gentlemanly image he had so carefully maintained was gone: the chest of his tailcoat was deeply caved in, its fabric torn to expose the bruised and broken skin beneath;

His arms hung at unnatural angles, their bones clearly badly damaged;

His hair was disheveled and covered in ash, and the elegant smile on his face had been replaced by extreme shock, fury, and savagery.

"Bas... tard..."

He forced the word through clenched teeth. His purple-black demonic energy fluctuated violently, frantically repairing his damaged arms and body, but the wariness in his eyes was deeply etched there.

"What kind of power was that?! He's definitely not an ordinary Demon Slayer!"

Almost as soon as he rose, three more powerful demonic auras erupted from different parts of the burning village and rapidly converged on the ruined clinic!

"Boom!"

The remains of a burning house were smashed aside by tremendous force. Yannu's enormous blue-gray body stepped out through the flames, a violent aura radiating from him as he stared fixedly at the towering figure on the clinic's second floor.

"Yeshu! Did that guy leave you in this sorry state?"

His voice was muffled and mocking, but a trace of gravity flashed deep in his small eyes.

Yuelian stood silently on a charred eave that had not yet burned away completely, her moon-white kimono spotless.

Silver threads wound around her slender fingers as her calm gaze swept over Gyomei.

"His aura is as steady and heavy as a mountain. He remains still until he moves, and when he does, he strikes with the force of thunder... This is the realm of a [Hashira]. And one exceptionally skilled in defense and strength."

Her voice was cool as she swiftly made her assessment.

"Yeshu, you were too reckless."

"Cut the crap!"

Humiliated and furious, Yeshu's broken arms creaked as they rapidly healed under the influence of his demonic energy.

"This guy appeared out of nowhere... The plan's changed! But he's alone, and he has two burdens with him!"

Malice and greed resurfaced in his eyes.

"A Hashira's flesh and blood... would be a great tonic! And there are two such exquisite little snacks as well..."

Farther away, the temperature in the sea of fire where Jinhua stood suddenly climbed again!

Purple-black flames churned and gathered, forming a constantly spinning vortex of fire above his head that radiated destructive waves. At its center, a heart-stopping point of blackness was taking shape.

"Hashira... haha... a Hashira!"

Jinhua's voice came from within the flames, filled with twisted excitement.

"Perfect! We'll trade a Hashira's ashes for our new life!"

"Buy me time! My 'World-Burning Ashen Plain' needs a little time to prepare, but once it's complete... this entire area will become a dead land!"

The four Lower Rank demons had shifted from their initial scattered slaughter to fighting the enemy together.

They formed a loose semicircle, faintly surrounding Gyomei and the Kocho Sisters at its center.

Yeshu's chill, Yannu's violence, Yuelian's eeriness, and the destructive energy Jinhua was building up...

The four demonic auras, utterly different in nature yet equally terrifying, intertwined into a suffocating pressure. Even the air seemed to grow thick and heavy.

The moonlight was dim, the firelight flickering.

On this bloody stage,

On one side were four Lower Rank demons, closing in with savage faces, determined to win;

On the other was a monk swordsman, alone as he protected the young, his eyes closed, steadfast as a mountain.