Crimson Sakura Village: Peril!
The deepest darkness before dawn was torn apart by countless frantic caws.
"Caw—!! A-Rank swordsman Gyomei Himejima! Crimson Sakura Village has encountered four Lower Rank demons! Requesting immediate support from Hashira-level swordsmen!"
"Repeat! A-Rank swordsman Gyomei Himejima..."
"Crimson Sakura Village! Four Lower Ranks! Requesting Hashira-level support!"
"Gyomei Himejima! Four Lower Ranks! Emergency request for help!"
Kasugai Crow after Kasugai Crow flew across the night sky, shouting the same message over and over, their voices nearly breaking with urgency.
An ancient temple deep in the northern mountains, a damp rainforest in the south, the outskirts of a bustling town in the east, a desolate old road in the west...
Figures with auras ranging from fierce to tranquil to unrestrained raised their heads at the same moment, listening to the urgent news carried on the wind.
At the Ubuyashiki Estate, the atmosphere in the quiet courtyard had grown tense.
Kagaya Ubuyashiki sat upright beneath the eaves. Moonlight fell on his handsome face, where signs of illness had begun to show. Rare gravity and sharpness churned in the depths of his pale eyes.
"Four... Lower Ranks..."
He repeated it quietly, his voice gentle but heavy with significance.
"Lower Rank activity has been unusually frequent lately. Since Tetsusai's death, nearly all the remaining Lower Ranks have come out..."
"Muzan, what exactly are you plotting? Are you going all in, or..."
He frowned slightly and suppressed the doubts and unease in his heart. The rescue was what mattered most now.
"How far are the Water Hashira, Giyu Tomioka, and the Flame Hashira, Shinjuro Rengoku, from Crimson Sakura Village at present?"
The Kasugai Crow with a purple scarf moved its eyes and answered quickly:
"Oyakata-sama, the Water Hashira's previous mission was to the northwest, approximately one hundred and twenty kilometers from Crimson Sakura Village in a straight line!"
"The Flame Hashira's patrol route lies farther east. He is slightly closer, about eighty kilometers away. But mountains and forests stand in both their paths, so the actual distances are greater."
One hundred and twenty kilometers... eighty kilometers... Even a Hashira would need time to cover those distances, running at full speed.
Kagaya Ubuyashiki closed his eyes briefly. When he opened them, his gaze was resolute.
"Send the order at once! Tell the Water Hashira, Giyu Tomioka, and the Flame Hashira, Shinjuro Rengoku, to abandon all secondary missions and hurry to Crimson Sakura Village at full speed to support Gyomei Himejima! There must be no mistakes!"
"Yes!"
The purple-scarved crow took flight, becoming a purple shadow that vanished into the night sky as they went their separate ways.
Silence returned to the courtyard, broken only by the rustle of wind through the wisteria.
Kagaya Ubuyashiki sat alone. There was nothing he could do but wait.
His nails dug into his palm without his noticing.
You've sent out nearly all the Lower Ranks... Muzan, what exactly are you trying to do?
Gyomei... you must hold on...
"Caw—!!! Lord Giyu! Urgent orders! Crimson Sakura Village! Gyomei Himejima is under attack by four Lower Rank demons! Oyakata-sama orders you to go to his aid at full speed! Immediately! Now!"
The Kasugai Crow shrieked as it dove from the night sky and crashed straight into Giyu Tomioka's arms, its feathers in disarray.
Giyu Tomioka abruptly halted his rapid advance, his feet plowing two shallow furrows in the dirt.
His ice-blue eyes narrowed instantly, and his fingers tightened around Azure Tide's hilt.
Crimson Sakura Village? Four Lower Ranks? Mr. Himejima?
The words exploded in his mind, combining into the worst possible scene.
An icy sense of foreboding coiled around his heart like a venomous snake.
"Lead the way!"
Without a moment's hesitation or a single wasted word, Giyu spoke with absolute resolve, though his voice carried a barely perceptible strain.
"The fastest route! Go!"
Before he had finished speaking, the aura around him had already changed.
"Hummm—!"
Invisible ripples spread out from him.
The next instant, Giyu shot off like a cannonball in the direction Kanzaburo indicated, moving at a terrifying speed the naked eye could barely follow!
A powerful blast of air left a white turbulent wake behind him. Wherever he passed, turf was ripped from the ground, and dust formed a straight furrow.
Kanzaburo and another Kasugai Crow guiding him for the Kakushi bristled at the sudden burst of speed. They froze for an instant before flapping desperately after him, only to be left far behind.
Giyu's expression was as calm as a frozen lake, but beneath its surface, dark currents surged.
Gyomei Himejima!
The blind monk he had met at the hot spring, with an aura as steady as a mountain and a tragic past.
He remembered his deep voice telling him about the children at the temple, and the profound compassion he had shown as he pressed his palms together and recited sutras.
Although they had met only once, Giyu had almost instinctively placed him among the people he could trust and respect.
He didn't like talking, but he liked listening to people like that.
Hashira-level strength... Giyu had judged.
Mr. Himejima was strong. The sense of weight he carried was beyond that of any ordinary A-Rank member.
But... four Lower Ranks!
Giyu's heart kept sinking.
There were differences in strength between Hashira, just as there were differences between Hashira and Lower Ranks.
One-on-one, or even one-on-two, he believed Mr. Himejima could win.
But one against four... demons' regenerative powers, their bizarre Blood Demon Arts, their tireless stamina... it wasn't as simple as adding them together!
He had to go faster! Faster still!
"Transparent World... open!"
Deep in his ice-blue eyes, a faint vortex of stars seemed to turn.
The "texture" of the world grew clearer in his perception.
The resistance of the wind, the rise and fall of the ground, every contraction and relaxation of his muscle fibers, the rush of blood, the exchange of air in his alveoli... everything came under his absolutely calm control.
His already terrifying speed climbed even higher!
His figure became a streak of ghostly blue light tearing through the night, racing toward Crimson Sakura Village amid a succession of deep sonic booms like muffled thunder.
Mr. Himejima...
In Giyu's mind flashed those tightly shut eyes that seemed able to see through everything, and that figure as steady as a mountain.
Hold on!
His inner voice roared,
Just one hour...! No, half an hour! I'll be there!
In Crimson Sakura Village, the ruins of the medical clinic had become a slaughterhouse.
Smoke and dust mingled with blood and the stench of burning, roiling beneath the firelight and dim moonlight.
Among the broken walls and rubble, the battle had entered its most brutal, deadlocked stage.
"Thud! Thud! Thud! Boom—!!"
Like a tireless siege beast, Yannu launched one violent charge after another.
The skin all over his body had turned a deep blue-black, gleaming with a cold metallic light.
His fists, each as large as the mouth of a bowl, slammed toward Gyomei with brute force that could crush anything. Every blow was heavy enough to shatter stone monuments.
Yet Gyomei's response carried an even more imposing, wrathful might.
"Stone Breathing, Third Form: Stone Skin!"
Facing Yannu's heavy blows, Gyomei neither dodged nor evaded. His muscles bulged, and the earthy-yellow energy of Stone Breathing covered his body like solid armor, faintly resonating with the earth beneath his feet.
He met the blows head-on with his broad axe or blocked them with his chain-wrapped arm.
"Clang!!!!"
The tremendous clash of metal rang out deafeningly!
A blast of air erupted, sweeping up the broken stones on the ground.
Yannu's fist was stopped cold, the recoil even leaving his arm numb, while the energy of Stone Skin merely rippled.
The ground beneath Gyomei's feet shattered, but his body did not move an inch.
"Stone Breathing, First Form: Serpentinite Bipolar!"
The instant he blocked the attack, Gyomei struck back.
His broad axe swept across, the chain lunged out like a giant python emerging from its den, and the flail followed close behind!
Yannu roared and hardened himself in defense. Blue-black fragments and a mist of blood burst into the air!
"Gah—!!"
Yannu screamed and staggered backward, but his fearsome demonic regeneration took effect immediately. Flesh wriggled at the wound, and his bones clicked back into place.
His eyes were blood-red, and he panted like a bull.
"Damn it... this bald bastard's strength and defense... he isn't human!!"
He could only rely on his demonic regeneration to cling to Gyomei like a stubborn stone that could not be shaken off, creating opportunities for his companions.
"Shadow Devour: Instant Kill: Thousand-Needle Rain!"
Yeshu moved like a phantom, blending into every flickering shadow.
He did not attack Gyomei directly. Instead, he kept his sights fixed on the two trembling little girls behind him.
Whenever Gyomei gathered his strength to deal Yannu a heavy blow, or turned his gaze toward Jinhua, who was building up a terrifying force in the distance...
Countless lightless black shadow needles would silently erupt from the shadows at Kanae and Shinobu's feet, above their heads, and behind them!
They went straight for the girls' eyes, throats, and hearts!
Gyomei's rescues always came within a hair's breadth of being too late.
His chain swept back like a furious dragon, smashing the shadow needles at the last possible instant;
The force of his broad axe knocked the sisters to the ground, sparing them from fatal attacks;
He even used his broad back to take the few needles that slipped through, making muffled "pfft, pfft" sounds as they pierced his flesh and leaving small holes that quickly turned black.
"Heh heh... Hashira, you can take quite a beating, can't you?"
Yeshu's chilling voice came from every direction, carrying the cruelty of a cat playing with a mouse.
"But how long can you keep it up? How much longer can your blood suppress my 'shadow poison'?"
"And how long can those two little girls stay lucky?"
His attacks clung to Gyomei like a disease, forcing him to devote well over half his attention to protecting the girls behind him, unable to attack with all his strength.
Yuelian stood a little farther away, her fingertips dancing.
The luminous white threads of Healing Moon Woven Network not only connected Yannu and Yeshu, slightly enhancing their strength and perception, but also constantly attempted to coil around Gyomei's wrists, ankles, and weapon like the tongues of venomous snakes.
"Moonlight: Binding Silk: Hundred Strangulations!"
The threads were incredibly tough and contained a paralyzing toxin.
Gyomei had to keep vibrating his Stone Breathing energy to shake loose and snap the threads that sought every opening.
But this, too, steadily drained his stamina and concentration.
Occasionally, a few threads slipped through gaps in his defense at tricky angles and struck at Kanae and Shinobu, forcing Gyomei to turn back to defend them again.
The deadliest threat hung high in the air.
Jinhua hovered dozens of meters away, the purple-black flames around him now as thick as liquid. They spun madly, forming a vast vortex of fire more than ten meters across.
At the center of the vortex, a point of blackness that made the soul tremble continued to compress and coalesce, giving off a force that could destroy heaven and earth.
His entire body seemed to have become a monstrous purple-black demon sun, illuminating half the ruins. Even the air crackled as it burned, twisting constantly.
"Hahaha! Soon! It's almost ready!"
Jinhua's wild laughter came from within the flames.
"Hashira! Savor your despair! Once my World-Burning Ashen Plain is complete, even if you have bronze skin and iron bones, you'll be reduced to ashes along with those two little insects! Hahahaha!"
Several times, Gyomei tried to break through the opposition and throw his flail to interrupt Jinhua's buildup from a distance.
But every time, Yeshu's shadow needles struck at the Kocho Sisters with even greater ferocity, Yuelian's threads tangled around him twice as fiercely, and Yannu threw himself forward to block him with his body, regardless of his injuries.
Gyomei could not act for fear of harming the girls and could only watch as the destructive energy grew more and more terrifying.
Time passed, minute by minute, second by second.
Gyomei's breathing grew heavier, and sweat mixed with blood soaked his monk's robes and haori.
His brown haori was torn and scorched in several places, and the skin around the black spots the shadow needles had left on his back had taken on a faint bluish tinge.
His movements remained as steady as a mountain, but the speed at which he swung his weapon seemed to have slowed by a barely perceptible amount.
The circle he protected was compressed little by little under the four demons' relentless, coordinated assault.
The bloodlust and triumph in the four demons' eyes grew stronger.
They could already see... the dawn of victory.