"Wait, you wouldn't happen to be—"
The horned demon recalled the rumors that had been circulating among demons recently.
A young swordsman dressed in a white haori (feathered robe) vanquished all demons in his path.
Tetsusai Lower Rank One, died at his hands, as did four Lower Rank from Crimson Sakura Village.
He is...
"Water Hashira..."
The horned demon's voice began to tremble.
--Clang!!
Giyu's sword was drawn.
"Azure Tide" drew a deep blue arc, and the moment the blade touched the air, the water vapor in the valley suddenly gathered.
Night dew, streams, even moisture in the air... were all drawn by some force, rushing towards the blade.
With Giyu, he strode forward and spun around.
"Water Breathing - Sixth Form-- "
The blade began to spin.
The azure blade light left afterimages, which overlapped and transformed into a solid stream of water. The water swirled, carrying more water vapor, and its volume expanded rapidly.
The ghosts finally realized something was wrong.
They wanted to escape, but their legs felt like lead.
I wanted to rush forward, but the air ahead became thick and sticky.
I wanted to scream, but my voice was drowned out by the increasingly loud sound of the water.
" --Twisting Whirlpool."
Giyu's voice was soft, yet it pierced through the roaring water.
The next second, a tornado was formed.
Its entire body is azure blue, composed of countless high-speed rotating water streams, and its interior contains millions of fine, intricate blade-like lights.
It detached from Giyu's blade, soared into the air, and its diameter expanded in the blink of an eye.
Ten meters... twenty meters... thirty meters...
Finally, a massive waterspout, over ten meters in diameter and tens of meters high, stood in the valley.
The moonlight was refracted by it, turning into thousands of blue specks of light that danced in the valley, breathtakingly beautiful, yet also suffocatingly deadly.
The screams of the horde of ghosts were drowned out by the roar of the tornado.
The outermost ghosts tried to escape, but the terrifying suction generated by the tornado relentlessly pulled them back.
A ghost clung to the rock, its fingernails scraping sparks from the stone surface, yet its body continued to slide inch by inch toward the azure vortex of death.
"No--! Let me go--!"
The sound stopped abruptly.
It was caught in the tornado, its body instantly shattered amidst countless streams of water and blades of light, even the blood mist was purified, diluted, and dissipated by the water.
The horned demon stood at the very front; it wanted to escape, but its legs trembled so badly it couldn't move.
It watched helplessly as the tornado advanced towards it, and as those demons weaker than itself were reduced to dust the instant they touched the edge of the tornado.
"I... I don't want to die... I just became a ghost... I want to eat more people... I..."
The tornado swallowed it up.
There were no screams, because no sound could be heard.
Only a splash of black blood bloomed in the azure water, which was then quickly purified.
One, two, ten, fifty...
The waterspout, like a giant meat grinder, slowly advanced through the valley.
Wherever it passed, the ghosts were wiped out, leaving not a trace.
The burning house was swept into the tornado, the flames were extinguished instantly, and the wood was shredded into powder.
The ground was ravaged with deep furrows, but miraculously, the village area in the center of the tornado remained unscathed.
The surviving villagers collapsed to the ground, staring blankly at this miraculous sight.
They saw the boy in white standing at the starting point of the tornado, holding a knife in one hand, maintaining his attack stance.
His white haori danced wildly in the raging air currents, but he himself remained as steady as a mountain.
The icy blue eyes reflected the azure tornado, eerily calm.
Thirty seconds.
The tornado lasted for thirty seconds.
As the last drop of azure water dissipated into the air, the valley returned to silence.
The ground was spotless, without a single drop of ghost blood.
Only the rubble of houses grazed by the edge of the tornado and the spiraling trenches in the ground proved that the devastating blow was not an illusion.
Giyu slowly sheathed his sword.
The "Azure Tide" sword made a crisp "click" sound as it was sheathed, which was particularly clear in the silent valley.
He turned around and looked at the surviving villagers.
There were about thirty or forty other people, all pale-faced, but their eyes were fixed on him as if he were a god descended to earth.
The ghost has been eliminated.
Giyu spoke, his voice still calm.
"Check for casualties and treat wounds! Head to the nearest Wisteria House after dawn tomorrow."
He walked up to the boy who had been grabbed by the horned demon.
The boy's leg was broken, and he turned pale with pain, but he gritted his teeth and didn't cry out.
Giyu squatted down, took out bandages and splints from his pocket, and skillfully immobilized the broken leg.
His fingers were very steady; even after executing that move, they didn't tremble at all.
"Be patient."
The boy nodded vigorously, and tears finally fell, not from the pain, but from the relief of surviving a close call.
After treating the villagers' injuries, Giyu walked to the edge of the village and looked at the area that had just been ravaged by the tornado.
The spiral trenches on the ground are half a meter deep, and the soil has been washed smooth as a mirror by the water. The surrounding trees have had their crowns cut off, and their cross-sections are as neat as if they had been cut by the sharpest knife.
That was a very powerful blow.
But Giyu's face didn't show any smugness; instead, he frowned.
There are too many.
For the past month or so, the number of ghosts has been abnormally high.
Previously, you might not encounter a single one during a week-long hunt, but now you can encounter several groups a day.
Moreover, the quality varies greatly!
Most of those ghosts were newly transformed, weak in combat, and loosely organized. It was less of a hunt and more of a suicide mission.
Giyu recalled the words of the horned demon:
"By consuming enough people, one can become stronger, and might even catch the eye of that great one, becoming 'Demon Moon'."
That person was Muzan Kibutsuji.
So this was Muzan's instruction?
Mass-producing ghosts, letting them compete, devour, and evolve, ultimately selecting those worthy of cultivation?
Therefore, it makes sense that Muzan needed to replenish his fighting force after almost Lower Rank were wiped out.
But Giyu felt that something was wrong.
If the only purpose was to replenish the Lower Rank, there was no need to create such a large-scale chaos.
This would expose the existence of demons, attracting even more severe extermination efforts from the Demon Slayer Corps and the government!
This is not in line with Muzan's style, as he is a cautious Demon King who has hidden himself for hundreds of years.
Unless...
He had other motives.
Giyu raised his head and looked southeast. That was the direction of Tokyo, and also the direction of the Demon Slayer Corps Headquarters.
Just then--
"Gah! Gah-ga--!"
The sharp cawing of crows pierced the night sky.
A deep purple Kasugai Crow flew swiftly from the eastern sky, its wings flapping almost frantically, clearly having flown a long distance.
Seeing Giyu was like seeing a lifeline; it swooped down and landed on his shoulder, its claws gripping Yuzhi tightly, its beak opening and closing as it panted heavily.
Giyu recognized it as one of the Oyakata-sama's directly subordinate Kasugai Crow.
"Urgent... Urgent order! Water Hashira Giyu Tomioka, heed my command!"
Giyu stood tall and straight.
"Hachijōjima... is suspected to be in cahoots with evil spirits, raising demonic creatures to harm the islanders!"
Kanzaburo speaks extremely fast.
"Oyakata-sama's command: Water Hashira Giyu Tomioka shall immediately depart for the Izu Peninsula to meet with Flame Hashira Shinjuro Rengoku, and the two shall proceed together to Hachijōjima to investigate!"
It paused, a hint of human-like solemnity flashing in its eyes:
"Our Oyakata-sama has emphasized that this matter is extremely suspicious and requires utmost caution! If necessary... abandon the mission to save yourselves!"
Giyu's pupils contracted slightly.
The wind in the valley suddenly turned cold.
Giyu standing still, a task requiring the joint efforts of two Pillars, is rare even in the history of the Demon Slayer Corps.
Pillar-level fighters are the backbone of the Demon Slayer Corps. They usually guard one side and are not easily mobilized unless facing an Upper Rank- level threat.
Now, a case involving "suspected collusion between a family and demons" requires the Water Hashira and Flame Hashira to join forces?
"Detailed information."
Giyu's voice lowered.
Kanzaburo flapped his wings:
"Hachijōjima is far from the mainland, and there is a prominent family on the island called the 'Iguro Clan,' who have lived there for generations."
"Starting three months ago, fishermen began disappearing from the island, and their bodies were found on the beach... completely cannibalized. The islanders secretly sought help, and the team dispatched three members to investigate."
It paused, its voice growing deeper:
"All have lost contact. The last one was A-Rank member, who left the message 'Iguro Family is suspicious,' and then disappeared without a trace."
Giyu remained silent.
The A-Rank members are already the backbone of the Demon Slayer Corps, and are highly experienced. The fact that even they disappeared without a trace indicates that the danger on the island is far greater than anticipated.
"My Oyakata-sama suspects that the Iguro Family may not be as simple as 'colluding with the demons.' Moreover, the island's location is special, surrounded by the sea on all sides, making it extremely difficult to provide support in case of trouble."
Therefore, two pillars are needed!!
"Specific location?"
"Izu Peninsula, Shimoda Port. Lord Flame Hashira has departed from Kanto and is expected to arrive in two days."
Kanzaburo took a breath.
"Lord Water Hashira, our Oyakata-sama is very uneasy this time. He said, 'This matter may involve the Upper Rank.'"
Upper Rank!!
This word made Giyu's hand grip the hilt of his sword once more.
If Upper Rank really was controlling things from behind, then everything makes sense.
Why did the A-Rank team members disappear without a trace? Why were two pillars needed? Why Oyakata-sama emphasize "extreme caution"?
"I understand. I'll set off immediately."
He turned around and looked at the villagers who were still cleaning up the mess.
After thinking for a moment, he took out all the remaining Wisteria potion and signal flares from his pocket and handed them to the oldest man in the village.
"Take this! If the ghost comes again, light the signal flare; the nearest team member will see it."
The old man accepted it with trembling hands, tears streaming down his face.
"Thank you, swordsman... you saved our entire village..."
"I am Demon Slayer Corps, the Water Hashira of the Giyu Tomioka Corps!!"
Giyu announced his pillar name for the first time.
"Remember this name!!"
He needs to let the people know that the Demon Slayer Corps is on the move and that the Pillars are protecting them.
Especially during times of frequent ghostly disturbances, hope is more important than anything else.
The old man nodded vigorously, engraving the name in his heart.
The Giyu will not linger.
He gestured to Kanzaburo, and his white figure, bathed in moonlight, sped off eastward.
The villagers gathered at the village entrance, watching that figure disappear into the night.
After a long while, someone whispered:
"Lord Water Hashira... seems to still be a child."
But he saved us.
The old man gripped the medicine in his hand tightly.
"Therefore, he is a pillar, our guardian spirit."