Recaps

Sanemi, Obanai, and Masachika faced four demons formed from the old man's severed head, whose strange abilities proved far beyond the Demon Slayers' strength. After Sekido destroyed Masachika's signal pistol with lightning, Karaku blasted Sanemi into a thorn-filled mud pit.

• The old man's head split apart and reassembled into four demons: Sekido, Karaku, Urogi, and Aizetsu.
• Sekido, Karaku, Urogi, and Aizetsu taunted Sanemi, Obanai, and Masachika, while Obanai and Sanemi challenged them.
• Masachika tried to fire his signal pistol, but Sekido summoned lightning that melted it and struck Masachika, hurling him into a tree.
• Furious over Masachika's injury, Sanemi charged Karaku with Wind Breathing.
• Karaku struck Sanemi with a powerful gust from his fan, sending him into a thorn-filled mud pit.

Obanai, Sanemi, and Masachika were overwhelmed by four demons in the forest, while Giyu detected another demon force approaching the cabin on Mount Sagiri. Giyu chose to stay and defend Tamayo, Kanae, Shinobu, and Yaoshi, leaving the fighters below to survive without him.

• Obanai attacked Urogi but was struck by the demon’s ultrasonic blast, which ruptured his eardrums and sent him tumbling from the air.
• Aizetsu approached the injured Masachika and raised his spear to kill him as Sanemi struggled to rise and threatened the demons.
• Giyu detected four powerful auras fighting halfway up Mount Sagiri and prepared to go help his comrades.
• Giyu sensed more than a dozen Lower Rank-level demons approaching the cabin and realized Muzan had sent them to seize Yaoshi and attack the researchers.
• Giyu decided he could not leave the cabin unguarded and stood ready to defend it.

Sanemi used his Marechi blood to lure the four demons away from Masachika and Obanai, weakening and intoxicating them as they chased him. Obanai pursued Sanemi, while Sanemi cornered the demons among the rocks and prepared to fight again.

• Sanemi slashed his wrist and used his Marechi blood to draw the four demons away from Masachika and Obanai.
• The demons abandoned their attack on the swordsmen and fought one another for Sanemi’s blood before chasing him into the woods.
• Masachika explained that Sanemi’s blood could intoxicate and weaken demons, but drinking it could make them evolve into monsters.
• Obanai understood Sanemi had risked himself to save them and raced after him along the blood trail.
• Sanemi’s blood left the four demons stumbling and disoriented as they pursued him.
• Sanemi reached a dead end among enormous rocks and faced the weakened demons, declaring that round two was beginning.

Sanemi used his Marechi blood to disorient four demon clones and beheaded Sekido, but Sekido reattached his head and nearly killed him with lightning. Obanai arrived to save Sanemi and prepared to face the four demons, determined to prove he could protect others.

• Sanemi attacked the disoriented demons and cut off Sekido's head, then collapsed from exhaustion and blood loss.
• Sekido's headless body retrieved its head and reattached it, then struck at the helpless Sanemi with lightning.
• Obanai deflected the lightning with his curved Nichirin Blade and mocked Sanemi for his reckless tactic.
• Obanai recalled his past and resolved to prove himself by protecting those who needed him.
• Sekido, Urogi, Karaku, and Aizetsu surrounded Obanai as he adopted a low stance and prepared to fight.

Obanai fought the four demons with his evasive Serpent Breathing, but their coordinated attacks eventually wounded and trapped him. Remembering Giyu Tomioka’s dismissal and his vow to prove himself, he forced himself back to his feet and prepared for a desperate counterattack.

• Sekido, Urogi, Karaku, and Aizetsu recovered from Sanemi’s Marechi and attacked Obanai together.
• Obanai dodged their combined assault and used Serpent Breathing, Third Form: Nest Pattern, to wound Aizetsu.
• Obanai evaded the demons through the ruined terrain, but his stamina dwindled as he struggled to avoid direct clashes.
• Aizetsu seized an opening and tore into Obanai’s ribs, leaving him badly injured and surrounded.
• Obanai remembered Giyu Tomioka’s words and his vow to prove himself, then rose again despite his wounds.

Obanai and Sanemi fought together to behead all four Upper Rank clones, though the battle left Obanai nearly unable to move. As they recovered, Sekido’s severed head opened its crimson eyes, revealing that the danger had not passed.

• Sanemi knocked a rock into Urogi’s beak, interrupting his sound attack and creating an opening for Obanai.
• Obanai evaded Karaku’s wind and beheaded him, then disarmed Aizetsu and cut off his head.
• Sekido unleashed lightning, but Obanai leapt through the attack and used Serpent Breathing, Fifth Form: Slithering Serpent to behead Urogi and Sekido as well.
• Obanai collapsed to one knee from exhaustion, and Sanemi praised him before Obanai demanded that Sanemi repay his debt with a loud kowtow.
• Sekido’s severed head opened its crimson eyes with a look of malice and madness.

Sanemi and Obanai watched Sekido devour the other three clones and transform into Zohakuten, the true form of Upper Rank Four Hantengu. Zohakuten attacked the exhausted slayers with his drums and wooden dragons, leaving them unable to fight back.

• Sanemi spotted Sekido’s head still alive as Sekido’s headless body opened a maw in its chest and seized the other three clones with tendrils.
• Sekido devoured Karaku, Urogi, and Aizetsu, then transformed into the powerful Zohakuten.
• Zohakuten accused Sanemi and Obanai of preying on the weak, ignoring their protests.
• Zohakuten struck his drums, injuring Sanemi and Obanai with the force of the sound.
• Zohakuten summoned three enormous wooden dragons, and the exhausted Sanemi and Obanai realized they could neither fight nor escape.

A taiko drum awakened a hidden Upper Rank halfway up Mount Sagiri while Shinjuro Rengoku and Tengen Uzui were trapped fighting a horde of Lower Rank demons. Giyu Tomioka realized he had been deceived, left Gyomei Himejima to defend the cabin, and rushed to rescue the swordsmen in danger.

• Shinjuro Rengoku and Tengen Uzui fought off more than a dozen Lower Rank demons that kept them from reaching the mountain’s dead end.
• A taiko drum sounded, and a terrifying Upper Rank aura erupted halfway up Mount Sagiri.
• Shinjuro Rengoku recognized the danger and tried to break through the demons to save the young swordsmen, but they swarmed him.
• Giyu Tomioka sensed that the apparent Lower Ranks had fused into a genuine Upper Rank and realized Muzan had fooled him.
• Giyu Tomioka told Gyomei Himejima to guard the cabin, and Himejima agreed to hold off the demons outside.
• Giyu Tomioka launched himself toward the dead end to rescue the endangered swordsmen.

Masachika survived Zohakuten’s attack and gave Sanemi and Obanai a chance to escape, but Sanemi stood to face the wooden dragons protecting them. Giyu Tomioka arrived and cut down the dragons, then prepared to take on Zohakuten.

• Sanemi and Obanai lay exhausted in the mountain dead end as Zohakuten prepared to kill them.
• Masachika appeared badly burned but alive and threw his Nichirin Blade at Zohakuten’s taiko drum, urging Sanemi and Obanai to run.
• Sanemi grabbed Obanai and charged toward Masachika, then turned to shield them when Zohakuten sent three wooden dragons after them.
• Giyu Tomioka arrived and used Water Breathing: Fourth Form, Striking Tide to dismember the wooden dragons.
• Giyu told Sanemi, Obanai, and Masachika to leave Zohakuten to him.

Giyu Tomioka killed Zohakuten’s apparent form with one slash, then detected the fleeing main body. As Giyu moved to pursue it, Kokushibo arrived and blocked his path with a storm of crescent blades.

• Giyu Tomioka judged Zohakuten’s attacks too slow to threaten him and fused Water Breathing with Moon Breathing.
• Giyu decapitated Zohakuten with a single slash, stunning Sanemi, Obanai, and their companion.
• Giyu sensed Zohakuten’s life force remained and located the tiny cowardly main body fleeing a kilometer away.
• Giyu prepared to pursue the main body, but Kokushibo descended and forced him to defend against a storm of crescent blades.
• Kokushibo appeared before Giyu, revealing himself as Upper Rank One.

Giyu faced Kokushibo again and used a combination of Water Breathing and Moon Breathing to turn aside the demon’s attacks and overwhelm him. As Sanemi and Obanai watched helplessly, Kokushibo began to lose ground under Giyu’s assault.

• Sanemi and Obanai saw Kokushibo arrive and watched him recognize Giyu.
• Kokushibo accused Giyu of stealing and combining his Moon Breathing with Water Breathing, then attacked with Moon Breathing First Form: Dark Moon: Evening Palace.
• Giyu used Transparent World to read Kokushibo’s movements and countered with Water Breathing Eleventh Form: Dead Calm and Moon Breathing Third Form: Loathsome Moon, Chains.
• Giyu dismantled Kokushibo’s slash and launched a powerful counterattack, redirecting the demon’s force and breaking through his defenses.
• Sanemi and Obanai watched as Giyu gained control of the fight and Kokushibo’s footwork began to falter.

Giyu Tomioka held off Kokushibo and Zohakuten while protecting the wounded slayers, and Doma arrived at Mount Sagiri to attack the cabin. Gyomei Himejima blocked his way, and the two prepared to fight.

• Zohakuten regenerated after Sanemi Shinazugawa had cut off his head, then joined Kokushibo in attacking Giyu.
• Giyu defended the wounded Sanemi, Obanai, and their companion from Kokushibo’s crescents and Zohakuten’s wooden dragons using Water and Moon Breathing.
• Doma climbed Mount Sagiri, froze a fleeing Demon Slayer Corps member, and approached the cabin at the summit.
• Gyomei Himejima landed in front of Doma and challenged him, and Doma threatened to kill Gyomei.

Gyomei Himejima overwhelmed Doma on Mount Sagiri while Shinjuro Rengoku and Tengen Uzui cleared demons in the woods. As they prepared to support the others, Upper Rank Three Akaza appeared and challenged them to become demons, setting up a new battle.

• Gyomei Himejima smashed through Doma’s ice defenses and drove Upper Rank Two back with his flail and axe.
• Shinjuro Rengoku and Tengen Uzui fought together to wipe out the Lower Rank demons in the woods.
• Shinjuro Rengoku and Tengen Uzui prepared to head for the mountaintop when Akaza appeared behind them.
• Akaza praised the two Hashira’s fighting spirits and offered to turn them into demons so they could fight forever.
• Shinjuro Rengoku and Tengen Uzui rejected Akaza’s offer and prepared to fight him.

Shinjuro Rengoku and Tengen Uzui fought Akaza but were swiftly overwhelmed, while Giyu Tomioka held off Kokushibo and Zohakuten. After sensing the other battles across the mountain and learning that every Upper Rank had gathered, Giyu's calm fury began to intensify.

• Shinjuro Rengoku and Tengen Uzui combined Flame and Sound Breathing attacks against Akaza, but he countered them with Destructive Death techniques.
• Akaza offered Shinjuro and Tengen the chance to become demons, but they refused and kept fighting.
• Akaza struck Shinjuro through several trees and then battered Tengen into a mountainside, leaving both Hashira defeated.
• Giyu Tomioka continued to repel Kokushibo's Moon Breathing and Zohakuten's wooden dragons while sensing the battles elsewhere on the mountain.
• Zohakuten told Giyu that Muzan had summoned all the Upper Ranks, and Giyu's aura darkened as he told Zohakuten to shut up.

Giyu Tomioka overwhelmed Kokushibo and Zohakuten, then confronted the injured Demon Slayers with his usual bluntness. After noticing Kokushibo had flown toward the summit of Mount Sagiri, Giyu turned his attention there.

• Giyu used Water Breathing, Twelfth Form: Storm to destroy Kokushibo's attack and send him flying toward the cabin at the summit.
• Giyu crossed the alley and knocked Zohakuten unconscious with a punch, ending the battle in three seconds.
• Obanai recognized Giyu as his idol, but Giyu initially failed to remember him and then bluntly criticized his condition.
• Sanemi challenged Giyu to a future fight, but Giyu criticized him for relying on his Marechi blood and cutting himself open.
• Sanemi raged at Giyu while Masachika restrained him, and Giyu looked toward the summit of Mount Sagiri where Kokushibo had flown.

Giyu Tomioka effortlessly subdued Zohakuten and sent Sanemi and Obanai to hunt his main body before racing toward the mountaintop. There, Doma turned the battle against Gyomei Himejima with ice-based Blood Demon Arts, leaving Gyomei wounded and under heavy pressure.

• Giyu pulled Zohakuten from the rock wall, knocked him unconscious, and carried him away.
• Giyu ordered Sanemi and Obanai to find and kill the demon’s main body, then sped off toward the mountaintop.
• Doma emerged from Gyomei’s attack with a wounded face and unleashed Fierce-Cold White Princess to freeze Gyomei’s weapons.
• Doma followed with Scattering Lotuses, cutting Gyomei and making his movements falter as the cold invaded his lungs.
• Doma pressed his advantage with more ice attacks, putting Gyomei under suffocating pressure.

Inside the hidden cabin, Sabito restrained Yaoshi while Tamayo and the Kocho sisters developed a medicine to turn him back into a human. As the battle outside worsened, Kanae left the cabin to hold off Upper Rank Two and buy time for the Hashira to arrive.

• Sabito pinned Yaoshi down after he transformed her into a woman, while Yaoshi privately plotted to escape Muzan and the Demon Slayers.
• Shinobu Kocho and Lady Tamayo used Yaoshi's unusual blood to advance their Demon Transformation Medicine, and Kanae Kocho completed the herb preparation.
• Kanae told Sabito that the medicine could cure her if they kept Yaoshi restrained, prompting Yaoshi to panic and resist treatment.
• Freezing air seeped into the cabin as the battle outside slowed, and Sabito realized Mr. Himejima was being suppressed by the cold.
• Despite Sabito and Shinobu warning her about Upper Rank Two, Kanae went outside alone to act as bait and hold him off until Giyu and the other Hashira arrived.

Kanae Kocho and Gyomei Himejima fought Doma together until he wounded Kanae and prepared to kill her. Giyu Tomioka arrived in time to stop Doma’s fan, carrying the unconscious Zohakuten.

• Kanae Kocho joined Gyomei Himejima against Doma and helped deflect his attacks.
• Doma summoned five ice figures, separating Gyomei from Kanae and overwhelming her with their combined assault.
• Doma slashed Kanae, leaving her badly wounded and knocking her Nichirin Blade into the snow.
• Doma moved to kill Kanae, but Giyu Tomioka caught his golden fan just before it reached her neck.
• Giyu stood face-to-face with Doma while carrying the unconscious Zohakuten.

Giyu Tomioka rescued Kanae, struck Doma with a barehanded punch, and discovered that his injured hand healed instantly. Doma tasted Giyu’s blood and began to dissolve in agony, leaving everyone stunned.

• Giyu caught Doma’s fan with his bare hand, tossed Zohakuten aside, and punched Doma into a mountainside.
• Giyu rushed to Kanae and checked whether she could move, while Kanae worried over his wounded hand.
• Kanae watched Giyu’s deep hand wound heal completely within moments, and Giyu wondered why he had instinctively protected her.
• Doma recovered from the punch, smelled Giyu’s blood on his fan, and licked the drops from it.
• Giyu’s blood poisoned Doma, whose body began to rot as Gyomei Himejima, Kanae, and Giyu watched in disbelief.

Kokushibo returned and attacked Giyu and Kanae, prompting Giyu to clash with him while Gyomei and Kanae faced the poisoned Doma. The fights split across Mount Sagiri, and the chapter ended with Doma preparing a deadly attack as Kanae and Gyomei struggled to defend themselves.

• Kokushibo ambushed Giyu Tomioka and Kanae Kocho with a powerful Moon Breathing slash, which Giyu blocked with his Nichirin Blade.
• Kokushibo ordered Doma to retrieve the sample from the cabin while he fought Giyu, and Giyu and Kokushibo raced into the mountain forest.
• Giyu and Kokushibo exchanged Water and Moon Breathing techniques, with Kokushibo becoming increasingly alarmed by Giyu's swordsmanship.
• Doma attacked Gyomei Himejima and the injured Kanae through icy mist, wounding Kanae as Gyomei tried to locate him.
• Kanae used Equinoctial Vermilion Eye and threw her blade to deflect Doma's fan away from Gyomei, then collapsed as Doma gathered ice crystals for another attack.

Gyomei Himejima awakened the Transparent World while trapped in Doma’s ice, then broke free and challenged him. As Sabito and Kanae pursued the escaping Yaoshi, he turned to attack the wounded Kanae.

• Doma sealed Gyomei Himejima inside an ice sculpture and headed toward the cabin, intent on reaching the people inside.
• Remembering Giyu’s advice, Gyomei calmed himself, perceived the flow of blood, muscles, and energy, and awakened the Transparent World.
• Sabito attacked Doma at the cabin, but Yaoshi escaped through a broken window while they were distracted.
• Gyomei shattered the ice prison and confronted Doma, while Kanae sent Sabito after Yaoshi.
• Yaoshi used his Weakening Swamp to slow Sabito, who cleared the poisonous mist with Water Breathing: Sixth Form: Twisting Whirlpool.
• Yaoshi appeared behind the wounded Kanae and thrust his nails toward her back.

Sabito protected the injured Kanae from Yaoshi while Gyomei wounded Doma after entering the Transparent World. Akaza nearly killed Shinjuro after Shinjuro sacrificed himself to save Tengen, and Giyu and Kokushibo arrived as the battle continued.

• Yaoshi tried to attack Kanae, but Sabito blocked him and vowed to keep him away from her.
• Gyomei used the Transparent World to evade Doma's ice vines and struck him deeply with his axe.
• Tengen and Shinjuro fought Akaza, who unleashed his Final Form; Shinjuro shielded Tengen and was gravely wounded.
• Giyu arrived to protect Tengen and Shinjuro, while Kokushibo ordered Akaza to stand down and claimed Giyu as his opponent.
• Giyu told the stunned Tengen to take Shinjuro and leave quickly.

Giyu Tomioka stayed behind to face Upper Rank One Kokushibo and Upper Rank Three Akaza while Tengen Uzui escaped with the unconscious Shinjuro Rengoku. Giyu challenged both demons at once and wounded them with a devastating counterattack, leaving them astonished by his strength.

• Giyu ordered Tengen Uzui to flee with Shinjuro Rengoku, and Tengen carried the unconscious Flame Hashira down the mountain.
• Akaza eagerly claimed Giyu as an opponent, but Kokushibo insisted that Giyu was his to fight.
• After Tengen left, Giyu told Akaza and Kokushibo to attack him together.
• Akaza and Kokushibo launched a simultaneous assault, but Giyu neutralized their attacks with Water Breathing: Eleventh Form, Dead Calm.
• Giyu slipped behind Kokushibo and struck both demons with Moon Breathing: Fifth Form, Moon-Sickle Vortex, wounding them and slicing away part of the mountaintop.

Giyu Tomioka faced Akaza and Kokushibo’s combined full-power attacks on Mount Sagiri, while Sabito and Kanae Kocho fought Yaoshi in a poisoned forest. The chapter ended with Yaoshi’s tentacles attacking the weakened Sabito as Kanae struggled to protect him.

• Akaza and Kokushibo launched a coordinated barrage of punches and moon blades at Giyu, who countered with Water Breathing, Twelfth Form: Storm.
• Sabito pursued Yaoshi while Kanae warned him that the demon’s tentacles carried corrosive poison.
• Yaoshi released fatigue-inducing poison fog, weakening Sabito, and Kanae interrupted his tentacle attack with Flower Breathing, Fifth Form: Peonies of Futility.
• Kanae directed Sabito through Yaoshi’s poison needles, and the pair began counterattacking together.
• Sabito took a tentacle strike while protecting Kanae, and Yaoshi sent all his tentacles at the kneeling, weakened swordsman.

Shinobu and Kanae injected Yaoshi with a medicine made using his own blood, but it drove him into a berserk Upper Rank transformation instead of weakening him immediately. As Yaoshi overwhelmed the wounded fighters, a strange power began surging through Sabito.

• Shinobu used Kanae’s directions to evade Yaoshi’s tentacles, and Sabito drove her special blade through the armor on Yaoshi’s neck so she could inject the medicine.
• Shinobu explained that the medicine used Yaoshi’s blood as its catalytic base, and Yaoshi began convulsing as the drug fought the Demon King’s Blood and Blue Spider Lily energy in his body.
• Yaoshi transformed into a larger, more powerful monster and unleashed poisonous gas and tracking tentacles against Shinobu, Kanae, and Sabito.
• Kanae shoved Shinobu out of danger while Sabito dodged Yaoshi’s attacks, but the three wounded fighters were rapidly overwhelmed.
• As Yaoshi’s poison needles filled the sky, Sabito groaned in agony when a powerful, unfamiliar force surged from his bone marrow.