Chapter Summaries

Tanjuro Kamado fought Yaoshi with Hinokami Kagura, repeatedly cutting him apart before his illness and exhaustion left him unconscious. As Yaoshi prepared to kill him, an unseen attacker struck with Water Breathing and severed his arm and shoulder.

• Yaoshi's poison mist failed against Tanjuro Kamado's flaming axe, and Tanjuro slashed Yaoshi's body apart with Hinokami Kagura.
• Yaoshi's scattered body parts reassembled while Tanjuro collapsed from exhaustion.
• Tanjuro used Hinokami Kagura: Dance to cut Yaoshi in half again, but Yaoshi quickly recovered as Tanjuro lost consciousness.
• Yaoshi approached the unconscious Tanjuro to kill him, but an unseen fighter used Water Breathing: Fourth Form, Striking Tide, to sever Yaoshi's arm and part of his shoulder.

Giyu Tomioka defeated and captured Yaoshi, then found Tanjuro Kamado unconscious and gravely injured. Tanjiro reached the mountaintop and cried over his father as Giyu left with Yaoshi to take him to headquarters.

• Giyu Tomioka used Water Breathing to dismember Yaoshi and tied his body together for capture.
• Giyu examined the unconscious Tanjuro Kamado and recognized the danger posed by a demon immune to sunlight.
• Tanjiro arrived, recognized Yaoshi as the divine physician, and realized he was a demon.
• Tanjiro rushed to his injured father while Giyu carried Yaoshi away into the forest.

Giyu Tomioka returned to Mount Sagiri with Yaoshi, a demon who had eaten the Blue Spider Lily and become immune to sunlight. As Sabito attacked Yaoshi and the others considered Muzan’s likely response, Giyu realized Muzan might not yet know what had happened.

• Giyu Tomioka brought Yaoshi’s severed head and bound body parts to the training ground and revealed that Yaoshi had eaten the Blue Spider Lily and could survive sunlight.
• Sabito recognized Yaoshi and furiously attacked his body parts while he screamed and boasted.
• Sakonji Urokodaki warned Giyu Tomioka that Muzan would try to reclaim Yaoshi and that the Demon Slayer Corps faced an unprecedented crisis.
• Giyu Tomioka said Yaoshi’s transformation might give them a chance to kill Muzan Kibutsuji for good.
• Yaoshi threatened that Muzan would lead the Twelve Kizuki against Mount Sagiri, prompting Giyu Tomioka to ask whether Muzan knew what had happened yet.

Giyu learned that Muzan only checked the demons’ memories during occasional reports, and that Yaoshi’s next report was due after sunset. He brought Yaoshi to Tamayo’s residence, where Yushiro used his Blood Demon Art to plant false memories before Muzan’s check.

• Giyu questioned Yaoshi, who confessed that Muzan did not constantly monitor his underlings’ memories and that he had concealed his evolution after eating the Blue Spider Lily.
• Yaoshi revealed that his next report to Muzan was due after sunset, leaving the Demon Slayer Corps less than half an hour to act.
• Giyu carried Yaoshi’s head to Tamayo’s residence and ordered Yushiro to fabricate memories in his brain.
• Yushiro refused until Tamayo asked him to help the Demon Slayer Corps, then agreed to use his Blood Demon Art.
• Yushiro activated Eye Curtain and began reconstructing false memories in Yaoshi’s mind as sunset approached.

Muzan invaded Yaoshi’s memories and saw him survive in sunlight before Giyu Tomioka cut him apart. Believing Yaoshi’s cells held the key to conquering sunlight, Muzan ordered the Upper Ranks to attack Mount Sagiri.

• Muzan told Kokushibo that Yaoshi’s intelligence made him valuable and dismissed Kokushibo’s warning about Yaoshi’s ambition.
• Muzan grew suspicious when Yaoshi failed to report and forcibly entered his memories through the Mental Network.
• Yushiro used Blood Demon Art: Eye Veil to resist Muzan’s mental intrusion while protecting Yaoshi.
• Muzan saw Yaoshi standing unharmed in sunlight, but the memories of the Blue Spider Lily were obscured.
• Muzan watched Giyu Tomioka slice Yaoshi apart and carry away his remains.
• Muzan concluded that Yaoshi’s cells could let him conquer sunlight and ordered all the Upper Ranks to deploy to Mount Sagiri.

Muzan ordered Kokushibo to attack Mount Sagiri but stayed safely in Infinity Castle, while Yushiro's failed attempt to hide Yaoshi's secrets revealed them to Muzan. Giyu and Sakonji prepared for the coming assault and sent urgent intelligence to the Demon Slayer Corps headquarters.

• Muzan ordered Kokushibo to go to Mount Sagiri, then decided to remain in Infinity Castle and told Nakime to retrieve Yaoshi at any cost.
• Yushiro confessed to Tamayo that Muzan had broken through his false memories and learned Yaoshi had eaten the Blue Spider Lily and been brought to Mount Sagiri.
• Sabito mocked Yushiro, and the two nearly fought before Giyu Tomioka and Sakonji Urokodaki arrived and stopped them.
• Sakonji warned that Muzan would send his forces against Mount Sagiri, leaving the Demon Slayer Corps with no choice but to defend it.
• Giyu sent a Kasugai Crow to headquarters with detailed intelligence and urged it to fly as fast as possible.

At Mount Sagiri, Tamayo said Yaoshi could only be weakened by a medicine that broke the Demon King's Blood curse, though she doubted she could make one. After Kanae comforted and kissed Giyu, Kagaya ordered the Demon Slayer Corps to assemble and face Muzan at Mount Sagiri.

• Giyu asked Tamayo whether Yaoshi could be killed permanently, and Tamayo explained that his regeneration made it nearly impossible.
• Tamayo proposed that her demon-to-human medicine might remove Yaoshi's source of power, but admitted her research had made little progress.
• Kanae embraced Giyu, told him he was not alone, and kissed him before returning to the house.
• Shinobu teased Giyu about his flushed face, and he silently turned away from her.
• Kagaya received news from Mount Sagiri and ordered the Demon Slayer Corps to assemble there, sending Shinjuro Rengoku, Gyomei Himejima, and Tengen Uzui to reinforce Giyu.

Giyu Tomioka guarded Yaoshi while Kanae Kocho, Shinobu Kocho, and Tamayo worked inside the cabin, as Sakonji Urokodaki and Sabito destroyed the demons attacking Mount Sagiri. By dawn, the Demon Slayer Corps’ strongest fighters had gathered, and they began preparing for a decisive confrontation with Muzan Kibutsuji and the Upper Ranks.

• Giyu Tomioka used Transparent World to detect dozens of demons approaching Mount Sagiri while he guarded Yaoshi and the researchers inside the cabin.
• Shinobu Kocho had Yushiro gag Yaoshi so his talking would not contaminate the experimental samples.
• Giyu Tomioka sent Sabito and Sakonji Urokodaki to fight the approaching demons, and the pair slaughtered them in the mountain forest.
• Shinjuro Rengoku, Gyomei Himejima, and Tengen Uzui arrived as the last demons burned to ash at dawn, followed by Demon Slayer Corps members who surrounded the summit.
• Gyomei Himejima reminded the gathered fighters that Oyakata-sama had ordered them to confront Muzan Kibutsuji and all the Upper Ranks, and urged them to plan carefully.

On Mount Sagiri, Obanai Iguro, Sanemi Shinazugawa, and Masachika Kumeno cleared demons from the mountain while the Hashira waited at the summit. After defeating a powerful mutated demon, Obanai found himself drawn to the warmth between Sanemi and Masachika, and the three continued deeper into the woods as the fighting grew.

• Shinjuro Rengoku, Tengen Uzui, and Gyomei Himejima waited at the summit while ordinary Corps members fought the demons climbing Mount Sagiri.
• Obanai Iguro killed a fat demon with Serpent Breathing, then encountered Sanemi Shinazugawa and Masachika Kumeno clearing demons nearby.
• Obanai and Sanemi bickered while they and Masachika coordinated their attacks to bring down a towering mutated demon.
• Masachika finished the demon, then offered Sanemi ohagi to calm him after Sanemi complained about losing the kill.
• Obanai reflected on the warmth between Sanemi and Masachika, and Sanemi challenged him as the three headed deeper into the woods.

Sanemi Shinazugawa, Masachika Kumeno, and Obanai Iguro encountered a frail old demon in the forest on Mount Sagiri. Sanemi killed him despite Kumeno’s warning, but the sight afterward made Obanai’s pupils contract.

• Sanemi, Kumeno, and Obanai came upon a trembling old demon hiding beneath a tree.
• Kumeno suspected the demon was bait and tried to signal the Hashira for support.
• Sanemi stopped Kumeno and charged the fleeing demon with Wind Breathing: First Form: Dust Whirlwind Cutter.
• Sanemi decapitated the old demon and mocked Kumeno for being cautious.
• Obanai noticed a bizarre sight after the demon was killed.

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.