Kocho Kanae

For a rare moment, the scene fell silent. The Man-eating Demons were terrified to discover that the demon who had just been blasted apart had truly turned to ash. Hirano Katsumi twitched twice, then fell still.

You killed Public Order Officer Hirano Katsumi and gained 50 Dimensional Points.

Milestone: Killer Type progress updated. Current: 10/100

Kocho Kanae stood frozen as well. Though she did not understand what JOJO meant, the man's savage, berserk fighting stance and his merciless execution of Hirano Katsumi had both dealt her a tremendous shock.

"Who... are you...?"

She spoke as she slowly came back to her senses. Looking at Public Order Officer Hirano Katsumi collapsed on the ground, she knew that what had happened tonight might no longer be explainable. The public order officers of the nearby villages and towns would likely turn hostile toward the Demon Slayer Corps because of their colleague's death.

And that minister... he would certainly make a huge issue of it. The Master might be implicated again.

"What the hell have you done?!"

Kocho Kanae glared furiously at Bai Cangshu.

Bai Cangshu ignored the woman, who could not devote herself fully to battle. She was kind and beautiful, but she was not a qualified fighter. So-called identities were things to consider only outside of battle.

He felt his condition beginning to grow unstable. A faint, stabbing pain had emerged in his lower abdomen, something he had never encountered before when assuming this form.

But Bai Cangshu gave nothing away. Instead, the smile on his face grew even more unrestrained.

He swept his gaze across the Man-eating Demons, then stomped the ground.

Bang!

Niko Style: Fire Heaven Form - Blazing Fire activated once more.

His body surged forward with savage force, appearing before the nearest Man-eating Demon in an instant. Seeing Bai Cangshu pounce at it, the demon opened its mouth wide. Its neck stretched out, its jaws splitting open at an enormous angle as it bit down at him.

Bai Cangshu did not even look at it. His head bent at an unnatural angle, evading the bite, while Hamon Overdrive had already activated in his left hand.

Pfft!

It was as smooth as a scorching knife cutting through butter.

Bai Cangshu held his left hand like a blade and casually slashed. The Man-eating Demon's elongated neck and head were severed, rapidly beginning to melt away.

You killed a Man-eating Demon and gained 10 Dimensional Points.

Milestone: Demon Hunter progress updated. Current: 12/20

In his current state, Bai Cangshu's speed and strength completely overwhelmed ordinary Man-eating Demons. By his own estimate, his actual attributes after the boost should have exceeded 20 points.

Like a vicious demon pouncing on prey, he sent one Man-eating Demon after another crashing down amid explosive stomps.

Kocho Kanae watched this terrifying man, her heart pounding uncontrollably. This sight was even more frightening than the strongest Hashira, Stone Hashira Himejima Gyomei.

That ultimate violence born purely from physical strength and speed made her very soul tremble.

You killed a Man-eating Demon and gained 15 Dimensional Points.

...

You have cumulatively killed 20 Man-eating Demons in this world. Milestone: Demon Hunter achieved. Equip it?

Demon Hunter — You have fully grasped the vital weaknesses of Man-eating Demons. Your attacks will deal additional damage to Man-eating Demons.

"Something's wrong with this guy! Run!"

The remaining Man-eating Demons either possessed troublesome Blood Demon Arts or had fled far away from the start. They now all vanished into the forest.

Bai Cangshu wanted to pursue them, but the dull pain had already become excruciating.

As he panted heavily, his body rapidly shrank back to normal, and his muscles began to spasm violently.

The agony spread from his abdomen, continuously extending through the rest of his body.

Bai Cangshu's face soon turned pale. Calmly, he took out a scroll, tore it open, and pressed it directly against his stomach.

Green Chakra lit up. The Chakra, brimming with vigorous life force, rapidly entered Bai Cangshu's body.

Sure enough, his excruciating pain began to ease.

"Hey, let me treat the injury on your arm."

Although Kocho Kanae thought Bai Cangshu was a madman, he was undoubtedly human.

And objectively speaking, he had saved her and the few Corps members behind her.

At that moment, the Demon Slayer Swordsmen in black Demon Slayer Corps uniforms also limped over while supporting one another.

They had lost two people. One was severely injured, while two others had sustained lesser wounds.

All of them looked at Bai Cangshu with fear in their eyes.

Bai Cangshu's manner of killing demons had certainly delighted them, but the fact that he had ruthlessly blasted that troublesome public order officer to death with a single punch also frightened them.

The wildness Bai Cangshu displayed made them deeply uncomfortable.

One Shōnen brought a girl with a numb expression, too numb even to look afraid, over to Kanae.

Bai Cangshu finally recognized the black-haired, violet-eyed woman before him, wearing a butterfly-patterned haori and a butterfly hairpin. She was Kocho Kanae from the story of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba.

In other words, the timeline of this so-called Demon Slayer Spinoff World P9971 was not after the beginning of the original story. Tanjiro's family had not yet suffered that misfortune.

And...

Bai Cangshu had also realized that this world's danger level was somewhat excessively high. In the original work, Man-eating Demons had almost always appeared alone, but here they kept appearing in groups. There was also that Hand Demon, identified by the space as a Lower Rank Candidate.

Seeing that Bai Cangshu did not answer, Kocho Kanae did not get angry. She had a gentle nature, retaining kindness toward both humans and demons who had once been human.

"This... sir, before I picked up this sword, I came from a family of healers."

With a single glance, she could tell that Bai Cangshu's right hand was actually badly damaged. A large number of capillaries had burst, his muscles were severely bruised, and several fingers were twisted, as though they had suffered a terrible impact.

But his face was pale, and when he had first treated himself, he had pressed a hand to his abdomen. Clearly, he had other injuries as well.

"It is still nighttime. Let's first take shelter at the former site of Mount Fujikasane. There may be a Lower Rank demon in this area."

Kocho Kanae took the hollow-eyed girl's hand and, without allowing any argument, led Bai Cangshu along with the group. As they moved, she instructed the Corps members to watch for other traces of battle.

From the sound of it, Kocho Kanae had originally come out after hearing the sounds of fighting, searching for whoever was battling Man-eating Demons on Mount Fujikasane.

The pain in Bai Cangshu's abdomen had eased somewhat, and his thoughts became clear again.

He realized that perhaps this, too, was one of the arrangements the Reincarnation Space had made for Reincarnators.

As long as the Reincarnator team held their ground and did not split up, they could hold out long enough for the Demon Slayer Corps to send aid. And among those sent would happen to be a Hashira-level Swordsman, one skilled in healing.

That would be enough to allow the surviving Reincarnators to get through the night safely.

Moreover, the Hand Demon had remained atop the mountain. As long as the Reincarnators did not wander around, they would not easily encounter it.

Tch. So this was the Reincarnation Space. It would never give you a certain-death mission, but neither would it let you have it too easy.

It was just that when Bai Cangshu and the others faced danger, they had been unable to maintain a proper team formation. Two highly mobile Reincarnators had fled immediately, while Bai Cangshu, whose killing intent was too strong, had pursued alone too deeply and reached the mountaintop.

The others were nowhere to be found.

The group arrived at a grove thick with Wisteria Flowers. The Demon Slayer Swordsmen all let out sighs of relief, but the next moment, several figures suddenly appeared, making even Kocho Kanae tense up.

The professor and the others looked at Bai Cangshu, who was injured but still had all four limbs, with strange expressions.

If they remembered correctly, this madman had chased a group of Man-eating Demons into the depths of the forest alone...

"Oh, you're all not dead yet."

That was how Bai Cangshu greeted them.