They arrived at the very center of the village. It was not a small village—the open space at its center was nearly a hundred meters wide, with corpses sprawled haphazardly across it.
Several hunched figures appeared in the distance.
Several hideous demons were fighting over territory in the middle of the square.
"Hey! You lot! This is my turf! Get the hell out!" a vicious voice shouted as Yuko walked over without changing expression.
"Hehehe, don't make me laugh. Can you eat all this food by yourself?"
"Don't think you can swallow it all alone~"
"Once I eat these humans, I'll be promoted into the Twelve Kizuki!"
Not far away, a female demon was anxiously trying to sneak away.
The sound of her retreat attracted the attention of all the demons.
"Hey, hey, don't you think this woman looks familiar?"
"I feel like I've seen her somewhere before~"
"Isn't she the woman that lord has put a bounty on?"
Tamayo's face went pale. She had seen the fighting raging here and planned to gather some corpses to fill her stomach, but shortly after she arrived, the demons had begun appearing one after another.
Muzan forbade demons from gathering in groups, but the delicious food in this war-torn village had drawn them all together.
Ever since the swordsman who used Sun Breathing had let her go, Tamayo had not eaten another living person. She had survived solely on human and animal corpses.
To fulfill her promise to the swordsman, she had to wait for an opportunity to kill Muzan.
How could she die here?
"You can have these corpses. That woman is my prey!"
"Bullshit! Once we capture this woman, that lord will grant us his blood. Compared to that lord's blood, these dead bodies are nothing but swill!"
"Get lost! I'm not giving my prey to any of you!"
"The position of a member of the Twelve Kizuki is mine!"
Almost as soon as they confirmed Tamayo's identity, the demons abandoned the food they had been fighting over and charged toward her in a greedy swarm.
Tamayo's face turned deathly pale, and she hurriedly turned and fled.
Her Blood Demon Art was unsuited for combat. She definitely was not a match for these creatures.
Tamayo had taken barely two steps when a black shadow flashed behind her and leaped onto the wall in front of her. Its head twisted around as it watched her with an eerie gaze.
"Don't even think about escaping~"
Tamayo's pupils contracted slightly. Before she could react, a water-blue blade aura appeared from thin air and sliced cleanly through the demon's head.
Even after its head fell to the ground and turned to ash, the eerie smile on the demon's face did not fade.
The slash had been so fast that it had not even realized what was happening.
Before Tamayo had a chance to stare blankly, a figure emerged from behind the house. She wore a conical hat, while white cloth wrapped around her neck and covered the lower half of her face, making her appearance impossible to discern.
Only the shape of her chest revealed that she was a woman.
The newcomer held a blue Nichirin Blade wrapped in white cloth. Another sword hung at her waist, its blade still sheathed.
Yoriichi's Nichirin Blade had been black, but the color of a Nichirin Blade changed according to its owner's breathing style, aptitude, and other factors.
Yuko had been born with an almost perfect aptitude for the Five Great Breathing Styles. Changing the color of her Nichirin Blade as she changed breathing styles was not difficult.
The Demon Slayer Corps!
Tamayo's entire body turned cold, as if she had fallen into an ice cavern.
The demons behind her also came to an abrupt halt.
"Damn it! Is she from the Demon Slayer Corps?!"
"Wait! It looks like she's alone!"
One of the demons grew wary. "But she just killed that guy in a single slash..."
"He was just trash. We'll attack together, then decide how to divide the reward afterward. How about it?"
"Perfect~ I've never eaten anyone from the Demon Slayer Corps before~"
After a brief discussion, several demons charged toward Yuko in unison.
Tamayo watched the rear from the corner of her eye. The swordswoman before her had not immediately attacked her, probably because Tamayo was the weakest fighter.
Without making a sound, she moved half a step aside, planning to find a chance to leave once they began fighting.
Although Tamayo had agreed to Yoriichi's request to kill Muzan, she was not foolish enough to believe that she could trust just any member of the Demon Slayer Corps with her words.
She looked at Yuko and silently apologized.
In Tamayo's eyes, Yuko's defeat was only a matter of time.
After all, she was facing several opponents alone.
"Water Breathing: First Form—Surface Slash!"
The cool, clear voice rang out across the quiet night, and a brilliant azure light flashed.
The blue blade reflected the moonlight, making Tamayo squint.
When she opened her eyes again, she saw only Yuko slowly sheathing her Nichirin Blade.
Her body stiffened slightly as her gaze shifted. Several heads had been sent flying high into the air, while the headless bodies, carried forward by inertia, toppled down one after another.
The heads struck the ground, and the demons turned to ash and scattered without even managing to make a sound.
So strong!
She was probably even stronger than a Lower Rank!
Was she a Hashira?
Tamayo's pupils trembled violently. Against someone with this level of strength, she had no chance of escaping.
As the woman who had sheathed her Nichirin Blade walked toward her, Tamayo was about to speak and make one last attempt to explain herself.
But then the woman slowly removed her conical hat and unwound the white cloth from her face.
The doubt on Tamayo's face gradually turned to shock.
"...Mr. Yoriichi?"
Aside from her gender and height, there was almost no difference.
But only for an instant. Tamayo quickly came to her senses. It had already been several decades. Even if Mr. Yoriichi were still alive, he would be an elderly man in his eighties or nineties. How could he possibly still look so young?
And yet this face was almost identical to Mr. Yoriichi's.
Then...
Was she his descendant?
A glimmer of light appeared in Tamayo's eyes.
Sensing the expectation beneath Tamayo's calm expression, Yuko fell silent for a moment. "I'm Yoriichi's younger sister."
She knew what Tamayo was thinking. Tamayo was wondering whether Yuko possessed power as formidable as Yoriichi's.
The situation before her had given Tamayo immense hope.
But unfortunately, even now, even after gaining strength far greater than before, she still had not surpassed Yoriichi.
Tamayo was stunned for a moment by Yuko's words.
She hesitantly said, "But your age..."
Yuko said nothing more. Her wine-red eyes instantly transformed into golden, vertical pupils.
Tamayo's heart, which had just begun to stir, now pounded even harder.
She opened her mouth, then closed her eyes as if resigned to her fate. "Did Muzan send you?"
Yuko stood there, stunned. She had not expected to be misunderstood.
"No. Like you, I've broken free of Muzan's control."
Impossible.
That was Tamayo's first reaction.
Breaking free of Muzan's control had been a stroke of luck for her, because Yoriichi had weakened him by cutting him into pieces at the time.
Could a second Mr. Yoriichi really exist in this world?
Suspicion appeared in Tamayo's eyes.
But...
There was not the slightest trace of that foul stench on the woman before her. It was almost as if... she had never eaten a human.
Most importantly, if this woman really had been sent by Muzan, there would have been no need for her to waste time talking. With this woman's strength, Tamayo would never have been able to escape.
Before you continue