The sight of the short, dwarf-like monster before him filled Tanjuro Kamado with deep disgust.
It was revolting!
But it wasn't Mountain Child's appearance that disgusted Tanjuro.
It was the unspeakable evil he had committed.
Tanjuro could sense the thick resentment clinging to Mountain Child, resentment so intense it was almost tangible...
Slowly drawing the axe from his belt, Tanjuro looked at Mountain Child with tears in his eyes and said gently:
"You poor children!"
"Please forgive me. Just hold on a little longer..."
This was actually Mountain Child's first encounter with the Demon Slayer Corps.
He had hidden himself too well. Even after living for over a hundred years, Mountain Child didn't recognize the Corps' uniform.
Looking at the man, Mountain Child felt completely baffled.
But before he could make a move, Tanjuro vanished from his sight the moment he finished speaking.
"Splurt..."
In an instant, Tanjuro had swung his axe and cut off Mountain Child's limbs.
With nothing to support him, Mountain Child toppled straight to the ground.
Fresh red blood poured from the wounds where his limbs had been severed, staining the earth.
Before Mountain Child could regrow his limbs, Tanjuro plunged a syringe into his back.
It was a drug Miss Tamayo had given him, one that could suppress some of a demon's regenerative abilities for a limited time.
After giving the injection, Tanjuro carefully used the back of his axe to smash all the sharp teeth in Mountain Child's mouth, then trimmed him down a little more with the blade.
Only after Mountain Child posed no further threat did Tanjuro grab him by the hair, lift his head, and carry him down the mountain.
Tanjuro's mission wasn't to kill Mountain Child. This Lower Moon Three was merely a means of passing a message to Muzan.
Stone Hashira Himejima Gyomei had a similar mission.
The only difference was that Gyomei's target was a Martial Demon who had reached the level of the Twelve Kizuki.
Why did the demon have to be strong enough to qualify as one of the Twelve Kizuki?
Because only demons of that level had enough of the Demon King's blood in them for Muzan and Kokushibo to sense where they had died from across all of Japan.
And to view their memories from the moments before their deaths!
One week later, at night.
Dust-covered from his long journey, Stone Hashira Himejima Gyomei arrived on the outskirts of Kumagaya County, carrying a flail and chained axe in one hand and a Martial Demon with half his body missing in the other.
He was about one and a half kilometers from the canyon the Demon Slayer Corps had prepared.
Deep in the canyon, inside a simple wooden cabin, Kujo Tachibana turned to Ubuyashiki Kagaya, who stood beside him, and said:
"Gyomei will be back soon. We'll lock that Martial Demon up at the canyon entrance when he arrives."
"Don't let him see me."
Ubuyashiki Kagaya nodded. It was best to be cautious, just in case. Even if the Demon King Kokushibo knew Kujo Tachibana was still alive, he might not fear him.
But when the day of the decisive battle came, the longer they could keep the truth hidden, the better.
Five more days passed. At dawn, as the sun slowly rose, Tanjuro finally arrived at the canyon, carrying a wooden box containing half of Mountain Child's body.
The two demons meant to deliver the message were now in place.
Two days later, after Tanjuro and Gyomei had recovered, the Corps' core forces gathered before Ubuyashiki Kagaya's temporary cabin in the canyon.
The only ones absent were two former Hashira trainers—
Flower Hashira Morishita Yuzuki,
and Snow Hashira Hoshino Erii.
For the sake of caution, they were standing guard over the two demons.
The Hashira among the Corps' assembled forces were:
Rumble Hashira Kujo Tachibana!
Sun Hashira Tanjuro Kamado!
Stone Hashira Himejima Gyomei!
Water Hashira Urokodaki Sabito!
Flame Hashira Rengoku Shinjuro!
Wind Hashira Koyama Shinichiro!
Rain Hashira Amakura! (A reader's nickname.)
Also present were former Hashira trainers:
Water Breathing—Urokodaki Sakonji!
Thunder Breathing—Kuwajima Jigoro!
Breath of Stone—Ishikawa Mannosuke!
The remaining ranks consisted of eighty-four Kinoe swordsmen and 268 Kanoto swordsmen!
As Ubuyashiki Kagaya slowly stepped out of the cabin, the Demon Slayer Corps swordsmen knelt on one knee across the broad, level ground of the canyon.
"Master!!"
Their unified shout rang through the entire canyon. Even the former Flower Hashira and Snow Hashira, standing a hundred meters away, heard it clearly.
Though the two weren't present, they were still overwhelmed with emotion. The Demon Slayer Corps had carried on for a thousand years. Generation after generation, tens of thousands of swordsmen had shared one goal across all that time.
And now, that goal seemed almost within reach...
Looking at the hundreds of swordsmen kneeling before him, Ubuyashiki Kagaya's eyes reddened. He knelt and solemnly returned their bow.
Then he began his pre-battle address!
Looking at the many young faces around him, Kujo Tachibana sighed softly. How many swordsmen would die here after this battle?
He had absolute confidence in his own strength, but if Kokushibo and Muzan didn't show up, he couldn't just make a move!
Neither of them was stupid. They'd see through such an obvious trap.
It was just that the Blue Spider Lily was too tempting.
They wouldn't be able to resist.
If Kujo Tachibana acted too outrageously, Kokushibo was one thing, but Muzan would definitely slip away!
And the key was that there was a demon alongside Muzan whom Kujo Tachibana had to kill himself.
No one else had the strength to kill her in an instant.
As long as she remained alive, Muzan could escape at any time.
Yes, she was Nakime, whose Blood Demon Art let her control the Infinity Castle, a separate dimension!
It was an extremely rare Blood Demon Art involving space.
The Infinity Castle's separate dimension was centered on Nakime and was a maze of convoluted spaces.
By plucking the strings of her biwa, Nakime could control the entire Infinity Castle. She could transport anyone she sensed into it.
She could even send anyone inside the castle to any place bearing Muzan's mark.
(I looked up information online, and it said she could teleport anywhere. That didn't seem very reasonable, so I weakened it a little. I don't even know how Muzan lost in the anime. If I were him, I'd dump all the Demon Slayer swordsmen into the sea, or teleport one or two away at a time and pick them off. How could the Corps possibly fight back???)
So the current plan was to lure Kokushibo over first. Once Kujo Tachibana sensed him, they'd kill Mountain Child and make Muzan come riding in on Nakime.
After the pre-battle address, Ubuyashiki Kagaya had the two captured demons brought to one side of the canyon.
A carefully cultivated blue flower grew from the ground before them.
Gyomei forced the Martial Demon's jaw open, making him look at the "Blue Spider Lily" on the ground.
Standing before the Martial Demon, Ubuyashiki Kagaya said coolly:
"Kokushibo, I'm Ubuyashiki Kagaya, the current Master of the Demon Slayer Corps."
"Does this flower look familiar?"
"This is the Blue Spider Lily, a flower Kibutsuji Muzan has been searching for for over a thousand years."
"I don't know if Muzan ever told you what this flower truly does, but I imagine you can guess."
"I'll wait here for three days. If you don't dare come, it'll belong to Kibutsuji Muzan."
As soon as he finished speaking, Ubuyashiki Kagaya signaled Gyomei to act.
Himejima Gyomei raised his axe and brought it down, severing the messenger's head in an instant.
At the same time, Kokushibo, still in Kanagawa Prefecture, immediately sensed that the Martial Demon, who was powerful enough to rival a Lower Moon of the Twelve Kizuki, had died...
Before you continue