The rift was widening.
Dark purple light seeped down from the tear above the Butterfly Mansion, like a vertical wound being pried apart from both sides. Deep within the gap was not the sky, but the outline of another world.
Phantoms of tangled towers, inverted corridors, writhing walls. A corner of the Infinity Castle lay naked in the night sky.
The wind changed.
It was not a natural wind. Suction surged from deep within the rift, dragging everything upward indiscriminately. Pebbles in the courtyard rose first, spinning as they were swallowed by the purple light. Then came fallen leaves, broken branches, and soil peeling off the ground layer by layer.
Beneath the eastern corridor of the Butterfly Mansion, three members of the Hidden Corps were sorting medical supplies. The instant the suction struck, the slight man closest to the outside was swept off the ground. His feet kicked in midair, his fingers clamped desperately around the wooden railing. The railing creaked, and his knuckles went white under the strain.
"Help-"
The second member of the Hidden Corps was lifted into the air. His belt caught on a corridor pillar, leaving him suspended sideways like a flag caught in the wind.
In the center of the courtyard, Tanjiro rose half a foot off the ground. He drove his feet down, digging his toes into the soil, barely managing to stay upright. Inosuke lay flat on the ground, his fingernails hooked into the gaps between the paving stones. Zenitsu clung to a corridor pillar and howled, tears and snot smearing his face.
The suction grew stronger.
The slight member of the Hidden Corps finally lost his grip. The wooden railing slipped from his hands, and the suction dragged him upward. Half his body had already vanished into the purple glow, his legs