The sky shattered.
The instant the rifts burst open overhead, dark purple pillars of light poured down-not one or two, but more than a dozen striking at once, tearing the night sky above the Butterfly Mansion into rags.
The pillars struck the roof tiles, pulverizing them outright. The load-bearing beams let out a deep groan, and the building's entire skeleton began to bow upward, as though a giant hand were wrenching it toward the sky.
The suction dragged everyone in the courtyard off balance. Zenitsu spun half a turn sideways in the air and grabbed the nearest corridor pillar, his nails digging into the wood, the corners of his mouth pulling downward. Tanjiro bent low to lower his center of gravity, crushing the flagstones beneath his feet before he steadied himself. Inosuke drove both blades into the ground and flattened himself into a bow, his hair streaming straight upward.
Rengoku kept his footing. With one hand on his sword, he caught a member of the Hidden Corps being pulled up beside him with the other, his fiery red eyes fixed on the rifts overhead, his lips pressed tight. Mitsuri wrapped her whip blade around the base of a corridor pillar. Her body tilted and rose halfway off the ground, her pale green eyes grave.
Tiles along the eastern corridor peeled away one after another, as though an invisible hand were flipping them into the sky. The joints between the roof beams began to loosen, sending wood shavings flying upward.
The Butterfly Mansion was coming apart.
Starting with the outer walls, the dark purple pillars shattered and dismantled it piece by piece, sweeping everything into the ever-growing black hole above.
The whole process was silent. That silence was more chilling than any roar.
Yaha stood in the very center of the