The demons were gone, and the trees were bare

"Congratulations on passing the Final Selection."

Two little girls stood at the front and center of the square, addressing those who had passed.

To their surprise, most of the candidates were looking around, as though searching for someone.

"Where's that tall, skinny, handsome guy in purple? Where did he go?"

"Huh? You met him too?"

"Yeah, he saved me when I nearly died in there. Now that we're out, I wanted to thank him. Fine, I'll admit it-I just want to latch onto someone strong."

"What a coincidence! Me too. But why isn't he here?"

As many of those present looked around, others whispered among themselves, and quite a few exchanged what they knew.

"Oh, right, that guy also had a strange weapon. He could beat those demons senseless from a distance."

"Yeah, exactly! And his clothes were really strange too. They looked pretty cool."

Hearing their words, Makomo's eyes flickered. She glanced at Ye Chen beside her, who was playing dumb. The weapon they described sounded like the one Ye Chen had used against the Hand Demon, but their description of the man himself did not seem to match him at all.

The two little girls exchanged a knowing glance as they listened. Just as they had suspected, some exceptional individual must have been responsible for so many people surviving this Final Selection. Yet for some reason, that person did not seem to be present. Or had he disguised himself?

"All right, you have passed the Final Selection. Although the number of survivors this time was unexpected, congratulations nonetheless. You are now officially members of the Demon Slayer Corps."

The white-haired little girl clapped her hands, quieting everyone present, then continued, "However, let me remind you of something. After this Final Selection, you should understand that hunting demons in the Demon Slayer Corps is an extremely dangerous job. If you feel the Demon Slayer Corps isn't right for you, there's still time to withdraw."

Everyone in the square fell silent for a moment.

Without question, many of them would have been unable to pass the Final Selection. If not for that young man in purple they had mentioned, most of those present might have remained inside forever.

Soon, one person stepped forward and declared that he was unsuited to this profession. Two more followed. The others exchanged glances. Some smiled bitterly, some felt their blood stir, some had eyes full of confidence, and others were afraid, but no one else stepped forward.

The black-haired little girl was not surprised by this. Although work in the Demon Slayer Corps was dangerous, most of those who came here had no other path left. Some might believe they would grow rapidly after joining the Corps, while others might think they would soon die at a demon's hands, but none of them had anywhere else to turn. Some carried their masters' great expectations, others were driven by a powerful sense of justice, and still others had lost their families to demons and had come to avenge them.

"Since you've all decided to stay, we have nothing more to say. This is the tamahagane used to forge Nichirin Blades. You must choose for yourselves the steel that will become the blades protecting you."

The black-haired little girl walked to one side and lifted the cloth covering the table already standing in the square, revealing several unusual stones.

Ye Chen's gaze flickered a few times before he became the first to step forward. He consulted the system, and after learning which stone was of good quality, he picked it up and walked back.

Although there were some differences between the stones, their quality was actually much the same. After all, no matter how powerful a Nichirin Blade was, it still depended on the strength of the person wielding it.

After thinking it over, however, Ye Chen told Makomo, "Oh, right, Makomo. Take the second stone from the left in the back row."

Makomo gave Ye Chen a slightly surprised look, then smiled and nodded before walking forward to take the stone he had indicated.

The two little girls noticed that everyone else kept picking through the stones, whereas Ye Chen and Makomo had each taken theirs as soon as they approached, without even picking up a second stone to compare. Moreover, the tamahagane they chose seemed to be of good quality. This surprised the girls, and they quietly made a note of the pair. After all, this Final Selection had seen a major upheaval, and perhaps these two had something to do with it.

"Twenty-seven? Twenty-seven people survived this Final Selection?!"

At the Demon Slayer Corps Headquarters, Kagaya Ubuyashiki, the Corps' Oyakata-sama, held a note delivered by a crow. Even with his exceptional intellect, the news left him stunned.

The reason was simple. Normally, having five or six people survive a Final Selection was already an excellent result. There had even been instances when no one emerged alive. Yet twenty-seven had survived this time. It was simply unbelievable.

"Who could it be? What was their purpose?"

Kagaya Ubuyashiki could not make sense of it. Had some saint entered this Final Selection and saved most of the candidates? But the more he considered it, the less likely it seemed.

"Hm?" Just then, Kagaya Ubuyashiki saw another crow flying toward him. It had been sent by the people he had dispatched to investigate the Wisteria Flower Sea after the Final Selection. He took the note from the crow, read its contents, and was once again left utterly astonished.

The note informed him that every demon in the Wisteria Flower Sea had disappeared. It was now all but certain that they had been killed, since demons left no bodies behind after death. One rumor claimed that demons were creatures of the Netherworld, and that their physical bodies returned there when they were killed. Of course, this was merely a legend that had spread because they left no corpses.

What truly astonished Kagaya Ubuyashiki was that he had no idea who possessed the ability to slay every demon inside within seven days. Even the Demon Slayer Corps' Pillar-level Members would likely struggle to accomplish such a feat. There were simply too many demons in there, captured by countless generations of Corps members.

Then he read the rest of the note, and his hands actually trembled involuntarily. According to the report, nearly all the wisteria trees within the inner area of the Wisteria Flower Sea had been stripped bare. In other words, all their leaves were gone, leaving nothing but bare trunks standing there.

Utterly unhinged! They had even dared to tamper with the trees in the Wisteria Flower Sea!

Without those trees, all the demons inside would probably have escaped. Although none of those demons were particularly powerful, their sheer numbers could still have caused trouble for the entire Demon Slayer Corps. Well, all those demons had already been killed now, anyway.

"It seems someone extraordinary showed up this time. Still, anyone who killed so many demons and gathered so many wisteria leaves probably isn't one of Muzan Kibutsuji's people. This should be a good thing."

Kagaya Ubuyashiki gave a wry smile, but he took it in stride. Those trees should grow back by next year's Final Selection. The greatest problem was that all the demons captured for the newcomers' Final Selection had been killed. It seemed he would have to ask the veteran members of the Demon Slayer Corps to capture demons and bring them there more frequently again.