The Sapphire Star stepped through the frost-filled breach, her golden eyes piercing the roiling dust and deeper darkness ahead to pinpoint the direction in which the Scoutflies swarmed.
"Goddammit, another area change! Another slippery bastard who runs when they can't win!"
She had seen plenty of this from Paolumu and Jyuratodus in the New World, creatures that fled miles away after taking a couple of hits.
The Velkhana frost coiling around the Sapphire Star's right arm and scabbard surged.
Humm-
The Sapphire Star became an icy-blue streak that tore through the darkness, moving so fast she left several afterimages behind!
She ignored the mine's tangled passages and hanging stalactites. Every step landed precisely on a solid outcrop, her movements as fluid and swift as when she evaded an Elder Dragon's frenzied attacks by the narrowest margins.
The fleeing cloud of black mist moved incredibly fast, darting frantically through narrow forks and cracks in the rock as it tried to use the terrain to shake off its pursuer.
But the Scoutflies' red glow clung like a parasite, tracking the moving core of the black mist without letting go!
The Sapphire Star followed close behind, her icy-blue blade tracing dazzling arcs through the winding tunnels. Wherever her cold passed, white frost coated the walls and the air temperature plummeted!
The Watcher could clearly feel that terrifying presence behind her-cold, heavy, and closing in like a polar storm. Every brush of its chill made her demon body tremble, as though even her regeneration had frozen!
How was this possible?! This monster... how could she still move so fast through terrain this complicated?!
Terror overwhelmed the Watcher. The shadow of death had never felt so real.
She wrung out the last of her strength, driving her Blood Demon Art recklessly. The churning black mist plunged into an extremely narrow crack, barely wide enough for one person to squeeze through sideways, in the hope of escaping her pursuer.
But just as she was about to disappear completely into the crack-
BOOM!!!
A deafening explosion erupted behind her! Shattered rock shot outward like a torrential downpour!
The Watcher glanced back in terror-and that single glance nearly scared her soul out of her body!
That towering figure had made no attempt to squeeze through the narrow crack!
She had not even slowed down. Her enormous weapon, wreathed in icy-blue cold, slammed into the rock wall blocking her path!
The solid rock was sliced apart and shattered as easily as tofu!
Through the billowing dust, those eyes like an evil dragon's pierced the obstruction and fixed precisely on the Watcher, like a hawk locking onto its prey!
In that fleeting moment when their eyes met, the Sapphire Star's sharp gaze caught the markings deep within the Watcher's terror-widened pupils-"Lower Rank" and "Four," unmistakably clear, as though branded there!
Lower Rank Four-Koyuki!
"Oh? A Lower Rank...?" The Sapphire Star raised an eyebrow.
So that was it. One of the elite demons mentioned in the Demon Slayer Corps' records, second only to the Upper Ranks? No wonder she was a little harder to handle than that small fry on Mount Fujikasane, with a few more tricks up her sleeve.
"Help!! No-!!! I'm not a Lower Rank! I'm just passing through!"
Koyuki let out a desperate shriek.
"Die, you monster!!!"
Koyuki abruptly condensed out of the black mist into her small true form and unleashed every scrap of her remaining strength in one desperate gamble.
Her arms swelled and mutated in an instant, becoming two hideous limbs covered in sharp wooden spikes, like enormous rotting vines. They lashed in from either side to crush the Sapphire Star, who had just broken through the wall!
This was her last resort, a Blood Demon Art that burned the very essence of her demon blood! Its power far surpassed her earlier falling rocks and poisonous wind!
Faced with this sudden, terrifying final counterattack, the Sapphire Star's eyes held only a trace of mockery, as though she had already seen through every move her opponent could make.
"Well, well, well. Can't take losing, little demon who's just passing through?"
Just as the two massive, decaying vine arms were about to close around her and tear her apart-
The Sapphire Star moved!
Wreathed in Velkhana frost, the Fatalis Demolisher seemed to come alive in her hands! It became an icy-blue lightning bolt that tore through space!
Slash! Slash!
Two slashes, so fast they almost overlapped, cut through the air with flawless precision!
The first rose from below, striking at an impossible angle into the weak point at the base of the left vine arm! Extreme cold erupted, freezing it and making it brittle!
The second descended from above with the force of a thunderbolt, cleaving viciously into the middle of the right vine arm!
Crack! Splurt!
The teeth-grating sound of shattering and the burst of fluid rang out together!
Koyuki's enormous left vine arm was severed cleanly at its base! Thick black ice and frozen dark-green sap coated the stump.
"Ugh... ah... my hands..."
Koyuki froze in place, nearly suffocating from the searing pain in both arms and the hollow sensation of having her strength drained away in an instant. In disbelief, she stared at her ruined arms, then at the figure standing like a demon god before her, without so much as a torn hem.
Those reddish-gold eyes watched her calmly.
The overwhelming disparity, her utter helplessness, and the humiliation of being crushed so easily despite being a Lower Rank instantly wound around her heart like poisonous vines!
"No... impossible..."
Koyuki staggered backward. Dark-green blood dripped from her severed arm and spread over the cold ground. Her face was filled with shock, defiance, and deep venomous hatred.
"Please spare me... I... I'm... Lower Rank Four... that lord granted me power... I promise..."
Her words cut off abruptly.
The cold tip of the scabbard had lightly touched Koyuki's forehead.
"Lower Rank Four?" Neither pleasure nor anger showed in the Sapphire Star's voice.
"Don't you know four is unlucky? Your strength is decent, though. You're stronger than another demon I met before..."
"Unfortunately, you're too timid. Your fighting style relies too heavily on ambushes and the environment, and you lack the will to fight head-on. Against a truly strong opponent, you're full of openings."
"Even if it had been another Hashira from the Demon Slayer Corps instead of me, I doubt a demon of your caliber would have given them much trouble."
Koyuki's pupils contracted sharply. Such a... condescending assessment left her feeling more humiliated and hopeless than being killed outright!
The Lower Rank status and power she took such pride in seemed to be nothing more than a "sample" awaiting evaluation in her opponent's eyes!
"What... what kind of monster are you?!" Koyuki roared with the last of her strength, her voice thick with defiance and venom.
The Sapphire Star did not answer. She merely gave her wrist a slight flick.
Koyuki's body suddenly stiffened, her expression forever frozen in utter bewilderment and defiance.
The dark-green moss covering her body quickly withered and blackened.
Starting from her head, where the cold had penetrated, her body cracked and crumbled inch by inch. At last, it became a heap of foul-smelling black ice fragments and sticky stains, then vanished completely into the mine's freezing air.
The Sapphire Star withdrew her scabbard and fanned away the stench in disgust.
"Lower Rank Four... that counts as a low-rank quest, right?" she murmured.
She took one final look at the spot where Koyuki had disappeared. Only a faint trace of decay remained.
"All done. Where should I go next..." She recalled Koyuki's intense resentment before her death, the "lord" she had mentioned, and the mysterious Twelve Kizuki described in the records.
"I'll have to have a proper talk with Hikigusa about these demons. Once I reach high rank... hmm, the Upper Ranks, things will probably get difficult, right?"
A tranquil tearoom at the Wisteria Family Estate.
Kagaya Ubuyashiki sat upright, his fingertips brushing lightly over an old book open on his lap, though his mind was clearly elsewhere.
Lady Amane quietly prepared tea beside him. Steam carrying the fragrance of tea filled the room, but could not entirely dispel the tense weight of waiting.
"Caw-! Caw-!"
Urgent, ringing caws shattered the courtyard's silence! A Kasugai Crow serving Oyakata-sama shot into the tearoom like an arrow loosed from a bow, landing precisely on the low table before Kagaya Ubuyashiki. The breeze from its beating wings stirred the pages.
"Master!"
The Kasugai Crow's voice carried unprecedented excitement.
"Sunshine Mountain! The Sunshine Mountain mine!"
Kagaya Ubuyashiki abruptly raised his head. Lady Amane stopped preparing tea as well, holding her breath to listen.
The Kasugai Crow drew a deep breath and shouted with all its strength:
"The ore vein crisis has been resolved! The demon obstructing the mine and devouring miners has been slain by Lady Sapphire Star! Identity confirmed-Koyuki, Lower Rank Four of the Twelve Kizuki! Elimination confirmed! The tunnels are clear! Ore shipments have begun! The Swordsmith Village is safe!"
"It was... Lower Rank Four... Koyuki... her elimination is confirmed?!"
An incredibly radiant, relieved smile blossomed across Kagaya Ubuyashiki's handsome but scar-covered face! It was so pure and joyous that it seemed to dispel a corner of the heavy gloom that had hung over the Demon Slayer Corps for a thousand years.
He sprang to his feet, his wide sleeves trembling slightly with excitement.
"Amane! Did you hear that?!"
His voice trembled with irrepressible excitement, almost choking with emotion.
"Lady Sapphire Star... she did it! She truly did it! Not only did she resolve the crisis at the mine, she also... slew a Lower Rank!"
Lady Amane covered her mouth with both hands, tears of shock and elation filling her gentle face.
"A Lower Rank... a demon of the Twelve Kizuki... slain... slain so quickly by Lady Sapphire Star alone?! This... this is nothing short of a miracle!" She knew all too well how terrifying the Lower Rank demons were. The magnitude of this achievement nearly left her unable to stand.
Kagaya Ubuyashiki hurried out onto the veranda, the night breeze stirring his silver-white hair. He gazed toward Sunshine Mountain, his clenched fists white at the knuckles with excitement.
"Heaven has blessed the Demon Slayer Corps... heaven has blessed humanity..."
His voice carried an almost reverent gratitude.
"Lady Sapphire Star, you have brought us more than a restored mine. You have brought us hope! A ray of dawn... that can sever this thousand-year curse! With Koyuki slain, Muzan has lost a finger! Magnificent! What a triumph!"
He lifted his head and let the night breeze brush his face, as though he wished to carry this immense joy to every inch of land shrouded in darkness.
Almost at the same moment, the Hashira scattered across Japan received reports from their Kasugai Crows:
"Caw-!! Urgent report! Urgent report! Sapphire Star! At the Sunshine Mountain Ore Vein! Has slain Koyuki, Lower Rank Four of the Twelve Kizuki! The ore vein crisis is resolved! Ore supplies restored! Caw-!!!"
"Caw-!! Koyuki, Lower Rank Four! Elimination confirmed! Elimination confirmed! Sapphire Star! Caw-!!"
The Kasugai Crow's screech brought Kyojuro abruptly to his feet, his voice booming like a bell:
"Umu!!! She slew Lower Rank Four?! Splendid work, Lady Sapphire Star!!" His eyes blazed with pure admiration for a powerful warrior and an even fiercer desire to fight.
"Truly a warrior as fierce and powerful as the fires of purgatory! Such an achievement, such strength! Once this mission is over, I must meet her! I want to see just how dazzling the flame that can slay a Lower Rank truly is!"
The Kasugai Crow's shrieks made Sanemi Shinazugawa look up irritably. "You're too loud! Shut up!" But once he caught the message, his bloodshot eyes fixed on the crow.
"...A Lower Rank? Koyuki? That woman... killed her?! So fast..." The muscles in his face twitched violently, disbelief filling his eyes. Though Koyuki was only among the lowest of the Lower Ranks, barely half a day had passed between his hearing that the Sapphire Star had set out and her successful completion of the mission.
Sanemi fell silent for a few seconds, then clicked his tongue in irritation.
Mitsuri Kanroji was diligently swinging her sword in the courtyard, sweat soaking the hair over her forehead. Her Kasugai Crow circled merrily overhead, its voice cracking with excitement:
"Mitsuri! Mitsuri! Wonderful news! That new big sister, Sapphire Star! She beat that super-scary Lower Rank Four, Koyuki, in the mine! Cut her head off with a single stroke! The ore vein is safe! Everyone in the Swordsmith Village will be over the moon!"
Mitsuri abruptly stopped. Her pink-and-green eyes went round and shone with astonishing brightness.
"Whaaat?! R-really?! Lower Rank Four?! Koyuki?! Big Sister Sapphire Star beat her... all by herself?! So fast! That's... that's incredible!!"
"I knew it! I knew she was the strongest, coolest big sister ever! This is wonderful! She's so amazing!! Aaaah! I want to see her right now and make her sooo much delicious sakura mochi to celebrate!!"
Back in the tearoom, Kagaya Ubuyashiki's excitement had settled slightly, but his eyes still shone brightly. Hikigusa appeared soundlessly behind him like a shadow and bowed respectfully.
"Hikigusa."
Kagaya Ubuyashiki's voice regained its usual gentleness.
"Immediately compile all the detailed battle reports the Kakushi have sent from Sunshine Mountain regarding Lady Sapphire Star's defeat of Koyuki, along with the state of the mine's recovery, into the most comprehensive dossier possible. Be especially thorough with the observations of her fighting style."
Hikigusa nodded silently, then swiftly melted into the shadows to carry out this crucial task.
Kagaya Ubuyashiki turned his gaze into the distance again, as though he could already see that starlight from another world sweeping onward with unstoppable momentum, illuminating ever more corners consumed by darkness.
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