A great being

Rengoku and Uzui rushed back to headquarters with their grim findings.

After hearing their report, Ubuyashiki fell silent for a moment.

"Notify Giyu Tomioka, Sanemi Shinazugawa, and Gyomei Himejima at once. They are to join Rengoku and Uzui and return to Mount Dayue with all haste!" Ubuyashiki's voice was steady but left no room for doubt.

Kyojuro froze. "Oyakata-sama, do we really need to deploy that many Hashira? Mobilizing such a force is unprecedented..."

Ubuyashiki merely shook his head. "While you were investigating, the Sapphire Star had already set out for Mount Dayue alone..."

Everyone was stunned. Uzui blurted out, "Alone? She..."

"Yes," Ubuyashiki interrupted him. "She must know something, and she chose to face it alone. But... but how could the Demon Slayer Corps stand by while an ally faced an unknown, formidable enemy on her own? It is time we repaid her aid and shouldered our responsibility!"

At the foot of Mount Dayue.

The Sapphire Star stood amid the wreckage where the mountain had "stopped" not long ago, gazing up at the silent peak. Her customary smile had vanished, replaced by killing intent so dense it seemed almost tangible.

She slowly drew the savagely powerful Fatalis Demolisher, its blade exuding a suffocating, murderous aura.

"I fucking knew it..." she muttered, her eyes locked on the mountain.

Humm-!!!

Without the slightest warning, she flashed forward. Spirit Thrust!

Shrrk- Where the blade sank in, a web of cracks instantly spread across the rock!

-ROOOAAARRR-!!!

A furious roar of pain, far clearer than the earlier muffled growls, suddenly erupted from within the mountain!

With that roar came an earthquake stronger than any before it.

The mountain shook violently and heaved upward! Countless thousands of tons of rock peeled away and exploded outward, layer after layer, like a fragile eggshell!

Inside the bedchamber in Infinity Castle, Muzan, who had just tried to go back to sleep, went tumbling down yet again.

"Again-?!" He only managed half a furious, startled roar.

"NAKIME!!!!! WHY IS THIS HAPPENING!!!!"

At Mount Dayue, rocks fell like rain. Amid the dust thrown skyward by the earthquake, the outline of an unimaginably colossal shadow suddenly rose!

"ROAR-!!!!"

The earth-shaking roar became a physical wave of sound. Mount Dayue shattered completely, countless thousands of tons of rock crashing down like a flood as the ground surged wildly like a raging sea.

Facing the avalanche of rock and the splitting ground, the Sapphire Star gripped the Fatalis Demolisher and advanced instead of retreating!

Rising Slash!

Moving like lightning, she slid sideways past a falling boulder, bringing her blade upward and then sweeping it across, trailing a razor-sharp gust! Every strike in her relentless barrage landed, sparks flying amid an unbroken chorus of shattering rock!

BOOM-!!!

The mountain came crashing down, and a terrifying shock wave burst outward in a ring of surging earth and shattered stone!

Clang--

A clear metallic clash rang out, and the crimson energy along her blade blazed brighter! The Sapphire Star did not retreat a single step. Holding her sword in a reverse grip, she wrapped the Fatalis Blade in overflowing crimson refined qi and surged forward with a rapid spin!

Helm Breaker Slash!

Shrrk-BANG!!!

This time, the mountain shook violently and took its first step backward, stamping another deep crater into the earth.

"ROOOAAARRR-!!!"

The thick stone armor of the thousand-year-old mountain could no longer hold together. Great slabs of rock began peeling off and crumbling faster and faster.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!!!

Dust billowed into the sky. Amid the smoke and falling stones, the mountain's form underwent a staggering transformation!

Jagged wing bones pierced the dust like eight enormous scythes of withered bone. Its mottled yellow, purple, and white shell was riddled with honeycomb-like holes, like a skeleton dried for ten thousand years suddenly returning to life!

A crown of flame-shaped crystalline rock rose from its head, and two rows of stark white human teeth lay hidden beneath its tightly closed eyes.

The "benevolent eye plate" atop its brow suddenly opened, golden light spilling out like a third eye as it silently released ripples of vibration that annihilated everything.

With their wing membranes reduced, its exposed wing claws hung at its sides. Every slight tremor twisted the air into visible ripples of death, while the ground beneath its feet silently turned to quicksand and pulverized dust!

The legendary embodiment of the earth's veins, a natural disaster given form-

Shara Ishvalda!

Like a creature emerging from its cocoon, it finally revealed itself fully beneath the collapsing "mountain," standing between the trembling heavens and earth!

The five Hashira still racing along the forest trail slammed to a halt almost simultaneously!

Roars and impacts rose from deep within the earth, heavier than any previous tremor, as though an ancient god were beating a war drum. Accompanied by a low infrasonic wave that pierced their souls, they swept through the forest ahead of them! Leaves shook loose from the trees, and even their heartbeats faltered!

"That sound?!" Kyojuro looked toward the source of the tremors and the terrifying presence-

At the horizon, at the very edge of their vision, the sky above the mountain range... seemed to be blotted out by an indescribably enormous shadow.

"Hey, hey, hey! You've got to be kidding..." Tengen Uzui, the Sound Hashira, cried out. Even his flamboyant makeup could not hide his horror. "This is on a completely different level from before!"

"Amitabha... what... manner of being is this..." Though Gyomei Himejima could not see, that immense "presence" reached across the distance and battered his senses like a landslide and tsunami. Every tremor beneath his feet conveyed a terrifying power beyond description!

Without another word, the five raced toward the battlefield even faster! The closer they came, the thicker the primal aura in the air grew-a suffocating blend of lava, sulfur, and pure power!

At last, they burst out of the final stretch of dense forest and reached the edge of the battlefield. The view before them opened up-

Towering? Enormous? Colossal? Every word humans used to describe massive creatures seemed pale and powerless at that moment!

A fearsome dragon's head looked down upon the earth. Its golden slit pupils held a will as cold and indifferent as a star, and the gusts from its breathing alone were enough to whip up gales through the forest!

"..."

Even these pillars of the Demon Slayer Corps, veterans of countless battles who had faced beings such as Muzan, all sucked in a sharp breath. Together, they fell into a state of shock and speechlessness unlike anything they had ever experienced!

"That's... the thing the Sapphire Star was going to face... alone?" Sanemi Shinazugawa's voice was dry. For the first time, he felt profoundly helpless.

"Holy shit! What are you all doing here!!! Spread out, now!" The Sapphire Star's warning came with a blinding wave of destructive light!

Almost through the instinctive reactions of elite warriors, the stunned Hashira instantly snapped back to their senses.

"Spread out! Engage from the flanks!" Kyojuro Rengoku's voice thundered across the battlefield!

"Stop it! We can't let that thing fire!" Sanemi Shinazugawa roared, charging out first!

"Uzui! Distract it! Mr. Himejima! Keep it pinned!" Giyu Tomioka finally deigned to speak as well.

Without another moment's hesitation, the five charged from different directions at the colossal beast of calamity, which seemed like an embodiment of heaven and earth itself.

"Oh, come on!! Seriously... that makes a six-person party! That's bad luck!!" the Sapphire Star grumbled, but the smile she could not keep off her lips betrayed her true feelings.

She had always been so jealous of Blaze having so many people helping her hunt. Today, it was finally her turn. Heh heh heh~