The Hashira's Bloody Battle Against the Upper Ranks

BOOM-!!!

The crash of the Sapphire Star slamming into the Hate Demon thundered through the heavens. The shock waves of bursting flesh shook the cliffs, cracking the rock beneath Akaza's feet.

Akaza's eyes blazed with excitement. "Incredible! Breaking through the air with nothing but flesh! Such Fighting Spirit!..." But remembering that Lord Muzan's orders came first, he forced down his urge to rush over and challenge her.

He turned southwest-eight Demon Slayers' presences were gradually moving away, the flame mark on the leading boy's forehead blazing like fire.

"Tanjiro Kamado..."

Gyokko's ceramic pot spun wildly on the rubble. "What a waste! Such a waste! Those split bodies of Hantengu's... I could have fired them into the most exquisite glaze! Perhaps those Demon Slayers' blood..."

"Silence!"

Kokushibo pressed a hand to his sword hilt, staring fixedly at Tanjiro's earrings. Gyokko hurriedly ducked back into his pot, not daring to make another sound.

In the shadows by the cliff, Hundred Faces struggled to prop up his shattered body, black blood pouring out. Doma snapped his golden fan shut, his voice carrying a trace of mockery.

"Oh my~ Isn't this our poor little Hundred Faces~? You can barely even stand!"

"Cough... cough!" Hundred Faces coughed violently, struggling to look up at the Upper Ranks.

"My lords... would you hear... a dying demon's... final words?"

Kokushibo narrowed his six eyes and nodded his assent. The other Upper Ranks could only listen in silence.

"Do you... believe in fate?" Hundred Faces panted. "Ever since Lord Muzan molded me from that lump of refuse... I've been unable to see my own fate..."

"Fate?" Akaza looked at Nameless Hundred Faces in confusion.

"Later, His Lordship gave me this... powerful, tragic swordsman's broken body... and my fate... was nailed to his chain of cause and effect. Hahahaha!"

Kokushibo's blood blade suddenly hummed!

"Are you mocking Yoriichi Tsugikuni? Or are you mocking us?"

"His Lordship has collapsed!" Hundred Faces interrupted hoarsely. "That trembling in our blood... do you think I can't feel it?! I saw it long ago! His Lordship's future... holds only oblivion! There has never... been even the slightest glimmer of success!"

"I gave everything... to tear open the gates of eternity for him! But he wouldn't believe me... Now he'll never... ever... touch that Blue Spider Lily!!"

"Nameless Hundred Faces!" Kokushibo's furious shout cracked like thunder. "For such treacherous words, you deserve death!"

Watching Kokushibo's furious reaction, then looking at the other silent Upper Ranks, Nameless Hundred Faces finally just shook his head.

"Ah... go, then..." Hundred Faces slumped to the ground. "Lord Kokushibo, it no longer matters whether you strike. I'll rot here... If anyone wishes to stay... with this scrap of refuse..."

Doma flicked open his fan and vanished in a flash. A viscous snicker came from Gyokko's pot. Akaza darted into the blood mist. Kokushibo cast one last glance at Hundred Faces' ruined body, sheathed his blood blade, and dissolved into an inky shadow.

Only Nameless Hundred Faces' sobs remained atop the cliff. No one stayed with him, and no one was willing to hear him out.

Hundred Faces sat alone in the pool of blood, listening to the fading echoes of his companions' departure, and let out a long, hollow sigh.

"In the end... everyone will walk the road to death..." He slowly opened his palm. A thread-thin golden gleam appeared in it-an Ancient Totem that did not belong to this world.

"My lord, why won't you believe me...? If you'd only given me a little more time... Miss Sapphire Star was your only chance to change your fate!"

A world without the Sapphire Star surfaced in Nameless Hundred Faces' mind. In that world, His Lordship had ultimately died a terrible death beneath the sun. The Sapphire Star's appearance as an unpredictable element in his own world was His Lordship's only way to break free of fate!

But why would His Lordship not believe him? He had never told a single lie. He had even planned his next steps-if he could just approach Miss Sapphire Star and swallow even one drop of her blood, he could guide the Xeno'jiiva lost in the void into this world!

Xeno'jiiva! That supernatural child born from the absorption of countless stores of pure energy-only its energy could give His Lordship everything. Once it descended, His Lordship needed only to absorb the faintest trace of Dragon Energy, and neither sunlight nor Breathing Styles would ever be able to harm him again.

He had already shown His Lordship its power and perfection...

Did gods really exist in this world? Nameless Hundred Faces did not know. Perhaps the god was a crocodile? The Crocodile God had already written the final line of His Lordship's fate, and he seemed unable to change any outcome.

"The cause I couldn't change at my birth..." He gazed at the gleam, a spark returning to his eyes. "Then at the end... I'll wager these stolen bones and soul..."

The sound of the Sapphire Star's collision reached the others as well. They had just taken the Nichirin Blades from Yoriichi Type Zero.

Watching the earth-shaking commotion, Kyojuro Rengoku laughed aloud. "Hahahaha! The Sapphire Star's spirit truly sets my heart racing!" The training sword he had just retrieved was dull and lusterless, its hilt wrapping worn white long ago.

Tengen was particularly disgusted. He looked at the old Nichirin Blade and sighed. "Ah! I insist that every Nichirin Blade be set with gemstones from now on! This is... far too unflashy..."

Shinazugawa clicked his tongue irritably at Tengen. "Any sword that can kill demons is a good sword! Otherwise, go back to killing them with those flashy twin blades of yours that are smashed to pieces!"

Gyomei Himejima held an old Nichirin Blade, its tiny blade utterly out of proportion to his massive frame. He was recalling conventional sword techniques when a sudden change startled him out of his thoughts. "The Sapphire Star's presence! It just vanished!"

Tanjiro abruptly realized it too. The overwhelming pressure of Miss Sapphire Star's powerful presence could be felt from hundreds of meters away-how had it suddenly disappeared while they weren't looking?

"She'll be fine!" Tengen Uzui tucked the Nichirin Blade into his belt with a look of distaste. "Most likely, some demon she encountered has created a barrier that blocks her presence again! Let's deal with the ones outside first-" Before he finished, the air across the entire training ground abruptly froze!

Demonic presences! More than one-and they had already surrounded the training ground!

"Oh my~ What wonderful expressions on you little mice now that you've found your toy swords!" Doma appeared amid petals of ice crystals. "Let me see... how much strength you can muster with those toys?"

"Rengoku!"

Akaza jumped down with a boom, accompanied by his own background music.

"Our last fight wasn't nearly satisfying enough! But I won't hold back this time."

Gyokko's ceramic pot rattled in the shadows. A slender demon hand pointed at Mitsuri Kanroji's cherry-pink braids. "That pink-haired girl's flesh and blood... fired into a glaze, they'd be beautiful enough to bring tears to my eyes!" The Love Hashira jumped several steps back in fright.

Kokushibo's figure coalesced like an inky shadow. His six blood-red eyes pierced the chaos, glancing at the damaged Yoriichi Type Zero behind them.

"A lowly machine! An ugly imitation!" A supersonic burst of Sword Aura sliced Yoriichi Type Zero into pieces. "Unworthy even of carrying on the flame!"

"Water Breathing, Fourth Form: Striking Tide!" Giyu Tomioka struck first, raising surging waves to cut apart the ice thorns, but his blade cracked the instant it touched the edge of Doma's fan.

"Tomioka! These swords are too badly worn! Don't use brute force! Wind Breathing, Third Form: Clear Sky, Wind Tree!"

Sanemi Shinazugawa's swirling blade winds shredded the demon hand attacking Kanroji, but Gyokko seized the opening to reach for his neck. "Heehee! Those broken swords don't even hurt when they cut!"

"Sanemi, watch out! Stone Breathing, First Form: Serpentine Rock, Twin Poles!" Gyomei Himejima grabbed the meteor hammer's handle and brought it crashing down together with the huge training sword!

Gyokko's ceramic pot caved in from the blow. Just as slime erupted from the massive pot, the Stone Hashira's training sword snapped in half with a clang!

"Miss Mitsuri, get behind me!" Muichiro Tokito's afterimage swept into Gyokko's flank, his blade slashing toward the demon's wrist.

But Doma's ice-crystal thrust abruptly froze his blade.

"Don't be so impatient, little boy~" Frost spread up the hilt. Muichiro Tokito immediately abandoned the sword and retreated, and the frozen training blade shattered with a crack!

"Muichiro! Why are you using a training sword too? Where's your sword?!" Tengen tossed his own training sword to Muichiro and drew his shattered swords again, only half their blades remaining.

"Mr. Kanamori hasn't given me my new sword yet. It should be finished by now." Muichiro caught the training sword cleanly in a backflip and slashed at Doma. Doma merely raised a hand, and an ice wall blocked every attack.

"Akaza! Flame Breathing, Second Form: Rising Scorching Flame!" Kyojuro Rengoku slashed at Akaza, wreathed in roaring flames!

The instant the blazing sword light collided with his fist-metal fragments exploded like a crimson downpour!

Blood from the split web of Rengoku's hand splashed onto his brow, while the torn wounds across Akaza's knuckles hissed beneath the searing flames!

"Mr. Rengoku!" Seeing this, Giyu hurried over to help.

"Now that's more like it! Stay out of my fight with Rengoku!" Akaza laughed wildly, knocking Rengoku back and blocking Giyu Tomioka's attack.

In the opening as Akaza blocked, Tanjiro raised his sword and slashed at his head, only for Akaza to catch it with his other hand and twist the training blade like a snake.

Akaza casually hurled Tanjiro away, and an even denser demonic presence rose behind him.

"All appearance and no substance. Scrap metal will always be scrap metal!" Kokushibo's sword had yet to leave its sheath, but his chilling killing intent was already poised to sever Tanjiro's head-

"Kamado, get out of the way! Sound Breathing, First Form: Roar!"

Several of Tengen Uzui's attacks exploded along the ground! The shock wave forced Kokushibo to turn slightly aside. Tanjiro seized the chance to leap back, but the pressure bent his warped blade into a right angle!

He gripped the hilt desperately-

Hinokami Kagura: Dance!

Crimson-gold flame patterns erupted along the steel blank. Kokushibo's six blood-red eyes suddenly contracted! Instinctively, he drew his blood blade at full force to meet the strike!

CLANG-!!!

The gale from the colliding steel blank and blood blade tore through the rock wall. The immense force hurled Tanjiro into a stone pillar, knocking the steel blank from his hand! Kokushibo's slash veered by an inch, its Sword Aura plowing a deep trench through the ground!

"...Sun Breathing? Those earrings, that technique..." Kokushibo ran a hand along his trembling blade, looking at Tanjiro before turning toward Muichiro Tokito.

"More than a hundred years have passed, yet our shadows still linger in this world..."

Doma smiled cheerfully at the airborne Tanjiro, the enormous hand of his ice-crystal bodhisattva reaching toward the fallen boy. "I'll send you on to the next life~"

"Stay away from Tanjiro! Love Breathing, Sixth Form: Cat-Paw Love Wind!"

Mitsuri Kanroji's flexible blade coiled around the giant ice-crystal hand, scraping against the solid ice with a piercing screech!

But Gyokko's soft head emerged from the shadows, his fangs lunging for the Love Hashira's shoulder from behind. "Hehehe~ My first top-quality pot blank is mine-"

BOOM!

Gyomei Himejima's attack drove into the top of Gyokko's skull, sending black-red demon blood spraying like a waterfall.

"Mitsuri, watch out!"

Kanroji staggered back in pain. Gyokko's broken cervical spine spewed a rain of corrosive poison. Gyomei's monk robes instantly blackened and smoked, and the poison ate through his rough, massive hand to the bone!

Akaza's tattooed fist tore through the wind pressure, driving straight toward Giyu's heart. "You interfered with my fight with Rengoku! Your bones are mine!"

Sanemi Shinazugawa rushed over and blocked with the remnants of his broken sword, but the pressure from the punch cracked its already ruined blade inch by inch!

Meanwhile, the Sound Hashira, Tengen Uzui, unleashed several slashes at Doma, all blocked by ice walls. Frost crept along the blades, about to reach the Wind Hashira's arms!

"Mr. Tengen!" Tanjiro threw the scorching steel blank toward Tengen Uzui.

"Thanks, Kamado! That was seriously flashy!" The Sound Hashira seized the chance to abandon his frozen Nichirin Blades.

"Flashy? Then take your final bow in style! Hahahaha!" Doma's golden fan unfurled an array of a thousand ice needles. The instant the Sound Hashira spun to catch the steel blank, an ice spike pierced his lower abdomen!

As blood soaked through his clothes, Tengen Uzui slashed the steel blank back at the ice spike! Blood and gunpowder flared across the metal's surface!

"Sound Breathing, Fifth Form: Resonant String Ensemble!!"

The whirlwind blasted apart the ice formation. Tengen himself was thrown back by the explosion, while a faint crack appeared in Doma's golden fan.

Shattered training swords littered the ground. Kyojuro Rengoku clutched scorching metal fragments. Giyu held a broken sword with barely six inches of blade left. The stark bones of Gyomei's fingers lay exposed. Poisoned blood dripped from Sanemi's knuckles. Muichiro pulled a blackened broken sword from the rubble. Uzui braced himself against the ground with the bloodstained steel blank. Even Kanroji's real blade had chipped into a jagged, sawlike edge.

"Shut up! Shut up, shut up!" Gyokko's crushed skull regenerated frantically amid the poison.

"You bald old monk! How dare you smash my newly glazed... Aah-!" The Stone Hashira punched Gyokko back into his pot. His massive hand, its finger bones exposed, plunged fearlessly into the poison-churning mouth of the pot and locked around Gyokko's throat.

"Even without a weapon! This humble monk must use this broken body... to end you with his own hands!"

"Lord Stone Hashira, watch out!" Mitsuri Kanroji's shriek pierced the air. From the fragments of Gyokko's shattered pot, a sluglike demon hand shot toward Gyomei's mangled back like lightning!

"Urgh... Gaaaaah-!"

The dull sound of flesh being pierced erupted together with the sharp crack of shattering bones.

The Stone Hashira took Gyokko's ambush head-on. His right arm swung like a forged iron hammer, punching Gyokko's head and pot deep into the rock.

"Mr. Gyomei!" Tanjiro's eyes widened in anguish.

"What a wonderful performance from Lord Gyokko~" Doma flicked his ice fan, sending countless ice needles toward Tengen Uzui.

Yet their strongest enemy, Kokushibo, had not fully joined the fight. He had been watching Tanjiro and Muichiro fight-or rather, this slaughter did not yet require Upper Rank One's intervention. Without suitable weapons, the swordsmen were little different from lambs waiting to be butchered.

Though this was hardly an honorable victory, Kokushibo cared nothing for a moment's disgrace as long as he could fulfill His Lordship's orders.

The demonic pressure of four Upper Ranks tightened around everyone's throats like a noose. Tanjiro struggled to pick up half a steel blank from the ground, flame patterns burning fiercely in his eyes.

Kokushibo looked just above Tanjiro's forehead. An invisible blade wind sheared away the boy's bangs, leaving a bloody cut.

His six blood-red eyes stared at the flame-shaped scar on the boy's forehead. "...Boy, state your name."

"Kamado... Tanjiro! My name is Tanjiro Kamado!" the boy roared, blood from his split palm staining the rust on the blade red.

"And that young Hashira-what is his name?" Apparently unsatisfied with the answer, Kokushibo looked toward where Muichiro Tokito had fallen.

"He's the Mist Hashira, Muichiro Tokito!"

"Not Tsugikuni, then. Kamado... and Tokito...?"

Kokushibo's blade hummed, and even the steel blank in Tanjiro's hand began to tremble.

"Fascinating! How fascinating!" Mitsuri's real blade held the giant hand of Doma's ice-crystal bodhisattva tightly entangled, but his rainbow-colored eyes remained fixed excitedly on Kokushibo's faintly trembling sword.

"To see Lord Upper Rank One shaken... that's a first in centuries~"

"Out of my way!" Akaza's fist pressure tore through the Wind and Water Hashiras' attacks. Kyojuro Rengoku's broken sword swept in, wrapped in flames. The afterimage of a Flame Tiger crashed into the web of Compass Needle punches, and shattered blade fragments and sparks burst into crimson-gold fireworks amid the demonic aura!

"Kamado... Tokito..." Kokushibo slowly raised his blade's tip, pointing it at the panting Tanjiro.

"A shadow of Tsugikuni, bearing Sun Breathing..." The demonic aura around him suddenly collapsed inward, his blood blade poised at his waist-the prelude to a lethal Iai slash!

Moon Breathing, First Form: Dark Moon: Evening Palace!