Moonlight spilled through the breach, illuminating the center of the battlefield. The Sapphire Star held her sword-sheathing pose, breathing a little heavily.
She looked at the half of the monster's remains frozen into a black ice sculpture before her, then down at the blade in her hand. Her face still showed lingering fright and irritation after her outburst.
"Whew... scared the hell out of me!"
Still shaken, she patted her chest.
"You're ugly enough without coming out to scare people... no, hunters! And you can talk?! That's just disgusting!"
With a look of revulsion, she kicked a fragment of the monster's arm that had frozen into black ice at her feet.
The entire wisteria forest was deathly silent.
Every surviving candidate, including the recently rescued Tanjiro and Zenitsu, stared as though petrified at the "girl" standing before the monster's remains, radiating a terrifying chill.
That earth-shattering slash of hers had completely overturned their understanding of what it meant to be strong.
The Sapphire Star paid no attention whatsoever to their vacant stares. She shook out her wrist and surveyed this strange, unfamiliar mountain forest, thick with the smell of blood and wisteria. Her brow furrowed as she once again voiced the question tormenting her soul:
"So... where the hell am I?! And where did that bastard Smelting Fatalis run off to?"
Looking at the fragments on the ground, coated in ominous black ice, the Sapphire Star nodded thoughtfully.
"Hmm... this monster can regenerate."
She recalled how quickly its arms had grown back after she broke them off earlier.
"But it seems it can't regenerate once it's smashed to pieces."
She kicked an arm fragment at her feet, frozen rock-hard.
Regeneration of that level was inferior even to that of certain carapaceons in the New World, let alone elder dragons with truly terrifying regenerative abilities.
With the threat dealt with, the Sapphire Star finally had the leisure to examine her surroundings and... the people.
"Why are there so many people here?"
She looked around. Through the thick fog and wisteria, the indistinct shapes of quite a few survivors stood scattered about-dozens at a rough glance.
They all wore black uniforms of roughly the same style. Most looked shaken and pale, with varying amounts of injuries and blood on them. Every one of them tightly gripped a sword.
The Sapphire Star's gaze naturally settled on those swords. As a longsword devotee, she had an innate interest in blades.
"Huh? They're all carrying... such short swords?"
The fact that they used weapons that weren't hunting-sized meant they definitely didn't belong to a hunters' organization.
Then her gaze swept over the survivors again.
She scratched her head...
The Sapphire Star was genuinely bewildered.
What kind of place is this? The monsters are ugly and weak, with flesh that's easy to cut, but they talk and scare the hell out of you. Everyone wears matching work clothes... this is way too weird! I've never heard of an organization like this.
While she scratched her head in confusion, trying to make sense of the situation, the black-haired boy in the checkered haori whom she had rescued seemed to finally recover from his shock.
Suppressing his fear and physical pain, he mustered his courage and bowed deeply toward the Sapphire Star. His voice trembled with the relief of surviving and sincere gratitude:
"Th-thank you so much for saving my life! My name is Tanjiro Kamado! May I... may I ask if you're one of the Hashira? That move just now... I've never seen anything like it!"
Tanjiro raised his head, his eyes filled with awe and confusion. Unable to comprehend the Sapphire Star's strength or weapon at all, he could only assume she was one of the Demon Slayer Corps' legendary figures-a Hashira.
"A pillar?"
The Sapphire Star tilted her head. The term was completely unfamiliar to her.
"What's that? Some kind of building material? Or a monster's name?"
She looked utterly blank, having completely failed to understand what Tanjiro meant.
Her reaction left Tanjiro and the other survivors who had pricked up their ears to listen even more stunned.
Not a Hashira? Then who was this girl with the terrifying strength to kill the Hand Demon in an instant?
Just then, another loud, boisterous voice rang out.
A bare-chested boy wearing a boar's-head mask suddenly leaped out of the bushes. He seemed to have been caught in the effects of the Sapphire Star's earth-shattering slash as well, and looked rather bedraggled.
Brandishing two serrated "little knives," he roared at the Sapphire Star:
"Hey!!! You woman with the gigantic Nichirin Blade! You nearly slashed me, you know that?! I'm furious! Come fight me!!!"
The Sapphire Star looked at this boy who had suddenly jumped out wearing a strange mask, even more confused.
She pointed at Inosuke, then looked at Tanjiro and asked in all sincerity:
"Hey, um... Tan-something-ro? Is this little boar-man another one of the things you're supposed to hunt down...?"
Inosuke: "..."
Tanjiro: "...!!!"
The candidates: "..."
Before you continue