The thick smoke and dust over the battlefield had yet to clear completely.
Xia Xi casually closed the panel before him.
The new feature was fairly simple, after all. After tinkering with it a little, he had basically figured out all its functions.
The Dawn Hashira nodded in satisfaction.
Just then, Kazetoriin and Shinobu Kocho came over from the other battlefield to regroup.
Only after the commotion died down had they found an opportunity to approach.
But the expressions on their faces were a little strange.
They looked nothing like people who had just won a hard-fought battle.
Instead of the joy of victory, their faces were full of confusion.
In a good mood, Xia Xi asked casually, "Oi, what's with those looks?"
They hardly looked like they had slain an Upper Rank. They looked as though they had lost.
After all, in the Demon Slayer Corps' hundred-plus years of history,
this battle was the most impressive of them all.
In terms of achievements alone, even a straggler like Kazetoriin had surpassed that Old Geezer Shinjuro.
After all, the highest-ranked demon the latter had ever fought was only a Lower Rank.
Yet Kazetoriin's brows were tightly furrowed.
He said slowly, "Little Xia Xi, we... don't seem to have killed the Upper Rank's real body."
Shinobu Kocho nodded as well, confirming his account.
"We were tricked. What we killed was a decoy marked with 'Hatred,' not the real body marked with 'Fear.'"
After saying that, she looked at Xia Xi, a little ashamed.
"Sorry, Big Radish."
"I think... that Upper Rank has probably already escaped."
As far as they were concerned, the Upper Rank had simply faked his death.
Seeing that he could gain nothing against Xia Xi and was at a disadvantage, he had simply made his clones disintegrate.
That