At that moment, the Demon Slayer Corps...
With multiple Hashira-level fighters working together to hold off each Upper Rank...
What was its greatest advantage?
It was the Provisional Hashira, or Hashira candidates, selected under the new system.
They now had enough strength to spare to deal with the Lower Ranks.
Even if their original duty had merely been to support the Nine Hashira.
But as the Sendai Dojo and periodic training camps for Swordsmen of different ranks continued to improve every Swordsman's strength...
Many Provisional Hashira had actually grown far stronger than the Kinoe Swordsmen of the past.
Calling them the Nine Hashira of another era would not have been an exaggeration.
Even facing one of the Twelve Kizuki alone...
They were not without the strength to put up a fight.
In terms of raw strength, the three members of the Seventh Squad fell far short of the very best, such as Giyu and his group.
Their energy levels were only around 230.
And because Tanjuro's blood was far too scarce...
They had not been equipped with War Marks either.
But the three were already strong enough that they would no longer be burdens, as they had been when Persimmon led their team into an encounter with a Lower Rank all those years ago.
In fact, each of them could now hold their own against an ordinary Lower Rank.
They could even defeat one.
At that moment, however...
The squad was responsible for intercepting two Lower Ranks who frequently operated together.
Nor could they simply rely on the explosive power of their Breathing Styles to behead them as they had before.
Their task was to subdue, not kill.
On top of that, the two demons' Blood Demon Arts were somewhat trickier than they had anticipated.
As a result, they had