Mount Natagumo

Demon Slayer Corps Headquarters-

The peculiar fragrance of Dragon Blood Flower tea filled Kagaya Ubuyashiki's residence.

Kirishima Bupai sat casually across from Oyakata-sama.

He reported everything in one go: all the files on the Eternal Paradise Cult, intelligence on its bases, and, most importantly, intelligence on Upper Rank Two, Doma.

"I see... To think it has already grown so large..."

Oyakata-sama's voice remained gentle, but an unrelenting gloom hung over his brow.

He looked at Kirishima Bupai, yet a rare, slightly teasing smile tugged at his lips. "Still... Bupai, this little whim of yours has opened up a new path."

"Those villagers who were whipped back onto the right path, and... those three demons put to special use, have greatly reduced the burden of the subsequent cleanup on the Kakushi..."

"The results... have been unexpectedly good."

At that, Kirishima Bupai shrugged without committing himself.

He picked up the piping-hot water on the table and quite naturally brewed two cups with the dried Dragon Blood Flower tea he had brought.

Ruby-red tea rippled in the cups, giving off an unusual fragrance richer and more refreshing than that of the fresh flowers.

He pushed one cup toward Oyakata-sama.

"Here, Oyakata-sama, try this! A local specialty from Suzuran Town."

Kirishima Bupai spoke casually. "That lousy cult nearly drove it to extinction. I oversaw them growing it again."

"I hear... it helps a little with suppressing curses." He deliberately played it down, as though he were merely handing over a small souvenir.

Oyakata-sama lifted the cup curiously, watching the crimson petals he had never seen before unfurl in the hot water.

The strange fragrance reached his nose, carrying a hint of indescribable vitality.

He was just about to ask more-

"Caw-! Emergency! Urgent military report!!"

A Kasugai Crow wearing a conspicuous purple scarf burst through the window like an arrow from a bow and flew straight toward Oyakata-sama's shoulder, its voice choked with tears.

Its shrill voice shattered the quiet. "Mount Natagumo! The Demon Slayer Corps has suffered heavy casualties on Mount Natagumo! Caw!"

"The members... The members started killing each other after entering! There are strange spider threads!"

"And poison that can control people! Caw! It's horrific! Requesting Hashira-rank reinforcements! Caw-!"

As its urgent words ended, a heavy, deathly silence instantly enveloped the room.

The hand Kagaya Ubuyashiki held his teacup in trembled almost imperceptibly, sending ripples through the ruby-red tea.

He closed his eyes briefly. His already pale, haggard face seemed to dim further, and his voice was as low as a sigh. "Is that so... My children... More of them have fallen..."

When he opened his eyes, their depths held profound sorrow and resolve. "It seems we must send the Hashira..."

Before he had finished speaking, a woman's voice came from outside, as melodious as wind chimes yet carrying an unquestionable steadiness. "Master, Shinobu Kocho requests an audience."

"Come in, Shinobu." Oyakata-sama's voice regained a measure of calm.

The paper door slid open soundlessly.

A beautiful woman with a slender figure entered the room.

She wore what looked nothing like the Demon Slayer Corps uniform, with a purple-gradient haori embroidered with butterfly-wing patterns over it.

She had fair skin and delicate features, especially those deep, beautiful eyes like wisteria blossoms, which now brimmed with a smile.

Her lips always held a perfectly measured, sweet curve, but her eyes remained as they were, giving the impression of having no light in them...

Shinobu Kocho's gaze swept lightly over Kirishima Bupai, and her smile deepened until it nearly overflowed.

Raising her hand gracefully, she lightly covered her red lips with its fair back and let out several clear chuckles. "My, my, isn't this Mr. Bupai? I've heard so much about you."

"I hear you played the role of a very, very upstanding citizen in Suzuran Town, guiding lost lambs with that whip-based education you took up on a whim?"

"How eye-opening. Truly spectacular~" Her tone was plainly teasing, but an almost feverish light flickered deep within those wisteria-like eyes.

She simply loved hearing how Kirishima Bupai had put those worthless demons to use!

Especially after learning that those demons were Doma's subordinates!

Whenever she thought of that Upper Rank Two whom she hated to the marrow...

When she thought of his revolting doctrines and deeds, then heard that Kirishima Bupai had worked his subordinates like beasts of burden...

Shinobu Kocho felt an indescribable pleasure rise from the bottom of her heart, and her favorable impression of Kirishima Bupai shot up like a rocket.

This was far more satisfying than simply cutting them down!

Kirishima Bupai's sunglasses hid his eyes, but the corner of his mouth visibly twitched.

He set down his teacup and muttered inwardly.

Were these people's intelligence networks spun by spiders? How did word spread so fast?!

Shinobu Kocho quickly reined in her overly apparent emotions and turned toward Oyakata-sama, her expression becoming serious. "Master, it seems you've received word as well. The situation on Mount Natagumo is indeed exceptionally dangerous. There is no time to lose."

Their brief exchange ended before the weight of their mission. Oyakata-sama's gaze swept over the two Hashira. "I'm entrusting the strange developments on Mount Natagumo to you, Bupai, Shinobu."

"As you command." Shinobu Kocho bowed her head respectfully.

Kirishima Bupai merely scratched casually at the back of his collar, as though he had only been sent out for a walk, and even leisurely took another sip of Dragon Blood Flower tea.

"Time to show some real power!"

At the foot of Mount Natagumo-

Dusk closed in, and the dense canopy swallowed the last thread of daylight.

The entire mountain seemed steeped in thick ink, exuding a suffocating eeriness and deathly silence.

The air was thick, damp, and cold, filled with the smell of rotting leaves and branches and an indescribable sickly-sweet, bloody odor.

In this maddeningly oppressive setting, Kirishima Bupai's white-and-gold cloak bearing the character for "kill" stood out starkly.

"I! Am the sun!"

After that wild shout, he stuck his hands in his pockets, feeling another bout of adolescent delusions coming on.

With his sunglasses sitting firmly on the bridge of his nose, Kirishima Bupai looked as though he had come to inspect his own back garden.

"Yaaawn-"

He stretched luxuriously, utterly ruining the atmosphere, and his bones and joints gave faint cracks.

"Boring as hell..."

"There isn't even a decent opponent here. How dull."

"If I want some real fun, I'll have to go play with the Upper Ranks in Infinity Castle."

Complaining as he went, he strode into the pitch-black forest without a care.

The deeper he went, the stranger his surroundings became.

The light disappeared almost entirely, leaving him to rely on his keen Hashira-rank senses to see in the darkness.

Hanging from the surrounding trees were no longer scattered spiderwebs, but enormous, ghastly-white cocoons.

They hung densely beneath the canopy, swaying gently in the chilly wind with a rustling friction.

Kirishima Bupai did not stop walking or even slow down.

The instant he stepped into the heart of this "cocoon forest"-

Clang!

A clear ring of steel sounded as if from thin air.

A silver gleam as fine as a hair, yet sharp enough to slice through the air, instantly spread outward with him at its center.

Like ripples spreading across still water after a stone was thrown in, it swept soundlessly through the space for dozens of meters around.

Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish...

Twenty or thirty enormous white spider-silk cocoons dropped toward the ground in unison, like ripe fruit whose stems had been severed by an invisible force.

Kirishima Bupai's figure flitted like a phantom through the gaps between the falling cocoons.

The oddly shaped Nichirin Blade in his hand cut with precision at a speed the naked eye could not follow.

Riiip-!

The first cocoon split open, followed by the second, the third...

Thick green liquid giving off a pungent, sour, rotten stench gushed from the openings like fountains.

Along with the liquid came naked Demon Slayer Corps members, their skin corroded red and even beginning to ulcerate.

Like fish out of water, they landed heavily on the cold, damp ground, then erupted into wrenching coughs and desperate gasps.

"Cough! Cough, cough, cough! Urgh-!"

"Hah... hah... We... survived?"