Just as the tension reached breaking point...
"Lord Void Hashira!" A low cry, frightened and urgent, came from behind Kirishima Bupai.
Among the dozen or so Demon Slayer Corps members who had arrived late and remained on guard,
a young member pushed his way forward, his face pale and his voice trembling uncontrollably. "Lord Void Hashira! We... seven of our members have already been arrested!"
"They're at West City Police Station! We've lost... lost contact for nearly six hours! Their condition... their condition is unknown!" His eyes were full of worry as he spoke.
Kirishima Bupai seemed not to hear the report from behind him, completely ignoring the hundred-plus muskets and blades pointed at him.
He shifted his shoulders slightly, seemingly finding the back of his neck a little itchy, and naturally raised his right hand to scratch it.
That tiny movement was like lighting the fuse on a powder keg.
"Don't move!!"
"Move again and we'll shoot!!"
The guards at the front of the encirclement were wound as tight as they could be. Seeing Kirishima Bupai raise his hand, they erupted into an uproar.
The hammers of countless flintlocks were abruptly cocked, producing a heart-stopping clatter of ammunition being loaded.
Their fingers clamped tightly onto the triggers. If Kirishima Bupai made the slightest further move, a torrential rain of lead shot would pour out.
Yet faced with this deadly threat, enough to terrify an ordinary person into collapse, Kirishima Bupai did not pause in the slightest.
Click...!
He leisurely scratched the back of his neck as though no one else were there, even casually rolling his neck with a faint crack of bone.
Beneath his sunglasses, the corners of his mouth slowly curved into an icy smile, filled with undisguised contempt and disdain.
*Kill all these people? It would