"Bzzzt!"
As the lights flickered for the fourth time...
"Blood Demon Art... Dream Cage...!"
Darkness descended at that very moment...
This time, every hair on Tanjiro's body instantly stood on end.
An icy, palpable killing intent, terrifying as an invisible icicle, stabbed precisely toward the back of his neck.
Fast! Too fast! So fast he had no time even to think!
"Water Breathing: Fourth Form: Striking Tide!"
The movement was entirely an instinctive response honed through countless repetitions. Tanjiro twisted sharply at the waist, his Nichirin Blade carrying a surging tide as he blocked behind himself.
Clang-!!!!
An ear-splitting clash of metal erupted in the darkness amid dazzling sparks.
An overwhelming force slammed into him through the blade.
Tanjiro grunted. As though struck by a battering ram, he flew backward uncontrollably and slammed hard against a cold pillar, a metallic sweetness rising in his throat.
He looked down, and his heart sank...
Because a clearly visible, shallow scratch had actually been left on the sturdy edge of his Nichirin Blade.
What on earth was that!?
The lights came on again.
Now... Tanjiro was the only one left on the platform.
Zenitsu and Inosuke... were gone! As though they had vanished into thin air...
"Zenitsu! Inosuke!"
Tanjiro shouted anxiously, his heart pounding like a drum.
Yet what answered him was an enormous, piercing screech of metal twisting and deforming behind him.
He whipped his head around.
Not far away, the dark-colored train that had just eaten people was now like an ancient beast awakening from a nightmare.
Its enormous steel body warped violently, its hard metal shell writhing like soft mud.
Countless enormous, centipede-like jointed limbs formed from twisted, fused masses of rusted steel, broken pipes, and sharp gears, accompanied by the sound of melting steel...
Grew wildly from the sides