"Then let's go!"
With Kyojuro Rengoku's booming declaration, the group left the Butterfly Mansion.
Kyojuro led the way, his steps steady, his flame-patterned haori snapping in the wind like a walking blaze.
Tanjiro followed close behind, carrying Nezuko on his back, his usual earnest expression on his face.
Zenitsu Agatsuma clung to the corner of Tanjiro's clothes like a frightened young wife, muttering nonstop.
"Do we really have to go? It sounds terrifying already. More than forty people missing... The few of us wouldn't even be enough to get stuck between a demon's teeth."
"Hey! Wenyi! No defeatist talk!"
Bare-chested, Inosuke Hashibira carried his two Nichirin Blades over his shoulders and roared in displeasure.
"With the great me here, I'll chop any demon into pieces!"
"It's Zenitsu! And you, you wild boar, you make it sound so easy. Don't be the first to run away scared when the time comes!"
"What did you say?!"
The two started arguing again.
Uesugi Sasuke brought up the rear.
He kept some distance from the noisy group ahead, as though they occupied two different worlds.
His expression was as cold as ever, though occasionally, when he looked at Kyojuro's back, a barely perceptible trace of scrutiny flickered in his eyes.
So this was a Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps?
Powerful, passionate, and filled with an almost naive sense of justice.
His complete opposite.
Sasuke could not understand someone like that.
But he acknowledged the man's strength.
After the battle on Mount Natagumo, Sasuke's system panel had unlocked the "Shippuden: Early Sasuke" template.
His total chakra had increased dramatically, and he had unlocked new abilities, including "Chidori Stream" and the "Transformation Technique."
His Three-Tomoe Sharingan's perceptiveness was also far beyond that of its two-tomoe form.
Yet even so, when he looked at Kyojuro, he