"Bzz... bzzz..."
The faint but dangerous crackle of electricity sounded in the deathly silent carriage.
At Sasuke's fingertips, blue-white lightning coiled and danced like tiny spirit snakes.
Without the slightest hesitation, he pressed his hand to Kyojuro's shoulder.
Chidori Stream, activate!
A surge of pure Lightning Release chakra instantly poured into Kyojuro's body.
It was not a lethal attack. Instead, like countless fine needles, it precisely stimulated every nerve in his body.
"Ngh..."
The happy smile on Kyojuro's sleeping face instantly froze, turning into utter agony.
His body convulsed violently once, as though struck by invisible lightning.
In his warm home, Kyojuro sat with his father and younger brother.
Steaming dishes covered the table, and his mother smiled gently as she served him a bowl of rice.
There were no demons, no slaughter, only the simplest happiness of family.
This was the scene he yearned for most, deep in his heart.
Just as he was about to pick up his chopsticks.
Boom!
A thunderbolt spanning heaven and earth exploded without warning from the depths of his soul.
Indescribable pain engulfed him like a tide.
His warm home shattered piece by piece, and the faces of his parents and younger brother twisted and vanished.
Under that overwhelming force, the entire world came crashing down.
Inside the carriage in reality.
Kyojuro Rengoku's eyes snapped open!
In those eyes that always burned with flame, there was not a trace of the confusion of someone just waking.
There was only a moment of astonishment, followed by vigilance that erupted like a volcano!
Almost the instant he opened his eyes, he assessed his surroundings.
The sleeping Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke.
The children lying on the floor, their lives uncertain.
And Uesugi Sasuke, standing before him, his scarlet Three-Tomoe Sharingan not yet fully faded.