The voice was not loud, yet it was like a bucket of ice water poured over Tengen Uzui's head, extinguishing all his "flashy" swagger.
The noisy, chaotic air of the entire Butterfly Mansion courtyard seemed to have been sucked away in that instant, leaving a deathly silence in which a falling pin could have been heard.
Tanjiro, planted upside down in the dirt, stopped kicking his legs.
Zenitsu, whose cheeks were being pinched, forgot to cry out.
Even Inosuke, who had been knocked unconscious with a slap, seemed to slowly come around under that icy presence.
The arrogant smile on Tengen Uzui's face froze.
Slowly, ever so slowly, he turned around.
A short distance behind him, atop the eaves of the Butterfly Mansion, a figure had appeared at some unknown point, like a ghost that had merged with the night.
The newcomer wore a haori embroidered with lightning patterns. His expression was cold, and his short black hair stirred gently in the breeze. He merely stood there in silence, radiating no powerful fighting spirit, yet exerting a pressure heavier than a mountain and more unfathomable than an abyss.
The newly appointed Thunder Hashira, Uesugi Sasuke.
Tengen Uzui's pupils contracted slightly.
Of course he recognized this boy. In fact, there was now no one among the Demon Slayer Corps' upper ranks who did not recognize that face.
The legendary newcomer who, during the battle aboard the Mugen Train, had used a pair of demonic eyes capable of releasing inextinguishable black flames to force Upper Rank Three to sever his own arm to survive, rewriting the Flame Hashira's fate of certain death.
But legends were one thing. Tengen Uzui had not expected the boy's presence to be so restrained-restrained to the point of being almost "unflashy."
"Oh?"
Tengen Uzui set down Aoi