That pressure was utterly different from Doma's malicious, taunting chill.
It carried no emotion, held no killing intent.
It was like a towering, snow-covered mountain, an ocean of unfathomable depth. Its mere presence made everything around it submit, thickened the air, and turned even breathing into a luxury.
Shinobu Kocho and her two companions, who had just been basking in the joy of revenge, suddenly felt as though they had plunged into an ice cave.
Their bodies froze in place, unable to move.
It was not fear, but absolute suppression on the level of life itself. Their bodies were instinctively telling them: danger, run!
Inosuke's beastlike instincts screamed warnings at him. Every hair on his body stood on end. It was the trembling that came from deep within the genes, something a rabbit felt before a tiger, or an antelope before a lion.
Sasuke's pupils abruptly contracted.
Fighting back the dizziness brought on by overusing his ocular power, he immediately stepped in front of Shinobu Kocho and her two companions. His bleeding Mangekyō Sharingan turned warily toward the sky.
Beneath the moonlight.
The Eternal Paradise Cult's already ravaged roof slid silently apart to either side, like tofu sliced by the sharpest blade, revealing an incomparably smooth cut.
A figure hovered silently in midair.
He wore a purple kimono, his long hair tied in a high ponytail. Strange markings covered his face, and his expression was solemn, like a statue whose authority needed no anger.
Most striking of all were his eyes.
He had six eyes in all.
A pale golden light gleamed in every eye, with the characters for "Upper Rank" and "One" clearly engraved in his pupils.
Upper Rank One!
The strongest demon, whom no one in the Demon Slayer Corps except Yoriichi Tsugikuni had been able to defeat