Recaps

Kagaya Ubuyashiki sent Rokuya to Tokyo Prefecture, where demons preyed on the crowded city and Muzan Kibutsuji was suspected of hiding among its people. After arriving, Rokuya tracked a concealed demonic presence to a dead-end alley and discovered two demons behind a seemingly solid wall.

• Kagaya Ubuyashiki told Rokuya that Tokyo Prefecture's crowds made it an ideal hunting ground for demons and that Muzan Kibutsuji often operated there.
• Rokuya accepted the mission and promised to cut down any demons he found, while Kagaya Ubuyashiki warned him to avoid alarming the public.
• Three days later, Rokuya arrived in Tokyo Prefecture and used his heightened senses to locate a faint, carefully concealed trace of blood near Asakusa Ward.
• Rokuya followed the demonic presence through dark alleys until it vanished at a dead end, where he sensed two demons hiding behind a brick wall.

Rokuya broke through Tamayo’s illusion barrier and attacked her and Yushiro, believing them to be enemies. As he moved to kill Yushiro, Tamayo urged him to stop and offered to help him kill Muzan Kibutsuji.

• Rokuya smashed through the barrier and the Clinic wall with his sheathed sword.
• Yushiro attacked Rokuya, who struck him in the chest and left him gravely injured.
• Tamayo rushed to Yushiro’s side as Rokuya revealed Shura and identified them as demons.
• Yushiro tried to shield Tamayo, and Rokuya raised his sword to kill him.
• Tamayo stopped Rokuya by declaring that they shared an enemy: Muzan Kibutsuji.

Rokuya stopped his blade just before killing Yushiro when Tamayo revealed that she could speak Muzan Kibutsuji’s name without triggering his curse. After hearing how she broke free of Muzan’s control and studied demon biology, Rokuya saw her research as a way to locate and defeat Muzan, but Tamayo still needed samples from powerful demons.

• Tamayo shouted to stop Rokuya’s blade, then revealed that she could speak Muzan Kibutsuji’s name without being torn apart by the curse.
• Rokuya demanded an explanation, and Tamayo said she had gradually severed her blood connection to Muzan through centuries of studying and modifying her own body.
• Tamayo explained that Yoriichi Tsugikuni had cut Muzan into pieces, giving her the chance to escape his control and lift the curse.
• Tamayo said she wanted to avenge her family and develop a drug that could destroy Muzan’s regeneration or turn demons back into humans.
• Rokuya recognized Tamayo as a potential ally who could help him find and kill Muzan, while Tamayo said she needed blood from powerful demons to continue her research.

Rokuya struck a deal with Tamayo and Yushiro, offering them protection in exchange for research on Muzan and help locating demons. Six months later, he had terrorized Tokyo Prefecture’s demons into hiding as the feared “Dark Blue Meteorite.”

• Rokuya offered Tamayo and Yushiro protection in exchange for her research on Muzan and intelligence on demons.
• Rokuya threatened Tamayo and Yushiro with destroying them and their clinic if they lied or harmed humans.
• Rokuya told Yushiro to prepare hundreds of concealment talismans so he could hunt demons more efficiently.
• Rokuya spent six months slaughtering demons throughout Tokyo Prefecture and the surrounding areas.
• Demons in Tokyo Prefecture began calling Rokuya the “Dark Blue Meteorite” and feared drawing his attention.

Rokuya spent his Gratitude Points to gain Master's Might and raise his strength to its current limit, then Kagaya appointed him supervisor of the upcoming Final Selection. He was ordered to save candidates facing certain death and disqualify them, leaving him set to intervene on Mount Fujikasane.

• Rokuya exchanged 20,000 Gratitude Points for the Master's Might passive skill.
• Rokuya spent 5,200 points to raise his strength to 50 and pulverized a stone wall with one finger.
• Kagaya praised Rokuya for reducing civilian casualties in Tokyo Prefecture by ninety percent over six months.
• Kagaya explained that many candidates died during Final Selection on Mount Fujikasane and said he wanted to break the rule against Hashira-level interference.
• Kagaya appointed Rokuya selection supervisor and instructed him to rescue candidates facing certain death, then disqualify and expel them.

Rokuya entered Mount Fujikasane’s Final Selection intending to save endangered candidates and earn their gratitude, while disqualifying those he considered unfit. He crushed a demon attacking a terrified swordsman, then declared the survivor disqualified, leaving the man protesting that he still needed to avenge his sister.

• Rokuya promised Kagaya Ubuyashiki that he would prevent any candidate he deemed unworthy from dying during Final Selection.
• At Mount Fujikasane, Rokuya observed candidates including Sabito, Makomo, Giyu Tomioka, Shinobu, and Kyojuro Rengoku before the selection began.
• Rokuya spotted Shinobu’s unusual Nichirin Blade and inferred that she had developed a wisteria poison because she lacked the strength to decapitate demons.
• After the bell rang, the candidates entered the forest, and Rokuya followed with his massive greatblade, Shura.
• Rokuya smashed a Four-Armed Demon attacking a wounded swordsman, then called the frightened survivor unfit and disqualified him.
• The swordsman protested that he still needed to become a Demon Slayer and avenge his little sister.

Rokuya rescued and disqualified struggling swordsmen during the selection, then found Shinobu defeating demons with her poison and joined her. Elsewhere, Sabito and Makomo fought demons together, with their battle still underway.

• Rokuya harshly reprimanded a swordsman he had rescued, who thanked him and vowed to become stronger.
• Rokuya spent three hours rescuing endangered swordsmen, forcing them to leave the selection, and gaining Gratitude Points.
• Rokuya rushed to Shinobu’s aid after sensing three demons closing in on her.
• Shinobu poisoned one demon to death, and Rokuya crushed the other two before praising her and warning her about her reaction speed.
• Sabito and Makomo battled demons in a clearing, with Sabito cutting apart three demons and Makomo attacking from a low angle.

Rokuya watched Sabito, Makomo, and Giyu defeat demons during Final Selection, then sent them to attack another nest after Giyu mistook his tree-side supervision for fear and weakness. He headed off to inspect the other candidates and found Sanemi Shinazugawa fighting several demons.

• Makomo severed two demons’ legs and then beheaded them while Giyu killed a massive demon with Water Breathing, First Form: Water Surface Slash.
• Rokuya descended from a wisteria tree, praised Sabito, Makomo, and Giyu, and assigned Sabito fifty laps to correct his landing.
• Giyu told Rokuya he knew he was hiding in the tree because he was afraid of the dark, prompting Sabito to grab him and protest.
• Rokuya ordered Sabito, Makomo, and Giyu to head east and clear a demon nest before daybreak.
• Rokuya used his heightened senses to search Mount Fujikasane and found Sanemi Shinazugawa fighting five or six demons with Wind Breathing, Fifth Form: Cold Autumn Falling Mountain Wind.

During Final Selection, Rokuya watched Sanemi and Kyojuro fight and judged them among an exceptional crop of talents. He then began rescuing struggling candidates by defeating demons and disqualifying the survivors, leaving Mount Fujikasane with a frightening rumor about a cruel man who appeared at the last moment.

• Rokuya watched Sanemi battle demons with reckless force and saw Kyojuro kill a demon with Flame Breathing.
• Rokuya decided the candidates included an unusually strong generation and set out to check on the weaker swordsmen.
• Rokuya crushed one demon with his sheathed blade and killed another with the thrown sheath, saving a wounded swordsman.
• Rokuya declared the swordsman disqualified and left him for the Kakushi Corps, while the swordsman realized Rokuya had saved him.
• Over the next few days, candidates spread rumors about a terrifying man who rescued them from demons before humiliating and disqualifying them.

During Final Selection, Rokuya forcibly disqualified and rescued more than twenty swordsmen, earning a flood of Gratitude Points. At the mountain’s foot, the rescued candidates praised him with the “Praise the Sun” routine, and Goto revealed that the Master had made it part of Demon Slayer Corps etiquette.

• Over three days, Rokuya roamed Mount Fujikasane, disqualifying unprepared candidates and rescuing them from demons.
• After seven days, nearly forty swordsmen gathered at the foot of the mountain, including successful survivors and more than twenty candidates Rokuya had rescued.
• The rescued swordsmen performed the “Praise the Sun” routine and fervently thanked Rokuya, while Sabito, Makomo, Sanemi Shinazugawa, Kyojuro Rengoku, and Giyu Tomioka reacted with surprise or amusement.
• Rokuya saw that the crowd’s gratitude had earned him 12,500 Gratitude Points, then demanded that Goto explain how the swordsmen knew the routine.
• Goto told Rokuya that the Master had added the routine to Demon Slayer Corps etiquette after hearing about its use in Mochizuki Village, and that Corps members now performed it in morning exercises.

Rokuya endured the embarrassment of being worshipped by a fan club before reuniting with Shinobu Kocho after her Final Selection. Shinobu told him that she and her sister wanted to establish Butterfly Mansion to care for wounded Demon Slayer Corps members.

• Goto told Rokuya that the swordsmen he had saved had formed a fan club called “Sunflower” in gratitude for his harsh teachings.
• Rokuya drove the celebrating swordsmen away, while Giyu Tomioka and Sabito teased him about his red ears.
• Shinobu Kocho met Rokuya and thanked him for helping her pass Final Selection, though he criticized her opening during a fight with demons.
• Shinobu told Rokuya that her sister had been distressed by the Demon Slayer Corps’ inadequate care for wounded swordsmen.
• Shinobu revealed that she and her sister wanted to establish a rehabilitation organization called Butterfly Mansion.

Rokuya agreed to help Shinobu Kocho establish Butterfly Mansion and traveled with her to meet her sister. Along the way, he encouraged Shinobu to rely on poison rather than strength, and she began testing her new compound poison on a mutated demon.

• Shinobu Kocho asked Rokuya to help secure approval for Butterfly Mansion, and he agreed to discuss it with her sister and confront Ubuyashiki if necessary.
• Rokuya carried the exhausted Shinobu Kocho through the mountains and told her to develop her toxicology skills instead of trying to match other swordsmen's strength.
• Shinobu Kocho promised to develop medicines and poisons, including one that would help Rokuya conserve stamina when using his armor.
• Rokuya and Shinobu Kocho encountered a mutated demon blocking a bridge, and Shinobu asked to test her new poison on it.
• Shinobu Kocho attacked with Insect Breathing, Butterfly Dance: Teasing, as Rokuya watched and gave her thirty seconds.

Shinobu Kocho killed a grotesque demon with her poison before she and Rokuya reached Kanae Kocho's secluded home. Kanae reunited with Rokuya and welcomed him warmly, then insisted he eat well and let her check for hidden wounds.

• Shinobu Kocho injected the grotesque demon with poison, which dissolved its body in seconds.
• Rokuya criticized Shinobu Kocho's flashy footwork and told her to focus on lethal strikes.
• Shinobu Kocho and Rokuya arrived at Kanae Kocho's home after three days of travel and found her practicing Flower Breathing.
• Kanae Kocho ran to Rokuya, embraced him, and cried as she told him how much she had missed him.
• Kanae Kocho confronted Rokuya about his weight loss and lack of rest, then promised to cook for him and check for hidden wounds.

Rokuya backed Kanae’s plan to turn the Butterfly Mansion into a comprehensive hospital and rehabilitation center, promising to secure funding and authority for it. After Shinobu left them alone that night, he sat with Kanae beneath the full moon, and she asked what he was looking at.

• Kanae presented plans for a Butterfly Mansion with dedicated wards, antidote preparation, rehabilitation, trained caregivers, and a toxicology laboratory, while Shinobu emphasized the need for research against Upper Rank Demons.
• Rokuya warned that the plan faced major financial and political obstacles, including the cost of the facility and possible resistance from Kagaya Ubuyashiki and other Hashira.
• Rokuya promised to obtain donations from wealthy people he had saved and personally present the plan to Kagaya, threatening to build the institution himself if it was rejected.
• Kanae and Shinobu expressed gratitude and admiration, and Rokuya told Kanae to refine the proposal while he handled the rest.
• That night, Shinobu left Rokuya and Kanae alone on the veranda, where Kanae noticed his gaze and asked what he was looking at.

Kanae told Rokuya about her fear of demons and her former hope for humans and demons to coexist, and he vowed to protect her from Muzan Kibutsuji and his followers. Kanae confessed her love and kissed him, then the pair headed to meet Kagaya Ubuyashiki to seek approval for the Butterfly Mansion plan.

• Kanae told Rokuya that fear from her parents' deaths and her own encounter with a demon had driven her to fight, though she once dreamed of understanding demons and helping their souls rest.
• Rokuya warned Kanae that Muzan Kibutsuji and his subordinates could not be redeemed and promised to protect her and kill any demons who threatened her.
• Kanae said she loved Rokuya and wanted to live peacefully with him and Shinobu in a world without demons, then kissed him beneath the moonlight.
• Rokuya and Kanae walked hand in hand toward Kagaya Ubuyashiki, with Rokuya promising to secure support for Kanae's Butterfly Mansion plan.
• Kanae teased Rokuya about his enormous appetite and warned that repairs to the mansion would come out of his food budget before they reached Kagaya's courtyard.

Rokuya and Kanae secured Kagaya Ubuyashiki’s approval and funding to establish the Butterfly Mansion beside headquarters. Kagaya then assigned them to investigate disappearances in Akagi Village, where a Lower Rank of the Twelve Kizuki might be responsible.

• Rokuya and Kanae proposed creating the Butterfly Mansion to care for injured Demon Slayer swordsmen and train medical staff.
• Rokuya offered to secure funding and promised to protect the new mansion’s authority, while Kagaya cautioned him against intimidating wealthy merchants.
• Kagaya approved the plan, offered funding from the Ubuyashiki family treasury, and identified an empty plot beside headquarters as its site.
• Kagaya asked Rokuya and Kanae to investigate strange disappearances in Akagi Village after a Hinoto-ranked swordsman found powerful traces of a Blood Demon Art.

Rokuya and Kanae traveled to Withered Leaf Town to investigate a suspected Lower Rank demon and met the waiting Kanoe-ranked swordswoman, Guan Tinglingzi. They began discussing the mission at a teahouse, where Lingzi became an avid admirer of Rokuya.

• Rokuya accepted Kagaya Ubuyashiki's mission to investigate a suspected Lower Rank demon, with Kanae accompanying him.
• Rokuya and Kanae traveled for two days to Withered Leaf Town, and Kanae located the meeting place at Tsurumi Teahouse.
• Guan Tinglingzi greeted the Hashira, froze at Rokuya's imposing presence, and introduced herself as a Kanoe-ranked swordswoman.
• Rokuya ordered thirty plates of grilled meat and three buckets of rice, and Guan Tinglingzi praised his appetite and strength.

Reiko reported that demons had been abducting villagers in Akagi Village and described huge claw marks that suggested a powerful earth-type Blood Demon Art. After hearing Rokuya recount how Tanaka had deserted him at Mochizuki Village and later accused him, Reiko loudly condemned Tanaka as a coward.

• Reiko showed Kanae and Rokuya a map of Akagi Village and reported the disappearances, dried blood, and enormous claw marks she had found there.
• Kanae warned that the demon might be a Lower Rank, while Rokuya said they would go to the village after eating and promised to cut it down.
• Reiko praised Rokuya for killing nearly fifty demons and a mutated demon leader alone at Mochizuki Village.
• Reiko asked about Tanaka, and Rokuya described how Tanaka had panicked, crawled from the cave, been wounded, and later accused him before Oyakata-sama.
• Reiko stood up and denounced Tanaka, saying he deserved no place in the Demon Slayer Corps and that she would have cut him down herself.

Rokuya, Kanae, and Reiko set out for Akagi Village to investigate its missing residents, but Rokuya and Kanae found evidence that a demon had taken them underground. They decided to return to Withered Leaf Town and ask Guan Tinglingzi to help locate possible underground cavities.

• Reiko praised Rokuya for refusing to save a man she called trash, and Rokuya promised to protect her if they encountered a demon.
• Reiko led Rokuya and Kanae from Withered Leaf Town toward Akagi Village as night fell.
• Rokuya and Kanae reached the village's outer houses and found one with an undisturbed meal and no signs of violence.
• Rokuya struck the floor with Shura and discovered that the soil beneath the house was hollow.
• Kanae deduced that a demon with an Earth Blood Demon Art had dragged the villagers underground, and Rokuya decided to ask Guan Tinglingzi to map possible underground cavities.

Rokuya and Kanae returned to Tsurumi Teahouse, where Reiko was missing, and waited through the night. Reiko came back at dawn with news that she had found more than a hundred missing villagers trapped underground, leaving their rescue as the next urgent task.

• Rokuya and Kanae returned to Tsurumi Teahouse, but Reiko was not in her room.
• Rokuya ordered a large meal and told Kanae that Reiko must have had a reason to leave alone during the night.
• Reiko arrived at dawn, exhausted and injured, and admitted she had investigated the Abandoned Mine Vein near Akagi Village.
• Reiko explained that she had found a huge Natural Limestone Cave in the Back Mountain and discovered more than a hundred missing villagers locked in solidified-rock cages.
• Reiko told Rokuya and Kanae that the villagers were still alive while the demon appeared to be dormant or digesting.

Rokuya led Kanae and Reiko to Akagi Village after Reiko claimed a demon was holding more than a hundred villagers captive. A Blood Demon Art split the village entrance and dropped Rokuya into a cavern, where Lower Rank Two Rokuro appeared.

• Reiko told Rokuya and Kanae that a demon was torturing villagers in an underground cavern and pleaded with them to rescue the captives.
• Rokuya took Kanae and Reiko into the mountains, dismissing Reiko's suggestion that they call for support.
• The group reached the ruined Akagi Village and found severed limbs, dried blood, and deep trenches among the wrecked houses.
• A Blood Demon Art raised rock walls, separating the three and sending Reiko plunging into an abyss while Kanae landed safely.
• Rokuya arrested his fall by driving the Shura Greatblade into a rock wall, then saw Lower Rank Two Rokuro emerge from the cavern's shadows.

Rokuya shattered Rokuro’s earthen barrier with a single blow and headed deeper into the cavern to rescue the trapped villagers. He left Kanae and Reiko to hold Rokuro off while he searched for survivors.

• Rokuro sealed the cavern routes and attacked Rokuya and Kanae with stone spikes.
• Rokuya charged his Shura Greatblade and cleaved through Rokuro’s massive earthen wall, sending the demon crashing into ruins.
• Rokuya told Kanae and Reiko to find their way out and keep Rokuro occupied while he rescued the villagers.
• Kanae used Flower Breathing, Second Form: Shadow Plum, to destroy the remaining walls.
• Rokuya rushed deeper into the cavern, where mud pits and sludge arms dragged at villagers crying for help.

Rokuya rescued villagers from Rokuro’s attack, then found Kanae trapped in a shrinking Earth Prison Cage and Reiko threatened by stone spears. After saving Reiko, he noticed the system awarded her no Gratitude Points and suspected she had staged her peril with Rokuro.

• Rokuya rescued villagers from the ruins and earned Gratitude Points for saving them.
• Rokuya returned to the clearing and found Kanae unconscious inside Rokuro’s shrinking Earth Prison Cage.
• Rokuro threatened to crush Kanae while sending stone spears toward Reiko, forcing Rokuya to choose whom to save first.
• Rokuya blocked the spears, pulled Reiko to safety, and turned toward Kanae’s cage.
• Rokuya checked the system records and found no Gratitude Points from Reiko, leading him to suspect she and Rokuro were acting together.

Rokuya rescued Kanae from Rokuro’s earthen cage, but Rokuro trapped the villagers again and revealed that Reiko had sided with him. Reiko admitted she betrayed the Demon Slayer Corps because Tanaka, whom Rokuya had dismissed as a coward, had been her lover.

• Rokuya broke open the cage and rescued the unconscious Kanae, then checked that she had no fatal injuries.
• Rokuro trapped the villagers in a new contracting earthen cage covered in scarlet runes.
• Rokuya saw Reiko standing beside Rokuro and realized she had staged her earlier distress and rescue.
• Rokuya confronted Reiko for colluding with the Twelve Kizuki, and she erupted in anger over Tanaka.
• Reiko revealed that Tanaka had been her lover.

Reiko revealed that Tanaka had killed himself after Rokuya exposed his desertion, then forced Rokuya to choose between saving Kanae and the 132 villagers trapped in Rokuro’s contracting earthen cage. As Reiko and Rokuro taunted him and the villagers’ cries grew more desperate, Rokuya remained motionless, leaving his choice unresolved.

• Reiko recounted how Tanaka had confessed he fled to return to her, then hanged himself the night she learned he had been expelled.
• Reiko admitted she had risen through the Demon Slayer Corps ranks to get close to Rokuya and take revenge.
• Reiko gave Rokuya a choice between protecting Kanae and rescuing the villagers trapped in Rokuro’s shrinking cage.
• Rokuro mocked Rokuya and declared that the strong devoured the weak as the villagers cried for help.
• Reiko taunted the silent Rokuya as the cage compressed around the 132 villagers, and the chapter ended before he chose.