Chapter Summaries

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.

Rokuya struggled to choose between rescuing the people trapped in the shrinking Earth Prison Cage and protecting the gravely wounded Kanae Kocho, while learning that Reiko was Tanaka’s lover and blamed him for Tanaka’s death. Kanae urged him to save the captives, and Reiko accused him of hypocrisy as she insisted he had driven Tanaka to suicide.

• Rokuya knelt amid the ruins, holding Kanae Kocho while struggling with the choice before him and the revelation that Reiko had been Tanaka’s lover.
• Kanae regained consciousness, understood the danger facing the trapped people, and urged Rokuya to leave her and rescue them.
• Kanae told Rokuya she trusted him and was prepared to die in battle, and the system awarded him Gratitude Points for her trust and gratitude.
• Reiko watched Kanae urge Rokuya to act and accused him of pretending to be a hero despite how he had treated Tanaka.
• Reiko claimed Rokuya’s actions had ruined Tanaka’s reputation and driven him to hang himself, declaring that Rokuya did not deserve to be a hero.

Rokuya confronted Reiko’s accusation that his past inaction helped cause Tanaka’s death and recognized the selfishness behind his choice not to save him. He rejected both self-justification and endless guilt, emerging from the reflection with a newly hardened resolve.

• Reiko accused Rokuya of hypocrisy and urged him to abandon the civilians and escape with Kanae.
• As the Earth Prison Cage crushed more people unconscious, Kanae begged Rokuya to leave, but he remained kneeling in silence.
• Rokuya reconsidered his decision not to save Tanaka and admitted that he had let resentment turn his inaction into punishment.
• Rokuya recognized that he had no right to judge whether Tanaka deserved to live, and that his choice had contributed to Tanaka’s death.
• After confronting his selfishness and hypocrisy, Rokuya refused to collapse into guilt and became resolute.

Rokuya accepted that his choice had contributed to Tanaka’s death but refused to reject himself or abandon the people he could still save. He unlocked Blade Tempest and prepared to confront Rokuro while Kanae moved out of danger.

• Rokuya admitted that he had chosen not to save Tanaka and accepted responsibility for the consequences.
• Rokuya declared that he would still save the villagers and kill the demon, while Reiko urged Rokuro to kill him and Kanae.
• Rokuro attacked Kanae with boulders as his Earth Prison Cage began crushing the villagers.
• Rokuya spent fifty thousand Gratitude Points to unlock Blade Tempest, gaining a surge of power and a charge passive.
• Kanae forced herself away from the battlefield, and Rokuya activated the charge passive.

Rokuya rescued Kanae and the villagers from Rokuro’s Earth Prison Cage, then turned his overwhelming power against Lower Rank Two. After destroying Rokuro’s defenses and cornering him, Rokuya faced a sudden warning to look behind him.

• Rokuya shattered the boulder threatening Kanae, then used Blade Tempest to tear apart the Earth Prison Cage and free all one hundred and thirty-two villagers.
• Rokuya confronted Rokuro and Guan Tinglingzi, while Reiko watched and began to question her hatred of him.
• Rokuya charged Rokuro, who raised three rune-covered earth walls with his Blood Demon Art: Rock Iron Wall.
• Rokuya sliced through all three walls and forced Rokuro to the edge of the stone pillar.
• Rokuro, cornered and terrified, told Rokuya to look behind him.

Reiko saved Kanae from Rokuro’s killing trap by sacrificing herself, shocking Rokuya and leaving him alone to face Rokuro. With his anger compressed into a deadly calm and Rokuro exposed, Rokuya began his Second Slash.

• Rokuro used his Blood Demon Art to trap Kanae in an earthen cage and send a spike plunging toward her.
• Reiko rushed to Kanae and cut open the cage, pulling Kanae clear of the falling spike.
• The spike pierced Reiko through the chest and pinned her to the ground as Kanae watched in disbelief.
• Rokuro cursed Reiko for ruining his trap, and she answered him with a bitter smile.
• Rokuya regained his composure, focused his power on Rokuro, and declared, “Blade Tempest-Second Slash.”