After enjoying a brief moment of peace, Kanzaki Kumo rose to his feet with Kanae.
"Let's go. It's chilly at night. We'll rest at the inn and head back tomorrow."
"All right."
Walking hand in hand on the road back to town, Kanzaki Kumo felt the warmth of Kanae's palm, and his desire to grow stronger intensified.
Although Kanzaki Kumo had said more than once that he would do everything he could to protect those around him, he also knew that his current strength was not enough to keep them safe. Far from enough.
He had once asked Kagaya whether the Demon Slayer Corps had any intelligence on the Upper Ranks.
The answer was that hundreds of years had passed since the name Twelve Kizuki first appeared, yet in all those centuries, there had never been a recorded instance of a Demon Slayer Corps member killing an Upper Rank. Not once.
Even the relevant records were pitifully scarce.
Because everyone who had seen them had died.
Only a very few Kasugai Crows that had escaped by sheer luck had brought back scraps of information.
Combined with the memories of his previous life, he knew full well how terrifying the Upper Ranks and Muzan were.
Although his strength had improved considerably since he first became a Hashira, allowing him to easily overpower his fellow Hashira Makomo and Shinjuro, he still had no absolute confidence against an Upper Rank.
That was especially true of the top three.
Just as Kanzaki Kumo was considering his next direction for improvement-whether to focus on developing moves, refining his skills, or strengthening his body-the two of them stopped at the same time, just before entering town, and looked up into the distant night sky.
There, a black speck was rapidly approaching them.
It was a Kasugai