She desperately clutched Tetsu no Sosuke's sleeve. "Run!!!"
Her memories seemed to rewind. She remembered saying something similar to Tetsu no Sosuke on a rainy night.
But back then, Tetsu no Sosuke had chosen to charge at the demon, relying on his half-baked Hammer Technique.
But this time is different... please don't misunderstand me.
Please... live!
For my older sister, for the unborn child in her belly, for the Demon Slayer Corps, and... to avenge me!!!
Shinobu Kocho felt her vision blurring. She was not crying; her injuries were making it difficult for her to focus enough to see the man before her clearly.
She could only sense that he seemed... very calm.
Tetsu no Sosuke was very calm.
The turmoil in his heart had been forcibly smoothed away, as though by an invisible hand.
Only a single, unbroken roar lingered in his ears.
That humming seemed to come from time immemorial, lingering between heaven and earth, never fading.
Yet it also seemed to be nothing more than his own hallucination.
He silently raised his head. Within that humming, something seemed to burst forth from his mind, taking shape, spiraling, circling.
Unceasing, without end.
Yet in contrast to that calm, his blood surged like the relentless tides of the sea.
His exhausted body suddenly drew strength from some unknown source, but that strength was calm and deep, as unfathomable as the ocean.
Kibutsuji Muzan looked at him, a faint ripple stirring in his eyes. "You look even more like him now... but can you appreciate the misery of inferior creatures like yourselves?"
Tetsu no Sosuke remained silent, one arm around Shinobu Kocho, his other hand gripping his sword. He was steadying himself, waiting!
"Just one blow, and she's already this fragile." Kibutsuji Muzan extended a hand, and a drifting leaf