Watching the dangerous Kizuki being decapitated, Taka intended to go over and check on the red-haired boy.
But suddenly, the demon's body moved on its own.
"You think you've won?"
The demon staggered to his feet, pulled on a strand of spider silk, and actually lifted his severed head up to his hand!
"Too bad, I cut my own neck at the last moment with my own silk!"
"It's been a long time since I've been this angry... I'm going to torture you and your sister to death!"
"Blood Demon Art: Killing Eye Cage!"
Rui pressed his head back onto his neck. The blood-red spider silk in his hand gathered again into a mass, tightly sealing off Tanjiro, who lay sprawled on the ground unable to move!
In the blink of an eye, he would be sliced into bloody chunks!
Whoosh—!
An emerald green blade light flashed.
Shing shing!!
In an instant, all of Rui's Blood Demon Art was shattered, turning to ashes.
Before the Kizuki's shocked gaze, Taka arrived on the wind, placing himself between Rui and Tanjiro.
'Strong...' Taka judged inwardly.
'Not only stronger than the female demon from before, even the Kizuki from the other night didn't have such a dangerous aura as this one.'
"You're Lower Five? You feel stronger than that other one."
This casual tone clearly angered the Lower Moon demon, making his body tremble with rage:
"One after another, getting in my way! Blood Demon Art: Cutting Silk Rotation!!"
Even more terrifying demonic aura gathered into form. Even sharper and more ferocious spider silk composed an impenetrable web of killing intent, slashing towards Tanjiro and Taka!
Taka could sense that the power of this form was very strong. Without using Tonan's Reiatsu Slashes, he probably couldn't block it.
Haah....
Reiatsu began to gather. Tonan began to tremble and hum.
Just as he prepared to unleash his full power, a figure descended from the sky.
The person wore a haori with a strange color scheme, half pure red, and half an interwoven pattern of yellow, orange, and green resembling turtle shells.
A low ponytail swayed in the wind. A pair of sea-blue eyes were cold and emotionless.
"You did well to hold out until I arrived. Leave the rest to me."
Shing—!!
The blue Nichirin Sword abruptly sprang from its sheath. Its momentum startled even Taka.
"Water Breathing: Eleventh Form...."
"Dead Calm."
Time seemed to freeze in this moment.
The blade light, like the still, waveless surface of a pond under the moon, instantly spread into a domain of sword energy.
To an ordinary person's view, this man simply stood there silently, emanating a dangerous aura.
But in Taka's eyes....
In front of the man, Reiatsu surged! It was a domain formed by extremely fast blade light slashes!
"So what if it's Eleventh Form! I'll—"
Shing!
Rui's Blood Demon Art and roar were easily shattered.
Shing!!!
Before he could react, he himself was also shattered.
But this time, he didn't have time to cut himself with his silk. His head was effortlessly severed by the man's Nichirin Sword.
As easy as... breathing.
Taka was somewhat surprised.
He thought to himself that he could certainly fight this Kizuki, but it wouldn't be this easy. Even if uninjured, it would take a few exchanges to decide victory or defeat.
'Was this a Hashira? This was a Hashira-level swordsman?' Thinking this, he clenched his fist.
'Not enough! I have to become stronger!'
Then he turned his gaze again to Tanjiro, who was lying on the ground, utterly stunned.
With Lower Rank Five's head rapidly turning to dust, this fierce and tragic battle finally came to an end.
The man sheathed his sword, turned around, and nodded briefly in greeting to Taka:
"Nice fight with the Lower Four."
"You saw?"
"No, just sensed the demonic aura from afar."
"....You are very strong. Can you teach me?"
"....You and I are different."
The two, both speaking with equally cold tones, exchanged a few words that sounded like small talk, the atmosphere somewhat strange.
Then the man looked down, stared blankly at Tanjiro for a long moment, as if recalling something.
Finally, when he saw the girl in Tanjiro's arms, a look of surprise appeared in his eyes.
"You're that one from back then...."
Just then, a fragrance of wisteria, so elegant it seemed almost illusory, quietly permeated the air, diluting some of the bloody smell.
A haori with butterfly patterns fluttered slightly in the night breeze. A blade light, like a bolt of lightning, stabbed towards the girl biting the bamboo cylinder!
Clang—!!
The man immediately swung his blade to block, deflecting this sudden thrust!
"Oh my?"
The puzzled voice of the one who thrust the blade sounded familiar to Taka.
Looking closely, this slowly descending figure... was indeed the Insect Hashira, Kocho Shinobu!
"Why are you stopping me, Tomioka-san." Shinobu turned with a smile, and also noticed Taka nearby.
"And, isn't this Taka-san? Long time no see. How is your body?"
But she didn't intend to engage in deep small talk with Taka. Her purple eyes remained fixed on the female demon beneath the boy Tanjiro.
This was the first time Taka had seen her Nichirin Sword drawn… very thin and long, the blade portion almost completely missing, only a glimmer of cold light at the tip flickering in the moonlight, emitting a dangerous gleam.
'Could such a blade even kill a demon?'
"Tomioka-san, please step aside." Her smile unchanged, she puzzledly pointed her blade at Tanjiro. "The girl under that child, she's a demon, isn't she? The Demon Slayer Corps' duty is to slay demons."
Having said that, her figure again flickered strangely. The next second, she appeared above Tanjiro's head, the tip of her blade aimed directly at Nezuko!
Clang—!!
Another sound of metal striking metal rang out, but this time it was Taka's turn to surprise the Tomioka-san beside him.
Taka extended Tonan, blocking Shinobu's thrust.
"Oh my, what's wrong with Taka-san? Is it my imagination, or do I feel you are a bit like Tomioka-san?"
"Sorry, Shinobu-senpai. I still have questions for this boy. For now, I can't let you harm him or his family."
Taka had already gathered from Rui's words the relationship between the two. His thinking was also simple:
If the girl in Tanjiro's arms was killed, he probably wouldn't be in the mood to tell Taka about his sword techniques for quite a while.
Even if she was a demon, please wait until after he has asked his questions before executing her.
Shinobu lightly retreated, her voice still sweet, but tinged with a hint of anger: "You can't do that, you know. You'll end up disliked by everyone, just like Tomioka-san."
The Tomioka-san she spoke of was the man standing before Taka, one of the current Nine Hashira, the Water Hashira, Tomioka Giyu.
Giyu was silent, meeting her gaze.
Shinobu, enduring her killing intent towards the demon, prepared to listen to his explanation, but heard him say:
"I am not disliked."
... The Kasugai Crow in the tree fell silent.
".....My apologies, Tomioka-san. It seems you lack the self-awareness of being disliked.... I said something unnecessary. My sincere apologies."
....Now Taka, also not good at socializing, fell silent.
'It seemed this Tomioka-san and Shinobu-senpai were not very close.'
"Can you move?"
Giyu didn't seem to care much. He suddenly spoke to Tanjiro behind him. Although Tanjiro hadn't yet grasped the situation, he immediately replied:
"Yes!"
"Take your sister and run!" Giyu's aura grew serious. He warily watched the poised Shinobu ahead, and turned his head to say to Taka:
"Can I entrust this to you?"
"Alright. I also have matters to discuss with him."
The instinct to survive and extreme concern for his sister ignited the last remaining strength within the severely wounded Tanjiro. He hugged Nezuko tight and rushed recklessly towards the depths of the dense forest down the mountain!
Taka followed closely behind Tanjiro, preparing to wait until they were far from this area before carefully inquiring about the fire sword techniques.
"Oh my?" Shinobu's attention was instantly drawn. Her figure slightly moved, her haori gently swaying as if to give chase. "This would be violating corps regulations, wouldn't it."
Clang!!
Sparks flew. Giyu once again blocked Shinobu's sword momentum with his Nichirin Sword.
This time, even Shinobu, who always maintained her smile, couldn't help but let the corners of her mouth drop. She calmly looked at Giyu:
"It seems you are serious, Tomioka-san."
"I never expected a Hashira to harbor a demon...."