Inside the carriage, flesh and blood roared.
Tanjiro's hands had long since split open.
Every swing of his Nichirin Sword, severing those wet, sticky, constantly regenerating huge tentacles, numbed his arms.
The stinking black blood splashed onto his young but determined face. His field of vision was filled with the writhing, churning scarlet walls of flesh.
They drilled out from the carriage floor, ceiling, windows, every crevice, covered in barbs and suckers, greedily lunging at the unconscious, sleeping passengers.
"Boar Rush! Boar Rush!"
Inosuke's roar cracked. His two serrated blades danced into a violent whirlwind, forcibly strangling a tentacle thicker than his waist into several segments of minced meat.
More tentacles immediately filled the gap. The ferocious limbs of flesh shimmered with nauseating grease, heavily striking his boar mask with a dull thud.
He stumbled, coughing up a mouthful of blood, but the fighting spirit in his eyes did not retreat in the slightest.
Sizzle—Shing!!
"Thunderclap and Flash - Sixfold!"
Several fine threads of golden lightning suddenly lit up in the chaos, severing countless tentacles.
Although Zenitsu's eyes were tightly closed, he was specializing in killing within dreams. His figure was as fast as true lightning.
However, the prolonged fierce battle made his steps somewhat unsteady. He wobbled upon landing.
The three of them had been fighting fiercely for a long time, but these tentacles were simply endless!
"Ugh!"
A muffled grunt came from Nezuko, who had transformed. She punched and shattered a limb of flesh trying to devour a passenger.
She used her body to firmly block the sleeping passengers, repeatedly striking at the coiling fleshy tendrils.
"This won't do. Each of us can protect at most two carriages at a time. That leaves no time to go slay the demon!" Tanjiro gasped heavily, sensing the danger in his heart.
'What to do? My lungs were burning. If this continued, I wouldn't be able to hold on....'
"Haah—"
Amidst the group's despair, a long, steady breath, yet one that seemed to contain the scorching power of molten lava, came.
"Good grief... I never imagined things would have deteriorated to this extent while I was asleep...."
His flame-patterned haori moved without wind, rustling loudly.
Those gold-red eyes held not a shred of confusion, only boiling fighting spirit.
"As a Hashira, this is disgraceful! If there were a hole in the ground, I'd crawl into it!"
Boom—!!!
A flame tornado erupted in a ring around his blade!
Kyojuro's figure transformed into a fire meteor that tore through despair, boldly charging along the carriage aisle!
The scorching blade light spread in a spiral. Where it passed, the fleshy tentacles vanished in pungent burnt stench like residual snow meeting boiling oil.
This immense impact force even shook the entire carriage, lifting it into the air!
Rumble!
After a brief lift, the train clattered back down onto the tracks, nearly throwing Tanjiro and the others off their feet.
The next second, Kyojuro appeared before Tanjiro:
"Kamado boy!" His voice was as loud as a bell, reliable and solid. "No time to waste. I'll make it brief!"
"This train has eight carriages in total. I'll protect the rear five! The three at the front will be protected by Nezuko and the golden-haired boy!"
"You and Inosuke, advance forward! Find the demon's main body and slay him!"
Rengoku's blazing gaze was full of trust and entrustment, giving the somewhat lost Tanjiro a goal at last.
"Yes, Rengoku-san!"
Inosuke's boar mask also spewed excited white vapor: "Ha! Now this is a Hashira! Let's go, Dengoro!"
However, just as everyone's fighting spirit ignited, a voice chilling to the bone sounded:
"Dividing forces? Too troublesome...."
'What terrifying killing intent... Who is it!'
Kyojuro warily turned around and found the owner of the voice was Taka, who had been unconscious and weak until just now!
Now, he had stood up, standing expressionless in the aisle.
"Taka-san is awake! Great! Now we—"
"Everyone stand back. I'll handle it."
For some reason, Tanjiro felt that Taka's scent at this moment was very distant.
Although he had always felt Taka was somewhat cold before, he wasn't indifferent. He still had a little bit of a desire to get along well with everyone.
But the Taka now was like a block of ice.
'What kind of dream did he have...? So scary....'
"Haah..."
Taka exhaled slowly, his fingers tightly gripping the Asauchi.
"....Enough of this child's play."
Before the words faded, an indescribable sense of undulation exploded from him!
This undulation instantly pierced the steel body, pierced the layered, writhing flesh barriers.
In an instant, Taka's perception covered from the locomotive to the rear, covering every inch of steel wrapped in flesh, every passenger's breath, the faint pulsation of every tentacle… taking it all in at a glance!
This was the power of his current Reiatsu.
An unpleasant nightmare had greatly stimulated Taka's mental fortitude.
He felt that a portion of his suppressed Reiatsu had been released. Now, even without releasing Tonan, relying solely on Wind Breathing and the Asauchi, he could easily sever Rokuro's head.
His keen Reishi Perception roughly and easily tore through the fleshy maze Enmu had meticulously constructed and the remaining mist barriers of the dream.
'Found it!'
Taka's ice-cold eyes instantly locked onto the direction… not on the roof, not under the train.
The demon's main body was right at the connection point of the locomotive!
Taka's lips silently moved, whether it was a pronouncement of death or an outpouring of anger. One could only see the savagery in his eyes about to materialize.
Shing—!
The red-black Nichirin Sword instantly sprang from its sheath!
The battle-hardened Kyojuro was somewhat surprised. His gaze towards Taka became complicated.
This was the first time he had seen Taka's Nichirin Sword. He hadn't expected it to be this color.
'They say the Nichirin Sword reflects the user's true heart. But why did a Wind Breathing swordsman possess such a scorching soul....'
Before Kyojuro could figure it out, Taka's figure had already suddenly blurred on the spot!
The next moment, he had flashed before Kyojuro.
'So fast!'
Everyone was startled. Inosuke's eyes widened. He had never imagined Taka's speed could be this fast!
Taka tightly gripped the sword hilt, his body slightly lowering, his right arm pulled back, assuming the most basic starting stance of Wind Breathing.
"Kado Wind...."
An extremely low voice, like the whisper of death.
Boom—!!!!
It was impossible to describe whether it was the howl of wind or the wail of space.
A condensed to the extreme red-black wind pillar, like a destructive blast of wind blowing from the depths of hell, roared forth from his blade!
Kyojuro's gold-red pupils instantly contracted!
He had also trained with Sanemi a few times, so he knew this was definitely not a sword form of Wind Breathing!
'This was... a fighting spirit distorted by extreme rage!'
The air before his blade was not cut, but madly torn apart by an invisible force, causing the air to emit a sharp shriek that pierced the eardrums!
Everything blocking the way—
The thick fleshy barrier fused with Enmu's demonic power, the solid steel carriage partition panels, even the bloody mist permeating the air… all were annihilated upon contact with this red-black wind pillar!
Fortunately, he still retained his sanity. This terrifying blade wind, under his precise control, merely plowed through the aisle without affecting the ordinary passengers sleeping in their seats.
With this slash, the interlayer at the front locomotive connection was exposed.
An extremely thick cervical vertebra was tightly wedged there!
It belonged to the Lower Moon Kizuki, Enmu's neck!
Taka stepped forward, walking onto the path paved with flesh ash and steel remnants. His killing intent had not diminished in the slightest.
Enmu had already sensed Taka's purpose and let out terrified screams:
"Impossible! How could you find me so quickly!"
"Who are you! Huh? You're... you're that black-haired swordsman who eats demons!"
From the memories within Muzan's blood, he recognized Taka's identity and began to continuously gather fleshy tentacles, trying to attack Taka.
At the same time, twisted huge eyeballs grew on those tentacles, constantly casting hypnosis illusions from all directions, trying to trap Taka's movements.
"Sleep!"
"Sleep!"
"Sleep, damn you!"
Was Taka affected? Unknown.
But every time he opened and closed his eyes, the killing intent on him grew heavier, as if he had dreamed something very unpleasant.
His Nichirin Sword swung up and down. The tentacles, as if meeting their natural enemy, were easily severed and shattered.
In moments, Taka had reached the huge vertebra. Those attacks had barely caused him any obstruction at all.
Enmu was panicked, the entire Mugen Train trembling along with him. But he could not detach, as if his body and mind were tightly pinned here by some more oppressive, mighty force, unable to move.
".....Blame your dream for being too unpleasant."
Shing—!!
Tonan drank blood. The Kizuki met its end.