The fragrance of wisteria flowers floated in the slightly cool evening breeze. Taka and Giyu walked through the corridors, the wooden floorboards creaking softly beneath their feet.
They had traveled through the night and finally arrived at the Ubuyashiki Estate just before nightfall.
In the center of the courtyard, several figures had already been standing for a long time.
"Ah.... Amida Butsu.... This humble priest hears the footsteps of hope. It is Giyu and Taka returning, is it not."
Himejima Gyomei's massive, mountain-like figure sat cross-legged at the forefront. The prayer beads in his fingers spun rapidly between them, emitting a deep and rhythmic clicking sound.
Two streams of tears continuously flowed from his completely white eyes, seeping into the hollows of his cheeks.
It was hard to say if it was tears of joy or just uncontrollable tearing from the wind.
Under the tree shadows, Iguro Obanai half-crouched on a slanting branch. The white snake, Kaburamaru around his neck uneasily flicked its tongue.
"...Finally arrived. Didn't these two know they could take a train?"
His heterochromatic gold-green eyes flickered in the shadows, his gaze resting on Taka: "You seem a bit more impressive than I imagined, Storm Hashira. I'll offer you my congratulations."
"Truly a cause for celebration, even if it wasn't Upper Rank One."
"Oh my, Iguro-san, don't be so harsh...." Kanroji Mitsuri sat nearby, trying hard to force a sweet smile. "Everyone defeating an Upper Moon is already amazing! Didn't Iguro-san also defeat Upper Rank Six?"
"...." Obanai glumly withdrew his gaze, helplessly looking at Mitsuri, with whom he could never be angry.
This made Mitsuri somewhat uneasy. Her large emerald green eyes were full of nervousness. She glanced occasionally at the empty spot where Shinobu would have sat, and then fidgeted her fingers, feeling Obanai's scorching gaze.
"Well done! Taka!"
Kyojuro had also attended the meeting today. He heavily patted Taka on the shoulder: "Only one Kizuki left, and we can face Kibutsuji Muzan directly! How inspiring!"
Muichiro, who had trained Taka, also looked at him and nodded kindly: "Congratulations."
The only one who had remained silent from beginning to end was Sanemi, sitting quietly on the ground.
Both being swordsmen from Hayama, Taka, his junior, repeatedly achieved great feats. This made him both happy for Tetsushin and frustrated with himself.
'Why haven't I encountered any Upper Moons? No... I have to kill Upper Rank One before this brat does....'
At this moment, except for the severely wounded Shinobu, and Tengen, who was recuperating after being poisoned in the battle against Upper Rank Six, all the Hashira had assembled.
Of course, the Fist Hashira didn't count.
Creak—
The door to the room slid open.
Two young girls, Nichika and Hinaki, supported the figure in the plain kimono as they walked out, one on each side.
Kagaya's body was even worse than a few months ago. Taka could sense it.
The purple-black curse marks had almost crawled over half his body. His figure was so emaciated that a gust of wind could blow him over.
Even so, he forced himself to leave the inner residence, just to personally share this inspiring joy with his swordsmen: "My brave swordsmen... my brave children... welcome back.... cough..."
Relying on his daughters' support, he tremblingly sat down and looked at everyone with his unfocused eyes.
"Oyakata-sama, please by all means take care of your health...." The tall Stone Hashira bowed deeply, his tone full of compassion.
"It's alright, Gyomei.... Before that man's head hits the ground, I will never fall." Kagaya smiled gently, his voice still like a warm spring breeze. "The reason for gathering everyone, I'm sure you all understand—"
"For the past century, the Upper Moon positions have never changed. We have always been on the defensive.... But in these past few days, the gears of fate have finally begun to turn with unprecedented violence."
"Upper Moon Kizuki have been slain! Well done, Taka, Giyu, Obanai..." He smiled at the several participants present, his voice trembling with excitement.
"All in the line of duty." Taka imitated the other two Hashira and responded politely.
Kagaya waved his hand, signaling his daughters to bring out an old booklet and hand it to everyone: "Besides this, in these battles, a miracle spanning a century is being revived...."
"We have grasped the key to defeating Kibutsuji Muzan… the Marks."
The Hashira looked up, puzzled, staring at Oyakata-sama.
'Marks? What were those?'
Kagaya's body was no longer fit for long periods of speaking. A black-haired boy, Kagaya Ubuyashiki's son, Kiriya, stepped forward and explained to everyone: "Honorable ones, the Marks are a power legendary from the Demon Slayer Corps of the Sengoku period. It is said that they can overdraw a person's physical limits, pushing physical attributes and swordsmanship to higher levels."
"We do not know the specific conditions for their appearance, only that currently, only Taka-dono and Tanjiro have awakened similar power."
Having said this, he looked at Oyakata-sama beside him and received an approving nod.
"Giyu-dono, please tell everyone about the change that occurred in you during the battle on Myoko Mountain." Hinaki said softly.
Everyone's gazes in unison fixed on Giyu.
Giyu, who had been looking down in silence, pointed to his cheek: "During the battle, I was nearly killed by the Upper Moon demon. My life flashed before my eyes. I remembered many people and many things."
"My body burned. My movements became faster. My reaction speed became more acute."
"Above."
"Ah—? That's it?" Sanemi couldn't contain himself and asked urgently: "If it's just that life-or-death crises trigger potential outbursts, that would be too simple?"
"I envy your mind that thinks this is simple." Giyu said calmly.
"...You brat, you're pretty arrogant after slaying an Upper Moon."
"Not really."
Seeing Sanemi about to explode, Mitsuri quickly tried to mediate: "Oh my, so does that mean if each of us trains this power, we can easily defeat Muzan? Hehe, wonderful. Is the chaotic age coming to an end?"
Kagaya placed his hand on the slightly nervous Kiriya's shoulder and looked at Taka: "Taka, as the first Hashira to awaken the Marks, do you have any insights?"
Taka frowned, thinking seriously.
He had already discussed the matter of the Marks with Oyakata-sama's crow and Kyojuro. They hadn't reached a complete conclusion then either.
But after witnessing Giyu's seemingly contagious awakening of the Marks, he felt he had a little more direction: "I guess that maybe Tomioka-san's near-death experience that night triggered strong emotions within him."
"The first time I had this experience was during my life-or-death struggle with Upper Rank Three. At that time, I only felt I couldn't lose, couldn't fall."
"He should be like me. Because of this intense conviction, his blood burned, his heartbeat neared bursting, allowing him to erupt like that."
"As for anything else, I don't know. Above."
Although Taka's description was more specific than Giyu's, it was still very abstract.
"If I had to say.... during that time, my heart rate probably exceeded two hundred beats per minute." Giyu added.
"Two hundred beats?" Obanai frowned. "In that state, a human's internal organs would have long been ruined."
Humans weren't machines that could be debugged after overloading.
At that heart rate, they wondered if Giyu's body was still alright.
Everyone looked at each other, truly unsure how to evaluate Giyu's statement.
It was Muichiro, who had remained expressionless, who first accepted the concept: "Perhaps this is the selection for whether the Marks will appear on the body."
"If you can withstand it, you awaken. If you can't, you die."
His cold words made the timid Mitsuri cover her mouth. Even the steady Gyomei pressed his hands together silently.
Although the atmosphere was already very tense, Kagaya still took over the conversation. His tone became even more serious: "Additionally, there is one thing that must be explained to you."
"To open the Marks means to extremely overdraw life force. You can gain power surpassing demons, but there is no turning back."
"Those swordsmen who opened the Marks never lived past the age of twenty-five."