At this moment, Daki's situation was far from good.
She was completely unable to suppress the suddenly strengthened Aoyama Ren.
Meanwhile, trouble had also erupted in the place where she stored her "food."
Her ribbon clones kept sending information back to her.
Someone had broken into the underground storage.
A boy wearing a boar mask was rampaging through the place, slashing apart her ribbons and rescuing the humans she had stored there.
Inosuke stared at the twisting ribbons in disgust.
They squirmed like worms.
Even worse, they had eyes and mouths growing on them.
The sight was revolting.
"You disgusting, squirming worm-belts!"
"Let Lord Inosuke cut you all to pieces!"
Inosuke swung his dual blades nonstop, cutting through ribbons and freeing the people bound inside them.
Facing the ribbons' attacks, he laughed mockingly.
"Hahaha! You fat worms can't even touch me!"
"Go crawl back and try again!"
The ribbons couldn't hit him at all.
Inosuke possessed extremely sharp instincts.
He could sense killing intent instantly.
No matter where the ribbons attacked from—front, back, left, or right—he could detect them.
Daki, as the main body, recognized the intruder in her food storage.
It was the beautiful person she had seen earlier in Ogiya.
Capture him alive!
Daki gave the order to her clone.
She had always been obsessed with beauty.
Even when eating humans, she preferred those with beautiful appearances.
As for those she deemed ugly—
She didn't even bother eating them.
For example, the old madam she killed earlier.
Too old. Too ugly.
Not worth eating.
Receiving the order, the ribbon clones immediately changed tactics.
Countless ribbons attacked Inosuke simultaneously.
"Beast Breathing!"
"Sixth Fang — Palisade Bite!"
One sword slashed the ribbons apart while the other stabbed through them.
But the mouths growing on the ribbons suddenly spoke.
"It's meaningless!"
"I'm not the main body!"
"Hurting me doesn't accomplish anything!"
The ribbon's eyes glanced toward the humans Inosuke had just rescued.
"You worked so hard to save them."
"Aren't you going to protect them?"
"Huh?!"
Inosuke froze for a moment.
He really hadn't thought about that.
"Hahaha!"
"Even if you cut me, I can stitch myself back together instantly!"
Just as the ribbon said—
The severed ribbons quickly reconnected themselves and wrapped around the humans again.
Inosuke's expression turned serious.
Now he had to protect the rescued people while fighting the ribbons.
Suddenly—
A kunai flew out from somewhere nearby.
Two women burst free from the severed ribbons.
They were none other than Suma and Makio, the other two wives of Tengen Uzui.
"So disgusting!"
"You weren't exaggerating at all, Lord Tengen!"
Suma looked horrified by the grotesque ribbons.
"We'll help you too! Hang in there, pig-brain!"
Makio said as she hurled more kunai at the ribbons.
Inosuke turned in shock.
"Who the heck are you?!"
"We're Lord Uzui's wives."
"I'm not very good at fighting though, so please don't expect much from me!"
Suma said nervously.
"Suma!! Don't say something so discouraging!"
Makio shouted while continuing to attack the ribbons.
"But you know me! I'm terrible at fighting!"
Suma trembled, but still forced herself to keep fighting.
Inosuke was completely dumbfounded listening to their conversation.
What kind of situation was this?!
Suddenly—
Zenitsu appeared among the ribbons.
He had been bound there the entire time.
However, he remained asleep.
No matter how loudly Inosuke shouted at him, there was no response.
The Muscle Mice arrived again, carrying Zenitsu's sword.
Suma and Makio looked surprised when they saw Zenitsu still dressed in women's clothing.
Since when did the Demon Slayer Corps have someone like this?
Even while asleep, Zenitsu grabbed the Nichirin blade.
He suddenly broke free from the ribbons.
At the same moment—
Two thunder-like sounds echoed together.
One came from Zenitsu.
The other—
From above.
Someone had blasted open the ceiling, creating a massive hole.
The ribbon clone panicked.
A figure stepped down through the opening.
It was Tengen Uzui.
Receiving the information from her clone, Daki bared her fangs.
Everything was becoming chaotic.
More and more troublesome.
Now her underground food storage wasn't just dealing with the boar-headed brat.
A Hashira had also arrived.
Meanwhile, Aoyama Ren's Transparent World allowed him to see everything within Daki's body—
Every muscle.
Every blood vessel.
Every movement before it happened.
Daki no longer dared to attack recklessly.
Every attempt she made was predicted by him.
One ribbon suddenly shot toward Aoyama .
At the same time, Daki leapt onto the rooftop, attempting to escape.
Aoyama instantly cut the ribbon apart and flashed forward to chase her.
Meanwhile, Tanjiro had recovered some strength.
He grabbed the wooden box with the broken strap and began running below the rooftops, chasing after Daki and Aoyama .
Hearing the noise, the brothel owner came outside and shouted angrily:
"What are you doing?!"
"Stop making trouble in front of my shop! You're ruining my business!"
"Get out of the way!"
"Tell everyone inside to stay indoors!"
Tanjiro shouted urgently.
But Daki only smiled coldly.
Everyone who came outside could become her hostages.
Ribbons shot toward the brothel owner on the ground.
At the same time, Daki leapt into the air and launched an attack at Aoyama Ren.
Aoyama swung his sword to cut the ribbon below.
At that exact moment—
Daki attacked from behind.
"That's enough."
A terrifying killing intent erupted from Aoyama .
A faint reddish aura flowed along his blade.
After cutting the ribbon, he pushed off the ground and leapt upward.
"Total Concentration!"
"Light Breathing!"
"Third Form — Dance of Light!"
His body moved elegantly through the air.
He dodged Daki's eight ribbons simultaneously and landed directly in front of her.
His sword slashed toward her neck.
However—
He couldn't see the Thread of Opening.
Which meant—
He couldn't cut off her head yet.
The blade created a powerful gust of wind as it swung toward her neck.
Daki's neck suddenly stretched unnaturally, supported by ribbons.
Her head dodged the attack.
More ribbons burst from her body.
This time—
Not eight.
Thirteen ribbons.
They shot toward Aoyama Ren all at once.
Below, Tanjiro saw the danger clearly.
"Aoyama -senpai!"
At that moment—
The wooden box suddenly opened.
Nezuko stepped out.
Her body expanded back to its normal size.
Veins bulged across her forehead.
Her face burned with fury.
"Ne… Nezuko…"
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