BOOM!
Under the cover of night, a loud explosion in the distance startled Tanjiro, who had been packing equipment with the crew.
"Over there, something just made a sound..."
Straightening up while holding a box, Tanjiro subconsciously looked toward the direction the noise came from.
Unfortunately, in the darkness, he couldn't see anything clearly.
"It's probably just another crew filming something. Don't space out, Tan. It's already dark, let's hurry up and finish packing so we can get off work."
The staff member beside him replied indifferently.
In a place like the movie studio, every day there were crews that would specifically fund the construction of temporary buildings just to blow them up for the most realistic visual effects.
So making loud noises was perfectly normal—everyone had long since gotten used to it.
But for some reason, Tanjiro felt uneasy in his heart.
He had a feeling things weren't that simple. After all, there was a demon hiding in this movie studio...
"I'll go check it out!"
After brief hesitation, Tanjiro made up his mind. He put down the box in his hands and sprinted toward the direction of the explosion.
Behind him came the staff member's urgent shout.
"Wait, Tan! If you leave, who's going to handle all this stuff..."
"Sorry! I'll definitely work twice as hard to make up for it tomorrow! So please handle it tonight!"
Seriously leaving these words behind, Tanjiro's figure quickly disappeared into the night.
"Tanjiro!"
Before he had run far, he encountered Genya, who had also been drawn by the explosion and came looking for him.
"Catch!"
Holding Tanjiro and Zenitsu's Nichirin swords in his arms, Genya tossed one of them to him.
"Thanks! Genya, have you seen Zenitsu?"
"No, I just came from his crew's direction. He got off work and left a long time ago!"
"Hope it's not him..."
His expression somewhat grave, Tanjiro accelerated toward the front.
"..."
"Cough... cough cough..."
Inside that wooden building with a large hole smashed through its roof, Zenitsu lay spread-eagle in a pile of shattered wooden debris.
[My body... hurts so much...]
His head dizzy and swollen, pain everywhere throughout his entire body, Zenitsu felt like he was about to die...
What just happened? Why was he lying here?
His consciousness gradually returning, he slowly recalled what had happened earlier.
That's right—while he was running away, that demon's silk ribbon had wrapped around his foot, and then he'd been smashed into here in one go.
Damn it, how could she be so fast...
Speaking of which, falling from such a high place, and he still wasn't dead?
Breathing techniques really were amazing things...
Right, that demon, where was she now...
BOOM!
Accompanied by another loud explosion, one side of the building's wooden wall was instantly blasted open.
"Ugly thing, you're not dead yet?"
Still speaking in that overbearing, arrogant tone, through the swirling smoke and dust, a figure slowly walked in.
It was Ume.
As she advanced, her appearance was rapidly changing.
Her black hair grew longer, several plum blossom-shaped pink tattoos appeared on her cheeks, and in those dark golden pupils, the characters for "Upper Rank" and "Six" emerged.
[It really is... an Upper Rank demon...]
Seeing the characters in Ume's eyes clearly, Zenitsu's heart went cold.
"Falling from that height didn't kill you. Your body is pretty sturdy."
Stepping on Zenitsu's chest as he tried to get up, pressing him back down, Ume bent over to look down at him and asked coldly:
"Tell me, how many people did you send this time, and where are they now?"
"Cough... dream on..."
"Hah, got a stiff spine?"
Stimulated by Zenitsu's defiant expression, Ume became interested. Smiling, she lifted her foot, and instantly, a silk ribbon burst out from the ground, tightly wrapping around Zenitsu's neck and hanging him in mid-air!
"Ghk!"
Looking up to admire Zenitsu struggling in mid-air, Ume smiled:
"I usually like you tough ones the best. Ugly thing, don't disappoint me. Let's see just how long you can hold out!"
Kicking his legs wildly, his face turning red from suffocation, Zenitsu desperately pulled at the silk ribbon around his neck with both hands, trying with all his might to tear it open.
[Damn it! Can't break free! Can't breathe at all...]
Was he going to die here tonight?
Just as Zenitsu was falling into despair, in his peripheral vision, he suddenly glimpsed two figures rushing toward them from the distant darkness.
BANG!
Under the night sky, a gunshot suddenly rang out.
Almost simultaneously with the gunshot, Ume instantly turned around and raised her hand, tightly catching the bullet flying toward her!
BANG BANG!
"Zenitsu!"
Standing in place, Genya continuously fired at Ume with the revolver in his hand.
Meanwhile, Tanjiro took the opportunity to burst in from the other side of the building, leaping up and slashing at the silk ribbon suspending Zenitsu in mid-air!
[It didn't break?!]
Yet when Tanjiro's blade came down, this seemingly thin silk ribbon merely bent slightly along the blade's momentum, showing no sign of breaking!
Shocked, Tanjiro exerted force again, this time directly using a Breathing technique sword form!
Sun Breathing · Second Form · Clear Blue Sky!
Scorching flames ignited along the blade. Under these flames' burning, the silk ribbon before him finally began to tear apart strand by strand, completely severing!
"Cough! Cough cough! Thanks, Tanjiro..."
"Don't talk yet! Adjust your breathing!"
Holding Zenitsu, Tanjiro leaped up to the second-floor corridor of the building and handed Zenitsu his Nichirin sword.
Down below in the first-floor hall, Ume casually tossed aside the bullets she had caught, looking up coldly to size up Tanjiro.
"Pretty hot there, brat. What Breathing technique did you just use?"
"Why would I tell you?!"
Tanjiro gripped his sword with both hands, shouting warily.
He had finally seen the characters in Ume's eyes as well, shocked in his heart.
Yet another Upper Rank demon...
Although she was only the weakest at the bottom of the Upper Ranks, with their current strength, they probably couldn't slay this demon.
Fortunately, before he and Genya came, they had already sent the Kasugai crow back to notify Uzui Tengen.
For now, they just needed to stall for time as much as possible and wait for reinforcements to arrive...
"Hah, I see..."
Seeing the black Nichirin sword in Tanjiro's hand, Ume suddenly understood.
"I'd heard that the Demon Slayer Corps recently produced a demon slayer who could use the original Breathing technique. Could it be you, brat?"
"Interesting~ I've never fought a demon slayer who uses the original Breathing technique before~"
In her hand, a black serrated long whip rapidly formed from flesh and blood. Ume looked up at Tanjiro, a savage grin appearing at the corner of her mouth.
"Scar-faced ugly thing, don't you disappoint me!"
"Zenitsu! Dodge!"
Tanjiro roared, and in the next instant, the long whip in Ume's hand came crashing down toward their position!
BOOM!
The corridor instantly collapsed, shattered into countless wooden fragments. That black whip struck the building like a hot knife through butter, utterly destroying everything in its path!
"Two ugly things, what are you running around hiding up there for? Get down here now!"
Standing in the center of the first-floor hall, Ume didn't even move. Merely by waving the whip in her hand, she drove Tanjiro and Zenitsu scrambling everywhere above!
That whip in her hand was truly terrifying in power—whatever it hit shattered, wherever it swept collapsed. Its attack range was astonishingly wide too. In just a few swings, the entire building was already shaking on the verge of collapse!
Tanjiro had no doubt—if he accidentally got swept by this thing, his body would definitely be torn in half on the spot!