"Kanae-senpai..."
"Don't speak yet, adjust your breathing as soon as possible."
Stopping Tanjiro from speaking, Kanae took out several pills from the pouch at her waist and had him swallow them, instructing him.
[It's her?]
With just one glance, Gyutaro recognized Kanae.
That night some time ago, at the cabaret club gathering, he had seen her from afar. She seemed to have a very good relationship with Miss Mitsuba.
[Could she be an undercover agent Miss Mitsuba planted in the Demon Slayer Corps? I should have asked about it earlier...]
Because he was somewhat puzzled, Gyutaro decided to temporarily set this aside, instead shifting his gaze to Himejima Gyomei nearby.
[His presence is quite profound, truly incredible. I've never seen such a powerful human...]
"Upper Rank demons, truly extraordinarily powerful..."
While Gyutaro was sizing up Himejima Gyomei, the latter was similarly sizing him up.
"Amitabha. Kanae, I will hold this demon back. You go check on Tengen's condition first."
"Alright, Mr. Gyomei, please be careful."
Kanae nodded lightly.
Not far away, Genya had just pulled the unconscious Uzui Tengen out from the ruins.
"Your physical body is indeed very strong..."
Not blocking Kanae, Gyutaro's gaze remained fixed on Himejima Gyomei.
"Tempered through countless hardships, reaching the pinnacle... I'm truly curious, what methods must humans use to train themselves to reach your level?"
"Simply train hard every day, nothing special."
Himejima Gyomei replied in a deep voice.
"Another statement that sounds like mockery..."
Hearing this, Gyutaro shook his head instead, his low, hoarse voice revealing obvious disgust.
"Those blessed by heaven, yet always speak of ordinariness.
But if you were truly ordinary, then why are you the only one who could train to this level while others cannot? Could your day have forty-eight hours?
Or do you want to say that others don't work hard, only you do?
In the end, you people are clearly all exceptionally gifted, yet your mouths are full of 'I'm ordinary,' 'nothing special,' 'you can do it too if you work hard'—such hypocritical words. Truly... nauseating!"
Before his words finished, Gyutaro stepped forward abruptly, initiating the offensive on his own.
Himejima Gyomei didn't respond verbally. Hearing the wind, he merely swung the flail in his hand, immediately beginning to respond.
As the strongest of the current Demon Slayer Corps, Himejima Gyomei's eyes were blind—this originated from a high fever in his childhood.
Although his eyes were blind, over these years he had developed unbelievable hearing ability through training, reaching the extreme in locating positions by sound!
In battle, often just a tiny bit of wind sound was enough for him to keenly judge the enemy's position and the posture of the attack they wanted to launch against him.
Coupled with his chain-connected flail that had both large attack range and flexibility, this ultimately made the blind Himejima Gyomei's strength not diminish at all!
BOOM!
The flail swung back and forth under the night sky, coordinated with the hand axe on the other end of the chain. Himejima Gyomei always maintained a certain distance from Gyutaro, both hands guiding the chain, continuously launching ranged attacks at him.
At first Gyutaro wanted to try breaking through, but he quickly discovered this was nearly impossible.
The chain flail in Himejima Gyomei's hands was entirely forged from extremely high-purity scarlet crimson ore.
With materials sufficient to forge dozens of Nichirin swords melted into one, its hardness was extraordinary. The blades formed from a demon's own flesh and blood were almost impossible to cut through.
If he insisted on clashing head-on, his own blades would instead get burned and break!
At the same time, Himejima Gyomei's hearing was particularly heaven-defying.
The moment Gyutaro made any movement, he could immediately lock onto him through the subtle sounds of air current changes, then flexibly adjust the flail in his hands to respond.
This seemingly blind man was simply like a mobile artillery platform with automatic targeting!
How could such a heaven-defying human exist in this world?!
[Looks like I need to coordinate this time!]
"Onii-chan! I'll help you!"
Just as this thought flashed through Gyutaro's mind, behind him, Ume's shout suddenly rang out.
Immediately after, a long whip rapidly struck, fiercely whipping at one end of the chain behind the flail, forcing that section of chain completely off its original trajectory, forcibly tearing open a gap in Himejima Gyomei's defense!
[What was that?]
Keenly perceiving this change in the chain, Himejima Gyomei hurriedly pulled hard to adjust.
[What weapon just touched my chain just now? The sensation was completely different from the vibration conventional sword attacks could cause... Could it be the same type of weapon as mine?]
BANG! BANG BANG!
While Himejima Gyomei was still puzzled, the long whip in Ume's hands launched attacks once more.
Under Ume's control, that black whip body was like a cunning venomous snake.
It flexibly charged into Himejima Gyomei's layers of chain blockades, darting left and rushing right within them, wantonly impacting these chains, shattering their original trajectories into pieces!
Ume wisely avoided letting her long whip engage in a tug-of-war with Himejima Gyomei's chains. After all, that thing in his hands was heaven's bane to demons—if they clashed head-on, her long whip would definitely break.
Therefore, she only provided interference.
The long whip darted east and charged west within Himejima Gyomei's chain defensive formation. This not only caused serious interference to him who relied on wind sounds and chains for perception, but also provided assistance for Gyutaro to break through the blockade and launch attacks.
As for the issue of the long whip possibly being locked by Himejima Gyomei's chain manipulation, Ume was completely unconcerned.
Or rather, she was very confident.
What kind of joke is this! Who do you think I am?!
I'm Michikatsu-sama's closed-door disciple, alright?!
And it's been nearly two hundred years of that!
Competing in technique?
You should know, I was forced by Michikatsu-sama to practice with this whip from dawn to dusk every day for nearly two hundred years!
Nearly two hundred years!
Practicing day and night without distinguishing between day and night, just holding this whip and training to death! And being pressured by Michikatsu-sama every day for not working hard enough!
Do you know how dark and despairing those days were?!
This whip! Two hundred years of technique!
[Not good!]
Under Ume's interference, the situation began to dramatically reverse!
In Himejima Gyomei's current perception, his originally carefully constructed chain blockade sufficient to trap Gyutaro to death was suddenly invaded by a "black snake," instantly shattered into disarray!
Everywhere in his ears were the wind sounds of the whip whistling past, everywhere on his hands came the sensation of chains being struck.
What was even more helpless was that this black snake was especially flexible—no matter how he tried to catch it, he couldn't!
And with this black snake's assistance, he could already sense from the fierce wind sounds that Gyutaro had broken through his blockade and was rapidly approaching him!
This was a victory on the technique level.
These two demons precisely seized upon his inability to see directly, relying on their own superb techniques and perfect coordination to directly overwhelm his offensive!
When Himejima Gyomei wanted to intercept Gyutaro, the moment his hands moved, Ume's long whip would immediately strike, blocking his chains for a moment, or deflecting them slightly.
It seemed like just a tiny bit, but it was precisely this tiny bit that gave Gyutaro, who was similarly extremely skilled in combat, sufficient reaction time and space!
Similarly, when Himejima Gyomei wanted to attack, Ume would interfere with his chain flail in similar ways, creating ample response opportunities for Gyutaro!
This sibling pair, one attacking and one supporting, coordinated as if they were one entity, completely suppressing Himejima Gyomei on the technique and offensive-defensive system level!
Plunging him into a bizarre desperate situation where he had strength but simply couldn't use it!