As the battle in the Infinity Castle raged on, some were unlucky and got separated, while others were fortunate enough to be grouped together and acting together.
Tanjirou was one of the lucky few.
When Tanjirou was transported to the Infinity Castle, he found himself alongside two familiar faces he interacted with daily—Zenitsu and Inosuke.
Surprisingly, the atmosphere between the three was not as harmonious as it usually was.
On any other day, Inosuke would be recklessly charging ahead, with Tanjirou and Zenitsu scrambling behind to catch up and stop him. But today, it wasn't Inosuke charging ahead without a thought—it was Zenitsu.
Surprisingly, this normally timid and fearful youth, who avoided missions and dreaded encountering demons for fear of danger, was now marching forward in silence, his face cold and unyielding.
Tanjirou and Inosuke followed behind Zenitsu, walking and talking.
"Hey, sleepyhead, what's up with you?"
Inosuke, always blunt, asked Zenitsu directly.
"You've been acting strange lately. Did you eat something bad?"
Hearing this, Tanjirou could deeply relate to Inosuke's feelings.
Zenitsu had indeed been acting very strange recently.
Since arriving at the Swordsmith Village and receiving a letter that changed his complexion drastically, Zenitsu had stopped being his usual timid, tearful self. He became silent, disciplined, and trained relentlessly, completely unlike his old self.
In the past, the training at the Swordsmith Village would have had Zenitsu complaining within three days, whining by the fifth, and practically giving up by the seventh, acting like he was on the brink of dying.
Yet this time, Zenitsu neither complained nor shirked his training as if an obsession drove him. He trained harder than both Tanjirou and Inosuke, surprising many who knew and understood him.
During this month, Zenitsu only smiled once in front of everyone, which was the day he learned Nezuko had turned back into a human, but after that, he never smiled again.
Zenitsu trained as if his life depended on it, a sight that worried Tanjirou deeply.
Inosuke, despite his seemingly carefree and boisterous nature, was more sensitive and perceptive than most, particularly about Zenitsu's change. Due to this, today, he didn't charge around yelling as usual but just quietly followed Zenitsu.
Unfortunately, Zenitsu didn't seem to appreciate it.
"Stop being so noisy..." Zenitsu said without looking back, continuing to walk forward with a cold expression. "You're so loud, I can't hear anything. We won't be able to find that guy if you don't quiet down."
"So, who exactly are you looking for?" Inosuke insisted. "Did that guy make you mad or something? Tell me and I'll cut him down for you!"
"No need." Zenitsu replied coldly, his voice low. "He can only be killed by my hands."
"You—"
Inosuke seemed like he wanted to say something more, but Tanjirou stopped him.
"Alright, Inosuke, calm down, don't get worked up."
Tanjirou soothed Inosuke before turning to Zenitsu.
"What happened, Zenitsu? Tell us."
"..."
Zenitsu remained silent, not saying a word.
Seeing him like this, Tanjirou showed a worried expression.
"Aren't we friends?" Tanjirou continued. "Nezuko is also worried about you, y'know?"
Hearing these words, Zenitsu finally stopped walking.
Tanjirou and Inosuke stopped as well, watching Zenitsu silently, their concern evident in their eyes.
Seeing Tanjirou and Inosuke like this, Zenitsu clenched his fists and then sighed.
"You probably don't know this..." Zenitsu said softly. "I actually have a senior brother."
""A senior brother?""
Looking at each other, Tanjirou and Inosuke were taken aback.
"My master used to be the Thunder Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps."
Zenitsu told Tanjirou and Inosuke the truth.
In the Demon Slayer Corps, swordsmen who excelled in Thunder Breathing and were promoted to Hashira using Thunder Breathing were called 'Thunder Hashira'.
Zenitsu's master was the previous Thunder Hashira, a Hashira-ranked swordsman who had mastered Thunder Breathing to its peak.
After his master retired, there has been no Thunder Hashira in the Demon Slayer Corps anymore, leaving Thunder Breathing without a Hashira among the five fundamental breathing styles to this day.
Truthfully, this was inevitable.
Thunder Breathing was known to be one of the hardest breathing styles to practice. Due to its extreme speed and explosive power, it demanded very high physical ability, making its practice almost as difficult as Sun Breathing.
In the history of the Demon Slayer Corps, among the five fundamental breathing styles, Flame Breathing and Water Breathing always had a Hashira, never missing. On the other hand, the other three breathing styles had periods of absence, with Thunder Breathing being the most absent, highlighting its difficulty.
Zenitsu's master was the previous Thunder Hashira, and his ability to become a Hashira with Thunder Breathing demonstrated his immense strength.
However, Zenitsu mentioning his master clearly wasn't to boast about his strength.
"I was deceived and fell into heavy debt, and it was my master who spent his money to buy me and took me in as his disciple, bringing me to the mountains to practice."
Zenitsu began to tell his past.
"My master, Grandpa was a very strict person... Because Thunder Breathing was so difficult to practice, he always trained his disciples harshly."
"Because the training was so tough, and mastering Thunder Breathing was insanely hard, I always tried to avoid training and run away. Even so... Grandpa never gave up on me and always brought me back, time and time again."
"In the end, I only learned the first form of Thunder Breathing... Even now, I haven't mastered any of the other forms."
Thunder Breathing had a total of six sword forms, which was one of the fewest among the many breathing styles.
Even so, no one thought Thunder Breathing was weak.
On the contrary, Thunder Breathing was so strong that it only needed six forms, which were enough to slay demons, leaving them with no escape.
However, Zenitsu had only learned the first form and none of the other five forms.
"Despite that, Grandpa never blamed me... He even told me that if I could only learn this one sword form, then I should master it to the peak, to the extreme of extremes."
When talking about the master he called 'Grandpa', Zenitsu's expression was no longer cold.
Until—
"But, that guy... that guy was different from me."
As Zenitsu mentioned that 'guy', he gritted his teeth.
"He had more talent than I did, was more skilled, and even started training earlier. Even the notoriously difficult Thunder Breathing, he learned five of its sword forms."
"If he kept training and mastered the last form, it wasn't out of the question for him to take Grandpa's place and become the Thunder Hashira the Demon Slayer Corps had been missing for so long."
"I could never hold my head up in front of him, so I always thought that if someone were to become Thunder Hashira, it should be him."
"But—"
"But you see, humans have their limits, so I chose to become a demon, Zenitsu!"
Zenitsu's voice, filled with hatred and anger, was suddenly interrupted by someone.
As this stranger's voice rang out, Tanjirou, Zenitsu, and Inosuke all quickly turned around, placing their hands on the hilts of their swords.
In front of them, a youth slowly walked around the corner and came into view.
He had black hair and green eyes, thick eyebrows, and wore a magatama necklace and bracelet. He carried a sword, had sharp ears, deathly pale skin, black tiger-like stripes on his face, and fangs that protruded from his mouth as he grinned.
Without a doubt, he was a demon.
However, he was clearly not just any demon, as evidenced by the Japanese characters in his eyes.
Nonetheless, Zenitsu didn't notice this, as the moment he saw this youth, his breathing became heavy.
"KAIGAKU—!!!" Zenitsu shouted angrily.
"Yo, long time no see, Zenitsu."
Kaigaku greeted Zenitsu with neither enthusiasm nor friendliness. Instead, there was a sense of aggression.
"So, you made it into the Infinity Castle too, huh? Good, good..." Kaigaku said with a smile. "After Lord Muzan ordered the complete annihilation of the Demon Slayer Corps, I thought, in that case, I should be the one to take care of you."
"Luckily, we met smoothly." Kaigaku's smile turned sinister, full of sarcasm. "Otherwise, a weakling like you would have surely been taken out by those little demons the moment you arrived here."
His words didn't make Zenitsu lose his temper, but they did make the impulsive Inosuke draw his two swords.
"You damn bastard!" Inosuke exclaimed angrily.
"Wait, Inosuke!"
Tanjirou hurriedly stopped Inosuke.
"Something's not right, look at his eyes!"
His words finally made Zenitsu and Inosuke notice the Japanese characters in Kaigaku's eyes.
One eye had 'Upper Rank', while the other had 'Seven'.
""Upper Rank... Seven...?""
Tanjirou, Zenitsu, and Inosuke were shocked.
What happened?
Weren't there only six Upper Ranks?
How did an Upper Seven appear?
"Oh? You mean this?"
Kaigaku pointed to his eyes, his smile not fading.
"That's right, I am Upper Seven—the first demon in history to hold this title, to be exact."
"Well, the Twelve Kizuki were officially disbanded when the Lower Ranks were dismissed, so Lord Muzan recently reorganized the Kizuki."
"Since he doesn't need the useless Lower Ranks, there are no more Lower Rank positions in the Kizuki, but an additional seat was added to the Upper Ranks."
"From now on, there are no more Twelve Kizuki, only us seven Upper Ranks—the new Kizuki."
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Before long, the news about the Upper Seven quickly spread through Kasugai Crows to all members of the Demon Slayer Corps in Infinity Castle.
However, at the same time, another Upper Rank also appeared.
*ROAR!*
*Splurt!*
With a roar, a ferocious tiger, about three meters tall, pounced on a Demon Slayer, biting off his head and splattering blood everywhere.
*ROAR!*
*ROAR!*
With each roar, more tigers of the same size appeared, brutally attacking members of the Demon Slayer Corps, devouring them all to death.
In the center of these tigers, stood a skinny man dressed in prison clothes, holding a long whip akin to a beast tamer.
In his eyes were Japanese characters clearly visible for everyone to see.
One eye had 'Upper Rank', while the other eye had 'Six'.
Without a doubt, he was the new Upper Six.
"So, this is the Demon Slayer Corps?"
Speaking with dissatisfaction, the Upper Six looked at the Demon Slayers being devoured by his tigers, completely powerless to resist.
"Tch, too weak... My children will just get an upset stomach from eating all this trash. Isn't there anyone stronger?"
The new Upper Six was a death row inmate named Torasei.
He was a man who loved to raise tigers.
At first, he was just an ordinary hunter, but when he saw a tiger in the deep mountains, he fell in love with the creature at first sight and began keeping several of them.
In order to feed his beloved tigers and prevent anyone from hunting them, he did not hesitate to lure his friends and even his family into the mountains to feed them.
Meanwhile, whenever hunters entered the mountains, he would find ways to kill them personally and bring their corpses to his tigers.
Even if he hadn't killed hundreds, there were at least dozens who died at his hands.
After the truth came out, Torasei was arrested and sentenced to death until Muzan released him from prison, saving him from execution.
Needless to say, after Torasei was saved, he received Muzan's blood.
However, what was surprising was that he not only endured the blood that made him a Lower Rank but also withstood even more, leading Muzan to promote him to an Upper Rank.
As a result, he replaced the deceased Gyuutarou and Daki, taking on the position of Upper Six.
Meanwhile, the ferocious tigers around Torasei, which he controlled, were actually his Blood Demon Art. It allowed him to tame ferocious beasts and mutate them, a Blood Demon Art called 'Anomalous Beast Taming - Demon Transformation'.
"My children, keep hunting."
Torasei spoke gently to the group of ferocious tigers around him.
"Hunt stronger prey."
"Feast on better victims."
"That way, you'll grow bigger and stronger."
Under his instructions, the tigers roared one after another and were about to disperse, until—
"Love Breathing - Second Form - Love Pangs!"
Suddenly, a female figure darted forward like an afterimage, and her sword, flexible like a whip, swung like a tornado, slicing through several tigers and cutting them into pieces on the spot.
"Mist Breathing - Fifth Form - Sea of Clouds and Haze!"
At the same time, a mist blew in, like clouds stirred by the wind, enveloping several tigers. In the next second, the tigers inside the mist shrieked and soon collapsed into pools of blood.
"What...?"
Torasei was initially stunned, then furious.
"Who?! Who dares hurt my beloved children?!"
Before long, two voices responded to his words.
"Sorry, that would be me!"
A pink-haired girl wielding a flexible sword landed on the ground, appearing in front of Torasei.
She was none other than Kanroji Mitsuri.
"You are the new Upper Six?"
As the mist cleared, it revealed a slightly immature-looking boy who had appeared without noise.
He was none other than Tokitou Muichirou.
With that, the Love Hashira and the Mist Hashira had both appeared to confront the Upper Six.
"Gather! Gather!"
"Love Hashira! Mist Hashira! Have successfully met up!"
Two Kasugai Crows flew around in the air, screeching and informing others that Mitsuri and Muichirou were together.
Due to the guidance from Kasugai Crows, several Hashira had already met up, no longer acting independently.
As Mitsuri and Muichirou were the first to meet up and happened to be close by, they noticed the commotion in this place and immediately headed toward the Upper Six under the Kasugai Crows' guidance.
"DAMN YOU!"
Torasei ignored everything else and just screamed furiously.
"Do you know what you've done? My children are so cute! How could you hurt them?!"
Although Mitsuri and Muichirou couldn't quite imagine how vicious and bloody tigers could be called cute, they were disgusted by Torasei's words.
"Is there something wrong with this Upper Six's head?" Mitsuri crossed her arms, looking utterly repulsed.
"Aren't all demons like this? Absolutely disgusting." Muichirou coldly raised his sword, ready to attack at any moment.
"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" Torasei screamed in madness.
*ROAR!*
*ROAR!*
Soon, the tigers in the surroundings went wild, charging toward Mitsuri and Muichirou.
===
"Love Hashira! Mist Hashira! Are fighting the Upper Six!"
"Love Hashira! Mist Hashira! Are fighting the Upper Six!"
At this moment, several Kasugai Crows swiftly relayed the information to everyone.
"Tch."
Running down a corridor, Obanai clicked his tongue.
"Kanroji is fighting an Upper Rank and urgently needs my help." Obanai remarked, his face full of disgust. "But why am I meeting you first instead of her?"
"If you have a problem, take it up with Kibutsuji Muzan!"
Tengen, running ahead of Obanai, turned his head and exclaimed with an annoyed tone.
"I didn't want to meet up with you first either!"
While arguing, their pace didn't slow down, but in fact, they sped up, quickly heading toward the direction where Mitsuri and Muichirou were.
Especially Tengen, who was so fast that he left Obanai far behind.
It couldn't be helped.
Tengen was the fastest among the nine Hashira. Even the strongest among them, Gyoumei, couldn't match Tengen's speed. Only the Wind Hashira, Sanemi, could barely keep up, while Obanai was clearly not in that league.
"Annoying…"
Obanai was visibly displeased as he ate Tengen's dust from behind, but soon, he no longer had the luxury to complain.
*Plink-Plonk*
A sudden sound of biwa rang out, causing Tengen and Obanai to lose their direction.
"What the—?!"
"Awful!"
They felt the world around them spinning before they started falling into bottomless darkness.
"Iguro!"
"I know!"
Just moments ago, they were arguing, but now they displayed an incredible level of coordination.
Tengen reached out his strong hand toward Obanai, who immediately jumped on it, using Tengen as a stepping stone to leap toward a nearby building.
"Kaburamaru!"
At the same time, Obanai threw Kaburamaru, the white snake wrapped around his neck. It darted out, coiling around Tengen's arm and pulling him along as they both leaped onto the rooftop of a nearby building.
*Thud*
*Thud*
They landed safely, avoiding a fatal fall.
In front of them, the culprit behind all this sat holding a biwa and slowly raised her head.
Obviously, she was none other than Nakime, but this time her bangs were parted, revealing her eye.
However, she didn't have a normal pair of eyes—just one large eye.
In that eye, the Japanese character for 'Five' was engraved.
"How?" Tengen grinned. "So, after Upper Six showed up, now it's Upper Five, huh?"
"Our sudden shift in position just now... was that you?" Obanai asked coldly. "I see... so you're the one who brought us all here."
"..."
Nakime remained silent, merely raising her biwa, clearly intending to pluck its strings.
Seeing this, Tengen and Obanai reacted instantaneously.
"Don't let her play the biwa!"
Obanai, being sharp, sensed that once Nakime played her biwa, her Blood Demon Art would be triggered.
"You don't need to tell me!"
As the Sound Hashira, Tengen understood sound and music better than anyone, knowing how tricky they could be as weapons.
"If you're going to play, make it a more flamboyant tune, demon!" Tengen exclaimed and started running.
Obanai also charged forward, attacking Nakime.
===
"Sound Hashira! Serpent Hashira! Are fighting the Upper Five!"
"Sound Hashira! Serpent Hashira! Are fighting the Upper Five!"
Just like before, the Kasugai Crows continued to timely relay the information, letting everyone know the current battle situation.
However, the content of their reports soon changed again.
"Wind Hashira! Water Hashira! Encountered the Upper Four!"
"Wind Hashira! Water Hashira! Encountered the Upper Four!"
Yes.
Almost at the same time, the recently reunited Sanemi and Giyuu ran into the Upper Four.
"Hiiiii—!"
After two months of disappearance, Hantengu appeared once again, and very abruptly showed up in front of the running Sanemi and Giyuu.
"Are you two the Hashira? Are you strong? Are you going to bully me?" Hantengu asked, trembling in the corner. "S-So scary, don't do this!"
Unfortunately, he ran into the cold and ruthless Sanemi and the silent but not-so-cold Giyuu.
"Die!"
*Whoosh!*
Sanemi's eyes narrowed, and with a low growl, he transformed into a gust of wind, charging toward Hantengu without hesitation.
"You attacked our headquarters two months ago, almost harming the Master..."
*Swish!*
Giyuu's eyes bore a murderous intent as he swung his sword, creating water waves that slashed toward Hantengu's neck.
*Pu-chi!*
In the next moment, the dual slashes of wind and water successfully cut Hantengu into four body parts.
"Watch out!"
"You don't need to tell me that!"
Giyuu and Sanemi did not lower their guard and distanced themselves from Hantengu.
Before long, Hantengu, who had been cut into four body parts, successfully transformed into four clones of himself.
With that, Karaku, Sekido, Aizetsu, and Urogi appeared once again.
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