The subject of "crash course training" was one Horitake had mentioned to Shinobu before. Recalling this, she looked at him with a hint of skepticism.
"A crash course? You mean the same kind of training you gave your juniors before the Final Selection? Word has it that after completing your program, their strength increased by twenty to thirty percent almost instantly. It sounds far too supernatural to be true. I find it hard to believe anyone can jump that much in a single day. Isn't that just a bit of false advertising?"
Horitake let out a patient sigh, explaining his philosophy with the tone of a dedicated mentor.
"The physical training itself only lasts a day. Any less and it's ineffective; any more and you risk overtraining. But calling it a 'strength increase' isn't quite accurate. More precisely, it's an increase in the manifestation of that strength."
As a Hashira and a master combatant herself, Shinobu understood his point immediately.
Young slayers like Kanao had decent foundational skills, but they hadn't yet achieved a state of total synergy between mind, body, and technique. Consequently, the power they displayed in a typical fight wasn't their true potential.
To put it in numerical terms: if a novice slayer's theoretical power level was a ten, they might only be able to output a nine under normal circumstances. Only when backed into a corner, facing a life-or-death crisis, would they desperately claw their way up to a ten. Usually, when people spoke of "breaking through" during a crisis, they were simply witnessing the sudden release of power that was already there.
Horitake's crash course was designed to bridge that gap, teaching them to tap into their full potential at will, and sometimes even pushing that output to a twelve or a thirteen through sheer efficiency of movement.
Of course, this was only effective for novices. For someone at the Hashira level, they had long since mastered the art of maximizing their output. There was no "hidden reserve" of unrefined potential to tap into; they were already operating at peak efficiency.
Nodding slowly, Shinobu conceded. "It certainly wouldn't hurt for Kanao to undergo your training. When do you plan to start?"
Horitake hummed thoughtfully, deciding on a more cautious approach. "We're currently traveling, so a high-intensity crash course isn't ideal. Let's wait. I want to see her kill a few demons first so I can gauge her current baseline. Once I know exactly where she stands, we'll begin."
And so, the two of them quietly decided the fate of the girl walking behind them.
Kanao, still preoccupied with observing the landscape, had no idea that a hellish training regimen was being prepared for her. Even if she had known, her stoic expression likely wouldn't have changed a bit.
The trio continued their journey, eventually leaving behind the jagged mountain range that shielded the Demon Slayer Corps' headquarters. As they pressed forward, the wilderness gave way to small villages and bustling towns.
Every time they passed through a settlement, Kanao's excitement was palpable. Despite her thrill, her natural shyness made her cautious; she frequently tucked herself behind Horitake and Shinobu, peeking out at the vibrant displays of human life with wide, curious eyes.
However, everything is subject to the law of diminishing returns. As the days passed and the scenery repeated itself, the novelty began to wear off. Kanao's excitement settled into a quiet, steady calm.
During those days of travel, the group never passed up an opportunity to hunt. They followed a constant stream of intelligence from the Corps and their Kasugai Crows, chasing every rumor of a demon sighting. Wherever there was a shadow of a threat, they moved to intercept it.
Finally, on this particular night, they tracked down a small nest of demons.
The time had come for the two "sisters"—the master and the disciple—to finally draw blood.
Shinobu was the first to show a sense of urgency. She was desperate to see exactly how potent her new formula truly was.
Under the shroud of the moonlit forest, a particularly unlucky demon was being pursued like a cornered rat. Outmatched and overwhelmed by the mere presence of the trio, he had no choice but to flee blindly into the dark, praying for a sliver of a chance to survive.
Perhaps the heavens grant a chance to the righteous, but they had no such mercy for this wretch.
The demon scrambled through the undergrowth, his breath coming in ragged, desperate gasps. His lungs burned, and his legs felt like lead. Finally, unable to take another step, he collapsed against the trunk of a massive tree, heaving and wheezing as he clutched the bark for support.
Terror-stricken, he glanced back at the path he had taken. The woods were a wall of silent, suffocating blackness.
"Hah... hah... I ran so far... so long... I must have... I must have lost those slayers... I made it... I'm safe..."
Just as the words left his lips, a gentle, melodic voice drifted from the shadows right beside him.
"Oh my, oh my... how unfortunate. You haven't escaped at all, you know?"
Every hair on the demon's body stood on end. He spun around, his face pale with horror. Shinobu Kochou had appeared beside him as if coalesced from the moonlight itself. She was watching him with a serene, pleasant smile.
The demon let out a strangled shriek of terror. Without a second thought, he turned and tried to scramble away on all fours.
Shinobu's voice followed him, sounding almost sympathetic.
"I'm so sorry, Mr. Demon, but there's no running away anymore. Why don't you just accept your fate right here? It's perfect timing, really—I've been looking for a volunteer to help me test a new poison."
With those words, Shinobu gave a light, graceful leap. She surged forward, her butterfly-patterned haori billowing in the wind like the wings of a great, beautiful insect in flight.
With a smile still dancing on her lips, she drew her Nichirin sword. In a blur of motion, she delivered a single, precise thrust into the demon's back.
The strike was incredibly light—hardly more than the delicate sting of a honeybee.
Yet, that tiny prick was the end of everything for the demon.
The creature, who had been in the middle of a frantic crawl, suddenly froze. His eyes bulged in their sockets, and his face twisted into a mask of pure agony. His heart began to hammer against his ribs with such violence that the thumping was audible in the quiet woods. He staggered forward two steps, his legs turning to jelly, before collapsing face-first into the dirt.
Shinobu landed softly on the grass, her eyes widening in genuine surprise.
"Oh my... the new poison acts that quickly?"
Hardly had the words left her mouth when the demon's body began to react violently. His flesh swelled as if suffering from sudden, massive edema. His skin turned a bruised, mottled purple before—pssh-pssh—the swollen areas began to rupture, spraying blood into the air. Within seconds, the demon was hemorrhaging from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth in a gruesome display of total systemic collapse.
Before his screams could even leave his throat, he began to disintegrate into ash.
From the moment of the sting to the moment of total annihilation, barely seven or eight seconds had passed. It might have been even less.
Even Shinobu looked at her sword with a trace of disbelief. Is the new poison really this terrifying?
Suddenly, Horitake appeared at her side. He had witnessed the entire execution from the shadows and couldn't help but offer a dry observation.
"The mouth of a green bamboo snake, the sting on a wasp's tail... neither of them are truly toxic. But the most poisonous thing of all..."
He paused, looking at the spot where the demon had just vanished.
"Is clearly Shinobu-nee's new brew. That stuff is absolutely lethal. The potency is staggering, the onset is nearly instantaneous, and judging by that guy's face, the process was pure agony. Honestly, Shinobu-nee, you should stop calling yourself the Insect Hashira. From now on, I'm calling you the Poison Hashira!"
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