Sound Hashira Uzui Tengen's training ground.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Endless explosions shrouded the training ground in dazzling fireworks and billowing dust.
"Hahahaha! That's how it's done! Now this is what I call flamboyant!"
Uzui Tengen, bare-chested and resting his two massive Nichirin cleavers on his shoulders, looked at his masterpiece with a proud, wild grin.
He was going to design the most flamboyant and grueling hellish training regimen for his juniors!
Just as he was about to wrap up the final preparations, golden ripples suddenly shimmered in the space behind him.
A man dressed in a pure white tailcoat, exuding an air of supreme nobility, stepped out of thin air.
He surveyed the surrounding explosions and fireworks, a hint of undisguised disdain in his golden eyes.
"I am Lord Kaguya. Is this what you call 'flamboyant'?"
The man's voice was calm, yet it clearly overpowered the deafening explosions.
"How shallow."
Uzui Tengen's pupils shrank violently. His muscles instantly tensed as if facing a deadly enemy!
Who was this guy?!
When did he get here?!
"You bastard..."
Just as he was about to speak, the man who called himself Lord Kaguya pulled out a card and inserted it into a belt that materialized around his waist. A flash of light erupted, and Uzui Tengen's eyes instantly lit up.
It was actually *this* flamboyant?
...
Beneath a secluded waterfall.
The Water Hashira, Giyuu Tomioka, stood with his eyes closed, letting the freezing, rushing torrent pound against his body.
He was training.
But no matter how he executed his Water Breathing, he always felt an insurmountable wall in his heart.
His water was not gentle enough, not pure enough.
Right at that moment, an old man with white hair, a white beard, and a muscular physique quietly appeared behind him.
"Your 'water' is far too rigid."
The old man's voice was steady and powerful.
Giyuu Tomioka's eyes snapped open. He spun around and drew his blade in one fluid motion.
But the moment he saw the old man, he froze.
The unarmed elder simply took a few casual steps forward, yet his body traced perfect, flowing arcs, just like actual running water.
He seemed to blend seamlessly with the surrounding waterfall, rocks, and trees.
Giyuu instinctively swung his blade.
"Water Breathing, Fourth Form: Striking Tide!"
However, as the fierce torrent of water approached the old man, he gently waved his hand. An invisible force effortlessly deflected the attack, causing the water to flow harmlessly around his body without dampening a single thread of his clothes.
"I am Bang."
Silver Fang looked at the young man before him and spoke calmly.
"Let me teach you the true meaning of 'flowing water'."
...
The Mist Hashira, Muichiro Tokito, was widely recognized within the Demon Slayer Corps as a peerless genius rarely seen in centuries.
He was currently facing a wooden dummy, continuously refining his sword forms.
Every movement was brimming with agility and an unbelievable sense of coordination.
However, a girl who looked even a few years younger than him was suddenly sitting on the nearby roof.
She swung her legs, munching on some snacks, and mumbled vaguely.
"Hello, I'm Nanami. My eyes can see that your breathing technique, your muscle exertion, and the angle of your strikes..."
"Hmm... there are a total of seventeen areas that can be optimized."
Muichiro Tokito's movements came to an abrupt halt.
He jerked his head up to look at her.
The girl who called herself "Nanami" merely glanced at his posture once more before casually snapping a twig from a nearby tree.
In the next second, using that fragile twig, she perfectly replicated and optimized his proud "Mist Breathing"!
That posture, that sword trajectory... it was even more perfect and swifter than when he performed it himself!
Her seemingly innocent eyes could see through all the skills in the world, instantly mimicking and surpassing them.
For the first time in his life, Muichiro Tokito felt the despair of having to "look up" to someone.
...
The Wind Hashira, Sanemi Shinazugawa, had the most brutal and direct training method.
He was engaged in a frantic, life-and-death struggle with a demon he had captured.
"Die! You piece of trash!"
Just as he was about to sever the demon's head with a single slash, the world suddenly stood still.
The wind stopped blowing. The terror on the demon's face froze. Even Sanemi himself was completely immobilized.
A girl with long black hair and a cold expression appeared before him.
Homura Akemi held a black magic wand, pointing it directly at the demon's head.
"Your fighting style is filled with unnecessary anger."
The girl's voice was as icy as her expression.
"It's too inefficient."
Bang!
Time resumed its flow, and the demon's head had already exploded into a mist of blood.
...
The Butterfly Mansion.
Shinobu Kocho was in the pharmacy, her brows furrowed as she researched ways to enhance her Wisteria poison.
But she knew very well that these poisons would always have limited effects against the Upper Rank demons.
"Miss, true 'poison' is not merely about destruction, but the art of dominating life."
A hoarse voice suddenly echoed in the silent pharmacy.
Shinobu Kocho whipped around.
A mysterious man shrouded in a cloak was standing there, having appeared out of nowhere.
He simply took a light sniff of the air and accurately recited the formulas of her three core poisons, along with their flaws.
The man extended a finger, and a drop of deep purple liquid seeped from his fingertip.
The liquid dripped onto an experimental plant nearby.
Instantly, the plant went through the entire cycle of sprouting, growing, blooming, and withering at a visible rate.
What he showed Shinobu Kocho was an entirely new world capable of rewriting the laws of biology.
...
"Namu Amida Butsu..."
Gyomei Himejima was undergoing his daily ascetic training, swinging his massive iron flail to temper a body that had already reached the pinnacle of human limits.
At that moment, a man wearing a yellow jumpsuit and sporting a perfectly smooth, shiny bald head suddenly leaned in.
He asked with a face full of curiosity, "Um... big guy, do you have any food here? I think I'm lost."
Gyomei Himejima stopped his movements.
He could "see" that within this seemingly ordinary man's body lay an unfathomable power, as vast and boundless as the universe itself.
Tears of deep emotion instantly streamed from the corners of his eyes.
He believed that a deity had manifested to guide him.
However, the man named Saitama merely rubbed his rumbling stomach, commented that Gyomei's training "looks really weird," and successfully managed to mooch a hearty meal off him.
...
"Yah—!"
The Love Hashira, Mitsuri Kanroji, was doing her flexibility training. Her muscle density, which far exceeded that of ordinary humans, was the source of her immense strength.
Boom!
A man with a tail and a bizarre hairstyle suddenly fell from the sky, smashing a large crater into the courtyard.
"Wow! Your 'ki' is so weird!"
The man hopped out of the crater and circled Mitsuri Kanroji, inspecting her with curiosity.
"You don't feel very strong, but your body is surprisingly tough!"
His eyes were filled with the unique curiosity and excitement of a warrior race as he enthusiastically issued an invitation.
"Come fight me! I promise I'll only use a tiny bit of my strength!"
...
Just as all the members of the Demon Slayer Corps were meeting their respective "devilish mentors," an urgent intelligence report—its cover an ominous, blood-red hue—was delivered to Kagaya Ubuyashiki by a Kasugai Crow.
The report contained only a few short sentences, but it left the master of the Demon Slayer Corps, a man who had long since made peace with death, feeling ice-cold all over.
The intelligence stated that just today at noon, in a bustling metropolis, a demon had appeared in broad daylight.
It walked brazenly beneath the glaring sun, turning the citizens of an entire street into bloody, twisted "works of art."
The samurai who stepped forward to stop it were effortlessly destroyed like fragile dolls.
That demon was none other than Upper Rank Five, Gyokko.
Not only was he unafraid of the sun, but he could even use its light to make his Blood Demon Art even more bizarre and powerful!
Kagaya Ubuyashiki stared at this final message, bought with the lives of the survivors. For the first time, an almost despairing, ashen pallor washed over his sickly pale face.
The foundation and conviction that the Demon Slayer Corps had upheld for over a thousand years were completely shaken in this very moment.
"The demons..."
"Have conquered the sun."