"Sorry, Mr. Rengoku, we came late."
Half-kneeling on the ground, holding his chest and adjusting his breathing, Kanae spoke in a deep voice to Rengoku behind her.
Her gaze glanced at Mitsuba standing far opposite. The instant their eyes met, not knowing what she thought of, she subconsciously averted her gaze.
"Cough! As expected of an Upper Rank demon! Truly formidable!"
A carp flip to quickly rise from the ground, Sabito removed the mask on his face, raised his hand to wipe the blood at the corner of his mouth, and loudly praised.
Sanemi didn't speak. After standing up, his gaze quickly swept around the surroundings. When he saw his younger brother Genya hanging unconscious on a tree not far away, he quietly let out a breath of relief.
Yes, Water Hashira Sabito, Wind Hashira Sanemi—these were the reinforcements Ubuyashiki had sent.
Before tonight's mission officially began, Rengoku—who realized this Infinity Mountain Villa likely hid Upper Rank demons—immediately had his Kasugai crow apply to Ubuyashiki for reinforcements.
After the two arrived at Infinity Mountain Villa, they first went to the cinema hall, encountered Kanae who had just awakened, and finally came here together.
"One, two, three, four... four Hashira, ah no, if we count that little snake who was already taken away, it should be five Hashira.
A small villa, yet able to gather nearly half of your Demon Slayer Corps' Hashira—truly a rare scene.
Enough, so many people, this should allow me to fight to my heart's content!"
Gaze directly facing the four people before him, especially seeing that Rengoku had finally caught his breath and stood up again, Akaza finally smiled and slowly raised his hand, assuming his stance.
"Technique deployment! Destructive Death: Compass Needle!"
Along with a stirring electronic sound of unknown origin, beneath Akaza's feet, a massive formation shaped like a snowflake, emitting faint blue ghostly light, instantly expanded within Mitsuba's mandala domain!
Destructive Death: Compass Needle—this was the core of Akaza's Blood Demon Art.
It had no attack ability whatsoever, but could omnidirectionally and without blind spots perceive and detect all battle aura and killing intent around the formation, assisting Akaza in real-time adjusting his own offensive and defensive rhythm, carrying out precise counterattacks against enemies!
Simply put, it was like turning on wallhack and aimbot—the top-tier combat auxiliary type Blood Demon Art!
That Akaza would activate Compass Needle could only mean one thing: he had finally decided to get somewhat serious!
"Don't talk nonsense! Come! Let's fight to our heart's content!"
Giving the four people before him absolutely no chance to trash talk, Akaza's legs pushed off, charging instantly with a fierce grin, directly initiating battle!
"Exactly what I wanted! Scatter and engage!"
Blood boiling, Sabito shouted loudly, taking the lead to swing his blade and face head-on!
"Watch for support!"
Beside him, Sanemi, Rengoku, and Kanae simultaneously scattered, launching attacks on Akaza from various directions!
For the first time in over three hundred years, four Hashira-level swordsmen simultaneously besieged one Upper Rank demon.
Above was the blood-red mandala formation, below was the ghostly blue snowflake Compass Needle. The four people with extreme tacit understanding surrounded Akaza in the center, continuously unleashing various sword techniques toward him!
The four always maintained an attack rhythm with one person as main attacker and three as supporting attackers.
Whenever the person responsible for main attack was about to be unable to sustain, another would immediately take over, with the other three alternating as support.
Their cooperation was seamless, attacks layer upon layer, airtight. Every move and technique used the most tricky angles, slashing toward Akaza's most difficult-to-defend positions, striving with maximum effort to force out his openings!
[So this is the true strength of these seniors...]
Rising from the ground, Tanjiro watched this scene from afar, looking at that battlefield he couldn't insert himself into at all, his heart full of shock.
He had thought that after awakening his Mark, he already possessed strength capable of rivaling these seniors.
But now it seemed, he was still far from it.
Combat experience, techniques when fighting demons, sharp intuition tempered between life and death, application of sword techniques in actual combat...
In all of the above, he was still far behind.
However, facing seniors already this powerful, the Upper Rank Three surrounded in the center could still match them, not falling behind?
No, not just not falling behind... he was even faintly suppressing these four seniors!
Watching Akaza fighting joyfully with the surrounding four people, Tanjiro felt deep shock. Under this shock, he even faintly produced a trace of tiny despair!
This demon was actually strong to this degree?!
Actually, it wasn't just Tanjiro. The four people currently fighting Akaza had the same feeling in their hearts.
They were similarly growing more alarmed the more they fought!
Especially Rengoku.
When Kanae and the other three's support arrived, he had even once thought that tonight they might finally have a chance at victory.
But as Akaza's Compass Needle activated, this trace of optimism in his heart also began to rapidly extinguish.
Too fast!
This demon's speed and reactions were both astonishingly fast. No matter how much the four of them increased their speed, no matter how perfect their coordination, it could always react at the first moment and carry out precise countermeasures!
What a joke!
Did it have no limits whatsoever?!
Once again barely blocking Akaza's swung fist, Rengoku only felt his heart pounding with fear.
He could feel that under this fierce continuous offense, not just him, the stamina of the other three companions had also been mostly consumed.
Continuing to fight like this, before long, the four of them would be exhausted by this demon!
Mark!!
These two words surfaced in his mind once more at this moment.
Rengoku extremely clearly realized this was their only way to break the situation!
Must awaken the Mark!
Only relying on the massive amplification brought by the Mark could they possibly truly fight against this demon!
Must awaken the Mark!
Otherwise tonight, everyone would die here!
Must awaken the Mark!
Only this way could he protect these companions beside him!
"Ugh!"
Will reaching an unprecedented peak at this moment, an uncontrollable roar emitting from his mouth, Rengoku's body temperature began to rapidly rise. The heart in his chest pounded like a drum, even vibrating his eardrums!
In this instant, the world seemed to quiet down. Everything remained, only the thunder-like pounding from his heart!
Meanwhile, on his left cheek, a flame-like orange-red Mark rapidly emerged!
He finally did it!