"Give Kyojuro... BACK!!"
Amidst everyone's silence, a voice filled with rage suddenly rang out.
Who?
Who was it?
Who was the one who shouted these words?
Sabito and Tanjiro turned simultaneously, looking in astonishment at the person who had roared this out.
It was Kanae?!
In the shock of everyone present, they saw her face written with fury as she suddenly drew her blade and charged without hesitation toward Mitsuba's retreating figure!
"Kanae-senpai!"
"Wait! Kanae! Don't provoke her!"
"Flower Breathing: Final Form—Vermillion Eyes of the Other Shore!"
Sabito tried to stop her, but it was already too late.
Directly unleashing the final form of Flower Breathing, a large amount of blood instantly surged toward her eyes, dyeing them as red as blood. With her dynamic vision pushed to the extreme, Kanae swung her blade fiercely down toward Mitsuba's seemingly defenseless back!
"Oh my?"
Just when everyone thought Mitsuba would certainly turn around without hesitation and take Kanae down in one move, something unexpected happened.
Facing Kanae's sudden attack, Mitsuba... did not counterattack!
She turned her head, only looking at the furious Kanae with slightly surprised eyes, then lightly stepped aside—perfectly avoiding her strike.
This demon... actually didn't fight back?
Was she actually this good-tempered?
Tanjiro was greatly shocked by this scene.
He knew that at Mount Fujikasane, this demon would immediately shoot people dead at the slightest disagreement!
Amidst the shock of those behind her, they saw Kanae quickly flip her wrist and swing her blade horizontally at Mitsuba once more!
However, facing this strike, Mitsuba still did not counterattack.
She once again retreated precisely one step, perfectly avoiding her blade once more, while simultaneously asking:
"Little one, why are you swinging your blade at me?"
"Shut up! I'm going to kill you!"
Completely ignoring Mitsuba's question, Kanae only roared and launched another attack at her.
And so, a bizarre scene unfolded before everyone's eyes.
A demon who was likely the strongest in this world aside from the progenitor, was actually continuously retreating under the attacks of a Demon Slayer who had not awakened the Mark or entered the Transparent World, as if completely powerless to fight back?
What kind of joke was this?
What exactly was going on here?
Could it be that everyone had unknowingly fallen under that Lower Rank Two's Blood Demon Art again?
Otherwise, why had this demon been dodging the entire time?
At this moment, even the slowest person should have realized.
Something was wrong, completely wrong... this demon, she seemed to have no intention of attacking Kanae?
Why?
Was it mere interest? Or was there something special about Kanae?
"Alright, little one, I am indeed somewhat tired tonight, so I won't continue playing with you. You should hurry back and rest as well. We'll talk again next time."
Just as everyone was puzzled, Mitsuba—having once again avoided Kanae's attack—spoke thus, finally raising her left hand.
Was this demon finally going to counterattack?
"Kanae! Fall back!"
Shouting thus, Sabito charged forward without hesitation, swinging his blade.
"Kanae-senpai!"
Not far away, Tanjiro also supported the heavily injured Sanemi, rushing over with all his strength!
At this critical moment, they saw Mitsuba's hand simply flick against Kanae's blade.
*Clang!*
In an instant, the terrifying force transmitted from the blade sent Kanae staggering two steps to the side!
"Watch your step. Goodbye~"
Seizing this opening, Mitsuba had Nakime open a gate and entered the Infinity Castle, waving farewell to everyone with a smile.
The moment the gate closed, the surrounding crimson mandala domain also dissipated.
The moonlight above finally poured in, illuminating this street that had endured countless fierce battles tonight.
"Kanae! Are you alright?"
Hurrying forward, Sabito asked with concern.
Meanwhile, Tanjiro also arrived. Looking up at the still rage-filled expression on Kanae's face, he hesitated for a moment before finally unable to resist asking:
"Kanae-senpai, that Upper Rank One... does she know you?"
"..."
[This place seems to be a different dimension...]
Within Ubume's illusory otherworldly space, Obanai was contemplating with his head lowered.
Since being transferred to this mansion by Ubume, Obanai had examined the interior layout of this residence over and over again.
From the outside, it seemed to be just an ordinary, aged old house with many rooms, filled everywhere with that unique rotten smell of decaying wooden structures.
But in reality, it was not so.
Within this mansion, even a thin wooden wall was completely indestructible to him. Attacks using his full strength couldn't leave even the slightest mark on it.
Precisely because of this, even though Obanai had discovered the mansion's main gate, he had no way to exit.
What was even more terrifying was that through the mansion's wooden windows, Obanai noticed that the area outside this mansion was completely pitch black.
Not the darkness of a normal night, but that kind of complete, total darkness without even a trace of light!
This was clearly abnormal.
Obanai thus made his judgment—he was likely no longer on Earth at this moment.
This mansion was probably not a creation existing on Earth, but rather some otherworldly space born from Ubume's Blood Demon Art.
The incense burner and incense he had seen at the museum earlier should have been the necessary conditions to enter this otherworldly space.
This sounded somewhat unbelievable, but Obanai could only believe this for now. After all, demons' Blood Demon Arts possessed exactly this kind of bizarre and peculiar ability.
[Which means, unless someone can rescue me from outside, I will never be able to leave here, right?]
Realizing this, Obanai felt somewhat despairing.
From when he was imprisoned in this otherworldly mansion until now, quite some time had passed.
The squad of swordsmen who had followed him earlier had likely already been annihilated; otherwise, they couldn't have taken this long to come rescue him.
And that demon had never shown itself. What exactly did it want to do...
Finding a place to sit cross-legged, hearing the painful moans beside him, Obanai subconsciously turned to look.
On the floor not far away, those swordsmen who had disappeared inside the Infinity Castle during the day were now lying there. Obanai had already provided them with temporary treatment for their wounds.
But this was only temporary. Without necessary medicine, these swordsmen would soon die from wound infections.
In other rooms of this mansion, Obanai had already discovered corpses that had died for this reason—the vast majority of them Demon Slayers.
Without a doubt, that demon had already trapped and killed who knows how many Demon Slayers through this otherworldly mansion.
Could this also be his end?
The moment he realized this, Obanai turned his gaze toward something in the mansion's main hall.
That was a flower—a black mandala flower.
If there was anything in this mansion he hadn't figured out, it was probably only this flower.
Judging from the demonic aura emanating from it, it was undoubtedly also a demon's creation, but Obanai didn't understand—what purpose did this flower serve being placed here?
It neither attacked him nor released anything strange; it simply existed there quietly, very bizarre...
What shocked Obanai even more was that his strikes couldn't harm it in the slightest!
The one who created this flower must be an extremely powerful demon!
Thud!
Just as Obanai was about to step forward and observe that mandala flower more closely, a sound of something heavy landing suddenly rang out behind him.
He subconsciously turned to look, and his pupils contracted sharply.
"...Kyojuro?"