This Hashira Meeting ended in shock.
Flower Hashira Kochou Kanae, a Demon Slayer with quite senior standing among the current Hashira, recounted a past that surprised everyone.
The Butterfly Clan had been entangled with Upper Rank One of the Twelve Kizuki for generations.
From her words, the Demon Slayer Corps finally gained a deeper understanding of this demon.
Upper Rank One, whose true name was Tsugikuni Mitsuba, miraculously shared the same name as the legendary figure from twenty years ago in the Demon Slayer Corps.
When she was human, she was born into a daimyo family called the Tsugikuni Clan during the Sengoku era. The legendary progenitor of Breathing Techniques in the Demon Slayer Corps was her elder brother.
Perhaps due to bloodline, Tsugikuni Mitsuba possessed sword talent as outstanding as her brother's, but unlike her brother, her physical condition was quite poor.
Through a series of coincidences, Tsugikuni Mitsuba—who had inherited the position of family head—should have died at age twenty, but at that time, she happened to encounter the progenitor Muzan.
Under Muzan's temptation, she ultimately abandoned her human identity and fell to become a demon.
From this point on, this demon named Tsugikuni Mitsuba launched multiple attacks against the Demon Slayer Corps throughout the long years that followed.
Even her elder brother, the Child of God, died at her hands decades later...
This demon had actually defeated even the legendary progenitor of Breathing Techniques?!
According to Kanae's account, Tsugikuni Mitsuba's Blood Demon Art involved the power of karma—a terrifying ability capable of freely altering the past and future of living beings in this world!
Hundreds of years ago, she used this terrifying Blood Demon Art to defeat the progenitor of Breathing Techniques and thwart the subjugation operation against her by that generation of the Demon Slayer Corps during the early Tokugawa Shogunate.
She was humanity's natural nemesis. No matter how powerful a human, they would be at absolute disadvantage before her!
These deceased predecessors used their blood to verify a fact for those who came after—
Upper Rank One, the sharpest sword of the progenitor Muzan, was not an existence that could be defeated through sheer numbers!
Her strength had already transcended the level of pure power. Before her who held the "rules," numbers were completely meaningless!
That was why she dared to appear so unscrupulously at Mount Fujikasane, casually resurrecting those Demon Slayers she had killed.
That was why she faced the Demon Slayer Corps' subjugation with such a playful attitude.
Because from her perspective, she herself was already an invincible existence!
Such an enemy could no longer be defeated through frontal combat.
Fortunately, Tsugikuni Mitsuba was not without weakness.
Despite being a demon who had lived for nearly five hundred years, deep in her heart still existed attachment to her one and only close friend from when she was human.
It was this thread of attachment that created a crack in this demon's heart.
This distant emotion made her, even after more than four hundred years, still unable to harm the bloodline of that close friend.
Moreover, according to Kanae, when she first encountered Tsugikuni Mitsuba in Tokyo, the other had persuaded her, hoping she would leave the Demon Slayer Corps.
Last night at the Infinity Castle, she contacted Kanae once again and spoke similar words to her.
Because she didn't want to cross blades, this demon desperately hoped Kanae would leave the Demon Slayer Corps.
Her care for Kanae, this descendant of her close friend's bloodline, had even reached the point where she only kept persuading her but was unwilling to take any forceful measures against her!
A demon could possess such rich emotions?
The people of the Demon Slayer Corps found this inconceivable.
But at the same time, they realized this was Tsugikuni Mitsuba's weakness.
Her only weakness.
For a demon who held the power of "rules," if there was truly anyone in this world who could defeat her, it could only be Kanae.
Fortunately, Kanae stood on the Demon Slayers' side.
Like her deceased mother, she possessed the obsession of wanting to wash away her family's past sins.
They were both determined to slay this demon who had been entangled with their family for hundreds of years.
[I never expected Kanae-senpai to have such a past...]
After the Hashira Meeting ended, Tanjiro walked on the road back to his quarters, constantly recalling in his mind the past Kanae had spoken of during the meeting.
As a gentle person, Tanjiro felt no resentment toward Kanae's previous deliberate concealment. After all, his senpai truly had her difficulties.
What he truly cared about was actually Tsugikuni Mitsuba.
In Kanae's account, he felt he seemed to see another side of Tsugikuni Mitsuba.
Recalling all his encounters with Tsugikuni Mitsuba from Mount Fujikasane until now, he suddenly felt this demon didn't seem that evil?
[I really wish I could have the chance to meet her again and have a good talk with her...]
With this thought in his heart, before he knew it, Tanjiro had arrived at his home in the Demon Slayer Corps quarters.
"Onii-chan? You're back!"
In the yard before the door, Nezuko, who had been hanging laundry with her younger siblings, spotted Tanjiro standing outside the gate and immediately ran over with joy.
"Yeah! I'm back! How has Father been these past few days?"
A smile appearing on his face, Tanjiro welcomed her with a smile.
"Still the same as before. Though his health hasn't improved, fortunately it hasn't worsened too much either..."
"I see... Alright! Nezuko, you all keep busy. I have something to ask Father!"
"Got it, Onii-chan. Will you stay for lunch at noon?"
"No problem!"
Nodding firmly, Tanjiro quickly ran into the house.
On the bed in the bedroom, Tanjuro—who had already sensed Tanjiro's arrival—slowly sat up from the bed with a smile.
"Tanjiro, you're back."
His physique was quite thin, his cheeks hollow like knife cuts, his eye sockets dark—a appearance of someone long tormented by illness.
"Yes, I'm back."
Every time he saw his father in this state, Tanjiro felt a deep pain in his heart.
"Father."
In his mind, recalling the special circumstances that had appeared one after another on Kyojuro and Akaza during the battle at the Infinity Castle, Tanjiro looked at his father before him and asked seriously:
"How much do you actually know about the Transparent World?"
To date, Tanjiro's nose had only failed on four people.
Tsugikuni Mitsuba, last night's Kyojuro and Akaza, and finally his father before him, Kamado Tanjuro.
From them, he couldn't smell any scent.
Even in his olfactory perception, Tanjiro didn't feel they were people, but rather a tree, a lifeless stone.
He hadn't been certain of the reason before, but after last night's battle, he completely understood.
These four were all existences who had entered the supreme realm. Their auras were thus completely concealed, making them impossible for him to perceive.
Tanjiro felt he was very fortunate—after all, his seemingly sickly and frail father was actually a peak figure who had stepped into the supreme realm...
Therefore, he had actually come today to seek his father's guidance.
He needed to grow stronger!
To defeat those extremely powerful Upper Rank demons, he needed to become even stronger!