The battle at the movie studio came to an end.
This battle, which began with Zenitsu discovering Ume of Upper Rank Six and escalated with both sides continuously adding forces—bringing in multiple Hashira and Upper Rank Two—ultimately concluded with the deaths of Sound Hashira Uzui Tengen and one of his wives.
On the demon side, they withdrew completely unscathed, without a single casualty.
Aside from Uzui Tengen, on the Demon Slayer Corps side, both Himejima Gyomei and Zenitsu suffered heavy injuries.
Among them, the poison in Himejima Gyomei's body was finally neutralized through the combined efforts of Tamayo and Kanae.
As for Zenitsu, although his injuries were also severe, fortunately there were no disabilities—he only needed some time to recuperate.
Although from the results, this was undoubtedly another crushing defeat for demon slayers facing Upper Rank demons.
In actual analysis, the Demon Slayer Corps had actually obtained much important intelligence from this battle.
First were the three Upper Rank demons that appeared last night.
Upper Rank Six's strength was very close to that of demon slayers. Even Gyutaro, whose strength far surpassed his sister's, was within the range where Himejima Gyomei could defeat him in single combat.
The other Hashira, as long as they could awaken their marks, would basically possess the power to fight him.
Points requiring attention were that Gyutaro's Blood Demon Art had extremely potent venom, he himself also mastered Moon Breathing sword forms, was extremely familiar with Breathing techniques, and excelled at coordinating with his sister against enemies.
Therefore, during subjugation, they must find a way to separate the siblings and end the battle as quickly as possible, not dragging it out until the poison takes effect.
Additionally, this sibling pair seemingly could not be killed by individual decapitation—during subjugation, they might need to attempt beheading them simultaneously.
Then there was Upper Rank Two. Judging from Upper Rank Six's address, his name should be Doma.
This demon's Blood Demon Art allowed him to freely generate and manipulate ice.
He even possessed the unbelievable ability to make his ice creations fight autonomously and release his Blood Demon Art!
His danger level was extremely high!
At the same time, as Upper Rank Two, his speed and strength were also terrifying, far surpassing marked Hashira!
He was absolutely not an existence that a single demon slayer could handle.
His only weakness might be that he wasn't skilled at close-quarters combat with humans—when forced into melee situations with demon slayers, he might be unable to respond precisely in time.
Besides this, he might also have the special quirks of being talkative and devouring humans (beautiful women) during battle.
Perhaps they could target this point to formulate his subjugation plan...
Including these three demons from last night, among the current Upper Rank demons, the Demon Slayer Corps already knew four. Only the final Upper Rank Four and Upper Rank Five remained complete blanks.
But since they were Four and Five, presumably their strength would certainly be above the Gyutaro siblings. The Demon Slayer Corps must mentally prepare for the possibility that individual subjugation cannot defeat them.
Aside from the above most important intelligence, there were also some secondary but equally meaningful pieces of information.
Among them, first was the price of the Demon Slayer Mark.
All who awaken the mark cannot live past twenty-five years old. For hundreds of years, except for that legendary Child of God who was born with it, there had been no exceptions.
This truth was undoubtedly heavy, yet surprisingly, it didn't cause much of a stir in the Demon Slayer Corps.
Just as Doma said, the demon slayers of the Demon Slayer Corps, regardless of their origins, could always be so resolute in will when facing demons that they didn't seem human—the higher their position, the more so.
As long as they could slay demons, they would pay any price without hesitation.
It was merely a lifespan limit of twenty-five years. As long as they could obtain the power to fight demons, they didn't care at all.
Second was the death of that "Child of God."
For hundreds of years, regarding this legend who brought Breathing techniques to the Demon Slayer Corps and once forced the Demon King to desperate straits, his ultimate fate had always been a mystery among demon slayers.
Even the Butterfly clan and Tamayo didn't know.
Now, they finally learned this truth from another demon's mouth—
The Child of God died at the hands of Upper Rank One, Tsugikuni Mitsuba.
So that's how it was. The strongest person in the long history of demon slayers was actually defeated by a demon?
How did she accomplish this?
Defeating him head-on? Or relying on her unbelievably powerful Blood Demon Art?
Or perhaps, exploiting the Child of God's human weakness as his younger sister?
This point the others didn't know.
Only one thing they were completely certain of—
Tsugikuni Mitsuba could not be defeated by demon slayers.
She was an existence who could even defeat the Child of God. Any method of frontal combat was impossible to slay her; only indirect means could be adopted.
And besides the above two points, in Doma's words from last night, there was actually one extremely important yet easily overlooked piece of intelligence hidden—
Tsugikuni Mitsuba was also plotting to eradicate the Demon Slayer Corps.
Doma's phrasing last night was "this time."
Combining this with the two previous eradications of the Demon Slayer Corps by Tsugikuni Mitsuba in history, everyone could very simply draw a conclusion—
The final deadline was upon their generation of demon slayers. Tsugikuni Mitsuba had decided to completely erase from history this Demon Slayer Corps led by the Ubuyashiki clan for over a thousand years!
Death was approaching.
This was no longer simply about the Demon Slayer Corps thinking about how to slay demons—the demon side had already turned around to slay them!
If they didn't respond quickly and still clung to past ideas of hiding for several decades when they couldn't win, they would inevitably walk toward complete eradication in despair!
No one doubted whether Tsugikuni Mitsuba had such capability, because her Blood Demon Art allowed her to see the karma threads on humans.
As long as she had the determination and perseverance to do so, as humans, not a single demon slayer could escape her pursuit!
The pursuit by demons chased relentlessly from behind, while not far ahead, there also existed a chasm called the Demon Slayer Mark.
That was similarly an absolute chasm that demon slayers who had awakened their marks could never cross.
The remaining time for the Demon Slayer Corps was already not much.
Everyone's hearts had vaguely realized that the Demon Slayer Corps and demons, these archenemies entangled for over a thousand years, were very likely about to welcome that true, and also final, decisive battle.
This was undoubtedly a decisive battle extremely unfavorable to the Demon Slayer Corps. Before the battle even began, the demons already held overwhelming strength and complete initiative.
And the Demon Slayer Corps...
"The intelligence summary ends here. The situation we currently face, I believe, is extremely clear in everyone's minds."
In the inner room of the Ubuyashiki residence, a new Hashira Meeting was convened once more.
In the spacious room, the position that once belonged to Uzui Tengen was now left empty.
It was worth mentioning that although nominally this was also a Hashira Meeting.
In reality, besides the Hashira who were all present as usual, this time there were actually several "newcomers" who also attended the meeting.