"Cain, do you have a plan?"
After entering Mount Fujikasane, Rengoku Kyojuro looked at the black haired youth beside him and asked.
It was already night, and thick clouds covered the sky, blocking out the moonlight.
Walking through the dim forest, Cain continued forward while removing the backpack from his shoulders.
"Kyojuro, do you know about Rare Blood?"
"I have heard of it."
Rengoku Kyojuro replied.
As the son of the Flame Hashira, Rengoku Kyojuro had been exposed to various pieces of knowledge about demons since childhood.
Although he had never personally encountered such a case, he was not unfamiliar with the concept of Rare Blood.
Rare Blood referred to humans who possessed an unusually rare type of blood.
Just as humans pursue fine cuisine and enjoy tasting better food.
To man eating demons, Rare Blood was equivalent to a rare delicacy.
A human with Rare Blood possessed nutritional value comparable to dozens or even hundreds of ordinary people.
If a demon devoured a person with Rare Blood, its strength would increase dramatically.
"Cain, are you perhaps a Rare Blood?"
"To be precise, I possess Panda Blood."
"Panda Blood?"
"You can understand it as the rarest form of Rare Blood, even rarer than the type that people normally refer to as Rare Blood."
Cain took out a box from his backpack that had been tightly sealed in multiple layers.
He had learned that he possessed Rare Blood several months ago while wandering through the slums.
At that time, he had not yet awakened the Mist Space and had no money at all. Hunger forced him to rummage through garbage in search of food.
While searching for scraps, Cain accidentally cut his finger on a piece of rusted iron.
The consequence was that a demon several kilometers away instantly lost its sanity and crossed most of the slum district to find Cain, who was digging through trash.
If Jigoro Kuwajima had not received news that a demon had been sighted that day and personally descended the mountain to hunt it down.
Cain would likely have died on the spot, achieving the impressive accomplishment of being instantly killed right after arriving in this world.
However, it was precisely after that incident that Cain's fate completely changed.
He became the disciple of Jigoro Kuwajima, learned Thunder Breathing, and awakened the ability sharing power of the Mist Space.
Up until today, with the support of Jigoro Kuwajima and the power of the Mist Space, Cain already possessed the strength to fear no demon.
"Are you ready, Kyojuro?"
Opening the sealed box, Cain took out five test tubes filled with blood and placed them into specially prepared slots on his waist.
"The battle ahead will probably exceed your imagination."
"Bring it on!"
Rengoku Kyojuro burst into loud laughter and drew the Nichirin Blade from his waist.
"I am the man who will become the Flame Hashira!"
"If I fall here, my family will laugh at me even after I die!"
"Let's begin, Kyojuro."
Cain chuckled softly and said nothing more as he reached out and pulled the stoppers from the test tubes.
Because they had undergone special treatment, the blood stored inside these containers still retained its vitality.
As the cold night wind blew through the forest, the thick scent of blood spread in every direction like the smell of freshly opened stinky tofu noodles in summer.
Under the influence of this scent, the demons hidden throughout the forest, who had been starving for who knew how long, instantly lost their sanity and rushed toward the source of the blood smell.
Within only a few breaths, several demons with scarlet eyes appeared before Cain and Rengoku Kyojuro, charging like rabid beasts rushing toward rotting flesh.
"They are here!"
Rengoku Kyojuro drew his Nichirin Blade and immediately moved forward to engage them.
But at that exact moment, a series of sharp crackling sounds echoed beside his ears.
Ssssh! Ssssh! Ssssh!
By the time Rengoku Kyojuro realized what had happened, several demons that had just leapt out of the forest had already lost their heads.
As the corpses collapsed to the ground, the black haired youth stood calmly with his Nichirin Blade in hand while faint arcs of electricity flickered around his body.
A faint smile appeared on Cain's face.
"Go ahead, Kyojuro."
The encouraging words spoken earlier echoed once again beneath the dark night sky.
However, this time the meaning behind those words was completely different.
"Go on. Try to snatch a demon from my hands. Otherwise you will still be mocked even if you survive and return."
…
"It should be about time."
On the plaza outside Mount Fujikasane, Ubuyashiki Amane murmured quietly while looking at the hourglass in her hand.
This hourglass had been taken out of Cain's backpack and handed to her before he entered the mountain.
Now that all the sand had fallen to the bottom, it meant that half an hour had already passed.
According to the agreement between Cain and Rengoku Kyojuro, it was time to allow the other candidates to enter Mount Fujikasane.
"Eh? What is that?"
"Demons! Those are demons!"
"You must be joking! How can there be so many!"
At that moment, several shocked cries suddenly erupted across the plaza.
Ubuyashiki Amane, who had been about to announce the start of the Final Selection, paused in surprise and looked toward Mount Fujikasane in the direction everyone was pointing.
In the next instant, several demons emitting terrifying auras appeared within sight as they continuously leapt and dashed through the forest.
As if attracted by something irresistible, these demons, their eyes glowing scarlet, rushed straight toward the outer perimeter of Mount Fujikasane.
"Everyone gather together and stay alert!"
Shocked by this unexpected sight, Ubuyashiki Amane immediately issued a warning.
Under her command, the Demon Slayer Corps trainees who had been scattered around the plaza quickly assembled into groups.
However, just as everyone finished forming their defensive positions and prepared to face the sudden battle.
The demons that had originally been charging toward the perimeter suddenly changed direction and rushed toward another area.
"This is…"
Ubuyashiki Amane frowned as she finally realized what was happening.
The Wisteria flowers planted around the outer perimeter of Mount Fujikasane had not failed. They were still preventing the demons from escaping the mountain.
The reason so many demons were rushing toward the edge of the forest actually had another cause.
"Rare Blood?"
Ubuyashiki Amane immediately thought of Cain.
As a trainer for the Demon Slayer Corps, Jigoro Kuwajima frequently sent letters reporting his training progress to Ubuyashiki Kagaya.
As Kagaya's wife, Ubuyashiki Amane often read those reports as well, so she was quite familiar with Cain.
According to Jigoro Kuwajima's letters, Cain was a Rare Blood individual he had discovered by chance while slaying a demon.
Compared with ordinary Rare Blood, the attraction his blood held for demons was even more terrifying.
It was truly the rarest type of Rare Blood.
If Cain had intentionally wounded himself after entering Mount Fujikasane and released his Rare Blood to attract demons, then the current situation made perfect sense.
["I want to clear out the demons in Fujikasane Mountain."]
The reason Cain had given earlier resurfaced in her mind.
However, compared to half an hour ago, Ubuyashiki Amane now realized how serious the situation truly was.
The two people currently surrounded by demons were not ordinary individuals.
One was the proud disciple who had inherited the complete legacy of the former Thunder Hashira and had been praised repeatedly by him.
The other was the son of the current Flame Hashira, an inheritor of Flame Breathing carrying the blood of the Rengoku family.
Setting aside the former for a moment, if the latter were to die here, it could very likely affect the current Flame Hashira.
Considering the already fragile state of the Demon Slayer Corps, Ubuyashiki Amane hesitated for a moment before calling over a Kasugai Crow perched on a nearby tree branch.
"Carry a message to headquarters for me."
T/N- Author's bullshit no jutsu
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