As the controller of the Infinity Castle, Nakime's Blood Demon Art felt almost like a cheat to Cain.
With proper preparation, she could rapidly alter the internal structure of the Infinity Castle and teleport enemies to different locations, gaining absolute control of the battlefield.
If Cain wanted to approach Muzan before he completely detoxifies the toxins in his body, and before his true strength was revealed, he had to find a way to break the stalemate and seize the initiative from Nakime.
After much consideration, Cain proposed Plan B during the strategy meeting.
Brute Force!
"Cain, I'm ready."
After Cain took out two tennis rackets and held one in each hand, Kochō Shinobu strapped the remaining two boxes onto her body.
One was fixed to her chest and the other to her back.
After pressing the activation switch, two hand cranks popped out from the box attached to Kochō Shinobu's chest.
"Next I just need to turn these two wheels, right?"
"Yeah. Try it once first."
"Then I'm starting."
Kochō Shinobu placed both hands on the cranks and quickly rotated them clockwise.
Click! Click! Click!
A crisp mechanical sound rang out from inside the wooden box.
As the mechanism activated, two marbles the size of fingernails shot out instantly.
With the added force from Kochō Shinobu spinning the cranks, the speed of the marbles was astonishing, reaching Cain in the blink of an eye.
At that moment, Cain, who had been maintaining the State of Selflessness, took a deep breath.
Everything within his field of vision gradually became transparent.
Transparent World.
As one of the most powerful techniques within the Demon Slayer world, the essence of the Transparent World is absolute concentration.
It involves eliminating unnecessary movements and breathing patterns, using the smallest possible actions to produce the greatest power, and pushing one's physical capabilities to their absolute limit.
With the assistance of the State of Selflessness, Cain managed to grasp this ability through several attempts in a near cheating manner.
Once the Transparent World was activated, Cain's concentration reached its peak, and his five senses surpassed the limits of normal perception, rapidly gathering and processing all external information.
Within an instant, he locked onto the nearest demons surrounding him.
Thunder Breathing, First Form: Thunderclap and Flash!
Bang! Bang!
The rackets forged from Scarlet Crimson Iron Sand and Scarlet Crimson Ore turned into blurred afterimages as they struck the incoming marbles instantly.
Following the trajectory of the marbles, Kochō Shinobu hurried to the window and looked outside.
Just in time to see the two marbles fly across a distance of more than one hundred meters, piercing straight through two ordinary demons wandering along a distant corridor.
"Eh? Are you serious?!"
Kochō Shinobu, who had originally had no idea what Cain intended to do with tennis rackets, was now thoroughly shocked.
This... this can't be right.
Since when could tennis rackets be used like this?
And that speed and power are completely abnormal no matter how you look at it!
"It seems the effect is pretty good."
Cain also walked over to the window.
Watching the demons that had been struck by the marbles gradually turn into black ash and dissipate, Cain nodded in satisfaction.
In truth, he had already noticed this when he first obtained his Nichirin Blade.
The raw materials used to forge Nichirin Blades, Scarlet Crimson Iron Sand and Scarlet Crimson Ore, which absorb and store sunlight, possess extremely high Ripple conductivity.
By crafting marbles and tennis rackets from these materials, Ripple energy could instantly pass through the racket into the marbles, allowing them to damage demons.
After this round of testing confirmed that Ripple infused marbles could deal fatal damage to demons, Cain's battle strategy was officially finalized.
"Let's go, Shinobu."
Cain's gaze crossed the street and landed on a floating platform in the distance.
"Let's go and play tennis somewhere else."
...
Deep within the Infinity Castle.
After teleporting the most dangerous enemy, Cain, into the hall where Kokushibo was located, Nakime shifted her attention toward Tomioka Giyu and the others.
At present, among the high level combatants of the Infinity Castle, excluding Muzan who was currently detoxifying the toxins and Kokushibo who was dealing with Cain, only Akaza and Hantengu remained.
Under normal circumstances, Nakime would have immediately divided the enemies into two groups and teleported them directly into the territories of Akaza and Hantengu.
But this time, she hesitated.
Through the vision granted by her Blood Demon Art, she could clearly observe Tomioka Giyu and the others moving throughout the Infinity Castle, rapidly slaughtering ordinary demons.
Although they were merely eliminating weaker demons, the strength and speed displayed by Tomioka Giyu and the others were no less impressive than those of the Upper Rank demons in Nakime's eyes.
Especially Himejima Gyomei. After activating his Demon Slayer Mark and receiving enhancement from the Demon Transformation Surgery, his physical strength had already surpassed most Upper Rank demons.
If these people were thrown toward Akaza and Hantengu in two separate groups, no matter how they were arranged, the final outcome would likely be the deaths of the two Upper Rank demons and severe damage to the demon side.
"It seems I must stall for time."
After thinking briefly, Nakime reached a decision.
Duang~!
A crisp sound from the biwa echoed through the Infinity Castle as she plucked the strings.
The positions of Uzui Tengen and the others shifted again.
"Tsk, what a troublesome Blood Demon Art."
As the scenery around him rapidly changed, Uzui Tengen suddenly found himself standing atop the roof of a building.
His gaze swept across the surroundings before settling on a figure not far away that radiated a terrifying aura.
"So you've finally arranged an opponent for me."
Akaza also turned his gaze toward him.
The two stared at each other briefly before a pleased smile appeared on Akaza's face.
"You look quite strong."
"Same to you."
Uzui Tengen slowly drew his twin Nichirin Blades.
In the next moment, violent explosions began echoing throughout the sky above the Infinity Castle.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
...
"Hmm? That's Uzui-san's signal!"
On another part of the battlefield, Rengoku Kyojuro, who had also been teleported elsewhere, turned his head.
Because the Demon Slayer Corps had already obtained intelligence about the Infinity Castle, they had prepared numerous signals before the battle began.
The three consecutive explosions currently echoing through the castle meant that Uzui Tengen had encountered Upper Rank Three.
According to the plan, Rengoku Kyojuro should head toward the sound and provide support.
However...
"It seems an opponent has been arranged for me as well."
Looking at the old man standing before him, who appeared ordinary yet radiated an intense sense of danger,
Rengoku Kyojuro gripped his sword with both hands, and blazing flames instantly ignited along the blade.
"Rengoku Kyojuro. Please guide me!"
Boom!
...
"Hmm?"
Seeing the flames rising in the distance, Tomioka Giyu, who was traveling through the castle, stopped.
That was Rengoku Kyojuro's signal.
Judging from the intensity of the flames, the enemy he encountered should not be one of the top three Upper Rank demons.
Should he go assist him?
Or head toward Uzui Tengen instead?
Looking at the signals appearing from two different directions, Tomioka Giyu fell into a brief moment of hesitation.
But just then, the sound of a biwa echoed again.
Like rain falling from the sky, demons suddenly began dropping down one after another, instantly surrounding him.
"I see."
Tomioka Giyu seemed to understand the situation.
In the next moment, his Nichirin Blade descended, and a massive water dragon surged toward the surrounding demon army.
...
"Damn it, was my plan seen through?"
Watching Tomioka Giyu carve his way through the demon army in an instant, Nakime's expression darkened.
After performing another round of teleportation, she had sent Uzui Tengen and Rengoku Kyojuro to Akaza and Hantengu respectively.
Compared to the others, these two had shown slightly weaker combat ability earlier.
In a one on one battle, both Akaza and Hantengu could maintain the advantage.
As for Tomioka Giyu and the remaining members, Nakime originally planned to stall them with ordinary demons before teleporting them elsewhere once the battles ended.
But now that her strategy had been seen through, she had no choice but to continue delaying them.
Duang! Duang! Duang!
The rapid sound of the biwa echoed repeatedly as the structure of the Infinity Castle began shifting again.
Under its influence, Tomioka Giyu and the others, who were moving toward the signals, were constantly teleported to completely different locations.
However, after each teleportation, Tomioka Giyu and the others immediately regained their bearings and continued moving toward the signals.
In order to delay their advance, Nakime began deploying the demons scattered throughout the Infinity Castle while continuously shifting the positions of the Demon Slayer Corps members.
Summoned by Muzan, thousands of demons were now present within the Infinity Castle, and many of them possessed their own Blood Demon Arts.
When numbers reach a certain scale, they become power.
Just like when three Lower Rank demons once managed to stall Uzui Tengen, as long as enough disposable demons were thrown into battle, the advance of Tomioka Giyu and the others could be slowed.
However, just as Nakime focused on teleporting demons around the castle, several marbles suddenly flew across her field of vision, piercing straight through several demons gathered along the street.
Immediately afterward, as if struck by sunlight, the demons screamed as their bodies gradually turned into black ash and vanished.
"Hmm?"
Seeing this unexpected scene, the biwa demon quickly shifted part of her attention to locate the origin of the marbles.
Soon, the figures of Cain and Kochō Shinobu appeared in her sight.
Watching Kochō Shinobu, whose arms had become a blur as she rapidly rotated the crank mechanism to launch marble after marble,
And Cain, standing in front of the device, his body twisting and spinning like a top while smashing marbles in every direction with his racket,
The biwa demon froze.
What scene haven't I seen? (Scratch that)
I really haven't seen this scene before!
After staring at them blankly for a moment, the biwa demon suddenly thought of another question.
Where is Kokushibo?
If she remembered correctly, she had just teleported Cain and the other person to Kokushibo's location.
Diverting a sliver of attention to check the hall where Kokushibo had been, and seeing nothing there, the biwa demon fell silent.
What is there even left to fight?!
Our second strongest combatant couldn't even last a few minutes before being instantly killed.
At this rate, Cain will soon wipe out all the demons inside the Infinity Castle.
"No. I must find a way to stall him!"
Snapping out of her shock, the biwa demon began frantically plucking the strings of her biwa again.
It doesn't matter if we can't win. As long as we stall long enough, that is enough.
As long as this battle continues until Muzan finishes detoxifying and appears again, the situation will inevitably reverse.
With this thought in mind, the biwa demon no longer cared about the strain on her power and began activating her Blood Demon Art repeatedly, teleporting Cain and the others across the castle.
However, what she failed to notice was that at the very moment her attention was focused entirely on teleporting Cain and the others, two figures quietly appeared behind her.
T/N- Two more chapters and then Demon slayer arc will be finished.
...
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GIVE ME YOU POWER STONES.