On top of the train car, Lower Rank One Enmu, who had been immersed in the dream of devouring a Hashira-level powerhouse, felt the morbid smile on his face instantly freeze.
The eye engraved with the characters for "Lower One" stared through a gap in the roof at the young man below wearing a black haori.
"Why… isn't he asleep?!"
A storm of shock erupted in Enmu's mind.
His Blood Demon Art was activated through tickets infused with his own blood. As soon as the ticket was punched, the moment a passenger inhaled that special scent, they would be dragged into an extremely deep dream.
Even a Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps should have been completely unable to resist it.
"No matter who you are… as long as you are human, you will die within a beautiful dream!"
Enmu's face twisted grotesquely. He suddenly bit into his finger, letting a large amount of demon blood drip through the gap in the train car while frantically activating his most direct Blood Demon Art.
"Blood Demon Art: Enforced Hypnotic Whispering!"
Inside the carriage, grotesque lumps of flesh with eyeballs growing from them instantly sprouted from the walls on every side. Each eye opened and stared directly at Rin.
"Sleep! Sleep! Go to sleep!!!" Enmu roared madly from the roof.
Yet even when facing the countless hypnotic eyeballs—enough to instantly drag any Demon Slayer into unconsciousness—Rin didn't even change his posture while drawing his sword.
He simply raised his head slightly.
Those crimson Three-Tomoe Sharingan met every hypnotic eye surrounding him with the calm of a god looking down upon ants.
"Trying to compete with me using eyes?"
A cruel, cold smile formed at the corner of Rin's lips.
Buzz—!!
In the 0.1 seconds when their gazes met!
Enmu suddenly felt a deafening boom explode in his mind, and the entire world spun violently.
The moving Mugen Train vanished. The night sky disappeared.
To his horror, he discovered that he had somehow been tightly bound to a massive black cross.
Above his head hung an eerie blood-red full moon, while the sky and earth around him were drowned in a suffocating crimson.
"This… where is this?! Where is my Blood Demon Art?! What did you do to me?!" Enmu struggled frantically on the cross, only to find that he couldn't move even a single finger.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Crisp footsteps echoed across the surface of blood-colored water.
From every direction, countless figures of Rin emerged like ghosts, each holding a black longsword as they completely surrounded Enmu.
"Trying to use genjutsu in front of an Uchiha with the Sharingan… you're like a clown swinging an axe in front of a charging train."
All the Rins raised their swords at the same time, their crimson eyes devoid of the slightest hint of mercy.
"Now experience what a real nightmare is."
Puchi! Puchi! Puchi!
Countless blades mercilessly stabbed into Enmu's body.
"AAAAAAH!!!"
Outside, in the real world, only a single second had passed.
Enmu, lying on top of the train, suddenly let out a scream of agony.
Blood burst from all seven of his orifices as he clutched his head with both hands, rolling back and forth across the roof.
With just a single glance, his mental core had suffered devastating damage from the backlash of the Sharingan's genjutsu.
"Truly noisy."
Inside the carriage, Rin withdrew his gaze as the Sharingan in his eyes slowly faded.
He glanced at the people scattered across the floor, sleeping like their names were Aurora and sighed helplessly.
"Although I'd like to let you sleep a little longer, the smell in this carriage is getting more and more disgusting."
Rin casually snapped his fingers, and the violent Lightning Release chakra in his body instantly surged from the soles of his feet into the metal floor of the train.
"Lightning Release: Chidori Current!"
Zzzzz—!
A fierce blue current instantly spread across the metal seats and floor of the entire carriage.
"AAAAAH! I'm numb! I'm numb! I'm going to get fried!!!"
Zenitsu, who had been happily running hand-in-hand with Nezuko in his dream, was instantly jolted awake by the violent electric shock.
He jumped three feet into the air from his seat, his blond hair standing straight up like a bristling hedgehog.
"Enemy attack?! Where's the prey?! This great lord of the mountains will chop him into pieces!" Inosuke was also shocked awake, instantly drawing his dual blades as he looked around in confusion.
Whoosh—!
The Flame Hashira, Kyojuro Rengoku, flipped up from his seat in one swift motion, his hand already drawing his Nichirin blade.
He glanced at his slightly numb palm, then at Rin sitting calmly across from him, and immediately understood what had happened.
"Umu! How disgraceful! As a Hashira, to fall into a demon's trap without even realising it!"
Rengoku spoke with deep frustration. "Rin-dono! Thank you for the lightning wake-up! Without you, the passengers on this train might have met a terrible fate!"
Tanjiro also climbed to his feet while rubbing the numb back of his head. When he saw the disgusting lumps of flesh writhing around the carriage walls, his expression changed drastically.
"This… what's going on?! The train car has turned into flesh!"
"That Lower Rank demon has already fused his main body with this train," Rin said calmly.
"Rengoku, you and these three brats handle the rear carriages. Cut down every lump of flesh that tries to devour the passengers. I don't have the time to worry about their survival."
"Umu! Leave it to me! I, Kyojuro Rengoku, swear that even if it costs my life, I will not allow a single passenger on this train to die!" the Flame Hashira declared loudly and solemnly.
"Tanjiro! Zenitsu! Boar-head boy! Let's go!"
Watching Kyojuro Rengoku rush toward the rear carriages with the three youngsters in tow, Rin finally turned and looked toward the front of the train—the locomotive.
"If the neck has become the entire train, then dismantling this pile of scrap should solve the problem."
Rin gripped the hilt at his waist with one hand and strode toward the locomotive.
"D-Don't think you're getting through!!"
From both sides of the carriage, countless thick, grotesque tentacles covered in eyeballs surged out wildly, sweeping toward Rin like an overwhelming tidal wave.
Although Enmu's spirit had been severely damaged, his survival instinct still drove him to launch a desperate counterattack.
"Disappear."
Rin didn't even bother drawing his sword. He merely spoke a single word with complete indifference.
Boom!
A violent surge of Lightning Release chakra erupted from Rin's body like an explosion.
Lightning Release: Chidori Current!
This time, it was no longer the mild current used to wake people up.
It was a high-voltage lightning field, like the descent of a thunder god.
Zzzzzzzzz—!!!
The moment those grotesque flesh tentacles came within two meters of Rin, they were instantly vaporized by the terrifying heat of the lightning field. Before they could even twitch, they turned into charred ash drifting through the air.
Rin walked down the long aisle as if taking a casual stroll, lightning swirling around him like a tangible cloak.
Any flesh or blood that dared block his path was arrogantly reduced to cinders.
This overwhelming, dimension-crushing power—like a bulldozer tearing through obstacles—drove Enmu, hidden within the locomotive, into absolute despair.
"A monster… this guy is a monster! Even the Upper Rank demons don't possess such terrifying destructive power!"
Enmu roared in panic, concentrating the train's entire energy into the locomotive.
Boom!
The iron door leading into the locomotive was violently kicked open by Rin.
Inside the narrow cab, the space had already transformed into a grotesque nest of flesh and blood.
At the center of the nest, a massive cervical vertebra could faintly be seen. That was Enmu's fused core.
"Don't come any closer! You can't kill me! My neck is as thick as the entire train—your thin sword could never cut through it!" Enmu roared in despair as countless thick tentacles wrapped tightly around the vertebra, protecting it.
"Is that so?"
____
12 Advance chapters:Patreon/slept01