"Is that so?"
Rin looked at the grotesque mass, the corner of his mouth curling into a mocking smile.
Zheng—!
The Kusanagi sword wrapped in crackling purple lightning finally slid completely from its scabbard.
At the same moment, the chakra within Rin's body exploded outward.
"Who told you that demons have to be killed by cutting?"
Rin raised the Kusanagi sword with one hand, and violent lightning instantly gathered and extended along the blade.
Lightning Release: Chidori Eisō!
Chiiii—!!!
A spear of lightning more than ten meters long erupted from the tip of the Kusanagi sword, condensed from extremely dense, pure lightning.
This lightning spear was not only unimaginably sharp, but it also carried a terrifying, destructive heat.
"Die, trash."
Rin casually flicked his wrist.
Shua!
The ten-meter lightning spear swept forward in a clean arc.
Not only were the thick tentacles protecting the front sliced apart, but the enormous cervical vertebra at the center—and even the steel locomotive itself—were instantly split in two.
Boom—!!!
With a deafening explosion, the locomotive cleaved by lightning instantly turned into a massive fireball.
Violent Lightning Release chakra surged wildly into Enmu's body through the cut, electrocuting every cell into lifeless black charcoal.
"N-No… Lord Muzan… save—"
Enmu couldn't even finish his final words before his entire massive body disintegrated within the lightning and flames, turning into ash scattered through the air.
[Ding! Detected that the host has killed one of the Twelve Kizuki: Lower Rank One, Enmu!]
[Blood Demon Art forcibly broken, demonstrating absolute dominance!]
[Congratulations to the host for obtaining dimension points: 5000!]
Screeeeech—!!!
With the locomotive destroyed and Enmu's flesh no longer supporting it, the massive Mugen Train began grinding violently along the tracks.
In the rear carriages, the Flame Hashira, Kyojuro Rengoku, decisively unleashed multiple forms of Flame Breathing. Using the recoil generated by his sword strikes, he forcefully stabilized several carriages that were on the verge of derailing and overturning.
With a loud boom, the train finally screeched to a strained halt in the wilderness, kicking up thick clouds of dust.
"Phew… that was close!"
Tanjiro gripped his Nichirin blade, panting heavily. "Is everyone okay?"
"Thanks to Rin-dono quickly slaying the demon's main body, only a few passengers suffered minor injuries. Everyone survived!" Kyojuro Rengoku replied with a hearty laugh.
Zenitsu and Inosuke also collapsed onto the grass in exhaustion.
Rin casually jumped down from the roof of a damaged carriage, sheathing the Kusanagi sword in his hand.
Just as Tanjiro and the others believed the battle had ended successfully and were about to relax..
Boom—!!!
In the open space less than fifty meters away, a terrifying explosion suddenly erupted.
The ground burst open as if struck by a meteor. Dust clouds shot high into the sky, and even the surrounding air distorted violently under the shockwave.
"What?!" The smile instantly vanished from Kyojuro Rengoku's face as he gripped the hilt of his sword.
Tanjiro felt the hair on his entire body stand on end.
The demonic aura emanating from the dust cloud was hundreds—no, thousands—of times more terrifying than the Lower Rank One they had just faced.
The pressure was so overwhelming it almost made breathing difficult.
The dust slowly cleared.
A young man with short pink hair and deep blue markings covering his body appeared before them, kneeling on one knee with his fist smashed into the ground.
In his glowing golden eyes were engraved three large characters.. Upper Rank Three!!
"Oh? It seems I arrived at just the right time."
Upper Rank Three, Akaza, slowly stood up.
He didn't even glance at the nearby Kyojuro Rengoku and Tanjiro, who were already prepared for battle. Instead, his gaze locked firmly onto Rin in the distance.
"That violent lightning power just now… was it you who released it?"
The smile on Akaza's face grew increasingly fanatical as he suddenly assumed a traditional martial arts stance. At the same moment, a giant snowflake-patterned array appeared on the ground beneath his feet.
"Technique Deployment: Destructive Death — Compass Needle!"
"You look very strong! Fight me! Or… become a demon, and let us fight forever!!"
Faced with the overwhelming presence of Upper Rank Three.. "Haah.."
Rin showed no trace of panic. Instead, he casually tugged at the black haori draped over his shoulder. Within his dark pupils, three tomoe slowly emerged once again.
"You want me to become a demon?"
"Sorry. I'm only interested in twisting your head off and kicking it around like a ball. Heeh~" Rin tilted his head and showed a toothy grin.
"Rip off my head and kick it around like a ball?"
Hearing this, Upper Rank Three, Akaza, didn't get angry. Instead, his gold-rimmed eyes narrowed with intense excitement.
"Hahaha! Wonderful! Your arrogance suits my taste perfectly!"
Akaza burst into manic laughter as the snowflake pattern beneath his feet flared with dazzling blue light.
Within the domain of this Blood Demon Art—Destructive Death: Compass Needle—any opponent's fighting spirit, killing intent, or even the slightest twitch of muscle would be detected like a target on a radar.
"Since you refuse to become a demon, then take that pride of yours and die!"
Boom!
The ground beneath Akaza's feet exploded into a crater several meters deep. In the next instant, he became a blur invisible to the naked eye, closing the distance with Rin in the midst of a deafening sonic boom.
"Destructive Death: Disorder!!"
Without any probing attacks, Akaza unleashed a killing technique right from the start.
In a split second, his fists produced hundreds of sharp afterimages. Each punch carried enough destructive force to grind steel into powder as they rained down toward Rin's vital points.
"So fast! I can't see his movements at all! Is this the strength of an Upper Rank?!"
Kamado Tanjiro, standing dozens of meters away while protecting the passengers, could only sense a suffocating, bloodthirsty aura even with his heightened sense of smell.
"Such terrifying pressure from those punches. If I faced that head-on, I'd have to push Flame Breathing to its absolute limit just to barely block it!"
Kyojuro Rengoku gripped the hilt of his sword with a solemn expression, the veins on the back of his hand bulging as he prepared to intervene at any moment.
However...
Facing this terrifying barrage, powerful enough to severely wound even a Hashira, Rin—standing at the center of the storm—didn't even bother to draw the Kusanagi sword at his waist.
His crimson Three-Tomoe Sharingan cut two cold streaks of red through the night.
At that moment, the Sharingan's ultimate perceptive ability was displayed to its fullest.
Within Rin's vision, every trajectory of Akaza's fists—so fast they left afterimages—was slowed down and clearly broken apart.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Rin moved only in small, precise motions, calmly weaving through Akaza's storm of punches.
A slight tilt of the head.
A sidestep.
Half a step backward.
Akaza's strikes, powerful enough to shatter boulders, grazed past Rin's clothing again and again, each one missing by the narrowest margin and producing deafening shockwaves in the empty air.
"How is this possible?!"
The fanatic excitement on Akaza's face froze instantly.
His Compass Needle could sense an opponent's fighting spirit, allowing him to predict their movements.
But what felt deeply unsettling to him was that this young man emitted not the slightest trace of fighting spirit.
Every movement his opponent made was perfectly rational. Even his killing intent was completely contained within his body, making it impossible to detect.
"Your punches are full of openings."
Just as Akaza was caught in shock, Rin's voice suddenly sounded right beside his ear.
Not good!
Akaza's sharp combat instincts sent a chill down his spine, urging him to retreat and defend.
But Rin's counterattack was faster.
Bang!
Rin's right hand clenched into a fist, and relying purely on his monstrous physical strength, he drove the punch straight into Akaza's chest.
Crack!
A crisp sound of bone fracturing echoed through the air.
Akaza's sternum—harder than steel—caved in completely under Rin's punch.
"Pfft—!"
Akaza spat out a mouthful of blood as he was blasted backward, carving a deep trench dozens of meters long across the wasteland.
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12 Advance chapters:Patreon/slept01