On the main street of the Yoshiwara Entertainment District, black flames burned in eerie silence.
There was no crackling, no smoke rising into the sky. The ink-dark fire was like an abyss that devoured light, clinging to Gyutaro as it steadily stripped away his life.
"Aaaahhh—!"
Gyutaro rolled wildly across the ground. His prized rapid regeneration had become the cruelest torture in the face of Amaterasu, the inextinguishable flames said to reduce everything to ash.
New flesh formed—only to be instantly charred the moment it appeared.
He raised the bone sickles in his left hand and slashed viciously at his own chest, trying to cut away the burning flesh.
Splat!
A large spray of poisonous blood burst outward. But to his horror, the black flames followed the scattered blood, spreading onto his sickles and crawling up his arm.
This fire could not be extinguished by any physical means.
"Brother! What's happening to you, Brother?!"
From the ruins of Kyogoku House not far away, Daki—reduced to nothing but a head—screamed in panic.
Though she had been decapitated, the unique nature of Upper Rank Six meant that as long as Gyutaro lived, she would not turn to ash.
Watching the brother who had always protected her now writhing on the ground, consumed by those strange black flames, an unfamiliar fear finally rose from the depths of her heart.
"Don't… don't come over! Ume! Run!"
Gyutaro's gaunt face was covered in charred flesh, his eyes burned away into empty black hollows.
Even in such agony, the last shred of his reason screamed for his sister to escape.
"Run? Where would you run?"
Rin stood less than five steps away, looking down at the desperate Upper Rank siblings.
The Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan in his eyes turned slowly in the night. Then, the power in his right eye suddenly focused.
Blaze Release: Kagutsuchi.
The Amaterasu flames clinging to Gyutaro instantly reshaped, condensing into a pitch-black whip of fire.
The flaming whip lashed through the air in a sharp arc, wrapping around Daki's severed head and her headless body in the distance.
"Ahhh! It burns! Brother, save me! I don't want to die!"
Daki let out piercing screams as her once-beautiful face melted and twisted under the black flames.
The rule that governed Upper Rank Six—that both siblings must be beheaded to die—might have been absolute.
But before the incineration of Amaterasu, whether they were together or separated didn't matter. Once burned to ash, leaving not a single trace behind, even the most unbreakable rule meant nothing.
Rin paid no attention to their dying screams or desperate cries.
He was not one to indulge in sentiment like the Demon Slayer's Protagonist, nor did he care about whatever tragic past these two demons might have had. The only thing that mattered was that, after gaining immense power, they decided to end hundreds of innocent lives for countless decades. (P.S. Um, IDK how to properly explain my thoughts, but I guess you got the point?)
Haah... all things aside, they stood on opposite sides. That alone was reason enough.
He would send them to hell in the cleanest, most efficient way possible.
After a little over ten seconds...
The screams grew weaker, then disappeared entirely.
The once-arrogant Upper Rank Six siblings, along with their clothing and bone sickles, were reduced to nothing but a pile of black ash under the flames of Amaterasu.
As the night wind blew, the ash scattered into the air of the Yoshiwara Entertainment District, as though they had never existed.
"Finally… some peace."
Rin closed his right eye. When he opened it again, the lingering black flames on the ground vanished instantly, without causing the slightest damage to the surrounding buildings.
Kagutsuchi granted him perfect control over the flames, allowing him to extinguish them at will.
Boom!
At that moment, a loud crash of shattered roof tiles echoed from the end of the street.
A burly figure descended from above, twin wide-bladed Nichirin swords gleaming coldly under the moonlight.
The instant Tengen Uzui landed, he assumed a guarded stance, fully alert.
He had sensed that suffocating demonic presence from afar and rushed over at full speed, prepared for a life-or-death battle.
Moments later, three slightly disheveled figures rushed in from the corner of the street.
Tanjiro held his Nichirin Blade at the ready, while Zenitsu and Inosuke had already torn off their cumbersome kimonos. All three were breathing heavily, their eyes scanning the surroundings warily.
"Mr. Rin! Where's the Upper Rank?!" Tanjiro asked, his nose twitching as he tried to locate the enemy.
Rin turned to look at the four of them, who were braced for battle, then casually pointed at the pile of still-warm black ash at his feet.
"You're late. It's already been reduced to ash."
"…"
Tengen Uzui froze mid-stance, his swords still raised.
He looked down at the ash, then at Rin—whose clothes were still pristine, whose breathing hadn't changed at all—and felt his mind go blank.
"Dead? Just like that?"
His voice rose involuntarily.
"That was an Upper Rank! I hadn't even finished warming up, and you're telling me you wiped them out by yourself in just a few minutes?!"
Tanjiro was equally stunned. He had clearly sensed two incredibly powerful demonic auras just moments ago—far more oppressive than Enmu on the Mugen Train.
And yet, the battle had ended in less time than it took them to arrive?
"Otherwise? Should I have kept them around for a midnight snack?"
Rin sheathed the Kusanagi sword with a crisp metallic sound. "One was a decoration that only knew how to wave ribbons, and the other was a sickly freak who liked throwing sickles. Aside from being a bit persistent, they were nothing special."
Hearing such a blunt assessment, Tengen Uzui swallowed hard.
He had actually challenged someone like this before, completely unaware of the gap between them.
A monster capable of dispatching an Upper Rank so effortlessly—if Rin had truly intended to kill him back then, it would have taken no more than an instant.
"Lord Tengen!"
At that moment, three figures stumbled out from the ruins at the far end of the street.
They were covered in dust, with tear-streaked faces—Hinatsuru, Makio, and Suma, the three wives Tengen Uzui had sent to infiltrate the Yoshiwara Entertainment District and who had been captured by Daki.
With Daki's death, the Blood Demon Art sashes binding them had naturally disappeared.
"Hinatsuru! Makio! Suma!"
Tengen Uzui immediately lowered his blades and strode forward, pulling the three women—now crying with relief—into his arms.
For a brief moment, the Sound Hashira, who always prided himself on being flamboyant and unshakable, felt his eyes grow moist.
If Rin hadn't intervened tonight, with only Tengen Uzui and three rookies, facing the Upper Rank Six siblings would have been a brutal battle—one that might have cost them their lives.
"Damn it… it's that guy showing off again!"
Zenitsu, standing off to the side, nearly ground his teeth to dust in jealousy.
He squatted on the ground, pounding it repeatedly as he cursed, looking exactly like a resentful woman.
[Ding! Detected that the host has eliminated Upper Rank Six of the Twelve Kizuki (Daki/Gyutaro)!]
[You have completely ended the century-long nightmare of the Yoshiwara Entertainment District and significantly altered the tragic fate of the Sound Hashira, Tengen Uzui—preventing the loss of his arm, blindness, and forced retirement!]
[Congratulations! You have obtained 15,000 dimension points!]
The crisp system notification echoed in his mind, and a satisfied smile curved at the corner of Rin's lips.
Fifteen thousand points.
As expected, the greater the change in fate, the more generous the reward.
Although he had just spent 50,000 points to upgrade his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, at this rate, he wouldn't need long to earn it back.
"Alright, that's enough. Stop clinging to each other. I'll leave the cleanup to you. I'm heading back to the Butterfly Mansion to get some sleep."
Rin cut off Tengen Uzui's reunion and turned to leave the Yoshiwara Entertainment District.
"Rin-dono!"
Tengen Uzui released his wives and bowed deeply to Rin's back. All his usual frivolity vanished as he spoke in a solemn tone.
"I, Tengen Uzui, will never forget this debt. If you ever have need of me in the future, my life is yours to command."
Rin waved a hand without turning around, leaving only a casual remark.
"Just take good care of your three wives. And if you ever come up with another ridiculous cross-dressing infiltration plan, I'll stuff that headband of yours into your mouth."
…
The next morning.
As the first rays of sunlight broke through the clouds and fell upon the Butterfly Mansion at the Demon Slayer Corps headquarters, Rin pushed open the courtyard gate.
The moment he stepped into the front yard, he saw a slender purple figure standing beneath the corridor.
Shinobu Kocho was dressed in a clean white medical coat, holding a tray filled with bottles and vials. When she saw the gate open, her steps halted.
The morning light settled over Rin's shoulders. His black haori swayed gently in the breeze, his steps steady, his expression as relaxed as ever. There wasn't a trace of blood on him, and even his hair remained perfectly in place.
The tension Shinobu had carried all night finally eased.
She set the tray on a nearby wooden table and walked quickly toward him.
After carefully looking him over from head to toe to confirm he was completely unharmed, she let out a soft snort and spoke in a deliberately calm tone.
"It seems the courtesans of the Yoshiwara Entertainment District weren't all that impressive. They didn't manage to ensnare a shameless man like you, and you made it back in one piece."
Her words were still sharp, but the relief and warmth in her eyes couldn't be hidden.
Rin looked at the tsundere Butterfly Hashira and let out a soft chuckle.
He stepped forward, closing the distance between them in an instant.
Before Shinobu Kocho could react, he lowered his head slightly and rested his chin on her shoulder.
"W-What are you doing?! It's broad daylight—Aoi and the others could come out at any moment!"
Shinobu's body stiffened. She instinctively tried to push him away, but when she caught the faint scent of ash mixed with his familiar cool fragrance, her hand softened, coming to rest lightly against his waist instead.
"Too tired… just let me lean on you for a moment."
Rin closed his eyes, his voice rough with exhaustion.
____
12 Advance chapters:Patreon/slept01