"Looking for me?" He hung upside down in mid-air, the Kusanagi sword in his hand blazing with brilliant blue lightning.
Lightning Release: Chidori Current.
With Rin at the center, a surge of high-voltage electricity erupted outward, forming a massive net that engulfed Sekido and Karaku.
"Gah—ahhh!"
The two screamed as their bodies convulsed violently under the paralysis. Their skin blackened inch by inch, and they collapsed to the ground, unable to move.
In less than a minute...
The four Upper Rank clones, nightmares to the Demon Slayer Corps, were completely overwhelmed by Rin alone, beaten down in ways that defied reason, like children toyed with by an adult.
"..." Tanjiro and the others, watching from a distance, were utterly speechless.
Drool dripped from Inosuke's mouth onto the ground, while Zenitsu pinched his own thigh, wondering if he was dreaming.
Was this… the power of a Special Executive Officer?
Not even using Breathing Techniques, and he was treating Upper Ranks like punching bags for amusement?
"Boring."
Rin landed lightly on the ground, casually resting the Kusanagi sword on his shoulder as he looked at the four demons sprawled across the courtyard.
He didn't even bother activating his Sharingan.
In terms of speed, strength, or sheer power, these four clones didn't even qualify as a proper warm-up for the current Rin.
"Where's your real body, that cowardly old man, hiding?"
Rin walked over to Sekido and nudged his charred cheek with the tip of his foot. "Hurry up. Don't waste my time. If the four of you fuse together, you might actually make me break a sweat."
Sekido lay there with his teeth clenched.
Humiliation and fury drove him to the brink of madness.
As Upper Rank Four, he had never suffered such disgrace.
This wasn't even a fight.
He was being completely dominated and humiliated.
"Unforgivable… absolutely unforgivable!"
A hysterical madness burst from Sekido's bloodshot eyes.
He suddenly reached out, grabbed the still-convulsing Karaku beside him, opened his bloodied mouth, and bit down.
"Fuse! I'll crush you, arrogant human, down to the very soul!"
At Sekido's roar, Karaku's body instantly dissolved into a mass of flesh and blood and merged into him.
Immediately afterward, Aizetsu and Urogi, who had just managed to rise, were dragged in by the suction from Sekido's body and fused into him as well.
A blinding light erupted in the courtyard, accompanied by the nauseating sound of flesh twisting and rearranging.
Woosh!
An aura more than ten times more terrifying than that of the four demons combined exploded outward like a physical force, grinding the surrounding ruins into dust.
As the smoke cleared...
A child-sized demon slowly rose from the center of the crater, five thunder drums floating behind his back, each engraved with the character "Hatred."
His eyes were cold, and his entire body radiated naked malice and hatred.
The strongest form of Upper Rank Four—Zohakuten.
"Bullying the weak… you evildoer."
Zohakuten stared coldly at Rin and struck the drums behind his back.
Several enormous wooden dragons burst from the earth and coiled around him.
Seeing his opponent finally reveal his true form, Rin showed no sign of tension. Instead, he rolled his neck with a satisfied crack.
"Bullying the weak? Evildoer?"
A smile slowly curled at the corner of his mouth, and for the first time in a while, genuine interest appeared in his eyes.
"Now this is more like it. I just hope your broken wooden dragons last longer than the trash from before."
"You villain who bullies the weak."
Zohakuten struck the thunder drums behind his back, his cold voice echoing through the night.
With a dull, resounding beat, the ground trembled violently.
Five massive wooden dragons burst from the earth, coiling around the childlike demon.
They opened their jaws and roared, their wooden scales gleaming with a cold, indestructible sheen under the moonlight.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm the big bad bully, right?"
Rin let out a faint laugh, as if hearing the most ridiculous joke.
Holding the Kusanagi sword in one hand, a scarlet six-pointed pattern slowly surfaced in the depths of his pitch-black eyes.
"After devouring countless defenseless humans, you turn around and call yourself the victim? Your logic is so twisted it makes me sick."
"Shut up!"
A violent glint flashed across Zohakuten's eyes as he slammed the drumstick against the drum on his left.
"Blood Demon Art: Screeching Madness!"
Roar—!
One of the wooden dragons lunged downward, its gaping maw unleashing a devastating ultrasonic wave capable of shattering bone.
At the same time, two other dragons attacked from both sides. One unleashed a raging gale, while the other crackled with golden lightning, sealing off every possible path of escape.
Wind, lightning, and sound—three Blood Demon Arts perfectly fused through the wooden dragons, their combined power far surpassing that of the four clones fighting separately.
From dozens of meters away, Tanjiro felt a sharp pain in his ears, the residual force of the storm scraping his skin.
Yet at the very center of the chaos, Rin didn't move an inch.
His Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan slowly spun.
What looked like a world-ending assault to others was reduced to clearly defined energy flows in his vision.
Swoosh!
Rin flipped his wrist, and blue-violet Lightning Release chakra surged along the Kusanagi blade.
Instead of retreating, he stepped forward to meet the dragon head-on.
His arm rose..
Then the blade fell.
The black sword cleaved upward, striking precisely at the structural weak point beneath the wooden dragon's jaw.
With a sharp tearing sound, the wooden dragon's head—larger than a house—was cleanly split in two.
The ultrasonic wave gathering in its jaws collapsed instantly, dispersing into a hollow hiss.
Rin's figure twisted with unnatural precision, slipping through the narrow gaps between the hurricane and the lightning.
Using the severed body of the wooden dragon as a foothold, he kicked off and shot into the air. The Kusanagi sword flashed twice, releasing two crescent arcs of lightning that sliced the flanking wooden dragons cleanly at the waist.
"What?!"
For the first time, shock appeared on Zohakuten's otherwise calm face.
The wooden dragons he prided himself on—harder than ordinary tamahagane—were being cut apart like rotting wood under this man's blade.
"If you think these scraps of wood can protect you, I'll just burn them all down."
Suspended in mid-air, Rin sheathed the Kusanagi sword and rapidly formed hand seals in front of his chest.
Snake—Ram—Monkey—Boar—Horse—Tiger!
His hands moved so quickly that even afterimages were barely visible. A vast amount of Fire Release chakra condensed and heated within his chest.
"Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique!"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
With Rin's exhale, three massive fire dragons roared into existence, surging skyward.
The intense heat instantly evaporated the steam rising from the nearby hot springs.
Instead of striking Zohakuten directly, the fire dragons locked onto the remaining wooden dragons.
Like oil meeting flame.. The seemingly indestructible constructs ignited the moment they were touched, bursting into blazing infernos.
Firelight flared into the sky, illuminating half the night. The wooden dragons writhed and collapsed within the sea of flames, reduced to burning ash that scattered through the air.
"Foolish human! So what if you burned my wooden dragons? Flames that miss their target can't harm me at all!"
Zohakuten watched the fire dragons streak into the clouds before exploding in the sky, a sneer curling across his face.
Zohakuten raised his drumsticks again, preparing to summon more wooden dragons.
But Rin stopped him.
Standing atop the burning wreckage, Rin looked up at the sky, a cold smile tugging at the corners of his lips.
"Off target? A frog in a well like you has probably never seen real power in your life."
Zohakuten froze, instinctively following Rin's gaze upward.
____
12 Advance chapters:Patreon/slept01
Ok, let's see how this goes-
Every 100 Powerstones = Extra Chapter! 🥰