444 PS?! YOU'RE INSANE! 🤯
I didn't think you'd get there this fast... but a promise is a promise, here's your chapter! đź’Ş
And since you're UNSTOPPABLE today... let's raise the stakes: 550 PS and I'll drop ANOTHER chapter đź’Ž
You got what it takes or is this where it ends? đź‘€
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Front courtyard.
"I'm begging you!" Shinobu implored. "I know you're spiteful and that you've got a strong personality, but this is the headquarters, and the ones you're about to run into now are the Pillars — do me the favor and rein yourself in a little."
Marcus chuckled under his breath. "Shinobu-chan, seems to me you're misjudging me. When have I ever been spiteful?"
Hearing a lie like that, Shinobu laughed out of sheer rage.
All along the way, Marcus had smacked her ass "by accident" a shameful number of times. To the point that, the moment she turned her back on him, a shiver would run down her butt.
If that wasn't being spiteful, what the hell was?!
If it hadn't been for Kanao… Hmph!
Taking a deep breath, she planted herself in front of him with a serious look.
"I'll do everything in my power to speak on your behalf, but on one condition: no kicking up a scandal. If you stir up trouble, I'm telling you, there's nothing I'll be able to do for you."
"Scandal…" Marcus lifted his gaze all of a sudden and smiled. "That commotion you're talking about… are you referring to him?"
Hearing the thunder of footsteps behind her, Shinobu whipped around. And when she saw Sanemi charging toward them like an enraged bull, her eyes flew wide open.
"Shinazugawa-san! He is, after all, a guest of the Master!"
But ignoring her completely, Sanemi fixed his aggressive eyes on the two swords Marcus was carrying at his belt.
"Guest?! What kind of guest needs to walk around with swords to see the Master?!"
He shot Shinobu a furious look.
"No wonder you wanted to talk to the Master alone a moment ago. What you were doing was getting him preferential treatment!"
"I—"
Before Shinobu could finish, she felt a hand resting firmly on her shoulder.
Marcus planted himself in front of her and, taking advantage of the fact that he was a head taller than Sanemi, looked down at him.
"Tell me, Mister Sanemi Shinazugawa. What exactly are you here for?" His gaze gradually turned colder. "Don't tell me you're planning on using your status to take my demons from me by force and have your fun with them."
"You son of a bitch!!" Sanemi drew his sword right then and there. "You wanna die?!"
Shinobu tried to step in, but Marcus's hand held her firmly in place.
"Of course I want to die." Marcus's words turned taunting. "What I doubt is that a wimp like you, who only has the guts to kill demons in broad daylight, has the balls to pull it off."
"My advice to you is to go back the way you came, bring along all the little buddies you want, and you stay off to the side cheering them on. Bet you're better at that than swinging that sword, shorty."
The moment he finished, everything fell silent.
The guards at the entrance were shaking in their boots.
WHO THE FUCK IS THIS GUY?! WHERE THE HELL DOES HE GET THAT KIND OF BALLS?!
Tanjirō was so terrified he stood petrified. 'A Pillar… HE'S A PILLAR, MARCUS.'
Kanao, who usually had her head in the clouds, was in that instant completely flabbergasted. She had always known Marcus was a shameless one… but now she was finding out that, on top of that, he didn't give two shits about his own life.
Giyū, though as expressionless as always, couldn't stop the corner of his mouth from twitching.
For her part, Shinobu was wearing the smile of someone who had already completely given up in the face of the chaos.
And as for the Wind Pillar, known for his dynamite of a temper…
"DROP DEAD!"
Just as was to be expected, he went on the attack without thinking twice.
"Wind Breathing, Second Form: Claws-Purifying Wind!"
Four wind slashes, like those of a wild bear, launched straight at Marcus's face…
CLANG!
But in the face of that hate-filled attack, Marcus simply raised his sword in the most basic block.
The blades clashed and then…
Nothing else happened.
Everything was left in absolute stillness, without the slightest turbulence in the air.
Seeing how his attack had been stopped with the ease of child's play, Sanemi froze.
Even though he still hadn't fully bought that this guy had been able to stand up to two Pillars, he hadn't underestimated him either.
In that slash, he had put in close to 90% of his strength.
But… how? How the hell was it possible that this kid hadn't even moved a single step?!
Squelch!
Snapping him out of his thoughts, the sound of steel piercing flesh rang out with a chilling clarity in the silence of the courtyard.
No… "piercing" was an understatement.
He had skewered him clean through!
The dilated veins in Sanemi's eyes tinted an even deeper red as he lowered his gaze.
In his abdomen was buried, up to the middle of the blade, a sword of pinkish violet.
And in front of him, Marcus held his stance intact: one blade blocking the attack, the other running through his gut…
While he grinned from ear to ear.
"SHINAZUGAWA!!"
"SENPAI?!"
"MARCUS-KUN?!"
Several horrified cries rang out one after another.
Everyone present had been left stone-cold.
Including Shinobu and Giyū, who had just fought against him only a few hours ago.
Was he really this strong?
Even Marcus himself was bewildered.
'Am I really this strong?!'
Involuntarily, he shot a glance at the system panel.
Then he lifted his gaze back to Sanemi, this time with a hint of pity.
Did you really have to come play the hero right when I'm at my peak?
[Enhancement Intensity from Women in Range]
[Nezuko Kamado (Demon):
Analysis 100%.
Level 4.
Enhancement provided: Basic Attributes +50%, Total Concentration Efficiency +70%.]
[Makomo (Sword Spirit):
Analysis 90%.
Level 3.
Enhancement provided: Basic Attributes +30%, Total Concentration Efficiency +50%.]
[Kanao Tsuyuri (Human):
Analysis 90%.
Level 3.
Enhancement provided: Basic Attributes +70%, Total Concentration Efficiency +80%.]
[Ivy (Demon):
Analysis 90%.
Level 3.
Enhancement provided: Basic Attributes +50%, Total Concentration Efficiency +60%.]
[Pearl (Demon):
Analysis 90%.
Level 3.
Enhancement provided: Basic Attributes +50%, Total Concentration Efficiency +60%.]
[Shinobu KochĹŤ (Human):
Analysis 30.09%.
Level 1.
Enhancement provided: Basic Attributes +100%.]
[Total enhancement of basic physical attributes: 350%. Total enhancement of Total Concentration Efficiency: 320%.]
Nezuko's enhancement had gone up from the initial 30% to 50%.
Makomo at thirty, Kanao at seventy, no changes there.
But the newly added Ivy and Pearl were contributing fifty each. And Shinobu, who had hit Level 1 thanks to the ass-smacks he'd been dishing out along the way… was churning out a full one hundred percent all by herself!
A total enhancement of 350%!
Put another way, in that precise instant, his strength, his explosive power, and his speed had been multiplied by 3.5 compared to his normal state.
And if he compared himself to the Marcus of barely four hours earlier on Mount Natagumo… the difference was staggering!
Back then, Nezuko had been too far away, Kanao hadn't yet shown up, and Shinobu hadn't even awakened the first Level. With only Ivy, Pearl, and Makomo within his range, his enhancement hovered around 130%.
But now you had to add in the fifty from Nezuko, the seventy from Kanao, and the hundred from Shinobu.
He hadn't even thought about it!
IT WAS INSANE!
And that's not even counting that it was an added enhancement! If, on top of the package, he tacked on the one hundred percent of his own base… he was now worth four and a half times what he was on his own!
You could say that, except for Tamayo's absence at that moment, he was basically in the strongest state he could aspire to.
Rotating his wrist, he gave the blade a slight twist. Seeing how Sanemi was spitting up blood in disbelief, he narrowed his eyes.
"Consider this nothing more than plain bad luck. Showing enough strength is the best way to get everyone to bother listening to me."
"Oh… yeah? Cough!" Sanemi coughed up blood again, and the bewilderment on his face was slowly giving way to a crazed expression.
He began to back up step by step, while the blood gushed out in streams along the edge of the blade.
Shinobu was horrified: "Shinazugawa, don't move! You're going to make the wound worse!"
But he didn't listen to her. With a ferocious smile etched on his face and his eyes locked onto Marcus, he kept backing up. One step. Another. And one more.
"If you want to use me… as an example… Cough!… We'll see if you've got what it takes!!"
Squelch!
He yanked himself off the blade on his own.
"The idea… ugh… is a good one!"
Now free, he took a couple of staggering steps, controlled his breathing, and managed to stop the bleeding.
"I'm fine with the idea that only the strong have the right to do the talking!"
Panting, he slid back into his combat stance.
"BUT I'M REAL SORRY!!"
"I'm a stubborn son of a bitch!"
As his attitude shifted, the Breath of Wind burst out right then and there. A cutting pressure, like the edge of a razor, rippled forward.
"You want me to acknowledge your experiment?!"
"Fine! But only if… YOU'RE CAPABLE OF KILLING ME!!"
In that instant, his expression had been completely consumed by madness.
'Tch, I almost forgot they're like this…'
Marcus sighed inwardly.
A bunch of unfortunate souls who had lost everything at the hands of the demons.
A handful of avengers who saw the extermination of demons as the only meaning of their existence.
Guardians willing to die before taking a single step back.
There's no doubt about it… in the Demon Slayer Corps, there wasn't a single sane one left…
"Hmph!"
As a sign of respect, he gripped his two swords firmly.
He was also itching to see how far his strength reached in that precise instant. After all, only the voice of the strong carried enough weight to be heard.
While the trunk containing Ivy and Pearl slowly descended to the ground, the Pillars from the back courtyard, alerted by the commotion, started arriving at the front courtyard one after another.
Giyū, Shinobu, Tanjirō, and Kanao, aware that there was no turning back now, stepped back several paces.
Before the attentive gaze of the entire upper echelon of the Demon Slayer Corps!
The Wind Pillar, Sanemi vs Marcus!
The battle has begun!
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