The blade moved.
Not a slash, nor a thrust.
But a “stroke”.
The blade edge traced a perfect arc in the air, leaving a dark trail wherever it passed.
Like a black crescent moon suddenly appearing in the night sky, beautiful, yet deadly…
The giant grease net was like pencil marks erased by an eraser, silently “disappearing”…
It wasn’t cut, it wasn’t corroded, but…
its existence was “erased”!!
“Nani?!” Aburako was stunned.
It didn’t even understand what had happened, only feeling that the attack it had spewed out had inexplicably vanished.
And that black moon trail, after erasing the grease net, continued forward—straight at its main body!
“No—!!!”
Aburako frantically retreated, while simultaneously spewing out grease again in an attempt to block it.
But all the grease, upon touching the black moon trail, seemed to fall into nothingness and was instantly annihilated.
The black moon trail was extremely fast, reaching it in the blink of an eye!
At the critical moment—
“Aburako, duck!!!” Baba-bi’s voice suddenly rang out.
Aburako ducked instinctively, and a ghostly blue pillar of fire grazed its scalp, slamming hard into the black moon trail.
Fire and darkness collided violently, emitting a harsh “sizzling” sound.
Two seconds later, both the fire and the black moon dissipated.
Aburako lifted its head, still shaken, only to discover that Baba-bi had appeared beside it at some point— this old demon was actually able to barely perceive the situation around it under the suppression of the Eternal Night Ruins, thanks to its ultimate control over “fire”!
“Th…thank you…” Aburako’s voice trembled.
“Don’t thank me too soon.”
Baba-bi’s murky eyes stared fixedly at the darkness ahead…
It couldn’t see Hanayuki Ichika, but it could sense that terrifying aura was still there.
“This brat is not right! His Blood Demon Art is too damn heaven-defying!! Besides… as a demon, he can actually use the Demon Slayer Corps Breathing Style and a nichirin sword just like that Upper Rank One… How are we supposed to fight this?? Might as well just declare him the winner!”
Baba-bi cursed indignantly.
In its demon eyes, there was no longer any of the arrogance or smugness from before.
Only boundless terror and panic remained…
“Then what should we do?!”
“Join forces.” Baba-bi’s eyes rolled cunningly, and it suddenly sneered.
“I will use Soul Fire to illuminate a small area, and you take the opportunity to attack. As long as you can wound him, the domain will develop cracks!”
Before it finished speaking, Baba-bi slammed its withered hands together.
“Blood Demon Art: Soul Fire Prairie Fire!”
Ghostly blue flames surged madly from its body, this time the flames were not for attack, but purely “burning itself”.
The flames forcibly broke through the suppression of light sources by the Eternal Night Ruins, creating a small “bright zone” within a three-meter radius around Baba-bi.
Although it was only three meters, for Aburako, who was trapped in absolute darkness, it was life-saving light!
“I can see!” Aburako was overjoyed.
And at the edge of the bright zone, Hanayuki Ichika’s figure—finally revealed itself.
His white hair gleamed coldly under the ghostly blue firelight, and he held Kochou Shinobu’s nichirin sword, the luster of the Wisteria Poison on the blade flickering in the darkness.
Most terrifying were his sky-white eyes, filled with calmness and coldness, making one shudder…
“Found you!!!”
Aburako grinned grimly and lunged forward!
It knew this was the only chance!!
This patch of light created by Baba-bi burning its source couldn’t last long; it had to severely wound or even kill Hanayuki Ichika within this time!
“Blood Demon Art: Grease Waterfall!!!”
It no longer held back its power, spewing out all the corrosive grease stored in its body at once!
It wasn’t an attack, but a “waterfall” in the true sense…
With this strike, Aburako turned into a gambler, betting everything!
Facing the overwhelming grease waterfall, Hanayuki Ichika still did not retreat.
He even closed his eyes.
Not to give up, but…
to feel more intensely.
Feeling every wisp of darkness within the Eternal Night Ruins domain, feeling the temperature of the nichirin sword in his hand, feeling the Wisteria Poison permeating the air, feeling the demon blood surging within him and the rhythm of the Breath of Darkness…
Feeling the faint scent of sweat from Kochou Shinobu beside him and the warm breath from her cherry-red lips…
Cough, he felt the wrong thing…
Still not fast enough…
Needs to be faster…
stronger…
A certain realization was born in the desperate situation.
Hanayuki Ichika opened his eyes suddenly, his gaze aloof and extraordinary, his voice full of confidence:
“Kochou, watch closely! This strike—will be very cool.”
Kochou nodded, her eyes full of curiosity and anticipation.
Hanayuki Ichika’s figure instantly “split” on the spot!
Turning into streaks of afterimages!!
One, two, three…
ten, twenty, thirty…
In just half a second, with him at the center, a full fifty figures appeared within a ten-meter radius!
Each one held a nichirin sword, each one struck a different attack pose, the aura of each one was exactly the same—it was impossible to distinguish which was real and which was fake!
“Breath of Darkness…”
Fifty figures spoke at once, their voices overlapping like an echo from all directions:
“—Third Form: Phantom Instant Thousand Flow.”
The next moment, the fifty figures moved simultaneously.
The grease waterfall poured down, but all the grease passed through those figures!
Because those were all afterimages left by high-speed movement, they had no substance at all!
Where was the real Hanayuki Ichika?
Aburako looked around in terror, only to discover that the fifty figures had formed a perfect encirclement around it.
It couldn’t distinguish the real from the fake, so it could only attack wildly.
“Left!”
Grease sprayed at the ten figures on the left—all passed through.
“Right!”
Sprayed at the ten figures on the right—likewise passed through.
“Behind! Front! Above! Below!!!”
Aburako went completely crazy, spinning and spraying grease wildly like a headless fly, attempting to cover all directions.
But the grease was limited, while Hanayuki Ichika’s afterimages…
seemed endless.
“Found you.”
A cold voice came from directly above Aburako.
It looked up suddenly to see Hanayuki Ichika’s real body had appeared three meters above its head…
The opponent held the sword with both hands, tip pointing down, the whole person descending like a meteorite!
This strike was unavoidable!
“Save me!!!” Aburako roared in despair.
A flash of ruthlessness crossed Baba-bi’s murky eyes.
It did not go to save Aburako.
Instead—it suddenly reached out, its withered, stick-like fingers gripping Aburako’s shoulder tightly, then pulling hard!
“What?! You—”
Before Aburako could react, it was forcibly pulled in front of Baba-bi!
It became a shield.
Puchi—!!!
Wisteria Poison surged in frantically, and Aburako’s body began to collapse at a speed visible to the naked eye.
“You… you actually…” Aburako stared at Baba-bi in disbelief, its eyes filled with resentment and despair.
“Sorry.” Baba-bi sneered: “Better a dead demon friend than a poor demon me.”
Before the words were finished, it kicked Aburako hard, using the force to retreat rapidly!
Hanayuki Ichika pulled out the blade, and Aburako’s body crashed to the ground, rapidly turning into fly ash under the erosion of the Wisteria Poison…
But Hanayuki Ichika did not take the opportunity to pursue the Lower Rank Five, Baba-bi.
Because…
The duration of his Blood Demon Art Domain, the Eternal Night Ruins, had ended!
The darkness receded like a tide.
Moonlight fell upon the earth again, illuminating the devastated battlefield.
Within a fifty-meter radius, there were remains and fly ash of demons everywhere— in just one minute,
Hanayuki Ichika had slaughtered over forty villager demons and the Lower Rank Six, Aburako, inside the Eternal Night Ruins domain.
But the cost was also huge.
“Hu… hu…”
Hanayuki Ichika knelt on one knee, gasping for air.
The nichirin sword in his hand was stuck in the ground, supporting his body so he wouldn’t collapse.
The consumption of the Eternal Night Ruins was far beyond imagination, and coupled with the continuous use of new moves of the Breath of Darkness, his internal strength was completely exhausted at this moment.
The demon’s regenerative ability was still working, but the speed was much slower—there wasn’t enough energy.
In the distance, although Baba-bi’s aura was also withered, it was at least still standing.
Around it were a dozen or so surviving villager demons.
They were all fish that had slipped through the net, hiding at the edge of the battlefield and not completely enveloped by the domain.
Even worse…
Hanayuki Ichika looked up toward the east.
On the horizon, the pale white of dawn was already very obvious.
At most half an hour, the sun would rise…
“Ippū-san!” Kochou Shinobu stumbled over to his side, supporting his shoulder, “How are you?!”
“Still… not dead yet.” Hanayuki Ichika squeezed out a smile, but his pale complexion betrayed his condition.
Kochou Shinobu looked at the charred wound on his back burned by Baba-bi’s soul fire…
a flash of heartache in her eyes.
“Let’s retreat first.” She said decisively, “Your condition is too poor, and it’s almost dawn.”
“Just what I wanted.”
Hanayuki Ichika said, but suddenly did something that Kochou Shinobu completely didn’t expect—he stood up abruptly and then scooped Kochou Shinobu up!
Not a bridal carry.
But…
tucked under his arm???
Hanayuki Ichika: “( ´つ ヮ ⊂ ︎ )”
Kochou Shinobu: “…???”
“Ippū-san, you—” Kochou Shinobu exclaimed.
“Don’t move.” Hanayuki Ichika’s voice carried an unquestionable determination, “You are not lightly injured either, you can’t run fast on your own. I’ll carry you.”
“But you—”
“I have one last bit of strength left, enough for us to run out of here.”
After finishing, Hanayuki Ichika didn’t even look at Baba-bi in the distance again…
He turned and ran while tucking Kochou Shinobu under his arm!
Not walking, not retreating.
It was truly—turning his head and running!
Full speed!
Lightning fast!!!
“…” Kochou Shinobu was tucked under his arm, completely stunned!!!
She had thought of many ways to retreat, but never expected…
it would be like this.
The dignified Insect Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps…
was actually being tucked under the arm like someone stealing another man’s wife and running away wildly by a demon???
If the other Hashira knew about this, she would never be able to lift her head again for the rest of her life!!
The key…
the key was that she was too small, and her strength was the weakest, she had no power to resist at all!!!