Luke rested one hand on Prison Demon’s hilt without making a move. Ignoring Hinatsuru’s warning, he stepped forward, grabbed the receptionist by the shoulder, and threw her straight out the front door.
He gave Hinatsuru an indifferent glance. "Try to evacuate the civilians. It’s daytime, so it should be much easier."
Hinatsuru stared at the man before her in disbelief. Why are you so calm? Do you even understand what’s happening? I’m trying to save you!
What was going on with the Demon Slayer Corps these days? Were the recruits they brought in all this poor? Not only had he failed to understand her signal, he had dragged her into this as well, directly exposing her identity as an infiltrating kunoichi.
What shocked her even more was that she had never expected other Demons to be hiding in this establishment. Descending the staircase on the left was a man—the very customer who had visited their house two nights ago. That did not match their previous assumptions about the Demon’s identity at all.
After investigating, she had already more or less identified the oiran of this house as the Demon. But why were there other Demons here?
Demons rarely acted together. Most operated alone. If Yoshiwara was a Demon’s dining hall, what Demon would willingly share that dining hall with someone else?
Worst of all, the long-haired man in pink robes coming down the left staircase gave off an extremely ominous presence. He was clearly as strong as one of the Twelve Kizuki!
How was that possible? Could this place have two Twelve Kizuki?
Yet Hinatsuru’s shock was not over. Another voice came from the staircase on the right.
"Haha, Mousse, be satisfied. After all, this is one-third of their side’s fighting strength."
Coming down the right staircase was a bald, muscular man with his upper body bare. He was actually holding a courtesan in his arms as he spoke, but she did not make a sound. On closer inspection, her upper body was already covered in blood.
"Cannon, watch where you are. I don’t want your filth getting on me during the fight later."
The long-haired man called Mousse frowned, his gaze locking back onto Luke below.
"Tch. Life is for enjoyment. An abstinent freak like you might as well join their side."
As Cannon spoke, he casually threw the courtesan away as if she were trash. She rolled to a stop at Luke’s feet, her beautiful eyes wide open with absolute terror.
Rage surged within Hinatsuru at the sight, and she had been about to rush up and kill them. But in the next instant, the aura erupting from the two Demons chilled her spine.
"Run... run now..."
She grabbed Luke’s arm, trying to drag him with all her strength into the sunlight. She had just realized that both of these Demons were at the level of the Twelve Kizuki!
No matter how hard she tried, she could not imagine that one Yoshiwara could contain two—perhaps even three—Twelve Kizuki. Thank goodness her husband had sent them to gather intelligence first. Otherwise, if the Demon Slayer Corps had come here rashly, they would have suffered unprecedented losses.
She wanted to pull this new Demon Slayer Corps recruit outside. With the daytime sun on their side, they could destroy the building from outside. Even if they were weaker than these Demons, they would still have a chance of victory.
But to her astonishment, it was one thing for this rookie to stand there as if he could not understand her—despite her strength, she could not pull him even the slightest bit.
In her panic just now, she had used every ounce of her strength. Yet he had not moved half a step, as steady as a mountain.
Just as her mind was beginning to overload, another change occurred.
The sky outside... went dark.
"Heh. Did you think we would make no preparations and simply wait for someone to walk into our trap?"
Mousse spoke mockingly. "Even though there’s only one of you, it should be enough for us to break even, right? You look pretty strong, after all."
Luke glanced at the twilight beyond the door. The situation did not surprise him. Just as he knew that fighting Demons during the day was advantageous, Demons also knew that sunlight was too deadly for them.
Some time before every mission world began, Explorers would receive a notice. Depending on the authority level of their Explorer Mark, the preparation period varied, but they did have time to buy supplies for the next world.
Knowing they would enter the world of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, and having already decided to side with Muzan, they would naturally find a way to acquire items that could counter sunlight.
The outside was likely covered by some kind of screening item. Judging by its range, it was probably a single-use item. Otherwise, even if its only function was blocking sunlight, such a wide area was far beyond what a reusable rare, purple-grade item could accomplish.
It was not that Luke looked down on the Explorers from the opposing faction. He simply felt that if they had an Explorer rich enough to buy a legendary-grade item, they would not need to resort to this kind of trick. They could just come straight for him.
"What kind of Blood Demon Art is this?!"
Hinatsuru cried out in shock. She could not understand anything happening before her. If Demons had found a way to stop fearing sunlight, would the Demon Slayer Corps not be in even greater danger?
Standing in the entryway, Luke remained calm. "So you’re the new Twelve Kizuki?"
"The Twelve Kizuki?"
Cannon sneered. "That’s already a thing of the past."
As he spoke, he and Mousse ran their hands over their eyes under Hinatsuru’s stunned gaze. Numbers then appeared within them.
The number in Mousse’s eyes was "Lower Rank Seven," while Cannon’s was "Lower Rank Eight."
"How is that possible?!"
Hinatsuru stared at the numbers in their eyes, her face full of disbelief. The Twelve Kizuki were called the Twelve Kizuki because there were twelve of them—six Upper Ranks and six Lower Ranks.
But what was she seeing now?
Lower Rank Seven and Lower Rank Eight!
Had Muzan increased the number of the Twelve Kizuki?!
"Heh heh..."
As Hinatsuru stood frozen in shock, she suddenly heard the man beside her laugh. The laughter grew louder and louder, until it seemed he could no longer suppress it and burst into wild laughter.
Confused, Hinatsuru released Luke’s arm. Had this rookie been frightened out of his mind?
"What’s so funny? Are you finally insane now that death is at your doorstep?"
A vicious grin spread across Cannon’s face as he started down the stairs. They were Muzan’s newly "certified" Lower Rank Twelve Kizuki. Although their numbers were only Seven and Eight, that absolutely did not mean they were weaker than the six Lower Ranks from the original story. They simply had not met those original Lower Ranks yet, so they had not fought a Blood Battle to exchange positions.
In terms of raw strength, Explorers like them, whose overall attributes had already exceeded human limits, were stronger than any Lower Rank. They merely still fell short of the Upper Ranks.
Luke covered his face as if forcibly suppressing his emotions. His laughter gradually subsided, but Hinatsuru, standing at his side, could still see the upward curl of his lips.
"Sorry. I’m just a little too happy."
Luke lowered his hand as he spoke. Killing enemy Explorers in this world had a chance of dropping a Dead Man’s Treasure Chest, while killing one of the Twelve Kizuki guaranteed a treasure chest. With those two rules overlapping, killing the two Explorers before him meant he was guaranteed to receive everything they owned.
That really was... wonderful.
Cannon leaped down from the stairs, a heavy warhammer in hand, and smashed it toward Luke’s head. "Die!"
The reason they had been willing to reveal themselves and use an item was not merely because Luke had found them during the day. It was because they believed Luke was genuinely strong. Based on their own circumstances, they suspected he might even be a Hashira.
Then, combined with the faction’s special traits, their side mission could cause Luke to drop a Dead Man’s Treasure Chest. That would be a guaranteed profit.
According to the results from their scouting skill, he was a first-tier peak powerhouse with overall attributes above twenty-seven points. His fortune should be substantial enough to offset the cost of their item.
Cannon himself had once been an Explorer with overall attributes of only twenty points. After gaining the power of a Demon, his overall attributes had soared to twenty-eight. He had also acquired a Demon’s hyper-speed regeneration and tough skin, instantly becoming a first-tier peak powerhouse.
In the past, he would never have dared fight an Explorer like Luke. But now, he had become the stronger one. The feeling intoxicated him, and he could not help but marvel at how useful Muzan’s power was.
Time slowed in his eyes. He watched the warhammer in his hand close in on Luke’s head, and he could practically foresee the moment Luke’s skull burst open.
But in the next moment, Luke crouched. Then Cannon’s vision blurred. He saw only a black line, followed by the sensation of the world spinning around him.
Cannon’s bald head rolled across the floor, his eyes still carrying a trace of confusion and the cruelty that had yet to fade.
Luke remained crouched, his blade already sheathed. He reached out and brushed his hand over the courtesan’s eyes, closing them.
As he slowly rose, an invisible pressure swelled with him, blanketing the entire space.
To Mousse, the man rising to his feet resembled a towering mountain. A tidal wave of mountain-heavy pressure crashed down on him, making his heart feel as though it would stop beating.
Luke tilted his head slightly, his peripheral vision sweeping toward Mousse. "Weren’t you going to gang up on me? Come at me together."
Quick plug for a friend’s book, Naruto Only Wants to Be a Soul Reaper. Watch as Naruto Uzumaki—the Lord of Seireitei, Captain-Commander, the first Soul Reaper, and the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki—creates a new world order.
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register