"Cannon!"
Moose's voice was hoarse and horrified—he hadn't seen what had just happened.
The man was clearly at a disadvantage as if bending down to check the courtesan's corpse. Cannon had caught his opening, and even had superior stats—so why was Cannon instantly killed instead?
The strangest thing: for a moment, Moose glimpsed the man's blade, and it didn't seem to be a Nichirin Sword made from scarlet ore, so why, after Cannon's decapitation, didn't he move anymore?
Yes, that was the weirdest part: Cannon lost all life signs, and Moose knew from the team chat that Cannon was dead, but as a demon, Cannon's body wasn't disintegrating as would happen after being cut by a Nichirin Blade.
Cannon's body remained, but his soul... seemed to have been slain.
"Don't just stand there! Attack! He's not an ordinary Hashira!"
Moose shouted. They had entered the Demon Slayer world as a six-person team, planning to ambush opposing Explorers and Hashira in Yoshiwara, but hadn't expected to run into such an outrageous Explorer right away.
"Are you the newly appointed Hashira!?"
Hinatsuru had just recovered from her shock. She had thought they were done for, only for the man beside her to kill the new Lower Twelve Kizuki in one move.
However, Gusion didn't answer her. "Go contact your comrades and evacuate the civilians—Yoshiwara is about to become a battlefield."
In a sense, the enemy was right—he wasn't an ordinary Hashira, because he wasn't a Hashira at all.
Bang—Bang—Bang—!
With the sound of the wooden floor being pierced and sawdust flying everywhere, patterned cloth strips fell from the ceiling, stabbing toward Gusion—this was Upper Moon Six, Daki's, Blood Demon Art.
Faced with the blade-like cloth strips, Gusion evaded with minimal movement. The wind lifted the edge of his pitch-black nightmare cloak, making him resemble a night owl dancing in the dusk.
"Getting my beauty sleep interrupted so early... But on closer look, you're quite a handsome man..."
A lazy voice came from above as the ceiling caved in.
In the hazy lamplight above, a woman with hair white as frost looked down at Gusion. She wore a delicate, silky kimono embroidered with elegant landscapes.
Her skin was as fair as cream, matching her snowy hair. Her emerald-green eyes were deep and bright, with the kanji for "Upper Moon" and "Six" within them.
Her slender brows arched slightly, showing a bit of impatience and disdain toward the Demon Slayer below. "I wonder... how you'll taste~"
Moose wanted to curse at this Upper Moon Six, thinking, Do you even know your own strength? Without your brother you're nothing. Do you really think you're better than us?
Didn't you see Cannon got one-shotted? Shouldn't you call your brother out to fight?
Hinatsuru finally came to her senses, realizing this battlefield was beyond her. She immediately dashed out of Kyogoku House to find her two sisters and evacuate Yoshiwara's civilians.
As for the customers and courtesans inside, harsh as it was, she knew she couldn't save them all. Once Yoshiwara became a battlefield for Upper Moons and Hashira, everyone would be at risk. She could only try to save as many as possible.
As a member of the Demon Slayer Corps, she wanted to save everyone, but she wasn't naïve like the younger members.
She now had two tasks: evacuate the civilians as much as possible, and send word so the Corps could send Hashira to help.
Apart from the first generation of swordsmen, the Demon Slayer Corps hadn't slain an Upper Moon in centuries—it wasn't something a lone Hashira could handle.
She hadn't seen this man before—he must have just become a Hashira. To face such a threat right away was almost certain death.
"I really don't get what that lord is thinking. The Lower Moons are useless—weren't they just wiped out?"
Kyogoku House's Warabihime, or rather, Upper Moon Six Daki, sneered, showing no sympathy for Cannon. In fact, she hated these other demons trespassing on her turf.
If her brother hadn't said Lord Muzan approved the new Lower Moons, and that they shouldn't kill each other, she would've long since tied them up and left them to die in the sun.
She licked her lips with her soft tongue, "Just a Hashira—I've eaten seven already."
"Go all out. He's not simple," Moose shouted again, hinting for Daki to ask her brother Gyutaro to appear, cursing Daki a thousand times in his heart.
If it weren't for us, you'd have been dead in the sun by now. Without our items, could you even survive?
"Looks like you all have it rough," Gusion said with a smile. He didn't mind chatting—after all, Hinatsuru and her sisters were evacuating the crowd; meanwhile, he was on the winning side.
The only risk was that his pause also gave the enemy team time to regroup.
Gusion hadn't informed any Demon Slayer Corps members of his actions—not out of recklessness, but because he was confident in his strength and couldn't explain his intel's source.
Besides, this Yoshiwara battle was meant to be a blitz—any delay would bring more complications.
As for why he didn't secretly evacuate people first and then fight the demons, that was unrealistic. Neither the customers nor courtesans would believe him; after all, the Demon Slayer Corps wasn't a government organization and had no authority.
Most people won't listen until disaster is upon them—they simply don't heed a stranger's warning.
All he could do was minimize casualties by slaying the demons as quickly as possible once the battle began.
"Being pitied by the enemy—how incompetent we must seem."
Behind Gusion, on the opposite rooftop, a figure in white with a long sword remarked, "Surrounded and still so calm—no wonder Cannon died in vain."
Gusion sensed five people besides Daki surrounding Kyogoku House. From Hinatsuru's perspective, he was indeed in a desperate situation.
Gusion closed his eyes, using new techniques from his latest spiritual pressure training to sense the humans in the building.
He took a deep breath, lowered his stance, and gripped the Mazuko in an iaido pose.
"All at once—kill him!" Moose shouted, and all five team members charged at Gusion.
The white-clad swordsman leaped down from across the street, aiming for Gusion's back. A sniper on a distant high point targeted Gusion's head. Moose, wielding a poisoned dagger, waited for an opening.
From the left, the team's tank Explorer Steel Plate smashed through the wall with a tower shield, charging like a tank.
From the right, another wall burst open as a red-glowing Blood Demon Art was unleashed by their magic user, Mohr.
Meanwhile, Daki manipulated her many sashes from above, stabbing at Guison.
Time seemed to stand still; attacks came from all directions, surrounding Gusion like a dazzling wheel.
But Gusion's mouth exhaled a torrent of superheated steam, whistling like a locomotive. At the same time, blinding golden lightning appeared around him.
In the next instant, his figure vanished like a bolt of lightning—his blade drawn, the Mazuko unleashed!
The pitch-black blade flashed with golden light, like a thunderbolt from the heavens, cleaving the building in two!
When Gusion reappeared, he was high above Kyogoku House, under the virtual night sky, the full moon silhouetting his figure as demon blood rained down.