As Akira was having his cool moment on the other side of the forest, a fierce 4-on-4 battle erupted beneath the moonlit sky.
Erika, Tanjiro, Nezuko, and Genya now stood face-to-face with the four emotion clones of Upper Rank Four, Hantengu.
The pressure in the air was thick, almost suffocating.
Tanjiro gripped his sword tighter.
"Erika-san, what should we do?"
Erika's eyes sharpened as she answered immediately. "We have to cut off all their heads at the same time. It's the only way I can think of."
Everyone nodded. They couldn't think of a better solution; this enemy didn't operate like anything they'd faced before.
Without warning, Urogi spread his feathery wings and swooped upward with terrifying speed, shrieking with joy.
Seeing him take to the skies, Erika kicked off the ground, wings unfurling behind her as she shot into the air in pursuit.
Aerial combat began immediately.
Urogi slashed at her with his talons, but Erika was faster, much faster.
Light as a feather thanks to her gravity manipulation, she twisted around him mid-flight, dodging every strike with fluid precision.
Her crimson ribbons lashed out like serpents, trying to ensnare him. But Urogi cackled and spun away, evading the grasp of the ribbons.
Still, Erika didn't give up; she accelerated, chasing him through the moonlit sky.
But Urogi suddenly halted in mid-air, turning toward her with a wide grin.
He inhaled deeply.
A yellow glow began gathering in his mouth.
Erika instantly responded.
Her ribbons snapped outward, weaving themselves into a thick crimson dome shield in front of her.
BAAAAAAAAAAM!!
Urogi's sonic scream blasted against her barrier.
Even though the shield held, the sheer force pushed Erika backward through the night sky.
She steadied herself, then shot higher into the air.
"You can't run away!!" Urogi screeched, flapping hard as he pursued her again.
Down on the ground, the fight started too.
Sekido slammed his staff into the earth again, crackling arcs of lightning exploding outward.
Tanjiro leapt aside, narrowly avoiding being electrocuted.
But Sekido's attacks made it impossible to close the distance; every step forward was met with more lightning.
Meanwhile.
Karaku swung his fan for another green wind blast, but before he could even lift it, Nezuko launched herself at him, grabbing onto him and forcing him into a grapple.
"Heh," Karaku smirked wickedly, towering over her. "I'm done playing with you, little girl."
Then.
CRACK!!
His foot slammed into Nezuko's stomach, blowing a hole straight through her torso.
Tanjiro gasped, eyes wide, screaming, "NEZUKO!"
Karaku turned casually toward Sekido and said,
"Sekido, after I rip this girl's limbs off, you impale her with your…"
He never finished the sentence.
CRUNCH!!
Nezuko's heel smashed into his jaw, shattering it instantly.
Karaku stumbled backward, face twisted grotesquely, but he didn't even get to regenerate properly.
The moment his jaw reformed, Nezuko tore her own trapped hand free, ripping it clean off to escape his grip. Blood sprayed across Karaku's face.
Her remaining hand ignited in pink flames.
"Blood Demon Art—Exploding Blood!"
The flames shot across Karaku's face and torso, engulfing him in a blazing inferno.
He screamed as the pink fire burned through his demonic flesh.
Nezuko didn't hesitate.
She seized his other arm, the one holding the leaf-like fan, and spun violently, like a crocodile in a death roll.
RIPPP!!
The arm was torn clean off.
Nezuko swung the severed arm straight back at him, activating Karaku's own wind blast.
The green wind blast hit him, hurling the burning Karaku through the air like a comet of fire and screaming agony, straight into Sekido.
Sekido had been preparing another lightning strike, but suddenly, He turned his head just in time to see Karaku flying at him.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, YOU IDI…."
BOOOOOOM!!
The burning Karaku slammed into him, and both demons were sent flying in a violent explosion of fire, wind, and sparks.
Tanjiro's eyes widened as Karaku and Sekido went tumbling through the air. "Now's my chance!"
"Nezuko!!" he shouted.
Nezuko, whose torn body had already regenerated flawlessly, heard her brother instantly. She dashed toward him.
Without hesitation, she grabbed Tanjiro's blade and sliced her own palm open on the edge.
Blood flowed down the steel, sizzling as it touched the metal.
FOOOOM!
A pink blaze surged across the Nichirin blade, enveloping it like living fire.
Tanjiro felt the heat, but it didn't burn him.
Instead, it felt warm, protective.
Akira's voice echoed in Tanjiro's memory, as a conversation he had with him came to his mind.
"Your sister's blood demon art is an anti-demon blood demon art". Akira said.
Tanjiro, a bit confused, asked, "What does it mean?"
Akira explained, "It is basically an extremely powerful blood demon art to use against demons; her flames only affect demons and are completely harmless to anything else, so try coating your sword with her flames, it might be highly effective against demons".
Tanjiro had tested it once during training.
The memory surfaced now, his blade turning crimson, just like the one he'd seen in the dreams of the man with the same black sword…
…a blade that shone red like the sun.
And now.
FWOOOOOSH!!
The flames roared higher, burning hotter, brighter.
The Nichirin blade in Tanjiro's hands turned completely red, glowing like a heated steel.
His breath caught.
"Nezuko… thank you."
He tightened his grip, stance lowering, eyes fixed on the demons ahead.
He was ready.
Ready to cut off their heads.
Ready to end this.
While Tanjiro's blade blazed red, another clash erupted nearby.
Genya and Aizetsu faced each other across the torn ground, one exhausted and irritated, the other snarling with frustration.
Aizetsu exhaled wearily, spear poised in hand.
"How unpleasant… fighting is so tiresome…"
Genya clicked his tongue, raising the pump-action double-barreled automatic shotgun Akira made for him.
"Quit whining and stand still already!"
He kept his distance, firing round after round.
Each blast echoed through the forest.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Aizetsu's expression didn't change.
With a bored flick of his wrist, he thrust his spear forward.
SWOOSH! SHUNK!
Red spear projections shot out like piercing arrows.
Genya barely dodged, rolling across the dirt.
"As expected,… even the shockwaves hurt like hell…"
But Genya remembered Akira's warning:
"This shotgun is too strong for a normal human to handle.
If you want its full power, you must use your partial demon form."
And Genya had already transformed.
His body felt light, and his strength surged; now he can use this gun at full power.
"Let's see you dodge THIS!"
He sprinted forward, still pulling the trigger. Bullet casings rained across the ground behind him.
Aizetsu lifted his spear again.
"Tiresome…"
Red projections fired.
Genya dropped to his knees and slid across the earth, sparks flying from his boots.
SHHHHHK!
And dodging all of them by a hair's breadth.
He came to a stop right beneath Aizetsu's guard.
The shotgun was already aimed upward.
Straight at Aizetsu's head.
Genya's finger tightened.
"Got you."
High above the forest canopy, two blurs danced through the moonlit sky.
Erika and Urogi clashed again.
Wind tore past their bodies as they zig-zagged between treetops, wings and ribbons flashing in the night.
Urogi lunged first, talons gleaming.
"KYAHAHAHA! TRY TO KEEP UP!"
His claws slashed down, but Erika twisted midair, weight reduced by her gravity control, moving with the grace of a feather.
SHFF!
She slipped past him effortlessly and countered, her crimson ribbons snapping out in rapid arcs.
Urogi rolled away, cackling as the ribbons sliced where he had been.
"Too slow! Too slow!!"
But Erika didn't relent.
She closed in again until she saw the change in his throat.
Urogi inhaled sharply.
A yellow glow pulsed inside his open beak.
Erika's eyes widened. "That Sonic scream!"
Instantly, her ribbons wrapped around her, forming a dome-like barrier.
VWOOOOOOOOM!!!
The sonic blast hit like a shockwave. The air trembled.
Her shield buckled, hurling her backward, but she stabilized herself with a flap of her wings. Erika grit her teeth.
But in the distance, a thunderous BOOOOOOM split the sky.
Her heart jolted as she saw two figures clashing, shockwaves shaking the forest.
Akira and Akaza.
Her wings faltered for a moment.
"He's fine… he's strong… but…"
She wanted to be there. She wanted to help him. She knew he didn't need her help… but her heart still tugged toward him.
Focus. End this.
She forced her focus back to Urogi.
"Enough."
Erika extended her hand.
Her six ribbons shivered, then throbbed. As she channeled her blood into them, their movement sharpened, becoming unnervingly alive. They spiraled around her like serpents awaiting command.
She darted forward, aerial movements smooth and deadly.
Urogi tried to counter, charging another scream, but the ribbons struck first, interrupting him.
WHIP! WHIP!
He screeched, rolling to dodge, but Erika was already weaving above him, spinning faster than he could track.
The ribbons expanded outward and formed a crimson net midair.
Urogi slammed straight into it.
"Wha…?!"
He struggled, wings flapping violently, but Erika's blood-enhanced control held firm.
She tightened the ribbons.
A memory surfaced, Akira excitedly telling her about a technique that would let her kill demons even without a Nichirin sword.
Erika extended her hand.
"Blood Demon Art—Exploding Blood."
FOOOOSH!!
Her net ignited in brilliant pink flame.
The fire erupted around Urogi, who let out a distorted, warbling shriek as the flames devoured him.
The ribbons tightened once more, and with a single clean motion, Urogi's head was severed.
His burning head dropped from the sky, spiraling downward toward the forest floor, followed by his headless body falling after.
Erika hovered above, breathing hard, ribbons still burning with pink fire.
"One down".
She turned her gaze toward where Akira and Akaza continued their titanic clash.
"Just a little more… I'll finish quickly and come to you, and if you die, I will kill you."
Down on the forest floor, the moment Urogi's burning head hit the dirt, another gunshot thundered.
BOOM!!
Genya, eyes darkened and fangs exposed in his partial demon form, pulled the trigger of his pump-action double-barreled automatic shotgun.
Aizetsu's head exploded like a cracked melon, scattering dark blood across the broken earth.
At that same instant.
"Hinokami Kagura—"
Tanjiro's voice burned with heat.
The mark on his forehead pulsed, then expanded into a distinct flame-like pattern.
His breath ignited.
His blade ignited.
Flames swirled around him as he roared.
"Sun Halo Dragon Head Dance!!"
Nezuko's earlier blow had already sent Sekido and Karaku tumbling through the air, leaving them momentarily exposed.
Tanjiro seized the opening.
He dashed forward in a brilliant arc of fire.
Two flaming trails carved through the battlefield as Tanjiro spun, blade cutting with newfound speed.
SLASH!! SLASH!!
Sekido's head flew.
Karaku's head followed.
Both landed in the dirt with smoking wounds.
Tanjiro skidded to a stop, chest heaving.
His vision blurred.
His hands trembled.
"This… what is this feeling?"
Since the fight with Daki and Gyutaro went easy here, this is the first time his Demon Slayer Mark had awakened.
"My strength… it increased more than I could imagine".
His body screamed from the strain, but he pushed through it.
He swallowed hard and looked up.
Aizetsu's headless body lay near Genya's boots.
Urogi's flaming severed head and his headless body fell from the sky.
And Erika touched down beside Nezuko, ribbons still glowing faintly with residual flame.
Tanjiro's heart eased.
"Good… we cut off all of their heads."
Erika stepped forward, wings folding behind her.
"Did that do it?" she asked, breath still heavy.
"Was it simultaneous?"
But as if to answer Erika's hopeful question, a shrill, agonized scream cut through the air.
"GYAAAAAAAH!! What kind of slashing attack was that?!"
Karaku's decapitated head writhed on the ground, his expression twisted in pain.
"I…I can't regenerate! The pain… It's scorching me!"
Sekido's severed head snarled beside him.
"Calm down, you pathetic fool. It takes time! We can regenerate!"
Even without bodies, both heads throbbed with frustration and venom.
Erika let out a long sigh.
"So it didn't work. We can't finish them off even if we cut all their heads at the same time."
Tanjiro tightened his grip on his sword.
"…Maybe killing these emotion clones is pointless. What do we do?"
The four regrouped, tense, and breathing hard.
Erika reached out telepathically.
"Selena? What's happening? How do we kill them?"
Silence.
Her brows furrowed. "Selena? Hellooo?? What's happening?" This time, her voice carried a hint of panic, since Selena always answered her.
Finally, Selena's voice echoed in her head.
"Eh…oh! Erika-chan, sorry! I was a bit busy helping my brother. What is it?"
Erika froze. Busy… helping Akira?
"Helping Akira? What happened?! Is he in danger?" she demanded urgently.
Selena's answer was far too casual.
"Eh? No, no. I'm just helping him play the BGM while he's fighting."
Erika froze.
She stared blankly into the void.
…BGM. She's playing background music. In this situation.
She let out the deepest sigh of her life.
Why… why are they like this? Why was she born to suffer alongside these two problem children?
Selena, as if reading her thoughts, giggled.
"Well, if you want to stay with my brother forever, you'll just have to put up with us~."
Erika blushed furiously, remembering her own earlier words.
"Can we stay like this forever, just the two of us?"
But shook her head violently.
"Now is NOT the time! How do we kill them?!"
Selena laughed lightly.
"Okay, okay~ Erika-chan. It's like the Pain situation from Naruto. The real one is not among them."
Erika blinked. "Not among them…?"
The realization struck her like lightning.
As she muttered. "Then, maybe none of these four is the main body. There must be a fifth body hiding somewhere!!"
She exhaled sharply.
Watching all that anime with Akira… really does help.
Genya jogged closer, shotgun in hand.
"A FIFTH ONE?! WHERE?!"
Tanjiro closed his eyes, thinking hard.
"…Yeah. For a moment, I think I smelled… a fifth demon."
Erika turned to him. "Tanjiro, can you find it?"
Tanjiro sniffed the air, then grimaced.
"I can't right now. This whole place smells like hot springs, I can't…"
Suddenly.
BOOOOOOOOOM!!!
Another explosion boomed through the forest, Akira and Akaza's battle shaking the air itself.
The shockwave blasted the mist away, clearing the scent barrier.
Erika snapped her head toward Tanjiro.
"Now?! Can you smell it now?!"
Tanjiro inhaled deeply, eyes widening.
"Yes! That way!"
He pointed straight into the deeper forest, toward the trees.
Right then, the four clones fully regenerated.
Sekido slammed his staff down, lightning erupting.
But Erika's ribbons stabbed into the ground, and a wall of earth rose, blocking the attack.
She shouted without looking back. "Tanjiro! Just go and kill the main one, we'll buy time!"
Tanjiro tightened his grip on his flaming red blade.
"Right!"
He sprinted toward the forest, but the emotion clones lunged to intercept him.
Karaku swung another wind blast.
Aizetsu's spear whipped forward.
Urogi shrieked as he dove from the air.
But.
BOOM!
Genya fired directly at Urogi's face, forcing him to veer off.
Nezuko vanished in a blur, intercepting Aizetsu with a flaming kick.
Erika's ribbons slammed into the ground, forming another earth wall to block Karaku's wind.
Tanjiro glanced at them, saw everyone pushing forward with everything they had, and bolted into the forest.
"I'll do it… no matter what!"
The ground blurred under his feet as he ran deeper, following the scent that he had detected.
Finally.
He skidded to a halt.
There, scrambling desperately among the roots and leaves, was a tiny demon.
A frail old man no bigger than a rat, trembling with a lump and small horns sprouting from his head. His beady eyes darted in terror as he scurried away on shaky limbs.
Tanjiro's eyes widened. "This… this tiny thing is the real one?!"
The demon stumbled, squeaking in panic as Tanjiro's shadow loomed over him.
Tanjiro gritted his teeth.
"You're not getting away!"
He dashed forward, blade raised, ready to end it once and for all
And his flaming red Nichirin blade flashed downward toward the demon's neck.
CLANG.
Tanjiro's eyes widened.
"I can't… cut him!?"
Before he could think further.
SCREEEEEEEEEEEEE!!
A horrible, ear-piercing shriek erupted from the little demon's throat.
Tanjiro winced, feeling the sound rattle his skull.
"What a horrible voice… my ears…! ButI can behead him! I have to!"
He pressed down harder, muscles straining, trying to sever the demon's neck.
DOOM.
A sharp drumbeat thundered behind him.
Genya's voice tore through the air.
"TANJIRO! DODGE!!"
Tanjiro twisted, just as a wooden dragon roared toward him.
His instinct took over, and Tanjiro raised his blade to block it.
But the dragon slammed into him, pushing him upward into the sky with overwhelming force.
"Hngh!"
He stabbed his sword into the dragon's wooden flank, digging in to anchor himself.
The creature writhed, twisting violently, dragging him upward through the treetops.
Then.
More shapes burst from the forest floor.
Five serpentine wooden dragons spiraled upward, weaving around each other like living vines, each gnashing sharp wooden fangs.
One of them lunged to bite him.
Tanjiro leapt away, flipping midair, but another dragon surged upward, fangs ready to tear into him mid-air.
Nezuko tackled him out of the way.
Her leg was severed, then instantly regenerated.
But they were falling.
A red flash.
A ribbon snapped around their waists.
Erika caught both of them, descending gracefully.
Only then did Tanjiro see him.
Standing on a branch not far away.
A demon far younger, far more imposing than the four emotion clones.
A short, muscular boy.
Black hair spiked upward like jagged spears. Gold eyes with burning red sclera. On his right eye: "Upper Rank." On his left: "Four."
Two curved horns jutted from his skull.
On his tongue, the word "Hatred" was etched.
Behind him floated a circular wooden frame holding five drums, each engraved with the kanji for "Hatred."
Bone-like daggers rested in his hands.
His clothing resembled a warrior's garb.
The pressure he exuded was suffocating, so much heavier, darker, more overwhelming than any of the emotion demons so far.
He glared at them, trembling with fury.
"You brutal fiends who torment the weak… atrocious… offensive… to the extreme…"
His killing intent spiked.
"Damn you… awful villains."