"Hey, Yahaba, where's my temari?"
From within the dust, a spoiled-sounding female voice rang out, tinged with impatience.
The demon called Yahaba wasn't as smug as her. Instead, he frowned. "Don't get careless, Susamaru."
His Blood Demon Art had been blocked by something.
And… he couldn't move at all.
Hearing the voices outside, Tanjiro drew the Nichirin blade at his waist and watched the hole in the wall with alert eyes.
When the dust fully cleared, a man and a woman stood outside the house.
Though Yahaba's eyes were shut, an eyeball with a visible arrow-pupil opened in his palm. "To think there are demons mingling with demon slayers. What in the world is going on here?"
"My temari… did that woman block it?" Susamaru looked at the temari in Yuko's hand, grinning wildly. "Let's see you block this!"
She raised another temari high, veins bulging across her arm, and hurled it toward the house with a crazed expression.
Whoosh!
The thrown temari shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bowstring, carving a path across the ground, scattering dust in an instant, and kicking up a violent gust.
So strong!
The power of that lord's blood!
Susamaru's eyes grew even more manic, desperate to show off her strength.
"Lady Tamayo!" Yushiro hurriedly shielded Tamayo behind him.
Yuko's expression tightened slightly. As expected, something was wrong.
Before she could step forward, Tanjiro surged ahead, red mist spilling from his mouth as he moved to stand in front of everyone.
"Sun Breathing — First Form: Dance!"
But just as Tanjiro's blade was about to strike the temari, Susamaru suddenly grinned.
"Hehehe…"
In Tanjiro's eyes, the path of the temari twisted unnaturally, veering away from the blade and shooting straight toward his face.
Not good!
Tanjiro's pupils shrank, the temari swelling rapidly in his vision.
At that critical moment, a massive force yanked him backward by the collar, pulling him out of the temari's path by a hair's breadth.
Even so, the gust created by the temari split open a gash across Tanjiro's forehead.
"Miss Yuko…" Tanjiro turned back in shock.
Yuko didn't reply to him. She simply flipped her blade backward and pierced the temari that rebounded behind them.
The blade trembled faintly.
Yuko flicked her sword, cleaving it fully, and warned, "Be careful. Those two demons have power not inferior to the Twelve Kizuki."
Tamayo had drawn a whole case of her blood just moments earlier, but Yuko wasn't actually weakened much; since she never ate, exhaustion had never been a factor in the first place.
This temari's force and speed were far too strange.
Definitely not at the level shown in the original story.
Not overwhelming, but absolutely equivalent to the lower end of the Lower Ranks.
Was it because of her actions on the street earlier…? Had Muzan become more cautious?
"Twelve Kizuki?!" Tanjiro exclaimed in shock.
Tamayo explained, "They are Kibutsuji Muzan's direct subordinates."
"Hahaha! Being killed by the Twelve Kizuki will be your honor!" Susamaru proudly accepted the title.
Yahaba, meanwhile, had vanished completely and watched from the shadows.
Tamayo said solemnly, "Yuko, if possible, I would like to collect their blood."
"Leave it to me." Yuko nodded lightly, then turned. "Tanjiro, can I trust you to handle the other demon?"
Tanjiro nodded firmly. "Yes! Leave it to me!"
Yuko nodded again. Muzan held immense control over demons, able to borrow their cells to see through their eyes.
Of course, it was like watching security cameras—he couldn't monitor all of them at once.
That was why she always concealed her face, to avoid catching his attention by accident.
Now she needed to carefully control her power. She couldn't let Muzan grow wary of her.
"Hahaha! And you still think you can defeat the Twelve Kizuki?" Susamaru ignored Tanjiro leaving and focused entirely on Yuko.
This idiot…
Did she even understand how hard it was for Yuko to hold back her strength?
A mere Lower Rank–level demon—Yuko could kill her with eyes closed.
"Come, let's keep playing! Let's see how many you can block!" Susamaru's body suddenly swelled as multiple arms burst from within, hurling one temari after another toward Yuko.
So slow.
Yuko flickered forward, advancing as she cut each incoming temari in half.
...
Seeing that the two of them had the demons under control, the ever-distrusting Yushiro turned to Tamayo.
"Lady Tamayo! Let's use them as bait and run while we can!"
Tamayo drew a sharp breath, black lines filling her expression as she stared at him in disbelief, her whole demeanor turning ashen.
Wow… her entire aura changed.
Yuko could still spare the attention to notice Tamayo's reaction.
Seeing his image crumbling rapidly in Tamayo's mind, Yushiro panicked. "I was joking, joking!"
"You woman—what are you even looking at?!"
Yuko's distraction infuriated Susamaru.
"You're very annoying." Yuko's eyes flashed, a ripple of blue light swirling as she advanced toward Susamaru with her blade.
"Tch!" Susamaru clicked her tongue disdainfully, flinging more temari.
But she couldn't even slow Yuko down, let alone hit her.
Yuko darted effortlessly through the barrage, slicing each temari as she moved.
Cold sweat trickled down Susamaru's temple.
This woman… something is wrong!
Susamaru suddenly froze, breath caught in her throat.
A shadow fell over her.
Her vision flipped as her lips trembled violently, and she couldn't even make a sound.
She'd been cut.
She was supposed to be a Twelve Kizuki!
Susamaru's wide eyes shook uncontrollably. The madness was gone—only terror remained.
Her speed was impossible for Susamaru to comprehend… but Yuko was already holding back.
She had limited herself to the level of a Hashira.
Expressionless, Yuko crushed Susamaru's head underfoot and tossed her half-fading body back into the house.
"Collect the blood."
Leaving those two words behind, Yuko headed toward the forest outside.
Flames lit the sky over there, and the battle had reached a stalemate.
With the Sun Breathing, Tanjiro's strength was extraordinary—but his fundamentals were far too lacking to unleash its full potential.
A prolonged fight would be terrible for him.
Until now, he'd only fought small fry, so it hadn't mattered. But this opponent was a Lower Rank–level demon.
When Yuko arrived, she saw Tanjiro flying around helplessly in the air.
Demons were unreasonable like this—unlike the "kitchen knife squad" of demon slayers, their Blood Demon Arts were varied and unpredictable, making it easy for humans to die from lack of information.
"Susamaru is dealt with?" Yahaba sat on a branch, noticing Yuko approaching below. Cold sweat appeared on his forehead.
This woman… as expected, she wasn't simple!
He had vaguely sensed it earlier when she'd disrupted the direction of his arrows.
No wonder that lord gave them so much blood…
Before he could fully process his thoughts, a shadow fell over him.
Gone!
Realizing Yuko had vanished from his sight, Yahaba stiffly turned his head.
The last thing he saw was a flash of crimson hair.
Yuko dropped from the tree, looked up at the sky, took a few steps to the left, and caught the falling Tanjiro in her arms.
---
Currently at chapter 393 for advance chapters
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