"W-Why?" the demon asked.
"Why what?" Sui sheathed her sword.
"You... shouldn't you have... wavered in your belief that humans are worth protecting?" Its body was burning away now, and every word came out with difficulty.
Sui could not understand this demon's train of thought at all.
"It's not as if I don't know the kinds of stupid things humans do."
"No matter how filthy those people are, what does that have to do with me killing you?"
The girl walked over and crouched before the demon. She turned its head over where it lay on the ground. Tears from the demon's eyes spilled into Sui's palm.
In a soft voice, she said, "Lower Rank One, you really are a pitiful creature."
Her tone was gentle, but the demon flew into a rage.
"Why are you pretending to be compassionate? Those villagers killed the Serpent God, those merchants stole the money and tore down the shrine—shouldn't they have died? A Demon Slayer like you understands nothing! You can't imagine how filthy this city really is!"
"If you'd turned into a demon and then killed them, I honestly wouldn't have cared," Sui replied with a faint smile. "If, at sunrise, you had chosen to end your own life beneath the sun, then cause and effect would have come full circle. But you didn't, did you? That's why I appeared—because I am the consequence of the evil cause you created."
"Goodbye, Miss Aya."
Sui brushed a hand over the demon's eyes. In the next moment, its head and body crumbled into ash.
A layer of shed-skin-like matter peeled away from the surface of Lady Kyoka's body as the White Serpent demon died, then burned away as well. Sui laid the unconscious woman gently in a corner of the audience seating, then picked up her sword and drove a strike through the floor.
In the basement below, Fujiwara was tied to a chair with a filthy rag stuffed into his mouth. His face was deathly pale, and he let out faint, strained noises.
"There's no need to worry. The demon has already been dealt with."
Sui untied him. She found a small puncture wound along his spine—most likely the prerequisite the White Serpent demon's Blood Demon Art needed in order to imitate a human, requiring a great deal of the host's blood, perhaps even spinal fluid. Fortunately, his life was not in danger.
Still, it looked like Mr. Fujiwara would need quite some time to recover.
"Run..." Fujiwara croaked through cracked, bloodless lips, warning her.
"It's all right now, Mr. Fujiwara," Sui said.
She lifted him up out of the basement, then reached for Lady Kyoka—but Fujiwara continued, "Kurosaki Yusuke is already dead, but his fiancée, Moriyama Yuko, is still alive... That woman was never some high-society noble girl. She's a cultist... a reserve food source for another demon. And that demon... is already on the way here!"
The instant those words fell, every sound in the theater vanished from Sui's ears.
Everything in the world had a sound— insects, the wind, the creak and sway of the theater's fixtures—
but suddenly all of it disappeared.
Only then did Sui truly understand what complete silence meant.
To an ordinary person, it would have felt like going blind—like no longer being able to perceive the world.
The entire theater plunged into absolute "darkness."
Sui could hear nothing at all.
She immediately set Fujiwara down and adjusted her stance. Now that her hearing-based perception had been taken from her, she had no choice but to open her eyes. The theater was dim, but she could still make out shapes. Everything looked normal. Tables, chairs, the stage, sword marks, broken walls. Slowly, she shifted her gaze, locking onto every blind corner within the theater.
She did not activate her Mystic Eyes.
They were not something she could maintain casually. Opening them consumed an enormous amount of stamina and精神力? Wait, need translate. "stamina and mental energy". Continue.
She had once thought that after training and learning Breathing Techniques, opening the Mystic Eyes would become easier.
Instead, the drain on her mind and body had become even harsher.
Put simply, the cost of sustaining the Mystic Eyes was not a fixed value. It depended on how much stamina and精神 she had to begin with—it was a proportional drain.
And in return, they showed her more lines, and clearer ones.
Until she knew what her enemy was and where it was, Sui would not casually reveal that trump card.
The girl bent slightly, one hand resting on the hilt of her sword. Lightning gathered around her as her breathing slowed.
It was a quick-draw stance.
The moment anything unusual appeared, so long as it was somewhere inside this theater, she could launch herself there instantly and strike.
Who was it?
Where was it?
If Moriyama Yuko was meant to be food for another demon, then the White Serpent—Lower Rank One—would never have yielded her unless the other demon was something even Lower Rank demons feared.
An Upper Rank...
That thing was still here.
It had not left.
It was most likely observing her from some corner, hidden in the dark.
Sui's thumb slowly nudged the guard of Eight-Scaled Flood Dragon, revealing part of the inscription on the blade: Destroy Evil Demons.
Crk...
From near the theater entrance came the sound of something breaking—someone had stepped on shattered glass.
Sui locked onto that position instantly.
She drew.
Thunder Breathing, First Form: Thunderclap and Flash.
The Breathing Technique surged through her body. This was the ultimate quick-draw strike.
The booming thunder made the entire theater tremble. Violent lightning burst from the windows and doors, illuminating even the pitch-black night outside.
"Water Breathing, Eleventh Form: Dead Calm."
A cold, detached voice rang out.
Blade struck blade, steel clashing in a sharp metallic cry.
Another Nichirin blade rose to meet hers.
In that instant, it was as though a raging storm had been silenced at once. The blinding lightning was cut off outside a tranquil domain.
In that brief flash of brightness, Sui saw the man.
The air he exhaled spread like autumn dew. The dark blue wave patterns on his half-and-half haori collapsed into an absolute still plane. The moment Sui's lightning touched that vacuum-like territory, it was like dust falling into an ancient pond—vanishing without so much as a ripple.
The man stepped back half a pace and frowned.
"Are you insane?"
Sui also sprang back and landed lightly, once again scanning the theater.
As the lingering aftershock from the clash of their Nichirin blades faded through the empty hall, that feeling of utter silence disappeared.
The "sounds" belonging to the world slowly returned.
That thing had left.
For whatever reason, the Upper Rank demon that had been secretly watching did not reveal itself.
Only after confirming that did Sui lower Eight-Scaled Flood Dragon and take a proper look at the newcomer.
He was a swordsman with a severe, unsmiling face, pale skin, and sharply defined features. He stood at least half a head taller than Sui. In an era when most men were not even 170 centimeters tall, he was an undeniable beauty.
The man frowned deeply and stared straight at Sui. He shook the water droplets from his blade and slowly sheathed it.
"I am Tomioka Giyu, the Water Hashira," he said calmly. "The Kasugai crow reported that one of the Twelve Kizuki was here. It seems you have already dealt with it. In that case, it won't be long before you receive notice to attend the Hashira meeting and take your place as a new Hashira."
Sui looked back at him, thinking, Water Hashira, are you really not going to ask about anything else?
If your reaction had been even a little slower just now, you'd have been cut in half.
"Since there's nothing here for me to do, I'll be leaving."
After saying that, Tomioka Giyu turned and started to walk away without hesitation.
Sui called out to him.
"Wait."
He stopped and looked back, those deep blue eyes carrying a cold distance that seemed to keep everyone at arm's length.
"What is it?"
"I mistook you for a demon and struck at you," Sui said earnestly. "I apologize."
Tomioka Giyu still wore no expression, though he seemed faintly surprised.
"It's fine."
"Ordinary civilians will be arriving soon. Leave this place quickly."
With that, he walked out of the theater without another glance and vanished into the night.
Sui watched his retreating back, feeling the air around him radiate an unmistakable message:
Keep away.
Outside the kabuki theater, police sirens wailed. Red lights shone through the shattered windows. A crowd had begun to gather beyond the building. People loved a spectacle, and many of the audience members who had escaped were still lingering nearby, telling others of the terrifying events inside the theater.
Sui picked up her sword, helped Fujiwara to his feet, and then hoisted Lady Kyoka onto her back.
"Hold your breath," she told Fujiwara.
In the next instant, with a crack of thunder, dark violet lightning burst through the roof of the theater and streaked across the night sky of Osaka like a falling star.
The battle to subjugate Lower Rank One, the White Serpent, had come to an end.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( Ending )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter108)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter82)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter144)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 99
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 95
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 99
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 92
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 47
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 44
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 43
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