On the other side, Shinobu's figure flitted through the mountain forest as lightly as a dancing butterfly.
It was late at night on Mount Natagumo. Trees were twisted, spider webs were dense, and the air was filled with a sweet and decaying smell.
A young Demon Slayer was gasping in terror. His teammates lay silently around him, cut and entangled by almost invisible spider silk, or already transformed into fresh "cocoons."
"Damn it... move! Move now!"
He struggled, but his limbs were bound by tough spider silk, which tightened with every struggle. Combined with the toxins in his body, his movements became smaller and smaller.
A monstrous demon, with a human head but a spider body, appeared before him.
"Here again... disobedient ones."
The demon tilted his head, his fingers twitching. "Wouldn't it be better to just turn into a spider?"
More spider silk shot from all directions, coiling around his neck, and a fatal sense of suffocation instantly overwhelmed him.
He couldn't help but close his eyes in despair, his heart filled with regret for failing to fulfill his duty.
Just then, a clear female voice softly rang out. "Ara ara. My, my, you've made our lovely Demon Slayers quite a mess again."
Shinobu descended gracefully like a butterfly from a gap in the canopies where moonlight couldn't penetrate, landing silently on a thick branch.
The spider demon paused, looking at her warily. "Who are you?"
Shinobu's smile remained unchanged, her voice sweet. "I'm a doctor, here to give injections to naughty, disobedient children."
Before her words finished, her figure instantly vanished. The next moment, she had already appeared in front of the soider.
Insect Breathing: Butterfly Dance: Caprice!
Shinobu's nichirin blade was not of a conventional form meant for beheading, but a slender rapier-like weapon with a barbed tip.
She wielded the blade at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye, precisely severing all the spider silk binding Sakamoto. Her movements were as elegant as a butterfly playing among flowers, yet she did not harm Sakamoto in the slightest.
"Eh?"
Sakamoto felt the tension release from his body and collapsed to the ground, looking incredulously at the petite Hashira before him.
"Step back a bit, Demon Slayer." Shinobu tilted her head and smiled at him, her tone gentle yet carrying an undeniable authority.
"Now, it's work time."
The spider demon roared, spraying a large amount of highly acidic poisonous phlegm at Shinobu. However, Shinobu's figure once again transformed into a streak of light, weaving and spinning through the gaps of all the poisonous phlegm with incredible speed and agility, so much so that not a single drop of phlegm touched her.
"It's no use. I can see all your movements clearly." She said in a lighthearted tone as she dodged.
In another moment of swift evasion and approach, her nichirin blade gently grazed and pierced the spider demon's neck.
"My poison..."
The spider demon was about to boast about his poison when he suddenly felt a violent numbing sensation instantly spread from the pierced spot throughout his entire body.
"Ho... how is this possible?! My body... I can't move!"
He discovered in horror that he had completely lost control of his body.
Shinobu landed lightly in front of him, still maintaining that perfect smile. "It seems my medicine took effect faster. Although I'm very sorry, bullying my lovely Demon Slayers is an unforgivable act."
She raised her nichirin blade.
Insect Breathing: Dance of the Bee Sting: True Flutter!
The blade flashed like a poisonous bee's sting, gone in an instant.
Shinobu's nichirin blade pierced the demon's throat, instantly injecting concentrated wisteria poison into his body.
The spider demon couldn't even let out a scream before his body began to violently collapse from within, finally falling down in extreme agony.
Shinobu sheathed her blade, then turned to unwrap the cocoons made of spider silk.
She carefully checked the injuries of the Demon Slayers and took out antidotes and bandages from her small pouch to provide them with emergency treatment.
After briefly treating their injuries, she stood up and rushed to other locations, leaving the remaining matters to the follow-up units.
Shinobu's efficiency was higher than expected. In less than half an hour, the entire Mount Natagumo became completely quiet.
When all was settled, all the demons had been purged, leaving only widespread devastation and injured needing treatment.
Ryoma joined the rescue efforts, continuously searching the forest for survivors and bringing them to safe, open areas.
The rescued Demon Slayers sat slumped on the ground, their faces a mix of post-disaster daze and awe at the overwhelming power of the Hashira.
And when they looked at Ryoma, there was gratitude and confusion. This swordsman, who was not a Hashira but had endured in this desperate situation and even assisted in the rescue at the last moment, also earned their respect.
After settling the last injured person, Ryoma found a clean stone nearby and sat down to rest, waiting for the follow-up.
Suddenly, an anomaly occurred.
The power within him, which had been boiling due to high-intensity combat, a profound understanding of power integration, and the mental relaxation after successfully completing a crucial mission, finally broke through a critical point.
Ice-blue cold air uncontrollably erupted from his body. It wasn't an attack, but it caused the surrounding temperature to plummet.
The grass under his feet instantly condensed with thick white frost, and even tiny ice crystals condensed in the air, swirling and dancing.
"So... so cold!?"
"Wh... what's wrong with him?!"
Several nearby people noticed this sudden anomaly and let out gasps, instinctively stepping back, their eyes filled with surprise and uncertainty.
Ryoma's mind, however, was perfectly clear. A strange feeling suddenly surged within him.
He clearly sensed that this was the final moment when Ice Breathing and the magic from another world, under extreme pressure and his own life-and-death enlightenment, broke through the last barrier, perfectly merging and transforming.
The feeling was hard to describe, like two originally parallel rivers suddenly converging, forming a more turbulent torrent.
Ice Breathing was no longer just a Breathing Style, and magic was no longer just magic. They began to merge, becoming something entirely new.
Ryoma closed his eyes, carefully sensing this change.
He remembered what Makarov had said in Fairy Tail: magic comes from the heart.
He remembered the Breathing Style he learned in this world: stimulating the body's potential through special breathing rhythms.
Now, these two powers had finally found a perfect balance.
It wasn't magic driving the Breathing Style, nor was it the Breathing Style mixed with magic.
Instead, the two completely merged into one, indistinguishable from each other. They were no longer separate. Breathing was magic, and magic moved with his thoughts, transforming into a primordial power unique to Ryoma, with "ice" as its absolute core.
A vortex that twisted light and shadow silently yet overwhelmingly unfolded abruptly beside him.
"This feeling..." Ryoma murmured to himself.
Suddenly, that familiar tearing sensation struck again.
Ryoma looked at the familiar vortex, giving a bitter smile. "Here it comes again?"
But this time, he had no fear nor resistance.
He took one last look at the mountain forest and the surrounding scene, which seemed to be gradually freezing in time.
Just then, he suddenly remembered something.
The blood of the Lower Rank Five was definitely a precious sample for Tamayo's research.
Now, a blood sample from one of the Twelve Kizuki was in hand. The mission was complete, but there was no opportunity to deliver it.
Suddenly, as if sensing something, his gaze sharpened, and a bold idea surged into his mind.
Without hesitation, he quickly threw the tightly gripped, special small bottle containing the blood of the Lower Rank Five, with all his might, towards the center of the vortex.
The bottle seemed to be captured by an invisible passage, instantly disappearing—crossing the barriers of space and time, transmitting to Tamayo in the distance.
The next moment, amidst the immense gravitational pull and dazzling light generated by the vortex, Ryoma's figure blurred, then was completely swallowed, disappearing without a trace.