Boom—!
Amid a deafening roar, a massive boulder several meters tall exploded into fragments. The meteor hammer, dragged by its chain, swept sideways toward a figure perched in a tree.
The middle of the chain was gripped by a broad, powerful hand. Extending further back, it was connected to an axe—a battle axe linked directly to the chain.
The tall man swung the meteor hammer with his left hand while leaping forward with the battle axe in his right, using the pulling force of the hammer to propel himself ahead. The axe slashed toward his opponent.
Axe met jet-black blade.
Sparks burst forth in a blinding flash. After the clash, the two were flung backward by the recoil, skidding across the ground before regaining their footing.
Gyomei Himejima reeled the meteor hammer back in. Only after he stopped moving did fine beads of sweat begin to roll down his forehead, while the earth-yellow patterns on his skin gradually faded.
"No matter how many times I try it, I'm still amazed by the power of this secret technique," he said with emotion. "For Lord Rei to develop something like this… he truly is a once-in-a-generation genius."
Over the past two months, under Kurosaki Rei's guidance, all nine Hashira had learned Ghost-God.
Gyomei felt the name fit perfectly—a secret art that allowed one to wield power surpassing that of demons, worthy of being called a divine technique.
He himself possessed a naturally prodigious physique. After years of cultivating Stone Breathing, his body had already surpassed that of the other Hashira by a wide margin.
After using Kurosaki Rei's Ghost-God technique, his strength grew even further—to the point where he sometimes felt an illusion of omnipotence.
"It's just a small trick I came up with before I even learned Breathing Techniques," Kurosaki Rei said with a smile. "I'm glad it can help everyone."
That wasn't really a lie. Ghost-God had indeed been something he created before mastering Breathing Techniques.
The talents of the Nine Hashira were exceptional, their learning ability top-tier. The versions of Ghost-God Kurosaki Rei taught them had all been slightly adjusted to suit each individual.
Moreover, their capacity for refinement was astonishing. In just over two months, they not only mastered Ghost-God, but also reworked it according to their own conditions, optimizing it into a form that suited them best.
That was why the Stone Hashira manifested earth-yellow markings on his skin—different from the demonic-pattern-like markings on Kurosaki Rei himself.
"I've heard that demonic activity outside has decreased as well," Gyomei said worriedly. "It may be because of that girl called Nezuko. We should be vigilant—perhaps Kibutsuji Muzan is planning to go on the offensive."
Thinking of Tanjiro and Nezuko's moving story, Gyomei once again burst into tears.
"I've discussed this with the Master," Kurosaki Rei said. "Lady Tamayo's drug research is progressing rapidly. In the next few days, Nezuko might be able to turn back into a human. But both the Master and I believe… we should delay that process a little."
Over these two months, Kurosaki Rei had stirred up quite a bit within the Demon Slayer Corps.
Borrowing the way of thinking of his former roommate Sōsuke, Kurosaki Rei believed that when outnumbered, it was even more important to consolidate internal strength and elevate the overall quality of the Corps.
Thus, instead of rushing forward recklessly, he focused on strengthening the Demon Slayer Corps from within. At the same time, he continued to improve his own attributes through training.
Due to the nature of this world, the atmospheric spirit particle density in the Demon Slayer world was not very high. As a result, the spiritual pressure training methods from the Bleach world offered little noticeable improvement here. Fortunately, Breathing Techniques were extremely effective for self-enhancement in this world, and over two months, Kurosaki Rei's attributes had changed drastically.
On the surface, Muzan's faction appeared to have stronger baseline combat power and greater numbers of explorers. However, this world had one condition that strongly favored Kurosaki Rei's side—time.
Unlike the Kengan world, he had a full three months of mission time here, the same as in the Bleach world. That meant he could use this period to train and cultivate himself, steadily raising his strength.
Of course, such a method was useless for ordinary explorers. Kurosaki Rei possessed the Limiter Removal talent, making growth far easier for him. Only because of this could he profit so greatly from time. A normal explorer, even with extra time, would at best only manage to learn Breathing Techniques within two months.
At present, without activating Breathing Techniques, Kurosaki Rei's base attributes were as follows:
[Pioneer No. 008, your unequipped attributes are as follows (including title bonuses):]
Constitution: 33 (+2)Strength: 30 (+3)Agility: 30 (+4)Spirit: 32 (+2)Charm: 6Luck: 1
Kurosaki Rei had already cultivated his Breathing Techniques to the level of Total Concentration: Constant, meaning he trained even while asleep, continuously refining his physique.
In theory, upon reaching this realm, the body's physical qualities should increase at an explosive rate. Yet for an individual like him—someone who had removed their limiter—the gains were not as dramatic as he had imagined.
Kurosaki Rei speculated that this was mainly due to an attribute cap for first-tier explorers. He could clearly feel a barrier once attributes reached 30 points. Though not particularly solid, it was still difficult to break through.
The first attribute he pushed past 30 was Constitution, but that had relied on title bonuses rather than pure cultivation.
Over these two months of training under Total Concentration: Constant, he performed enormous amounts of physical exercise, yet his Constitution only rose by two points—clearly due to that barrier.
Strength and Agility, which had initially been lower, improved more noticeably, but they too had been stuck at 30 for nearly two weeks.
As for Spirit, it benefited from the meditation techniques learned in the Bleach world. Being a method from a "high-tier battle anime," it allowed him to easily break through the barrier.
Aside from attributes, Kurosaki Rei hadn't neglected his training in Armament Haki either. Although progress slowed significantly after level ten, he still raised it by two more levels. It now stood at level 12 Armament Haki.
Compared to two months ago, Kurosaki Rei had undergone a complete transformation. If he were to fight now—activating Breathing Techniques and combining them with Ghost-God—his numbers would become utterly terrifying.
He believed that, purely in terms of attributes, he could easily crush any demon below Upper Rank Two. Unfortunately, he still hadn't found Muzan himself to test his blade.
Two months ago, if Muzan had been ruthless enough to gather all his forces to besiege him, Kurosaki Rei felt he would have been in grave danger. But now… that was another story. He felt that even alone, he could take down all of the Upper Ranks.
That said, Kurosaki Rei wasn't blindly arrogant. Two months was not idle time for the opposing explorers either—they would have their own preparations and improvements.
"Delay it?" Gyomei asked, puzzled. "But hasn't Tanjiro always wished for his sister to become human again?"
"Because we want Nezuko's existence to draw Muzan out," Kurosaki Rei explained. "We are human—our time is limited. Muzan, however, has an endless lifespan. If he truly hides away and never shows himself, then once this generation of powerful swordsmen falls, he may run rampant again for hundreds, even thousands of years."
"When we have the power to resolve a problem," Kurosaki Rei continued, "we should not leave it to future generations."
He and the Master had discussed it and decided to let Nezuko publicly display her ability to overcome sunlight. Once that happened, Muzan would inevitably lose his patience and come knocking.
Because Kurosaki Rei knew the original plot, he had been subtly guiding Tamayo's research direction, even suggesting that Nezuko could try adapting to sunlight.
Unlike the original story, Nezuko overcame sunlight through gradual, staged attempts rather than a single life-or-death gamble like in the Swordsmith Village arc. And because these experiments were conducted under the Demon Slayer Corps' protection, no other demons knew about it—so Muzan remained unaware that a sun-conquering demon had appeared.
They had also been constantly changing hideouts, maintaining strict secrecy. As a result, the drastic improvement in the Hashira's strength was completely beyond the enemy's expectations.
At most, the opposing explorers might guess that the Hashira were learning things like awakening the mark or the Transparent World—but they would never imagine that the Hashira had mastered a technique that was cheaper in cost yet far more brutal in effect.
Thus, Kurosaki Rei believed the timing was now ripe. They finally possessed the capital to face Muzan's faction head-on.
"Lord Rei is right," Gyomei said, tears streaming down his face. "We should not leave this problem to those who come after us. Heaven has granted us such powerful bodies—surely it is so that we may end this chain of tragedy."
With that, he began chanting Namo Amitabha through his sobs.
At that moment, a Kasugai Crow flew in from the sky.
"Fifty li to the west, a demon suspected to be one of the Twelve Kizuki has appeared. Multiple Demon Slayer Corps members have already been killed. Requesting two Hashira to proceed and deal with the situation."
Kurosaki Rei's eyes lit up. This was the first time in quite a while that he had heard news involving a suspected Twelve Kizuki.
For some time now, while the Nine Hashira were effectively in seclusion, the Twelve Kizuki on the other side had also barely moved. Kurosaki Rei had gone out demon-hunting several times without catching even a trace of them.
Now that a Kasugai Crow reported a possible Twelve Kizuki sighting, it meant the enemy was getting restless—either probing… or laying a trap.
"I'll go," Gyomei said. "All of my sparring sessions for today are already finished."
He and Kurosaki Rei took turns sparring with the Nine Hashira. For some reason, though, no one particularly enjoyed sparring with him for long, so his sessions tended to end quickly. In contrast, the Thunder Hashira's training sessions often ran much longer.
"No," Kurosaki Rei said solemnly. "Brother Gyomei, you stay and guard the Corps."
"You think this is a trap?" Gyomei asked after some thought. "That the enemy is fully prepared? Then it would be best if we went together."
Kurosaki Rei shook his head. "You excel at defense. This place needs your protection. I'm more mobile and can adapt on the fly. I'll go alone."
This arrangement was based on careful consideration. Gyomei was indeed powerful—far stronger after learning Ghost-God—but he was still a step below Kurosaki Rei.
If Kurosaki Rei couldn't handle a situation, Gyomei going along wouldn't help much either. Worse still, if Gyomei left as well, their base could be easily 'backstabbed.'
The distance to the current training grounds was only fifty li—an uncomfortably delicate distance. It was hard not to suspect that the enemy had already pinpointed their main base.
If their top combat power all left, the rear could be slaughtered outright. Muzan possessed the Infinity Castle, granting him absolute initiative in terms of mobility.
They could completely wipe out the rear while Kurosaki Rei and Gyomei were away, then use the Infinity Castle to return and encircle them.
After a moment of contemplation, Gyomei understood Kurosaki Rei's meaning. "Then be careful. If anything happens, call for reinforcements immediately."
Kurosaki Rei nodded and left at once—but instead of heading directly to the incident site, he went to find the Master and Tamayo.
At Kurosaki Rei's suggestion, even Shinobu Kocho and Lady Tamayo had been constantly "traveling with the army." Their core combat strength had never been separated.
Tamayo was in the middle of formulating medicine when she suddenly saw Kurosaki Rei arrive, looking surprised.
"Mr. Rei? Have you already finished today's training?"
"Not yet—I haven't sparred with the Wind Hashira and Mist Hashira. But circumstances have changed. I need to head out. Just in case, there are two things I need to arrange."
Kurosaki Rei's prestige within the Demon Slayer Corps was extremely high—not only because he was the only Hashira who had slain an Upper Rank, but also because he personally taught Ghost-God to all nine Hashira and several Tsuguko.
A breakthrough technique that drastically enhanced combat power—its status was almost on par with Breathing Techniques themselves, much like when Yoriichi Tsugikuni had passed Breathing Techniques down to the Corps centuries ago.
As such, all nine Hashira deeply respected Kurosaki Rei. Even the Wind Hashira, who had initially disliked him, had turned into a classic tsundere.
With the Hashira's respect and the Master's special permission, Kurosaki Rei held considerable authority within the Corps. He could freely enter any location, and he frequently supervised and guided Tamayo's and Shinobu's experimental progress.
Granted, Kurosaki Rei knew nothing about scientific research—but he knew the plot, so he could provide ideas and directions.
"Please speak, Mr. Rei," Tamayo said, sensing the seriousness in his tone. She had a bad feeling that he was about to do something dangerous.
"Though it may only be a coincidence, I believe Muzan may already have found this place," Kurosaki Rei said. "So I hope, Lady Tamayo, that you will take the medicine developed earlier."
Kurosaki Rei paused, then added, "Just in case."
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