I accidentally published this chapter in my other novel...of course I've deleted it now. Sorry for the delay due to my foolishness
Chapter Seventy-Two: Fall into the Infinity Castle!
I slowly opened my eyes after the mental void faded and the annoying image of Rena disappeared from before me. The cold night breeze brushed against my face, but… something was strange.
My face did not feel the usual coldness. Instead, there was a sticky, wet, and suspiciously heavy sensation covering my cheeks and forehead. To make matters worse, that idiotic face occupying my entire field of vision.
Zenichiro was standing in front of me, only a few inches separating our faces. His eyes shone with sick enthusiasm, and his mouth was stretched in a foolish grin revealing his teeth, while he held a small brush dipped in a red wooden box… wait a moment. Isn't this the "beni" box (traditional Taisho-era lip and cheek makeup) that he bought for his sister in the previous town?!
And in his other hand, he held a small piece of charcoal.
I blinked twice, trying to process the situation. I moved my eyes slightly to see Sakurai standing two meters away, whistling with fake innocence while looking at the sky to avoid eye contact with me, but the tips of his fingers were completely black from charcoal.
On the other side, Hakuji was holding his stomach, his face turning red from suppressing laughter, and his shoulders shaking violently. He looked like he might die from lack of oxygen at any moment.
Zenichiro said in a low voice while placing a final touch of charcoal on my forehead:
"Hehehe… Master Ren looks very beautiful now. I drew a wonderful spiral mustache for him, and added some blush to highlight the beauty of his emerald eyes…"
My left eyebrow twitched. Then the right one.
I felt a cold sweat running down the back of my head. I, Yukihara Ren, the Sun Hashira, the person who faced Sukuna and manipulated the laws of worlds… standing here for twenty minutes like a stupid statue while this lunatic turns me into a clown in a cheap circus!
So that I would not kill him with one strike and erase him from existence because of my suppressed anger from the system's "nerf," I took a deep breath and said in a glacial tone enough to freeze hell:
"Hakuji… send him to hell."
Hakuji's laughter stopped instantly, and he smiled with frightening seriousness.
"Understood, Ren-sama."
"Eh?! W-what do you mean by—"
Zenichiro did not even finish his sentence before Hakuji's foot launched at the speed of sound and buried itself in Zenichiro's stomach.
"Gwaaak!"
Zenichiro flew through the air like a cannon shell, passing over the trees before crashing into the trunk of a massive oak tree and falling to the ground writhing like an earthworm.
I wiped my face violently with the sleeve of my haori while giving Sakurai a deadly look that made him hide behind Hakuji.
"And you, Sakurai, tomorrow I will make you train to dodge Water Breathing attacks while blindfolded."
"I'm sorry! Zenichiro was the one who started it!" Sakurai shouted in fear.
I sighed bitterly while rubbing my forehead.
"Why do I surround myself with these idiots?"
The reason we were here in this isolated mountain at night was an official investigation mission. But in truth, I had a lot of free time recently.
In the last Hashira meeting, the situation was turned upside down. It was confirmed that I possessed the "Demon Slayer Mark."
Of course, I possess the Yoriichi template, which means the mark has been with me since childhood as part of the template's complete package.
Since I could not stop it completely, I used the system's manipulation to reduce its power and appearance by 80%, making it almost hidden. But in the middle of real battles, it appears instinctively.
When the leader and the rest of the Hashira discovered that, they insisted—rather, ordered me—to explain how to activate it.
I told them clearly:
"Do not try to activate the mark unless death is staring you in the face. Activating it consumes lifespan. It literally burns your life force to grant you power."
But to ensure that they would be prepared to fight the Upper Moons, I proposed what became known as the "Hashira Training."
Currently, each Hashira is training the rest of the Corps members in their specialty, trying to push themselves and others beyond their limits and activate the mark.
As for me? As the strongest Hashira (even though I became level 1 in the system now, which is something worth crying about), I was assigned the final training. I am responsible only for the talented elite, those who graduate from the hands of the other Hashira and become ready to face the Upper Moons.
And since the demons completely disappeared as if the earth split open and swallowed them, there were no elites ready for my training yet.
So I took my three followers—Sakurai, Hakuji who possesses a terrifying half-demon physical constitution, and the clown Zenichiro—on this mission.
Mysterious disappearances near this mountain, and no reports from ordinary Demon Slayers about seeing demons here. That means either there is an order not to harm Demon Slayers, or the demon here is extremely skilled at hiding its presence.
"Are you done whining?" I asked Zenichiro, who was wiping blood from his mouth.
"Master Ren is too cruel! I was only trying to highlight your beauty!" he complained while standing unsteadily.
"Walk silently before I make you taste my anger personally," I said coldly, and we began moving toward the mountain peak.
We walked for another half hour through the darkness and dense trees. Suddenly, I stopped.
My nose twitched slightly. Even though I am not Tanjiro, my senses are insanely enhanced.
"A rotten smell…" I muttered, my eyes narrowing. "It is the smell of a demon… but it is hiding its presence incredibly well."
"I don't smell anything," Hakuji said while placing his hand on the hilt of his Nichirin sword (I gave it to him so he could finish off demons after defeating them, since he uses a martial combat style rather than sword techniques).
"Be careful," I said quietly. "It's moving."
I shot forward like an arrow, and the three followed with difficulty. Between the trees I caught flashes of yellow. Electrical flashes!
"Thunder Breathing?" I thought in shock.
Between the trees, I saw his back. A demon wearing black clothes, with sparks of black lightning dancing around his body. He was moving at incredible speed toward a massive old Japanese building resembling a temple tower at the mountain peak.
But what made my blood boil was what I managed to see in his arms. A small unconscious girl.
"Zenichiro, Hakuji, Sakurai! Stay back and make sure there are no traps! I will deal with this bastard!" I shouted, doubling my speed using my cursed energy to reinforce the muscles of my legs. The ground beneath me cracked from the force of my launch.
At the moment the demon entered the wide gate of the tower, I had literally already surpassed him.
I stood directly in front of him, my Nichirin sword half drawn from its sheath.
The demon stopped with a powerful brake that raised a cloud of dust. Our eyes met.
His face carried black demonic marks resembling branching tears. His eyes carried the kanji of "Lower Moon One."
I exhaled a terrifying breath that came out like cold smoke from my mouth. I expected it to be someone familiar, but seeing him was still unpleasant.
Kaigaku.
Zenitsu's senior fellow disciple, the traitorous student of the former Thunder teacher Jigoro Kuwajima… that kind old man who cut open his own stomach (seppuku) because of this bastard's betrayal in the original story.
In the original story, Kaigaku became the Upper Moon Six after Gyutaro and Daki died. But here… he is only Lower Moon One?
I narrowed my eyes while analyzing the situation quickly.
"If Kaigaku is only Lower Moon One… that means his original position as Upper Moon Six has already been filled by a stronger demon. Did my existence cause the rise of a terrifying demon as a replacement?"
Kaigaku smiled slyly, revealing his fangs.
"Oh? A Hashira? How lucky. Master Muzan will be very pleased with your head. What is your name, boy?"
"You do not even deserve to know my name, you traitorous scum," I said coldly. "For Zenitsu, and for Master Jigoro Kuwajima… I will erase you from existence until not even ashes remain."
I fully drew my sword, intending to cut his head in a fraction of a second before he could blink.
But at that exact moment… Kaigaku smiled a dark and malicious smile.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
From the dark shadows of the tower, from the ceiling, and from beneath the wooden floors… they appeared.
Dozens, perhaps more than fifty demons attacked me at the same moment from every direction. I did not feel their presence! Was there a Blood Demon Art technique hiding their presence completely?
"Die, arrogant Hashira!" Kaigaku shouted, stepping back while letting the suicidal demons rush toward me to tear me apart.
"Annoying," I muttered.
I had no time to think. My sword moved before my mind.
Since I possess simulation memory, I remembered that technique created by my elder brother Michikatsu. A destructive and wide-range technique.
I inhaled a massive amount of air and raised my sword high.
"Moon Breathing, Third Form: Loathsome Debris – Chain Moon!"
(San no Kata: Kyoka – Tsugitsugitsuki)
I swung my sword in extremely fast consecutive circular motions. From the blade burst large luminous crescent waves colored bluish purple, filled with smaller crescent blades of random size cutting everything they touched.
Shraaaak! Boom! Boom!
In less than a second, the twenty-meter radius around me turned into a meat grinder.
The demons that lunged at me were cut into small cubes before their claws could even touch the edges of my haori. Gray blood scattered and their dismembered bodies collapsed to the ground.
I looked at Kaigaku through the cloud of dust and blood. His eyes widened in genuine shock and pure terror.
"W-what breathing is that?!" he shouted stuttering.
"A breathing that sends you to hell," I dashed toward him faster than his reaction.
But before my blade could reach his neck, something happened that completely overturned the situation.
Biiiiiing!
The sound of a biwa (a traditional Japanese instrument) echoed through the air, its resonance reaching deep into my soul.
Suddenly, the wooden ground beneath Kaigaku's feet disappeared. Floating wooden doors opened in the void beneath him, revealing an impossible geometric space. Inverted stairs, gravity-defying rooms, and endless corridors.
The Infinity Castle!
Muzan's secret headquarters, and the technique of the demon Nakime!
"Farewell, idiot!" Kaigaku laughed as he fell into the abyss, the girl still in his arms. The doors began closing quickly.
"In your dreams!" I shouted.
I did not hesitate for a second. I used the ground as a launching platform and pushed myself with terrifying force, diving directly into the closing gates before they fully shut, leaving behind Zenichiro and Hakuji shouting my name outside.
Falling.
Gravity vanished, then reversed, then spun me around. I was falling inside the wooden void of the Infinity Castle. Ahead of me, Kaigaku was falling while screaming in panic, not expecting that I would follow him into the demons' lair.
"Come here!" I extended my free hand and in a swift motion grabbed Kaigaku by the collar, pulling him toward me.
"Get away from me!" He tried to unleash a lightning technique, but I was faster.
I swung my sword horizontally. I did not target his neck for fear of hitting the girl he was holding. Instead, I cut his torso completely at the waist.
Slash!
His upper half separated from the lower in a fountain of blood. Kaigaku screamed in pain, and the girl slipped from his loosened arms. I extended my other hand and caught the girl gently, pulling her against my chest.
"It's over for you," I said, directing my sword toward the head of Kaigaku's upper half that was falling beside me.
But… at that moment, a chill ran down my spine. A primal warning of danger made the hair on my body stand up.
A dark shadow, black as the night, materialized from nothing directly in front of me. He was not falling with us, but standing vertically on an inverted wooden wall passing beside us.
I quickly raised my gaze.
He was a tall man wearing an elegant ancient Japanese outfit torn at the edges. His hair was long and black and tied back, but what truly caught my attention were his eyes. Emerald green eyes shining with a faint cunning light in this darkness, and within them were engraved the words I feared to see.
"Upper Moon Six."
[Upper Moon Six – Ryuga!]
A mysterious and very calm smile rose on his face, as if he were observing an interesting insect.
"Excellent reaction speed, Hashira-san," Ryuga said in a soft voice with a metallic echo.
Without any warning, he swung a long black sword hanging from his waist. It was not a simple swing, but an attack carrying weight that tore through the air itself. The blade was covered with a poisonous green aura.
I was in a bad position. Falling through the air, my limbs unstable, and holding a child with one hand.
But I am not a beginner.
Water Breathing, Eleventh Form: Dead Calm! (Nagi)
In a fraction of a second, my apparent movement stopped, and everything around me turned into the surface of still water. Ryuga's black blade entered my field, but I did not try to block it with brute force. Instead, I slid my sword flexibly beneath his blade, using the flow of his attack against him.
Shing!
A sharp metallic friction sound followed by the sound of tearing flesh.
I cut Ryuga's right arm cleanly from the shoulder. The arm flew into the air along with the black sword.
I expected him to scream or retreat, but surprisingly he did not even blink. His mysterious smile only widened.
"Truly impressive," he whispered.
Ryuga used the force of losing his arm and the momentum generated from it to spin through the air with flexibility impossible for a human. In the blink of an eye, his foot appeared directly in front of my chest.
A kick saturated with enormous demonic energy and a glowing green aura.
I had no time to dodge, so I raised my sword horizontally to block the kick, reinforcing it with as much of my remaining cursed energy as possible.
BOOOOOOM!
The collision was not a sound, it was an earthquake.
It felt as if a meteor struck my chest. My ribs cracked despite the reinforcement, and from his foot erupted a shockwave that blasted me upward with the force of a cannon explosion, opposite to the direction of the fall!
I was flying upward at terrifying speed, crashing through one of the open wooden gates of the Infinity Castle.
Below me, I saw the gates beginning to close. Kaigaku (cut in half) fell into the darkness.
And before my eyes, Ryuga was falling calmly back into the depths of the castle. He picked up his severed arm with his left hand and looked at me through the narrowing gate. Those shining green eyes and mysterious smile never left his face.
"We will meet again… Yukihara Ren," his lips moved with these words silently before the gates closed completely and the sound of the biwa disappeared.
Craaaaash!
My back smashed through the tiled roof of the tower in the real world. Wood and tiles scattered everywhere, and I landed heavily on the dirt ground outside the tower, rolling several times before planting my feet into the earth to stop, shielding the girl with my body.
"Ren-sama!" Hakuji shouted and rushed toward me, with Zenichiro and Sakurai behind him.
I stood slowly, my breathing slightly disturbed. I looked at the girl who was crying softly but unharmed. I handed her to Sakurai, who took her gently.
Then I looked at my chest.
The black inner shirt of my Corps uniform was completely torn at the chest area, and there was a dark red bruise the size of a foot printed on my skin, pulsing with mild pain.
I wiped a drop of sweat that slipped from my forehead and smiled sharply while looking at the hole in the tower's roof.
Ryuga… the new Upper Moon Six.
I muttered in a low voice only I could hear:
"Strong… this world is finally starting to become interesting."
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I honestly enjoyed writing this chapter. If you liked it, please tell me in the comments. I would also be happy to hear your theories about Ryuga in the comments.