"Well, by train, obviously."
"You damn bastard!" Hearing him, Enmu burst with rage. "I'm not your hor—AAAAAAHH!"
Marcus gave a twist to the blade buried in his spine and, after the screech, Enmu shut his trap.
Rengoku frowned, not entirely seeing it clearly. "He doesn't seem all that willing to cooperate. Besides, his technique doesn't seem nearly as easy to handle as that other demon's."
"Relax. I won't take my eyes off him for a second the whole trip." Marcus glanced at the trio standing a few meters away. "They're coming back with me too, and with four pairs of eyes watching, are you really gonna tell me we can't keep him in line?"
Tanjiro immediately stood at attention.
"Don't worry, Rengoku-san! I'll help keep watch over him!"
Even though he didn't have the slightest idea what Marcus was scheming this time, he had already gotten used to his unconventional methods.
Inosuke tilted his head, eyeing the chunks of flesh that were left of Enmu with the swords vibrating in his hands, desperate to finish the job.
Marcus looked at him.
Feeling a chill run down his spine, Inosuke lifted his gaze to meet Marcus's eyes.
He held the staredown for barely two seconds before turning his head away, grumbling.
"With the great Inosuke around, he's not getting away anywhere."
As for Zenitsu... well, Tanjiro and Inosuke were still dragging him along, sound asleep and blowing snot bubbles.
At this point, Rengoku didn't have much more to say.
After all, Marcus's experiments had Kagaya's official seal of approval, and he trusted his Master's judgment completely.
Just as he was about to turn around to head back to the overturned cars and check on the passengers…
At the edge of the forest, something shifted.
The dull thud of a landing was heard, and with it, a suffocating pressure swept across the area, wrapping around everyone present.
Marcus tensed up.
"So he showed up after all...," he muttered through his teeth, brow furrowed and eyes fixed on the cloud of dust rising in the distance.
The others also turned, feeling that breathing was becoming difficult.
As the dust settled, a muscular figure began to take shape.
He had short, bright pink hair and was wearing pretty light clothing. His skin was so pale it looked white, with a greenish tinge, and was decorated with a pattern of thick blue lines.
He also wore a faint smile of confidence and a chilling curiosity.
Tanjiro's eyes lingered on that smile for a moment before moving up to those yellow eyes.
"U-Upper… Upper Rank Three!?"
"Tanjiro, Inosuke."
Marcus's voice cut over his own with weight. "Bring Zenitsu over here and help me keep watch on this demon."
"Senpai…"
"For what's coming, you guys... you're not ready to step in yet."
His tone was unrecognizable on him. Not even at Headquarters, surrounded by all the Pillars, had they ever heard him speak in such a cutting way.
Tanjiro opened his mouth, looking for some reply, some way to help, but in the end he swallowed his words.
"... Let's go."
He glanced at Inosuke, expecting an argument, but he just nodded, trembling slightly.
His sensitivity to killing intent was sharper than that of anyone else there.
That pressure… It was like a mountain.
It was something irresistible… Something that forced you to realize that, in the face of it, you were nothing more than an insect.
"Let's get moving," Tanjiro repeated, turning around.
Once they were on top of the locomotive, Marcus pulled out the blade he had buried in Enmu, freeing it, and with a gesture of his other hand, Makomo returned to him.
With both swords, he started to advance.
"Marcus!" Tanjiro's voice came at him from behind, "Be careful!"
Without turning around, Marcus nodded with absolute solemnity.
But the truth was that on the inside, he wasn't entirely sure of himself. His own strength was somewhat shaky ground. Since the women around him changed often, his power level went up and down like a roller coaster.
He had a rough idea of what an Upper Moon was, but if he stopped to crunch the numbers... right now, with practically no "boosters" nearby, beating Akaza looked like a long shot. He barely had a thirty percent extra thanks to Makomo.
If this were one-on-one PvP, he wouldn't bet the farm on his victory.
'But even so… I'm dying to give it a shot!'
Ever since he had landed in this reality, he had never, ever had a battle on equal footing—and not for lack of wanting one, but simply because the opportunity had never come up.
Before, everything had fallen on his shoulders. He was the only support for his people, and that's why he always made sure any fight started with the scales tipped in his favor.
But he, who had never been one to trust anyone but himself, now had someone by his side.
He glanced sideways at Rengoku.
He didn't have any women nearby, but he had his "Aniki," and he had to admit that with him, he felt… strangely safe.
With that unprecedented sense of security, his hands itched to fight. He wanted to see how far his strength could go—his strength, with no "boosts."
And along the way, he wanted to treat himself to enjoying a battle on equal footing for the first time in his life.
Taking a couple more steps, he planted himself firmly, shoulder to shoulder, beside Rengoku.
Then he stepped forward, and this caught Rengoku off guard.
Because the sword in Marcus's left hand subtly slid into his path, blocking him.
For experts at handling swords, a sword was like an extra arm. No one would make a beginner's mistake like accidentally getting in a partner's line of attack.
Therefore, Marcus's intention was clear.
"I'm going to face him alone."
Rengoku hesitated for a second, but ended up taking a step back.
In the Demon Slayer Corps, there was no such thing as "chivalry" or honor codes. They trained like animals not out of martial pride, but to be more efficient at killing demons.
The normal thing was to gang up on any demon they came across, not take turns fighting.
But hey, if Marcus wanted to test himself against a demon, Rengoku wasn't going to be the one to deny him that. Even though Marcus held that special status as "Pillar of the Demons," he was willing to give him some breathing room... but with conditions.
"If you can't win, or if he tries to run, I'll step in directly." Placing his hand on the hilt, he kept his eyes fixed on the demon, ready to attack.
"Mmm."
Marcus nodded.
"..."
The demon's eyes never came off the human in front of him.
The whole time, he hadn't moved—not even his expression had shifted. He just stood there in silence, watching them.
He was watching Marcus.
He saw him climb down from the locomotive, saw him chat with Rengoku, and saw him walk all the way to the front of everyone. And then, he heard his name.
"Akaza."
With that, Upper Moon Three, known as Akaza, finally had a reaction.
"You know me?"
It was something like Rengoku, direct and forceful. "New Pillar of the Demons: Marcus."
Marcus's eyes widened slightly. "Looks like your informants are fast."
"Lord told me about you. He said you're someone really strange. He also said..."
"He also said what?"
Akaza smiled. "To kill you."
__________
Throw your stones, drop them ALL! 💎
And don't forget to comment, I wanna know if you liked the chapter 👀
______
And if PS aren't your thing but you still want more chapters...
P-a-t-r-e-o-n → Athome790