Just as Shinobu Kocho was about to draw her Nichirin Blade while Ren Kuroda approached, Giyu Tomioka suddenly raised a hand and stopped her.
"I didn't expect you to actually come here," Giyu said calmly, his gaze fixed on Ren."And to even participate in the Demon Slayer Corps' entrance assessment, no less. So… the abnormal situation at Mount Fujikasane—this has something to do with you, doesn't it?"
Shinobu blinked in mild surprise. She glanced first at Giyu Tomioka, then at Ren Kuroda.
She hadn't expected Giyu to know him at all.
Having served as a Pillar of the Demon Slayer Corps for many years, Shinobu was quite familiar with the personalities of her fellow Pillars. And yet, she never would have imagined that the usually aloof, withdrawn Giyu Tomioka actually had someone he could call an acquaintance—perhaps even a friend.
Noticing Shinobu's questioning gaze, Giyu spoke again.
"I only know him," he clarified flatly."And the reason I stopped you is because I didn't want to fight him before things were clear."
He paused for a moment, then continued in the same even tone.
"I can only say one thing—he's extremely strong. A year ago, before he had even learned a breathing technique, I nearly lost to him."
Shinobu's eyes widened slightly.
"And now," Giyu went on, "he has mastered a breathing technique of his own. At this point, even if the two of us attacked him together, there's no guarantee we could stop him."
Giyu Tomioka spoke these words without the slightest fluctuation in expression, his voice calm and steady.
Yet the impact on Shinobu was anything but calm.
Although all of them bore the title of Pillar, their actual strength was far from identical. At the very least, Shinobu knew quite well that she was not stronger than Giyu Tomioka.
And yet—
This man, Ren Kuroda, had nearly defeated Giyu before even learning a breathing technique?
Just how terrifyingly strong was he now?
"It's been a while," Ren said casually, meeting Giyu's gaze."So you're acting as an examiner this time? Didn't you say before that the entrance assessment doesn't have examiners?"
Meeting Giyu Tomioka again after a year, Ren was confident that he could defeat him even without using his trump card—Half-Demon Transformation.
No… to be more precise—
After mastering the Demon Breathing Technique, if Giyu's strength hadn't increased drastically compared to a year ago, then he simply wasn't a match for Ren anymore.
"The Demon Slayer Corps' entrance assessment doesn't require examiners," Giyu replied."As I said earlier, we came because of the incident at Mount Fujikasane."
His eyes sharpened slightly.
"So tell me—what exactly happened on Mount Fujikasane? Or did you do something?"
Giyu's suspicion wasn't unreasonable.
Among everyone present, the only one with the power and capability to cause such chaos was Ren Kuroda.
For years, the entrance assessment had proceeded without incident. Yet the moment Ren appeared, everything spiraled out of control.
Given that, Giyu judged there was at least a seventy to eighty percent chance that Ren was involved.
"The strange incident at Mount Fujikasane?" Ren replied thoughtfully."If you're asking why all the demons on the mountain suddenly disappeared… then yes, that part is definitely my doing."
He shrugged lightly.
"But you can't blame me entirely. I was already planning to leave when those things suddenly went berserk and attacked me."
Ren knew full well that the demons of Mount Fujikasane were deliberately captured and confined by the Demon Slayer Corps for use in their trials.
And now, because of him, that entire system had effectively collapsed.
Forget about entrance exams—any demons that did survive were probably so traumatized they wouldn't dare show their faces for years.
Ren felt a trace of awkwardness about it, but he didn't believe it was entirely his fault.
He had completed his mission and was preparing to leave when the demons of Mount Fujikasane suddenly united and charged him like a wild raid boss.
"You were besieged by the demons of Mount Fujikasane?" Shinobu asked sharply."Why would they attack you?"
"And you managed to escape their encirclement?" Giyu added immediately."Where did the remaining demons go?"
Hearing that Ren was different from the other examinees—who hadn't been attacked at all—and that he had instead drawn the focused aggression of the Fujikasane demons, both Pillars spoke at once.
Giyu Tomioka wasn't surprised that Ren had escaped. Knowing Ren's strength, that much was expected.
What troubled him was why all the demons had targeted Ren specifically.
Was there something about Ren Kuroda that attracted demons?
As for Shinobu Kocho, her attention lingered on the blood covering Ren's body.
She wanted to know how he had broken out of the encirclement—and more importantly, where the demons that had surrounded him had gone afterward.
Understanding the movements and behavior of the demons on Mount Fujikasane was precisely their mission.
This time, the demons had behaved abnormally.
Creatures that normally acted independently had chosen to unite.
Although individual demons were weak, the sheer number imprisoned on Mount Fujikasane was staggering. If they had formed a scheme—or worse, discovered a way to break free from the wisteria barrier—the consequences would be unthinkable.
Ren glanced at Shinobu Kocho.
Her appearance carried a refined, almost Yamato Nadeshiko elegance—but Ren's first thought wasn't about her beauty.
Instead, he wondered just how strong a woman had to be to stand beside someone like Giyu Tomioka.
"I'd like to know why those demons suddenly attacked me too," Ren said slowly."I'd already slaughtered them to the point they didn't even dare show their faces."
He paused.
"As for how I broke through their encirclement… and where those demons went…"
Memories of the desperate battle surged through his mind—the relentless fighting, the thrill of survival.
A faintly sinister smile crept onto Ren's lips.
"I never tried to break through at all. Since the battle came to me, there was no reason not to fight."
His smile widened slightly.
"And as for the ones who surrounded me?""I naturally killed them all in the end."
Both Giyu Tomioka and Shinobu Kocho froze.
"You… killed all the demons of Mount Fujikasane by yourself?"
It was Giyu, with his superior composure, who recovered first. He stared at Ren in disbelief and asked again.
"Saying I killed all of them isn't entirely accurate," Ren replied calmly."A few inevitably escaped. But there aren't many left alive now."
Ren could have hunted down the remaining stragglers if he wanted to.
But his mission was already complete, and he didn't feel like wasting more time.
To him, the demons of Mount Fujikasane were barely worth killing.
Only true warriors deserved to fall beneath his blade.
"Even if the demons of Mount Fujikasane weren't particularly strong," Shinobu said slowly, having finally recovered from her shock,"there were still nearly two hundred of them, weren't there?"
She stared at Ren, disbelief written clearly across her face.
"You not only survived that kind of ambush… you killed them all."
It was no wonder that even the usually gentle Shinobu Kocho was visibly shaken.
She understood better than most what it truly meant to face the combined assault of hundreds of demons.