Generally speaking, unless he specifically wanted to draw a certain item or puppet and needed substantial Prayer Points to wish for it, Quinn wouldn't save Prayer Points.
This created a pattern in the eyes of outsiders...
A dimensional traveler causes trouble—gains Prayer Points—draws from the lottery—becomes stronger or a new dimensional traveler arrives, and so on in a continuous cycle.
If this happened too often, it would become easy for people to find logical problems.
Therefore, when deploying puppets, it was necessary to pay attention to patterns.
After reviewing Captain Pip's information, Quinn turned his attention to the other summons.
[Name: Kanae Kocho]
[Race: Human]
[Occupation: Demon Slayer Corps Flower Hashira]
[Skills: Flower Breathing, Sword Mastery, Tea Ceremony, Koto, Flower Arrangement]
[Special Ability: None]
[Rank: C-level, Seven Stars]
[Name: Shinobu Kocho]
[Race: Human]
[Occupation: Demon Slayer Corps Insect Hashira]
[Skills: Insect Breathing, Swordsmanship Mastery, Medicine]
[Special Ability: None]
[Rank: C-level, Two Stars]
[Name: Kanao Tsuyuri]
[Race: Human]
[Occupation: Demon Slayer Corps]
[Skills: Flower Breathing, Sword Mastery]
[Special Abilities: Super Vision, Super Physical Abilities]
[Rank: C-level, Three Stars]
"It really was those three..."
Quinn nodded slightly.
It seemed he'd already guessed correctly.
After all, the Butterfly Mansion was the medical unit of the Demon Slayer Corps and had many medical personnel, but they were the only ones who were sisters—or rather, three sisters.
Kanae Kocho and Shinobu Kocho were biological sisters who'd joined the Demon Slayer Corps after their family was killed by demons.
Kanao Tsuyuri was their adopted younger sister.
If there was anything unexpected, it was that no one had anticipated Kanao would be so strong.
In the original work, Kanae had died before the story began and only appeared in Shinobu's memories, with no scenes demonstrating her strength.
Assessment could only be based on Kanao, who'd also learned Flower Breathing.
Kanao, born with exceptional athletic ability and super dynamic vision, seemed to have only reached the level of an average Hashira by the final battle. Kanae, who didn't have special abilities, shouldn't have surpassed her.
But upon closer examination, such a guess seemed rather arbitrary.
According to Shinobu Kocho's recollections, Kanae's strength had far surpassed hers. She'd fought Upper Rank Two, Doma, for an entire night before being severely injured and dying. Therefore, her strength had already surpassed that of the Flame Hashira.
After all, Doma's Blood Demon Art was extremely effective against Breathing Techniques—the more you breathed, the faster you died.
The Demon Slayer Corps' foundation for fighting demons was Breathing Techniques. Without using them, they had no chance of winning.
Frankly speaking, apart from overwhelming and killing the opponent quickly with absolute strength, Quinn couldn't imagine anyone relying on Breathing Techniques to fight a prolonged battle with Doma, let alone fight for an entire night.
As for Shinobu Kocho and Kanao...
Shinobu Kocho was physically weak and was the only Hashira who couldn't sever a demon's neck, so she'd become proficient in pharmacology and skilled at making various wisteria poisons to kill demons. It wouldn't be surprising if Kanao's strength later surpassed her adopted sister's.
"I'll deploy them at a suitable time," Quinn muttered after thinking for a moment, then continued focusing on the lottery.
But after drawing with all the remaining Prayer Points, all he got were fragments.
Quinn crossed his left arm over his chest and stroked his chin with his right hand, muttering thoughtfully, "I wished for the Nine Hashira, but in the end only the Butterfly Mansion sisters came... Does the so-called 80% success rate mean that if you don't succeed, you get nothing, or that even if you fail, you can still summon an item or puppet close to the target?"
After thinking for a while, unable to reach a conclusion due to too few draws, Quinn went to sleep.
But while he fell asleep, others couldn't.
Stark Industries Building - Top Floor
Since Tony became Iron Man, he'd transformed this floor into his private workspace, lounge, and treatment room, among other multi-functional spaces.
At this moment, he was lying in a chair receiving an IV drip, looking dazed and silent.
Although Jarvis had ejected him from the armor in time, and the pursuing air blasts were blocked by the suit, he'd still been affected by the explosion's aftershocks, breaking several of his ribs.
He was already severely poisoned by palladium, and now he'd suffered such a serious injury, making his condition even worse.
But he didn't care about any of that.
His physical condition could be treated—he was confident he could recover perfectly as long as treatment was available. But his broken pride wasn't so easy to heal.
He'd learned about demons yesterday and discovered many supernatural creatures during his investigation, but he hadn't taken it seriously. He'd thought they were just mutated creatures. Even if they had weird abilities, they were still carbon-based life forms and couldn't compare to modern machines.
But reality had slapped him hard in the face.
Whether it was the Lower Rank demon that had brought him down or the Upper Rank demon that had crushed him, both had demonstrated power far exceeding people's understanding of carbon-based life forms.
The so-called superheroes who represented the limits of human potential—like Captain America—or animals like elephants and tigers, had physical capabilities that were as fragile as paper compared to these two monsters.
Yet such powerful creatures could be fought using techniques like "Breathing Methods"...
This was completely unscientific.
"Okay, it's my fault. I shouldn't have used science to measure magical creatures," Tony snapped out of his reflection.
Because Tamayo had told him the Demon King Muzan was transformed from human into demon by medicine, he'd subconsciously assumed demons were just creatures born according to some scientific law.
But now that he thought about it, that assumption was ridiculous.
The two worlds weren't the same at all. It was completely unknown whether the laws of the other world matched his own or whether there were any differences. He couldn't use his world's common sense to judge.
However...
"Even fantasy has its own laws."
Tony muttered to himself, recalling all the characteristics the demons had displayed during tonight's battle and what Tamayo had told him about demonic nature.
Countless pieces of information flashed through his mind, were summarized and categorized, and finally formed a solution.
"Jarvis, create a new project file!"
"The file is ready, sir. What should I name it?"
"Anti-Demon Armor!"
S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters
Fury sat alone in his office, deep in thought, twirling the quantum communicator Captain Marvel had given him.
He didn't intend to call Captain Marvel back, but he was extremely insecure at the moment. Only by holding the communicator could he feel at ease.
Today had been absolutely terrible.
First, the Vongola Family—with whom they'd finally reached an agreement—had clashed with the military, wiping out two Marine battalions. Then they'd discovered a new dimensional traveler, and even their trusted agent Coulson had been turned into a demon.
These were already terrible developments, but compared to the strength displayed by the two Twelve Kizuki members and Quinn's threats and actions, they were insignificant.
The power of the Twelve Kizuki was terrifying.
Because they weren't individuals—they were a group. If one was already this powerful, how would they deal with all the demons acting collectively?
Quinn had united all the isolated dimensional travelers, depriving S.H.I.E.L.D. of their only access point for in-depth investigation through conventional methods, further slowing the development of a plan to handle the dimensional traveler crisis.
Then there was Quinn's threat.
How much did he actually know?
When Quinn said the consequences would go beyond World War III, was he being cautious because others might overhear, or did he only know a little?
But regardless, even knowing just a little made him an extremely unstable factor.
Fury was orchestrating everything from behind the scenes, laying out contingency plans.
But he often wondered—if he, who possessed so many secrets and powers, were controlled by an enemy, or if he encountered some truth or anomaly that caused his determination to protect Earth and humanity to waver, would he become the greatest threat to Earth...?
Based on this idea, he'd devised countless contingency plans for himself to prevent such things from happening.
Now another person had appeared who knew too much and wielded too much power, just like him. This person was an outsider and posed an even greater threat, so precautions had to be taken.
But what measures could be taken to avoid detection by Quinn's intelligence-gathering abilities?
If Quinn even knew about his various plans being carried out worldwide and in outer space, then his capabilities extended at least throughout Earth and nearby space.
They needed to prevent him from obtaining the plans and prevent the combined power of the dimensional travelers he represented. This was simply impossible!
"Phew..."
Fury let out a deep sigh, feeling his temples throb with a headache.
He gently rubbed his temples to relieve the pressure while continuing to ponder.
He thought of Coulson, who'd been turned into a demon by Tamayo, and finally sighed. "If military defenses don't work, then the only option is to show a friendly attitude and turn this unstable force into a stabilizing force that protects Earth and humanity."
Fury didn't like plans with too many variables, but now that things had reached this point, he had no other choice.
Unknown Apartment Building
A slightly overweight middle-aged man picked up a newspaper that had appeared on his table at some point. It contained only recent cannibalism cases, but through the blue-light glasses he wore, one could see something different.
There was a Hydra symbol on it.
Below were all the details of the battle at Hell's Kitchen, 50th Street.
After reading it, he crumpled the newspaper into a ball, burned it in an ashtray, then sat on the sofa, frowning in thought and muttering to himself.
"Dimensional traveler, demons, Demon Slayer Corps, Quinn, gray-haired man who can command animals, suspected ability to foresee the future, secrets powerful enough to ignite World War III..."
He picked up his phone and dialed an unmarked number. "Change the plan. Cancel the force probe and try contact instead. Let's see if we can bring him to our side.
If that doesn't work, we can try cooperation.
Finally, let's see if we can find out what Fury's been doing in private."
Character Notes:
Kanae Kocho - From: Demon Slayer (Kimetsu no Yaiba) - Former Flower Hashira and elder sister of Shinobu. C-rank, Seven Stars. Exceptionally strong, fought Upper Rank Two Doma for an entire night before dying. Known for her gentle nature and mastery of Flower Breathing.
Shinobu Kocho - From: Demon Slayer (Kimetsu no Yaiba) - Current Insect Hashira. C-rank, Two Stars. Physically the weakest Hashira who cannot behead demons, so she specializes in poison-based combat using wisteria toxins. Master of medicine and pharmacology.
Kanao Tsuyuri - From: Demon Slayer (Kimetsu no Yaiba) - Adopted sister of Kanae and Shinobu. C-rank, Three Stars. Possesses exceptional dynamic vision and physical abilities. Uses Flower Breathing style.
Doma - From: Demon Slayer (Kimetsu no Yaiba) - Referenced character. Upper Rank Two of the Twelve Kizuki. His Blood Demon Art creates freezing mist that is lethal to those using Breathing Techniques—the more they breathe, the more poisoned they become.
Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers) - From: Marvel Comics/MCU - Referenced character. Powerful superhero ally of Fury who gave him a quantum communicator to call her in emergencies. Currently off-world.