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"Damn it… ah!~"
Gyokko's head slid from his neck, his face twisted with unwillingness before it dissolved into black smoke.
"Hee-haw!~"
As Gyokko fell, a figure swooped down from above—it was the winged demon among the four split from Upper Rank Four.
Bang!~
Just as it prepared to dive at Naruto, a gunshot rang out. A bullet tore through the air and shattered half of the demon's head.
"Hm?"
Naruto was momentarily startled by the sudden intervention. He turned toward the source of the gunfire and saw a young man with a dark pompadour and a long scar stretching from his right cheek to the bridge of his nose. A nichirin blade rested in one hand, a gun in the other.
The young man tilted his head back proudly, admiring his shot, before flashing Naruto a sharp, provocative grin.
This was Genya Shinazugawa—Shinazugawa Sanemi's younger brother.
Naruto didn't know who he was, nor did he care about the provocation. He was about to praise the shot when his expression suddenly changed.
Behind Genya, the sorrowful demon had appeared at some point, its cross-shaped spear raised and aimed directly at the back of his head.
"Watch out!"
Naruto shouted and immediately hurled the nichirin blade in his hand.
Clang!~
The demon retracted its spear and barely managed to block. The impact shattered Naruto's thrown blade into fragments.
"Ha!~"
At the same moment, the joyful demon and the wrathful demon flashed to Naruto's sides, attacking in perfect coordination.
RUMBLE—!!
Thunder and hurricane intertwined, blasting Naruto dozens of meters away and smashing him hard into the mountainside.
"Bastard!"
Seeing this, Genya fired angrily at the two demons, but they dodged effortlessly. Then the sorrowful demon struck him with its spear, sending him flying and crashing down near Naruto.
"Cough—!"
Naruto pushed himself out of the rubble and glanced at Genya beside him.
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine!"
Genya clenched his teeth and forced himself up. "You run first! I'll hold them off!"
He knew Naruto had lost his weapon because of him. Without a nichirin blade, even someone as strong as Naruto would be at a disadvantage against an Upper Rank. If someone had to stay behind, it should be him.
Naruto merely smiled faintly and shook his head.
He hadn't thrown the blade out of desperation. It had already reached its limit.
An ordinary nichirin blade couldn't withstand his Crimson Red state. After slaying Gyokko, Naruto had felt the blade on the verge of collapse—throwing it had been intentional.
Still, fighting an Upper Rank that could split… without a blade… was troublesome.
"Hahaha!~"
The four demons understood this as well. Seeing Naruto unarmed, they attacked all at once.
"I'll stop them—run!"
Genya rushed forward—
But another figure moved first.
The six-armed puppet that had guarded the cave leapt in, intercepting the demons' advance.
Naruto's eyes lit up. He was about to rush forward and seize a blade from it when a timid voice stopped him.
"Um…"
A masked boy stepped out from a nearby cave, holding two nichirin blades in his arms. He looked up at Naruto nervously.
"Excuse me… are you Lord Uzumaki Naruto?"
Naruto immediately noticed the blades.
"…Those are mine, aren't they?"
"Yes!"
The boy nodded urgently and handed one to him, his voice trembling. "This is the nichirin blade Mr. Tetsuzō forged for you. I was supposed to deliver it, but then…"
Naruto accepted the blade.
"Thank you."
He hesitated, then asked quietly, "Mr. Tetsuzō…?"
The boy said nothing. He only lowered his head and began to sob.
Naruto's heart sank.
"I understand."
After a pause, Naruto asked, "How many people from the village survived?"
The boy hesitated before answering. Only women and children had lived. Every adult swordsmith and stationed Demon Slayer had fallen—except for Genya Shinazugawa.
Genya was an anomaly.
A Demon Eater—someone capable of consuming demons and temporarily gaining their traits. It was the only reason he had survived the massacre.
"I see."
Naruto tightened his grip on the new blade and stepped forward.
"You can control that puppet, right?" he asked the boy. "Take it—and him—back to the village. My companions are fighting there. They'll need your help."
He raised his blade.
"As for this place… leave it to me."
Without waiting for a reply, Naruto vanished in a roar of wind, charging back into the battlefield and forcing the four demons to retreat, freeing the six-armed puppet in the process.
Naruto had left the remaining Lower Ranks to Kamado Tanjirō not because he thought Tanjirō could defeat them—but because he believed he could finish his own battle quickly and return in time.
He hadn't expected two Upper Ranks.
Nor one that could split endlessly.
Until he figured out how to kill it, Genya and the puppet had to help Tanjirō hold on.
"Let's go—quickly!"
The boy activated the puppet and dragged Genya away.
"I'm staying!" Genya protested.
"No!"
Ignoring him, the puppet pulled Genya toward the village.
Mr. Tetsuzō had said it himself—the owner of this blade was the first in a century to slay an Upper Rank.
Leaving this battlefield to him… would be fine.
When Naruto was finally alone, he gripped his new nichirin blade with both hands.
The blade ignited—scorching crimson.
Naruto lifted his gaze toward the four demons.
He wanted to see—
Just how long they could survive against the fury burning within him.