Demon Slayer: Upper 0 seems to be a waste

The Infinite City is very large.

Rinko didn't know how many ghosts were hiding inside, or how many people had entered afterward. She was unclear about the former and unaware of the latter.

He guessed there were probably many more than he had ever seen, perhaps like when Kokushibo ravaged the Demon Slayer Corps' lair, because the floor here was already piled high with corpses.

The crows, at the very front, broke their wings and fell to the floor. Some had already fallen from even further ahead, from the edge of the floor. Because they were always the first to arrive and the furthest to fly, even though the scorching light broke their wings before they could make a sound, the birds' corpses would continue to move forward with inertia, seemingly yearning to continue flying. But the final fate of the wingless crows was inevitably to fall.

It crashes onto the floor, or plunges down into that abyss to some unknown place.

The human corpses were further back; they had followed the crows, drawn by their guidance, and then met their end here.

The bodies piled up like mountains.

The feathers of crows were mixed in with the human corpses, and were almost the same color as the uniforms of the Demon Slayer Corps. The blood flowing from the birds with broken wings was also red, and there was no difference between them and the human blood.

The original color of the ground is almost unrecognizable.

Ultimately, they are all creatures with hearts and brains, so it's normal for them to be similar; even ghosts bleed red blood.

No one can survive if their head is cut off.

They are all living things.

Rin sat on the ground at the very edge of the floor, with an endless cliff beneath his feet. His lower legs dangled in the air, swaying gently. His hands were on his sides, and his head was tilted back, looking at the new structure above him that did not belong to the Infinite City.

This is a unique architectural structure. Normal houses don't have roads leading to other places on all four sides. It was an open space that Nakime specially created to give Muzan the opportunity and time to recover.

The ever-growing flesh adhered to the spaces between the buildings, forming a closed nest at this crossroads, where Muzan and Tamayo resided.

Tamayo fed Muzan poison using a brilliant plan, and Rinko only just learned the information he had missed from Muzan.

So Tamayo really wanted to kill them. She didn't hesitate at all, and she didn't leave herself any way out. She wanted to die here and take them down with her.

But why is that?

Mingmingzhu is also a ghost, so why do ghosts kill other ghosts? And why do humans kill other humans?

Rinko felt that the number of questions he couldn't understand in this world would only increase with the passage of time, and there were too many questions he would never answer. But that was great, the Infinite City was too big and could accommodate too many people. People kept coming to him, so he didn't have to keep thinking about these meaningless things.

Actually, the number of people coming has decreased compared to before. Rin can sense that there are some people nearby. They have come to the vicinity, but they no longer break in so easily. They just observe from a distance. Perhaps they have received someone's orders, but in a place like this, who can give them orders?

Everyone was scattered; who was in charge of command? In such a chaotic place, who could possibly have a clear understanding of everyone's situation?

He didn't think that was possible, so he guessed that the smell of blood was too strong here, or that all the people who came near had disappeared without a trace, so the team members were afraid and dared not go any closer.

Rinko held his head high. He couldn't see Muzan. Muzan was at the very back of that nest made of flesh. For a moment, he thought about going out and killing everyone, but he was stopped the instant the thought crossed his mind. Muzan wouldn't let him go far; he was just to stay here.

There's no need to leave, just wait.

The instructions are as follows.

So Rinko just sat there, just waiting, and time slowly slipped away between them.

Until he heard clear footsteps, so clear, so fast, completely different from the voices of the team members.

"The moon hides and the stars vanish."

Rinko's hand twitched slightly, and with a whisper, the Blood Demon Art was activated silently.

From the moment I heard the first faint accented note to when that voice came right in front of me, it was only a few blinks and a few breaths.

The whistling wind, the clattering footsteps, the scraping sound of blades being drawn.

They came from behind.

Rinko leaned her body backward, shifted the position of her hands, and swung her legs from bottom to top. As her legs flew up and her body touched the ground, she bent her hands and exerted force with her hands the instant her body left the ground.

One after the other, his body was completely floating in the air when, in the next second, a knife whizzed past his eyes.

"Ah, Yiyong."

It took Rinko two seconds to recognize the person, because the other person was slightly different from the one she remembered, perhaps not just slightly, but more than that.

The clothes on his body were covered in dust and bloodstains, and it was unclear whose they belonged to. His coat was torn, and judging from the appearance, it seemed that the other person had been smashed into a wall. As for how he could make this judgment, Rinko had some authority to say about it.

He used to be the one who was often thrown against the wall and buried under rubble, but that was a long time ago, and he hadn't been that pathetic in a long time.

Giyu didn't answer him. The man simply adjusted his stance immediately after Giyu dodged the attack. Instead of launching an immediate attack, he gripped his sword tightly and faced Giyu, his wariness so obvious that even Rinko could see it.

"Are you afraid of me, Giyuu, even though I haven't done anything yet?"

Rinko stood on the ground, gently flexed his fingers, and took a half-step back with his leg. With this subtle movement, he charged up his strength and unleashed it faster than a single syllable could be uttered. Before the last syllable even finished, he had already reached his opponent, clenched his fist, and used the momentum to smash it down hard.

The sound of bone colliding with the blade was ear-piercing. He felt a numbing tremor in his arm, but judging from his appearance, the other person was not exactly relaxed either. Rinko noticed the mark on Giyu's face and gently touched the corresponding spot on his own face.

"What is that, bloodstains? It has such a strange pattern, like the ripples of waves."

no answer.

Whether he didn't want to talk or didn't have time to retort, Rinko threw another punch after moving his fingers away. Surprisingly, Giyu was very adept at dealing with this style of fighting, as if they had fought many times before.

"It's strange, you've improved so quickly."

"Mr. Righteousness!"

It was Tanjiro's voice, so loud and clear, a familiar tone that Rinko recognized without having to turn around to confirm.

Following the sound came the blade. Rinko turned to the side and used her other hand to block the swinging blade. It was unexpectedly powerful, and her progress was almost faster and more astonishing than Giyu's. The blade cut through flesh and severed bone.

"Have they improved so quickly?" Rinko couldn't help but feel confused. The strength of these two people was so different from what he remembered that he couldn't help but blink. Before the severed limb hit the ground, the hand had already grown back and precisely gripped the blade.

"Tanjiro, you've improved so quickly, much faster than I expected. That's strange, why is that?"

Rinko grabbed the blade and pulled it closer, looking at Tanjiro in front of her. Tanjiro seemed a little different from the one she remembered, but Rinko couldn't quite put her finger on what exactly was different.

"Rinko, did you kill all these people?"

Rinko gave an answer unrelated to the question, pondered for a few seconds, and blinked gently once.

"Yes."

Rinko answered quickly, tilting his head slightly, clearly confused and not understanding. More obviously, he was waiting for Tanjiro to give an answer to resolve his confusion.

"Why did you do that!"

Rinko didn't have time to explain because Giyuu's blade was already upon him. He had to leap into the air, release Tanjiro's sword, and free his hand to block Giyuu's attack.

The two worked together brilliantly, which made Rinko even more puzzled.

This battle shouldn't have been this difficult. He remembered his battles with the Pillars during his training in the Pearl. Even Muichiro, who was relatively stronger at the time, didn't trouble him this much. Even when it was three against one, he only had to dodge and didn't have his limbs cut off so easily.

How could such a big change have happened in just a few days? Did something happen that he doesn't know about? Or is there some detail he missed?

Humans aren't demons; they can't simply become stronger by eating people. It takes time, experience, and more rigorous training. There must be some reason behind it.

"As for why, it's probably because they went to the wrong place. If they hadn't come here, they wouldn't be dead. In the end, if they hadn't chosen to join the Demon Slayer Corps, if they hadn't become members of the Demon Slayer Corps, they wouldn't be dead here now."

Rink took advantage of Giyu's attack and used the impact of the blade to create some distance. He nimbly flipped and landed on the floor, where blood had accumulated. His hands hung at his sides as he gently shook his numb arms, sighed, and remained expressionless.

"In the end, why was the Demon Slayer Corps established? What was the point of so many people dying?"

Rinko's face darkened.

Why does the Demon Slayer Corps even exist? Without it, no one would be chasing Muzan to kill him, and none of this would have happened. He wouldn't have to kill people he didn't need to, or people he didn't want to kill.

Those things he cherished would not die.

"So many people died, so many ghosts died, but what was it all for?"

A brief silence, a pause in breathing, and then a voice Rinko had never heard before—Tanjiro's voice, but for the first time so cold. When Rinko looked up, he could see those eyes, almost unfocused, just staring at him, as if he didn't see him at all.

"Someone like you certainly can't understand the Demon Slayer Corps, but even so, I won't allow you to insult them."

There was no angry roar, but the emotion seemed to far exceed anger.

Ah, is that why?

"Ah, I see. No wonder you guys suddenly became so strong. It's because you were angry."

Rinko seemed to suddenly realize something and exclaimed, "Ah!" He clenched one fist and slammed it into the palm of his other hand. As the two swords came chasing after him from one in front and one behind, he retreated, parrying and dodging at the same time. Almost deliberately, he moved and dodged among the corpses, able to hook up a Nichirin Blade and use it directly.

When the three swords collide, Rinko will move slightly closer to them.

"Is it because of these people? Is it because these people died here? Are you angry because I killed them? But there's no need. I don't have a habit of torturing people, and I don't like to eat people, so all the corpses are here, intact. They won't feel any pain because they were weak. They died instantly before they even found me here. The crows didn't even have time to caw before their wings and heads were severed together."

As Rinko spoke, he naturally smiled, a gentle and honest smile, almost like a child who had done something well waiting for praise from their parents.

But it was this very smile that made the two people in front of him look even angrier.

In that instant, the sound of breathing was heavier than the beating of the heart.

"Tanjiro! Calm down!"

Yiyong finally uttered the first sound since arriving here, but would he know it, would he realize it? In truth, his voice was far from calm.

"In the end, it's because they shouldn't have come here, just like you shouldn't have come here either. I didn't intend to kill them, nor did I intend to kill you, Tanjiro, Giyu. If you hadn't come here, none of this would have happened."

Rinko gripped the blade tightly, and with a single, forceful thrust, smashed the two swords apart from below.

He released one hand, opened it, and swept it across.

"Clouds and fog shrouded the area."

If I get stronger, I get stronger; if I get angry, I get angry. It doesn't matter.

There has to be someone who dies here, and there has to be someone who continues to live.