Demon Slayer: Upper 0 seems to be a waste

Each run in the silent corridor was a resounding thud, the sound of his footsteps echoing through the corridor. Perhaps Rinko would notice soon, but even so, all Tanjiro could do now was to cherish the time as much as possible, rushing towards that place as fast as he could, crossing the ruins on the ground, stepping over the corpses scattered on the ground, limbs severed. Whether it was the crow or the team members, they all died from their necks being cut off. The efficiency was astonishing, but similarly, there would be no pain.

Tanjiro could only console himself with this thought. He stepped over the corpses scattered on the ground, revealing that he was walking on blood mixed together, the splattering sound a testament to his path to the truth.

No one's death is meaningless. Even if they all die, even if they die too quickly to leave any message, their attempts themselves become a clue. There must be something hidden behind it, something most important, something that Rinko was willing to go to the trouble of entanglement with them to leave behind and protect.

Therefore, there can only be one answer.

Tanjiro stood at the end of the blood. In the endless corridor, there was actually a rift, a crossroads, similar to each one before, yet different. All the corpses were headed for this place, downwards, without end, upwards. In the instant he looked up, Tanjiro's pupils trembled.

A cocoon-like object, entirely constructed of flesh, hung overhead, but none of them had noticed its immense size until they witnessed it firsthand.

There was no aura of existence, no sense of oppression, but at this moment, the instant the observed fact was established, Tanjiro felt that oppressive feeling, not fear, but more of an anger.

We finally found it.

The fact that Rinko protects this place so much, refusing to leave even for a moment, makes it a question that needs no further explanation: who might be hidden among the things found here?

The moment this thought crossed his mind, he gripped the knife handle tightly, took a deep breath, clenched his fist, tensed his muscles, and exerted force.

"Kagura of the Fire God. The Radiant Red Mirror."

The blade was raised, the angle was set, and it was aimed directly at the center of the cocoon.

"Tanjiro!"

The voice that made the sound was Giyong's.

Before the actual strike, purely by instinct, in the instant of his survival instinct screaming, he adjusted his grip on the knife.

"Phantom Sun Rainbow"

With a rapid twist and turn of his body, his lower leg moved almost explosively, and Tanjiro saw a Nichirin Blade fly out from where he had been standing.

The Nichirin Blade flew straight out due to inertia, piercing through the wall. It's easy to imagine that without Giyu's warning, this blow would have been enough to kill him.

Who is it, Rinko? Did he notice it so quickly? Does he even have the energy to deal with it?

"Leave that to me! You attack with all your might!"

Yiyong rushed over from a distance, and when he looked up and saw clearly, he was also surprised and his eyes widened. So this was it. It was so close, but because he hadn't had a chance to get closer, he hadn't noticed it at all. This Blood Demon Art was really an amazingly troublesome thing.

"This is trouble, Mr. Giyu!"

Tanjiro immediately adjusted his stance, preparing to launch another attack. Giyu, meanwhile, grabbed his sword and rushed to the other side of the battlefield to join Kyojuro's fight.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

"Ok?"

A very soft sound, a whisper, unnoticed, a fleeting glance that drifted past his shoulder and into the distance—short, yet enough for Kyojuro to notice. He used the reflection of the blade to trace the direction of his gaze, for a mere instant.

The shadow of the stove door is reflected in the gleam of the smooth blade.

Rinko was looking at the stove.

Just as he had hoped, the stove door neither chased after him nor left; it stood there, as if frozen in place.

But Kyojuro knew that the boy wasn't stunned; on the contrary, Kamado was desperately trying to figure out the most important thing on this battlefield in the shortest amount of time.

Where exactly is Muzan hiding?

All the Demon Slayer Corps swordsmen share the same goal tonight: to kill Muzan. Only by killing Muzan will the demons disappear, and only by killing Muzan will all this truly end.

Following the crow's guidance, they arrived at this area after slaying Upper Moon Three, a forbidden zone where no one had been able to obtain information until now. It wasn't that no one came here to investigate; on the contrary, people came in an endless stream. But whether it was the swordsman or the crow, they would lose contact in an instant, and the last thing they saw was just an ordinary corridor.

This is clearly abnormal. Ordinary swordsmen are left on the perimeter to simply surround the area, but it is up to them to explore what dangerous things are hidden here.

Meeting Rinko here was something Kyojuro hadn't expected.

It makes sense, yet it's unexpected.

Just like tonight's battle, it was special, yet ordinary.

What's special is that they're facing the undisputed strongest demon, so strong that no one would know just how powerful the opponent is until they actually fight. In short, it's stronger than anyone they've ever fought before.

In essence, they are still hunting ghosts.

The appearance of Rinko's name on the list of demon hunters was both a special and ordinary thing.

It's not that he wasn't prepared, it's just that it happened rather suddenly.

I never expected it to happen now, I never expected it to happen here.

But it is also inevitable.

They would inevitably meet tonight. The best ending would be if they never met, never saw each other, never fought, and then they found Muzan and figured out how to get rid of him. Rinko leaving quietly like this would also be a good ending. But Kyojuro himself knew how impossible such an ending was.

but.

The killings were indeed unexpected; too many were killed, far too many.

Corpses were scattered haphazardly on the ground, crows' and humans', piled up randomly. Blood flowing like a river was no longer a metaphor, but a real sight. Severed heads lay scattered on the ground, and headless corpses bled until they dried up.

Too many innocent swordsmen have died here because of Rinko.

It was as if the boy before them wasn't the Rinko they knew, or perhaps, they had never truly understood Rinko in the first place. What the truth was, Kyojuro didn't know. He wasn't good at thinking about such things; he wasn't good at arguing or discussing, whether it was for reasons or justifications.

In contrast, right and wrong are easy to judge. If Rinko kills someone, then from the perspective of humans and the Demon Slayer Corps, Rinko is a demon who needs to be killed, regardless of the cause or reason.

This is the justice of the Demon Slayer Corps, and the justice of humanity.

No matter the reason or cause, murder is never the right choice.

But this was still a very complicated battle. What would his father think? Could his father understand such a thing? And what about himself? How did he really see this? In fact, Kyojuro himself wasn't sure. He couldn't figure it out, so he put all of this and the reasons he couldn't understand aside for now. In short, he had to do his job first.

"Does Rinko even have time to wander around looking around?!"

So he spoke up, drawing the other person's attention back and also focusing his own.

A long time ago, Kyojuro wouldn't have entrusted Kamado with a task like finding Muzan. Partly it was out of trust, partly out of worry. But after the battle with Akaza, he could see and personally experience Kamado's progress. Although not yet fully qualified, Kamado, having successfully killed an Upper Moon, clearly possessed the strength of a Pillar.

He no longer needed to see the other person as someone who needed protection, but as a qualified Pillar who could act independently and could be trusted. In this situation, it was reasonable to use Rinko's inexplicably sudden emotions to distract the other person and entrust the task of finding the hidden Muzan to the more suitable Kamado.

What he needs to do most now is to fulfill his duties, stabilize the biggest destabilizing factor in this area, restrain and pull it back, and even if it's just delaying, give the other side more time.

Almost to everyone's surprise, Kamado quickly found a clue. When the other party started running and moving, Kyojuro noticed that Rinko's attention was drawn to it.

As the stove door moved forward, Rinko's attention was gradually drawn to it.

This is undoubtedly the best proof that the stove has been placed in the right location.

When Rinko chases after Kyojuro, Kyojuro struggles to defend himself. However, as the situation changes and someone rushes to leave, the tension between them eases. Rinko tries to shake him off, but Kyojuro pursues relentlessly, his sword strikes sharp and creating maximum obstruction. Even if he can't cut off the neck, cutting off the limbs is enough to affect him.

"Breath of Flame, First Form, Shiranui".

Muscles tensed, power was gathered, and the moment of release was like a burst of flame that wiped out the distance that Rin had created, the severed leg hindering its progress.

Rinko had to tilt his weight, bracing himself with his hands before falling. Using his hands to support himself on the floor, he twisted his waist and hips, turning his body around. He fell, but not to land on the floor. Instead, his legs almost brushed against the floor as he swung around his supporting hands. Kyojuro was a step too slow to realize that the other had already guessed he might catch up. His regrown foot kicked the sword on the ground away. Using the momentum from the spin and the boy's own strength, the sword flew out at an extremely fast speed.

But before Kyojuro could speak, an even deeper voice roared first.

Kamado dodged the attack from the Nichirin Blade.

"Tsk."

Upon hearing Rinko's voice, Kyojuro did not retract his stance. Instead, he deftly flipped backward, landing smoothly on the ground next to the corpse. The Nichirin Blade on the ground became his new weapon.

This time, however, no warning was needed. Tomioka, who had stood up and rejoined the battle, simply deflected the flying blades one by one. As long as the blades were deflected from their original angle, they would not damage the stove door.

"Difficult to deal with."

Rinko murmured a sentence.

With his hand raised, Kyojuro didn't know what the other person was going to do, but his intuition told him it wouldn't be anything good, so he instinctively gripped the hilt of his sword and immediately gave chase.

"The third form, the qi and fire of all things."

"Clouds and fog shrouded the area."

The swung blade missed its target, failing to deliver the tangible sensation of striking anything. Simultaneously, absolute darkness enveloped the view, with not a single ray of light penetrating. Instinctively blinking did nothing to alleviate the situation.

"The breath of water, the form of rampage, the tide of strikes."

The ears could catch the sound of something being cut; a sharp blade slicing through flesh and then bone; the sound of limbs hitting the ground with a muffled thud; and at the same time, the light returned to the eyes the instant they opened.

When Kyojuro opened his eyes, he was met with those eyes. It was the first time he had ever seen such complex emotions in Rinko's childlike eyes—irritability, confusion, impatience, and so many other emotions mixed together.

For a moment, he felt that compared to Rinko's eyes, those really did look more like the eyes of a demon.