Enmu's severed head swayed grotesquely, dragged back and forth by the mass of pulsing flesh beneath it.
"At the same time, those two hundred passengers are my hostages," he purred. "It is just you up here. Do you really think you can protect them all, foolish little Demon Slayer…?"
"That is none of your concern."
Vincent's voice was ice cold. Flames burst from his palm and swallowed the writhing, nauseating flesh, burning it to ash.
"Damn demon!"
A figure vaulted up onto the roof of the train.
"Tanjiro, you are awake?"
Vincent glanced back at the newcomer.
"Where is the demon?" Tanjiro asked. Nichirin blade in hand, he scanned the surroundings warily.
"It has already fused with the entire train."
As they ran, Vincent quickly brought him up to speed on the situation.
"What? All two hundred passengers are in danger?"
Tanjiro's pupils trembled.
With his current strength, at best he could protect two carriages, and that was already pushing it.
Bang.
The roof beneath their feet suddenly bulged upward in a strange dome.
Another deafening crack followed and metal tore open, leaving a gaping hole at their feet.
"Lord Inosuke has arrived! All filthy demons, line up and die!"
Inosuke burst up through the opening and roared his declaration.
Vincent and Tanjiro barely finished explaining what was happening before Inosuke's eyes lit up with excitement.
"I knew it! This train is alive! It actually dared try to steal my spot as top beast. I will kill it!"
Meanwhile, Zenitsu had begun to wake under the lingering effects of Nezuko's Blood Demon Art.
At that moment, the entire train changed.
Meat and veins erupted from the iron shell, crawling over the cars and cocooning the whole locomotive in living flesh.
"Boar Rush!"
With a wild shout, Inosuke smashed another hole in the roof from above.
"Beast Breathing, Fifth Fang!"
His dual swords blurred.
The fleshy growths inside the car were sliced apart in an instant, shredded into ribbons.
"Die!"
He howled and threw himself into the mass, wrestling with the endlessly regenerating flesh.
Up on the roof, even steady Tanjiro was starting to waver.
"If the whole train is a demon… where are we supposed to strike…?"
Vincent clapped a hand on his shoulder.
"What is a demon's weakness?"
"The neck… Right. The neck."
Tanjiro's eyes lit up. He turned toward the front of the train.
"Then it is probably the engine."
"What are we waiting for, then?"
Vincent smiled, casually cutting through another lunging lump of flesh.
"It is too awkward up here. Let us go inside."
"Right."
The two of them dropped through the hole Inosuke had smashed.
Inside, the corruption was even worse.
Every chunk of flesh they severed grew back immediately, spawning fresh tendrils that lunged at them over and over.
Nezuko's body grew larger as she transformed, her demon markings deepening. Claws extended from her hands.
She was done watching.
While the train that was now Enmu attacked relentlessly, Nezuko kicked relentlessly back.
Every time new flesh erupted from the walls or ceiling, her heel slammed into it, detonating it in a spray of meat and blood.
She charged straight into the worst of it, tearing through the infestation like an unstoppable whirlwind.
Wherever she passed, the passengers were saved.
From the tail car all the way toward the front, Nezuko kicked and smashed her way forward, ripping Enmu's flesh apart faster than he could spread it.
Then, a mass of meat suddenly lunged around one of the passengers.
Nezuko's eyes widened. She attacked in a panic, reaching out to crush it.
Enmu had clearly been waiting for this.
Two thick cords of flesh snapped out and coiled around her. In an instant, her arms were bound.
Then her legs.
The giant body of the train writhed and tightened, twisting Nezuko's joints in all directions.
Her bones creaked, sounding as if they might shatter at any moment. Cold sweat streamed down her face from the pain.
Then a bolt of lightning ripped down the carriage.
"Thunder Breathing, First Form."
Zenitsu, eyes closed, finally drew his sword.
Thunder crashed, lighting up the entire car.
His figure flashed past in an instant, and every tendril of flesh binding Nezuko was severed on the spot.
He was not done.
Trailing sparks, Zenitsu slid to a stop in front of Nezuko, breath gathering around his lips.
Thunder Breathing, First Form, Thunderclap and Flash, Sixfold.
His yellow silhouette streaked back and forth through the carriage again and again, a chain of blinding arcs. Every strand of flesh that had grown along the walls and ceiling was cut apart.
A reliable man.
Nezuko stared at Zenitsu, stunned by the sharp, deadly aura coming off him in that moment.
Then, a heartbeat later, he started snoring.
Her sense of respect vanished without a trace.
Nezuko's eyes turned blank and flat as she stared at the boy who had just saved her.
He had seemed so dependable a second ago. How did he turn out like this?
On the roof, Vincent heard the crack of thunder.
"Sounds like Zenitsu is awake too."
He and Tanjiro, however, had no time to worry about it.
The flesh was still spreading. With passengers packed into every seat, they were constantly forced to hold back.
There were simply too many civilians here. Vincent could not risk using his full power. One wrong move and his fire would burn the people he meant to protect.
"I only took a little nap and everything turned into this. What a surprise."
Kyojuro Rengoku walked steadily down the aisle with his red flame blade resting at his side.
His right foot slid back into a stance.
A heartbeat later, flames exploded from his body.
He looked like a shell about to be fired from a cannon.
"Ha!"
With a low shout, Rengoku became a swirling tornado of fire, ripping through the carriage and obliterating the demon flesh in his path.
Everywhere he passed, flesh turned to ash and disintegrated, showering the floor behind him in embers.
"What happened?"
The entire train jolted and shuddered violently.
Tanjiro lost his footing and crashed to the floor.
"Big brother, you are here."
Vincent stood firm, looking over at the Flame Hashira striding toward them.
Rengoku nodded.
"On my way here, I burned away all the flesh in the cars I passed. It should not grow back quickly."
"This train has eight cars. I can protect five. The remaining three, Nezuko and Inosuke can handle. The two of you focus on finding the demon's weak point."
He did not wait for an answer.
Rengoku's body blazed again and he shot off like a fiery whirlwind, carving his way through five carriages in a blur of sword strikes.
"Let us go."
Vincent jerked his chin at Tanjiro.
"Time to cut his neck."
"Right."
They sprinted forward, weaving through car after car.
At last, they reached the coal storage.
"The coal is the power source of the entire train. If it has a neck, it should be here."
Vincent's voice dropped to a murmur.
By now, Tanjiro had complete faith in his judgment. He nodded and inhaled deeply.
Water Breathing, Tenth Form, Constant Flux.
Water bloomed around him in surging waves, the flowing current of his sword light slashing through the living tissue that had wrapped itself around the engine.
Flesh exploded, carving open a space deep into the train's body.
Enmu's scream echoed through all eight carriages.
"That is it. Right beneath us."
Tanjiro understood at once.
He whipped his blade down and struck the floor.
Dust billowed up, then was swept away by the wind rushing in from ahead.
Beneath the cracked boards, they saw it.
A vertebra as thick as a grown man's torso, jutting up from the guts of the train.
Tanjiro did not hesitate.
He raised his sword and brought it down toward the exposed bone.
But by now, the whole train was Enmu's body.
Before the water arc could fully descend, new flesh surged up and slammed into it, shattering the form mid swing.
A heartbeat later, dozens of tendrils shot out, stabbing toward them.
Vincent leapt away. Tanjiro grabbed the conductor and dragged him out of the danger zone.
Behind them, the engine room twisted and warped.
Flesh grew at a terrifying pace, folding and layering over itself.
In the blink of an eye, it formed the shape of an extra carriage around the coal bed.
The thick neck bone was buried deep inside, the cut they had just made sealed completely by Enmu's regenerated flesh.
----------------------------------------------------
The deeper he goes, the more the truth unravels. Don't wait read ahead and witness Vincent's rise before the world catches up!
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