"Is that so?"
Suddenly, a beautiful figure emerged from the dark shadows. It was the Berserk Demon Xiaji, speaking in a gentle and pleasant voice.
"Were all those incense burners delivered?"
"Yes. I have lit all three burners and placed them in their respective rooms as instructed."
"Very good! Well done! Those burners contain my specially formulated Soul-Drunk Fragrance. Even a tiny whiff will plunge them into a deep, unending sleep! This way, even if those three are powerful, I can deal with them easily, heh heh heh..."
As she finished speaking, Xiaji couldn't help but burst into laughter. Her voice was as clear and melodious as silver bells, but to the little girl's ears, it was undoubtedly the laughter of a devil!
At that moment, the little girl suddenly fell to her knees with a thud, begging with a trembling voice.
"Um, Lady Xiaji... I've done everything you asked. Please... please return my sister to me, I beg you..."
"Oh? I almost forgot about you! Heh heh..."
Looking down at the little girl, a chilling sneer curled on Xiaji's lips. A pale bone whip suddenly appeared in her hand, dancing wildly like a spirit snake.
Seeing this, the little girl was terrified, thinking Xiaji intended to kill her to silence her. However, the long bone whip shot past her and into the shadows behind.
When the bone whip retracted from the darkness, a young girl about six or seven years old was bound to the end, unconscious. Their features were extremely similar; clearly, they were sisters, and both were quite beautiful—true beauties in the making.
"Little sister!"
The girl cried out, rushing to catch her sister. Seeing that she was still alive, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Don't worry, your sister is alive and well. I just put her to sleep; she'll likely wake up tomorrow."
Xiaji spoke faintly, then pulled a stack of cash from her waist and tossed it carelessly toward the girl.
"Since you helped me, this money is yours. It should be enough to redeem both of you. Find a chance and leave this place quickly!"
At this point, a cruel smile flashed across Xiaji's face. "Because this place is about to turn into hell!"
The little girl picked up the money from the ground, her eyes filled with complex emotions. She stood up slowly and bowed deeply to Xiaji.
"Th-thank you, Lady Xiaji, for redeeming us."
The girl picked up her sister and began walking out of the alley. Just then, a figure descended from the sky.
"You actually didn't kill her after she served her purpose, and you even gave her money. No wonder the other Berserk Demons say you are a gentle female demon."
The newcomer was Ren. After noticing something suspicious about the girl, he had followed her in secret, and he truly found something unexpected.
A demon was actually employing humans.
Furthermore, despite the drastic change in appearance, he still recognized Xiaji's identity. She was Koinatsu, the Oiran of the Tokito House in the Yoshiwara District.
In the original story, she was a very kind girl who had looked after Tanjiro. He hadn't expected her to become a Berserk Demon.
"Did Daki do this? How insane!"
Seeing Koinatsu turned into a Berserk Demon, a flicker of anger rose in Ren's heart.
Even as a Berserk Demon and having lost her human memories, Koinatsu's personality remained remarkably gentle compared to others of her kind. Not only did she share extra food with other demons, but she even kept her word to a human and spared the sister's life!
Upon seeing Ren, Xiaji's eyes widened in disbelief. "What?! Didn't you inhale my Soul-Drunk Fragrance? How are you not asleep? Could it be..."
Xiaji glared fiercely at the little girl behind Ren. "You brat, you dared to lie to me? You've conspired together!"
"N-no, Lady Xiaji, I didn't..."
Terrified, the girl shook her head repeatedly, hugging her sister tightly and shielding her while looking at Ren with total confusion. She couldn't understand how he appeared here when she had personally lit the incense...
"Haha, using a little girl to drug us—that was a clever plan. But you're overthinking it. I simply felt this girl was acting strange and came to check it out. I didn't expect to actually find a problem."
As he spoke, Ren drew the Nichirin Greatsword from his back, pointing the tip directly at Xiaji's throat.
"Koinatsu... no, Xiaji. I know you didn't become a Berserk Demon by choice, but for the sake of those you've killed, I will still cut you down!"
Koinatsu was dead. The person before him was merely the Berserk Demon Xiaji.
And toward Berserk Demons, Ren would never be soft-hearted!
"Little girl, if you don't want to die, take your sister and leave the Yoshiwara District immediately," Ren said to the girl behind him while keeping his eyes locked on Xiaji.
"Sir... I did something terrible to you... I'm sorry! If there is a chance, I will definitely try to make it up to you!"
The girl apologized repeatedly, then carried her sister out of the alley, running toward the exit of the district.
"Heh heh heh..."
Once the girl left, Xiaji suddenly laughed. "Even though the plan hit a snag, if it's just you alone, it shouldn't be much of a problem!"
"Heh, let me give you a piece of advice. Many demons have looked down on me before, but without exception, they all died by my blade!"
"Then I shall be your first exception!"
Before her voice even faded, Xiaji lashed out with her bone whip. It tore through the air like a sharp blade or a venomous snake, lunging toward Ren with lightning speed.
But Ren was even faster.
With a simple sidestep, he easily evaded the whip. In a narrow alleyway like this, a flexible weapon like a whip was ill-suited for combat.
After dodging the attack, Ren lunged forward with extreme speed. In the blink of an eye, he swung his sword at Xiaji's throat.
Faced with this ferocious strike, Xiaji let go of the whip and leaped backward, retreating rapidly while a crimson light flashed in her eyes.
[BLOOD DEMON ART: PUTRID BREATH!]
Xiaji pursed her lips and blew out a violent gust of wind. The air was instantly filled with the foul stench of rotting corpses.
Ren took a sudden breath, and in an instant, a pungent sensation shot straight to the top of his skull. At that moment, he felt like his brain was about to crash.
His sense of smell was even stronger than Tanjiro's. Suddenly smelling such a highly irritating gas caused his mind to go blank, momentarily halting all thought.
By the time he recovered his senses, he saw eight or nine strong Berserk Demons clawing and lunging toward him.
Startled, he quickly retreated to maintain distance from Xiaji.
'So that's it. This is Xiaji's Blood Demon Art—the ability to create various gases... It's the perfect counter to Breathing Styles!' Ren thought to himself. Smelling that foul rot made it impossible to recover in the short term, effectively sealing off the various Breathing Styles of the Demon Slayer Corps.
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]