Arriving at the very center of the village, the village was quite large, and the open space in the middle was nearly a hundred meters wide, littered with corpses lying haphazardly.
Several hunched figures appeared in the distance.
Several ferocious-looking demons were fighting over territory in the center of the square.
"Hey! You guys! This is my territory, all of you get lost!" A vicious voice rang out, but Mizuki walked forward without changing her expression.
"Hehehe, don't joke around. Can you eat all this food by yourself?"
"Don't think you can hog it all~"
"As long as I eat these humans, I can be promoted to the Twelve Kizuki!"
Not far from them, a female demon was anxiously trying to sneak away.
The sound of her retreat attracted the attention of the demons.
"Hey, hey, don't you guys think this woman looks familiar?"
"It's like I've seen her somewhere before~"
"Isn't this the woman that 'that person' is looking for?"
Tamayo's face paled. She had originally seen the smoke of battle here and intended to come and collect some corpses to eat, but unexpectedly, soon after she arrived, these demons appeared one after another.
Muzan did not allow demons to gather in groups, but the delicious food in these war-torn villages caused them to congregate.
Since she was released by that Sun Breathing swordsman, Tamayo had never eaten a living person again, relying only on the corpses of humans and animals to sustain herself.
To fulfill her promise to the swordsman, she had to wait for the opportunity to kill Muzan.
How could she die here!
"I'll let you have these corpses; that woman is my prey!"
"Nonsense! If we catch this woman, that person will bestow blood upon us! Compared to that person's blood, these corpses are just slop!"
"Get lost! I absolutely won't give my prey to you!"
"The spot in the Twelve Kizuki is mine!"
Almost immediately after recognizing Tamayo's identity, the demons abandoned the food they had been fighting over and swarmed toward her with greedy expressions.
Tamayo's face was deathly pale, and she quickly turned and fled.
Her Blood Demon Art was not suited for combat, and she certainly couldn't match these guys.
Tamayo hadn't taken two steps before a black shadow flashed behind her, leaped onto the wall in front of her, twisted its head around, and stared at her eerily.
"Don't think about escaping~"
Tamayo's pupils constricted slightly. Before she could react, an azure sword aura appeared out of nowhere and sliced straight through the demon's head.
Until the head dropped to the ground and turned to ash, the sinister smile on the demon's face did not disappear.
This indicated that the slash was so fast he hadn't even realized what happened.
Giving Tamayo no time to stare blankly, a figure walked out from behind the house, wearing a bamboo hat, with the lower half of her face wrapped in white cloth around her neck, making her appearance unrecognizable.
Only the human heart pinned to her chest indicated that she was a woman.
The newcomer held a blue nichirin blade wrapped in white cloth, and another blade at her waist remained unsheathed.
Yoriichi's nichirin blade was black, but the color of the nichirin blade changes based on the owner's Breathing Style, aptitude, and other factors.
Mizuki was naturally born with an aptitude that almost perfectly matched the Five Great Breathing Styles, so changing the color of her nichirin blade as she switched Breathing Styles was not difficult.
It's the Demon Slayer Corps!
Tamayo felt cold all over, as if she had fallen into an ice cave.
The demons behind her also stopped abruptly.
"Damn it! A Demon Slayer Corps member?!"
"Wait! It looks like she's alone!"
A demon felt apprehension: "But she just killed that guy in one slash..."
"He was just trash. How about we attack together and decide on the distribution of the reward afterward?!"
"Perfect~ I haven't eaten a Demon Slayer Corps member yet~"
A few demons quickly settled their plan and rushed toward Mizuki in unison.
Tamayo glanced back out of the corner of her eye. The swordsman in front of her did not immediately attack her, probably because she had the weakest combat power.
She subtly stepped aside, planning to find an opportunity to leave once they started fighting.
Although Tamayo had agreed to Yoriichi's request to kill Muzan, she wasn't foolish enough to believe that just any Demon Slayer Corps member would trust her word.
She looked at Mizuki, silently apologizing in her heart.
In her opinion, Mizuki's defeat was only a matter of time.
After all, it was a one-versus-N situation.
"Water Breathing, First Form: Water Surface Slash!"
A clear, cold female voice echoed in the quiet night, and a brilliant blue light flashed.
The blue blade reflected the moonlight, causing Tamayo to squint her eyes.
When she opened her eyes again, she only saw Mizuki slowly sheathing her nichirin blade.
Her body felt stiff. She shifted her gaze slightly and saw several heads flying high into the air, while the headless bodies rushed forward a short distance due to inertia before falling down in unison.
As the heads fell to the ground, the demons dissolved into ash without even managing to utter a sound.
So strong!
Probably stronger than a Lower Rank!
Is she a Hashira?
Tamayo's pupils trembled violently. With this level of combat power, she had no chance of escaping.
Watching the woman who had sheathed her nichirin blade walk towards her, Tamayo was about to speak and offer a final explanation as a struggle.
Then, the woman slowly removed her bamboo hat and unwrapped the white cloth from her face.
Tamayo's look of confusion gradually turned to shock.
"...Mr. Yoriichi?"
Aside from gender and height, there was almost no difference.
But in an instant, Tamayo realized that it had been decades ago. Even if Mr. Yoriichi were still alive, he would be an old man in his eighties or nineties; how could he be this young?
But this face was virtually identical to Mr. Yoriichi's.
In that case... is she his descendant?
A glimmer of light shone in Tamayo's eyes.
Sensing the expectation beneath Tamayo's calm expression, Mizuki paused slightly: "I am Yoriichi's younger sister."
She knew what Tamayo was thinking: she was wondering if Mizuki possessed the same immense power as Yoriichi.
And the current situation gave Tamayo great hope.
But unfortunately, even now, despite having gained strength greater than before, she still had not surpassed Yoriichi.
Tamayo was stunned for a moment by Mizuki's words.
She said with some hesitation, "But your age..."
Mizuki didn't say much, but her wine-red eyes instantly transformed into golden vertical pupils.
Tamayo's heart, which had just been throbbing, now beat even harder.
She opened her mouth, then closed her eyes as if accepting her fate: "Did Muzan send you?"
Mizuki was dumbfounded, realizing she had been misunderstood.
"No, like you, I have broken free from Muzan's control."
How is that possible?
That was Tamayo's initial reaction.
Her ability to break free from Muzan's control was a fluke, because Yoriichi had sliced Muzan into pieces at the time, leaving him weakened.
Could a second Mr. Yoriichi possibly appear in this world?
Suspicion appeared in Tamayo's eyes.
But... the other party had no foul stench whatsoever, as if... she had never eaten a human.
The most important point was that if this woman was truly sent by Muzan, there would be no need for her to waste words; given this woman's strength, Tamayo couldn't escape anyway.
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