Upper Rank… Three?
The instant he saw the words carved into those golden eyes, the veins on the back of Kyojuro Rengoku's hand bulged as he tightened his grip on his sword—his instincts snapping fully alert.
As one of the Demon Slayer Corps' highest combat assets—a Hashira—he understood better than anyone what those two words meant.
If Lower Rank demons were beasts that occasionally brought catastrophe, then the Upper Ranks were disasters given legs.
Over the past century and more, the Corps' Hashira had been replaced again and again. Countless prodigies had died far from home, their bones buried in foreign soil.
Yet the Upper Rank roster had not changed once in a hundred years.
Which meant the tattooed man before him had, across that endless span, killed countless Hashira just like him.
A hopeless kind of strength—built atop the blood of the mighty.
"...Hah."
Rengoku steadied his breathing, forcibly suppressing the turbulence left in his body from halting the train's violent roll.
His gaze burned like a torch, locked onto the demon without the slightest lapse.
"A very nice reaction."
Akaza's smile only widened as he watched Rengoku take a defensive stance—pure, sincere delight at the sight of prey worth hunting.
He spread his hands, stepped forward, and spoke with a voice laced with temptation.
"Since your battle aura is this refined, let me make you a proposal… a proposal that can make you even stronger."
Under Rengoku's unwavering stare, Akaza extended his most earnest invitation.
"Become a demon, swordsman."
"I can tell—your aura has been tempered a thousand times over. You're already close to the highest domain."
He tapped his chest, regret coloring his tone.
"But you're human… Humans grow old. Humans die. Humans get hurt."
"The skills you worked so hard to forge will decay with the aging of your flesh—until they vanish from this world."
"Isn't that… heartbreaking?"
"But if you become a demon, you'll have infinite time. A body that regenerates instantly. We can fight forever—one hundred years, two hundred years—until we reach the very end of martial skill!"
"So? Will you become a demon?"
Faced with Upper Rank Three's seductive words, Rengoku's expression didn't waver even a fraction.
He straightened his spine. The white haori on his back snapped and flared in the night wind, and his voice rang out like steel.
"To grow old… to die… those are the beautiful aspects of humans—creatures whose lives are brief."
"Because we grow old, because we die, human life is precious—adorable, and noble."
Rengoku raised his Nichirin blade slowly, its tip aimed squarely between Akaza's brows. Fire seemed to burn in his eyes, as if he could ignite the night itself.
"A 'strong one' is not defined by the body alone."
"Whatever your reasons, I'll say it again—"
"I am the Flame Hashira, Kyojuro Rengoku."
"I will never become a demon!"
The air seemed to freeze.
Akaza's smile drained away, replaced by cold, violent killing intent.
The disappointment of rejection transformed instantly into the desire to destroy.
He let out a regretful sigh, lowered his center of gravity, and placed his hands into a strange opening stance.
"...Is that so."
"Then if you refuse to become a demon—so your aura won't wither and degrade with age…"
A low hum rang out.
The ground trembled.
A massive twelve-pointed formation—like a snowflake—unfurled beneath Akaza's feet, spreading outward in a flash of eerie blue light.
"Technique Deployment: Destructive Death — Compass Needle."
Killing intent boiled in Akaza's golden eyes. The earth cracked under his step as he forced power through his legs.
"Then I'll have no choice but to kill you now!"
Boom!
The moment the words fell, Akaza's figure vanished from where he stood.
Fast… so fast it defied belief!
In the space of a blink, a fist wrapped in terrifying wind pressure was already about to smash into Rengoku's face.
"Flame Breathing, First Form: Unknowing Fire!"
Rengoku's response was just as instantaneous. He stamped forward—no retreat—his Nichirin blade blazing with heat as he slashed directly into Akaza's incoming punch.
Clang!
Fist and blade collided with the shriek of metal striking metal.
A shockwave erupted from the impact, blasting loose stones off the ground in every direction.
Two figures slammed together like falling stars again and again.
Crimson flame and blue pressure waves intertwined—each collision unleashing a gale that could pulverize rock.
"HAHAHAHA! Excellent! Truly excellent—this is the battle I've been waiting for!"
Akaza laughed wildly. His fists became a storm of afterimages, every strike carrying fatal force.
"Destructive Death — Disorder!"
Bang bang bang bang—!
Against the violent downpour of attacks, Rengoku's blade became an impenetrable wall. A shield of flame formed and reformed—blocking, countering, striking back.
But the balance was tipping.
As Upper Rank Three, Akaza possessed near-limitless stamina and monstrous regeneration.
No matter how many times an arm was severed, it was whole again the very next instant.
Rengoku, meanwhile—though his aura still burned high—was human. His body had begun to reach its limit.
"...Guh!"
With a muffled grunt, he was blasted back by a heavy punch—flung dozens of meters, his feet carving two deep furrows through the ground.
Blood streamed down from his forehead, staining his sharp left eye red. Pain like splintering bone tore through his ribs.
"Hah… hah… hah…"
He gasped for air. Every breath felt like swallowing burning coals, his lungs scorching with every inhale.
"What's wrong? You're slowing down, Kyojuro."
Akaza stood at a distance. He bore a few cuts—but within several breaths, they healed cleanly, leaving not even a trace.
He watched the panting Flame Hashira, admiration deepening, and spoke again—patient, coaxing.
"Don't want to die? Then become a demon."
"If you nod, this meaningless war of attrition ends immediately. You can sit down and rest, and slowly savor the wonderful power of transformation."
Then, as if suddenly bored, Akaza tilted his head and gestured toward the ruins in the distance.
"As for me… once I deal with that earring-wearing brat, I'll take you to meet our lord."
The instant those words landed, Rengoku's eyes—momentarily dulled—snapped back into focus.
Still gasping, he stared hard at Akaza.
"Your target… is the Kamado boy?"
"To be precise, it's not my goal. It's Lord Muzan's order."
Akaza shrugged, a hint of helplessness and disappointment in his voice.
"Our lord said the earring-wearing brat is a threat that must be eliminated. That's why I came all this way to this train."
"But honestly… that kid is incredibly boring."
He sighed, the mockery plain on his face.
"Kyojuro, you understand, don't you? If an enemy is truly strong, even from kilometers away, a strong one's battle aura shines like a torch in the night."
"Like how the moment I arrived, I sensed you immediately."
"But that kid? Nothing. Not a trace. I can't feel even the slightest hint of a strong one's aura from him."
"And that means the boy named Tanjiro… is far inferior even to you, injured as you are."
"That's why I came to you first. Compared to crushing an ant that can't resist just to complete a task, I crave fighting a strong one like you."
Rengoku tightened his grip on the Nichirin blade, drew in a deep breath, and drove blood through every cell of his body.
"You're telling me your purpose so openly. Aren't you worried you're leaking information?"
"Leaking?"
Akaza shook his head calmly, as if he'd just heard a joke.
"There's no risk at all—because you won't have any chance to go back and report it."
"One last time, Kyojuro."
Akaza took the posture of a final showdown. The light of Compass Needle flared violently beneath his feet.
"Will you become a demon—gain eternal life and endless martial skill…"
"Or will you remain human, and die by my hand?"
The wind howled, dragging sand and grit across the ground.
Facing the ultimatum, Rengoku slowly raised his head.
His face was smeared with blood. His ribs were broken.
Yet his flame aura, in that moment, surged to an unprecedented peak.
He bared his teeth in a fearless smile.
"Unfortunately…"
His Nichirin blade snapped outward. Crimson fire roared into the shape of a raging dragon, coiling around him.
"I choose the third option—"
The light in his eyes flared brighter than ever. He became a burning comet, charging straight at Akaza!
"—I will take your head right here!"
Rengoku's resolve did not frighten Akaza.
It thrilled him.
Boom!
They collided again—two blurs smashing together.
Blade-light poured like a waterfall. Fist-shadows crashed like thunder.
Rengoku swung countless times, every strike wrapped in flame capable of cleaving steel.
He severed Akaza's arm. Split his torso. Even carved away most of a shoulder.
But the hopeless gulf between human and demon revealed itself in full.
In the span of a single blink, accompanied by the wet sound of flesh knitting and the hiss of rising steam, Akaza's wounds restored completely—no scars, no trace.
And Rengoku—
"...Kgh!"
A mouthful of blood burst from him, spraying across the crimson blade with a sizzling hiss as it evaporated.
A clear signal: the human body had reached its limit.
Akaza swung his freshly regrown arm and laughed with open contempt.
"See it now? That's the difference between demon and man. Your wounds won't heal. But I—no matter how many times you cut me apart—I return to whole."
The snowflake formation beneath his feet—Compass Needle—spun faster and faster.
Within this domain, Rengoku's blazing aura was as obvious as a searchlight in the dark.
No matter the angle of attack, no matter how exquisite the swordsmanship—so long as "aura" existed, Compass Needle would capture it with perfect precision.
"Become a demon, Kyojuro! Don't let this masterful sword art die with you!"
This time, Rengoku didn't answer.
He only inhaled—deeply.
Oxygen flooded his lungs. His thousand-tempered heart hammered, pumping scalding blood into every limb.
Whoosh—!
In the next instant, an aura as dazzling as the sun exploded from his body—so overwhelming it warped the surrounding air.
He raised his head slowly.
"I will fulfill my duty… No one here will die!"
He lifted the Nichirin blade with both hands, taking the opening stance of Flame Breathing's ultimate technique.
Sensing that unwavering determination, Akaza's pupils constricted—then shifted into feral excitement and murderous light.
"If you won't listen—then die!"
"Flame Breathing: Esoteric Art, Ninth Form — Rengoku!"
Crash!!
Rengoku vanished—replaced by a roaring dragon of fire.
At a speed the eye couldn't track, he surged forward with a resolve that would burn everything to ash.
At the same time, Akaza's excitement peaked. He condensed all his aura into a single point and threw his strongest strike.
"Destructive Death — Annihilation Type!"
Boom—!!
Two world-shattering forces collided across the wasteland.
The shockwave flipped everything nearby. Dust and debris swallowed the scene; the ground split open; even the night sky seemed torn by the violence.
Inside the haze—victory and defeat were decided in an instant.
Akaza's fist shattered the flames. A sure-kill blow. That indestructible arm was about to punch straight through Rengoku's chest—
And then.
At the edge of that thousandth-of-a-second—
Akaza heard a voice, filled with apology.
It wasn't loud.
But it cut cleanly through the deafening roar of the explosion, speaking as if directly beside his ear.
"Sorry, Rengoku-san. I was a bit late—saving the passengers at the rear of the train."
"?!"
The moment he heard it, Akaza's heart—silent for a hundred years—felt as if an invisible hand had clenched around it.
A terror unlike anything before detonated along his scalp.
Someone?!
Someone is right next to us?!
But—why didn't Compass Needle react?!
That unknown fear crushed his lust for slaughter. Akaza didn't hesitate—he forcibly withdrew the arm that was about to pierce Kyojuro's body, and sprang backward like a startled beast, retreating dozens of meters in an instant.
"Hah… hah…"
Rengoku, having escaped death by a hair's breadth, dropped to one knee and braced himself on his sword, gasping.
And in the distance, Akaza's golden pupils trembled violently.
He stared—deadly still—at the drifting smoke beside Rengoku, where the dust had just begun to clear.
There, somehow, a boy was already standing quietly.
He wore a checkered haori.
Sun-wheel earrings hung from his ears.
Yet under the frantic rotation of Compass Needle, the space before Akaza registered as empty.
No battle aura.
No killing intent.
Even the very sense of "presence" was—nothing.
If he hadn't seen the boy with his own eyes, Akaza might have believed there was only air there.
"When…? How?!" he hissed.
Cold sweat beaded across his forehead. The calm, confident smile he'd worn was gone—completely wiped away.
Even now, he still couldn't sense the boy's aura.
He was right there—yet it felt as if he existed in another dimension entirely.
The instant Akaza's gaze met the boy's, every hair on his body stood on end.
What… is this guy?
-------
My : pat*eon*com/RuneA
I, Herta's Fiancé, the Universe's Number One Male Fist (114 Chapter (Simulpub-Full) )
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Succubus in Sixth Street (400 Chapter)
Reborn in Type-Moon, My Sister is Aoko Aozaki (254 Chapter)
MyGO!! A Story Voiced by Me (140 Chapter)
BLEACH: Blade of Purification (158 Chapter)
Konoha: Starting the Game as Yoriichi (400 Chapter)
My Real Job is Spying on Konoha, but I'm Also its Hokage (140 Chapter)
The Pinnacle of the Navy! Starting from Being Captured by Garp (172 Chapter)
Watching Yu-Gi-Oh! short videos is making the veteran players lose...(80 Chapter)
Uma Musume : The Trainer Who Just Wants to Live (200 Chapter)
Zenless Zone Zero The Random Kamen Rider (200 Chapter)
Genshin Impact: It All Began With Me Being Stepped On by Arlecchino (120 Chapter)
Naruto: I Can Synthesize Summoning Beasts (96 Chapter)
Demon Slayer: The Great Swordsman's System, Disciple of Yoriichi (140 Chapter)
My Wife is a General, but I'm an Emanator of Abundance! (160 Chapter)
Type-Moon: My Nine-Fold Path (140 Chapter)
Uma Musume: They're Peeking at My Diary, and All of Tracen is Panickin (Ending)
The Wild History of Type-Moon world (70 Chapter)
Reborn in Conan, But I Refuse to Be the Bad Guy (80 Chapter)
Ruan Mei is begging me to go back? But there's no going back anymore (140 Chapter)
Just a Slacker at Tracen Academy (165 Chapter)
Survival in Blue Archive (70 Chapter)
Kimetsu no Yaiba: Doma Wasn't Hated Today, Either (100 Chapter)
The Vibe of This Chat Group is a Little Off (100 Chapter)
Heartbreak Simulator: I Broke Them and Made Them Cry (80 Chapter)
The Talentless Trainer Doesn't Want to Restart (80 Chapter)
A Journey Starting as a Quincy (80 Chapter)
Uma Musume: The Master of Romance Obstruction (80 Chapter)
Uma Musume: You Can't Be a Hero Without a Little Chemical Enhancement (40 Chapter)
Honkai Impact 3rd Your Boyfriend is Really Amazing (40 Chapter)
Warhammer 40K: My Fiancée, Fulgrim (180 Chapter)
Classroom of the Elite: Trying to Capture Me! (120 Chapter)
Genshin Impact My Named Senji Muramas (150 Chapter)
A Chef, the Vice-Captain of the Rocks Pirates? (160 Chapter)
Naruto : My Uchiha Girlfriend is Too Tsundere (130 Chapter)
Type-Moon: Reincarnated in a Lostbelt, I Became the Alien God (90 Chapter)
The Way These Horse Girls Look at Me Is Terrifying! (160 Chapter)
Naruto: Tsunade's Deskmate (130 Chapter)
I Just Want to Live a Normal (50 Chapter).
Genshin Impact: A Hundred Confessions? It's Just a System Task (70 Chapter)
OnePiece : Starting as a Veteran of the Roger Pirates (60 Chapter)
Uma Musume : I Have Special Horse Taming Techniques (190 Chapter)
Uma Musume : My other self is a Horse Girl (130 Chapter)
Jujutsu Kaisen : All Affection Stats Maxed Out (200 Chapter)
Satou Kazuma's Decision to Live by Swindling, Starting from Re:Zero (60 Chapter)
Bleach : Ichigo! Take Over the Soul Society (89 Chapter)
Crossover Anime: The Master of Plagiarism with a 'Love Obstacle (140 Chapter)
Arknights Succubus Nurturing System, But I'm a Quiet Office Worker (90 Chapter)
Genshin Impact: Using My Personas to Break the Hearts of Players (50 Chapter)
One Punch Man : i am King? (150 Chapter)
Genshin: My Stats Are Irresistible (70 Chapter)
Naruto: Master of Dream Fulfillment! (70 Chapter)
Why Are All My Chat Group Friends Spin-Off Characters? (123 Chapter)
Arknights : Batman System (30 Chapter)
Chat Group: Swapping Bodies with the Bad-Ending Herta from the Start (72 Chapter)
DanMachi: Why Did My Dungeon Turn Into a Soulslike Game? (92 Chapter)
Losing Money on Uma Musume...What Do You Mean You Actually Won? (93 Chapter)
I'm Gotou Hitori—Who Are You? (40 Chapter)
Were You Ever Even a Uma Musume? Stop Making Things Up! (75 Chapter)
Moon Project: A Full-Time Love Adventure for the Lobotomy Corporation (75 Chapter)
The Leisurely Days of the Hyuga Main House (65 Chapter)
Arknights : A Draco Surviving in a Matriarchal Terra (115 Chapter)
Arknights: What if My Luck Is Too Good? (105 Chapter)
Honkai: The Romance System Only Shows Up After I Marry Mei (55 Chapter)
Arknights: Who Are You Calling Repressed, X?! (105 Chapter)
The Chat Group Only Arrived After I'd Cleared the Game (42 Chapter)
Gojo Satoru Flat-Out Refuses to Admit He's a Supporting Character (40 Chapter)
Chat Group Isn't Supposed to Be Like This! (30 Chapter)
If You're Moriarty…then Who Am I? (56 Chapter)
Uma Musume: Since I "Can't See," They Take Turns Stealing My Underwear (50 Chapter)
Arknights: Why Are All My "Brothers" Girls? (54 Chapter)
Danmachi: Start Training Haki (59 Chapter)
Emiya Shirou's Rebirth (30 Chapter)
I Can Get Stronger Just by AFK'ing—So I Joined a Chat Group (50 Chapter)
Endfield: I Can Always Pull Out One Yuan (54Chapter)
Limbus Company : I Started a Company in Project Moon (50 Chapter)
Lobotomy: Do Cooks of Alley 23 Dream of Bloodfiend Knights? (50 Chapter)
DanMachi: Freya Familia's "One-Blade Shura" (60 Chapter)
DanMachi: Emiya, the Great Hero Becomes the Protagonist (75 Chapter)
TYPE-MOON: One Special Instance Every Week (40 Chapter)
From Danmachi: The Abundance Apothecary (64 Chapter)
Lord Shadow Descends on DanMachi (64 Chapter)
Fuse with Me, Exusiai! (41 Chapter)
Honkai: Star Rail — After I Die, I Forge Their Madness (50 Chapter)
If there's a particular novel you're enjoying on Patron, please give it a 'like' so I know to focus on it