Not far from the town, in the outskirts.
A young girl in a Demon Slayer uniform, with black hair and purple eyes, wearing a butterfly hairpin, was dodging attacks clumsily.
She was covered in wounds, her clothes and the butterfly-patterned haori she was wearing were soaked in blood.
Around her lay several corpses, also in Demon Slayer uniforms. They died gruesomely, seemingly having suffered extremely cruel attacks before their deaths.
“Cough, cough——”
Kocho Shinobu held the Nichirin sword in her hand and managed to stand up.
She stared intently at the young man not much older than her, with seven-colored pupils and white hair, in the distance.
Upper Rank Two · Douma.
She never imagined that a simple demon slaying mission could lead her to encounter the second-ranked demon in the Twelve Kizuki!
The entire Demon Slayer Corps had practically no chance of fighting back and was quickly slaughtered.
“Come, be liberated, ascend to the Pure Land with me.”
Douma spread his arms in a gesture of embrace.
While his expression seemed compassionate, it held a hint of evil.
“Who wants to go to your Pure Land?!”
Kocho Shinobu coughed up a mouthful of blood, looking at the inky darkness in the distance.
If she could hold on until dawn, maybe there would be a glimmer of hope.
Demons fear the sun and can only move at night.
However, based on the current situation, she couldn't hold on for even a moment.
“Is that so?…”
“How boring. Once you die, you'll vanish into nothingness, feeling nothing.”
“But if our flesh becomes one, you can achieve eternal life, you know.”
Douma walked slowly towards her.
Becoming one meant devouring her, literally. As a demon, he enjoyed consuming humans.
“No…”
Kocho Shinobu gritted her teeth, stood up, and assumed a combat stance, ready for a final stand.
Suddenly.
Buzz——
A buzzing sound came from the sky.
“What is that?”
Douma remembered that the people in this village were either eaten or killed by him. Where could there be living people around?
They both looked up.
Buzz——Buzz——
Three single-wing propeller planes circled above them.
“???”
The Demon Slayer world at this time had not even touched upon airplane technology.
Neither Douma nor Kocho Shinobu could comprehend this mechanical "iron bird" circling in the sky.
They could only gaze at the sky with confusion.
Da-da-da-da——
After locking onto their target, the three planes immediately swooped down on Douma. The machine guns on the reconnaissance planes fired at him, the large-caliber bullets shattering the wooden houses nearby.
Along with kicking up a cloud of dust on the ground.
Pffft——
Douma never expected that after all these years of fighting the Demon Slayer Corps on the ground, one day he would face an air strike.
This is insane, he thought. Well, he was a demon after all.
“What is this…”
Kocho Shinobu sat on the ground, bewildered, watching the planes in the air.
“Prototype carrier-based fighter BF-109G.”
Lu Chen answered.
“!”
She was startled. She realized that there were several people around her, appearing out of thin air.
They all wore black and red uniforms. The leader was a young man, followed by five beautiful young women.
“They're so beautiful…”
Kocho Shinobu was momentarily stunned, then shook her head.
“No, no, no… Who are you?…”
“Demon Slayer Corps? … No, the Shogunate?…”
From their uniform, Shinobu guessed that Lu Chen and his companions belonged to some organization.
If not the Demon Slayer Corps, then it had to be the Shogunate.
“Neither.”
Lu Chen helped Shinobu to her feet.
He surveyed her and the surrounding environment.
The time he had traveled to was curious. It was a couple of years earlier than the beginning of the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba storyline, even before Muzan went to wipe out the Tanjiro family.
The advantage was that he could save more people from the demons. The problem was, who knew where Muzan was hiding.
On the other hand.
After the dust settled.
Click——Click——
Douma slowly crawled up from the ground.
He adjusted his head and mechanically moved his limbs.
He glared at Lu Chen and his companions.
Despite being hit directly by the airplane machine guns and looking miserable, as a demon, he still had superhuman healing abilities and physical prowess.
“Die.”
Douma said softly.
He didn't want to ponder where these people came from.
As a demon, his greatest pleasure was eating people.
Literally eating them, stuffing their flesh into his belly.
Kocho Shinobu looked kind and cute. She should taste good.
The other girls looked even prettier. They would surely bring him greater satisfaction.
Click——
He clasped his hands together, immediately unleashing his ultimate move.
“Blood Demon Art · Ice Mist · Sleeping Lotus Bodhisattva!”
Boom——
A giant ice man, about ten meters tall, rose behind him, shaped like a bodhisattva with clasped hands.
His entire body was made of ice, and the surrounding air immediately dropped by several degrees.
Hiss——
Shinobu shivered suddenly. She knew that Douma was skilled in ice-based Blood Demon Arts, but she never imagined that he had such a stunning move.
Just the cold air emanating from the Sleeping Lotus Bodhisattva made her uncomfortable. If she got any closer, even the blood in her body would freeze.
The terrifying power of Upper Rank Two was beyond imagination.
“You go for a big move right away… You're pretty resourceful.”
Lu Chen looked up at the Sleeping Lotus Bodhisattva. With his mental power greatly enhancing his physique, he didn't feel any discomfort.
It was just a little bit cold.
“Richelieu, take care of him.”
“Understood.”
Click——
Richelieu took a step forward, manifesting her ship armament.
A silver turret, adorned with gold trim, looked noble and holy.
Two quadruple main guns were pointed directly at Douma in the distance.
The Sleeping Lotus Bodhisattva was almost ten times taller than Richelieu, but she didn't seem to care, her expression calm and composed.
“Be careful! Guns won't work on him!”
“Only the Nichirin sword can kill a demon by decapitation!!!”
Based on her experience, Shinobu kindly reminded them. She didn't know what kind of technique that big sister was using.
But judging by the structure of her armament, she guessed it was some kind of firearm.
“Those aren't guns, they are naval guns.”
Lu Chen corrected her.
“Huh?”
Shinobu was dumbfounded.
Boom——Boom——Boom——
The quadruple 380mm main guns fired simultaneously.
The shells were only the size of a fist when they left the barrel, but they grew into real high-explosive shells as they flew through the air, hitting the Sleeping Lotus Bodhisattva.
Boom——
The shockwave from the explosion practically leveled the village.
When engaging in naval combat, the Richelieu-class battleships' main guns could penetrate the armor of a similar class battleship at 20 kilometers.
The high-explosive shells had a charge of over 70 kilograms, enough to destroy any ground fortifications.
With the enhancement of his mental power, the power was even greater.
The Sleeping Lotus Bodhisattva summoned by Douma clearly couldn't match a battleship's defenses.
The moment the explosion hit, the ice bodhisattva was blown to pieces. Douma didn't even have time to react before being swallowed by the thousands of degrees of hot air.
“Aaahhhh!!!”
A scream came from afar.
Boom——
The hot air flow created a fire tornado in place, rising into the sky, almost illuminating half of the night sky.
It gradually dissipated after several minutes.
All that remained on the ground was a crater about ten meters deep.
“…”
Shinobu felt a sense of daze.
She had never seen anything so exaggerated.
Was it magic? Or a weapon? Was this human technology?
The formidable Upper Rank Two, who had just summoned such a large Sleeping Lotus Bodhisattva, was instantly defeated?!
“Um… what about Douma?”
She asked cautiously.
“He should be all over the place, sky, earth, everywhere.”
Lu Chen looked around and answered casually.
...
(Pictured: Kocho Shinobu)