Following a blood trial, she came to the house at the entrance of the village while sending her Kasugai crow to report what's happened there.
As Kanae walked deep into the village, she encountered a tall, imposing man in the passageway. He exuded a menacing aura despite the ever-present smile on his face while his hands held folded-up fans.
"Oh! A girl? You look young and tasty!" His rainbow eyes glanced at the flower hashira's form eagerly, without a single ounce of shame.
His mouth was streaked with blood, he was standing beside a pile of women's corpses, most of them were dead.
Looking at the corpses of young girls and women, Kanae raged as her eyes turned cold. Gripping her katana, she looked at the demon.
"Hi there! Nice to meet you! My name is Doma. A nice night, huh?" Doma cheerfully introduced himself.
"Help...me!" Among the pile of corpses, a young girl sprang alive and begged Kanae to help her as she started running forward.
"Shh! I'm talking, right?" Saying this, Doma waved his fan at the young girl, but Kanae was extremely quick on her steps and saved the young girl.
But, blood spewed from the young girl's throat revealing a cut.
"You are fast but missed by a bit. You should be a Hashira. I am going to enjoy devouring you. Don't worry, you will be with me forever."
"You make me sick!" Kanae uttered and used her breathing technique, 'Flower Breathing, Fourth Form: Crimson Hanagoromo.'
With a quick speed, she reached the demon and unleashed a powerful slash with all her strength. Her slash was quick, and graceful with twists and curves.
Her target is the demon's head. She knew it was Upper Moon Rank - 2 demon, but she wanted to take this chance and end the battle right here if it was possible.
He took a step back without any seriousness, letting the sword cut his shoulder deep. It recovered in an instant!
"Oh my! You are so strong!" Doma exclaimed while clapping his hands, but he froze up mid-clap and put a finger on his bottom lip, thinking of something.
"Girl, you are so rude! You haven't properly introduced yourself." He appeared angry.
Without caring about his exaggerated expression and words, Kanae charged and attacked again. This time, she used 'Fifth Form: Peonies of Futility'.
At the right distance, she unleashed a flurry of nine consecutive sword swings that flowed and weaved in on themselves.
Doma avoided the strikes with ease, smiling and commenting, "Your attacks are pretty. Show me your other forms!", he used his Blood Demon Art: Barren Hanging Garden.
Kanae barely fends off with her Flower Breathing, Second Form: Honorable Shadow Plum. Several rotating sword slashes deflected the ice shards.
"It's rude to not answer when asked. You know it's pointless, you can't defeat me. Why don't you give up?" He showed a grinning smile while waving his fan.
"My name's Kanae Kocho! Flower Hashira. As a Hashira, it's my duty to slay the demons. If I give up, who will protect the innocents from demons like you?" Kanae's eyes showed the determination to die.
He pouted "Well, if you say so Kanae-chan. I'm going to enjoy absorbing your body when we're done with this pointless fight."
Kanae knows she may die today because no Hashira has ever defeated the Upper Moon for centuries. She wasn't that arrogant to think she could slay one.
If possible, she wants to delay until sunrise. She wasn't afraid of death but at the same time, she didn't want to leave her sister alone in the world.
Doma who was passive till now, took action. At a speed too quick for the eye to process, he charged at Kanae while waving his fan.
Kanae jumped back, dodging Doma's attack. In mid-air, she spun around and delivered a series of powerful slashes using her body weight.
'Freezing Clouds' Doma waved his fan, creating a large wave of cold wind. With another wave of his fan, he scattered the cold wind around.
The wind was cold enough to freeze the surroundings. As the technique had a long reach, it affected Kanae by freezing her sword and some parts of her hair.
If she hadn't reacted quickly, she would have turned into an icicle by now. 'He's strong!'
Just now she discovered, that her breathing was getting disorderly. 'It's the cold. I shouldn't breathe in too much, otherwise, it will prove fatal!'
--
Just as Kanae and Doma were fighting, Ryou who arrived shortly after Kanae watched the battle from a distance by masking his presence and body.
'She's good, better than Shinobu of the future. Not reckless. Her breathing forms are perfect and she's intelligent enough to stall for time.' Ryou mused.
'But against Doma, she has no chance. He's simply playing with his prey so that he can enjoy better.' Ryou played countless battle strategies in his mind.
Kanae survives till now because she's a girl. If he intervenes it's a different matter. The Upper Moon will try to eliminate him at the fastest time possible for interrupting his play.
'There's still time for sunrise. Since she survived in the original work, it's not a problem.' Ryou lay in wait for the right opportunity and time.
--
Fifteen minutes passed,
With top-notch evasive maneuvers and quick steps, Kanae managed to avoid Doma's attacks and inflicted deep wounds on him. But, everything is for naught.
As an Upper Moon demon, his recovery ability is on another level. He recovered from all the attacks at finger-snapping speed.
On the other hand, Doma was slowly getting frustrated by Kanae's evading strategy. He wants her complete body, it's the reason why he hadn't used his entire strength.
But, he's losing his patience as his attacks slowly grew deadlier while his Blood demon art increased in power.
Evading Kanae's powerful slash, 'Scattering Lotuses', Doma swung his fan creating a blizzard of long-ranged razor-sharp ice shards shaped like lotus petals.
Blood splashed! Kanae failed to completely block his attacks. Her shoulder and leg were injured while blood flowed from her wounds drenching her haori.
She started panting with exhaustion as the cold affected her breathing. It prevented her from exploding with a hundred percent of her strength.
Kanae narrowed her eyes while she maintained the Total Concentrating Breathing: Constant with difficulty. 'Maybe this is it for me...One last time...I should at least bring this Demon with me to Hell!'
Putting every ounce of her strength into the attack, Kanae performed her Flower Breathing, First Form: Withering Rose.