After slumbering for who knew how long, Riezel's consciousness began to return.
As the dream faded away, Riezel could clearly feel himself returning to reality, back to the state of sitting on the train.
It was as if he had been dozing off, his body gently swaying with the movement of the train, the sound of the train whistle becoming clearer in his ears. Everything became real again, unlike in the dream where even the wind and sunlight had no sensation.
However, with the return of sensation and senses coming back, Riezel was surprised to find that his surroundings had drastically changed.
*BOOM!*
A tentacle resembling a meat pillar swung past him, hitting an empty seat and smashing it to pieces.
The once somewhat desolate wooden carriage now resembled the inside of a giant intestine, with wooden walls transformed into fleshy walls from which flesh-like tentacles sprouted and thrashed wildly.
"What the hell?" Riezel looked at the scene with a hint of astonishment.
"Hey! You finally woke up, Bento Boy!"
Just as Riezel felt perplexed, a familiar hearty voice reached his ears.
Not far away, Kyoujurou stood, wielding a Japanese sword known as katana with a black and red blade, fighting off tentacles attacking from all directions.
"Huuu... Haaa..."
Kyoujurou assumed an Iai stance, lowering his body, inhaling a large amount of air, simultaneously breathing and murmuring.
"Flame Breathing - Fourth Form - Blooming Flame Undulation."
Flames erupted from Kyoujurou's sword as he swung it like a windmill, slashing extremely fast in all directions.
In an instant, a vortex of flames appeared in the carriage filled with flesh walls and tentacles, blasting outward with his slash.
*Pu-chi!*
All the incoming tentacles were instantly cut into pieces as if melted by the high temperature of the vortex of flames.
Kyoujurou continued to wield his blazing sword, relentlessly cutting through the attacking tentacles.
*Swish!*
*Swish!*
Even so, the tentacles on the train seemed endless. Just as they were cut off, new ones immediately sprouted from the flesh walls and swarmed toward Kyoujurou.
Just as Kyoujurou was about to counterattack, a silver flash of light passed by at a high speed.
*Pu-chi!*
Although the silver light merely grazed the tentacles, they were immediately shredded into countless pieces as if cut by a cutting machine.
Riezel, holding a bright silver short sword, appeared behind Kyoujurou as if teleporting, his speed too fast for Kyoujurou to react.
Seeing Riezel, Kyoujurou's pupils contracted for a moment before a big smile spread across his face.
"Ohh! Just like Young Mizoguchi, Crying Boy, and Boar-Head Boy said, Bento Boy, you're really something!"
After saying that, Kyoujurou directly exposed his back to Riezel, swiftly slicing through the tentacles that attacked him with a flick of his blazing sword.
Riezel seemed even more relaxed than Kyoujurou, just standing still, casually swinging his sword with fast slashes. Each tentacle that came at him was effortlessly sliced into pieces by the silver light flashing extremely fast.
"What's the situation now?"
Riezel took a moment to ask Kyoujurou behind him.
"Umu! It's not good at all!" Kyoujurou responded straightforwardly. "In short, it seems we've been targeted by the demon hidden on this train since we boarded. When the conductor checked our tickets, we all got ensnared by the demon's Blood Demon Art and ended up in some kind of dream. If Young Mizoguchi hadn't snapped us out of it, things could've gotten messy!"
While everyone was trapped in the dream, Tanjirou was the first to figure out how to break free and return to reality, thereby awakening everyone else.
In truth, the reason everyone was under remote hypnosis was because the tickets were contaminated with demon blood.
Tanjirou managed to burn everyone's ticket, allowing them to wake up except for Riezel. Since Riezel was not truly under the demon's hypnosis, he remained in the dream, causing Kyoujurou to stay and fight the tentacles to protect him.
Without a doubt, this development was almost identical to the original work.
Nevertheless, as Riezel suspected, the demon behind the scenes didn't just tamper with the tickets but also manipulated the entire train.
The reason the train looked grotesque, turning into flesh walls with tentacles everywhere, was that the demon on this Mugen Train had merged with the train itself, turning it into his own body.
In other words, where Riezel and the others were now was not the Mugen Train, but within the demon's body disguised as it.
"It seems the demon wants to devour all two hundred passengers on the train at once, so we decide to split up. Some are going to find that demon and behead them, while others are protecting passengers in other carriages!"
Kyoujurou explained as he pushed forward like a pillar of fire, slashing through countless tentacles all the way, even cutting through several other carriages.
In these carriages, where tentacles were reaching for sleeping passengers, they all turned into meat chunks shattered by Kyoujurou's swift charge and slashes. He continued to charge and slash through several carriages in succession, then in the blink of an eye, turned back like a pillar of fire, his speed leaving people amazed.
"That's it! The situation is very serious!"
Despite saying that, the smile never left Kyoujurou's face, giving off not a hint of tension but rather a feeling of being in complete control.
Seeing this, Riezel responded with a faint smile as well.
With a flicker of his body, he turned into a hurricane, rushing out in an instant, and passing through several carriages.
*Pu-chi!* *Pu-chi!* *Pu-chi!*
Where the hurricane passed, sword lights burst out like a storm, slashing through tentacles reaching for passengers, reducing them to pieces.
In no time, Riezel returned to his original position.
Along the way, not only were the tentacles sliced apart, but even the flesh walls were cut into a bloody mess, temporarily preventing their regeneration.
"Huh?" Kyoujurou's expression changed once again, clearly shocked.
It couldn't be helped, since the strength displayed by Riezel greatly surpassed his imagination. Such strength would undoubtedly qualify him as a Hashira within the Demon Slayer Corps.
No, even as a Hashira, it seemed that Riezel at this moment surpassed even that.
"I told you, didn't I?"
Riezel paid no heed to the surprise he caused Kyoujurou with his performance.
"Fighting a powerful demon while protecting two hundred passengers at the same time is challenging even for you."
"Yeah! I admit my shortcomings!" Kyoujurou nodded in acknowledgment before exclaiming loudly. "But it's alright! No matter what, I will protect everyone here! I won't let anyone die, definitely!"
In the next moment, the flames on Kyoujurou's body suddenly burned even more fiercely. As he prepared to exert himself both mentally and physically, ready to make a desperate effort, Riezel stopped him.
"No need for that..." Riezel said frankly. "We're inside the demon's body, so as long as we stay on this train, we'll be constantly fighting this demon and struggling to protect the passengers inside. Instead of just defending, we should focus on finding a way to evacuate them."
As if understanding Riezel's words, the surrounding flesh walls writhed, immediately sprouting countless tentacles, attacking him.
*Whoosh!*
A silver light suddenly flashed, cutting off all the tentacles in one strike, causing them to fall to the ground.
*BOOM!*
Meanwhile, Kyoujurou once again transformed into a fiery pillar, dashing extremely fast through several carriages, cutting off tentacles one by one, before returning to Riezel's side.
"I understand what you mean, but the train is moving at its fastest speed. How do we evacuate two hundred passengers from here?" Kyoujurou asked, his sword ignited, raising the temperature inside the entire carriage.
"Simple, let's stop the train first."
Riezel answered calmly, swinging countless sword lights to cut off tentacles and flesh walls, then turning his head to Kyoujurou.
"Later, I will stop or even dismantle this train. When that happens, you must evacuate all the passengers as soon as possible. Is that all right?"
"Hmm? Do you have a way to stop this train?" Kyoujurou paused for a moment, then without hesitation, he promised. "No problem! I'll get all the passengers out as soon as the train stops!"
"Good."
After cutting off several tentacles, Riezel turned around, looked at Kyoujurou, and warned.
"Be careful."
"Ouh!" Kyoujurou grinned, without looking back. "You too!"
Riezel smiled softly, then disappeared on the spot.
Feeling Riezel's aura disappear behind him, Kyoujurou's smile grew stronger on his face.
'The journey this time is truly amazing! Getting to know such an outstanding friend, I, Rengoku Kyoujurou, feel deeply honored!'
Inside his mind, Kyoujurou was overjoyed but at the same time, he also felt a bit puzzled.
'But... I can't help but feel that Bento Boy's breathing has changed somehow... What a strange feeling... Maybe just my imagination?'
As Kyoujurou thought like that, tentacles came at him again.
'Umu! Let's focus on completing the mission first!'
Kyoujurou concentrated, pushing away distracting thoughts, enveloped by flames, rushing toward other carriages.
===
*Toot—!*
In the wilderness, atop the railroad tracks, a train sped through the darkness, emitting bursts of steam whistles and the sound of its wheels. However, this train was now covered in flesh walls everywhere, looking somewhat grotesque and nauseating.
"Inosuke! Hurry up!"
At this moment, Tanjirou was running on the roof of the train, shouting at the boar-headed youth beside him as he ran.
"I know! Watch me!"
"Boar Rush!"
Inosuke wielded two saw-like swords, charging recklessly toward the front of the train.
*BOOM!*
However, just then, a figure smashed through the train's wall, leaping onto the heads of the two.
"Eh?"
Tanjirou looked up, astonished.
"Bi-Big Brother?"