"..."
Silence.
A deathly silence.
As the heads of every Upper Rank flew into the air and dropped to the ground one after another, everyone present was stunned by the heart-wrenching scene.
Whether it was Shinobu, who was blown away, or Kyoujurou, who was hiding amidst the debris of the mansion, their eyes were wide open and lost all reaction.
Their minds were blank.
Their hearts stopped.
Engulfed in shock, they couldn't believe what they were seeing.
Especially Shinobu, witnessing Riezel fight against demons for the first time, froze, unable to move.
*Pa—Pa—Pa—*
In the Ubuyashiki Estate, the sound of gravel falling to the ground could still be heard intermittently.
At this moment, the estate had already collapsed completely under the catastrophic thunderstorm, with not a single intact spot left to be found.
However, not only was the Ubuyashiki Estate affected, but the surrounding area was as well.
It was either blasted into huge craters by the relentless thunder or shattered into fragments by the onslaught of hurricanes. Combined with the destructive sound waves, shockwaves, blood-red blades, and razor-sharp sashes, within a radius of several hundred meters, there was surely not a single intact scenery left.
Even the forests near the estate had collapsed over a vast area, the ground seemed to have been thinly shaved, presenting a desolate scene of upturned soil, resembling a piece of undeveloped wasteland.
As scenes reminiscent of post-disaster aftermath unfolded, they were ultimately shattered by screams that pierced the sky.
"IT HURTS! IT HURTS, IT HURTS, IT HURTS, IT HURRRTTTSSS—!"
"Why does it hurt so much?!"
"Impossible! It can't be?!"
"Ca-Can't regenerate!"
Urogi, Sekido, Aizetsu, and Karaku screamed as their heads fell to the ground, rolling in agony, seeming to be in great pain. Their headless bodies also collapsed, unable to split or regenerate, as if suppressed by some mysterious power, causing flames to flicker at their severed necks, burning them.
Not long after, another round of incomparably painful screams echoed.
"HO-HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?!"
Gyokko, whose head was protected by scales harder than diamonds, was also beheaded and rolled to the ground, experiencing both pain and disbelief.
'Three Upper Ranks... seven of us... all beheaded in a split second... in just one strike?!'
Gyokko couldn't believe it and didn't want to believe it.
Clearly, their opponent was just one human.
Clearly, the Upper Ranks present were demons with survival capabilities stronger than even Akaza's.
Yet, such a group of demons, working together, were defeated in an instant?
Not to mention Gyokko, even Gyuutarou and Daki screamed in shock.
"Stop joking... STOP JOKIIING—!"
Gyuutarou's nervous expression and aura of death in his eyes had changed, turning into hysteria.
"Our heads... not only mine... but also my little sister's... in an instant... by a mere human?! Impossible!"
He certainly understood the severity of the situation.
The fact that his and his younger sister's heads were both cut off together meant only one thing.
They were going to die.
"Big Brother! Big Brother! Think of something quickly! Think of something!" Daki seemed to realize her fate and finally broke down. "I don't want to die! I don't want to die!"
Hearing his younger sister's breakdown into loud sobs twisted Gyuutarou's face with anguish.
But what could he do? He was also helpless.
Unfortunately for them, times had changed.
Not only had the current Riezel evolved Sun Breathing and acquired his own Nichirin Sword, but he had also awakened a new skill, making him completely different from when he fought Akaza last time.
His new Hermit was created from a gemstone containing the purest essence of Scarlet Crimson Iron Sands and Scarlet Ores in large quantities, resulting in a qualitative change in the sunlight energy within, making it far more lethal to demons than ordinary Nichirin Swords.
Therefore, any demon slashed by Hermit, even if not beheaded, would disintegrate as if exposed to sunlight for too long.
On top of that, with the emergence of the 'Pioneer of the Sun', Riezel gained special attack capability against evil entities, possessing the power to restrain them, resulting in not only the suppression of the demon's regenerative ability but also a significant increase in the damage they received.
Coupled with Riezel's 'Sun Halo Dragon Head Dance', which not only caused intense pain akin to being burned by flames of the sun but also temporarily suppressed their regenerative ability, the demons beheaded by him could no longer stand up.
It was an attack that occurred within a second—from the moment the fire dragon danced out, the fate of these demons was already sealed!
Kagaya was the first to realize this fact.
*Cough!* *Cough!*
The sudden surge of excitement caused Kagaya to cough violently, even coughing up blood.
"Master!"
Only then did Kyoujurou react, quickly supporting Kagaya's body.
However, Kagaya paid no attention to his own body, instead grabbing Kyoujurou's hand tightly, with great strength.
"Did you see it? Did you see it?! Kyoujurou!" Kagaya's voice trembled. "In an instant... it was just an instant... even multiple Hashira couldn't stand up against an Upper Rank, and yet they got beheaded in an instant... seven of them!"
His excitement even made his tone incoherent.
Of course, Kyoujurou saw it.
It was because he saw it that he could understand why Kagaya was so excited.
The formidable Upper Ranks, the most powerful demons capable of overwhelming even several Hashira single-handedly, the nightmares of humanity who had lived for hundreds of years, and the nightmares of the Demon Slayer Corps, were now unable to withstand even a single move from Riezel.
Judging by their appearance, they seemed unable to regenerate, unable to recover.
In Kyoujurou's eyes, this was simply too unreal—so unreal that even he, who had witnessed a similar scene in the Mugen Train incident, still found it hard to believe.
If Kyoujurou felt this way, then so should Shinobu.
"In just an instant..."
Shinobu lay next to the fragments of the courtyard wall, her eyes filled with wonder as she watched the figure engulfed in flames.
In the Ubuyashiki Estate, now transformed into a scene of devastation, only the hysterical angry howls and the agonizing screams of the demons remained, telling others that this was not a dream.
Before long, the bodies and heads of these demons began to turn into flying ash, gradually dispersing.
"Big Brother... Big... Brother..."
Daki, the weakest among them, disappeared first, amidst a chorus of loud crying, turning into ashes.
"!!!"
Watching his younger sister gradually disappear, Gyuutarou stared dumbfounded and seemed to yell something, but as his sister completely disappeared into ashes, he ceased his yelling and wailing.
As if he had lost the most precious thing in his life, Gyuutarou stared blankly in the direction where his younger sister had disappeared before closing his eyes and also turning into ashes.
"Ahh... My body is disappearing... Am I going to die? Why? Why so fast?" Gyokko was still unwilling to accept this reality.
Perhaps it was due to Riezel's 'Pioneer of the Sun', or perhaps it was because of the abundant sunlight energy contained within Hermit. Upper Ranks who shouldn't have vanished so quickly and could have persisted for a considerable amount of time seemed to be dying at an astonishing speed.
"I still have so many artworks to complete... How could I die here... How could—"
Gyokko muttered for a moment, then remembered something and cast his frantic gaze toward Kagaya.
"At least... At least I should take someone from the Ubuyashiki family..."
It was Gyokko's last flicker of resistance.
The task given by Muzan was two—first, investigate Tsugikuni Yoriichi and kill him, and second, bring back the heads of the Ubuyashikis.
Dealing with Riezel, Gyokko didn't even dare to consider. But if it was Kagaya, he felt compelled to drag this weak human down with him before he died, no matter what.
However, as Gyokko began to entertain such thoughts, he realized that someone was standing before him.
Riezel, wielding Hermit, appeared before Gyokko at some point, towering over him. After a moment of silence, Riezel lowered his head and whispered something in Gyokko's ear.
Surprisingly, the whisper made Gyokko's eyes widen in fear as he looked into Riezel's eyes.
Before dying, this Upper Five seemed to foresee something. He foresaw the scene where his supreme king would engage in a full-scale war with the monster before him.
With such foresight, such fear, Gyokko finally turned into a gust of flying ash, dissipating completely.
As for the four clone demons of Hantengu, they had already disappeared, disappearing even faster than Gyokko, as if deliberately fleeing, deliberately escaping this hellish place.
With this, all the Upper Ranks who attacked the headquarters of the Demon Slayer Corps were gone.
Riezel had truly accomplished it.
Just as in his declaration to the Upper Ranks earlier, he could truly deal with all of them.
"They all dead...?" Kyoujurou murmured subconsciously.
However, little did he know, Riezel heard it and responded while shaking his head.
"No, one should have escaped."
Riezel's unexpected words left everyone stunned.
===
Near the headquarters of the Demon Slayer Corps, next to the town.
In a dark corner, a demon, small enough to fit in the palm of a hand, suddenly appeared.
With long horns on his head and a face like a scared old man, it was unmistakably Hantengu.
In truth, this was Hantengu's true form, the Upper Four himself.
Kyoujurou would never have imagined that, although Hantengu seemed to have split into four, in reality, those four clones were in the end just, clones.
Hantengu's true body had always been hiding in the shadows, so no matter how many times the clones' heads were cut off, they could regenerate and split again.
Only by beheading the true body could Hantengu be eliminated.
However, Hantengu's true body had always lurked in the shadows, never appearing on the battlefield.
Hantengu should have been grateful.
Had he not been absent from the battlefield, even if he had become so small, hiding in the corner, Riezel would have been able to find him using the Transparent World.
When the four clone demons representing Hantengu's pleasure, anger, sorrow, and joy appeared at the Ubuyashiki Estate, Riezel realized that Hantengu had already split. He attempted to find Hantengu's true body using the Transparent World, but unfortunately, he couldn't locate it.
As a result, Hantengu escaped unscathed.
Even so, instead of feeling relief and happiness at still being alive, he felt only extreme fear, akin to facing his king.
"It's scary... too scary..."
Hantengu shuddered, overwhelmed by fear.
"I must escape!"
Thinking of that human swordsman wrapped in flames, who resembled a demon more than the demons themselves, his innermost feelings were completely dominated by fear.
In no time, Hantengu began to flee frantically.