Demon Slayer: Rise of the Third Brother-Chapter 132: Shinobu’s Way of Killing Demons

After announcing Kocho Kanae as a Hashira and redistributing the territories, this session of the Hashira Meeting came to a smooth conclusion.
Hiru no longer needed Ubuyashiki Kagaya’s persuasion. After having his body checked, he departed of his own accord.
This time, during the Final Selection, he encountered two familiar faces—familiar enough, at least.
One was Kanae’s younger sister, Kocho Shinobu. The other was Shinjuro’s son, Rengoku Kyojuro.
Because of his connections to Mikazuki Reima and Shinjuro, Hiru followed the two of them into the mountains during the examination.
Kyojuro was a child of great talent and boundless enthusiasm. While slaying demons, he also rescued people along the way, earning no shortage of heartfelt gratitude.
Shinobu, on the other hand, clearly struggled in direct combat. Many times, she came dangerously close to being killed by demons. Yet her unique fighting style still broadened Hiru’s horizons.
In addition to the Nichirin Blade she carried, Shinobu also had a dagger.
Whenever a demon blocked or restrained her Nichirin sword, she would pull out that dagger—no one ever knew where she had hidden it—and viciously stab it straight into the demon’s eye socket.
While the demon screamed in agony, she would reclaim her Nichirin sword, drive it through the demon’s spine, and then sever its head.
At other times, she would endure being bitten just to force a pouch of medicine into the demon’s mouth, then stand there and watch as it slowly rotted away, a look of exhilaration spreading across her face.
All in all, it was a terrifying combat style, and not ladylike in the slightest.
“Completely different sisters…”
After observing for two days and finally feeling reassured, Hiru returned to the cabin halfway up the mountain to wait for the results.
Once he received the s, Hiru had no intention of lingering. After congratulating Kyojuro and Shinobu on passing the examination, and exchanging greetings with Hinaki and Nichika, he set off with Kitaro to find Yoriichi.
Meanwhile, Yoriichi had already headed to Akita’s Ugo Town. After killing so many demons along the way that he could no longer remember the number, he finally found the demon Sabito had mentioned—the one capable of throwing a person’s senses into disarray.
The demon had the appearance of a child and wore theatrical costume robes. When Yoriichi discovered it, it had just finished eating a human and was about to return to its hiding place.
“You people again! Why do you keep hounding me like this?!”
The childlike demon still had blood at the corner of its mouth as it glared at Yoriichi with hatred.
“I only come out to eat people when I’m hungry! And I deliberately pick old people with no family, whose flesh is tough and tasteless!
“Can’t you just treat it as them dying of illness or old age?! So many people die every year because of natural disasters and human calamities—why do you insist on interfering with me over and over again?!”
“Interfering?”
Yoriichi did not move to attack right away.
“Life grows ill. Life grows old. Life is wounded. Life fades away… For the living beings of this world, merely surviving is already difficult. You, who can so easily take the lives of others—on what grounds do you say that I am interfering with you?”
“I’m not human anymore!” the demon shouted. “If I don’t eat, I’ll starve to death! Who would want to die?! And didn’t I already say it?!
“I’ve been choosing elderly people who have almost no nutritional value, who only serve to fill my stomach! They have no family, no ties—other than waiting at home to die, they can’t contribute anything to society anymore!
“If that’s the case, isn’t being eaten by me a perfectly good choice?! At least it lets me live! Does becoming a demon mean I’m not allowed to choose to live anymore?!”
The childlike demon wiped the blood from the corner of its mouth.
“If you ask me, you slayer types are the truly hypocritical ones! You’re the ones who came looking for trouble first, and in the end you pin everything on demons, claiming we slaughter Demon Slayer Corps members… Meddlesome people dying is only natural, isn’t it?!”
Yoriichi did not get angry. He simply nodded calmly.
“…I see. So this is how demons are supposed to think.”
“Huh?”
“When faced with natural disasters, humans change their environment to preserve stability. When faced with man-made calamities, humans establish laws to enforce punishment…”
Yoriichi slowly drew his Nichirin Blade.
“Perhaps, as you say, demons too have their reason for existing. But to humans, demons are no different from wild beasts. If they cannot be tamed, then to ensure our own survival, the only choice left is extermination.”
As the words “Destroy Evil Demons” carved into the Nichirin Blade came into view, the child demon took a step back.
“What’s wrong with you?! You understood what I said, didn’t you?! You agreed with my reasoning, didn’t you?! There are plenty of demons far worse than me out there—why kill me instead of them?!”
“If I encounter them, I will naturally kill them.”
“You’re impossible to reason with!”
The child demon’s expression twisted into ferocity, its pupils transforming into dangerous vertical slits in an instant.
“You asked for this! Blood Demon Art: Confusion!”
Yoriichi’s movements halted. He stopped where he stood, the hand gripping his scabbard dropping limply.
“An interesting Blood Demon Art.”
“Hmph~ Stopping might be the wise choice, but I won’t leave it at that! Do you have any idea what kind of life I’ve lived just to avoid you people?! You ungrateful fools!
“So many people commit suicide every year—they don’t even value their own lives, so why should I value them?!
“And all that talk about exterminating evil demons—where were you when I was attacked by a demon and turned into one myself?! You never came to save me! What right do you have to condemn me?!”
Yoriichi calmly watched the enraged child demon as he flexed his fingers. The movements of his knuckles, initially irregular, gradually fell into sync. After repeatedly opening and closing his hand a few times, he stepped forward again, showing no sign of being affected at all.
“My Blood Demon Art didn’t work? That’s impossible!”
The child demon panicked.
“Blood Demon Art: Confusion!”
This time, Yoriichi merely slowed his steps slightly before continuing to approach.
“Although it is called Confusion, it still follows a pattern. With minimal testing, that pattern can be confirmed. And once confirmed, your Blood Demon Art is essentially useless in combat. Fundamentally, all you interfere with are the signals issued by the mind—not the body itself.”
“Confusion! Confusion! Confusion!!”
“I regret that I was unable to save you when you became a demon,” Yoriichi said, switching to a two-handed grip and lowering his head slightly.
“If reincarnation truly exists, then please vent your resentment upon me then. But for now, I have a reason why I must kill you.”
“Who would want to die like this?! If you push me too far, I really will kill you!”
The child demon’s tone was fierce, yet fear had already crept into its eyes.
【Run. I have to run. This isn’t like that flesh-colored-haired Demon Slayer from before—this man can really kill me. I’ve lived in the mountains all this time. As long as I control the route, I can—】
“You really think you can do it? Admirable courage.”
“Gyaaaah—!” The sudden voice from behind made the child demon leap three meters into the air. It landed on a tree branch and stared at the newcomer in shock.
“Who are you supposed to be?!”
“Me?”
Hiru tilted his head toward Yoriichi, then looked back at the demon perched in the tree.
“I’m his younger brother.”