Seeing her in person was clearly much better than in the anime or manga.
Shinobu Kocho's graceful figure and beautiful face made Lexon exclaim in admiration in his heart.
Most important was the addition of her gentle temperament, which fostered a great deal of affinity.
"Is there something you need?"
After realizing that the Insect Hashira was the one who had taken over for the Flame Hashira to guard the headquarters, Lexon thought to himself as he asked the question.
'A woman... it's not easy to sign in...'
In Lexon's view, signing in on a female Hashira was clearly much more troublesome than a male one. After all, touching a girl was a bit more difficult than touching a boy.
'I'll just continue signing in on Gyokko...'
"My name is Shinobu Kocho. The Master asked me to come and see the demon you captured alive."
Shinobu Kocho smiled faintly.
Before she came, Kagaya Ubuyashiki had specifically instructed her on many things, one of which was to treat Lexon as an equal as much as possible and to be polite.
'Ah...'
Lexon suddenly remembered that Shinobu Kocho's main profession was also a doctor, and she usually researched things related to demons.
For example, because her strength was insufficient to cut off a demon's head, she would extract a fatal poison for demons from plants they feared, like wisteria flowers, and coat her blade with it.
Even more, in order to kill the Upper Rank Two who had murdered her sister, she was already in the process of transforming her own body into a "wisteria body," planning to take him down with her if she couldn't defeat him in a future encounter.
However, because her body had absorbed too much wisteria sap, she didn't have much time left to live either.
"Alright," Lexon replied and led Shinobu Kocho into the hall.
"Where is the demon? Where?" Shinobu looked left and right but didn't see a demon.
Lexon pointed to the silent, closed-eyed, and gaudily painted head of Gyokko planted in a flowerpot and said, "Right there."
Shinobu followed his pointed finger, and when she saw Gyokko's current state, even her calm and gentle face couldn't help but twitch.
She briefly sensed the aura.
'It really is a living demon, and according to the Master, a member of the powerful Upper Ranks... but to be treated like this...'
"I'll be taking him with me now, Mr. Lexon."
Shinobu said politely.
Hearing this, Lexon frowned. "Can't you study him here?"
"Please understand, the research equipment is over at the Butterfly Mansion," Shinobu explained, hearing the reluctance in Lexon's voice.
"You can take him, but I need to go with you," Lexon said.
"Why, Mr. Lexon?"
"Because if I'm not near this guy, he'll run."
"I won't let him run away. You can rest assured, Mr. Lexon," Shinobu said with a gentle smile.
"No, he will run away," Lexon did not change his opinion because of Shinobu's promise.
"I am a Hashira, you know... Mr. Lexon," Shinobu placed her hand on the Nichirin Sword at her waist, indicating that she was very strong.
"A Hashira is not enough," Lexon said calmly, completely unmoved.
Shinobu's strength was not considered strong among the nine Hashira.
Moreover, Gyokko could be said to be a demon with whom she was extremely incompatible. If she were to face Gyokko, with her feeble strength, she couldn't even dream of breaking through the defense of his tough, scaly skin.
Hearing Lexon's words, the smile on Shinobu's face gradually faded.
Whenever Shinobu got angry, her face would become expressionless, and this was one of those times.
As a member of the Hashira, she naturally had her confidence and pride. But at this moment, Lexon's words and actions were like a direct challenge to her.
This woman, Shinobu, was not some magnanimous and forgiving person.
"Then would you like to try, Mr. Lexon?"
And so, she spoke words that were somewhat provocative.
Although Lexon had captured an Upper Rank alive, the current generation of Hashira had never seen an Upper Rank, so they naturally couldn't understand the meaning behind the four words "captured an Upper Rank alive."
And Lexon wouldn't go out of his way to boast about the strength of an Upper Rank to indirectly highlight his own.
So although Shinobu knew that the Upper Ranks were powerful, she still felt that she wouldn't lose.
"There's no need for that much trouble."
Lexon walked to the flowerpot, suddenly pulled out Gyokko's head, and threw it at Shinobu.
"Try hitting it with your full strength."
His sudden action was unexpected by Shinobu, but she still drew her Nichirin Sword out of instinct.
Shinobu's Nichirin Sword had a four-leaf-shaped tsuba, a green hilt, and a long, slender blade with a barb at the tip.
It was a special Nichirin Sword forged just for her.
To prove her strength, Shinobu attacked.
She circulated her Insect Breathing, and the tip of her blade suddenly lunged forward in a thrust.
"Dance of the Butterflies: Frolic."
This was a surprise thrusting technique.
Although Shinobu's swinging strength was weak, the force of her thrust was extremely powerful. Furthermore, its speed was even faster than the Water Breathing, Seventh Form: Drop Ripple Thrust.
"Clang!"
But when the tip of the blade touched the scaly skin on Gyokko's face, it made the sound of metal clashing. The force transmitted from the blade sent Gyokko's head flying into a wall.
On the scales where Gyokko had been struck, there were only some white dots. Shinobu's attack hadn't broken his defense at all.
"Do you understand now?" Lexon walked over, picked up Gyokko's head, and said slowly, "Don't be fooled by his dead-demon appearance. In reality, he can completely regenerate his entire body in an instant. If he gets far away from me, even if he's somewhat weakened, no one will be able to stop him from escaping."
"In that case, we can only have Mr. Lexon come with us. The Butterfly Mansion also has spare rooms," Shinobu now understood that she alone could not prevent this demon's escape.
'If I can't even break its defense, and my greatest asset, poison, can't easily enter its body, how can I even fight when I'm so completely countered?'
"Okay."
To Lexon, it was all the same where he lived; there was no difference.
As long as he could sign in.
That's right. Letting Gyokko run was perhaps a secondary concern. The important thing was that if he wasn't near Gyokko, he couldn't sign in.
However, if he went to the Butterfly Mansion, he might have a chance to sign in on the Insect Hashira.
Lexon casually grabbed a few things and went with Shinobu to her residence, a place called the Butterfly Mansion.
In truth, the Butterfly Mansion was less of a residence and more of a logistical organization within the Demon Slayer Corps. It was a medical facility managed by the Insect Hashira, Shinobu Kocho, and served as a place to provide treatment and rehabilitation for injured members.
The nursing staff in the Butterfly Mansion were mostly Demon Slayer Corps members who lacked talent in swordsmanship.
The appearance of the Butterfly Mansion was in no way inferior to the headquarters.
After walking through the main gate of the Butterfly Mansion, a twin-tailed girl wearing a butterfly hairpin came out and bowed to Shinobu.
"Lady Shinobu, welcome back."
"I'm back," Shinobu replied with a smile. "This is Mr. Lexon of the Demon Slayer Corps. He will be staying here for a few days. Please arrange a room for him."
"Yes, Lady Shinobu," the twin-tailed girl nodded respectfully, then said to Lexon, "Hello, my name is Aoi Kan. Please follow me."
Then Shinobu took Gyokko away to study him, while Aoi Kan led Lexon to an empty room.
"If you need anything, please let me know," after saying this, Aoi Kan hurriedly left, likely having a patient to attend to.
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]