The poison coursed through Karina's veins like wildfire, yet it no longer frightened her. Every heartbeat echoed the memory of European failure—the crushing weight of defeat, the lingering sting of inadequacy—but now, that memory transformed into fuel. Her violet eyes flared, the Arcane energy around her pulsing in resonance with her sharpened focus.
Gyutaro's daggers lunged once more, each strike precise, imbued with lethal venom and centuries of skill. Karina pivoted effortlessly, Mirage Blade arcs refracting his assault, distorting perception and creating impossible angles of defense. Every strike was a calculated deflection, every motion a statement of mastery born from trauma.
Her breath steadied, body moving in perfect synchrony with her Arcane Breathing. Pain, poison, and exhaustion fused into clarity. Now, she thought. It is time to awaken.
A surge of Arcane energy erupted from her core, violet light pulsating and bending the very shadows around her. The air shimmered with fractured reality, and the world seemed to slow, every heartbeat magnified. The poison's bite became inconsequential, diluted in the overwhelming force of her will and precision.
Karina's blade became an extension of perception itself. Every Mirage Blade arc fractured reality, turning Gyutaro's attacks against him. The poisoned daggers sliced through illusions she generated, but now those illusions became weapons, reflecting his strikes, magnifying their impact, and distorting his awareness.
Her muscles tensed, her senses heightened beyond human limits. The Arcane Breathing she had refined through years of discipline, honed by European failure, and sharpened in the Entertainment District now reached a level previously unseen. Arcane – Awakening Form.
Gyutaro's eyes widened, recognizing the shift. "Impossible… he—she—cannot…" His voice faltered as Karina's presence became overwhelming, every movement precise yet unpredictable, each strike faster than thought.
Tanjiro and Inosuke noticed immediately, awe and concern mingling in their expressions. Tengen's stance hardened, recognizing that the variable—the foreign slayer—had surpassed even his expectations. Karina was no longer reacting. She was dictating the battlefield.
With a single, fluid motion, she unleashed a barrage of Mirage Blade arcs, each strike a controlled distortion of reality. Gyutaro staggered, his poison-laced daggers striking shadows rather than flesh. Every attempt to predict or anticipate her movements failed. She was the eye of the storm, the variable that could not be mapped, constrained, or defeated.
Her awakening was not just power—it was dominance born of mastery, experience, and relentless will. The battlefield shifted around her, the Upper Rank demon forced onto the defensive, unprepared for the intensity and precision now wielded by Karina.
A moment of silence hung briefly, heavy and electric. Gyutaro's venomous strikes slowed, hesitation flickering across his crimson eyes. He had been a predator his entire existence, yet here stood a force he could neither anticipate nor overcome.
Karina's violet eyes glimmered under the flickering lantern light. Every scar, every wound, every failure had culminated in this awakening. The poison that coursed through her veins, once a threat, now seemed a minor whisper compared to the roaring tide of her Arcane power.
She moved again, faster than Gyutaro's perception allowed, Mirage Blade arcs cutting through the air and slicing through illusions with lethal precision. The Upper Rank staggered backward, first time ever feeling fear at a human—or something beyond human—standing against him.
Karina's awakening had changed everything. She was no longer merely a participant in the Entertainment District battle. She was the decisive variable, the force that even centuries of Upper Rank arrogance could not anticipate. The next strike would not merely defend—it would rewrite the fight.