Before long, the sun set and night fell upon the streets of Asakusa.
Only the yellow light of gas lamps sporadically illuminated the streets.
Akira and Mitsuri had already returned to the mansion by car.
Kumohime, who remained at the main branch of the trading company, sent the employees home, finished closing preparations alone by organizing documents and checking the safe, etc.
"Sigh… I'm tired today too."
She rubbed her stiff shoulders and exited through the back door of the company.
"Master must be spending a cozy time with Mitsuri-sama? I'm jealous…"
With a lonely smile, she headed toward the outskirts where the mansion was located.
After becoming Akira's subordinate, her sole joy was being recognized and praised by her master, Akira.
Of course, it was loyalty and awe different from romantic feelings, and crucially, it was ambition. Since the tide of the era lay with him, she wanted to rise quickly, escape such menial tasks, and climb to a higher rank.
She entered a narrow alleyway with few people.
This was a dangerous area with abandoned buildings where commerce had died out. But for her, a demon, dangers of the night streets didn't exist.
Swish~
At that moment, multiple presences appeared simultaneously from the darkness of the alley.
Kumohime stopped walking and looked around.
People wearing black uniforms with swords surrounded her.
At their head stood a young man with heterochromatic eyes glowing ominously, his mouth area wrapped in bandages.
"...Demon Slayer Corps?"
Kumohime made an annoyed expression. The troublesome pests Akira had warned about had finally revealed their true colors.
"I've been waiting for this moment, demon."
Obanai Iguro recited in a cold voice. Kaburamaru coiled around his neck hissed violently as if filled with venom.
"Acting human and strutting under the sun. That ugly act ends today."
"Act? What are you talking about? Threatening a woman at such a late hour."
Kumohime smiled leisurely and unfolded her fan.
"Me, a demon? It's not some fairy tale. Do you have any proof that I'm a demon?"
"Proof? Unnecessary. Kaburamaru's sense is proof. This disgusting smell of blood emanating from you is proof!"
Obanai hesitated no longer.
He immediately took a drawing stance and closed the distance in an instant.
"Snake Breathing, First Form: Winding Serpent Slash."
A strike flying in with an unpredictable trajectory like a writhing snake aimed precisely at Kumohime's neck.
Clang!
With a sharp metallic sound, Obanai's blade stopped in mid-air.
Blocking his sword was a large, sharp spider leg that had torn through Kumohime's kimono from her back and thrust out.
"Sigh…"
Kumohime let out an irritated sigh and closed her fan.
"My head hurts from studying English today, and you're really being a nuisance."
She brushed back her disheveled hair.
At that moment, her appearance changed, revealing her true nature as a demon.
A beast-like low growl seeped from her mouth.
"Yeah, as you said. I'm a demon. So what?"
Pale, sickly skin, sharp fangs sprouting from the corners of her mouth, and six massive spider legs wriggling from her back.
It was the form of a monster descended upon the night streets of Asakusa.
"All units, commence attack! Don't let her escape!"
With Obanai's shout, the five waiting members simultaneously rushed in.
"Hehe, fine. Since I've been caught, why not relieve some stress?"
Kumohime flicked her fingers.
Thin, nearly invisible threads emerged from her fingertips and wrapped around the bodies of two charging members.
"Ugh?! My body, my body won't move as I want…!"
"Get out of the way! Why am I attacking you… Gah!"
The two members controlled by Kumohime moved like puppets and began attacking their comrades.
In an instant, the formation collapsed into chaos.
"Such underhanded…!"
Obanai gritted his teeth and moved to save his comrades.
"Snake Breathing, Second Form: Venom Fangs of the Narrow Head."
He quickly burrowed toward Kumohime, precisely slicing the threads wrapped around the controlled members' bodies.
"Ho oh, not bad? Those threads are supposed to be quite tough."
Kumohime looked at Obanai with an interested expression.
"Then how about this?"
As she swung her hand again, this time, a massive cocoon bullet formed from numerous threads was fired at Obanai.
If trapped in this cocoon, one would melt alive from the powerful digestive fluid injected inside.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh~!
Obanai dodged the cocoon bullets narrowly with snake-like flexible and swift movements.
"Tch, like a quick little rat."
Kumohime clicked her tongue.
"Then you won't be able to dodge this?"
She puffed her cheeks and spat out corrosive poison from her mouth. A purple, viscous liquid covered Obanai.
Obanai instinctively sensed danger and stepped back greatly.
Sizzle~!
As the liquid fell where he had been, the ground boiled and melted. When it touched a nearby lamppost, the metal corroded, leaving holes everywhere.
"...Dangerous. If that poison touches me, it's over."
Obanai broke out in a cold sweat.
"Hehe, how is it? The taste of my poison?"
Kumohime laughed evilly and mocked Obanai.
"Now, enough warm-up. I'll show you the real deal."
She stretched both hands forward. Red blood seeped from her fingertips, turning into hard, sharp threads of blood.
This was the Blood Demon Art once used by Rui, enhanced further by receiving Akira's blood.
"I'll make you into minced meat, you little snake brat!"
Red threads tinged with blood spewed from Kumohime's ten fingertips. It was the Blood Demon Art once used by Rui.
"Blood Demon Art, Corpse Adhesive Threads!"
Swish slash crack!
Dozens of threads harder and sharper than steel covered the narrow alley like a net, closing in on Obanai.
"Tch…!"
Obanai clicked his tongue and twisted his body simultaneously.
"Snake Breathing, Fifth Form: Slithering Serpent!"
His sword cut through the flying red threads like waves. But they were on a different level from ordinary threads. Each time the sword touched the threads, a heavy impact traveled up his wrist, and sparks flew.
'Hard. Not the hardness of a normal demon. And…'
Sizzle!
The tip of the blade that cut the threads was slightly melted. The threads themselves were coated with poison.
"There's no place to run! Don't run like a rat and die!"
Kumohime thrust four of her spider legs into the ground and moved at high speed, pouring a fierce assault from Obanai's blind spots.
From above, red threads poured down like rain, and from below, spider legs surged up like spears. Plus, the purple corrosive poison spat from her mouth whenever there was a gap.
Obanai was busy evading and defending without even a chance to breathe.
"Snake Breathing, Third Form: Coil Choke!"
Obanai burrowed in like a snake coiling around its prey, trying to cut off one of Kumohime's spider legs.
Clang!
But the spider leg was hard as diamond. Instead, Obanai was thrown back by the recoil, and in that gap, Kumohime's red thread grazed the hem of his haori.
Slash~!
The black and white striped haori tore, and red blood spurted from Obanai's shoulder.
"Guh…!"
"Hahaha! How is it? Does it hurt? This is the power given by my Master. It's not a power you bug hunters can handle!"
Kumohime was confident she had gained the upper hand. She pressed on even more fiercely.
The alley walls and floor were miserably melted and broken due to her poison and attacks.
Obanai seemed cornered, continuously stepping back. His breathing became ragged, and small wounds increased all over his body.
'This won't do. I can't break through in a head-on fight. Its defense is beyond imagination.'
Obanai's heterochromatic eyes coldly analyzed the situation.
'It's intoxicated by its own power. That arrogance… that's the only gap.'
Kumohime judged that Obanai was tired. She concentrated all her spider legs and threads to one point to finish it.
"This is the end! Become a skewer!"
Crash!
Six spider legs and dozens of threads simultaneously covered the spot where Obanai stood. Dust rose thickly.
"Hmph, how boring."
Kumohime sneered and waited for the dust to clear. But at that moment, her spine turned cold.
Nothing. Where the legs and threads had pierced, there was no corpse of Obanai, not even a bloodstain.
'Where did he go?!'
[Hiss~!]
Then, Kaburamaru's sharp hiss sounded in her ear. From above.
In the split second Kumohime concentrated her attack, Obanai had kicked off the collapsing wall and leaped into the air.
He burrowed into Kumohime's blind spot above her head, defying gravity like a snake.
"Your arrogance has strangled your own neck."
Obanai's cold voice cut through the night air.
"Snake Breathing, Fourth Form: Twin-Headed Serpent!"
Obanai's sword stretched out drawing a bizarre trajectory. It was less like a sword and more like two giant pythons rushing to sever the prey's breath.
Kumohime hurriedly turned her head to defend, but it was already too late.
The barrier of red threads she boasted, and the hard spider legs, couldn't block Obanai's unconventional blade trajectory.
Slice~!
A eerie and clean cutting sound.
The world seemed to stop for a moment. Kumohime's vision spun. She saw her own body standing down below. Blood was spurting from her neck like a fountain.
Thud.
Kumohime's head fell onto the cold dirt ground.
"Hah… hah…"
Obanai landed on the ground, breathing roughly. The physical exertion was extreme, but the result was certain.
Her neck was cut by a Nichirin Blade. No matter how strong a demon, this should be the end.
"Definitely… cut."
Obanai shook off the blood on his sword and declared victory.
However.
His victory declaration was shattered mercilessly in less than a second.
"It hurts… you damn snake brat."
Kumohime's head rolling on the ground blinked its eyes and opened its mouth.
"...?!"
Obanai's eyes widened in horror. A decapitated demon talking? No, something more terrifying was happening.
Kumohime's decapitated torso, far from collapsing, walked calmly and picked up her own head from the ground.
Crack, squelch.
As if attaching a doll's head, she placed her head against the neck cross-section. With a grotesque bone sound, the flesh clung together, and the wound healed instantly.
"This… this can't be…"
Obanai stepped back. This was a phenomenon beyond demon common sense.
The neck is a demon's absolute weak point. Even the Twelve Kizuki die if their necks are cut. But this woman didn't die even after her neck was cut by a Nichirin Blade.
"Surprised? Little Demon Slayer brat?"
Kumohime cracked her neck left and right to relieve stiffness.
Her expression was distorted with anger, but at the same time, absolute confidence was evident.
"Don't misunderstand. I'm not an ordinary demon. I'm a vassal who received the blood of the great Master."
She spread the spider legs on her back again and emitted killing intent.
"Did you think something like cutting the neck would be a weak point? There is no weak point. We are not the lowly creatures you think we are."
It was a hopeless situation. She doesn't die even if decapitated. Obanai's stamina was depleted, and his weapon damaged. In contrast, Kumohime revived perfectly without a single scratch.
The other members, not of Obanai's skill level, were trembling at Kumohime's horrifying appearance.
"Now, it's overtime. This time, I'll chew your head off."
Just as Kumohime was about to deploy the red threads again, right at that moment.
Tap, tap.
From the alley entrance, an elegant footstep completely out of place in this bloody battlefield was heard.
Kumohime and Obanai's gazes simultaneously turned there. A silhouette was slowly walking from the darkness.
Obanai flinched, thinking it might be a civilian, but then Kumohime's reaction was unusual.
"Wh-why is she here…"
Kumohime broke out in a cold sweat and panicked. She who had overwhelmed Obanai, who could easily handle Lower Moons, must be Upper Moon level. And she was panicking?
"Why aren't you coming home? I thought you were up to some nonsense. Kumohime. Looks like you got your neck cut too."
"N-no! I, I can handle this myself!"
Kumohime trembled and bowed deeply, ignoring Obanai beside her. At this bizarre sight, Obanai looked at the woman walking from the darkness.
"Master is something else, why does he use such a thing. Inadequate work means a vassal not worth keeping alive."
"P-please, spare my life at least!"
"Don't worry. I don't arbitrarily purge vassals without his permission. Of course, I don't know how he'll react when he hears about this. Getting your neck cut by Demon Slayer Corps, not even a Hashira. After receiving his blood."
"Aah, I'm sorry! P-please give me one more chance, and I'll quickly massacre these guys!"
Bathed in moonlight, the woman slowly revealed herself.
"Foolish. He said not to touch the Demon Slayer Corps, don't you know what your mistake truly is?"
"Aah..."
It was a slender-figured woman wearing a Western-style suit. Or rather, a being who looked like a girl.
But the aura she emitted was completely different.
"I'll make them forget with hypnosis! Please show mercy just once! Please, Ushiwakamaru-sama!!!"
"That's for Master to decide, not me."