Chapter 53: Hu Die Ren: Brother-in-law

"This person is the Demon King—Muzan Kibutsuji," Zero said with a calm expression.

However, everyone in the room was far from calm!

They never expected Zero to encounter Muzan Kibutsuji again; this was the second time!

Immediately, Zero enlarged the female demon holding a shamisen beside Muzan Kibutsuji and displayed her before everyone.

"This female demon is named Nakime. Although she is not an Upper Rank, she is not an existence to be underestimated! In the image, the location where I am is called the Infinity Castle, which she controls single-handedly!"

"She can move the Infinity Castle to any place; similarly, she can also teleport targets anywhere or forcibly teleport them into the Infinity Castle."

"As for the Infinity Castle... I am sorry, but I cannot locate its specific position either..."

Hearing these words, everyone sucked in a sharp breath of cold air.

They never expected that just this one female demon could control such a vast Infinity Castle.

No wonder the Demon Slayer Corps had never found Muzan Kibutsuji throughout its history; the reason was that he had such a capable aide by his side!

However, all of this changed after Zero joined the Demon Slayer Corps.

Just then, Kagaya Ubuyashiki stood up, bowed to Zero, and said: "Zero, thank you for making such a huge contribution to the Demon Slayer Corps! The Ubuyashiki family and the Demon Slayer Corps will never forget your help."

Seeing this, the others also stood up one by one and bowed to Zero.

"What are you doing? Get up quickly, there is no need for this!" Seeing this, Zero immediately stepped forward to support Kagaya Ubuyashiki, stopping him and everyone else from continuing.

"I am also a Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps; this is my duty as a Hashira!"

"Shinobu Kocho, Xiao Xiao Mili, and everyone else, please get up quickly."

After some persuasion, everyone finally stopped this behavior.

They then returned to their original seats and continued watching the battle on the projection screen...

In the projection screen, that female demon plucked the shamisen in her arms, and instantly five demons, including Upper Rank One, appeared around Zero.

They formed a cordon, enclosing Zero within.

Such a scene made even any Hashira present feel a powerful pressure weighing on them.

Especially because the numbers in their eyes were extremely conspicuous; they were all Upper Rank demons!

Zero clicked the projection screen to pause, performed some operations, arranged the five Upper Rank demons in a row one by one, and dragged one of the Upper Rank demons to display it to everyone again.

"This is Upper Rank Three—Akaza, the strongest Fighting Demon among the Upper Ranks, excluding Upper Rank One and Upper Rank Two..."

Zero explained the information of Upper Rank Three to everyone one by one and accurately pointed out the matters requiring attention.

He then put Upper Rank Three aside and clicked on another demon to enlarge it.

This demon looked only palm-sized, making it impossible to associate it with being an Upper Rank demon.

"This is Upper Rank Four—Dead Lick... no, it's Hantengu... Don't look at it being only this palm-sized, but its Blood Demon Art is not ordinary!"

Seeing Hantengu made him so angry that he almost said the wrong thing.

He made a firm decision in his heart that when he had the chance to meet Dead Lick Dog again, he would definitely beat him up again to vent his anger, and then kill him!

Afterwards, he explained the information of Upper Rank Four and the relevant important matters once more.

Far away in the Infinity Castle, Hantengu felt a chill of dread, as if sensing someone intended to harm him.

"I am just a pitiful weakling..." Although he thought this in his heart, the most urgent thing right now was to take a beating from Akaza.

He hoped that after Akaza beat him up, his anger would subside a bit...

After finishing the explanation of Upper Rank Four's information, he clicked on the last two demons and enlarged them to show everyone.

These two demons, one male and one female, both had the characters "Upper Rank Six" carved in their eyes.

"These are Upper Rank Six, a pair of twin sibling demons; the male demon is named Gyutaro, and the female demon is named Daki..."

Similarly, he explained the information of Upper Rank Six and the matters requiring attention once more.

However, Sanemi Shinazugawa noticed another thing.

Regarding the information of Upper Rank Two, Zero had not told them.

So he asked: "What about Upper Rank Two? Why didn't you tell us about Upper Rank Two?"

But very quickly, Sanemi Shinazugawa regretted asking this question.

Zero's answer was very simple: "This guy, Upper Rank Two... I will settle him with my own hands!!!"

"Why?" Sanemi Shinazugawa asked.

Zero said nothing, only turning his gaze toward Shinobu Kocho.

Being looked at by Zero like that, Shinobu Kocho lowered her head somewhat embarrassedly; she naturally knew why Zero wanted to say this.

However, the next sentence from Hu Die Ren almost made Sanemi Shinazugawa's violent temper explode.

"Back then, Upper Rank Two almost caused my sister's death; I think Brother-in-law wants to avenge my sister with his own hands, right?!"

Hu Die Ren also changed her address to Zero to "Brother-in-law."

When saying this sentence, she deliberately emphasized the two words "Brother-in-law," looking quite black-bellied.

Sanemi Shinazugawa:...

Damn guy, I should have known not to ask!

Another mouthful of dog food!

Tsk...

Decided, I'll go to the area under Zero's jurisdiction again tonight and beat those evil demons to death!

Hehehe...

(Evil Demons: No! What does this have to do with us?)

Tengen Uzui rubbed his chin and said: "What a gorgeous youth!"

Everyone didn't care about the little interlude during this period and continued to look at the battle on the projection screen...

In the battle, the Upper Rank demons one after another unleashed their Blood Demon Arts, and every time Zero narrowly dodged and launched a counterattack.

But Zero was still caught off guard and sustained some injuries.

Seeing this, Xiang Nai Hui and Xiao Xiao Mili both tightly gripped their collars.

Their hearts felt as if they had been pulled out; both were deeply worried for Zero.

Under such circumstances, Zero still survived. If it had been any of the others, they would likely have already died without a place to be buried...

'Hehe... Hahaha... Interesting, truly interesting...'

'Dark Alloy Battle Armor, Armament!'

In the projection, Zero's body was armored, four great swords appeared behind him, and he charged back into the fray to fight all the Upper Rank Demons!

The four clones of Hantengu were beheaded, yet their bodies remained intact and did not turn to ash...

Fight after fight, taking risks again and again...

Until the very end, all the Blood Demon Arts converged and bombarded Zero, creating a cloud of black smoke...

At that moment, everyone felt the power of that strike; likewise, they were curious: how exactly would Zero resolve such a desperate situation?

When the black smoke cleared, Zero also deactivated his armor mode, holding his cannon rifle in hand and firing a shot at Muzan Kibutsuji.

But he dodged it, and the shot hit Nakime behind him.

Then, everyone noticed that the four clones of Upper Rank Four had vanished, replaced by a young demon boy holding 'S' drumsticks, with a thunder drum inscribed with the character 'Hatred' on his back!

'Unpleasant! Truly unpleasant! A man of extreme evil, atone with your death!'

Boom! Boom!

Zeng Po Tian struck the thunder drum on his back, releasing two wide-range Blood Demon Arts.

Yet Zero always managed to dodge them skillfully...

Then, Zero was seen pulling several strange items from the void and throwing them, unleashing intense white light...

Finally, even Muzan Kibutsuji joined the fray, launching an attack on Zero alongside the Upper Rank Demons...

Everyone in the room, seeing this situation, broke out in a cold sweat! Could Zero possibly endure such a desperate situation?

But they had obviously forgotten one thing: if Zero hadn't endured it, he wouldn't be here now, explaining the intelligence on the Upper Rank Demons to everyone.

'War Machine, Activate!'

Two giant mechanical arms suddenly extended from the void, enclosing and protecting Zero.

All the attacks struck the giant mechanical arms and were all withstood...

Only then did everyone finally see what this truly was?!

It was that iron monster, seen once before at Zero's residence!

Zero was seen firing another shot at Nakime, blasting her into fragments.

He then entered the body of the iron monster and began to operate it, launching a counterattack!

Under Muzan Kibutsuji's command, all the Upper Rank Demons exerted their full strength to attack the iron monster.

But all of this was in vain.

Not only did it fail to damage the mecha, but one by one, they were all counter-killed by Zero!

The first to fall was Kokushibo.

The Ice Bodhisattva he created was smashed by a single punch from the iron monster, and Kokushibo himself was stomped into fragments by a kick!

Everyone seemed to sense that the Zero in the projection... seemed to harbor a grudge, stomping several more times before stopping...

Their gazes all turned to Xiang Nai Hui, then to Zero; adding what Hu Die Ren had just said, they seemed to understand something?!

Zero truly spoils her...

'War Stomp!'

The battle in the projection continued; the iron monster suddenly leaped up and then slammed down, neutralizing Zeng Po Tian's Blood Demon Art and crushing him fiercely underfoot...

Akaza's attack followed, but he was punched away...

Hei Si Mou leaped onto the shoulder of the iron monster; before he could unleash his combat technique, he was grabbed, slammed onto the ground, and punched into fragments...

The female demon of Upper Rank Six, named Gyokko, used her sash to attack the iron monster, but was immediately grabbed by the sash, spun like a propeller, and flung into the ceiling...

That Upper Rank Six, Gyutaro, was slapped away...

And Muzan Kibutsuji, taking the opportunity to ambush, was unexpectedly slapped into the ground; at the very moment he was about to be crushed flat by the iron monster, he split into countless tiny fragments to escape disaster...

'Fire all missiles!'

Everyone saw twenty missiles launch from the position of the iron monster's arms, bombarding the Upper Rank Demons, Nakime, and Muzan Kibutsuji...

Finally, the iron monster retrieved two giant swords from its back, sprinted through the Infinity Castle, and began destroying everything in its path...

Seeing this, everyone in the room no longer knew how to describe Zero!

They could even feel the despair of Muzan Kibutsuji!

A tiny bit of sympathy for Muzan Kibutsuji arose in their hearts.

Why, Muzan Kibutsuji, did you have to provoke Zero of all people?!

That is simply asking for it!

Doesn't everyone know now that this fellow Zero is more monstrous than a monster?!

At the same time, they felt very fortunate that Zero was on the Demon Slayer Corps' side.

If Zero were a demon, the Demon Slayer Corps would likely have been wiped out in less than a day... no, in less than a few minutes, completely annihilated and ceased to exist!

At the end of the projection, everyone saw that the Infinity Castle could now only be described as ruins, with chaos everywhere.

Seeing that Nakime had completed her regeneration, Muzan Kibutsuji ordered her to teleport Zero out of the Infinity Castle; however, because the iron monster's body was so massive, it got directly stuck!

They also saw Nakime frantically plucking the shamisen in her arms, which finally managed to send both Zero and the iron monster out of the Infinity Castle...

But at the very last moment, it seemed they saw three strange black items launch from the mecha's arms and land in the ruins of the Infinity Castle; no one knew what they were?

(Muzan:...)

The projection has now ended.

Zero tapped the void once, and the projection automatically shut off. He pulled back the curtains and opened the window; sunlight from outside instantly flooded the entire room.

Afterwards, Zero picked up several sheets of recorded paper from the bed and handed them to Ubuyashiki Kagaya.

"Master, these are the details I recorded regarding the Upper Rank demons. I have marked the important parts in red. Please have someone transcribe these and distribute them to every Hashira present."

Ubuyashiki Kagaya took the papers, which contained detailed records of every Upper Rank demon seen just now, including Nakime.

The important sections had also been marked in red by Zero.

"Zero, thank you. With this, the Demon Slayer Corps now possesses information on the Upper Rank demons, and we can ensure the safety of every swordsman child in our ranks!"

"No need for such formalities. I am also a member of the Demon Slayer Corps; this is simply my duty."

After discussing a little longer with everyone, they prepared to leave.

Just before departing, Zero asked a few specific Hashira to stay behind.

"Gyomei, Rengoku, Sanemi, Obanai, Giyu, the five of you stay for a moment."

Though the five were unclear why Zero wanted them to remain, they obeyed the order.

"Kanae, Xiao Xiao Mili, you two may leave first."

"Mm."

"Alright."

Upon seeing Zero address Xiao Xiao Mili so intimately, Iguro Obanai felt an inexplicable flame of jealousy in his heart.

But thinking that Zero might have something important to discuss next, he temporarily suppressed that jealousy.

After the others left, Zero retrieved two 【Recovery Pods】 from the 【Nano Space】 and placed them in the room.

"Rengoku, Giyu, do as I say next. Take off all your clothes, then lie inside. I will treat your old injuries! I will return in two minutes."

Without waiting to see what the two of them thought next, he left the room with the other three and waited at the door.

What is there to see when boys take off their clothes?

It would be better to watch his girlfriend Kanae and Xiao Xiao Mili...

Ahem, this is not the time for such thoughts; he and Kanae and Xiao Xiao Mili have not yet reached that stage.

At the door, Gyomei asked with some confusion, "Zero, why did you say you would treat our old injuries?"

Zero replied, "Rengoku's eardrums are ruptured, and Giyu has many old scars on his body. Although they have long grown accustomed to these, over time they will cause hidden ailments to their bodies."

As Hashira, they knew these matters to some extent, so they were not surprised.

Thus, Zero continued, "Rengoku speaks loudly in daily life, and his personality is deeply loved by others! But if someone speaks too quietly, he will surely shout to ask if he cannot hear clearly; accidentally startling others could also lead to misunderstandings."

"As for Giyu... the wounds on his body are mostly old scars, seemingly caused by burning something to cauterize and stop the bleeding! Over time, this accumulation will cause irreversible damage to his muscle tissue."

"His method of self-treatment is effective, but if in battle he accidentally strains an old wound causing it to burst, he could fall into a disadvantage... Although these are merely my own speculations, who can predict the future?"

These words caused Gyomei, Obanai, and Sanemi to fall into deep thought...

The current situation is no longer like before; since Zero joined the Demon Slayer Corps, many changes have occurred...

In future battles, they may no longer face those low-level demons and Lower Rank demons.

It is highly likely they will face the Upper Rank demons...

Iguro Obanai thought for a moment and then turned to leave directly, but Zero immediately grabbed his shoulder.