His body melted into bits of black gooey substance.

Bubbles were created, and eventually, emitting seemingly toxic gas.

Kanae looking at this phenomenon had a look of shock plastered on her face.

'Y-you gotta be kidding me!'

'He's not going to revive again right?'

Doubts flooded over her.

It was different from earlier when she mutilated his body. 

It wasn't blood that was erupting.

Instead, some dangerous-looking black sticky substance had been produced after the body of the demon had melted.

Three seconds had passed as Kanae stayed in place to observe what was happening. 

Her eyes were back to normal. She had undone her final breathing form. 

It was, after all, a double edge technique that compromises her vision if used for a longer amount of time.

However, the mark on her face was still there.

'Shit… This is bad!' Kanae cursed in her mind.

Her danger sense went haywire as she was looking at the black gooey substance erupting. 

Without wasting another second, she pulled her legs and started to run away.

'I need to escape this place fast.'

'Forget about revenge, I need to inform Shin and escape from this village real quick. '

She wanted to escape this place for several reasons in mind.

Kanae wasn't sure if the demon was dead or if was he going to revive again.

But one thing Kanae was sure of, and that is to get the heck out of being in a combat situation.

'I'm running out of gas. I've used too much time with that final form.' 

Only less than 10 seconds had passed when she used her trump card, but it burned out more fuel in her than she expected.

At the moment, Kanae was running; went on a route with small grassy trails. 

She passed by the village. 

Kanae didn't enter the village and use the path that she and Shin walked yesterday night. Which was also the same path she used, following the crow. Even if it was shorter compared to the direction she was going at the moment.

She didn't want to because, earlier, the moment she arrived at the bridge, exiting the premises of the village, the thick mist was gone.

"..." Kanae looks to the side. She saw the village being enveloped in a thick white mist.

It was odd that the fog was only spreading in the area inside of the village. None, even the smallest amount of smoke reached passed the border, going outside.

It is important to note that the fog was encompassing a wide area since it reached her house. Yet, not even the slightest amount got out from the village's margin.

What does that imply?

'This whole ordeal is unnatural...' Kanae speculated.

Now she remembered it:

'Just as I suspected, that mist is similar to the smoking incense that calmed my nerves before.'

She remembered that time she was called out to HQ's hall for the briefing of her assigned mission.

'I think I might have an idea how I was held captive from that hypnosis earlier.'

Kanae thought of two things.

First:

'It must be something about disrupting one's composure because it was then I became susceptible to his hypnosis.'

Kanae remembered that the demon purposely spoke words to rile her up. 

Considering that timing, this reason was plausible.

'However, I feel that isn't quite right…' 

This leads to the second speculation:

'Regarding the symbols, I saw from that room, and the demon's fan, I think there must be a connection between these two.'

Think about it:

Kanae had first experienced that 'incense' while the 'symbols' from the tag were present in that room — then she got hypnotized.

Now at the second occurrence, Kanae had taken a whiff of that 'mist', and had directly looked at the 'symbol' from the demon's fan — then ultimately got hypnotized.

If you connect these 2 events(inhaling and seeing) with 2 similar variables(mist and symbol) involved, with one effect(hypnosis), one would think that this wasn't a coincidence, right?

Well —

'There must be an order of things for that hypnosis to work.'

'Besides, talismans sometimes had to fulfill specific conditions for it to function properly.'

To simplify it, 'inhaling the mist' and 'seeing the symbols' might have been the condition for that hypnosis to work — or so Kanae thought.

'In any case, I think not using the route from the village was right.'

'I don't want anything bad happening to me right now.'

Kanae was cautious.

Because what if she had once again ingested even if a tiny whiff of that mist? She might be subjected to that state once again.

Who knows?

It was better to avoid anything probable causing the hypnosis to happen.

'About the villagers though…'

Kanae's mind wandered into thinking about the condition of the people in 'Your-Resting-Place'.

'Something must've happened to them. I don't know if what I'm thinking right now is just a thought suggestion due to inhaling some of that mist.'

'But now that I think about it, I'm sure whatever had happened to the villagers in 'Your-Resting-Place', the demon must've had something to do with it.'

'Whatever it was, I should expect the worst.' 

They might be dead already.

What else is there to expect from a demon? 

"..." Thinking about this, Kanae felt a pang of guilt in her heart.

She bit her lower lips to express her frustrations.

It was an emergency, she couldn't think about prioritizing the search for possible survivor/s in that village.

However, no one can blame her.

She was at foremost a 'Demon Slayer.'

Her primary job was hunting a demon. 

Saving the lives of the people in the process, was a means to an end; the result of fulfilling her mission. 

There was a wide misconception about the Demon Slayer corps being responsible for saving the lives of the people.

Some, if not, the majority of the members had adopted this thought process.

Her sister Shinobu was one of them. Kanae, however, knew why.

Shinobu was just innately a kind person at heart.

However, Kanae was a selfish woman.

Or rather, to word it better, Kanae was a rational individual.

Though recently, she had been irrational due to Shin. Well, what to expect? Love cannot be explained in simple terms anyways. And it doesn't help that Kanae was a woman in love, 'deeply' at that.

But in general, Kanae was a cool-headed person. 

That was why she knew the purpose of being a demon slayer. Which was to 'slay' demons not to 'save' people.

Though the essence of being a 'Demon Slayer' had lost its value to Kanae at this moment. 

She had, after all, discovered that their leader, Kagaya Obuyashiki, was someone who cannot be trusted. He was a traitor.

But even if that was the case, Kanae still wouldn't risk herself and check on the villagers.

Her fuel is almost running out. Adding to that, a demon, who Kanae wasn't sure was dead or not.

Was he even killable?

Kanae had done everything she had thought was effective and efficient. She wasn't exactly pulling her punches. She did her best and even risked her health by using that final form.

Yet, he didn't turn into ashes.

What was he even?

Was the one Kanae had fought can be called a 'demon' at this point?

Regardless, what Kanae had to do now was escape.

Twenty seconds had passed as she started running from that place.

(A/N: Note that Kanae's thought process in the 'Focused-breathing' condition and especially after awakening that mark, is significantly accelerated. She had undone her 'final form' not the focus breathing(with mark version). Just clarifying in case you need it.)

'My gas could only hold up for another minute and a half…'

With the speed she could currently muster, she estimated that it would take less than 3 minutes for her to arrive at her home.

By the expected time Kanae would go out of this 'Focused State', she still wouldn't have reached her home. 

Well, she has no other choice but to run normally by then.

'That would be fine but…' 

Kanae won't settle for less. Time is of the essence. So she plans to hang on and push herself to the limit. 

'I'll try to prolong this state. I know, I can manage.' 

You know, 'Plus Ultra' they say?

Anyways, ignoring that very laughable joke "quote" sarcasm, doing what she had thought of, would undoubtedly compromise her health. 

She will do it if it means she could reach Shin in a shorter amount of time.

'I am sure with Shin's Op-Op ability, we could escape much faster from this village.'

'After that, we'll be going incognito for  a while.'

'Then go back to HQ, and find a way to discretely take my cute little sisters away from the demon slayers.'

'I don't know who among the members of the demon slayers can be trusted.'

'Even Tsu-obassan...'

She was kind to them. Even to the point of giving her mansion to the sisters.

But, just the fact that the leader of the demon slayer is a traitor, would be safe to assume that most, if not, everybody are on his side, right?

Only Kanao and Shinobu were Kanae confident about being free from suspicions.

Twenty-five seconds —

Kanae looked back and couldn't see the place where the demon was anymore. 

She had traveled far.

Thirty seconds —

Kanae had entered a thin forest of trees.

But suddenly,

*Booooooooooooooom!*

 

Kanae heard a loud supersonic boom erupting from afar.

…

(A/N: What do you think of the chapter people? Kekekekeke~!  Pretty bland right? I know 🤣. 

Well, since from the start to the latest chapters, my characters had been, you know, in a nutshell, 'introverted'. 

There isn't that much interaction between any two characters after all. Lol 🤣. I was writing mostly explaining their actions.

There was a lot of internal monologue going on too 🤣. Man, I'm sure I'm not that introverted… P-probably. 

I am confident it is not the case that I am unconsciously portraying myself. Hmm, let's go with that.)