A village lit up in an enchanting inferno in the dead of night, waking up the domestic cattle in a pained state with their bodies getting burnt and their masters following them after their death in a similar fashion aside from five particular figures.

A youth.

Pale-skinned with a short stature and his short black hair had an exotic orange tint with a long horizontal, green coloured line reaching from his forehead to the tip of his nose with flaming serpents coiling around his body.

His left cyan pupil showcased a number instead of the usual vertical demon-like pupils. Meanwhile, a mocking, almost amused smile touched his lips as he looked at the outraged orange-haired human with a nichirin blade and the shuddering pink-haired noble in whose house the demon used to serve for amusement's sake.

Of course, the said noble lineage had perished aside from this bespectacled heiress covering behind the unusually ferocious demon slayer.

A quality of ferocity that should not belong to a female, at least, this is what the demon thought.

"Ohya, Lady Saya, not feeling well? Did you not like the display of master and mistress Takagi burning to their death?

Did you not enjoy the scent of their burnt flesh?"

The demon cackled while the pink-haired, twin-tailed lady in dirty, tattered clothes wrenched once again, meanwhile, Rei's red eyes burnt with righteous blaze while her crimson Nichirin Blade flashed as her body shot forward.

'Breath of Fir—'

Her actions were stopped with a single outburst of a monstrous punch right into her abdomen, sending her flying before she rolled on the ground, her expression finally turning normal and her hands losing the grip of her sword.

Of course, the demon didn't pay the weakling any attention and continued moving forward towards the acclaimed Saya Takagi... the heiress of the now-destroyed Takagi Lineage under the actions of their most recent servant.

The demon standing in front of him with a cruel smirk.

"I know what to do with you, Lady Saya, I'll—"

The demon would have continued enjoying the process of playing with his meal if not for a malevolent presence erupting just inches behind him.

Immediately spinning into action, the demon could only observe a pure silver nichirin blade passing through his neck in a smooth fashion as a neutral voice shook both, the demon and Saya into a stunned awakening.

"Breath of Steel, First Firm—

Slash."

Sprrt!

The numerical pupil still stared at the dark blue, almost purple-haired woman with sapphire blue eyes staring at the demon's falling head with an equal, if not, more, amusement then he had shown previously.

She was toying with him!

And with that thought came an overbearing rage of Hamon that turned his entire body into dust.

"The lower six demon moons really aren't a challenge.

It's a pity... the crows are getting more inefficient as of late."

The woman muttered thoughtfully before turning to the pink-haired survivor and extending her hand.

"Can you stand?"

The lady questioned Saya but seeing her dazed expression, the beautiful woman simply sheathed her blade and picked Saya in one smooth motion and placed the Takagi survivor over her shoulder.

Meanwhile, another voice called out for the woman.

"Saeko, Rei is here!"

A dark-haired woman with a slightly shorter stature, yet a curvaceous figure waved her hands towards the Pillar of Steel— Saeko Busujima, attracting her attention towards the particular orangish-brown haired girl that actually turned the Nichirin Blade into the colour of auspicious crimson.

"Coming, Shinobu..."

Saeko sighed and knocked out the struggling survivor. Dealing with such survivors right after the battle and loses is usually an extremely tedious task.

'Speaking of tedious... Master just brought in another fool... 

How does she even intend to pass on her destruction attribute?'

Even though Saeko deeply respected Lisa Lisa, even she felt that the Hamon of Destruction was something that only Lisa Lisa could wield...

After all, even her son failed to learn her technique.

Observing the burning village with the hope of finding out any other survivor, Saeko suppressed a sigh of regret and moved towards the other pillar and similarly slung Rei on her shoulders.

"I'll drop this lady back at your mansion. She would really need some therapy."

Saeko pointed out to Shinobu, who nodded in agreement while looking towards the unconscious Rei.

"What about her? Want me to train her?"

Shinobu asked curiously while Saeko still managed to shrug with two humans on her shoulders.

"Sure, be my guest."

"Oh? Usually, you are the training maniac out of me, you and Mitsuri."

"Didn't you know?" Saeko tilted her head and looked at Shinobu with a smile.

"Master brought in another disciple. So, I think that my time will be taken up in teaching him alongside Sis Shizuka."

Shinobu raised an eyebrow before smiling and tiptoeing around.

"Say? How far has Marikawa-san reached in the experiment?"

"Why don't you ask her after you return?"

Shinobu shook her head with her usual smile.

"I don't think that is polite."

***

Like usual, Nik kept training his control over the [Pheromone Illusion] while starting to practice with the Breath of Lightning after reaching a minor achievement in his breath of water when his stretched out senses in the form of countless Pheromones screamed in terror.

Almost instantly, the usually lethargic Shigure stood up straight and immediately drew her blade before forming a long slash at the empty air.

Thck!

And the moment she struck, a woman had filled the empty space with a silver sword parrying Shigure's precise strike.

Her untamed purple hair flew back due to the sheer pressure from the strike as her blue eyes held a mischievous glint when faced with Shigure's calm expression.

"Too weak..."

Shigure muttered before the veins of her forearm bulged and she immediately pushed the new arrival back before sheathing her sword.

"I missed you, too, Shigure-san! Who knew I'll meet you again?"

The mature beauty chuckled before she spun and faced Shizuka with a happy smile and immediately jumped into an embrace while Shizuka couldn't help but smile brightly.

"Saeko, how was your trip?"

Shizuka spoke happily while stroking Saeko's long purple hair while Nik turned towards Shigure with a questioning glance that also had a little bit of indignant mixed within.

'Ah, Shigure... tell me honestly... how many students does Lisa Lisa teach? Beautiful ones at that.'

His voice entered her consciousness while she shrugged.

'Aside from me, Saeko and Shizuka, there are also Ceasar and Jojo. And now, you.'

Shigure replied in kind while Nik raised an eyebrow.

'Jojo and Ceasar? The Bubble Hamon?'

He questioned while Shigure nodded impassively before turning her gaze towards Saeko with a visible look of frustration in her eyes.

"And who is this?"

Saeko looked at the topless Nik with a candid smile and measured every inch of his body before turning her attention to the unchanged Nichirin Sword and then observed the constant and calm ripple forming beneath his foot over the surface of the pond.

"Hmm? So strange."

She muttered before jumping over the surface of the pond while Shizuka couldn't help but part her plump lips as if she wished to speak something but a small ripple within her consciousness emerged when she looked Saeko rapidly closing the distance between herself and Nik before she chose to stop herself.

'All for their own...'

She prayed internally while Nik smiled.

"Hello, I am Nik. Nice to meet you."