Shinobu Kocho looked at the green light enveloping her body. She could clearly sense that it was the same power that had just saved the girls in the room.
This mysterious force could only remind her of a Blood Demon Art… but if it was a Blood Demon Art, then why would it rescue those girls—and even affect her?
"Hey, hey, hey! Can you hear me, Grand Master?!"
A voice called from outside the door—familiar to Shinobu's ears, though completely different in tone from what she remembered.
"It worked! Wide-Range really can spread the effects of healing items over a broad area!"
[Wide-Range: When using certain items, their effects apply to nearby allies over a large area. Strength depends on skill level.]
"I've arrived at Doma's location. Get over here quickly! Over!"
Shinobu had assumed it was Gyomei Himejima's voice—but in the next moment, someone kicked the door in.
"Yo! Flowery-fan-eyes guy!"
Joseph Joestar ("Second JoJo") burst through the broken wooden door, brandishing his Sword and Shield in a combat stance.
"Messing with cute girls is not what gentlemen do! So let me be your playmate instead!"
"My, how unusual."
Doma gently waved his fan and sized Joseph up.
"There's no intel on you at all. Are you some external aid recruited by the Demon Slayer Corps? An outsider… without even a Nichirin Blade?"
Shinobu, too, was surprised. When Joseph appeared, she noticed that many of the strange insects from earlier had returned to the lantern hanging at his waist.
She quickly realized—those insects were used for tracking.
Then who exactly was this man, whose voice nearly matched Himejima's but whose demeanor was entirely different?
"Ha? You think I'm the kind of guy who gives away his info in a fight?" Joseph shot Doma an internationally friendly hand gesture.
"Tch… Thanks to my family legacy, I've got a serious grudge against your kind—creatures who treat humans as food and can't even stand the sun!"
Joseph struck a bizarre pose as he spoke.
"Come on, then! I'll defeat you head-on!"
"Oh dear, no Nichirin Blade and yet so confident. And those lovely little girls recovering all around you… Could it be you're a demon who's broken free from Lord Muzan's control?" Doma mused, icy mist beginning to form around his fan.
"But even among demons, there are levels."
"Hey—you, Shinobu Kocho, right?"
Joseph didn't bother with Doma and turned toward Shinobu, speaking in a low voice.
"You're fast, yeah? Everyone's got that healing power right now. I'll keep this guy busy—can you move the girls to safety?"
"..."
Shinobu stood up, examining the recovering girls from the Eternal Paradise Cult. She guessed the source was Joseph's ability.
"If this recovery can be sustained… yes, I can."
"You heard that."
Joseph turned his head toward the air, then took a deep breath. Ripple energy surged into his Sword and Shield.
"Let's go! I'm a proper Ripple warrior!"
————
"'Proper Ripple'—pfft…"
Kairo Retsu, who was sprinting through the Infinity Castle, accidentally sprayed his Recovery Potion out of his mouth.
At the moment, Kairo, Tanjiro, and Giyu Tomioka were all rushing toward Doma's location. The other two kept casting strange glances at Kairo—who now wore a bizarre, long, and almost comically eerie headpiece.
Just moments ago, Kairo had used a strange method to contact his allies—after which he donned the long, floppy headgear and began pouring green liquid into it nonstop.
"Grand Master, what are you doing…?" Tanjiro asked in bewilderment as they ran.
Because right now, Kairo was not only dumping potions into his headgear, but also spinning his head wildly—so wildly that the long cap whipped around like a windmill.
"It's a ritual!"
Kairo shouted as he sprinted and flailed the Wiggler Head wildly.
"This is the Grand Master's privilege! A peak-tier piece of gear, hand-stitched by Granny Felyne herself—Wiggler Headgear!!! Comes with built-in Wide-Range skill!"
"You need to understand the Hunters' Father and Savior… the Eternal Deity—God of the Wiggler Eel!!"
Kairo, now acting like he'd just chugged Joseph's blood, flailed around spastically, scattering potion spray through his spinning headgear.
At this moment, the continued healing of those girls near Joseph had nothing to do with him anymore—it was Kairo's Wide-Range skill, spreading Recovery effects across the Infinity Castle.
And this act triggered further changes throughout the castle.
A Demon Slayer swordsman watched, helplessly restrained by a demon's Blood Demon Art, as his friend fought with one arm severed—only to see his comrade get run through the abdomen.
As he let out a scream of rage—
That dying friend suddenly got up, delivered a full sequence of Breathing attacks, and decapitated the demon.
"How… how are you alive?" the shocked swordsman stammered.
His friend, now with a regrown arm and fully healed stomach, stared down at his own body, equally baffled.
"Yeah… how am I still alive?"
Scenes like this began unfolding across the Infinity Castle—leaving even the watching Kagaya Ubuyashiki briefly shaken.
But soon, he received a joyous update from his messenger crows and relayed a new order to all swordsmen within the castle.
The dynamic between humans and demons had begun to shift.
The Demon Slayer swordsmen, now realizing they had regeneration rivaling demons themselves, fought with even greater ferocity—more willing than ever to bet their lives.
Messenger crows soared throughout the castle, rasping the same message over and over to all Demon Slayer Corps members:
"Caw-aaah! External aid has entered the Infinity Castle—
A tall foreign male! A youth with a shield! A boy in a green mantle!
And the hunter leader wielding a long staff!"
"Kagaya Ubuyashiki… is alive!!"
This final announcement was the morale boost Kagaya had prepared—and a flare to enrage Muzan Kibutsuji.
"HAHAHAHAHA!!!"
Kairo Retsu, leaping through the Infinity Castle with his Insect Glaive, carrying Tanjiro and Giyu toward Doma—
"The sacred Wide-Range connects us!
This is the bond between Hunters and the Demon Slayer Corps!!"