After successfully befriending Tamayo, Raiden did not linger.
He asked her for a syringe, calmly drew a tube of his own blood, and handed it over without hesitation. His ability to use Blood Demon Arts came entirely from the system's influence, not from any change to his body itself. As far as he was concerned, his blood should not be much different from that of an ordinary human.
Trading a single tube of blood for a master-level Blood Demon Art was a deal he considered more than fair.
"Tanjiro, you can handle the rest," Raiden said casually. "I'm going to rest for a bit."
What followed concerned Nezuko's situation, which had little to do with him. Raiden preferred to find a quiet place and focus on fusing the Blood Demon Arts he had just obtained from Tamayo and Yahaba.
Tamayo stood still, staring at the blood sample bottle in her hand.
That was it? He gave it to her just like that.
Was he truly here only to make friends?
For the first time in centuries, she wondered if she had become overly cautious, or if the world itself had changed without her realizing it.
As Zenitsu prepared to follow Raiden, the wooden box beside Tanjiro suddenly shifted.
His entire body tensed.
From the moment he entered the house, Zenitsu had known there were not two demons present, but three.
The third was inside that box.
Before he could decide whether to shout a warning, the lid slowly opened.
A small hand emerged.
Nezuko, dressed in her pink kimono, carefully climbed out. She was still in her shrunken state, her clothing hanging loosely on her small frame like borrowed garments. Her pale skin, wide rosy eyes, and the green bamboo muzzle held gently between her lips made her look fragile and otherworldly.
Zenitsu froze, eyes wide.
Then Nezuko began to grow.
Her chestnut hair swayed softly as her body returned to its normal form, the delicate butterfly-shaped ribbon in her hair catching the light. Even with the bamboo muzzle covering her mouth, her clear eyes were mesmerizing.
Zenitsu turned away almost immediately.
Since Raiden had gone to rest, disturbing him now would be a very bad idea.
Raiden found an empty room and sat down cross-legged.
He brought up the two Blood Demon Arts awaiting fusion and felt a rare sense of anticipation.
"Do you wish to fuse Blood Demon Art, Red Clean Arrow, mastery level?"
"Yes."
Red Clean Arrow specialized in manipulating invisible vectors to attack or move objects. What Raiden valued most was its intangibility. Attacks that could not be seen or predicted often decided battles before they truly began.
Information and usage methods flooded his mind.
Moments later, a familiar surge of energy coursed through his body, flowing through his limbs before gathering in his right hand. The intensity made his closed eyes twitch.
For a fleeting moment, he wondered if an eye would appear in his palm, like Yahaaba's.
If that happened, the skill would instantly lose much of its appeal.
The energy continued to swirl, dense and controlled, until it finally settled.
No eye appeared.
Instead, his right hand felt heavier, stronger, as if reinforced from within.
Raiden opened his eyes slowly.
At this moment, he was confident that if he drew his sword again, he could fight a demon two ranks above his current level without hesitation. Red Clean Arrow had not only granted him a new technique, it had nearly doubled the strength and precision of his right arm.
As he dispersed the remaining energy, the faint blood-like patterns on his arm faded away.
"Do you wish to fuse Blood Demon Art, Visual Dream Scent, mastery level?"
"Yes."
This fusion felt entirely different.
There was no surge of power through his body, no violent reaction. Instead, the change targeted his senses and consciousness. The world around him seemed to fall silent, as if sound itself had been muted.
Within that stillness, Tamayo's Blood Demon Art manifested in an intangible form.
Rather than force, it felt like resonance, a quiet blending of awareness. Raiden sensed invisible threads brushing against his nerves, sending faint currents through his mind.
Compared to Tamayo's daytime blood-based techniques, Visual Dream Scent was far more direct. Anyone who inhaled it would see vivid, impossible visions and become trapped within them, unable to move.
When the fusion completed, Raiden opened his eyes.
His gaze was clear, calm, and sharp.
Originally, he had planned to prepare further before confronting his next Lower Moon, making more allies and stacking advantages. Kyogai, the former Lower Rank Six, was still dangerous despite his fall.
Now, that preparation felt unnecessary.
With Tamayo's illusion-based control and the raw boost granted by Red Clean Arrow, his current strength had increased dramatically. Kyogai's greatest advantage lay in manipulating the rooms of his mansion, but once illusions interfered with his senses, preventing him from shifting space freely, ending the fight in a single decisive strike would not be difficult.
Raiden briefly called up his status panel.
"Host: Raiden"
"Race: Human"
"Rank: Geng"
"Comprehension: Superior"
"Aptitude: Superior"
"Talents: Echoing Ears, Line of Seizing, Concealment"
"Skills: Bandaging (Mastery), Thunder Breathing First Form, Thunderclap and Flash (Mastery), Second Form, Rice Spirit (Peak Proficiency), Third Form, Thunder Swarm (Peak Proficiency), Fourth Form, Distant Thunder (Mastery), Fifth Form, Heat Lightning (Peak Proficiency), Sixth Form, Electric Bombardment (Mastery), Blood Demon Art, Sound Eater (Mastery), Blood Demon Art, Red Clean Arrow (Mastery), Blood Demon Art, Visual Dream Scent (Mastery)"
"Aura: Ghost King's Aura"
The difference between this and his initial status was night and day.
In less than a month, his growth had been explosive, largely thanks to the friends he had made along the way.
Raiden stood and stretched.
Outside, the sky had begun to lighten. Tamayo and Yushiro had likely already departed.
It was time to move on to the next destination.
---