111: Kanae Kocho and Shinobu Kocho playing with blocks and putting together a jigsaw puzzle for the first time.

Seeing Shinobu Kocho rush towards him like a madwoman, brandishing her blade.

Joa chuckled softly.

"Heh, so eager to rush over?"

"Why don't You look behind You?"

Shinobu Kocho, in her rage, was filled with murderous intent, adding the debt of her sister being severely injured last night to the strange man in front of her.

She simply couldn't hear Joa's words.

"Die!"

She raised her Nichirin Blade with both hands.

Aiming at Joa's neck, she suddenly brought it down in a powerful slash.

She looked as if she wished to diagonally sever half of Joa's body.

However, what she didn't know was, how could her attack possibly harm Joa?

Only a 'clang' was heard.

After Shinobu Kocho's full-force slash struck Joa's neck, she was immediately repelled by a huge force.

The skin between her thumb and forefinger split, and blood stained the hilt of her blade.

Under the intense pain, cold sweat immediately seeped from Shinobu Kocho's forehead.

But she couldn't care less about the pain now.

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"

She continued to roar while slashing repeatedly, ignoring the increasingly severe lacerations on her palms.

She didn't know how long she had been slashing.

Until...

"Shinobu?"

Her sister's familiar voice rang out again.

Shinobu Kocho immediately froze.

She turned her head in disbelief, seeing her sister Kanae standing up with a surprised expression, as if she also couldn't understand how she had survived.

At the same time, Kanae was looking at her.

Shinobu Kocho's voice trembled as she released the Nichirin Blade in her hand.

She stumbled towards Kanae.

"Sister!"

"You! Have You become a demon?!"

Ever since their parents were eaten by a demon that broke into their home when they were young, the Kocho sisters joined the Demon Slayer Corps with Gyomei Himejima, the Stone Hashira, and grew up relying on each other.

Now that her closest sister had become a demon, what was the meaning of her own life?

Endless despair and sorrow in her heart almost crushed Shinobu Kocho.

"Shinobu..."

Kanae hugged her sister, who was crying uncontrollably in her arms, and looked at Joa, who had already retracted his tentacles.

"I seem to have..."

"...not turned into a demon."

"He... saved me."

Upon hearing this, Shinobu Kocho immediately stopped crying, looked up at Kanae in disbelief, and then turned to look at the monster she had just attacked with her blade.

That's right, in Shinobu Kocho's eyes, Joa was a monster.

A monster just like a demon.

How could a person's palm grow black and red tentacles?

"Sister! You said he saved You?!"

Recalling the new information in her mind, Kanae nodded heavily.

Seeing this, Shinobu Kocho vigilantly stood in front of Kanae.

"Although I don't know what happened, Sister, You must not trust him!"

"He's just like those demons! They're all monsters!"

"I'll hold him off! Sister, You leave quickly!"

"Go to the Demon Slayer Corps for backup!"

Hearing Shinobu Kocho's words, Joa, who had been quietly watching from the side, couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Demons?!"

"You compare me to such low-level creatures?"

"If it weren't for your pretty face, You would have died countless times by now."

Saying this, Joa stepped towards Shinobu Kocho.

"Great and supreme black light will!"

"Please forgive my sister, she just doesn't know your identity."

Seeing Joa's movement, Kanae immediately knelt on the ground in a dogeza posture.

Her tone carried unparalleled fear and sincerity.

Because the information in her mind and the power within her body were constantly telling her that Joa was not lying.

The great and supreme black light will possessed the power to destroy this World in an instant.

Of course, the World Kanae referred to was only the Earth; she knew nothing about the Universe.

A person who spent her entire life slaying and hunting demons would have no time to pay attention to the vastness of the Universe.

Moreover, in this era, the exploration of the Universe was still in its very early stages.

"Sister! What's wrong with You?"

"Get up quickly!"

"Don't bow to that monster..."

Before she could finish her sentence, Shinobu Kocho was effortlessly lifted by Joa, who was pinching her chin.

"Let me taste what your mouth, which calls me a monster, tastes like?"

"Mmph!"

As her face drew closer to that of the man, whom she grudgingly admitted was the most handsome she had ever seen, Shinobu Kocho's eyes widened.

She continuously hammered his chest with both hands.

Her legs also kicked wildly.

But the other party showed no reaction.

'I can't even bite through it!'

'What kind of monster is he!'

Not only could she not bite through him, Shinobu Kocho even felt like her teeth might break.

After a long while.

Joa, feeling satisfied, put Shinobu Kocho down on the ground and scoffed.

"Heh, quite spicy, spicier than Ada back then."

"But I happen to like spicy."

With a thought.

Kanae, who was kneeling on the ground and didn't dare to get up even after hearing her sister's cries, Shinobu Kocho, whose eyes were filled with fierce resentment, and Joa.

Instantly vanished from their spot and appeared in the Amenominaka's ice and snow space.

"Great and supreme black light will, I am willing to serve You with all my heart."

"I only beg You to spare my sister."

Suddenly appearing in the cold space.

Kanae immediately knew what Joa intended to do.

She couldn't help but plead for her sister.

"Or, You can let me try to persuade her."

Joa, currently in high spirits, stared intently at Shinobu Kocho, licked his lips, and said,

"That would be boring. The more resistance, the more fun."

"It's not too late for You to persuade her later."

As he spoke, ice and snow gathered to form a bed.

Unbeknownst to them.

A day passed.

Night fell once again.

Leaving the Amenominaka's space, they stood at the place where they had disappeared.

Shinobu Kocho's eyes were somewhat hollow.

Kanae was still comforting her.

For Shinobu Kocho, who was single-mindedly devoted to slaying demons,

and had never encountered or even considered playing building blocks or jigsaw puzzles,

this was clearly beyond her scope.

Kanae, on the other hand, accepted it quickly.

Although it was her first time playing building blocks and jigsaw puzzles too.

But such things...

As long as one is alive, they will experience it sooner or later.

The only difference is whether it's sooner or later, and with whom.

Seeing this, Joa pouted.

"Stop looking so resentful."

"Are You wronged by following me?"

"Power, longevity, eternal youth, wealth, authority—You can have whatever You want."

"Such benefits, which ordinary people would struggle to obtain in several lifetimes, You now have them all. What is there for You to feel wronged about?"

"You'd best not exhaust my patience."

Hearing Joa's words, Shinobu Kocho looked up, her expression extremely complex.

Shinobu Kocho knew that everything Joa said was true.

She should indeed be grateful to him for saving her sister.

And for helping her gain the power she had once dreamed of, the power to defeat the Demon King.

'But...'