"You have received a hidden quest."
"Eliminate the Upper Rank Six of the Twelve Demon Moons. Quest rewards: Upper Rank Six Random Blood Demon Art x1, Upper Rank Six Random Blood Demon Art x1, Shard of God's Stone x15."
"So the demon in the Entertainment District is an Upper Rank demon. No wonder the Sound Hashira had to personally intervene!"
Byakuya displayed a look of sudden realization. A demon that Tengen Uzui had to deal with personally couldn't be ordinary.
At the same time, Byakuya wore a puzzled expression.
What was going on with these rewards?
Upper Rank Six Random Blood Demon Art was easy enough to understand; it meant randomly obtaining one of the opponent's blood demon arts.
But why were there two?
If it meant randomly obtaining two of the opponent's blood demon arts, it would have been simpler to just write "x2."
So, was there something more to it?
As Byakuya pondered, Tsuruhina checked the obi and said, "This doesn't seem to be a demon? It's just a demon object."
Byakuya snapped back to attention and said, "Of course, the matter isn't over yet."
The true demon was Upper Rank Six. This obi was likely just a possession of the demon, used to imprison "food."
Byakuya said, "I'll leave the cleanup here to you. Inform your husband, I'm taking my leave now."
As soon as Byakuya finished speaking, his body transformed into a bolt of electricity and vanished. When he reappeared, Byakuya was already back on the streets of the Entertainment District.
Due to the sudden earthquake, many people had fled into the streets.
Byakuya spotted Tanjiro Kamado among the crowd, looking around. He clearly hadn't run out because of the earthquake.
Instead, as the ground cracked due to the battle, Tanjiro had smelled the scent of a demon emanating from underground.
Byakuya waved at Tanjiro from within the crowd and then moved through them to a nearby corner.
"Don't worry, there is indeed a demon, but I've already dealt with it," Byakuya said. "However, the matter is not over. There are still demons lurking within the Entertainment District, and they are clearly more troublesome."
Tanjiro asked, "Mr. Byakuya, do you have any leads?"
"Yes!" Byakuya said. "Who is the most beautiful woman in the Entertainment District?"
Tanjiro replied, "Of course, it's the Oiran."
Byakuya asked, "And the most beautiful among the Oiran?"
Tanjiro thought for a moment and said, "Every establishment has its own Oiran, but the most famous should be Koiso Oiran from Tokitoya, and Warabihime Oiran from Kyogokuya."
Byakuya stated, "You go look for Koiso, and I'll go look for Warabihime."
Tanjiro asked doubtfully, "Will the demon target them?"
Byakuya explained, "Currently, the missing people are all beautiful girls from the Entertainment District. Although I don't know the reason, the keywords are 'beautiful' and 'girl.' In that case, wouldn't the most beautiful girls in the Entertainment District become his targets?"
Tanjiro nodded. "That makes sense. In that case, I will definitely look after Koiso."
"Good!" Byakuya nodded, then sheepishly added, "Wait, come back first."
Tanjiro asked, "What's wrong?"
"Give me some money," Byakuya said, scratching his head awkwardly. "Visiting an Oiran costs a lot of money. Without money, I can't even get in."
Tanjiro took out his money pouch and handed it to Byakuya. "This is all I have."
Byakuya nodded, took the money, and then went back to catch up on sleep.
Demons generally didn't appear during the day, as they feared sunlight. Of course, operating within buildings was different. But Byakuya had just dealt with that obi. He felt that even if the opponent was Upper Rank Six, they wouldn't be brazen enough to come out and cause trouble.
Walking along the street, Byakuya looked at his rewards.
The Shards of God's Stone were a given; they were good stuff.
Byakuya had recently scavenged quite a few more Shards of God's Stone, all thanks to the generosity of his brothers in Karasumaru and the Evil Spirits Corps, who bravely offered up their Shards of God's Stone.
With fifteen more now, he was even more well-off.
But he was still a bit short of a whole God's Stone. Furthermore, Byakuya felt he wouldn't be able to get one anytime soon, especially with the gluttonous Steel Slime around.
Sound Breathing…
Although there were two quests, one of them was an upgrade to Sound Breathing.
Byakuya thought it was pretty good. This thing should still be quite popular, especially the upgraded version. It should fetch a good price.
Besides that, there was another piece of good news…
The proficiency for the Rumble-Rumble Fruit had reached its maximum.
Rumble-Rumble Fruit (Devil Fruit) (Item) (Gold): Upon consumption, it becomes a top-tier Logia-type fruit that allows the user's body to become elemental. It can transform the body into lightning. While in a lightning-transformed state, physical attacks become ineffective, some energy attacks are also nullified, and lightning can be released for attacks. Through mastery of the ability's usage, the power of attacks can be enhanced, and more techniques can be learned.
Weakness: Cannot come into contact with seawater or Seastone.
Current Proficiency: 0/3000
Unlocked Techniques: 3/12
Effects: Teleportation (Utilize the Rumble-Rumble Fruit to emit an electric field, transforming into current and moving at high speed within the electric field, ignoring obstacles.)
Lightning (Release terrifying lightning from the palm, possessing immense destructive power and blinding light that can affect the vision of targets within a certain area.)
Thunder Shock (Generate a supersonic shockwave by breaking the air with lightning, repelling approaching attacks.)
…
Byakuya's face lit up at first; it was a defensive technique. Then, his expression darkened. True Energy Bodyguard seemed to be on its way out.
Although the Rumble-Rumble Fruit previously only had two techniques, one for teleportation and one for discharging electricity, making it seem a bit monotonous.
Byakuya's offensive capabilities were quite varied, so he didn't lack ways to attack. Thus, monotony wasn't an issue.
However, in terms of defensive techniques, Byakuya was indeed rather lacking. Being able to add another technique now was a good thing.
Upon closer inspection, Byakuya realized that Thunder Shock wasn't a purely defensive technique. It didn't block attacks but rather repelled them.
Looking at it this way, the opponent might not even get a chance to touch Byakuya. Moreover, even if they did, physical attacks would still be ineffective against him.
Therefore, the role of True Energy Bodyguard seemed even more diminished.
After all, True Energy Bodyguard was a purely "blocking" type of defensive technique.
The fortunate thing was that True Energy Bodyguard was part of the Five Elemental Curses, and it would eventually be upgraded and advanced, so it wouldn't become completely useless.
As for proficiency…
The second stage of proficiency had increased from 0/1000 to 0/3000.
It didn't seem like much now, but if it doubled each time, and the Rumble-Rumble Fruit had a total of twelve effects…
Byakuya couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat.
The Steel Slime needed to devour things, the King's Treasure needed to be stocked with weapons, and the Rumble-Rumble Fruit required increased proficiency…
Was his future promising or fraught with hardship?
Just looking at it made Byakuya feel a little tired.
Fortunately, Byakuya had the spirit of "Ah Q" and decided that since he was feeling depressed, he wouldn't dwell on it anymore.
Time to go back to sleep!
…