Isekai Adventure in the Dimensional Cube

Not only Shinazugawa Sanemi, Iguro Obanai, and Tokitou Muichirou, but the rest of the Pillars had also awakened their patterns.

Kochou Shinobu's pattern was above her collarbone, resembling a pattern of blue butterflies.

Kanroji Mitsuri's pattern was on the left side of her neck, resembling a pattern of pink hearts.

Himejima Gyoumei's pattern was on both arms, resembling a pattern of grayish-black rocks.

Uzui Tengen's pattern was on his shoulders, resembling a pattern of golden musical notes.

Even Tomioka Giyuu had awakened his pattern at the end, which was on his left cheek, resembling a pattern of dark blue waves.

As for Rengoku Kyoujurou, his pattern was like Reiger's, on the forehead, resembling a pattern of dark red flames.

Thus, all the Pillars had successfully awakened their patterns and were overjoyed as they tried to make sense of it on the spot.

"It's amazing, it really does enhance strength,"

Kochou Shinobu clenched her hand tentatively, her face full of astonishment.

Among the nine Pillars, Kochou Shinobu had always been the weakest in terms of strength, even surpassed by most members of the Demon Slayer Corps.

There was no helping it, as she was rather petite, standing only at 151cm tall and weighing 37kg, having just turned 18 years old this year, she was the youngest among the Pillars just after Tokitou Muichirou.

Furthermore, being a girl, and not having a special constitution like Kanroji Mitsuri, even if she exhausted the breathing techniques, Kochou Shinobu still had no notable strength to speak of physically.

Therefore, among the nine Pillars, Kochou Shinobu had the weakest grip strength, so weak that she couldn't even chop a demon's neck with a Sun Wheel Blade.

For this reason, she created the Insect Breathing, a derivative breathing technique that prides itself on its high-speed stabbing and mobility skills, to compensate for her inability to decapitate demons due to insufficient strength.

With Insect Breathing, Kochou Shinobu would display astonishing speeds of thrusts and movements, each thrust powerful enough to pierce through rock, and combined with lethal poison, could kill demons invisibly.

But now, Kochou Shinobu was surprised to find that after awakening the pattern, her grip strength had greatly increased, and she should now be able to chop off a demon's head.

"This feeling of being filled with power is quite enchanting,"

Iguro Obanai, who had the second weakest grip strength among the nine Pillars, rarely praised continuously.

"I feel so gorgeous now! I'm the true god of festivals!"

Uzui Tengen struck a inexplicable pose.

"Ugh... is it a bit problematic for a girl to have such strong grip strength...?"

Kanroji Mitsuri, suddenly worried about her femininity as she felt she could effortlessly lift a life-sized rock.

"Hmm! Not bad!"

Rengoku Kyoujurou, naturally stronger than ordinary people, shouted loudly at this time.

Like this, each of the Pillars felt the power at this moment, and Reiger nodded.

"Now that you have all succeeded, I can remove mine too,"

As he spoke, Reiger touched his forehead with his finger, a subtle red glow pulsating at his fingertip.

Under the Red Wave, the pattern on Reiger's forehead began to dissipate, first breaking into fragmented lines, then fading bit by bit, disappearing without a trace like chalk marks erased from a blackboard.

"This..."

The Pillars watched this scene, dumbstruck in unison.

The power they had so eagerly sought was so readily forsaken by Reiger, leaving them with complex feelings.

But at the same time, they felt relieved.

"So it can indeed be removed, the pattern,"

Kochou Shinobu murmured as if she had just taken a sigh of relief.

"That's better," Himejima Gyoumei said tearfully, moved: "There's no need to make young people pay with their precious lives for our long-standing wishes."

In Himejima's view, it was a good thing that Reiger could eliminate the pattern.

If they could survive after defeating Kibutsuji Muzan, they could ask Reiger to help remove their patterns to avoid death before 25.

Especially himself; if Reiger were not able to remove the pattern, he would probably die soon.

After all, Himejima Gyoumei was already 27 years old and had passed the age of 25. It was because he knew Reiger could eliminate the pattern that he dared to awaken it now.

Then, Reiger spoke again.

"Since you have all successfully awakened your patterns, why not go ahead and activate the Sun Wheel Blade as well," Reiger said to everyone: "The Sun Wheel Blade is the easiest ability to activate among the three powers. By using a powerful grip or having the weapons clash, you can raise the temperature of the blade, thus transforming it into the Sun Wheel Blade. Give it a try."

To be honest, Reiger also found the method to activate the Sun Wheel Blade quite ridiculous.

Just by using a strong grip or by clashing weapons together, the temperature of the blade will rise, and then it will transform into the Sun Wheel Blade?

Then how, over all these years, has the Sun Wheel Blade not been activated?

Is it because the Swordsmen of the Demon Slayer Corps don't have a strong enough grip? Or haven't there been any clashes between weapons?

Nonsense!

Anyway, Reiger had tried it before. He used a grip strong enough to crush a sword, but still, the Sun Wheel Blade didn't appear. Not to mention weapon collision; he lost count of how many times he had collided with weapons, and there was never a Sun Wheel Blade.

In the original story, Tanjirou did ignite his Sun Wheel Blade with the flames created through blood demon art by his own sister, raising the temperature of the blade enough to awaken the Red Sword, but Reiger's blade was already hot enough to melt steel, and yet the Red Sword still didn't appear.

This showed that just like the swordsmanship patterns, the Red Sword had a prerequisite condition that made it easier to awaken.

The patterns seemed to require the first person to awaken them to be a user of the Sun Breathing technique, which could then, through the characteristics of resonance, awaken patterns in others.

As for the Red Sword, it should require the awakening of the patterns, and only after having the patterns could the Red Sword be brought forth.

In the original plot, everyone who later could use the Red Sword did so only after they had awakened their patterns, transforming their blades into Red Swords through intense gripping and the collision of weapons.

Before the patterns were awakened, not even Himejima Gyoumei, the pillar with the strongest arm among the nine pillars, who swung a broadsword and meteor hammer daily and could agitate the atmosphere with just a flick of the Buddha Beads—a monster in physique—had managed to awaken the Red Sword in numerous battles.

But Iguro Obanai, the snake man said to be second to last in arm strength among the pillars, actually managed to awaken the Red Sword through his grip after awakening his patterns...

This was ridiculous.

As a result, Reiger once again speculated that the Red Sword could be more easily awakened after the patterns had been awakened, or otherwise, it wasn't as easy to do so.

Now that all the pillars had successfully awakened their patterns, the next step, awakening the Red Sword, should still not be difficult.

Sure enough, with Reiger's reminder, some pillars applied great gripping force to their Sun Wheel Blades, while others increased the temperature of their blades through weapon collisions, and eventually, they all successfully awakened the Red Sword.

"Is this the Red Sword?"

The pillars looked at the swords in their hands with some shock.

At this moment, regardless of how odd each sword looked, they had all turned completely red.

Blades looking as if they had been heated till red-hot, like branding irons, were now Red Swords capable of inflicting significant damage on demons.

"It really is incredible," Rengoku Kyoujurou marveled. "We never grasped the essential point. We didn't know such power was hidden within us."

All pillars nodded in agreement.

Whether it was the swordsmanship patterns or the Red Sword, they were both very close to them; with the right insight, they could possess that power.

But this so-called insight was damn trick. Had Reiger not used his speculations to discover the hidden conditions, relying solely on the methods mentioned in the original story, awakening these two abilities would be nothing short of a pipe dream.

"Only the Supreme Domain is left, right?" Shinazugawa Sanemi said with an animated tone, addressing Reiger. "Teach it to us together! Let's complete the training in one go!"

The pillars nodded repeatedly.

Clearly, they were becoming overconfident.

Initially, when Reiger spoke of the swordsmanship patterns, Red Sword, and Supreme Domain, they thought it would be very difficult to awaken these three powerful abilities before the great battle.

Therefore, many of them hadn't considered mastering all three abilities before the battle came, instead hoping to awaken at least one.

Yet, in just a few hours, they had awakened the swordsmanship patterns and the Red Sword one after another and claimed them.

This filled the pillars with confidence, believing they would definitely possess all three abilities before the battle.

By then, the Upper Moon demons would no longer be an insurmountable wall in their path.

Reiger could naturally sense the expectations and overconfidence in the pillars' hearts.

Therefore, he decided to give them a setback first.

"The Supreme Domain is different from the patterns and the Red Sword; there's no shortcut," Reiger said. "Akaza, Upper Moon Three, is an ultimate martial artist who has been alive for at least a century, always in pursuit of this domain, and yet he never succeeded in stepping into it."

"It's a realm called the Supreme Domain by martial and swordsmanship masters—don't think you can easily step into it."

As he spoke, Reiger slowly drew his sword.

"What-what are you doing?"

Kanroji Mitsuri took a step back in fright.

The rest of the pillars were instantly on guard.

Reiger, however, revealed a smile.

"The Supreme Domain is a realm that can only be reached through extreme effort and enduring pain."

The implication being that without extreme effort and enduring pain, one simply couldn't step into that realm?

A premonition of ill fortune suddenly arose in the minds of the pillars.

Then that premonition was confirmed.

"Next, I'll be your opponent. Come at me together," Reiger said as he radiated a heat intense enough to scorch the atmosphere.

"Don't worry, I'll use the back of my sword to strike. I won't kill you, nor will I break your swords."

"But to help you enter the Supreme Domain, do not expect me to go easy on you."

"Prepare yourselves mentally."

His calm voice made several rough pillars involuntarily swallow.

The next second, flames skyrocketed in the forest, marking the beginning of what would be an extensive training period.