There was little point in dwelling on things beyond their control.
"I really don't get you sometimes," Mai Shiranui muttered under her breath.
She turned away from Li Ke and fell into step with the somber procession heading toward their quarters in the city.
"But seriously, you are surprisingly amazing," Mai continued, breaking the heavy silence. "Ever since you torched that area, those bizarre demons haven't shown up in the city at all."
She glanced over at him as they walked.
"I went out for a look last night and didn't spot a single monster. To be honest, your type of fire is practically a cheat code. Is it some kind of special flame, like the Kusanagi clan's? Let me guess—is it a phoenix flame or something?"
Mai was genuinely fascinated by Li Ke's fire. It possessed terrifyingly high temperatures, yet it could also heal wounds.
"No, it's dragon fire," Li Ke replied. "Specifically, a unique strain of dragon flame. I obtained it through a certain individual's blessing. That person..."
Li Ke pictured Alexstrasza's overwhelming power and considered his words for a moment.
"She's essentially a god. However, my other flame isn't like that."
With a casual flick of his wrists, Li Ke manifested a ball of crackling fire in one hand and a swirling current of water in the other.
"After that, I visited another strange world. Due to my unique constitution, I awakened a new power there. But because I was an outsider, the rules bent slightly. In that world, normal people can only manipulate one of the four elements—earth, water, fire, or air. But I can control two."
Li Ke showed off the hovering elements like a kid with a new toy. Watching the fire and water dance in perfect balance, Mai couldn't hide her envy.
"What an incredible journey," Mai sighed, looking deflated as she stared at the flames. "Must be nice. I wish I could get my hands on a unique, bloodline-inherited flame like that..."
Her own flames were entirely generated by converting her inner chi. It wasn't an inherent elemental power, which was why she often had to rely on gunpowder and specialized fans to amplify her destructive output.
People born with supernatural abilities—or those like Kyo Kusanagi who inherited a bloodline legacy—not only possessed devastating firepower but also boasted immense resistance to attacks. Even their sheer endurance was in a league of its own.
If a devastating punch hit both of them, it would leave her grounded and unable to get up. Kyo Kusanagi, on the other hand, would probably catch his breath for a few seconds and snap right back into the fight.
That was the primary reason she remained a second- or third-rate fighter in the grand scheme of things. Her physical stats and raw destructive power simply couldn't keep pace with the elite.
Over the past few days, she had studied the manuals for the Total Concentration Breathing techniques. While the flames produced by those styles were technically stronger than her casual attacks, they couldn't compete with her when she fought with absolute seriousness.
More importantly, releasing flames of that intensity only cost her a bit of stamina and focus. For the Demon Slayers, forcing out that level of power through breathing techniques required pushing their bodies to the point of literal self-destruction.
That was a trade-off she simply couldn't accept.
Li Ke, however, didn't view her limitations as a permanent dead end. While his own strength mostly came from his mysterious, inexplicable system cheat, acquiring elemental abilities wasn't an impossible hurdle in the grander multiverse.
He just wasn't sure if Mai could successfully assimilate abilities from other worlds the way he did. But if she kept traveling across the dimensions with him, it was entirely within the realm of possibility.
"Well, if you keep traveling through different worlds with me, reaching that goal won't be all that difficult."
Li Ke's words sparked a sudden glimmer of hope in Mai. She stole a quick glance at him, realizing that it was finally time for her to step onto the battlefield.
A confident, radiant smile spread across her face.
"In that case, tell me about the enemies you've faced so far. I want to fight alongside you in the next battle and claim that power for myself!"
Mai spoke with complete naturalness. She subconsciously didn't even consider the possibility that Li Ke might refuse her. It wasn't out of rudeness; rather, in her heart, she already viewed the two of them as a team.
"Sure. Let me give you the rundown on what I ran into back there."
Li Ke began detailing the exact nature of the abominations he had encountered. He described the massive spider and those grotesque, mutated horrors.
Yet, as Mai listened to his casual, completely unbothered tone, a wave of confusion washed over her. In Li Ke's retelling, the entire ordeal sounded incredibly straightforward—he had simply used his fire to hard-counter the monsters' attributes and wiped them out with ease.
"How could it possibly be that simple?" Mai thought to herself.
Her instincts told her that Li Ke wasn't lying to her. But when she looked back at the grieving Flame Pillar and the grim, heavy expression on Tengen Uzui's face, she silently pressed her lips together.
These individuals were definitely capable of making her feel a genuine sense of threat.
It was a sobering truth. Even though Mai considered herself a highly capable martial artist, she could still feel a distinct, dangerous pressure when facing these breathing-style swordsmen.
Because of this, her gaze couldn't help but drift toward Shinobu Kocho and Mitsuri Kanroji, who were standing nearby.
Upon returning to the Demon Slayer Corps headquarters, Li Ke washed up and immediately headed to his room to rest and mentally catalog the vast array of knowledge he had acquired during his brief, hyper-focused genius state.
Mai, however, did not leave. Once the Pillars finished delivering their comprehensive report to the master of the mansion, she intercepted Shinobu, who was just about to head back to Li Ke's room. Walking right alongside Shinobu was a thoroughly bewildered Mitsuri, who had simply wanted to have a sleepover with Shinobu to share some late-night girl talk.
"Shinobu, I have a request."
Mai looked at Shinobu with absolute seriousness.
Shinobu's mind immediately jumped to conclusions. She naturally assumed that Mai wanted to discuss formalizing her marriage to Li Ke, or perhaps ask her to take good care of him. Actively eager to show her support, Shinobu instantly reached out and clasped Mai's hands in her own.
"Of course, Mai! In reality, you are the one who truly deserves to be Lord Li Ke's primary wife. I only stepped in because of my own—"
"What on earth are you talking about?!"
Mai felt like her head was about to explode from sheer frustration.
"Why would I ever marry a guy like him?! He refuses to eat anything unless it's meat, pouts like a literal toddler when there isn't any, constantly kicks the blankets off in his sleep, and has the emotional maturity of a child! Not to mention, he's totally obsessed with staring at girls' chests! He even goes out of his way to hop up and down whenever he gives someone a piggyback ride, just so their chest rubs against his back! I barely even know anything about him, okay?! How could I possibly marry a total scumbag who wants girls to throw themselves at him without taking an ounce of responsibility?!"
She practically roared her grievances, her hair practically standing on end. Shinobu and Mitsuri could only stare at the completely flustered Mai in absolute bewilderment.
"Um... doesn't it sound like you actually know him incredibly well?!" Mitsuri couldn't help but blurt out.
Shinobu, ever the rational one, wisely chose to pretend she hadn't heard that part. In her own mind, her position was rather awkward, bordering on being an uninvited interloper in Li Ke's life. Maintaining a perfectly polite yet slightly strained smile, she smoothly steered the conversation back on track.
"Right. So, what exactly is it that you need?"
Mai felt her face burning with embarrassment. She was acutely aware of the ridiculous rant she had just let slip, but in her mind, those were simply mundane observations from sharing a living space with Li Ke. It was absolutely not proof that she harbored any romantic feelings for him.
"I want to gauge the gap between my strength and yours. And more importantly, I need to understand the disparity between you all and the likes of Kyojuro Rengoku and Tengen Uzui."
Mai's voice turned dead serious. She needed a clear benchmark to understand just how far behind she was compared to Rengoku and Tengen—two incredibly powerful warriors who had still been left utterly helpless against those otherworldly abominations.
"I see..."
Shinobu wasn't entirely sure what Mai was driving at. While the request itself wasn't difficult to accommodate, she couldn't help but feel incredibly curious about Mai's underlying motives.
"Well, I just want to find out if I'm actually capable of standing on the same battlefield and fighting alongside Li Ke."
Quantifying raw combat strength was never a simple matter.
If Mai were cornered in a cramped alleyway by a dozen fully armed soldiers wielding submachine guns, she would have no choice but to surrender; her physical body was still flesh and blood, incapable of deflecting bullets.
However, in an open area or a region with complex terrain, she could easily dismantle those same twelve soldiers with ease. Even heavy machinery like tanks wouldn't pose much of a threat to her agility.
But facing those unnatural, grotesque monsters was an entirely different story.
"I understand. Mitsuri, could you do me a favor?" Shinobu turned toward the pink-haired girl beside her.
Shinobu was well aware that her own raw physical sword technique wasn't a good baseline for a direct clash of strength. Mitsuri, on the other hand, possessed the incredible physical power and technical skill necessary to match male swordsmen blow for blow. Though her gentle personality meant her style wasn't overly aggressive, her capabilities were undeniably at the pinnacle of the Pillars.
In terms of raw combat power, Mitsuri sat comfortably in the upper-middle tier of the Demon Slayer Corps.
"No problem at all!"
Mitsuri beamed with sudden enthusiasm, turning a bright, motivated gaze toward Mai.
"Let's head over to the training grounds, then!"
Mai nodded in agreement, falling into step behind a humming Mitsuri as they made their way out to the courtyard.
To their surprise, Tengen Uzui was already at the training grounds. Despite his recent exhaustion, he was pushed himself through basic conditioning drills.
After a brief exchange of greetings, Tengen stepped aside with his three wives to observe the upcoming spar between Mai Shiranui and Mitsuri Kanroji.
Initially, Mai had intended to change into her standard Shiranui-style kunoichi attire. However, just as she was about to unwrap her layers, Li Ke's earlier critical remarks flashed through her mind. Feeling a sudden wave of irritation, she abandoned the idea. Instead, she drew her remaining pair of reinforced steel fans and took a firm stance directly facing Mitsuri.
"Here I come!"
Seeing that Mai was set, Mitsuri lunged forward with explosive speed. Her unique, whip-like blade tore through the air, carving a ferocious arc straight toward Mai.
Watching the pink-haired girl close the distance with startling velocity—accompanied by a strange, flickering distortion of light and shadow around her form—Mai took a deep breath. A faint aura of pure white chi erupted across her body, and a brilliant shroud of flame instantly blossomed along with it.
With a fluid flourish of her steel fans, she engaged Mitsuri in a flurry of close-quarters combat.
Their figures blurred as they traded blows. Mai's sharp instincts allowed her to instantly spot a glaring opening in Mitsuri's guard. However, Mitsuri's raw reflex speed was far from slow. Though Mai detected the flaw, she couldn't capitalize on it immediately. Pivoting flawlessly on her heel, Mai executed a lightning-fast spin, driving her fan directly toward the back of Mitsuri's neck.
Yet, Mitsuri anticipated the strike, smoothly bringing her blade up to parry the fan with a crisp metallic ring. With a deft flick of her wrist, Mitsuri launched a counter-slash, forcing Mai to leap backward to create distance.
The stubborn resistance left Mai slightly annoyed. Snapping her wrist forward, she hurled her two steel fans in a twin, spinning trajectory. Mitsuri successfully deflected both projectiles, but before she could recover her stance, Mai's figure vanished, closing the distance in an instantaneous blur.
The edge of a third steel fan rested firmly beneath Mitsuri's chin.
The match was decided!
Mitsuri blinked in astonishment. The very next second, her vibrant smile returned, and she cheered happily as she threw her arms around Mai in a warm embrace.
"Wow! You are absolutely amazing!"
But as Mai looked down at the girl she had so easily defeated, she could only let out a silent, deflated sigh.
She truly wasn't strong enough to stand beside Li Ke against those otherworldly horrors.
Mai could see the truth clearly. In terms of raw physical strength and speed, Mitsuri was vastly inferior to someone who had spent a lifetime refining the Shiranui-style chi cultivation. However...
"It's not enough," Tengen Uzui spoke up from the sidelines.
"What do you mean, honey?" his wives asked in unison, looking at their husband with a mix of curiosity and confusion.
"With that level of strength, it is impossible to accompany Mr. Li Ke on his hunts against those cosmic abominations. Miss Mai's hopes are ultimately going to be cut short."
Tengen analyzed the exchange with absolute clarity. Mai's agility and raw power undeniably eclipsed Mitsuri's, comfortably placing her in the absolute highest tier of combatants within the Demon Slayer Corps.
But it was still completely inadequate.
The temperature of Mai's flames was far too low. When her fan clashed against Mitsuri's blade, the steel didn't show the slightest hint of warping or melting. That level of firepower was something Kyojuro Rengoku could easily replicate with his Flame Breathing.
Furthermore, while her speed was exceptional—nearly twice as fast as his own—it wasn't completely imperceptible.
A single Pillar would undoubtedly lose to her in a duel. But if three Pillars coordinated an ambush, there was a very high probability that Mai would be overwhelmed and killed.
And as they had already learned, even the combined combat power of three or four Pillars yielded a zero percent survival rate when encountering that horrific female abomination.
To make matters worse, judging by her footwork and tactical habits, Mai was fundamentally trained to assassinate and fight human opponents, not supernatural monstrosities. Forcing her to abruptly rewrite her deeply ingrained combat instincts would only cause her actual combat effectiveness to plummet.
Granted, both women had held back significantly during the spar; Mai hadn't unleashed her full reserves, and Mitsuri hadn't pushed her Total Concentration Breathing to its absolute limit. But looking at the microcosm of their exchange, her true ceiling was already plain to see.
She simply wasn't qualified. Just like the Pillars themselves, she lacked the overwhelming, transcendent power required to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Li Ke against those terrifying, alien demons.
She could handle standard demons well enough, but against the colossal spider or that female entity, she would be completely out of her depth.
"So Mai's hopes are really going to be cut short...?"
Shinobu sighed softly. If possible, she had secretly hoped that Mai Shiranui possessed a level of combat power closely rivaling Li Ke's. But looking at the current reality...
It simply wasn't enough.
"Yes. On paper, Miss Mai's raw physical specs aren't that far behind Mr. Li Ke's," Tengen Uzui summarized firmly. "But Mr. Li Ke is completely well-rounded. His speed, his power, his sheer endurance, and that terrifying flame... Honestly, if we rallied everyone and swarmed him, we might stand a chance at bringing Mr. Li Ke down. Yet, those same monsters that we couldn't defeat even if we all attacked together—Mr. Li Ke can likely slaughter them with ease."
Tengen laid out the harsh reality.
If they only analyzed the baseline strength Li Ke displayed in his day-to-day life, the Demon Slayer Corps might actually stand a chance against him. But once you factored his flames into the equation, any strategic planning became entirely useless.
Li Ke's dragon fire was nothing short of a literal bug in the system.
"Thank you, Mitsuri. I'll treat you to some of my homemade sweets another day," Mai said, smoothly snapping her steel fans shut.
Since the onlookers had easily parsed her limits, she naturally understood them too. No one knew her exact position in the combat hierarchy better than herself.
"Mm-hmm! I'd love that!"
Mitsuri nodded with a bright smile. But noticing that Mai's spirit seemed heavily dampened, she asked out of genuine concern, "Are you feeling down, Miss Mai?"
"No... Thank you, both you and Shinobu. Mr. Tengen Uzui, would you mind sharing the exact intel regarding the monsters you encountered?"
Tengen gave a solemn, respectful nod.
"Of course."
Without holding back, Tengen relayed every scrap of tactical data concerning the abominations he and Li Ke had faced. He even produced a stray strand of the giant spider's silk he had collected from the battlefield, handing it over to Mai so she could personally test its tensile strength and sharpness.
Once the debrief was over, Mai returned to her quarters accompanied by Shinobu and Mitsuri.
Sitting quietly in her room, Mai's mind was an absolute chaotic mess. Li Ke had told her that as long as she kept traveling across the infinite worlds with him, obtaining a powerful, inherited flame wasn't an impossible dream. However, based on the two dimensions she had experienced so far, her current level of strength wasn't nearly enough to freely venture out on her own.
Merely listening to Shinobu's descriptions of standard demons made her realize something—when it came to facing the local monsters here, she had to tread just as lightly and cautiously as the native swordsmen. And Tengen's chilling account of the alien abominations made it abundantly clear that even if she marched onto the battlefield alongside Li Ke, her combat effectiveness would peak exactly where Tengen's did.
She might be able to offer a modicum of assistance. But more often than not, she would be reduced to nothing more than high-grade cannon fodder, responsible for testing the enemy's lethal abilities with her life.
"Li Ke, you total liar..."
Hearing Shinobu Kocho's faint, muffled cries for mercy coming from the room next door, Mai Shiranui blocked her ears in frustration and let out a heavy sigh.
She was essentially a watered-down version of Li Ke. Except for close-quarters human combat where she held the edge, he outperformed her in every single metric.
In the face of such brutal reality, her lifelong training and hard-earned strength felt utterly insignificant.
She sat in the quiet room, but the sound of Shinobu's heavy panting from next door continued to drift through the wall. The longer she listened, the angrier she got, and the more irritated she became. Until finally—
"Phew..."
Li Ke finally let go of a near-unconscious Shinobu. Seeing that she could no longer maintain her Total Concentration Breathing, he decided to stop throwing her around.
He extended his hand, letting a gentle, warm flame wrap around his fingers as he used the soothing heat to heal and revitalize Shinobu's exhausted chest and lungs.
However, just as he finished cleaning up and tucked her into the completely disheveled tatami mats to sleep, his sliding door was violently thrown open.
His instincts kicked in instantly. Reaching for his weapon, he whipped his head around, only to see Mai standing at the entrance looking absolutely furious, her eyes blazing with profound irritation.
"What kind of crazy episode are you having now...? Don't tell me you were just feeling desperately lonely?"
Li Ke lowered his weapon and couldn't help but roast her.
"I'd have to lose my mind to ever look at you that way," Mai rolled her eyes, her gaze fixing on him with absolute seriousness.
"The sole heir to our Shiranui-style ninja art was completely scared away by you! So you are going to take responsibility and help me revitalize the Shiranui clan!"
Huh?
A giant question mark popped up in Li Ke's mind. But before he could even process the words, Mai grabbed his wrist and forcefully dragged him out of the room.
"Bottom line—drop whatever cheap parlor tricks you're relying on! For the next few weeks, I am personally going to train you in Shiranui-style martial arts! You better study hard, enter the King of Fighters tournament under the Shiranui banner, and restore our clan's glory!"
Reaching this point, a devious, scheming look flashed across Mai's face.
"If you refuse, I'm going straight to Miss Mitsuri Kanroji to tell her that you're totally drooling over her massive chest and desperate to sleep with her! But... if you behave and master our martial arts, I'll actually help you pursue her!"
"That is slander! Do I, Li Ke, look like such a treacherous, low-life scoundrel?! You are actively assassinating my character!"
Li Ke spoke up with absolute righteous indignation. However, purely to prevent any unnecessary misunderstandings, he immediately leaned in close to Mai's shoulder.
"But considering how dangerous this world currently is... exactly when do we start these Shiranui-style martial arts lessons?"