Episode 278: This is Sister Shinobu's Ultimate Final Assist...
『 "Hahaha… even so…" Muzan's terrifying laughter echoed throughout the entire district.
"Just like those Hashira who dyed their weapons red in their own way, with the little skill you possess, you are far from being a match for that man…"
Muzan knew very well that a strike from the red blade in Yoriichi's hand would never be this weak.
Just as Muzan was thinking this, Tanjiro charged forward once again.
"SUN BREATHING, DANCING FLASH—!"
"SUN BREATHING, SOLAR HEAT HAZE—!"
Tanjiro was barely managing to execute the Sun Breathing forms, muttering to himself:
This is the sixth form… finally, I managed to use it.
Muzan's body was constantly shifting internally; his offensive was being suppressed, and the speed was simply too fast.
At this moment, Tanjiro felt as though his lungs were about to burst, his heart pounding as if it were trying to leap out of his chest cavity.
However, he quickly realized that there was still about an hour left until dawn…
Distracted for just a split second, he was almost cleaved in two by Muzan. Veins bulged on Tanjiro's arms, yet he felt a strange sense of relief in his heart.
Must stay fully focused, otherwise my reaction time will slow down.
Persist. No matter what, I must hold out until the very second the sun rises.
Even if it's just to stall for one more second, it's worth it.
Thinking this, Tanjiro continued to swing his sword.
"SUN BREATHING, SUN HALO DRAGON HEAD DANCE—!"
"SUN BREATHING, FIRE WHEEL—!"
"SUN BREATHING, FAKE RAINBOW—!"
"SUN BREATHING, BURNING BONES, SUMMER SUN—!"
As his stamina gradually depleted, these skills became weaker and weaker, and Muzan dodged them with ease.
He mocked Tanjiro in his heart; his moves were clearly losing their precision. Perhaps that glowing sword was about to lose its effectiveness as well. As expected, is this really all you're capable of?
You are destined to fail; this is to be expected. After all, your opponent is a powerful enemy encountered only once in a thousand years.
With this thought, Muzan decided not to retreat any further, and countless tentacles sprouted from his entire body to assault Tanjiro.
Although he tried his best to dodge these attacks, his body seemed to have reached its limit.
Tanjiro was covered in wounds from head to toe, and blood was streaming continuously from his mouth, nose, and eyes.
Even so, at the critical juncture of life and death, he always managed to avoid fatal attacks at the last second.
"What?"
Muzan felt something was wrong. Clearly, his opponent's movements had slowed down significantly, and he had been running away, consuming so much energy, so why couldn't he defeat someone who was on the verge of collapse?
Suddenly, a thought occurred to Muzan…
Perhaps the real problem wasn't the struggling boy in front of him, but that he himself was experiencing some condition.
Caught off guard, Muzan's speed had dropped significantly…
"If it weren't for this situation, I could never have made two consecutive mistakes in the same duel."
The problem must lie with…
That woman…
Right, the answer must be related to that female.
Muzan's body suddenly trembled, and he understood that he had to make Tamayo confess the truth as soon as possible.
Having made his choice, Muzan slowed his offensive, then dove into his own body to force out Tamayo's cells.
"What exactly did you do!"
"Wasn't the drug you injected into me just one kind?"
Muzan clutched Tamayo's cells and asked in a fit of rage.
"What I used on you wasn't just a drug to turn a demon back into a human; there was also…"
"Stop daydreaming! Use your brain for once, don't always act like you're afraid of death!"
Tamayo's sarcastic words completely infuriated Muzan. He gripped tightly, crushing all of Tamayo's cells into powder.
However, even with only these cells remaining, Tamayo was still uncontrollable.
In that case… I'll have to try reading the residual memories.
Images slowly emerged in Muzan's mind.
"This person… is the poison expert who was eaten by Doma." 』
『 .....』
〜Dimensional livestream, Chat Room〜
[ Kocho Shinobu (Demon Slayer): "…." ]
[ Kamado Tanjiro (Demon Slayer): "Ho, how could this be?" ]
[ Kanao Tsuyuri(Demon Slayer): "Sis, sister." ]
[ Kocho Shinobu (Demon Slayer): "Not bad, in the end, I did manage to get my revenge." ]
[ Kocho Shinobu (Demon Slayer): "And, at the very last moment, I was able to play my part." ]
[ .....]
『 That's right, the woman before him was Shinobu Kocho's sister.
"In my opinion, assuming the toxin will be neutralized by Muzan, we must quickly research how to mix multiple drugs."
"First, is the drug to turn him back into a human; if that doesn't work, we must try the second step—a potent agent that can make Muzan age rapidly."
Muzan's body shuddered violently.
"This drug, invented by Tamayo, can make Muzan age fifty years every minute."
"Aging? So that's it! My body has been aging the whole time."
Muzan finally understood: the slowdown in speed was due to continuous aging, and he had exhausted his strength trying to counteract this change.
That's why this battle had taken so long.
However, a new doubt arose in his heart.
When was I dosed by her?
Could it have been four or five hours ago? Even if the first drug was destroyed, its replacement had been effective for at least three hours…
Muzan stared at all of this, unable to believe it.
In other words, his life of thousands of years had suddenly been shortened significantly.
After deep, terrifying contemplation, Muzan realized: he had silently passed nearly ten thousand years of time without even noticing.
Muzan was filled with regret: Why didn't I notice sooner that the color of my hair hadn't returned to normal?
At this moment, a crow delivered news: there were fifty-nine minutes left until sunrise.
This situation distracted Muzan slightly.
"SUN BREATHING, SOLAR HEAT HAZE—!"
"SUN BREATHING, BENEFICENT RADIANCE—!"
"SUN BREATHING, CLEAR BLUE SKY—!"
In an instant, Tanjiro seized the opportunity and charged in front of Muzan.
Although Muzan barely dodged, Tanjiro immediately launched three consecutive attacks…
"SUN BREATHING, FIRE WHEEL—!"
"SUN BREATHING, RAGING SUN—!"
The endless offensive made Muzan furious.
However… he was helpless.
...."SUN BREATHING, FLAME DANCE—!"
…"SUN BREATHING, FAKE RAINBOW—!"
Muzan could only defend passively now, unable to stop Tanjiro at all.
"SUN BREATHING, DANCE—!"
"SUN BREATHING, SETTING SUN TRANSFORMATION—!"
"SUN BREATHING, BURNING BONES, SUMMER SUN—!"
"SUN BREATHING, SUN HALO DRAGON HEAD DANCE—!"
"SUN BREATHING, SUNFLOWER THRUST—!"
Finally, he managed to link all twelve forms together.
Before the sun rose, Tanjiro had to complete this combination technique faster and more accurately.
At this moment, he cheered himself on.
So… this is the true Sun Breathing!
Every movement could fluently avoid Muzan and strike his weak points with precision.
Even though he was severely injured, Tanjiro could still completely immerse himself in this swordsmanship, as if he didn't know what fatigue was.
Tanjiro was under immense pressure right now; even though he had learned the Sun Breathing, he could collapse at any moment.
Off to the side, Chachamaru, who had already been sliced in half, suddenly began to wiggle on the ground.
A pair of large hands lifted Chachamaru's head, and after reconnecting the body, it miraculously came back to life.
It was already known that Tamayo had turned Chachamaru into a demon before the battle, and now, with Yushiro's help, Chachamaru was soon restored to its original state.
Then, Yushiro instructed the others to check on the wounded.
The boar-headed one, covered in blood, was found not far away, and Zenitsu and Kanao were also rescued one after another.
Several of them hadn't received treatment yet, but their injuries were barely under control.
On Yushiro's side, he found the severely injured Gyomei. His left leg had been severed; Yushiro stopped the bleeding and bandaged the wound, then injected him with serum.
He hoped this would allow the unconscious Gyomei to wake up.
Even so, having lost a leg, Gyomei could no longer participate in the battle.
"There are still more than fifty minutes until sunrise, but Gyomei-san has already fallen."
"Tanjiro alone cannot hold off Muzan."
"Lady Tamayo… I beg you… please, no matter what…"
"Bless him."
Yushiro's hands wiped the sweat from his face continuously, while he kept whispering.
Returning to the battle once more, the combat techniques Tanjiro displayed were evenly matched with Muzan.
However, his goal was not just to persist; in such an intense confrontation, it was difficult for an ordinary human to last until sunrise.
So…
He had to aim for Muzan's heart and brain to buy more time.
Just as Tanjiro was thinking this, Muzan swung his long whips in an attack, and black smoke suddenly filled Tanjiro's vision.
As expected…
The intense confrontation left Tanjiro panting, and due to oxygen deprivation, everything before his eyes turned pitch black.
However, Tanjiro didn't lose his composure; instead, he switched to using his nose to detect Muzan's movements.
Just as he intended to dodge, he didn't notice some small rocks under his feet, and as he was about to fall, Muzan was already closing in.
WHOOSH—!
At the critical moment, a figure rushed over and saved Tanjiro.
"You're still not dead!"
Muzan glared at the two people in front of him.
"Who intervened? This scent…"
Tanjiro finally saw the situation clearly and saw the familiar figure before him.
"Iguro-san!"
The person who arrived was Obanai. At this moment, Obanai's cheeks were covered in terrifying wounds, and it was clear that he had been blinded.
"Iguro-san... to protect me... your eyes..."
Obanai's words interrupted Tanjiro.
"No... my eyes were already blind before I came here."
"And you're so loud, don't always worry about others."
Even though he was blind, Obanai still successfully dodged an attack from Muzan.
"Iguro-san! Let me provide cover for you!"
"Actually, my right eye didn't have good vision to begin with, I'm practically blind anyway, and besides, I have Kaburamaru, I don't need your help."
At this moment, Kaburamaru was like Obanai's guide, showing him the way.
"Are you alright now... then I'm letting go!"
"Yeah, okay!"
At this moment, Muzan appeared silently beneath the two of them. As soon as he discovered this, he pushed Tanjiro away.
But Muzan's target was clearly Obanai; he gritted his teeth and swung his tentacles fiercely.
BOOM—!
Piles of rubble scattered down; this fatal strike destroyed the entire building.
Fortunately, Obanai was unharmed, yet before he landed, Muzan still had a chance for another attack.
SWISH—!
Once again, it was blocked by Obanai's sword technique.
Muzan stared at his opponent in shock, his eyes widening.
"That snake? Did that snake tell him the movement?"
"My actions were actually seen through by such a creature?" 』
『 .....』
〜Dimensional livestream, Chat Room〜
[ Paimon (Genshin Impact): "That's great!" ]
[ Keqing (Genshin Impact): "However, now that this method has been discovered at this time, it won't be useful anymore." ]
[ Umaru Doma (Himouto): "Seems like it." ]
[ Paimon (Genshin Impact): "But it did save a life at the final critical moment, that's already good enough." ]
[ Kamado Tanjiro (Demon Slayer): "Yeah." ]
[ .....]
〜Type-Moon World, ██████ Worldline, Chaldea〜
Fou, who was watching the live stream at this moment, felt great hostility…
He kept yapping, expressing his dissatisfaction.
It seems… even a Beast doesn't like this guy named Kibutsuji Muzan.
However, seeing this scene, Ritsuka Fujimaru also felt very shocked.
"They are just a group of ordinary people who know swordsmanship, and that guy who is so close to a snake was actually able to dodge such fast attacks while having impaired vision."
Ritsuka Fujimaru felt very admirable for this.
—
『 In the screen. After Tanjiro landed steadily, he immediately roared and charged at the enemy. Obanai, prompted by Kaburamaru, also quickly joined the battle.
Fire dragon! White snake! Intersecting!
Obanai's participation improved the situation, and now it was Muzan who began to feel the pressure.
At this time, Muzan was thinking about the drug that made him age.
How could it not have worn off yet?
He had already spent a huge amount of effort healing himself, and yet he couldn't even deal with these injured people.
Muzan's mentality completely collapsed, and at this moment, his attacks were not as precise as before.
Tanjiro, in the distance, knew very well that although everyone had greatly weakened Muzan's power, this guy was still very terrifying.
Although Tanjiro had survived the oxygen deprivation, he could only barely handle the opponent's moves now and had no ability to enter that special state.
So…
To change the current situation, Tanjiro understood it was his turn to support Iguro-san.
"Hmm?"
Just as he thought this, Tanjiro noticed an unusual change in Muzan's body.
Scars appeared one after another on Muzan's body.
"That is… scars!"
Tanjiro suddenly realized that these were the wounds left by Yoriichi-san many years ago, and those wounds that seemed to have healed had actually been torturing Muzan for hundreds of years.
Now, as if Yoriichi was pointing the way for them from another world, these exposed wounds clearly became the key points to strike Muzan.
The attack routes to both the heart and the brain became clear.
In the dark night, Yoriichi seemed to light up the guiding path, which made a familiar face appear in Muzan's mind.
That man! Without a hint of killing intent, not even a bit of resentment. No one expected that he had been defeated by such an ordinary person and forced to flee for so long.
But the scars caused by the sword in his hand were like the sun, continuously scorching my flesh and spirit for centuries. This is completely unreasonable!
The truly terrifying one is not me, but that man!
Tsugikuni Yoriichi…
Now, Muzan had no extra strength to hide the marks on his body. This moment was the best time to launch the final attack.
Whether it was Tanjiro behind him or Obanai in front, both were using all their strength to fight Muzan.
"I promise! I will send you to hell myself!"
Grasping his Nichirin blade tightly, Tanjiro slashed fiercely at Muzan.
At the same time he struck, he discovered that the positions of the wounds on Muzan's body had changed—this meant Muzan was moving the positions of his vital organs.
Even if he couldn't reach that special state, he could still lock onto key parts based on the wounds. But relying on himself alone was not enough; he had to find a way to assist Iguro-san, after all, the help Kaburamaru could provide was limited.
Tanjiro looked at Iguro-san to the side, feeling worried in his heart.
At this moment, the crow brought news again: there were forty minutes until the sun would come out.
Ah, right! Eyes!
Tanjiro suddenly remembered that Yushiro-san's Blood Demon Art could come in handy. The arrival of the crow inspired him, but also alerted Muzan.
There wasn't much time left until dawn…
BANG—!
Unexpectedly, Kibutsuji Muzan… actually fled. 』
『 .....』
〜Dimensional livestream, Chat Room〜
[ Arataki Itto (Genshin Impact): "Hey, hey, hey, isn't this guy too cowardly?" ]
[ Arataki Itto (Genshin Impact): "It was just a little bit away, and he actually just ran away?" ]
[ Tsugikuni Yoriichi (Demon Slayer): "Just like before, at the last moment, he used all his means to run away." ]
[ Kamado Tanjiro (Demon Slayer): "This time, absolutely cannot let him run away. We have already sacrificed too much." ]
[ Tatsumi (Akame Ga Kill): "Tatakae, ichido mo tatakae!" ]
[ Brand (Akame Ga Kill): "TATAKAE!!" ]
[ Might Guy (Naruto): "TATAKAE!!!" ]
[ Enterprise (Azur Lane): "TATAKAE!!!!" ]
[ .....]