Shōkyū's roar exploded through the Infinity Castle.
In that moment, his body seemed to have lost all control of reason—or perhaps he no longer needed reason at all.
He abandoned defense.
He abandoned regeneration.
Instead, he poured every ounce of power, rage, and madness into his attacks.
The number of hideous thorn whips surged instantly, growing from a dozen or so into several dozen.
Packed together, they looked like a dark-red forest.
Every single whip carried enough power to tear through steel as they swept indiscriminately in every direction.
Under the stimulation of those thorn whips, Shōkyū's body began swelling again.
The flesh that had already been torn apart rapidly multiplied, spread, and hardened, forming a thick wall of meat like a layer of armor.
"He's going berserk!" Shinichi's voice carried a gravity it had never had before. "Everyone, be careful!"
Before Shinichi's words had even faded, a thorn whip as thick as a giant python came lashing toward Shinobu Kocho.
Shinobu turned sideways to dodge, but the whip was far faster than she had predicted.
It grazed past her shoulder, tearing away a piece of flesh.
She let out a muffled grunt, her steps faltering, and before she could steady herself, another thorn whip stabbed toward her from the side.
"Shinobu!"
Kanae Kocho's figure turned into a streak of pink light as she forced herself between her sister and the attack.
The blade light of Flower Breathing burst open in an instant, cutting the thorn whip apart, but the aftershock still carved a deep wound across Kanae's waist.
Blood sprayed out like a spring, staining half of her butterfly haori red.
"Sister!" Shinobu cried out.
"I'm fine…"
Kanae's face went pale at once, but she still gritted her teeth and forced herself to stand straight.
Before she could finish speaking, an even thicker thorn whip swept in from the side with terrifying force.
This time, its target was the badly wounded Kanae.
"Kanae!"
Sanemi Shinazugawa's roar exploded like thunder.
At the critical moment, he rushed in front of Kanae.
Emerald-green blade light from Wind Breathing erupted wildly, but the force behind that thorn whip was too terrifying.
Sanemi was still forced back several steps, and a sharp burst of pain tore through his eye.
A fragment of the thorn whip struck his left eye in the explosion.
Blood instantly blurred half his vision, and the flesh around his eye socket was torn open.
"Sanemi-san!!"
Kanae tried to rush forward to check his injury.
"Don't come over!"
Sanemi locked his remaining right eye on the front, his voice hoarse but firm.
"I can still hold on. Get back!"
At the same time, on the other side, Yuichiro Tokito's eyes widened sharply.
A massive thorn whip swept toward him and Muichiro like the scythe of death.
Yuichiro gritted his teeth and poured all his strength into his Nichirin blade, stepping ahead of Muichiro to meet the whip first.
"Get lost!"
Blade light collided with the thorn whip, only for a piercing sound of metal breaking to ring out.
For one instant, Yuichiro's maple-red Nichirin blade shattered with a crash, fragments scattering everywhere.
The thorn whip had lost most of its force, but it still smashed hard into Yuichiro's chest.
The terrifying impact sent him flying backward. His Corps uniform was completely ripped open at the chest, revealing a bloody mess beneath.
Broken white bone could even be faintly seen through the wound.
"Brother!"
For the first time, Muichiro's voice wavered.
He wanted to rush over and catch Yuichiro, but another thorn whip forced him back.
All he could do was watch helplessly as his older brother crashed heavily into the ruins in the distance, his life or death unknown.
Tengen Uzui was also struck hard at nearly the same moment.
He had just climbed up from the ground and had not yet managed to adjust his breathing when a thorn whip tore through the air toward him.
With his stamina severely drained, he could not react in time and was pierced straight through the chest.
It had missed his heart by only the slightest margin.
Pfft!
Tengen spat out a large mouthful of blood. His body trembled violently as both hands clamped down on the thorn whip.
"Tengen!"
Giyu Tomioka appeared beside him like flowing water.
A water-blue blade light slashed down hard, cutting the thorn whip in two.
Tengen's body immediately went limp, and he dropped to one knee behind Giyu.
His breathing was faint, and blood kept spilling from the corner of his mouth, but even then, he still spoke in a weak voice.
"A flashy curtain call… Don't worry about me… Go help… everyone…"
Mitsuri Kanroji was desperately weaving between the thorn whips.
Her movements were agile, and with her extraordinary flexibility, she slipped through the gaps between the attacks. But the whips were far too dense.
One of them scraped across her cheek, carving a bloody wound from her ear down to her chin. Blood instantly blurred half of her beautiful face.
"It hurts…"
Mitsuri's voice sounded almost fragile, but she did not retreat even half a step. Instead, she gritted her teeth and swung her sword even more fiercely.
"But I won't fall!"
Shinichi saw everything, and his grip tightened around his Nichirin blade.
"That's enough!"
Shinichi growled through clenched teeth.
In the next instant, bluish-green and white blade light flashed madly through the darkness.
He charged toward Shōkyū without caring about anything else, determined to tear this crazed demon apart completely.
But just then—
Taking advantage of the opening created by Shōkyū's frenzied attacks, Shinobu Kocho transformed into a streak of purple light and rushed toward Shōkyū's head.
Her speed was astonishing, and the slender Nichirin blade in her hand stabbed straight toward Shōkyū's brow.
But Shōkyū seemed to sense it.
One massive claw suddenly lifted.
Although the Nichirin blade pierced through it, he seized the opportunity to grab Shinobu's body.
"Shinobu!"
Shinobu's body was clenched tightly in Shōkyū's giant claw.
The huge fingers kept tightening, and tiny creaks came from her bones. Her slender Nichirin blade slipped from her hand and fell.
A trace of blood spilled from her lips, and Shōkyū's hideous face was reflected in her violet eyes.
"Let her go!!"
Shinichi's black eyes turned red.
At that moment, his speed reached a limit he had never touched before, breaking through even his own shackles.
The light on his Nichirin blade condensed into a brilliant pillar, slashing fiercely toward the arm Shōkyū was using to hold Shinobu.
Shōkyū also noticed Shinichi's attack.
But his killing intent toward Shinichi overwhelmed everything else.
He threw Shinobu aside and lashed out with his claws, sending terrifying destructive force straight toward Shinichi.
Shinichi had no intention of dodging.
He even pushed his speed higher and charged straight in.
Rip!
An indescribable agony tore through him.
Shinichi rushed to a point less than a meter in front of Shōkyū, allowing the five razor-sharp claw blades to tear through the left side of his neck.
Blood gushed out like a fountain. Nearly half of his neck had been ripped open, and Shinichi could even feel the grinding scrape of claws against the bone in his neck.
But at the same moment, the Nichirin blade in his hand stabbed hard into Shōkyū's face.
"GRAAAHH!!!"
"DIE!!!"
Shinichi and Shōkyū roared at the same time.
Shōkyū's roar was one of pain and rage.
Shinichi's was a cry burning with every last shred of his will.
"Go back to Yomi!!"
A vast surge of life force poured through the blade into Shōkyū's head like a broken dam.
Life force and the power of Yomi collided wildly inside Shōkyū's body, annihilating and exploding against each other again and again.
Cracks glowing with white light spread across his ugly, ferocious face.
And in the very instant Shinichi and Shōkyū were locked in place, three figures erupted into motion at the same time.
"Stone Breathing, First Form: Serpentinite Bipolar!!!"
Gyomei Himejima's Nichirin spiked flail and great axe smashed out together, crashing violently into the left side of Shōkyū's neck.
The mountain-like force drove the massive Nichirin axe deep into Shōkyū's neck.
"Water Breathing, Second Form: Water Wheel!!"
Giyu Tomioka's figure spun through the air, his Nichirin blade turning into a water-blue arc of light as it slashed hard into the right side of Shōkyū's neck.
Sabito's blade light followed closely behind, stacking with Giyu's strike.
The two water-blue slashes intertwined into an even sharper cut.
"For the Demon Slayer Corps!"
The veins along Gyomei's powerful arms bulged.
"For our fallen comrades!!"
Sabito's voice carried anger unlike anything he had ever shown before.
"For the comrades still alive!!"
Giyu's voice burned with the same fire.
Three attacks from different directions converged at Shōkyū's neck at the same time.
Shinichi gritted his teeth and poured the last of his strength into the Nichirin blade stabbed into Shōkyū's face.
The white light surged again, blazing like dawn piercing through the night.
"The history of demons ends here!!"