As the seconds dragged on, the eastern horizon finally paled, the sky turning the color of a fish belly before dawn.
Muzan Kibutsuji caught sight of a thin strand of sunlight as it crept forward, slowly prying open the endless night.
His whole body began to tremble.
For nearly a thousand years, he had avoided the sun like plague, never once allowing its light to touch him. Now, as that glow advanced inch by inch, terror poured into his veins.
Death.
To humans, sunlight meant hope.
To him, it stank of extinction.
He could not wait any longer.
Muzan tried to move, but his body was still nailed into the wall, pinned there like a specimen.
"Stop blocking me!"
He shook violently, squeezing the last drops of life out of his cells.
If he could escape, he still had a chance.
A final shockwave burst from inside him.
The price was brutal.
Nearly half his cells burned out, their vitality collapsing into nothing.
Tanjiro's face twisted. His body was not like Vincent Fox's.
The moment Muzan's power hit him, his muscles began to convulse uncontrollably.
"Vincent! You have to keep him pinned! The sun is about to rise!"
Tanjiro roared, already feeling his strength draining away at terrifying speed.
His knees buckled.
He crashed to the ground.
"Don't worry."
Vincent's eyes stayed calm, and the force in his hands only increased.
Splurt!
Blood sprayed again from Muzan's body, splashing red across the space in front of him.
"Why? Why is my Blood Demon Art useless on you?!"
Muzan's face contorted. Staring at Vincent's indifferent expression, an image surfaced in his mind.
That man.
Centuries ago.
The same calm eyes.
The same cold certainty.
The same way he had carved Muzan into minced flesh without even changing his expression.
"Damn you! One after another, all of you, go die!"
Muzan howled, the last traces of composure long gone.
He forced his body again, pushing harder, digging deeper, trying to wring out more.
But his chest suddenly churned.
A sweetness rose in his throat.
Then a mouthful of blood exploded out.
"What… what is this? I… I'm poisoned?"
His whip like tendrils drooped to the ground, powerless, and began to rot.
Rize.
Rize again.
"So many tricks," Muzan rasped, voice full of hatred. "You really went to insane lengths just to beat me."
Vincent watched him coldly. He already knew what was happening inside Muzan.
Miss Rize's poison had finally taken effect.
The sunlight kept advancing, slow and yet unstoppable, creeping closer to the main battlefield.
No.
Muzan crushed his rage down and forced himself to think.
If sunlight touched him, he would die.
Then he needed something.
Anything.
A shield.
His eyes swept the surroundings.
But everything nearby had already been flattened into ruin.
Shrink down?
Muzan rejected it instantly.
If he became smaller, he would still burn to ash all the same.
His teeth clenched until they squealed.
Then he made his choice.
"Flesh Armor! Cover my body!"
With a furious shout, Muzan's body began to change violently.
In an instant, he transformed into the form he hated the most.
A flood of flesh poured out from within him, wrapping around his body like a living shell.
Even the Nichirin blade was swallowed into it.
Vincent hopped back, disengaging.
When he looked up, Muzan had turned into something grotesque.
A hideous demon infant.
Its body was enormous, nearly as tall as a building.
Sunlight hit it, and the flesh began to dissolve on contact.
"Gyaa!"
The demon infant wailed, raising both hands to shield its face.
But it also understood immediately.
It had to reach shadow.
Its massive body began to crawl, dragging itself with both hands and feet toward distant buildings.
"Don't let him escape!"
Inside the Ubuyashiki estate, the young master shouted as he watched.
If Muzan escaped now, he might not appear again for centuries.
And if that happened, everything the Demon Slayer Corps had sacrificed for nearly a hundred years would be meaningless.
Suddenly, a figure crossed the battlefield and appeared directly in front of the demon infant, blocking its path.
The infant's eyes had already been ruined by sunlight. Sensing someone in front of it, it instinctively swung an arm.
But the next second, that arm, nearly a full meter thick, was stopped cold.
Pain exploded through its shoulder.
The bone snapped.
Rip!
Its left arm was torn off.
The demon infant lost balance instantly and crashed onto the ground.
A shriek tore from its throat as it scrambled backward, searching desperately for a way out.
Sunlight ate into its body.
Even its white bones crumbled into ash.
Bang!
Its head slammed into the earth, carving out a deep crater.
Its mouth opened and closed rapidly, swallowing dirt by the mouthful.
"It's trying to burrow underground! Stop him!"
Gyomei Himejima roared, forcing himself upright on one leg.
Risking his remaining leg breaking, he hurled his chain and looped it around the demon infant's neck.
"You're not getting away!"
"Gyomei! We've got you!"
"Die, Muzan Kibutsuji! If you run today, I'll cut my own belly open!"
In an instant, everyone threw themselves in without fear, rushing to stop Muzan.
Bang bang bang!
Some Corps members came roaring in with vehicles they had no business finding at a time like this, slamming into the demon infant at full speed.
Others braced behind Gyomei, gripping the chain with both hands and hauling with everything they had.
It became a brutal tug of war.
The demon infant was yanked upright, forced to face the sunlight directly.
Vincent's eyes sharpened.
He planted both feet, kicked off the ground, and launched himself like a cannon.
His fist crashed into the demon infant's chest.
A clean, shining hole was blasted straight through.
The infant's body began to topple backward.
"It's over! This time… it's really over!"
Inside the demon infant, Muzan let out a wailing cry.
There was no solution.
The Demon Slayer Corps had blocked every escape route.
His dream of evolving into the ultimate life form shattered in a single moment.
He felt his body dissolving under the sun.
Despair flooded his eyes.
At this rate, his flesh armor would be reduced to ash in moments.
And then it would be his turn.
He would not last even a second.
Feeling Vincent standing over him, pressing him down without mercy, Muzan suddenly turned vicious.
His flesh shifted, trying to envelop Vincent and drag him inside.
Vincent's gaze stayed cold.
How could he not see what Muzan was trying to do?
Flames erupted from Vincent's body, surging upward like a pillar.
A fire tornado tore through the flesh, blasting it apart and burning it to nothing.
"Save those little schemes for your next life."
Vincent scoffed, drew power into his right fist, and slammed it down.
The demon infant form of Muzan took the blow head on.
Its body split apart.
Chunks of flesh burst in every direction, the massive body breaking into several huge pieces.
Under the sunlight, they disintegrated rapidly, turning to drifting ash.
"Don't… don't do this… I was… I was going to make you the King of All Demons…"
"If you eat my flesh now, you can still complete it…"
"Hurry… what are you waiting for? With your body, you can absolutely evolve into the legendary ultimate life form…"
"I'm begging you… please… just eat one piece…"
Muzan's voice degraded into pleading.
Vincent did not move.
He only watched, expression unmoved, as Muzan's body continued to vanish.
Under Vincent's indifferent gaze, Muzan finally understood.
He was finished.
"Don't… don't leave me alone…"
----------------------------------------------------
The deeper he goes, the more the truth unravels. Don't wait read ahead and witness Vincent's rise before the world catches up!
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