With that hoarse roar, thick with jealousy, Gyutaro vanished.
When he reappeared, he was already clinging upside down above Kokushibo's head.
"Blood Demon Art · Circular Slash Rotation · Flying Blood Sickles!!!"
This was his signature technique—atomizing the highly toxic blood within his body, then solidifying it into countless tiny sickles.
They obeyed no logic, no trajectory.
Like bone-clinging parasites, they gnawed viciously at every inch of Kokushibo's skin.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
Kokushibo swung Kyokokushinogi, weaving an airtight net of blades that blocked most of the attack.
Slash!
With a single stroke, Kokushibo severed Gyutaro cleanly at the waist.
If it were any ordinary demon, the assault would have faltered right there.
But Gyutaro was a madman.
"Hehehe… useless…"
Reduced to only his upper body, Gyutaro's grin grew even more grotesque.
What burst from his severed waist wasn't blood—but an even denser, more virulent poison.
Riding the momentum of being cut in half, Gyutaro drove his bone sickle straight into Kokushibo's shoulder.
"Gh…"
For the first time, Kokushibo let out a muffled groan.
The numbing sensation spreading from the wound made him frown.
It was the poison of Upper Rank Six.
It wouldn't kill him—but it was more than enough to be disgusting.
"Now's our chance!!!"
Sanemi Shinazugawa stared in shock, but a top-tier Hashira's instincts kicked in instantly.
"Wind Breathing · Seventh Form · Gale—Tengu Wind!!!"
Several tornado-like slashes followed the opening Gyutaro had torn open, slamming brutally into Kokushibo.
BOOM!!!
Kokushibo was forced back a full five steps by the combined assault of one demon and one man.
"Hahahaha!! That felt good!!"
Sanemi's face was smeared with blood, his grin villainous.
He glanced at Gyutaro mid-air, stitching his own body back together, eyes blazing.
"Hey! Rib-cage freak!
Don't know which screw came loose for you to help us, but damn—
this feels fucking amazing!!"
Gyutaro landed, his body fully restored.
He scratched his blotched face, his murky eyes holding instinctive contempt for humans—
but even more so, the ferocity of someone protecting their own.
"Don't get smug, Scarface."
Gyutaro spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, raising his sickles again.
"If it weren't for Inosuke, that bastard…
don't you dare drag us down, weak human."
Veins bulged on Sanemi's forehead, but his grin only widened.
"Weak? I'll show you who's dragging who down in a minute!!"
"Everyone—attack together!!!"
Rengoku Kyojuro roared.
"Doesn't matter who he is! Right now, there's only one target!!!"
"Mist Breathing!"
"Sound Breathing!"
"Serpent Breathing!"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
This was a sight never before seen in the history of the Demon Slayer Corps.
Slash!
Kokushibo's cheek was cut.
Slash!
Kokushibo's arm was severed.
…
Infinity Castle
Deathly silence.
Nakime dared not pluck a single string.
Kibutsuji Muzan stood at the center of the hall, chest heaving violently, his face—once always in control—now utterly blank.
When sorrow and rage reach their absolute peak, there are no words left.
Upper Rank One—disobedient.
Upper Rank Two—seeking suicide.
Upper Rank Three and Six—completely unhinged.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!"
Muzan let out a shriek sharp enough to pierce eardrums.
Like a tantrum-throwing child, he stomped furiously in place.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Each step sent tremors through the Infinite Castle.
"WHY?! WHY?!!
I only want immortality! I only want the Blue Spider Lily!
Why are all the subordinates I raised for centuries… a bunch of lunatics?!"
But quickly, the Demon King's instincts forced him to calm down.
Through the shared vision, he keenly grasped the battlefield situation.
Kokushibo was being suppressed.
Against suicidal swarm tactics and Gyutaro's utterly shameless fighting style, Kokushibo's mental defenses were cracking.
"An opening…"
A ruthless glint flashed in Muzan's eyes.
"Nakime!!!"
Muzan whipped around, crimson pupils bloodshot.
"Pull Kokushibo back immediately!!!"
"Yes!!" Nakime struck the strings hard.
CLANG!!!!
Eternal Paradise Cult – Battlefield
Kokushibo, who had been pressing the others while trying to force the boy to reveal his name, suddenly felt the ground vanish beneath his feet.
A massive door—like the gaping maw of an abyss—forced itself open below him.
"Hm?"
Kokushibo looked down, irritation flashing through all six eyes.
"At a time like this?
Before the victor is decided… before I've learned this child's name…
when my pride as a warrior has been trampled…"
"You want me to retreat mid-battle?"
"This violates the way of the sword.
It is disgrace."
He raised his grotesque, blade-covered sword and cleaved downward at the door beneath him.
"Moon Breathing · Sixteenth Form · Moonbow—Solitary Moon!"
CRACK!
The sound of space itself shattering.
The forcibly opened portal was cleaved apart—destroyed outright.
"Don't interfere."
Kokushibo coldly severed his connection with Muzan.
He lifted his head.
Those six eyes now held only the cold, expressionless boy.
"Tell me your name."
…
Corner of the Cult Hall
Crunch… crunch…
The nauseating sound of bones grinding echoed.
The bodies of Kamado Tanjiro and Kaigaku—previously lying on the ground—slowly rose.
Their forms had changed beyond recognition.
Crimson demon horns sprouted from Tanjiro's forehead.
His once gentle dark-red eyes were now a dead, ghastly white.
Kaigaku's skin had turned bluish-black, ears sharpened, lightning patterns spreading across his body as fangs grew in.
"…Hungry…"
Their demonification had just completed.
Reason had yet to return.
There was only one instinct left.
Eat.
At that moment—
BANG!
A golden-red figure smashed down in front of them.
It was Agatsuma Zenitsu.
Swept away by the aftershock of Kokushibo's sword, he rolled over like a rag doll.
His body was wrecked.
His yellow haori was soaked completely red, hair plastered to his forehead with blood.
Yet he didn't cry.
He didn't run.
He struggled up, using his chipped Nichirin blade as a crutch, trying to rush back into battle.
"I can't fall yet…
Big brother… is still waiting…"
Two shadows loomed over him.
Killing intent and ravenous hunger flooded the air, making every hair on Zenitsu's body stand on end.
He looked up.
And saw those two emotionless pairs of eyes.
"Ta… Tanjiro?
Senior brother?"
Zenitsu froze.
"ROAR!!!"
Demonized Tanjiro and Kaigaku lunged like starving wolves.
CLANG!!
Zenitsu instinctively raised his blade, barely wedging it between their gaping jaws.
"Ghh—!!"
Tanjiro's strength was monstrous, crushing down until Zenitsu's arm bones creaked.
"WAKE UP!!!"
Pinned to the ground, Zenitsu screamed.
"You idiots!!!
TANJIRO!!!
KAIGAKU!!!"
No response.
Only growls—and the shrill screech of fangs grinding against steel.
"W-waaah…"
Zenitsu stared at those unbearably familiar faces.
Watched them become the very monsters they'd despised all their lives.
Something inside him shattered completely.
He thought of Inosuke.
That idiot who pushed himself to the brink of death and now lay somewhere between life and death.
"What are you doing…?"
Zenitsu sobbed, voice hoarse with despair.
"Everything was finally getting better…
Everyone's risking their lives to save you…
Inosuke is still lying there…
That idiot went off to die again for us…
and you're here trying to eat me?!"
"Are you worthy of him?!!!"
That shout was like thunder, splitting into the muddled minds of the newborn demons.
Tanjiro and Kaigaku froze.
In those pale eyes, a flicker of confusion appeared.
But the next instant—
Demonic instinct crushed reason once more.
Their strength increased.
Zenitsu's blade began to bend.
Their fangs neared his throat.
Staring at the jaws inches from his neck—
At the twisted faces—
Zenitsu suddenly stopped struggling.
He released his grip.
Clatter.
The Nichirin blade fell to the ground with a clear, mournful sound.
Zenitsu closed his eyes.
Tears slid down the corners of his face as he spread his arms.
"…Go ahead. Eat me."
His voice was exhausted—but resolute.
"If eating me… helps you wake up even a little… then do it.
Anyway… without you… without Inosuke…
I'm too scared to live on alone."
"When you're full…
I'll go find Inosuke…
and tell him… Zenitsu didn't run. Zenitsu tried."
Time seemed to stop.
The expected agony never came.
His throat wasn't torn open.
A drop of burning liquid fell onto Zenitsu's face.
Then a second. A third.
Trembling, Zenitsu opened his eyes.
What he saw—
Tanjiro and Kaigaku, pinning him down—
Those grotesque demon faces… were soaked in tears.
Memory reels exploded in their minds, shattering the chains of hunger.
"Gonpachiro!"
A boy stood there, arms crossed, smiling.
"Trash senior brother!"
"From now on… Eternal Paradise is your home."
A family photo—
a senior brother drawn as a stick figure, and Zenitsu crying like a mess.
"Ino… suke…"
Tanjiro's throat rasped out broken syllables.
"…Family…"
Kaigaku's body shook violently.
He released his bite, clutching his head as he screamed in agony—
fighting the demon buried deep within his soul.
…
Shinobu stood frozen.
She looked at Doma—his face full of quiet relief—
and for a moment, felt as if she herself were the sinner.
She lowered her head, bangs hiding her eyes.
Only her trembling shoulders betrayed the storm raging inside.
"Heh… hehehe… HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
Suddenly, Shinobu laughed.
Doma froze, staring at her in confusion.
"Miss… Shinobu?"
She snapped her head up.
In those violet eyes burned years of suppressed rage.
She grabbed Doma by the collar and yanked him close.
Her voice was shrill—yet shaking.
"Who do you think you are?!
Basking in sunlight?
Self-redemption?
Walking into hell?!
What was my sister's life to you?!
What was all my hatred these past years to you?!"
Her face was inches from his, every word a blood-soaked nail.
"You think you get to die so easily?!
You want to vanish like a saint—under sunlight, wrapped in warmth?!
Dream on."
"I'll tell you this, Doma!!"
Shinobu drew her blade again, the tip pressing hard against his heart.
"I saved Inosuke because he's my family!
Not so I could watch your fake, self-indulgent atonement!!"
"I will kill you!!
But not now—
and not like this!!"
She released one hand, pointing at unconscious Inosuke, then at the sobbing Kotoha.
"You get peace—what about them?!
Inosuke nearly destroyed himself to atone for your sins!!
Kotoha was even willing to kneel and die for your crimes!!
If you die, who repays them?!
Who makes up for the pain they suffered?!"
"Me?!!
This kind of self-satisfying death—
I refuse to accept it!!!!"
Doma stared blankly at her.
At this small woman unleashing a fury that even terrified him.
Only then did he realize—
How pale, how selfish his so-called redemption truly was.
"Then… what do you want me to do?"
Doma murmured.
"Live."
Shinobu released him, voice ice-cold.
"Live on in misery.
Live carrying your sins, carrying what you owe them, and suffer.
Wait until Inosuke wakes up.
Wait until everything is over.
Then—I will personally send you to hell."
At that moment—
"Lord Doma, she's absolutely right, you know~"
A seductive voice sounded behind Shinobu.
Her pupils shrank sharply.
Too fast—no presence at all!
Daki stood atop a tall rock, looking down at Shinobu.
Her smile was proud, her eyes holding no real killing intent.
She flicked her hair, glanced at the dazed Doma, then at unconscious Inosuke.
"Lord Doma is our family, after all.
How could you just go and die so casually?"
"Hey! You over there—the Hashira!"
Daki pointed at Shinobu, a flicker of provocation—and grudging respect—in her eyes.
"I hate you, but I liked what you just said."
"Lord Doma's life belongs to us.
You want to kill him?
Wait until next time we meet.
For now…
I'm taking our family home."
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