Disclaimer: Demon Slayer is not mine. This fanfic is a translation.
Enjoy Reading!
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"MAOU!!"
Several swift figures darted between the trees, closely pursuing a disheveled blur ahead of them.
"Tch." Obanai frowned slightly. Even as he leaped and sprinted at full speed beneath his feet, he still couldn't catch up to Muzan ahead.
"He runs fast…" He flicked his blade, a hint of irritation rising in him.
Although the mission was merely to feign driving Muzan away, the Hashira's desire to actually kill Muzan was absolutely genuine.
"Damn bastard!" Sanemi gritted his teeth. The feeling of swinging and hitting nothing time and again was pushing him to the brink of rage.
"Hey, hey… are you serious!" Tengen planted his foot on a tree trunk and pushed off with force, his entire body shooting forward like a cannonball.
His incredulous gaze remained fixed on Muzan. In his rose-colored eyes was reflected Muzan's transparent body.
Where multiple hearts and brains were moving through Muzan's physical body, shifting positions constantly.
"Kamado and Oyakata-sama's suspicion is correct." Tengen turned his head and shouted to the other Hashira. "Cutting his neck won't kill him!"
"He has five brains and seven hearts!!"
Obanai, who also possessed the Transparent World, immediately concentrated on Muzan, his pupils contracting slightly.
Muzan heard Tengen's loud shout.
He turned his head in fury, his crimson glare fixed on the Hashira relentlessly pursuing him.
"Killing me?!"
"Delusional!"
Muzan glanced at the Hashira and swung his bone whip behind him.
Bang!!
The supersonic bone whip slammed into the ground, kicking up a massive cloud of dust. The surrounding trees shook violently.
"Damn it!!" The Hashira, unable to react in time, charged headfirst into the billowing dust.
Muzan turned back, increased his speed once more, and raced toward the mountaintop without looking back.
Even though his body was now battered and broken.
Even though he couldn't even regenerate his missing flesh, hindered by that strange blade.
He still couldn't be killed by mere humans!
He was fleeing because he had sensed the Hashira were stalling for time.
Though he didn't know the ultimate purpose of their stalling, Muzan didn't dare take the risk.
The figure of Yoriichi surfaced in his mind, frightening him so much that he shook his head violently, not daring to think further.
'That man should have been buried underground along with the Infinity Castle. There was no chance of him appearing again!'
Moreover, the absurdity of tonight's events was overwhelming.
He desperately needed a safe place where he could stop and think through what had happened and plan for the future!
"Muzan!!"
"All run and no fight!! You spent a thousand years practicing how to escape, you bastard?!"
Sanemi shouted in fury. Veins bulged on his forehead from his agitation. His wide eyes, the whites now shot through with red, were filled with rage.
"You coward!!"
He stomped the ground, swung his Nichirin blade fiercely, and instantly carved a vacuum zone out of the billowing dust surrounding him.
)—Wind Breathing Second Form!—(
)—Sōsō - Shinato Kaze!—(
Sanemi's voice echoed through the forest, carrying far ahead to Muzan's ears.
"A thousand years…"
"…spent practicing how to escape?" Muzan slowly stopped his fleeing upon hearing Sanemi's words.
Hideous veins spread densely from his neck up to his face. He slowly turned his head, his chest heaving slightly.
"What did you say?" A low voice, suppressing rage, emerged.
Muzan twisted his head, glaring at the Hashira behind him. His crimson eyes were strikingly conspicuous in the night. "Do you know who you're talking to, boy!?"
An agitated, crushing feeling rose from the depths of his heart, as if grinding his internal organs. His breathing grew rapid.
"What do you even understand?"
He hadn't cared at all about the threats of these Hashira.
Muzan's eyes widened to the point of splitting. Even the two holes in his chest twisted as new flesh buds grew from the agitation.
He opened his mouth, shouting almost as if to prove himself.
"Who do you think you are?! The only one I'm concerned about is that Monster!"
But he stopped mid-sentence.
Because Muzan had stopped, the Hashira caught up.
Two sharp arcs of blade, carried by the momentum of their rapid sprint and swirling winds, headed straight for Muzan's neck.
Muzan stood in place, making no move to dodge.
Snick!
The sharp blade sliced cleanly through Muzan's neck!
But...
The instant the blade cut into Muzan's neck, the wound had already begun to heal.
"…What?!" Giyu's pupils contracted sharply. Being closest to Muzan, he had seen the process clearly.
By the time Giyu withdrew his blade, Muzan's wound had completely healed.
"As I said…" Muzan looked down at Giyu, his crimson eyes devoid of emotion. "Who do you think you are?"
He raised his hand, the bone whip behind him about to strike Giyu.
Seeing this, Sanemi, who had been coordinating with Giyu, quickly grabbed the other's clothes and leaped back.
Crack!!
The bone whip struck nothing, the sound of a sonic boom echoing around them.
A cold voice sounded from behind Muzan.
"Is he wrong?"
Obanai, crouched low, appeared behind Muzan, his Nichirin blade raised high, about to strike down.
Shank!
He wrenched his twisted blade free. It had precisely pierced one of the hearts moving within Muzan's body.
"Guh-ck!!" Blood spurted from the corner of Muzan's mouth. He whipped his head around, glaring at Obanai. "You bastard!"
His crimson eyes trembled slightly.
He hadn't sensed Obanai's presence at all!
"From the moment you saw us, you've been running away."
At the same time, Obanai's mouth kept yapping.
"I have to admit, you're really fast."
"Having your neck cut doesn't kill you either."
"Not to mention those five brains and seven hearts inside your body… and those hearts and brains even move on their own; it's almost as if you're afraid of being killed."
Muzan stiffened. He froze for a moment at the words.
"Let me guess, were all of them grown just to save your own life?" Obanai stared directly at Muzan, carefully observing his expression.
"In comparison, your only method of attack is a monotonous whip strike."
Obanai's talks very fast. His meticulous observational skills allowed him to grasp the fluctuations in Muzan's emotion almost instantly.
"I wouldn't be surprised at all if you really spent your thousand years of existence practicing how cowards ran away."
Muzan's eyes trembled. His pierced heart caused his body to stiffen for a moment.
How did this man know about the hearts inside his body?!
This feeling of being seen through at a single glance reminded Muzan of.
Tsugikuni Yoriichi!!
"You persistent ghost!!"
Giyu quietly watched Obanai verbally assaulting Muzan.
From the perspective of an onlooker, this was what it felt like.
Having so often been the target of verbal attacks himself, he felt relief for the first time. "I'm glad Obanai is such a venomous tongue."
Giyu watched Muzan, momentarily frozen with rage, and thought to himself.
"Haaahhhhh!!!"
Muzan's face turned crimson. Countless pattern-like markings spread across his entire body!
Crack!
Several bone whips unfurled around him.
"Hit a nerve, did I?"
Obanai quickly withdrew his Nichirin blade and leaped back a great distance.
Muzan's hair roots began to whiten. His sharp fangs became more prominent. He panted heavily, then turned to face the Hashira.
"I've changed my mind."
He pointed at the five Hashira outside, his face contorted, his voice trembling.
"All of you will die here tonight!"
The Hashira stood unmoved by the threat.
Only Tengen quietly glanced at a spot behind Muzan.
It was an old, worn-looking wooden house.
The Kamado family home.
Unbeknownst to them, they had chased Muzan all the way to the mountaintop.
And had successfully stopped Muzan from running any further.
On a treetop, a Kasugai crow slowly flapped its wings and landed. Its crimson eyes gazed down silently.
"Caw, mission accomplished, Caw!"
The instant the crow finished speaking,
Rumble!!
The ground beneath Muzan's feet suddenly began to shake violently!