The air churned violently as the first snow of the winter night was instantly vaporized.
The wooden remnants of the Infinity Castle ruins began to spontaneously ignite without any source of fire, and the iron signboards lining the streets grew so hot they could burn skin on contact.
"AAAAAA—!!"
A piercing scream erupted from the shadows.
The lower-ranked demons hiding in the darkness, desperately seeking a chance to survive, were instantly reduced to pools of blood upon contact with the golden-red light.
Their flesh melted like wax thrown into a furnace, dissolving rapidly without even the chance to struggle.
This blazing sun seemed to possess overwhelming destructive power against them. No demon could endure its force.
And in another corner of the battlefield, certain special allies met the same catastrophic fate.
Yushiro let out a muffled groan. His delicate face had already begun to disintegrate under the intense light. Veins bulged across his forehead, and dark red blood seeped from his eyes.
As a demon, even though he stood on the side of justice, he could not defy biological instinct.
He feared this light. It was stripping away his life.
Elsewhere, the self-proclaimed Fist Pillar, Hakuji, was in an even worse state.
Already on the verge of death from his battle with Muzan, his body had been filled with too many toxic cells.
Under this blazing sun, his body began to emit wisps of smoke, breaking down at the cellular level.
"Damn it…" he gritted his teeth, trying to punch away the relentless heat waves, but his arm began to peel apart mid-swing.
"Inosuke! Hurry!"
Tanjiro roared, ignoring his own wounded body as he lunged forward.
Though the oppressive heat from the blazing sun scorched his body, he was still human and did not suffer the same level of pain.
Fighting through the overwhelming dizziness, relying on sheer willpower, he firmly stood in front of Hakuji.
"Charge head-on! Charge head-on! What the hell is this sun that's trying to roast us alive?!"
Inosuke refused to back down.
His beast-like instincts told him that if he didn't block this power, that doctor's demon assistant would die.
His sturdy back was exposed under the blazing sunlight, quickly turning red, yet he firmly shielded Yushiro beneath him.
But the changes had not yet ended.
As the pressure continued to rise, the spiritual pressure within Asuka finally tore open a crack, surging outward like a roaring tsunami.
The weight of the air increased. Every inch of skin felt as if it bore a crushing burden. Blood flow became sluggish.
"This feeling…"
Mitsuri Kanroji felt dizzy as her consciousness gradually sank into the golden-red sea, becoming the first to lose consciousness.
Not just her—those heavily wounded Hashira, and the remaining Demon Slayer members, all collapsed one after another like harvested wheat.
Meanwhile, Inosuke and Tanjiro fainted atop their demon companions, using their own bodies to shield them from the sunlight.
This was not an intentional attack, merely the uncontrollable aftermath of Asuka's power.
The human body simply could not withstand the wrath of something divine at such close range.
"This is impossible!! This kind of power… there's no way it belongs to a human!"
Muzan's voice trembled uncontrollably.
His blood-red eyes were filled with veins as he frantically darted through the ruins, searching for any patch of shadow.
His once-proud regeneration, his demon blood that had reigned for a thousand years, his immortal vitality—all seemed laughable now.
Because that blazing sun seemed to have eyes.
No matter which shadow he hid in, the light pierced through obstacles and struck directly at his flesh.
This was the storm of spiritual pressure erupting from Asuka—an extension of his will.
Muzan's exposed skin had already rotted extensively. Flesh began to collapse.
This burning sensation was far more terrifying than ordinary sunlight. It scorched the soul itself.
He tried to burrow underground, but the ground instantly crystallized under extreme heat, becoming as hard as iron.
He tried to split his body to escape, but his body resisted…
Or rather, it was being firmly suppressed by Asuka's pressure, preventing any division!
Kibutsuji Muzan was trapped within Asuka's prison!
And beneath this blazing sun, Asuka himself was not in good condition.
Blood seeped from the corners of his eyes, his nostrils, even between his fingers.
His body was breaking apart.
[Kid! You've got ten minutes left! Stop pretending!]
Nugata's voice echoed in his mind, accompanied by the dull sounds of blood vessels bursting within his body.
"Let's end this, Muzan."
Asuka's voice was soft, yet it rang like a death knell in Muzan's ears.
He slowly raised both hands.
At that moment, the blazing sun in the sky suddenly contracted, all light collapsing instantly before Asuka.
His right hand clenched in the air, pressing against the base of his left thumb.
Within that concentrated golden-red radiance—
He spread his arms and pulled horizontally.
A sharp sound, capable of tearing space itself, rang out.
Screech—!!!
Sparks flew. Space trembled.
A long tachi, one and a half meters in length, entirely golden-red, with vicious engravings on its guard, was drawn out from the void!
Its blade was not like ordinary metal.
It burned like molten lava, surged like a raging storm, and crackled with thunder and lightning.
The moment it appeared in this world, all surrounding light seemed to be absorbed into it.
The sky, which had been bright as day, plunged once more into darkness.
Only that golden-red blade remained, radiating dazzling brilliance.
"This… what is this…"
At the sight of the blade, Muzan felt a genuine sense of death for the first time in a thousand years.
He believed Ubuyashiki's words now.
There truly were gods in this world.
If that blade fell… if he were struck…
Even the right to reincarnate would be stripped away.
"No! Asuka! Are you a god?! I was wrong! I was truly wrong!!"
"What do you want?! I can build an eternal cult for you! I can serve you forever—"
Muzan completely abandoned his dignity, prostrating himself on the ground.
His body twisted into a distorted mass of flesh due to fear, countless tentacles and eyes writhing wildly, searching for any chance of survival.
Asuka said nothing.
There was no hatred in his eyes, nor any pity.
Only exhaustion from this long nightmare.
A golden-red arc flashed.
In that instant, the world seemed to freeze.
Muzan's pale head slowly slid from his neck under a strange sensation.
No blood sprayed—the wound had been completely carbonized upon contact with the blade.
"...I was cut?"
Muzan's head fell onto the charred ground, his eyes filled with confusion.
"No!! Not yet! I'm not dead!! As long as my brain and heart—"
Even separated from his body, Muzan's instinct for survival reached madness.
The muscles beneath his severed neck tore themselves apart, spewing countless dark red tendrils that grew wildly, attempting to reconnect his head.
Not only that—
His torso broke free from Asuka's suppression, swelling violently as his skin burst apart!
Countless flesh spikes wriggling like maggots shot out, carrying Muzan's thousand-year hatred and survival instinct, attempting to engulf Asuka instead!
"If you won't let me live… then I'll assimilate you! Become part of me!!"
Muzan roared in madness.
He tried to burrow into Asuka's shattered body and seize that godlike power.
But in Asuka's eyes, these movements were too slow.
In his perception, every cell of Muzan's body was clearly visible.
He exhaled softly, the golden-red blade leaving countless afterimages in his hand.
If anyone had remained conscious to witness this battle, they would have realized that Asuka's movements had surpassed the limits of human vision.
Slash slash slash slash slash—!!
The flesh that tried to invade Asuka's body was instantly shredded into fine particles by countless intersecting golden trajectories the moment it approached him.
Blood splattered.
Muzan was truly minced into fragments.
His consciousness wailed.
He felt his soul being torn apart inch by inch by that blade.
"No… I am… the one who surpassed the laws of nature…"
"I am immortal…"
[You're just a coward, Muzan. Come to hell with me.]
[No one is eternal, Kibutsuji. Only conviction.]
[…Do you still find killing others amusing?]
[Ubuyashiki-sama… I've always wanted to tell you, the Blue Spider Lily only blooms during the day…]
Countless voices echoed deep within his mind.
His charred head seemed seized by countless invisible, icy hands, dragging him into the abyss.
Those blood-red eyes finally began to dim.
Muzan's final flesh began to burn.
A thousand years of resentment, a thousand years of fear, finally turned into wisps of black smoke under the rising dawn.
His face dissolved in a foul stench.
In the final moment, reflected in his eyes—once filled with greed and arrogance—was Asuka's calm, tranquil expression.
Asuka flicked his blade lightly and made a sheathing motion, returning it to the base of his thumb.
The golden-red tachi in his hand dissolved into countless specks of light, flowing back into his body.
Dawn had arrived.