Rumble—!!!
Purple poisonous fog surged outward with world-destroying force, sweeping in all directions.
At that critical, life-or-death instant—
Whoosh!
A white afterimage flashed past, so fast it seemed to surpass the flow of time itself.
Dōma.
The Upper Rank Two who usually wore a carefree smile revealed, in this moment, a speed so terrifying it chilled the soul.
One second before the poison mist touched the hem of Kotoha's clothes—
Dōma was already standing in front of Kotoha and Nezuko.
He spread his arms wide, wrapping both of them tightly into his embrace, shielding them with his own body.
Sizzle—sizzle!
The deadly poison slammed into Dōma's back, producing a skin-crawling sound of corrosion.
His expensive cult-leader robes vanished instantly. The flesh on his back rotted and blackened under the toxin, even exposing stark white bone.
He didn't even frown.
He simply lowered his head, looked at the completely unharmed Kotoha in his arms, and showed his familiar smile.
"It's okay, Kotoha-chan.
It's just… a little dirty."
"Don't look. Close your eyes."
At the same time—
"Destructive Death: Annihilation Form!"
Akaza flashed in front of Tanjiro and Zenitsu in an instant, throwing a punch that released a shockwave, forcibly blasting the incoming poison mist apart.
Daki and Gyutaro cursed loudly, but their bodies were honest—her sashes danced wildly, weaving an airtight net that blocked the remaining shockwaves.
At the center of the battlefield—
Shinazugawa Sanemi had already closed his eyes, waiting for death to claim him.
He couldn't move. He had no strength left to dodge.
But—
The pain he expected never came.
Sanemi snapped his eyes open.
His pupils shrank violently.
Before him—
That boy was kneeling on one knee, back turned toward him.
Hashibira Inosuke.
He looked… unfamiliar.
A version Sanemi had never seen before.
Blue markings crawled across his face. His silver-red hair danced in the fading shockwaves.
Demonization.
Inosuke used his not-so-broad back to block the poisonous cloud meant for Sanemi.
Hiss—
Smoke rose from Inosuke's back. His flesh melted under the toxin, then regenerated rapidly under the power of demonization.
The pain was no different from being flayed alive.
Inosuke let out a muffled groan, black blood spilling from the corner of his mouth.
He slightly turned his head and shot a vicious glare at the stunned Sanemi behind him with his multicolored eyes.
"What are you staring at?!"
The poison mist finally dispersed.
Yoshiwara's streets had become a complete wasteland.
Buildings were riddled with corrosion, and purple toxic residue pooled across the ground.
In the east, the horizon had begun to pale.
The first ray of sunlight gathered strength behind the clouds.
"Dawn's almost here," Dōma said, straightening up as the wounds on his back regenerated at a visible pace.
He glanced at Inosuke, then at the white-haired man protected behind him.
Understanding flickered through his rainbow-colored eyes.
"I see now.
What a… soft-hearted child you are."
Dōma smiled.
Since it was his son's decision, as a doting father, he would naturally see it through.
"Then let today's lesson end here."
He waved his hand, the golden fan reappearing in his grip.
"Daki, Gyutaro, and Lord Akaza—
it's time for us to go."
"Sunlight is bad for the skin, after all. And Kotoha-chan doesn't like tanning."
"Let's go."
Dōma took Kotoha's hand and gently tidied her slightly messy hair.
"Let's find a nicer inn, sleep through the day, and come out again tonight."
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Several figures vanished like phantoms into the shadows before dawn.
Only one sentence lingered in the air:
"Inosuke~ don't forget to come back early for breakfast~"
The battlefield fell silent.
Only ruins remained—
and a few boys standing amid the devastation.
"Cough—cough…"
Sanemi coughed violently, every breath bringing up clotted blood.
But he ignored his own injuries.
Like a dog with its spine broken, he propped himself up on his elbows and crawled forward with all his strength.
Toward that place—
The center of the explosion.
Where Genya had last stood.
"Genya… Genya…"
Sanemi's voice was hoarse, trembling on the edge of collapse.
He crawled over rubble, over wreckage.
Finally—
He saw it.
Inside the massive crater—
Lay something that could barely still be called a body.
Genya was unrecognizable.
His limbs had been blown apart, scattered around.
His chest was torn open with a massive hole, inside which shattered organs still faintly twitched.
That stubborn face—
Half of it had been corroded down to bare bone. The other half was a bloody mess.
"Ah…"
Sanemi froze.
His mind went completely blank, as if his soul had been ripped away.
"Ah… ahhh…"
"No… no…"
His hands trembled as he reached out, wanting to touch his brother—yet too afraid to.
He feared that one touch would cause Genya to crumble completely.
"Why…"
Tears burst forth, mixing with blood on his face, dripping onto Genya's ruined body.
"Why did you follow me…"
"I just… I just wanted you to live!!"
"AAAAAHHHHH!!!"
On this morning about to welcome the light—
Sanemi cried until his heart tore apart.
Gone.
Everything was gone.
He had killed demons desperately.
Grown stronger desperately.
Pushed his brother away desperately—
And still, he couldn't protect him.
In this world, his only family, his only obsession…
Shattered.
Sanemi's breathing grew weaker and weaker.
As his heart turned to ashes, the last trace of his will to live faded.
The Mark vanished. His injuries erupted all at once.
He collapsed onto Genya's body, eyes unfocused, quietly waiting for death.
"Take me with you… Genya…
Big brother's coming to join you…"
"Giving up already?
How pathetic."
A cold voice shattered the despairing silence.
Inosuke had undone his demonization, returning to his human form.
Bare-chested, his lean body was covered in countless scars.
"Move him over here."
Inosuke pointed to the shadows inside a nearby room.
"Don't let the sun melt him."
Tanjiro and Zenitsu gritted their teeth and carefully carried Genya's remains into the shade.
Inosuke walked over, grabbed Sanemi by the hair, and dragged him like a dead dog to Genya's side, laying them next to each other.
"Kill me…"
Sanemi opened his eyes weakly, staring at Inosuke with hollow eyes.
"Please… kill me…"
"Let me die with him…"
"Die?"
Inosuke sneered.
"In your dreams."
He pulled a wooden box from his clothes.
Opened it.
Inside lay four syringes glowing with purple light.
Demonization serum.
Pshhk!
Without hesitation, Inosuke grabbed one syringe and plunged it straight into Genya's shattered neck artery.
Then—
Pshhk!
Another syringe stabbed into Sanemi's chest.
"Ah…"
Sanemi let out a weak groan.
Thump! Thump!
Two dying hearts began pounding violently.
Sizzle—
As the purple fluid flowed in—
Genya's broken body began regenerating at a visible speed.
Fractured bones snapped back together with crackling sounds.
Missing flesh writhed as if alive, rapidly filling the voids.
His skin turned dark gray. A single horn grew from the center of his forehead. His teeth sharpened into fangs.
Demonization.
On the other side—
Sanemi's transformation was even more intense.
His hair grew wilder, the white tips tinged faintly purple.
His eyes turned pitch-black, pupils blazing gold.
Black, wind-blade-like demon markings surfaced along his cheeks.
"GRAAAHHHH!!!"
The brothers roared in agony together.
One minute later—
The regeneration stopped.
Genya gasped and sat upright.
He touched his chest, then stared at his clawed hands.
"I… I didn't die?"
"Brother! Brother!!"
He turned and saw Sanemi sitting up beside him, frozen in shock.
Sanemi raised his hands, trembling.
His lungs no longer hurt.
All his wounds were gone.
In their place—
A power so full it felt ready to burst.
And… an instinctive fear of sunlight.
"This… this is…"
Sanemi stared at his demon-like hands, then at his horned younger brother.
Relief?
Fear?
Gratitude?
Or despair—of a demon slayer becoming a demon?
Countless emotions crushed his reason at once.
He opened his mouth to speak.
Then he looked up—
At Inosuke standing before him, backlit like a god.
"Ino—"
BAM!!
Before he could finish even one word—
A foot whipped through the air and smashed into his face!
Like kicking a soccer ball.
Sanemi flew several meters, crashing hard into a wall.
"Inosuke!"
Tanjiro gasped.
Inosuke pulled his foot back, brushed dust off his pants, and winced at the empty syringes on the ground.
He sneered and pointed at Sanemi.
"Do you have any idea how few of those things I have?"
"Using them on you two idiots—
what a waste."
He walked up to Sanemi and looked down at him.
"Remember this, Shinazugawa Sanemi."
"You owe me two hundred million kan."
Sanemi clutched his swollen face and tried to curse—
"You bas—"
Bam!!
Another kick—this time straight onto his face.
"Shut up!"
Inosuke crossed his arms, eyes full of mockery.
"Look at the state you're in now."
"Aren't you the one who hates demons the most?
Aren't you the one who kills them on sight?"
"Well?"
"Now you've become a demon. And your brother's a demon too."
"So what? Going to kill yourself?"
"Or carry out 'righteous justice'—kill your brother, then yourself?"
Sanemi fell silent.
He felt the demon blood flowing inside him and looked at Genya, who stared back anxiously.
Suicide?
"I…"
Sanemi lowered his head.
The pride of the Wind Hashira shattered completely.
Yet the relief of being an older brother filled his chest.
He knew—
Inosuke had saved them.
From a certain death, he had preserved their lives.
Even that messenger crow—
Inosuke must have intercepted it on purpose.
If the other Hashira had arrived…
Facing so many Upper Ranks…
Would they really have won?
They would've been wiped out.
Had Inosuke once again saved everyone…?
He glanced at the sky.
The sun had risen halfway, sunlight about to flood the land.
"Enough."
Inosuke held up five fingers in front of Sanemi.
"Five minutes.
In five minutes, turn human again and get lost—with your brother."
He turned his back and waved his hand dismissively.
"Don't let me see you again."
With that—
He hooked an arm around Tanjiro and Zenitsu's shoulders.
"Let's go, you brats! Time to find the old man!"
"I'm starving! That fight wrecked my back!"
The three walked toward the sunlight.
"Inosuke!!"
Behind them, Sanemi's hoarse voice called out.
Inosuke stopped—but didn't turn around.
Sanemi knelt on the ground, staring at the boy's back.
His eyes were filled with emotions too complex to name.
"I'm sorry…
…and thank you."
He took a deep breath.
"Can you… come back?"
"Back to the Demon Slayer Corps?"
"I'll beg the Master. I'll kneel before all the Hashira and explain everything!"
Inosuke was silent for two seconds.
He slightly turned his head, revealing half his profile.
The first ray of morning sunlight struck his face, making that smile blinding.
"Go back?
Ha…"
Inosuke laughed as if hearing a joke.
"Mad dog, have you still not understood the situation?"
"Why would I go back?"
"At the Demon Slayer Corps, I'm a suspected outcast."
"But here—"
He spread his arms, embracing the ruins, embracing the world.
"I'm the Young Lord of the Eternal Paradise Cult."
He strode forward, leaving without hesitation.
"And remember this."
"The one who saved your life today wasn't the Demon Slayer Hashibira Inosuke."
"It was Hashibira Inosuke of the Eternal Paradise Cult."
"You owe me two lives."
Sanemi stood frozen, watching the boy's figure fade into the sunlight.
That back—
Shone brighter than the rising sun itself.
And felt just as unreachable.
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