BOOM!!!
That strike—into which Kaigaku poured every ounce of his resolve—did create a miracle, if only for an instant.
The Nichirin blade jammed solidly against the demonic sword that had survived for centuries.
But it was only… an instant.
Kokushibo's six crimson eyes shifted slightly, his gaze settling on the ferocious-looking Kaigaku.
There was no praise in his eyes.
Not even surprise.
Only the lofty indifference one would show a stray dog barking by the roadside.
"So this is all you've got?"
His voice blew through the hall like a frigid wind from the abyss.
He didn't even use a breathing form.
With a casual flick of his wrist, the monstrous strength of Upper Rank One exploded forth.
CRACK!
Kaigaku's Nichirin sword shattered instantly into countless fragments.
In the next heartbeat, Kokushibo's blade—trailing a purple afterimage—whipped across Kaigaku's chest at a speed he couldn't even perceive.
"PUAH!!!"
The sound of bones pulverizing rang out clearly. His organs felt as if they'd been violently displaced all at once.
Kaigaku was sent flying like a rag doll, a miserable arc of blood spraying through the air before he slammed into the rubble in the corner of the hall with a thunderous crash.
Dust billowed.
Whether he was alive or dead—no one knew.
"SENIOR BROTHER!!!"
Inosuke let out a heart-rending roar.
But he didn't have even a second to check on Kaigaku—
because the six-eyed monster had already turned its head.
Kokushibo stepped over the scattered stones, the eye-covered sword hanging at his side, its eyeballs twitching restlessly.
"Next are you two.
One genius. One counterfeit."
His aura began to surge violently.
"Come at me together.
Show me just how far your crude imitations can go."
"BASTARD!!!"
Inosuke and Tanjiro exchanged a glance.
BOOM!
They burst forward at the same time.
"Rin-Sun Breathing · Solar Eclipse · Dual Poles of Ice and Flame!"
Inosuke moved like a phantom.
With his left hand, extreme frost sealed Kokushibo's retreat; with his right, a fan blazing with solar fire struck straight for his face.
No defense.
Every move was a gamble with death.
"Hinokami Kagura · Slanting Sunset Reversal!"
Using Inosuke's cover, Tanjiro flashed into Kokushibo's blind spot like an afterimage.
His Nichirin blade glowed red from the heat, screaming under the strain—but he didn't care.
He slashed straight for Kokushibo's knee.
Ice and fire.
Human and demon.
For a single moment, their coordination reached perfect resonance.
And yet—
In Kokushibo's six transparent eyes, everything moved in slow motion.
"Full of openings."
BAM!
BAM!
Without even stepping forward, Kokushibo casually flicked his sword hilt twice—like swatting away two annoying flies.
Inosuke's ice-and-fire assault was blown apart instantly, the recoil traveling through his fans and numbing his arms.
Tanjiro's blade was knocked clean from his hands, his body spinning helplessly through the air.
"Ungh!"
The two crashed to the ground at the same time, rolling across the debris in utter disarray.
But then—
Kokushibo's hand, which had been about to finish them off, suddenly froze in midair.
All six of his eyes were glued to Tanjiro, who was gasping for breath.
As Tanjiro panted, the deep-red mark on his forehead spread wider, growing ever more vivid.
The hanafuda earrings swayed violently with his breathing.
And that smooth, flowing rhythm from his earlier technique—
"Like him…
Too much like him…"
A long-buried figure exploded into Kokushibo's mind.
The shadow he had never escaped, even after becoming a demon.
The younger brother who surpassed all life while still human.
Tsugikuni Yoriichi.
"YOU WON'T LEAVE ME ALONE!!!"
The corners of Kokushibo's eyes split, bloody tears streaming down his face.
"Why is your shadow everywhere?!
Why, after hundreds of years, do I still have to see those earrings?!"
BOOM!!!
A tidal wave of rage swallowed what little reason he had left.
Ignoring the greater threat that was Inosuke, Kokushibo vanished—
and reappeared directly in front of Tanjiro.
A pale hand clamped around Tanjiro's throat.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
Overwhelming grip strength exploded outward. Tanjiro's face instantly turned a deep purplish red as his feet left the ground.
He clawed desperately at Kokushibo's arm.
"Ghk… ngh…"
SHNK!
The blade of Kyōkoku-kamushi pierced mercilessly through Tanjiro's abdomen.
"AAAAAAH!!"
Tanjiro screamed in agony, blood pouring down the blade and pooling on the floor.
"Hey."
Kokushibo's six eyes pressed close to Tanjiro's face.
"Why won't you become a demon?"
He shook Tanjiro like a criminal being interrogated.
"Can't you see it?!
Even that genius became a demon!!
Why won't you?!
What gives you the right to cling to that laughable human identity?!
What gives you the nerve to be so arrogant?!"
His sanity had completely collapsed.
"You think you can replace him?!
You think you're the next Tsugikuni Yoriichi?!
You disgusting counterfeit!!
Seeing your face makes me want to vomit!!"
Kokushibo yanked his blade free, blood spraying everywhere.
Then he raised the eye-covered sword high, aiming straight for Tanjiro's neck.
"DIE!!!"
"LET HIM GO!!!"
A scream so desperate it tore the air apart.
Inosuke had gone mad.
He was too far away—
the blade was too fast.
In that split second, Inosuke made a completely insane decision.
He poured all the power sustaining his life and healing his wounds—without regard for the consequences—into the ground beneath his feet.
"Blood Demon Art · Mist Ice · Sleeping Lotus Bodhisattva!!!"
RUMBLE—!!!
From beneath Kokushibo's feet, a colossal Bodhisattva of ice erupted like a demon's arm reaching up from hell, carrying all of Inosuke's fury with it.
Freezing air flooded the hall.
The ice Bodhisattva formed a hand-blade and cleaved straight toward the arm gripping Tanjiro.
"Hm?"
Kokushibo sensed the danger.
If he didn't let go, that arm would be severed clean off.
"Tch."
With an annoyed snort, he released Tanjiro and casually shattered the incoming ice blade with a counter-slash.
But that was enough.
That single second was the distance between life and death.
SWISH!
Inosuke lunged in and caught Tanjiro as he fell.
To shield him, Inosuke turned his back and took the aftershock of Kokushibo's sword aura head-on.
SHNK!
Blood exploded across his back.
Using the force, he rolled with Tanjiro into the corner of the ruined hall.
"Cough—cough…"
Tanjiro clutched his bleeding abdomen, coughing violently as his consciousness began to fade.
"Inosuke…
kun…"
Szzzt…
After that final outburst, the demon blood inside Inosuke was completely spent.
The injector's demonification time had run out.
He fell from an unrivaled demon god—
back into a battered human boy.
"Hah… hah…"
Slumped against a broken wall, every muscle in Inosuke's body spasmed.
Wounds that had been barely holding together burst open like a broken dam, blood instantly flooding the ground.
The pain nearly knocked him unconscious.
But he ignored himself.
With trembling hands, he reached into his clothes and touched the black wooden case.
Inside lay a single, lonely purple injector.
Inosuke froze.
His mind raced, calculating the cruel math.
"There were ten to start with…
Six used on Gonpachiro and Monitsu…
Two on the mad dog siblings…
One I just used…
Only one left…"
He looked at Tanjiro beside him, abdomen pierced clean through—dead for sure if he didn't demonify and heal.
Then he glanced at the distant rubble, where Kaigaku lay unmoving, possibly already dead.
Then at himself—this body on the verge of collapse, barely able to stand.
"What do I do…
What do I do?!"
Despair.
True despair.
For the first time since transmigrating, Inosuke felt utterly powerless.
Every trump card had been played.
All that remained was Death's cold scythe, already resting against his neck.
"It's over."
Kokushibo shattered the ice fragments before him and walked forward.
"Back to human already?
Still trying to provoke me?"
Seeing human Inosuke again, all interest drained from his eyes.
He raised his blade.
"Moon Breathing · Fourteenth Form · Calamity · Tenman Crescent Moon"
Countless massive crescent blades roared forth, carrying annihilation straight toward the corner.
No escape.
No defense.
Certain death.
Inosuke instinctively wrapped Tanjiro in his arms, shielding him with his ruined body.
He closed his eyes, a bitter smile touching his lips.
And then—
Just as the blades were about to touch him—
"Flame Breathing · Fourth Form · Blooming Flame Undulation!!!"
"Wind Breathing · Sixth Form · Black Wind, Misty Gale!!!"
"Water Breathing · Eleventh Form · Dead Calm!!!"
"Thunder Breathing · First Form · Thunderclap and Flash!!!"
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Four completely different powers descended out of nowhere like iron walls!
Flames spiraled, incinerating the crescent blades.
A black storm scattered the sword aura.
Tranquil water swallowed the slashes whole.
Golden lightning shattered the remaining shockwaves.
As the dust cleared—
Four towering figures stood before Inosuke and Tanjiro.
Like four great mountains, cutting off all death and despair.
Rengoku Kyojuro.
Shinazugawa Sanemi.
Tomioka Giyu.
Agatsuma Zenitsu.
Rengoku's blade burned with roaring flames. He didn't turn around, but his signature booming laugh instantly drove away the darkness in Inosuke's heart.
"UM! Sorry about that, Inosuke, my boy!!
We're late—again!!!"
Sanemi twirled the newly forged blade in his hand, glancing sideways. His scar-covered face carried a mix of awkward concern and sharp mockery.
"Hey, brat.
Didn't you say you were living happily?
So how'd you end up in this sorry state?"
Giyu said nothing.
He simply stood there, blade held level.
Looking at the two gravely wounded juniors behind him, the usual confusion in his deep blue eyes vanished completely.
What remained—
was the same towering rage he'd felt the day Sabito died in front of him.
"Sabito remembers you."
He stepped forward, haori fluttering without wind.
"No one's allowed to die."
Looking at those backs—those familiar haori—
Inosuke froze.
His eyes burned red, his throat tightening.
"You idiots…
I already left. We already said everything so decisively…
So why…
why come here to die with me?!"
But reality gave him no time to wallow.
"Don't underestimate him!!"
Inosuke roared with all his remaining strength, voice hoarse.
"That thing is Upper Rank One!!
You can't beat him!!
Grab people and run!! Don't mind me!!"
Dragging Tanjiro, he desperately crawled toward the corner where Kaigaku lay.
Infinity Castle
The sudden turn of events made Muzan's pupils quake violently.
He ignored the rampaging Dōma.
Through Kokushibo's vision, he stared hard at the four newcomers—especially the white-haired, scar-covered man.
"The Wind Hashira…"
Muzan's eyes contracted.
"Wasn't he dead?!"
In his memory, before Masasaburo's self-destruction, the Wind Hashira had already been beaten to the brink of death.
How could he be standing there alive and kicking?!
In a flash—
Muzan understood.
A crushing sense of being played, mixed with the thrill of uncovering the truth, surged through him.
"So that's it…
So that's how it is!!
Inosuke!!"
Muzan leapt to his feet, his expression twisting from rage into ecstatic excitement.
"You did it on purpose!!
You let the Wind Hashira escape! You staged that whole tragic farce!
All to make the Demon Slayer Corps feel guilty—
to make them think they owed you an enormous debt!!"
He stared at the scene where the Hashira risked their lives to protect Inosuke.
"Look at them! They came for you!
Is this your plan?!"
"As long as you return to the Demon Slayer Corps,
as long as you become their hero—
that damned Ubuyashiki will eventually tell you everything he knows!
Including… the location of the Blue Spider Lily!!!"
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
Muzan laughed wildly.
"Was it all part of your plan?!
INOSUKE!!!!"
His eyes burned with manic greed.
At this moment, Inosuke's value eclipsed everything else.
"Nakime! Bring Kokushibo back—
bring Inosuke with him!!"
STRANG!
The biwa rang out—
but nothing happened.
On the screen, Kokushibo's rampaging sword aura was so violent that he shattered Nakime's Blood Demon Art with a single strike.
"DAMN IT!!"
Muzan kicked over a table.
If he forcefully expanded the teleportation to pull everyone in, it would mean starting the final battle inside the Infinity Castle.
Now? Final battle?
What a joke.
A mess.
A complete mess.
What the hell had he done?!
"Spider Lily…
priority over the Demon Slayer Corps."
Muzan forced himself to calm down.
CRACK.
A sickening sound of bones giving way.
Dōma's fingers had sunk deep into Nakime's skull.
The smile was gone from his face—only impatient killing intent remained.
"Muzan."
Dōma's voice was cold as shattered ice.
"I'll count to three."
"One."
"ENOUGH!!"
Muzan finally snapped.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
With a thought, he detonated all four of Dōma's limbs.
"You lunatic!!"
Muzan pointed at the writhing Dōma and screamed.
"Even if I let you go, what could you do?!
Get chopped to pieces by Kokushibo?!
There are Hashira everywhere right now! Your Blood Demon Art would just get in the way!!"
Even without arms or legs, Dōma was still smiling.
"Then… what do you suggest?
Just watch my son get cut down?"
Muzan trembled with fury.
This wouldn't work. That wouldn't work either.
Was he supposed to just watch Inosuke die—or let the Spider Lily clues vanish?
Then—
BOOM!!
More thorny tendrils were torn apart by brute force.
A short-haired pink-haired man slowly stood up.
He glanced at Dōma on the ground, then at Muzan.
Akaza clenched his fists, joints popping.
He stepped forward and dropped to one knee, voice steady and firm.
"Muzan-sama.
Dōma's Blood Demon Art causes collateral damage.
Mine doesn't."
Akaza lifted his head, golden eyes locking onto Muzan.
"I only target the strong.
Let me go."
Muzan looked at him.
He waved a hand, a flash of ruthlessness crossing his eyes.
"Go.
Akaza.
Bring Inosuke back.
As for the others—
leave them to the rampaging Kokushibo."
STRANG!!!!
Another biwa note rang out.
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