The moment the serum entered his body.. Urrrrgggghh~~!
Doma, trapped within the genjutsu, convulsed violently. His rainbow-colored pupils shrank to their limit.
He felt it.
A level of pain he had never experienced in his entire existence spread from his neck to every cell in his body in an instant.
The immense vitality of Yang Release and the wisteria toxin triggered a violent reaction.
His cells began to divide and grow uncontrollably.
New flesh burst through his skin. Bones twisted and pierced outward.
At the same time, the human transformation serum stripped away the very foundation of his power as a demon.
His body aged, crumbled, and began to collapse from within.
"Ah… Aaaaaaah!"
The genjutsu weakened under the strain of his body breaking apart.
Doma opened his mouth and let out the first truly agonized scream since becoming a demon.
He looked at Shinobu Kocho, who stood before him with a cold, steady gaze. Her face gradually overlapped with the memory of the Flower Breathing swordswoman from years ago.
"So… this is what death feels like…"
Half of his face began to melt away like wax, exposing stark white bone beneath.
The instinct to survive, the fear of nothingness, finally filled every corner of his hollow soul in these final moments.
Amid his shrill, desperate cries...
Doma's body collapsed completely, dissolving into a pool of foul blackish-red fluid before rapidly drying into a pile of fine ash.
Thus, Upper Rank Two, who had reigned for over a century, fell.
The chill within the ice chamber gradually faded along with his death.
Clatter.
The syringe slipped from Shinobu Kocho's hand, striking the ground with a clear sound.
She stared blankly at the pile of ashes. All strength drained from her body as her legs gave out, and she fell forward.
Rin caught her steadily, letting her lean against his chest.
"It's over."
Rin gently patted her back, his voice low and calm.
The hatred and sorrow she had suppressed for years finally broke free in that moment.
Shinobu Kocho buried her face in Rin's chest, her hands clutching his clothes tightly as her shoulders trembled.
She wept silently, her tears quickly soaking through the fabric.
Rin said nothing. He simply held her, letting her release everything she had carried for so long.
In a world plagued by man-eating demons, too many people lived bound by hatred.
For her, being able to sever those chains with her own hands was the greatest form of salvation.
After some time, her sobbing gradually subsided.
Shinobu lifted her head from his chest. Her eyes were red and swollen, yet her violet gaze was clearer than ever, filled with a sense of relief she had never known before.
"Thank you." Her voice was slightly hoarse.
Rin raised his hand and gently wiped away the tear at the corner of her eye.
"You think a simple 'thank you' is enough?" A faint smile curved at his lips. "Once we get out of this place, you'll have to cook for me for the rest of your life to repay me."
Shinobu let out a tearful laugh and shot him an annoyed look. "Don't push your luck."
Rumble!
Just as they spoke, the entire ice chamber began to shake violently.
The wooden floor beneath them creaked under the strain, while the surrounding walls twisted and flipped.
With the death of Upper Rank Two, Kibutsuji Muzan had clearly sensed the disturbance.
Nakime's spatial Blood Demon Art activated once again, attempting to relocate them to another distant part of the castle.
Rin's expression turned cold.
"Enough of this hide-and-seek."
He wrapped an arm around Shinobu's waist, his other hand resting on the hilt of his sword.
"Since you like hiding in this shell so much, I'll just tear it apart. Let's see where you can run then."
The collapse of the ice chamber was only the beginning.
With the suppression of Upper Rank Two gone, the spatial structure of this area spiraled out of control under Nakime's manipulation.
The ice beneath their feet and the wooden floorboards shattered violently, while the ceiling above crashed down like a massive grinder.
All sense of direction—up, down, left, right—vanished completely. Hundreds of thick wooden walls surged in from every side, attempting to crush the two of them into pulp.
Shinobu instinctively tightened her grip on Rin's lapel, her short sword already held horizontally before her chest.
"Enjoy playing with your little building blocks?"
Rin let out a cold sneer, the crimson Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan in his eyes spinning rapidly.
"Let's see whether your blocks are tougher, or my blade is sharper."
Boom!
An immense surge of deep purple chakra erupted from his body without restraint.
This was no longer the skeletal manifestation from before.
The chakra rapidly formed thick bones, intertwined meridians, and fully developed muscles, before finally encasing itself in a heavy, tengu-like black armor.
In the span of a single breath, a colossal purple warrior, hundreds of meters tall with wings spread wide, forcefully manifested within the confined space of the Infinity Castle.
Perfect Susanoo.
Crack! Crack! Rumble!
The wooden walls and stairways that tried to close in were instantly pulverized into splinters the moment they came into contact with this massive form.
The entire Infinity Castle, this supposedly infinite underground domain, groaned under the unbearable strain.
Shinobu Kocho felt her vision blur as the sensation of weightlessness disappeared.
When she regained her awareness, she found herself standing beside Rin within a diamond-shaped, translucent purple crystal.
This crystal was embedded in the forehead of the towering Susanoo.
Looking down from above, the once complex and endless labyrinth now resembled nothing more than an anthill about to be crushed.
"This… what is this…"
Shinobu stared blankly at the divine, purple energy surrounding her, the overwhelming pressure leaving her mind completely blank.
"My personal ride. Not a bad view, right?"
Rin crossed his arms, looking down at the constantly shifting wooden structures below as they attempted to reassemble.
"Nakime, was it?"
"No matter how big you make your shell, it won't change the fact that you're nothing but rats."
The Susanoo's massive arm slowly rose, its enormous hand clenching in the air.
Clang!
Two massive chakra greatswords, each dozens of meters long, formed in its grasp.
Even before they moved, the sheer sharpness of their aura tore visible black distortions into the surrounding space.
"Open for me."
Rin's gaze sharpened.
The Susanoo swung both swords.
Whoosh—!
Two crescent-shaped waves of purple sword energy, each stretching for kilometers, crossed through the depths of the Infinity Castle.
Wherever they passed, whether it was inverted pavilions defying gravity or massive load-bearing pillars, everything was split cleanly in two.
Before absolute power, the spatial Blood Demon Art became nothing more than a joke.
Wood splinters, rubble, shattered walls, and ruins were swept aside.
The entire Infinity Castle was carved open by the cross-shaped slash, leaving behind two vast, bottomless voids.
____
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