100 collections Bonus chapter.
Enjoy!
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In that moment, Rengoku's entire body became a crimson lotus vortex. The swaying tongues of flame around him seemed drawn to him, pulsing with the increasingly heavy rhythm of Flame Breathing.
Pushed to its absolute limit, Flame Breathing raised his body temperature beyond what any human could endure. His skin took on an abnormal vermilion, as if scorched by intense heat.
The spreading marks appeared ready to claim every inch of his skin, like scars left behind by the burns of Flame Breathing.
The fire dragon coalesced around him once more. But unlike before, where it was merely an effect of Flame Breathing, this time it truly drew in and condensed the surrounding flames, materializing the dragon into reality.
Yet because of that same terrifying heat, blood flowed from all seven apertures of his face. His body began to crumble even as it strengthened.
Before his will could falter, his brain and internal organs gave out first. Without Flame Breathing maintaining his core organs, they could not have functioned at all within the steaming cage of his body.
His vision was fading due to the heat and ruptured blood vessels. Yet strangely, he felt that the world, though blurry, had never been so clear.
Time did not allow him to ponder what was happening. He only knew to lock his remaining vision onto Sukuna ahead.
With his brain gradually breaking down, he could no longer think properly. He simply forced himself to remember two things.
One was how to deliver the next slash. The other was to use every last ounce of strength to deliver that slash, no matter what.
Sukuna watched the changes with great interest. He could hardly imagine that this human body before him could reach such heights.
To explain in terms of a jujutsu sorcerer, it was as if he had staked everything as a binding vow, exchanging it all for a single, strongest slash of his life.
He moved. He launched himself toward Sukuna in an instant.
The tremendous force of his leading foot cracking the ground left flickering flames in his footprints.
In his blood-red pupils, the reflected firelight suddenly froze. The entire world compressed into a single line the moment he lunged forward. The pillar of flame erupting from his blade tip swelled into the fangs of a fire dragon, breaking through all restraint.
The boiling dragon's head tore through the air. In the distorted heat haze, one could faintly make out his clenched jaw and the bursting blood vessels on his skin.
And Sukuna, facing this attack, simply crossed his arms over his chest and waited calmly for it to arrive.
But how Sukuna chose to respond no longer concerned him. All he had to do was deliver the strongest slash of his life.
...
He felt his consciousness fading.
At the very end, his brain was nearly cooked. He could no longer even feel the Nichirin Blade in his hand, nor could he confirm whether he had properly executed that slash.
He walked through an expanse of pure white nothingness, murmuring to himself.
"Did I manage to convey it properly..."
He slowly raised his head. Not far ahead, he saw his mother standing there, watching him with gentle eyes.
"Mother..."
Only now did he understand where he was, and why his broken body could suddenly think again. He gathered his courage and asked.
"Did I do well? The things I needed to do, the duties I needed to fulfill—did I do them all properly?"
His mother simply smiled and answered. "You did very well."
Though her affirmation brought him peace, he could not help lowering his head, worrying about the living world.
Because Sukuna was different from demons. He did not share their weakness to sunlight. He was not only powerful but could act freely.
"Really. After all that, you only pushed yourself this far to meet someone else's expectations?"
He heard Sukuna's voice and turned in shock. Indeed, the same Sukuna he had just fought was standing there.
He did not question how Sukuna could be here. He asked excitedly instead.
"Was that attack to your satisfaction? Did Breathing Techniques show you any value?"
"Compared to the boring reasons you risked your life for? The value of Breathing Techniques... a little."
"Only a little value..."
He murmured, lowering his head in disappointment. He had hoped to make Sukuna recognize the worth of Breathing Techniques, to exchange Sukuna's curiosity about them for the safety of the remaining Demon Slayer Corps members. But in the end, he had failed. To Sukuna, it was just a little...
Seeing him like that, Sukuna continued speaking.
"But it did give me some entertainment."
Hearing this, he raised his head again to look at Sukuna.
"Humans, sorcerers, curses—compared to those I fought not long ago and a thousand years ago, you, merely a human, were quite good."
"To achieve this much as a human, you should be proud. You are strong."
"..."
He was stunned for a moment. He had not expected that someone as powerful as Sukuna would give him such praise. In that moment, he found peace.
He had done everything he could. The limit of what Rengoku Kyojuro, eldest son of the Rengoku family and Flame Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps, could achieve.
...
Sukuna looked at the massive wound on his chest caused by that attack, and at his heart, which had been completely destroyed. He felt something like admiration.
Setting aside the fact that he had died immediately from delivering that slash, the destructive power of that strike was roughly on par with a first-grade jujutsu sorcerer.
For an ordinary human, it was indeed a remarkable feat.
Sukuna looked down at his already burning body and spoke calmly.
"You've been watching long enough. Time to show yourself?"
There was no verbal response. Instead, the figure attacked the currently weakened Sukuna directly.
A silhouette as light as a butterfly, as if having prepared long in advance, closed the distance to him in an instant.
Dance of the Butterfly: Caprice
Sukuna watched with calm composure as the slender blade stabbed repeatedly into his chest. He could feel poison on the blade—but poison only to others.
As the King of Curses, poison was ineffective against him. This was especially true for wisteria poison, meant specifically for demons. He simply used his Reverse Cursed Technique with disdain.