"You... are truly so foolish?"
Kokushibo's voice remained calm, but something stirred within his six blood-red eyes.
He surveyed the three figures before him: Gyomei Himejima, drenched in blood but standing firm, and the two youths, battered but refusing to yield a single step.
"Foolish?" Yuichiro spat.
He gritted his teeth and tightened his grip on his maple-red Nichirin Blade with his working right hand.
"Perhaps. But some things are more important than survival."
Muichiro remained quiet, regulating his breathing.
The pale blue aura of Mist Breathing swirled around him, hiding the chest wound beneath his oversized uniform.
Though his face was pale, his gaze remained fixed on Kokushibo.
Gyomei Himejima straightened, tightening his grip on his Nichirin Flail and Axe.
Blood dripped from his torn calluses, yet his breathing remained steady.
"Kokushibo," Gyomei rumbled, his voice low. "The will of the Demon Slayer Corps is something you will never comprehend. Our duty is to eradicate demons, and we will never falter until this mission is fulfilled!"
Kokushibo's six eyes shifted to regard the oldest Pillar.
There was no fear in Gyomei's voice, only a serene acceptance of life and death.
"Perhaps we will all die here today, but the will of the Demon Slayer Corps will endure forever!"
Whoosh!
The moment the words left his lips, a massive aura erupted from Gyomei.
Crack! Crack!
The floor beneath his feet splintered under immense force. With a guttural roar, black markings spread across his arms.
Yuichiro and Muichiro both jerked around to stare at him. "Gyomei-san!"
Yuichiro exclaimed. "You...!"
"This is the Demon Slayer Mark?" Kokushibo asked, his Nichirin Blade hanging loose at his side. "Do you know that activating it at your age means you won't live through the night?" He seemed puzzled by the action.
"What does it matter?!" Gyomei roared, charging forward!
"Very well. Then I shall send you to your final rest!"
The purple blade light flared once more.
This time, Kokushibo held nothing back.
The Breath of the Moon's sword energy condensed, causing the space to tremble. Countless crescent-shaped blade lights materialized around him.
"Breath of the Moon - Sixth Form: Constant Night, Lonely Moon - Interminable!"
Kokushibo swung his blade!
Countless crescent moon slashes erupted.
The air wailed, space shattered, as if the realm was collapsing under this single strike!
Gyomei faced the onslaught fearlessly! His body temperature soared, his blood boiling!
The Nichirin Flail and Axe swung together.
Two trajectories, filled with the crushing power of Stone Breathing, collided head-on with the descending crescent moons.
Yuichiro and Muichiro exchanged a glance, seeing the same resolve in each other's eyes.
"Brother," Muichiro murmured, his voice soft yet clear.
"Mm," Yuichiro nodded, a faint smile curving his lips. "Together."
"Breath of Maple—Final Form: Ten Thousand Leaves Wither!"
"Breath of Mist—Seventh Form: Haze!"
Crimson and pale purple, maple leaves and dawn mist—two streams of power surged forth.
They followed Gyomei's stone torrent like twin meteorites hurtling against the tide, crashing into the annihilating crescent moons.
BOOM!
The three forces clashed against the countless crescent moons as the Infinity Castle trembled
The shockwaves demolished everything within a radius of several hundred meters.
An eerie silence fell over the battlefield.
At that moment, a streak of green light burst through the edge of the Infinity Castle!
Thud!
Shinichi landed, his Nichirin Blade pointed downward. Its green glow illuminated the devastated training hall.
Shinichi searched the area.
He spotted three figures collapsed near the ruins, drenched in blood.
"What?!" Shinichi's pupils contracted in shock.
Gyomei Himejima knelt on the ground, his weapon lying beside him, its handle stained crimson.
To Gyomei's right, Yuichiro's left arm hung limply at an unnatural angle, dislocated at the shoulder.
His face was pale as paper.
Muichiro was critically injured, the chest of his uniform soaked in scarlet. Countless other wounds covered all three of them.
Shinichi's heart sank. 'Damn it, am I too late?'
Fortunately, he could sense their vital signs were still present, though faint.
"Gyomei!" Shinichi sheathed his sword and rushed forward.
He placed his hand on Gyomei's shoulder, flooding him with a massive surge of breath of life.
"Yuichiro! Muichiro! Who were you fighting?"
"Kokushibo," Gyomei replied, opening his eyes with a faint smile.
His voice was weak but steady.
"Did you kill Kokushibo?"
"I thought we had a chance, but we failed. Kokushibo... suddenly teleported away... I don't know why. It was sudden. Otherwise, we might have..."
Shinichi frowned.
Kokushibo teleported away during the battle?
But now wasn't the time to dwell on that.
He intensified his breath of life output, enveloping all three of them in a green aura.
"Yuichiro, your arm?" Shinichi noticed the dislocated joint.
"It's nothing, Master," Yuichiro said. "Just a dislocated joint. If you could reset it for me, please?"
"Let me handle it." Muichiro struggled to his feet and moved to his brother's side.
He took a deep breath, then with a swift push and twist, crack!
"Hiss!"
Yuichiro gasped, but the joint was back in place.
Shinichi channeled breath of life into it, accelerating the healing of Yuichiro's arm bones and ligaments.
A few minutes later, the three warriors' injuries stabilized, but Shinichi knew they had reached their limits.
This was especially true for the Tokito brothers.
At fourteen years old, their bodies hadn't fully developed, yet they endured combat far beyond their physical capacity.
"Shinichi," Gyomei spoke, his voice heavy with solemnity. "You sense it too, don't you? In that direction..."
He pointed toward the deepest recesses of the Infinity Castle.
"Something seems to be brewing there. Could Kokushibo's disappearance be connected to this as well?"