As soon as Roy's words fell, Yushiro reacted instantly, like a cat with its fur standing on end!
'He really is a demon hunter who hates evil with a passion!'
Although Yushiro really didn't want to admit it, he and Tamayo had survived until now, accompanying each other for nearly a century, relying entirely on the demon blood bestowed by Muzan... Now Roy was asking for demon blood right off the bat. How was that any different from asking for their lives?!
Emotions fluctuated, shifting from a calm lake blue to a turbulent red... Roy smiled as he looked at Tamayo. Before Yushiro could lash out, flesh buds sprouted from Yushiro's severed arm, reattaching it. Relying solely on his naked eye and aura, he could capture Yushiro's anger and Tamayo's struggle...
"You two,"
"I think you have misunderstood," Roy said, picking up the tea Tamayo had poured and taking a sip. He chuckled lightly, "Out of a vast sea of demon blood, I only need a single scoop. Applied to you,"
The young man calmly held up a single finger. "One drop is enough."
One drop? Yushiro quietly glanced at Tamayo. The woman, who had once been a housewife, had her black hair pinned up high in a bun, looking utterly gentle. Perhaps only in the original story... at the moment she sought revenge against Muzan to the death, not hesitating to sacrifice herself to inject the drug into his body, did she reveal a trace of ferocity. After a long silence, she nodded and said, "Alright."
Roy looked at her in surprise. The woman's quick and resolute agreement was somewhat beyond his expectations.
Perhaps noticing Roy's gaze, Tamayo, who had lived for hundreds of years since following Muzan and had grown exceedingly wise, took the initiative to explain, "Please forgive my display, Lord Eiichiro."
Tamayo knelt before Roy, her pale hands gently rising to refill his hot tea. "The Demon Slayer Corps has changed... Those Hashira have changed too... I can feel it. That person is... afraid..."
A mixture of hatred and gratification intertwined in the woman's shimmering eyes. She looked deeply at Roy and said, "As a mere woman, I am not entirely clear on the specifics of what has happened, but judging from the recent actions of the Demon Slayer Corps... Lord Eiichiro, your appearance... has broken the disadvantageous situation where the Demon Slayer Corps has been suppressed by demons for nearly a thousand years."
That person? Roy neither confirmed nor denied it. He quietly looked at Tamayo and Yushiro, saying, "It seems that even though you have broken free from Muzan Kibutsuji's control, you still cannot casually speak his name."
Being called by name would be sensed... Imagining him would be sensed... Seeing him would also be sensed... As long as one was a demon, their thoughts, ideas, words, and even... memories could be reviewed by Muzan at any time if he wished. From this, it was evident... Tamayo and Yushiro's so-called "breaking free" was merely temporarily avoiding Muzan's "active probing." If they were to actually say Muzan's name, they would instantly... be located and sensed by Muzan again... This must be the powerful talent called [Absolute Domination] that he had seen on Muzan back then!
What was "[Absolute Domination]"?
The superior over the subordinate... A god over bishops, over believers... It was also the perfect interpretation of "I would rather betray the world than let the world betray me"!
"He is very cunning, and we have been looking for him too." Yushiro had been observing the Demon Slayer Corps' recent sweeping operations, and he had also witnessed the strength of the Hashira. In order to help Tamayo, he had even entertained the thought of cooperating with the Demon Slayer Corps more than once... But due to his identity as a "demon" and his wariness of the "Hashira," it had never come to fruition. Now...
The green-haired youth pulled at his collar, exposing his chest, and spoke frankly to Roy, "You are right. If you want to take it, take mine."
Roy glanced at Tamayo. She hesitated to speak, struggling as she softly called Yushiro's name. It was just like in the original story, before the final battle with Muzan, where they confessed to each other and made a promise to become husband and wife in the next life... The affection was deeply planted, taking root and sprouting...
*Gulp, gulp...* Roy took all of this in and tilted his head back to down the tea in his cup. It was sickeningly sweet... overwhelmingly sweet... A sweetness that recklessly permeated with the sour stench of romance...
"I said I would only take one drop, and I absolutely will not break my word." With a *swish*, a flash of blade light appeared as Solar Eclipse was drawn. Without even seeing it make a move, Yushiro only felt a slight chill on his chest. When he came back to his senses and looked over with Tamayo... a drop of black blood exuding a foul stench was whimpering at the tip of the blade, restrained by Solar Eclipse and unable to move!
"Is this... over?"
'I didn't even see his movements at all!'
Yushiro and Tamayo exchanged a glance, looking at each other in dismay... The former touched his chest, finding not even the slightest tiny wound left behind. The latter, upon recovering her wits, stared blankly at that drop of "black blood," as if she had instantly returned to that night when she was turned into a demon by Muzan, falling into a state of chaos and devouring her own husband and child.
Tamayo lowered her head, her chest heaving as her breathing slowly began to quicken...
She could not forget her child, her husband, or the sight of herself facing the moonlight with a mouth full of blood. Feeling a warmth on her back, she leaned into Yushiro's embrace, then cast another glance toward Roy...
The young man reached out and collected that drop of demon blood into his pouch. He then immediately activated the [Targeted Tracking Technique]. Using this trace of demon blood as a tether, he found the causal thread connecting him to Muzan and cast a detached gaze over it... At the end of the causal thread, a picture gradually emerged... In the picture, a frowning man dressed in a black kimono and disguised as a woman, wearing geisha makeup, was resting his chin on his hand, bored out of his mind as he listened to Nakime play her biwa, using this...
To alleviate his unease and dispel his boredom. At a certain moment, he shuddered and abruptly turned his head to look. What entered his vision was a head of swaying, fiery red hair... and he heard him say, "Found you."
Muzan Kibutsuji was horrified. The chair beneath him snapped with a *crack*, and he tumbled to the ground in a sorry state.
"Master?"
"It's Eiichiro Kamado... Damn it... He found me!"
*Crash!* The picture shattered like a mirror... A cluster of flames suddenly sprouted from the black blood on Roy's fingertip, burning it to ashes in an instant... At that moment, the young man withdrew his gaze, stood up, and simply said, "Thanks."
He turned to leave.
But halfway there, he was stopped by Tamayo's voice.
The woman looked at the young man's back and asked, "Are you going alone?"
Roy paused his steps and tightened his grip on the sword in his hand. "Three people is a burden, two people is redundant, one person... is just right."
"That person has Upper Ranks by his side, and it's... Upper Rank One!"
Kokushibo? Roy suddenly remembered the words Yoriichi Tsugikuni had spoken to Kokushibo, also known as Tsugikuni Michikatsu, when they met again in his twilight years: "How ugly, brother."
Holding the sword in one hand, he twirled it in a flourish and said, "Then I will kill him too!"
After all, it was all [Life Energy], and it couldn't be wasted!
"You're too arrogant!" Yushiro abruptly stood up and said anxiously, "What if you don't come back?"
"Then I simply won't return!" Transforming into fluorescent light, Roy merged into the moonlight with his sword, drifting away ethereally through the villa's window along with the moonbeams... In the huge living room, only the empty cup on the table remained, curling with a trace of lingering heat, and... Tamayo and Yushiro, one standing and one bowing, completely speechless...
A moment later, the moonlight spilled out, devoid of any human presence...
Yushiro suddenly snapped back to his senses, let out a muffled snort, and said, "Lady Tamayo, don't mind him. Let him go die."
Tamayo was silent for a long while, but then said, "What if?"
The woman rose from her bow, tilted her head to look at the green-haired youth, and said seriously, "What if he really kills that person?"
Yushiro: "..."
He froze, then plopped down onto the sofa, shrinking into a ball... Yeah, what if he really could do it?
Silence filled the villa at this moment.
Although their two hearts were situated in the living room, their thoughts seemed tied to Roy's waist, drifting far away with him... Using the moonlight as a springboard, the young man chased along the causal thread connecting him to Muzan... The causal thread meandered, constantly changing positions. It was hiding, but it looked more like... fleeing!
If Yoriichi were here, would he mock the other party... "How ugly, Muzan..."
Roy didn't know. He only knew... light would leave all filth and foulness with nowhere to hide, including... the Infinity Castle that Muzan relied on!
Closer... ten kilometers... five kilometers... three kilometers... two kilometers... The meandering causal thread was constantly shortening... Until the one-kilometer mark, it suddenly paused, then meandered forward again... Roy abruptly emerged from the moonlight. From afar, he saw a swordsman with six eyes on his face, his golden pupils engraved with "Upper Rank" and "One." He wore a purple snake-patterned kimono with black patches, paired with a pair of highly solemn black hakama pants. He stood there, resting his hand on his sword, waiting quietly.
Rustic, majestic, traditional, yet carrying a trace of eerie evil... Carrying the moonlight, Roy took a step forward, his body lightly landing in front of the other party, standing silently face-to-face with him.
"Eiichiro Kamado..."
"Tsugikuni Michikatsu..."
"You know my name?"
"As ugly as you are, your name precedes you..."
Kokushibo was taken aback. He raised his eyes to gaze at the young man's fiery red hair swaying in the wind, slightly messy yet mixed with a bit of casual freedom. He fell into a daze for a moment, as if he saw the swordsman who had once made him jealous to the point of madness, who was also his own younger brother... Yoriichi Tsugikuni...
"Ugly, huh... Hehe... That's what he said back then too..." Kokushibo murmured softly.
"He wasn't wrong." Roy, wearing earrings depicting the sun and mountains, said casually, "Do you want to take a piss and look at your own demonic reflection, to save me the trouble of doing it myself?"
In the original story, Kokushibo, who had ultimately overcome the weakness of "decapitation," saw his own monster-like, ugly appearance reflected in the blade of Sanemi Shinazugawa's sword, which subsequently broke his mental defenses... He "killed" himself, showing just how deep of a scar Yoriichi Tsugikuni's word "ugly" had left on his heart all those years ago!
"You are very rude, boy." *Clang, clang, clang...*
Slowly drawing Kyokokukamusari from his waist, Kokushibo held the sword in one hand and looked at Roy expressionlessly. "Demons do not need to excrete, they only need to eat. There is no need to piss."
"Is that so?" Roy was somewhat surprised. After thinking about it, he felt it made perfect sense and nodded in agreement. "Indeed, trash like you is worse than shit and piss. It's hard to say who is excreting whom."
"Since that's the case, are you... going to end yourself? Or should I help you end it?"
The causal thread connecting to Muzan meandered into the distance, fleeing another mile away. Roy lightly patted his waist, and with a sword's cry... Solar Eclipse was drawn. It turned red and ignited with a *whoosh*, bursting into raging flames. Grasped in the young man's hand, he looked indifferently at Kokushibo and said, "Please, I'm in a hurry."
Kokushibo's six eyes couldn't help but narrow. Feeling the monstrous heat wave whipped up by Solar Eclipse rushing at his face, he advanced instead of retreating. Changing from a one-handed to a two-handed grip, he pointed the tip of his sword straight at Roy's throat and said, "Very well. Let me see just how much of Yoriichi you have learned, you who could instantly kill Akaza!"
That flaming sword... that fiery red hair... and the Hanafuda earrings hanging from the young man's ears. In a certain moment, they seemed to overlap with the figure of Yoriichi Tsugikuni, making Kokushibo excited, fearful, yet uncontrollably wanting to let out a long roar!
With a flick of his hands, he unleashed a slash wrapped in dozens of crescent moon blades!
*Whoosh...* The crescent moon blades rolled, looking desolate and beautiful under the moonlight... A gust of evening wind was shredded as it met them head-on... Facing this sharpness directly, Roy had to admit that the sword skills the other party had honed for hundreds of years were indeed seasoned and sharp enough. But compared to Yoriichi Tsugikuni... or even Sakumo Hatake's fast sword honed on the battlefield using chakra... relying solely on Breathing Styles was still somewhat lacking... And this was the gap in cognition and perspective!
It was a gap that Kokushibo could never close in his entire life, even if he lived forever, to catch up to Yoriichi Tsugikuni!
"What a pity. No matter how gorgeous your sword is, it is ultimately just... a sword..." The void trembled as the crescent moon blades approached. Roy countered with a backhanded slash. A slash of Bankai, a slash that released its true name, a slash wrapped in [Ken], a slash that tore through the air... It cleaved through the crescent moons, cleaved through the moonlight, cleaved through the sound of the wind. Letting the world be vast and the bright moon rise high, only a thin black line remained, reflected in Kokushibo's golden pupils. It rendered him immobile, his hairs standing on end, as he rigidly watched it... slice across his own neck... followed by a chill...
An ugly head subsequently flew high into the air, and then... fell to the ground with a *thud*!
[Bankai... Zanka no Tachi · Ken]!
Having been taught by Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni this time, combined with Roy's understanding of "gratitude"... this slash carried a high temperature of nearly twenty thousand degrees. It instantly sliced open Kokushibo's body and conveniently cauterized the severed part of his neck to stop the bleeding. Its thoughtfulness... was fully displayed!
"I... you... *cough, cough*..." The demon head rolled. Blood spilled from the corner of Kokushibo's mouth as he glared fixedly at Roy with wide eyes and said, "This isn't... Yoriichi's... [Sun Breath..."
He knew all the forms of [Sun Breathing], such as "Round Dance," "Clear Blue Sky," and "Fake Rainbow"... But this slash of Roy's...
"I have never seen it before..."
"So what?" Roy took a step forward, his body merging with the light. Under Kokushibo's once again shocked and strained gaze, he pierced the demon's forehead with his sword, lifting him up and roasting him under the moonlight as he said, "Your sword is just a sword, still stuck at the level of sword techniques. Yet you don't know... above sword techniques, there is... formlessness..."
"Formlessness?" Kokushibo struggled to widen his eyes, but his consciousness was growing darker and darker... He roared unwillingly, "I can't die yet! I can still fight! I just learned this, I am not resigned to this!"
As that decapitated, headless corpse staggered, flesh buds seemed to burst out from the scorch marks, condensing into a new head... However,
Suddenly, a laser beam shot out from Roy's fingertip... It was [Laser]!
Following that, without even turning his head, the young man used his sword to shred Kokushibo's head to pieces. Amidst the sky full of blood mist and debris, he stood alone, content and at ease...
"Someone who became a demon long ago, why seek to live?"
"Wouldn't you agree, Teacher Yoriichi?"
*Ring, ring...* The revolving lantern of Kokushibo's memories emerged. Amidst the haze, a swaying mass of fiery red hair appeared...