His long hair was tied into a high ponytail, with a few bangs swaying in the wind, unable to conceal the striking, crimson flame mark on his forehead...
When a person is about to die, their past is revealed... Wearing the same hanafuda earrings as Roy, with the same hair color, but a different red haori, a different slender build, and a different pair of compassionate eyes... He slowly emerged from Kokushibo's flashing life memories...
Roy felt this unique rhythm of the soul. He sheathed his sword, bowed respectfully, and said, "Teacher."
The man looked at him gently, his gaze lingering on the hanafuda earrings dangling from the boy's earlobes. He raised a hand to help Roy up, looking him up and down before saying with evident satisfaction, "You are truly exceptional."
"Better than I could have ever imagined."
"It is all thanks to your guidance, Teacher."
"I taught you nothing. It is all the result of your own hard work."
"No," Roy said, straightening his back. A gentle aura of Nen surfaced on his palm as he held onto the spirit of Yoriichi Tsugikuni, helping to stabilize his collapsing form. "Without the shoulders you provided, I would never have been able to stand this high."
The daily point of Constitution provided by [Sun Breathing] was no illusion. Roy knew that even though this was his first time meeting Yoriichi Tsugikuni face-to-face, the connection forged through the [Demon Slayer Gate], through [Sun Breathing], and through the ten thousand daily practice swings he had diligently performed without fail, had invisibly built a bridge of true mentorship between them.
In other words, though one was alive and the other long dead, they had already known each other intimately across the boundary of life and death.
Silence spoke volumes in this moment. Feeling the warm and abundant Nen flowing from Roy's palm, Yoriichi Tsugikuni smiled and nodded. "If Sumiyoshi knew he had a descendant like you, he would be incredibly gratified..."
"He was nowhere near as outstanding as you back in his day."
Perhaps age brought about a tendency for melancholy... Memories surfaced like an unrolling scroll. Yoriichi thought of his mother, his father, the Demon Slayer Corps, his wife Uta, and his unborn child who was devoured by a demon. He slowly crouched down and picked up the flute he had once given to Kokushibo. Looking at his older brother's current hideous appearance, his eyes were filled with nothing but sorrow and sighs...
"Brother, ever since you fell into darkness, you should have known that this day would eventually come."
"Yoriichi... Yoriichi..." Kokushibo lunged forward frantically, as if grasping at a lifeline. He hugged Yoriichi's thigh tightly and pleaded, "Talk to him! Hurry and talk to him! I don't want to die yet... I can't die yet..."
Talk to whom? To that... good child? Yoriichi looked mournfully at the monster at his feet. With his back to Roy, he slowly but firmly shook his head. "He is not your family. He has no obligation to take responsibility for you. As for you... my dear brother, it is time you accompanied me on my journey."
With a shake of his leg, he sent Kokushibo flying. Yoriichi stood tall, brought the flute to his lips, and played a leisurely tune. He played of the ever-changing world and the fleeting passage of time, which ultimately dissolved into a profound tranquility that seeped into Roy's heart. Roy paused slightly as he suddenly heard the system prompt...
"Teacher..." As the song ended, Roy stared at Yoriichi in a daze. He opened his mouth to say something, but before the words could reach his throat, Yoriichi looked back with a gentle smile, stopping him in his tracks.
His fiery red hair, even longer than Roy's, swayed as he looked deeply at the boy. "I have nothing else to give, only this... Consider it a parting gift from your teacher as we say our goodbyes..."
The man looked up at the night sky where a bright moon hung high, speaking with a hint of regret. "It is a pity that it is not daytime, so I cannot sit with you and discuss the path of the 'Sun' in detail. If there is a next life and we meet again, please do not forget that there was once a foolish man who disliked swords and only loved the sunlight..."
Ring, ring... The flashing memories receded. As Kokushibo's last breath dissipated into the world, Yoriichi Tsugikuni—whose spirit had been reshaped by memories—could ultimately not escape the shackles of life and death. He was dragged back into the darkness by Kokushibo. Ironically, this time it was not the younger brother taking the older brother on his journey, but rather the older brother dragging the younger brother down to hell out of sheer resentment. Who was right and who was wrong no longer seemed to matter as Yoriichi's figure gradually faded, disappearing from within the Nen shroud Roy had cast over him...
Poof. Kokushibo's head and corpse turned into black smoke that blew away in the wind, crumbling to ash... Just like any other demon, his sinful life had come to an end.
At the same time, the system prompt... lay prominently and quietly in the panel, making it impossible to look away.
Roy took a deep breath. He looked toward the end of the winding threads of karma, where a certain cowardly fugitive suddenly paused before quickening his pace, fleeing even faster. The boy gently touched his chest, bowed deeply toward the spot where Yoriichi had vanished, and said respectfully, "Farewell, Teacher."
When he straightened his back, he instantly underwent [Light Transformation]. Flash, flash, and another flash... He continuously shortened the distance of the karmic threads!
"Damn it!"
"Why won't you stop chasing me?!"
Hakuji was dead... Doma was dead... and now... Michikatsu!
Relying on the trace of spatial attributes from Nakime's [Infinity Castle], Muzan Kibutsuji fled continuously. Panic, terror, and dread consumed him, just like that night when he first encountered Yoriichi Tsugikuni. Seeing the moonlight and fireflies, hearing the rustling of the bamboo forest, his flesh throbbed with phantom pain, screaming to split apart... to self-destruct. This time, it would be best to explode into two thousand eight hundred pieces...
Watching Roy close in like a streak of light, Muzan finally made up his mind and roared hysterically, "You forced me to do this!"
With a loud bang, he instantly... exploded!
Less than a hundred meters away from Roy, he turned into a sky full of raining flesh. Only Nakime, clutching her biwa, remained. Roy arrived a second later, piercing her head with a single sword strike and killing her on the spot.
'What a fast sword.' A flash of the blade, and she was decapitated. One of Muzan's flying eyes stared blankly at the scene, secretly rejoicing that he had run fast enough!
Nakime's body slumped and fell at Roy's feet. Her beloved biwa clattered to the ground, snapping two of its strings.
The chunks of flesh scattered like rain, fleeing in all directions. After dealing with Nakime, the boy seemed stunned, or perhaps confused by the sheer number of flesh pieces that had split apart...
Regardless, when Muzan looked back, he found that the boy had simply sheathed his sword, completely ignoring him. Just as he grew suspicious, even wondering if he had self-destructed too early, he met the crimson hue creeping into the depths of Roy's eyes. Three soul-stirring tomoe slowly surfaced in his pupils. Muzan froze, watching as the boy met his gaze and smiled mockingly...
"What are you laughing at?"
"Laughing at... a coward."
With the Sharingan activated, Nen slowly surged around his eyes. Roy crossed his arms and watched Muzan scatter in all directions, saying unhurriedly, "Come out, children."
Caw! A crow's cry rang out. A black crow seemed to take flight in the sky, dropping a single black feather. Then...
As if responding to Roy, or perhaps drawn by some kind of calling, Muzan froze for a moment. He suddenly realized... he couldn't move. It felt as though something was binding him, grabbing every single piece of flesh from his self-destruction. Whether it was a heart, a kidney, a liver, a nose, a mouth, an eye, or even a flake of skin... nothing was spared as they were all dragged and gathered in front of Roy.
Muzan screamed in terror as he finally saw what was holding him. They were the countless vengeful spirits of the fathers, mothers, children, wives, innocent bystanders, doctors, artists, bosses, and peers he had either eaten directly or killed on a whim!
Some he had forgotten, some he didn't even recognize, but most... were the livestock he had never cared about, never even deigned to look at properly!
"Let me go... Let me go! What are you doing... what are you doing?!"
Dong! The sound of a clock chiming in reverse seemed to signal a flow backward in time...
Muzan struggled and roared in despair. Even when he bit with his mouths or lashed out with bone whips, it was useless. Those people, those spirits, the men, women, elderly, and children he had casually slaughtered over the past thousand years, seemed to feel no pain. They stubbornly grabbed every piece of his flesh, scrambling over each other, rushing relentlessly toward Roy. In the blink of an eye...
They pieced together a perfectly intact Muzan, who floated blankly in front of Roy!
Those who follow the righteous path find many to aid them, while those who abandon it find none... This was the perfect embodiment of that truth!
"Eiichiro Kamado, you bastard, what did you do to me?!"
Thousands of hands and thousands of faces stared at him, binding him, holding him tight so he couldn't move an inch. Veins bulged on Muzan's forehead, his eyes nearly splitting open as he glared fiercely at Roy. However...
The boy showed neither joy nor sorrow. He simply looked at those men, women, elderly, and children, while a destructive fury and profound grief erupted wildly from the depths of his blood-red eyes!
Ignoring Muzan, he simply said, "I thought that over these thousands of years, many people would have died by your hands. Maybe dozens, maybe hundreds. But I never imagined it would be thousands... tens of thousands!"
"You ask what I did to you?" Roy delivered a heavy, powerful flying kick, directly shattering Muzan's knees. Muzan cried out in pain and fell to his knees on the spot!
"Then why don't you open your eyes and see... what you did to them... to him... to her... to it?!"
[Heart Bugs] emerged, working in tandem with [Genjutsu] to continuously siphon the darkness deeply rooted within Muzan Kibutsuji's body. The system prompted... ["Negative Emotions" +1 +1 +1...]
It was endless.
Muzan heard... whimpering and sobbing, a mournful crying coming from the mouths of those thousands of faces. His scalp went numb on the spot.
Like a stray dog, he groveled on the ground, his hair disheveled like a ruined geisha. Barely gritting his teeth, he tried to appease Roy. "Eiichiro Kamado, stop... I know, you definitely don't want to die either, right? As long as you become a demon... as long as you join me... you can achieve eternal life..."
A demon... eternal life... What a tempting proposal. Roy smiled. It was a cold smile, so cold that Muzan froze, a chill seeping into his bones as his teeth chattered. Then, he heard the boy say disdainfully, "I'd rather die than turn into a monster like you!"
With that, he waved his hand. Ignoring Muzan's struggles, spitting, begging, and wailing, he simply commanded indifferently, "Eat."
Instantly, thousands of faces opened their mouths in unison, revealing sharp teeth, and bit deep into Muzan's flesh!
"Ah—!" His heart-rending, agonizing screams were suffocating. Thousands of mouths gnawed at his flesh, crushed his bones, and swallowed him whole, playing a hellish dirge named "Revenge"!
"Eat... Eat... I know... doing it once definitely won't satisfy you, won't bring you peace. Then eat him a hundred times, a thousand times, ten thousand times, until... you are satisfied!"
With a wail, Muzan Kibutsuji was submerged by the crowd in an instant...
Amidst the bloody scene, Roy's consciousness detached from the illusion. He stood right next to Muzan, who was trapped in the Genjutsu, silently watching the moon set in the west... calculating the time...
Soon... one hour passed... two hours... three hours... Finally, a touch of pale white appeared on the horizon, with the faint glow of dawn surging to break through the darkness.
Roy silently calculated the number of times Muzan had been eaten alive—a full three thousand seven hundred times. Reaching out to catch the first ray of dawn, he took a deep breath and said, "How beautiful!"
Then, a sizzling sound echoed as wisps of smoke rose from Muzan's forehead. Facing the red sun faintly leaping out from the east, he began to burn...
The young man reached up and touched the hanafuda earrings dangling from his earlobes, murmuring, "Master, I didn't let him get away this time."
A faint breeze stirred. It was as if a gentle face, branded with a flame mark on its forehead, was smiling and nodding at him. The boy broke into a smile. He took a step back, making more room for the rising red sun to cast its light upon Muzan, burning him completely, burning him to a crisp, burning him to ashes, until he was entirely eradicated from the world...
Roy lazily stretched his back, turned, and walked away, leaving without a trace...
[Innate Blood Demon Art: 1. "Bestowal": Muzan Kibutsuji can forcibly transform others into demons by injecting them with his demon blood, drastically enhancing their constitution.]
[2. "Domination": Muzan Kibutsuji possesses "Absolute Domination" over the demons under his command. With a single thought, he can browse his subordinates' memories, delete, modify, restrict... and even take their lives.]
[4. "Self-Division": Muzan Kibutsuji can split his bodily tissues into countless small pieces through "Self-Destruction" to hide. As long as a single piece is not destroyed, he can resurrect.]
[5. "Whip Technique": Muzan Kibutsuji excels in "Whip Techniques". Through his will, he can transform parts of his body into "Thorn Whips" or "Tube Whips" to lash at others.]
[6. "Dead Infant Proliferation": Muzan Kibutsuji can infinitely multiply his flesh and tissues by transforming into his most primal infant state (Note: In this state, Muzan Kibutsuji is extremely weak and will not easily activate it unless driven to a desperate corner).]