Streams of information surged forward, rushing into Roy's mind like a river bursting its banks...
Just as the red sun fully crested the horizon, countless rays of morning light shone upon the young man, draping him in a cloak of dawn. Roy slowly closed his eyes. Like a steadfast reef anchored in the morning light, he gradually absorbed Muzan's talents, digesting those of Kokushibo and Nakime along the way...
Unknowingly, he slipped into a state of epiphany once again...
His body trembled as his soul detached from its shell. Caught by the wind, it drifted upward. Mid-flight, he flipped and stepped onto a white heron, ascending straight into the high heavens and piercing through the white clouds. When he opened his eyes again, he was looking down at the earth, observing the world from an entirely new perspective. He saw...
That familiar mountain and that familiar small courtyard. His father Tanjuro, his mother Aoi, his younger brother Tanjiro, his younger sister Nezuko, the two little ones Shigeru and Takeo, and Hanako cradled in their grandmother's arms... Some were leaning against the porch pillars, some were busy in the kitchen, some were chopping wood and burning charcoal, and others were sewing clothes or playing...
He saw... Mount Sagiri, shrouded in mist all year round. He witnessed the heartwarming scene of over a dozen little wooden figures following an old man to welcome the spring and forage for wild vegetables. He heard them say that when he returned, they would prepare a lavish wild vegetable feast for him...
He saw... the secluded courtyard hidden within the wisteria forest. During the Hashira Meeting, after receiving his reply, the Hashira looked at each other in dismay. He saw Ubuyashiki Kagaya deep in thought, and Gyomei Himejima chanting a Buddhist prayer before sighing in admiration, "As expected of Lord Eiichiro," which settled everyone's hearts...
He saw Yushiro and Tamayo. The moment Muzan died, they froze. Then, one clenched his fists while the other wailed... They embraced and wept, seemingly celebrating, yet also releasing the pent-up oppression that had lingered in their hearts for centuries...
He saw peddlers and porters... flowers, birds, fish, and insects... babbling brooks... and lush greenery...
His soul then cast itself toward the east, plunging into the rising red sun and merging with it!
At this moment, it was impossible to tell if Roy was the sun, or if the sun was Roy... As a wave of enlightenment welled up in his heart, the blood-red hue completely faded from the young man's eyes. The great sun leaped into the sky, and he spoke softly, "The Demon King is dead. The world is at peace!"
His distant words spread out alongside the radiant sunlight.
Deep in the mountains, a certain red-haired boy chopping wood and burning charcoal... A certain coughing man leaning against the porch pillar, holding a hand warmer year-round... Under the heavy fog, the dozen or so wooden puppets foraging for wild vegetables with Urokodaki Sakonji... The Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps and Ubuyashiki Kagaya... The weeping Yushiro and Tamayo embracing each other... The men and women, young and old, living under the sun... They all raised their heads in unison!
Everyone was stunned for a moment, craning their necks to look at the red sun. A faint, ethereal silhouette appeared within it. A head of fiery red hair swayed conspicuously in the wind, and two golden eyes recklessly radiated boundless divine light...
Those who didn't understand the situation were so terrified that their knees gave out. They dropped to the ground with a thud, kowtowing profusely as they cried out, "God... Heavens... It's God... It's... a divine descent! God has descended upon the world!"
Boom! A massive uproar erupted, sweeping across the land like a relentless storm...
One person knelt... then two... then three... then four... Under the chain reaction... wherever the eye could see across the world, wherever there was human activity, wherever the sunlight shone, the ground was instantly covered with people kneeling in prayer.
Beep, beep, beep... The system panel notifications pattered like rain on banana leaves, ringing incessantly...
After the ordinary people noticed this scene, at the Ubuyashiki clan's estate, the Hashira and the Ubuyashiki family suddenly stepped out from under the eaves. They looked up in a daze at Roy's out-of-body soul within the red sun. Someone suddenly shouted, "It's... Lord Eiichiro!"
Kyojuro Rengoku, the very first believer to convert to Roy, smiled as his heart surged with emotion... He laughed heartily, letting out a long cry. Placing his right hand over his chest and lifting the hem of his haori, he dropped to one knee and declared, "Praise the Sun!"
Following that, it was as if a stone had been tossed into a calm lake, creating endless ripples... Gyomei Himejima stopped striking his singing bowl. Tossing his prayer beads to the ground, his face streamed with tears as he followed Kyojuro Rengoku, bowing toward the sun and chanting, "Praise the Sun!"
Seeing this, Sanemi Shinazugawa... Muichiro Tokito... Obanai Iguro... Giyu Tomioka... Ubuyashiki Kagaya and his wife Amane, his daughters Kanata and Kuina, his son Kiriya... including the Kakushi... every single one of them dropped to one knee and shouted in unison, "Praise the Sun!"
Deep in Mount Sagiri.
Urokodaki Sakonji, who was carrying a woven basket on his back and digging for wild vegetables, was so stunned that the trowel in his hand clattered to the ground...
"Is this... Eiichiro?"
"It's him... It's really him... Our Eiichiro!" Makomo jumped up like a porcelain doll!
Staring unblinkingly at the red sun, she shouted, "Master, Eiichiro said he killed... the Demon King!"
"The Demon King..." The old man took a deep breath. Before he knew it, his dry, aged eyes had instantly welled up with tears... Seeming to sense his emotions, Sabito, with a wooden sword tucked into his waist, said firmly, "I knew it. I knew he could do it."
Behind them were Shinsuke, Fukuda, Watanabe, and the others, embracing in wild celebration, crying and laughing all at once...
Whoosh! A gentle breeze stirred.
At the foot of that familiar mountain... the axe gripped in the hands of a certain red-haired boy fell silently to the ground. Staring with wide, amber eyes, he gazed blankly at the red sun and murmured, "Is that you, Nii-san?"
He then began waving frantically at the sun... just like Takeo and Shigeru, who came running out from the porch. Behind them was Tanjuro with a faint smile, Aoi stepping out from behind the kitchen curtain, and Nezuko supporting their grandmother while holding Hanako... They all returned Roy's smile and beamed...
"There's no mistake, it's Nii-san."
"It's Eiichiro."
"It's my child."
Excitement... surged in his heart... The young man, descending upon the world like a god and bearing the red sun on his back, attained enlightenment... This perspective... this transcendent, profound experience... was a manifestation of the world's will, and at the same time, it was—
The perspective of [God] observing the world!
Tick, tock... The curse on the back of his hand ticked away the seconds and minutes like a clock...
The unknown entity sat high above. Just as the people of the world looked up to him and bowed, this entity expected him to look up and bow as well. It clearly harbored the intention of making him... submit!
"What a pity... My great-grandfather didn't kneel... My great-great-grandfather didn't kneel... And now, it's my turn... Naturally, I won't kneel to you or anyone standing behind you either!"
Whoosh! A solar whirlwind blew past, enveloping the young man's soul as it descended... By the time Roy returned to his physical shell and opened his eyes again, the system panel's notification chimes rang out, signaling that the comprehensive upgrades were complete...
...Life and death... Roy felt the Uchiha blood within his body stirring restlessly. He said calmly, "Quiet."
He then calmed his mind and continued reading...
[Detected as a spatial attribute, implicitly compatible with [Swamp Space]. Now modified and upgraded to... [Sumeru Mustard Seed]...]
[Note: Sumeru Mustard Seed... The host can forcibly open a space in the real world and modify it according to their will. Within this space, the host is the absolute ruler.]
With a mere thought, Roy reached out and condensed a black sphere at his fingertips. The black sphere recklessly emitted terrifying spatial fluctuations. The moment it appeared, it seemed to devour all the surrounding sunlight.
It felt identical to the hazy, chaotic void he had entered when chasing the mysterious skeleton alongside his great-grandfather Maha...
Roy once again suppressed the urge to enter the black sphere to investigate... The first thing that came to his mind was a certain Ninjutsu—Kamui!
Using Kamui to become intangible... using Kamui to trap people... He could even inject fire into the [Sumeru Mustard Seed] to form a fire prison, inject water to form a water prison, or inject the flashing shadows of blades... to form a sword prison, rivaling [Hado] and [Kurohitsugi]... In short,
The upgraded [Sumeru Mustard Seed] had far higher and broader development potential than [Kamui] or the Infinity Castle...
"Sumeru contains the mustard seed, and the mustard seed contains Sumeru. The immense and the minute accommodate each other, and all things are boundless... The world... is merely inches away..."
Roy muttered to himself. A moment later, he lightly snapped his fingers, and the black sphere vanished... It was as if it had never appeared, yet also as if it had never disappeared. In the blink of an eye, it turned into a stream of Nen and returned to Roy's body.
The young man took a deep breath and continued reading.
Narrowing his eyes, he said, "Your turn... Muzan!"
Following that, the system panel expanded... A series of innate skills were suddenly stripped of their outer layers and slowly presented before Roy...
[1: "Bestowal". Muzan could forcibly transform others into Demons by injecting them with Demon blood, drastically enhancing their constitution... The side effect of "inability to withstand sunlight" has now been discarded... Modified and upgraded to [First Embrace]...]
[Note: [First Embrace]: The host can consume "Nen" to forcibly bind a believer, sharing talents and drastically increasing their potential, truly achieving "mutual prosperity." That is... the target of [First Embrace] can grow stronger alongside the host and grow stronger independently. If they die, everything belonging to the embraced target will be fed back to the host in the form of numerical values, minimizing losses in a timely manner.]
[2: "Domination". Muzan Kibutsuji possessed [Absolute Domination] over the Demons under his name. With a single thought, he could browse through his subordinates' memories, or even delete, modify, restrict... and take their lives.]
[4: "Self-Division". Muzan Kibutsuji could "self-destruct" to split his flesh and tissues into countless tiny pieces to hide. As long as a single piece remained un-destroyed, he could resurrect.]
[Note: [Rebirth from a Drop of Blood]... As long as blood or tissue remains... the host will not die... In times of crisis, the host can use "Self-Destruct" to preserve their life. The number of "tissue pieces" split during self-destruction depends on the host's current strength.]
[5: "Whip Technique". Muzan Kibutsuji excelled in "Whip Techniques." Through his will, he could transform parts of his body into "barbed whips" or "tube whips" to lash out at others.]
[6: "Dead Infant Proliferation". Muzan Kibutsuji could transform into his most primal infant state to infinitely proliferate his flesh and tissues. (Note: In this state, Muzan Kibutsuji is extremely weak and will not easily activate this unless driven to a desperate corner.)]
[Note: Flesh Bud Technique: Plant a flesh bud, harvest a fruit tree. The host can implant their own flesh buds into a human body to siphon the target's "Nen" and "Constitution" for their own use... The number of flesh buds that can be implanted depends on the host's current strength.]
"Beep—"
Notifications complete... Roy stared at his bulging skill bar in silence...
After a long while, he sighed and said, "If I had known, I should have killed him much earlier..."
Steadying his mind, he looked at [Sword Bone], [Rebirth from a Drop of Blood], [First Embrace], and [Flesh Bud Technique] one by one... The first was somewhat similar to the Kekkei Genkai of the Kaguya Clan, while the second reflected the cowardly nature of the trash boss, serving as a rather excellent life-saving escape skill. The main highlights, however, were [First Embrace] and [Flesh Bud Technique].
They made Roy's eyes light up uncontrollably.
The first person who came to his mind was... Gotoh.
The young butler lacked neither loyalty nor diligence; all he lacked was talent... If he bestowed [First Embrace] upon him and shared his own talents with him... allowing him to grow stronger as Roy grew stronger, then... Gotoh's future potential would be immense. One day, he might even be able to defeat Netero, or perhaps... even his great-grandfather!
'God has angels and bishops... Muzan had the Upper Ranks and Lower Ranks... [First Embrace] is perfectly fitting for me and Gotoh...'
The young man narrowed his eyes. He already felt the urge to leave the Demon Slayer world and return to the Hunter world. However, considering Tanjuro and his promises...
Roy calmed down and temporarily suppressed the thought. With another glance, he looked at the [Flesh Bud Technique], a faint, dark gleam flowing within his eyes...
Just as "where there is light, there must be darkness" and "where there is good, there must be evil," the world was both opposing and unified... The [Flesh Bud Technique] was the exact opposite of [First Embrace].
...
Roy preferred to call it the [Parasite Technique]!
Depriving the target of their "Nen" and "Life Force" through parasitism was, in a way, even more excessive than a [God] harvesting the faith of [Believers]... It was truly destroying the enemy from the "root," delivering... the fierce punishment of the sun!
Truly... tyrannical!
Following his recent condensation of a [Sumeru Mustard Seed], Roy reached out his right hand again. He opened his Aura Nodes and released a wisp of Nen, wrapping it around his finger. What could be seen with the naked eye was...
As his finger squirmed, a "flesh bud" formed. The tip of the bud was connected to a long tentacle, much like a mosquito's proboscis, thirsting for "Nen" and "Life Force." Just looking at it involuntarily made one's hair stand on end and sent chills down their spine...
"Hungry... Master... I'm so hungry... I want to eat..."