Chapter 254: Kokushibo's Death x The Final Meeting with Yoriichi Tsugikuni
As soon as Roy's words fell, Yushiro immediately reacted like a cat with its fur bristling!
As expected of a demon slayer who hates evil as much as an enemy!
Although Yushiro didn't want to admit it, he and Tamayo were able to survive until now and accompany each other for nearly a hundred years, relying on the demon blood bestowed by Muzan... Now Roy was asking for demon blood right off the bat. How was this any different from asking for their lives?!
Emotions fluctuated, turning from a calm lake blue to a turbulent red... Roy smiled at Tamayo. Before Yushiro could lash out, flesh sprouted from the severed arm, reattaching it. Just relying on sight and aura, he could capture Yushiro's anger and Tamayo's struggle...
"You two,"
"I think you have misunderstood," Roy picked up the tea poured by Tamayo, took a sip, and chuckled, "Of three thousand demon bloods, I only take one scoop. In your case,"
The boy frankly held up a finger: "One drop is enough."
One drop? Yushiro secretly glanced at Tamayo. The woman, once a housewife, had her black hair held up high by a hairpin, looking extremely gentle and elegant. Perhaps only in the original story... at the moment she sought revenge against Muzan to the death, hesitating at nothing, not even blood sacrifice, to inject the drug into him, did she show a trace of ferocity. After a long silence, she nodded and said, "Alright."
Roy gave her a surprised look. The speed and decisiveness of the woman's agreement were somewhat beyond his expectations.
Perhaps noticing Roy's gaze, Tamayo, who had lived for hundreds of years following Muzan and was wise with age, proactively explained: "Lord Eiichiro is making a joke of me,"
Tamayo knelt in front of Roy, gently raised her pale hands, and refilled his hot tea. "The Demon Slayer Corps has changed... Those Hashira have also changed... I can feel that that person is... afraid..."
A touch of hatred interwoven and lingering with vindictive joy surfaced in the woman's rippling eyes. She looked deeply at Roy and said, "As a mere woman, I am not 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 unfavorable situation where the Demon Slayer Corps has been suppressed by evil demons for nearly a thousand years."
That person? Roy neither admitted nor denied it. He quietly looked at Tamayo and Yushiro and said, "It seems that even though you have broken free from Muzan Kibutsuji's control, you still cannot casually call his name."
Being called by name will be sensed... Imagining will be sensed... Seeing will also be sensed... As long as it is an evil demon, what it thinks, what it desires, what it states, and even... its memories, as long as Muzan wants to, he can browse through them at any time. From this, it can be seen... Tamayo and Yushiro's so-called "breaking free" was merely temporarily avoiding Muzan's "active probing". If they were to truly say Muzan's name, instantly... they would be located and sensed by Muzan again... This should be the powerful talent named [Absolute Domination] that he saw on Muzan back then!
What is "Absolute Domination"?
The superior over the subordinate... God over the archbishop, over the believers... It is 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 watching the recent sweeping operations of the Demon Slayer Corps all along. The strength of the Hashira was also always in his sights. In order to help Tamayo, he even more than once had the thought of cooperating with the Demon Slayer Corps... But due to the identity of a "demon" and the apprehension towards the "Hashira," it never materialized. Now...
The green-haired boy pulled open his collar, exposing his chest, and frankly said to Roy: "You are right. If you want to take it, take mine."
Roy glanced at Tamayo. She hesitated, struggling and softly calling Yushiro's name, just like in the original story, before the decisive battle with Muzan, confessing to each other and making a promise, [To become husband and wife in the next life]... Deep affection taking root and sprouting...
"Gulp..." Roy took all this in. He tilted his neck back and drank the tea in his cup. Sweet... cloyingly sweet... cloyingly sickening... sweetly permeated with a sour stench...
"I said I only take one drop, I will absolutely not break my word." With a swish, a flash of sword light, Solar Eclipse unsheathed. Without even seeing any movement, Yushiro only felt a slight chill in his chest. When he recovered his senses and looked over with Tamayo... A drop of black blood emitting a foul stench at the tip of the blade was already subdued by Solar Eclipse, hooped on the blade, unable to move!
Is it... over?
I completely didn't even see his movements clearly!
Yushiro and Tamayo looked at each other in dismay. The former touched his chest, not even a tiny scratch was left. The latter, upon recovering her senses, stared blankly at the drop of "black blood", as if instantly returning to the night when she was deceived by Muzan, fell into a state of chaos, and ate her own husband and children.
Tamayo lowered her head, her chest heaving, and her breathing began to slowly quicken...
She couldn't forget her children, her husband, and her own face covered in blood under the moonlight. Her back felt warm as she leaned into Yushiro's embrace. With another glance, she looked towards Roy...
The boy reached out and collected the drop of demon blood into his pocket. He then immediately activated the [Targeted Tracking Technique]. Using this thread of demon blood as a bond, he found the karmic branch between him and Muzan, and cast an indifferent look... At the end of the karmic branch, a picture scroll gradually emerged. In the scroll, a frowning man wearing a black kimono and dressed as a woman, wearing geisha makeup, was resting his chin on his hand, boredly listening to Nakime play the biwa to... alleviate unease and dispel boredom. At a certain moment, he shuddered and abruptly turned his head back. Entering his view was swaying fiery red long hair... and heard him say: "Found you."
Muzan Kibutsuji was terrified. The chair beneath him snapped with a crack, and he fell embarrassingly to the ground.
"Master?"
"It's Eiichiro Kamado... Damn it... he found me!"
Crash~ The picture scroll shattered like a mirror... The black blood suddenly sprouted a cluster of flames from Roy's fingertips, completely burning to ashes in an instant... At the right time, the boy withdrew his gaze, stood up, and only said: "Thanks."
Turning to leave,
He was stopped halfway by Tamayo's words.
The woman looked at the boy's back and said: "Are you going alone?"
Roy paused his steps, gripping the sword in his hand tightly: "Three people are a burden, two people are redundant, one person... is just right."
"That person has an Upper Rank with him, and it's... Upper Rank One!"
Kokushibo? Roy suddenly remembered the words Yoriichi Tsugikuni said to Kokushibo, who is Michikatsu Tsugikuni, when they met again in his twilight years: "How ugly, Nii-san."
Holding the sword in one hand, he twirled a sword flourish and said, "Then I'll kill him along with him!"
It's all "Life Energy" anyway, can't let it go to waste!
"You guy are too arrogant!" Yushiro stood up abruptly and said anxiously, "What if... you can't come back?"
"Then I simply won't come back!" Transforming into fluorescent light, Roy, holding his sword, merged into the moonlight. Along with the moonlight, he drifted out the villa window... In the spacious living room, only the empty cups on the table with lingering heat remained, and... Tamayo and Yushiro, one standing and one curtsying, silent... After a moment, the moonlight spilled in, devoid of any human presence...
Yushiro recovered his senses, gave a muffled snort, and said, "Lady Tamayo, no need to care about him, let him die."
Tamayo was silent for a long while, but then said, "What if?"
The woman rose from her curtsy, tilted her head to look at the green-haired boy, and said seriously, "What if he really is killed by that person?"
Yushiro: "..."
Stunned, he then sat heavily on the sofa, curling into a ball... Yes, what if, he really can do it?
Silence filled the villa at this moment.
Although their two hearts were in the living room, their thoughts indeed seemed tied to Roy's waist, drifting far away with him... Using the moonlight as a springboard, the boy followed the karmic branch connecting to Muzan and gave chase... The karmic branch constantly changed its position as it wound around, seemingly hiding, but more like... fleeing! If Yoriichi were here, would he mock the other party... "How ugly, Muzan..."
Roy didn't know. He only knew... light makes all filth and dirt have nowhere to hide, including... the Infinity Castle that Muzan relies on! Closer... ten kilometers... five kilometers... three kilometers... two kilometers... The winding karmic thread kept shortening. Until one kilometer away, it suddenly paused, then snaked forward again... Roy abruptly emerged from the moonlight. From afar, he saw a swordsman with six eyes on his face, golden pupils inscribed with "Upper Rank" and "One," wearing a purple snake-patterned and black-patched kimono paired with a solemn black hakama. He stood with his hand on his sword, waiting quietly.
Simple, majestic, traditional, yet carrying a trace of evil... Roy, carrying the moonlight, took a step forward and landed lightly in front of the other party, silently standing face to face with him.
"Eiichiro Kamado..."
"Michikatsu Tsugikuni..."
"You know my name?"
"Ugly as you are, it's thunderous to the ears..."
Kokushibo was stunned. He looked up at the boy's long, fiery red hair swaying in the wind, somewhat messy yet mixed with a bit of casualness and freedom. He was in a trance for a moment, as if he saw the swordsman who once made him jealous and even mad, who was also his own younger brother... Yoriichi Tsugikuni...
"Ugly... hehehe... That's what he said back then too..." Kokushibo murmured softly.
"He was right." Roy, with the sun and mountains hanging from his ears, said casually, "Do you want to take a piss and look at your ghostly appearance, saving me the trouble of doing it?"
In the original story, Kokushibo, who finally overcame the weakness of "decapitation," saw his monster-like ugly appearance from the reflection of Sanemi Shinazugawa's blade, breaking his defense... He "killed" himself. This shows... how deep a mark Yoriichi Tsugikuni's word "ugly" left in his heart back in the day!
"You are very rude, boy." "Clang, clang, clang..."
The "Kyokoku Kamusari" at his waist was slowly drawn. Kokushibo held the sword with one hand, looked at Roy expressionlessly, and said, "Demons do not need to excrete, they only need to eat. No need to urinate."
"Is that so?" Roy was somewhat surprised. Thinking about it, he felt it was a matter of course. He nodded in agreement and said, "Indeed, trash like you are worse than shit and piss. It's hard to say who excretes whom."
"Since that's the case, are you... going to end it yourself? Or should I help you end it?"
The karmic thread connecting to Muzan wound towards the distance, escaping another two miles. Roy lightly tapped his waist. A sword cry... Solar Eclipse unsheathed, turned red, ignited with a Fwoosh, and emitted raging flames. It was gripped in the boy's hand. He looked indifferently at Kokushibo and said, "Please, I'm in a hurry."
Kokushibo's six eyes involuntarily narrowed. Feeling the monstrous heat wave from [Solar Eclipse] rushing towards his face, he didn't retreat but advanced. Changing from one hand to two hands, the tip of the sword pointed straight at Roy's throat: "Very well, let this old man see how much of Yoriichi's skills you, who could instantly kill Akaza, have learned!"
That sword burning with flames... that fiery red long hair... and the hanafuda earrings hanging from the boy's earlobes. At a certain moment, they seemed to overlap with the figure of Yoriichi Tsugikuni, making Kokushibo excited, fearful, and yet uncontrollably wanting to let out a long roar!
With a flick of his hand, a slash carrying dozens of crescent moons flew out!
[Moon Breathing, First Form: Dark Moon, Evening Palace!]
Swoosh... rmb rmb rmb... The crescent moons rolled, reflecting the poignant moonlight... Whoosh, an oncoming evening breeze was shredded into pieces... Facing this sharpness directly, Roy had to admit that the sword techniques the other party had honed for hundreds of years were indeed seasoned and sharp enough. But compared to Yoriichi Tsugikuni... or even the fast sword Sakumo Hatake honed on the battlefield using Chakra... relying solely on Breathing Styles was still lacking... And this, is the gap in cognition and perspective! It is a gap that Kokushibo could never catch up to Yoriichi Tsugikuni in his entire life, even if he lived forever!
"It's a pity, no matter how gorgeous your sword is, it's ultimately just..." The void vibrated, the crescent moons approached. Roy also delivered a backhand slash. A Bankai slash, a slash releasing its true name, a slash wrapped in [Ken], a slash tearing through the air... Cleaving the crescent moons, cleaving the moonlight, cleaving the sound of the wind, leaving the vast heaven and earth and the high, bright moon. Only a thin black line was reflected in Kokushibo's golden pupils, leaving him unable to move, his hairs standing on end, watching helplessly... as it slashed across his neck... followed by a chill...
An ugly head flew high into the air, and then... fell to the ground with a Smack!
[Bankai... Zanka no Tachi; Ken]!
Taught by Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto this time, combined with Roy's understanding of "Gratitude"... This slash carried a high temperature of nearly twenty thousand degrees, instantly slicing open Kokushibo's body. It also conveniently cauterized the severed part of his neck to stop the bleeding. The thoughtfulness... was fully displayed!
"I... you... cough cough cough..." The demon head rolled, blood seeping from the corner of Kokushibo's mouth. His eyes staring fixedly at Roy, he said, "This is not... Yoriichi's... [Sun Breathing]..."
He knew all the forms of [Sun Breathing], such as "Dance", "Clear Blue Sky", and "Fake Rainbow"... But this slash of Roy's...
"This old man has never seen it before..."
"So what?" Roy took a step forward, his body merging with the light. Under the difficult gaze of Kokushibo's once again shocked eyes, he pierced his forehead with a single sword, picked him up, and roasted him under the moonlight, saying, "Your sword is just a sword, still stuck at sword moves. You don't know... above sword moves, there is... formlessness..."
"Formlessness?" Kokushibo struggled to open his eyes wide, but his consciousness grew dimmer and dimmer... He roared unwillingly, "I can't die yet, I can still fight, I just learned this, I'm not willing to accept this!"
The headless corpse staggered. Flesh sprouts seemed to burst out from the scorch marks, condensing into a new head... However,
Suddenly, a laser shot out abruptly from Roy's fingertips... It was [Laser]!
Immediately, the boy shattered Kokushibo's head with his sword without looking back, standing contentedly and independently amidst the sky full of blood mist and debris... "For someone who has been a demon for so long, why bother seeking life?"
"Don't you agree, Master Yoriichi?"
Jingle jingle... The revolving lantern belonging to Kokushibo emerged. In the haze, a mass of swaying fiery red long hair appeared...
☆☆☆
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