"Everything should come to an end."
In a low murmur, Soma swung his blade once more, aiming straight for Gyutaro's neck.
Clang!
Despite his severe injuries, Gyutaro still managed to raise his blood sickle in time, blocking the strike.
His willpower was truly worthy of praise.
But blocking it was useless.
Blade and blood sickle locked together. Under Soma's overwhelming force, the blade still pressed Gyutaro's sickle forward. The poisonous edge of the sickle descended inch by inch, pushing toward Gyutaro's neck.
Veins bulged across Gyutaro's forehead, and his eyes protruded so much that his entire face looked twisted and ferocious.
Gyutaro could be said to have used every last bit of his strength. He had even surpassed his own limits.
But it made no difference. The gap in strength between them was simply too great. Soma's blade pressed down against the sickle's edge, slowly cutting into Gyutaro's neck.
Under Gyutaro's despairing gaze, it cut through the flesh of his throat.
Crack!
His neck bone was completely severed along with the descending blade. Gyutaro's head rolled to the ground.
"Ah! Brother…!" Daki let out a terrified scream at the sight. Her beautiful eyes were filled with disbelief.
She truly could not believe what she was seeing.
She could not believe that her brother, who had always been invincible in her heart, had been beheaded so brutally.
"Blood Demon Art: Eight-Layered Sash Slash!"
Eight sharp sashes, like blades, burst from Daki's body in an instant and attacked Soma with all her might.
But just like before, they were casually cut apart by Soma's blade. Not a single sash came close to him.
At the same time, Soma's figure flashed. When he appeared again, he was already beside Daki.
Daki's beautiful face turned deathly pale.
Soma gripped his blade and swung without the slightest hesitation. The sharp edge cut through her with ease.
Swish!
The blade pierced through bone and once again severed Daki's head, which had only just been reattached.
Thud!
Her bloodstained head rolled across the floor and came to rest beside Gyutaro's.
Seeing his sister beheaded again, Gyutaro clenched his teeth. His heart was filled with anger and unwillingness, but what filled it even more was powerlessness.
As her older brother, he had failed to protect his sister.
He really was…
so useless.
Truly a useless older brother.
"Ah, ah, ah! My head's been cut off again! It hurts so much, Brother!"
Daki's fallen head rolled in front of her brother as she cried out in pain. "I clearly worked so hard! I really did my best all by myself! So why was my head still cut off? My head really hurts, Brother!"
"Brother, Brother, get up! Get up and kill the person in front of you! Kill the one who's bullying your sister!"
Gyutaro wanted to stand up.
He wanted to do what he had always done before: appear whenever his sister was bullied, comfort her, and tell her that crying was useless. It was only her head that had fallen off; he could just put it back on for her. Was she stupid? Had her face been hurt? She had to be careful with that face of hers. Such a pretty face could not be ruined.
Every time his sister had called for him before, he had been able to do exactly that. He would comfort her, then kill everyone who had bullied her.
But this time, he could not.
He was utterly powerless.
It was just like when they had still been human. A samurai had taken an interest in his sister, and when she refused him, she stabbed his eye blind with a hairpin. After that, those people tied her up and burned her over a fire. Although Gyutaro eventually rushed over, avenged his sister, and killed that samurai, she had already been burned to the verge of death. He carried her through the entertainment district, begging for help, but no one could save her. Everyone avoided them like plague, and no one reached out a hand. It was the same as their daily lives had always been. No matter when it was, no one had ever helped them.
He could only watch helplessly as his sister slowly died in agony, her life fading little by little.
That moment had been filled with such powerlessness. Gods and Buddhas had not appeared at his most desperate moment. Instead, a demon had come. Doma, who was Upper Rank Two at the time, had shared his blood with them, turning them into demons.
His sister had finally survived.
They had become demons—ugly, terrifying demons in the eyes of humans. But Gyutaro had never regretted it. When they were human, they had never been accepted. So what if they became demons?
He had also anticipated that one day he might have his head severed by these swordsmen. He had never thought much of it. The only thing he could never accept was his sister suffering the same fate.
It didn't matter what happened to him. But his sister—she could not.
Before, he had always been able to stand up and reattach his sister's severed head. But this time, he couldn't. He himself had been decapitated.
"Brother, Brother, why aren't you standing up yet? Kill the person in front of us, Brother!"
Daki looked at her brother and complained.
"How am I supposed to stand up? My own head has been cut off too!"
Gyutaro shouted angrily.
"Why? Why are you so useless, Brother? Why couldn't you be a little stronger?"
"Then why couldn't you be stronger? Why are you so weak? If you were stronger, you wouldn't be completely useless."
"Brother, you're the useless one. You're an idiot."
"What did you say?"
"An ugly freak like you can't possibly be my brother. Someone like you definitely isn't related to me by blood. We don't look alike at all. You useless waste. The only thing you're supposed to be good at is fighting. You only know how to fight, and yet you can't even protect your little sister. Once you lose, you have no value at all. You're just a useless, ugly freak."
"Don't joke with me. Without me, you would have died ages ago. I don't even know how many times I've saved you. You're the useless one. You're weak and have no strengths at all, and I've had to keep protecting someone like you. I regret it from the bottom of my heart. If not for you, my life would have been completely different."
"It would have been better if you didn't exist. Why do I always have to clean up your messes? Someone like you should never have been—"
...
Soma sheathed his blade and watched Gyutaro and Daki fall into an argument. They clearly cared about each other deep down, yet their words only tore at one another.
If the gentle Tanjiro were here, he probably would have covered Gyutaro's mouth at this moment and told him, You don't actually think that. It's all lies. Get along well. You're siblings—the only ones each other can rely on. No one will forgive what you've done. All the people you've killed will resent and curse you. No one will protect you. So at the very least, you shouldn't curse each othe
But Soma was not Tanjiro.
He only watched quietly as the twin demons, who clearly held one another in their hearts, continued cursing each other while their bodies slowly disintegrated.
At that moment, the characters for Upper Six in the twin demons' eyes began to flicker faintly.
Gyutaro and Daki, who had been cursing each other, seemed to sense something and both stopped.
In the same instant, an aura that did not belong to either Gyutaro or Daki began radiating from the two demons.
Soma raised his eyes and looked into Gyutaro's. At this moment, the eyes that had originally belonged to Gyutaro gleamed with an icy chill.
They were no longer Gyutaro's eyes.
They were the eyes of another demon.
The eyes of the first demon, the progenitor of demons, the absolute ruler of all demons—
Muzan Kibutsuji.
Looking into those eyes, Soma gripped the hilt of his blade and met them calmly.
This could be considered the first time he had truly faced Muzan Kibutsuji.
...
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