The moon hung high in the sky, and the night remained dark.
Soma breathed, and the Sun Breathing of the first swordsman accompanied each exhale, carrying scorching heat.
That heat spilled into the cool night air. As warmth and chill met, a faint mist rose and lingered around his face, making his features seem slightly hazy.
Soft moonlight fell upon the demon with eight arms growing from his back. Each arm gripped a weapon tightly, all poised to strike, while his gaze remained fixed on Muzan Kibutsuji before him.
Facing such a powerful enemy, Soma felt his blood boil for the first time in a long while.
All this time, Soma had done everything he could to avoid attracting Muzan Kibutsuji's attention. His original plan had been to quietly watch the Demon Slayer Corps fight desperately against Muzan, paying a terrible price in casualties to finally kill him. That had been the future that was supposed to happen.
But with Soma's arrival, many things had changed.
Not by his will.
Likewise, many things he had not cared about at first had become impossible to ignore as his bonds deepened. He could no longer watch them die with his own eyes and remain unmoved.
And so—
he stood up now.
At this moment, most of the swordsmen had already withdrawn, including Hashira such as Gyomei Himejima, Kyojuro Rengoku, and Sanemi Shinazugawa. In truth, even during that brief clash, Gyomei and the others had already suffered serious injuries.
Of course, there were still many demons nearby. Those demons had been terrified out of their wits by Soma earlier. Now that Muzan Kibutsuji had appeared and suppressed the Soma who had frightened them so deeply, their fighting spirit was rekindled.
Although they still could not bring themselves to face Soma again, they bared their fangs at the other swordsmen. Perhaps because of their earlier fear and cowardice, these demons became even more frenzied when facing the swordsmen. As a result, the Demon Slayers' losses worsened with every passing moment.
However, with the wounded Hashira such as Gyomei Himejima returning to the fight after withdrawing, they forcibly held back the terrifying tide of demons.
Everyone was panting.
Almost every swordsman was gasping for breath.
The blood flowing across the ground had grown thick and sticky. Corpses lay everywhere. The sorrow left behind by the deaths of demons weighed heavily in the air, while the foul stench was so strong it nearly suffocated those who breathed it in.
At this moment, after realizing that Soma was determined to stand on humanity's side, Muzan Kibutsuji was completely enraged. Just like when Tamayo had betrayed him hundreds of years ago, this demon now wanted his life.
Of all the demons he had created, not a single one was truly loyal to him. Every one of them craved more of his blood, longed to devour more of his flesh.
This was one of the reasons why he had never allowed demons to gather over the years. He feared that those demons might unite and betray him together.
But—
no matter what, he, Muzan Kibutsuji, was the absolute ruler of demons.
Boom!
The night seemed to explode as two demon shadows shot forward at the same time.
One was the first demon, the absolute ruler of all demons.
The other was the perfect demon, the demon who had overcome demonkind's flaws.
Behind Soma, his eight arms traced sharp arcs through the air. Each hand gripped a weapon tightly. The blades glowed red-hot, and the scorching aura twisted the surrounding air.
All eight weapons descended simultaneously, carrying the thunderous force of mountains. The blades screamed sharply as they tore through the air.
At the same moment, Muzan Kibutsuji had completely transformed. From his back extended nine tube-like whips, each roughly four meters long and as thick as a bowl's mouth, covered in grotesque veins and barbs. As the whips swung, they violently tore the air apart. Explosive booms shook the earth, cracking the ground and sending rubble flying like shrapnel.
It was not only his external form that had changed. Inside his body, five brains and seven hearts had formed. This granted Muzan Kibutsuji exceptional processing power in battle. Even when injured, he could recover almost instantly. Even the Bright Red Nichirin Sword—which could directly hinder the regeneration of Upper Rank demons—could not stop Muzan's recovery.
It was precisely because of these complex organs he had created that Muzan possessed limitless stamina without any regeneration limit. This was the source of his regenerative ability, which brought him infinitely close to true immortality.
Only the Bright Red Nichirin Sword wielded by Yoriichi Tsugikuni—with its sunlight-like destructive power—and the specialized technique Sun Breathing, Thirteenth Form, could target Muzan's twelve vital points, break through his immortal body, and drive him to the brink of defeat.
Although Soma knew Sun Breathing and could use its Thirteenth Form, his swordsmanship ultimately could not reach the level of Yoriichi Tsugikuni. He could not simultaneously strike all twelve of Muzan's vital points at once.
What Yoriichi had lacked, however, was the perfect demonic life that Soma had achieved. Even if his head were blown apart or his heart pierced through, he would not die. Such wounds could not destroy his immortal body.
Squelch!
A heavy, sickening tearing sound rang out.
One of Muzan's tube-whips lashed out at an impossible speed, striking so fast it seemed to carve a vacuum through the air. Carrying destructive force, it smashed into one of the arms on Soma's back.
Flesh burst apart like a rotten tomato crushed beneath a hammer, exploding into a cloud of red mist. Shattered bone mixed with minced flesh and sprayed outward as the arm was severed from the root.
BOOM!
The second strike followed almost immediately.
The end of the tube whip slammed into Soma's chest like an iron hammer. The impact felt as though a small mountain had crashed into him. His ribs snapped instantly, his chest caved in, and a burst of blood mist exploded from his back.
For half a beat, his heart seemed to stop under the pressure. Agonizing pain erupted from his chest, racing through every limb and bone.
A sweet taste rose in Soma's throat, and hot blood surged into his mouth.
He gritted his teeth and forced it back down.
All this time, when Soma fought enemies, he had mostly relied on being faster and stronger than them.
But compared with Soma, Muzan Kibutsuji was unquestionably more violent, faster, and stronger.
BANG! CRASH!
Bodies collided. Tube-whips clashed against weapons. Raw, brutal exchanges with no flourish. Every impact burst into clouds of blood mist—whether it was his blood or the opponent's flesh.
Soma's Bright Red Blades cut into Muzan's body, tearing open scorched black wounds, but those wounds closed almost the instant the blade left them. And every time Muzan's tube whips struck Soma, they tore away large pieces of flesh, sometimes even entire arms.
Blood and flesh flew everywhere.
Shreds of meat and drops of blood scattered like a storm.
Occasionally, demons or swordsmen fighting nearby accidentally stumbled into the center of their battle. In an instant, before they could even scream, they were shredded into rotten pulp by the whipping wind and blade energy. Their bones were ground to powder and mixed into the blood pooling across the ground.
"Blood Demon Art: Rime — Water Lily Bodhisattva."
After another violent clash, Soma firmly held back two tube whips. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth as he lowered his voice.
His voice was quiet, yet the air around them suddenly dropped to freezing.
In the next moment, the sky itself seemed to split open.
Almost instantly, a massive ice Bodhisattva with its hands pressed together descended from the sky. Its bearing was solemn and majestic, and its entire body was formed from deep blue ice that radiated bone-piercing cold.
The Bodhisattva's face was compassionate.
Countless sharp ice crystals erupted from its mouth, pouring down upon Muzan like a dense storm of bullets.
The crystals were as pointed as needles and as sharp as blades. In an instant, they riddled Muzan's body with holes.
His face, chest, arms, and tube whips were pierced through in countless places, and black-red blood poured wildly from the dense wounds.
Boom!
The Bodhisattva's massive body pressed down from above, carrying the weight of an entire glacier as it smashed into Muzan.
Under that terrifying crushing force, Muzan's body gave off a teeth-grating series of cracks. His bones broke inch by inch, his flesh was compressed and warped, and his entire body was nearly crushed into a twisted slab of meat.
The ground collapsed with a thunderous roar, blasting open a crater more than ten meters wide. Broken ice and torn flesh mixed together and sprayed into the air.
Soma gasped heavily. Flesh writhed at the stump of his severed arm as it slowly regenerated, while the sunken bones in his chest clicked and shifted back into place.
His eyes remained locked onto the mangled, unrecognizable remains in the crater.
In almost the blink of an eye, the mangled remains began to writhe. Within moments, it had returned to its original form, showing not the slightest trace of injury.
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