"Soma… is dead."
The sudden news left Hinaki Ubuyashiki frozen in place, completely unable to believe it.
How could he possibly be dead?
In Hinaki's heart, Soma was the strongest swordsman.
Moreover, he was a demon — a demon even more terrifying than Muzan Kibutsuji. How could he die?
"Mother, you're joking, right?"
Hinaki's voice trembled. She knew her mother's personality well enough to understand she would never make such a cruel joke, yet her heart refused to accept that it could be true.
How could this possibly be real?
"How could Soma die?"
Hinaki lightly patted her mother's arm, her cheeks puffing up unconsciously. This kind of joke wasn't funny at all.
"I'm not joking. Everything I said is true."
Amane Ubuyashiki looked at her daughter and spoke softly. She could sense her daughter's emotions, but she had no intention of hiding the truth.
"No… No, it can't be…"
Hinaki still couldn't believe it.
Amane didn't say anything more. She simply handed her daughter the report that had been delivered by a Kasugai Crow.
The girl's delicate face stiffened. Her hands shook slightly as she took the report from her mother.
The news of Soma's death was not false. A swordsman named Yuko Nishimura had stolen the medicine Shinobu had once developed to deal with Muzan Kibutsuji, injected it into Soma, and killed him.
Gyomei Himejima, Kyojuro Rengoku, and Sanemi Shinazugawa had all rushed over and confirmed that Soma was truly dead.
"This… This is impossible. It can't be true."
Hinaki found it impossible to accept.
"Although it's hard to believe, it is the truth. Soma really is dead."
Amane looked at her daughter's current state with a pained expression. She gently reached out and pulled Hinaki into her embrace.
"Regarding the matter between you and Soma…"
Back then, in order to win Soma over and further strengthen the relationship between the Ubuyashiki family and him, they had arranged a marriage alliance.
Now that he was gone, the matter of their marriage would naturally have to be reconsidered.
As Hinaki's mother, Amane naturally did not want her daughter to…
"Mother, how can you say something like that?"
Hinaki pulled away from her mother's arms and looked at her. "Since we already promised that I would marry Soma, how can we go back on that promise just because of this?"
"But Soma has already…"
Amane reached out and gently stroked her daughter's head. It was impossible for her to marry a deceased person. She knew it wasn't morally right, but as a mother, how could she watch her daughter…
"Mother, when you married Father back then, didn't you already know that his lifespan wouldn't be long? Didn't you know he might not have much time left because of the curse? Yet you still chose to marry him."
"It's different."
Amane shook her head.
"What's different about it?"
Hinaki wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with her sleeve. "Back then, I agreed to become Soma's wife. We even finalized the engagement. How can it suddenly become invalid now?"
"If promises can be broken so easily, then what kind of person would that make me?"
Hinaki gripped the report tightly and looked at her mother. "No matter what, I don't believe any of this is true."
Amane didn't know what else to say. She could only watch as her daughter ran out of the room.
"Even now, I still can't believe it ended like this."
After his sister left, Kiriya Ubuyashiki's expression was complicated.
They had just defeated Muzan Kibutsuji — the very first demon and the source of all demons — and were about to cleanse the world of evil demons. At the moment when everyone should have been overjoyed to the point of tears, they received the news that Soma was a demon.
It had been unbelievable.
Impossible to accept.
But in the end, they had accepted it.
Kiriya believed that given Soma's character, he would never become a new Muzan Kibutsuji. Still, he couldn't help but feel some worry. Especially when some swordsmen in the Demon Slayer Corps had joined together to express their unease to him. Although he had suppressed those voices, he truly hadn't known how to handle the situation.
Something like what Yuko Nishimura had done — passing judgment on someone and even sentencing them for a future that hadn't even happened yet — was something Kiriya could never bring himself to do. He believed it was wrong.
Yet Yuko's concerns had also been reasonable in their own way.
He could trust Soma, but others were not him. They would not think the same way he did.
These past few days, Kiriya had been restless, unsure how to deal with the matter. It had even caused him to worry himself sick. He never expected it to end in this manner.
"I also can't believe he was killed so easily."
Amane also found it difficult to accept.
The two of them had some vague guesses, but in the end, they remained silent.
Perhaps…
Dying like this was the best possible outcome right now.
......
Hinaki Ubuyashiki ran out of the room while clutching the report about Soma's death.
No matter what, she couldn't accept this news.
She couldn't accept this outcome.
She had already prepared herself to become Soma's wife. She had even accepted the fact that she would become the wife of a demon. She had already made plans for their future together and had thought about what would happen after…
But now, she was being told that everything was over.
She hadn't even agreed to it yet. How could it end like this?
She hadn't even gotten to see Soma one last time.
And that swordsman, Yuko Nishimura — why did she have to kill Soma?! How could she be so cruel, so hateful…
Her heart ached terribly. It was an indescribable pain.
She couldn't accept this separation. She couldn't accept that she would never see him again.
No matter what, she had to go see him. Even if it was just his dead body, she still wanted to see him one last time.
Moreover,
Even if Soma was dead,
The fact that she was his wife could not be changed.
Without the slightest hesitation, she immediately changed direction and went to find him.
......
Meanwhile, at Mount Sagiri,
White mourning curtains were now hung everywhere. News of Soma's death had already spread far and wide.
His death had come so suddenly.
It was truly hard to believe.
Especially for the swordsmen who hadn't known that Soma was a demon — many of them arrived filled with grief.
As for those who had known he was a demon, they felt surprised and found it difficult to believe, yet there was also a subtle sense of relief.
The pressure that Soma, this "perfect demon" who surpassed even Muzan Kibutsuji, had brought was simply too great. It had been suffocating.
......
More and more people gathered at Mount Sagiri.
They saw the mourning hall that had been set up inside the house.
They also saw the tall figure lying quietly inside the coffin.
The man lay there silently, showing no reaction to the outside world, as if he had truly died.