For demons, although the neck is a fatal weakness, this does not mean they will die immediately the instant their neck is severed.
In fact, almost all demons can survive for a brief period after their neck is cut by a Nichirin Blade.
If during this time, the demon manages to reattach their neck, the process of their death will even be instantly halted.
This also means that after being beheaded by Yoriichi, Mitsuba would not actually die immediately. She could still remain alive for an extremely short period of time.
Then, she could activate the second effect of her Blood Demon Art.
That's right—Mitsuba's Blood Demon Art was not limited to only the ability "Karmic Flower Plucking."
Besides that, it had another ability called "Fate Overwrite."
This was an ability Mitsuba had never told any human about before, nor had she ever demonstrated it in any battle.
Unlike "Karmic Flower Plucking," whose effects were concentrated on modifying the threads of causality on humans.
"Fate Overwrite" did not focus on threads of causality, but rather on a specific phenomenon itself.
It granted Mitsuba the authority to lock onto a certain phenomenon within her domain and overwrite and replace that phenomenon with reality.
To explain with a practical example: when Mitsuba was beheaded within her domain, she could activate the ability "Fate Overwrite."
Anchoring the instant of herself before being beheaded, and overwriting and replacing it with the current reality of herself already beheaded, thereby achieving the effect of twisting and modifying reality.
This was a genuine ability to change fate.
Of course, this ability also had its limitations.
Besides enormous consumption, like "Karmic Flower Plucking," the effects of "Fate Overwrite" were also restricted to within her domain.
Reality outside the domain, Mitsuba similarly could not overwrite.
Moreover, her "overwrite" could only capture a "phenomenon" that already existed or had occurred in reality, to overwrite the current "phenomenon."
That is, she could only use the "past" to overwrite the "present." She could not use the "future" to overwrite the "present."
At the same time, if a creature had already been confirmed dead outside her domain, Mitsuba also could not use her overwrite ability to resurrect them.
After all, the essence of her Blood Demon Art ultimately stemmed from the usurpation of divine authority. Therefore, a death confirmed by the gods was a result she naturally could not modify.
But conversely, if someone died within her domain, as long as they never left the range of her domain throughout the process, Mitsuba could completely achieve resurrection for them!
Even after they left her domain later, they could still maintain the causality of "living," without being modified by the gods.
Undoubtedly, on the night she first transformed into a demon, Mitsuba already possessed this Blood Demon Art ability.
And the reason she had never used its effects in the decades that followed, nor had she ever mentioned its existence to any creature besides Muzan, was for only one reason—
Because Mitsuba's mind was very clear.
From the moment she decided to become a demon, she knew that between herself and this elder brother of hers who was the Child of God, there would likely be a battle in the future.
She had long been mentally prepared for this.
Fate Overwrite—this was the killing move she had specially prepared for her elder brother.
To prevent this killing move from being exposed in advance, to prevent the gods from detecting it, and to catch Yoriichi off guard at this most critical and fatal moment, Mitsuba had hidden this move for decades.
Of course, Mitsuba was not going to overwrite Yoriichi.
After all, for someone like Yoriichi, who was firmly watched over by the gods throughout and existed almost like a marionette, even the slightest overwrite of a causal phenomenon would require Mitsuba to pay an enormous price.
Yoriichi was the true blade of the gods—she could not move him.
The object she truly wanted to overwrite from the beginning was herself.
On the real street, under Mitsuba's gaze, Yoriichi finally moved.
In an instant, he drew the black Nichirin Blade from his waist, his figure rushing toward her like lightning.
But even though he was already over sixty years old, his speed was still unbelievably fast, no different from when he was young.
Even with Mitsuba's current eyesight, she could only vaguely capture a trace of fiery red afterimage.
With a try-it-out attitude, Mitsuba activated the ability of Karmic Flower Plucking on the rushing Yoriichi.
What she chose to interfere with was Yoriichi's thought process in drawing his blade.
Mitsuba still wanted to try and see if she could influence Yoriichi's thinking.
After all, compared to those fixed causalities that existed on the body, human thoughts were always complex and changeable, and also the easiest to influence.
If she could truly modify something on Yoriichi, she believed it would perhaps be his thoughts.
Under the full activation of her Blood Demon Art, Mitsuba did indeed succeed for an instant.
Almost at the same moment she activated her ability, the blade in Yoriichi's hand did shift slightly.
But in merely the next instant, he adjusted his angle of attack back again, re-aiming at her neck.
This extremely brief moment of change couldn't even be considered interference.
[So it was as expected...]
Mitsuba sighed lightly in her heart.
In the next instant, Yoriichi's blade swung to her front.
Whether out of confidence or some other reason, this time Yoriichi did not activate his Bright Red Blade as he did decades ago when slaying Muzan, making his blade burning hot and red.
Instead, he swung this seemingly ordinary blade with complete steadiness.
For Mitsuba, this was a good thing.
After all, the power of Elder Brother Yoriichi's Bright Red Blade—Lord Muzan had already experienced it for her decades ago. It was utterly terrifying.
Since Elder Brother Yoriichi didn't intend to use the Bright Red Blade now, she could also slightly reduce some consumption when she performed the overwrite later...
Thus, Mitsuba did not dodge at all, but allowed Yoriichi to swing his blade and sever her neck.
In the next instant, her head flew high from her neck, while Yoriichi, who had passed by her, also stopped his movement with his back facing her.
Up to this point, everything was still within Mitsuba's expectations.
Blood Demon Art: Fate Overwrite!
In this instant alone, everything within the Mandala Domain was frozen.
Amidst the intricate blood-red patterns, time seemed to be completely frozen.
Yoriichi's motion of preparing to sheath his blade, Mitsuba's head that had been severed and was still flying through the air yet smiling as she gazed at Yoriichi—everything was frozen in this instant.
And when time began to flow again in the next instant, Mitsuba's head, which had originally been flying in mid-air, had already returned intact to her severed neck!
The entire process showed no signs, nor made any sound. Her head simply returned in an instant.
Even Yoriichi behind her had no awareness of this.
As if the phenomenon of her being beheaded by Yoriichi in the previous instant was merely an illusion seen after a moment of blurred vision.
If one truly had to pick out something different, it would perhaps be that Mitsuba's face turned deathly pale in this instant.
There was no helping it—the price of tampering with reality was always expensive.
Just this one overwrite consumed nearly half the blood in her body. How could her complexion not turn pale?
Alright, hurry.
After all, the opportunity only came once.
Mitsuba was very certain that once Yoriichi detected that her Blood Demon Art had this ability and became guarded against it, given the vast disparity in strength between the two of them, she absolutely would not have a second chance to activate it.