Chapter 339: Akaza – I'll Take You to Kill the Demon Child
Human memories?
Akaza took a deep breath. To him, those weak lives weren't worth remembering at all.
That was what he thought—until a figure suddenly flashed before his eyes.
"Mr. Hakuji, please… that's enough. Stop, please!"
A voice rang in his ears—one he hadn't heard in a long time.
There were no clear memories in his mind of this figure, yet it felt strangely familiar. Had he known this person?
Akaza struggled furiously, trying to break free from the Demon-Locking Array.
The chains clanged as they shook.
And then—there was a faint cracking sound. He was actually causing the barrier to fracture.
"What astonishing willpower… No wonder he became an Upper Moon. Are they all this terrifying?"
The Stone Pillar, Gyomei Himejima, muttered a Buddhist prayer, tears trailing from his eyes.
He raised his wide-bladed Nichirin Axe and the heavy flail attached to it—
weapons reforged at Linus's smithy with rare materials and enhanced with stronger fire attributes.
If Akaza insisted on resisting, he would end this himself.
"Wait a moment, Master Gyomei."
Tanjiro suddenly stepped in front of the array, his gaze strange as it rested on Akaza.
He was supposed to be an emotionless demon—
but Tanjiro could smell sorrow and pain clinging to his tattered body.
Not coming from Akaza himself,
but from the spiritual halos surrounding him—souls who hadn't given up on redeeming him.
The Demon Slayer world was a special one.
The demons created by Muzan Kibutsuji weren't truly "ghosts," but more like twisted mutations of flesh and blood.
True ghosts were souls who, after death, clung to their attachments and refused to pass on.
During training, Tanjiro had seen the soul of [Sabito],
who helped him slice through a massive boulder.
"Is this pity? Or just weakness toward the helpless? It's disgusting."
Akaza looked at Tanjiro and
felt a wave of inexplicable fury—like he'd seen that face before, long ago.
Who was it?
"Hakuji! That's enough!"
The voice came again.
Damn it—who was it?!
Akaza's cracked eyes widened, but he couldn't find the voice's source—
until his gaze landed on the ring-shaped tattoos around his arms.
They had appeared after he became a demon. He'd never paid them much attention before—
but now they stood out sharply.
"Criminal's… tattoos?"
A flood of fragmented images surged into his mind.
These were memories from when he was still human.
He had done all kinds of hard labor to buy medicine for his ailing father, but the pay had been pitiful.
So he resorted to stealing and robbing—doing anything to keep his father alive.
The tattoos were a mark burned onto him when he was caught.
But his father died anyway.
He had failed to protect him.
"I'm sorry, Hakuji. If I hadn't held you back, you could have walked a more honorable path, couldn't you?"
The voice echoed again.
This time, now that his memories had returned, Akaza could see clearly—
the frail man who appeared before him.
Akaza's eyes widened. Even though he was now a demon, he suddenly felt the urge to cry. He murmured, "Father…"
Then came the rage. He growled,
"Why would you call yourself a burden? Do poor people not deserve to live?! This world—! That's why I had to get strong, stronger than everyone!"
At the center of the array,
though unconscious and in a daze, Akaza's aura only grew more intense.
"A terrifying demon indeed… Even on the verge of death, he's still evolving!"
"Tanjiro, move! I can't let him grow any stronger!"
The Flame Pillar's expression was grim.
Unlike Tanjiro and Gyomei, he was just an ordinary human—he hadn't become a player in the Reincarnation Game.
That's why he could sense the raw danger demons posed to humans.
"Just a little longer..."
Tanjiro took a deep breath and said,
"Master Gyomei and I could kill him anytime. The sun's about to rise. He can't escape."
"So… Brother Kyojuro, please—just give him this one chance."
Kyojuro Rengoku said nothing,
but readied his breathing technique, prepared to act at any moment.
"Hakuji, still so stubborn, huh?"
A smiling face suddenly filled Akaza's vision.
It felt unfamiliar… but the name burst from his lips instinctively: "Master Keizo?!"
Wearing a white martial robe, with a scruffy beard, Keizo ruffled Akaza's head as he once had.
"Sheesh, I've been trying to reach you for so long, but I've been too useless. Only now do I finally appear before you..."
Akaza inhaled sharply and said, "No, that's not true!"
Keizo's soul smiled bitterly.
"Whatever the case, you'll always be family to me. So if I can't lead you to heaven, then I'll go to hell with you… Hakuji."
"You can't!"
The voice rang out in protest.
When Akaza realized that gentle, kind Master Keizo hadn't gone to heaven just so he could stay near and try to redeem him—
he broke.
"Why do those rich bastards get to go to heaven?!"
"Why do the scumbags who poison others get to live in peace?!"
"They're no better than rats—filthy creatures I can't even stand the stench of!"
Boom!
The Demon-Locking Array trembled violently.
Akaza began to grow fangs, his body swelling—mutating.
But unlike Nezuko's benevolent transformation,
Akaza's was fueled by hate and leaned toward darkness and corruption.
"We can't wait any longer… He must be killed!"
The Flame Pillar's blade ignited with roaring fire as he charged toward the array's center, aiming for Akaza's neck.
Tanjiro didn't stop him—just looked on in disappointment.
Gyomei raised his axe as well, ready to strike.
"Mr. Hakuji."
Then, a girl in a pale pink kimono appeared, her long hair tied up.
She embraced Akaza, whispering softly,
"Thank you. You've done enough. You don't have to go on."
Akaza's eyes flew wide open as tears streamed down.
He recognized her instantly.
It was the girl he had loved—
and even she hadn't reached heaven?
"Koyuki… I'm sorry. I couldn't protect you."
In that moment, Akaza wept like a child, his cries hoarse and broken.
"It's okay. I'm just glad you remembered me, Mr. Hakuji. Let's go to hell together."
Her voice was calm, as if descending to hell were no big deal.
But—Koyuki was pure. Unlike him, she hadn't turned into a demon or consumed humans. She should've gone to heaven.
She hadn't, all because of him.
"I'm sorry."
Akaza's face hardened. He stood and said,
"Koyuki, can you wait just a little longer? I want to kill Muzan Kibutsuji. Maybe that way, I can lighten the sins on my soul."
Because of him, Koyuki and Master Keizo's souls couldn't pass on.
They had remained with him—soul-bound—and if he went to hell, they would be dragged along.
So now—
He wanted to atone.
He wanted to give them a chance to reach heaven.
...
Crack!
His head was shattered.
But two seconds later,
a new one rapidly regenerated.
"What a pain… He's already overcome decapitation. We'll have to destroy his whole body,"
Gyomei muttered sadly.
He truly pitied demons like this.
Just as he prepared to strike again, Akaza stopped struggling.
He looked up calmly and said, "I'll help you kill Muzan Kibutsuji."
He turned to Tanjiro and said,
"I've killed too many people. I don't deserve redemption. So… call it penance."
Once Muzan was dead and his sins repaid,
he would go to hell with Koyuki.
"To the east, there's a sect called the Paradise of Eternal Bliss. That's where the Upper Moon, the Demon Child, is hiding.
I'll take you there. We'll kill him together."
Akaza caught the medicine pill Tanjiro tossed him and swallowed it.
Thick black smoke poured from his body until, at last,
he transformed back into his human form—Hakuji.
"Do you have any knuckle dusters? I'm best with my fists."
"Sorry. The Demon Slayer Corps never had a Pillar of the Fist, so we don't have weapons for you."
Tanjiro smiled. "But I'll talk to Uncle Linus the blacksmith. We'll forge you a pair of Nichirin gauntlets."
With the Demon Child's location revealed,
the Flame Pillar reported the intel to headquarters. A crow flapped away and swiftly carried the message.
Several swordsmen rushed out to assist. They intended to sever Muzan's wings in one swift strike.
"Demon Child!"
Even the ever-gentle Shinobu Kocho showed fury, veins bulging on her forehead.
She packed all of Butterfly Mansion's poisons into containers
and set off for the Paradise of Eternal Bliss.
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