Although it was the strongest sword form of Mist Breathing, although Muichiro was a genius swordsman, he was still a bit out of his league against Muzan.
He easily dodged Muichiro's slash and kicked his blade, nearly knocking the Nichirin Sword from his hand.
"Ubuyashiki is already dead. Why do you ants, reliant on his will, still refuse to face reality?" Muzan coldly looked at the two Hashira before him.
His white hair wildly danced in the wind. Several dark red ferocious thorn whips extended from his back, emitting bloodcurdling sounds as they tore through the air.
Facing such a powerful enemy, Gyomei only felt his whole body go numb.
'This was the Demon King? Just the killing intent radiating from his body was enough to chill one to the bone.'
Muzan forcefully flicked. Gyomei's heavy flail chain was pulled along, and at the same time, several thorn whips struck, threatening to pierce him.
To avoid the chain breaking, he immediately changed his stance, releasing Muzan while whirling the heavy flail with great force!
"Stone Breathing: Third Form: Stone Skin!!"
The flail spun at high speed around him, forming an impenetrable defensive wall.
Clang Clang Clang!!
Muzan's thorn whips madly struck at a speed hard to capture with the naked eye. Each impact was enough to cause shockwaves that shattered the surrounding wooden structures.
Gyomei inwardly thankful that he had undergone special training to master the method of awakening the Demon Slayer Mark, otherwise, he feared he would have had no power to resist!
However, right now, he could only barely cope.
Muzan snorted coldly. One of his thorn whips eerily bypassed the flail's defensive trajectory, aiming straight for Gyomei's throat.
At that moment, a wisp of pale blue light mist abruptly appeared.
Muichiro's small figure wove through the clouds, once again bringing a smooth and sharp cold gleam.
Shriek—!!
His scorching Nichirin Sword directly severed Muzan's thorn whip. The smell of burnt flesh instantly permeated the air, causing Muzan to slightly turn his head.
"As expected, the bloodline of the Tsugikuni Family? Your combat reaction is really fast." He commented carelessly as he swung another claw!
The battle was extremely fierce.
No one was a match for Muzan. Even the physically strongest Stone Hashira could only barely hold on against the other party's tide-like assault.
Gyomei's monk's robe was already stained red with blood. Muichiro's breathing began to become disordered.
Whenever the two showed an opening and were about to be hit by Muzan, ordinary Demon Slayer Corps' members nearby would fearlessly rush forward, using their bodies to take the blow for them!
"Charge! Charge to the front lines!" A Hinoe-ranked captain, already with a severed arm, shouted while spitting blood: "Become shields to protect the Hashira! Go!!"
Another dying Demon Slayer Corps' member also hoarsely shouted his last: "We've been saved by the Hashira countless times! Without them, we would have died long ago!"
"Don't be afraid! Go!!"
"Fight! Fight!"
They were ordinary Demon Slayer Corps' members, perhaps unable to even block Muzan, only able to make his vision blur for a moment.
But they still rushed forward wave after wave to protect the Hashira who could fight Muzan at this moment!
Their only purpose now was to delay.
Desperately hold back this monster, waiting for reinforcements from the others!
But this seemed like a luxurious illusion.
"Caw—! Muzan revived!! All members assemble! Assemble immediately!"
The Kasugai Crows' cries echoed mournfully in every corner of the Infinity Castle. Everyone who heard the announcement raced through the corridors, their hearts on fire.
But this was Nakime's domain.
Twang—!
The biwa sounded again.
Kyojuro, about to rush around a corner, suddenly found his footing gone. The entire corridor instantly flipped upward ninety degrees, violently throwing him towards the abyss below.
"Bastard! Don't try to stop me!" Sanemi furiously swung his blade, cutting down the wooden door in his way. But behind the door was not the battlefield, but another bottomless, spinning corridor.
"....Space is being continuously restructured!" Giyu's calm face also showed an anxious expression.
Nakime sat on that central platform. Her single eye constantly moved, her fingers flying like the wind.
Though lacking direct offensive power, causing her to be underestimated,
in this kind of massive melee, she was Muzan's perfect shield.
She continuously created traps, obstacles, and gravitational dislocations, isolating each supporting Hashira in different overlapping spaces.
"Hang in there! Himejima-san, Muichiro!!"
Tanjiro raced on the intricate staircases. He could smell the nauseating, bloody scent of Muzan from afar, but he could never shorten that final distance.
A sense of anxiety spread in the heart of every swordsman.
Pffft—!!
While locked in a tense exchange, Gyomei suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, shocking even himself.
"It's not necessarily a good thing not to be directly killed by my attacks." Muzan coldly said. "I mixed my own blood into my attacks. The potent poison inside is enough to poison you annoying fellows to death."
During the previous battle, although Gyomei had done his utmost to block the attacks, he had unavoidably suffered many wounds.
Now, the toxin had already begun to take effect. Every breath felt like swallowing fire. The burden on his body grew increasingly heavy!
The thorn whip struck again, but Gyomei's movements could no longer keep up!
"Himejima-san!" Muichiro shouted anxiously, but he himself was also being forced into a desperate struggle by Muzan.
Rumble—!!
The entire Infinity Castle suddenly began to shake violently!
"What's going on?" Muzan's brow furrowed tightly. His originally certain strike actually missed!
He astonishedly discovered that the connection between himself and Nakime was violently fluctuating. The Infinity Castle was losing control!
On the most secret central platform of the Infinity Castle, the situation had already changed.
A young man wearing the Demon Slayer Corps' uniform, with purple vertical pupils, was tightly gripping Nakime's head.
Yushiro!
His eyes were bloodshot. His hands had transformed into countless tiny nerve bundles, forcibly piercing Nakime's cerebral cortex.
He was using his own consciousness to forcibly seize control of this vast maze.
"Kibutsuji! I'll blast you to the surface!!"
"Ahhh—!!!"
Yushiro let out a beast-like roar.
Twang Twang—!!
The biwa emitted several consecutive shrill cries, then shattered.
The entire Infinity Castle began to madly rise upward. The originally chaotic gravity was forcibly corrected at this moment.
And beside Yushiro, a boy wearing a wild boar mask, his upper body bare, was continuously killing the demons approaching, trying to aid Nakime.
Hashibira Inosuke!
Before the Infinity Castle opened, he had already joined forces with Yushiro according to the established plan, using his spatial perception to search for Nakime's location.
Beast Breathing: Seventh Form: Spatial Awareness!
Relying on this beastly intuition, he forcibly pointed out Nakime's hiding place to Yushiro in this complex spatial maze.
Cooperating with Yushiro's invisibility Blood Demon Art, they silently crept up behind Nakime!
"Haha!! Look at this, birdbrain!! This master is the ace hero who decides the outcome!!!"
His confident roar echoed through the Infinity Castle, also catching Muzan's attention.
He realized the seriousness of the problem.
'What's going on! Nakime is controlled!'
'And this boar mask isn't....'
'If this boar is here, that means!!'
Just as he prepared to remotely erase Nakime through their connection, a punch, enough to tear space, carrying a deafening roar, violently erupted from the shadows on his flank!
"Kibutsuji Muzan—!!!"
A vigorous figure burst through layer upon layer of wooden walls, his killing intent rolling like a thunderclap!
He did not wield a Nichirin Sword, but wore a ferocious tiger mask. His entire body radiated scorching, pure fighting spirit.
That was Akaza... no, that was the man who had found his soul.
Hakuji!!
After Oyakata-sama decided on the plan to lure Muzan into attacking, he had joined Tamayo and Yushiro, seeking an opportunity to deal Muzan a fatal blow!
And now was the time to burn out!
"You traitor!" Muzan's gaze turned gloomy and cold to the extreme. He lost his composure and roared.
"No, I am human!!"
Hakuji's figure traced a sharp trajectory through the air. The blue fighting spirit coiling around his knuckles was no longer gloomy and fierce and cold.
He had fused his lifelong boxing techniques with his endless hatred for Muzan, forming his own martial pinnacle.
"Soryu: Annihilation Style—!!"
Boom—!!