"Tamayo—!!"
Muzan let out a sky-shaking roar. His body trembled violently from the invading medicine. Barbed tendrils on his back wildly shot out, instantly piercing through Tamayo's body.
"Now!!!"
Gyomei's roar descended like thunder.
He charged into the sea of flames, his flail whistling through the air, directly smashing through Muzan's regenerating half.
Immediately after, six figures burst through the smoke from different directions.
"Wind Breathing: Tengu Wind!"
"Flame Breathing: Unknown Fire!"
"Water Breathing: Flowing Dance!"
"Serpent Breathing: Coiling Slash!"
"Love Breathing: Chaotic Claws!"
"Mist Breathing: Advection Slash!"
Six Hashira-level swordsmen unleashed their fastest sword forms, weaving a net of destruction that completely enveloped Muzan, whose movements were slowed by the potent poison and severe injuries!
This was a combined attack gathering the peak combat power of the Demon Slayer Corps, determined to tear the Demon King apart right here!
"Chew And Swallow, Tonan!"
Bricks and stones exploded, air screamed!
Taka had already burst forth at his maximum speed. The thrusting Zanpakuto drilled through the air with a detonating roar, black-red flames blazing along the blade!
Though hindered by Tamayo's medicine, though affected by the wisteria poison, though left in a miserable state by the gunpowder and certain special Blood Demon Arts-
Kibutsuji Muzan's regeneration speed was still terrifyingly fast!
He was regenerating at a horrifying rate, his charred, gruesome form enough to chill the blood.
Muzan looked up. The disgust and mania in his vertical pupils were completely undisguised—
"Mere humans.... Do you think this is the end for me?"
His voice seemed to emanate from the depths of hell. Facing the Hashira attacking from all sides, he instead revealed a cruel, cold smile.
"Damned Demon Slayers, I'll kill you all today!"
"Nakime!!"
Twang—!!
With this call, a clear, eerie biwa sound suddenly echoed through the air.
The solid ground beneath everyone's feet instantly vanished, transforming into a suddenly opened paper door of a Japanese room, revealing a bottomless void beyond.
The ruins of the Ubuyashiki Estate, the surrounding mountain forest, even the entire landscape seemed forcibly torn apart by this power that altered the very terrain.
A massive, twisted alternate space, filled with countless buildings, corridors, and staircases, like a giant beast opening its maw, swallowed all the swordsmen in one gulp!
Though startled, everyone was prepared.
The Infinity Castle? Just what they wanted!
"If you're safe, prioritize finding the long-haired woman controlling the Infinity Castle's Blood Demon Art!" the Stone Hashira shouted to everyone before falling.
"Muzan! I'm going to wreck your doghouse!" Sanemi roared as he descended.
Kyojuro immediately looked beside him at Giyu, who was also falling: "Giyu! Let's fight together!"
Giyu nodded, constantly adjusting his posture in mid-air, trying to get as close to Rengoku as possible.
The Serpent Hashira and Love Hashira exchanged a glance. Both reached out, wanting to grab the other, but seeing the Mist Hashira's bewildered expression, they felt a bit embarrassed and withdrew their hands.
As for Taka, his gaze remained fixed on Muzan.
'Should I say, as expected of the Demon King? His regenerative ability was so strong that decapitation wouldn't kill him. Would we have to wait until daylight and let the sun kill him...?'
"The ground is gone! It's Muzan's Blood Demon Art!"
"Protect your swords! Everyone, Total Concentration Breathing!"
Not just the Hashira, but the hundreds of Demon Slayer Corps members lurking nearby, continuously gathering, also lost their footing and fell at the sound of the biwa.
Even the ordinary members, having learned of the Infinity Castle's existence through intelligence shared in recent days, did not show excessive panic. They called out to each other, issuing orders!
Though mentally prepared, everyone still fell uncontrollably and endlessly in the Infinity Castle's gravity-defying, complex space.
Due to Nakime's absolute control over the space, the Demon Slayer Corps' encirclement was broken apart during the fall.
Each person was deliberately guided to different battlefields. Cruel matchups were taking shape.
...
In a dark room within the castle, reeking with a foul stench and piled high with countless ornate ceramic jars.
Obanai lightly landed on a crossbeam. His heterochromatic eyes gleamed with the gloomy coldness of a venomous snake.
The white snake around his neck hissed uneasily, clearly disgusted by the smell here.
With a dull thud, Mitsuri also landed here.
She gripped her Nichirin Sword, supple and long like a whip, her eyes filled with unprecedented determination.
And before the two of them, Tanjiro had already landed first. The mark on his forehead flickered faintly.
"You two! The smell here is strong! It must be an Upper Moon demon!" He quickly ran to Mitsuri's side, warily looking around.
...
In another vast square, filled with oppressive weeping sounds, three figures stood in a triangular formation, surrounding a seemingly small, frightened old demon… Upper Rank Two, Hantengu… in the center.
"Please don't kill me.... This old man is so scared... People who bully the weak are all bad people...."
Hantengu cowered in the shadows, crying, but the evil aura emanating from him made the surrounding air heavy.
"Save your breath. I don't want to hear a single word from a piece of trash like you!"
Sanemi roared. The scars on his body flushed red with anger, forming dark red patterns like windmills.
"Calm down, Shinazugawa! That's not his main body!" Kyojuro's owl-like eyes stared fixedly at Hantengu's chest, making the old demon's heart flutter with fear.
Giyu remained silent and taciturn, but wave-like patterns were quietly surging on his cheeks. Those blue eyes were like a pool of still water, unruffled.
…
In the depths of the Infinity Castle, there was a corridor shrouded in mist.
There were no lanterns, no light. One could only make out the structure by the faint glow from further away.
A ferocious demon wearing an eye patch, holding a turtle shell shield, knelt in the middle of the corridor, grinning at the person before him—
"Little brat, looks like you're the first Hashira to come and die! I am—"
Before he could finish, the boy before him, the Mist Hashira, Muichiro, merely tilted his head slightly.
Those always bewildered, mint-green pupils, like empty voids, seemed to completely ignore the demon before him, directing his gaze deeper inside.
"Sorry, can we save some time? The Hashira are very busy."
...
Amidst this chaotic fall, one figure appeared especially unusual.
Agatsuma Zenitsu.
He was silent. Neither did he let out his usual ear-splitting scream, nor did he cry from fear.
That head of golden short hair whipped wildly in the wind. Those eyes, once always filled with cowardice, now emitted an extremely oppressive, fathomless killing intent.
Zenitsu's left hand tightly gripped the hilt of his sword. Muscles bulged in his arm from the exertion.
His gaze seemed able to pierce through the layered buildings of the Infinity Castle, locking directly onto a black-haired demon wearing a black kimono lined with a Demon Slayer Corps' uniform.
THUD!
He landed heavily, his eyes fixed on the pupils of the figure before him… Upper Rank Six.
...
Twang—!!
The biwa sound ceased. Taka's feet lightly touched down on plain wooden flooring.
This was an astonishingly large dojo, spacious and empty on all sides, with only a few massive wooden pillars supporting the high ceiling.
And in the very center of this dojo sat a solitary figure.
The person had their back to Taka, wearing a purple-checkered kimono, their black-red hair tied in a ponytail hanging down their back. Beside them lay a long sword of equally strange shape.
"You've come? The strongest swordsman of this generation, Storm."