"Cough... ah...."
Muichiro knelt among the rubble. His face, once covered in purple-black blood vessels, finally began to calm after injecting the serum.
He coughed up a mouthful of muddy bloody phlegm. Fresh air once again surged into his lungs.
The other Hashira, with injuries of varying severity, also quickly injected the anti-venom serum, curbing the spread of Muzan's virus.
Except, of course, for the Fist Hashira.
If he injected this medicine, it would probably be pure poison.
"Shinobu, thanks to your medicine." Mitsuri pressed against her almost-fractured ribs and looked with concern at the pale-faced Shinobu.
As the one providing the medicine, her own condition was now at its worst.
Already weak from the Blood Demon Art, she had burned her last vitality during this time, trying to find a way to oppose Muzan, researching day and night with the demon Tamayo.
Though the final result could only achieve this level, it had already exceeded her expectations.
Taka stood at the front of the group. His perception, different from ordinary people, had long since locked onto Shinobu.
In his vision, the life force within Shinobu's body was showing a desperate decline....
The fluctuation of her Reiatsu was too faint to perceive. Her Reishi was draining rapidly.
She had not healed from Doma's Blood Demon Art. Her injuries were still worsening.
Moreover, because she had long-term used herself as a vessel for wisteria poison, combined with the chain reaction of the Blood Demon Art, side effects never before seen in clinical records had begun to appear within her.
At this moment, her life was like a candle flame ravaged by a gale, flickering uncertainly.
"Damn Tamayo, just a Demon Slayer playing petty tricks!"
Muzan stood atop the ruins. The moonlight outlined his twisted figure. His expression was gloomy and terrifying.
These Demon Slayers, who should have turned to pus, had actually risen again. This loss of control over victory irritated him.
Especially that black-haired swordsman, who could still unleash sword aura that threatened him....
"Since poison won't kill you, I'll just tear off your heads!"
Muzan injected a massive amount of demon blood into the thorn whips on his back. They instantly transformed into a flower of evil composed of bone and blades. His killing intent locked onto all the Hashira.
"Prepare to fight!" Gyomei swung his flail. The heavy sound of chains clattered across the empty ruins.
The Hashira also instantly suppressed the intense pain and weakness from their injuries, gripped their Nichirin Swords tightly, and the flames of desperate battle burned in their eyes.
The Demon Slayer Marks began to spread. The Nichirin Swords began to heat up.
Just as the Hashira were preparing to risk their lives and launch the next wave of assault, Taka stepped in front of them all.
He stood with his back to his companions. His figure was as tall and straight as a solitary peak.
The Tonan in his hand emitted a suppressed tremor. The scorching blade had turned black-red, as if thirsting for some kind of ultimate release.
"Taka? What are you doing!" Sanemi shouted urgently.
Taka did not look back. His gaze always fixed on Muzan: "Everyone, fall back. Recover your strength."
"The serum has suppressed the erosion, but your bodies are nearing their limit. Charging in now would only waste the life Shinobu fought to gain for you."
"You want to fight him alone?" Obanai spoke incredulously. "Even for you, that's too arrogant."
Taka did not argue. He simply slowly raised his head.
His aura underwent an earth-shaking change at this moment.
If the previous Taka was a sharp long sword, though threatening, ultimately just ordinary steel,
then now, he was a bolt of lightning tearing through the night sky, hard to look at directly.
"I just don't want to see anyone else fall."
Taka's peripheral vision swept across Shinobu's face, as pale as paper. The anger within him surged like a tidal wave.
This anger caused the Reiatsu inside him to continuously surge, ready to burst forth from his body.
After tonight's battle, Tonan had drunk deeply of the blood of the Upper Moon One and Muzan. The power within grew increasingly restless, long since hard to suppress.
"Alone?"
Muzan let out a piercing cold laugh. His pupils contracted into a thin slit: "Your name is Taka, is it? Kid, don't think that killing Kokushibo gives you the qualification to stand on equal footing with me."
"That warrior was merely a mortal thirsting for my blood. I, on the other hand, am the only god in this world!"
Though he said this, Muzan wasn't truly that confident.
He had already sensed the intense sense of oppression from Taka. Though his mouth was arrogant, his instinct was warning him—
Better to run.
"A god, huh...."
Taka murmured. The ground beneath his feet began to crack inch by inch… physical collapse caused by the unbearable weight of Reiatsu.
Boom—!!
Taka's figure instantly vanished from the spot. The speed of his eruption kicked up a violent wind!
Muzan was startled. Eight thorn whips interwove before him into an impenetrable defensive net.
"Do gods bleed?" But Taka's voice had already sounded beside him like a phantom.
'What?!'
'I didn't even see his movement?!'
Before Muzan could react, Tonan's blade had viciously slashed into his body!
Black-red Reiatsu Slashes gushed forth along the blade. Dancing ferociously, they madly tore at Muzan's enhanced flesh.
Thud Thud Thud—!
A series of dense shattering sounds rang out.
Flesh was torn, bones were severed, fascia was ripped apart.
Though Muzan's body was covered in a tough defensive layer condensed from demon blood, it was no different from ordinary flesh before the burning Tonan.
And just like when he'd seen the injuries on Rokuro and Hakuji before,
Muzan discovered that even his instantly-healing flesh, upon contact with these slashes, began to lose its regenerative power. It even trended towards spreading further inward!
"Such a vicious power!"
This wasn't the first time he had seen the remnants of this power, but facing it directly now, it was still hard to imagine.
Muzan roared. His arms mutated into massive bone blades. Combining with the power of his thorn whips, he violently clashed with Taka.
The two fought all the way from the top of the Infinity Castle ruins down to the lower levels.
Wherever they passed, broken walls and debris were utterly shattered!
The shockwaves of their collisions blasted open the small hill. Violent sword aura and whip shadows tore through the forest. The already ruined remains of the Infinity Castle, ravaged by their inhuman power, grew increasingly shattered!
The Hashira watched this scene from behind, shaken.
A human, using pure strength, was openly wrestling with Muzan, and not losing ground!
Shinobu forced herself to sit on the edge of the ruins. Her eyes were filled with worry.
'You absolutely must not come to harm... Taka....'
Muzan's attacks were as fast as thunder. Each whip strike could shatter rock. Each blade strike could cut through steel.
But Taka was like a solitary boat in the storm. No matter how huge the waves, he always stood firm.
He did get injured, some wounds even seemed extremely lethal. But with every swing of Tonan, it took a massive amount of Muzan's flesh and blood.
Before that flesh and blood could even hit the ground, it was completely shredded by the violent Reiatsu, transformed into pure Reishi, repairing his body.
'He's getting stronger... with every exchange, his aura is growing!'
The unease in Muzan's heart had finally turned into fear.
He thought of that man who had plunged him into a nightmare centuries ago, Tsugikuni Yoriichi.
Though Taka's techniques did not possess that kind of blazing sun-like warmth, the killing intent that wanted to drag his entire soul into the abyss made him feel colder than Sun Breathing.
"Bastard... Bastard!!" Muzan cursed madly. He was hesitating.
He was hesitating whether to split right now.
"You want to run away?" Taka's voice sounded again.
Muzan abruptly opened his eyes wide. He found that Taka, with extremely fast reactions, had found an opportunity amidst the dancing thorn whips to get close to him!
Now, they were face to face, eye to eye.
Taka tightly gripped Muzan's mutated arm. His long sword had heavily struck Muzan's cervical spine.
"A coward like you, even after living a thousand years, doesn't understand the meaning of life."
"It's over, Muzan!"
Taka coldly looked at Muzan. Blood continuously flowed from his own wounds, torn by thorn whips and bone blades.
"You! Aren't you afraid of death!"
Muzan was greatly startled. He tried to activate his cells within Taka's body, to poison him immediately.
But eerily, at the pierced wounds, pale blue patterns spread, interweaving into a net.
As if tightly confining these viruses to the wound, unable to advance a single inch further.
Seeing the burning Tonan slice inch by inch into his flesh, Muzan's regenerative power failed!
'This won't do. I might actually get beheaded like this!'
"Die? I won't die... or rather, I died long ago."
Taka said calmly. His words made Muzan, the Demon King who had lived a thousand years, shudder.
'Had I encountered a real demon?'