Countdown to the End
The night was as dark as thick, indissoluble ink. A deathly silence fell over the Demon Slayer Corps headquarters. But this silence wasn't tranquility, but rather the tense, perilous balance between hunter and prey, poised to explode at any moment.
Shiro lay in a specially reinforced room. Giyuu sat quietly beside her, like a loyal guardian blade, his Nichirin sword resting across his knees. His breathing blended with the night, but his deep blue eyes, sharp as an eagle in the darkness, captured any unusual movement.
Sudden--
Without any warning, a cold, sticky, and overwhelmingly malicious aura, like an invisible tsunami, instantly swept through the entire headquarters! The air seemed to freeze, the temperature plummeted, and people trembled to the bone.
Here we come!
Almost at the same time, faint sounds of explosions, shouts and clashing of weapons were heard outside the headquarters - it was the team members who stayed outside fighting with the evil spirits brought by Muzan!
But that terrifying aura didn't linger at the periphery. Like a venomous snake locked onto its target, it ignored all obstacles and distractions and advanced at a leisurely, yet incredibly fast pace, directly towards the core of the headquarters—where Bai was located!
"Bang!"
The heavy, custom-made wooden door shattered like paper! Amidst the thick smoke and darkness, a figure walked in at a leisurely pace.
Ghost Dance Tsuji Mukai.
He still looked eerily handsome, dressed in a sophisticated black suit, as if he were attending a banquet rather than a fight. But his plum-red eyes now burned with a fire powerful enough to consume everything, a mixture of millennia of greed and utter desire. His gaze pierced through the smoke and dust, locking onto Bai, who had half-sat up, completely ignoring Yiyong, who stood beside her, knife in hand, as if facing a formidable enemy.
"I finally found you, my dear 'daughter'." Muzan's voice was low and magnetic, but with a sickening intimacy and possessiveness, "and... the 'perfect' prototype I've been waiting for for a long time." His gaze fell on Bai's slightly bulging belly, and his gaze was so hot that it seemed as if it could penetrate the clothes and directly see the miracle gestating inside.
Yiyong took a step forward, completely blocking Bai behind him. The sun blade was already emitting a deep blue light, and the cold murderous intent spread like a substance.
However, Muzan only glanced at him indifferently, his eyes looking at an ant that was in the way. "Go away."
The powerful pressure pressed down like a mountain, trying to make Yiyong surrender.
But Yiyong's figure was as still as a reef, and his deep blue eyes were filled with the will to fight to the death.
At this moment, Bai gently tugged at the corner of Yiyong's clothes. She took a deep breath, forced herself to calm down, and took a half step away from behind Yiyong, her dark pupils meeting Muzan's terrifying gaze.
"Muzan..." Her voice trembled slightly, but was filled with determination. "The 'perfection' you seek never existed. It only brings endless pain and destruction."
A hint of sarcasm appeared on Muzan's lips. "Pain? Destruction? That's the wail of the weak. Only eternal life and perfection are the ultimate answers. And you, and the seed in your belly, are the last piece of the puzzle to my answer."
He seemed in no rush to strike, enjoying the sight of his prey struggling before his eyes and the thrill of nearing his goal. He needed confirmation, needed to feel the power that shared his origins yet transcended them.
And this is exactly what Bai and the entire Demon Slayer Corps need to carefully prepare a trap for him - time.
"Have you never thought about this?" Bai continued, trying to delay every second, "Why can't your blood consume me? Why does the sunlight reject you? Because the path you're taking is wrong from the very beginning!"
"A mistake?" Muzan chuckled as if he had heard the most ridiculous joke in the world. "Power is truth. Once I obtain you and merge this trait of not fearing the sun, I will be a god walking the earth! What's wrong with that?"
The moment he finished speaking, his plum-red pupils suddenly contracted! His perfect perception caught an extremely faint breath in the air, but it made his blood instinctively feel repulsive and uneasy!
That was... the smell of the Zhushite potion! It was colorless and odorless, but it had already filled the entire room, quietly invading his body with Wuzan's breath!
“What is this...?!” The calmness on Muzan’s face disappeared in an instant, replaced by a rage of being schemed against by an ant!
But it's too late!
The drug instantly exploded within him! It wasn't a direct killing blow, but like the most delicate key, it disrupted his absolute control over his billions of cells! The blood vessels beneath his skin felt like countless tiny worms wriggling and struggling. Fine lines, like cracks in porcelain, began to appear on his once flawless face. Wisps of white smoke seeped from his body, as if burning with invisible flames!
“Aaaaaa——!! You… damn bugs!” Muzan roared in pain and fury, and the huge ghost energy raged like an out-of-control storm, and the whole room was shaking!
"Now! Bai!" Yiyong shouted in a low voice.
Bai was already prepared! At the moment when Muzan's breath was disordered and his attention was attracted by the changes in his body, her silver hair moved without wind, and her hands moved rapidly in front of her body -
"Blood Demon Art·Infernal Affairs·Moon Migration!"
The space twisted, and her and Giyuu's figures instantly disappeared from their original places, appearing at the preset safe coordinates on the other side of the room, keeping the farthest distance from Muzan!
Almost at the same moment they disappeared——
"boom!!!"
The walls and ceiling of the room shattered with a bang! Eight figures, already lying in ambush outside, like eight falling meteors, with a resolute will and the strongest breathing method, attacked the Ghost King in the center from all directions at the same time, who was temporarily restrained by the potion!
"Breathing of Flame, Nine Forms, Purgatory!"
"Water Breathing·Eleventh Form·Nagi·Kai!"
"Breath of Insects·Dance of Butterflies·Tease!"
"Breath of Love·Land Style·Cat Foot Love Wind!"
"Kasumi's Breathing·Seventh Form·Oboro!"
"Snake Breath, Second Form, Narrow Head and Venomous Fangs!"
"Breathing of the Wind·Seventh Form·Strong Wind·Tengu Wind!"
"Rock Breathing·Five Type·Wawa Keibu!"
All nine pillars came out at once! The brilliant and deadly light of the breathing technique instantly submerged the roaring Muzan completely!
The final battle officially begins at this moment!
The combined attack of the nine pillars, like a dragnet, completely engulfed Muzan's position with the might of a mountain-shattering, earth-shattering force. Blazing flames, water currents, poisonous mist, radiant light, wind blades, rock strikes... Breathing techniques of various attributes intertwined and exploded violently, shaking the entire underground space violently and sending rubble raining down.
However, in the center of this destructive light, an even more terrifying and violent ghost energy suddenly erupted like a volcano!
"A mere ant——!!!"
Muzan's roar pierced the roar of the explosion. His slender body suddenly swelled and twisted, his skin ripping apart, revealing monstrous muscles and a massive mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth beneath! Countless whip-like tentacles covered in hard bone armor extended from his arms and back—this was his true combat form!
Tamayo's medicine did work. The burn marks on his body were still spreading and the regeneration speed was obviously slowed down, but the vast ghost power accumulated over thousands of years still gave him overwhelming power!
“Bang bang bang bang—!”
The tentacles, covered in bone armor, danced like wild dragons, lashing out and blocking at speeds barely tangible to the naked eye! The flames of Purgatory were dispersed by the tentacles, and the water currents of Yiyong were forcibly torn apart. Shiya's wind blades slashed against the bone armor, sending out piercing sparks but failing to penetrate deeply...
The first joint attack was unexpectedly withstood by Muzan in such a tyrannical and overbearing manner! Some of his tentacles even bit back at the pillars like venomous snakes!
"Be careful!" Mitsuri Kanroji screamed, and the flexible Nichirin Sword wrapped around a tentacle that was attacking Mushiko Uzui like a soft whip, but was staggered by the huge force of the tentacle.
"Don't fight head-on! Fight freely! Consume him!" Tomioka Giyu's calm voice rang out in the chaotic battlefield. He stretched out his "Nagi" field as hard as he could, trying to deflect and weaken the attack trajectory of those tentacles and create opportunities for his companions.
The battle instantly entered its most brutal and chaotic phase. Like hummingbirds circling the behemoth, the nine pillars, with extreme maneuverability and tacit coordination, launched attacks from every angle, attempting to find Muzan's weaknesses. Muzan, relying on his sheer strength and vast tentacles, unleashed a frenzied, indiscriminate assault, causing the entire underground space to crumble under his devastating force.
Bai was in a safe corner, protected by several "hidden" team members. Her heart was beating wildly with nervousness, her hands clasped tightly in front of her chest, her eyes fixed on the battlefield, especially the dark blue figure.
She could clearly see that, while Muzan's regeneration speed had slowed, it was still astonishing. Ordinary wounds healed in a matter of breaths. Meanwhile, the Pillars' stamina was rapidly depleting in the high-speed battle, creating a dangerous situation.
"No... This can't go on..." Cold sweat broke out on Bai's forehead. She knew she had to do something to break this deadlock and create a decisive opportunity for the Pillars.
At this moment, Muzan seemed to be completely enraged by the entanglement of the pillars. He suddenly opened his chest and opened a huge mouth, and terrifying energy gathered in it - it was an impact that was enough to destroy the entire space!
"Scatter!" Rengoku Kyojuro yelled.
But the energy gathers too quickly and covers too wide a range!
At this critical moment, Bai moved! A flicker of determination flashed across her silver eyes, and her hands swiped rapidly in front of her, not to move, but to concentrate and compress all her spatial perception—
"Blood Demon Art·Infernal Affairs·Mirror Realm Slash!"
She did not attack Muzan's body, but swung her knife towards the space in front of the huge mouth on Muzan's chest!
A space crack so tiny that it was almost invisible suddenly appeared, spanning the path of the energy jet!
"boom--!!!"
A destructive torrent of energy gushed out, but the moment it hit the spatial rift, it strangely deflected and refracted! Most of the energy was directed sideways and upward, blasting a massive hole in the already crumbling ceiling, revealing the pitch-black night sky outside! Only a small amount of energy escaped, barely avoided by the prepared pillars.
This sudden interference interrupted Muzan's energy jet, and he himself became paralyzed for an extremely short period of time!
"Chance!"
All the Pillars' eyes lit up! No words were needed; years of battle instincts allowed them to seize this fleeting flaw!
The water light on Tomioka Giyu's Nichirin Sword surged, and together with the rosy glow of Tokito Muichiro and the strong wind of Fushigiwa Miya, from three different angles, they were like three deadly fangs, biting fiercely at Muzan's chest and neck, which were wide open due to the backlash of energy!
Rengoku Kyojuro and Beimingjima Gyomei launched the strongest attack from the front to restrain Muzan's tentacle defense!
Shiro's face paled from the sudden, immense exertion. She leaned against the wall, panting slightly, but seeing the Pillars seize their opportunity, a glint of relief crossed her eyes. She knew her fighting style had changed. She was no longer a swordsman on the front lines, but a key figure controlling the rhythm of the battlefield. To protect her unborn child and all her companions fighting alongside her, she must exercise greater composure and wield this power with ever greater precision.
The decisive battle has entered an even more intense stage! Every attack and defense is on the edge of life and death.
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