The impact sent a shockwave across the courtyard.
Thor's hammer clashed with the Minister's obsidian axe—a sound like mountains splitting cracked the air. Lightning exploded behind Thor, a surge of raw energy screaming into the night.
Kratos lunged next, Leviathan Axe whirling in brutal arcs, but the Minister shifted unnaturally—his body dissolving into smoke for a brief second before reappearing behind him. One tendril lashed out, slamming Kratos into a crater.
Slayer didn't wait. A flash of argent metal—the Shield Saw shrieked through the air, carving into the Minister's armored flank. Sparks flew. A green glow pulsed from within the wound—
—and it healed. Instantly.
The Minister grinned, not out of arrogance but as if savoring something inevitable. "You're wasting your strength."
He raised his hand.
From the black cracks beneath the battlefield, more Marauders erupted. Dozens.
Their armor was fused tighter to their bodies now—bladed, mechanical, reeking of Hell-forged steel. Their eyes glowed that same sickly green.
Side Field – Hashiras & Upper Moons
Shinobu's eyes narrowed as she sliced into one of the newly spawned Marauders.
"Something's wrong. These ones are… stronger. Reinforced."
Sanemi grunted, dodging a hammer swipe and cleaving through two demons with a twisting spin. "They're stalling. No, worse—they're protecting something."
Akaza appeared beside him in a flash, his fist detonating another Marauder's skull into paste. "That Minister. He's drawing power… from below."
Mitsuri leapt across the battlefield, her whip-like sword slicing a demon's legs midair. "Then we cut it off!"
Kokushibo nodded once, calmly observing the way the green pulses beneath the ground matched the Minister's regeneration. "It's a channel. A direct source of energy feeding him from below the battlefield."
Obanai gritted his teeth, blood dripping from a fresh wound. "We cut off the well, we cut off the monster."
Underground Entry – Civilian Protection Zone
Rengoku threw open the last sealed door to the bunker, his blade blazing as he defended the final wave of escaping civilians. Behind him, Gyomei stood like a stone giant, smashing down Marauders who tried to follow.
"The demons are shifting focus," Gyomei muttered, eyes closed, senses wide open. "They're buying time for that thing above."
Rengoku's flames flared brighter. "Then we hold the line."
Back Above –
Thor swung Mjölnir in a full arc and brought it down—only for the Minister to catch it. With one hand.
"That power you cling to," the Minister said, eye twitching, "is nothing in the face of Hell's root."
Kratos roared, leapt over Thor, and plunged the Leviathan Axe into the Minister's back—ice exploded across the demon's form.
He simply turned.
And hurled Kratos like a missile through two pillars.
The Slayer launched next—sawed through the demon's wrist, then vaulted onto his shoulders, stabbing the Combat Shotgun point-blank into the Minister's skull.
BOOM.
Smoke and blood.
But when the haze cleared—
The Minister was still standing. Breathing slower now. Almost… relaxed.
The wound was healing. Again.
"I cannot fall," he whispered, green veins glowing brighter beneath his skin, "not while the source sings below me."
Far Side of the Battlefield –
Muzan ripped through another swarm with elegant savagery, tendrils now blackened from overuse. He turned, watching the fight in the distance.
"They're wasting time. The beast is being fed."
He glanced to Kokushibo, who nodded.
"Cut the artery."
The Upper Ranks and Hashiras moved fast, now weaving through the battlefield not toward the Minister—but under him. Toward the pulsing cracks, the origin of the energy surging into the demon.
More Marauders poured out, this time armored to the teeth, their weapons fused directly to bone.
Shinobu tossed a poison capsule mid-sprint, burning through one demon's mask as Muichiro spun his blade with surgical precision.
"Almost there," Mitsuri shouted. "I can see the glow—!"
But then—
A massive shockwave.
The ground beneath them split open.
A tunnel.
No—a vein.
A fleshy, pulsating structure buried beneath HQ, connecting to something far below.
And guarding it—
A fresh wave of creatures unlike any they'd seen. Heavier. Cursed.
The Hashiras knew what they had to do.
Sanemi wiped blood from his face, cracked his neck, and smiled grimly.
"Guess we cut the damn heart out."