"You disgusting bastard! What did you do to Kuwajima-san, Urokodaki-san, and our young lord?!" Having just fought off Kokushibo, Gyomei Himejima roared, the veins on his arms bulging with ferocious, grief-stricken fury as he gripped his flail and axe.
"Tsk. Such a pity," Shokyu replied with a cold smile, his white teeth gleaming.
"I gave them a chance to stand aside. Unfortunately for them, they were two very stubborn old men."
"Nezuko… Give her back!" Tanjiro's eyes were wide with rage as he struggled against Shinichi's restraining arm.
Shinichi's own face was ashen, his eyes flashing with a cold light.
He had genuinely considered Shokyu a potential ally, someone he could reason with.
Now, the cruel reality had shattered that illusion, leaving only the burning shame of being fooled.
Maito, Lee, Shokyu… none of them were trustworthy.
A demon was a demon in the end.
"Shokyu!" Shinichi looked up, his Nichirin blade gripped tightly.
"I'll say it one last time. Give Nezuko back."
Faced with the unified rage of the Demon Slayers, Shokyu's smile only widened, becoming even more cruel.
"I'm sorry, but no. I don't think I'll give such a... special girl... to my foolish brother, or to any of you." He seemed to revel in the feeling of manipulating both sides at once.
"Alright, it's time for me to do my part."
He chuckled, his gaze sweeping over the slayers as if they were lambs to the slaughter.
Before he even finished speaking, he casually flicked his free hand at several slayers trying to flank him.
Without any warning, the charging slayers froze mid-stride.
Their bodies, like clay figures crushed by an invisible hand, suddenly lost all balance.
They collapsed, bleeding from their eyes, ears, and noses, their lives extinguished in an instant.
"Damn you!" Iguro Obanai witnessed the casual, horrifying slaughter, and the grief in his chest ignited into pure rage.
His curved blade flashed as he lunged, with an equally furious Uzui Tengen right behind him.
But Shinichi was faster.
He could no longer hold back.
The full power of the Breath of Life erupted from him in a halo of vibrant, turquoise-white light.
He became a streak of pure energy, charging headlong at Shokyu.
"Breath of the Forest, Seventh Form: Wood Dragon's Slash!"
A spectral, roaring dragon of life energy coiled around his blade, its momentum unstoppable, filled with a singular, righteous intent to kill.
Faced with this furious, powerful attack, Shokyu did not dodge.
Instead, his eyes lit up with an almost morbid satisfaction.
Unhurriedly, he tossed the unconscious Nezuko to Kamaro, who caught her.
He then raised his own right hand toward the rushing Shinichi, his fingers slightly bent, as if grasping something in the empty air.
"Such purity," he whispered, "It was worth the centuries I've waited. Freeze."
A single, eerie syllable escaped his lips.
In that very instant.
"Urk!"
Shinichi let out a muffled groan, his charge coming to an abrupt, jarring halt.
He felt as if something deep inside his body had been detonated.
A cold, violent power, like a ferocious beast breaking its chains, surged and roared wildly through his veins.
The green-white aura of life around him flickered violently and then dissipated.
Beneath his skin, dark, bulging veins appeared, as if countless small snakes were writhing within him.
"Wha… what's happening?!" Shinichi collapsed to one knee, using his sword to prop himself up, his mind reeling as he felt the demon blood within him—his blood—run rampant and out of control.
"Shinichi!?"
His sudden, violent change shocked everyone.
Shinobu was the first to react, her purple figure flashing across the battlefield to his side.
Obanai and Tengen faltered, and in that single moment of hesitation, Shokyu's body dissolved into a cloud of blood-mist, reappearing on another part of the battlefield, their combined attack hitting nothing.
With his hands clasped behind his back, Shokyu looked at Shinichi's pained, contorted expression with a smile of immense pleasure and satisfaction.
"Surprised, Shinichi?" he said, his voice carrying clearly.
"Have you ever stopped to wonder who it was that pulled you back from the brink of death all those years ago? Who gave you this special body, one that can wield both a Breathing Technique and the power of a demon? Was it really my foolish, impulsive brother, who only acts on instinct?"
With every word, Shinichi's face grew paler, the demonic power within him surging even more violently.
"No." Shokyu shook his head gently. "You have me to thank for what you are. If I hadn't been following my brother, you would have been torn to pieces in that temple, just like those little beggars. It was I who silently infused my own, perfected demon blood into your dying body. It was I who shaped you, observed you, and waited… waited for you to be the one to truly comprehend the Breath of Life. The blood flowing within you has never been Muzan's. It is my masterpiece—the true fusion of life, and the power of the Underworld!"
The truth struck Shinichi with the force of a thunderbolt, leaving him utterly shattered.
'It wasn't Muzan?'
"And now," Shokyu stared greedily at the power warring within Shinichi, stretching out a hand.
"It is time to return that perfect power to its rightful owner."
Just as Shokyu was about to make his move—
"SHOKYU!!! YOU SCUM! YOU TRAITOR! I WILL TEAR YOU TO PIECES!!!"
Muzan, who had been ignored, mocked, and had his ultimate prize stolen from him, finally, completely, exploded.
His rage overwhelmed his fear.
Shokyu's casual act of tossing Nezuko to Kamaro had been the final insult.
BOOM!
A terrifying sonic boom echoed as Muzan's figure shot across the battlefield like a black meteor.
Countless whips and thorns, a raging black storm carrying all of his hatred and power, swept down upon Shokyu.
Faced with this all-out, furious assault, Shokyu merely turned his head.
His face held no panic, only the smug satisfaction of a grand master whose plan had just come to fruition.
"Finally couldn't hold back, my foolish brother? Good. Your blood… so full of pure evil and the stillness of death… is the other key I've been waiting for."
...
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