Chapter 85: The Final Battle...
Enjoy~~~
"Imaginary Technique… Hollow Purple!"
The calm, cold voice of Yukihara Ren echoed across the battlefield. And in the very next instant… everything was erased.
There was no deafening explosion. Instead, there was the sound of tearing… as if the fabric of reality itself had been ripped apart.
Gojo Satoru's ultimate technique had been unleashed within the world of Demon Slayer, sweeping across an enormous stretch of land, swallowing buildings, rocks, and the bodies of a thousand demons in a single flash of violet nothingness. Nothing remained of the massive army except silent emptiness and a gigantic trench stretching to the horizon, its edges smooth as though carved by a divine blade.
Barely, by the narrowest margin, Kibutsuji Muzan and several elite demons—around one hundred—had remained outside the center of the blast, avoiding complete annihilation, though the shockwave still hurled them away like rag dolls.
Amid the dense clouds of dust drifting down like snow, Muzan stood at the edge of the horrifying trench. Looking at the abyss created by a mere movement of Ren's finger, the slit pupil of his eye trembled.
At that moment, he understood with every fragment of his existence…
Tsugikuni Yoriichi was no longer the most terrifying enemy he had ever faced.
This power… this manipulation of space itself… even the strongest demons, even Muzan himself, possessed nothing remotely close to this level of destruction! How could a human, nothing more than a sack of flesh and blood, perform such a catastrophic supernatural attack?!
For the first time in centuries, Muzan seriously thought:
"Perhaps I should run. Yes… I should retreat."
After all, if Ren could unleash another attack like that—or even half as powerful—Muzan might die tonight without the need for sunlight.
But…
To think that he would flee again! To abandon the plan he had carefully woven to destroy the strongest generation of Demon Slayers, erase the Corps, and dominate all of Japan… to run away from a mere human child!
His pride as the Demon King screamed in refusal.
To hell with pride… survival mattered more.
And just as Muzan slowly took a cautious step backward to retreat…
He noticed something shocking.
The dust completely faded, and everyone could finally see clearly.
The so-called strongest Hashira? The one who had just released that technique?
…He was collapsing like a corpse.
"Wait… this…"
Muzan's eyes widened in shock, and then the shock transformed into ecstatic delight.
Yukihara Ren was barely standing. That monstrous aura was gone. Blood poured from every pore in his body like tiny fountains.
From his nose. From his ears. From his mouth. Even from beneath his fingernails.
The pupils of his blue eyes—the Six Eyes—had completely vanished, rolled backward, leaving only bloodshot whites covered in ruptured veins.
His entire body trembled violently, and his chest rose and fell in horrifying spasms as he choked on the blood flooding his lungs.
The strain of Hollow Purple had exceeded what a human body could endure, even with Reverse Cursed Technique. His brain had burned, and his internal organs had been destroyed from the pressure.
Cursed techniques did not exist within the laws of this world. Violating those laws naturally carried consequences… especially when using a technique of this magnitude.
Ren had miscalculated…
He could never have imagined the instant damage caused by unleashing such an absolute technique.
"So this is the price of using that technique…?"
Muzan fell silent for a moment, then burst into hysterical laughter that thundered across the night sky.
"HAHAHAHAHA! Magnificent! Truly magnificent! Did you just perform a suicidal attack, you foolish human?!"
Ren had completely lost consciousness. He remained standing only because his muscles had locked in place, while his body hovered at the edge of true death.
The moment she noticed her big brother's condition and violent trembling, Eri quickly freed herself from the arm securing her to Ren's back and fell onto the dirt ground.
Looking at her brother drowning in blood, his face pale like a corpse, her eyes widened in absolute terror, and she screamed with heart-rending panic:
"Onii-chan?!"
"Ren-sama!!"
Sakurai shouted in horror so intensely that he accidentally let go of the unconscious Zenichiro. Zenichiro slammed hard onto the rocky ground, coughing up blood violently.
"Ren-shounen!"
Rengoku shouted.
"Ren-san!"
Kanao and Mitsuri cried out together.
"Ren-senpai…"
Tanjiro whispered in shock.
Almost everyone instinctively gathered around Ren in a defensive formation.
And before them stood Muzan, his smile widening further and further, nearly tearing apart his face as he realized Ren's terrifying regeneration had not activated this time, unlike during his previous battles with the Upper Moons.
Ren was not healing.
Muzan slowly surveyed the battlefield.
He could see the strongest surviving demons gathering behind him.
Under the crimson-tinted full moon, stained red by the thick mist of evaporated blood from the destroyed army, more than one hundred elite demons assembled together. Every one of them wielded advanced Blood Demon Arts and far surpassed ordinary demons.
"You lost your strongest fighter… the pillar protecting you all… merely to destroy part of my army."
Muzan spread his arms, now transformed into long, thorn-covered flesh whips, and spoke with a voice dripping with death:
"So then… shall we begin the second round, insects?"
The instant Muzan finished speaking, the hundred elite demons charged simultaneously like a blood-red tsunami, unleashing hundreds of demonic techniques toward the Hashira and fighters.
…
"To hell with this nonsense!"
Uzui Tengen roared. In one swift movement, he threw one of the healing potion bottles Ren had given them toward Sakurai.
"Sakurai! Pour that into Zenichiro's mouth immediately!"
Then Tengen—the former Hashira and ninja skilled in poisons and injuries—rushed forward and dropped to his knees beside Ren.
He gently supported Ren and laid him on the ground beside his trembling little sister, who clung tightly to his torn shirt.
Tengen pulled out another healing potion, but when he tried opening Ren's mouth, he found his jaw stiff as stone.
"Damn it, he's choking on his own blood! Eri-chan, hold his head steady!"
Tengen placed his strong hand against Ren's jaw and forced it open with careful ninja precision to avoid breaking the bones. The moment his mouth opened, blood poured out.
Quickly turning Ren onto his side, Tengen struck him with controlled force between the shoulder blades, forcing his lungs to expel the coagulated blood.
Ren coughed horribly despite being unconscious, spitting out thick clumps of blood.
"Now!"
Tengen laid him back down and immediately poured the glowing golden potion into Ren's mouth, rubbing his throat to force him to swallow.
The potion flowed through his body.
Everyone waited for a miracle…
They waited for his wounds to close, for the bleeding to stop, for those confident eyes to open once more.
But…
"…"
Tengen fell silent.
One second passed.
Two.
Five.
Nothing happened.
Ren's body had stopped trembling, yes.
But…
His breathing had stopped as well.
The whites of his eyes remained exposed, while tears mixed with blood dried upon his cheeks.
The potion—which could heal shattered bones within seconds—did absolutely nothing against a body burned from the inside by a power that did not belong to this world.
Tengen slowly lowered his head.
His broad back, once the symbol of pride and strength, bent with a weakness and brokenness no one had ever seen before.
Silently, he placed his hand on Ren's chest…
And said nothing.
Seeing Tengen's reaction…
Eri froze.
She did not scream.
She did not cry loudly.
She simply stared in horrifying silence at her brother's motionless face.
Then hot tears began falling one after another, silently dripping onto Ren's blood-covered face.
One drop…
Two…
Without end.
Meanwhile, on the other side, the brutal battle had already erupted.
The Hashira and every fighter advanced like the final defensive wall, fighting ferociously to stop the hundred demons from reaching the wounded.
"Stone Breathing — Third Form!"
Gyomei swung his massive weapon, crushing the heads of three demons attempting to break through.
"Wind Breathing — Sixth Form!"
Sanemi surged like a storm, tearing apart the bodies of demons releasing poisonous attacks.
The battlefield descended into chaos.
Violence.
Blood.
Severed limbs flew everywhere.
"Tengen! What's Ren's condition?!"
Rengoku Kyojuro shouted while decapitating a demon firing volleys of bone bullets from its body.
When Rengoku turned for an answer amidst the destruction…
He saw a sight that froze him for a brief moment.
He saw Tengen's broad back bent over Ren's fallen body in silent despair.
And Eri crying soundlessly over him.
The moment he saw that scene…
Rengoku understood everything.
The miracle boy…
The boy who carried all of them across hell on his back…
Had fallen.
Rengoku bit down so hard his teeth nearly cracked. Blood dripped from his lips.
And in that moment of absolute despair…
The mark upon his forehead ignited like the blazing midday sun, burning brighter than ever before.
Rengoku inhaled deeply and roared with a voice that shook the battlefield itself—a voice carrying volcanic heat and the sincerity of the soul:
"STOP LOOKING BACK!! YUKIHARA REN CAN NO LONGER FIGHT!!"
His words echoed across the battlefield, making even the Hashira's hearts tremble.
Then he continued his roar:
"Therefore… the responsibility of killing Muzan, and the responsibility of protecting this world, now falls to us!! Set your souls ablaze! Burn your lives to ashes! Destroy every demon standing in your way! Kibutsuji Muzan must die before sunrise… EVEN IF IT MEANS DYING TEN THOUSAND TIMES OVER!!"
The moment they heard Rengoku's blazing cry…
The atmosphere completely changed.
There was no fear anymore.
No waiting for a savior.
The warriors' spirits ignited with inextinguishable fire.
The marks upon the Hashira's faces glowed so intensely that the demons recoiled in fear.
"AAAAAAAHHHH!!"
Tanjiro, Inosuke, and Sanemi roared simultaneously.
And thus began the true final battle…
The summit of all battles…
Between the strongest Demon Slayers in history—
Against the King of Demons himself.
Gyomei, Sanemi, Tanjiro, Obanai, and Rengoku broke through the lesser demons and shot forward like five meteors, surrounding Muzan from every direction at speeds exceeding sound itself.
"Annoying insects!"
Muzan swung his flesh whips, each lined with diamond-sharp blades, creating a devastating dome of attacks.
But this time, the Hashira were not defending.
Their assaults were completely suicidal.
Obanai slipped through the whips like a serpent:
"Serpent Breathing — Fifth Form!"
Gyomei deflected two attacks with his chain and roared:
"HAAAAAA!"
Rengoku seized the opening and burst forward like a blazing comet:
"Flame Breathing — Second Form!"
SLASH!
Rengoku's strike cleanly severed Muzan's right arm, narrowly avoiding the counterattack that nearly sliced his waist apart.
As Rengoku retreated, Muzan noticed something deeply disturbing.
The severed arm was burning intensely at the wound.
Its regeneration was extremely slow, and agonizing pain spread through his cells.
Muzan focused on Rengoku's blade.
The sword glowed crimson—not merely with flames, but with the same scarlet-red color as Yoriichi's blade… and Ren's.
"That blade… it's exactly like Yoriichi's! And that boy Ren's as well!"
Muzan thought in shock.
Looking around at the others, his eyes narrowed.
Sanemi and Tomioka—who had joined the assault—were clashing their blades together, turning them crimson.
Obanai gripped his sword with monstrous force until it changed color.
Tanjiro used Hinokami Kagura to ignite his blade scarlet.
At this moment of despair…
All of them had begun awakening the Crimson Red Nichirin Blades, the weapons capable of suppressing demon regeneration and destroying their cells.
Despite his surprise, Muzan regained his composure and sneered while painfully regenerating his arm.
A terrifying aura exploded from his body, cracking the ground beneath him.
"Truly impressive… generation after generation of weakness, and at last you've managed to reach a fragment of that monster Yoriichi's power. However…"
Muzan's eyes darkened completely.
"Unfortunately for you… I stand here now… at my absolute full power!"
Dozens of new whips erupted from Muzan's back and thighs, moving at lightning speed and transforming the battlefield into a giant meat grinder.
Hearing this declaration and witnessing Muzan's unbelievable speed, Tamayo—standing in the rear and desperately searching for an opening—grimaced heavily.
In her trembling hand was the secret weapon:
A massive syringe containing the complex four-part poison created by her and Shinobu.
A poison to turn demons human.
A poison of aging.
A poison preventing cellular division.
And a poison that destroyed cells outright.
"Damn it… his speed and attack range are far too overwhelming! The Hashira can't pin him down, and I can't even get close without being shredded into pieces!"
Tamayo thought desperately, biting her lip until it bled.
"If I can't inject Muzan with this poison immediately and weaken him… then with this terrifying level of power…"
"…this battle will become a catastrophe. A massacre for everyone."
---
Note: After the system update, Ren became restricted by the will of this timeline's world itself. He can no longer freely use cursed energy without destroying both his body and soul.
However, Ren had been using Reverse Cursed Technique to bypass this issue and utilize cursed energy regardless.
But because Hollow Purple caused instantaneously catastrophic damage, Ren's cells were completely destroyed before Reverse Cursed Technique could react fast enough to save him.
And since the healing potion only accelerates cellular regeneration, a body whose cells are entirely destroyed cannot heal.
…
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