Chapter 87: Muzan, Don't Run!
Enjoy~~~
At the heart of the blazing hellscape, where the smell of burnt blood mixed with scattered rock dust, the dance of death still continued.
Kamado Tanjiro could see nothing before him except the pulsing blood vessels, the seven hearts, and the five brains that formed the being known as "Kibutsuji Muzan."
He breathed sharply, the air entering his lungs like burning embers, fueling his cells with power beyond human limits.
"The dance… it must continue! The First Form, Dance… connects to the Second, Clear Blue Sky… then the Third, Raging Sun…!"
Tanjiro's crimson blade left trails of pure fire behind it, slicing through the fleshy whips lunging at him like venomous serpents. And with every cut, Muzan screamed—not only from the pain of sunlight-like flames, but from something deeper and far more terrifying.
"Damn you… damn all of you!!" Muzan roared, his voice stripped of its usual arrogance, turning into a desperate scream.
The Demon King's body was collapsing from within. The complex four-stage poison injected into him by Tamayo, bought with Hakuji's life, was mercilessly tearing apart his cellular structure.
"My cells… they're dying instead of regenerating! My hair is falling out, my flesh is rotting… I'm aging! One hundred years… a thousand… two thousand! That bitch Tamayo created a poison that ages me fifty years every single minute!"
Muzan tried to focus on killing Tanjiro, but the Hashira stood in his way.
"You won't pass, bastard!" Gyomei shouted as he hurled his massive spiked iron ball, crushing a huge section of Muzan's left torso.
"Flame Breathing, Fifth Form!" Rengoku charged like a beast of fire, tearing apart three whips that were about to pierce Tanjiro's back.
"Wind Breathing, Eighth Form!" Sanemi leapt into the air, his crimson blade spinning like a deadly fan, deflecting attacks from the sides.
Obanai and Tomioka intervened at crucial moments, taking unavoidable blows with their own bodies just to ensure Tanjiro's Dance of the Sun continued uninterrupted.
The Hashira bled heavily. Their clothes were shredded, their bones broken, but the glowing marks on their faces and their iron wills turned them into monsters that refused to die before completing their duty.
Thanks to this suicidal support, Tanjiro finally broke through the final defense.
"Sun Breathing — Thirteenth Form!"
With a terrifying circular slash, Tanjiro's crimson blade pierced Muzan's chest, cutting through two of his seven hearts in a single strike!
"AAAAAAAAAGH!!"
Muzan spat an enormous amount of black blood mixed with pieces of his internal organs. He staggered backward, his eyes widening in pure terror.
He saw that figure in Tanjiro… the figure of Tsugikuni Yoriichi, the monster who nearly killed him centuries ago.
"I am a perfect being! I am the King of Demons! I will not die here… I will not die to filthy insects like you!!"
Muzan realized that if this continued for only a few more seconds, he would die. The poison prevented him from splitting apart and escaping, the Hashira denied him any breathing room, and this boy's blade kept tearing through his hearts. And in the far distance… faint gray streaks had begun appearing on the horizon. Dawn was approaching!
Driven by absolute terror of death and pure survival instinct, Muzan abandoned every form of defense and tactical combat, burning all remaining life energy in a single massive area attack.
Muzan inhaled violently. His body swelled grotesquely, then—
BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
A catastrophic shockwave exploded from his body! It was not merely whips—it was an eruption of pure energy and black demonic lightning that tore apart the earth, reduced boulders to dust, and uprooted buildings from their foundations.
"Defend yourselves!!" Gyomei roared, but it was too late.
The explosion's force was monstrous, concentrated in a circular radius. The Hashira were struck like artillery shells. Rengoku's ribs shattered as he was blasted into a stone wall. Sanemi was impaled through the stomach and hurled away. Gyomei, Tomioka, and Obanai collapsed like broken dolls, either unconscious or unable to move amid pools of blood.
As for Tanjiro, who stood closest, he took the full force.
The muscles in his arms tore apart, and his crimson sword flew from his grip, embedding itself far away into the ground. Tanjiro was launched dozens of meters through the air, crashing and rolling across the rocky terrain before finally stopping. His body trembled weakly, his eyes barely open, blood covering his face completely. He could no longer move even a single finger.
Through the thick dust, Muzan slowly stood.
He looked horrifying and pitiful at the same time. His body was literally melting, flesh peeling away from bone, his hair completely white, breathing as though his lungs were filled with shattered glass.
But… he was still alive.
Muzan took one step, then another, panting as he walked toward the collapsed Tanjiro.
"Flesh… I need to devour this boy… I need his energy to endure this poison and escape the sunlight…" Muzan hissed in a raspy voice like a serpent.
---
Elsewhere… inside Ren's mental void.
The mental space was silent, cold, and endless.
Suddenly, the outline of a familiar room appeared. A modern bedroom, with a comfortable bed, a study desk, and a computer. This was his room from his previous life… his room as "Haruto."
Ren opened his eyes and found himself standing in the middle of it. He looked at his hands. There was no blood, no pain.
The calmness here sharply contrasted with the hell he had left outside.
He lifted his gaze and saw a young girl sitting on the edge of the desk, swinging her legs in boredom while staring at him with emotionless eyes.
It was Rina.
Ren looked at her silently for a long moment. He thought deeply about what had happened. Using the Gojo Satoru template at maximum output, unleashing Hollow Purple, the destructive burden of the Six Eyes on his human brain, and then… temporary clinical death.
After a long silence, Ren slowly nodded, as if arriving at an unavoidable conclusion.
"There's no other choice… Rina, do it yourself."
Rina looked at him and formed a mocking, disdainful smile.
"That was the easiest and simplest solution from the start," she said arrogantly. "Why all these stupid attempts to do it yourself while unconscious? Did you really think you could use Gear Templates instinctively… honestly."
She raised her hand and snapped her fingers.
---
In the real world…
While Tengen sat beside Ren's cold body and Eri cried silently, something happened that froze Tengen in place, his ninja instincts screaming of absolute death.
Instead of red blood leaking from Ren's body… an incredibly dense black aura mixed with faint dark blue light began seeping from his pores!
It was not magical energy, breathing, nor a Blood Demon Art. It was pure cursed energy—but heavier and more malevolent than anything anyone in this world had ever felt.
[Gear Templates: Ryomen Sukuna Template — Activated!]
Because Sukuna was a curse—the King of Curses himself—he could use Reverse Cursed Technique instinctively and perfectly, even inside a human body.
Resisting the overwhelming pressure and clinical death, and aided by Rina's perfect control of the template, Ren began healing his body at supernatural speed through Reverse Cursed Technique.
The coagulated blood evaporated. His torn lungs healed. Bones snapped back into place with horrifying cracking sounds. Most importantly… his burned brain regenerated completely within seconds!
Eventually, the black steam ceased.
Ren finally opened his eyes.
They were no longer blue like Gojo's, nor his usual warm eyes.
His eyes were now blood-red, dark and deep.
He saw Eri's tear-soaked face staring at him in shock and disbelief. He looked at her quietly—a calm gaze, but lacking the warmth of human emotion—before slowly rising.
Ren sat up, surveyed the destruction around him, then stood steadily on his feet.
"Eri… stay here with Tengen."
His voice was deeper and rougher than usual.
Tengen said nothing. Cold sweat poured from his forehead, his body refusing to move. As an experienced ninja, Tengen understood the difference in strength—but what he felt now was not simply power.
It felt as though he stood before the embodiment of death itself.
Ren was far stronger than him, and if he could rejoin the battle with that monstrous aura, then staying here to protect Eri was enough.
Tengen grabbed Eri's shoulder as she instinctively tried to chase after her older brother, who—for some reason—did not even look back at her.
Ren paused briefly, his back facing them.
"Eri…" he whispered, traces of his human consciousness remaining in his voice. "I'll come back."
Then he raised his hand and slowly brushed back his hair, now returned to deep black. His crimson eyes gleamed coldly as strange black markings spread across his face and hands.
On the other side of the battlefield, Muzan had finally reached the motionless Tanjiro.
He raised an arm transformed into a massive bone blade and smiled hideously.
"It's over, heir of the sun… die!"
But before the blade could fall—
Space trembled.
The atmospheric pressure changed so violently that Muzan felt as though a mountain had dropped onto his shoulders.
Ren appeared out of nowhere, standing beside the fallen and injured Tanjiro.
Muzan's eyes widened in genuine horror and disbelief as he involuntarily stepped back.
"You… how?! You died! I watched your body burn from the inside and your breathing stop! Impossible! What the hell are you?!" Muzan screamed, panic overtaking every remaining cell in his body.
Ren completely ignored Muzan's screams, as though they were nothing more than a barking dog in the background.
He calmly crouched down, pulled out a golden healing potion from the system storage, opened Tanjiro's bloodied mouth, and slowly poured it in.
Tanjiro coughed as his wounds rapidly healed, opening his eyes with difficulty to see the figure standing before him.
"Ren… senpai…" Tanjiro whispered weakly.
Ren stood again without looking at him.
He slowly turned his head, scanning the battlefield. He saw the fallen Hashira. He saw the blood covering the ground like a carpet. He saw the chaos created by the Demon King.
And then… his crimson eyes stopped at one point.
He saw Tamayo's torn corpse.
And he saw Hakuji—the young man who regained his humanity only to sacrifice it for them—lying peacefully on the ground with a smile on his face despite his mangled body.
Ren stopped.
The world fell silent.
He closed his eyes as a cold wind carrying the scent of death swept through the battlefield.
When he opened them again, every trace of humanity had vanished.
A horrifying, dense, pitch-black killing intent erupted from him. The few remaining demons nearby dropped to their knees vomiting blood, while Muzan froze in place, unable to even breathe.
Ren took one step forward.
"Muzan…" he said quietly, but his voice echoed across the battlefield like a death sentence. "Don't try to run…"
He slowly raised his right hand and pointed his palm toward the trembling Muzan, who desperately tried summoning his whips.
Ren raised his index and middle fingers in a simple motion, using the King of Curses' technique: Cleave and Dismantle.
There was no light.
No sound of impact.
Only… silence.
Muzan froze.
His eyes widened.
And in the next instant—
Blood exploded into the air!
Dozens of invisible slashes tore through space itself, shredding Muzan's body into hundreds of scattered pieces in the blink of an eye, reducing the Demon King who had terrorized the world for centuries into chunks of flesh raining from the sky beneath Ren's cold gaze.
"Your suffering will continue until sunrise… or until you somehow die before then."
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