Muzan's killing intent, sharp and cold as an icicle, was meant to pierce Kagaya Ubuyashiki and tear his frail body apart.
But the expected immediate destruction never came.
The monstrous pressure halted just inches from its target.
The ferocity on Muzan's face slowly receded, replaced by a deeper, more playful cruelty.
"Haha, you pathetic man. What gives you the right to be so calm?" Muzan let out a low, sarcastic chuckle and shook his head, as if he had just witnessed something utterly absurd.
"Kagaya Ubuyashiki, even now, you're still trying to provoke me with empty words? Trying to defend your pitiful, worthless dignity? Are you not afraid that I will tear you limb from limb?"
As he spoke, Muzan took another step forward, the sound of his boots on the floorboards sharp and clear in the tense silence.
"The Ubuyashiki family has borne this burden for a thousand years," Kagaya replied, his voice still impossibly calm.
"Every one of us has long been prepared for death."
"Burden? You mean your curse?" Muzan's tone was filled with pure, undiluted contempt.
"That so-called curse your clan has whined about for generations? How ridiculous!" His voice suddenly rose, sharp and scolding.
"You fool! There is no such thing as an illusory curse! It is nothing more than an inferior genetic disease! A flaw inherent in your pathetic bloodline! A fatal error in your genetic code! It just so happened to manifest in the same era as my own perfect evolution, and you ignorant ants blamed it on me? How utterly foolish!"
Muzan's scarlet eyes looked down on him, his gaze that of a scholar explaining a simple truth to a child.
"Look at yourself, Kagaya. Blind, your organs failing, your body decaying at an accelerated rate… is this the power of a curse? No. This is biological elimination. It is the inevitable outcome of your inferior genes! You have twisted your impotent rage over your own flawed existence into a millennium-long hunt for a superior being. That, in itself, is the greatest joke of all!"
Muzan's words were a vicious, clinical assault, an attempt to use the cold logic of science to render the Ubuyashiki clan's thousand-year sacrifice meaningless.
Kagaya listened quietly, his expression unchanged, though the pity in his aura seemed to deepen.
"Whether you call it a curse or a genetic disease," he said slowly, his voice steady.
"Muzan, it began with you. It is a sickness born from your sin, your desecration of life."
"Sin?" Muzan laughed as if it were the funniest word he had ever heard.
"What sin is there in pursuing perfection? In the grand scheme of evolution, the weak are meant to be eliminated." His voice suddenly turned sly and taunting. "And you, a rotting creature, have stalled for so long. Do you truly think I don't know what you are planning?"
He tilted his head, a cruel arc playing on his lips.
"You lured me here… thinking you could overcome the chasm in our power with a few cheap tricks? Kagaya Ubuyashiki, do you take me for an idiot? Under this house… and all around it… there are quite a few interesting things buried, aren't there? That disgusting stench of wisteria mixed with something… explosive. You've gone to a great deal of trouble."
'He knows.'
Amane, who had remained so composed, felt a jolt of pure shock.
In stark contrast to his wife's reaction, Kagaya simply raised his head with difficulty.
"You knew?"
"Of course," Muzan sneered. "From the moment you deliberately leaked your location, I knew it was a trap. A dying man suddenly stops hiding? A pathetically obvious bait. But I came anyway. Do you know why?" He leaned forward, his voice a triumphant whisper.
"Because in the face of absolute power, any strategy is meaningless. I am here to personally extinguish the last embers of your hope. Before you die, you will understand that your struggle, your sacrifice, and your pathetic ideals… will become nothing more than an insignificant footnote in my eternal life."
But even as Muzan was gloating, enjoying the prelude to his prey's despair, several figures were racing through the distant night sky, converging on the manor.
The Hashira, having received the highest-level summons, were burning with all their strength and will, their hearts pounding in their chests.
The message from the crows had been simple and horrifying.
"MUZAN AT HEADQUARTERS."
'Faster!'
was the only thought in their minds.
'We must get to our master's side!'
.....
Back in the main house, in a moment completely out of tune with the doomsday atmosphere, the small door to the study was gently pushed open.
Two small heads peeked out.
It was Hinaki and Nichika.
Sweet, innocent smiles were on their faces as they carefully carried a small box.
Inside was a simple, slightly crooked buttercream cake, with a few small candles flickering tenaciously upon it.
Today… was Kagaya Ubuyashiki's birthday.
Even in this final, desperate hour, his children remembered.
They showed no fear, only a quiet determination to give their father this small gift, this symbol of life and love.
"Happy birthday, Father."
Muzan turned to watch this scene, a strange, unreadable expression in his eyes with a flicker of confusion beneath layers of contempt.
"Oh? What a touching display," he sneered.
"In the final moments of your life, you still cling to these ridiculous rituals? Celebrating that your decaying body is one step closer to complete collapse?"
Kagaya did not look at Muzan.
His gaze was fixed in the direction of his daughters.
He couldn't see them, but he could feel the warmth of the candles, and the pure, unconditional love in their hearts.
The calm, serene smile on his pale face suddenly became real, and soft.
He didn't respond to Muzan's taunt.
He simply inclined his head and said in the gentlest voice imaginable.
"Thank you, Hinaki, Nichika. The cake… smells delicious."
This simple, beautiful moment was something Muzan could not comprehend.
In the face of absolute power and imminent oblivion, what meaning could such an insignificant emotion possibly have?
And that "meaningless feeling" was precisely the reason Kagaya Ubuyashiki and the Demon Slayer Corps had fought for a thousand years.
In that instant, the last shred of hesitation in Kagaya's heart vanished.
He knew the Hashira were on their way.
He knew Muzan was in the center of the trap, his arrogance having blinded him.
The timing… was perfect.
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