Ubuyashiki was dead. He had achieved a benevolent end, using his own decaying, dying body to grievously wound Muzan.
Tamayo had also completed her revenge. Although Muzan had escaped, the residual poison would not be so easily purged.
By the time all the Hashira had gathered, the Stone Hashira, with tears streaming down his face, told them of Ubuyashiki's plan.
"Is that so... the Master... the Master, he..." The typically hot-tempered Wind Hashira, Sanemi Shinazugawa, had an exceptionally ferocious expression on his face, but tears were flowing from his eyes.
The other Hashira were also shrouded in a somber grief.
"Everyone, Muzan is severely injured and has been poisoned. I will now take you all into his stronghold. I believe all of his subordinates will be gathered there. We can take this opportunity to kill them all in one fell swoop," Uchiha Nagi said gravely.
"Yes! Slay Muzan and avenge the Master!"
"Everyone, this is a rare opportunity! This is our only chance to kill Muzan!"
"Everyone, place your hand on the shoulder of the person next to you and form a circle. I will take you all into Muzan's stronghold."
After speaking, Nagi directed everyone to link together. This was also part of the original plan: to lead everyone into the Infinity Castle at once, to slay all the demons in one go, once and for all.
After everyone had linked hands, Nagi activated the Flying Thunder God.
Swish~
The moment they all flew into the Infinity Castle, Muzan's steward, Nakime, sensed them. With the sound of a biwa string being plucked, the group, who had just found their footing in the Infinity Castle, felt their center of gravity shift. The pull of gravity changed direction again and again, and everyone's hands were separated. The instant they were separated, they were all teleported by Nakime to different parts of the castle.
Nakime was the most unique of all the Upper Ranks. First, she possessed an ability similar to Gaara's Sand Eye, allowing her to split off countless eyeballs to spy on her enemies from the outside. However, these eyeballs had no attack or defense power. The Wind Hashira, Sanemi Shinazugawa, was the first to discover Nakime's eyeballs, but at the time, he didn't understand what they were and had simply crushed them.
Her second ability, of course, was to control the Infinity Castle. The entire castle was like her own body, and she could change its structure at will, making her Muzan's most powerful secretary.
Her third ability was teleportation. She could teleport Doma to his Paradise Faith cult, and she could simultaneously teleport Gyokko and Hantengu to the Swordsmith Village. This ability was comparable to Doraemon's Anywhere Door.
As for her combat ability, it was close to zero. But as long as she was in the Infinity Castle, no one could harm her. So, the first person Nagi wanted to deal with was Nakime. As long as she was gone, Muzan could only run around within the confines of the castle.
"So we've all been separated. No wonder all the Hashira ended up dying one by one in the end, instead of encountering the Upper Ranks at the same time. But no matter. I'll deal with Nakime first." Nagi then took out a scroll, and from within the scroll, he produced a coffin. Inside was his strongest support. To prevent the scumbag boss from being scared off the moment he saw him, Nagi had kept him hidden until now.
"So, you've come, Demon Slayer..."
Muichiro, disoriented from the loss of gravity, had been teleported to a strange place. Just as he sensed a powerful presence, he heard an indifferent voice speak those words.
"Upper-Rank One?" Muichiro saw the character for "One" in the demon's pupils and knew this was Muzan's strongest subordinate. His entire body tensed, and he was so oppressed by the demon's aura that he couldn't even draw his sword. What surprised him even more was that the demon was also holding a sword. Could he be a demon converted from a Breathing Style swordsman?
Muichiro trembled, trying to draw his sword, but his body resisted. A voice in his mind told him that if he drew his sword, he would die.
At that moment, Kokushibo spoke. "What is your name?"
Muichiro subconsciously replied, "Muichiro... Tokito..."
"Is that so? Has the name Tsugikuni disappeared, then?" Kokushibo sensed a familiarity rooted in their bloodline. That was it. "My name, when I was human, was Michikatsu Tsugikuni. And you... you are a descendant I left behind when I was still human."
"What?" Muichiro couldn't believe it. He was his descendant?
"Mist Breathing, Second Form: Eight-Layered Mist!"
Muichiro suddenly launched an attack without any regard for decorum, hoping to catch his opponent off guard. But after he struck, he realized he had only hit an afterimage.
"He... he dodged it?" Muichiro's pupils contracted. He had used the strongest move of his Mist Breathing, a technique he had created himself, the very one he had used to slay the Upper-Rank Gyokko.
"Mist Breathing, Seventh Form: Obscuring Clouds!"
An unpredictable technique that confused the enemy, appearing as slow as a turtle but vanishing in an instant. But when it reached Kokushibo, it was dispelled with a single move.
"A unique rhythm. A beautiful and difficult-to-read movement. It would be discourteous of me not to draw my sword," Kokushibo said, drawing his own blade. "Moon Breathing, First Form..."
"Aaaah!" A cry of agony. Muichiro was defeated in a single blow, his arm severed.
After defeating his enemy in one move, Kokushibo did not press his advantage. Instead, he stopped and said, "My descendant, become a demon and serve that man."
Muichiro gritted his teeth, enduring the excruciating pain as he trembled, trying to bandage his gushing arm. When he attacked again, Kokushibo disarmed him with a backhand motion and pinned him to a pillar with his own sword.
"Ah..."
At that moment, hiding not far away was a sneaky sixth man: Genya Shinazugawa.
He couldn't hear what the two were saying, but seeing Muichiro's arm severed and his chest pierced, pinned to the wall, he knew that if he waited any longer for an opportunity, Muichiro would be dead.
"There's no other choice! I have to do it!"
BANG! BANG!
After two shots, Genya saw that Kokushibo had vanished. In the next second, a bone-chilling voice appeared behind him.
"You think so too, don't you?"
A flash of a blade, and the hand Genya was holding his gun with was sliced off.
"Dammit!" Genya snarled, drawing his own Nichirin Blade. But in the next second, his other hand was also cut off.
"So, you are that demon-eating swordsman," Kokushibo said, his face devoid of expression. The next second, the sword in his hand flickered, moving too fast for the naked eye to see, and Genya's body was sliced in half at the waist.
"Three hundred years ago, there was another demon-eating swordsman like you. But he was not as strong as you. He died after his body was cut," Kokushibo said, looking at Genya with contempt. "A pseudo-demon like you... there is no need to keep you alive."
With that, he prepared to behead Genya. But just then, Genya smiled strangely, and green branches and tender leaves began to sprout from his body.
"Wood Style: Tree-Binding Permanent Burial!"
It was a wood clone. Genya's real body, hiding in the distance, had activated the wood clone's trap. Kokushibo, caught off guard, was bound by a dense thicket of trees.
"Interesting. A magical technique, yet not a Blood Demon Art. While it binds me, it also absorbs my strength to enhance its binding power." Kokushibo was not panicked in the slightest, merely looking at the large trees with curiosity. But Genya had no intention of chatting with him and pressed his advantage.
"Wood Style: Thorn Killing Technique!"
A pile of thorny wood grew rapidly, rushing towards Kokushibo, intending to strangle him.
"The technique is not bad, but its power is too weak. Moon Breathing, Second Form..."
As soon as Kokushibo spoke, countless crescent-shaped blades filled the space, and all the wood Genya had just released was reduced to splinters.
While Kokushibo was still breaking free, Genya's real body had already run to Muichiro's side, pulling out the Nichirin Blade that had pierced his body, intending to retreat with him first.
Genya had always remembered Uchiha Nagi's words: "To retreat and preserve a useful body to grow stronger and fight another day is nothing to be ashamed of."
Besides, at this moment, they were no match for Kokushibo. Muichiro had lost too much blood, but he still endured the immense pain and had Genya pull the sword from his chest.
"Don't... don't worry about me. We're no match for him. You go first, I'll hold him off," Muichiro gritted out, using his Nichirin Blade to struggle to his feet, gasping for breath.
"Why would you think you can hold me off? Was it my slight mercy towards my descendant that gave you the wrong impression?" Kokushibo's cold voice came, and he began to walk towards them, step by step.
"Dammit... I have to use it." Genya hesitated for a moment, then quickly took out test tube #2 and drank it. It contained Hashirama cells, which were more than ten times more potent and reactive than the White Zetsu cells.
Kokushibo had probably been lonely without an opponent for centuries, or perhaps he had lived so long without dying that he wanted to see if his opponent could kill him. He could have cut off Genya's hand before he drank the contents of the test tube, but he didn't. He just waited quietly.
After drinking it, Genya immediately felt his energy surge by more than ten times.
"Wood Style: Deep Forest Emergence!"
The heaven-blessed constitution of a demon-eater allowed him to use Wood Style just like Yamato after drinking the Hashirama cells. But he was no chakra-by-the-ton monster. Genya's Deep Forest Emergence was still a far cry from Hashirama's.
"A magical technique. The entire hall is filled with a vibrant sea of trees, and all these trees will attack the enemy. It can both conceal one's own tracks and attack the enemy on a large scale. But... that is all." For the first time, a flicker of emotion appeared in the depths of Kokushibo's eyes.
"Moon Breathing, Fourth Form—"
Hundreds of blades flew from Kokushibo's sword as he continuously swung it around him, each strike carrying the added damage of a crescent blade, and the entire sea of trees was chopped into wooden blocks.
Countless leaves and branches flew about the hall, dancing in the space of the Infinity Castle. At this moment, the Wind Hashira, Sanemi Shinazugawa, who was searching for enemies, saw the commotion. Knowing that a battle was taking place, he immediately used his Wind Breathing to rush over.
However, just as he arrived, he saw a scene that filled him with unbearable grief.
"GENYA!"
His younger brother, the one who couldn't use Breathing Styles but had worked so hard to join the Demon Slayer Corps to prove himself, had been cut in half at the waist by Kokushibo. And his four limbs had also been severed in a single blow.