The entire Infinity Castle began to shake violently, as though an invisible hand had seized it in its grip.
The ground cracked.
The ceilings collapsed.
The twisted towers, intersecting corridors, and ruined buildings all trembled at once.
A sudden sensation of weightlessness swept over everyone.
"This place is rising!" Gyomei Himejima said gravely.
"Stop it!"
Kyojuro Rengoku struggled to his feet. T
he orange-red glow of Flame Breathing lit up once more. Though faint, it still burned fiercely.
"We have to stop it!"
But it was already too late.
The Infinity Castle rose faster and faster.
Rumble!
With a deafening crash, the entire castle surged upward like a colossal beast breaking free from the earth. It tore through the space above and smashed past the final barrier.
BOOM!!!
The earth-shaking explosion sent countless chunks of soil and stone flying into the sky.
...
It was early morning on a quiet street in the outskirts of Yokohama.
The residents were preparing to begin another ordinary day.
Warm morning sunlight fell across the rooftops.
Street vendors were arranging their stalls, children carried schoolbags on their way to class, and elderly residents sat beneath their porches drinking tea.
Then the ground split open.
Without warning, a massive crack tore through the middle of the street. It spread at terrifying speed, splitting houses apart and toppling trees.
Pedestrians screamed in horror as distorted, nightmarish buildings erupted from beneath the ground.
They smashed through homes, crushed the shops lining the street, and ripped the peaceful neighborhood apart.
"An earthquake!!!"
"Run!!!"
"Mom!"
Terrified cries filled the morning air.
Some people fled.
Others were struck by flying rubble and collapsed.
Some were buried beneath falling houses.
Blood spread across the street beneath the sunlight as the twisted structures of the Infinity Castle reduced the neighborhood to ruins.
From the shadows of the wreckage, Muzan slowly emerged.
He stepped onto the surface—the ground he had spent half of every day avoiding for the past thousand years.
The newly risen sun hung in the eastern sky. Golden sunlight covered the ruins and fell directly across Muzan's body.
Muzan stopped.
He raised his head toward the morning sun and spread his arms.
An almost intoxicated smile appeared on his pale face as the sunlight warmed his skin.
There was no burning.
No smoke.
He did not crumble into ash!
The corners of Muzan's mouth rose higher and higher, until his smile finally became a low, arrogant laugh.
"Hahaha… Hahahahaha!"
His laughter echoed over the ruins, drowning out the frightened cries of the civilians and the crash of collapsing buildings.
He lowered his gaze to his pale, slender hand beneath the sunlight.
His fingers slowly curled and opened as he felt the sun's warmth seep freely into his skin.
That warmth was almost intoxicating.
"Shōkyū…" Muzan murmured, his voice full of contempt and satisfaction. "You were a treacherous fool, but in the end, all you did was prepare everything for me. I am now the perfect being."
"Congratulations, Lord Muzan," Nakime's voice came from the shadows.
Muzan did not respond.
He simply continued standing beneath the sunlight, letting it wash over his entire body.
The terror that had haunted him for a thousand years finally vanished completely.
He was no longer the Demon King who feared the sun.
He had become a truly perfect, ultimate life-form.
Then his gaze shifted toward the ruins.
He watched the terrified humans running and screaming. He watched them collapse into pools of blood and groan in pain.
Farther away, the Demon Slayers who had escaped from the Infinity Castle stared at the scene before them, fury filling their eyes.
Muzan's gaze met that of one young swordsman.
The young man's face was covered in blood and grime, and he tightly gripped a battered Nichirin blade.
Behind him were civilians trapped beneath collapsed houses and wounded people crying out in pain.
"You're still stubbornly clinging to life?" Muzan tilted his head, a cold light flashing through his crimson eyes. "What is that angry expression supposed to accomplish? Do you think you can kill me by glaring?"
The young swordsman raised his Nichirin blade and charged at Muzan with every last ounce of strength.
"Die!!!"
His blade traced a faint arc beneath the sunlight as it cut toward Muzan's neck.
Muzan did not even move.
A single thorn whip slid from his back like a venomous snake and pierced cleanly through the young swordsman's forehead.
Pshk!
Blood sprayed through the air.
The young man froze where he stood. His Nichirin blade slipped from his hand and hit the ground with a clear metallic ring.
Muzan moved one finger.
The thorn whip snapped aside, flinging the Demon Slayer's body into the distance. He crashed heavily among the ruins.
"Pathetically weak," Muzan said flatly.
What slightly surprised him, however, was that the young swordsman's death was only the beginning.
"Kill him!!!"
A roar came from directly ahead.
Another Demon Slayer charged forward.
Then a third.
A fourth.
A fifth.
The blood-soaked, utterly exhausted members of the Demon Slayer Corps rushed toward Muzan without hesitation.
"Kill him!"
"Slay the demon!"
"For the Demon Slayer Corps!!!"
Their blade lights were barely visible beneath the sunlight. Many of their wounds were still bleeding, and most had almost no strength left.
But not one of them retreated.
Not one of them stopped.
Muzan's thorn whips danced through the air.
One. Two. Three.
Like the scythes of death, they pierced and tore apart the charging swordsmen one after another.
Blood scattered beneath the sunlight like blooming red flowers, only to wither just as quickly.
A female Demon Slayer was impaled through the abdomen, yet she still refused to release her sword.
Using the last of her strength, she hurled her Nichirin blade toward Muzan's face.
Muzan tilted his head slightly.
The blade passed beside his cheek without leaving so much as a scratch.
Annoyance entered Muzan's voice.
"You people… What purpose does throwing yourselves into the flames serve? I am now perfect. You cannot kill me. Why do you insist on rushing toward death? Aren't you afraid?"
He raised one hand.
More thorn whips emerged from his back, writhing beneath the sunlight like countless snakes. They swept toward the Demon Slayers farther away, killing them one after another.
One Demon Slayer fell, and another immediately took his place.
They surged toward Muzan in wave after wave, only to be cut down in groups like wheat before a scythe.
Dozens of Demon Slayers soon lay at Muzan's feet. Their blood had nearly gathered into a crimson stream.
"For our fallen comrades!!!"
"For everyone the demons murdered!!!"
Their cries rose one after another, echoing across the ruins.
At last, Muzan's expression changed.
The satisfied smile vanished, replaced by a mixture of irritation and helpless frustration.
He raised his hand, and a thorn whip pierced through the chest of another charging Demon Slayer, lifting him into the air.
"A pack of lunatics. You're all exactly like Ubuyashiki. What a waste of time!"
Muzan's voice was filled with disdain.
"Nakime, take me away from here!"
"Muzan!!"
Pshk!
A head wrapped in long black hair rolled to a stop at Muzan's feet.
The hair fell away, revealing Nakime's single-eyed face.