Muzan Kibutsuji lowered his head, looking at the hand that had pierced through his chest, then at Tamayo before him.
"Tamayo, why are you here?"
He looked at this woman who had betrayed him, broken free from his control, and then hidden from him for hundreds of years. He had not expected her to suddenly appear today and strike him.
"You did not expect this, did you?"
Tamayo raised her eyes. Those beautiful eyes, veiled in a faint pale-purple mist, were now filled with hatred.
"Yes. Hard to believe you would actually dare to appear."
Muzan Kibutsuji lowered his gaze to Tamayo and noticed her aura as well. He roughly understood that she must have approached him with a Blood Demon Art that concealed her presence, allowing her to strike.
But what use was it to pierce his heart with her hand?
Did Tamayo, who had hated him all this time, not understand that such an injury had almost no effect on him?
By nature, Muzan Kibutsuji was cautious, and his first thought was to consider the reason behind it.
What was her goal?
What was she trying to do?
Why had this woman come here? Did she not know what she would face, given his fury at her betrayal?
At this moment, Tamayo raised her eyes. Those once gentle, beautiful eyes were filled entirely with hatred.
"Muzan, become human."
"What?"
Muzan Kibutsuji did not quite understand, but a faint sense of unease rose in his heart.
"Do you know what I have been doing all these years?"
Hatred burned in Tamayo's eyes. "I have always been thinking about how to destroy you. How to kill you. Right now, your body is constantly healing itself to recover from its wounds, constantly seeking nourishment. By now, have you already completely absorbed my fist?"
"You absorbed my fist as nourishment to heal your body. But you also absorbed the medicine I created specifically for you, the medicine that turns demons back into humans. Can you feel it?"
"How is it? Has it begun to take effect?"
At that moment, Muzan Kibutsuji felt the power of a demon draining away little by little. His body was aging at a visible speed, and his Blood Demon Art was being suppressed like never before.
That feeling plunged Muzan Kibutsuji into boundless terror.
"Impossible. Impossible. How could something like that be created?"
"The medicine is complete…"
Tamayo watched the changes in Muzan Kibutsuji, her eyes filled with endless hatred.
She had waited far too long for this day.
For an opportunity like this, she had waited far too long.
"Damn it. Damn it…"
Feeling his body weaken continuously, Muzan's fear only grew. He glared at Tamayo with pure brutality.He suddenly raised his hand and seized her head, then lifted his foot—
Bang!
A devastating kick slammed into Tamayo's abdomen, sending her flying. With a vicious twist of his arm, he snapped the bone in her arm.
At this moment, Muzan's crimson eyes blazed with rage. "Tamayo… you really are a troublesome woman. You've clung to me for all these years, yet you dare to accuse others first. Who killed your husband? Who killed your child? Was it me?"
His fingers dug deeper into her skull, sinking into flesh. Blood streamed down Tamayo's forehead.
Muzan stared at her with vicious eyes. "Was it me? No. It wasn't anyone else. It was you."
"You ate them. You ate your husband. You ate your child."
Blood continued to flow. Tamayo's eyes filled with sorrow as tears mixed with the blood running down her face.
"If I had known something like that would happen, I never would have become a demon. Back then, when I told you I did not want to die from illness… it was only because…"
"It was only because I wanted to watch my child grow up!"
"And after that? After that, you killed so many more people. Were those just my hallucinations? I saw how much you enjoyed devouring humans."
"That is right."
Tamayo's eyes were already blurred with tears." I killed many people in my despair. To atone for those sins… today, I will die together with you."
After saying that, Tamayo raised her head, tears streaming down her face.
"Mr. Soma, please."
Muzan Kibutsuji suddenly turned his head and looked toward Soma.
He saw Soma still bound.
Although Muzan's strength was continuously draining away, at least for now, he could still suppress it. At the very least, Soma, who had already been restrained, should not be able to—
"Hah!"
In the dark night, a cold sword light suddenly slashed out, radiating an astonishing aura. Even Muzan, still reeling from Tamayo's words, snapped his head up in shock.
A delicate young girl had appeared out of nowhere and unleashed a razor-sharp slash.
The blade was not aimed at Muzan.
It was aimed at the writhing mass of flesh that bound Soma.
It was Kanao.
Except for the few times she had acted during the battle against Kokushibo, Kanao had remained hidden in the shadows the entire time. After Muzan arrived, she had strictly followed her uncle's orders and stayed concealed. Only when she saw Soma's signal did she finally move.
The blade flashed once. In an instant, every chunk of writhing flesh restraining Soma was severed.
Freed from his bindings, Soma stepped forward.
After delivering the strike, Kanao melted back into the darkness behind Soma like a shadow, silent and unseen.
Soma picked up a Nichirin Sword from the ground. He stood there, gazing at Muzan, and at Tamayo who had forced the drug into the demon's body.
With his arrival, the future had kept shifting. But now, at last, the story had returned to its destined path—the ending that had always belonged to Muzan Kibutsuji. His final fate had arrived.
"Please, Mr. Soma."
Tamayo, whose head was still being gripped, with Muzan's five fingers sunk deep into her skull, looked at Soma with expectation in her eyes.
"Leave everything to me."
Soma spoke calmly, then looked again at Muzan Kibutsuji, whose body was growing weaker and older by the moment.
"Thank you."
Tamayo's voice was soft. Even though she felt her life was about to be ended by Muzan, she no longer cared.
"Hah!"
The sharp blade flashed again, severing the arm Muzan used to hold Tamayo's head and freeing her from certain death.
Though she had been saved from that fate, Tamayo felt little desire to keep living.
For so many years, the only thing that had kept her going was the thought of killing Muzan. Only then could she face the husband and beloved child she had slain.
"The mistakes of the past cannot be undone. Wrong is still wrong, and that cannot be changed. But death is definitely not the best way to repay them. You once killed many innocent people. Perhaps, in the future, you can save more wounded people. For example, there are so many injured swordsmen here now. Saving more lives is a far better way to atone than ending your own."
Soma looked at Tamayo, whose eyes were filled with the will to die, and spoke calmly.
Tamayo raised her head and stared at Soma in astonishment.
"In this world, there are many others like you once were—mothers ravaged by terrible illness who only wanted to watch their children grow up healthy. There are many who have suffered as you did…" Soma spoke softly.
It was precisely because she had once walked that same path of pain that Tamayo understood how precious life and happiness truly were. And now she possessed the power to prevent others from falling into the same tragedy—to give the sick and suffering a chance at happiness.
At that moment,
the deathly emptiness in Tamayo's eyes flickered with a single spark of light.