Sukuna lifted his foot. The palm beneath him had already been crushed through from the center of his step, flesh and blood embedded into the cracked ground.
But even then, the hand refused to abandon its mission. Dragging its limp form, it reached once more toward the sukuna's head to attack.
This time, Sukuna directly targeted the root of the arm—the upper portion connecting and sealing the Swamp Demon's mouth.
An invisible slash fell in an instant, severing the arm cleanly. He followed up with a kick, sending it flying out into the sunset.
Under the direct exposure to sunlight, the severed arm twisted and writhed like a curling insect before vanishing into the evening glow.
Muzan hadn't thought much of it at first—some weak demon trying to leak information about him, triggering the eradication mechanism.
But when he clearly sensed that the eradication had failed, likely due to external interference, and that the arm was ultimately destroyed by sunlight, he realized something was wrong.
Still, the Swamp Demon was far too weak. It had received too little of Muzan's blood. Unlike the Twelve Kizuki, Muzan had no strong connection to it, so he couldn't grasp the full picture.
Even so, he relayed the approximate location information to Susamaru, who had been searching for the mysterious figure who killed the Hashira.
When Sukuna looked back at the Swamp Demon's head, its appearance had drastically changed in just a few seconds. It looked as if it had aged decades in an instant, its breathing so faint it seemed on the verge of death.
To extract more information, Sukuna tried using Reverse Cursed Technique on the Demon's head.
Good news: even against a demon in this state, Reverse Cursed Technique still worked.
Bad news: even with the technique's effectiveness, it couldn't stop the Swamp Demon's death process.
Within just a few breaths, the Swamp Demon's head completely disintegrated before Sukuna.
Sukuna silently analyzed why the technique had worked yet failed to change the outcome.
He had clearly seen the effects of Reverse Cursed Technique. But the flesh restored by it was notably different from when he first arrived.
When the Swamp Demon first appeared, its skin was a sickly pale white—the kind that made it instantly obvious it wasn't human.
The flesh Sukuna restored with Reverse Cursed Technique looked much more aged, less deathly pale. Perhaps one could say it looked closer to human?
Sukuna seemed to understand. Reverse Cursed Technique restores based on the soul's information. But the blood and demonic power received from Muzan weren't originally part of the Swamp Demon's being.
Thus, they fell outside the scope of what theTechnique could restore. And by that point, the Swamp Demon could no longer exist without that power, leading to this final outcome.
In truth, from the moment Sukuna attacked the Swamp Demon underground to its complete death and dissolution, no more than a few minutes had passed.
For Shinobu, watching as an audience, it was an overwhelmingly experience.
Even as a Hashira, she had never personally witnessed such a thing. She had only heard that demons who leaked information about Muzan would be eradicated. Today was the first time she understood what it meant by eradication.
After understanding what becoming a demon truly entailed, even Sukuna couldn't help but remark that this guy named Muzan might actually worser than Kenjaku.
Kenjaku merely made vows with the strong and turned them into cursed objects. Even if he wanted to kill them, it was only after fulfilling those vows.
But this progenitor of demons, was simply crafting dogs whose lives he held entirely in his grasp. Gaining eternal life had instead become an long-term shackle.
Still, Sukuna was curious. Just how strong was Muzan himself?
"Is that it?" Sukuna asked without turning his head, directing the question at Shinobu.
"What...?"
Shinobu was clearly struggling to keep up with Sukuna.
"No more demons?" Sukuna pressed, annoyed.
Shinobu finally snapped back and hurriedly explained.
"Most demons act alone. They don't like cooperating with other demons and prefer hunting solo. So I believe there was only this one demon here."
Sukuna clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction. That made preparing his bath even more difficult. He might need to change his approach—capture a few slightly stronger demons and use their tenacious life force to extract blood for the bath.
By then, Kazumi had also started recovering from the shock. Stuttering slightly, he interrupted Shinobu with an accusing tone.
"P-please wait. You said there are no other demons? If you killed him, how am I supposed to find Satoko...?"
Kazumi instinctively grabbed Shinobu's clothes. His face was full of confusion and helplessness as tears fell uncontrollably.
Normally, Kazumi would have realized how absurd his behavior was. Killing the Swamp Demon had, in a sense, avenged Satoko. Yet here he was, accusing and blaming them for killing the demon, for destroying his only lead to Satoko.
But now, Kazumi had nothing left. If even the only being in this world that knew Satoko's whereabouts was gone, how could he ever find her—even if only her corpse? How was he supposed to keep going?
Having seen too much of this herself, having gone through something similar, Shinobu didn't fault Kazumi for his rudeness. Instead, she soothed him, asking him to let go while gently holding his hand and speaking softly.
"Mr. Kazumi, please be strong. I understand how you feel. Because I was once just like you..."
Kazumi gradually calmed down, realized his discourtesy, and tearfully begged Shinobu for forgiveness.
"...I'm sorry! I said something terribly selfish! Please forgive me, I'm sorry..."
Sukuna watched the scene between Shinobu and Kazumi with clear impatience. He understood exactly what drama was unfolding over there. He just felt nothing toward it.
If anything, it was even more boring than the demon. At least the process of killing the Swamp Demon had provided Sukuna some degree of entertainment.
Sukuna spoke up, urging them. "Hey, that's enough. Where to next?"
Just then, Shinobu's kasugai crow arrived beside them once more, bearing a message from Kagaya Ubuyashiki.
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Stones would be appreciated if you can spare any. Thank you