Before anyone could react to Hiru's words, a sense of danger sharp enough to sting their instincts came from behind them. Along with it came a voice thick with malice and rage.
"What the hell did you do, you piece of trash?!"
The Hashira immediately turned their guarded gazes toward the crystal wall Hiru had just smashed through. But once they saw clearly, they could not help staring in shock.
The newcomer was also drenched in blood, and he looked even more wretched than Hiru. The flesh, skin, and bones all over his body had been corroded beyond recognition. It was barely possible to make out a human shape.
Tengen gripped his twin blades, the hair on the back of his neck standing on end, and could not help glancing at Hiru again.
"…And you call this not knowing how to fight?"
"If I knew how to fight, he'd already be dead. What would I need you all for?" Hiru spat out the blood in his mouth and pushed himself upright, thoroughly annoyed. "Seriously, why does everyone think I'm some kind of combat expert?
"I'd rather sit in the back and handle logistics, all right? What kind of war sends an artist charging in first?! Stop looking at me! Go!"
Tengen clicked his tongue softly and charged out after Gyomei. The other Hashira did not fall behind in the slightest, and the battle between both sides reached a fever pitch in an instant.
And the Hashira finally understood what had caused Muzan's injuries.
It was not some special method of Hiru's at all. Hiru had simply been beaten down with no way to fight back, and the blood splashing from his body had landed on Muzan, corroding his flesh and leaving those wounds behind.
The Hashira: …So the part about him not knowing how to fight was actually true?
Meanwhile, Shinobu smelled the sweet fragrance in the air and finally understood why her two stabs at Hiru that day had done nothing. The wisteria poison inside this guy's body was already more concentrated than the poison on her blade!
Shinobu was not suited for a direct confrontation like this and could only support the others from the side, but she still could not help feeling stifled with frustration.
[How did this demon even train himself? He isn't afraid of sunlight or wisteria poison… This is honestly worse than Muzan!]
After forcing back the surrounding Hashira with a single strike, Muzan raised his hand and seized Hiru by the throat. His sharp nails sank into flesh, and his expression twisted into something hideous.
"What do you think you are?! You dare oppose me?!"
Feeling the blood being injected through the side of his neck, Hiru did not struggle free. Instead, he gripped Muzan's arm tightly.
"Heh… True, I can't beat you. Too bad the time is up."
Muzan ignored the sound of his own flesh sizzling as it corroded, his savage expression showing a trace of confusion.
"…What nonsense are you spouting?"
Several crystal walls suddenly rose, blocking the Hashira who had just been knocked back by Muzan. Hiru's smile turned wild.
"Want to sunbathe together?"
The moment Hiru finished speaking, the surrounding crystal castle began to collapse. Watching golden light spill through the cracks, Muzan instinctively tried to withdraw his hand, only for Hiru to hold him fast.
"Don't go. We're both Primordial Demons. Let's sunbathe together and chat a little."
"You madman!"
Scarlet tube whips spread from Muzan's back and stabbed into Hiru's body, injecting a large amount of demon blood so concentrated it could kill an ordinary person instantly.
"Die!"
Veins bulged across Hiru's face, and blood overflowed from his mouth and nose, but he still held Muzan in a death grip.
"Ah, yeah. Die, Muzan!!"
The crystal castle collapsed even faster. Seeing more and more pillars of light appear around him, Muzan was shocked and furious.
"You lunatic! Aren't you afraid to die?!"
"I am, but it's just sunbathing. Is there any need to be that scared?" Hiru's voice came broken and uneven through the bloody foam in his throat. "Of course, you could also try splitting into one thousand eight hundred pieces, but that would actually make things easier for me!"
The bright late-summer sun finally fell upon the two figures locked together. But unlike Muzan, whose flesh was being burned black, Hiru was not harmed by the sunlight at all.
"You actually conquered the sun?!"
Hiru forced Muzan fully into the sunlight. Looking at Muzan's expression, his eyes nearly splitting with rage, the smile on Hiru's face even began to look a little vicious, and his voice was hoarse.
"It's all thanks to you, Muzan-sama!"
A massive amount of flesh began growing from Muzan's body as he tried to wrap the two of them up and hide from the sunlight, but Hiru crystallized it all into gorgeous red crystal, stopping him completely. Muzan finally panicked.
"I've never even seen you before! Who are you?! Besides, people die sooner or later. Couldn't you just treat your family's deaths as a natural disaster?! Why must you oppose me?!"
Hiru: …(◐_◐╬)
"Then couldn't you just pretend you were blown to death by a tornado? What? Does that feel unfair? Do you think the whole world is your mother, and everyone has to give way when they see you?"
Hiru watched Muzan's body begin to collapse, his expression filled with malice.
"Die, you dog."
As Muzan's hideous face turned to ash, Hiru lost his support. His legs went weak, and he dropped to his knees, coughing violently as blood flowed from all seven orifices.
At that moment, the Hashira who had been buried beneath countless crystals finally struggled out from the rubble. The collapse of the crystal castle had only taken a short while, and the first two to climb out, Sanemi and Tengen, witnessed Muzan's disappearance with their own eyes.
Sanemi still felt it was unreal.
"He actually got killed…"
Tengen also smiled, but just as he was about to say something, he saw Hiru look over at him and raise one hand in a gesture. The instant Tengen saw that signal, his smile vanished completely.
"Save the celebration for later. Find everyone first, and stay away from Hiru."
"What's wrong?" Sanemi glanced at Hiru, who was kneeling on the ground and constantly coughing blood, then casually pulled Muichiro free from where he was stuck. "He's already like that, and he still wants to fight us?"
"I'll explain later. Fall back first." Tengen directly reached out and lifted Muichiro up, then raised his voice. "Everyone! Get away from here!"
Even so, Tengen was still confused about how Hiru knew the hand signal unique to the Uzui family. As he retreated, he could not help looking back to check on him. But what he saw shocked him all over again.
Hiru's sharp nails had stabbed straight into the side of his own neck. The veins in his arm bulged as he violently tore off a large chunk of flesh. Bright red blood immediately rushed from the wound, and every patch of ground stained by that blood gave off an ominous purple-black color. Under the sunlight, black vapor rose from it, thick with foreboding.
"That guy hasn't been turned by Muzan, has he?" Sanemi stood on higher ground and looked toward Hiru, then at the field of crystal that seemed to stretch endlessly. "This is going to be a pain to deal with…"
"What's going to be a pain?"
"Obviously that Hiru… Huh?!" Sanemi looked at Hiru behind him, then at the empty space where he had been moments ago. "You're fine now?"
"Why wouldn't I be? I just needed to drain out the blood Muzan contaminated." As Hiru spoke, blood began flowing from all seven orifices again. He reached out and grabbed Sanemi's white haori. "Take it off. I need to use it. Hurry."
Sanemi: …
After folding the haori a few times and using it to cover his still-bleeding mouth and nose, Hiru lowered his head and looked at Muichiro.
"Shall we go?"
Tengen raised a hand and shielded Muichiro behind him, his expression unfriendly.
"…What are you planning now? And why do you know the Uzui family's code signals?"
"You taught me, of course." Hiru ignored Tengen's sour face, wiped the blood from his hands, and reached out to take Muichiro. "Hurry. Any later, and we'll miss it."
Since he sensed no hostility, Muichiro allowed Hiru to pull him forward, though he could not help feeling puzzled.
"Miss what?"
"The farewell." In the end, Hiru found walking too slow and simply picked the child up, quickly running toward a crystal house that was still intact. "Remember to call him something when we arrive."
Muichiro tilted his head.
"Call him what?"
"Uh… Great-great-great-great-grandfather? Forget it. Call him whatever you like. Just make sure it sounds senior enough."
Muichiro: …What?
Looking at the people following behind them, Muichiro said nothing else and quietly let Hiru carry him toward the small house.
But when he saw the person inside, Muichiro's expression tensed again.
Upper Moon One!
Hiru, however, was completely relaxed.
"As expected of Eldest Brother. Even after Muzan died, you can still hold on this long! Amazing!"
Kokushibo raised his eyes to look at Hiru and was about to say something, but his gaze was drawn to the extremely wary Muichiro.
"He is…"
"One of your direct descendants!" Hiru set Muichiro down and threw aside the haori that was already soaked through with blood. "I should have been able to bring you a Moon Breathing successor too, but unfortunately, the point where I cut into the illusion wasn't ideal. Your successor has already been killed by Muzan."
Kokushibo looked at Hiru in a daze, but Hiru paid no attention and only continued.
"Aniue. I mean Yoriichi. There's something Aniue once said that I still really like even now: 'We are nothing more than people who live in one corner of this world. Even if no one under this sky surpasses me, someone in this world surely will. All we can do is follow the times and fulfill our own missions.'
"In my opinion, Eldest Brother is actually stronger than Aniue. After all, Aniue was far too sentimental. Eldest Brother is different. When it's time to strike, you don't hesitate at all! Even family is killed without delay. You really do have the air of someone above others!"
Kokushibo: …
Muichiro could not help looking at Hiru.
"…Are you really brothers?"
"Absolutely. Though in this illusion, I already died hundreds of years ago, so strictly speaking, we aren't." Hiru tilted his head and smiled. "But he really is your ancestor."
Muichiro: …Thanks, but I don't have an ancestor with six eyes.
"Why… bring him… here?"
"To see you off, Eldest Brother. After all, once Muzan is dead, your body can't hold together even if you break through your limits, right?" Hiru glanced at the hand Kokushibo had tucked into his sleeve, then reached out and patted Muichiro on the head. "For something like seeing someone off at the end, it's better to have a blood descendant do it, isn't it?
"And compared to fading away in this shabby little room, stepping into the sunlight and returning to the world feels more fitting for a samurai, doesn't it? All right, Muichiro, come on. Take the lead and escort your great-great-great-grandfather out for a little sun."
Even Muichiro, no matter how little he cared, could not help turning back to look at the Hashira who had followed them, trying to seek some reasonable advice. All he saw were their equally shocked expressions.
Then he turned back to Hiru, whose face was full of encouragement even as blood streamed from all seven orifices, and to Kokushibo, who had lowered his head to look at him. Muichiro suddenly felt an enormous pressure.
But after a brief moment of thought, he still spoke to Kokushibo.
"…Do you want to go out in the sun?"
Kokushibo lowered his eyes. After a long silence, he held out his hand to Muichiro.
"…Let's go."
Looking at Kokushibo's cracked hand, Muichiro spent a long time mentally preparing himself before finally reaching out and taking it. Then he walked outside with Kokushibo. The others, who had been watching from the doorway, all tactfully stepped aside while keeping their guard up.
Hiru followed behind. When he reached the group, he grabbed Gyomei's haori and carefully wiped the blood from his face. Watching Muichiro lead Kokushibo toward the sunlight, he spoke with deep feeling.
"How nice. Now I don't have any regrets left."
After watching Kokushibo turn to ash in the sunlight, Tengen lowered his gaze to Hiru, who was still tugging on Gyomei's haori.
"Didn't you say you'd die after Muzan died? Why aren't you dead?"
Hiru paused, tilted his head, and thought for a moment.
"Maybe the medicine hasn't worn off yet? Relax, I'll die eventually. But before that, I really do need to try every dessert once to be satisfied!
"I happen to still have some medicine left for restoring my sense of taste. Kyojuro, Mitsuri, shall we go eat? I want to visit that dessert shop you two mentioned last time!"
"Umu! After a battle, I would still rather eat a proper meal!"
"Hey, be considerate of an old man. I want sweets."
"Hehe, either is fine~ Eating with everyone is fun~"
Tengen watched the three of them walk away, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly. He reached out and poked Gyomei, who stood beside him frowning as he took off his haori.
"…What do we do now?"
"Amida Butsu… We report to Oyakata-sama first, then continue our shifts."
Mm. It looked like Ubuyashiki in this [Illusion] would still have to suffer a few more days of stomachache before the people involved realized how serious the problem was.
..